IDG News Service 11/26/07
Grant Gross, IDG News Service, Washington Bureau
Young IT workers in the U.S. government believe technology is obsolete by the time it is rolled out and are concerned that they can't get the experience they need because some functions are outsourced, according to a focus-group report released Monday.
A group of technology interns at the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) also said cost-cutting in the U.S. government limits their ability to innovate, and they raised concerns that the more veteran IT workforce isn't oriented toward information sharing, according to the report, released by Telework Exchange, an Alexandria, Virginia, group that promotes telecommuting among government workers.
But the coming retirement of a huge portion of federal workers also presents opportunities that the interns were aware of, said Cindy Auten, Telework Exchange's general manager. About 60 percent of U.S. government civil service workers are eligible for retirement in the next five years, she said.
"They show a good perception of the way the workforce is changing," Auten said. "They focused on this knowledge gap that's going to exist with the baby boomers retiring. Obviously, knowledge management plays a critical role, but they also looked at the fact that it provides them a lot of opportunity."
On the downside, the IT workers said the U.S. government is hampered by slow product and service procurement processes, and government agencies don't have proper business processes in place.
For the report, the Telework Exchange interviewed 14 IT professionals who are part of a DISA fast-track internship program that offers rapid promotions. The focus groups were conducted in September. The IT workers were all part of Generation Y, people born after 1977. DISA gave permission for Telework Exchange to talk with its interns.
While the focus groups raised concerns about working in government IT, they also saw several benefits. They saw government jobs as more stable as those in the private sector, they praised government benefits, and they said they enjoyed reasonable work hours and flexible schedules. The interns praised DISA's leadership for supporting teleworking options.
Asked how they prefer to communicate, the group focused on e-mail and text messaging as the top tools. The interns had mixed reactions with social-networking sites, with some reluctance to admit use, the Telework Exchange said. Outside instant messaging services aren't allowed, due to security regulations.
The group said they prefer to find information online, through search engines and through online publications. "Fifteen times a day, I am Googling something," one intern said.
The young IT workers said they frequently go to blogs for information, but most often through search engines. There was "little loyalty, no name recall" for blogs, Telework Exchange said. The interns also tended not to trust some publications focused on government IT, saying they seemed to be "brag sheets" for federal executives with exaggerated successes.
About half of the group used podcasts, although some saw podcasts as "propaganda," Telework Exchange said.
There was also an "obvious disdain" for print publications, Telework Exchange said. "If you are reading a magazine or newspaper, it looks like you are goofing off," one IT worker said. "If you are reading your screen, [it] looks like you are working."
Telework Exchange predicted that when this generation of young government IT workers is in charge, they will try to steer procurement and development processes to be more like the private sector. They will focus on information sharing and knowledge management, and they will look for employers who provide a work/life balance, the group predicted.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
AT&T to hike prices on dial-up
AT&T will jack up its rates for dial-up Internet access by as much as 60 percent on Dec. 1, going well above the price of faster DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) in many cases.
Customers who are now charged US$9.99 per month will start paying $15.95, and the $15.95 customers will see their bills go up to $22.95, said company representative Dan Callahan. $22.95 is the flat rate for all new customers, up from $21.95. AT&T made the change to be competitive with other dial-up providers, Callahan said. The lower rates are left over from previous carriers that have been absorbed into AT&T, namely BellSouth, he said.
AT&T offers basic DSL for as little as $10 per month for new customers, with some conditions. But the dial-up price hike is bad news for some AT&T customers in areas where DSL isn't available. One user complained about it on the forum BroadbandReports, saying he would have already signed up for DSL if he could have. "For a buck less, I could have service that is 15 times faster," wrote the customer, who used the screen name "GorbGuy."
Traditional carriers and other service providers have been backing away from their dial-up offerings as more Internet users adopt broadband. With the market penetration of DSL and cable Internet service in the U.S. at 50 percent to 60 percent, nearing the percentage of people who have PCs, dial-up is becoming a niche market, said Ovum analyst Mark Seery. Carriers don't like serving that market because, like any large corporation, they're interested in doing one thing, he said.
"Any time something becomes not the biggest part of what you're doing, it becomes potentially subscale and inefficient," Seery said.
In addition, they can't upsell customers to additional services such as video on demand until they're on broadband, he said. And their dial-up customers aren't a captive audience, because there are many competitive providers of the service, due to technical and legal factors, he added.
DSL providers have already tried low introductory prices on DSL, such as AT&T's $10 offer, to entice their dial-up customers to switch.
"I think they think the people who remain on dial-up are not looking to move to broadband," Seery said. "Perhaps the only way to get them to move to broadband is to raise the prices."
Competition is the good news for those who want to remain on dial-up. Juno, for example, offers a service for $9.95 per month for the first 12 months and $14.95 per month thereafter. Most dial-up providers include a variety of e-mail, storage and security features. But even the major competitive ISPs (Internet service providers) are steering customers toward broadband. EarthLink, for example, offers dial-up at a $9.95 introductory rate and then $21.95 per month. Its broadband plans start as low as $12.95 per month.
Customers who are now charged US$9.99 per month will start paying $15.95, and the $15.95 customers will see their bills go up to $22.95, said company representative Dan Callahan. $22.95 is the flat rate for all new customers, up from $21.95. AT&T made the change to be competitive with other dial-up providers, Callahan said. The lower rates are left over from previous carriers that have been absorbed into AT&T, namely BellSouth, he said.
AT&T offers basic DSL for as little as $10 per month for new customers, with some conditions. But the dial-up price hike is bad news for some AT&T customers in areas where DSL isn't available. One user complained about it on the forum BroadbandReports, saying he would have already signed up for DSL if he could have. "For a buck less, I could have service that is 15 times faster," wrote the customer, who used the screen name "GorbGuy."
Traditional carriers and other service providers have been backing away from their dial-up offerings as more Internet users adopt broadband. With the market penetration of DSL and cable Internet service in the U.S. at 50 percent to 60 percent, nearing the percentage of people who have PCs, dial-up is becoming a niche market, said Ovum analyst Mark Seery. Carriers don't like serving that market because, like any large corporation, they're interested in doing one thing, he said.
"Any time something becomes not the biggest part of what you're doing, it becomes potentially subscale and inefficient," Seery said.
In addition, they can't upsell customers to additional services such as video on demand until they're on broadband, he said. And their dial-up customers aren't a captive audience, because there are many competitive providers of the service, due to technical and legal factors, he added.
DSL providers have already tried low introductory prices on DSL, such as AT&T's $10 offer, to entice their dial-up customers to switch.
"I think they think the people who remain on dial-up are not looking to move to broadband," Seery said. "Perhaps the only way to get them to move to broadband is to raise the prices."
Competition is the good news for those who want to remain on dial-up. Juno, for example, offers a service for $9.95 per month for the first 12 months and $14.95 per month thereafter. Most dial-up providers include a variety of e-mail, storage and security features. But even the major competitive ISPs (Internet service providers) are steering customers toward broadband. EarthLink, for example, offers dial-up at a $9.95 introductory rate and then $21.95 per month. Its broadband plans start as low as $12.95 per month.
HP looks to gain greater stake in IT automation market
IDG News Service 11/26/07
Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service, Boston Bureau
HP on Monday announced a suite of software aimed at capturing a stronger stake in the burgeoning IT automation market.
The suite, dubbed Automated Operations 1.0, includes HP Business Service Automation, which incorporates the data-center automation technology HP acquired from buying Opsware earlier this year. With it, users can manage IT processes and generate automated workflows that span a number of systems and teams, according to HP. The product allows customers to record all configuration and change activities.
The suite also includes Service Manager 7.0 and Decision Center 2.0. In addition, HP announced Blueprint and Training for Service Manager 7.0, and IT Service Management Assessment Services.
"It's looking like a very good first step toward an integrated product suite," said Chip Gliedman, an analyst with Forrester Research.
Evelyn Hubbert, another Forrester analyst, said Opsware's technology amounted to the "blue ribbon" on HP's automation product lineup.
HP is battling BMC, CA and IBM within the IT automation space. "You've got four companies in basically a catfight. [HP has] as good a set of solutions and set of chances as everybody," Gliedman said.
But the market is big enough for multiple large players, according to the analyst. "The footprint for these types of solutions is a lot broader than just the help desk," he said.
Broad IT automation suites like HP's entry may have most appeal among larger enterprises with more than 5,000 employees, Gliedman said: "You're also talking about fairly distributed IT staffs [in those organizations]. Putting in frameworks so that nothing falls through the cracks? It'll pay itself back."
Hubbert said IT automation makes sense in general, because it saves manpower from getting bogged down in simple tasks, such as removing an employee profile from the system following their departure from the firm. "The people who are coding theses things today have much more advanced degrees. This is a chance for those people to do much more important things," she said.
HP did not provide pricing information or details on availability.
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