Articles by Elizabeth Millard

There was a time, not so long ago, when the IT department was like an island unto itself. The CIO may have had to venture into the boardroom and chat with "the suits," but many IT staff were high-tech gurus who did not need to care about the bottom line, refined communication skills or managing employees Times have changed....

As spammers dream up new strategies for slithering into e-mail inboxes worldwide, their counterparts, anti-spam software developers, are always on the lookout for new ways to stop them cold. A bevy of companies think they may have a good answer in challenge-response technology The tactic is a simple one, requiring an e-mailer to verify his or her i...

Despite a major push for broadband Internet access by legislators and consumers, the United States is still largely a dial-up country. Even so, it seems inevitable that dial-up will give way to faster DSL and cabletechnologies as time passes. Implications of this shift are significant for independent ISPs, which built their business around providi...

To say that Motorola has had a turbulent recent history is something of an understatement. A few years ago, when the semiconductor sector was hemorrhaging money and the handset arena was not doing too well either, the company began to reorganize, with mixed success As Motorola works to become a lean, efficient machine, there seems to be a long road...

As in Aesop's tale of the tortoise and the hare, perhaps "slow and steady" really does win the race. Sun Microsystems certainly is hoping so. Following a disastrous quarter in which financial results fell far short of analysts' expectations, with net income of just US$12 million on revenue of $2.98 billion, the company is trying to rebound from its slump.

The Microsoft-versus-Linux skirmish has heated up discussions about how much a company should pay for servers, software and operating systems. In addition, the harsh economic climate has forced many companies to cut costs, so they are taking a long, hard look at licensing agreements, general ease of use and security -- and they are considering Linux more seriously than ever before...

Although it will be some time before broadband is available to every house and company in the United States, the adoption rate of high-speed Internet access is healthy and growing steadily However, significant hurdles have kept adoption lower than it could be. Most rural areas and some suburban areas cannot get broadband, making the service predomi...

The ability to change prices in the blink of an eye, instantly responding to market fluctuations, seems as if it would be an attractive tactic to online retailers. However, so-called dynamic pricing has not caught on yet in the e-commerce world It is not as if the process of implementing this feature is complicated -- it can be done using existing ...

In an effort to trim costs, U.S. companies increasingly have been shipping work overseas, especially to India, China, Eastern Europe and South America. While this practice boosts the bottom line in the accounting office, it also raises the anxiety level of U.S.-based employees Since foreign workers are willing to perform programming, help desk and ...

Background checks for IT recruits are standard, but as some companies discoverpainfully, potential black hats can still get hired. Threats from within have become all too commonplace, sometimes leaving companies to battle their own employees in order to achieve better security Yet, clamping down too fiercely can wreak havoc with employee morale and...

Recently, a new value-added tax (VAT) law was enacted to level the playing field between Europe-based and U.S.-based companies in the European e-commerce market. Previously, U.S. e-commerce companies doing business in Europe had not been required to charge value-added tax, putting their European counterparts at a disadvantage For example, Giga vice...

When it comes to the Internet, China is no longer undiscovered country.Three Chinese portals are trouncing their U.S. rivals in the region, andinvestors are taking notice However, although Sina Corp., Sohu.com and NetEase.com are beating U.S. rivals Yahoo, AOL Time Warner and Microsoft now, they were not always on top. Earlier this year, in fact, t...

Bringing together various applications and computer systems is certainly no picnic, but another vital integration challenge is often overlooked in the corporate dialogue: integrating the IT department with the rest of the enterprise In the hallways and the boardroom, IT often is viewed as an alien entity by CEOs and other business-focused executive...

Many companies have scaled back staffing levels and instituted mandatory hiring freezes in the past few years, but these cutbacks have exacted a steep cost. In many cases, businesses now are facing skill gaps that hurt their IT departments. Even worse -- and somewhat surprisingly, considering the number of IT workers seeking jobs -- there is sometimes a shortage of qualified individuals to fill the gaps, even when money is budgeted for hiring...

Of all the words that inspire affection in a small-business owner's heart, few can compete with "free," especially in this economy, with companies trying to rein in spending as tightly as possible. Still, it is virtually impossible, even in a buyer's market, to get something for nothing when it comes to enterprise software. On the other hand, PC u...

In recent years, as the economy has made belt-tightening a mandate for many executives, farming out work to India, Russia and other foreign locales has become a relatively commonplace tactic for U.S.-based companies. CEOs like the cost savings, and IT departments appreciate the ability to hammer out a project on a 24/7 schedule However, attempts to...

Although every company should employ firewalls to keep its networks and data safe from bad guys, larger enterprises tend to have an even deeper need for breach-proof perimeters With multiple offices, thousands of employees and a wealth of electronic access points into their systems, these big enterprises must lock down a great deal of infrastructur...

Blame Hollywood for the glorification of the underdog if you must, but it is difficult to ignore the charm of a comeback kid. In today's high-tech world, it is even more notable than in the celluloid realm to see a turnaround, given the state of the still-struggling tech sector Yet some companies have brushed the dust from their jackets and managed...

As software flaws, wireless network holes and data thieves continue to make companies vulnerable to technological bad guys, a growing need for security experts has driven more IT workers toward this constantly changing field However, the search for the right keymaster can be a tricky one. After all, hiring someone to watch all of a company's electr...

They seem ubiquitous wherever consumer electronics, hardware and software are sold: the offers for rebates plastered on packaging, store displays and even cash register receipts It seems like a great deal, this offer of money back, especially when all the consumer has to do is send in a receipt and UPC code. However, some technology buyers have fou...