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Virtualized desktops are generally hosted on a remote central server, rather than the hard drive of the personal computer. Because the client-server computing model is used in virtualizing desktops, desktop virtualization is also known as client virtualization.\r\nDesktop virtualization provides a way for users to maintain their individual desktops on a single, central server. The users may be connected to the central server through a LAN, WAN or over the Internet.\r\nDesktop virtualization has many benefits, including a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), increased security, reduced energy costs, reduced downtime and centralized management.\r\nLimitations of desktop virtualization include difficulty in maintenance and set up of printer drivers; increased downtime in case of network failures; complexity and costs involved in VDI deployment and security risks in the event of improper network management.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are types of desktop virtualization technologies?</span>\r\nHost-based forms of desktop virtualization require that users view and interact with their virtual desktops over a network by using a remote display protocol. Because processing takes place in a data center, client devices can be traditional PCs, but also thin clients, zero clients, smartphones and tablets. Examples of host-based desktop virtualization technology include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Host-based virtual machines:</span> Each user connects to an individual VM that is hosted in a data center. The user may connect to the same VM every time, allowing for personalization (known as a persistent desktop), or be given a fresh VM at each login (a nonpersistent desktop).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Shared hosted:</span> Users connect to a shared desktop that runs on a server. Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, formerly Terminal Services, takes this client-server approach. Users may also connect to individual applications running on a server; this technology is an example of application virtualization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Host-based physical machines:</span> The operating system runs directly on another device's physical hardware.\r\nClient virtualization requires processing to occur on local hardware; the use of thin clients, zero clients and mobile devices is not possible. These types of desktop virtualization include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">OS image streaming:</span> The operating system runs on local hardware, but it boots to a remote disk image across the network. This is useful for groups of desktops that use the same disk image. OS image streaming, also known as remote desktop virtualization, requires a constant network connection in order to function.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Client-based virtual machines:</span> A VM runs on a fully functional PC, with a hypervisor in place. Client-based virtual machines can be managed by regularly syncing the disk image with a server, but a constant network connection is not necessary in order for them to function.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Desktop virtualization vs. virtual desktop infrastructure</span>\r\nThe terms <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">desktop virtualization</span> and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same. While VDI is a type of desktop virtualization, not all desktop virtualization uses VDI.\r\nVDI refers to the use of host-based VMs to deliver virtual desktops, which emerged in 2006 as an alternative to Terminal Services and Citrix's client-server approach to desktop virtualization technology. 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By using cloud computing, users and companies don't have to manage physical servers themselves or run software applications on their own machines.\r\nThe cloud enables users to access the same files and applications from almost any device, because the computing and storage take place on servers in a data center, instead of locally on the user device. This is why a user can log into their Instagram account on a new phone after their old phone breaks and still find their old account in place, with all their photos, videos, and conversation history. It works the same way with cloud email providers like Gmail or Microsoft Office 365, and with cloud storage providers like Dropbox or Google Drive.\r\nFor businesses, switching to cloud computing removes some IT costs and overhead: for instance, they no longer need to update and maintain their own servers, as the cloud vendor they are using will do that. This especially makes an impact on small businesses that may not have been able to afford their own internal infrastructure but can outsource their infrastructure needs affordably via the cloud. The cloud can also make it easier for companies to operate internationally because employees and customers can access the same files and applications from any location.\r\nSeveral cloud providers offer virtual machines to their customers. These virtual machines typically live on powerful servers that can act as a host to multiple VMs and can be used for a variety of reasons that wouldn’t be practical with a locally-hosted VM. These include:\r\n<ul><li>Running SaaS applications - Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS for short, is a cloud-based method of providing software to users. SaaS users subscribe to an application rather than purchasing it once and installing it. These applications are generally served to the user over the Internet. Often, it is virtual machines in the cloud that are doing the computation for SaaS applications as well as delivering them to users. If the cloud provider has a geographically distributed network edge, then the application will run closer to the user, resulting in faster performance.</li><li>Backing up data - Cloud-based VM services are very popular for backing up data because the data can be accessed from anywhere. Plus, cloud VMs provide better redundancy, require less maintenance, and generally scale better than physical data centers. 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If the user wants to download a file, the OS will partition space on the hard drive for that file. The OS also runs and manages other pieces of software. For example, it can run a web browser and provide the browser with enough random access memory (RAM) to operate smoothly. Typically, operating systems exist within a physical computer at a one-to-one ratio; for each machine, there is a single OS managing its physical resources.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can you have two or more operating systems on one computer?</span>\r\nSome users want to be able to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on one computer, either for testing or one of the other reasons listed in the section below. This can be achieved through a process called virtualization. In virtualization, a piece of software behaves as if it were an independent computer. This piece of software is called a virtual machine, also known as a ‘guest’ computer. (The computer on which the VM is running is called the ‘host’.) The guest has an OS as well as its own virtual hardware.\r\n‘Virtual hardware’ may sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but it works by mapping to real hardware on the host computer. For example, the VM’s ‘hard drive’ is really just a file on the host computer’s hard drive. When the VM wants to save a new file, it actually has to communicate with the host OS, which will write this file to the host hard drive. Because virtual hardware must perform this added step of negotiating with the host to access hardware resources, virtual machines can’t run quite as fast as their host computers.\r\nWith virtualization, one computer can run two or more operating systems. The number of VMs that can run on one host is limited only by the host’s available resources. The user can run the OS of a VM in a window like any other program, or they can run it in fullscreen so that it looks and feels like a genuine host OS.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are virtual machines used for?</span>\r\nSome of the most popular reasons people run virtual machines include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Testing</span> - Oftentimes software developers want to be able to test their applications in different environments. They can use virtual machines to run their applications in various OSes on one computer. This is simpler and more cost-effective than having to test on several different physical machines.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Running software designed for other OSes</span> - Although certain software applications are only available for a single platform, a VM can run software designed for a different OS. For example, a Mac user who wants to run software designed for Windows can run a Windows VM on their Mac host.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Running outdated software</span> - Some pieces of older software can’t be run in modern OSes. Users who want to run these applications can run an old OS on a virtual machine.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Virtual_machine_and_cloud_system_software.png","alias":"virtual-machine-and-cloud-system-software"},"3":{"id":3,"title":"MDM - Mobile Device Management","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mobile device management (MDM)</span> is an industry term for the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers and laptops. Device management system is usually implemented with the use of a third party product that has management features for particular vendors of mobile devices.\r\nMDM is typically a deployment of a combination of on-device applications and configurations, corporate policies and certificates, and backend infrastructure, for the purpose of simplifying and enhancing the IT management of end user devices. In modern corporate IT environments, the sheer number and diversity of managed devices (and user behavior) has motivated device management tools that allow the management of devices and users in a consistent and scalable way. The overall role of MDM is to increase device supportability, security, and corporate functionality while maintaining some user flexibility.\r\nMany organizations administer devices and applications using MDM products/services. Mobile device management software primarily deals with corporate data segregation, securing emails, securing corporate documents on devices, enforcing corporate policies, integrating and managing mobile devices including laptops and handhelds of various categories. MDM implementations may be either on-premises or cloud-based.\r\nMDM functionality can include over-the-air distribution of applications, data and configuration settings for all types of mobile devices, including mobile phones, smartphones, tablet computers, ruggedized mobile computers, mobile printers, mobile POS devices, etc. Most recently laptops and desktops have been added to the list of systems supported as Mobile Device Management becomes more about basic device management and less about the mobile platform itself. \r\nSome of the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">core functions</span> of mobile management software include:\r\n<ul><li>Ensuring that diverse user equipment is configured to a consistent standard/supported set of applications, functions, or corporate policies</li><li>Updating equipment, applications, functions, or policies in a scalable manner</li><li>Ensuring that users use applications in a consistent and supportable manner</li><li>Ensuring that equipment performs consistently</li><li>Monitoring and tracking equipment (e.g. location, status, ownership, activity)</li><li>Being able to efficiently diagnose and troubleshoot equipment remotely</li></ul>\r\nDevice management solutions are leveraged for both company-owned and employee-owned (Bring Your Own Device) devices across the enterprise or mobile devices owned by consumers. Consumer demand for BYOD is now requiring a greater effort for MDM and increased security for both the devices and the enterprise they connect to, especially since employers and employees have different expectations concerning the types of restrictions that should be applied to mobile devices.\r\nBy controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings of all mobile devices in a network, enterprise device management software can reduce support costs and business risks. The intent of MDM is to optimize the functionality and security of a mobile communications network while minimizing cost and downtime.\r\nWith mobile devices becoming ubiquitous and applications flooding the market, mobile monitoring is growing in importance. The use of mobile device management across continues to grow at a steady pace, and is likely to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 23% through 2028. The US will continue to be the largest market for mobile device management globally. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">How Mobile Device Management works?</h1>\r\nMobile device management relies on endpoint software called an MDM agent and an MDM server that lives in a data center. IT administrators configure policies through the MDM server's management console, and the server then pushes those policies over the air to the MDM agent on the device. The agent applies the policies to the device by communicating with application programming interfaces (APIs) built directly into the device operating system.\r\nSimilarly, IT administrators can deploy applications to managed devices through the MDM server. Mobile software management emerged in the early 2000s as a way to control and secure the personal digital assistants and smartphones that business workers began to use. The consumer smartphone boom that started with the launch of the Apple iPhone in 2007 led to the bring your own device trend, which fueled further interest in MDM.\r\nModern MDM management software supports not only smartphones but also tablets, Windows 10 and macOS computers and even some internet of things devices. The practice of using MDM to control PCs is known as unified endpoint management.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Key Benefits of Mobile Device Management Software</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduce IT Administration.</span> Instead of manually configuring and testing each new mobile device, mobile device software takes care of the repetitive tasks for you. That gives IT staff more time to work on challenging projects that improve productivity.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span> \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Improve End-user Productivity. </span>Mobile device management helps end users become more productive because the process of requesting new mobile devices can be cut down from days to hours. Once end users have the device in their hands, mobile device management program helps them get set up on their corporate network much faster. That means less time waiting to get access to email, internal websites, and calendars.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span> \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduce IT Risk.</span> Mobile devices, especially if your organization allows “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD), create increased risk exposures. Typically, IT managers respond to these risks in one of two ways, neither of which help. First, you may say “no” to mobile device requests. That’s a fast way to become unpopular. Second, you may take a manual approach to review and oversee each device.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span> \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Enable Enterprise Growth. </span>If your enterprise added a thousand employees this quarter through hiring, acquisition, or other changes, could IT handle the challenge? If you’re honest, you can probably imagine going through plenty of struggles and missing SLAs. That kind of disappointment and missed service expectations make end users respect IT less. \r\nBy using enterprise device management thoroughly, you'll enable enterprise growth. You'll have the systems and processes to manage 100 users or 10,000 users. That means IT will be perceived as enabling growth not standing in the way.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MDM_Mobile_Device_Management.png","alias":"mdm-mobile-device-management"},"4":{"id":4,"title":"Data center","description":" A data center (or datacenter) is a facility composed of networked computers and storage that businesses or other organizations use to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data. A business typically relies heavily upon the applications, services and data contained within a data center, making it a focal point and critical asset for everyday operations.\r\nData centers are not a single thing, but rather, a conglomeration of elements. At a minimum, data centers serve as the principal repositories for all manner of IT equipment, including servers, storage subsystems, networking switches, routers and firewalls, as well as the cabling and physical racks used to organize and interconnect the IT equipment. A data center must also contain an adequate infrastructure, such as power distribution and supplemental power subsystems, including electrical switching; uninterruptable power supplies; backup generators and so on; ventilation and data center cooling systems, such as computer room air conditioners; and adequate provisioning for network carrier (telco) connectivity. All of this demands a physical facility with physical security and sufficient physical space to house the entire collection of infrastructure and equipment.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the requirements for modern data centers?</span>\r\nModernization and data center transformation enhances performance and energy efficiency.\r\nInformation security is also a concern, and for this reason a data center has to offer a secure environment which minimizes the chances of a security breach. A data center must therefore keep high standards for assuring the integrity and functionality of its hosted computer environment.\r\nIndustry research company International Data Corporation (IDC) puts the average age of a data center at nine years old. Gartner, another research company, says data centers older than seven years are obsolete. The growth in data (163 zettabytes by 2025) is one factor driving the need for data centers to modernize.\r\nFocus on modernization is not new: Concern about obsolete equipment was decried in 2007, and in 2011 Uptime Institute was concerned about the age of the equipment therein. By 2018 concern had shifted once again, this time to the age of the staff: "data center staff are aging faster than the equipment."\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Meeting standards for data centers</span></span>\r\nThe Telecommunications Industry Association's Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers specifies the minimum requirements for telecommunications infrastructure of data centers and computer rooms including single tenant enterprise data centers and multi-tenant Internet hosting data centers. The topology proposed in this document is intended to be applicable to any size data center.\r\nTelcordia GR-3160, NEBS Requirements for Telecommunications Data Center Equipment and Spaces, provides guidelines for data center spaces within telecommunications networks, and environmental requirements for the equipment intended for installation in those spaces. These criteria were developed jointly by Telcordia and industry representatives. They may be applied to data center spaces housing data processing or Information Technology (IT) equipment. The equipment may be used to:\r\n<ul><li>Operate and manage a carrier's telecommunication network</li><li>Provide data center based applications directly to the carrier's customers</li><li>Provide hosted applications for a third party to provide services to their customers</li><li>Provide a combination of these and similar data center applications</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data center transformation</span></span>\r\nData center transformation takes a step-by-step approach through integrated projects carried out over time. This differs from a traditional method of data center upgrades that takes a serial and siloed approach. The typical projects within a data center transformation initiative include standardization/consolidation, virtualization, automation and security.\r\n<ul><li>Standardization/consolidation: Reducing the number of data centers and avoiding server sprawl (both physical and virtual) often includes replacing aging data center equipment, and is aided by standardization.</li><li>Virtualization: Lowers capital and operational expenses, reduce energy consumption. Virtualized desktops can be hosted in data centers and rented out on a subscription basis. Investment bank Lazard Capital Markets estimated in 2008 that 48 percent of enterprise operations will be virtualized by 2012. Gartner views virtualization as a catalyst for modernization.</li><li>Automating: Automating tasks such as provisioning, configuration, patching, release management and compliance is needed, not just when facing fewer skilled IT workers.</li><li>Securing: Protection of virtual systems is integrated with existing security of physical infrastructures.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Machine room</span></span>\r\nThe term "Machine Room" is at times used to refer to the large room within a Data Center where the actual Central Processing Unit is located; this may be separate from where high-speed printers are located. Air conditioning is most important in the machine room.\r\nAside from air-conditioning, there must be monitoring equipment, one type of which is to detect water prior to flood-level situations. One company, for several decades, has had share-of-mind: Water Alert. The company, as of 2018, has 2 competing manufacturers (Invetex, Hydro-Temp) and 3 competing distributors (Longden,Northeast Flooring, Slayton). ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_center.png","alias":"data-center"},"24":{"id":24,"title":"DLP - Data Leak Prevention","description":"Data leak prevention (DLP) is a suite of technologies aimed at stemming the loss of sensitive information that occurs in enterprises across the globe. By focusing on the location, classification and monitoring of information at rest, in use and in motion, this solution can go far in helping an enterprise get a handle on what information it has, and in stopping the numerous leaks of information that occur each day. DLP is not a plug-and-play solution. The successful implementation of this technology requires significant preparation and diligent ongoing maintenance. Enterprises seeking to integrate and implement DLP should be prepared for a significant effort that, if done correctly, can greatly reduce risk to the organization. Those implementing the solution must take a strategic approach that addresses risks, impacts and mitigation steps, along with appropriate governance and assurance measures.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How to protect the company from internal threats associated with leakage of confidential information?</span>\r\nIn order to protect against any threat, you must first realize its presence. Unfortunately, not always the management of companies is able to do this if it comes to information security threats. The key to successfully protecting against information leaks and other threats lies in the skillful use of both organizational and technical means of monitoring personnel actions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How should the personnel management system in the company be organized to minimize the risks of leakage of confidential information?</span>\r\nA company must have a special employee responsible for information security, and a large department must have a department directly reporting to the head of the company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which industry representatives are most likely to encounter confidential information leaks?</span>\r\nMore than others, representatives of such industries as industry, energy, and retail trade suffer from leaks. Other industries traditionally exposed to leakage risks — banking, insurance, IT — are usually better at protecting themselves from information risks, and for this reason they are less likely to fall into similar situations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What should be adequate measures to protect against leakage of information for an average company?</span>\r\nFor each organization, the question of protection measures should be worked out depending on the specifics of its work, but developing information security policies, instructing employees, delineating access to confidential data and implementing a DLP system are necessary conditions for successful leak protection for any organization. Among all the technical means to prevent information leaks, the DLP system is the most effective today, although its choice must be taken very carefully to get the desired result. So, it should control all possible channels of data leakage, support automatic detection of confidential information in outgoing traffic, maintain control of work laptops that temporarily find themselves outside the corporate network...\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Is it possible to give protection against information leaks to outsourcing?</span>\r\nFor a small company, this may make sense because it reduces costs. However, it is necessary to carefully select the service provider, preferably before receiving recommendations from its current customers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What data channels need to be monitored to prevent leakage of confidential information?</span>\r\nAll channels used by employees of the organization - e-mail, Skype, HTTP World Wide Web protocol ... It is also necessary to monitor the information recorded on external storage media and sent to print, plus periodically check the workstation or laptop of the user for files that are there saying should not.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What to do when the leak has already happened?</span>\r\nFirst of all, you need to notify those who might suffer - silence will cost your reputation much more. Secondly, you need to find the source and prevent further leakage. Next, you need to assess where the information could go, and try to somehow agree that it does not spread further. In general, of course, it is easier to prevent the leakage of confidential information than to disentangle its consequences.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_Leak_Prevention.png","alias":"dlp-data-leak-prevention"},"25":{"id":25,"title":"Web filtering","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Web filtering</span> is a technology that stops users from viewing certain URLs or websites by preventing their browsers from loading pages from these sites. Web filters are made in different ways and deliver various solutions for individual, family, institutional or enterprise use.\r\nIn general, Web filters work in two distinct ways. They can <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">block content</span> as determined by quality of the site, by consulting known lists which document and categorize popular pages across all genres of content. Or, they can <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">evaluate the content</span> of the page live and block it accordingly. Many Web filter tools work off of a constantly updated URL database that shows which websites and domains are associated with hosting malware, phishing, viruses or other tools for harmful activities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web Filtering Types.</span> <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Blacklist & Whitelist Filters:</span>when using blacklists, an administrator (which might be a parent) manually enters all websites that are deemed inappropriate into the program, and those sites are subsequently blocked. Whitelists are used in exactly the same way, only in reverse – i.e. URLs are manually entered onto a whitelist, and all other websites are then off-limits.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Keyword And Content Filters: </span>this type of filtering is in many ways similar to black and whitelist filtering, though with a slightly broader scope. Keyword and content filters will filter out websites that contain specific keywords or predefined content (such as pornography, for example).\r\nSome website filtering software also provides reporting so that the installer can see what kind of traffic is being filtered and who has requested it. Some products provide soft blocking (in which a warning page is sent to the user instead of the requested page while still allowing access to the page) and an override capability that allows an administrator to unlock a page. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Web Filtering Software for Business.</span> Most organizations have moved to cloud based-applications, making browsers a tool that employees use on a daily basis to access work. Browsers have become a conduit to not only the cloud, but also to immeasurable malware and distractions hosted on the web. In order to ensure that browsers do not bring in malicious traffic, web filtering software becomes necessary.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is Enterprise Web Filtering Software?</h1>\r\nAntivirus and antimalware software are required to detect malicious programs that has been downloaded, but it is now important for enterprise web filtering software to be installed. Content filtering software is an invaluable protection against a wide range of web-borne threats. Rather than allowing malware and ransomware to be downloaded, it prevents end users from visiting websites that contain these malicious threats.\r\nInternet filtering software is also one of the most effective ways to neutralize the threat from phishing. Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals to gain access to sensitive user information. Phishers trick end users into revealing login credentials or downloading malicious software onto their computers.\r\nPhishing involves sophisticated social engineering techniques to fool end users into visiting malicious websites. If employees can be convinced to reveal sensitive information or download ransomware or malware, cybercriminals can easily bypass even the most sophisticated of cybersecurity defenses.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is URL Filtering?</h1>\r\nURL filtering is a type of network filtering software that helps businesses control their users’ and guests’ ability to access certain content on the web. If you’ve ever gotten a “block” page while surfing the internet at the office, then your company is using web filtering.\r\nSome employers may only be concerned about blocking access to websites that are known to spread malware or steal information. Other businesses may block content they find inappropriate, such as adult websites or sites that promote violence, or content that violates compliance regulations. They may also choose to activate web protection software to block social media or video streaming sites to minimize drains on productivity and network bandwidth.\r\nTypically, URL filtering software is provided by a cybersecurity service, firewall, or router. Each of these may use a variety of threat intelligence sources to determine which websites fit into their chosen acceptable and unacceptable categories. That’s where highly reliable web reputation services are most valuable. Sources that have extensive web histories and real-time active crawling services will provide the most accurate content determinations.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Web_filtering.png","alias":"web-filtering"},"27":{"id":27,"title":"ODMS - Operational Database Management System","description":"Operational database management systems (also referred to as OLTP On-Line Transaction Processing databases) are used to update data in real-time. These types of databases allow users to do more than simply view archived data. Operational databases allow you to modify that data (add, change or delete data), doing it in real-time. OLTP databases provide transactions as the main abstraction to guarantee data consistency that guarantees the so-called ACID properties. Basically, the consistency of the data is guaranteed in the case of failures and/or concurrent access to the data.\r\nSince the early 90s, the operational database software market has been largely taken over by SQL engines. Today, the operational DBMS market (formerly OLTP) is evolving dramatically, with new, innovative entrants and incumbents supporting the growing use of unstructured data and NoSQL DBMS engines, as well as XML databases and NewSQL databases. NoSQL databases typically have focused on scalability and have renounced to data consistency by not providing transactions as OLTP systems do. Operational databases are increasingly supporting distributed database architecture that can leverage distribution to provide high availability and fault tolerance through replication and scale-out ability.\r\nThe growing role of operational databases in the IT industry is moving fast from legacy databases to real-time operational databases capable to handle distributed web and mobile demand and to address Big data challenges. Recognizing this, Gartner started to publish the Magic Quadrant for Operational Database Management Systems in October 2013.\r\nOperational databases are used to store, manage and track real-time business information. For example, a company might have an operational database used to track warehouse/stock quantities. As customers order products from an online web store, an operational database can be used to keep track of how many items have been sold and when the company will need to reorder stock. An operational database stores information about the activities of an organization, for example, customer relationship management transactions or financial operations, in a computer database.\r\nOperational databases allow a business to enter, gather, and retrieve large quantities of specific information, such as company legal data, financial data, call data records, personal employee information, sales data, customer data, data on assets and much other information. An important feature of storing information in an operational database is the ability to share information across the company and over the Internet. Operational databases can be used to manage mission-critical business data, to monitor activities, to audit suspicious transactions, or to review the history of dealings with a particular customer. They can also be part of the actual process of making and fulfilling a purchase, for example in e-commerce.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is DBMS used for?</span>\r\nDBMS, commonly known as Database Management System, is an application system whose main purpose revolves around the data. This is a system that allows its users to store the data, define it, retrieve it and update the information about the data inside the database.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is meant by a Database?</span>\r\nIn simple terms, Database is a collection of data in some organized way to facilitate its user’s to easily access, manage and upload the data.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is the use of DBMS recommended? Explain by listing some of its major advantages.</span>\r\nSome of the major advantages of DBMS are as follows:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Controlled Redundancy:</span></span> DBMS supports a mechanism to control the redundancy of data inside the database by integrating all the data into a single database and as data is stored at only one place, the duplicity of data does not happen.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Sharing:</span></span> Sharing of data among multiple users simultaneously can also be done in DBMS as the same database will be shared among all the users and by different application programs.</li><li> Backup and Recovery Facility: DBMS minimizes the pain of creating the backup of data again and again by providing a feature of ‘backup and recovery’ which automatically creates the data backup and restores the data whenever required.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Enforcement of Integrity Constraints:</span></span> Integrity Constraints are very important to be enforced on the data so that the refined data after putting some constraints are stored in the database and this is followed by DBMS.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Independence of Data:</span></span> It simply means that you can change the structure of the data without affecting the structure of any of the application programs.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the purpose of normalization in DBMS?</span>\r\nNormalization is the process of analyzing the relational schemas which are based on their respective functional dependencies and the primary keys in order to fulfill certain properties.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The properties include:</span></span>\r\n<ul><li>To minimize the redundancy of the Data.</li><li>To minimize the Insert, Delete and Update Anomalies.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ODMS.png","alias":"odms-operational-database-management-system"},"32":{"id":32,"title":"IT outsourcing","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT outsourcing</span> is the use of external service providers to effectively deliver IT-enabled business process, application service and infrastructure solutions for business outcomes.\r\nOutsourcing, which also includes utility services, software as a service and cloud-enabled outsourcing, helps clients to develop the right sourcing strategies and vision, select the right IT service providers, structure the best possible contracts, and govern deals for sustainable win-win relationships with external providers.\r\nOutsourcing can enable enterprises to reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and take advantage of external expertise, assets and/or intellectual property. IT outsourcing can be implemented both ways: outsides or within the country. \r\nIT outsourcing vendors can provide either a fully managed service, meaning they take full responsibility of all IT maintenance and support, or they can provide additional support for an internal IT team when needed, which is known as co-sourced IT support. A company using IT outsourcing can choose to use one provider for all their IT functions or split the work among multiple providers. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Specific IT services typically outsourced include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Application development</li><li>Web hosting</li><li>Application support</li><li>Database development</li><li>Telecommunications</li><li>Networking</li><li>Disaster recovery</li><li>Security</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reasons for Outsourcing</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Reduce Cost.</span> More often than not, outsourcing means saving money. This is often due to lower labor costs, cheaper infrastructure, or an advantageous tax system in the outsourcing location.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Access Skills That Are Unavailable Locally.</span> Resources that are scarce at home can sometimes be found in abundance elsewhere, meaning you can easily reach them through outsourcing.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Better Use Internal Resources</span>. By delegating some of your business processes to a third party, you’ll give your in-house employees the opportunity to focus on more meaningful tasks.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Accelerate Business Processes.</span> When you stop wasting time on mundane, time-consuming processes, you’ll be able to move forward with your core offering a lot faster.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Share Risks.</span> When you delegate a part of non-focus functionality by outsourcing it to a third-party vendor, you give away the responsibility and related risks.","materialsDescription":"<h3 class=\"align-center\">What are the Types of IT Outsourcing?</h3>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project-Based Model.</span> The client hires a team to implement the part of work that is already planned and defined. The project manager from the outsourced team carries full responsibility for the quality and performance of the project.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dedicated Team Model.</span> The client hires a team that will create a project for them, and they will work only on that project. Unlike the project-based model, a dedicated team is more engaged in your project. In this model, an outsourced team becomes your technical and product advisor. So it can offer ideas and suggest alternative solutions.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Outstaff Model.</span> It's a type of outsourcing in IT when you don't need a full-fledged development team and hire separate specialists. Sometimes the project requires finding a couple of additional professionals, and you're free to hire outstaff workers to cover that scope of work.</p>\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are IT Outsourcing examples?</span></h3>\r\nThe individual or company that becomes your outsourcing partner can be located anywhere in the world — one block away from your office or on another continent.\r\nA Bay Area-based startup partnering with an app development team in Utah and a call center in the Philippines, or a UK-based digital marketing agency hiring a Magento developer from Ukraine are both examples of outsourcing.\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\">Why You Should Use IT Outsourcing</h3>\r\nNow that you know what IT outsourcing is, its models, and types, it's time to clarify why you need to outsource and whether you really need it. Let's go over a few situations that suggest when to opt for IT outsourcing.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You are a domain expert with idea</span></li></ul>\r\nIf you're an industry expert with the idea that solves a real problem, IT outsourcing is your choice. In this case, your main goal is to enter the market and test the solution fast. An outsourced team will help you validate the idea, build an MVP to check the hypothesis, and implement changes in your product according to market needs. It saves you money, time and lets you reach the goal.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You have an early-stage startup</span></li></ul>\r\nIt's a common case that young startups spend money faster than they get a solid team and a ready-to-market product. The Failory found that financial problems are the 3rd reason why startup fails. So it makes more sense to reduce costs by hiring an outsourced team of professionals while your business lives on investor's money. You may employ a full-cycle product development studio covering all the blind spots and bringing your product to life.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You need a technical support</span></li></ul>\r\nEven if you already have a ready solution, but it demands some technical improvements – frameworks for backend components, new language, integrations with enterprise software, UX&UI design – it makes more sense to find an experienced partner. There are many functions that IT outsourcing can cover, and again it saves you the time you'd otherwise spend on looking for qualified staff.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_outsourcing.png","alias":"it-outsourcing"},"33":{"id":33,"title":"UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply","description":"An uninterruptible power supply (UPS), also known as a battery backup, provides backup power when your regular power source fails or voltage drops to an unacceptable level. A UPS allows for the safe, orderly shutdown of a computer and connected equipment. The size and design of a UPS determine how long it will supply power.\r\nDifferent UPS topologies provide specific levels of power protection.\r\nStandby is the most basic UPS topology. A standby UPS resorts to battery backup power in the event of common power problems such as a blackout, voltage sag, or voltage surge. When incoming utility power drops below or surges above safe voltage levels, the UPS switches to DC battery power and then inverts it to AC power to run connected equipment. These models are designed for consumer electronics, entry-level computers, POS systems, security systems, and other basic electronic equipment.\r\nA line-interactive UPS incorporates technology which allows it to correct minor power fluctuations (under-voltages and over voltages) without switching to battery. This type of UPS has an autotransformer that regulates low voltages (e.g., brownouts) and over voltages (e.g., swells) without having to switch to battery. Line-interactive UPS models are typically used for consumer electronics, PCs, gaming systems, home theater electronics, network equipment, and entry-to-mid-range servers. They provide power during such events as a blackout, voltage sag, voltage surge, or over-voltage.\r\nA double-conversion (online) UPS provides consistent, clean, and near-perfect power regardless of the condition of incoming power. This UPS converts incoming AC power to DC, and then back to AC. UPS systems with this technology operate on isolated DC power 100 percent of the time and have a zero transfer time because they never need to switch to DC power. Double-conversion UPS systems are designed to protect mission-critical IT equipment, data center installations, high-end servers, large telecom installations and storage applications, and advanced network equipment from damage caused by a power blackout, voltage sag, voltage surge, over-voltage, voltage spike, frequency noise, frequency variation, or harmonic distortion.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a UPS system?</span>\r\nUPS stands for an uninterruptible power supply. This means that a UPS system is designed to keep the power running at all times. For instance, load shedding will be a problem of the past with our wide variety of products and solutions keeping your business moving.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is a UPS used?</span>\r\nUPS systems can be used anywhere that needs to ensure that the power stays on. The most common applications are where power is critical to avoid infrastructure damage e.g. Data centers and manufacturing facilities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between a battery and a UPS?</span>\r\nA battery is a device that stores energy, a UPS detects when there is no longer any power coming from the mains and switches over to the UPS batteries.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can I use a UPS for 6-7 hours?</span>\r\nIf the power requirement is low and the UPS is overrated, possibly, but normally running a UPS for this long requires so many UPS batteries it becomes unfeasible both financially and physically. It would be best to run a standby generator alongside your UPS to achieve this.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between a UPS and an Inverter?</span>\r\nThe UPS and inverter both provide the backup supply to the electrical system. The major difference between the UPS and inverter is that the UPS switches from the main supply to the battery immediately, but the inverter takes much longer.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a non-critical load in a power system?</span>\r\nA non-critical load is an electrical device or devices, that aren’t key to keeping a business running or won’t be damaged by a power cut. In short, it doesn’t matter if these devices lose power in an outage.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is backup power?</span>\r\nBackup power is a term that simply means, a source of power if the main power source fails. This can be anything from some AA batteries in your mains powered alarm clock to UPS system and standby generator that is connected to your data center.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between a standby generator and a UPS system?</span>\r\nWhile both protect against a power cut, a UPS is an immediate, short term solution, provide power straight away for as long as its UPS batteries have a charge. A standby generator is a longer turn solution, that is slower to start up but will provide power for as long as it has fuel.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_UPS.png","alias":"ups-uninterruptible-power-supply"},"34":{"id":34,"title":"ITSM - IT Service Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT service management (ITSM)</span> is the process of designing, delivering, managing, and improving the IT services an organization provides to its end users. ITSM is focused on aligning IT processes and services with business objectives to help an organization grow.\r\nITSM positions IT services as the key means of delivering and obtaining value, where an internal or external IT service provider works with business customers, at the same time taking responsibility for the associated costs and risks. ITSM works across the whole lifecycle of a service, from the original strategy, through design, transition and into live operation.\r\nTo ensure sustainable quality of IT services, ITSM establishes a set of practices, or processes, constituting a service management system. There are industrial, national and international standards for IT service management solutions, setting up requirements and good practices for the management system. \r\nITSM system is based on a set of principles, such as focusing on value and continual improvement. It is not just a set of processes – it is a cultural mindset to ensure that the desired outcome for the business is achieved. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library)</span> is a framework of best practices and recommendations for managing an organization's IT operations and services. IT service management processes, when built based on the ITIL framework, pave the way for better IT service operations management and improved business. To summarize, ITIL is a set of guidelines for effective IT service management best practices. ITIL has evolved beyond the delivery of services to providing end-to-end value delivery. The focus is now on the co-creation of value through service relationships. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM processes typically include five stages, all based on the ITIL framework:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ITSM strategy.</span> This stage forms the foundation or the framework of an organization's ITSM process building. It involves defining the services that the organization will offer, strategically planning processes, and recognizing and developing the required assets to keep processes moving. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service design.</span> This stage's main aim is planning and designing the IT services the organization offers to meet business demands. It involves creating and designing new services as well as assessing current services and making relevant improvements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service transition.</span> Once the designs for IT services and their processes have been finalized, it's important to build them and test them out to ensure that processes flow. IT teams need to ensure that the designs don't disrupt services in any way, especially when existing IT service processes are upgraded or redesigned. This calls for change management, evaluation, and risk management. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service operation. </span>This phase involves implementing the tried and tested new or modified designs in a live environment. While in this stage, the processes have already been tested and the issues fixed, but new processes are bound to have hiccups—especially when customers start using the services. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continual service improvement (CSI).</span> Implementing IT processes successfully shouldn't be the final stage in any organization. There's always room for improvement and new development based on issues that pop up, customer needs and demands, and user feedback.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of efficient ITSM processes</h1>\r\nIrrespective of the size of business, every organization is involved in IT service management in some way. ITSM ensures that incidents, service requests, problems, changes, and IT assets—in addition to other aspects of IT services—are managed in a streamlined way.\r\nIT teams in your organization can employ various workflows and best practices in ITSM, as outlined in ITIL. Effective IT service management can have positive effects on an IT organization's overall function.\r\nHere are the 10 key benefits of ITSM:\r\n<ul><li> Lower costs for IT operations</li><li> Higher returns on IT investments</li><li> Minimal service outages</li><li> Ability to establish well-defined, repeatable, and manageable IT processes</li><li> Efficient analysis of IT problems to reduce repeat incidents</li><li> Improved efficiency of IT help desk teams</li><li> Well-defined roles and responsibilities</li><li> Clear expectations on service levels and service availability</li><li> Risk-free implementation of IT changes</li><li> Better transparency into IT processes and services</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to choose an ITSM tool?</h1>\r\nWith a competent IT service management goal in mind, it's important to invest in a service desk solution that caters to your business needs. It goes without saying, with more than 150 service desk tools to choose from, selecting the right one is easier said than done. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an ITSM products:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Identify key processes and their dependencies. </span>Based on business goals, decide which key ITSM processes need to be implemented and chart out the integrations that need to be established to achieve those goals. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consult with ITSM experts.</span> Participate in business expos, webinars, demos, etc., and educate yourself about the various options that are available in the market. Reports from expert analysts such as Gartner and Forrester are particularly useful as they include reviews of almost every solution, ranked based on multiple criteria.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Choose a deployment option.</span> Every business has a different IT infrastructure model. Selecting an on-premises or software as a service (SaaS IT service management) tool depends on whether your business prefers to host its applications and data on its own servers or use a public or private cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Plan ahead for the future.</span> Although it's important to consider the "needs" primarily, you shouldn't rule out the secondary or luxury capabilities. If the ITSM tool doesn't have the potential to adapt to your needs as your organization grows, it can pull you back from progressing. Draw a clear picture of where your business is headed and choose an service ITSM that is flexible and technology-driven.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Don't stop with the capabilities of the ITSM tool.</span> It might be tempting to assess an ITSM tool based on its capabilities and features but it's important to evaluate the vendor of the tool. A good IT support team, and a vendor that is endorsed for their customer-vendor relationship can take your IT services far. Check Gartner's magic quadrant and other analyst reports, along with product and support reviews to ensure that the said tool provides good customer support.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ITSM.png","alias":"itsm-it-service-management"},"40":{"id":40,"title":"Endpoint security","description":"In network security, endpoint security refers to a methodology of protecting the corporate network when accessed via remote devices such as laptops or other wireless and mobile devices. Each device with a remote connecting to the network creates a potential entry point for security threats. Endpoint security is designed to secure each endpoint on the network created by these devices.\r\nUsually, endpoint security is a security system that consists of security software, located on a centrally managed and accessible server or gateway within the network, in addition to client software being installed on each of the endpoints (or devices). The server authenticates logins from the endpoints and also updates the device software when needed. While endpoint security software differs by vendor, you can expect most software offerings to provide antivirus, antispyware, firewall and also a host intrusion prevention system (HIPS).\r\nEndpoint security is becoming a more common IT security function and concern as more employees bring consumer mobile devices to work and companies allow its mobile workforce to use these devices on the corporate network.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are endpoint devices?</span>\r\nAny device that can connect to the central business network is considered an endpoint. Endpoint devices are potential entry points for cybersecurity threats and need strong protection because they are often the weakest link in network security.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is endpoint security management?</span>\r\nA set of rules defining the level of security that each device connected to the business network must comply with. These rules may include using an approved operating system (OS), installing a virtual private network (VPN), or running up-to-date antivirus software. If the device connecting to the network does not have the desired level of protection, it may have to connect via a guest network and have limited network access.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is endpoint security software?</span>\r\nPrograms that make sure your devices are protected. Endpoint protection software may be cloud-based and work as SaaS (Software as a Service). Endpoint security software can also be installed on each device separately as a standalone application.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is endpoint detection and response (EDR)?</span>\r\nEndpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions analyze files and programs, and report on any threats found. EDR solutions monitor continuously for advanced threats, helping to identify attacks at an early stage and respond rapidly to a range of threats.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Endpoint_security.png","alias":"endpoint-security"},"41":{"id":41,"title":"Antispam","description":"In each system, which involves the communication of users, there is always the problem of spam, or the mass mailing of unsolicited emails, which is solved using the antispam system. An antispam system is installed to catch and filter spam at different levels. Spam monitoring and identification are relevant on corporate servers that support corporate email, here the antispam system filters spam on the server before it reaches the mailbox. There are many programs that help to cope with this task, but not all of them are equally useful. The main objective of such programs is to stop sending unsolicited letters, however, the methods of assessing and suppressing such actions can be not only beneficial but also detrimental to your organization. So, depending on the rules and policies of mail servers, your server, or even a domain, may be blacklisted and the transfer of letters will be limited through it, and you may not even be warned about it.\r\nThe main types of installation and use of anti-spam systems:\r\n<ul><li>installation of specialized equipment, a gateway that filters mail before it reaches the server;</li><li>use of external antispam systems for analyzing emails and content;</li><li>setting up an antispam system with the ability to learn on the mail server itself;</li><li>installation of spam filtering software on the client’s computer.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Anti-spam technologies:</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Heuristic analysis</span>\r\nExtremely complex, highly intelligent technology for empirical analysis of all parts of a message: header fields, message bodies, etc. Not only the message itself is analyzed. The heuristic analyzer is constantly being improved, new rules are continuously added to it. It works “ahead of the curve” and makes it possible to recognize still unknown varieties of spam of a new generation before the release of available updates.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Filtering counteraction</span>\r\nThis is one of the most advanced and effective anti-spam technologies. It is to recognize the tricks resorted to by spammers to bypass anti-spam filters.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">HTML based analysis</span>\r\nHTML code comparable to samples of HTML signatures in antispam. Such a comparison, using the available data on the size of typical spam images, protects users from spam messages using HTML-code, which are often included in the online image.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spam detection technology for message envelopes</span>\r\nDetection of fakes in the "stamps" of SMTP-servers and in other elements of the e-mail header is the newest direction in the development of anti-spam methods. Email addresses can not be trusted. Fake emails contain more than just spam. For example, anonymous and even threats. Technologies of various anti-spam systems allow you to send such messages. Thus, it provides not only the economic movement, but also the protection of employees.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Semantic analysis</span>\r\nMeaning in words and phrases is compared with typical spam vocabulary. Comparison of provisions for a special dictionary, for expression and symbols.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Anti-camming technology</span>\r\nScamming is probably the most dangerous type of spam. All of them have the so-called "Nigerian letters", reports of winnings in the lottery, casino, fake letters and credit services.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Technical spam filtering</span>\r\nAutomatic notification of e-mail - bounce-messages - to inform users about the malfunction of the postal system (for example, non-delivery of address letters). Attackers can use similar messages. Under the guise of a technical notification, computer service or ordinary spam can penetrate the computer.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Antispam.png","alias":"antispam"},"42":{"id":42,"title":"UTM - Unified threat management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">UTM (Unified Threat Management)</span> system is a type of network hardware appliance, virtual appliance or cloud service that protects businesses from security threats in a simplified way by combining and integrating multiple security services and features.\r\nUnified threat management <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">devices </span>are often packaged as network security appliances that can help protect networks against combined security threats, including malware and attacks that simultaneously target separate parts of the network.\r\nUTM <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">cloud services</span> and virtual network appliances are becoming increasingly popular for network security, especially for smaller and medium-sized businesses. They both do away with the need for on-premises network security appliances, yet still provide centralized control and ease of use for building network security defense in depth. While UTM systems and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">next-generation firewalls (NGFWs)</span> are sometimes comparable, unified threat management device includes added security features that NGFWs don't offer.\r\nOriginally developed to fill the network security gaps left by traditional firewalls, NGFWs usually include application intelligence and intrusion prevention systems, as well as denial-of-service protection. Unified threat management devices offer multiple layers of network security, including next-generation firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, antivirus, virtual private networks (VPN), spam filtering and URL filtering for web content.\r\nUnified threat management appliance has gained traction in the industry due to the emergence of blended threats, which are combinations of different types of malware and attacks that target separate parts of the network simultaneously. By creating a single point of defense and providing a single console, unified security management make dealing with varied threats much easier.\r\nUnified threat management products provide increased protection and visibility, as well as control over network security, reducing complexity. Unified threat management system typically does this via inspection methods that address different types of threats. These methods include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Flow-based inspection,</span> also known as stream-based inspection, samples data that enters a UTM device, and then uses pattern matching to determine whether there is malicious content in the data flow.</li><li> <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Proxy-based inspection</span> acts as a proxy to reconstruct the content entering a UTM device, and then executes a full inspection of the content to search for potential security threats. If the content is clean, the device sends the content to the user. However, if a virus or other security threat is detected, the device removes the questionable content, and then sends the file or webpage to the user.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> How UTM is deployed?</h1>\r\nBusinesses can implement UTM as a UTM appliance that connects to a company's network, as a software program running on an existing network server, or as a service that works in a cloud environment.\r\nUTMs are particularly useful in organizations that have many branches or retail outlets that have traditionally used dedicated WAN, but are increasingly using public internet connections to the headquarters/data center. Using a UTM in these cases gives the business more insight and better control over the security of those branch or retail outlets.\r\nBusinesses can choose from one or more methods to deploy UTM to the appropriate platforms, but they may also find it most suitable to select a combination of platforms. Some of the options include installing unified threat management software on the company's servers in a data center; using software-based UTM products on cloud-based servers; using traditional UTM hardware appliances that come with preintegrated hardware and software; or using virtual appliances, which are integrated software suites that can be deployed in virtual environments.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Using a Unified Threat Management Solution</h1>\r\nUTM solutions offer unique benefits to small and medium businesses that are looking to enhance their security programs. Because the capabilities of multiple specialized programs are contained in a single appliance, UTM threat management reduces the complexity of a company’s security system. Similarly, having one program that controls security reduces the amount of training that employees receive when being hired or migrating to a new system and allows for easy management in the future. This can also save money in the long run as opposed to having to buy multiple devices.\r\nSome UTM solutions provide additional benefits for companies in strictly regulated industries. Appliances that use identity-based security to report on user activity while enabling policy creation based on user identity meet the requirements of regulatory compliance such as HIPPA, CIPA, and GLBA that require access controls and auditing that meet control data leakage.\r\nUTM solutions also help to protect networks against combined threats. These threats consist of different types of malware and attacks that target separate parts of the network simultaneously. When using separate appliances for each security wall, preventing these combined attacks can be difficult. This is because each security wall has to be managed individually in order to remain up-to-date with the changing security threats. Because it is a single point of defense, UTM’s make dealing with combined threats easier.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_UTM.jpg","alias":"utm-unified-threat-management"},"43":{"id":43,"title":"Data Encryption","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data encryption</span> translates data into another form, or code, so that only people with access to a secret key (formally called a decryption key) or password can read it. Encrypted data is commonly referred to as ciphertext, while unencrypted data is called plaintext. Currently, encryption is one of the most popular and effective data security methods used by organizations. \r\nTwo main types of data encryption exist - <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">asymmetric encryption</span>, also known as public-key encryption, and <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">symmetric encryption</span>.<br />The purpose of data encryption is to protect digital data confidentiality as it is stored on computer systems and transmitted using the internet or other computer networks. The outdated data encryption standard (DES) has been replaced by modern encryption algorithms that play a critical role in the security of IT systems and communications.\r\nThese algorithms provide confidentiality and drive key security initiatives including authentication, integrity, and non-repudiation. Authentication allows for the verification of a message’s origin, and integrity provides proof that a message’s contents have not changed since it was sent. Additionally, non-repudiation ensures that a message sender cannot deny sending the message.\r\nData protection software for data encryption can provide encryption of devices, email, and data itself. In many cases, these encryption functionalities are also met with control capabilities for devices, email, and data. \r\nCompanies and organizations face the challenge of protecting data and preventing data loss as employees use external devices, removable media, and web applications more often as a part of their daily business procedures. Sensitive data may no longer be under the company’s control and protection as employees copy data to removable devices or upload it to the cloud. As a result, the best data loss prevention solutions prevent data theft and the introduction of malware from removable and external devices as well as web and cloud applications. In order to do so, they must also ensure that devices and applications are used properly and that data is secured by auto-encryption even after it leaves the organization.\r\nEncryption software program encrypts data or files by working with one or more encryption algorithms. Security personnel use it to protect data from being viewed by unauthorized users.\r\nTypically, each data packet or file encrypted via data encryption programs requires a key to be decrypted to its original form. This key is generated by the software itself and shared between the data/file sender and receiver. Thus, even if the encrypted data is extracted or compromised, its original content cannot be retrieved without the encryption key. File encryption, email encryption, disk encryption and network encryption are widely used types of data encryption software.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is Encryption software?</span></h1>\r\nEncryption software is software that uses cryptography to prevent unauthorized access to digital information. Cryptography is used to protect digital information on computers as well as the digital information that is sent to other computers over the Internet.There are many software products which provide encryption. Software encryption uses a cipher to obscure the content into ciphertext. One way to classify this type of software is by the type of cipher used. Ciphers can be divided into two categories: <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">public key ciphers</span> (also known as asymmetric ciphers), and <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">symmetric key ciphers</span>. Encryption software can be based on either public key or symmetric key encryption.\r\nAnother way to classify crypto software is to categorize its purpose. Using this approach, software encryption may be classified into software which encrypts "<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">data in transit</span>" and software which encrypts "<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">data at rest</span>". Data in transit generally uses public key ciphers, and data at rest generally uses symmetric key ciphers.\r\nSymmetric key ciphers can be further divided into stream ciphers and block ciphers. Stream ciphers typically encrypt plaintext a bit or byte at a time, and are most commonly used to encrypt real-time communications, such as audio and video information. The key is used to establish the initial state of a keystream generator, and the output of that generator is used to encrypt the plaintext. Block cipher algorithms split the plaintext into fixed-size blocks and encrypt one block at a time. For example, AES processes 16-byte blocks, while its predecessor DES encrypted blocks of eight bytes.<br />There is also a well-known case where PKI is used for data in transit of data at rest.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How Data Encryption is used?</span></h1>\r\nThe purpose of data encryption is to deter malicious or negligent parties from accessing sensitive data. An important line of defense in a cybersecurity architecture, encryption makes using intercepted data as difficult as possible. It can be applied to all kinds of data protection needs ranging from classified government intel to personal credit card transactions. Data encryption software, also known as an encryption algorithm or cipher, is used to develop an encryption scheme which theoretically can only be broken with large amounts of computing power.\r\nEncryption is an incredibly important tool for keeping your data safe. When your files are encrypted, they are completely unreadable without the correct encryption key. If someone steals your encrypted files, they won’t be able to do anything with them.\r\nThere different types of encryption: hardware and software. Both offer different advantages. So, what are these methods and why do they matter?\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Software Encryption</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">As the name implies, software encryption uses features of encryption software to encrypt your data. Cryptosoft typically relies on a password; give the right password, and your files will be decrypted, otherwise they remain locked. With encryption enabled, it is passed through a special algorithm that scrambles your data as it is written to disk. The same software then unscrambles data as it is read from the disk for an authenticated user.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pros.</span>Crypto programs is typically quite cheap to implement, making it very popular with developers. In addition, software-based encryption routines do not require any additional hardware.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cons.</span>Types of encryption software is only as secure as the rest of your computer or smartphone. If a hacker can crack your password, the encryption is immediately undone.<br />Software encryption tools also share the processing resources of your computer, which can cause the entire machine to slow down as data is encrypted/decrypted. You will also find that opening and closing encrypted files is much slower than normal because the process is relatively resource intensive, particularly for higher levels of encryption</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Hardware encryption</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">At the heart of hardware encryption is a separate processor dedicated to the task of authentication and encryption. Hardware encryption is increasingly common on mobile devices. <br />The encryption protection technology still relies on a special key to encrypt and decrypt data, but this is randomly generated by the encryption processor. Often times, hardware encryption devices replace traditional passwords with biometric logons (like fingerprints) or a PIN number that is entered on an attached keypad<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pros.</span>Hardware offers strong encryption, safer than software solutions because the encryption process is separate from the rest of the machine. This makes it much harder to intercept or break. </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">The use of a dedicated processor also relieves the burden on the rest of your device, making the encryption and decryption process much faster.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cons.</span>Typically, hardware-based encrypted storage is much more expensive than a software encryption tools. <br />If the hardware decryption processor fails, it becomes extremely hard to access your information.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The Data Recovery Challenge. </span>Encrypted data is a challenge to recover. Even by recovering the raw sectors from a failed drive, it is still encrypted, which means it is still unreadable. </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Hardware encrypted devices don’t typically have these additional recovery options. Many have a design to prevent decryption in the event of a component failure, stopping hackers from disassembling them. The fastest and most effective way to deal with data loss on an encrypted device is to ensure you have a complete backup stored somewhere safe. For your PC, this may mean copying data to another encrypted device. For other devices, like your smartphone, backing up to the Cloud provides a quick and simple economy copy that you can restore from. As an added bonus, most Cloud services now encrypt their users’ data too. <br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_Encryption.png","alias":"data-encryption"},"45":{"id":45,"title":"SIEM - Security Information and Event Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Security information and event management (SIEM)</span> is an approach to security management that combines SIM (security information management) and SEM (security event management) functions into one security management system. \r\n The underlying principles of every SIEM system is to aggregate relevant data from multiple sources, identify deviations from the norm and take appropriate action. At the most basic level, a SIEM system can be rules-based or employ a statistical correlation engine to establish relationships between event log entries. Advanced SIEM products have evolved to include user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) and security orchestration and automated response (SOAR). \r\nThe acronyms SEM, SIM and SIEM have sometimes been used interchangeably, but generally refer to the different primary focus of products:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Log management:</span> Focus on simple collection and storage of log messages and audit trails.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security information management (SIM):</span> Long-term storage as well as analysis and reporting of log data.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security event manager (SEM):</span> Real-time monitoring, correlation of events, notifications and console views.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security information event management (SIEM):</span> Combines SIM and SEM and provides real-time analysis of security alerts generated by network hardware and applications.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Managed Security Service (MSS) or Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP):</span> The most common managed services appear to evolve around connectivity and bandwidth, network monitoring, security, virtualization, and disaster recovery.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security as a service (SECaaS):</span> These security services often include authentication, anti-virus, anti-malware/spyware, intrusion detection, Penetration testing and security event management, among others.</li></ul>\r\nToday, most of SIEM technology works by deploying multiple collection agents in a hierarchical manner to gather security-related events from end-user devices, servers, network equipment, as well as specialized security equipment like firewalls, antivirus or intrusion prevention systems. The collectors forward events to a centralized management console where security analysts sift through the noise, connecting the dots and prioritizing security incidents.\r\nSome of the most important features to review when evaluating Security Information and Event Management software are:\r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Integration with other controls:</span> Can the system give commands to other enterprise security controls to prevent or stop attacks in progress?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Artificial intelligence:</span> Can the system improve its own accuracy by through machine and deep learning?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Threat intelligence feeds:</span> Can the system support threat intelligence feeds of the organization's choosing or is it mandated to use a particular feed?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Robust compliance reporting:</span> Does the system include built-in reports for common compliance needs and the provide the organization with the ability to customize or create new compliance reports?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Forensics capabilities:</span> Can the system capture additional information about security events by recording the headers and contents of packets of interest? </li></ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> Why is SIEM Important?</h1>\r\nSIEM has become a core security component of modern organizations. The main reason is that every user or tracker leaves behind a virtual trail in a network’s log data. SIEM software is designed to use this log data in order to generate insight into past attacks and events. A SIEM solution not only identifies that an attack has happened, but allows you to see how and why it happened as well.\r\nAs organizations update and upscale to increasingly complex IT infrastructures, SIEM has become even more important in recent years. Contrary to popular belief, firewalls and antivirus packages are not enough to protect a network in its entirety. Zero-day attacks can still penetrate a system’s defenses even with these security measures in place.\r\nSIEM addresses this problem by detecting attack activity and assessing it against past behavior on the network. A security event monitoring has the ability to distinguish between legitimate use and a malicious attack. This helps to increase a system’s incident protection and avoid damage to systems and virtual property.\r\nThe use of SIEM also helps companies to comply with a variety of industry cyber management regulations. Log management is the industry standard method of auditing activity on an IT network. SIEM management provides the best way to meet this regulatory requirement and provide transparency over logs in order to generate clear insights and improvements.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Evaluation criteria for security information and event management software:</h1>\r\n<ul><li>Threat identification: Raw log form vs. descriptive.</li><li>Threat tracking: Ability to track through the various events, from source to destination.</li><li>Policy enforcement: Ability to enforce defined polices.</li><li>Application analysis: Ability to analyze application at Layer 7 if necessary.</li><li>Business relevance of events: Ability to assign business risk to events and have weighted threat levels.</li><li>Measuring changes and improvements: Ability to track configuration changes to devices.</li><li>Asset-based information: Ability to gather information on devices on the network.</li><li>Anomalous behavior (server): Ability to trend and see changes in how it communicates to others.</li><li>Anomalous behavior (network): Ability to trend and see how communications pass throughout the network.</li><li>Anomalous behavior (application): Ability to trend and see changes in how it communicates to others.</li><li>User monitoring: User activity, logging in, applications usage, etc.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SIEM.png","alias":"siem-security-information-and-event-management"},"47":{"id":47,"title":"Access Control Systems","description":"Access control is a security technique that regulates who or what can view or use resources in a computing environment. It is a fundamental concept in security that minimizes risk to the business or organization.\r\nThere are two types of access control: physical and logical. Physical access control limits access to campuses, buildings, rooms and physical IT assets. Logical access control limits connections to computer networks, system files and data.\r\nTo secure a facility, organizations use electronic access control systems that rely on user credentials, access card readers, auditing and reports to track employee access to restricted business locations and proprietary areas, such as data centers. Some of these systems incorporate access control panels to restrict entry to rooms and buildings as well as alarms and lockdown capabilities to prevent unauthorized access or operations.\r\nAccess control systems perform identification authentication and authorization of users and entities by evaluating required login credentials that can include passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs), biometric scans, security tokens or other authentication factors. Multifactor authentication, which requires two or more authentication factors, is often an important part of layered defense to protect access control systems.\r\nThese security controls work by identifying an individual or entity, verifying that the person or application is who or what it claims to be, and authorizing the access level and set of actions associated with the username or IP address. Directory services and protocols, including the Local Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), provide access controls for authenticating and authorizing users and entities and enabling them to connect to computer resources, such as distributed applications and web servers.\r\nOrganizations use different access control models depending on their compliance requirements and the security levels of information technology they are trying to protect.\r\nThe goal of access control is to minimize the risk of unauthorized access to physical and logical systems. Access control is a fundamental component of security compliance programs that ensures security technology and access control policies are in place to protect confidential information, such as customer data. Most organizations have infrastructure and procedures that limit access to networks, computer systems, applications, files and sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information and intellectual property.\r\nAccess control systems are complex and can be challenging to manage in dynamic IT environments that involve on-premises systems and cloud services. After some high-profile breaches, technology vendors have shifted away from single sign-on systems to unified access management, which offers access controls for on-premises and cloud environments.\r\nAccess control is a process that is integrated into an organization's IT environment. It can involve identity and access management systems. These systems provide access control software, a user database, and management tools for access control policies, auditing and enforcement.\r\nWhen a user is added to an access management system, system administrators use an automated provisioning system to set up permissions based on access control frameworks, job responsibilities and workflows.\r\nThe best practice of "least privilege" restricts access to only resources that an employee requires to perform their immediate job functions.\r\nA common security issue is failure to revoke credentials and access to systems and data when an individual moves into a different job internally or leaves the company.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an ACS?</span>\r\nInterpretation of the abbreviation "ACS" - access control system. Includes hardware and software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does ACS work?</span>\r\nThe system allows only people and cars that it “recognizes” into the territory to be able to identify.\r\nFor access we use contact and contactless keys, cards, fingerprints, secret code. Doorphones unlock the locks manually - when you click the "Open" button.\r\nThe intellectual access control system generates daily reports for each employee. Upon arrival at work, the staff opens the door with personal cards or puts the cards to the reader at the reception. We fix the time of breaks and the end of the working day.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the types of access control?</span>\r\nAccess control systems are divided into autonomous and networked:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Autonomous access control systems</span> are not connected to the computer. Suitable for small offices, cafes, shops, hotels. Autonomous systems are used on sites with 1–2 inputs.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Network access control systems</span> are connected to a computer. Such systems serve complex objects: business centers, manufacturing, research institutes, hospitals, etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the access control system?</span>\r\nMain components:\r\n1. Blocking devices. Electromagnetic and electromechanical locks, barriers, gates, etc.\r\n2. Identifiers:\r\n<ul><li>Touch Memory contact keys - standard intercom keys;</li><li>Touch Memory Access Keys;</li><li>RFID contactless keys;</li><li>Biometric sensor - fingerprint access;</li><li>Keyboard for entering code.</li></ul>\r\n3. Readers. Card readers, scanners, etc.\r\n4. Controllers. Unlock the blocking device automatically or manually. Manual input is used in intercoms.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Is it possible to combine an access control system with a security alarm?</span>\r\nThe unified access control system + security alarm system responds to an attempt to illegally pass through the access control point: open the door, unlock the turnstile. The alarm signal instantly arrives on the control panel of the security company, mobile phone manager or another responsible person.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why combine access control with video surveillance?</span>\r\nWhen integrating with video surveillance, you get video recordings of all passes through access control points. Information from the cameras is transmitted to the monitors of the security in real time - the situation at the facility is easy to control.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do you need ACS maintenance?</span>\r\nMaintenance prolongs the life of the system. The equipment is inspected once a month, if necessary, fix minor problems and replace components. You save on capital repairs at the expense of preventive.<br /> ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Access_Control_Systems.png","alias":"access-control-systems"},"49":{"id":49,"title":"VPN - Virtual Private Network","description":"A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtual private network (VPN)</span> extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. Applications running on a computing device, e.g. a laptop, desktop, smartphone, across a VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network. Encryption is a common though not an inherent part of a VPN connection.\r\nAt its most basic level, VPN tunneling creates a point-to-point connection that cannot be accessed by unauthorized users. To actually create the VPN tunnel, the endpoint device needs to be running a VPN client (software application) locally or in the cloud. The VPN client runs in the background and is not noticeable to the end user unless there are performance issues.\r\nThe performance of a VPN can be affected by a variety of factors, among them the speed of users' internet connections, the types of protocols an internet service provider may use and the type of encryption the VPN uses. In the enterprise, performance can also be affected by poor quality of service (QoS) outside the control of an organization's information technology (IT) department.\r\nConsumers use a virtual private network software to protect their online activity and identity. By using an anonymous VPN service, a user's Internet traffic and data remain encrypted, which prevents eavesdroppers from sniffing Internet activity. Personal VPN services are especially useful when accessing public Wi-Fi hotspots because the public wireless services might not be secure. In addition to public Wi-Fi security, it also provides consumers with uncensored Internet access and can help prevent data theft and unblock websites.\r\nCompanies and organizations will typically use a VPN security to communicate confidentially over a public network and to send voice, video or data. It is also an excellent option for remote workers and organizations with global offices and partners to share data in a private manner.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Types of VPNs</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Remote access VPN</span>. Remote access VPN clients connect to a VPN gateway server on the organization's network. The gateway requires the device to authenticate its identity before granting access to internal network resources such as file servers, printers and intranets. This type of VPN usually relies on either IP Security (IPsec) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure the connection.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Site-to-site VPN.</span> In contrast, a site-to-site VPN uses a gateway device to connect an entire network in one location to a network in another location. End-node devices in the remote location do not need VPN clients because the gateway handles the connection. Most site-to-site VPNs connecting over the internet use IPsec. It is also common for them to use carrier MPLS clouds rather than the public internet as the transport for site-to-site VPNs. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Mobile VPN.</span> In a mobile VPN, a VPN server still sits at the edge of the company network, enabling secure tunneled access by authenticated, authorized VPN clients. Mobile VPN tunnels are not tied to physical IP addresses, however. Instead, each tunnel is bound to a logical IP address. That logical IP address sticks to the mobile device no matter where it may roam.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">VPN Hardware</span>. It offer a number of advantages over the software-based VPN. In addition to enhanced security, hardware VPNs can provide load balancing to handle large client loads. Administration is managed through a Web browser interface. A hardware VPN is more expensive than a software VPN. Because of the cost, hardware VPNs are a more realistic option for large businesses than for small businesses or branch offices. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">VPN appliance.</span> A VPN appliance, also known as a VPN gateway appliance, is a network device equipped with enhanced security features. Also known as an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) VPN appliance, it is in effect a router that provides protection, authorization, authentication and encryption for VPNs.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Dynamic multipoint virtual private network (DMVPN</span>). A dynamic multipoint virtual private network (DMVPN) is a secure network that exchanges data between sites without needing to pass traffic through an organization's headquarter virtual private network (VPN) server or router. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">VPN Reconnect.</span> VPN Reconnect is a feature of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that allows a virtual private network connection to remain open during a brief interruption of Internet service. Usually, when a computing device using a VPN connection drops its Internet connection, the end user has to manually reconnect to the VPN. VPN Reconnect keeps the VPN tunnel open for a configurable amount of time so when Internet service is restored, the VPN connection is automatically restored as well. </li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is VPN software?</span></h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: normal;\"></span>VPN software is a tool that allows users to create a secure, encrypted connection over a computer network such as the Internet. The platform was developed to allow for secure access to business applications and other resources.\r\n<header><h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How does VPN software work?</span></h1></header>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">So what does VPN do? Basically, a VPN is a group of computers or networks, which are connected over the Internet. For businesses, VPN services serve as avenues for getting access to networks when they are not physically on the same network. Such a service can also be used to encrypt communications over public networks.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">VPNs are usually deployed through local installation or by logging on to a service’s website. To give you an idea as to how VPN works, the software allows your computer to basically exchange keys with a remote server, through which all data traffic is encrypted and kept secure, safe from prying eyes. It lets you browse the Internet without the worry of being tracked, monitored and identified without permission. A VPN also helps in accessing blocked sites and in circumventing censorship.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the features of VPN software?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">There are a variety of ways by which you can determine what VPN suits you. Here are some features of software VPN solutions and buying factors that you should consider:<br /><br /></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Privacy</span>: You should know what kind of privacy you really need. Is it for surfing, downloading or simply accessing blocked sites? Best of VPN programs offer one or more of these capabilities.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software/features</span>: Platforms should not be limited to ease of use, they should include features such as kill switches and DNS leak prevention tools which provide a further layer of protection.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security</span>: One should consider the level of security that a service offers. This can prevent hackers and agencies from accessing your data.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cross-platform support</span>: A VPN solution should be able to run on any device. To do this, setup guides for different platforms should be provided by the vendor.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The number of servers/countries</span>: For these services, the more servers VPN there are, the better the service. This allows users to connect from virtually all over the world. It will also enable them to change their locations at will.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Speed</span>: It’s common knowledge that using VPN comes with reduction in Internet speed. This is due to the fact that signals need to travel long distances and the demands of the encryption and decryption processes. Choose a service that has minimal impact on Internet speed.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simultaneous connections</span>: Many services allow users to use only one device at a time. However, many VPN service providers allow customers to connect multiple devices all at the same time.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VPN_-_Virtual_Private_Network.png","alias":"vpn-virtual-private-network"},"50":{"id":50,"title":"IPC - Information Protection and Control","description":"Information Protection and Control (IPC) is a technology for protecting confidential information from internal threats. IPC solutions are designed to protect information from internal threats, prevent various types of information leaks, corporate espionage, and business intelligence. The term IPC combines two main technologies: encryption of storage media at all points of the network and control of technical channels of information leakage using Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technologies. Network, application and data access control is a possible third technology in IPC class systems. IPC includes solutions of the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) class, a system for encrypting corporate information and controlling access to it. The term IPC was one of the first to use IDC analyst Brian Burke in his report, Information Protection and Control Survey: Data Loss Prevention and Encryption Trends.\r\nIPC technology is a logical continuation of DLP technology and allows you to protect data not only from leaks through technical channels, that is, insiders, but also from unauthorized user access to the network, information, applications, and in cases where the direct storage medium falls into the hands of third parties. This allows you to prevent leaks in those cases when an insider or a person who does not have legal access to data gain access to the direct carrier of information. For example, removing a hard drive from a personal computer, an insider will not be able to read the information on it. This allows you to prevent the compromise of confidential data even in the event of loss, theft or seizure (for example, when organizing operational events by special services specialists, unscrupulous competitors or raiders).\r\nThe main objective of IPC systems is to prevent the transfer of confidential information outside the corporate information system. Such a transfer (leak) may be intentional or unintentional. Practice shows that most of the leaks (more than 75%) do not occur due to malicious intent, but because of errors, carelessness, carelessness, and negligence of employees - it is much easier to detect such cases. The rest is connected with the malicious intent of operators and users of enterprise information systems, in particular, industrial espionage and competitive intelligence. Obviously, malicious insiders, as a rule, try to trick IPC analyzers and other control systems.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Information Protection and Control (IPC)?</span>\r\nIPC (English Information Protection and Control) is a generic name for technology to protect confidential information from internal threats.\r\nIPC solutions are designed to prevent various types of information leaks, corporate espionage, and business intelligence. IPC combines two main technologies: media encryption and control of technical channels of information leakage (Data Loss Prevention - DLP). Also, the functionality of IPC systems may include systems of protection against unauthorized access (unauthorized access).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the objectives of IPC class systems?</span>\r\n<ul><li>preventing the transfer of confidential information beyond the corporate information system;</li><li>prevention of outside transmission of not only confidential but also other undesirable information (offensive expressions, spam, eroticism, excessive amounts of data, etc.);</li><li>preventing the transmission of unwanted information not only from inside to outside but also from outside to inside the organization’s information system;</li><li>preventing employees from using the Internet and network resources for personal purposes;</li><li>spam protection;</li><li>virus protection;</li><li>optimization of channel loading, reduction of inappropriate traffic;</li><li>accounting of working hours and presence at the workplace;</li><li>tracking the reliability of employees, their political views, beliefs, collecting dirt;</li><li>archiving information in case of accidental deletion or damage to the original;</li><li>protection against accidental or intentional violation of internal standards;</li><li>ensuring compliance with standards in the field of information security and current legislation.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why is DLP technology used in IPC?</span>\r\nIPC DLP technology supports monitoring of the following technical channels for confidential information leakage:\r\n<ul><li>corporate email;</li><li>webmail;</li><li>social networks and blogs;</li><li>file-sharing networks;</li><li>forums and other Internet resources, including those made using AJAX technology;</li><li>instant messaging tools (ICQ, Mail.Ru Agent, Skype, AOL AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, etc.);</li><li>P2P clients;</li><li>peripheral devices (USB, LPT, COM, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.);</li><li>local and network printers.</li></ul>\r\nDLP technologies in IPC support control, including the following communication protocols:\r\n<ul><li>FTP;</li><li>FTP over HTTP;</li><li>FTPS;</li><li>HTTP;</li><li>HTTPS (SSL);</li><li>NNTP;</li><li>POP3;</li><li>SMTP.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What information protection facilities does IPC technology include?</span>\r\nIPC technology includes the ability to encrypt information at all key points in the network. The objects of information security are:\r\n<ul><li>Server hard drives;</li><li>SAN;</li><li>NAS;</li><li>Magnetic tapes;</li><li>CD/DVD/Blue-ray discs;</li><li>Personal computers (including laptops);</li><li>External devices.</li></ul>\r\nIPC technologies use various plug-in cryptographic modules, including the most efficient algorithms DES, Triple DES, RC5, RC6, AES, XTS-AES. The most used algorithms in IPC solutions are RC5 and AES, the effectiveness of which can be tested on the project [distributed.net]. They are most effective for solving the problems of encrypting data of large amounts of data on server storages and backups.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IPC_-_Information_Protection_and_Control.png","alias":"ipc-information-protection-and-control"},"51":{"id":51,"title":"PaaS - Platform as a service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Platform as a Service (PaaS)</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application Platform as a Service (aPaaS)</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">platform-based service</span> is a category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">PaaS can be delivered in three ways:</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">As a public cloud service</span> from a provider, where the consumer controls software deployment with minimal configuration options, and the provider provides the networks, servers, storage, operating system (OS), middleware (e.g. Java runtime, .NET runtime, integration, etc.), database and other services to host the consumer's application.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">As a private service</span> (software or appliance) behind a firewall.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">As software</span> deployed on a public infrastructure as a service.\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">The original intent of PaaS technology was to simplify the code-writing process for developers, with the infrastructure and operations handled by the PaaS provider. Originally, all PaaSes were in the public cloud. Because many companies did not want to have everything in the public cloud, private and hybrid PaaS options (managed by internal IT departments) were created.</span>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">PaaS provides an environment for developers and companies to create, host and deploy applications, saving developers from the complexities of the infrastructure side (setting up, configuring and managing elements such as servers and databases).</span>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">PaaS products can improve the speed of developing an app, and allow the consumer to focus on the application itself. With PaaS, the consumer manages applications and data, while the provider (in public PaaS) or IT department (in private PaaS) manages runtime, middleware, operating system, virtualization, servers, storage and networking.</span>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">PaaS offerings may also include facilities for application design, application development, testing and deployment, as well as services such as team collaboration, web service integration, and marshalling, database integration, security, scalability, storage, persistence, state management, application versioning, application instrumentation, and developer community facilitation. Besides the service engineering aspects, PaaS solutions include mechanisms for service management, such as monitoring, workflow management, discovery and reservation.</span>\r\nThere are various types of PaaS providers. All offer application hosting and a deployment environment, along with various integrated services. Services offer varying levels of scalability and maintenance. Developers can write an application and upload it to a PaaS platform that supports their software language of choice, and the application runs on that PaaS.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">How PaaS works</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">PaaS does not replace a company's entire IT infrastructure for software development. It is provided through a cloud service provider's hosted infrastructure with users most frequently accessing the offerings through a web browser. PaaS can be delivered through public, private and hybrid clouds to deliver services such as application hosting and Java development.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Other PaaS services include:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>Development team collaboration</li><li>Application design and development</li><li>Application testing and deployment</li><li>Web service integration</li><li>Information security</li><li>Database integration</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Users pay for PaaS on a per-use basis. However, different platform as a service providers charge a flat monthly fee for access to the platform and its applications.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the types of PaaS?</h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Public PaaS</span></li></ul>\r\nA public PaaS allows the user to control software deployment while the cloud provider manages the delivery of all other major IT components necessary to the hosting of applications, including operating systems, databases, servers and storage system networks. \r\nPublic PaaS vendors offer middleware that enables developers to set up, configure and control servers and databases without the necessity of setting up the infrastructure side of things. As a result, public PaaS and IaaS (infrastructure as a service) run together, with PaaS operating on top of a vendor's IaaS infrastructure while leveraging the public cloud. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Private PaaS</span></li></ul>\r\nA private PaaS is usually delivered as an appliance or software within the user's firewall which is frequently maintained in the company's on-premises data center. A private PaaS software can be developed on any type of infrastructure and can work within the company's specific private cloud. Private PaaS allows an organization to better serve developers, improve the use of internal resources and reduce the costly cloud sprawl that many companies face.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Hybrid PaaS </span></li></ul>\r\nCombines public PaaS and private PaaS to provide companies with the flexibility of infinite capacity provided by a public PaaS model and the cost efficiencies of owning an internal infrastructure in private PaaS. Hybrid PaaS utilizes a hybrid cloud.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Communication PaaS </span></li></ul>\r\nCPaaS is a cloud-based platform that allows developers to add real-time communications to their apps without the need for back-end infrastructure and interfaces. Normally, real-time communications occur in apps that are built specifically for these functions. Examples include Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp and the traditional phone. CPaaS provides a complete development framework for the creation of real-time communications features without the necessity of a developer building their own framework.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mobile PaaS</span> </li></ul>\r\nMPaaS is the use of a paid integrated development environment for the configuration of mobile apps. In an mPaaS, coding skills are not required. MPaaS is delivered through a web browser and typically supports public cloud, private cloud and on-premises storage. The service is usually leased with pricing per month, varying according to the number of included devices and supported features.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Open PaaS</span></li></ul>\r\nIt is a free, open source, business-oriented collaboration platform that is attractive on all devices and provides useful web apps, including calendar, contacts and mail applications. OpenPaaS was designed to allow users to quickly deploy new applications with the goal of developing a PaaS technology that is committed to enterprise collaborative applications, specifically those deployed on hybrid clouds.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PaaS_-_Platform_as_a_service.png","alias":"paas-platform-as-a-service"},"52":{"id":52,"title":"SaaS - software as a service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software as a service (SaaS)</span> is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software", and was formerly referred to as "software plus services" by Microsoft.\r\n SaaS services is typically accessed by users using a thin client, e.g. via a web browser. SaaS software solutions has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including office software, messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), Management Information Systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, learning management systems, content management (CM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of nearly all leading enterprise software companies.\r\nSaaS applications are also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web-based software</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">on-demand software</span> and<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> hosted software</span>.\r\nThe term "Software as a Service" (SaaS) is considered to be part of the nomenclature of cloud computing, along with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Desktop as a Service (DaaS),managed software as a service (MSaaS), mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS).\r\nBecause SaaS is based on cloud computing it saves organizations from installing and running applications on their own systems. That eliminates or at least reduces the associated costs of hardware purchases and maintenance and of software and support. The initial setup cost for a SaaS application is also generally lower than it for equivalent enterprise software purchased via a site license.\r\nSometimes, the use of SaaS cloud software can also reduce the long-term costs of software licensing, though that depends on the pricing model for the individual SaaS offering and the enterprise’s usage patterns. In fact, it’s possible for SaaS to cost more than traditional software licenses. This is an area IT organizations should explore carefully.<br />SaaS also provides enterprises the flexibility inherent with cloud services: they can subscribe to a SaaS offering as needed rather than having to buy software licenses and install the software on a variety of computers. The savings can be substantial in the case of applications that require new hardware purchases to support the software.<br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Who uses SaaS?</span></h1>\r\nIndustry analyst Forrester Research notes that SaaS adoption has so far been concentrated mostly in human resource management (HRM), customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration software (e.g., email), and procurement solutions, but is poised to widen. Today it’s possible to have a data warehouse in the cloud that you can access with business intelligence software running as a service and connect to your cloud-based ERP like NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics.The dollar savings can run into the millions. And SaaS installations are often installed and working in a fraction of the time of on-premises deployments—some can be ready in hours. \r\nSales and marketing people are likely familiar with Salesforce.com, the leading SaaS CRM software, with millions of users across more than 100,000 customers. Sales is going SaaS too, with apps available to support sales in order management, compensation, quote production and configure, price, quoting, electronic signatures, contract management and more.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Why SaaS? Benefits of software as a service</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower cost of entry</span>. With SaaS solution, you pay for what you need, without having to buy hardware to host your new applications. Instead of provisioning internal resources to install the software, the vendor provides APIs and performs much of the work to get their software working for you. The time to a working solution can drop from months in the traditional model to weeks, days or hours with the SaaS model. In some businesses, IT wants nothing to do with installing and running a sales app. In the case of funding software and its implementation, this can be a make-or-break issue for the sales and marketing budget, so the lower cost really makes the difference.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced time to benefit/rapid prototyping</span>. In the SaaS model, the software application is already installed and configured. Users can provision the server for the cloud and quickly have the application ready for use. This cuts the time to benefit and allows for rapid demonstrations and prototyping. With many SaaS companies offering free trials, this means a painless proof of concept and discovery phase to prove the benefit to the organization. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay as you go</span>. SaaS business software gives you the benefit of predictable costs both for the subscription and to some extent, the administration. Even as you scale, you can have a clear idea of what your costs will be. This allows for much more accurate budgeting, especially as compared to the costs of internal IT to manage upgrades and address issues for an owned instance.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The SaaS vendor is responsible for upgrades, uptime and security</span>. Under the SaaS model, since the software is hosted by the vendor, they take on the responsibility for maintaining the software and upgrading it, ensuring that it is reliable and meeting agreed-upon service level agreements, and keeping the application and its data secure. While some IT people worry about Software as a Service security outside of the enterprise walls, the likely truth is that the vendor has a much higher level of security than the enterprise itself would provide. Many will have redundant instances in very secure data centers in multiple geographies. Also, the data is being automatically backed up by the vendor, providing additional security and peace of mind. Because of the data center hosting, you’re getting the added benefit of at least some disaster recovery. Lastly, the vendor manages these issues as part of their core competencies—let them.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration and scalability.</span> Most SaaS apps are designed to support some amount of customization for the way you do business. SaaS vendors create APIs to allow connections not only to internal applications like ERPs or CRMs but also to other SaaS providers. One of the terrific aspects of integration is that orders written in the field can be automatically sent to the ERP. Now a salesperson in the field can check inventory through the catalog, write the order in front of the customer for approval, send it and receive confirmation, all in minutes. And as you scale with a SaaS vendor, there’s no need to invest in server capacity and software licenses. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work anywhere</span>. Since the software is hosted in the cloud and accessible over the internet, users can access it via mobile devices wherever they are connected. This includes checking customer order histories prior to a sales call, as well as having access to real time data and real time order taking with the customer.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SaaS__1_.png","alias":"saas-software-as-a-service"},"53":{"id":53,"title":"DaaS - Desktop as a Service","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">DaaS (Desktop as a service)</span> is a cloud computing offering in which a third party hosts the back end of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment.\r\nWith DaaS services, desktop operating systems run inside virtual machines on servers in a cloud provider's data center. All the necessary support infrastructure, including storage and network resources, also lives in the cloud. As with on-premises VDI, a DaaS providers stream virtual desktops over a network to a customer's endpoint devices, where end users may access them through client software or a web browser.\r\nThough it sounds a lot like VDI, there is a vital difference between DaaS and VDI. VDI refers to when virtual desktops are served through on-premise servers maintained by in-house IT teams. It’s the traditional way to deploy and manage virtual desktops. But since it’s on-premise, VDI technology technology must be maintained, managed, and upgraded in-house whenever necessary.\r\nDaaS service on the other hand, is a cloud-based virtual desktop solution that separates virtual desktops from on-premise servers, enabling brands to leverage a third-party hosting provider. It’s like VDI, but in the cloud instead of in the back of the office. \r\nHowever, it’s not necessary to choose one or the other. These two approaches can complement each other. Some users prefer to have a DaaS desktop overlay of their VDI deployment. For example, the Desktop as a Service providers allow the user to modernize legacy applications with zero code refactoring. Not all legacy Windows apps perform well in a DaaS environment, due to latency or hardware requirements. \r\nThe modern workplace requires agility, leading to many companies embracing mobile working and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies against a backdrop of increased concern about security risk, compliance requirements and the ever-present need to reduce overheads. This is why, over a decade after analysts predicted the rise of remote desktop as a service, it is now finally being taken up in volume.\r\nBy adopting Desktop as a Service, companies can address the issues associated with end-user computing while giving their staff more freedom and increasing productivity. The pain associated with managing a multitude of devices, including those not supplied by the company, is eliminated. While remaining compliant, companies can greatly reduce risks. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How does desktop as a service work?</span></h1>\r\nDaaS architecture is multi-tenant, and organizations purchase the service through a subscription model -- typically based on the number of virtual desktop instances used per month.\r\nIn the desktop-as-a-service delivery model, the cloud computing provider manages the back-end responsibilities of data storage, backup, security and upgrades. While the provider handles all the back-end infrastructure costs and maintenance, customers usually manage their own virtual desktop images, applications and security, unless those desktop management services are part of the subscription.\r\nTypically, an end user's personal data is copied to and from their virtual desktop during logon and logoff, and access to the desktop is device-, location- and network-independent.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">The benefits of Desktop as a Service</h1>\r\nMany organisations are undergoing digital transformation, and modernising the workplace is often a stream within the wider strategy. In order to manage remote and multi-device workforces using DaaS, you should think about the following seven benefits and how this will change, and hopefully improve, your currently way of working.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The modern workplace.</span> Digital transformation is redefining what we think about the workplace. At the heart of this evolution is technology and the introduction of digital-first natives into the workplace. Allowing staff to work remotely, through DaaS in cloud and via their own devices is a surefire way to attract and retain the best talent.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cost.</span> As with many cloud initiatives, DaaS pricing moves from CAPEX to OPEX, leaving you more cash in the bank to spend on growing your business. Per desktop pricing enables you to know exactly what workforce expansion will cost the IT department, removing unforeseen infrastructure or hardware purchases as this is handled by the provider, who bundle everything in with the price of each desktop.Virtual machines use the compute power of the data centre rather than their local machines, placing less demand on the endpoint. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Scalability</span>. Due to the ‘...as a service’ delivery model, DaaS platform enables you to add user workstations fast and easily. This is particularly handy when your organisation utilises contract resource or temporary project teams, as there’s no hardware to procure, meaning you have the flexibility to create a desktop almost instantly and delete it when no longer required. This also puts you in control.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Control.</span> DaaS helps you manage the risks that naturally come with giving your staff the freedom to work anywhere and on any device. It enables you to control the essentials such as data access and compliance without being overly restrictive. You no longer have to worry about what data is held on a user’s device as the data remains in the data centre at all times. This gives you control over all company assets because access can be revoked with the touch of a button.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Management.</span> With an increasingly dispersed workforce, rolling out new applications or patching existing software has become more of a logistical problem than a technical one. Trying to coordinate people bringing in physical devices to be patched is a real issue for many companies, something which is eliminated completely with DaaS. You operate on one central image (or a small number of images based on persona), a change is made once, and everyone is on the latest version. It removes the need to standardise builds of end-user compute hardware as DaaS applications will run on almost any device no matter its configuration.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security.</span> DaaS moves the security risk from hundreds of end-user devices and put it all into the controlled and managed environment of a data centre. Lost or stolen laptops no longer provide a security risk. No data is on the local machine. As DaaS removes the need to create VPNs to access applications and data held by the company it also removes the problem of users trying to bypass the security in the belief that it will make their life easier. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/DaaS_-_Desktop_as_a_Service.png","alias":"daas-desktop-as-a-service"},"54":{"id":54,"title":"MDM - master data management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Master data management (MDM)</span> is the core process used to manage, centralize, organize, categorize, localize, synchronize and enrich master data according to the business rules of the sales, marketing and operational strategies of your company. \r\nIt is a technology-enabled discipline in which business and IT work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency and accountability of the enterprise’s official shared master data assets. Master data is the consistent and uniform set of identifiers and extended attributes that describes the core entities of the enterprise including customers, prospects, citizens, suppliers, sites, hierarchies and chart of accounts.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Essential Master Data Management Capabilities</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Flexible and multi-domain.</span>An extensible master data repository with flexible data modeling features provides a centralized view of all relationships between data types, clarifying complex cross-domain relationships, providing a flexible and multi-domain master data software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Multi-style MDM.</span> Master Data Management platform should support all four main styles of MDM:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Centrally authored:</span> In this style data is authored in the MDM, other systems subscribe to the MDM for master data (or the MDM pushes the data into downstream applications).\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Consolidation:</span> Source systems feed data into the MDM for consolidation into golden records\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Coexistence:</span> A mashup of centrally authored and consolidation that allows for creation of data in multiple systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Registry:</span> Rather than consolidating records, joining/aligning unique identifiers from across all the systems into join tables.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real-time, secure data.</span> The top MDM software today allow you to publish and subscribe to data on demand, providing accurate master data to systems when and how you need it without compromising security. With real-time data, users can better react to the data and make faster decisions based on the insights discovered.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data and Workflow visualization.</span> Master Data Management software provides a data visualization component that allows you to identify and easily fix quality issues. The capability can also helps users collaborate to constantly make improvements, monitor processes, and create dashboards for actionable data analysis.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A customizable, business-friendly user interface.</span> A zero coding visual design time environment allows you to develop custom UIs using simple drag and drop actions. You can design cleaner, simpler, and more flexible role-based user interfaces for your Master Database Management system.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Things to Look for in MDM Management Software</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Because MDM is such a major task, you need the right software solution to assist you. The good news is that you have plenty of selections to choose from. The hard part is deciding on one. Here are a handful of features to look for:</p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility.</span> MDM isn’t a static issue. MDM software vendors continually updating products, so solutions will change rather dramatically over the course of a few months or years. With that being said, it’s smart to look at flexibility when it comes to master data management tools list. You may have a very specific need now, but will your solution allow you to address a future need that looks considerably different? \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Modeling.</span> Can you leverage the data model(s) of the member applications and eliminate the need to model? It could save you time, money, and help your master data be readily consumed without requiring additional transformation from an abstract data model to the data model in the member application(s). \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cost.</span> While it shouldn’t be the only factor, money is obviously something that must be considered in the context of budgeting. This may be one of the first factors you use to narrow your choices. If you know you can only spend X dollars, then there’s no point in evaluating selections that cost more.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Scalability.</span> How well does the solution scale? Your business is a fluid entity that will grow, contract, stagnate, grow again, etc. There’s no point in investing in thebest master data management tools that can only be used at your current size. Find one that easily grows and contracts in a cost-effective manner.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration.</span> The final thing to think about is integration. Since the point of MDM software is to create a centralized destination for data, you need to carefully ensure that it will work with your current setup.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/MDM_-_master_data_management1.png","alias":"mdm-master-data-management"},"55":{"id":55,"title":"Structuring Cabling","description":"In telecommunications, structured cabling is building or campus cabling infrastructure that consists of a number of standardized smaller elements (hence structured) called subsystems.\r\nStructured cabling is the design and installation of a cabling system that will support multiple hardware uses and be suitable for today's needs and those of the future. With a correctly installed system, current and future requirements can be met, and hardware that is added in the future will be supported.\r\nStructured cabling design and installation is governed by a set of standards that specify wiring data centers, offices, and apartment buildings for data or voice communications using various kinds of cable, most commonly category 5e (Cat 5e), category 6 (Cat 6), and fiber optic cabling and modular connectors. These standards define how to lay the cabling in various topologies in order to meet the needs of the customer, typically using a central patch panel (which is normally 19-inch rack-mounted), from where each modular connection can be used as needed. Each outlet is then patched into a network switch (normally also rack-mounted) for network use or into an IP or PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system patch panel.\r\nLines patched as data ports into a network switch require simple straight-through patch cables at each end to connect a computer. Voice patches to PBXs in most countries require an adapter at the remote end to translate the configuration on 8P8C modular connectors into the local standard telephone wall socket. No adapter is needed in North America as the 6P2C and 6P4C plugs most commonly used with RJ11 and RJ14 telephone connections are physically and electrically compatible with the larger 8P8C socket. RJ25 and RJ61 connections are physically but not electrically compatible, and cannot be used. In the United Kingdom, an adapter must be present at the remote end as the 6-pin BT socket is physically incompatible with 8P8C.\r\nIt is common to color-code patch panel cables to identify the type of connection, though structured cabling standards do not require it except in the demarcation wall field.\r\nCabling standards require that all eight conductors in Cat 5e/6/6A cable be connected.\r\nIP phone systems can run the telephone and the computer on the same wires, eliminating the need for separate phone wiring.\r\nRegardless of copper cable type (Cat 5e/6/6A), the maximum distance is 90 m for the permanent link installation, plus an allowance for a combined 10 m of patch cords at the ends.\r\nCat 5e and Cat 6 can both effectively run power over Ethernet (PoE) applications up to 90 m. However, due to greater power dissipation in Cat 5e cable, performance and power efficiency are higher when Cat 6A cabling is used to power and connect to PoE devices.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is structured cabling?</span>\r\nStructured cabling is the highway that information travels on in a building. The building can be large or small, commercial or residential, or a combination of both as in the mixed-use retail, commercial, and residential buildings now found in most large cities. Structured cabling systems are designed around telecommunications code standards to ensure that computer equipment will operate as designed when connected to the structured cabling system. Some of these factors include distance limitations, cable types, flammability ratings, and bend radii.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cat5/Cat6 what’s the difference?</span>\r\nThe general difference between Cat5e cabling and Cat6 cabling is in the transmission performance and extension of the available bandwidth from 100 MHz for category 5e to 250 MHz for category 6. This includes better insertion loss, near-end crosstalk (NEXT), return loss, and equal level far-end crosstalk (ELFEXT). These improvements provide a higher signal to noise ratio, allowing higher reliability for current applications and higher data rates for future applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do I need Plenum or PVC?</span>\r\nPlenum cable is designed to operate in a “return air” space in the building. Typically these spaces are above a suspended ceiling or beneath a raised floor. They are said to be a “return air” space because that is where the HVAC system gets the air to the heat or cool. If ever in question, the building inspector is typically the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction). Plenum cable is more expensive than PVC because of the less flammable compounds used in production. A plenum cable must pass a burn test that measures flame spread and smoke emissivity when exposed to the flame of a certain intensity and duration.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do I need 1 or 2 cables per work area?</span>\r\nThis decision is a commonly debated topic. The fact is that the cable is very inexpensive relative to the entire telecommunications system and the building that it serves. The increased functionality and bandwidth that one additional data cable can provide at each work area outlet can prove to be priceless, especially after the drywall is in place.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do I need a cabinet, can’t I just plug straight into my equipment?</span>\r\nA cabinet is always recommended even for the smallest installs. Cabling plugged directly into equipment has a tendency to break away at the termination ends as the solid cable is not suitable for direct termination. Also, a cabinet provides protection for the equipment from theft, breakage, dust, and employees. Cabinets also allow all the equipment to be stored together and in a manageable way for moves and changes.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do I need such a big cabinet?</span>\r\nThe cabinet should be large enough to house the current equipment with some space for possible future requirements. I.e. for a VOIP telephone system to be housed. The depth of the cabinet should keep in mind what is to be stored in the cabinet. Some ISP switches and blade servers are extra deep and required an 800/1000mm deep cabinet.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do Data cable installation test results show?</span>\r\nTest Results show a range of tests depending on the grade of cabling used (Cat5e/Cat6 etc.). These tests for Cat6 include Wire Map, Length, Insertion Loss, NEXT Loss, PS NEXT Loss, ACRF Loss, PS ACRF Loss, Return Loss, Propagation Delay, and Delay Skew. These are tests to ensure installation standards have been met, the terminations have been done correctly and that the cable doesn’t have any unnecessary bends, kinks, and twists.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What should the end deliverable be for a structured cabling system?</span>\r\nWhen properly designed and installed, the end deliverable should be a structured cabling system that supports the customer’s needs now and well into the foreseeable future. The Main Distribution Frames and Intermediate Distribution Frames should be well thought out, and cables should be neatly dressed. It should have additional cable runs that support a wireless overlay and have sufficient bandwidth in the backbone to handle a step-change in bandwidth needs. For the last 20 years, clients have utilized more bandwidth in the current year than the year preceding it. Nobody ever says “we put in too much cable.”","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Structuring_Cabling.png","alias":"structuring-cabling"},"58":{"id":58,"title":"CAD for mechanical engineering - Computer-Aided Design","description":"The term "CAD in engineering" usually refers to packages that perform the functions of CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM, that is, computer-aided design, preproduction and design, and engineering data management.\r\nThe first CAD-systems appeared at the stage of computing technology - in the 60s. It was at General Motors that an interactive graphic production preparation system was created, and its creator, Dr. Patrick Henretti (the founder of CAD), was a manufacturing and consulting company (MCS), which had a huge impact on the development of this industry. industry. According to analysts, MCS ideas are based on almost 70% of modern CAD systems. In the early 80s, when the computing power of computers grew significantly, the first CAM packages appeared on the scene, which partially automate the production process using CNC programs and CAE products designed to analyze complex structures. Thus, by the mid-80s, the CAD system in mechanical engineering has a form that still exists. This year there were new players of the "middle weight category". Increased competition has stimulated product development: thanks to a convenient graphical user interface, their use has increased significantly, new solid state modeling mechanisms ACIS and Parasolid have appeared, which are currently used in many modern CAD systems, and the functionality has been significantly expanded.\r\nAccording to the analytical company Daratech, in 1999 the sales of CAD/CAM systems increased by 11.1% over the year, in 2000 by 4.7%, in 2001 by 3.5%, and in 2002 - by 1.3% (preliminary estimate). We can say that the transition to the new century has become a turning point for the CAD market. In this situation, two main trends emerged in the foreground. A striking example of the first trend is the purchase of EDS in 2001 by two well-known developers representing CAD systems - Unigraphics and SDRC, the second is the actively promoted PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) concept, which provides access to information throughout its life cycle.\r\nTraditionally, CAD products in mechanical engineering are divided into four classes: the heavy, medium, light and mature market. Such a classification has developed historically, and although there has long been talk that the boundaries between classes are about to be erased, they remain, since the systems still differ in price and functionality. As a result, now in this area there are several powerful systems, a kind of "oligarchs" of the CAD world, stably developing products of the middle class and inexpensive, easy-to-use programs that are widely distributed. There is also the so-called "non-class stratum of society", the role of which is performed by various specialized solutions.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why implement CAD?</span>\r\nAt present, computer-aided design (CAD) systems of various types are commonly used at machine-building enterprises. Over the long history of use, they have proven their effectiveness and economic feasibility. However, most system manufacturers cannot give a clear and unambiguous answer, what economic effect will the purchase of their software bring?\r\nWhen choosing one or another system, it is difficult to unambiguously understand which solution will be the most suitable for an organization and why the introduction of CAD is generally necessary? To answer these questions, it is necessary, first of all, to determine the factors by which the economic efficiency of the implementation and use of the system is achieved, as well as refer to the world experience of using CAD systems.\r\nOne of the leaders conducting research in this area is the international research agency Aberdeen Group, which, together with Autodesk, since 2007, has issued a number of reports on this topic:\r\n<ul><li>Additional strategies for building digital and physical prototypes: how to avoid a crisis situation when developing products?</li><li>System design: Development of new products for mechatronics.</li><li>Technical Change Management 2.0: Intelligent Change Management to optimize business solutions.</li><li>Design without borders. Revenue growth through the use of 3D technology.</li></ul>\r\nThe organizations participating in the research were divided into three groups according to how they fulfill their calendar and budget: 20% are best-in-class companies (leading companies), 50% are companies with industry averages and 30% are companies with results below average. Then a comparative analysis was conducted to understand which processes, ways of organizing work and technology were more often used by the best-in-class companies.\r\nAccording to the results of research, the main economic factors affecting the economic efficiency of using CAD are time and money spent on developing prototypes of products of machine-building organizations, as well as time and costs of making changes to prototypes and manufactured products.\r\nThe participating companies were also interviewed about the main factors that, in their opinion, are the most significant prerequisites for the use of computer-aided design tools.\r\n<ul><li>91% of respondents put in the first place a reduction in product design time,</li><li>in second place with 38% - reducing the cost of design,</li><li>further follow: increase in manufacturability of designed products (30%), acceleration of product modifications in accordance with the requirements of Customers (product customization) - 15%.</li></ul>\r\nAn interesting feature is that, despite the great opportunities to reduce costs, as in previous studies, the key factor is the possibility of reducing the design time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why use CAD the best engineering companies?</span>\r\nThe functionality of CAD, which is used by machine-building enterprises to achieve the above effects, can be divided into the following main areas:\r\n<ul><li>Development of the project concept in digital format.</li><li>Creation, optimization and approval of projects.</li><li>Design of electrical and mechanical parts.</li><li>Product data management.</li><li>Visualization of product solutions, reviews, sales and marketing.</li></ul>\r\nIt should be noted that the product data management functionality relates more to PDM / PLM solutions, however, computer-aided design systems are an integral part of them.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/CAD_for_mechanical_engineering_-_Computer-Aided_Design.png","alias":"cad-for-mechanical-engineering-computer-aided-design"},"59":{"id":59,"title":"SCADA - Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">SCADA</span> stands for <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition</span>, a term which describes the basic functions of a SCADA system. Companies use SCADA systems to control equipment across their sites and to collect and record data about their operations. SCADA is not a specific technology, but a type of application. Any application that gets operating data about a system in order to control and optimise that system is a SCADA application. That application may be a petrochemical distillation process, a water filtration system, a pipeline compressor, or just about anything else.\r\nSCADA solutions typically come in a combination of software and hardware elements, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and remote terminal units (RTUs). Data acquisition in SCADA starts with PLCs and RTUs, which communicate with plant floor equipment such as factory machinery and sensors. Data gathered from the equipment is then sent to the next level, such as a control room, where operators can supervise the PLC and RTU controls using human-machine interfaces (HMIs). HMIs are an important element of SCADA systems. They are the screens that operators use to communicate with the SCADA system.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The major components of a SCADA technology include:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Master Terminal Unit (MTU).</span> It comprises a computer, PLC and a network server that helps MTU to communicate with the RTUs. MTU begins communication, collects and saves data, helps to interface with operators and to communicate data to other systems.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Remote Terminal Unit (RTU).</span> RTU is used to collect information from these sensors and further sends the data to MTU. RTUs have the storage capacity facility. So, it stores the data and transmits the data when MTU sends the corresponding command.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Communication Network (defined by its network topology).</span> In general, network means connection. When you tell a SCADA communication network, it is defined as a link between RTU in the field to MTU in the central location. The bidirectional wired or wireless communication channel is used for the networking purpose. Various other communication mediums like fiber optic cables, twisted pair cables, etc. are also used.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Objectives of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Monitor:</span> SCADA control system continuously monitors the physical parameters</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Measure:</span> It measures the parameter for processing</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Acquisition:</span> It acquires data from RTU, data loggers, etc</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Communication:</span> It helps to communicate and transmit a large amount of data between MTU and RTU units</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Controlling:</span> Online real-time monitoring and controlling of the process</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Automation:</span> It helps for automatic transmission and functionality</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Who Uses SCADA?</h1>\r\nSCADA systems are used by industrial organizations and companies in the public and private sectors to control and maintain efficiency, distribute data for smarter decisions, and communicate system issues to help mitigate downtime. Supervisory control systems work well in many different types of enterprises because they can range from simple configurations to large, complex installations. They are the backbone of many modern industries, including:\r\n<ul><li>Energy</li><li>Food and beverage</li><li>Manufacturing</li><li>Oil and gas</li><li>Power</li><li>Recycling</li><li>Transportation</li><li>Water and waste water</li><li>And many more</li></ul>\r\nVirtually anywhere you look in today's world, there is some type of SCADA monitoring system running behind the scenes: maintaining the refrigeration systems at the local supermarket, ensuring production and safety at a refinery, achieving quality standards at a waste water treatment plant, or even tracking your energy use at home, to give a few examples. Effective SCADA systems can result in significant savings of time and money. Numerous case studies have been published highlighting the benefits and savings of using a modern SCADA software.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of using SCADA software</h1>\r\nUsing modern SCADA software provides numerous benefits to businesses, and helps companies make the most of those benefits. Some of these advantages include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Easier engineering:</span> An advanced supervisory control application such provides easy-to-locate tools, wizards, graphic templates and other pre-configured elements, so engineers can create automation projects and set parameters quickly, even if they don't have programming experience. In addition, you can also easily maintain and expand existing applications as needed. The ability to automate the engineering process allows users, particularly system integrators and original equipment manufacturers (OEM), to set up complex projects much more efficiently and accurately.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Improved data management:</span> A high-quality SCADA system makes it easier to collect, manage, access and analyze your operational data. It can enable automatic data recording and provide a central location for data storage. Additionally, it can transfer data to other systems such as MES and ERP as needed. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Greater visibility:</span> One of the main advantages of using SCADA software is the improvement in visibility into your operations. It provides you with real-time information about your operations and enables you to conveniently view that information via an HMI. SCADA monitoring can also help in generating reports and analyzing data.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enhanced efficiency:</span> A SCADA system allows you to streamline processes through automated actions and user-friendly tools. The data that SCADA provides allows you to uncover opportunities for improving the efficiency of the operations, which can be used to make long-term changes to processes or even respond to real-time changes in conditions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Increased usability:</span> SCADA systems enable workers to control equipment more quickly, easily and safely through an HMI. Rather than having to control each piece of machinery manually, workers can manage them remotely and often control many pieces of equipment from a single location. Managers, even those who are not currently on the floor, also gain this capability.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reduced downtime:</span> A SCADA system can detect faults at an early stage and push instant alerts to the responsible personnel. Powered by predictive analytics, a SCADA system can also inform you of a potential issue of the machinery before it fails and causes larger problems. These features can help improve the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and reduce the amount of time and cost on troubleshooting and maintenance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Easy integration:</span> Connectivity to existing machine environments is key to removing data silos and maximizing productivity. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Unified platform:</span>All of your data is also available in one platform, which helps you to get a clear overview of your operations and take full advantage of your data. All users also get real-time updates locally or remotely, ensuring everyone on your team is on the same page.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SCADA__-_Supervisory_Control_And_Data_Acquisition.png","alias":"scada-supervisory-control-and-data-acquisition"},"60":{"id":60,"title":"GIS - Geographic information system","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A geographic information system (GIS)</span> is a framework for gathering, managing, and analyzing data. Rooted in the science of geography, GIS integrates many types of data. It analyzes spatial location and organizes layers of information into visualizations using maps and 3D scenes. With this unique capability, GIS reveals deeper insights into data, such as patterns, relationships, and situations — helping users make smarter decisions.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">GIS applications</span> are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, and present the results of all these operations. GIS (more commonly GIScience) sometimes refers to geographic information science (GIScience), the science underlying geographic concepts, applications, and systems. Since the mid-1980s, geographic information systems have become valuable tool used to support a variety of city and regional planning functions.\r\nGIS can refer to a number of different technologies, processes, techniques and methods. It is attached to many operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications, and business. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis and visualization.\r\nGIS can relate unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. Locations or extents in the Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, and elevation, respectively. All Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should be relatable to one another and ultimately to a "real" physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry.\r\nGeographic Information Systems are powerful decision-making tools for any business or industry since it allows the analyzation of environmental, demographic, and topographic data. Data intelligence compiled from gis software applications help companies and various industries, and consumers, make informed decisions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mapping.</span> GIS can be used to provide a visual interpretation of data. Google Maps is an excellent example of a web-based GIS mapping solution that people use for everyday navigation purposes.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Telecom and Network Services.</span> Organizations can incorporate geographic data into their complex network design, optimization, planning, and maintenance activities. This data enhances telecom processes through better customer-relationship management and location services.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Environmental Impact Analysis.</span> Data gathered via GIS program is vital for conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. Impact statements assess the magnitude of human impact on the environment, which GIS integration helps indicate.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Agricultural Applications.</span> Geo informatic system data helps create more efficient farming techniques, alongside analyzing soil data in an advanced fashion. This can increase food production in different parts of the world.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Navigation. </span>Web-based navigation maps use geo info systemsdata to provide the public with useful information. Web maps are regularly updated per GIS information and are used consistently in everyday life.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Banking.</span> Banking has evolved to become market-driven, and a bank’s success depends mainly on its ability to provide customer-driven services. GIS data plays an essential role in planning, organizing, and decision making in the banking industry.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Planning and Community Development. </span>GIS data helps us understand and meet global challenges. As GIS technology rapidly advances, there are various innovative applications in the planning sector. GIS tools can be used to integrate geographic intelligence into planning processes, and have the potential to change how we think and behave.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">How does GIS work? </h1>\r\nGIS technology applies geographic science with tools for understanding and collaboration. It helps people reach a common goal: to gain actionable intelligence from all types of data.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Maps: </span>maps are the geographic container for the data layers and analytics you want to work with. GIS maps are easily shared and embedded in apps, and accessible by virtually everyone, everywhere.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><br /></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data:</span> GIS integrates many different kinds of data layers using spatial location. Most data has a geographic component. GIS data includes imagery, features, and basemaps linked to spreadsheets and tables.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Analysis:</span> spatial analysis lets you evaluate suitability and capability, estimate and predict, interpret and understand, and much more, lending new perspectives to your insight and decision-making.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Apps:</span> apps provide focused user experiences for getting work done and bringing GIS to life for everyone. GIS apps work virtually everywhere: on your mobile phones, tablets, in web browsers, and on desktops.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the benefits benefits of Geographic Information Systems?</h1>\r\nMany different types of information can be compared and contrasted using GIS. The geo information services can include data about people, such as population, income, or education level. It can include information about the landscape, such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation, and different kinds of soil. It can include information about the sites of factories, farms, and schools, or storm drains, roads, and electric power lines.\r\nWith GIS technology, people can compare the locations of different things in order to discover how they relate to each other. For example, using GIS, a single map could include sites that produce pollution, such as factories, and sites that are sensitive to pollution, such as wetlands and rivers. Such a map would help people determine where water supplies are most at risk.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is GIS Mapping Software?</h1>\r\nGeographic information software lets you produce maps and other graphic displays of geographic information for analysis and presentation. With these capabilities a GIS is a valuable tool to visualize spatial data or to build decision support systems for use in your organization.\r\nA GIS stores data on geographical features and their characteristics. The features are typically classified as points, lines, or areas, or as raster images. On a map city data could be stored as points, road data could be stored as lines, and boundaries could be stored as areas, while aerial photos or scanned maps could be stored as raster images.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Application of Geographic Information Systems</h1>\r\nGIS can be used as tool in both problem solving and decision making processes, as well as for visualization of data in a spatial environment. Geospatial data can be analyzed to determine (1) the location of features and relationships to other features, (2) where the most and/or least of some feature exists, (3) the density of features in a given space, (4) what is happening inside an area of interest , (5) what is happening nearby some feature or phenomenon, and (6) and how a specific area has changed over time (and in what way).\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/GIS_-_Geographic_information_system.png","alias":"gis-geographic-information-system"},"61":{"id":61,"title":"CAM - Computer Aided Manufacturing","description":"Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) is an application technology that uses computer software and machinery to facilitate and automate manufacturing processes. CAM is the successor of computer-aided engineering (CAE) and is often used in tandem with computer-aided design (CAD).\r\nIn addition to materials requirements, modern CAM systems include real-time controls and robotics.\r\nCAM reduces waste and energy for enhanced manufacturing and production efficiency via increased production speeds, raw material consistency and more precise tooling accuracy.\r\nCAM uses computer-driven manufacturing processes for additional automation of management, material tracking, planning and transportation. CAM also implements advanced productivity tools like simulation and optimization to leverage professional skills.\r\nDepending on enterprise solution and manufacturer, CAM may present inadequacies in the following areas:\r\n<ul><li>Manufacturing process and usage complexity</li><li>Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and modern enterprise integration</li><li>Machine process automation</li></ul>\r\nModern CAM solutions are scalable and range from discrete systems to multi-CAD 3D integration.\r\nCAM is often linked with CAD for more enhanced and streamlined manufacturing, efficient design and superior machinery automation.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does CAM work?</span>\r\nComputer-aided manufacturing typically uses software to translate drawings and data into detailed instructions that can drive some sort of automated tool. As an example, a 2D digital drawing can be used to guide a laser or physical cutting tool to cut cladding or other components to fit an architect’s design.\r\nThe programming language generated from the drawing or another data set that is then used to control the machine tool is referred to within the industry as the G Code. This G-code tells the tool how to make something by telling the motors where to move, how fast to move, and what path to follow.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the relationship between CAM, CAD, and BIM?</span>\r\nCAM tends to go hand-in-hand with computer-aided design (CAD) and building information modeling (BIM), at least as far as its application in the construction industry goes. CAD allows architects and members of the design team to make drawings in 2D or create entire 3D models using computer software. This has a number of advantages over traditional pen and paper drawings, including the ability to redraw and redesign easily, to save component parts in databases and (in the case of 3D CAD) the ability to rotate and fly into or through the model.<br />BIM utilizes CAD but allows for collaboration between different design and construction stakeholders, who can work on their own models while accessing and combining with other parties’ models to create a central ‘federated’ BIM model. Additional data relating to elements such as cost and time can also be added.<br />The data from CAD and BIM drawings and models can be extracted and used to create the G Code used in computer-aided manufacturing. That closes the gap existing between the design and manufacturing stages and allows for the accurate realization of drawings, models and designs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How is CAM being used in the construction industry?</span>\r\nCAM is being used onsite all around the world, although as of yet, it is still far from commonplace. CAM generally falls into two broad types: reductive and additive.\r\nReductive processes involve getting rid of material, and this includes the previous example of guiding a cutting tool to cut out a section of cladding. These cutting and shaping processes are currently the more commonly used types of CAM, and the laser cutting of sheet metal is certainly becoming more common. CNC (computer numerical control) routing uses a spinning component to carve materials into the desired shape while laser and water cutting can be used on relatively thin panels and pieces.\r\nAdditive processes involve adding material. They are far less common at present, but the arrival of 3D printers makes this a very exciting area. We could see walls and whole structures being ‘printed’, while robotics open up another avenue. Robot bricklayers and saws have already been trialed, and in some cases, deployed on construction sites.\r\nModular construction is another area where the potential for CAM is huge. In this method, buildings and other structures are assembled from components that are prefabricated offsite in manufacturing plants before being transported to the construction site for assembly. Sweden is a world leader in modular construction, with 84% of detached homes in the country using some prefabricated elements. Modular construction is also taking off in Germany and, while it’s not quite as popular in the UK and the USA, advances in CAM technology can be used to greatly enhance the efficiency of the offsite modular building, speeding up and improving the accuracy of the component construction.\r\nOne example of modular building is GSK’s ‘factory in a box’. Created using CAD and BIM systems, this provides a color-coded pharmaceutical factory that can be shipped to developing areas in crates and put together like an altogether more impressive set of flat-pack furniture.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The benefits of CAM</span>\r\nUsing CAM has a number of benefits when it comes to creating components used in building construction. Compared to manually operated machines, CAM generally offers:\r\n<ul><li>Greater speed in producing components</li><li>Greater accuracy and consistency, with each component or finished product exactly the same</li><li>Greater efficiency as computer controlled machines do not need to take breaks</li><li>High sophistication in terms of following complex patterns like tracks on circuit boards</li></ul>\r\nThere are some limitations. CAM-enabled machines are generally designed for a particular task and are not incredibly versatile, although new systems and designs are emerging all the time.\r\nThey also need upfront investment and skilled operators and programmers. Once in place, however, they could potentially bring large savings in time and efficiency, thereby reducing costs and saving companies thousands.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/CAM_-_Computer_Aided_Manufacturing.png","alias":"cam-computer-aided-manufacturing"},"62":{"id":62,"title":"CAE - Computer-aided engineering","description":"Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the broad usage of computer software to aid in engineering analysis tasks. It includes finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), multibody dynamics (MBD), durability and optimization.\r\nComputer Software used to analyse CAD geometry tools that have been developed to support these activities are considered CAE tools. CAE tools are being used, for example, to analyse the robustness and performance of components and assemblies. The term encompasses simulation, validation, and optimisation of products and manufacturing tools. In the future, CAE systems will be major providers of information to help support design teams in decision making. Computer-aided engineering is used in many fields such as automotive, aviation, space, and shipbuilding industries.\r\nIn regard to information networks, CAE systems are individually considered a single node on a total information network and each node may interact with other nodes on the network.\r\nCAE systems can provide support to businesses. This is achieved by the use of reference architectures and their ability to place information views on the business process. Reference architecture is the basis from which information model, especially product and manufacturing models.\r\nThe term CAE has also been used by some in the past to describe the use of computer technology within engineering in a broader sense than just engineering analysis. It was in this context that the term was coined by Jason Lemon, founder of SDRC in the late 1970s. This definition is however better known today by the terms CAx and PLM.\r\nCAE areas covered include:\r\n<ul><li>Stress analysis on components and assemblies using Finite Element Analysis (FEA);</li><li>Thermal and fluid flow analysis Computational fluid dynamics (CFD);</li><li>Multibody dynamics (MBD) and Kinematics;</li><li>Analysis tools for process simulation for operations such as casting, molding, and die press forming.</li><li>Optimization of the product or process.</li></ul>\r\nIn general, there are three phases in any computer-aided engineering task:\r\n<ul><li>Pre-processing – defining the model and environmental factors to be applied to it. (typically a finite element model, but facet, voxel and thin sheet methods are also used)</li><li>Analysis solver (usually performed on high powered computers)</li><li>Post-processing of results (using visualization tools)</li></ul>\r\nThis cycle is iterated, often many times, either manually or with the use of commercial optimization software.\r\nEven though CAE has built a strong reputation as a verification, troubleshooting and analysis tool, there is still a perception that sufficiently accurate results come rather late in the design cycle to really drive the design. This can be expected to become a problem as modern products become ever more complex. They include smart systems, which leads to an increased need for multi-physics analysis including controls, and contain new lightweight materials, to which engineers are often less familiar. CAE software companies and manufacturers are constantly looking for tools and process improvements to change this situation. On the software side, they are constantly looking to develop more powerful solvers, better use computer resources and include engineering knowledge in pre- and post-processing. On the process side, they try to achieve a better alignment between 3D CAE, 1D System Simulation and physical testing. This should increase modeling realism and calculation speed. On top of that, they try to better integrate CAE in the overall product lifecycle management. In this way, they can connect product design with product use, which is an absolute must for smart products. Such an enhanced engineering process is also referred to as predictive engineering analytics.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) mean?</span>\r\nComputer-aided engineering (CAE) is the process of solving engineering problems through the use of sophisticated, interactive graphical software.\r\nCAE is one of the leading softwares employed by manufacturing organizations to mass produce products in a factory-based environment. It allows for more computations than is possible by hand, especially when it is coupled with optimization systems.\r\nA CAE program is a mathematical model written in a programming language using a set of algortihms that define the manufacturing processes.\r\nThe process starts by first defining the analysis of the mathematical phenomenon. Next, the equations have to be defined. Finally, a model of physical configuration is created.This model may consist of 2-D or 3-D figures/shapes/curves/surfaces. This model is than applied to an actual production mechanism to design and develop the product.\r\nComputer aided engineering is complemented by computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/CAE_-_Computer-aided_engineering.png","alias":"cae-computer-aided-engineering"},"63":{"id":63,"title":"PDM - Product Data Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product data management (PDM)</span> is a system for managing design data and engineering processes in one central location. Engineering teams use PDM software to organize product-related information, track revisions, collaborate, manage change orders, generate Bills of Materials (BOMs), and more. With a single source for project data, engineers save time and avoid mistakes.\r\nThe product means, as a rule, some kind of high-tech products (automobiles, ships, airplanes, etc.) in the design, production, operation and utilization of which it is necessary to process and control large volumes of engineering and technical data.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">PDM system uses several technologies:</span>\r\n<ul><li>EDM (engineering data management).</li><li>PIM (product information management).</li><li>TDM (technical data management).</li><li>TIM (technical information management).</li><li>Managing images and documents, manipulating information related to the product.</li></ul>\r\nPDM systems provide the data necessary for the correct operation of MRP (material requirements planning) and CRP systems (capacity requirements planning). Unlike traditional databases, product data management system can accumulate data of any format and type: text documents, geometric models, the data needed for automatic production lines, CNC machines, etc. There can be so much data that it can be used as a "digital layout" of the product.\r\nThe PDM integration with existing CAD systems at the enterprise can significantly increase the efficiency of their use. This happens due to the fact that after integration, it becomes possible to organize work on the project in multi-user mode, to exchange information between developers (possibly in different places) in real time. At the same time, in order to avoid unauthorized modification of documents, different access modes are provided to different users.\r\nEnterprise PDM software can help you create better designs, reduce errors, and build a more efficient development cycle with <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">features </span>including:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">CAD file management.</span> Take control of your valuable design files with PDM. Direct CAD-integration keeps your data in sync in real time.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Revision control.</span> Automatically capture the revision history on documents as you work. Never lose track of changes.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Business system integration.</span> Integrate design data with systems like MRPs and ERPs.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Access control.</span> Strengthen data security by controlling access with permissions for version control and retrieval.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Engineering change orders.</span> Easily manage engineering change orders (ECOs) with a workflows that help automate the process.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">External collaboration.</span> Share 2D or 3D views of your work with others and get comments and feedback directly inside your product.</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is PDM or PLM software?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">PLM </span>stands for <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product Lifecycle Management.</span> It’s a tool that guides products through the product development lifecycle. And as products and supply chains get more complex, a way to manage the development process becomes more and more important. PLMs usually give organizations:\r\n<ul><li>Workflows</li><li>Milestones or stage gates</li><li>CAD/BOM syncing</li><li>Change management processes.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">PDM </span>stands for <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product Data Management.</span> Product data management tools manage data as it moves through the product lifecycle. Specifically, product data management solutions keep CAD files organized and version controlled. This is usually achieved with a check-in/check-out file structure and a centralized storage solution, either in an on-premise server, a privately managed network or, increasingly, a cloud server.\r\nIn a nutshell, PLM is responsible for the process and the system that product development happens in. PDM is responsible for managing the actual digital product files that move through that PLM process.\r\nData management system software is focused on capturing and maintaining information on products and/or services through its development and useful life. Typical information managed in the PDM module include:\r\n<ul><li>Brand name;</li><li>Part number;</li><li>Part description;</li><li>Supplier/vendor;</li><li>Vendor part number and description;</li><li>Unit of measure;</li><li>Cost/price;</li><li>Schematic or CAD drawing;</li><li>Material data-sheets.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Why you need a PDM</h1>\r\nThe problem is that engineering data is clunky and complex. Engineering teams manage enormous assemblies that can only be manipulated by specific programs. Maintaining consistency across versions, especially for companies with global design offices, is difficult. PDM data management software makes this easier by:\r\n<ul><li>Ensuring there’s a single version of every file</li><li>Tracking each change as new versions come in</li><li>Creating unique part numbers for every individual part/file that make up the overall assembly</li><li>Check-in/check-out file formats.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDM_-_Product_Data_Management1.png","alias":"pdm-product-data-management"},"64":{"id":64,"title":"PLM - Product Lifecycle Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product lifecycle management,</span> sometimes "product life cycle management", PLM, represents an all-encompassing vision for managing all data relating to the design, production, support and ultimate disposal of manufactured goods. Product life management concepts were first introduced where safety and control have been extremely important, notably the aerospace, medical device, military and nuclear industries. These industries originated the discipline of configuration management (CM), which evolved into electronic data management systems (EDMS), which then further evolved to product data management (PDM).\r\nOver the last ten years, manufacturers of instrumentation, industrial machinery, consumer electronics, packaged goods and other complex engineered products have discovered the benefits of PLM management and are adopting efficient PLM software in increasing numbers.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The PLM Stages</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Beginning of Life (BOL):</span> The beginning of life phase includes all of the design and manufacturing, which consists of the initial conceptualization and development, and any prototypes built. Initial development has multiple sub-actions that identify all the requirements, concepts, and necessary testing. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Middle of Life (MOL):</span> The middle of life phase is post-manufacturing, when your product is distributed, used, and serviced. At this point, your product is in the hands of the end user. You can collect data on any failures, maintenance rates, and user experience to get information for immediate fixes and future development.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">End of Life (EOL):</span> The end of life phase is the retiring, recycling, or disposing of your product. At this point, the reverse logistics happen for the company. EOL starts when users no longer have a need for the product. At this stage, companies collect information about what parts and materials are still valuable.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Product lifecycle management software</span> is used to deliver all kinds of products to market, which means there are a lot of different providers out there. Its purpose today is to help organizations: \r\n<ol><li>Develop new products using CAD software</li><li>Produce and manufacture new products</li><li>Bring those products to market</li></ol>\r\nAnd increasingly, product life management software has to process the feedback from the market back to the design and production processes. To achieve these goals, product lifecycle management solutions have to do four things:\r\n<ul><li>Link together CAD metadata with a bill of materials</li><li>Manage workflows for organizations needed to bring products to market</li><li>Manage product data as they move through the product development lifecycle stages</li><li> Hook in auxiliary suppliers and business stakeholders to a shared version of truth or single source of truth.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Top PLM System Software Requirements</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Bill of Materials.</span> Having a common source of information across your company is incredibly important during product development. That’s why a bill of materials (BOM) is key to include in your list of product lifecycle management requirements. At the very least, your system should provide a single definition of a particular product and its components. More advanced options include features specifically designed for different team members such as designers, engineers and other professionals who frequently collaborate.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Computer-Aided Design Management.</span> Managing your CAD activities and documents is more than useful when it comes to PLM. Your solution should be able to manage changes to product configurations while maintaining the functional and physical attributes of a product throughout its lifecycle. Production engineering changes should proliferate throughout your processes, with the changes evident in the subsequent BOMs and plans.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manufacturing Product Management.</span> During a product’s lifecycle, you want to keep an eye on your portfolio. With portfolio management, users can determine the proper investment balance to maximize their research and development investment returns. Some systems provide strategy tools to spotlight priorities and support planning. Top PLM software can even determine the best possible investment scenario. Users can also track project progress to completion, which is automatically documented in the product record. This allows greater insight into your processes, facilitating better resource management and allocation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product Regulation and Governance.</span> Failing to follow regulation and compliance standards is one of the quickest ways to earn your business a bad reputation. But having the right tools built into your product life management system can make staying compliant much easier than it would be otherwise. Your solution should be able to centralize relevant information and documentation, making it easier for enterprise organizations to achieve and maintain compliance. You also may choose a system that can comply with medical, environmental, safety, FSA and ISO standards depending on your industry.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project and Component Maintenance.</span> Project management tools are vital for providing users visibility into daily processes and progress. These features include tracking and scheduling capabilities, which enable you to manage product development along with resource allocation in real time. Users can also see upcoming milestones and constraints for further planning.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quote Process Management.</span> Data from many different sources is often needed during the quote process. PLM’s inherent coordination capabilities gather and organize data pertaining to product design to support your engineering teams. This includes teams developing engineer-to-order and configure-to-order products. The system only shares the necessary data, meaning your team members can spend more time focusing on their work and less on hunting down information. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Risk Management. </span>This feature brings risks to users’ attention, allowing them to manage, report and mitigate those instabilities. Reducing risks early on prevents issues from growing as they move through product development unseen, reducing the overall cost of development. Some systems do this by “detecting” or “highlighting” risks, whereas some systems simply offer full visibility through PM tools.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Workflow and Change Management.</span> Plainly said, this suite of PLM software tools gives users insight into product activities. Users can determine phases for a project, as well as assign milestones to keep projects on track. Some systems allow users to see all pending and implemented changes, as well as all items that endure the subsequent effects. This visibility extends to portfolio and resource management, also.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PLM_-_Product_Lifecycle_Management.png","alias":"plm-product-lifecycle-management"},"66":{"id":66,"title":"BPM - Business Process Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business process management (BPM)</span> is a discipline in operations management in which people use various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve, optimize, and automate business processes. BPM focuses on improving corporate performance by managing business processes. Any combination of methods used to manage a company's business processes is BPM. Processes can be structured and repeatable or unstructured and variable.\r\nAs an approach, BPM sees processes as important assets of an organization that must be understood, managed, and developed to announce and deliver value-added products and services to clients or customers. This approach closely resembles other total quality management or continuous improvement process methodologies. ISO 9000 promotes the process approach to managing an organization.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Successfully employing BPM usually involves the following:</span>\r\nOrganizing around outcomes not tasks to ensure the proper focus is maintained\r\nCorrecting and improving processes before (potentially) automating them; otherwise all you’ve done is make the mess run faster\r\nEstablishing processes and assigning ownership lest the work and improvements simply drift away – and they will, as human nature takes over and the momentum peters out\r\nStandardizing processes across the enterprise so they can be more readily understood and managed, errors reduced, and risks mitigated\r\nEnabling continuous change so the improvements can be extended and propagated over time\r\nImproving existing processes, rather than building radically new or “perfect” ones, because that can take so long as to erode or negate any gains achieved\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business Process Management Software (BPMS)</span> is a process automation tool. It helps you map out your everyday processes to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, control your company’s costs, make your day-to-day processes as efficient as possible, and ensure the effectiveness of the people involved in your processes. A business process management solution to a company’s needs begins with the alignment of business goals with an eye toward creating value through process change initiatives. This alignment leads to a thorough understanding and design of representative processes typically following an industry standard framework \r\nA BPM based foundation provides for complete lifecycle management of business processes, integration across technologies, and imbeds efficiency among people, processes, and technologies.\r\nCommercial business process management tools tend to center on the automation of business processes, essentially moving them from manual pen-and-paper endeavors to effortless automated transactions. BPM software products track how business information is used and then maps the relevant business process and ensure that transactions are done accordingly. This effectively shows where data and process bottlenecks occur and highlights various deficiencies in business processes, including areas where resources are wasted, allowing managers streamline and optimize those processes.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">There are three key types of BPMS:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Efficiency Monitors:</span>Monitors every system of the enterprise for inefficiency in the processes by following it from start to finish. BPM program accurately pinpoints weakness and bottlenecks where customers might get frustrated and discontinue transactions and processes.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Workflow Software:</span> Uses detailed maps of an existing processes and tries to streamline them by optimizing certain steps. BPM workflow software cannot suggest improvements to the process, only optimize it, so this software is only as good as the process itself.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise Application Integration Tools:</span> A mixture of efficiency monitors, process and workflow management, EAI software is used to integrate legacy systems into new systems. This software can be used to map points for integrating old and new systems, optimizing their information-gathering characteristics and increasing the efficiency of system communications.<br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What Are the Types of Business Process Management Software?</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\">There are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">three basic kinds</span> of BPM frameworks:</p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Horizontal frameworks.</span>They deal with design and development of business processes. They are generally focused on technology and reuse.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Vertical BPM frameworks.</span> This focuses on specific sets of coordinated tasks, using pre-built templates which can be easily deployed and configured.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Full-service BPM suites.</span> They have five basic components: Process discovery and project scoping; Process modeling and design; Business rules engine; Workflow engine; Simulation and testing.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\">There are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">two types of BPM software</span> as it pertains to deployment:<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">On-premise</span> business process management (BPM). This has been the norm for most enterprises.</p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software as a Service (SaaS).</span> Advances in cloud computing have led to an increased interest in various “software-on-demand” offerings.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are BPM Tools?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business Process Management (BPM) tools</span> are used for automating, measuring and optimizing business processes. BPM automation tools use workflow and collaboration to provide meaningful metrics to business leaders.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Misconceptions about BPM Tools.</span> There’s a common misconception that BPM tools do not easily demonstrate their benefit to the organization. While the benefit from using BPM tools can be hard to quantify, it can be expressed more effectively in terms of business value.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Process Management Tools.</span> Tools that allow process managers (those that are responsible for organizing the process or activity) to secure the resources needed to execute it, and measure the results of the activity, providing rewards or corrective feedback when necessary. Process manager tools also allows process managers to change and improve the process whenever possible.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Process Modeling Tools.</span> Software tools that let managers or analysts create business process diagrams. Simple tools only support diagramming. Professional Process Modeling Tools store each model element in a database so that they can be reused on other diagrams or updated. Many business process improvement software supports simulation or code generation.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/BPM_-_Business_Process_Management.png","alias":"bpm-business-process-management"},"67":{"id":67,"title":"WMS - Warehouse Management System","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A warehouse management system (WMS)</span> is software and processes that allow organizations to control and administer warehouse operations from the time goods or materials enter a warehouse until they move out. \r\nA WMS handles the orchestration of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">tasks </span>involved with:<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"></span>\r\n- Inbound and outbound operations\r\n- Inventory tracking\r\n- Processing orders and shipments\r\n- Inventory cycle counts\r\n- Order processing and shipping\r\nUsing a database that has been configured to support the operation of a warehouse, a warehouse system is a powerful tool to drive efficiency and accuracy across the business.The warehouse management software provides the means of warehouse control, enabling facility managers to have visibility into processes, labor resource activity, and much more.\r\nData involving operational processes flows into the warehouse system software from automated data capture methods such as barcode scanners, mobile computers and RFID enabled devices. The data is then used throughout the system to track inventory through the progression of warehouse processes.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Types of warehouse management systems</span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">WMS come in a variety of types and implementation methods, and the type typically depends on the size and nature of the organization. They can be <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">stand-alone systems</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">modules </span>in a larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) system or supply chain execution suite.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">They can also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">vary</span> widely <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">in complexity.</span> Some small organizations may use a simple series of hard copy documents or spreadsheet files, but most larger organizations - from small to medium-sized businesses to enterprise companies - use complex and smart warehouse system. Some warehouse management solutions are designed specifically for the size of the organization, and many vendors have versions of WMS products that can scale to different organizational sizes. Some organizations build their own warehouse software from scratch, but it's more common to implement a WMS from an established vendor.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">A WMS can also be designed or configured for the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">organization's specific requirements</span>; for example, an e-commerce vendor might use a WMS that has different functions than a brick-and-mortar retailer. Additionally, an enterprise WMS may also be designed or configured specifically for the types of goods the organization sells; for example, a sporting goods retailer would have different requirements than a grocery chain.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">How does using a Warehouse Management System help a business be more competitive?</h1>\r\nToday, businesses across the supply chain use warehouses to store goods on their way to customers. Whether the goods are destined for consumers, retailers, manufacturers or other business entities, it is important that whatever goods are ordered, shipped and delivered are processed properly, quickly, reliably and accurately.\r\nThe speed at which operational processes are performed, whether in a fulfillment center, third party logistics warehouse or distribution center is often a critical factor. \r\nUsing a WMS products that is appropriate for the needs of your operation can help you optimize operational processes for greater efficiency, enhance labor productivity, provide valuable insight into your operation and enable you to compete for, win and retain clients.\r\nHere are some other reasons why using a management warehouse system gives your business a competitive edge:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enables stringent inventory management and inventory control capabilities.</span></li></ul>\r\n Helps ensure optimal handling, storage, processing and tracking of inventory. Increased operational efficiency helps keep costs and errors down, critical in attracting and retaining clients.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real time information visibility.</span></li></ul>\r\nThese days, data is seamlessly transmitted across the warehouse and along the supply chain. Using warehouse software solutions with automated data collection such as barcode scanners, mobile computers or RFID enables the capture and use of vital information for quick decision making and planning.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automated operations reduce errors, wasted time and inefficiency from manual operations and workarounds.</span></li></ul>\r\nMany warehousing management solutions are now workflow-based or workflow-driven. This means that the WMS can automate the execution of work, step-by-step to ensure greater accuracy. Not only is this important for efficiency and error reduction but also for ensuring that quality control and quality assurance processes are carried out in conjunction with established SOPs. This can prove especially critical when dealing with temperature-sensitive products, fragile inventory and perishable goods.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Speed, agility and reliability of warehouse operations.</span></li></ul>\r\nSpeed and agility are critical factors in warehouse operations and provide keen competitive advantage, especially if you are competing against a rival that is still using a legacy WMS or no system at all. A cutting-edge warehouse management software solutions make use of data to plan, execute and report on operations reliably, quickly and efficiently and can adapt to changing business conditions.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enhanced workforce productivity, essential to daily operations.</span></li></ul>\r\nUsing a WMS helps provide your business with key metrics to use to properly manage, train and engage with your workforce. Getting the most work done in less time with fewer errors means that there will be less work done researching and correcting errors and billing. This lowers the burden on customer service representatives so that they can focus on providing top quality support.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WMS_-_Warehouse_Management_System.png","alias":"wms-warehouse-management-system"},"70":{"id":70,"title":"OLAP - online analytical processing","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">OLAP (online analytical processing)</span> is a computing method that enables users to easily and selectively extract and query data in order to analyze it from different points of view. OLAP business intelligence queries often aid in trends analysis, financial reporting, sales forecasting, budgeting and other planning purposes.\r\nTo facilitate this kind of analysis, data is collected from multiple data sources and stored in data warehouses then cleansed and organized into <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data cubes.</span> Each OLAP cube contains data categorized by dimensions (such as customers, geographic sales region and time period) derived by dimensional tables in the data warehouses. Dimensions are then populated by members (such as customer names, countries and months) that are organized hierarchically.\r\nAnalysts can then perform five types of online analytical processing system operations against these multidimensional databases: \r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Roll-up.</span> Also known as consolidation, or drill-up, this operation summarizes the data along the dimension.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Drill-down.</span> This allows analysts to navigate deeper among the dimensions of data, for example drilling down from "time period" to "years" and "months" to chart sales growth for a product.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Slice. </span>This enables an analyst to take one level of information for display</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dice. </span>This allows an analyst to select data from multiple dimensions to analyze</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Pivot.</span> Analysts can gain a new view of data by rotating the data axes of the cube.</li></ol>\r\nOLAP software then locates the intersection of dimensions, such as all products sold in the Eastern region above a certain price during a certain time period, and displays them. The result is the "measure"; each OLAP cube has at least one to perhaps hundreds of measures, which are derived from information stored in fact tables in the data warehouse.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Types of OLAP: </span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Relational online analytical processing (ROLAP):</span> ROLAP is an extended RDBMS along with multidimensional data mapping to perform the standard relational operation.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP):</span> MOLAP Implementes operation in multidimensional data.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Hybrid OnlineAnalytical Processing (HOLAP):</span> In HOLAP approach the aggregated totals are stored in a multidimensional database while the detailed data is stored in the relational database. This offers both data efficiency of the ROLAP model and the performance of the MOLAP model.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Desktop OLAP (DOLAP):</span> In Desktop OLAP system, a user downloads a part of the data from the database locally, or on their desktop and analyze it. DOLAP is relatively cheaper to deploy as it offers very few functionalities compares to other OLAP tools.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web based OLAP (WOLAP):</span> Web OLAP which is OLAP system accessible via the web browser. WOLAP is a three-tiered architecture. It consists of three components: client, middleware, and a database server.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Mobile OLAP:</span> Mobile OLAP process helps users to access and analyze OLAP data using their mobile devices</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spatial OLAP:</span> SOLAP is created to facilitate management of both spatial and non-spatial data in a Geographic Information system (GIS) </li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Implementing an OLAP Solution</h1>\r\nImplementation of OLAP depends not only on the type of software, but also on underlying data sources and the intended business objective(s). Each industry or business area is specific and requires some degree of customized modeling to create multidimensional “cubes” for data loading and reporting building, at minimum. An OLAP program might be intended for dynamic reporting for finance professionals, with source data originating in an ERP system. Or a solution might address a medical institution’s activities as concerns patient analysis. All of which is to say that customers need to have clear objectives in mind for an intended solution, and start to consider product selection on that basis. Another factor to consider in an OLAP implementation is the delivery to end users: does the initial user base want to adopt a new front end, or is there a preference for utilizing a dashboard? Or perhaps users are better served by a dynamic spreadsheet “delivery” system to achieve, for example, a collaborative budgeting and forecasting solution.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Advantages and Disadvantages of OLAP</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advantages</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>OLAP is a platform for all type of business includes planning, budgeting, reporting, and analysis.</li><li>Information and calculations are consistent in an OLAP cube. This is a crucial benefit.</li><li>Quickly create and analyze "What if" scenarios</li><li>Easily search OLAP database for broad or specific terms.</li><li>OLAP provides the building blocks for business modeling tools, Data mining tools, performance reporting tools.</li><li>Allows users to do slice and dice cube data all by various dimensions, measures, and filters.</li><li>It is good for analyzing time series.</li><li>Finding some clusters and outliers is easy with OLAP.</li><li> It is a powerful visualization online analytical process system which provides faster response times</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Disadvantages</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>OLAP requires organizing data into a star or snowflake schema. These schemas are complicated to implement and administer.</li><li>You cannot have large number of dimensions in a single OLAP cube.</li><li>Transactional data cannot be accessed with OLAP system.</li><li>Any modification in an OLAP cube needs a full update of the cube. This is a time-consuming process.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/OLAP_-__online_analytical_processing.png","alias":"olap-online-analytical-processing"},"74":{"id":74,"title":"BRMS - Business Rule Management System","description":"A<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"> BRMS (Business Rule Management System)</span> is an operating principle, practice or policy of an organisation. It has to be adhered to in order to satisfy either a required common approach to a particular event or regulatory requirements for the industry that the organisation is part of. It is a statement of truth about an organisation and is an attempt to describe the operations of an organisation, not an attempt to prescribe how an organisation should operate.\r\nBusiness Rules Management Software is a software component that is used to define, register, verify consistency, deploy, execute, monitor and manage the variety and complexity of decision logic that is used by operational systems within an organisation or enterprise. This logic, also referred to as business rules, includes policies, requirements, and conditional statements that are used to determine the tactical actions that take place in applications and systems. The BRMS software also provides the ability to define the relationships between different rules, and relate some of these rules to IT applications that are affected or need to enforce one or more of the rules.\r\nA Business Rules Management System Software acts as a central repository for business rules. Decision owners and IT employees can collaborate to develop, version, and edit rules in a single-sourced environment. A BRMS helps businesses automate tasks, improve consistency, and shorten turnaround on policy changes. BRMS vendors provide tools for developing, tracking, and editing business rules. Often, these tools support both programmers and non-programmers. Vendors also provide an engine to simulate and validate business rules before they are implemented. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\">Business Rule Management System includes, at minimum:</p>\r\n<ul><li>A repository, allowing the defined rules to be managed in terms of versions and variants and be available for reuse;</li><li>A development environment, which provides tools for both technical developers and business experts to define and manage the business rules;</li><li>A runtime environment, allowing applications to invoke business rules management and execute it using a business rules engine;</li><li>A management environment that provides the ability to not only monitor the development and runtime environments, but also manage them both.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the business rules?</h1>\r\n<div>Business rules are statements that will guide the proper functioning of your business. BRMS rules may be simple, or more complex, even involving rules of logic. But they have the function of basically defining what, where, when, why, and how something must be done within an organization.\r\nBusiness rule management system <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">example:</span> if your company provides 10% discounts on purchases made through your website on a customer’s birthday, that’s a business rule.\r\nThis benefit (what) should be applied on the customer’s birthday (when), needs to happen in purchases through the site (where), with a value of 10% (how) to please the customer on their day – and, who knows, maybe persuade them (why).\r\nBut you must understand that the rules are as varied as possible and must always be in accordance with the policies, objectives, and specificities of each company.\r\nThey may create advantages associated with:</div>\r\n<ul><li>Reducing costs</li><li>Making company strategies stronger;</li><li>Assisting in decision-making processes;</li><li>Providing greater process control;</li><li>Providing benefits to customers in a controlled and well-planned manner;</li><li>Increasing process agility;</li><li>Reducing problems with customer defaults.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why use a Business Rules Management System?</span></h1>\r\nA BRMS empowers companies to define and maintain the rules guiding a system’s decision workflow to determine what actions are enabled in any given circumstance. With logic outside the programming code, these systems deliver a profound boost to business agility, productivity and logic accuracy—and in so doing, deliver reliable cost savings and faster rules changes when necessary.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/BRMS_-_Business_Rule_Management_System__1_.png","alias":"brms-business-rule-management-system"},"76":{"id":76,"title":"CPM - Corporate Performance Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Corporate performance management (CPM)</span> is an umbrella term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise. Applications that enable CPM translate strategically focused information to operational plans and send aggregated results. These applications are also integrated into many elements of the planning and control cycle, or they address BAM or customer relationship optimization needs.\r\nCPM must be supported by a suite of analytical applications that provide the functionality to support these processes, methodologies and metrics.\r\n A CPM system is software that monitors and manages an organization's performance, according to key performance indicators. These can be revenue, return on investment, or other corporate strategic goals, such as increasing operational efficiency or improving corporate strategy.\r\nCorporate performance management system supports financial budgeting, planning and forecasting, and help leaders manage strategy and track the company’s financial health against goals. Corporate performance management tools are commonly used by the finance department, but are increasingly designed to be used across the enterprise. All in all, financial corporate performance management helps CFOs and other leaders maintain a clear picture of organizational performance.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">CPM Software Comparison</span></p>\r\nTo compare different CPM tools, you might want to consider evaluating options based on these factors:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Finance vs Strategy:</span> Do you care more about strategic planning or financials (such as consolidation and close, reporting, etc)? Financial corporate performance management products rarely do both of these well, so depending on which is your priority, compare tools based on both capabilities. Look at feature ratings for budgeting, planning and forecasting, versus consolidation and close and reporting.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Deployment type:</span> Corporate performance management solutions may be cloud-based, on-premise, or offer both deployment types.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Usability:</span> Ease of use is an important factor, even more so if your use of the CPM software will extend beyond the Finance team. Look for comments about usability in pros & cons sections of reviews, and compare how the products rate for usability.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reporting:</span> Corporate performance management software is very centered on reporting and the ability to build custom reports. Reviewers often comment on the quality of reporting, and are asked to rate products based on reporting features.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Why is CPM important and who is CPM important for?</h1>\r\nRecent studies have shown that strategy execution is the number one area of focus for senior executives today and CPM performance management is a way to help ensure your strategies get executed. By integrating organizational goals, metrics, and projects, your company is aligned around strategic priorities and can focus on the key drivers of the business.\r\nCPM is important for every company, but especially those looking to:\r\n<ul><li>Remodel their budget</li><li>Reduce costs</li><li>Better align KPIs</li><li>Upgrade their organizational strategy</li><li>Improve the financial planning process<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Importance of Corporate Performance Management Software</h1>\r\nIn the era of business management intelligence, it’s important that corporations embrace processes automation. Here are some of the benefits of adopting an enterprise and corporate performance management solution.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">1. Real-time feedback.</span> Performance management software has smart dashboards which contain every measurable metric a management team may need to use in its decision-making. However, the detail is not in the variety. It’s in the ability to read and use data as changes happen in real-time across all parts of the organization. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">2. Data consolidation for easy management.</span> The tools have the intelligence to gather, group, and combine data from multiple sources, be it departments, spreadsheets, or even companies. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">3. Provide ease of risk management.</span> One significant advantage of CPM is the integration of tools like what-if models. For instance, the model empowers managers to mitigate risks and make informed decisions based on the simulation of the best-worst case scenarios. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">4. Provide simple data feedback and access.</span> Performance management tools enable managers to have ease of access to information while still fostering accuracy and quality. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">5. Ease of collaboration.</span> CPM tools are not only locally integrated but also cloud connected to allows all users to stay in sync across all departments.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/CPM_-_Corporate_Performance_Management.png","alias":"cpm-corporate-performance-management"},"77":{"id":77,"title":"SOC - Situation Centre","description":"One of the most pressing tasks facing government bodies and commercial structures is to increase the efficiency of management activities. A modern tool for solving this problem is situational centers, which are complex hardware and software systems for collecting, analyzing and displaying information in a form convenient for making critical decisions.\r\nSituational centers are created for the heads of federal, regional and municipal government bodies, ministries and departments, and large companies. Their main task is to provide information and analytical support for procedures and processes that allow managers to make effective decisions on the current management of headed structures, formulating their development strategies, as well as preventing or eliminating crisis and emergency situations. The structure and composition of the situational site are determined by the specifics of the tasks being solved. As a rule, this is a complex technical complex that includes many subsystems.\r\nThere are many types of command centers. They include: data center management, business application management, civil management, emergency (crisis) management.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Security Operations Center (SOC)?</span>\r\nA SOC is an outsourced office that is completely dedicated to analyzing traffic flow and monitoring for threats and attacks. In today’s world of cyberattacks and data breaches, companies of all sizes need to place an emphasis on securing their technology assets. But due to budget constraints and competing priorities, many organizations can’t afford to employ a full-time in-house IT security team. The smart solution to this problem is to look at partnering with a SOC or security operations center.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does a security operations center work?</span>\r\nUntil the recent rise of cloud computing, standard security practice was for a company to choose a traditional software as a product (SaaP) malware scanning solution either via download or, in ancient days, a CD-Rom that arrived via mail. They’d add to that a firewall installed at the edge of the network, and trust that those measures would keep their data and systems safe. Today’s reality is a far different environment, with threats being cast all across the net as hackers invent new ways to launch profitable and sophisticated attacks like ransomware.\r\nA SOC is an example of the software as a service (SaaS) software model in that it operates in the cloud as a subscription service. In this context, it provides a layer of rented expertise to a company’s cybersecurity strategy that operates 24/7 so that networks and endpoints are constantly being monitored. If a vulnerability is found or an incident is discovered, the SOC will engage with the on-site IT team to respond to the issue and investigate the root cause.\r\nIndividual SOC cybersecurity providers offer different suites of products and services. However, there is a core set of operational functions that a SOC must perform in order to add value to an organization.\r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Asset Survey:</span> In order for a SOC to help a company stay secure, they must have a complete understanding of what resources they need to protect. Otherwise, they may not be able to protect the full scope of the network. An asset survey should identify every server, router, firewall under enterprise control, as well as any other cybersecurity tools actively in use.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Log Collection:</span> Data is the most important thing for a SOC to function properly and logs serve as the key source of information regarding network activity. The SOC should set up direct feeds from enterprise systems so that data is collected in real-time. Obviously, humans cannot digest such large amounts of information, which is why log scanning tools powered by artificial intelligence algorithms are so valuable for SOCs, though they do pose some interesting side effects that humanity is still trying to iron out.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Preventative Maintenance:</span> In the best-case scenario, the SOC is able to prevent cyberattacks from occurring by being proactive with their processes. This includes installing security patches and adjusting firewall policies on a regular basis. Since some cyberattacks actually begin as insider threats, a SOC must also look within the organization for risks also.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continuous Monitoring:</span> In order to be ready to respond to a cybersecurity incident, the SOC must be vigilant in its monitoring practices. A few minutes can be the difference between blocking an attack and letting it take down an entire system or website. SOC tools run scans across the company’s network to identify potential threats and other suspicious activity.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Alert Management:</span> Automated systems are great at finding patterns and following scripts. But the human element of a SOC proves it's worth it when it comes to analyzing automated alerts and ranking them based on their severity and priority. SOC staff must know what responses to take and how to verify that an alert is legitimate.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Root Cause Analysis:</span> After an incident occurs and is resolved, the job of the SOC is just beginning. Cybersecurity experts will analyze the root cause of the problem and diagnose why it occurred in the first place. This feeds into a process of continuous improvement, with security tools and rules being modified to prevent future occurrences of the same incident.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Compliance Audits:</span> Companies want to know that their data and systems are safe but also that they are being managed in a lawful manner. SOC providers must perform regular audits to confirm their compliance in the regions where they operate. What is a SOC report and what is a SOC audit? Anything that pulls data or records from cybersecurity functions of an organization. What is SOC 2? It’s a special auditing procedure related to information security and privacy.</li></ol>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/SOC_-_Situation_Centre.png","alias":"soc-situation-centre"},"78":{"id":78,"title":"PAM - privileged access management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">PAM - Privileged Access Management</span> tools help organizations provide secure privileged access to critical assets and meet compliance requirements by managing and monitoring privileged accounts and access. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Privilege management tools offer features that enable security and risk leaders to:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Discover privileged accounts on systems, devices and applications for subsequent management.</li><li>Automatically randomize, manage and vault passwords and other credentials for administrative, service and application accounts.</li><li>Control access to privileged accounts, including shared and “firecall” (emergency access) accounts.</li><li>Isolate, monitor, record and audit privileged access sessions, commands and actions</li></ul>\r\nTo achieve these goals, privileged access management solutions typically take the credentials of privileged accounts – i.e. the admin accounts – and put them inside a secure repository (a vault), isolating the use of privileged accounts to reduce the risk of those credentials being stolen. Once inside the repository, system administrators need to go through the privilege management system to access their credentials, at which point they are authenticated and their access is logged. When a credential is checked back in, it is reset to ensure administrators have to go through the PAM system next time they want to use the credential.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Privileged Access Management software by Gartner has the following subcategories:</span>\r\n<ol><li>Shared access password manager (SAPM)</li><li>Superuser password manager (SUPM)</li><li>Privileged session manager (PSM)</li><li>Application access password manager (AAPM)</li></ol>\r\nPAM password vaults (SAPM) provides an extra layer of control over admins and password policies, as well as monitoring trails of privileged access to critical systems. Passwords can follow a veriety of password policies and can even be disposable. Session brokers, or PSMs, take privileged access to another level, ensuring that administrators never see the passwords, their hardened proxy servers such as jump servers also monitor active sessions and enable reviewers to stop admin sessions if they see something wrong. Similarly, AAPMs can release credentials just-in-time for application-to-application communication, and even modify startup scripts to replace hard-coded passwords with API calls to the password vault.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are privileged accounts?</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">In a least privileged environment, most users are operating with non-privileged accounts 90-100% of the time. Non-privileged accounts, also called least privileged accounts (LUA) general consist of the following two types:</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Standard user accounts</span> have a limited set of privileges, such as for Internet browsing, accessing certain types of applications (e.g., MS Office, etc.), and for accessing a limited array of resources, which is often defined by role-based access policies.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Guest user accounts </span>possess fewer privileges than standard user accounts, as they are usually restricted to just basic application access and Internet browsing.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">A privileged account is considered to be any account that provides access and privileges beyond those of non-privileged accounts. A privileged user is any user currently leveraging privileged access, such as through a privileged account. Because of their elevated capabilities and access, privileged users/privileged accounts pose considerably larger risks than non-privileged accounts /non-privileged users. Here are <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">examples of privileged accounts commonly in use across an organization: </span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Local administrative accounts.</span> Non-personal accounts providing administrative access to the local host or instance only.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Domain administrative accounts.</span> Privileged administrative access across all workstations and servers within the domain.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Break glass (also called emergency or firecall) accounts. </span> Unprivileged users with administrative access to secure systems in the case of an emergency.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service accounts.</span> Privileged local or domain accounts that are used by an application or service to interact with the operating system.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Active Directory</span> or domain service accounts. Enable password changes to accounts, etc.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application accounts.</span> Used by applications to access databases, run batch jobs or scripts, or provide access to other applications.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the Privileged Access Management features?</span></h1>\r\nPrivileged access management is important for companies that are growing or have a large, complex IT system. Many popular vendors have begun offering enterprise PAM tools such as BeyondTrust, Centrify, CyberArk, SecureLink and Thycotic.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Privileged access management tools and software typically provide the following features:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrators.</li><li>An access manager that stores permissions and privileged user information.</li><li>A password vault that stores secured, privileged passwords.</li><li>Session tracking once privileged access is granted.</li><li>Dynamic authorization abilities. For example, only granting access for specific periods of time.</li><li>Automated provisioning and deprovisioning to reduce insider threats.</li><li>Audit logging tools that help organizations meet compliance.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How is PAM Different from Identity Access Management (IAM)?</span></h1>\r\nPrivileged access management system is sometimes confused with Identity Access Management (IAM). IAM focuses on authenticating and authorizing all types of users for an organization, often including employees, vendors, contractors, partners, and even customers. IAM manages general access to applications and resources, including on-prem and cloud and usually integrates with directory systems such as Microsoft Active Directory.\r\nPAM access management focuses on privileged users, administrators or those with elevated privileges in the organization. PAM systems are specifically designed to manage and guarantee secure privileged access of these users to critical resources.\r\nOrganizations need both tools if they are to protect against attacks. IAM systems cover the larger attack surface of access from the many users across the organization’s ecosystem. PAM focuses on privileged users—but privileged access management products are important because while they cover a smaller attack surface, it’s a high-value surface and requires an additional set of controls normally not relevant or even appropriate for regular users (such as session recording). ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PAM_-_privileged_access_management.png","alias":"pam-privileged-access-management"},"80":{"id":80,"title":"VMS - Video Management Solution","description":"Video management systems and video analytics are intellectual elements of a comprehensive security system for any organization and enterprise.\r\nVideo Management Systems (VMS) provide video camera management, video stream distribution and image display to security monitors, quick and effective incident response, access rights to control video cameras and video archive and prompt notification of security incidents.\r\nVideo analytics is a key element of any video surveillance system, as it allows you to automate the main tasks of protecting objects and territories, namely, the prediction and detection of potential risks, tracking and recognition of objects.\r\nThe images from video surveillance cameras are transmitted to the video content storage server, and using specialized software, they are automatically analyzed and processed, and the results are output to the administrator or head of the security system.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Video Management Software?</span>\r\nVideo management software (VMS) is a part of a video surveillance system that allows the user to access real-time videos, record, store and playback recorded videos and derive useful insights of the surveillance site.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When to upgrade a Video Surveillance System?</span>\r\nCurrent Video Management Systems are capable of offering much more than just surveillance, hence, upgrading a VMS system becomes as important as upgrading the other assets of the business. A VMS system can be upgraded when an organization is:\r\n<ul><li>Using a traditional CCTV surveillance system (Old equipment and cameras)</li><li>Incurring increased maintenance costs of the existing surveillance system</li><li>Expanding from Single site to multiple sites (Small to medium to large-sized enterprises)</li><li>In the need of Intelligent Video Analytics for monitoring sites, employees or business processes</li><li>Requiring Video Analytics to improve the site operations to benefit the customers, VMS users or employees</li><li>In need of VMS system equipment standardization</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the factors to consider while selecting video surveillance cameras for the VMS System?</span>\r\nVideo surveillance cameras come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, features, and functions, which are designed to perform in diverse environmental conditions at surveillance sites. There are a few things that users must consider while selecting video surveillance cameras for their VMS system. Users must check:\r\n<ul><li>The camera resolution (image quality)</li><li>Indoor or outdoor camera compatibility</li><li>Wired or wireless cameras</li><li>Light sensitivity of the camera (ability of a surveillance camera to work in low light)</li><li>Shape of the camera (box type, bullet camera or dome camera)</li><li>Frame rate (more frames per second –fps defines video clarity)</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why should enterprises switch from traditional CCTV systems to cloud-based Video Management Systems?</span>\r\nTraditional CCTV systems are just analog devices with limited functionality to monitor and track the events in the camera vicinity, whereas new age cloud-based video management systems are smart enough to record, store, playback, and analyze the captured events in real-time and later. Cloud-based Video Surveillance systems are equipped with high-quality IP cameras, which provide a high-quality image with better fps for the system network. Storage is never an issue with these systems as all the data is stored on the cloud and can be fetched whenever required. Cloud-based video management systems are easy to install as users can just plug-and-play these devices for small setups. These systems are easily customizable in terms of camera numbers, software features, types of video analytics, etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are different deployment types of Video Management Software?</span>\r\nVideo Management Software can be classified into three deployment types:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">On-premise VMS.</span> On-premise VMS solutions are best suited for managing video surveillance at a single site. All the streaming, recording and management servers, storage devices and applications are installed locally on-site. This allows user to manage their security and connected device ecosystem from the site itself.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Cloud based VMS.</span> The cloud-based VMS, unlike the on-premise VMS, possesses higher flexibility and scalability. It allows the user to manage multiple sites, all at the same time – from any location and at any time.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Hybrid VMS.</span> A hybrid VMS solution is a flexible surveillance solution, which generally comes with the capability of managing both analog and IP video signals simultaneously. It allows the enterprises to have a traditional VMS solution coexist with the functionalities of cloud Video Surveillance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of microservice architecture in cloud video management software?</span>\r\nMicroservice architecture based cloud video management software overcomes the limitations of a traditionally designed VMS solution (monolithic architecture) and addresses the evolving security needs of the business. Let’s see how it benefits cloud video management software:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Modularity:</span> Micro-services allows video management software to be designed as a suite of various independent modules that remain integrated through APIs.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Scalability:</span> Cloud-based video management software on microservices is easily scalable, i.e., any of the new services can be added or existing services can be upgraded in the software without affecting the video surveillance.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Flexibility: </span>Through microservice based cloud video management software, users can opt for any new VMS services to be added or removed in their existing software according to their evolving business needs. This can be of great help to the users, as they can follow the pay per feature business model. It also allows developers to choose the programming languages for its development.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VMS_-_Video_Management_Solution.png","alias":"vms-video-management-solution"},"82":{"id":82,"title":"Unified Communications","description":"Unified communications (UC) is a framework for integrating various asynchronous and real-time communication tools. The goal of UC is to enhance business communication, collaboration and productivity. Unified communications do not represent a singular technology; rather, it describes a strategy for integrating interconnected systems of enterprise communication devices and applications that can be used in concert or successively.\r\nSome business communication tools - like Internet Protocol (IP) telephony and video conferencing - facilitate real-time communication, also called synchronous communication. Other enterprise communication tools, like email, facilitate asynchronous communication, which takes place at a person's convenience.\r\nIncreasingly, team collaboration tools have emerged to offer messaging-centric workflows and near-real-time communication. These tools also offer voice and video capabilities, API integrations and, ultimately, expound on instant messaging services by providing better UC features.\r\nThe goal of unified communications is to integrate the software that supports synchronous and asynchronous communication, so the end user has easy access to all tools from whatever device is in use.\r\nA unified communications environment is typically supported by one or more back-end systems, often referred to as UC platforms, that facilitate integration among services, as well as the front-end clients that provide access. For example, a web conferencing system would make use of an audio conferencing system - which, in turn, would be built on an underlying IP telephony platform - and a unified messaging client would allow click-to-talk (CTC), click-to-chat or click-to-video functionality.\r\nUC also supports users moving from one mode of communication to another within the same session. For example, a user may start communicating via email but then decide to escalate the interaction to real-time communication, transitioning the session to a voice call with one click and then to a video conference with another click without any disruption.\r\nUnified communications systems and their components can be deployed on premises, in a public or private cloud, or a combination of all three. Cloud-based unified communications is also called UC as a service (UCaaS). An open source project called WebRTC, for example, enables real-time communications to be embedded into web browsers.\r\nHistorically, single-vendor UC environments have demonstrated the tightest integration and compatibility. Interoperability among vendors remains an ongoing challenge in UC, but it has also been mitigated, in part, by partnerships, common protocols and open APIs.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What technology do unified communications have?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Contrasting unified messaging</span></span>\r\nUnified communications are sometimes confused with unified messaging, but it is distinct. Unified communications refer to both real-time and non-real-time delivery of communications based on the preferred method and location of the recipient; unified messaging culls messages from several sources (such as e-mail, voice mail and faxes), but holds those messages only for retrieval at a later time. Unified communications allow for an individual to check and retrieve an e-mail or voice mail from any communication device at any time. It expands beyond voice mail services to data communications and video services.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Components</span></span>\r\nWith unified communications, multiple modes of business communications are integrated. Unified communications is not a single product but a collection of elements that include:\r\n<ul><li>Call control and multimodal communications</li><li>Presence</li><li>Instant messaging</li><li>Unified messaging</li><li>Speech access and personal assistant</li><li>Conferencing (audio, Web and video)</li><li>Collaboration tools</li><li>Mobility</li><li>Business process integration (BPI)</li><li>Software to enable business process integration</li></ul>\r\nPresence — knowing where intended recipients are, and if they are available, in real-time — is a key component of unified communications. Unified communications integrate all systems a user might already use, and helps those systems work together in real-time. For example, unified communications technology could allow a user to seamlessly collaborate with another person on a project, even if the two users are in separate locations. The user could quickly locate the necessary person by accessing an interactive directory, engage in a text messaging session, and then escalate the session to a voice call or even a video call.\r\nIn another example, an employee receives a call from a customer who wants answers. Unified communications enable that employee to call an expert colleague from a real-time list. This way, the employee can answer the customer faster by eliminating rounds of back-and-forth e-mails and phone-tag.\r\nThe examples in the previous paragraph primarily describe "personal productivity" enhancements that tend to benefit the individual user. While such benefits can be important, enterprises are finding that they can achieve even greater impact by using unified communications capabilities to transform business processes. This is achieved by integrating UC functionality directly into the business applications using development tools provided by many of the suppliers. Instead of the individual user invoking the UC functionality to, say, find an appropriate resource, the workflow or process application automatically identifies the resource at the point in the business activity where one is needed.\r\nWhen used in this manner, the concept of presence often changes. Most people associate presence with instant messaging (IM "buddy lists") the status of individuals is identified. But, in many business process applications, what is important is finding someone with a certain skill. In these environments, presence identifies available skills or capabilities.\r\nThis "business process" approach to integrating UC functionality can result in bottom-line benefits that are an order of magnitude greater than those achievable by personal productivity methods alone.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Related concepts</span>\r\nUnified communications & collaboration (UCC) is the integration of various communications methods with collaboration tools such as virtual white boards, real-time audio and video conferencing, and enhanced call control capabilities. Before this fusion of communications and collaboration tools into a single platform, enterprise collaboration service vendors and enterprise communications service vendors offered distinctly different solutions. Now, collaboration service vendors also offer communications services, and communications service providers have developed collaboration tools.\r\nUnified communications & collaboration as a service (UCCaaS) is cloud-based UCC platforms. Compared to premises-based UCC solutions, UCCaaS platforms offer enhanced flexibility and scalability due to the SaaS subscription model.\r\nUnified communications provisioning is the act of entering and configuring the settings for users of phone systems, instant messaging, telepresence, and other collaboration channels. Provisioners refer to this process as making moves, adds, changes, and deletes or MAC-Ds.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Unified_Communications.png","alias":"unified-communications"},"146":{"id":146,"title":"ECM - Enterprise Content Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise content management (ECM)</span> extends the concept of content management by adding a time line for each content item and possibly enforcing processes for the creation, approval and distribution of them. Systems that implement ECM generally provide a secure repository for managed items, be they analog or digital, that indexes them. They also include one or more methods for importing content to bring new items under management and several presentation methods to make items available for use. The key feature of ECM that distinguishes it from "simple" content management is that an ECM is at least cognizant of the processes and procedures of the enterprise it is created for, and as such is particular to it. \r\nECM as an umbrella term covers enterprise document management system, Web content management, search, collaboration, records management, digital asset management (DAM), workflow management, capture and scanning. ECM is primarily aimed at managing the life-cycle of information from initial publication or creation all the way through archival and eventual disposal. ECM enterprise content management software is delivered in four ways:\r\n- on-premises software (installed on an organization's own network)\r\n- software as a service (SaaS) (Web access to information that is stored on a software manufacturer's system)\r\n- a hybrid composed of both on-premises and SaaS components\r\n- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) (which refers to online services that abstract the user from the details of infrastructure like physical computing resources, location, data partitioning, scaling, security, backup etc.)\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">ECM provides</span> a centralized platform where content can be held and disseminated in a manner that meets regulatory compliance requirements and risk management guidelines. An ECM achieves the latter two benefits by eliminating ad hoc processes that can expose an enterprise to regulatory compliance risks and other potential problems. Full-function enterprise content management solutions include features such as content taxonomies, auditing capabilities, check-in/check-out and other workflow controls and security mechanisms.\r\nAn <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">effective ECM </span>can streamline access and business processes, eliminate bottlenecks by reducing storage, as well as paper and mailing needs, optimize security, maintain integrity and minimize overhead. All of these can lead to increased productivity. The first step is to document all the types of content that the organization deals with, the business processes its part of and who handles the content. \r\nECM software can be used to identify duplicate and near-duplicate content, allowing the organization to keep a few copies of a particular piece of content instead of hundreds. The best ECM software extends the reach of traditional ECM capabilities into previously isolated applications and information silos, such as ERP, CRM, SCM and HCM, to take the shape of a content services platform. Information can now flow across the enterprise to the people and processes—when, where and in whatever context it is needed.\r\nTo understand more specific ways it could help your company, consider these <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">three types of ECM</span> software solutions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Web Content Management.</span> WCM puts control over the look and feel of a website in the hands of specific, key people. It’s used by organizations with relatively complex websites and strict brand guidelines, giving those key personnel the means to easily update, modify and publish content for the sites while adhering to the guidelines.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Collaborative Content Management.</span> CCM enables multiple people to access and modify a single document, such as a legal document. It’s ideal for organizations that must manage projects involving multiple stakeholders. CCM makes it easy to work together while keeping track of, and updating, the most-current version of the document.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Transactional Content Management.</span> This type of ECM document management is designed for organizations that repeatedly use varied types of content, including records, paper documents, and digital files. TCM solutions capture content from various channels, classify it, store it, create an automated workflow to ensure the right user receives the content at the right time, and even deletes documents when they’re no longer needed, all while working seamlessly with other apps and databases, ensuring all of that content is available throughout the company.<br /><br /><br />\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Enterprise Content Management (ECM)?</span></h1>\r\nEnterprise Content Management is the organization of structured and unstructured documents using technology and software that allows your organization to “work smarter, not harder.” As technology advanced and everything became digital, organizations needed a new way to store and access files, leading to the creation of ECM. \r\nECM document management system consists of four main points:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Capture:</span> Capturing information from hardcopy documents or online forms and transferring it into the system</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manage:</span> Managing the captured data in a structured format that allows quick and easy retrieval</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Storing:</span> Securely storing files in a central repository that can be accessed from multiple locations</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Delivery:</span> Implementation of business process workflows to automatically move documents from one step to the next</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Five ways ECM software can benefit your organization</span></h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Basic file sharing and library services.</span> At its core, enterprise document management software begins with basic file sharing and library services managed within a networked repository. Individuals and groups with predefined access rights and permissions can access the repository and then create, read, update and delete files stored within it.\r\nMany ECM applications support Content Management Interoperability Services, an industry standard that allows different vendors' products to interoperate; this is an essential capability within large enterprises that maintain content management tools from multiple vendors.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Content governance, compliance and records management.</span> For many organizations, managing business documents or other content types is a critical use case for ECM. Companies subject to compliance or other industry regulations need document content management system software to capture, manage, archive and ultimately dispose of files after a predefined period.\r\nECM can ensure that only individuals with predefined permissions - determined by access controls - can update or view documents stored within a repository. An organization can thus manage document modification.\r\nIn addition, enterprise content management tools can log all actions, providing an organization with the capabilities to maintain an auditable record of all the changes to documents within the repository.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business process management.</span> Companies also use ECM to establish workflows that span departments and geographies to support extended enterprise and inter-enterprise business processes.\r\nMost ECM software provides tools to help both technical and non-technical business users define business processes. Most applications provide audit controls to track each step of the process and analytic capabilities to help identify inefficiencies and streamline business procedures.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Content repositories linked to other enterprise applications.</span> Some companies use electronic content management software as a repository for documents created by other enterprise applications, including CRM, ERP, HR and financial systems. These enterprise systems can seamlessly access, view or modify content managed by the ECM.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enabling mobile and remote workforces.</span> Content management tools often include functionality to allow remote workers to access content from mobile devices. This is an increasingly important feature for many companies.\r\nMobile capabilities also enable new kinds of data capture and presentation functionalities. By combining content management capabilities with other data, for example, a political canvasser can use a tablet to enter new information about a political donor without having to start from scratch, as some of that information is already stored in a content management system. \r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/ECM_-_Enterprise_Content_Management.png","alias":"ecm-enterprise-content-management"},"148":{"id":148,"title":"Enterprise Portal","description":"An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal (EIP), is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries in a manner similar to the more general web portals. Enterprise portals provide a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and are designed to aggregate and personalize information through application-specific portlets.\r\nOne hallmark of enterprise portals is the de-centralized content contribution and content management, which keeps the information always updated. Another distinguishing characteristic is that they cater for customers, vendors and others beyond an organization's boundaries. This contrasts with a corporate portal which is structured for roles within an organization.\r\nAn enterprise portal has two main functions; integration and presentation. It must be able to access information from multiple and varied sources and manipulate that information through the portal.\r\nOther common features include;\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Single sign-on</span> — enterprise portals can provide single sign-on capabilities between their users and various other systems. This requires a user to authenticate only once.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Integration</span> — the connection of functions and data from multiple systems into new components/portlets/web parts with an integrated navigation between these components.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Federation</span> — the integration of content provided by other portals, typically through the use of WSRP or similar technologies.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Customization</span> — Users can customize the look and feel of their environment. Customers who are using EIPs can edit and design their own web sites which are full of their own personality and own style; they can also choose the specific content and services they prefer. Also refers to the ability to prioritize most appropriate content based on attributes of the user and metadata of the available content.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Personalization</span> — Personalization is more about matching content with the user. Based on a user profile, personalization uses rules to match the "services", or content, to the specific user. To some degree, you can think of the two like this: customization is in hands of the end user, personalization is not. Of course actual personalization is often based on your role or job function within the portal context.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Access control</span> — the ability for portal to limit specific types of content and services users have access to. For example, a company's proprietary information can be entitled for only company employee access. This access rights may be provided by a portal administrator or by a provisioning process. Access control lists manage the mapping between portal content and services over the portal user base.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Enterprise search</span> — search enterprise content using enterprise search.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Omni channel enablement</span> — present the pages optimally on all channels and devices.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Analytics</span> — track and monitor user behaviour on portal pages (such as navigation, clicks, downloads, page exits and such) and generate reports.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an Enterprise Portal?</span>\r\nAbbreviated as EPS, Enterprise Portal Software is a prepackaged software kit used by the enterprise to integrate its information and processes. Organizations use portals primarily to aggregate information from a number of different sources, including disparate systems, and provide this information to authorized users in a neatly managed single screen or system.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Typical Enterprise Portal's Interface</span>\r\nEPS usually offers a Web-based interface to provide a secure unified access point through which information is aggregated to application-specific portlets. Enterprise Portal Software lets authorized users access Web services, and portals can be combined to form portal networks that can cover an organization's entire enterprise system.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Enterprise_Portal.png","alias":"enterprise-portal"},"150":{"id":150,"title":"Workforce Performance Management","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Workforce_Performance_Management.png","alias":"workforce-performance-management"},"152":{"id":152,"title":"Contact Center","description":"A contact center is a central point from where you can contact.\r\nThe contact center typically includes one or more call centers but may include other types of customer contact, as well. A contact center is generally part of an enterprise's overall customer relationship management (CRM) strategy.<br />Contact centers and call centers are both centers for customer service, and the two terms are often used interchangeably, but a contact center supports more services than a typical call center.\r\nContact centers offer omnichannel customer support, including email, chat, voice over IP (VoIP) and website support. A call center typically uses phones as the main channel of communication and can handle a mass volume of calls.<br />Contact centers are used for inbound communication, outbound communication or a hybrid of both. Contact center agents also interact with customers via web chat, phone, email or other communication channels.\r\nThe contact center infrastructure that is necessary to support communications may be located on the same premises as the contact center, or it can be located externally.\r\nIn an on-premises scenario, the company that owns the contact center also owns and manages its own hardware and software. This requires staffing and IT investments that some companies choose to forgo by outsourcing those tasks to cloud providers or hosting companies.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Call Center?</span>\r\nTraditionally, a call center is an office where a large number of call center agents provide customer service over the telephone. Inbound call centers receive calls for customer support and often serve as a knowledge base for tech support, billing questions, and other customer service issues. These call centers focus on quick call resolution times and agent productivity. In outbound call centers, agents make calls rather than receive them. These could be sales calls, marketing offers, surveys, fundraising requests, or debt collection, for example.\r\nThe term “call center” conjures an image for many people of waiting on perpetual hold or being routed through an endless IVR that never gives them what they need. Because so many consumers have had a dreadful customer service experience along these lines, call centers have developed a bad rap. But as legacy phone systems give way to newer digital technologies, call centers are evolving.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Contact Center?</span>\r\nThe term "contact center" (or “contact centre”) reflects the modern reality that there are many other ways to connect with a customer these days besides by telephone. The combined trends of increased customer expectations and newer technologies that allow for many channels of communication are creating a shift in the traditional call center model which has existed for decades. Consumers want more ways to reach businesses, and businesses are looking for new ways to improve customer experience.\r\nWhile call center agents generally focus on inbound and outbound calls, either on traditional phone lines or over VoIP, contact center agents handle a wide variety of communications. In a modern multichannel contact center, technical support might be delivered over in-app chat or video, while order status updates are delivered via SMS, event promotions are sent as push notifications, surveys are deployed over Facebook Messenger, and sales inquiries received by email are sent directly to an agent to connect by phone. Call centers handle voice communications, contact centers handle all communications.\r\nA company’s contact center is usually integrated with their customer relationship management (CRM) system, where all interactions between the organization and the public are tracked, coordinated, and managed. Depending on the infrastructure and ecosystem, it could be comprised of an alphabet soup of complex components. Many companies have purchased off-the-shelf systems or a highly customized network of technologies from multiple vendors. Some companies have adopted a cloud-based solution or two, but they remain siloed from the rest of their systems and can’t talk to each other.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Contact_Center1.png","alias":"contact-center"},"154":{"id":154,"title":"TMS - Transport Management System","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">TMS </span>(Transportation Management System)</span> is specialized software for planning, executing and optimizing the shipment of goods. Users perform three main tasks on a TMS: 1) find and compare the rates (prices) and services of carriers available to ship a customer's order, 2) book the shipment, then - 3) track its movement to delivery. The broader goals of using a TMS are to improve shipping efficiency, reduce costs, gain real-time supply chain visibility and ensure customer satisfaction.\r\nTMSes are one of the core technologies used in supply chain management (SCM), a discipline sometimes divided into supply chain execution (SCE) and supply chain planning (SCP). They are available as stand-alone software or as modules within enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SCM suites. Typically, a transportation management solutions serves both shippers, carriers and other logistics providers. Manufacturers, distributors, e-commerce organizations, wholesalers, retailers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are major users of TMS software.\r\nWhile some TMS, transport management solutions, focus on a single mode of transportation, most support multimodal (where at least two of the various modes of transportation -- truck, rail, air and sea -- are used in a single contract) and intermodal (in which a cargo container is carried by at least two modes of transportation).\r\nLike most enterprise software systems, TMSes started as on-premises systems but have increasingly been deployed in the cloud either hosted or as SaaS. There are also TMS managed services. Cloud transportation management system has obvious advantages in easing connectivity between TMS users, carriers, customers and supply chain partners. Some TMS vendors try to differentiate themselves by offering single-instance multi-tenant SaaS, which they say has cost and integration advantages over single-tenant SaaS and private-cloud options. \r\nIn fact, according to Gartner, most of the growth in the TMS market comes from cloud offerings that companies bought to replace on-premises TMS, a trend that is likely to persist. Meanwhile, TMS vendors continue to migrate their products to SaaS, in large part to fend off competition from fast-growing "cloud native" vendors who started with SaaS transportation management system. \r\nVendors of TMS software fall into four categories: ERP suites, SCM suites, niche TMS and TMS services. Microsoft, Oracle and SAP are prominent TMS ERP system vendors. Most other ERP vendors rely on TMS vendors with which they have integration. Smaller ERP vendors also have distribution modules that handle some TMS tasks but aren't true TMSes.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Functions of TMS</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Planning.</span> A transportation data management system helps the business select the optimal mode of shipment and the best carrier, based on cost, efficiency, and distance, including optimizing multi-leg carrier routes. A strong transport manager system can provide visibility into every stage of the supply chain, and together with global trade management functionality, it can also provide information on trade and tariffs, and if there are any potential delays that may happen because of customs and other trade regulations.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Execution.</span> The execution features of TMSes vary widely but can include matching loads and communicating with carriers, documenting and tracking shipments, and assisting with freight billing and settlement. Some advanced TMS supply chain management solutions also provide track and trace services—enabling real-time information exchange among carriers, distributors, warehouses, and customers. Such advanced systems may also have the functionality to handle complex international logistics, including providing proper import and export documentation making sure shipments are trade compliant.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Optimization.</span> TMS optimization capacities usually include the ability to measure and track performance with reports, dashboards, analytics, and transportation intelligence.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">The Benefits of a TMS</h1>\r\nA TMS—and modern integrated transportation management in general—provides many benefits to businesses. Some of the top benefits are:\r\n<ul><li>Reduced costs for the business and the end customer</li><li>Simplification of supply chain processes across geographies, modes, and carriers</li><li>Automation of business operations for faster and more accurate billing and documentation</li><li>Improvement in visibility and security, especially in transit</li><li>Time savings—fewer manual steps result in fewer delays and faster delivery times</li><li>The ability to track freight, both locally and globally, on a single platform</li><li>Better import and export compliance minimizing penalties and shipment delays</li><li>New business insights as better reporting leads to faster action and process improvement</li><li>Improvements in customer service and customer satisfaction with real-time updates and fewer shipment delays</li><li>The ability to scale the business by meeting and exceeding customer demands for fast, on-time shipments</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/TMS_-_Transport_Management_System.png","alias":"tms-transport-management-system"},"156":{"id":156,"title":"FMS - Fleet Management System","description":"The Fleet Management Systems Interface (FMS) is a standard interface to vehicle data of commercial vehicles. The six European manufacturers Daimler AG, MAN AG, Scania, Volvo (including Renault), DAF Trucks and IVECO developed the so-called FMS-Standard in 2002 to make manufacturer-independent applications for telematics possible.\r\nThe following data are broadcast at the FMS interface:\r\n<ul><li>Vehicle improvement (all round)</li><li>Vehicle speed (wheel based)</li><li>Vehicle speed (from tachograph)</li><li>Clutch switch (on/off)</li><li>Brake switch (on/off)</li><li>Cruise control (on/off)</li><li>PTO (Status/Mode)</li><li>Accelerator pedal position (0–100%)</li><li>Total fuel used (litres since lifetime)</li><li>Fuel level (0–100%)</li><li>Engine speed</li><li>Gross axle weight rating (kg)</li><li>Total engine hours (h)</li><li>FMS-Standard software version (supported modes)</li><li>Vehicle identification number (ASCII)</li><li>Tachograph information</li><li>High-resolution vehicle distance</li><li>Service distance</li><li>Engine coolant temperature</li></ul>\r\nThe data are coded according to SAE J1939. The repetition rate of the data is between 20 ms (e.g. engine speed) and 10 seconds (e.g. vehicle identification number).\r\nWith the FMS standard it is now possible to have manufacturer independent applications and evaluations of the data.\r\nAccording to a note from the truck manufacturers, the FMS standard is seen as a worldwide standard. A direct connection to the internal vehicle bus system is not permitted by the truck manufacturers and could lead to the loss of warranty. Meanwhile, some manufacturers are quite restrictive in their workshops and cut all unknown connections to the internal bus system.\r\nAccording to ACEA ca. 160,000 vehicles were fitted with an FMS standard interface in 2007. The FMS-Standard was as well the base for the Bus-FMS-Standard for buses and coaches which was published in the year 2004. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is the Purpose of Fleet Management in a Business?</span>\r\nThe purpose of Fleet Management in business is to ensure the work vehicles of business are operating smoothly, are constantly seeking ways to improve performance, are able to keep operating costs at a minimum, and maintain compliance with government regulations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Fleet Management?</span>\r\nFleet Management refers to the applications, tools, technologies and practices that help businesses maintain optimal use of their work vehicles from a central platform. In its current form, Fleet Management entails the use of:\r\n<ul><li>database information software</li><li>telematics and GPS tracking software</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are the Benefits of Using Fleet Management?</span>\r\nCompanies who have been using Fleet Management agree that it generally allows businesses using it to:\r\n<ul><li>Acquire more control over drivers and vehicles.</li><li>Less time spent on predicting the time of departure and arrival, getting hold of traffic updates and road conditions improves productivity.</li><li>Save on fuel consumption.</li><li>Prevent delays in deliveries.</li><li>Reduce road accidents.</li><li>Improve driving habits.</li><li>Prevent dubious reporting.</li><li>Prevent unauthorized use of vehicles.</li><li>Track and recover lost vehicles.</li><li>Customer gets better service having real-time access to the location of their assets.</li><li>Lessen driver frustration while on the road, increasing employee satisfaction all around.</li><li>Reduce cost of insurance.</li><li>Lessen maintenance costs.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Should You Use Fleet Management System?</span>\r\nThe use of Fleet Management System ensures that the operation of company vehicles totally aligns with company goals rather than a source of headache, which typically happens in its absence. The improper use of business vehicles can easily add substantial losses to your business operation, not to mention the time wasted by managers to drivers looking over the issues in search of meaningful ways to address those losses. If your business is directly involved with providing transportation to the public, it may mean the difference between continuing operations or shutting down if you have accumulated enough grave offenses to compliance regulations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does Software Tools Optimize Fleet Management?</span>\r\nFleet Management Software that stores all the vehicles your organization has purchased or leased, their specifications, details of maintenance, service and part histories, drivers and related compliance documents including licenses and tax, fleet insurance, fuel transactions, operating expenses reduces all involved administrative process and makes sense of everything to do with your fleet in terms of operating costs, overall cost of ownership, and all things pertaining to compliance and whether you are still on the legal side of things. The software’s capability to generate reports, alerts and emails, things simply get better and faster for your organization, a thing that is not possible in the fast.\r\nTelematics software gives your company unprecedented real-time tracking of all your vehicles, making it more efficient and easier to dispatch the involved workforce as well. It enables you to determine precisely when vehicle and driver will get to their destination, and how the vehicles are driven and handled by the driver.\r\nIntegrating the functions of both software hands any organization a degree of control unheard of in the past, a way to optimally run and manage their fleet of vehicles no matter what size.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/FMS_-_Fleet_Management_System1.png","alias":"fms-fleet-management-system"},"158":{"id":158,"title":"Core Banking System","description":"Core (centralized online real-time exchange) banking is a banking service provided by a group of networked bank branches where customers may access their bank account and perform basic transactions from any of the member branch offices.\r\nCore banking system is often associated with retail banking and many banks treat the retail customers as their core banking customers. Businesses are usually managed via the corporate banking division of the institution. Core banking covers basic depositing and lending of money.\r\nCore banking functions will include transaction accounts, loans, mortgages and payments. Banks make these services available across multiple channels like automated teller machines, Internet banking, mobile banking and branches.\r\nBanking software and network technology allow a bank to centralise its record keeping and allow access from any location.\r\nAdvancements in Internet and information technology reduced manual work in banks and increasing efficiency. Computer software is developed to perform core operations of banking like recording of transactions, passbook maintenance, interest calculations on loans and deposits, customer records, balance of payments and withdrawal. This software is installed at different branches of bank and then interconnected by means of computer networks based on telephones, satellite and the Internet.\r\nGartner defines a core banking system as a back-end system that processes daily banking transactions, and posts updates to accounts and other financial records. Core banking solutions typically include deposit, loan and credit-processing capabilities, with interfaces to general ledger systems and reporting tools. Core banking applications are often one of the largest single expense for banks and legacy software are a major issue in terms of allocating resources. Spending on these systems is based on a combination of service-oriented architecture and supporting technologies.\r\nMany banks implement custom applications for core banking. Others implement or customize commercial independent software vendor packages. Systems integrators like Cognizant, EdgeVerve Systems Limited, Capgemini, Accenture, IBM and Tata Consultancy Services implement these core banking packages at banks. More recently, entrants such as Probanx (since 2000) and Temenos (late 1990's) have also provided entry level core banking software, focussing on neo-banks and electronic money institutions.\r\nOpen source Technology in core banking products or software can help banks to maintain their productivity and profitability at the same time. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is core banking solution (CBS)?</span></h1>\r\nToday Banking as a business has grown tremendously and transformed itself from only a deposits taking and loan providing system to an institution which provides an entire gamut of products and services under a wide umbrella. All such activities commenced by a bank is called Core Banking.\r\nCORE is an acronym for "Centralized Online Real-time Exchange", thus the bank’s branches can access applications from centralized data centers.\r\nOther than retail banking customers, core banking is now also being extended to address the requirements of corporate clients and provide for a comprehensive banking solution.<br />Digital core banking offer the following advantages to the bank:\r\n<ul><li>Improved operations which address customer demands and industry consolidation;</li><li>Errors due to multiple entries eradicated;</li><li>Easy ability to introduce new financial products and manage changes in existing products;</li><li>Seamless merging of back office data and self-service operations.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Minimum features of Core Banking Solution:</span>\r\n<ol><li>Customer-On Boarding.</li><li>Managing deposits and withdrawals.</li><li>Transactions management.</li><li>Calculation and management.</li><li>Payments processing (cash, cheques /checks, mandates, NEFT, RTGS etc.).</li><li>Customer relationship management (CRM) activities.</li><li>Designing new banking products.</li><li>Loans disbursal and management.</li><li>Accounts management</li><li>Establishing criteria for minimum balances, interest rates, number of withdrawals allowed and so on.</li></ol>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">Choosing the best core banking system software</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Today, there are four primary core banking providers, FIS, Fiserv, Jack Henry and D+H, that have managed to eat up 96 percent of the market share (90 percent for banks under $1 billion in assets and 98 percent for banks over $1 billion in assets). But there are also some strong players rounding out the remaining 4 percent.<br />Deciding on a core banking software solutions is the first key task for banks and credit unions looking to make the switch. But the decision is not one to be taken lightly, as pointed out by Forbes “Core technologies are evolving into highly agile architectures, and the implications for making the wrong decision will be lasting — and could put banks at competitive risk.”</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">To help your bank and credit union make the best use of your resources, Gartner identified the eight key criteria that have the most impact on CBS banking system decisions:<br /><br /></p>\r\n<ul><li> Functionality</li><li> Flexibility</li><li> Cost</li><li> Viability</li><li> Operational Performance</li><li> Program Management</li><li> Partner Management</li><li> Customer References</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Core_Banking_System1.png","alias":"core-banking-system"},"160":{"id":160,"title":"Online Banking","description":"Online banking allows a user to conduct financial transactions via the Internet. Online banking is also known as internet banking or web banking.\r\nOnline banking offers customers almost every service traditionally available through a local branch including deposits, transfers, and online bill payments. Virtually every banking institution has some form of online banking, available both on desktop versions and through mobile apps.\r\nWith online banking, consumers aren't required to visit a bank branch to complete most of their basic banking transactions. They can do all of this at their own convenience, wherever they want—at home, at work, or on the go.\r\nOnline banking requires a computer or other device, an internet connection, and a bank or debit card. In order to access the service, clients need to register for their bank's online banking service. In order to register, they need to create a password. Once that's done, they can use the service to do all their banking.\r\nBanking transactions offered online vary by the institution. Most banks generally offer basic services such as transfers and bill payments. Some banks also allow customers to open up new accounts and apply for credit through online banking portals. Other functions may include ordering checks, putting stop payments on checks, or reporting a change of address.\r\nChecks can now be deposited online through a mobile app. The customer simply enters the amount before taking a photo of the front and back of the check to complete the deposit.\r\nOnline banking does not permit the purchase of traveler's checks, bank drafts, certain wire transfers, or the completion of certain credit applications like mortgages. These transactions still need to take place face-to-face with a bank representative.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the advantages of online banking?</span>\r\nConvenience is a major advantage of online banking. Basic banking transactions such as paying bills and transferring funds between accounts can easily be done 24 hours a day, seven days a week, wherever a consumer wishes.\r\nOnline banking is fast and efficient. Funds can be transferred between accounts almost instantly, especially if the two accounts are held at the same institution. Consumers can open and close a number of different accounts online, from fixed deposits to recurring deposit accounts that typically offer higher rates of interest.\r\nConsumers can also monitor their accounts regularly closely, allowing them to keep their accounts safe. Around-the-clock access to banking information provides early detection of fraudulent activity, thereby acting as a guardrail against financial damage or loss.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the disadvantages of Online Banking?</span>\r\nFor a novice online banking customer, using systems for the first time may present challenges that prevent transactions from being processed, which is why some consumers prefer face-to-face transactions with a teller.\r\nOnline banking doesn't help if a customer needs access to large amounts of cash. While he may be able to take a certain amount at the ATM — most cards come with a limit—he will still have to visit a branch to get the rest.\r\nAlthough online banking security is continually improving, such accounts are still vulnerable when it comes to hacking. Consumers are advised to use their own data plans, rather than public Wi-Fi networks when using online banking, to prevent unauthorized access.\r\nAdditionally, online banking is dependent on a reliable Internet connection. Connectivity issues from time to time may make it difficult to determine if banking transactions have been successfully processed.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Online_Banking.png","alias":"online-banking"},"162":{"id":162,"title":"OSS/BSS Operations Support Systems/Business Support Systems","description":"Operations support systems (OSS), or operational support systems in British usage, are computer systems used by telecommunications service providers to manage their networks (e.g., telephone networks). They support management functions such as network inventory, service provisioning, network configuration and fault management.\r\nTogether with business support systems (BSS), they are used to support various end-to-end telecommunication services. BSS and OSS have their own data and service responsibilities. The two systems together are often abbreviated OSS/BSS, BSS/OSS or simply B/OSS.\r\nThe acronym OSS is also used in a singular form to refer to all the Operations Support Systems viewed as a whole system.\r\nDifferent subdivisions of OSS have been proposed by the TM Forum, industrial research labs or OSS vendors. In general, an OSS covers at least the following five functions:\r\n<ul><li>Network management systems</li><li>Service delivery</li><li>Service fulfillment, including the network inventory, activation and provisioning</li><li>Service assurance</li><li>Customer care</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is OSS/BSS?</span>\r\nThe Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) or most often referred to as OSS/BSS, BSS/OSS or simply B/OSS provide network and customer data for back-office activities. While the mechanism by which both systems work are similar, their end usage and user groups may vary significantly, depending on the information management setup within an organization. The OSS systems support internal network requirements such as network planning, maintaining network inventory, provisioning services, configuring network components and managing faults - facilitating and automating the operations, administrations, maintenance and provisioning (OAM&P). The BSS, on the other hand, provides the capability for dealing with customers, supporting processes such as taking orders, processing bills and collecting payments.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why OSS and BSS?</span>\r\nOSS and BSS both evolved from the need for operational data relating to infrastructure and subscribers respectively. The OSS provides data such as network availability and network performance information, allowing operators to proactively manage networks and systems to deliver positive user experience on any connection. BSS, on the other hand, provides subscription information such as new sign-ups, churn and user demographics as well as information relating to customer relationship management. The data provided by both OSS and BSS are critical inputs for overall CAPEX and OPEX planning and are necessary for the formulation of budgets that cover infrastructure expenditure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Trends</span>\r\nThe changing landscape of CSPs forces the service providers to transform the traditional OSS/BSS systems to meet emerging areas within the organization, respond to new technologies and meet higher standards of service delivery. To this end, there is an increasing trend towards an integrated OSS/BSS platform to support a wide range of user groups. This can be witnessed in the area of service assurance, whereby an integrated OSS/BSS is required to provide higher SLA by tracking the service performance, pro-actively identifying network failures, initiating resolution action and notifying high-priority customers. Service Management is also another area which requires greater interaction between OSS and BSS processes whereby the service order and fulfillment involves multiple network resources. An integrated service management system orchestrates the end-to-end fulfillment process and keep the customer-facing team informed about progress, changes or delivery issues.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/OSS_BSS_Operations_Support_Systems.png","alias":"ossbss-operations-support-systemsbusiness-support-systems"},"164":{"id":164,"title":"Billing","description":"Billing is a complex set of programs that allows you to calculate the number of services provided, while the calculations are carried out in a variety of units of measurement. Services are charged and as a result, the client receives a ready invoice, which additionally takes into account all promotions and discounts. The billing covers three main functions: settlement operations, provision of information, financial services.\r\nTypes of billing:\r\n<ul><li>Convergent billing is a carrier-class subsystem that provides mutual settlements with the customer of any network and an arbitrary informative application.</li><li>Automatic billing is a broad definition, including a variety of phenomena: from bank statements to making a payment with a plastic card.</li><li>Deferred billing is called billing, in which the calculation is made on the basis of the calls made.</li><li>Using hot billing reduces the delay in debiting funds, i.e. the speed of interaction with the service provider increases.</li><li>Mobile billing (SMS billing) is a method of electronic payment, in which payment for services is made using a telephone.</li></ul>\r\nCurrency calculation unit between the bank and the world payment system is called the billing currency. When the billing currency is different from the currency of the account, automatic conversion of funds occurs at the bank exchange rate.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Billing tasks:</span>\r\nThe main task of the billing is to provide a full account to the subscriber, information about which is available in this billing network. The billing system is responsible for the transfer of funds from the client’s account to the organization’s account for the services provided.\r\nBilling systems allow complete accounting of each consumer’s account.\r\n<ul><li>revenues;</li><li>costs;</li><li>used services;</li><li>personal tariff plans;</li><li>the amount of funds on the balance sheet;</li><li>discounts and promotions;</li><li>other information of an informative plan.</li></ul>\r\nEffective billing is needed to save time for both operators and consumers. With all this, the billing system should be as transparent as possible, that is, the client must know exactly what services he uses and how much he pays for it. The billing system should be as simple and understandable as possible to consumers, but it should take into account all the parameters set by the service.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Customer billing options:</span>\r\n<ul><li>automated calculation of the cost of services;</li><li>the ability to quickly receive services;</li><li>automatic debiting of funds (monthly fee and/or payment for services);</li><li> instant receipt of bill details;</li><li>the ability to receive timely information about new services, discounts and so on;</li><li>automatic crediting of bonuses and calculation of discounts.</li></ul>\r\nA properly functioning billing system provides an opportunity for employees of an organization using it to quickly receive information about the use of services and automatically invoice consumers. With the help of billing, it becomes easy to serve customers with bills and coupons, get a quick payment for services. The billing also produces an estimate of consumption, based on this information, the organization can draw conclusions about the demand for various types of services. Thanks to billing, providing clients with advertising information about new promotions, services, and tariffs is automated.\r\nMembers of the billing process:\r\n<ul><li>organizations that produce the necessary resources for the billing process - billing providers;</li><li>organizations that are the primary consumer of billing - cellular operators, Internet telephony operators, Internet providers, providers of digital television and so on;</li><li>ordinary users.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Billing1.png","alias":"billing"},"166":{"id":166,"title":"MES - Manufacturing Execution System","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manufacturing execution systems (MES) </span> are computerized systems used in manufacturing, to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES software provides information that helps manufacturing decision makers understand how current conditions on the plant floor can be optimized to improve production output. Manufacturing execution solutions work in real time to enable the control of multiple elements of the production process (e.g. inputs, personnel, machines and support services).\r\nThe idea of Execution System might be seen as an intermediate step between, on the one hand, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) or process control system on the other; although historically, exact boundaries have fluctuated. Industry groups such as MESA International— Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association were created in the early 1990s in order to address the complexity, and advise on execution, of MES Systems.\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Manufacturing execution software comes with a whole bunch of concepts and terms that help provide a better understanding of what they actually are. Here are some of the more common terms and concepts associated with MES:</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system</span>— strategic business process management tools that integrate all facets of an enterprise into one comprehensive information system that can be accessed by individuals across an entire organization.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">MESA-11</span>— published in 1997, this model — created by the Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA)— indicated the 11 core functions of a standard MES.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ANSI/ISA-95 standard </span>— created for global manufacturers by the International Society of Automation, this is a standard set of guidelines for developers to follow when creating software that automatically links enterprise systems—like ERP—and control systems.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)</span> — a general unit of measure that evaluates how well a machine works compared to its full potential.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) </span>— a system of software and hardware elements that allows manufacturers to maintain efficiency, process data for smarter decisions, and communicate system issues to help reduce downtime.</span></li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Core MES Functionality</span></span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Operations management.</span> Offer employees a global view of planned production orders and their production routing. <br /></span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dispatching production units.</span> Manage the bidirectional flow of production data in real time between the ERP and the workshop. This ensures production data is always accurate, consistent, and up to date.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product tracking and genealogy.</span> Group final parts or batches with all their corresponding manufacturing data—from the raw material to the component assembly. This data is especially useful for manufa</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Labor management.</span> Manages people, products, and/or operations and track any skills or authorizations they require.<br /></span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality management.</span> Manages the quality of manufacturing process and units. This function can be integrated directly into the Manufacturing execution system software or can use external software.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Maintenance management.</span> More easily and accurately plans preventative machine maintenance to reduce downtime and production interruptions.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data collection and acquisition.</span> Tracks and gathers essential data and easily recall that data when needed.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Process management.</span> Provides process routing and operational sequencing—including full production traceability.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance analysis.</span> Consolidates data to calculate key performance indicators (KPIs) like rework, scrap, process capability, OEE, and more. <br /></span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Document control.</span> Provides a simple way for operators to access important documents—including instructions, drawings, notes, and more—when they need them. <br /></span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Resource allocation and status.</span> Defines and tracks the status of resources and how they are used in the production process.</span></li></ul>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Is an MES right for my business?</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">There are plenty of benefits—including increased productivity, improved data capture, real-time visibility into your operations, an optimized workforce, and more. MES manufacturing software provides materials traceability, which is invaluable for manufacturers that must adhere to strict regulations. Manufacturers in the food and beverage, medical device, aeronautics and aerospace, and defense industries require this traceability to ensure they are compliant with regulations.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">However, manufacturing enterprise system isn’t for everyone. Smaller manufacturers may find that their production operations aren’t large enough to justify an additional software system like an MES. Additionally, they may feel that their profit margins don’t allow for this type of investment. Like any piece of technology, you have to weigh your options and decide if an MES is worth it for your manufacturing enterprise.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How do MES and ERP systems work together?</h1>\r\n ERP and MES systems play separate but complementary roles in manufacturing operations. ERP systems integrate all facets of an enterprise into one comprehensive information system. For example, employees in planning and scheduling have access to the same data as the staff in financial management. All the data is also available in real time, which enables production managers to make faster, more informed business decisions.Meanwhile, MES is the layer between your manufacturing shop floor systems—like machines and supervisory systems—and your business, planning, and logistics systems—basically, your ERP solution. \r\nMES and ERP integrate with each other to provide a single source of truth throughout your organization. ERP systems can show you that you might need to improve your production output—MES management shows you how.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What should I be careful about as I pursue my MES strategy? </h1>\r\nKnow what you need. Know your own best-practices requirements. Know your production hardware and equipment inside out so you can be sure that it can be monitored and controlled by a prospective MES vendor's products. Don't believe every claim you hear from an MES software vendor. Ask them to prove their claims by checking with clients who've installed their applications and are seeing them work every day.\r\nKnow the vendor's responsibilities to uptime, production needs, tech support, training, and every other conceivable detail before you sign a contract. Know the answer to your question before you even ask the vendor, because you already did the research and know it from every angle. Be sure your prospective vendors value your critical business processes as much as their own before you put your factories and production into their hands.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/MES_-_Manufacturing_Execution_System1.png","alias":"mes-manufacturing-execution-system"},"168":{"id":168,"title":"EAM - Enterprise Asset Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">EAM</span> (Enterprise asset management)</span> involves the management of the maintenance of physical assets of an organization throughout each asset's lifecycle. EAM management system is used to plan, optimize, execute, and track the needed maintenance activities with the associated priorities, skills, materials, tools, and information. This covers the design, construction, commissioning, operations, maintenance and decommissioning or replacement of plant, equipment and facilities.\r\n"Enterprise" refers to the scope of the assets in an Enterprise across departments, locations, facilities and, potentially, supporting business functions eg; Finance & GL, Human Resources and Payroll. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise asset management software </span>is a computer software that handles every aspect of running a public works or asset-intensive organization. Maintenance management software collects and analyzes data for physical assets during all phases of the asset lifecycle, including the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal phase. EAM software is used by large organizations that have outgrown basic CMMS software. These organizations have hundreds of physical assets (machinery, equipment, etc) and employees that are responsible for managing the asset lifecycle. These employees, referred to as asset managers, are also responsible for making decisions that require them to track warranties, depreciation, and downtime.\r\nIn terms of features, the lines are becoming blurred between CMMS and EAM solutions as some CMMS products allow asset managers to track these items. But true EAM program gives asset managers the ability to track every phase of an asset’s lifecycle and provide full transparency about its historical and present state to other departments. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise asset management system includes</span> elements of design perspectives centered on the idea that by creating digital models, companies can optimize how they utilize each asset that they invest money in according to its build and the greater context around its use. This helps companies better predict asset depreciation and never be surprised by unexpected asset failure.\r\nEAM asset management tools also include insurance and warranty information. They look at things like the environmental performance of an asset or piece of machinery to assist with audit trails and environmental impact reports. They also integrate with inventory and supply chain software to reduce menial data entry tasks and perform inventory management tasks. Another way to describe the key use of EAM solutions is they ensure change never affects the total cost of ownership (TCO) of an asset.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> What is EAM?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">EAM (Enterprise Asset Management)</span> system is the management of the assets of an enterprise across departments, facilities, business units and geographical locations. Enterprise asset management market integrates techniques for holistic control and optimization throughout asset life cycles, including design, commissioning, operations and replacement:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">EAM definition allows to categorize it as follows</span>:\r\n<ul><li>Physical asset and infrastructure management</li><li>IT service management</li><li>Digital asset (electronic media and content) management</li><li>Fixed asset management and accounting</li><li>Emerging asset management</li></ul>\r\nThe EAM framework optimizes and extends asset life cycles and reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while maximizing Overall Asset Productivity (OAP) and Return on Assets (ROA), which is key for manufacturing and similar industries with high-value equipment. EAM arose as an extension of the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">computerized maintenance management system </span>(CMMS) which is usually defined as a system for the computerisation of the maintenance of physical assets.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Asset Management is geared toward the following results:</span> </p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Asset lifecycle management.</span> Keep all asset data and documentation at your fingertips, so it’s there when you need it — regardless of where you are in the asset’s lifecycle.</span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Work order management.</span> Diagnose a problem, and quickly assign specific technicians to the job. Schedule and organize work orders for employees and contractors, and keep track of upcoming work.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">MRO materials management.</span> Control costs with full oversight into inventory procurement and management. Understand the demand for materials at your facility and manage parts accordingly.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Labor management. </span>Manage assessment, training, and certification for employees and contractors responsible for asset management in your organization.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Service contract management. </span>Control compliance and spending at every step of the contract lifecycle. Create and manage contracts and service agreements with customers, vendors, partners, and employees.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Financial management.</span> Gather data on work order costs, and integrate with finance software to manage accounting and project spending.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reporting and analytics. </span>Analyze asset performance to spot issues before they become bigger problems. Collect key performance indicators for your entire facility to make better business decisions. </li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Some of popular EAM software features include:</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Downtime tracking and </span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">asset tracking system.</span> When equipment breaks down, asset managers can manually log downtime in the EAM software based on the timestamps on fault codes or work requests. Also, when equipment is marked as non-operational by technicians during repairs and PMs, downtime is automatically tracked by the software. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Lockout-tagout.</span> This is a safety feature that documents and enforces the physical lockout-tagout devices that are used during maintenance on dangerous machinery. By tracking lockout-tagout and check in/out procedures in the EAM software, everyone in a facility knows when an asset is unavailable. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Maintenance reports. </span>Data that’s logged in maintenance software solutions shows the performance of assets in terms of reliability rather than production output. Seeing how reliable a machine is over time informs asset managers and procurement whether that machine model should be purchased again. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Financial audits.</span> Asset managers can connect their software to financial software to align their efforts with the organization’s financial department. This data-sync streamlines financial audits and helps organizations manage the complete asset lifecycle without requiring financial departments to learn how to navigate the EAM software.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What’s the difference between EAM and CMMS software? EAM vs CMMS comparison</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">At first glance, the differences between EAM and CMMS software are minimal—both help organizations move from a reactive to a preventive maintenance strategy by automating maintenance activities, inventory management, and work orders.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">But as the name indicates, a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">computerized maintenance management system (CMMS)</span> is used primarily to manage maintenance during the operational part of an asset’s life—the time when it’s up and running and working as a productive part of a facility.</p>\r\nEAM asset management software, on the other hand, manages the entire lifecycle of an asset, from creation or procurement through to disposal. It is often used by organizations with a larger number of users across multiple sites and includes capabilities like lifecycle planning.\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Basically, <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">EAM lets you see a much bigger picture.</span> It gives you an overview of priorities and lets you see what tools—including finances, skills, materials, and information—are at your disposal to meet those priorities.</p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/EAM_-_Enterprise_Asset_Management.png","alias":"eam-enterprise-asset-management"},"170":{"id":170,"title":"APS - Advanced Planning and Scheduling","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Advanced planning and scheduling</span> (APS, also known as advanced manufacturing) refers to a manufacturing management process by which raw materials and production capacity are optimally allocated to meet demand. \r\nAdvanced planning and scheduling system is especially well-suited to environments where simpler planning methods cannot adequately address complex trade-offs between competing priorities. Production scheduling is intrinsically very difficult due to the (approximately) factorial dependence of the size of the solution space on the number of items/products to be manufactured.\r\nAdvanced planning and scheduling software is offered as an extension of your ERP and when the two systems operate together, production is enhanced dramatically. Advanced planning system has been utilized by large production facilities since they were available. Large operations have always been in need of APS software, which has allowed for the misconception that small manufacturing operations do not necessarily need it. \r\nNot only does advanced scheduling software consider material, but it has the ability to perform bill of material explosions which net on hand inventory and net projected inventory receipts through purchase orders and manufacturing orders. Once inventory is netted, advanced production planning and scheduling software creates purchase orders and manufacturing orders to satisfy demand based on safety stock levels and lot sizing logic. When scheduling, advanced planning software dynamically allocates inventory and projected inventory receipts to production orders. If material is made constraining, the software then delays production based on the available of inventory generated by allocated orders.\r\nImplementation of an advanced scheduling system can allow your operation to be able to adequately compete against much larger size manufacturing operations through schedule optimization, market analysis, order anticipation, and many more capabilities. This is how you can separate yourself from other small manufacturing competitors and optimize your production facility quickly and efficiently.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">APS Advanced Planning and Scheduling Software’s enhanced functionality helps you:</span>\r\n<ul><li>extend the planning and scheduling horizon for as long as there is demand to drive it. Since demand includes sales orders and forecasts, the only practical limits are forecast accuracy and computer processing speeds.</li><li>quickly make accurate deliver commitments to customers. Called Capable-to-Promise (CTP), this feature often replaces the inaccurate, infinite scheduling based Available-to-Promise (ATP) features in ERP systems.</li><li>dynamically allocate and re-allocate inventory to upper level demand.</li><li>perform multi-plant planning and scheduling which answers questions such as “in which plant should this production be sited?”</li><li>plan throughout the supply chain.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why use APS Advanced Planning System?</span></h1>\r\nFor planners, APS systems quickly analyse the implications of alternative decisions, highlight consequences and problems, and generate optimal or near-optimal plans and schedules.\r\nAPS systems provide better information (and recommendations) on which planners and managers can base their decisions. They are tools and techniques to help manage complexity. Fast-moving environments with large numbers of items, orders, machines and people are difficult to plan effectively, as are environments with complex constraints. In such industries (High tech, CPG, Third party logistics, and capacity constrained industries such as Process manufacturing) APS provides significant assistance.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Advanced Planning and Scheduling Benefits and Capabilities</h1>\r\nWith various capabilities such as multi-plant operation integration, Superplant, real-time operational visibility and overall throughput enhancement, APS is becoming a top choice for manufacturing operations and supply chains around the globe. These attributes are allowing production facilities to be able to efficiently optimize production and enhance their operation thoroughly. Various other benefits of advanced planning & scheduling software include:\r\n<ul><li> Improved delivery performance</li><li>Boosts in Profit</li><li>Reduction in inventory and cost</li><li>Six-month ROI</li></ul>\r\nImplementation of an advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) will take you and your manufacturing operation toward the next step of production efficiency and allow you to separate yourself from the competition and to widely increase capacity.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/APS_-_Advanced_Planning_and_Scheduling.png","alias":"aps-advanced-planning-and-scheduling"},"172":{"id":172,"title":"WLAN - wireless network","description":"Unified Communications (UC) is a marketing buzzword describing the integration of real-time, enterprise, communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including extension mobility and single number reach), audio, web & video conferencing, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), desktop sharing, data sharing (including web connected electronic interactive whiteboards), call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user-interface and user-experience across multiple devices and media-types.\r\n\r\nIn its broadest sense, UC can encompass all forms of communications that are exchanged via a network to include other forms of communications such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and digital signage Communications as they become an integrated part of the network communications deployment and may be directed as one-to-one communications or broadcast communications from one to many.\r\n\r\nUC allows an individual to send a message on one medium, and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, one can receive a voicemail message and choose to access it through e-mail or a cell phone. If the sender is online according to the presence information and currently accepts calls, the response can be sent immediately through text chat or video call. Otherwise, it may be sent as a non-real-time message that can be accessed through a variety of media.\r\n\r\nSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_communications","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WLAN_-_wireless_network.png","alias":"wlan-wireless-network"},"176":{"id":176,"title":"E-government","description":"E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of electronic communications devices, such as computers and the Internet to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. According to Jeong, 2007 the term consists of the digital interactions between a citizen and their government (C2G), between governments and other government agencies (G2G), between government and citizens (G2C), between government and employees (G2E), and between government and businesses/commerces (G2B). E-government delivery models can be broken down into the following categories: This interaction consists of citizens communicating with all levels of government (city, state/province, national, and international), facilitating citizen involvement in governance using information and communication technology (ICT) (such as computers and websites) and business process re-engineering (BPR). Brabham and Guth (2017) interviewed the third party designers of e-government tools in North America about the ideals of user interaction that they build into their technologies, which include progressive values, ubiquitous participation, geolocation, and education of the public.\r\nOther definitions are more away from technology as an object, to see them simply as facilitators or instruments and focus on specific changes in Public Administration issues, and in the internal transformation of a Government, is the case of the definition that established the specialist technologist Mauro D. Ríos in the paper "In search of a definition of Electronic Government", he says: "Digital Government is a new way of organization and management of public affairs, introducing positive transformational processes in management and the structure itself of the organization chart, adding value to the procedures and services provided, all through the introduction and continued appropriation of information and communication technologies as a facilitator of these transformations."","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is e-government?</span>\r\nE-government refers to the use of information technology by government agencies (such as global networks, the Internet, and mobile computers) to transform relationships with citizens, businesses, visitors, and the government for:\r\n<ul><li>expanding the provision of public services to citizens;</li><li>improve interaction with the business community;</li><li>empowering citizens through access to information;</li><li>more effective public administration</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is open data?</span>\r\nOpen data - information about the activities of state bodies and local governments, placed on the Internet in the form of data files in a format that ensures their automatic processing for reuse without a prior change by a person (machine-readable format), and on the terms of its free (free) use.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/E-government.png","alias":"e-government"},"178":{"id":178,"title":"IoT - Internet of Things","description":"The Internet of things (IoT) is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware (such as sensors), these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled.\r\nThe definition of the Internet of things has evolved due to the convergence of multiple technologies, real-time analytics, machine learning, commodity sensors, and embedded systems. Traditional fields of embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (including home and building automation). and others all contribute to enabling the Internet of things. In the consumer market, IoT technology is most synonymous with products pertaining to the concept of the "smart home", covering devices and appliances (such as lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that support one or more common ecosystems, and can be controlled via devices associated with that ecosystem, such as smartphones and smart speakers.\r\nThe IoT concept has faced prominent criticism, especially in regards to privacy and security concerns related to these devices and their intention of pervasive presence.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?</span>\r\nThe Internet of things refers to the network of things (physical objects) that can be connected to the Internet to collect and share data without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it called the Internet of Things?</span>\r\nThe term Internet of things was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999. Stemming from Kevin Ashton’s experience with RFID, the term Internet of things originally described the concept of tagging every object in a person’s life with machine-readable codes. This would allow computers to easily manage and inventory all of these things.\r\nThe term IoT today has evolved to a much broader prospect. It now encompasses ubiquitous connectivity, devices, sensors, analytics, machine learning, and many other technologies.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT solution?</span>\r\nAn IoT solution is a combination of devices or other data sources, outfitted with sensors and Internet connected hardware to securely report information back to an IoT platform. This information is often a physical metric which can help users answer a question or solve a specific problem.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT Proof of Concept (PoC)?</span>\r\nThe purpose of a PoC is to experiment with a solution in your environment, collect data, and evaluate performance from a set timeline on a set budget. A PoC is a low-risk way to introduce IoT to an organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IoT cloud platform?</span>\r\nAn IoT platform provides users with one or more of these key elements — visualization tools, data security features, a workflow engine and a custom user interface to utilize the information collected from devices and other data sources in the field. These platforms are based in the cloud and can be accessed from anywhere.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is industrial equipment monitoring?</span>\r\nIndustrial equipment monitoring uses a network of connected sensors - either native to a piece of equipment or retrofitted - to inform owners/operators of a machine’s output, component conditions, need for service or impending failure. Industrial equipment monitoring is an IoT solution which can utilize an IoT platform to unify disparate data and enable decision-makers to respond to real-time data.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IoT_-_Internet_of_Things.png","alias":"iot-internet-of-things"},"180":{"id":180,"title":"Office Suites","description":"An office suite is a collection of applications bundled together, intended to be used by knowledge workers in an organization. It is used to simplify the tasks and processes of office workers and increase their productivity.\r\nAn office suite is also known as an office application suite or office productivity software.\r\nAn office suite is a collection of software created by the same vendor and designed to be used for routine tasks within an organization. Typically an office suite includes applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, email, note-taking, database, collaboration and other related types of software. In most cases, each application in the office suite can be installed separately and all applications within the suite support interoperability between each other.\r\nExisting office suites contain wide range of various components. Most typically, the base components include:\r\n<ul><li>Word processor</li><li>Spreadsheet</li><li>Presentation program</li></ul>\r\nOther components of office suites include:\r\n<ul><li>Database software</li><li>Graphics suite (raster graphics editor, vector graphics editor, image viewer)</li><li>Desktop publishing software</li><li>Formula editor</li><li>Diagramming software</li><li>Email client</li><li>Communication software</li><li>Personal information manager</li><li>Notetaking software</li><li>Groupware</li><li>Project management software</li><li>Web log analysis software</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Office Suites Software?</span>\r\nOffice Suites Software are suites of personal productivity products for creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations and other similar capabilities. The trend in this area in recent years has been to move away from installed, licensed software products towards online products that are accessed over the Internet and are paid via a monthly or annual subscription.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Office_Suites.png","alias":"office-suites"},"182":{"id":182,"title":"CMS - Content management system","description":"A content management system (CMS) manages the creation and modification of digital content. It typically supports multiple users in a collaborative environment.\r\nCMS features vary widely. Most CMSs include Web-based publishing, format management, history editing and version control, indexing, search and retrieval. By their nature, content management systems support the separation of content and presentation.\r\nContent management software solutions are typically used for enterprise content management systems (ECM) and web site content management systems (WCM). An ECM facilitates collaboration in the workplace by integrating document management, digital asset management and records retention functionalities, and providing end users with role-based access to the organization's digital assets. A WCM facilitates collaborative authoring for websites. ECM software often includes a WCM publishing functionality, but ECM webpages typically remain behind the organization's firewall.\r\nBoth enterprise content management and web content management systems have two components: a content management application (CMA) and a content delivery application (CDA). The CMA is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to control the design, creation, modification and removal of content from a website without needing to know anything about HTML. The CDA component provides the back-end services that support management and delivery of the content once it has been created in the CMA.\r\nDigital asset management systems are another type of CMS. They manage content with a clearly defined author or ownership, such as documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, and scientific data. Companies also use CMSs to store, control, revise, and publish documentation.\r\nBased on market share statistics, the most popular CMS is WordPress, used by more than 28% of all websites on the Internet, and by 59% of all websites using a known content management system, followed by Joomla and Drupal.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Content management systems typically provide the following features:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Search engine optimization</li><li>Integrated and online documentation</li><li>Modularity and extensibility</li><li>User and group functionality</li><li>Templating support for changing designs</li><li>Installation and upgrade wizards</li><li>Integrated audit logs</li><li>Compliance with various accessibility frameworks and standards, such as WAI-ARIA</li><li>Reduced need to code from scratch</li><li>Unified user experience</li><li>Version control</li><li>Edit permission management</li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is a CMS?</span></h1>\r\nAnswer: CMS is an acronym for "Content Management System". You may see some variations on this term, but they all refer to the same concept. Variations include:\r\n<ul><li>Content Management System</li><li>Web CMS</li><li>Web Content Management System</li><li>CMS Platform</li><li>Content Management Platform</li><li>CMS System</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What does a CMS do?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">In it's simplest terms, Content Management Systems are designed to help users create and manage their websites. Content management solutions help webmasters manage the many different resources, content types and various data that make up modern web sites.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">At a minimum, modern websites make use of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images (jpeg, gif, png, etc) to create web content for visitors to read. At the core of every CMS is the ability to organize these resources and generate valid content that can be read by web browsers. </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">More advanced websites have interactive components (comment sections, forums, e-commerce...) that requires server software to validate and save user submitted content.<br />All of the top CMS platforms have features built-in or available for download as addons for all of these features.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the main types of CMS?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simple CMS.</span> This system is used to create simple websites that contain several pages using simple control systems. Simple content management systems consist of several modules that are set one time. These CMSs are free and are available on the internet. Among their disadvantages are the inability to change settings, low transmission capacity, inability to create pages dynamically and the inability of ato delegateion of administrator’s credentials to others.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Template CMS.</span> It consists of modules as well, but its structure is more complex if compared to a simple CMS. Template CMS has high transmission capacity, around 50,000 inquiries. Also, it has the support of dynamic pages and the ability to delegate the administrator’s credentials. Many template systems are used to create website content because they are easy to use.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Professional CMS</span>. This type of CMS has a higher level of complexity. You may change the structure of internet resources. Additional modules can be attached to these systems. These systems are used to create information portals or massive projects. As a rule, these CMSs are a paid resource.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Universal CMS</span>. Universal systems have wide functionality and ample opportunities to develope websites of any complexity. They support the functions of changing the structure, creating dynamic pages, modification of settings and credential distribution. Universal CMS is quite expensive. These CMSs are used for work with large portals and web-projects that require high functionality and dynamics.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/CMS_-_content_management_system.png","alias":"cms-content-management-system"},"184":{"id":184,"title":"OCR - Optical character recognition","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Optical character recognition</span> (optical character reader, OCR) is the mechanical or electronic conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scene-photo (for example the text on signs and billboards in a landscape photo) or from subtitle text superimposed on an image (for example from a television broadcast). The basic process of OCR involves examining the text of a document and translating the characters into code that can be used for data processing. OCR is sometimes also referred to as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">text recognition.</span>\r\nIt is widely used as a form of data entry from printed paper data records, whether passport documents, invoices, bank statements, computerised receipts, business cards, mail, printouts of static-data, or any suitable documentation. OCR program works best on text that has already been typed, either in cases where an original printout has been lost, or in scanning sheets typed on a typewriter. Good OCR software may also be able to translate handwritten text, however, although the error rate on this sort of conversion tends to be much higher.\r\nThe actual term OCR software is a bit misleading, as most modern versions do not in fact use optical character recognition, but actually use digital character recognition. This is because some years ago the fields effectively merged, and both fields adopted the more attractive term optical character recognition. Character recognition software has advanced a great deal in recent years, with modern programs substantially better than their predecessors at identifying text.\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">OCR systems are made up of a combination of hardware and software that is used to convert physical documents into machine-readable text. Hardware, such as an optical scanner or specialized circuit board is used to copy or read text while optical recognition software typically handles the advanced processing. OCR technology software can also take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) to implement more advanced methods of intelligent character recognition (ICR), like identifying languages or styles of handwriting.</span> \r\nThe process of OCR is most commonly used to turn hard copy legal or historic documents into PDFs. Once placed in this soft copy, users can edit, format and search the document as if it was created with a word processor.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">first step of OCR</span> is using a scanner to process the physical form of a document. Once all pages are copied, optical character recognition software converts the document into a two-color, or black and white, version. The scanned-in image or bitmap is analyzed for light and dark areas, where the dark areas are identified as characters that need to be recognized and light areas are identified as background.\r\nThe dark areas are then processed further to find alphabetic letters or numeric digits. OCR products can vary in their techniques, but typically involve targeting one character, word or block of text at a time. Characters are then identified using one of two algorithms:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Pattern recognition</span> - OCR<span style=\"font-size:10pt; font-family:Arial; font-style:normal; \">recognition</span>programs are fed examples of text in various fonts and formats which are then used to compare, and recognize, characters in the scanned document.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Feature detection</span> - OCR programs apply rules regarding the features of a specific letter or number to recognize characters in the scanned document. Features could include the number of angled lines, crossed lines or curves in a character for comparison. For example, the capital letter “A” may be stored as two diagonal lines that meet with a horizontal line across the middle.\r\nWhen a character is identified, it is <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">converted into an ASCII code</span> that can be used by computer systems to handle further manipulations. Users should correct basic errors, proofread and make sure complex layouts were handled properly before saving the document for future use.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> OCR (Optical Character Recognition) use cases</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\">Uses of OCR have a variety of applications, including:</p>\r\n<ul><li>Scanning printed documents into versions that can be edited with word processors, like Microsoft Word or Google Docs.</li><li>Indexing print material for search engines.</li><li>Automating data entry, extraction and processing.</li><li>Deciphering documents into text that can be read aloud to visually-impaired or blind users.</li><li>Archiving historic information, such as newspapers, magazines or phonebooks, into searchable formats.</li><li>Electronically depositing checks without the need for a bank teller.</li><li>Placing important, signed legal documents into an electronic database.</li><li>Recognizing text, such as license plates, with a camera or software.</li><li>Sorting letters for mail delivery.</li><li>Translating words within an image into a specified language.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Choosing the Right Character Recognition Solution: OCR and ICR</h1>\r\nThough recent technology advancements improved data recognition, many offices continue to rely on manual entry and sorting processes. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition or Intelligent Document Recognition software) are essential components of Advanced Data Capture that digitally capture images and text. Both technologies provide companies with enhanced images and critical business information. So, what are the differences between OCR and ICR, and how do these differences pertain to your documents? \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Optical Character Recognition</span> refers to the process where documents are captured and digitally converted into searchable text that you can edit. OCR is primarily used to read machine-generated documents with typed or printed text. The technology reads brightness and text font of these documents, recognizing characters with utmost accuracy. OCR is a perfect solution for companies that need information from paper documents and PDF files, and is great for translating longer documents. For example, if you need to pull quotes from a document for another project, OCR will allow you to easily search, retrieve and extract text.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Intelligent Character Recognition</span>, takes OCR a step further with more intensive character recognition. While OCR mainly encompasses machine-printed characters, the best of best intelligent character recognition software can recognize handwritten text, and translate them into searchable files. Like OCR, ICR scans, reviews and translates the text. ICR is a compatible solution for offices with many checks, timesheets and other handwritten documents.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/OCR_-_Optical_character_recognition.png","alias":"ocr-optical-character-recognition"},"186":{"id":186,"title":"VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Voice over Internet Protocol </span>(Voice over IP, VoIP) is a methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms commonly associated with VoIP solutions are IP telephony, Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service.\r\nThe term Internet telephony specifically refers to the provisioning of communications services (voice, fax, SMS, voice-messaging) over the public Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The steps and principles involved in originating VoIP telephone calls are similar to traditional digital telephony and involve signaling, channel setup, digitization of the analog voice signals, and encoding.\r\nInstead of being transmitted over a circuit-switched network, however, the digital information is packetized, and transmission occurs as IP packets over a packet-switched network. Such transmission entails careful considerations about resource management different from time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> What are the benefits of VoIP?</h1>\r\n VoIP technology can facilitate tasks and deliver services that might be cumbersome or costly to implement when using traditional PSTN: \r\n<ul><li>More than one phone call can be transmitted on the same broadband phone line. This way, VoIP system can facilitate the addition of telephone lines to businesses without the need for additional physical lines.</li><li>Features that are usually charged extra by telecommunication companies, such as call forwarding, caller ID or automatic redialing, are simple with voice over internet technology.</li><li>Unified Communications are secured with VoIP technology, as it allows integration with other services available on the internet such as video conversation, messaging, etc. </li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">VoIP programs </h1>\r\nThere are four main types of VoIP technology. Each option has varying levels of complexity which can impact ease of implementation and maintenance.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integrated Access</span>\r\nIntegrated access is the VoIP service that most mimics the traditional phone line. With integrated access VoIP, businesses integrate VoIP software and existing, legacy phone systems. This approach lets the business keep its old number and equipment while also gaining access to advanced telecommunications features. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SIP Trunks</span>\r\n Session Initial Protocol (SIP) transmits voice and video information across a data network, letting VoIP users take advantage of shared lines and increase their communications flexibility. Because all data is sent over a network, businesses can use SIP trunks to replace traditional analog phone networks or use a VoIP gateway to integrate SIP trunking with legacy phone systems. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Hosted IP PBX</span>\r\n What most people envision when they think of VoIP, this VoIP solution sees a vendor host and operate the private branch exchange, offering unified communications solutions. The business connects to a hosted cloud-based PBX network via its IP network. Phone system hardware is maintained off-site by the hosted IP PBX vendor, and all responsibility for the hardware, software, maintenance, security and upgrades all falls on the hosted PBX provider. \r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Managed IP PBX </span>\r\nSimilar to Hosted IP PBX, this version of the unified communication solution is outsourced to a third party that takes care of all management requirements, but instead of phone hardware being off-site, the equipment is housed on-premise by the business. \r\nUnderstanding these different services of VoIP communication can help a business determine the system that best suits its needs. SIP Trunks, for instance, are more attractive to those who want to install their own technology and manage it themselves, while still connecting to VoIP features.\r\n On the other hand, managed IP PBX is a good option for those who don’t have the resources to buy and operate their own VoIP systems. The Hosted IP PBX solution frees the business to select the VoIP management software that works for them and liberates them from the cost and administrative headache of maintaining both voice and data lines and the related carrier partnerships. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/VoIP_-_Voice_over_Internet_Protocol.png","alias":"voip-voice-over-internet-protocol"},"188":{"id":188,"title":"EDI - Electronic Data Interchange","description":"Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic interchange of business information using a standardized format; a process which allows one company to send information to another company electronically rather than with paper. Business entities conducting business electronically are called trading partners.\r\nMany business documents can be exchanged using EDI, but the two most common are purchase orders and invoices. At a minimum, EDI replaces the mail preparation and handling associated with traditional business communication. However, the real power of EDI is that it standardizes the information communicated in business documents, which makes possible a "paperless" exchange.\r\nThe traditional invoice illustrates what this can mean. Most companies create invoices using a computer system, print a paper copy of the invoice and mail it to the customer. Upon receipt, the customer frequently marks up the invoice and enters it into its own computer system. The entire process is nothing more than the transfer of information from the seller's computer to the customer's computer. EDI makes it possible to minimize or even eliminate the manual steps involved in this transfer.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) mean?</span>\r\nElectronic data interchange (EDI) is the electronic transmission of structured data by agreed message standards from one computer system to another without human intervention. It is a system for exchanging business documents with external entities.\r\nEDI refers to a family of standards and does not specify transmission methods, which are freely agreed upon by the trading partners.\r\nThe wide adoption of EDI in the business world facilitates efficiency and cost reduction. EDI is used in such diverse business-to-business relationships as:\r\n<ul><li>Interchanges between health care providers and insurers</li><li>Travel and hotel bookings</li><li>Education</li><li>Supply chain management</li><li>Administration</li><li>Tax reporting</li></ul>\r\nEDI is a sequence of messages between two trading partners, either of which may serve as the originator or recipient. The messages are transmitted and received without human intervention. Each message is composed according to a standardized syntax from a sequence of standardized data elements. It is this standardization that makes message assembling, disassembling and processing by the computer possible.\r\nEDI is considered to be a technical representation of a business conversation between two entities, either internal or external. The EDI standards were designed to be independent of communication and software technologies. EDI can be transmitted using any methodology agreed to by the sender and recipient. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/EDI__-_Electronic_Data_Interchange.png","alias":"edi-electronic-data-interchange"},"190":{"id":190,"title":"IPTV - Internet Protocol television","description":"Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, IPTV offers the ability to stream the source media continuously. As a result, a client media player can begin playing the content (such as a TV channel) almost immediately. This is known as streaming media.\r\nAlthough IPTV uses the Internet protocol it is not limited to television streamed from the Internet (Internet television). IPTV is widely deployed in subscriber-based telecommunications networks with high-speed access channels into end-user premises via set-top boxes or other customer-premises equipment. IPTV is also used for media delivery around corporate and private networks. IPTV in the telecommunications arena is notable for its ongoing standardisation process (e.g., European Telecommunications Standards Institute).\r\nIPTV services may be classified into three main groups:\r\n<ul><li>Live television and live media, with or without related interactivity;</li><li>Time-shifted media: e.g. catch-up TV (replays a TV show that was broadcast hours or days ago), start-over TV (replays the current TV show from its beginning);</li><li>Video on demand (VOD): browse and view items in a stored media catalogue.</li></ul>\r\nHistorically, many different definitions of IPTV have appeared, including elementary streams over IP networks, MPEG transport streams over IP networks and a number of proprietary systems. One official definition approved by the International Telecommunication Union focus group on IPTV (ITU-T FG IPTV) is:\r\n<blockquote><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IPTV is defined as multimedia services such as television/video/audio/text/graphics/data delivered over IP based networks managed to provide the required level of quality of service and experience, security, interactivity and reliability.</span></blockquote>\r\n\r\nAnother definition of IPTV, relating to the telecommunications industry, is the one given by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) IPTV Exploratory Group in 2005:\r\n<blockquote><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IPTV is defined as the secure and reliable delivery to subscribers of entertainment video and related services. These services may include, for example, Live TV, Video On Demand (VOD) and Interactive TV (iTV). These services are delivered across an access agnostic, packet switched network that employs the IP protocol to transport the audio, video and control signals. In contrast to video over the public Internet, with IPTV deployments, network security and performance are tightly managed to ensure a superior entertainment experience, resulting in a compelling business environment for content providers, advertisers and customers alike.</span></blockquote>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is IPTV?</span>\r\nIPTV refers to Internet-based Protocol Television where the internet is used to deliver TV programs & Videos that are either live or on-demand. IPTV is a system where digital television service is delivered to the subscriber through Internet protocol technology via the medium of broadband or internet connection.\r\nIt is slightly different from a digital video that is accessed by millions of users on sites or apps like YouTube or Netflix, but it shares quite a bit of the same ubiquitous, pervasive nature. Also unlike standard cable or satellite connection, in IPTV multiple TV sets can use a single subscription within a home.\r\nIPTV gives the viewers the added advantage and convenience of being able to pick the program they want to watch whenever and wherever they feel like watching it apart from tuning into any Live TV shows that are being aired currently.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How does IPTV work?</span>\r\nIPTV is much similar like browsing the internet than traditional channel surfing. It merely uses IP (Internet Protocol), a transport protocol that is a delivery mechanism to deliver the videos to the viewer. When the viewer clicks on any TV program or requests the video, video from different sources (servers) is divided into data packets and sent over the internet. Video servers transmit programs through fiber-optic cable to existing households via internet connection and requests are sent out and shows are sent back.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is IPTV architecture?</span>\r\nDepending on the network architecture of the service provider, there are two main types of IPTV architecture that can be considered for IPTV deployment: centralized and distributed.\r\nThe centralized architecture model is a relatively simple and easy to manage solution. Because all media content is stored on centralized servers, it does not require a comprehensive content distribution system. Centralized architecture is generally good for a network that provides relatively small VOD service deployment, has an adequate core and edge bandwidth and has an efficient content delivery network (CDN).\r\nDistributed architecture is just as scalable as the centralized model, however, it has bandwidth usage advantages and inherent system management features that are essential for managing a larger server network. Operators who plan to deploy a relatively large system should, therefore, consider implementing a distributed architecture model right from the start. Distributed architecture requires intelligent and sophisticated content distribution technologies to augment the effective delivery of multimedia content over the service provider’s network.\r\nBroadcast content from Satellites and Local Antennas are received by the central unit. The central unit is where live TV channels and AV sources are encoded, encrypted and delivered in the form of IP multicast streams. The Central unit will also contain the Advertising Servers, Live TV Streaming Servers, Video on Demand (VOD) servers & platform and is where on-demand video assets are stored and served as IP unicast streams when a user makes a request. The VOD platform may sometimes be located with and considered part of, the IPTV’s central unit.\r\nThe requested videos and TV Channels are delivered to the viewer via the delivery network which consists of a robust internet uplink via Fiber Optics from the IPTV broadcasters end.\r\nThe viewer will receive this signal at their end via their local or preferred internet service provider which can vary from a range of options like broadband, fiber optics, DSL, etc..\r\nWhen the viewer subscribers to a particular IPTV service they are provided with the service’s specific Set Top Box (STB). A set-top box is the piece of endpoint equipment that decodes and decrypts TV and VOD streams for display on the TV screen. This STB is connected to the viewers’ internet connection (router) and uses the internet to deliver the video and TV content to the viewer.\r\nThe viewer requests the videos or TV Channels via an interactive portal in the STB, that allows the viewer to navigate within the different IPTV services, such as the VOD catalog.\r\nWhile this is a typical example of an IPTV architecture model, due to a wide variety of service providers in the market today and the IT options available in the market, each service provider may decide to implement a slightly different architecture that suits their needs, geographic area, endpoint internet connectivity, local market conditions & requirements, and business model.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the types of IPTV services?</span>\r\nApart from transmitting classic TV channels, the following interactive services are also provided by IPTV:\r\n<ol><li>Video on Demand: Individual delivery of video content to a subscriber. It allows users to watch any movie from the VoD server’s media library.</li><li>Near Video on Demand: It is a pay-per-view video service intended for multiple users subscribed to nVoD service. The content broadcasting schedule is compiled beforehand and subscribers can look at the schedule and watch content according to their interest.</li><li>Time-shifted TV: Time-shifted TV lets subscribers view live broadcasts later so they can playback and resume at their convenience. Rewind option is also provided for TV programs.</li><li>TV on Demand (TVoD): Selected TV channels are recorded so they can be viewed whenever convenient.</li><li>Live Television: with or without interactivity added to currently broadcasted TV shows.</li></ol>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IPTV_-_Internet_Protocol_television.png","alias":"iptv-internet-protocol-television"},"194":{"id":194,"title":"Air Conditioning","description":" A large proportion of the total power consumption of the data center comes from cooling. That is why the cooling system in the data center often has the most significant energy-saving potential. Properly selected cooling system is able to maintain the optimum temperature in the data center, avoiding overcooling.\r\nIn modern machine rooms for cooling, the most commonly used cables are water-cooled or so-called “hot”/“cold aisles” between the rows of server racks. Free-cooling, in which cold outside air is used by chillers of the cooling system, is an efficient and environmentally friendly solution for data centers. When cooled, unclaimed heat is formed, which can then be used, for example, to heat rooms and stairwells.\r\nThe data processing center can also be cooled by connecting to the network of the district cooling station (if there is one in the area). Chilled water from the production plant is delivered to end users through pipes. Such a cooling system allows re-use of energy, since the heat generated during the cooling process can be used to heat the area and in places where heating is required.\r\nSeveral types of air conditioning systems are suitable for cooling a medium-sized data center - cabinet air conditioners, in-row air conditioners, and solutions based on free cooling technology.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Hot Aisle Containment System (HACS)</span>\r\nHot Aisle Containment System is a professional climate control system. Designed for technological rooms that require maintaining the specified parameters of temperature, humidity and air purity with high reliability and accuracy.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">In-house conditioners</span>\r\nIn-row air conditioners are designed for the removal of ultra-high heat loads typical of modern data centers. Ideal for "hot"/"cold corridors", providing additional cold air to the cold corridor.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Rack cooling systems</span>\r\nIn-cabinet air conditioner is mounted in a hermetically sealed rack. It is used when there is no cooling capacity reserve in the data center, when it is necessary to add a rack with electronic equipment to the data center.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Chillers</span>\r\nChillers cool (or heat) the heat-transfer fluid that is fed into the piping system, from where it enters the heat exchangers and fan coil units. The heat carrier has a higher heat capacity than the air.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cooling towers</span>\r\nThe principle of the cooling tower is the cooling of a large volume of water by a directed stream of atmospheric air. This type of equipment is used in various systems of circulating water supply to lower the temperature of heat exchangers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Adiabatic systems</span>\r\nThe principle of the adiabatic cooling system consists in spraying purified water from impurities in the form of tiny droplets into hot air. Water evaporating in the air can cool it to a temperature close to that of a “wet thermometer.”\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Outdoor units</span>\r\nRemote components of a precision air-conditioning system (condensers, compressors) are mounted outdoors and are connected to a precision air conditioner and a direct evaporation system by refrigerant lines.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Air_Conditioning__1_.png","alias":"air-conditioning"},"197":{"id":197,"title":"WAN optimization","description":" WAN optimization is a collection of techniques for increasing data transfer efficiencies across wide-area networks (WANs). In 2008, the WAN optimization market was estimated to be $1 billion, and was to grow to $4.4 billion by 2014 according to Gartner, a technology research firm. In 2015 Gartner estimated the WAN optimization market to be a $1.1 billion market.\r\nThe most common measures of TCP data-transfer efficiencies (i.e., optimization) are throughput, bandwidth requirements, latency, protocol optimization, and congestion, as manifested in dropped packets. In addition, the WAN itself can be classified with regards to the distance between endpoints and the amounts of data transferred. Two common business WAN topologies are Branch to Headquarters and Data Center to Data Center (DC2DC). In general, "Branch" WAN links are closer, use less bandwidth, support more simultaneous connections, support smaller connections and more short-lived connections, and handle a greater variety of protocols. They are used for business applications such as email, content management systems, database application, and Web delivery. In comparison, "DC2DC" WAN links tend to require more bandwidth, are more distant, and involve fewer connections, but those connections are bigger (100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s flows) and of longer duration. Traffic on a "DC2DC" WAN may include replication, back up, data migration, virtualization, and other Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) flows.\r\nWAN optimization has been the subject of extensive academic research almost since the advent of the WAN. In the early 2000s, research in both the private and public sectors turned to improving the end-to-end throughput of TCP, and the target of the first proprietary WAN optimization solutions was the Branch WAN. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of digital data, and the concomitant needs to store and protect it, has presented a need for DC2DC WAN optimization. For example, such optimizations can be performed to increase overall network capacity utilization, meet inter-datacenter transfer deadlines, or minimize average completion times of data transfers. As another example, private inter-datacenter WANs can benefit optimizations for fast and efficient geo-replication of data and content, such as newly computed machine learning models or multimedia content.\r\nComponent techniques of Branch WAN Optimization include deduplication, wide area file services (WAFS), SMB proxy, HTTPS Proxy, media multicasting, web caching, and bandwidth management. Requirements for DC2DC WAN Optimization also center around deduplication and TCP acceleration, however these must occur in the context of multi-gigabit data transfer rates.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is WAN Optimization?</span>\r\nWAN optimization involves prioritizing specific parts of the network to receive more bandwidth. For example, you might want to allocate more throughput and bandwidth to the parts of the network involved in a critical data-processing task, to make sure it’s completed quickly. Many WAN improvements can be accomplished with either physical or logical changes to your network.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Is WAN Optimization Important?</span>\r\nBusinesses are increasingly facing pressures on their WAN setups due to increased use of cloud computing, applications, and other network-wide technologies such as web portals. The associated increase in traffic across the WAN makes WAN optimization even more important, as network slowdowns can become a major issue if you don’t proactively manage this complexity and volume.\r\nNumerous different business processes are affected by a slow network. Even simple actions, like employees accessing files, can become unacceptably slow. If the network is dragging, it might take their business-wide file manager a while to load, and then even longer to open the file. Even though it seems like a small, two-minute task, these problems quickly add up.\r\nMeanwhile, admins may have trouble effectively managing and monitoring their network — and ensuring network security — if they’re fighting against inefficient, high-latency network infrastructure. WAN optimization can potentially allow admins — and their software tools — to more effectively protect all devices and end-users.\r\nWAN optimization also supports remote and mobile workers. When someone works remotely, they’re expanding the WAN and requiring business data to travel further. Without WAN optimization, their connection could be slow. Even simple business processes such as email can become inconvenient to use. If the network is optimized correctly, all employees will be able to access network portals and business information, even if they’re connecting remotely.\r\nFurthermore, even applications not directly affected by optimization processes can benefit when bandwidth is freed up in relation to other parts of the network. All these benefits increase business efficiency and promote cost savings as a result.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/WAN_optimization1.png","alias":"wan-optimization"},"199":{"id":199,"title":"Deception Techniques and Honeypots","description":"Deception technology is an emerging category of cyber security defense. Deception technology products can detect, analyze and defend against zero-day and advanced attacks, often in real time. They are automated, accurate and provide insight into malicious activity within internal networks, which may be unseen by other types of cyber defense. Deception technology enables a more proactive security posture by seeking to deceive the attackers, detect them and then defeat them, allowing the enterprise to return to normal operations.\r\nDeception technology automates the creation of traps (decoys) and/or lures, which are mixed among and within existing IT resources to provide a layer of protection to stop attackers that have penetrated the network. Traps (decoys) are IT assets that either use real licensed operating system software, or are emulations of these devices.\r\nTraps (decoys) which use emulations can also imitate medical devices, automated teller machines (ATMs), retail point of sale systems, switches, routers and much more. Lures are generally real information technology resources (files of varying kinds) which are placed on actual IT assets.\r\nUpon penetrating the network, attackers seek to establish a backdoor and then use this to identify and exfiltrate data and intellectual property. They begin moving laterally through the internal VLANs and almost immediately will "look at" one of the traps (decoys). Interacting with one of these "decoys" will trigger an alert. These alerts are very high probability and almost always coincide to an ongoing attack. The deception is designed to lure the attacker in – the attacker may consider this a worthy asset and continue by injecting malware. Deception technology generally allows for automated static and dynamic analysis of this injected malware and provides these reports through automation to the security operations personnel. Deception technology may also identify, through indicators of compromise (IOC), suspect end-points that are part of the compromise cycle. Automation also allows for an automated memory analysis of the suspect end-point, and then automatically isolates the suspect end-point. Many partner integrations allow for a variety of implementation paths for existing enterprise and government customers.\r\nInternet of things (IoT) devices are not usually scanned by legacy defense in depth cyber defense and remain prime targets for attackers within the network. Deception technology can identify attackers moving laterally into the network from within these devices.\r\nIntegrated turnkey devices that utilize embedded operating systems, but do not allow these operating systems to be scanned or closely protected by embedded end-point or intrusion detection software are also well protected by a deception technology deployment in the same network. Examples include process control systems (SCADA) used in many manufacturing applications on a global basis. Deception technology has been associated with the discovery of Zombie Zero, an attack vector wherein deception technology identified an attacker utilizing malware embedded in barcode readers which were manufactured overseas.\r\nMedical devices are particular vulnerable to cyber attacks within the healthcare networks. As FDA-certified devices they are closed systems and not accessible to standard cyber defense software. Deception technology can surround and protect these devices and identify attackers using these for backdoor placement and data exfiltration. Recently documented cyber attacks on medical devices include x-ray machines, CT scanners, MRI scanners, blood gas analyzers, PACS systems and many more. Networks utilizing these devices can be protected by deception technology. This attack vector, called medical device hijack or medjack, is estimated to have penetrated many hospitals worldwide.\r\nSpecialized deception technology products are now capable of addressing the rise in ransomware. Select products can deceive ransomware into engaging in an attack on a decoy resource, while isolating the infection points and alerting the cyber defense software team.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Use Deception Technology?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Early Post-Breach Detection</span></span>\r\nNo security solution can stop all attacks from occurring on a network, but deception technology helps to give attackers a false sense of security by making them believe they have gained a foothold in your network. From here you can monitor and record their behavior, secure in the knowledge that they can do no damage to your decoy systems. The information you record about attacker behavior and techniques can be used to further secure your network from attack.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduced False Positives and Risk</span></span>\r\nDead ends, false positives and alert fatigue can all hamper security efforts and put a drain on resources, if they are even analyzed at all. Too much noise can result in IT teams becoming complacent and ignoring what could potentially be a legitimate threat. Deception technology reduces the noise with fewer false positives and high fidelity alerts packed full of useful data.\r\nDeception technology is also a low risk as it has no risk to data or impact on resources or operations. When a hacker accesses or attempts to use part of the deception layer, a real and accurate alert is generated that tells admins they need to take action.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Scale and Automate at Will</span></span>\r\nWhile the threat to corporate networks and data is a daily growing concern, security teams rarely get an increase in their budget to handle the deluge of new threats. For this reason, deception technology can be a very welcome solution. Automated alerts eliminate the need for manual effort and intervention while the design of the technology allows it to be scaled easily as the organization and threat level grows.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">From Legacy to IoT</span></span>\r\nDeception technology can be used to provide breadcrumbs for a vast range of different devices, including legacy environments, industry-specific environments and even IoT devices.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Deception_Techniques_and_Honeypots.png","alias":"deception-techniques-and-honeypots"},"204":{"id":204,"title":"Managed Detection and Response","description":" MDR, which stands for Managed Detection & Response, is an all-encompassing threat detection system, which arose from the need for small/medium-sized organizations who lack resources to be able to monitor their network systems in-house. It provides a cost-effective alternative to SIEM (Security Information and Event Management).\r\nEveryday, the capabilities of attackers get more sophisticated and the volume of alerts becomes overwhelming and unmanageable. In-house teams might struggle to analyze and log data, which makes it harder than ever to determine if these threats are harmful. MDR can put a stop to attacks before they even happen. MDR technology monitors your systems and detects any unusual behavior, whilst our expert team responds to the threats detected within your business.\r\nMDR offers real-time threat intelligence, and is able to analyse behaviour which can be missed by traditional endpoint security technology. MDR also provides rapid identification of known threats, which in turn minimises overall attacks. Having remote incident investigation will minimise damage to your business, and will allow you to get back to work in no time. It’s important to note that using MDR services will allow third party access to your company's data. You need to consider working with a provider who understands and respects your data policy.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Managed Detection and Response?</span>\r\nManaged Detection and Response (MDR) is a managed cybersecurity service that provides intrusion detection of malware and malicious activity in your network, and assists in rapid incident response to eliminate those threats with succinct remediation actions. MDR typically combines a technology solution with outsourced security analysts that extend your technologies and team.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Isn’t that What MSSPs or Managed SIEMs Do?</span>\r\nNo. Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) monitor network security controls and may send alerts when anomalies are identified. MSSPs typically do not investigate the anomalies to eliminate false positives, nor do they respond to real threats. This means that abnormalities in network usage are forwarded to your IT personnel who must then dig through the data to determine if there is a real threat and what to do about it.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Doesn’t My Firewall Protect My Network?</span>\r\nFirewalls and other preventive forms of cybersecurity are very important and effective at preventing basic cyberattacks. However, over the past decade, it has become clear that preventive cybersecurity technologies are not enough to secure an organization’s network. Further, they are yet another source of alerts, log messages, and events that contribute to the “alert fatigue” being universally suffered today. Recent major hacks such as the Marriot Hack of 2018, the Anthem Hack of 2015, and the Target Hack of 2013 demonstrate how easily cybercriminals can breach networks at enterprise organizations to steal millions of credit card numbers, medical records, and other forms of PII/PHI.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Endpoint_Detection_and_Response.png","alias":"managed-detection-and-response"},"205":{"id":205,"title":"NAC - Network Access Control","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network Access Control (NAC)</span> is an approach to computer security that attempts to unify endpoint security technology (such as antivirus, host intrusion prevention, and vulnerability assessment), user or system authentication and network security enforcement. NAC solutions have become an extremely valuable tool in recent years, as mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) have surged to prominence in various industries across the world. These new pieces of emerging technology come with their own set of vulnerabilities, which poses a challenge to IT security experts. \r\nNAC systems are put into place to make sure that anyone who enters the system, both in terms of users and devices, is authorized. After being routed the efforts at connection, the network access control system confirms privileges using an identity and access management (IAM, a program that checks users for appropriate permissions to access data materials, as indicated by internal policies). With the information from the IAM, along with a pre-established list of rules, the NAC software is able to smartly accept or deny access requests.\r\nFortunately, NAC products are designed to handle large enterprise networks that have a range of device types trying to connect at all times. Without a NAC in place, companies take on a huge amount of risk by adopting a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, which allows employees and vendors to use their own smartphones and tablets on the local network. Network access control software and hardware require an upfront investment but prove their worth in the long run.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> How a NAC solution works?</h1>\r\nWhen you adopt a network access control solution, the first thing it will do is find all devices currently accessing the system; identify what kind of device they are; and determine whether to validate them and how to treat them using preestablished protocols designed by the company’s security personnel. A network access control system has rules related to a wide spectrum of devices, along with finely grained settings to help you determine permissions. A unified administrative system houses these rules and applies them as needed.\r\nMany companies will utilize NAC as their staff grows and they have an increasing number of devices to manage. These solutions are also helpful for achieving data protection across a variety of different branch locations. The difficulty of securing an organization and managing access has become especially overwhelming in an era when widespread incorporation of IOT devices is becoming more common throughout business; NAC is the fix. The general issue with bring your own device (BYOD), though, is what drew many businesses to this service.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">How to Choose a Network Access Control Solution</h1>\r\nTo help narrow down your search for NAC products, you should first focus on tools that offer native integration with your enterprise’s existing software. You don’t want to have to change your infrastructure or network design in order to bring the NAC solution online. If you are heavily dependent on a cloud architecture, then look for solutions that are fully supported by your hosting provider.\r\nNext, think about what kind of proactive tools come included with the NAC suite. Some vendors offer all-in-one packages that feature a full virus scanning utility and firewall mechanism alongside everything else in the NAC. If your IT security strategy is not very mature, this kind of suite may be very helpful.\r\nOf course, one key factor when looking at NAC options is the price point. Some vendors will sell their products at a flat rate, while others are quickly going the route of Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription, an increasingly-popular business model that requires a monthly payment and ongoing contract. Think about the state of your IT budget while remembering that the upfront investment could save you lots of money down the road.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/NAC_-_Network_Access_Control__1_.png","alias":"nac-network-access-control"},"206":{"id":206,"title":"Application Security Testing","description":" Applications form the lifeline of any business today – and they are under attack more than ever before. Where previously we focused our attention on securing organizations’ network parameters, today the application level is where the focus is for attackers.\r\nAccording to Verizon’s 2014 Data Breach Investigations Report, web applications “remain the proverbial punching bag of the internet,” with about 80% of attacks in the application layer, as Gartner has stated. Taking proactive measures to protect your company and customer data is no longer an option: It is a business imperative for enterprises across all industries.\r\nIn 2013, the Ponemon Institute’s ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report’ found that security incidents in the U.S. averaged a total cost of $5.4 million. Preventing just one similar security incident would more than cover the cost of application security and prove your security programs value.\r\nApplication Security is built around the concept of ensuring that the code written for an application does what it was built to do, and keeps the contained data secure.\r\nAccording to Gartner, application security puts a primary focus on three elements:\r\n<ul><li>Reducing security vulnerabilities and risks</li><li>Improving security features and functions such as authentication, encryption or auditing</li><li>Integrating with the enterprise security infrastructure</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" Security testing techniques scour for vulnerabilities or security holes in applications. These vulnerabilities leave applications open to exploitation. Ideally, security testing is implemented throughout the entire software development life cycle (SDLC) so that vulnerabilities may be addressed in a timely and thorough manner. Unfortunately, testing is often conducted as an afterthought at the end of the development cycle. With the growth of Continuous delivery and DevOps as popular software development and deployment models, continuous security models are becoming more popular.\r\nVulnerability scanners, and more specifically web application scanners, otherwise known as penetration testing tools (i.e. ethical hacking tools) have been historically used by security organizations within corporations and security consultants to automate the security testing of http request/responses; however, this is not a substitute for the need for actual source code review. Physical code reviews of an application's source code can be accomplished manually or in an automated fashion. Given the common size of individual programs (often 500,000 lines of code or more), the human brain cannot execute a comprehensive data flow analysis needed in order to completely check all circuitous paths of an application program to find vulnerability points. The human brain is suited more for filtering, interrupting and reporting the outputs of automated source code analysis tools available commercially versus trying to trace every possible path through a compiled code base to find the root cause level vulnerabilities.\r\nThere are many kinds of automated tools for identifying vulnerabilities in applications. Some require a great deal of security expertise to use and others are designed for fully automated use. The results are dependent on the types of information (source, binary, HTTP traffic, configuration, libraries, connections) provided to the tool, the quality of the analysis, and the scope of vulnerabilities covered. Common technologies used for identifying application vulnerabilities include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Static Application Security Testing (SAST)</span> is a technology that is frequently used as a Source Code Analysis tool. The method analyzes source code for security vulnerabilities prior to the launch of an application and is used to strengthen code. This method produces fewer false positives but for most implementations requires access to an application's source code and requires expert configuration and lots of processing power.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)</span> is a technology, which is able to find visible vulnerabilities by feeding a URL into an automated scanner. This method is highly scalable, easily integrated and quick. DAST's drawbacks lie in the need for expert configuration and the high possibility of false positives and negatives.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST)</span> is a solution that assesses applications from within using software instrumentation. This technique allows IAST to combine the strengths of both SAST and DAST methods as well as providing access to code, HTTP traffic, library information, backend connections and configuration information. Some IAST products require the application to be attacked, while others can be used during normal quality assurance testing.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Application_Security_Testing1.png","alias":"application-security-testing"},"217":{"id":217,"title":"Business-to-Business Middleware","description":" Middleware is a very broad term that can be defined as a translation layer between different applications and encompasses a number of different technologies, such as message-oriented middleware and database middleware. B2B middleware though has a narrower definition and is concerned first and foremost with routing data from a firm’s business applications to the applications of business partners such as customer, suppliers or banks.\r\nData must be extracted from the source system, which might be an ERP system or securities trading platform or an HR system whether it is an installed system or, as is increasingly the case, a cloud-based system. Data can be extracted using an API or specialized middleware supplied by the enterprise application.\r\nOnce the data has been extracted, it must be correctly formatted so that it can be shared by a completely different system. Typical standard formats are EDI or XML. However, each of these formats has specific variants specific to particular vertical industries. When the data has been formatted, it must then be transmitted to the business partner and, once again, there are a number of different network protocols such as HTTP-baaed AS1 and AS2, or FTP to support B2B integration.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Middleware?</span>\r\nMiddleware is the software that connects network-based requests generated by a client to the back-end data the client is requesting. It is a general term for software that serves to "glue together" separate, often complex and already existing programs.\r\nMiddleware programs come in on-premises software and cloud services, and they can be used independently or together, depending upon the use case. While cloud providers bundle middleware into cloud services suites, such as middleware as a service (MWaaS) or integration PaaS (iPaaS), industry researchers note that many businesses still choose independent middleware products that fit their specific needs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How middleware works</span>\r\nAll network-based requests are essentially attempts to interact with back-end data. That data might be something as simple as an image to display or a video to play, or it could be as complex as a history of banking transactions.\r\nThe requested data can take on many different forms and may be stored in a variety of ways, such as coming from a file server, fetched from a message queue or persisted in a database. The role of middleware is to enable and ease access to those back-end resources.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Middleware categories</span>\r\nIn general, IT industry analysts -- such as Gartner Inc. and Forrester Research -- put middleware into two categories: enterprise integration middleware and platform middleware.\r\n<ul><li>Enterprise application integration middleware enables programmers to create business applications without having to custom-craft integrations for each new application. Here, middleware helps software and services components work together, providing a layer of functionality for data consistency and multi-enterprise or B2B integration. Typically, integration middleware provides messaging services, so different applications can communicate using messaging frameworks like Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), web services, Representational State Transfer (REST) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Other middleware technologies used in this category include Object Request Brokers (ORBs), data representation technologies like XML and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and more.</li></ul>\r\nBusinesses can purchase individual middleware products or on-premises or cloud-based application integration suites.\r\n<ul><li>Platform middleware supports software development and delivery by providing a runtime hosting environment, such as a container, for application program logic. Its primary components are in-memory and enterprise application servers, as well as web servers and content management. Middleware includes web servers, application servers, content management systems and similar tools that support application development and delivery. Generally, embedded or external communications middleware allows different communications tools to work together. These communications tools enable application and service interaction. Resource management services, such as Microsoft Azure Resource Manager, host application program logic at runtime, another key function in platform middleware. Other components include Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) and in-memory data grids (IMDGs).</li></ul>\r\nPlatform middleware products are also available as specific on-premises or cloud service tools, as well as multitool suites. On a cloud suite site, middleware as a service offers an integrated set of platform tools and the runtime environment.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Business-to-Business_Middleware.png","alias":"business-to-business-middleware"},"219":{"id":219,"title":"Event-Driven Middleware","description":" Event management software is the generic term for a wide range of software products that are used in the management of professional and academic conferences, trade exhibitions, conventions and smaller events such as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) meetings.\r\nThe most common event management applications are:\r\n<ul><li>Event schedule planning</li><li>Customized event website creation</li><li>Online event registration, ticketing and delegate management including online payment</li><li>Event budgeting</li><li>Lead retrieval</li><li>Venue selection</li><li>Event Marketing</li><li>Event Networking for attendee engagement</li><li>Procurement, sourcing and RFPs</li><li>Content management including abstract and/or paper management, reviewing, programme development and publishing</li><li>Exhibition management including floor planning, booking and billing</li><li>On-site operations including registration, badges and networking</li><li>Audience response solutions, live slide sharing and second screen tools as live polls, Q+A, etc.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the event-driven architecture?</span>\r\nThe event-driven architecture is a software architecture and model for application design. With an event-driven system, the capture, communication, processing, and persistence of events are the core structure of the solution. This differs from a traditional request-driven model.\r\nAn event is any significant occurrence or change in state for system hardware or software. An event is not the same as an event notification, which is a message or notification sent by the system to notify another part of the system that an event has taken place. \r\nThe source of an event can be from internal or external inputs. Events can generate from a user, like a mouse click or keystroke, an external source, such as a sensor output, or come from the system, like loading a program.\r\nMany modern application designs are event-driven. Event-driven apps can be created in any programming language because event-driven is a programming approach, not a language. The event-driven architecture enables minimal coupling, which makes it a good option for modern, distributed application architectures.\r\nAn event-driven architecture is loosely coupled because event producers don’t know which event consumers are listening for an event, and the event doesn’t know what the consequences are of its occurrence.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does event-driven architecture work?</span>\r\nThe event-driven architecture is made up of event producers and event consumers. An event producer detects or senses an event and represents the event as a message. It does not know the consumer of the event or the outcome of an event.\r\nAfter an event has been detected, it is transmitted from the event producer to the event consumers through event channels, where an event processing platform processes the event asynchronously. Event consumers need to be informed when an event has occurred. They might process the event or may only be impacted by it.\r\nThe event processing platform will execute the correct response to an event and send the activity downstream to the right consumers. This downstream activity is where the outcome of an event is seen.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of event-driven architecture?</span>\r\nAn event-driven architecture can help organizations achieve a flexible system that can adapt to changes and make decisions in real-time. Real-time situational awareness means that business decisions, whether manual or automated, can be made using all of the available data that reflects the current state of your systems.\r\nEvents are captured as they occur from event sources such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, applications, and networks, allowing event producers and event consumers to share status and response information in real-time.\r\nOrganizations can add event-driven architecture to their systems and applications to improve the scalability and responsiveness of applications and access to the data and context needed for better business decisions.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Event-Driven_Middleware.png","alias":"event-driven-middleware"},"221":{"id":221,"title":"Process Automation Middleware","description":" At the current level of development, process automation is one of the approaches to process management based on the use of information technology. This approach allows the management of operations, data, information and resources through the use of computers and software that reduce the degree of human participation in the process, or completely eliminate it.\r\nThe main goal of automation is to improve the quality of the process. An automated process has more stable characteristics than a manual process. In many cases, process automation can increase productivity, reduce process execution time, reduce cost, increase accuracy and stability of operations.\r\nTo date, process automation has covered many industries and areas of activity: from manufacturing processes to shopping in stores. Regardless of the size and scope of the organization, almost every company has automated processes. The process approach provides for all processes the same principles of automation.\r\nDespite the fact that process automation can be performed at various levels, the principles of automation for all levels and all types of processes will remain the same. These are general principles that set the conditions for the efficient execution of processes in automatic mode and establish rules for automatic process control.\r\nThe basic principles of process automation are: the principle of consistency, the principle of integration, the principle of independence of execution. These general principles are detailed depending on the level of automation under consideration and specific processes. For example, automation of production processes includes principles such as the principle of specialization, the principle of proportionality, the principle of continuity, etc.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the levels of process automation?</span>\r\nProcess automation is needed to support management at all levels of the company hierarchy. In this regard, the levels of automation are determined depending on the level of control at which the automation of processes is performed.\r\nManagement levels are usually divided into operational, tactical and strategic.\r\nIn accordance with these levels, automation levels are also distinguished:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Lower level of automation or level of performers.</span></span> At this level, automation of regularly running processes is carried out. Automation of processes is aimed at performing operational tasks (for example, executing a production process), maintaining established parameters (for example, autopilot operation), and maintaining certain operating modes (for example, temperature conditions in a gas boiler).</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Production management level or tactical level.</span></span> Automation of processes of this level ensures the distribution of tasks between various processes of the lower level. Examples of such processes are production management processes (production planning, service planning), processes of managing resources, documents, etc.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Enterprise management level or strategic level.</span></span> Automation of the processes of the enterprise management level provides the solution of analytical and forecast tasks. This level of automation is necessary to support the work of top management of the organization. It is aimed at financial, economic and strategic management.</li></ul>\r\nAutomation of processes at each of these levels is provided through the use of various automation systems (CRM systems, ERP systems, OLAP systems, etc.). All automation systems can be divided into three basic types.\r\nTypes of automation systems include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">immutable systems.</span></span> These are systems in which the sequence of actions is determined by the configuration of the equipment or process conditions and cannot be changed during the process.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">programmable systems.</span></span> These are systems in which the sequence of actions may vary depending on a given program and process configuration. The selection of the necessary sequence of actions is carried out through a set of instructions that can be read and interpreted by the system.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">flexible (self-adjusting) systems.</span></span> These are systems that are able to carry out the selection of necessary actions in the process of work. Changing the configuration of the process (sequence and conditions of operations) is based on information about the process.</li></ul>\r\nThese types of systems can be applied at all levels of process automation individually or as part of a combined system.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the types of automated processes?</span>\r\nIn each sector of the economy, there are enterprises and organizations that produce products or provide services. All these enterprises can be divided into three groups, depending on their “remoteness” in the natural resource processing chain.\r\nThe first group of enterprises is enterprises that extract or produce natural resources. Such enterprises include, for example, agricultural producers, oil and gas companies.\r\nThe second group of enterprises is enterprises that process natural raw materials. They make products from raw materials mined or produced by enterprises of the first group. Such enterprises include, for example, automobile industry enterprises, steel enterprises, electronic industry enterprises, power plants, etc.\r\nThe third group is service enterprises. Such organizations include, for example, banks, educational institutions, medical institutions, restaurants, etc.\r\nFor all enterprises, we can distinguish common groups of processes associated with the production of products or the provision of services.\r\nThese processes include:\r\n<ul><li>business processes;</li><li>design and development processes;</li><li>production processes;</li><li>control and analysis processes.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of process automation?</span>\r\nProcess automation can significantly improve the quality of management and product quality. With the implementation of the QMS, automation gives a significant effect and enables the organization to significantly improve its work. However, before deciding on process automation, it is necessary to evaluate the benefits of running processes in an automatic mode.\r\nTypically, process automation provides the following benefits:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">the speed of completing repetitive tasks increases.</span></span> Due to the automatic mode, the same tasks can be completed faster because automated systems are more accurate in operations and are not prone to a decrease in performance from the time of work.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">quality of work increases.</span></span> The exclusion of the human factor significantly reduces variations in the execution of the process, which leads to a decrease in the number of errors and, accordingly, increases the stability and quality of the process.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">increases control accuracy.</span></span> Due to the use of information technology in automated systems, it becomes possible to save and take into account a greater amount of process data than with manual control.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">parallel tasks.</span></span> Automated systems allow you to perform several actions at the same time without loss of quality and accuracy. This speeds up the process and improves the quality of the results.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">quick decision making in typical situations.</span></span> In automated systems, decisions related to typical situations are made much faster than with manual control. This improves the performance of the process and avoids inconsistencies in subsequent stages.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Process_Automation_Middleware.png","alias":"process-automation-middleware"},"225":{"id":225,"title":"End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis","description":" Class systems of Query & Reporting are designed to form queries to information systems in user terms, as well as their execution, integration of data from different sources, viewing data with the possibilities of detailing and summarizing and building full-fledged reports, both on-screen and printed. Visualization of query results can be presented to the user in various forms - flat or multidimensional tables, graphs, charts, various specialized interfaces.\r\nEnd-user tools for querying and building reports are delivered in two ways:\r\n<ul><li>as part of OLAP-systems</li><li>in the form of specialized Query & Reporting</li></ul>\r\nVirtually every OLAP class system is equipped with Query & Reporting. These funds can be either embedded in the main product or separated into a separate product.\r\nThere are also specialized systems for generating and distributing reports. At the same time, these systems incorporate their own OLAP-means. Therefore, to draw a clear line between OLAP-systems and systems of class Query & Reporting is almost impossible.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the reporting tools?</span>\r\nReporting tools are widely used to support decision making and to measure organizational and team performance. Companies use them for financial consolidation, for evaluation of strategies and policies and often just for plain reporting. Today most of these tools are integrated with Business Intelligence tools.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the advantages of these tools for your organization?</span>\r\nReporting tools allow companies to create attractive reports easily. In tabular or graphical format. With data from Excel, a data warehouse or the organization’s ERP system. With the reports containing the right information, people are able to manage and improve the business processes more easily.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Which reporting tools are available in the market?</span>\r\nThere are many Business Intelligence Reporting tools in the market available. This list of reporting tools shows you a complete overview of all the major tools currently available and thoroughly studied by our industry analysts. To name a few: Cognos Query and reporting, Oracle Enterprise Reporting, Crystal Reports, Microsoft Reporting Services (SSRS), etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Is there a difference between reporting tools and BI tools?</span>\r\nAlmost every company, large or small, needs a reporting tool or they have already one in place. But, what is the difference between reporting software and Business Intelligence tools? They are not the same. In general reporting tools tell us where we have been but are not very good at analyzing data (at real time) and telling us where we are going (predictive).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between a query and a report?</span>\r\nA query is a way to create a list of accounts or journal entries that match your criteria. Requests serve as an advanced search engine that finds and groups accounts or journal entries and can only create a list.\r\nA report is a detailed report of a group of accounts or journal entries. Reports analyze data and are designed to calculate and present data in a more formal form.\r\nTypically, a query finds information in the database for you, and a report is a more powerful way to display and analyze information about the accounts or log entries you want to view.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/End-User_Query__Reporting__and_Analysis.png","alias":"end-user-query-reporting-and-analysis"},"227":{"id":227,"title":"Advanced Analytics Software","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advanced analytics</span> is a part of data science that uses high-level methods and tools to focus on projecting future trends, events, and behaviors. This gives organizations the ability to perform advanced statistical models such as ‘what-if’ calculations, as well as future-proof various aspects of their operations.\r\nThe term is an umbrella for several sub-fields of analytics that work together in their predictive capabilities.\r\nThe major areas that make up advanced analytics are predictive data analytics, big data, and data mining. The process of advanced analytics includes all three areas at various times.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data mining</span> is a key aspect of advanced analytics, providing the raw data that will be used by both big data and predictive analytics. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Big data analytics</span> are useful in finding existing insights and creating connections between data points and sets, as well as cleaning data.\r\nFinally, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">predictive analytics</span> can use these clean sets and existing insights to extrapolate and make predictions and projections about future activity, trends, and consumer behaviors.\r\nAdvanced analytics also include newer technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, semantic analysis, visualizations, and even neural networks. Taken together, they help advanced analytics software create an accurate enough canvas to make reliable predictions and generate actionable BI insights on a deeper level.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">A list of tips on how to manage the process of building an advanced analytics program</h1>\r\n<ul><li>Start with a proof-of-concept project to demonstrate the potential business value of analytics applications.</li><li>Take training seriously. New data management and analytics skills likely will be needed, especially if big data platforms and tools like SAS advanced analytics tools are involved.</li><li>Develop processes to ensure that business units are ready to act on analytical findings so the work of data scientists and other analysts doesn't go to waste.</li><li>Monitor and assess advanced and predictive analytics software on a regular basis to make sure the data being analyzed is still relevant and the analytical models being run against it are still valid.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Advanced analytics tools</h1>\r\nThere are a variety of advanced analytics tools to choose from that offer different advantages based on the use case. They generally break down into two categories: open source and proprietary.\r\nOpen source tools have become a go-to option for many data scientists doing machine learning and prescriptive analytics. They include programming languages, as well as computing environments, including Hadoop and Spark. Users typically say they like open source advanced analytics tools because they are generally inexpensive to operate, offer strong functionality and are backed by a user community that continually innovates the tools.\r\nOn the proprietary side, vendors including Microsoft, IBM and the SAS Institute all offer advanced analytics tools. Most require a deep technical background and understanding of mathematical techniques.\r\nIn recent years, however, a crop of self-service analytics tools has matured to make functionality more accessible to business users. Tableau, in particular, has become a common tool. While its functionality is more limited than deeper technical tools, it does enable users to conduct cluster analyses and other advanced analyses.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Advanced_Analytics_Software.png","alias":"advanced-analytics-software"},"229":{"id":229,"title":"Spatial Information Management Software","description":" A spatial database is a database that is optimized for storing and querying data that represents objects defined in a geometric space. Most spatial databases allow the representation of simple geometric objects such as points, lines and polygons. Some spatial databases handle more complex structures such as 3D objects, topological coverages, linear networks, and TINs. While typical databases have developed to manage various numeric and character types of data, such databases require additional functionality to process spatial data types efficiently, and developers have often added geometry or feature data types. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) developed the Simple Features specification (first released in 1997) and sets standards for adding spatial functionality to database systems. The SQL/MM Spatial ISO/IEC standard is a part the SQL/MM multimedia standard and extends the Simple Features standard with data types that support circular interpolations.\r\nA geodatabase (also geographical database and geospatial database) is a database of geographic data, such as countries, administrative divisions, cities, and related information. Such databases can be useful for websites that wish to identify the locations of their visitors for customization purposes.\r\nDatabase systems use indexes to quickly look up values; however, this way of indexing data is not optimal for spatial queries. Instead, spatial databases use a spatial index to speed up database operations.\r\nIn addition to typical SQL queries such as SELECT statements, spatial databases can perform a wide variety of spatial operations. The following operations and many more are specified by the Open Geospatial Consortium standard:\r\n<ul><li>Spatial Measurements: Computes line length, polygon area, the distance between geometries, etc.</li><li>Spatial Functions: Modify existing features to create new ones, for example by providing a buffer around them, intersecting features, etc.</li><li>Spatial Predicates: Allows true/false queries about spatial relationships between geometries. Examples include "do two polygons overlap" or 'is there a residence located within a mile of the area we are planning to build the landfill?'</li><li>Geometry Constructors: Creates new geometries, usually by specifying the vertices (points or nodes) which define the shape.</li><li>Observer Functions: Queries which return specific information about a feature such as the location of the center of a circle.</li></ul>\r\nSome databases support only simplified or modified sets of these operations, especially in cases of NoSQL systems like MongoDB and CouchDB.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the spatial index?</span>\r\nSpatial indices are used by spatial databases (databases which store information related to objects in space) to optimize spatial queries. Conventional index types do not efficiently handle spatial queries such as how far two points differ, or whether points fall within a spatial area of interest. Common spatial index methods include:\r\n<ul><li>Geohash</li><li>HHCode</li><li>Grid (spatial index)</li><li>Z-order (curve)</li><li>Quadtree</li><li>Octree</li><li>UB-tree</li><li>R-tree: Typically the preferred method for indexing spatial data.[citation needed] Objects (shapes, lines and points) are grouped using the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR). Objects are added to an MBR within the index that will lead to the smallest increase in its size.</li><li>R+ tree</li><li>R* tree</li><li>Hilbert R-tree</li><li>X-tree</li><li>kd-tree</li><li>m-tree – an m-tree index can be used for the efficient resolution of similarity queries on complex objects as compared using an arbitrary metric.</li><li>Binary space partitioning (BSP-Tree): Subdividing space by hyperplanes.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Spatial_Information_Management_Software.png","alias":"spatial-information-management-software"},"231":{"id":231,"title":"Deployment-Centric Application Platforms","description":" Deployment-centric application platforms are driving benefits for organizations embarking on their digital transformation journey.\r\nAs demand for applications increases, businesses need to make sure they have an effective application development platform in place to help them continue to capitalize on the benefits they can provide and meet customer demand. This platform has an integrated development environment that provides tools that allow the developer to program, test and implement applications.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is software deployment?</span>\r\nSoftware deployment is all of the activities that make a software system available for use.\r\nThe general deployment process consists of several interrelated activities with possible transitions between them. These activities can occur at the producer side or on the consumer side or both. Because every software system is unique, the precise processes or procedures within each activity can hardly be defined. Therefore, "deployment" should be interpreted as a general process that has to be customized according to specific requirements or characteristics.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Deployment-Centric_Application_Platforms.png","alias":"deployment-centric-application-platforms"},"233":{"id":233,"title":"Transaction Processing Monitors","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A transaction processing monitor (TPM)</span> is a program that monitors transactions from one stage to the next, ensuring that each one completes successfully; if not, or if an error occurs, the TM Monitor takes the appropriate action. A transaction processing monitor’s main purpose/objective is to allow resource sharing and assure optimal use of the resources by applications. This term is sometimes shortened to TP monitor.\r\nA transaction processing monitor is critical in multi-tier architectures. With processes running on different platforms, a given transaction may be forwarded to any one of several servers. Generally, the TP monitor handles all load balancing. After completing each transaction, the TPM can process another transaction without being influenced by the prior transaction. In other words the TPM model essentially is stateless.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Transaction Processing Monitor architecture</span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">In the TP Monitor Architecture, ACID transactions are initiated by a Begin-Transaction call and terminated by either a Commit-Transaction or an Abort-Transaction call. When initiated, each transaction is assigned a unique identiier and entered into a transaction table managed by the Transaction Manager. Each entry in the transaction table contains the transaction identiier (TRID), the transaction status, and other information. When a transaction calls a transaction control operation, such as Commit-Transaction, the Transaction Manager is responsible for carrying out the execution of the command and recording information in the transaction table. </p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Process per client model</span> - instead of individual login session per terminal, server process communicates with the terminal, handles authentication, and executes actions.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Single process model</span> - all remote terminals connect to a single server process. Used in client-server environments.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Many-server single-router model</span> - multiple application server processes access a common database; clients communicate with the application through a single communication process that routes requests.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Many server many-router model</span> - multiple processes communicate with clients.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">In general, a TPM provides the following functionality:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>Coordinating resources</li><li>Balancing loads</li><li>Creating new processes as/when needed</li><li>Providing secure access to services</li><li>Routing services</li><li>Wrapping data messages into messages</li><li>Unwrapping messages into data packets/structures</li><li>Monitoring operations/transactions</li><li>Managing queues</li><li>Handling errors through such actions as process restarting</li><li>Hiding interprocess communications details from programmers</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br /><br />\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Advantages of TP Monitors </h1>\r\nComplex applications are often built on top of several resource managers (such as DBMSs, operating systems, user interfaces, and messaging software). A TPM is a middleware component that provides access to the services of a number of resource managers and provides a uniform interface for programmers who are developing transactional software. \r\n<ul><li>Transaction routing the TP Monitor can increase scalability by directing transactions to specific DBMSs. </li><li> Managing distributed transactions the TP Monitor can manage transactions that require access to data held in multiple, possibly heterogeneous, DBMSs. For example, a transaction my require to update data items held in an Oracle DBMS at site 1, an Informix DBMS at site 2,and an IMS DBMS at site 3. TP Monitors normally control transactions using the X/Open Distributed Transactions Processing (DTP) standard. A DBMS that supports this standard can function as a resource manager under the control of a TP Monitor acting as a transaction manager.</li><li> Load balancing the TP Monitor can balance client requests across multiple DBMSs on one or more computers by directing client service calls to the least loaded server. In addition, it can dynamically bring in additional DBMSs as required to provide the necessary performance.</li><li>Funnelling in environments with a large number of users, it may sometimes be difficult for all users to be logged on simultaneously to the DBMS. In many cases, we would find that users generally do not need continuous access to the DBMS. Instead of each user connecting to the DBMS, the TP Monitor can establish connections with the DBMSs as and when required, and can funnel user requests through these connections. This allows a larger number of users to access the available DBMSs with a potentially much smaller number of connections, which in turn would mean less resource usage. </li><li> Increased reliability the TP Monitor acts as a transaction manager, performing the necessary actions to maintain the consistency of the database, with the DBMS acting as a resource manager. If the DBMS fails, the TP Monitor may be able to resubmit the transaction to another DBMS or can hold the transaction until the DBMS becomes available again.</li></ul>\r\nTP Monitors are typically used in environments with a very high volume of transactions, where the TP Monitor can be used to offload processes from the DBMS server. Prominent examples of TP Monitors include CICS and Encina from IBM (which are primarily used on IBM AIX or Windows NT and bundled now in the IBM TXSeries) and Tuxedo from BEA Systems.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Transaction_Processing_Monitors.png","alias":"transaction-processing-monitors"},"239":{"id":239,"title":"Relational Database Management Systems","description":" Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a DBMS designed specifically for relational databases. Therefore, RDBMSes are a subset of DBMSes.\r\nA relational database refers to a database that stores data in a structured format, using rows and columns. This makes it easy to locate and access specific values within the database. It is "relational" because the values within each table are related to each other. Tables may also be related to other tables. The relational structure makes it possible to run queries across multiple tables at once.\r\nWhile a relational database describes the type of database an RDMBS manages, the RDBMS refers to the database program itself. It is the software that executes queries on the data, including adding, updating, and searching for values.\r\nAn RDBMS may also provide a visual representation of the data. For example, it may display data in a tables like a spreadsheet, allowing you to view and even edit individual values in the table. Some relational database softwareallow you to create forms that can streamline entering, editing, and deleting data.\r\nMost well known DBMS applications fall into the RDBMS category. Examples include Oracle Database, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2. Some of these programs support non-relational databases, but they are primarily used for relational database management.\r\nExamples of non-relational databases include Apache HBase, IBM Domino, and Oracle NoSQL Database. These type of databases are managed by other DMBS programs that support NoSQL, which do not fall into the RDBMS category.\r\nElements of the relational DBMS that overarch the basic relational database are so intrinsic to operations that it is hard to dissociate the two in practice.\r\nThe most basic features of RDBMS are related to create, read, update and delete operations, collectively known as CRUD. They form the foundation of a well-organized system that promotes consistent treatment of data.\r\nThe RDBMS typically provides data dictionaries and metadata collections useful in data handling. These programmatically support well-defined data structures and relationships. Data storage management is a common capability of the RDBMS, and this has come to be defined by data objects that range from binary large object (blob) strings to stored procedures. Data objects like this extend the scope of basic relational database operations and can be handled in a variety of ways in different RDBMSes.\r\nThe most common means of data access for the RDBMS is via SQL. Its main language components comprise data manipulation language (DML) and data definition language (DDL) statements. Extensions are available for development efforts that pair SQL use with common programming languages, such as COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), Java and .NET.\r\nRDBMSes use complex algorithms that support multiple concurrent user access to the database, while maintaining data integrity. Security management, which enforces policy-based access, is yet another overlay service that the RDBMS provides for the basic database as it is used in enterprise settings.\r\nRDBMSes support the work of database administrators (DBAs) who must manage and monitor database activity. Utilities help automate data loading and database backup. RDBMS systems manage log files that track system performance based on selected operational parameters. This enables measurement of database usage, capacity and performance, particularly query performance. RDBMSes provide graphical interfaces that help DBAs visualize database activity.\r\nRelational database management systems are central to key applications, such as banking ledgers, travel reservation systems and online retailing. As RDBMSes have matured, they have achieved increasingly higher levels of query optimization, and they have become key parts of reporting, analytics and data warehousing applications for businesses as well. \r\nRDBMSes are intrinsic to operations of a variety of enterprise applications and are at the center of most master data management (MDM) systems.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the advantages of a Relational Database Management System?</span></h1>\r\nA Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a software system that provides access to a relational database. The software system is a collection of software applications that can be used to create, maintain, manage and use the database. A "relational database" is a database structured on the "relational" model. Data are stored and presented in a tabular format, organized in rows and columns with one record per row.\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Structure.</span> The table format is simple and easy for database users to understand and use. Relational database management software provide data access using a natural structure and organization of the data. Database queries can search any column for matching entries.</li></ul>\r\n<dl></dl>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Multi-User Access.</span> RDBMS database program allow multiple database users to access a database simultaneously. Built-in locking and transactions management functionality allow users to access data as it is being changed, prevents collisions between two users updating the data, and keeps users from accessing partially updated records.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Privileges. </span>Authorization and privilege control features in an RDBMS allow the database administrator to restrict access to authorized users, and grant privileges to individual users based on the types of database tasks they need to perform. Authorization can be defined based on the remote client IP address in combination with user authorization, restricting access to specific external computer systems.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Network Access.</span> RDBMSs provide access to the database through a server daemon, a specialized software program that listens for requests on a network, and allows database clients to connect to and use the database. Users do not need to be able to log in to the physical computer system to use the database, providing convenience for the users and a layer of security for the database. Network access allows developers to build desktop tools and Web applications to interact with databases.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Speed.</span> The relational database model is not the fastest data structure. RDBMS software advantages, such as simplicity, make the slower speed a fair trade-off. Optimizations built into an RDBMS, and the design of the databases, enhance performance, allowing RDBMSs to perform more than fast enough for most applications and data sets. Improvements in technology, increasing processor speeds and decreasing memory and storage costs allow systems administrators to build incredibly fast systems that can overcome any database performance shortcomings.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Maintenance. </span>RDBMSs feature maintenance utilities that provide database administrators with tools to easily maintain, test, repair and back up the databases housed in the system. Many of the functions can be automated using built-in automation in the RDBMS, or automation tools available on the operating system.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Language.</span> RDBMSs support a generic language called "Structured Query Language" (SQL). The SQL syntax is simple, and the language uses standard English language keywords and phrasing, making it fairly intuitive and easy to learn. Many RDBMSs add non-SQL, database-specific keywords, functions and features to the SQL language.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Relational_Database_Management_Systems.png","alias":"relational-database-management-systems"},"240":{"id":240,"title":"Non-relational Database Management Systems","description":" A non-relational database is a database that does not incorporate the table/key model that relational database management systems (RDBMS) promote. These kinds of databases require data manipulation techniques and processes designed to provide solutions to big data problems that big companies face. The most popular emerging non-relational database is called NoSQL (Not Only SQL).\r\nMost non-relational databases are incorporated into websites such as Google, Yahoo!, Amazon and Facebook. These websites introduce a slew of new applications every single day with millions and millions of users, so they would not be able to handle large traffic spikes with existing RDBMS solutions. Since RDBMS cannot handle the problem, they’ve switched to a new kind of DBMS that is capable of handling Web-scale data in a non-relational way.<br /><br />An interesting aspect of a non-relational database such as NoSQL is scalability. NoSQL uses the BASE system (basically available, soft-state, eventually consistent). Non-relational databases forgo the table form of rows and columns relational databases use in favor of specialized frameworks to store data, which can be accessed by special query APIs. Persistence is an important element in these databases. To enable fast throughput of vast amounts of data the best option for performance is "in memory," rather than reading and writing from disks.<br /><br />Relational databases use the ACID system, which ensures consistency of data in all situations of data management but obviously takes longer to process because of all those relations and its branching nature. However, the BASE system loosened up the requirements on consistency to achieve better availability and partitioning for better scalability.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are NoSQL databases?</span>\r\nNoSQL databases are purpose built for specific data models and have flexible schemas for building modern applications. NoSQL databases are widely recognized for their ease of development, functionality, and performance at scale. They use a variety of data models, including document, graph, key-value, in-memory, and search. This page includes resources to help you better understand NoSQL databases and to get started.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How Does a NoSQL (nonrelational) Database Work?</span>\r\nNoSQL databases use a variety of data models for accessing and managing data, such as document, graph, key-value, in-memory, and search. These types of databases are optimized specifically for applications that require large data volume, low latency, and flexible data models, which are achieved by relaxing some of the data consistency restrictions of other databases.\r\nConsider the example of modeling the schema for a simple book database:\r\n<ul><li>In a relational database, a book record is often dissembled (or “normalized”) and stored in separate tables, and relationships are defined by primary and foreign key constraints. In this example, the Books table has columns for ISBN, Book Title, and Edition Number, the Authors table has columns for AuthorID and Author Name, and finally the Author-ISBN table has columns for AuthorID and ISBN. The relational model is designed to enable the database to enforce referential integrity between tables in the database, normalized to reduce the redundancy, and generally optimized for storage.</li><li>In a NoSQL database, a book record is usually stored as a JSON document. For each book, the item, ISBN, Book Title, Edition Number, Author Name, and AuthorID are stored as attributes in a single document. In this model, data is optimized for intuitive development and horizontal scalability.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why should you use a NoSQL database?</span>\r\nNoSQL databases are a great fit for many modern applications such as mobile, web, and gaming that require flexible, scalable, high-performance, and highly functional databases to provide great user experiences.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Flexibility:</span> NoSQL databases generally provide flexible schemas that enable faster and more iterative development. The flexible data model makes NoSQL databases ideal for semi-structured and unstructured data.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability:</span> NoSQL databases are generally designed to scale out by using distributed clusters of hardware instead of scaling up by adding expensive and robust servers. Some cloud providers handle these operations behind-the-scenes as a fully managed service.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">High-performance:</span> NoSQL database are optimized for specific data models (such as document, key-value, and graph) and access patterns that enable higher performance than trying to accomplish similar functionality with relational databases.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Highly functional:</span> NoSQL databases provide highly functional APIs and data types that are purpose built for each of their respective data models.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the types of NoSQL Databases?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Key-value:</span> Key-value databases are highly partitionable and allow horizontal scaling at scales that other types of databases cannot achieve. Use cases such as gaming, ad tech, and IoT lend themselves particularly well to the key-value data model.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Document:</span> In application code, data is represented often as an object or JSON-like document because it is an efficient and intuitive data model for developers. Document databases make it easier for developers to store and query data in a database by using the same document model format that they use in their application code. The flexible, semistructured, and hierarchical nature of documents and document databases allows them to evolve with applications’ needs. The document model works well with catalogs, user profiles, and content management systems where each document is unique and evolves over time.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Graph:</span> A graph database’s purpose is to make it easy to build and run applications that work with highly connected datasets. Typical use cases for a graph database include social networking, recommendation engines, fraud detection, and knowledge graphs.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">In-memory:</span> Gaming and ad-tech applications have use cases such as leaderboards, session stores, and real-time analytics that require microsecond response times and can have large spikes in traffic coming at any time. Amazon ElastiCache offers Memcached and Redis, to serve low-latency, high-throughput workloads, such as McDonald’s, that cannot be served with disk-based data stores.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Search:</span> Many applications output logs to help developers troubleshoot issues.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Nonrelational_Database_Management_Systems1.png","alias":"non-relational-database-management-systems"},"243":{"id":243,"title":"Database Development and Management Tools","description":" Many companies create various multi-functional applications to facilitate the management, development and administration of databases.\r\nMost relational databases consist of two separate components: a “back-end” where data is stored and a “front-end” —a user interface for interacting with data. This type of design is smart enough, as it parallels a two-level programming model that separates the data layer from the user interface and allows you to concentrate the software market directly on improving its products. This model opens doors for third parties who create their own applications for interacting with various databases.\r\nDatabase development tools can be used to create varieties of the following programs:\r\n<ul><li>client programs;</li><li>database servers and their individual components;</li><li>custom applications.</li></ul>\r\nThe programs of the first and second types are rather small since they are intended mainly for system programmers. The third type packages are much larger, but smaller than full-featured DBMS.\r\nThe development tools for custom applications include programming systems, various program libraries for various programming languages, and development automation packages (including client-server systems).<br />Database management system, abbr. DBMS (Eng. Database Management System, abbr. DBMS) - a set of software and linguistic tools for general or special purposes, providing management of the creation and use of databases.\r\nDBMS - a set of programs that allow you to create a database (DB) and manipulate data (insert, update, delete and select). The system ensures the safety, reliability of storage and data integrity, as well as provides the means to administer the database.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The main functions of the DBMS:</span>\r\n<ul><li>data management in external memory (on disk);</li><li>data management in RAM using disk cache;</li><li>change logging, backup and recovery of databases after failures;</li><li>support for database languages (data definition language, data manipulation language).</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The composition of the DBMS:</span>\r\nUsually, a modern DBMS contains the following components:\r\n<ul><li>the core, which is responsible for managing data in external and RAM and logging;</li><li>database language processor, which provides the optimization of requests for the extraction and modification of data and the creation, as a rule, of a machine-independent executable internal code;</li><li>a run-time support subsystem that interprets data manipulation programs that create a user interface with a DBMS;<br />service programs (external utilities) that provide a number of additional capabilities for maintaining an information system.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Database_Development_and_Management_Tools.png","alias":"database-development-and-management-tools"},"245":{"id":245,"title":"Data Integration and Access Software","description":" Data integration involves combining data residing in different sources and providing users with a unified view of them. This process becomes significant in a variety of situations, which include both commercial (such as when two similar companies need to merge their databases) and scientific (combining research results from different bioinformatics repositories, for example) domains. Data integration appears with increasing frequency as the volume (that is, big data) and the need to share existing data explodes. It has become the focus of extensive theoretical work, and numerous open problems remain unsolved. Data integration encourages collaboration between internal as well as external users.\r\nData integration is the process of combining data from different sources into a single, unified view. Integration begins with the ingestion process, and includes steps such as cleansing, ETL mapping, and transformation. Data integration ultimately enables analytics tools to produce effective, actionable business intelligence.\r\nThere is no universal approach to data integration. However, data integration solutions typically involve a few common elements, including a network of data sources, a master server, and clients accessing data from the master server.\r\nIn a typical data integration process, the client sends a request to the master server for data. The master server then intakes the needed data from internal and external sources. The data is extracted from the sources, then consolidated into a single, cohesive data set. This is served back to the client for use.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integration helps businesses succeed</span>\r\nEven if a company is receiving all the data it needs, that data often resides in a number of separate data sources. For example, for a typical customer 360 view use case, the data that must be combined may include data from their CRM systems, web traffic, marketing operations software, customer — facing applications, sales and customer success systems, and even partner data, just to name a few. Information from all of those different sources often needs to be pulled together for analytical needs or operational actions, and that can be no small task for data engineers or developers to bring them all together.\r\nLet’s take a look at a typical analytical use case. Without unified data, a single report typically involves logging into multiple accounts, on multiple sites, accessing data within native apps, copying over the data, reformatting, and cleansing, all before analysis can happen.\r\nConducting all these operations as efficiently as possible highlights the importance of data integration. It also showcases the major benefits of a well thought-out approach to data integration:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Improves collaboration and unification of systems</span></span>\r\nEmployees in every department — and sometimes in disparate physical locations — increasingly need access to the company's data for shared and individual projects. IT needs a secure solution for delivering data via self-service access across all lines of business.\r\nAdditionally, employees in almost every department are generating and improving data that the rest of the business needs. Data integration needs to be collaborative and unified in order to improve collaboration and unification across the organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Saves time and boosts efficiency</span></span>\r\nWhen a company takes measures to integrate its data properly, it cuts down significantly on the time it takes to prepare and analyze that data. The automation of unified views cuts out the need for manually gathering data, and employees no longer need to build connections from scratch whenever they need to run a report or build an application.\r\nAdditionally, using the right tools, rather than hand-coding the integration, returns even more time (and resources overall) to the dev team.\r\nAll the time saved on these tasks can be put to other, better uses, with more hours earmarked for analysis and execution to make an organization more productive and competitive.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduces errors (and rework)</span></span>\r\nThere’s a lot to keep up with when it comes to a company’s data resources. To manually gather data, employees must know every location and account that they might need to explore — and have all necessary software installed before they begin — to ensure their data sets will be complete and accurate. If a data repository is added, and that employee is unaware, they will have an incomplete data set.\r\nAdditionally, without a data integration solution that synchronizes data, reporting must be periodically redone to account for any changes. With automated updates, however, reports can be run easily in real time, whenever they’re needed.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Delivers more valuable data</span></span>\r\nData integration efforts actually improve the value of a business’ data over time. As data is integrated into a centralized system, quality issues are identified and necessary improvements are implemented, which ultimately results in more accurate data — the foundation for quality analysis.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Data_Integration_and_Access_Software.png","alias":"data-integration-and-access-software"},"249":{"id":249,"title":"Development Languages, Environments, and Tools","description":" Free software development environments have different purposes: educational, developmental, educational, and the like. Their students can be schoolchildren, students, novice programmers.\r\nScientists propose the following classification of free software development environments:\r\n<ul><li>Environments that support one programming language;</li><li>Environments with support for multiple programming languages;</li><li>Development environments for web systems and applications;</li><li>Environments aimed at a children's audience.</li></ul>\r\nOf the free environments focused on a single programming language, the following tools should be highlighted: Lazarus, PyScripter, DrPython, Wing IDE.\r\nAmong the free software development tools designed for several programming languages, the following should be noted: CodeLite, Dev-C, Anjuta, Eric, Eclipse, HiAsm, Kylix, MonoDevelop, NetBeans, SharpDevelop, Xcode, etc.\r\nFrom the list of free environments for creating web applications, you can select the following: AJAX.OOP, MooTools Code :: Blocks, Codelobster PHP Edition, Geany, Ultimate, Symfony, Grails. With their help, experts also produce the creation of websites and Internet interfaces.\r\nAmong the development tools intended for children's audiences, the following environments can be singled out: Algo, Alice, EToys, Scratch, Squeak, etc. The main purpose of their use is to encourage children to learn to program.\r\nAn integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to computer programmers for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. Some IDEs, such as NetBeans and Eclipse, contain the necessary compiler, interpreter, or both; others, such as SharpDevelop and Lazarus, do not.\r\nThe boundary between an IDE and other parts of the broader software development environment is not well-defined; sometimes a version control system or various tools to simplify the construction of a graphical user interface (GUI) are integrated. Many modern IDEs also have a class browser, an object browser, and a class hierarchy diagram for use in object-oriented software development.\r\nIntegrated development environments are designed to maximize programmer productivity by providing tight-knit components with similar user interfaces. IDEs present a single program in which all development is done. This program typically provides many features for authoring, modifying, compiling, deploying and debugging software. This contrasts with software development using unrelated tools, such as vi, GCC or make.\r\nOne aim of the IDE is to reduce the configuration necessary to piece together multiple development utilities, instead it provides the same set of capabilities as one cohesive unit. Reducing setup time can increase developer productivity, especially in cases where learning to use the IDE is faster than manually integrating and learning all of the individual tools. Tighter integration of all development tasks has the potential to improve overall productivity beyond just helping with setup tasks. For example, code can be continuously parsed while it is being edited, providing instant feedback when syntax errors are introduced. Allowing developers to debug code much faster and easier with an IDE.\r\nSome IDEs are dedicated to a specific programming language, allowing a feature set that most closely matches the programming paradigms of the language. However, there are many multiple-language IDEs.\r\nWhile most modern IDEs are graphical, text-based IDEs such as Turbo Pascal were in popular use before the widespread availability of windowing systems like Microsoft Windows and the X Window System (X11). They commonly use function keys or hotkeys to execute frequently used commands or macros.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is "software development tools"?</span>\r\nSoftware development tools - a set of techniques, methods, techniques, as well as a set of tool programs (compilers, application/system libraries, etc.) used by the developer to create program code for the program that meets the specified requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does "program development" mean?</span>\r\nProgram development is a complex process, the main purpose of which is to create and maintain a program code that provides the necessary level of reliability and quality. To achieve the main goal of software development, software development tools are used.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Development_Languages_Environments_and_Tools.png","alias":"development-languages-environments-and-tools"},"251":{"id":251,"title":"Software Construction Components","description":" The software construction components market, which is ruled by client experience and representation software components, is relied upon to keep on growing. Software construction components allude to the inexactly coupled individual components which are merged into a bigger software framework. As far as engineering disciplines, software construction with the divided components is known as component-based software engineering (CBSE). These components might be as a software bundle, a web administration, asset or a module that contains related information or capacities.\r\nComponents from a pre-built software are autonomously removed and sold independently by the software designers themselves or through outsiders to help in building another software framework. The primary reason for component-based software construction is re ease of use in other software frameworks for construction and redesigning of existing software frameworks.\r\nSoftware Construction Components Market is rendered by expanding interest for new applications with enlarged highlights and customization capacities. The requirement for decreasing many-sided quality and expanding efficiency is fortifying the development of the software construction components market. The coming of the internet of things (IoT) has made software advancement a bigger and complex process.\r\nThe consequence of data analytics to the operation and functioning of a business has risen to a large extent in the last few years. With the rising spread of the internet, huge volumes of data are being generated on a regular basis, which creates the need for advanced tools for data management. With the increasing popularity of smart technology these days, global Software Construction Components Market has thus become prominent creators of digital information. These systems let users collate, collect, and analyze the generated data, which subsequently has triggered the rapid development of the global market in the last few years.","materialsDescription":" \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is software construction?</span>\r\nSoftware construction is a software engineering discipline. It is the detailed creation of working meaningful software through a combination of coding, verification, unit testing, integration testing, and debugging. It is linked to all the other software engineering disciplines, most strongly to software design and software testing.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software construction fundamentals</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Minimizing complexity</span></span>\r\nThe need to reduce complexity is mainly driven by limited ability of most people to hold complex structures and information in their working memories. Reduced complexity is achieved through emphasizing the creation of code that is simple and readable rather than clever. Minimizing complexity is accomplished through making use of standards, and through numerous specific techniques in coding. It is also supported by the construction-focused quality techniques.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Anticipating change</span></span>\r\nAnticipating change helps software engineers build extensible software, which means they can enhance a software product without disrupting the underlying structure. Research over 25 years showed that the cost of rework can be 10 to 100 times (5 to 10 times for smaller projects) more expensive than getting the requirements right the first time. Given that 25% of the requirements change during development on average project, the need to reduce the cost of rework elucidates the need for anticipating change.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Constructing for verification</span></span>\r\nConstructing for verification means building software in such a way that faults can be ferreted out readily by the software engineers writing the software, as well as during independent testing and operational activities. Specific techniques that support constructing for verification include following coding standards to support code reviews, unit testing, organizing code to support automated testing, and restricted use of complex or hard-to-understand language structures, among others.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reuse</span></span>\r\nSystematic reuse can enable significant software productivity, quality, and cost improvements. Reuse has two closely related facets:\r\n<ul><li>Construction for reuse: Create reusable software assets.</li><li>Construction with reuse: Reuse software assets in the construction of a new solution.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Standards in construction</span></span>\r\nStandards, whether external (created by international organizations) or internal (created at the corporate level), that directly affect construction issues include:\r\n<ul><li>Communication methods: Such as standards for document formats and contents.</li><li>Programming languages</li><li>Coding standards</li><li>Platforms</li><li>Tools: Such as diagrammatic standards for notations like UML.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Software_Construction_Components.png","alias":"software-construction-components"},"255":{"id":255,"title":"Modeling and Architecture Tools","description":" Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a discipline that has gained and will continue to gain huge importance to master enterprise organization and its IT support.\r\nEnterprise Architecture is a complete expression of the enterprise, a master plan which “acts as a collaboration force” between aspects of business planning (such as goals, visions, strategies and governance principles), aspects of business operations (such as business terms, organization structures, processes, and data), aspects of automation (such as information systems and databases) and the enabling technological infrastructure of the business (such as computers, operating systems, and networks).\r\nEnterprise architects use various business methods, analytical techniques and conceptual tools to understand and document the structure and dynamics of an enterprise. In doing so, they produce lists, drawings, documents, and models, together called "artifacts". These artifacts describe the logical organization of business functions, business capabilities, business processes, people, information resources, business systems, software applications, computing capabilities, information exchange and communications infrastructure within the enterprise.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is enterprise architecture?</span>\r\nEnterprise architecture (EA) is "a well-defined practice for conducting enterprise analysis, design, planning, and implementation, using a comprehensive approach at all times, for the successful development and execution of strategy. Enterprise architecture applies architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies. These practices utilize the various aspects of an enterprise to identify, motivate, and achieve these changes."\r\nPractitioners of enterprise architecture, enterprise architects, are responsible for performing the analysis of business structure and processes and are often called upon to draw conclusions from the information collected to address the goals of enterprise architecture: effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and continuity of complex business operations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the terms "enterprise" and "architecture"?</span>\r\nThe term enterprise can be defined as describing an organizational unit, organization, or collection of organizations that share a set of common goals and collaborate to provide specific products or services to customers.\r\nIn that sense, the term enterprise covers various types of organizations, regardless of their size, ownership model, operational model, or geographical distribution. It includes those organizations' complete socio-technical systems, including people, information, processes, and technologies.\r\nThe term architecture refers to fundamental concepts or properties of a system in its environment, embodied in its elements, relationships, and in the principles of its design and evolution.\r\nUnderstood as a socio-technical system, the term enterprise defines the scope of enterprise architecture.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits?</span>\r\nThe benefits of enterprise architecture are achieved through its direct and indirect contributions to organizational goals. It has been found that the most notable benefits of enterprise architecture can be observed in the following areas:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Organizational design</span> - Enterprise architecture provides support in the areas related to design and re-design of the organizational structures during mergers, acquisitions or during general organizational change.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Organizational processes and process standards</span> - Enterprise architecture helps enforce discipline and standardization of business processes, and enable process consolidation, reuse, and integration.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Project portfolio management</span> - Enterprise architecture supports investment decision-making and work prioritization.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Project management</span> - Enterprise architecture enhances the collaboration and communication between project stakeholders. Enterprise architecture contributes to efficient project scoping and defining more complete and consistent project deliverables.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Requirements Engineering</span> - Enterprise architecture increases the speed of requirement elicitation and the accuracy of requirement definitions, through the publishing of the enterprise architecture documentation.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">System development</span> - Enterprise architecture contributes to optimal system designs and efficient resource allocation during system development and testing.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IT management and decision making</span> - Enterprise architecture is found to help enforce discipline and standardization of IT planning activities and to contribute to a reduction in time for technology-related decision making.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IT value</span> - Enterprise architecture helps reduce the system's implementation and operational costs and minimize the replication of IT infrastructure services across business units.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IT complexity</span> - Enterprise architecture contributes to a reduction in IT complexity, consolidation of data and applications, and to better interoperability of the systems.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IT openness</span> - Enterprise architecture contributes to more open and responsive IT as reflected through increased accessibility of data for regulatory compliance, and increased transparency of infrastructure changes.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">IT risk management</span> - Enterprise architecture contributes to the reduction of business risks from system failures and security breaches. Enterprise architecture helps reduce risks of project delivery.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Modeling_and_Architecture_Tools.png","alias":"modeling-and-architecture-tools"},"257":{"id":257,"title":"Web Design and Development Tools","description":" If your business is not active on the internet, then you can miss the great opportunity to get the various benefits. A website of a business is a must for gaining popularity and profits. Through a business website, you can easily sell your products and services. In the present, every single person is active on the internet and searches the services through the internet or Google search engine. If you would like to build a website, then you have to hire the best web design and development services. Web design is collecting ideas and implementing them, guided by certain principles for specific purposes. Web design contains various parameters such as layout, color, graphics, fonts, and contents.\r\nWeb development is different than web design, but the main task of web development is maintaining and building the website. It gives actual life to design files. If you want to get the best web design and development services to create the perfect and unique website of your business, then you have to hire a professional company. If you don’t want to hire a professional, then you can get the help of tools. On the internet, several web design and development tools are available which helps to build your effective business website at a reasonable cost. With the help of the designing tool, you can easily save your money and time.\r\nWeb designers use a variety of different tools depending on what part of the production process they are involved in. These tools are updated over time by newer standards and software but the principles behind them remain the same. Web designers use both vector and raster graphics editors to create web-formatted imagery or design prototypes. Technologies used to create websites include W3C standards like HTML and CSS, which can be hand-coded or generated by WYSIWYG editing software. Other tools web designers might use include mark up validators and other testing tools for usability and accessibility to ensure their websites meet web accessibility guidelines.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> What is included in a creation of website design?</span>\r\nWeb design has very big differences from ordinary printing design. Creating a website design is usually a certain process, which takes into account various requirements of not only artistic but also technical nature. Such a process may include several stages:\r\n<ul><li>development of an attractive, easily perceived design of the start page, as well as other sections and subsequent levels (including various forms of registrations, baskets, etc.);</li><li>development and coordination of a well-designed structure of the entire site;</li><li>designing a convenient, fairly simple site navigation;</li><li>correctly positioned text on the pages;</li><li>availability of opportunities for simple support and expansion of the site.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What design to choose when creating a site?</span>\r\nWhen creating a website design, you must take into account its theme.\r\nSo, a commercial website should attract visitors with its memorable look and corporate identity that is specific to your company. And, at the same time, be convenient and contain all the information necessary for the user about you and your goods, services. Not to mention the fact that various forms of receiving on-line consultations, placing orders, etc. are welcome on such a site. The presence of such functions and their intuitiveness and accessibility for the site user significantly increases what is commonly called the "site conversion". Those. how much your site will be "selling", and whether it can not only be an analogue of your company's business card on the Internet, but also attract new, by no means virtual clients for your business. Therefore, the creation of a website design of this kind should be carried out very carefully in order to fully reflect the individuality of the image of the company.\r\nSometimes it is recommended to adhere to a concise style, which is able to emphasize your uniqueness and stability as a company. In other cases (for example, if we are talking about the sites of wedding agencies), a certain tone is considered to be a certain romance and tenderness of the color scheme, combined with joyful, bright elements. And sites that appeal to potential customers with unusual requests are simply obliged to have a unique, sometimes very extravagant design (while maintaining, however, the basic principles of good usability - the simplicity and convenience of using your Internet resource).\r\nIf you plan, for example, to launch an information site, then its design should be designed in a strict style, without flashy colors, since in this case it is the content that is more important than the design.\r\nHowever, the last statement is true for any site. Indeed, sometimes it doesn’t matter how beautiful the wrapper is, if instead of candy inside the user finds a dummy. The content of the site, its content and how convenient it is for the user to receive the information he needs on your site is the most important thing! Alas, in the Russian Internet zone, so far, 9 out of 10 sites (even with an excellent initial design) are simply “killed” by inappropriate or uninteresting user content. And then, simply, its absence.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Web design when creating sites: beauty or functionality?</span>\r\nWhen creating the design of the future site, it is important to remember, first of all, the functionality and the tasks that the future site will have to solve. And, therefore, remember about those for whom you are creating it - about future users. An overly elaborate design or an inconvenient menu, the difficulty of finding the necessary information on the site - this can lead to the fact that your visitor will go to other sites. Those. to your competitors.\r\nThe user of the Internet network often does not care about designer delights or the “coolness” of a programmer who has implemented non-standard site navigation, which you can’t even figure out without additional instructions. A site visitor came to you for information. And it is important, first of all, how quickly he found her, how much she met his needs, how much she helped in solving him, the user of the problem.\r\nThen the site will be remembered, and the visitor will not only return to you himself, but also, perhaps, will bring friends.\r\nA good web designer is not only, and not so much an artist, as a very thoughtful and experienced Internet resource designer who will attract attention, while remaining convenient and in demand within the framework of your marketing policy.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Web_Design_and_Development_Tools.png","alias":"web-design-and-development-tools"},"261":{"id":261,"title":"Automated Software Quality Tools","description":" Some software testing tasks, such as extensive low-level interface regression testing, can be laborious and time-consuming to do manually. In addition, a manual approach might not always be effective in finding certain classes of defects. Test automation offers a possibility to perform these types of testing effectively. Once automated tests have been developed, they can be run quickly and repeatedly. Many times, this can be a cost-effective method for regression testing of software products that have a long maintenance life. Even minor patches over the lifetime of the application can cause existing features to break which were working at an earlier point in time.\r\nThere are many approaches to test automation, however below are the general approaches used widely:\r\n<ul><li>Graphical user interface testing. A testing framework that generates user interface events such as keystrokes and mouse clicks, and observes the changes that result in the user interface, to validate that the observable behavior of the program is correct.</li><li>API driven testing. A testing framework that uses a programming interface to the application to validate the behaviour under test. Typically API driven testing bypasses application user interface altogether. It can also be testing public (usually) interfaces to classes, modules or libraries are tested with a variety of input arguments to validate that the results that are returned are correct.</li></ul>\r\nTest automation tools can be expensive, and are usually employed in combination with manual testing. Test automation can be made cost-effective in the long term, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing. A good candidate for test automation is a test case for common flow of an application, as it is required to be executed (regression testing) every time an enhancement is made in the application. Test automation reduces the effort associated with manual testing. Manual effort is needed to develop and maintain automated checks, as well as reviewing test results.\r\nIn automated testing the test engineer or software quality assurance person must have software coding ability, since the test cases are written in the form of source code which, when run, produce output according to the assertions that are a part of it. Some test automation tools allow for test authoring to be done by keywords instead of coding, which do not require programming.\r\nOne way to generate test cases automatically is model-based testing through use of a model of the system for test case generation, but research continues into a variety of alternative methodologies for doing so. In some cases, the model-based approach enables non-technical users to create automated business test cases in plain English so that no programming of any kind is needed in order to configure them for multiple operating systems, browsers, and smart devices.\r\nWhat to automate, when to automate, or even whether one really needs automation are crucial decisions which the testing (or development) team must make. A multi-vocal literature review of 52 practitioner and 26 academic sources found that five main factors to consider in test automation decision are: 1) System Under Test (SUT), 2) the types and numbers of tests, 3) test-tool, 4) human and organizational topics, and 5) cross-cutting factors. The most frequent individual factors identified in the study were: need for regression testing, economic factors, and maturity of SUT.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Unit testing</span>\r\nA growing trend in software development is the use of unit testing frameworks such as the xUnit frameworks (for example, JUnit and NUnit) that allow the execution of unit tests to determine whether various sections of the code are acting as expected under various circumstances. Test cases describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected.\r\nTest automation mostly using unit testing is a key feature of extreme programming and agile software development, where it is known as test-driven development (TDD) or test-first development. Unit tests can be written to define the functionality before the code is written. However, these unit tests evolve and are extended as coding progresses, issues are discovered and the code is subjected to refactoring. Only when all the tests for all the demanded features pass is the code considered complete. Proponents argue that it produces software that is both more reliable and less costly than code that is tested by manual exploration. It is considered more reliable because the code coverage is better, and because it is run constantly during development rather than once at the end of a waterfall development cycle. The developer discovers defects immediately upon making a change, when it is least expensive to fix. Finally, code refactoring is safer when unit testing is used; transforming the code into a simpler form with less code duplication, but equivalent behavior, is much less likely to introduce new defects when the refactored code is covered by unit tests.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Graphical User Interface (GUI) testing</span>\r\nMany test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to interactively record user actions and replay them back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. The advantage of this approach is that it requires little or no software development. This approach can be applied to any application that has a graphical user interface. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Relabelling a button or moving it to another part of the window may require the test to be re-recorded. Record and playback also often adds irrelevant activities or incorrectly records some activities.\r\nA variation on this type of tool is for testing of web sites. Here, the "interface" is the web page. However, such a framework utilizes entirely different techniques because it is rendering HTML and listening to DOM Events instead of operating system events. Headless browsers or solutions based on Selenium Web Driver are normally used for this purpose.\r\nAnother variation of this type of test automation tool is for testing mobile applications. This is very useful given the number of different sizes, resolutions, and operating systems used on mobile phones. For this variation, a framework is used in order to instantiate actions on the mobile device and to gather results of the actions.\r\nAnother variation is script-less test automation that does not use record and playback, but instead builds a model of the application and then enables the tester to create test cases by simply inserting test parameters and conditions, which requires no scripting skills.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">API driven testing</span>\r\nAPI testing is also being widely used by software testers due to the difficulty of creating and maintaining GUI-based automation testing. It involves directly testing APIs as part of integration testing, to determine if they meet expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security. Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer. API testing is considered critical when an API serves as the primary interface to application logic since GUI tests can be difficult to maintain with the short release cycles and frequent changes commonly used with agile software development and DevOps.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Continuous testing</span>\r\nContinuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate. For Continuous Testing, the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Automated_Software_Quality_Tools1.png","alias":"automated-software-quality-tools"},"263":{"id":263,"title":"Software Configuration Management Tools","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software configuration management</span> (SCM) is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organizes the development process. It simultaneously maintains the current state of the software (called the “baseline”), while enabling developers to work on new versions for features or fixes.\r\nIn software engineering, <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software configuration management process</span> is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software, part of the larger cross-disciplinary field of configuration management. SCM practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines. If something goes wrong, SCM can determine what was changed and who changed it. If a configuration is working well, SCM can determine how to replicate it across many hosts. \r\nThe acronym "SCM" is also expanded as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">source configuration management process</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software change and configuration management.</span> However, "configuration" is generally understood to cover changes typically made by a system administrator. \r\nSoftware configuration control usually includes the updates and the versions that have been applied to software packages, as well as locations and network addresses of hardware devices. When a system needs a software or hardware upgrade, the user can access the configuration management program and database to see what is currently installed and then make a more informed decision about the upgradation needed. Configuration management tools list have been divided into three categories: <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">tracking</span>, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">version management</span>, and r<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">elease tools.</span>\r\nThe SCM configuration management traces changes and verifies that the software has all of the planned changes that are supposed to be included in a new release. It includes four procedures that should be defined for each software project to ensure that a reliable software configuration management process is utilized. The four procedures typically found in a reliable system configuration management tools are:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Configuration identification. </span>It is the procedure by which attributes are identified that defines all the properties of a configuration item. A configuration item referred to as an object is a product (hardware and/or software) that supports use by an end user. These attributes are recorded in configuration documents or database tables and baselined. A baseline is an approved configuration object, such as a project plan, that has been authorized for implementation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Configuration control.</span> It is a set of processes and approval stages required to change a configuration object’s attributes and to rebaseline them.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><br /></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Configuration status documentation. </span>Configuration status accounting is the ability to record and report on the configuration baselines associated with each configuration object at any point in time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Configuration audits. </span>Configuration audits are divided into functional and physical configuration audits. An audit occurs at the time of delivery of a project or at the time a change is made. A functional configuration audit is intended to make sure that functional and performance attributes of a configuration object are achieved. A physical configuration audit attempts to ensure that a configuration object is installed based on the requirements of its design specifications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The advantages of software configuration management system are:</span>\r\n<ul><li>It reduces redundant work</li><li>It effectively manages simultaneous updates</li><li>It avoids configuration related problems</li><li>It simplifies coordination between team members</li><li>It is helpful in tracking defects</li></ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> What are the outcomes of well-implemented configuration management?</h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Disaster Recovery<br /></span></li></ul>\r\nIf the worst does happen, automated configuration management tools ensures that our assets are easily recoverable. The same applies to rollbacks. Configuration management makes it so that when we’ve put out bad code, we can go back to the state of our software before the change.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Uptime and Site Reliability</span></li></ul>\r\nThe term “site reliability” refers to how often your service is up. A frequent cause of downtime is bad deployments, which can be caused by differences in running production servers to test servers. With our configuration managed properly, our test environments can mimic production, so there’s less chance of a nasty surprise.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Easier Scaling</span></li></ul>\r\nProvisioning is the act of adding more resources (usually servers) to our running application. Сonfiguration automation tools ensure that we know what a good state of our service is. That way, when we want to increase the number of servers that we run, it’s simply a case of clicking a button or running a script. The goal is really to make provisioning a non-event.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Software_Configuration_Management_Tools.png","alias":"software-configuration-management-tools"},"269":{"id":269,"title":"IDE - Integrated Development Environment","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">An integrated development environment (IDE)</span> software is a suite that consolidates basic tools required to write and test software.\r\nDevelopers use numerous tools throughout software code creation, building and testing. Development tools often include text editors, code libraries, compilers and test platforms. Without an IDE, a developer must select, deploy, integrate and manage all of these tools separately. An IDE brings many of those development-related tools together as a single framework, application or service. The integrated toolset is designed to simplify software development and can identify and minimize coding mistakes and typos.\r\nSome IDEs are open source, while others are commercial offerings. An IDE can be a standalone application or it can be part of a larger package.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Common features of Integrated Development Environment</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Text editor.</span> Virtually every integrated programming environment will have a text editor designed to write and manipulate source code. Some tools may have visual components to drag and drop front-end components, but most have a simple interface with language-specific syntax highlighting.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Debugger</span>. Debugging tools assist users in identifying and remedying errors within source code. They often simulate real-world scenarios to test functionality and performance. Programmers and software engineers can usually test the various segments of code and identify errors before the application is released.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Compiler.</span> Compilers are components that translate programming language into a form machines can process, such as binary code. The machine code is analyzed to ensure its accuracy. The compiler then parses and optimizes the code to optimize performance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Code completion.</span> Code complete features assist programmers by intelligently identifying and inserting common code components. These features save developers time writing code and reduce the likelihood of typos and bugs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Programming language support.</span> IDE tools are typically specific to a single programming language, though several also offer multi-language support. As such, the first step is to figure out which languages you will be coding in and narrow your prospective IDE list down accordingly. Examples include Ruby, Python, and Java IDE tools.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Integrations and plugins.</span> With the name integrated development environment software, it is no surprise that integrations need to be considered when looking at IDEs. Your integrated software environment is your development portal, so being able to incorporate all your other development tools will improve development workflows and productivity. Poor integrations can cause numerous issues and lead to many headaches, so make sure you understand how well a potential IDE fits into your ecosystem of existing tools.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of using IDEs</h1>\r\nAn integrated development environment can improve the productivity of software developers thanks to fast setup and standardization across tools. Without an IDE, developers spend time deciding what tools to use for various tasks, configuring the tools and learning how to use them. Many or even all of the necessary dev-test tools are included in one integrated development environment. IDEs are also designed with all their tools under one user interface.\r\nCentralizing these tools also makes it easier to navigate the source code in question. Many include additional capabilities to test, organize and refactor code. Additional features such as autocomplete, along with build and deployment capabilities, significantly expand a developer’s capabilities and improve their development speed.\r\nImproved organization and source code management can reduce errors as well as development time. Users can fine-tune applications after builds are completed. They can often save versions of a project in case they need to revert a program.\r\nEventually, teams use their integrated version control system to check in and out components of the program from their code repository. At the end, once all programs are fine-tuned and the application performs its desired functions, the project can be packaged and deployed from either the IDE or another integrated tool.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Types of integrated development environment and available tools</h1>\r\nDevelopers must match the IDE they use with the type of application they want to produce. For example, if a developer wants to create an application on iOS, then they need an IDE that supports Apple's Swift programming language. Types of IDEs range from web-based and cloud-based to mobile, language-specific or multi-language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Web development</span> IDE suits web-based application development in HTML, JavaScript or similar programming languages. Microsoft's Visual Studio Code is an example of a web-based IDE with features such as a code editor, syntax highlighting, code completion and debugging.\r\nIncreasingly, IDEs are offered on a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">platform as a service</span> (PaaS) delivery model. The benefits of this cloud-based integrated development platform include accessibility to software development tools from anywhere in the world, from any compatible device; minimal to nonexistent download and installation requirements; and ease of collaboration among geographically dispersed developers. Cloud9 is an IDE from AWS that supports up to 40 languages including C, C++, Python, Ruby and JavaScript. Cloud9 gives users code completion, an image editor and a debugger, as well as other features such as support for deployment to Microsoft Azure and Heroku (which is a cloud-based PaaS IDE).\r\nAn IDE for <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">mobile development</span> normally works with code that runs on iOS or Android devices. Xamarin is an example of a cross-platform mobile IDE, which means it can create code for multiple mobile platform types. For example, a developer can write a feature in C and Xamarin translates it into Swift for iOS and Java for Android. Additionally, Xamarin offers UI tests and it can distribute beta tests to users.\r\nIDEs such as C-Free -- which supports a code editor, debugger and an environment to run C and C++ code -- are language specific. Other IDEs support multiple languages, such as previously mentioned Cloud9 and Visual Studio Code. More popular IDE tools include NetBeans, Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/IDE_-__integrated_development_environment.png","alias":"ide-integrated-development-environment"},"271":{"id":271,"title":"Messaging Applications","description":" Messaging apps (a.k.a. "Social messaging" or "chat applications") are apps and platforms that enable messaging, many of which started around social networking platforms, but many of which have now developed into broad platforms enabling status updates, chatbots, payments and conversational commerce (e-commerce via chat).\r\nSome examples of popular messaging apps include WhatsApp, China's WeChat and QQ Messenger, Viber, Line, Snapchat, Korea's KakaoTalk, Google Hangouts, Blackberry Messenger, Telegram, and Vietnam's Zalo. Slack focuses on messaging and file sharing for work teams. Some social networking services offer messaging services as a component of their overall platform, such as Facebook's Facebook Messenger, along with Instagram and Twitter's direct messaging functions.\r\nMessaging apps are the most widely used smartphone apps with in 2018 over 1.3 billion monthly users of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, 980 million monthly active users of WeChat and 843 million monthly active users of QQ Mobile.\r\nOnline chatting apps differ from the previous generation of instant messaging platforms like the defunct AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger, in that they are primarily used via mobile apps on smartphones as opposed to personal computers, although some messaging apps offer web-based versions or software for PC operating systems.\r\nAs people upgraded in the 2010s from feature phones to smartphones, they moved from traditional calling and SMS (which are paid services) to messaging apps which are free or only incur small data charges.\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Messaging apps each have some of the following features:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>Chat</li></ul>\r\n<ol><li>One-on-one chat</li><li>Group chat</li><li> Broadcast lists</li><li>Chatbots (including "bot in group chats")</li><li>"Smart replies" (suggested replies to incoming messages provided by Google's Reply platform )</li></ol>\r\n<ul><li>Calls</li></ul>\r\n<ol><li>Voice calls</li><li> Video calls</li></ol>\r\n<ul><li>Audio alerts (on Line)</li><li>File sharing</li><li>Games</li><li>"Mini Programs" (e.g. WeChat Mini Program)</li><li>News discovery (e.g. Snapchat Discover)</li><li>Payments or mobile wallet, e.g. WeChat Pay which processes much of the Chinese mobile payment volume of US$5 trillion (2016)</li><li>Personal (cloud) storage</li><li>Push notifications</li><li>Status updates (WhatsApp Status, WeChat Moments)</li><li>Stickers</li><li>Virtual assistant, e.g. Google Assistant in Google Allo</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Unlike chat rooms with many users engaging in multiple and overlapping conversations, instant messaging application sessions usually take place between two users in a private, back-and-forth style of communication.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">One of the core features of different messaging apps is the ability to see whether a friend or co-worker is online and connected through the selected service -- a capability known as presence. As the technology has evolved, many online messaging apps have added support for exchanging more than just text-based messages, allowing actions like file transfers and image sharing within the instant messaging session.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Instant messaging also differs from email in the immediacy of the message exchange. It also tends to be session-based, having a start and an end. Because application message is intended to mimic in-person conversations, individual messages are often brief. Email, on the other hand, usually reflects a longer-form, letter-writing style.<br /><br /><br /></p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">What is instant messaging software?</span></h1>\r\nCompanies use instant messaging software to facilitate communication between their staff members who may be located in different places and countries. Popular websites such as Facebook offer instant chat services for free. Good quality messenger application solutions provide useful features such as video calling, web conferencing, and VoIP. Advanced platforms offer IP radio, IPTV, and desktop sharing tools. Large enterprises have greater communication needs and therefore they typically invest in installing an internal IM server to serve their thousands of employees.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">Why people use Messaging Apps?</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li>Real-time text transmission</li><li>Conveniency</li><li>Records of a chat history</li><li>Easy for multitasking</li><li>Operating anytime anywhere using the WiFi or Mobile Network operators</li><li>Stickers</li></ul>\r\nCommunication is an essential component of any business: interaction with external or internal customers, end users, employees. A good communication platform is vital to stay connected with the employees and broadcast information fast and efficiently. Thousands of people support the escalation from IM to other ways of communication, such as group chat, voice calls or video conferencing.<br />Depending on the purpose of use we can separate popular messenger nto those with business needs or for corporate use, such as Slack, Hangouts, Flock, Stride and those for everyday communications like WhatsApp, FB Messenger, WeChat, Telegram, and others.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How messaging apps can benefit your business?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"></p>\r\nHeads bowed, shoulders hunched over glowing screens—we all might be a little guilty of smartphone addiction, and mobile usage is only increasing. We’re in constant communication with one another, and over the past few years messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WeChat have become commonplace. Of the 10 most globally used apps, messaging apps account for 6.\r\nWith consumer messaging apps on the rise, businesses have begun to connect with customers on yet another channel. According to Gartner, “By 2019, requests for customer support through consumer mobile messaging apps will exceed requests for customer support through traditional social media.”\r\nServing up customer support through customer messaging software can deepen your brand’s relationship with customers. On the customer side, messaging apps provide an immediate way to connect with your business and get a response.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Here are three ways your business can benefit from connecting with customers over consumer messaging apps:</span></p>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Unrestricted communication.</span> No matter where they are in the world, messaging apps offer your customers unrestricted communication options. Unlike SMS, which often incurs charges, your customers can still reach out privately via messaging apps and receive a timely response without worrying about cost. That means happier customers, and happy customers mean a happy bottom line for your business.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Move customer queries from public to private. </span>Giving your customers an easy option to reach your business privately not only decreases their likelihood of publicly tweeting a complaint, it also offers a space to exchange sensitive information, like delivery details. With a more private outlet for customer interactions, your business can thoroughly help customers while simultaneously saving brand face.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Increase first contact resolution with chatbot integrations.</span> According to Gartner, artificial intelligence is a top trend for 2017. With the help of chatbots, your business can better manage workflows and automatically respond to customer requests via messaging. Chatbots can help point customers to the right information, helping them self-serve and ultimately allowing your support agents to focus on the issues that require a human touch. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Messaging_Applications.png","alias":"messaging-applications"},"273":{"id":273,"title":"Team Collaborative Applications","description":" Collaborative software or groupware is application software designed to help people working on a common task to attain their goals. One of the earliest definitions of groupware is "intentional group processes plus software to support them".\r\nThe worldwide team collaborative applications market continues to accelerate as collaboration becomes a key component of the future of work in a digital enterprise. The market is growing in revenue, leveraging IT integrations to both bridge functions and the enterprise. The market continues to move to the cloud and emphasizes usage across devices.\r\nThe total worldwide team collaborative applications market grew at 24.7% year over year, up from 21.5% growth the previous year. Growth was powered by the adoption of solutions that made working together more agile and seamless and favored solutions with integrations that centralize work, assets, and communications, including messaging and chat. In short, applications that made it easier to get work done by bringing content, context, and communications in a single place.\r\nFeeling the pinch to produce more with less, organizations have turned to collaborative applications to streamline workflow and engage employees, partners and, increasingly, customers. They are discovering new paths to productivity, a better digital user experience (UX), and loyalty. Companies are developing a new way to work together and across their workforce and the sales continuum. A more technology-savvy and digitally connected workforce is empowering and accelerating this trend. Artificial intelligence (AI) is more common across collaborative solutions and almost expected by employees to automate repetitive tasks. Increasingly, machine learning (ML) and AI will generate new forms of value from conversations, meetings, and other content assets.\r\nMake no mistake, the majority of the lead vendors in this space are heavily invested in the future of work and want to be either your future workspace — where work actually is done — or an application that integrates to facilitate better and more productive results with a better-engaged workforce.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is groupware?</span>\r\nCollaborative software was originally designated as groupware and this term can be traced as far back as the late 1980s, when Richman and Slovak (1987) wrote: "Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups, revolutionizing the way they work."\r\nEven further back, in 1978 Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz coined the term groupware; their initial 1978 definition of groupware was, "intentional group processes plus software to support them." Later in their article they went on to explain groupware as "computer-mediated culture... an embodiment of social organization in hyperspace." Groupware integrates co-evolving human and tool systems, yet is simply a single system.\r\nIn the early 1990s the first commercial groupware products were delivered, and big companies such as Boeing and IBM started using electronic meeting systems for key internal projects. Lotus Notes appeared as a major example of that product category, allowing remote group collaboration when the internet was still in its infancy. Kirkpatrick and Losee (1992) wrote then: "If GROUPWARE really makes a difference in productivity long term, the very definition of an office may change. You will be able to work efficiently as a member of a group wherever you have your computer. As computers become smaller and more powerful, that will mean anywhere." In 1999, Achacoso created and introduced the first wireless groupware.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the levels of groupware?</span>\r\nGroupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration:\r\n<ul><li>Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. A phone call or an IM Chat discussion are examples of this.</li><li>Conferencing (or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this.</li><li>Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation - but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal: collaborative management.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Team_Collaborative_Applications.png","alias":"team-collaborative-applications"},"277":{"id":277,"title":"Enterprise Social Networks","description":" Enterprise social networking focuses on the use of online social networks or social relations among people who share business interests and/or activities. Enterprise social networking is often a facility of enterprise social software (regarded as a primary component of Enterprise 2.0), which is essentially social software used in "enterprise" (business/commercial) contexts. It encompasses modifications to corporate intranets (referred to as social intranets) and other classic software platforms used by large companies to organize their communication, collaboration and other aspects of their intranets. Enterprise social networking is also generally thought to include the use of a standard external social networking service to generate visibility for an enterprise.\r\nSocial networking sites started to form in the 1990s; an example of these websites is Theglobe.com, which began in 1995. As other websites such as GeoCities and Tripod.com started to form online communities, they encouraged their users to interact with each other via chat rooms and other tools. They also provided easy-to-use publishing tools along with free web space. Classmates.com’s approach was to link people together via their emails, the website was like a friends search engine.\r\nBusinesses eventually realized that social networking websites could provide a fast and efficient way of marketing. Social media websites are great places for businesses to reach their customers, and the environment can provide a means for growing a business. In 2005, as social networking websites were becoming more and more popular, Myspace had more page views than Google. Myspace was followed by Facebook which started in February 2004. When Facebook began, users were limited to college students in the United States, who had to use a college email with a .edu extension to join the network. In September 2005 some high schools were allowed to join the network, but they needed an invitation to join. On September 26 of 2006, Facebook announced that anyone around the world older than 13 years old with a valid email would be able to join Facebook’s online community. In October 2007, Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook. That gave them the right to place international ads on Facebook. In July 2010 it was reported that Facebook had more than 500 million active users. This means that one out of fourteen people around the world is a Facebook user. The growth of Facebook was a boom in the social networking space. Facebook became a huge corporation that had 1400 employees in 2009; their estimated revenue was US$800 million in 2009. In 2010, it was reported that there were more than 200 social networking websites on the web.\r\nMany companies are starting to implement social networks to promote collaboration amongst their employees. Vendors are now starting to use this as a way to help out the different companies. Some companies are starting to teach their employees about cloud computing and SaaS. These new technologies are being added to the enterprise social networks. These networks are being implemented to get employees collaborating and sharing tips and ideas about how to improve the workplace. Some social networks are homegrown systems that are built internally. Companies are using social networks to trade information amongst team members or other people who are part of the company. Sometimes this might also mean trading documents in real time. Based on research by Gartner (2010), 50% of enterprises will be using some sort of social network by 2012.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an enterprise social network?</span>\r\nSocial networks are inherently open, public spaces, available to anyone who wishes to sign up. Now imagine a private social network, only accessible by members of an organization, business or club. This is essentially what an enterprise social network is, kept private to that particular organization. This can be extremely useful for businesses that require all the collaborative features and efficiency of a modern social network, without the public, potentially unsecured nature of them.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why use an enterprise social network?</span>\r\nWe’re inherently social beings, and so the modern enterprise workplace contains an abundance of varying formats of communication, both online and off. Talking to co-workers, making phone calls, sending emails – the list goes on. By compiling all of these channels of connectivity together into one interactive, easily accessible digital environment, you can reap the many rewards of enhanced, community-driven workspaces, helping to move your business forward through better connectivity, collaboration and productivity.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What form do corporate social networks take?</span>\r\nOrganizations can utilize a range of different social platforms, such as discussion forums and intranets. Whatever works for your company, team or department, can become a social network.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Enerprise_Social_Networks.png","alias":"enterprise-social-networks"},"283":{"id":283,"title":"Content Analytics, Discovery, and Cognitive Software","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Content Analytics</span> comprises of range of search and reporting technologies which can provide identical levels of business intelligence and strategic value for unstructured data. Content analytics for unstructured information includes social media monitoring, reputation monitoring, and sentiment analysis. <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Content analytics software</span> uses natural language queries, trends analysis, predictive analytics and contextual discovery to reveal trends and patterns for the company's unstructured data.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Discovery tools</span> are the search tools that analyse contents for its likely relevancy to a process, by linking names, time periods or terms used. Discovery tools can also extend to legal hold and partitioning of content for further scrutiny. Various types of discovery tools include search engines, auto-categorization, and information visualization tools.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cognitive computing software</span> makes context computable by identifying and extracting context features such as hour, location, task, history or profile in structured way for an individual or an application engaged in a specific process at definite time and place. Cognitive computing technologies and platforms includes expert assistance software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Content Analytics, Discovery and Cognitive Systems,</span> collectively covers the market and technologies that access, analyse, organize, and provides advisory services related to a range of unstructured data. Cognitive systems leverages large amounts of structured and unstructured data and content analytics tools, along with several infrastructure technologies to answer questions, provide recommendations and directions. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are Content Analytics?</h1>\r\nContent analytics is one way that brands can measure the success of their digital content; it involves analyzing data from both inbound and outbound collateral to figure out what’s working and what’s not. After all, no one wants to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on content that isn’t resonating.\r\nIt should come as no surprise, then, that 75 percent of enterprises think content analytics can provide real business insight: What are your customers most interested in reading about? What format generates the most engagement? You can use answers to these questions to help you decide what content you should be producing, how to present it (quiz, paid ad, slideshow, blog post, etc.), and where/when to post it for the best results. If utilized correctly, content analytics can offer brands a way to build customer loyalty and boost revenue.\r\nAdvanced content analytics strategies should help you to look beyond the numbers and to focus on taking action. Content analytics is not a mirror reflecting how your company’s content is performing; rather, it is but one tool that can help steer you towards actionable solutions and more effective content choices.\r\nMetrics provided by content analytics, and the actions you take based off that data, can help you optimize conversion rates. In addition to tweaking your content strategy, you can also build a conversion optimization strategy by testing calls-to-action (CTAs), headlines, subscription forms, etc.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the features of a cognitive computing solution?</span></h1>\r\nWith the present state of cognitive function computing, basic solution can play an excellent role of an assistant or virtual advisor. Siri, Google assistant, Cortana, and Alexa are good examples of personal assistants. Virtual advisor such as Dr. AI by HealthTap is a cognitive solution. It relies on individual patients’ medical profiles and knowledge gleaned from 105,000 physicians. It compiles a prioritized list of the symptoms and connects to a doctor if required. Now, experts are working on implementing cognitive solutions in enterprise systems. Some use cases are fraud detection using machine learning, predictive analytics solution, predicting oil spills in Oil and Gas production cycle etc.\r\nThe purpose of cognitive computing is the creation of computing frameworks that can solve complicated problems without constant human intervention. In order to implement cognitive function computing in commercial and widespread applications, Cognitive Computing consortium has recommended the following features for the computing systems:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Adaptive.</span>This is the first step in making a machine learning based cognitive system. The solutions should mimic the ability of the human brain to learn and adapt from the surroundings. The systems can’t be programmed for an isolated task. It needs to be dynamic in data gathering, understanding goals, and requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Interactive.</span>Similar to brain the cognitive solution must interact with all elements in the system – processor, devices, cloud services and user. Cognitive systems should interact bi-directionally. It should understand human input and provide relevant results using natural language processing and deep learning. Some skilled intelligent chatbots such as Mitsuku have already achieved this feature.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Iterative and stateful.</span>The system should “remember” previous interactions in a process and return information that is suitable for the specific application at that point in time. It should be able to define the problem by asking questions or finding an additional source. This feature needs a careful application of the data quality and validation methodologies in order to ensure that the system is always provided with enough information and that the data sources it operates on to deliver reliable and up-to-date input.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Contextual.</span>They must understand, identify, and extract contextual elements such as meaning, syntax, time, location, appropriate domain, regulations, user’s profile, process, task, and goal. They may draw on multiple sources of information, including both structured and unstructured digital information, as well as sensory inputs (visual, gestural, auditory, or sensor-provided). ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Content_Analytics_Discovery_and_Cognitive_Software.png","alias":"content-analytics-discovery-and-cognitive-software"},"295":{"id":295,"title":"Operating System and Subsystem","description":" Operating systems (OS) are programs that act as an interface between a computer’s hardware and its user. Subsystems are a part of larger systems such as operating systems; multiple subsystems can be loaded in the operating system. It bridges the gap between the users and the computer hardware. There are different types of operating systems based on their usage such as real-time, multi-user, distributed, embedded, single-user single-task and single-user multi-task. Operating systems are required in all electronic interactive systems such as mobile phones, washing machines, and computers. Various types of OS include Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, Symbian, Android, and Apple Mac OS among others.\r\nTechnological advancements and rising awareness among consumers has to lead to increased demand for computer systems, consequently increasing the demand for operating systems and driving the market. However, the growth has been hampered by the rapid usage of pirated versions of operating systems. Moreover, the development of different applications in mobile phones mainly due to android OS among the youth will open the opportunities of operating system market in the upcoming years.\r\nCurrently, there are a large number of different types of operating systems that differ in application areas, hardware platforms, implementation methods, etc.\r\nA subsystem is a unit or device that is part of a larger system. For example, a disk subsystem is a part of a computer system. A bus is a part of the computer. A subsystem usually refers to hardware, but it may be used to describe software. However, "module," "subroutine" and "component" are more typically used to describe parts of the software.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an operating system (OS)?</span>\r\nAn operating system (OS) is software, consisting of programs and data, that runs on computers and manages the computer hardware and provides common services for efficient execution of various application software. For hardware functions such as input and output and memory allocation, the operating system acts as an intermediary between application programs and the computer hardware, although the application code is usually executed directly by the hardware, but will frequently call the OS or be interrupted by it. Operating systems are found on almost any device that contains a computer - from cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the tasks of the Operating system?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Processor Management:</span></span> The main tasks in processor management are ensuring that each process and application receives enough of the processor's time to function properly, using maximum processor cycles for real work as is possible and switch between processes in a multi-tasking environment.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Memory and Storage Management:</span></span> The tasks include allotting enough memory required for each process to execute and efficiently use the different types of memory in the system.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Device Management:</span></span> The operating system manages all hardware not on the processor through driver programs. Drivers provide a way for applications to make use of hardware subsystems without having to know every detail of the hardware's operation. The driver's function is to be the translator between the electrical signals of the hardware subsystems and the high-level programming languages of the operating system and application programs. One reason that drivers are separate from the operating system is for the upgradability of devices.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Providing Common Application Interface:</span></span> Application program interfaces (APIs) let application programmers use functions of the computer and operating system without having to directly keep track of all the details in the processor's operation. Once the programmer uses the APIs, the operating system, connected to drivers for the various hardware subsystems, deals with the changing details of the hardware.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Providing Common User Interface:</span></span> A user interface (UI) brings a formal structure to the interaction between a user and the computer.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Operating_System_and_Subsystem__1_.png","alias":"operating-system-and-subsystem"},"297":{"id":297,"title":"Availability and Clustering Software","description":" Application clustering (sometimes called software clustering) is a method of turning multiple computer servers into a cluster (a group of servers that acts like a single system). Clustering software is installed in each of the servers in the group. Each of the servers maintains the same information and collectively they perform administrative tasks such as load balancing, determining node failures, and assigning failover duty. The other clustering method, hardware clustering, requires that specialized hardware be installed in a single server that controls the cluster.\r\nШn application or software clustering, some of the protocols and administrative duties that would have been handled on each individual machine are handled by the joint software program. In other words, the software application is the control unit for the cluster. This is contrasted with a system called hardware clustering, where one individual machine runs the cluster through its operating system.\r\nOne of the advantages of application clustering is the scalability of these kinds of systems. With available specialized software, companies can easily set up multiple pieces of hardware that obey the same instructions, and refer to the same sets of information. IT pros refer to a cluster-aware application as an application that can assess systems to assign failover duties or handle delegation for transaction processing. These are kinds of principles supported by application clustering.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does Cluster (Servers) mean?</span>\r\nA cluster, in the context of servers, is a group of computers that are connected with each other and operate closely to act as a single computer. Speedy local area networks enhance a cluster of computers' abilities to operate at an exceptionally rapid pace.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What does Clustering mean?</span>\r\nClustering, in the context of databases, refers to the ability of several servers or instances to connect to a single database. An instance is the collection of memory and processes that interacts with a database, which is the set of physical files that actually store data.\r\nClustering offers two major advantages, especially in high-volume database environments:\r\n<ul><li>Fault tolerance: Because there is more than one server or instance for users to connect to, clustering offers an alternative, in the event of individual server failure.</li><li>Load balancing: The clustering feature is usually set up to allow users to be automatically allocated to the server with the least load.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Availability_and_Clustering_Software__1_.png","alias":"availability-and-clustering-software"},"299":{"id":299,"title":"Application and User Session Virtualization","description":"Application virtualization is a technology that allows you to separate the software from the operating system on which it operates. Fully virtualized software is not installed in the traditional sense, although the end-user at first glance can not see it, because the virtualized software works just as normal. The software in the execution process works just as if it interacted with the operating system directly and with all its resources, but can be isolated or executed in a sandbox with different levels of restriction.\r\nModern operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows and Linux, can include limited software virtualization. For example, Windows 7 has Windows XP mode that allows you to run Windows XP software on Windows 7 without any changes.\r\nUser session virtualization is a newer version of desktop virtualization that works at the operating system level. While normal virtualization of the desktop allows an operating system to be run by virtualizing the hardware of the desktop, RDS and App-V allow for the virtualization of the applications. User session virtualization lies between the two.\r\nA desktop has an operating system loaded on the base hardware. This can be either physical or virtual. The user session virtualization keeps track of all changes to the operating system that a user might make by encapsulating the configuration changes and associating them to the user account. This allows the specific changes to be applied to the underlying operating system without actually changing it. This allows several users to have completely different operating system configurations applied to base operating system installation.\r\nIf you are in a distributed desktop environment and there are local file servers available at each location, you can deploy virtualized user sessions in the form of redirected folders and roaming profiles.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Understanding application virtualization</span>\r\nApplication virtualization technology isolates applications from the underlying operating system and from other applications to increase compatibility and manageability. This application virtualization technology enables applications to be streamed from a centralized location into an isolation environment on the target device where they will execute. The application files, configuration, and settings are copied to the target device and the application execution at run time is controlled by the application virtualization layer. When executed, the application run time believes that it is interfacing directly with the operating system when, in fact, it is interfacing with a virtualization environment that proxies all requests to the operating system.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Understanding session virtualization</span>\r\nSession virtualization uses application streaming to deliver applications to hosting servers in the datacenter. The Application then connects the user to the server. The application then executes entirely on the server. The user interacts with the application remotely by sending mouse-clicks and keystrokes to the server. The server then responds by sending screen updates back to the user’s device. Whereas application virtualization is limited to Windows-based operating systems, session virtualization allows any user on any operating system to access any application delivered by IT. As a result, the application enables Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android devices to run any applications using session virtualization. Furthermore, session virtualization leverages server-side processing power which liberates IT from the endless cycle of PC hardware refreshes which are typically needed to support application upgrades when using traditional application deployment methods.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Application_and_User_Session_Virtualization__1_.png","alias":"application-and-user-session-virtualization"},"305":{"id":305,"title":"Storage Replication Software","description":" Storage replication is becoming more popular in the enterprise and if you're already operating in a virtual environment, you have multiple replication solutions to choose from. While SAN products have been offering integrated hardware/software replication solutions for years, virtualization vendors have started integrating this feature into their newer products. VMware, for example, offers a storage replication feature in its newest version of vSphere. If you already have a SAN that supports replication you can choose how you want to replicate. Not a bad idea since VMware’s solution is version 1.0. One of the replication chief benefits is its ability to automate the process of data backup and redundancy.\r\nRestoring your data is as simple as the original storage replication process. You just go online and switch over to the replicated server. Depending on your provider, the complexity of your infrastructure and your comfort level with technology, it may also be possible to set an automatic failover to prevent any customer-facing outage at all. But recovery is as simple as getting online and synchronizing the replicated data to the original server, restoring it to the state of its last backup. You will still have some data loss, the transactions, and records from the intervening period. But if that backup was recent, within the last day or two, the effort required to reconstruct lost transactions and records will be relatively minor.\r\nIt's important to understand that storage replication only insures you against hardware failures, and does nothing about the risk of accidental deletion or of your virtualization provider failing to follow best practices. If you have replicated your data, you have a copy of it as it existed at the moment you replicated it. But don't assume that your virtualization provider stores your replicated data at a different data center.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Data Replication Software?</span>\r\nData replication software supports data security, disaster resilience and business continuity by rapidly creating a data replica in a location independent of the data’s source. The software provides central management of replication policy across heterogeneous data sources and targets. Different from backups, data replicas update frequently rather than retain one unchanged copy for an extended period.\r\nData replication software ensures consistency for end-users accessing multiple data stores in the normal course of business. Other potential uses are zero-downtime data migration and multi-site replication for business continuity in case of site disaster. Data replication is a necessary part of long-term data retention and archiving. More recently, data replication software is offered as capably providing real-time transactional data delivery and integration into data lakes to support big data initiatives.\r\nVendors boast data policy compliance, any-point-in-time recovery and failover, and continuous replication with limited risk of data loss. They compete on providing minimum disruption to network activities and low bandwidth consumption, without cost to security.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Replication Software Features</span>\r\nData replication application provides the following features:\r\n<ul><li>Continuous replication with many recovery points</li><li>Cross-platform replication (e.g. disk to cloud, cloud to disk)</li><li>Database replication in remote locations</li><li>Automated compliance-driven data retention</li><li>Instant failover, automatic user redirect to secondary server</li><li>Monitor replication environment via GUI</li><li>Disaster recovery simulation, testing</li><li>Synchronous data replication with zero data loss</li><li>Asynchronous data replication for performance</li><li>Orchestration of data replication, migration</li><li>Perform analytics upon data sets separately</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Storage_Replication_Software1.png","alias":"storage-replication-software"},"307":{"id":307,"title":"Archiving Software","description":" Enterprise <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">archiving software </span>is designed to assist in storing a company’s structured and unstructured data. By incorporating unstructured data (e.g., email messages and media files), enterprise information archiving software provides more complete archives of business data across the board. Data can be stored on premise with local data servers or on cloud servers, or using a hybrid of the two. These solutions are used throughout a business by any employee, since all teams should be archiving their data for, at minimum, auditing purposes. Data archiving software are typically implemented and maintained by a company’s data team, and they can be used by companies of any size.\r\nWhile similar to a backup software solution, archiving solution handles the original data as opposed to a copy of that data. To qualify for the data archiving solutions category, a product must: \r\n<ul><li>Store both structured and unstructured data</li><li>Provide data management options for archived data</li><li>Protect access to archived data</li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> What is Archiving Software?</h1>\r\nArchiving Software supports enterprises in retaining and rapidly retrieving structured and unstructured data over time while complying with security standards and the like. File archiving may include images, messages (e.g. IMs, social media posts, etc.), emails, and content from web pages and social sites. Compliant data retention may require retaining data in its native form and context so that it can be understood.\r\nAlso called Enterprise Information Archiving (EIA), archiving software is designed to meet discovery requirements. That means that the archive must be searchable so that all stored data can be retrieved with context intact.\r\nArchiving software is most commonly a requirement for banking institutions and governments. More stringent privacy laws means that EIA has become a concern for private corporations as well. Archiving software will contain features overlapping Enterprise Search, Data Governance and eDiscovery, and some features in common with ECM.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What’s the Difference: Backup vs Archive</h1>\r\nBackups and archives serve different functions, yet it’s common to hear the terms used interchangeably in cloud storage. \r\nA <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">backup </span>is a copy of your data that is made to protect against loss of that data. Typically, backups are made on a regular basis according to a time schedule or when the original data changes. The original data is not deleted, but older backups are often deleted in favor of newer backups.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The goal of a backup</span> is to make a copy of anything in current use that can’t afford to be lost. A backup of a desktop or mobile device might include just the user data so that a previous version of a file can be recovered if necessary.\r\nOn these types of devices an assumption is often made that the OS and applications can easily be restored from original sources if necessary (and/or that restoring an OS to a new device could lead to significant corruption issues). In a virtual server environment, a backup could include.\r\nAn <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">archive </span>is a copy of data made for long-term storage and reference. The original data may or may not be deleted from the source system after the archive copy is made and stored, though it is common for the archive to be the only copy of the data. \r\nIn contrast to a backup whose purpose is to be able to return a computer or file system to a state it existed in previously, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">data archiving can have multiple purposes</span>. An archiving system can provide an individual or organization with a permanent record of important papers, legal documents, correspondence, and other matters.\r\nOften, archive program is used to meet information retention requirements for corporations and businesses. If a dispute or inquiry arises about a business practice, contract, financial transaction, or employee, the records pertaining to that subject can be obtained from the archive.\r\nAn archive is frequently used to ease the burden on faster and more frequently accessed data storage systems. Older data that is unlikely to be needed often is put on systems that don’t need to have the speed and accessibility of systems that contain data still in use. Archival storage systems are usually less expensive, as well, so a strong motivation is to save money on data storage.\r\nArchives are often created based on the age of the data or whether the project the data belongs to is still active. Data archiving solutions might send data to an archive if it hasn’t been accessed in a specified amount of time, when it has reached a certain age, if a person is no longer with the organization, or the files have been marked for storage because the project has been completed or closed.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Archiving_Software.png","alias":"archiving-software"},"309":{"id":309,"title":"File System Software","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A file system</span> controls how data is stored and retrieved. Without a file system, data placed in a storage medium would be one large body of data with no way to tell where one piece of data stops and the next begins. By separating the data into pieces and giving each piece a name, the data is easily isolated and identified. Taking its name from the way paper-based data management system is named, each group of data is called a "file". The structure and logic rules used to manage the groups of data and their names is called a "file system".\r\nThere are many different kinds of file systems. Each one has different structure and logic, properties of speed, flexibility, security, size and more. Some file systems have been designed to be used for specific applications. For example, the ISO 9660 file system is designed specifically for optical discs.\r\nAs a whole, a file system is a structured representation of data and a set of metadata describing this data. It is applied to the storage during the format operation. A file system serves for the purposes of the whole storage and is also a part of an isolated storage segment – a disk partition. Usually, a file system operates blocks, not sectors. File system blocks are groups of sectors that optimize storage addressing. Modern file systems generally use block sizes from 1 to 128 sectors (512-65536 bytes). Files are usually stored at the start of a block and take up entire blocks.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A filing system software</span> is an application that is used to store, arrange, and access files stored on a disk or other storage location. The main purpose of a electronic filing system software is to enable users to create and store new files on a device (laptop or desktop), view all the files stored on the device, and to organize files in different hierarchical arrangements, such as folders, for easy classification. The basic operations possible with a computer filing system software include:\r\n<ul><li> Creating new files</li><li> Displaying all stored files</li><li> Moving files between locations</li><li> Adding and editing basic metadata</li><li> Sorting files based on criteria such as date modified, date created, file size, file format, etc.</li></ul>\r\nDigital file management software provides you with a simple interface that can be used to browse through folders and access different files using dedicated applications, such as Excel for .xls, Acrobat for .pdf, and Word for .doc. The default file management system provided for the users of Microsoft Windows computers is Windows Explorer.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Document management software (DMS)</span> is a highly advanced digital filing software that provides a wide range of file functions and an array of helpful document management tools. Digital filing system software offers numerous ways for file indexing, allowing you to define file types and the attributes associated with those types. For instance, you can define ‘customer invoice’ as a file type with specific attributes and associated metadata. You can assign file attributes such as client name, amount due, or payment status, which can be used to identify individual invoices. Assigning such attributes enables the DMS to uniquely identify different files, even if they all have the same format, such as .pdf or .doc.\r\nIn addition to improving the searchability of files, digital document management software can also be used for automating document approval processes, sharing of files, and collaborative editing, among other functions. Although there is no harm in using a standard file management system, businesses can run faster and far more efficiently if they use digital document management system that can provide a host of added features to enhance an office’s productivity and complement an organization’s initiatives for process improvement.<br /><br />\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Choose the Paperless Filing System Software That's Right for You</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Layout is Key.</span> Most of the paperless documentation system offerings you'll run across require you to "tag" your files with keywords. File retrieval then requires you to search for your document by keyword. This can work adequately if you remember the right keywords. However, it requires numerous mouseclicks and typing just to pull up a file.\r\nBetter, more efficient paperless file organization software uses an organization method that everyone's already familiar with: the filing cabinet. This system, refined over decades of use, lets you quickly jump straight to the file you're looking for. Carried over to the computer, it becomes even faster and more efficient. In just a couple of mouse clicks, you can easily drill down to exactly the file you're looking for.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">When it Comes to Paperless File Organization Software, Compatibility Matters.</span> When looking at file organization for the office file management software, many forget to consider compatibility with other programs. To make effective use of your files, you have to be able to get them into the file organization system with the fewest steps necessary, and you have to be able to open the files in their native programs so you can continue working on them in the future.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where Will Your Files Go?</span> Almost every paperless file organization software package available will put your files in a database. But is this a good idea? Software makers prefer a database because it lets them offer you features like password security on a per-document basis. But beware the repurcussions: you won't be able to use your favorite Cloud service, like DropBox, Google Drive, or OneDrive. You'll lose the ability to right-click on files like you do in Windows. And if you rely heavily on other software packages, odds are they won't be compatible, since the files are locked away in a database. And if you should ever decide to change to a different paperless file organization solution, just hope that you can get your data exported from the old one. So its strongly recommended to pick some software that stores your files in regular Windows folders. This will ensure that you'll always have access to your files, from any program, even if you later abandon that file organization software. You will be able to use your favorite backup software, and you can enjoy remote access to your files through DropBox, Google Drive, or OneDrive.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/File_System_Software.png","alias":"file-system-software"},"311":{"id":311,"title":"Storage Management Software","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Storage management software</span> is a type of program that is especially designed for managing storage solutions like storage networks. It provides important services like mirroring, replication, compression, traffic analysis, virtualization, security and disaster recovery. These types of software are usually sold as value-adding options that are meant to run on servers and manage resources like network attached storage (NAS) devices.\r\nStorage management solutions are used in everything from desktop computers to mainframes and includes products that work on limited or a single set of devices, as well as those that work universally and support a heterogeneous device set. Storage management software also makes use of hierarchical storage management (HSM) systems, which back up data from the main storage into slower, less expensive storage devices. The market to which this software belongs is divided into seven segments. Storage management program is the sum of all these segments, and represents all the tools that are needed to manage the performance, capacity and availability of the data stored on disks or any storage device attached to the system. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data storage management</span> refers to how organizations manage, store, and access their proprietary data. Effective data storage management requires an understanding of storage hardware and software, the current capacity of these assets, current and future usage trends, and the availability of various types of data. \r\nCompanies that make data storage management software are constantly adding new features that tend to focus on usability, integration with other products, and performance reporting. The next waves in the best storage management software may be automation and open-source products.\r\nStorage capacity optimization technologies such as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">deduplication </span>and compression have traditionally been aimed at reducing the amount of backups a company has, and they’ve been successful. But now the market is shifting; data reduction technologies are now being geared toward primary storage. But even though it’s a growing market, there are many things you need to watch out for when planning to dedupe your primary storage.\r\nOne of the most effective document management storage is to<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"> reduce your data,</span> not delete it. Data deduplication, compression, snapshots and thin provisioning are four popular data reduction techniques.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dynamic storage tiering</span> (DST) is a good data storage management solutions to implement in your environment, but there are many different products to choose from, and these products differ in functions and capabilities. DST products have one central goal: to lower storage costs. But some products have added capabilities such as overcoming performance problems and options for incorporating cloud storage in your environment. Learn about the different DST products available and find out which one suits your storage environment.\r\nIn a virtual server environment, storage efficiency and capacity planning aren’t any easier than in a nonvirtualized environment. There are multiple hosts and applications storage managers must deal with, making things complicated. Follow these four steps for better storage efficiency techniques and capacity planning in a virtual server environment.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is Storage Management?</h1>\r\nStorage Management refers to the processes that help make data storage easier through software or techniques. It tries to improve and maximize the efficiency of data storage resources. Storage management processes can deal with local or external storage such as NAS, SAN, USBs, SDDs, HDD, the Cloud, etc.\r\nStorage management techniques or software can be divided into the following four subsets:\r\n<ul><li>Performance,</li><li>Availability,</li><li>Recoverability</li><li>Capacity.</li></ul>\r\nThere are a variety of technologies or systems that fall into one or multiple of these subsets, these can be:\r\n<ul><li>Volume Migration</li><li>Storage Virtualization</li><li>Snapshot and Mirroring</li><li>Auto-Provisioning</li><li>Process Automation</li><li>Disaster and Recovery</li><li>And more…</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Implementing Storage Management</h1>\r\nStorage management is a broad concept, that includes techniques, software, processes that aim at improving the performance, availability, recoverability, and capacity of the storage resources. The first step to implement storage management would be to train IT personnel and storage administrators on best storage management practices. There are a couple of storage management standards and organizations to start getting information. An example is the Storage Management Initiative Specification, (SMI-S), which is a data storage standard developed by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). Aside from methodologies and processes, storage management can be implemented as program, as a cloud storage management software or included in the hardware. A couple of examples about the SRM software areSymantec, DellEMC SRM, Northern Parklife, or DataCore Software. A NAS can be an excellent example of storage management in hardware.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Storage_Management_Software.png","alias":"storage-management-software"},"313":{"id":313,"title":"Storage Infrastructure Software","description":" Storage infrastructure in IT refers to the overall set of hardware and software components needed to facilitate storage for a system. This is often applied to cloud computing, where cloud storage infrastructure is composed of hardware elements like servers, as well as software elements like operating systems and proprietary delivery applications.\r\nCloud storage infrastructure and other types of storage infrastructure can vary quite a bit, partly because of new and emerging storage technologies. For example, with storage virtualization, the infrastructure is changed to become more software-driven than hardware-driven. In a typical storage virtualization environment, a set of physical hard drives are replaced by a set of "logical drives" or "virtual drives" that are partitioned and operated by software. Engineers use different types of strategies like a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) design to create more versatile storage systems that use hardware in more sophisticated ways.\r\nLooking at cloud storage infrastructure also helps to explain the value and philosophy of cloud computing. The infrastructure is typically composed of end-network hardware, where tenant data is eventually stored, as well as virtual systems that help push data and files from a client to a vendor network, and vice versa, during data retrieval. In general, cloud computing allows vendors to deliver product services over the global Internet, making the storage infrastructure a kind of hybrid design between the hardware located on-site in vendor offices and the proprietary software that handles all the different kinds of data transfer.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a storage infrastructure?</span>\r\nThe infrastructure of data storage systems is a set of hardware and software that allows you to combine the organization’s data into a single system and carry out centralized information management throughout the life cycle. Its main components are storage networks, disk storage systems (SHD), tape libraries and specialized software. It is also a well-functioning backup and data recovery system.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the capabilities of storage infrastructure?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Reduce total IT costs.</li><li>Centralization of IT infrastructure to improve management efficiency.</li><li>Manage growing amounts of data.</li><li> Optimization of resource use.</li><li>Fault tolerance and scalability.</li><li>Ensuring the required application performance.</li><li>Backup and archiving.</li><li>Ensuring business continuity (ONIVD).</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who can benefit from a solution?</span>\r\nThe infrastructure of data storage systems is primarily necessary for companies whose activities are associated with the processing and storage of large volumes of information or directly depends on the ability to provide quick access to data. First of all, these are companies in the financial sector, telecommunications, government organizations and large industrial holdings.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of storage infrastructure?</span>\r\nScalability, which leads to lower storage costs in general.\r\nHigh performance:\r\n<ul><li>the use of high-speed communication protocols such as Fiber Channel for SAN (Gigabit Ethernet for NAS) or Infiniband allows for high data rates;</li><li>SAN networks reduce the load on the local network and accelerate the processes of backup and data migration;</li><li>decrease backup window.</li></ul>\r\nAvailability and reliability. Thanks to the modular architecture, hot standby of storage components and elimination of single points of failure becomes possible.\r\nAbility to create distributed data centers.\r\nVirtualization of disk reallocation resources and storage consolidation.\r\nProviding secure access to data from heterogeneous environments.\r\nData backup.\r\nData consolidation.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Storage_Infrastructure_Software.png","alias":"storage-infrastructure-software"},"315":{"id":315,"title":"Storage Device Management Software","description":"Storage management refers to activities undertaken by IT managers and administrators to achieve storage infrastructures' accessibility, reliability, recoverability, and optimal performance.\r\nDespite the significant advantages resulting from the consolidation of data storage in modern computing systems, there are at least two fundamental problems of data storage management - high cost and inefficient use. Even if the cost of disk memory is reduced by an average of 30% per year, the demand for it increases by 100% during the same time, so the total amount of data storage costs will grow by 40%. The fact that memory is used inefficiently has a sensitive effect on meager IT budgets. So is it possible to control disk assets in order to get the most return on investment?\r\nPositive answers to these questions are provided by the storage resource management system. For example, what should an administrator do if he is responsible for accessing data at the bank if customer service is suspended at the very height of the trading day due to slow application performance? One of the probable reasons is that the disk space required by the application is almost exhausted. How quickly does the network administrator identify the true cause of the collapse? Could he have foreseen and prevented her? If it was possible to set a threshold for the acceptable size of free disk space in the relevant rules, he would have received a notification in advance that the file system was about to begin to run out of disk space, and would be able to take appropriate measures in time.\r\nStorage networks today require constant high availability - a good reason to use monitoring systems and analysis tools not only when a problem has already arisen. In addition, a comprehensive overview of the storage network is usually required.\r\nIn large data centers, managing drives is significantly more expensive than acquiring them. When using, in particular, SAN, thanks to centralized administration and management through switches and directors, it was already possible to significantly save on management. With scalable storage capacity in SANs, high availability and performance make it easy to provide and manage bulk storage in large data centers. However, increasing capacity, increasing data transfer rates, heterogeneous equipment from different manufacturers and virtualization technologies make monitoring the structure of storage networks and analyzing internal processes more and more difficult. Obviously, for the network administrator, they create new difficulties, which in professional jargon are called "network blindness." By this we mean the inability to diagnose, analyze and prevent failures, and, in addition, complex protocols and structures reduce network performance.\r\nOvercoming “blindness” is of great practical importance. Many companies risk significant damage already in the first four hours after the failure, and the loss of enterprises specializing, for example, in electronic commerce and financial institutions, reaches hundreds of thousands or even several million dollars per hour. These figures once again convince us that there is a need to respond very quickly to failures and performance problems.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Storage device management utilities</span>\r\n<ul><li>Backup software makes copies of all information stored on a disk and restores either the entire disk (aka Disk cloning) in an event of disk failure or selected files that are accidentally deleted or corrupted. Undeletion utilities are sometimes more convenient.</li><li>Disk checkers scan an operating hard drive and check for logical (filesystem) or physical errors.</li><li>Disk compression utilities transparently compress/uncompress the contents of a disk, increasing the capacity of the disk.</li><li>Disk defragmenters detect computer files whose contents are scattered across several locations on the hard disk and collect the fragments into one contiguous area.</li><li>Disk formatters prepare a data storage device such as a hard disk, solid-state drive, floppy disk or USB flash drive for initial use. These are often used to permanently erase an entire device.</li><li>Disk partition editors divide an individual drive into multiple logical drives, each with its own file system which can be mounted by the operating system and treated as an individual drive.</li><li>Disk space analyzers provide a visualization of disk space usage by getting the size for each folder (including sub folders) and files in folder or drive. showing the distribution of the used space.</li><li>Tape initializers write a label to a magnetic tape or other magnetic medium. Initializers for DECtape formatted the tape into blocks.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Storage_Device_Management_Software.png","alias":"storage-device-management-software"},"319":{"id":319,"title":"Event Management Tools","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Event management software</span> is the generic term for a wide range of software products that are used in the management of professional and academic conferences, trade exhibitions, conventions and smaller events such as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) meetings.\r\nIn brief, event management software programs are solutions that assists event organizers in driving success through all aspects of their events—from event registration and event check-in, to event promotion and reporting.\r\nSome providers claim to offer event organizer software when in actuality they are really offering a software that solves one particular pain point, like event check in software. These platforms have their uses, but are limited in breadth of functionality. Best event management system is <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">all-in-one event management software</span>, which serves as a one-stop shop for all of an event organizer’s needs. This type of software is sometimes called “event success software” or an “events cloud.”\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Events are becoming more prevalent than ever and event management software is what is allowing them to do so. <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Today’s event management platform:</span></span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Fulfills a wide range of functions such as event registration, event marketing and reporting.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Drives event success for a variety of B2B and B2C events.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Helps event organizers save time, save money, increase security and reduce event headaches thanks to a structure that is seamlessly integrated from end-to-end.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Should be reliable easy-to-use, come with a dedicated customer success team and should measurably impact your event goals.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">And should be sold as a complete product, not a series of add-ons.</span></li></ul>\r\nThe most common event management applications are event schedule planning; customized event website creation; online event registration platforms; ticketing and delegate management including online payment; event budgeting; lead retrieval; event venue booking software; procurement, sourcing, and RFPs event marketing; event networking for attendee engagement; content management including abstract and/or paper management, reviewing, program development and publishing; exhibition management including floor planning, booking and billing; on-site operations including registration, badges, and networking; audience response solutions, live slide sharing and second-screen tools as live polls, Q+A, etc. \r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why Use Event Management Software?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">What are the benefits of an event management software? These solutions can streamline or automate the back office processes in running an event. From pre-event, event and to post-event, these solutions provide efficiency, accuracy and cost savings. Here are the main benefits:</p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Consolidate different teams</span></li></ul>\r\nEvents software systems provide a single platform that coordinates the tasks and activities, not just of the event team, but of your various teams, including sales & marketing, logistics, accounting and travel management. It makes it easy to associate the different but connected items across your organization. A change in one item, for example, can trigger alerts on related items ensuring everyone has the latest information. A shift in venue, increase in attendance, change in menu, etc. are cases that require quick coordination among teams.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Lower overheads</span></li></ul>\r\nWith across and top-down visibility on your event operations, it is easy to control expenses and keep to budget caps leading to savings and higher returns. Likewise, event management services are good at automating certain event management processes, thereby, you cut down on time spent in completing tasks. This can translate to reduced staff time. Moreover, a small team can perform multiple tasks with the aid of a good event solution. Tools like coding-free event web builder, self-service online registration, autoresponders and data management perform some of the most time-consuming back office processes in organizing events, freeing you from soliciting additional contractors.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Smooth workflows in the entire event lifecycle</span></li></ul>\r\nSome event software programs solutions help you from planning to promotion to on-site operation and to post-event evaluation. They feature tools for event management, event marketing and post-analytics reporting and survey mechanism. Many of these tools ease out off your shoulder the traditional burden of building your database. Online registration, for example, allows participants enter their details instead of you. The database can be sorted differently, too, for targeted email marketing.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">More focused event marketing</span></li></ul>\r\nCritical to the success of your event is a long-term promotion. Months (or even years) before the event, the solution, depending on its sophistication, can help you aggregate social media mentions, online communities, mailing lists, media and blog placements, etc. so you can start engaging potential participants. Some event management packages provide communication channels to get prospects’ feedback or questions or build a mailing list for staggered and targeted email marketing stages leading to the event date.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Efficient data management</span></li></ul>\r\nWith a single database event management software solutions can collate online registration details, sort them for various email marketing campaigns and run real-time and post-event analytics for insights. A centralized database also means various users are accessing the same latest data, eliminating misinformation. Different parties are quickly notified of changes in the database like number of participant, venue, programme, etc. Documents and reports are likewise updated and consistent throughout the organization. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Event_Management_Tools.png","alias":"event-management-tools"},"323":{"id":323,"title":"Output Management Tools","description":" Output Management is a technology that provides the ability to capture, organize, format and distribute data and documents that are created by a line of business applications and ERP systems. Output management systems reduce or eliminate printing costs by using digital output channels. Using a point-and-click designer interface, standard output is automatically converted into more attractive, functional, and efficient electronic documents, which can then be intelligently distributed over a variety of delivery channels including print, fax, email, web or document management archive.\r\nOutput management solutions enable your organization to efficiently and cost-effectively manage high-volume business document distribution. You can deliver business-critical information from virtually any source to any destination across your distributed enterprise.\r\nIndustry studies have found that companies spend between 2 – 6 percent of their revenues producing paper-based information. Even in organizations with better control of printing costs, far too many resources are spent in creating, copying, shipping, bursting, delivering, and storing paper output. Most companies have multiple-output systems and numerous redundant printers, making it impossible to ensure that critical documents reach their intended destination in a timely manner.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is output management?</span>\r\nOutput management systems helps companies manage the entire process of creating, designing, and delivering all of the information to be sent from ERPs or other IT systems, generally with much greater efficiency than alternate methods. An output management system enables companies to send the right information, in the right format and design, to the right recipient and any given time.\r\nMany companies choose just to use their default ERP output solution. However, these default tools are often very inflexible and can be difficult to maintain in a competitive and international market. Some ERPs offer fragmented solutions for each type of output format which is often costly and time-consuming to support.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of using an output management system?</span>\r\nBy using an advanced output management system like InterForm, a company can centralize its output from a diverse collection of devices and platforms, eliminate duplicated workflows, and accommodate both customer demands and industry regulations.\r\nWith OMS you Can:\r\n<ul><li>Create customer-facing documents with unique designs;</li><li>Generate informative, structured, and branded documents and reports;</li><li>Form customer-specific messaging and product information;</li><li>Eliminate printing and shipping costs by delivering and distributing data electronically;</li><li>Raise the level of service and support with a wide range of smart document features.</li></ul>\r\nOutput management combines distribution features with a wide variety of output channels allowing you to manage everything from label and laser printing to sending faxes and emails. It’s fully customizable, so you set the standards, choose the rules, and set the conditions for your specific workflow.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Output_Management_Tools.png","alias":"output-management-tools"},"325":{"id":325,"title":"Performance Management Software","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance management software </span>— also referred to as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">performance management system</span>— helps a company track, analyze, and evaluate its employees’ performance. is designed to improve business performance by spurring employee productivity. It works to ensure individual employees and teams are engaged and in alignment with organizational goals. Employee review software replaces an annual performance review process with real-time performance tracking, goal setting and feedback.\r\nPerformance management software systems are overseen by the HR department. They fit under the umbrella of <span style=\"font-style: italic; \">talent management systems.</span>\r\nAs next-generation HR software, performance management tools help companies address the modern goals of continually monitoring performance while giving employees feedback and support. Performance review software can track individual contributions to a team, as well as that team's ability to meet business objectives, thus tying performance into the company's bottom line.\r\nImproving employee engagement is another goal of performance management software. An employee can see current individual performance goals and their progress toward meeting them. This includes tracking efforts on specific projects. Managers measure individual performance against goals, and employees get a better idea of where they stand.\r\nThese systems use dashboards for quick and collaborative reviews. They can report individual performance, as well as project and team performance. The systems may also include employee ranking.\r\nAn effective performance management program must interact with other tools - in particular, workforce analytics. Data can be analyzed, for instance, against reporting from financial management systems and sales performance management systems.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Why Implement Performance Management Software?</h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Easily-Navigable Dashboard </span></li></ul>\r\nThe top advantage to performance management tools are their ability to bring all key data and performance into one, organized location. Award-winning business performance management software do that. They make it easy to navigate the data and information and help leaders make better decisions for their workforce. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance Review Cycles </span></li></ul>\r\nTraditional annual review cycle or not, performance management system software can help coordinate, organize, schedule and store review information. The software will send reminders to leaders, manage permissions as leadership changes and provide structure to the overall process, including scripts based on company values and the employee’s role.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">360 Degree and Peer Reviews </span></li></ul>\r\nPerformance and talent management tool can help ensure the process goes smoothly by providing structured and anonymous assessments. In some cases, there might be more than a few people involved in the performance review of one employee, so the software can track the progress of feedback to ensure each manager or leader has provided necessary input in a timely manner.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Customizable Review and Assessment Scripts </span></li></ul>\r\nIt is best practice to base performance on the unique values and goals of your organization, which means the annual review script should be different for a manager than it is for an executive, and nothing like the script of another organization. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Goal and Performance Tracking </span></li></ul>\r\nContinuous performance and goal tracking allows leadership to see the progress of projects clearly while keeping in mind which employees are hitting the mark and which need guidance. And because automated performance management system available to the employee as well, everyone will be on the same page and aligned to the work being done, even between departments in real-time.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Development & Succession Planning </span></li></ul>\r\nEmployees need continuous support in order to become effective contributors to the organization, especially in the long run. With performance management tools, you can track development progress, assign long term goals and ensure you understand the direction of talent and the business as a whole.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Performance_Management_Software.png","alias":"performance-management-software"},"327":{"id":327,"title":"Change and Configuration Management Software","description":" Software teams today face significant challenges. Companies require the production of high-quality software at unprecedented speeds. Software application requirements continue to grow more complex often with shorter and more frequent release cycles. Distributed development teams present challenges related to effective teaming, parallel development and diverse platforms - these factors and more intensify the pressures of developing quality software. Developing quality software in a repeatable and predictable fashion requires managing and tracking development artifacts and the activities of the development team. Successful development teams utilize software configuration management and software change management tools to help manage the software development lifecycle.\r\nSoftware configuration management provides version control and parallels development support to manage and control software assets. Software change management provides defect tracking and automation of software processes across the development lifecycle.\r\nSolutions that combine software configuration management and software change management in a single, tightly integrated solution are referred to as software change and configuration management (SCCM) solutions. SCCM solutions utilize activities to easily manage changes made to development artifacts. Unlike standalone SCM tools, SCCM solutions usually include substantial workflow capabilities which automate and effectively govern the software development processes for repeatable and predictable software development.\r\nEssentially, SCCM answers the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘why’ of software development. Who made the changes? What changes were made to the software? When were the changes made? Why were the changes made? Development teams and project leaders should be able to obtain answers to these questions to manage a project's activities, determine project status and track the actual product evolution.\r\nA fully comprehensive software change and configuration management (SCCM) solution empowers companies by accelerating software and systems delivery, making global teams more efficient, and governing the end-to-end software development processes. Solutions should be secure, flexible, and robust as well as provide the ability to support any size team, regardless of platform or location. Selecting ‘best in class’ solution, implementing proven best practices and partnering with a company that is a leader in technology reduces the risks associated with quality software development.","materialsDescription":" \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is software configuration management (SCM)?</span>\r\nSoftware configuration management (SCM) is designed to control change by identifying and tracking changed software artifacts and managing different versions of these artifacts.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is software change and configuration management (SCCM)?</span>\r\nSoftware change and configuration management (SCCM) provide the comprehensive integration with best practice guidance of software configuration management and software change management capabilities.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Change_and_Configuration_Management_Software.png","alias":"change-and-configuration-management-software"},"329":{"id":329,"title":"Problem Management Software","description":" Problem management is the process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems that happen or could happen in an IT service. The primary objectives of problem management are to prevent problems and resulting incidents from happening, to eliminate recurring incidents, and to minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library defines a problem as the cause of one or more incidents.\r\nProblem Management includes the activities required to diagnose the root cause of incidents identified through the Incident Management process, and to determine the resolution to those problems. It is also responsible for ensuring that the resolution is implemented through the appropriate control procedures, especially Change Management and Release Management.\r\nProblem Management will also maintain information about problems and the appropriate workarounds and resolutions so that the organization is able to reduce the number and impact of incidents over time. In this respect, Problem Management has a strong interface with Knowledge Management, and tools such as the Known Error Database will be used for both. Although Incident Management and Problem Management are separate processes, they are closely related and will typically use the same tools, and may use similar categorization, impact, and priority coding systems. This will ensure effective communication when dealing with related incidents and problems.\r\nProblem Management works together with Incident Management and Change Management to ensure that IT service availability and quality are increased. When incidents are resolved, information about the resolution is recorded. Over time, this information is used to speed up the resolution time and identify permanent solutions, reducing the number and resolution time of incidents. This results in less downtime and less disruption to business-critical systems.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Problem Management?</span>\r\nProblem management is the set of processes and activities responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems that could happen in an IT service. Its main goal is to prevent problems and their resulting incidents from happening. For those incidents that have already occurred, problem management seeks to prevent them from happening again or if they are unavoidable, minimize the impact on the business. To understand problem management, it is first helpful to define what a problem is. ITIL defines a problem as the cause of one or more incidents. Another way to look at it is – a problem is an underlying condition that could have negative impacts on the service and therefore needs to be addressed. Problems have a lifecycle that starts when the problem is created (often by a change in the environment), includes identification and the stages of diagnosis and remediation, and ends when the problem is resolved either through some action being taken or the underlying situation going away.\r\nProblem management is both a transactional process of managing the lifecycle of an individual problem as well as a portfolio management process of making decisions about what problems should be addressed, the resources applied to them and the risks that problems present to the organization. Problem management includes activities required to diagnose the root cause of incidents and determine the appropriate resolution steps that should be taken. It is also responsible for ensuring that any resolutions are implemented safely and effectively in accordance with change management and release management policies and procedures.\r\nThe portfolio part of problem management is responsible for maintaining information about problems that exist in the environment, any workarounds that have been developed and the resolution options that have been identified. This information enables leaders to make decisions that will reduce the number and impact of incidents.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the goals of Problem Management?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Identify and remove the underlying causes of Incidents.</li><li>Incident and Problem prevention.</li><li>Improve organizational efficiency by ensuring that Problems are prioritized correctly according to impact, urgency, and severity.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Problem Management?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Greater service availability by eliminating recurring Incidents.</li><li>Incidents are contained before they impact other systems.</li><li>Elimination of incidents before they impact services through proactive problem management.</li><li>Prevention of known errors recurring or occurring elsewhere across the system.</li><li>Improved First Call Resolution rate.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does Problem Management differ from Incident Management?</span>\r\n<ul><li>The purpose of Incident Management is to restore normal service as quickly as possible and minimize adverse impacts on business operations. Incident Management is used to manage any event that disrupts or has the potential to disrupt any IT service and associated processes.</li><li>The purpose of Problem Management is to eliminate the root cause of Incidents, prevent them from recurring or happening in the first place, and to minimize the impact of Incidents that cannot be prevented. Problem Management includes activities to diagnose and discover the resolution to the underlying cause of Incidents, ensure that the resolution is implemented (often through Change Management), and eliminate errors before they result in Incidents.</li><li>One of the outcomes of the problem management process is a known error record.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Problem_Management_Software__1_.png","alias":"problem-management-software"},"331":{"id":331,"title":"Network Management Software","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network management software</span> is software that is used to provision, discover, monitor and maintain computer networks. \r\nWith the expansion of the world wide web and the Internet, computer networks have become very large and complex, making them impossible to manage manually. In response, a suite of network management software was developed to help reduce the burden of managing the growing complexity of computer networks. \r\nNetwork management software usually collects information about network devices (which are called Nodes) using protocols like SNMP, ICMP, CDP etc. This information is then presented to network administrators in an easy to understand and accessible manner to help them quickly identify and remediate problems. \r\nSome advanced network control software may rectify network problems automatically. Network management program may also help with tasks involved in provisioning new networks, such as installing and configuring new network nodes etc. Network management tools may also help with maintenance of existing networks like upgrading software on existing network devices, creating new virtual networks etc. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Functions</span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Provisioning:</span> Enables network managers to provision new network devices in an environment. Automating this step reduces cost and eliminates chances of human error.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Mapping or Discovery:</span> Enables the software to discover the features of a target network. Some features that are usually discovered are: the nodes in a network, the connectivity between these nodes, the vendor types, the performance characteristics etc.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Monitoring:</span> Enables the network management system to monitor the network for problems and to suggest improvements. The software may poll the devices periodically or register itself to receive alerts from network devices. One mechanism for network devices to volunteer information about itself is by sending an SNMP Trap. Monitoring can reveal faults in the network such as failed or misconfigured nodes, performance bottlenecks, intrusions etc.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Configuration management:</span> Enables the software to ensure that the network configuration is as desired and there is no configuration drift.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Regulatory compliance:</span> Enables the network management system software to ensure that the network meets the regulatory standards and complies with applicable laws.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Change control:</span> Enables the software to ensure that the network changes are enacted in a controlled and coordinated manner. Change control can enable audit trails which has applications during a forensic investigation after a network intrusion.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software Asset Management:</span>Provides software deployment and patch management.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cybersecurity: </span>Enabled the software to use all the data gathered from the nodes to identify security risks in an IT environment.</p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What does Network Inventory Management system mean?</h1>\r\nNetwork inventory management is the process of keeping records of all the IT or network assets that make up the network.\r\nIt enables network administrators/businesses to have a physical record of all IT and network equipment within the organization.\r\nNetwork inventory management is generally performed to through IT asset tracking software that scans, compiles and records data about each device/node over a network.\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network inventory management software may include:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>Number of routers, their make, type and place of installation, serial number</li><li>IP addresses of all devices/nodes, IP addressing scheme used</li><li>Number and type of software along with license keys and expiry dates</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">This data helps businesses with:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li>Network size estimation</li><li>Network capacity planning</li><li>Network cost/ROI estimation</li><li>Physical network administration (to deal with device/equipment loss and theft)</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is SNMP Management Software?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) management software</span> is an application or program used to manage and monitor many network devices – such as servers, printers, hubs, switches, and routers – that are SNMP-aware and which an SNMP agent software can poll and receive alert traps when needed.\r\nSNMP network management software is currently considered the best choice by professionals for IP (Internet Protocol) network management, and as a result, SNMP is widely supported and featured in many hardware devices and network management software packages. \r\nSNMP software is designed to be able to be deployed on a large number of network devices, to have minimal impact and transport requirements on the managed nodes and to continue working when most other network applications fail.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_Management_Software.png","alias":"network-management-software"},"333":{"id":333,"title":"Collaborative Product Data Management","description":" Collaborative Product Data Management (cPDM) is software that is used to manage and integrate product data into a centralized system for better tracking and enhanced collaboration among business units. cPDM software solutions help enterprises streamline manufacturing and production processes by applying a consistent set of business solutions that collaboratively provide efficient methods to manage the functions of product lifecycle management (PLM). These solutions also help organizations to boost efficient business operations and launch innovative and profitable products in the evolving e-business web-enabled environment. The cPDM software packages also help in sharing data among supply chain partners, thereby enhancing the capability, efficiency, and effectiveness of an enterprise.\r\nPLM is a strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions to help the collaborative creation, management, and dissemination across the extended enterprise from the concept to end of life. CPDM also allows the organization to maintain system architecture, deployment of security mechanism, and prototype development and enables them in forming a collaborative architecture, shared resources and shared team spaces to work together as virtual teams.\r\nCPDM help in effective product data management, collaborative product commerce, collaborative product visualization, effective integration of CPDM with enterprise applications and supplier relationship management. Its solutions assist in manufacturing and production processes for efficient business operations. Ultimately, it helps in bringing innovative and profitable products that enables in evolving the e business web based environment.\r\nThese software solutions are adopted by industries such as electronics, automotive, industrial machinery, aerospace, defense, petrochemical, and process packaged goods. Automotive manufactures face product recalls across wide ranging categories due to which PLM software such as CPDM, CAD, CAE and CAM help them in reducing defects which eventually help them in catering maximum demand.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the technologies and methods used?</span>\r\nClearly, general collaborative software such as email and chat (instant messaging) is used within the CPD process. One important technology is application and desktop sharing, allowing one person to view what another person is doing on a remote machine. For CAD and product visualization applications an ‘appshare’ product that supports OpenGL graphics is required. Another common application is Data sharing via Web-based portals.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Specific to product data</span></span>\r\nWith product data, an important addition is the handling of high volumes of geometry and metadata. Exactly what techniques and technology are required depends on the level of collaboration being carried out and the commonality (or lack thereof) of the partner sites’ systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Specific to PLM and CAx collaboration</span></span>\r\nCollaboration using PLM and CAx tools requires technology to support the needs of:\r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">People:</span> Personnel of different disciplines and skill levels;</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Organizations:</span> Organizations throughout an enterprise or extended enterprise with different rules, processes and objectives;</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data:</span> Data from different sources in different formats.</li></ol>\r\nAppropriate technologies are required to support collaboration across these boundaries.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">People</span>\r\nEffective PLM collaboration will typically require the participation of people who do not have high-level CAD skills. This requires improved user interfaces including tailorable user interfaces that can be tailored to the skill level and specialty of the user.\r\nImproved visualization capabilities, especially those that provide a meaningful view of complex information such as the results of a fluid flow analysis will leverage the value of all participants in the collaboration process. Effective collaboration requires that a participant is freed from the burden of knowing the intent history typically embedded within and constricting the use of parametric models.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Organizations</span>\r\nCommunity collaboration requires that companies, suppliers, and customers share information in a secure environment, ensure compliance with enterprise and regulatory rules and enforce the process management rules of the community as well as the individual organizations.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Data</span>\r\nThe most basic collaboration data need is the ability to operate in a MultiCAD environment. That is, however, only the beginning. Models from multiple CAD sources must be assembled into an active digital mockup allowing change and/or design in context.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real-time collaborative product design</span></span>\r\nProduct design is typically a highly iterative and interactive activity involving a group of designers who are geographically dispersed. A neutral modeling command (NMC) based method is proposed to construct a real-time collaborative product design platform within heterogeneous CAD systems.[1] Different from the visualization-based approaches, models can be constructed and modified synchronously from various sites in the proposed collaborative design environment. Based on a translation mechanism between system modeling operations (SMO) and neutral modeling commands (NMC), every operation given by a user on one site will be translated into an NMC and be sent to all the other sites through the network. When the other sites receive this command, it is converted into the corresponding SMOs on the local system. In this way, the real-time collaborative product design with heterogeneous CAD systems is achieved.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Different levels of collaboration</span></span>\r\nIf the collaborating parties have the same PDM and CAD systems the task usually involves the direct access and transfer of data between sites. The PDM system will have data storage at more than one site for the large graphics files, a file may be copied between sites, how they are synchronized being controlled by the server(s). For the management server and metadata, there are a number of options. There could be a single server that is accessed from all locations or multiple PDM servers that communicate with one another. In both cases, the PDM software controls access for groups defining what data they can see and edit.\r\nWith different CAD systems, the approach varies slightly depending on whether the ownership and therefore authorship, of components changes or not. If geometry only has to be viewed then a Product visualization neutral file format (e.g.JT) can be used for tasks such as viewing, markup (redlining) or multi-cad digital mock-up (DMU). It may be that authorship does not change but components from one group need to be placed in the assembly of another group so that they can construct their parts, so-called work in context. This requires the transfer of geometry from one format to another by means of a visualization format or full data translation. Between some systems, there is the possibility of ‘data interoperability’ where geometry from one format can be associatively copied to another. If the ownership of a particular file is being transferred, then full data translation is required using some form of CAD data exchange technology. For the translation process Product Data Quality (PDQ) checkers are often employed to reduce problems in transferring the work. If different PDM/EDM systems are in use, then either data structures or metadata can be transferred using STEP or communication between databases can be achieved with tools based around XML data transfer.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Collaborative_Product_Data_Management.png","alias":"collaborative-product-data-management"},"335":{"id":335,"title":"Secure Content and Threat Management","description":" Secure content management is the set of processes and technologies that supports the collection, managing, and publishing of information. It involves processes for protecting the company from viruses, spam and undesirable web pages to not only provide enhanced security but also address productivity and potential human resources issues. Even after controlling the number of avenues through which information can enter, after the implementation of perimeter security, the cyber attackers still find ways to piggyback across valid communication channels.\r\nSecure Content Management technologies have evolved rapidly over the last few years due to the complexity of threats associated with email and web gateways. Businesses are increasingly focusing on eliminating this threat by adopting the 2 gateways, rather than the purely productive driven anti-spam and web-filtering techniques.\r\nSecure Content Management solutions are gaining traction due to the increased need for handling voluminous content that is getting generated in organizations on a daily basis. The rising adoption of digitalization, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), growth of e-commerce, and social media has increased the amount of content generated in inter-organizations and intra-organizations.\r\nSCM solutions offer clients with the benefit of paper-free workflow, accurate searching of the required information, and better information sharing, and also addresses required industry standards and regulations. SCM solutions enable clients with handling essential enterprise information and save time and cost associated with searching for the required business data for making key business decisions.\r\nThe solutions offered for Secure Content Management includes:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Anti-Spam:</span> Spam Filters are introduced for spam e-mail which not only consumes time and money but also network and mail server resources.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Web Surfing:</span> Limiting the websites that end-users are allowed to access will increase work productivity, ensure maximum bandwidth availability and lower the liability issues.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Instant Messaging:</span> Convenient and growing, but difficult to handle, this technology serves as a back door for viruses and worms to enter your network. It also provides a way for sensitive information to be shared over the network.<br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the reasons for adopting secure content management?</span>\r\nFollowing are the reasons for creating the need for secure content management:\r\n<ul><li>Lost productivity</li><li>Introduction of malicious code</li><li>Potential liability</li><li>Wasted network resources</li><li>Control over intellectual property</li><li>Regulatory Compliance</li></ul>\r\nBecause of these reasons, there is rising concern over the security of the organization and creating the need for the adoption of Secure content Management from the clients.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Strategy Adopted for implementing Secure Content Management</span>\r\nThe strategy applied for Secure Content Management includes the 4 step process including\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Discover</span> involves Identifying and Defining the process of Data Management and collecting the data created.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Classify</span> is the process of identifying critical data and segregating between secure information and unstructured information.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Control</span> involves the process of data cleansing, Encrypting the digital content and Securing critical information.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Govern</span> is the process of creating Service Level Agreements for usage rules, retention rules.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Content_and_Threat_Management.png","alias":"secure-content-and-threat-management"},"337":{"id":337,"title":"Sales","description":" Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods or services sold in a given targeted time period.\r\nThe seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in response to an acquisition, appropriation, requisition, or a direct interaction with the buyer at the point of sale. There is a passing of title (property or ownership) of the item, and the settlement of a price, in which agreement is reached on a price for which transfer of ownership of the item will occur. The seller, not the purchaser, typically executes the sale and it may be completed prior to the obligation of payment. In the case of indirect interaction, a person who sells goods or service on behalf of the owner is known as a salesman or saleswoman or salesperson, but this often refers to someone selling goods in a store/shop, in which case other terms are also common, including salesclerk, shop assistant, and retail clerk.\r\nIn common law countries, sales are governed generally by the common law and commercial codes. In the United States, the laws governing sales of goods are somewhat uniform to the extent that most jurisdictions have adopted Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code, albeit with some non-uniform variations.\r\nA person or organization expressing an interest in acquiring the offered item of value is referred to as a potential buyer, prospective customer, or prospect. Buying and selling are understood to be two sides of the same "coin" or transaction. Both seller and buyer engage in a process of negotiation to consummate the exchange of values. The exchange, or selling, process has implied rules and identifiable stages. It is implied that the selling process will proceed fairly and ethically so that the parties end up nearly equally rewarded. The stages of selling, and buying, involve getting acquainted, assessing each party's need for the other's item of value, and determining if the values to be exchanged are equivalent or nearly so, or, in buyer's terms, "worth the price". Sometimes, sellers have to use their own experiences when selling products with appropriate discounts.\r\nAlthough the skills required are different, from a management viewpoint, sales is a part of marketing. Sales often form a separate grouping in a corporate structure, employing separate specialist operatives known as salespersons (singular: salesperson). Selling is considered by many to be a sort of persuading "art". Contrary to popular belief, the methodological approach of selling refers to a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesman relates his or her offering of a product or service in return enabling the buyer to achieve their goal in an economic way.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What's the Difference Between Sales and Marketing?</span>\r\nSales and Marketing: two terms we often hear together when working with mid-size companies. In some ways, this is logical because the two need to work together. But in fact, Sales and Marketing are two very different functions and require very different skills.\r\nBusiness leaders know what Operations are; they make stuff. They know what Accounting is; they record and control the money. And they know what Sales do; they sell stuff. So if you are not making stuff, selling stuff, or recording the money—what is marketing and why do you need it?\r\nWhat's the difference between Sales and Marketing? To answer this question, let's define what Sales and Marketing are separately and how they support one another.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Marketing? Aligning with Customers, Now and for the Future</span></span>\r\nA key job of Marketing is to understand the marketplace from the perspective of the customer looking back towards the company and helping lead the company where it should be in the future. Marketing’s job is to direct the organization toward the segments, or groups of customers and channels where the company can profitably compete. It should help the organization see how it needs to modify its product offerings, pricing, and communication so that it meets the needs of the distribution channel or end customers.\r\nMarketing also needs to convert the market understanding into tools and tactics to attract the market, build (often digital) relationships, and develop leads. Without Sales, Marketing efforts run short. Marketing directs Sales as to where they should be hunting and what ammo to use. Note, however, that if Marketing becomes a sales support function focused only on the now, the future can become lost.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Without Marketing, Sales Suffers</span></span>\r\nNot even the best hunter can bring home dinner if they are shooting blanks at decoys. Markets are constantly changing. The job of marketing is to stay ahead of the changes and help the hunters see where they should be hunting and provide them with the right ammunition. If Marketing is only focused on delivering the ammunition for today, nobody will see where the industry is moving or where the company needs to hunt next. This limits growth not only for Sales and Marketing but also for your entire organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can You be Both Sales and Marketing?</span></span>\r\nIn all my years, working for companies that ranged from Fortune 100 to mid-size companies I have never met anyone who was really good at both sales and marketing. I have held the title of VP of Sales and Marketing, managing a 500 person sales and merchandising force. I was really a marketing person with sales authority. The skills required to focus on the now and the push of sales are different. In many ways, they are contrary to the skills of looking to the future and the customer perspective of marketing.\r\nEvery Sales organization feels they have a good understanding of their customers. But every Sales conversation with a customer has a sales transaction lurking in the background. Therefore, customers can never be completely open about their needs and want when talking to a sales person.\r\nFor a company to really grow, someone must have the job of looking out the window towards where the company needs to go in the future. For many companies, this is the job of the CEO and Sales hires someone to do some sales support and gives them a marketing title. But as companies grow, the job of CEO starts to become a full-time job in itself and the strategic role of Marketing gets short-changed. A study of mid-size companies by the University of Texas showed that companies that separated the roles of Marketing and Sales were much more likely to grow faster than the industry average.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Sales and Marketing: Today and the Future</span></span>\r\nSales need to be focused on the now. You can’t run a company unless your sales team is focused on bringing in today’s business. But you can’t really ask your Sales leaders where the company should go next and to develop the 18-month plan to get there without losing focus on today’s revenue. Besides, if your sales executive was really good at developing future-focused business strategies and tying that strategy to the plans and tools of marketing to make it happen, they would be a marketing person and not a now-focused sales person.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Sales.png","alias":"sales"},"339":{"id":339,"title":"Marketing","description":" Marketing is the study and management of exchange relationships. It is the business process of creating relationships with and satisfying customers. Because marketing is used to attract customers, it is one of the primary components of business management and commerce. Marketers can direct product to other businesses (B2B marketing) or directly to consumers (B2C marketing).\r\nRegardless of who is being marketed to, several factors, including the perspective the marketers will use. These market orientations determine how marketers will approach the planning stage of marketing. This leads into the marketing mix, which outlines the specifics of the product and how it will be sold. This can in turn, be affected by the environment surrounding the product, the results of marketing research and market research, and the characteristics of the product's target market.\r\nOnce these factors are determined, marketers must then decide what methods will be used to market the product. This decision is based on the factors analyzed in the planning stage as well as where the product is in the product life cycle.\r\nMarketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large". The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market with goods for sale. From a sales process engineering perspective, marketing is "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions of a business aimed at achieving customer interest and satisfaction".\r\nPhilip Kotler defined marketing as "Satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process", and a decade later defines it as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they want and need through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others.”\r\nThe Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably". A similar concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value. In this context, marketing can be defined as "the management process that seeks to maximise returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage".\r\nIn the past, marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because the academic study of marketing makes extensive use of social sciences, psychology, sociology, mathematics, economics, anthropology and neuroscience, the profession is now widely recognized as a science, allowing numerous universities to offer Master-of-Science (MSc) programs.\r\nThe process of marketing is that of bringing a product to market, which includes these steps: broad market research; market targeting and market segmentation; determining distribution, pricing and promotion strategies; developing a communications strategy; budgeting; and visioning long-term market development goals. Many parts of the marketing process (e.g. product design, art director, brand management, advertising, inbound marketing, copywriting etc.) involve use of the creative arts.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What the differences between B2B and B2C Marketing?</span>\r\nThe different goals of B2B and B2C marketing lead to differences in the B2B and B2C markets. The main differences in these markets are demand, purchasing volume, amount of customers, customer concentration, distribution, buying nature, buying influences, negotiations, reciprocity, leasing and promotional methods.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Demand:</span> B2B demand is derived because businesses buy products based on how much demand there is for the final consumer product. Businesses buy products based on customer's wants and needs. B2C demand is primarily because customers buy products based on their own wants and needs.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Purchasing Volume:</span> Businesses buy products in large volumes to distribute to consumers. Consumers buy products in smaller volumes suitable for personal use.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Amount of Customers:</span> There are relatively fewer businesses to market to than direct consumers.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Customer Concentration:</span> Businesses that specialize in a particular market tend to be geographically concentrated while customers that buy products from these businesses are not concentrated.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Distribution:</span> B2B products pass directly from the producer of the product to the business while B2C products must additionally go through a wholesaler or retailer.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Buying Nature:</span> B2B purchasing is a formal process done by professional buyers and sellers while B2C purchasing is informal.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Buying Influences:</span> B2B purchasing is influenced by multiple people in various departments such as quality control, accounting, and logistics while B2C marketing is only influenced by the person making the purchase and possibly a few others.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Negotiations:</span> In B2B marketing, negotiating for lower prices or added benefits is commonly accepted while in B2C marketing (particularly in Western cultures) prices are fixed.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Reciprocity:</span> Businesses tend to buy from businesses they sell to. For example, a business that sells printer ink is more likely to buy office chairs from a supplier that buys the business's printer ink. In B2C marketing, this does not occur because consumers are not also selling products.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Leasing:</span> Businesses tend to lease expensive items while consumers tend to save up to buy expensive items.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Promotional Methods:</span> In B2B marketing, the most common promotional method is personal selling. B2C marketing mostly uses sales promotion, public relations, advertising, and social media.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are marketing orientations?</span>\r\nA marketing orientation has been defined as a "philosophy of business management." or "a corporate state of mind" or as an "organization[al] culture". Although scholars continue to debate the precise nature of specific orientations that inform marketing practice, the most commonly cited orientations are as follows:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Product</span></span>\r\nA firm employing a product orientation is mainly concerned with the quality of its product. A product orientation is based on the assumption that all things being equal, consumers will purchase products of superior quality. The approach is most effective when the firm has deep insights into customer needs and desires as derived from research and/or intuition and understands consumer's quality expectations and price consumers are willing to pay. Although the product orientation has largely been supplanted by the marketing orientation, firms practicing a product orientation can still be found in haute couture and arts marketing.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Sales</span></span>\r\nA sales orientation focuses on the selling/promotion of the firm's existing products, rather than developing new products to satisfy unmet needs or wants. This orientation seeks to attain the highest possible sales through promotion and direct sales techniques. The sales orientation "is typically practiced with unsought goods." One study found that industrial companies are more likely to hold a sales orientation than consumer goods companies. The approach may also suit scenarios in which a firm holds dead stock, or otherwise sells a product that is in high demand, with little likelihood of changes in consumer tastes diminishing demand.\r\nA 2011 meta-analyses found that the factors with the greatest impact on sales performance are a salesperson's sales-related knowledge (knowledge of market segments, sales presentation skills, conflict resolution, and products), degree of adaptiveness (changing behavior based on the aforementioned knowledge), role clarity (salesperson's role is to expressly to sell), cognitive aptitude (intelligence) and work engagement (motivation and interest in a sales role).\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Production</span></span>\r\nA firm focusing on a production orientation specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service in order to achieve economies of scale or economies of scope. A production orientation may be deployed when a high demand for a product or service exists, coupled with certainty that consumer tastes and preferences remain relatively constant (similar to the sales orientation). The so-called production era is thought to have dominated marketing practice from the 1860s to the 1930s, but other theorists argue that evidence of the production orientation can still be found in some companies or industries. Specifically, Kotler and Armstrong note that the production philosophy is "one of the oldest philosophies that guides sellers... [and] is still useful in some situations."\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Marketing</span></span>\r\nThe marketing orientation is the most common orientation used in contemporary marketing. It is a customer-centric approach that involves a firm basing its marketing program around products that suit new consumer tastes. Firms adopting a marketing orientation typically engage in extensive market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D (Research & Development) to develop a product attuned to the revealed information, and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure consumers are aware of the product's existence and the benefits it can deliver. Scales designed to measure a firm's overall market orientation have been developed and found to be robust in a variety of contexts.\r\nThe marketing orientation has three prime facets, which are:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Customer orientation:</span> A firm in the market economy can survive by producing goods that people are willing and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a firm's future viability and even existence as a going concern.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Organizational orientation:</span> The marketing department is of prime importance within the functional level of an organization. Information from the marketing department is used to guide the actions of a company's other departments.\r\nAs an example, a marketing department could ascertain (via marketing research) that consumers desired a new type of product or a new usage for an existing product. With this in mind, the marketing department would inform the R&D department to create a prototype of a product/service based on consumers' new desires.\r\nThe production department would then start to manufacture the product, while the marketing department would focus on the promotion, distribution, pricing, etc. of the product. Additionally, a firm's finance department would be consulted, with respect to securing appropriate funding for the development, production, and promotion of the product. Finance may oppose the required capital expenditure since it could undermine a healthy cash flow for the organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Mutually beneficial exchange:</span> In a transaction in the market economy, a firm gains revenue, which thus leads to more profits, market shares, and/or sales. A consumer, on the other hand, gains the satisfaction of a need/want, utility, reliability and value for money from the purchase of a product or service.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Societal marketing</span></span>\r\nA number of scholars and practitioners have argued that marketers have a greater social responsibility than simply satisfying customers and providing them with superior value. Marketing organizations that have embraced the societal marketing concept typically identify key stakeholder groups such as employees, customers, and local communities. Companies that adopt a societal marketing perspective typically practice triple bottom line reporting whereby they publish social impact and environmental impact reports alongside financial performance reports. Sustainable marketing or green marketing is an extension of societal marketing.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Marketing.png","alias":"marketing"},"341":{"id":341,"title":"Customer Service","description":" Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction with a product or service. Often, customer service takes place while performing a transaction for the customer, such as making a sale or returning an item. Customer service can take the form of in-person interaction, a phone call, self-service systems, or by other means.\r\nCustomer service is an important part of maintaining ongoing client relationships, which is key to continuing revenue. For this reason, many companies have worked hard to increase their customer satisfaction levels.\r\nMost successful businesses recognize the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Courteous and empathetic interaction with a trained customer service representative can mean the difference between losing or retaining a customer.\r\nWhen problems arise, customers should receive timely attention to the issue. Prompt attention to emails and phone calls is critical to maintaining good relations. Requiring customers to stand in long lines or sit on hold can sour an interaction before it begins.\r\nIdeally, customer service should be a one-stop endeavor for the consumer. For example, if a customer calls a helpline regarding a problem with a product, the customer service representative should follow through with the customer until the issue is fully resolved.\r\nThis may entail scheduling appointments with in-person repair personnel if the problem cannot be resolved on the phone, or transferring a call to skilled technicians in another department. Proactively following up with the customer to ensure that he or she is fully satisfied is another smart move.","materialsDescription":" What are customer service standards?\r\nCustomer service standards are an internal corporate set of rules governing the company's customer service activities, an algorithm for communicating with customers, and general standards for responding to unusual situations. The standard of customer service is an integral part of the corporate standard of the company.\r\nFunctions of customer service standards:\r\n<ol><li>To order. The client does not encounter problems, does not see them, which means that he is confident that all the staff without exception are professionals who know their business.</li><li>To control. It is difficult to assess and monitor the work of each manager if there are no clear criteria for evaluation. At the same time, the implementation of the sales plan cannot be the only parameter of the assessment; you need to know whether the manager of customer service standards adopted in this company adheres.</li><li>To adapt. Among other things, the availability of customer service standards simplifies the procedure.</li></ol>\r\nCustomer service standards are effective if the customer does not see the difference between the work of two (or more) managers, and sees only “proprietary” service, always the same, regardless of any external factors or circumstances. The customer service standard, which has been tested in practice, backed up by experience (perhaps even someone else's), created on the basis of analytical studies and recognized methods, can be called "gold". It allows you to increase profits, improve the image of the company, attract new customers.\r\nCustomer service standards are an important part of the company's brand. But, in addition, the standards are necessary and other units, in particular, the department to work with staff. Therefore, their development must take into account the needs of all interested services of the company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the purpose of introducing customer service standards in the company?</span>\r\nThe objectives of implementing the standards are as follows:\r\n<ul><li>For employees with experience: minimize the number of erroneous and unnecessary actions. The result of this will be saving time of each employee (no errors - no need to spend time correcting them). And, as a result, increased productivity.</li><li>For novice employees: customer service standards allow you to transfer the necessary knowledge in the most concise manner and in a short time.</li><li>For the company: the abolition of dependence on the old-timers. Not all employees who have worked in the company for many years (or even since the day of foundation) are able to resist the so-called star disease. Having knowledge and experience, a person loses the ability to objectively evaluate his work, he begins to think that he is the best manager in the company. It can end very badly - in the event of dismissal, such an employee will take the base, and turn clients against the company. Standards for customer service are needed to ensure that all employees can be assessed on a single scale, based on the actual benefits they bring to the company, as well as the attitude of the employee to the company.</li><li>For the company: the uniformity of control activities of managers. Standards are unequivocal, exclude double interpretations, and therefore cannot cause controversy about the rightness of an employee or employer.</li><li>For managers: the standards of uniform customer service are the same for all managers, and this makes it possible to make the pay of each manager absolutely transparent and intelligible. Realizing that there will be no double interpretations, the manager may not be afraid that he will be paid less than expected - all his mistakes and achievements are immediately visible and understandable.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The application of service standards allows you:</span>\r\n<ul><li>to develop a company style in dealing with clients;</li><li>to increase the effectiveness of the work of managers with new customers;</li><li>to bring the quality of communication with customers to a higher level;</li><li>to create a positive opinion of the company about the company, so that it can be recommended to its acquaintances, thus increasing the number of potential and then real customers;</li><li>to minimize conflicts between the manager and the customer;</li><li>to develop a technology for training newcomers;</li><li>to transfer the assessment of the work of the manager from the subjective to the objective, transparent and understandable to everyone;</li><li>to establish a procedure for controlling the work of personnel;</li><li>to increase the motivation of managers to work.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Benefits of applying service standards</span>\r\n<ul><li>The accumulation of experience: the entire base focuses on the company, and not on the hands of managers, "old-timers." Thus, the departure of one or several “old” employees does not become a “natural disaster” for the company.</li><li>Motivation, analysis and control: customer service standards make it possible to develop a transparent scheme of managers' motivation based on a clear, almost mathematical analysis of their work. The sales process is optimized.</li><li>Setting goals. With the help of standards, the company has the ability to set clear, reasonable plans. This allows you to keep the atmosphere in the team friendly and stable, and the lack of "muffled" tasks - to increase the loyalty of managers to the company.</li><li>Standards of customer service is a fairly mobile system that allows you to immediately detect errors in working with clients and quickly eliminate them. In addition, at any stage of working with a client, the head of the sales department can intervene in the process, noticing an error in the work of the manager, and even be proactive in order to prevent an error to which the manager is heading.</li><li>Quick and easy start for beginners. Customer service standards are actually a knowledge base, collected, analyzed, and streamlined. Such information is easily transmitted and assimilated by beginners, which means that the beginner quickly gets to work and starts to make a profit. In addition, a newbie will not spoil relations with a client by awkward actions, since he already knows what to do in any conflict and problem situations.</li><li>Customer confidence. Customer service standards allow the latter to feel confident in the company - no matter where the customer is, he will always easily recognize “his” company by brand features and can be absolutely sure that in a small town they will be served as qualitatively as in a million-plus city, because that the company is well aware of their work. So, such a company can be trusted.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Customer_Service.png","alias":"customer-service"},"347":{"id":347,"title":"Production Planning","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Production planning</span> is the planning of production and manufacturing modules in a company or industry. It utilizes the resource allocation of activities of employees, materials and production capacity, in order to serve different customers.<br />Different types of production methods, such as single item manufacturing, batch production, mass production, continuous production etc. have their own type of production planning. Production planning can be combined with production control into production planning and control, or it can be combined with <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">enterprise resource planning (ERP)</span>. \r\nProduction planning can help in efficient manufacturing or setting up of a production site by facilitating required needs.A production plan is made periodically for a specific time period, called the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">planning horizon.</span>\r\nIn order to develop production plans, the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">production planner</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">production planning department</span> needs to work closely together with the marketing department and sales department. They can provide sales forecasts, or a listing of customer orders.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Production scheduling</span> is the process of syncing and planning the steps in the manufacturing process to ensure that production runs smoothly and customers receive what they ordered on schedule.\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Areas of production scheduling</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Procurement</span>: Production can't proceed if you don't have the materials necessary for manufacturing. Procurement scheduling is an art and a science that involves keeping enough on hand without carrying a bloated inventory. You can tighten procurement systems by using digital or manual spreadsheets to track inventory and by developing relationships with suppliers who can get you what you need consistently and quickly.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Personnel</span>: Planning and scheduling employee time is critical to developing a successful production work flow plan. There should be enough workers on hand to finish projects within the promised time frame but not enough to bloat your payroll or create inefficiencies by crowding your work space. It helps to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each staff member so you can leverage employee skills and circumvent potential difficulties.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Machinery</span>: Like your employees, your equipment has a limited number of capacity hours that should be scheduled thoughtfully. Machines should be well maintained according to a schedule that doesn't take them out of production any longer than necessary.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Tools for Scheduling Production </span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software</span>: Once the logistics of your production schedule become complex enough to bog you down, there is a range of software options available to help you manage the details. Programs help you to set priorities, coordinate processes and manage staffing.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Written documents</span>: If your production processes are relatively simple, you may be able to effectively create useful and meaningful lists so team members and managers have a clear idea of what needs to happen and in what order. Timelines and flow charts can help to provide useful visuals to help staff understand how processes interface.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Custom spreadsheet</span>s: You can also design your own spreadsheets to plan and communicate work flow. Custom spreadsheets offer the advantage of being tailored specifically to your company and your processes. They pose the disadvantage of potentially being less robust or nimble than a software system designed by professionals drawing on a deeper and broader database of scheduling tools and knowledge.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><br /><br /></p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is production planning?</span></h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Production planning</span> – a systematic approach, which helps to calculate and estimate goals and stages of manufacturing process during the constant changes of multiple factors. Some of these factors might include an increase of product range, introduction of new manufacturing equipment, changing inventory stock and others.<br /><br />For a manufacturers it is very important to be able to make calculations and estimates of these factors as precisely, as possible. As a result they want to be able to answer all of the following questions:\r\n<ul><li>What are we planning to produce?</li><li>What do we need for that?</li><li>What do we have?</li><li>What else is needed?</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the types of production planning software?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">The development of technology has made production-planning process very easy to perform. While there are still manufacturing companies, utilizing pen and paper, when doing their MRP estimates, most manufacturing companies using one or the other type of software solution.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spreadsheet based software </span>– Excel, Open Office or Google Documents. For example Microsoft Excel comes with a standard Microsoft Office package already preinstalled on every Windows PC, thus baring no additional expenses for business.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">In addition, Excel is a very easy tool to work with, it has a big user database worldwide, so any question that might occur will be answered. However, no matter how good of a tool Excel is, it has its limitations. One of these limitations is speed – the more different tables and individual files are being interlinked between each other, the slower is the performance of an Excel work file.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Custom made planning software </span>– this includes solutions done in-house. Companies that decide to go this route, most often than not have experience working with Excel or similar spreadsheet based software. By creating solution in-house manufacturer is thinking of increasing the productivity and reliability of its planning department. While idea of using some sort of software instead of a complex spreadsheet is a good one, creating a totally new planning software from scratch could be very challenging. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Specialized production planning software</span> – a professionally developed production planning software for small business offers the best of two worlds – it provides all the production planning features that a small business needs and unlike spreadsheet software it is fast and reliable.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is project management software?</span></h1>\r\nProject management software is a suite of tools that helps improve production teams’ efficiency. They usually come as cloud-based, multi-user platforms that host features such project planning and scheduling, collaboration, advanced reporting, and project budgeting, among many others. They are meant to ensure that all project stakeholders are constantly in the know and that every project is delivered on time.<br /> \r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What does project management software do?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Some of the best features revolve around the generation of repetitive and unique tasks and projects, team collaboration, project completion, proper tracking for the purposes of budgeting and due diligence, and effective documentation. But that’s par for the course for most applications in the market. </p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Project tracking.</span> This is the most basic function of a project management software: tracking your projects. This includes being able to track who worked on which task last, the general overview of the entire project, identifying bottlenecks, and identifying performers.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Easier collaboration.</span> It makes it easier for coworkers to check on the latest changes to a project, pick up where they left off, or pick up from where their colleagues left off.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li></ul>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Better communication. </span>Part of the collaborative effort involves better communication, and the best project management software should make person-to-person and department-to-department communication easier and more efficient.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li></ul>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Documentation. </span>Since tracking a project involves documenting the knowledge gained throughout the entire endeavor, proper documentation is key. This means your app should be able to help you and your team simplify the process of documenting changes, technology, project updates, and new intelligence.</li></ul>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Accurate dashboards for reporting. </span>This is an important purpose of productivity planner app and software. Accurate reporting is a key component of identifying your company’s KPI, and project management software should help you in generating the best reports for your business. </li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the factors to consider when getting a project management software?</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Task and project creation.</span> Most of the time, you’ll be using your project management software as a task calendar to create cyclical, templated projects. But once in a while, you’ll want to create unique tasks and projects for your company’s needs. The flexibility between creating unique tasks and projects and setting up templated ones is integral in ensuring that you are able to tackle projects of different shapes and sizes.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simple and efficient reporting.</span> If you’re going to be working with a project management system, you’ll need accurate report creation powers. This feature is found in all of the best organiser apps in the market. And for good reason: when you’re working on a project that blew up in terms of man-hours and budget, you will want to be able to pinpoint just how much you spent on the project, and what caused the problem. A good reporting feature in a productivity calendar will go a long way in helping with this.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">File sharing options</span>. It’s always awesome whenever a project management solution offers decent storage space for all the files you’ll be sharing. But sometimes, having the option to use a third-party storage solution like Box or Dropbox can be helpful too, especially if you’re more familiar with another cloud storage provider.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Intuitive and clean UI. </span>A good user interface can make or break a good project management team. Sometimes, having an easy time using the application can be more important than what the application can do.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reliable support.</span> Who are you going to call when something breaks in your project management software? Knowing that you’re working with people who are willing and able to help you come up with a solution to your app’s issues is a treasure</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Production_Planning.png","alias":"production-planning"},"355":{"id":355,"title":"Payroll Accounting","description":"The accounting for payroll involves all aspects of paying compensation and benefits to employees. The outcome of this process is precise records regarding the expenses associated with all types of compensation, as well as timely payments to employees.\r\nThough some systems that incorporate more or less automatic payroll systems may not include all of these steps, the general process flow will apply to most payroll systems:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Set up new employees.</span> Have new employees fill out payroll-specific information as part of the hiring process, such as the W-4 form and medical insurance forms that may require payroll deductions. Set aside copies of this information in order to include it in the next payroll.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Collect timecard information.</span> Salaried employees require no change in wages paid for each payroll, but you must collect and summarize information about the hours worked by non-exempt employees. This may involve having employees scan a badge through a computerized time clock.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Verify timecard information.</span> Summarize the payroll information just collected and have supervisors verify that employees have correctly recorded their time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Summarize wages due.</span> Multiply the number of hours worked by the pay rate for each employee, also factoring in any overtime or shift differentials.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Enter employee changes.</span> Employees may ask to have changes made to their paychecks, usually to the number of tax exemptions or pension withholdings. You may need to record much of this prior to calculating taxes, since it impacts the amount of wages to which taxes are applied.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Calculate taxes.</span> Use tax tables to determine the amount of taxes to be withheld from employee gross pay.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Calculate wage deductions.</span> There may be a number of additional deductions to take away from employee net income, including deductions for medical insurance, life insurance, garnishments, and union dues. You must also track the goal amounts for these deductions, so that you stop deducting once the goal totals are reached.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deduct manual payments.</span> If manual payments have already been made to employees, such as advances, then deduct these amounts from the remaining net pay.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Create a payroll register. </span>Summarize the wage and deduction information for each employee in a payroll register, which you can then summarize to also create a journal entry to record the payroll. This document is automatically created by all payroll software packages.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Print paychecks.</span> Print employee paychecks using the information in the payroll register. You normally itemize gross wages, deductions, and net pay in a remittance advice that accompanies the paycheck.\r\n <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pay by direct deposit.</span> Notify your direct deposit processor of the amount of any direct deposit payments, and issue remittance advices to employees for these payments.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Issue paychecks.</span> Have a paymaster issue paychecks to employees, requiring employee identification if there are a large number of employees.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deposit withheld taxes.</span> Deposit all withheld payroll taxes and employer matched taxes at a bank that is authorized to handle these transactions.\r\nPayroll administration is one of the most important business processes your company performs, yet one of the most cumbersome and time-consuming daily activities. It doesn’t generate direct revenues, so keeping this process to a bare minimum in time and cost means savings and more efficiency to your business. This is why you need <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">payroll software</span>, so you can focus on income-generating strategies and daily core tasks.\r\nPayroll management software can be classified by: deployment (cloud vs. enterprise), business size (small business vs. enterprise) and target market (general vs. industry-specific). There is another way to distinctly classify payroll software, one that may impact on your workflows.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integrated payroll management system.</span> Payroll, accounting and HRM have overlapping processes.; thus, often, payroll management is integrated as a module in accounting software, HRM or an organization-wide business system like ERP. It can be a standard feature or separately charged as an add-on. Integrated payroll management covers the core tasks like payroll processing, income tax calculations and paycheck printing.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Dedicated payroll management.</span> These are standalone apps that go beyond core features of payroll and tax software with specialized functions as time-tracking & attendance, customized reporting, benefits management and even a tax planner. A good dedicated payroll application should easily integrate with other HRM and accounting systems. This type of payroll system is popular among payroll services and small businesses.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the must have features for a payroll software?</span></h1>\r\nThe essential part of any organisation is payroll. Every worker’s salary compensation is based on the payroll system. Now the features of payroll software are used to streamline and handle the payments of the employees. From automating several tasks such as depositing the salaries, to taking care of taxes, a payroll management software is highly helpful. \r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Integrated Accounting.</span> The human resources team and the accounting department can save time for managing every payroll detail manually. Thus, payroll programs can eliminate the scope of miscalculation and placement of the critical data in a wrong file. </li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Recording Files and Payslips.</span> The software can generate reports including leave summary, salary benefits, and salary statements. By using the digital platform, the software can print payslip. Moreover, you can even download and print the regulatory payroll. Acting as the sole repository of employment record and document, this software can be handy for any business. This software includes essential features like experience letter, organisational chart, employees profile, occupational safety and tax, and offer letter.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reporting in Payroll Processing Software. </span>Through the software, you can customise the report criteria and follow the reporting tasks taken care of:<br /><ul><li>Timesheet reports</li><li>Balancing audit reports</li><li>Wage and liability audit-related reports</li><li>Unemployment wage reports</li></ul>Several reports and inquiry output formats which include email, XML, text file and printed report. As different teams use the reports, the software can restrict the allocation of essential resources. The features make the best out of the reporting operation. Before purchasing the software, you need to make sure that the essential reporting functions are available in your software.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Keeping Track of Earning.</span> One of the best payroll software features is that it manages the earnings of the employees. </li></ul>\r\n<br /> \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Tax Management Done Easily.</span> The features of the payroll software solutions execute the task of tax filing and computing. With the features the employee taxes are filed within the deadline. This way, the chances of facing penalties are avoided. The payroll program software stores pay calculating records every hour. It also pays attention to tax benefit purposes.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Depositing Directly to Account.</span> One of the best features of payroll soft is that the payroll is deposited to the bank account directly. The software saves huge expense on the annual supplies and processing. It can also take care of any fraudulent activities related to the employee’s salary. The funds are transferred within no time directly from the company account to the employee account.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Customisation at its best.</span> Among all the key features personalisation plays an integral role. Through customising every check and form, the whole system of payroll software is managed. You can customise the tables and menus here. You can also customise the reports, screens, and fields to offer the best kind of service. The software can print logos of the organisation for attaching them to the reports and checks.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">High Level of Security.</span> The primary security feature required in the software is that the database encryption. For restricting the highly valued resources like the tax files, employee personal details, and payroll information, the software has password protection. With the comprehensive audit trails, the security feature also focuses on the control access. This takes care of sensitive information to the highest degree. The addition of record level security can save the company form fraud cases at an optimal level.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Know about Streamlining.</span> The worker can get access to the records or printed pay stubs through the automatic generation of the payroll system. There is an option for getting in touch with the third-party administrator and track in-house bookkeeping.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Zero Error, High Level of Accuracy.</span> The best thing about payroll automation software is that every work is carried out by following a high level of skill. By installing the latest updates on the application, the features of payroll software remain upgraded. And the system does not have to pay the price of manual error. With the help of soft, there is less chance of human error. Also, the tax forms are pre-filled following the worker’s payroll details. The unbiased third-party app can keep the records up-to-date every hour even if you outsource the operations.</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Payroll_Accounting.png","alias":"payroll-accounting"},"359":{"id":359,"title":"Order Management","description":" Order management is the administration of business processes related to orders for goods or services. Order management is the order-to-cash sales process that sits at the heart of any goods-based B2C and B2B company. Put simply, it’s the end-to-end cycle of receiving and processing a customer order through to fulfillment. \r\nOrder management is not conducted in isolation; it relies upon almost every department in a company: from a customer service team to the warehouse staff, the accounting department through to delivery partners. When mastered effectively, order management ensures a business’s workflow runs smoothly by establishing efficient processes to keep it moving forward; maintaining customer satisfaction and protecting a company’s reputation.\r\nOrder management involves a series of interconnected touchpoints and stakeholders who work collaboratively together to enable customers to order the right products, for the right price and receive them at the right time. The order fulfillment system (as it is also known) not only secures that order-to-cash (O2C) processes run smoothly, but also gives businesses the opportunity to build customer profiles and keep track of inventory volume and sales records.\r\nWhen scaling your business, it’s important to automate and streamline this process — otherwise, you’ll eventually be overwhelmed by the sheer number of orders coming in. An ordering system gives you a one-stop shop to view and manage all customer orders in one place.\r\nSome systems offer a two-way sync that makes sure order information is passed between your order management system and your ecommerce platform while providing you with visibility into the entire process. This can help automate the flow of sales order information to every piece of the supply chain. That means you can track the entire journey of a customer order, from the “Buy” button to delivery — and even returns.\r\nOrder processing is the process or work flow from order placement to delivery. This is a key element of order fulfillment, where reliability and accuracy lead to customer satisfaction. Steps in order processing include picking, sorting, tracking and shipping. Order processing can range from manual (hand written on an order log sheet) to highly technological and data driven (through online orders and order processing software) depending on the operation.\r\nIn order to establish a fast-moving, cost-effective and accurate order management cycle, both B2C and B2B companies are choosing to use an integrated and responsive order management system (OMS). The OMS integrates directly with a business’s ERP and is set up to work alongside the human workforce in order to obtain the most productive and profitable order management cycle possible.\r\nAn integrated order management system may encompass these modules:\r\n<ul><li>Product information (descriptions, attributes, locations, quantities)</li><li>Inventory available to promise (ATP) and sourcing</li><li>Vendors, purchasing, and receiving</li><li>Marketing (catalogs, promotions, pricing)</li><li>Customers and prospects</li><li>Order entry and customer service (including returns and refunds)</li><li>Financial processing (credit cards, billing, payment on account)</li><li>Order processing (selection, printing, picking, packing, shipping) </li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is OMS software?</span></h1>\r\nAn order management system is a software system that facilitates and manages the execution of trade orders. An order management system is any tool or platform that tracks sales, orders, inventory, and fulfillment as well as enables the people, processes, and partnerships necessary for products to find their way to the customers who bought them. \r\nAn order processing system software should provide one centralized place to manage orders from all sales channels. Centralizing this in one system is critical to delivering a superior customer experience by providing order status, on-time deliveries and meeting customer expectations for buy, fulfill and return anywhere. \r\nThe right solution gives you a foundation for consistent and seamless execution across all customer, financial, inventory and supply chain touch points that drives customer satisfaction, repeat business and long-term loyalty. Additionally, order management systems can improve sales visibility and reduce delays and back orders by giving you a single view of demand, inventory and supply.\r\nAn effective order management system software lets you seamlessly orchestrate the fulfillment of products and services across virtually all your customer touch points. Without a centralized order management system, realizing a comprehensive view of demand, transactions and customers across all channels and fulfillment locations can be extremely difficult.\r\nOrder management software equips you to think beyond the inventory on hand to focus on what's available to promise to your customers. It eliminates costly and rigid inventory segmentation across channels and business units with a single, real-time, consolidated view of inventory across the enterprise, from your suppliers and manufacturing facilities to your warehouse and stores.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How to choose the right OMS software?</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Define your system objectives and priorities of each.</span> By doing so and discussing with your internal stakeholders, you’ll clearly understand features that are “absolute requirements” vs. ones that are “nice to have.” Don’t forget to factor in scalability and future thinking.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Draft a request for proposal (RFP)</span>. This will help your team get organized and both you and the vendor(s) understand the technical requirements and limitations of the system you’re hoping to implement. Don’t forget to include order volumes, number of SKUs, current vendor landscape, existing software, hardware, and networks, a timeline for the systems acquisition process, and details on training & enablement.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Research systems options</span>. It’s unlikely that you’ll find an ideal fit for your business with your first contact (but how amazing would that be), so compile a list of 4-6 vendors to evaluate and reach out to for demos or trails. </li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Review trade-offs.</span> It’s unlikely you’ll find a vendor that is a 100% fit and your final selection will be based on a number of trade-off criteria. Feature & function alone shouldn’t be your sole selection criteria as you’ll want to take into account the entirety of the business relationship you’re getting into.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How do your customers benefit from an online order management system?</span></h1>\r\nAn online ordering software doesn’t just benefit you, though. It also benefits your customers. The system will give them a quick, convenient, and 24/7 way to place orders without having to call or email your staff, or fill out old-fashioned Excel or Word order forms. They'll have instant, online updates on the status of their orders, and they’ll have greater confidence that their orders will arrive on-time and with the correct items. An online order management system also makes your company look more professional in the eyes of your customers.Here are three ways they benefit:\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">They can place orders on their schedule.</span> Between managing employees, servicing customers, and marketing their business, most business owners are working on a very tight schedule. Taking the time to call or email your sales staff or meet with a sales rep can be challenging. Using an online product ordering system that allows customers to log on at their convenience and quickly choose the items they want to order goes a long way for customer service. If they place the same order on a regular basis, they can use a reorder feature which duplicates previous orders. The whole process takes a matter of seconds. So alleviate this challenge by implementing a system that allows your customers to place an order anytime.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">They can check their order status at any time.</span> One of the biggest challenges a business faces is managing their inventory. On one hand, they want to have enough inventory available to service their customers. On the other hand, they don’t want to have inventory piling up on their shelves. There’s a critical need to know with confidence when inventory will arrive.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n<ul><li> <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">They have a higher probability of receiving the correct order in a timely manner. </span>Nothing will erode your customers' trust more than making errors on their shipments and invoices. If it happens once, that may be forgiven as a simple mistake. However, if it happens repeatedly, your customer is likely to start looking for alternative options. An online order management system with warehouse integration can send the order directly to your third party warehouse. This reduces the probability that an error will be made. The less people who handle the order information, the lower the likelihood for human error.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Order_Management.png","alias":"order-management"},"361":{"id":361,"title":"Financial Performance and Strategy Management Applications","description":" Strategic financial management means not only managing a company's finances but managing them with the intention to succeed—that is, to attain the company's goals and objectives and maximize shareholder value over time. However, before a company can manage itself strategically, it first needs to define its objectives precisely, identify and quantify its available and potential resources, and devise a specific plan to use its finances and other capital resources toward achieving its goals.\r\nStrategic financial management is about creating profit for the business and ensuring an acceptable return on investment (ROI). Financial management is accomplished through business financial plans, setting up financial controls, and financial decision making.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is financial performance management?</span>\r\nAlso known as corporate performance management, financial performance management refers to the ways that a company manages and monitors financial results across an organization. The primary purpose of financial performance management is to compare actual results to budgets and forecasts and make adjustments accordingly. The result? Companies are better equipped to meet their business goals.\r\nVentana Research describes financial performance management as a specific set of capabilities that includes "defining their company's key performance indicators, formulating strategic plans and forecasts, handling performance reporting, and increasing finance operational efficiency and execution company-wide.”\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is financial performance management software?</span>\r\nFinancial performance management software, also known as corporate performance management software, streamlines financial management processes. This software connects budgeting, planning, close, consolidation, reporting, and disclosure to a single data source. It enables users to complete these tasks in one software system, as opposed to many separate systems.\r\nIn essence, financial performance management software consolidates information, formats it to meet compliance requirements, and provides automated tools that enable finance to create regulatory reports and disclosures. In addition to a central data repository and workflow tools, financial performance management software has features to create, manage, validate, and publish financial statements and reports. Best-in-class financial performance management software even has a robust suite of communication tools that foster collaboration and improve audit controls.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of corporate performance management?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Corporate performance management helps companies become more agile when faced with unexpected business events.</span> With features like KPI dashboards, real-time data, and responsive plans that change as actuals do, CFOs and finance executives can understand what’s happening and take action faster.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Corporate performance management helps companies make better decisions.</span> CPM systems often have automated features like scenario modeling, rolling forecasts, and what-if scenarios analysis. Using these in combination with a single version of automated data, executives can better analyze performance, respond to change, and make more informed decisions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Corporate performance management helps companies focus on analysis.</span> Using corporate performance software, users spend less time on manual tasks like data collection and data entry. Instead, they can focus their time on value-added activities like analyzing profitability, reducing costs, business partnering with executive decision-makers, and developing a strategy.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Corporate performance management helps companies interpret large amounts of data quickly.</span> CPM as we know it is evolving. Once CPM was purely financial management. Today, organizations are sitting on a treasure trove of information, that if adequately managed, could provide telling insights about the state of business and the direction decision-makers should take next. Modernized CPM solutions help financial users identify these underlying trends, unearth insights, and interpret large amounts of data quickly.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Corporate performance management aligns the entire organization, from corporate to subsidiaries to divisions to LoBs, departments, and individual contributors all in a single solution.</span> CPM software aligns every part of the organization to a central data source, so collaborators make all decisions, create reports, and perform analysis with financial truth top of mind and with finance at the heart of every decision.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Financial_Performance_and_Strategy_Management_Applications.png","alias":"financial-performance-and-strategy-management-applications"},"367":{"id":367,"title":"Web Conferencing Applications","description":" Web conferencing is the common name for technology and tools for online meetings and real-time collaboration. Web conferencing allows you to conduct online presentations, collaborate on documents and applications, view websites, videos, images.\r\nWeb conferences, as a rule, are Internet services that require the installation of a client program on each participant’s computer. Some services also provide access to a web conference via a browser using flash, java or a special plug-in.\r\nServices for web conferencing can include features and tools such as screen sharing (screen sharing or individual applications), whiteboard (interactive whiteboard), the ability to show web presentations, co-browsing (the ability to synchronously browse web pages), tools for annotations, monitoring the presence of participants, text chat, integrated VoIP communication, video communication, the ability to change the leader, the ability to give control over the mouse and keyboard, meeting moderation tools, feedback collection tools (on example, polls), tools for scheduling and inviting participants, the ability to record the progress of a web conference.\r\nOften, web conferencing is used with Internet services for audio and video calls (for example, Skype) or they provide conference calling via a regular telephone.","materialsDescription":" What is the first thing that strikes you when we look at businessmen who are trying to establish communication with each other online? All of them require: “Give more opportunities for web conferencing!”. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the WebRTC technology is gaining the favor of an increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses.\r\nA recent study conducted by Software Advice showed that more than half of employees in small businesses prefer web conferences, noting their efficiency and usability. The advantages are especially noticeable in comparison with communications via telephone or the use of special applications. However, the benefits of web conferencing do not end there - according to the study, they not only increase the speed and quality of online meetings, but also provide a lot of opportunities for collaboration. In addition, and this is obvious, they reduce travel costs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Speed and quality come first.</span>\r\nIt is worth noting that now small and medium businesses are almost gone from the use of communication hardware and use desktop computers and mobile devices. Despite the fact that audio and video conferences are still very popular (they are used by 45% and 50% of users, respectively), web conferences are actively replacing them. Judge for yourself - according to statistics, every third user selects them as a means of communication after the first experience of use.\r\nThe main reason for such a rapid growth in popularity is the speed and quality that web conferencing users provide. According to respondents, the main advantage of web conferences is the ability to organize a meeting much faster than before. Now there is no need to spend time on installing special applications like Skype or similar - any communication systems using any third-party programs are a thing of the past. Also worth noting is the ability to connect to the web conference literally in one click.\r\nMore than 40% of the people surveyed showed dissatisfaction with the tedious procedure of entering authorization data, noting the simplicity and convenience of connecting to the WebRTC web conference. All you need is access to the Internet!\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">We work in a team</span>\r\nIt is no secret that the use of web conferencing significantly reduces the company's travel expenses. After all, booking tickets, searching for hotels and meeting places can result in a decent amount, which will seriously hurt the company's income. Using web conferences, you get the opportunity to arrange business meetings, even with overseas partners, without leaving your office. But that's not all! Web conferencing offers a range of tools to overcome language barriers. For example, in the field of healthcare, videoconferencing has been used to establish consultations between doctors and patients from completely different countries. With the help of online translators and other special features of web conferences, people can get the necessary help from qualified foreign specialists.\r\nDo not forget that web conferencing is not only a convenient way to hold a video call. You can arrange trainings for your team using file transfer and document display functions, as well as conduct job interviews without wasting time.\r\nIt is interesting to note that small and medium-sized businesses share their product samples with prospective clients using web conferences, turning them into a powerful marketing tool. This brings the business to a fundamentally new level, allowing the company to take a leading position in its industry!","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Web_Conferencing_Applications.png","alias":"web-conferencing-applications"},"369":{"id":369,"title":"File Synchronization and Sharing Software","description":" Enterprise file synchronization and sharing (also known as EFSS and enterprise file sync and share) refer to software services that enable organizations to securely synchronize and share documents, photos, videos and files from multiple devices with employees, and external customers and partners. Organizations often adopt these technologies to prevent employees from using consumer-based file sharing apps to store, access and manage corporate data that is outside of the IT department’s control and visibility.\r\nEFSS applications are often characterized by having most or all of the following features and capabilities:\r\n<ul><li>Sync files stored incorporate storage to user desktops and devices</li><li>Send links to large files with support for multiple file extensions and protocols</li><li>Integration to existing business applications via APIs, plugins and mobile apps</li><li>Built-in file creation, editing and previewing</li><li>User access permissions to files and folders</li><li>Protection of files stored and transferred by encryption, antivirus scanning, and DLP (data loss prevention)</li><li>Publish links to files with the ability to set a login requirement to access data</li><li>Authentication options for Active Directory, SAML, Azure Active Directory, etc.</li><li>Schedule and automate file transfers from automated systems and repositories</li><li>Audit and report file activities and system actions</li></ul>\r\nDepending on what an EFSS provider offers, services can be deployed using cloud computing, on-premises, or hybrid. According to Forrester Research, some EFSS providers can provide the ability to lock down data in certain geographies for companies that have requirements to store content/metadata in specific jurisdictions.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is File Synchronization and Sharing Software?</span>\r\nFile synchronization and sharing software enable companies to securely synchronize and share photos, documents, videos, and files from multiple sources with their customers, partners, and employees.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of File Synchronization and Sharing Software?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Better Protection.</span> Cloud-based file-sharing services are limited in their ability to protect your sensitive business documents. As high profile service providers, they are under an increased threat of attack by hackers, as seen in recent headlines regarding security concerns and data breaches.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Efficiency and Control.</span> Sending email attachments can be problematic due to file size restrictions or their vulnerability to interception during transmission.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Convenience.</span> File Synchronization and Sharing Software eliminate the need for memory sticks to transport data and the risk associated with using them. Your files can be securely accessed anywhere, anytime with a secure Internet connection and browser.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Easy Sharing.</span> Network drives can be found in nearly every office for sharing files within your department. However, it's not so convenient if you want to share files between remote office locations or when working offsite. EFSS enables you to connect and share simply and easily without boundaries.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_File_Synchronization_and_Sharing_Software.png","alias":"file-synchronization-and-sharing-software"},"371":{"id":371,"title":"Compensation Management","description":" Compensation management is a critical part of talent management and employee retention. It uses financial and nonmonetary benefits to attract recruits, reduce turnover, spur performance and boost employee engagement. It is responsible for ensuring that salary and bonuses remain competitive and benefit programs change with the needs of the workforce. The people in this role not only work with data but are also keen to understand the complexity of benefits administration.\r\nCompensation management software is standard in human capital management software suites. It is used to budget employee salaries and provides information about how salary changes with a job role. Although HR has charge of compensation management systems, it can be accessed by managers in a firm.\r\nThe software is typically configured to give supervisors a departmental view of the employee data they need to make salary offers, the issue raises and grant bonuses. An employee's performance management data may be displayed along with compensation information.\r\nEnsuring that salaries are competitive is a major benefit of compensation management systems. Compensation data that's in tune with the market gives hiring managers critical data they need when making an offer to a candidate. This applies as well to raises and bonuses to the incumbent workforce. Employees today have opportunities to find out about their peers' salaries and benefits. A good compensation management system is alert to the market, and this can help motivate employees and reduce turnover.\r\nCompensation management requires the use of external data. Managers gather salary market data by industry, company size, job role and geography. They can use government data, information from publicly available sites that gather user reported salary data, as well as purchase data from third-party firms that conduct ongoing surveys of salary and benefits.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why is Compensation Management so important?</span>\r\n<ol><li>Compensation management makes a company vigilant. It drives managers to be on the lookout for star performers who must be given rewards for their efforts, which ultimately decreases the risk of losing a valuable employee.</li><li>It is positive reinforcement. Yes, money doesn’t make the world go round and if line managers are not friendly, helpful and supportive retention is difficult. But cash prizes and consistent monetary perks in conjunction with a great work environment allow companies to grow by leaps and bounds through motivated, hard-working employees.</li><li>Compensation management enhances the company’s reputation. When workers are satisfied with their monetary and intangible rewards, they attract better prospects for vacant positions, bringing new, fresh talent to the organization.</li></ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Benefits of Compensation Management for your Organization</span>\r\n<ul><li>One of the most significant benefits associated with compensation management is that it helps the organization achieve employee satisfaction. A happy employee will be more productive while contributing to the overall profit of the business. This makes employees realize that they are getting equal returns for the time and effort they are dedicating to the organization. The practice of compensation management exerts a positive impact on the employees by influencing them to perform better and increasing their overall efficiency.</li><li>This stabilizes the labor turnover rate as employees get compensated for their work at a competitive market rate. They do not feel the need of leaving the organization. It can then be concluded that compensation management helps to increase the loyalty of the employees towards the organization.</li><li>Compensation management is an important aspect of the job evaluation process. It augments the whole process by setting up standards for the company that are realistic as well as achievable, as far as the compensation practices of the organization are concerned.</li><li>It is a practice which helps to improve the relationship of the company with the labor union, as it allows the compliance of different labor laws and acts. If the organization is following the compensation practices same as that of the market, there will be no dispute to settle between them and the labor union.</li><li>It helps the professional growth of employees, as their efficiency increases, when there is a reward present for achieving a certain level of production. This also means that the deserving employees are fairly compensated for the efforts they are putting into their work, thus helping the organization to retain the best talent.</li><li>Compensation Management is the practice that if followed properly, will turn the organization into a hub of talent. This means that more human capital will get attracted to the company when they will view the compensation package that it will be offering. Also, the organization must keep in mind that monetary rewards are not something that only derives the motivation of the workforce. The overall compensation package must also include the non-monetary rewards, where the employees should be appreciated for the effort they are putting in their work. Therefore, the organization must ensure that its compensation package is based on monetary as well as non-monetary rewards.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How to Manage Compensation</span>\r\nVery small businesses may use multiple spreadsheets to track and calculate different aspects of their employees’ compensation. This isn’t an efficient system, but when you only have a few employees, it may suit your needs. However, as your business grows and you hire more staff, your old spreadsheets just won’t do the job anymore.\r\nSpreadsheets take a lot of time to update. For a growing workforce, they can become unmanageable. When employee data is spread between multiple sheets, finding and tracking information is time-consuming and you could misplace important data.\r\nIn some cases, the compensation data that gets misplaced can have serious, negative impacts on your business. For example, if your new employee is mistakenly not added to your benefits plan and then they become seriously injured, they won’t have any coverage. This is devastating for the affected employee and can damage morale for the rest of the team.\r\nThis is why businesses turn to compensation management software as they grow. With this software, all the information your HR department needs are in one place. Since the information is in one place, you can quickly and efficiently analyze your employees’ compensation and make any necessary changes.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Compensation_Management.png","alias":"compensation-management"},"373":{"id":373,"title":"Workforce Management","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Workforce_Management.png","alias":"workforce-management"},"375":{"id":375,"title":"Mobile Enterprise Security","description":" Because mobile devices are easily lost or stolen, data on those devices is vulnerable. Enterprise mobility management is a set of systems intended to prevent unauthorized access to enterprise applications and/or corporate data on mobile devices. These can include password protection, encryption and/or remote wipe technology, which allows an administrator to delete all data from a misplaced device. With many systems, security policies can be centrally managed and enforced. Such device management systems are programmed to support and cooperate with the application programming interfaces (APIs) from various device makers to increase security compliance.\r\nThe data transfer between mobile device and the enterprise should always be encrypted, for example through a VPN tunnel or over HTTPS.\r\nMobile devices in companies with "bring your own device" (BYOD) policies are often used both personally and professionally. In these cases, corporate IT has less control over whether malware is on the device and what damage may be caused to corporate data. Apart from careful user behavior - data storage on the mobile device should be limited and centrally organized.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is mobile security?</span>\r\nMobile security refers to the set of technologies and practices that aim to protect mobile devices against operating system vulnerabilities, network and app attacks, or mobile malware. Technologies such as enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions manage compliance policies and issues relating to device privilege or loss.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are mobile security threats?</span>\r\nMobile security threats are vulnerabilities or attacks that attempt to compromise your phone's operating system, internet connection, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, or apps. Smartphones possess very different behaviors and capabilities compared to PCs or laptops and need to be equipped to detect attacks specific to mobile devices. Mobile devices contain unique functions and behaviors making traditional IT security solutions ineffective for securing mobile devices. One of the primary differences in how mobile devices are different from PCs and laptops is administration privileges. There are several administrators for a PC or laptop making it simple for corporate IT to install security software and monitor computers for problems. On mobile devices, the administration is handled by the device owner. The device owner is the only one that can install apps or allow other management profiles on the device. This means the burden of securing the mobile device and its data falls entirely on the user--who may not have the time or expertise to provide proper mobile device security.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is mobile security important?</span>\r\nMobile security is very important since our mobile device is now our primary computing device. On average, users spend more than 5 hours each day on a mobile device conducting company and personal business. The shift in device usage habits has also moved the prime target for hackers from PCs to our mobile devices. Since mobile devices are now a prime target, we need to secure them and arm them with threat detection and malware protection just like PCs. Smartphones are able to circumvent traditional security controls, and typically represent a massive blind spot for IT and security teams. Hackers know this, which no doubt contributed to the number of smartphone attacks recorded between January and July 2016. The number of attacks nearly doubled compared to the last six months of 2015. During that same time period, smartphones accounted for 78% of all mobile network infections.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which mobile security is best for enterprises?</span>\r\nThere are a number of mobile security solutions available on the market, but identifying which mobile security is best for enterprises entails using specific criteria. As is often the case, solutions designed for consumers and end-users may not be as robust, full-featured, reliable and scalable as solutions designed specifically for the enterprise. In particular, mobile security solutions that are suitable for enterprise use should include scalability, autonomous functionality, machine learning, on-device operation, and protection from zero-day threats. Enterprises also need to consider flexible deployment models to take advantage of existing infrastructure or cloud computing environments.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Enterprise_Security.png","alias":"mobile-enterprise-security"},"379":{"id":379,"title":"SAM - Software Asset Management","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software asset management (SAM)</span> tools automate many of the tasks required to maintain compliance with software licenses, thereby controlling software spending. They facilitate the in-depth analysis of software assets by decoding software license entitlements, automating the collection of software consumption data, establishing independent software vendor (ISV) effective license position (ELP), and optimizing software value delivery and information sharing. SAM software manage entitlements from enterprise license agreements, purchases and other records to automatically determine and optimize license position against discovered software. Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders use SAM tools for managing software entitlement, in lieu of using spreadsheets, due to the rising complexity of software-licensing schemes.\r\nFor many organizations, the goal of implementing an asset software program is very tactical in nature, focused specifically on balancing the number of software licenses purchased with the number of actual licenses consumed or used. In addition to software license management, an effective SAM program must also ensure that the usage of all installed software is in keeping with the terms and conditions of the specific vendor license agreement. In doing so, organizations can minimize liabilities associated with software piracy in the event of an audit by a software vendor or a third party such as the Business Software Alliance (BSA). \r\nThe key business benefits of SAM software be summarized as follows::\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Licenses.</span> Licenses are assets that need to be managed. Each license contains specific conditions for how the software product can be installed and used. As a user, your job is to make sure your company is compliant with the terms and conditions of the license agreement.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Compliance </span>is the bedrock of asset management tools. Software vendors don’t want you to use more software than you licensed. Even though SAM is much bigger than compliance, compliance is where license management becomes an essential part of your business strategy. And it’s the first goal for most companies when starting SAM.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Audits. </span>To check whether you are compliant, vendors will perform software asset management audit to see how their product is being used, how it’s configured, and whether your licenses cover all of it. There are two possible outcomes of an audit: either you’re compliant, or you’re not. Non-compliance can result in unexpected fees, which, if you’re not careful, can cost you big. An audit also disrupts your business and can take months to complete without license management technology to support the process.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Optimization.</span> Often businesses are over-compliant simply because they have more licenses than they need. They prefer to over-pay upfront to outsmart the audit risk. So, while they aren’t losing a ton of money at once for failing an audit, they are losing it slowly. It may not hurt at first, but over time being over-licensed costs more than failing an audit. When you fail an audit, you buy just enough licenses to close the gap, and often vendors demand you pay back-maintenance for the licenses too. It’s expensive, but the problem is a one-time cost — that can also be reduced or completely eliminated with software license management solutions.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">5 Reasons to do Software Asset Management</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cost savings.</span> With a full overview of your environment and your software needs, you know exactly what you’re using and exactly what you need. So you purchase the right licenses from the start, saving you money on maintenance fees, and helping to ensure compliance. In fact, you can reduce your licensing costs up to 30%.\r\nTime savings. Organizing your licenses and setting up software asset management process will save you time:\r\n<ul><li>Have a central database of your licensing terms and conditions, making it easier and quicker to get the information you need to make better software purchasing and IT budgeting decisions</li><li>Be able to respond to audit letters within days instead of weeks</li><li>Transparency means you can respond quicker to problems, sometimes even before they arise</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automation.</span>Nothing says effortless like automation. Automating your processes frees you up to concentrate on other things. With alerts and regular reports, you don’t need to spend time watching out for problems and looking for areas to save. Just to name a few examples an asset management program tool can automate:\r\n<ul><li> Alerting you to over usage and non-compliance</li><li> Informing you about high-risk configurations</li><li> Suggesting optimization options</li><li> Filling software requests with existing licenses</li><li> Simulating your data center architecture and the resulting licensing costs</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software License Optimization.</span> When you know what you have and use, you can go beyond compliance. You can compare your licenses. See what license schemes are possible and make the most sense in your environment—while easily keeping an eye on cost.</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Strategy.</span> Enterprise asset management system gives you transparency into your current and past software needs. This in turn gives you valuable insights into your software future. It can help you plan in advance on multiple levels from data center architectures to budgets and service-charging. There are strategic benefits for every department in the company.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Choosing the Best Software Asset Management Software</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software Discovery. </span>Enterprise asset management software enables IT organizations to keep track of their hardware and software inventory and monitor license compliance. In the past, this was largely a manual process where IT operators would maintain spreadsheets with information about IT assets. Each time a configuration item changed, a manual update would have to be performed which made it difficult to determine if your SAM database was truly accurate.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software and Hardware Inventory and Cataloging.</span> Software and hardware inventory cataloging is one of the main drivers of software asset management. Without sufficient oversight of inventory within the IT organization, waste is inevitable as IT managers order excess licenses, servers, and workstations without any knowledge of viable alternatives that may already be at their disposal. \r\nSoftware inventory is another key feature for SAM tools. IT organizations should look for a tool that tracks instances of software installations on the network and that can be used to determine exactly how many used or unused licenses the organization has for each application.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">License Compliance Monitoring.</span>Today's the leading software on asset management market include features that can help you proactively monitor your inventory of software licenses and detect non-compliance issues before they can ever be discovered in a software vendor audit. IT organizations can receive automated updates and notifications when a change in the system affects license compliance and take steps to correct the non-compliance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Asset Depreciation. </span>Software purchased for use is considered a fixed asset by general accounting principles, meaning that corporate organizations can depreciate purchased software on their taxes to obtain an income reduction and reduce their tax liability. Your software asset management system should track the total cost of any software your organization purchases and depreciate the software over time according to your accounting rules. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Geo-location.</span> Software asset management tools provide IT organizations with unprecedented oversight into their hardware and software inventory and configuration items. The ability to detect hardware and software on the network, collect attribution data for those configuration items and organize that information into a searchable database that drives better asset management is already revolutionary for most IT organizations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Audit Scheduling.</span> If your IT organization purchases software licenses from a major software vendor, you should anticipate that you will receive at least one software audit request every three years. As your number of vendor partners grow, you may even receive audit requests annually. If you purchased the right software asset management application, you should be conducting your own software compliance audits on a monthly basis to truly verify your compliance with software license agreements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">User-Friendly, Automated Reporting.</span> SAM tools with automated reporting features make it easy for IT managers and executive decision-makers to quickly access the high-impact information needed to make important decisions. Most software vendors have developed SAM tools that can collect software usage data or manage license compliance, but IT managers should also look at SAM tools with automated reporting features that promote ease-of-use and seamlessly deliver the information that users need from the system in a digestible and actionable format. \r\n\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Asset_Management.png","alias":"sam-software-asset-management"},"381":{"id":381,"title":"Software Distribution","description":" Software distribution can refer to 2 distinct concepts. When used as a verb, software distribution is the process of delivering software to the end user, while a software distribution, as a noun, (distro) is a collection of software.\r\nA software distribution (noun), or distro, is a collection of software components built, assembled and configured so that it can essentially be used "as is". It is often the closest thing to turnkey form of free software. A distro may take the form of a binary distribution, with an executable installer which can be downloaded from the Internet. Examples range from whole operating system distributions to server and interpreter distributions (for example WAMP installers). Software distributions (noun) can also refer to careware and donateware.\r\nIn recent years, the term has come to refer to nearly any "finished" software (i.e. something that is more or less ready for its intended use, whether as a complete system or a component of a larger system) that is assembled primarily from open source components.\r\nTechnical support is a key issue for end-users of distributions, since the distribution itself is typically free and may not be "owned" in a commercial sense by a vendor. Depending on the distribution, support may be provided by a commercial support vendor, the developers who created the distribution or by the user community itself.\r\nIn simple terms, software distribution is the process of making a software available to the end user from the developer. It gives the organization a safe and consistent method for packaging, deploying and tracking software changes in the enterprise. The software rollout projects can be done quickly and effectively in a hassle free way through software distribution.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the Benefits of Software Distribution?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Improved Software Security</span></span>\r\nA proper software distribution service monitors software performance on various workstations. It checks the software health and can automatically track necessary updates. Various maintenance job like uninstall, configuration, etc can also be performed securely through effective software distribution.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Track of User Actions</span></span>\r\nStatistics and analytics can be drawn from comprehensive or customized reports gathered from software distribution systems. It can be used to monitor user activities around the particular software on workstations. This can assist in establishing a controlled work environment where the actions of users can be monitored by the enterprise.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Saves Time</span></span>\r\nSoftware distribution gives comprehensive deployment options and ways to customize installation. Packages can be distributed to users in less time within hours and not in days. Software installations can be done remotely saving both time and effort. The process can be done unattended so IT team can concentrate on other jobs.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Automated Updates</span></span>\r\nSoftware distribution can track important updates and issue them to specific workstations in the organization. IT team does not need to attend to each computer and perform maintenance job. The software distribution system finds and schedules all important upgrades required by the application.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Distribution.png","alias":"software-distribution"},"383":{"id":383,"title":"Software-defined storage platforms, SDS","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software-defined storage (SDS)</span> is a marketing term for computer data storage software for policy-based provisioning and management of data storage independent of the underlying hardware. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SDS software</span> typically includes a form of storage virtualization to separate the storage hardware from the software that manages it. The software enabling a software-defined storage environment may also provide policy management for features such as data deduplication, replication, thin provisioning, snapshots and backup.<br /><br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SDS system</span> hardware may or may not also have abstraction, pooling, or automation software of its own. When implemented as software only in conjunction with commodity servers with internal disks, it may suggest software such as a virtual or global file system. If it is software layered over sophisticated large storage arrays, it suggests software such as storage virtualization or storage resource management, categories of products that address separate and different problems. If the policy and management functions also include a form of artificial intelligence to automate protection and recovery, it can be considered as intelligent abstraction.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software-defined storage solutions</span> may be implemented via appliances over a traditional storage area network (SAN), or implemented as network-attached storage (NAS), or using object-based storage. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What does SDS mean?</span></h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">SDS </span>stays for <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined storage </span>solution - it is a computer program that manages data storage resources and functionality and has no dependencies on the underlying physical storage hardware.\r\nAll storage systems have always been software-defined. What's changed is that the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software has become portable</span>.\r\nBut nothing in the storage world elicits more divergent opinions than the term "software-defined storage products". With no universally accepted definition, SDS is vendor-specific. Software defined storage leaders shape the SDS definition to match their storage offerings. The result is that every storage vendor appears to offer SDS.\r\nStorage system software historically was tied to the hardware it managed. When the hardware ran out of capacity or performance, it had to be replaced and the software licensing was repurchased along with the hardware.<br />What made matters significantly worse was that storage system architectures created isolated silos. Unique infrastructures made everything from storage provisioning, data protection, disaster recovery, tech refresh, data migration, power and cooling more and more untenable. Compound that with the ongoing trend of rapid data growth and the need to store ever-increasing amounts of data, and the available architectures made storage systems management too complicated, difficult, expensive and ultimately unmaintainable.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are SDS categories pros and cons?</span></h1>\r\n With no working standard SDS definition, a variety of technologies have emerged in the software-defined storage market. For our purposes, the four categories of SDS include: \r\n<ul><li class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Hypervisor-based SDS</span></li><li class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) SDS</span></li><li class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Storage virtualization SDS</span></li><li class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scale-out object and/or file SDS</span></li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> Hypervisor-based SDS pros:</span><br /> </p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Flexibility</span>. VSAN works with both hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs), including DIMM-based flash drives, PCIe, SAS, SATA and even NVMe. VMware vSAN supports both HDDs and SSDs in a hybrid mode or all SSDs in all-flash mode.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance</span>. VSAN is highly scalable while delivering high levels of performance. It scales out through vSphere clustering and can support up to 64 vSphere hosts per cluster. Each vSphere host supports approximately 140 TB raw storage capacity and well north of 8 PB of raw storage capacity per cluster. On the performance side, each vSAN host can supply 100,000 or more IOPS, yielding millions of IOPS per cluster.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Hypervisor-based SDS cons:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance issues.</span> If a VM requires more IOPS than one physical vSphere host can provide, it can get them from other nodes in the cluster, but with a considerable latency penalty. Inter-cluster storage performance is another issue. Most vSAN clusters use 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps Ethernet and TCP/IP to interconnect the hosts. This architecture essentially replaces a deterministic system bus with a non-deterministic TCP/IP network so latencies between hosts become highly variable. Unless the cluster uses more sophisticated and faster interconnections, its storage performance from one clustered host to another will be highly variable and inconsistent.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Some things are not so simple. </span>Converting from a siloed storage environment to a pure vSAN requires converting non-VM images to VMs first. It's a time-consuming process for non-vSphere environments.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) SDS pros:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance.</span> Scaling HCI is as simple as adding a node to the cluster. Scaling storage capacity just requires adding drives (HDDs or SSDs) up to a node's maximum or adding additional nodes. Each HCI product has its own scalability and performance limitations; however, most scale well into the PBs and add performance linearly with each server node added to the cluster.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplicity. </span>Plug it in, turn it on, configure and you're done. Few systems are simpler. No DIY, and there's just one throat to choke for support.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) SDS cons:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance issues.</span> HCI cluster capacity is limited by the number of nodes supported in the cluster and the amount of capacity supported per node. If a VM requires more IOPS than a given host can provide, it can get IOPS from other nodes, but with a considerable latency penalty. Inter-cluster storage performance is another issue. Most HCI clusters use 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps Ethernet and TCP/IP to interconnect the hosts so latencies between hosts can be highly variable.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Some things are not so simple.</span> Converting from a siloed storage environment to an HCI cluster requires first converting both non-VM images and VMs to the HCI VMs or Docker containers, a time-consuming process.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Storage virtualization SDS pros:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility.</span> It works with most x86 physical hosts or VMs as long as the hardware or hypervisor is certified and supported by the vendor. It converts all storage that sits behind it into the virtual storage pool, enabling repurposing of older storage. The scale-out versions permit physical or VM access to any node. Multi-copy mirroring isn't necessary to protect against a single controller failure, although it's available. Storage virtualization SDS can be provided as software or bundled with server hardware similar to HCI.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Total cost of ownership (TCO)</span>. The biggest cost savings in storage virtualization SDS comes from commodity hardware and server-based drives. Another cost saving comes from inline data reduction technologies. Compared to equivalent storage systems, most storage virtualization SDS will yield a much more favorable TCO.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><br /></span>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Storage virtualization SDS cons:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility issues. </span>Most storage virtualization SDS can only run on the specific commodity hardware certified and supported by the vendor. Products that can run as VSAs require hypervisors certified and supported by the vendor.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance issues.</span> On paper, these systems support tremendous capacity scalability, but the pragmatic approach is a bit different. Storage virtualization SDS capacity is constrained by x86 server limitations. Each server can handle only so much capacity before performance declines below acceptable levels. Storage virtualization SDS scale-out is constrained by clustering because the number of storage controller nodes supported is limited. Performance may also be constrained by the same limitations. \r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scale-out object and/or file SDS pros:<br /></span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance. </span>Scaling is multi-dimensional: each node can be scaled individually and generally the cluster itself can add nodes for capacity or performance. Performance for both will never approach that of high-performance block storage.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplicity. </span>When bundled with hardware, scale-out object or file storage is very simple to set up, configure, and manage. Implementing it as software requires DIY systems integration. Both types leverage commodity hardware, have exceptional scalability and -- in the case of scale-out object storage -- unmatched data resilience and longevity via erasure coding.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Scale-out object and/or file SDS cons:</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility issues. </span>Whether delivered as software or bundled with hardware, the hardware must be certified and supported by the vendors.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalability and performance issues.</span> Scale-out file SDS generally doesn't scale as high as scale-out object storage, but object will have somewhat higher latencies. Object storage has significant additional latencies from the metadata and data resiliency functions. Both types are best suited for secondary applications where high performance is not a requirement.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Some things are not so simple. </span>When scale-out file or object storage SDS is purchased as software, it's a DIY project, so special skills, professional services or a systems integrator may be required.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_defined_storage_platforms.png","alias":"software-defined-storage-platforms-sds"},"385":{"id":385,"title":"Model-Driven Application Platforms","description":"A model-driven application is a software application that the functions or behaviors are based on, or in control of, some evolutionary applied models of the target things to the application. The applied models are served as a part of the application system in which it can be changed at runtime. The target things are what the application deals with, such as the objects and affairs in business for a business application. Follows the definition of application in TOGAF, a model-driven business application could be described as an IT system that supports business functions and services running on the models of the (things in) business.\r\nThe ideal of the architecture for a model-driven application was first put forward by Tong-Ying Yu on the Enterprise Engineering Forum in 1999, which have been studied and spread through some internet media for a long time. It had influence on the field of enterprise application development in China; there were successful cases of commercial development of enterprise/business applications in the architectural style of a model-driven application. Gartner Group carried out some studies into the subject in 2008; they defined the model-driven packaged applications as "enterprise applications that have explicit metadata-driven models of the supported processes, data and relationships, and that generate runtime components through metadata models, either dynamically interpreted or compiled, rather than hardcoded." The model-driven application architecture is one of few technology trends to driven the next generation of application modernization, that claimed by some industrial researchers in 2012.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Model-driven development?</span>\r\nModel-driven development (MDD) is a format to write and implement software quickly, effectively and at minimum cost. The methodology is also known as model-driven software development (MDSD), model-driven engineering (MDE) and model-driven architecture (MDA).\r\nThe MDD approach focuses on the construction of a software model. The model is a diagram that specifies how the software system should work before the code is generated. Once the software is created, it can be tested using model-based testing (MBT) and then deployed.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the benefits of model-driven development?</span>\r\nThe MDD approach provides advantages in productivity over other development methods because the model simplifies the engineering process. It represents the intended behaviors or actions of a software product before coding begins.\r\nThe individuals and teams that work on the software construct models collaboratively. Communication between developers and a product manager, for example, provides clear definitions of what the software is and how it works. Tests, rebuilds and redeployments can be faster when developing multiple applications with MDD than with traditional development.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the core concepts of model-driven development?</span>\r\nModel-driven development is more in-depth than just having a model of the software in development, which makes it different from model-based development. Abstraction and automation are key concepts of MDD. Abstraction means to organize complex software systems. In MDD, complex software gets abstracted, which then extracts the easy-to-define code.\r\nOnce developers transform the abstraction, a working version of the software model gets automated. This automation stage uses a domain-specific language (DSL), such as HTML, and scripting languages, like ColdFusion, which can integrate other programming languages and services -- .NET, C++, FTP and more -- for use in websites. DSL is a language specialized to an application domain. A model is written in a DSL language and is utilized for transformation in coding language from the model to working software.\r\nAgile software development methods are often paired with MDD. The Agile development approach enables short sprints where the project scope can change. Agile model-driven development (AMDD) establishes short development iterations, while changes can be redesigned and shown on the model. In AMDD, design efforts are split between modeling in both sprints and coding.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Model_Driven_Application_Platforms.png","alias":"model-driven-application-platforms"},"387":{"id":387,"title":"Managed File Transfer Software, MFT","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Managed file transfer (MFT)</span> is a technology platform that allows organizations to reliably exchange electronic data between systems and people in a secure way to meet compliance needs. These data movements can be both internal and external to an enterprise and include various types, including sensitive, compliance-protected or high-volume data. It can be offered as software or as a service and may include a single pane for visibility and governance.\r\nManaged file transfer software is a more reliable and efficient means for secure data and file transfer, outpacing and outperforming applications such as file transfer protocol (FTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) and other methods.\r\nOrganizations increasingly rely on managed file transfer tools to support their business needs and goals in a way that FTP cannot. FTP presents many challenges(PDF, 571 KB) such as data security gaps, lack of visibility when a problem occurs, timely manual recovery from failures and costly SLA fees due to poor performance.\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Key capabilities of effective managed file transfer</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security.</span> Encrypt internal and external transfers, in motion and at rest. Secure file transfers with advanced capabilities like session breaks and protocol inspection maximize the protection of sensitive data at multiple layers.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simplified file transfer.</span> Offers timely and flexible data transfer across a range of file transfer activities and support for multiple file types, including multimedia, PDFs, email, XML, EDI and more.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Full visibility.</span> Provides a 360-degree view in near-real time. Companies can see who is transferring files, what is being shared and the volume passing through the system. Potential issues like delays and failed transfers are visible before they impact downstream business processes or become missed SLAs.</li><li> <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Compliance standards.</span> Strong encryption helps companies avoid compliance failures which can lead to hefty fines. Thorough audit trails confirm regulatory compliance.</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the benefits of managed file transfer?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data security.</span> High-profile data breaches and failed transfers can drastically impact a company’s bottom line and reputation. MFT offers a preemptive security strategy with real-time monitoring, and validation security policies and controls to protect data in transit or at rest.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data growth.</span> Data is everywhere, and companies face larger and more varied files than in the past. The number of users sharing files has grown as have the number of end-points and devices. And as files get larger, the time to move them over global distances becomes longer. MFT brings reliable, automated governance to the movement of files inside and outside the business and can accelerate big data movements around the globe.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Regulatory compliance.</span> Legislative and industry requirements such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and others — typically have stringent data security standards. Using a properly-configured MFT system to encrypt, transmit, monitor and store sensitive data empowers organizations to meet security mandates.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Technology megatrends.</span> Moving files has become more complex with the adoption of transformational technologies. The growth of big data, cloud applications, artificial intelligence, data analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT) place a premium on the speed and bulk of file transfers. MFT offers advanced capabilities and support for multiple platforms, mobile devices, applications and other existing IT infrastructure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Visibility.</span> Companies need to anticipate risk factors to mitigate damages. Operational visibility over file movements leads to proactive issue resolution, like failed transfers and improved compliance with SLA commitments.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Secure File Transfer vs Managed File Transfer software comparison</h1>\r\nMFT is a platform. This may make it seem more advanced than other protocols, and arguably it is. It offers administration capabilities coupled with automation and popular security protocols like HTTPS, SFTP, and FTPS. Often, the interface of MFT is designed for transparency and visibility. Generally, it’s a more secure transfer protocol than most others.\r\nMFT beats secure file transfers in complexity and nuance and crushes the competition when it comes to security. If we had to find some drawbacks to implementing a MFT strategy, it’s complexity may mean a learning curve is required for some users. Also, managed file transfer implies management is required. The introduction of visibility and transparency of the process offers no benefit if the processes aren’t being monitored.\r\nFTP (File Transfer Protocol) and SFT (Secure File Transfer) are both network protocols for “put” and “get” functions. With regards to billing data, data recovery files and other sensitive information that enterprise businesses need to hold and share, SFT offers encryption, whereas FTP does not. SFT was designed for the purposes of securely transmitting data.\r\nTo that point, SFT uses Secure Shell or SSH network protocol to transfer data across a channel. Data is protected as long as it’s in moving across the channel. Once it hits a secured server, it’s no longer protected. For additional encryption, senders would need to ensure encryption occurs in advance of sending.\r\nThe main benefit of Secure File Transfer is it is enhanced with encryption during the sending process, whereas regular FTP does not have such protection. It’s still second to an MFT platform, but SFT could be a less expensive alternative, depending on how much impact data transfer has on your business.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Managed_File_Transfer_Software.png","alias":"managed-file-transfer-software-mft"},"389":{"id":389,"title":"Centralized Virtual Desktop","description":" Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) can bring significant benefits to organizations that want to be more flexible, as well as reduce the cost and complexity of managing various client desktops, laptops and mobile devices.\r\nOrganizations that use VDI can take advantage of a centralized desktop that has clear advantages: fast deployment, lower support costs, increased security. However, VDI can also cause a number of problems for organizations that do not plan or implement the technology correctly. Many VDI pilot projects fail due to incorrect design considerations that lead to performance problems. This, in turn, leads to unsatisfied end users.\r\nOne of the most important recommendations for implementing VDI is to properly design the network and storage. Incorrectly designed network and storage can have disastrous consequences for VDI performance and end-user satisfaction.\r\nBecause the VDI architecture includes centralized virtual machines running in the data center, the VDI desktop display for the end user depends on protocols such as PCoIP, ICA, RDP, or Blast Extreme (VMware) that can successfully process data between the end user and the center data processing. This imposes more load on the underlying network.\r\nOrganizations must fully understand all aspects of VDI performance when connecting to both high-speed local area network connections and slower channels such as a WAN.\r\nIt is impossible to emphasize how important a properly designed storage is to successfully deploy VDI. When you think of traditional workstations, they work in a distributed way. All calculations, memory and storage performance are contained in individual workstations. However, in a virtual desktop environment, you accept all the calculations, memory, and storage (disk IOPs), which in the traditional workstation environment should be distributed across all workstations, centralizing these requirements to the external virtual desktop environment.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)?</span>\r\nVirtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is virtualization technology that hosts a desktop operating system on a centralized server in a data center. VDI is a variation on the client-server computing model, sometimes referred to as server-based computing. The term was coined by VMware.\r\nIn 2006, VDI began to emerge as an alternative to the server-based computing model used by Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services. Today, VMware, Citrix and Microsoft all offer their own VDI platforms.\r\nThere are two main approaches to VDI: persistent and nonpersistent. Persistent VDI provides each user with his or her own desktop image, which can be customized and saved for future use, much like a traditional physical desktop. Nonpersistent VDI provides a pool of uniform desktops that users can access when needed. Nonpersistent desktops revert to their original state each time the user logs out.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How to implement VDI?</span>\r\nWhen you think about deploying a VDI, there are several best practices that must be considered to ensure successful implementation:\r\n<ol><li>Understanding End User Requirements</li><li>Proper network and storage proecting</li><li>Select the type of virtual desktop</li><li>High availability</li></ol>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Centralized_Virtual_Desktop.png","alias":"centralized-virtual-desktop"},"391":{"id":391,"title":"Cloud Testing/ASQ PaaS","description":" With the growing technological advancements, there is a requirement of continuous testing of an application. The conventional mode of application testing is very time consuming, and cost associated with such kind of testing solution is also high. That is why demand for a solution to test application on the cloud and for the cloud is rising significantly as high quality, well-performing software across platforms drive business innovation and competitive positioning. Software vendors across the globe are investing a huge amount of money in research and development of software that can provide more software-centric IT infrastructure to their customer. These software vendors are looking for automated software testing (ASQ), software as a Service (SaaS) and adaptive infrastructure support in the cloud.\r\nCloud testing and ASQ software facilitates quick access to both superiority solution and support infrastructure to sustain complex software sourcing and dynamic development. Cloud testing solutions require fewer resources and less infrastructure investment than on-premise ASQ solutions.\r\nThe continuous development in cloud computing space is driving the growth of the global cloud testing and ASQ software market. Cloud computing is creating a new shift in IT model. Cloud computing facilitates organizations to adopt software as a Service at a very low cost. Software as a Service providers business organization a more agile framework and increase their efficiency, at the same time, software as a service is a complex phenomenon and requires continuous monitoring. As an organization is deploying more enterprise mobility solution and mobile application, cloud testing and ASQ software vendors are seeing a huge opportunity in the market.\r\nHowever, business organizations’ software needs are changing very frequently, and to cope with these rapidly changing software advancements is very difficult for cloud testing ASQ software vendors, and this is the biggest challenge cloud testing and ASQ software market is facing.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Cloud testing?</span>\r\nCloud testing is a form of software testing in which web applications use cloud computing environments (a "cloud") to simulate real-world user traffic.\r\nCloud testing uses cloud infrastructure for software testing. Organizations pursuing testing in general and load, performance testing and production service monitoring, in particular, are challenged by several problems like limited test budget, meeting deadlines, high costs per test, a large number of test cases, and little or no reuse of tests and geographical distribution of users add to the challenges. Moreover, ensuring high-quality service delivery and avoiding outages requires testing in one's datacenter, outside the data-center, or both. Cloud Testing is the solution to all these problems. Effective unlimited storage, quick availability of the infrastructure with scalability, flexibility and availability of a distributed testing environment reduce the execution time of testing of large applications and lead to cost-effective solutions.\r\nTraditional approaches to test a software incurs a high cost to simulate user activity from different geographic locations. Testing firewalls and load balancers involve expenditure on hardware, software and its maintenance. In the case of applications where the rate of increase in a number of users is unpredictable or there is variation in deployment environment depending on client requirements, cloud testing is more effective.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the types of testing?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Stress</span></span>\r\nStress Test is used to determine the ability of the application to maintain a certain level of effectiveness beyond the breaking point. It is essential for any application to work even under excessive stress and maintain stability. Stress testing assures this by creating peak loads using simulators. But the cost of creating such scenarios is enormous. Instead of investing capital in building on-premises testing environments, cloud testing offers an affordable and scalable alternative.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Load</span></span>\r\nLoad testing of an application involves the creation of heavy user traffic and measuring its response. There is also a need to tune the performance of any application to meet certain standards. However, a number of tools are available for that purpose.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance</span></span>\r\nFinding out thresholds, bottlenecks & limitations is a part of performance testing. For this, testing performance under a particular workload is necessary. By using cloud testing, it is easy to create such an environment and vary the nature of traffic on-demand. This effectively reduces cost and time by simulating thousands of geographically targeted users.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Functional</span></span>\r\nFunctional testing of both internet and non-internet applications can be performed using cloud testing. The process of verification against specifications or system requirements is carried out in the cloud instead of on-site software testing.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Compatibility</span></span>\r\nUsing a cloud environment, instances of different Operating Systems can be created on demand, making compatibility testing effortless.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Browser performance</span></span>\r\nTo verify the application's support for various browser types and performance in each type can be accomplished with ease. Various tools enable automated website testing from the cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Latency</span></span>\r\nCloud testing is utilized to measure the latency between the action and the corresponding response for any application after deploying it on the cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the keys to successful testing?</span>\r\n<ol><li>Understanding a platform provider's elasticity model/dynamic configuration method</li><li>Staying abreast of the provider's evolving monitoring services and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)</li><li>Potentially engaging the service provider as an ongoing operations partner if producing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software</li><li>Being willing to be used as a case study by the cloud service provider. The latter may lead to cost reductions.</li></ol>\r\nCloud testing is often seen as only performance or load tests, however, as discussed earlier it covers many other types of testing. Cloud computing itself is often referred to as the marriage of software as a service (SaaS) and utility computing. In regard to test execution, the software offered as a service may be a transaction generator and the cloud provider's infrastructure software, or may just be the latter. Distributed Systems and Parallel Systems mainly use this approach for testing, because of their inherent complex nature. D-Cloud is an example of such a software testing environment.\r\nFor testing non-internet applications, virtual instances of testing environment can be quickly set up to do automated testing of the application. The cloud testing service providers provide an essential testing environment as per the requirement of the application under test. The actual testing of applications is performed by the testing team of the organization which owns the application or third-party testing vendors.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits?</span>\r\nThe ability and cost to simulate web traffic for software testing purposes have been an inhibitor to overall web reliability. The low cost and accessibility of the cloud's extremely large computing resources provide the ability to replicate real-world usage of these systems by geographically distributed users, executing wide varieties of user scenarios, at scales previously unattainable in traditional testing environments. Minimal start-up time along with quality assurance can be achieved by cloud testing.\r\nFollowing are some of the key benefits:\r\n<ul><li>Reduction in capital expenditure</li><li>Highly scalable</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the issues?</span>\r\nThe initial setup cost for migrating testing to a cloud is very high as it involves modifying some of the test cases to suit the cloud environment. This makes the decision of migration crucial. Therefore, cloud testing is not necessarily the best solution to all testing problems.\r\nLegacy systems & services need to be modified in order to be tested on the cloud. Usage of robust interfaces with these legacy systems may solve this problem. Also like any other cloud services, cloud testing is vulnerable to security issues.\r\nThe test results may not be accurate due to the varying performance of the service providers’ network and the internet. In many cases, service virtualization can be applied to simulate the specific performance and behaviors required for accurate and thorough testing.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Cloud_Testing.png","alias":"cloud-testingasq-paas"},"393":{"id":393,"title":"Embedded Database Management Systems","description":" An embedded database is a database technology in which database management solutions are built into an application rather than provided as standalone tools. In many cases, this effectively "hides" the database management tools from the end user.\r\nAn embedded database system can be set up in many ways. It can include traditional relational database designs or other kinds of storage formats. It can utilize different solutions as well; for example, a popular type of embedded architecture uses MS Access for storage and relies on VBA forms to handle data requests. Many of these systems also use various APIs and SQL tools to perform data-related tasks.\r\nEmbedded database designs are used for various purposes. Embedded database tools, for example, can be used for email archive searches, for presentation of gaming statistics or other stored game data, and for industry-specific tools like tax-preparation software packages.\r\nIT professionals also sometimes use the term embedded database to refer to database solutions that run on mobile devices.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What do "Embedded Database Management Systems" mean?</span>\r\nAn embedded database system is a database management system (DBMS) which is tightly integrated with an application software that requires access to stored data, such that the database system is "hidden" from the application’s end-user and requires little or no ongoing maintenance.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does it include?</span>\r\nIt is actually a broad technology category that includes\r\n<ul><li>database systems with differing application programming interfaces (SQL as well as proprietary, native APIs),</li><li>database architectures (client-server and in-process),</li><li>storage modes (on-disk, in-memory, and combined),</li><li>database models (relational, object-oriented, entity–attribute–value model, network/CODASYL),</li><li>target markets.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Embedded_Database_Management_Systems.png","alias":"embedded-database-management-systems"},"395":{"id":395,"title":"Agile Application Life-Cycle Management Software","description":" Agile software development is an approach to software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customer(s)/end user(s). It advocates adaptive planning, evolutionary development, empirical knowledge, and continual improvement, and it encourages rapid and flexible response to change.\r\nThe term agile (sometimes written Agile) was popularized, in this context, by the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. The values and principles espoused in this manifesto were derived from and underpin a broad range of software development frameworks, including Scrum and Kanban.\r\nThere is significant anecdotal evidence that adopting agile practices and values improves the agility of software professionals, teams and organizations; however, some empirical studies have found no scientific evidence.\r\nAgile application lifecycle management (Agile ALM) is all the tools and processes that are used to manage software development projects based on flexible methodology. The traditional cascade design model uses a phase approach to the development life cycle. This approach means that no project phase starts earlier than the previous one ends. For example, the design does not begin before the collection of requirements ends. Development does not begin until the design is completed. Testing does not begin until development is fully completed. There are many tools to manage what is in the input and output of each phase.","materialsDescription":" Agile ALM brings together two seemingly contradictory development strategies. Agile promotes flexibility, rapid release cycles and quick response to change. Application lifecycle management (ALM) emphasizes tracking and documenting changes in an application -- from inception to retirement. Its processes are more controlled and less adaptive than the Agile methodology. That said, when put together, Agile and ALM act as complements, rending ALM more flexible and Agile more disciplined.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Agile ALM?</span>\r\nDevelopment expert Yvette Francino described Agile ALM as ALM tools and processes that are used to manage Agile software development projects. For example, rather than using Waterfall's phased approach, Agile ALM offers an approach to software development in which design, code and requirements are all handled by the same team.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How do you integrate Agile into an ALM framework?</span>\r\nAccording to Gerie Owen's article on Agile and ALM, adopting Agile means both a change to the ALM approach and a change to an organization's mind-set. An Agile ALM strategy will focus on the customer and will have the ability to adapt to shifting requirements -- from project planning to release management. For example, instead of just implementing controls to force early feedback from testers and business analysts, an organization would also foster a culture of collaboration.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Are there tools that can help me achieve this?</span>\r\nALM tools are widely available but must be chosen with care, according to Yvette Francino, SearchSoftwareQuality contributor. Organizations should look for tools that facilitate the process without impeding acceptance of changing requirements. They would also need to integrate throughout the application lifecycle and be easy to maintain. In other words, the tool should manage the development process in an Agile way. In an article for SearchSoftwareQuality.com, Amy Reichert provides a list of Agile ALM tools and identifies their strengths and weaknesses. Rally Software, for example, offers a product that works well with Agile but, according to Reichert, does not provide an intuitive workflow. VersionOne, on the other hand, offers a tool that is more user-friendly but less compatible with Agile. Which one is best will depend on the company's needs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Are there challenges to Agile ALM that I should be aware of?</span>\r\nThe primary challenge to Agile ALM is in finding a balance between the two methodologies. A common pitfall is to over-ALM the development process. In other words, when developers and testers start to find workarounds to the software rules -- as they often do -- some react by creating more rules in order to more strictly enforce them. Meanwhile, processes lose their agility.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How can I overcome these challenges?</span>\r\nTesting expert Amy Reichert cautions development teams to keep track of how many rules they add and how those rules are communicated. She also suggests having a discussion with the team, asking them why they are circumventing the process. Once everyone's role has been clarified, project managers can then decide which rules, if any, to add.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Is Agile ALM a good approach for mobile development?</span>\r\nMobile development is faster and more competitive than traditional software development. It has newer technologies and higher-speed application cycles. These qualities could make mobile an excellent candidate for Agile ALM, but only if the methodology is amended to accommodate the challenges inherent in a more restrictive development process. In an article on mobile ALM, site editor James Denman suggested an ALM approach that focuses on smaller pieces of software and authenticates results as each part is finished. That way, teams can quickly discern whether the app will effectively serve its purpose or if it needs to be taken in a different direction.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Agile_Application_Life_Cycle_Management_Software.png","alias":"agile-application-life-cycle-management-software"},"397":{"id":397,"title":"Mobile Testing","description":" Mobile application testing is the process through which applications are tested for required quality, functionality, compatibility, usability, performance and other characteristics.\r\nIt includes a broad range of application testing and evaluation techniques that encompasses both standard software testing and mobile-platform-specific testing procedures.\r\nMobile application testing is typically performed by mobile application developers after a mobile application is developed or before it is released to consumers. Typically, the key objectives of mobile application testing are:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Hardware compatibility and functionality</span> - The mobile application’s response to a mobile device's physical input and interaction with components. This includes a touch screen, keyboard, display, sensors, network and more.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">OS compatibility</span> - Evaluates and ensures that the application is completely compatible with different OS platforms.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Source code evaluation</span> - Identifies and resolves any code errors and bugs within the application.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Usability and Functionality</span> - The application is easy to use and provides all desired functionalities.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How is mobile application testing different from mobile testing?</span>\r\nWhen you are asked to do mobile testing, you must test the mobile phone itself. It may include protocol testing, battery testing, network connectivity testing, software compatibility testing and more.\r\nOn the other hand, mobile application testing is to test applications and software built for mobile phones. In this case, the application needs to be tested to verify whether it meets the specified functional and non-functional requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the different types of mobile application testing?</span>\r\n<ol><li>Functional Testing</li><li>User Interface Testing</li><li>Usability Testing</li><li>Performance Testing</li><li>Stress Testing</li><li>Compatibility Testing</li><li>Interruption Testing</li></ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the most important type of mobile application testing?</span>\r\nWhile you cannot neglect any of the above testing types; some of them definitely deserve more attention than the others. For example, user interface testing must be done extensively to make sure that the application’s color schemes, consistency, menu styles, navigation, etc. are perfect.\r\nApart from the listed ones, it is also important to carry out monkey testing of the application to examine the stability of application when continuous invalid user inputs are provided.\r\nAnother important aspect of mobile application testing is to examine how the application reacts when there is no or little network coverage.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the best ways to carry out mobile application testing?</span>\r\nMobile application testing is not just about writing test cases and executing them. Below are some pointers that can help a tester test mobile applications in the most effective manner.\r\n<ul><li>Explore and learn about mobile phones and their attributes. Domain knowledge will really help you see beyond the obvious.</li><li>Understand when, how and where the application will be used and then create test cases.</li><li>Study the mobile phones on which the applications will run and write appropriate test cases.</li><li>Use simulators as often as possible to execute the test cases.</li><li>Use remote device services (RDA) as well.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can mobile application testing be automated?</span>\r\nYes, it can. The fact that mobile application testing is gradually grasping the attention of the IT industry may be the reason why mobile test automation tools are being released into the market. It is best to keep your options open and explore all forms of mobile application testing and choose the ones that best suit your needs.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Testing.png","alias":"mobile-testing"},"399":{"id":399,"title":"Requirements Visualization, Definition, and Management","description":" Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project. A requirement is a capability to which a project outcome (product or service) should conform.\r\nThe purpose of requirements management is to ensure that an organization documents, verifies, and meets the needs and expectations of its customers and internal or external stakeholders. Requirements management begins with the analysis and elicitation of the objectives and constraints of the organization. Requirements management further includes supporting planning for requirements, integrating requirements and the organization for working with them (attributes for requirements), as well as relationships with other information delivering against requirements, and changes for these.\r\nThe traceability thus established is used in managing requirements to report back fulfilment of company and stakeholder interests in terms of compliance, completeness, coverage, and consistency. Traceabilities also support change management as part of requirements management in understanding the impacts of changes through requirements or other related elements (e.g., functional impacts through relations to functional architecture), and facilitating introducing these changes.\r\nRequirements management involves communication between the project team members and stakeholders, and adjustment to requirements changes throughout the course of the project. To prevent one class of requirements from overriding another, constant communication among members of the development team is critical. For example, in software development for internal applications, the business has such strong needs that it may ignore user requirements, or believe that in creating use cases, the user requirements are being taken care of.\r\nRequirements traceability is concerned with documenting the life of a requirement. It should be possible to trace back to the origin of each requirement and every change made to the requirement should therefore be documented in order to achieve traceability. Even the use of the requirement after the implemented features have been deployed and used should be traceable.\r\nRequirements come from different sources, like the business person ordering the product, the marketing manager and the actual user. These people all have different requirements for the product. Using requirements traceability, an implemented feature can be traced back to the person or group that wanted it during the requirements elicitation. This can, for example, be used during the development process to prioritize the requirement, determining how valuable the requirement is to a specific user. It can also be used after the deployment when user studies show that a feature is not used, to see why it was required in the first place.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Requirements activities</span>\r\nAt each stage in a development process, there are key requirements management activities and methods. To illustrate, consider a standard five-phase development process with Investigation, Feasibility, Design, Construction, and Test, and Release stages.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Investigation</span></span>\r\nIn Investigation, the first three classes of requirements are gathered from the users, from the business, and from the development team. In each area, similar questions are asked; what are the goals, what are the constraints, what are the current tools or processes in place, and so on. Only when these requirements are well understood can functional requirements be developed.\r\nIn the common case, requirements cannot be fully defined at the beginning of the project. Some requirements will change, either because they simply weren’t extracted, or because internal or external forces at work affect the project in mid-cycle.\r\nThe deliverable from the Investigation stage is a requirements document that has been approved by all members of the team. Later, in the thick of development, this document will be critical in preventing scope creep or unnecessary changes. As the system develops, each new feature opens a world of new possibilities, so the requirements specification anchors the team to the original vision and permits a controlled discussion of scope change.\r\nWhile many organizations still use only documents to manage requirements, others manage their requirements baselines using software tools. These tools allow requirements to be managed in a database, and usually have functions to automate traceability (e.g., by allowing electronic links to be created between parent and child requirements, or between test cases and requirements), electronic baseline creation, version control, and change management. Usually, such tools contain an export function that allows a specification document to be created by exporting the requirements data into a standard document application.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Feasibility</span></span>\r\nIn the Feasibility stage, the costs of the requirements are determined. For user requirements, the current cost of work is compared to the future projected costs once the new system is in place. Questions such as these are asked: “What are data entry errors costing us now?” Or “What is the cost of scrap due to operator error with the current interface?” Actually, the need for the new tool is often recognized as these questions come to the attention of financial people in the organization.\r\nBusiness costs would include, “What department has the budget for this?” “What is the expected rate of return on the new product in the marketplace?” “What’s the internal rate of return in reducing the costs of training and support if we make a new, easier-to-use system?”\r\nTechnical costs are related to software development costs and hardware costs. “Do we have the right people to create the tool?” “Do we need new equipment to support expanded software roles?” This last question is an important type. The team must inquire into whether the newest automated tools will add sufficient processing power to shift some of the burdens from the user to the system in order to save people time.\r\nThe question also points out a fundamental point about requirements management. A human and a tool form a system, and this realization is especially important if the tool is a computer or a new application on a computer. The human mind excels in parallel processing and interpretation of trends with insufficient data. The CPU excels in serial processing and accurate mathematical computation. The overarching goal of the requirements management effort for a software project would thus be to make sure the work being automated gets assigned to the proper processor. For instance, “Don’t make the human remember where she is in the interface. Make the interface report the human’s location in the system at all times.” Or “Don’t make the human enter the same data in two screens. Make the system store the data and fill in the second screen as needed.”\r\nThe deliverable from the Feasibility stage is the budget and schedule for the project.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Design</span></span>\r\nAssuming that costs are accurately determined and benefits to be gained are sufficiently large, the project can proceed to the Design stage. In Design, the main requirements management activity is comparing the results of the design against the requirements document to make sure that work is staying in scope.\r\nAgain, flexibility is paramount to success. Here’s a classic story of scope change in mid-stream that actually worked well. Ford auto designers in the early ‘80s were expecting gasoline prices to hit $3.18 per gallon by the end of the decade. Midway through the design of the Ford Taurus, prices had centered to around $1.50 a gallon. The design team decided they could build a larger, more comfortable, and more powerful car if the gas prices stayed low, so they redesigned the car. The Taurus launch set nationwide sales records when the new car came out, primarily because it was so roomy and comfortable to drive.\r\nIn most cases, however, departing from the original requirements to that degree does not work. So the requirements document becomes a critical tool that helps the team make decisions about design changes.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Construction and test</span></span>\r\nIn the construction and testing stage, the main activity of requirements management is to make sure that work and cost stay within schedule and budget, and that the emerging tool does, in fact, meet requirements. A main tool used in this stage is prototype construction and iterative testing. For a software application, the user interface can be created on paper and tested with potential users while the framework of the software is being built. The results of these tests are recorded in a user interface design guide and handed off to the design team when they are ready to develop the interface. This saves time and makes their jobs much easier.\r\nVerification: This effort verifies that the requirement has been implemented correctly. There are 4 methods of verification: analysis, inspection, testing, and demonstration. Numerical software execution results or through-put on a network test, for example, provides analytical evidence that the requirement has been met. Inspection of vendor documentation or spec sheets also verifies requirements. Actually testing or demonstrating the software in a lab environment also verifies the requirements: a test type of verification will occur when test equipment not normally part of the lab (or system under test) is used. Comprehensive test procedures which outline the steps and their expected results clearly identify what is to be seen as a result of performing the step. After the step or set of steps is completed the last step's expected result will call out what has been seen and then identify what requirements or requirements have been verified (identified by number). The requirement number, title, and verbiage are tied together in another location in the test document.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Requirements change management</span></span>\r\nHardly would any software development project be completed without some changes being asked of the project. The changes can stem from changes in the environment in which the finished product is envisaged to be used, business changes, regulation changes, errors in the original definition of requirements, limitations in technology, changes in the security environment and so on. The activities of requirements change management include receiving the change requests from the stakeholders, recording the received change requests, analyzing and determining the desirability and process of implementation, implementation of the change request, quality assurance for the implementation and closing the change request. Then the data of change requests be compiled, analyzed and appropriate metrics are derived and dovetailed into the organizational knowledge repository.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Release</span></span>\r\nRequirements management does not end with product release. From that point on, the data coming in about the application’s acceptability is gathered and fed into the Investigation phase of the next generation or release. Thus the process begins again.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Requirements_Visualization.png","alias":"requirements-visualization-definition-and-management"},"401":{"id":401,"title":"Service-Oriented Architecture and Web Services","description":" Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a style of software design where services are provided to the other components by application components, through a communication protocol over a network. An SOA service is a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely and acted upon and updated independently, such as retrieving a credit card statement online. SOA is also intended to be independent of vendors, products and technologies.\r\nA service has four properties according to one of many definitions of SOA:\r\n<ul><li>It logically represents a business activity with a specified outcome.</li><li>It is self-contained.</li><li>It is a black box for its consumers, meaning the consumer does not have to be aware of the service's inner workings.</li><li>It may consist of other underlying services.</li></ul>\r\nDifferent services can be used in conjunction to provide the functionality of a large software application,[4] a principle SOA shares with modular programming. Service-oriented architecture integrates distributed, separately maintained and deployed software components. It is enabled by technologies and standards that facilitate components' communication and cooperation over a network, especially over an IP network.\r\nSOA is related to the idea of an application programming interface (API), an interface or communication protocol between different parts of a computer program intended to simplify the implementation and maintenance of software. An API can be thought of as the service, and the SOA the architecture that allows the service to operate.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Service-Oriented Architecture?</span>\r\nService-oriented architecture (SOA) is a software architecture style that supports and distributes application components that incorporates discovery, data mapping, security and more. Service-oriented architecture has two main functions:\r\n<ol><li>Create an architectural model that defines goals of applications and methods that will help achieve those goals.</li><li>Define implementations specifications linked through WSDL (Web Services Description Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) specifications.</li></ol>\r\nService-oriented architecture principles are made up of nine main elements:\r\n<ol><li>Standardized Service Contract where services are defined making it easier for client applications to understand the purpose of the service.</li><li>Loose Coupling is a way to interconnecting components within the system or network so that the components can depend on one another to the least extent acceptable. When a service functionality or setting changes there is no downtime or breakage of the application running.</li><li>Service Abstraction hides the logic behind what the application is doing. It only relays to the client application what it is doing, not how it executes the action.</li><li>Service Reusability divides the services with the intent of reusing as much as possible to avoid spending resources on building the same code and configurations.</li><li>Service Autonomy ensures the logic of a task or a request is completed within the code.</li><li>Service Statelessness whereby services do not withhold information from one state to another in the client application.</li><li>Service Discoverability allows services to be discovered via a service registry.</li><li>Service Composability breaks down larger problems into smaller elements, segmenting the service into modules, making it more manageable.</li><li>Service Interoperability governs the use of standards (e.g. XML) to ensure larger usability and compatibility.</li></ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does Service-Oriented Architecture Work?</span>\r\nA service-oriented architecture (SOA) works as a components provider of application services to other components over a network. Service-oriented architecture makes it easier for software components to work with each other over multiple networks.\r\nA service-oriented architecture is implemented with web services (based on WSDL and SOAP), to be more accessible over standard internet protocols that are on independent platforms and programming languages.\r\nService-oriented architecture has 3 major objectives all of which focus on parts of the application cycle:\r\n<ol><li>Structure process and software components as services – making it easier for software developers to create applications in a consistent way.</li><li>Provide a way to publish available services (functionality and input/output requirements) – allowing developers to easily incorporate them into applications.</li><li>Control the usage of these services for security purposes – mainly around the components within the architecture, and securing the connections between those components.</li></ol>\r\nMicroservices architecture software is largely an updated implementation of service-oriented architecture (SOA). The software components are created as services to be used via APIs ensuring security and best practices, just as in traditional service-oriented architectures.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Service-Oriented Architecture?</span>\r\nThe main benefits of service-oriented architecture solutions are:\r\n<ul><li>Extensibility – easily able to expand or add to it.</li><li>Reusability – opportunity to reuse multi-purpose logic.</li><li>Maintainability – the ability to keep it up to date without having to remake and build the architecture again with the same configurations.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Service_Oriented_Architecture_and_Web_Services.png","alias":"service-oriented-architecture-and-web-services"},"403":{"id":403,"title":"Software Quality Analysis and Measurement","description":" Software quality measures whether the software satisfies its requirements. Software requirements are classified as either functional or non-functional.\r\nFunctional requirements specify what the software should do. Functional requirements could be calculations, technical details, data manipulation, and processing, or any other specific function that defines what an application is meant to accomplish.\r\nNon-functional requirements specify how the system should work. Also known as “quality attributes” non-functional requirements include things like disaster recovery, portability, privacy, security, supportability, and usability.\r\nNote that most factors indicating software quality fit into the non-functional requirements category. And, while it’s obviously important that software does what it’s built to do, this is the bare minimum you would expect from any application.\r\nBelow are some examples of test metrics and methods for measuring the important aspects of software quality. Efficient measuring and testing of your software for quality is the only way to maximize the chances of releasing high-quality software in today’s fast-paced development environments.\r\nYou can measure reliability by counting the number of high priority bugs found in production. You can also use load testing, which assesses how well the software functions under ordinary conditions of use. It’s important to note that “ordinary conditions of use” can vary between low loads and high loads—the point is that such environments are expected.\r\nLoad testing is also useful for measuring performance efficiency. Stress testing is an important variation on load testing used to determine the maximum operating capacity of an application.\r\nStress testing is conducted by inundating software with requests far exceeding its normal and expected patterns of use to determine how far a system can be pushed before it breaks. With stress testing, you get insight into the recoverability of the software when it breaks—ideally, a system that fails should have a smooth recovery.\r\nYou can measure security by assessing how long it takes to patch or fix software vulnerabilities. You can also check actual security incidents from previous software versions, including whether the system was breached and if any breaches caused downtime for users. All previous security issues should, of course, be addressed in future releases.\r\nCounting the number of lines of code is a simple measure of maintainability—software with more lines of code is harder to maintain, meaning changes are more likely to lead to errors.\r\nThere are several detailed test metrics used to check the complexity of code, such as cyclomatic complexity, which counts the amount of linearly independent paths through a program’s source code.\r\nYou can check the rate of delivery by counting the number of software releases. Another measure is the number of “stories” or user requirements shipped to the user.\r\nYou can test the GUI to make sure it’s simple and not frustrating for end-users. The problem is that GUI testing is complex and time-consuming – there are many possible GUI operations and sequences that require testing in most software. And that means it takes a long time to design test cases.\r\nThe complexity of GUI testing competes with the objective of releasing software quickly, which has necessitated the implementation of automated testing. Several test suites that completely simulate user behavior are available.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Software Quality Metrics?</span>\r\nThe word 'metrics' refers to standards for measurements. Software Quality Metrics means a measurement of attributes, pertaining to software quality along with its process of development.\r\nThe term "software quality metrics" illustrate the picture of measuring the software qualities by recording the number of defects or security loopholes present in the software. However, quality measurement is not restricted to the counting defects or vulnerabilities but also covers other aspects of qualities such as maintainability, reliability, integrity, usability, customer satisfaction, etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Software Quality Metrics?</span>\r\n<ol><li>To define and categorize elements in order to have a better understanding of each and every process and attribute.</li><li>To evaluate and assess each of these processes and attribute against the given requirements and specifications.</li><li>Predicting and planning the next move w.r.t software and business requirements.</li><li>Improving the Overall quality of the process and product, and subsequently of project.</li></ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software Quality Metrics: a sub-category of Software Metrics</span>\r\nIt is basically, a subclass of software metrics that mainly emphasizes on quality assets of the software product, process and project. A software metric is a broader concept that incorporates software quality metrics in it, and mainly consists of three types of metrics:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Product Metrics:</span> it includes size, design, complexity, performance and other parameters that are associated with the product's quality.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Process Metrics:</span> it involves parameters like time-duration in locating and removing defects, response time for resolving issues, etc.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Project Metrics:</span> it may include a number of teams, developers involved, cost and duration for the project, etc.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Features of good Software Quality Metrics:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Should be specific to measure the particular attribute or an attribute of greater importance.</li><li>Comprehensive for a wide variety of scenarios.</li><li>Should not consider attributes that have already been measured by some other metric.</li><li>Reliable to work similarly in all conditions.</li><li>Should be easy and simple to understand and operate.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Quality_Analysis_and_Measurement.png","alias":"software-quality-analysis-and-measurement"},"405":{"id":405,"title":"Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP)</span> is a development environment that provides tools and middleware to develop, test, deploy and manage corporate software running on mobile devices.\r\nEnterprise mobile application development addresses the difficulties of developing mobile software by managing the diversity of devices, networks and user groups at the time of deployment and throughout the mobile computing technology lifecycle. Unlike standalone apps, an enterprise mobile app development services a comprehensive, long-term approach to deploying mobility. Cross-platform considerations are one big driver behind using MEAPs. For example, a company can use an enterprise mobile app development to develop the mobile application once and deploy it to a variety of mobile devices (including smart phones, tablets, notebooks and ruggedized handhelds) with no changes to the underlying business logic.\r\nPlatform applications are best for companies that wish to deploy multiple applications on a single infrastructure, scaled to the size of their current mobile field force and available in an online and offline mode. Enterprise mobile app platform provides higher level languages and easy development templates to simplify and speed the mobile application development timeframe, requiring less programming knowledge for mobile business application deployment.\r\nThere are many advantages associated with enterprise mobile application development platform. First of all, it can be run on the cloud. Without maintaining separate sets of code, mobile enterprise application platforms can support multiple types of operating systems and mobile devices. This means a company can deploy a mobile application to different mobile devices with the help of mobile enterprise application platforms without having to worry about compatibility. As most enterprise mobile development platforms have a tool set for modifications, creation of custom app extensions is quite easy and convenient. Enterprise mobile application platforms can centrally manage mobile applications and can also help in integration with multiple server data sources.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the benefits of enterprise mobile app platform? </h1>\r\n<ul><li>Create apps and complex forms for any type of mobile device and OS without having to maintain separate sets of code.</li><li>Create tailor-made apps for specific user groups, giving them exactly what they need; usually, a mash-up of reading/writing access to your backend systems, publicly available web services and device features such as camera, GPS, sign-on screen, etc.</li><li>Requires basic and limited coding skills e.g. HTML and CSS.</li><li>Allows a high degree of re-use of the code and interactions developed.</li><li>Provide the offline capability for mobile users in areas without WiFi or cellular coverage.</li><li>Once the platform is integrated into the important back-end systems, creating new apps and forms can be done in hours rather than weeks or months.</li><li>Enterprise mobile application development services can be run on the cloud and purchased on a subscription basis.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Pros and cons of MEAP</h1>\r\nAlong with the benefits described above, a mobile enterprise application platform extends beyond fourth-generation language (4GL) tools for app development to use a graphical environment and dedicated script language. The tool makes business apps accessible to users from any location at any time. For ease of IT management, some MEAP products can run as a cloud service.\r\nA MEAP, like any technology, comes with challenges. The initial investment is high - it's expensive to begin with, though the total cost of ownership (TCO) goes down with use over time - and it requires IT to perform additional tasks such as updating content, securing data, maintaining applications with updates and managing user authentication.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Important features</h1>\r\nIn general, a MEAP has two important features:\r\n<ul><li>A mobile application development environment and back-end web services to manage those mobile applications and link them to enterprise applications and databases.</li><li>A centralized management component that enables an administrator to control which users can access an application and what enterprise databases that application can pull data from.</li></ul>\r\nSometimes, organizations will use a mobile enterprise application platform in conjunction with enterprise mobility management (EMM) or mobile device management (MDM). MDM manages mobile devices, while MEAP products manage the enterprise applications running on those devices - although there is sometimes overlap between the functionalities of these two technologies.\r\n<br /><br /> ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Enterprise_Application_Platforms.png","alias":"mobile-enterprise-application-platforms"},"407":{"id":407,"title":"Communities","description":" An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a virtual community whose members interact with each other primarily via the Internet. For many, online communities may feel like home, consisting of a "family of invisible friends". Those who wish to be a part of an online community usually have to become a member via a specific site and thereby gain access to specific content or links. An online community can act as an information system where members can post, comment on discussions, give advice or collaborate. Commonly, people communicate through social networking sites, chat rooms, forums, e-mail lists and discussion boards. People may also join online communities through video games, blogs and virtual worlds. The rise in popularity of Web 2.0 websites has allowed for easier real-time communication and ability to connect to others as well as producing new ways for information to be exchanged.\r\nThe idea of a community is not a new concept. On the telephone, in ham radio and in the online world, social interactions no longer have to be based on proximity; instead they can literally be with anyone anywhere. The study of communities has had to adapt along with the new technologies. Many researchers have used ethnography to attempt to understand what people do in online spaces, how they express themselves, what motivates them, how they govern themselves, what attracts them, and why some people prefer to observe rather than participate. Online communities can congregate around a shared interest and can be spread across multiple websites.\r\nSome signs of community are:\r\n<ul><li>Content: articles, information, and news about a topic of interest to a group of people.</li><li>Forums or newsgroups and email: so that community members can communicate in delayed fashion.</li><li>Chat and instant messaging: so that community members can communicate more immediately.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are Community Platforms?</span>\r\nCommunity Platforms manage the process of creating and maintaining a space for productive discussion among community members. Members can share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. This process is sometimes referred to as "community engagement."\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Key Use Cases for Community Platforms</span>\r\n<ul><li>Support community for self-help and peer or expert advice</li><li>Ideation</li><li>Private social networking</li><li>Gauge customer satisfaction</li><li>Identify customer advocates</li><li>Increase customer/employee engagement</li><li>Distribute community news and updates</li><li>Generate content with programs like community blogging</li></ul>\r\nMature communities deliver business value in a variety of ways. They increase engagement, address support issues and pain points, measure satisfaction, and build stronger relationships. Platforms may support external communities, internal communities, or both. These benefits apply to both customer and employee communities.\r\nThere are different types of community platforms, including open source options for community managers who want to develop their own platform. Some SMB-focused community platforms focus on one aspect of community, like Q&A, ideation, or link sharing. Enterprise-grade community platforms are more feature-rich. They might include complex, hierarchal capabilities like multi-tiered advocacy programs with moderator permissions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Factors to Consider When Selecting a Community Platform</span>\r\nIt is important to consider whether membership will be explicit and exclusive so that the community is open to registered members only.\r\nIn order to determine how employees or customers are likely to engage with a community platform, some community managers set up a free community platform or private social network group to run a testing phase.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Community Platforms vs. Help Desk Software, CMS, and Collaboration Tools</span>\r\nCommunity management tools have some overlap with help desk software, which often includes community features like Q&A for self-help. Some community platforms integrate with help desk systems.\r\nThere is also overlap with content management systems (CMS), especially in heavily moderated external communities, where posts/articles by advocates and experts might be promoted and shared elsewhere.\r\nSome community platforms, especially for internal communities, may overlap with collaboration tools as well. Collaboration tools tend to be more focused on one-on-one interactions between users, and on getting projects done (via file sharing, etc.). Community interactions are more often one-to-many and focused on help, general engagement, feedback, and ideation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Gamification</span>\r\nGamification is a strategy in which points, rules, and competition are used to increase engagement. Some community platforms use game dynamics to incentivize and reward member participation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Community Moderation</span>\r\nModeration is a system for controlling potential abuse of the community platform. Moderation is important because fear of defamation is one of the biggest obstacles to creating an external community. For some companies promoting the voice of the customer feels risky.\r\nThere are two approaches to moderation: curating users (like restricting membership or blocking/reporting certain members) or curating content.\r\nMost community platforms allow administrators to act as moderators. Some have more advanced hierarchical systems for moderation. These allow administrators to grant certain members moderator permissions.\r\nContent curation includes restricting content access, removing content, editing content, or responding to content. This is often a top-down reaction to member contributions. It can also involve broader community participation such as voting on, rating and reporting content.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pricing Information</span>\r\nThere are many providers of collaboration software spanning a wide range of capabilities from very inexpensive products designed for small teams, to highly sophisticated enterprise products. Enterprise-level systems cost in the region of $100 per user per month, with price breaks for high numbers of users.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Communities.png","alias":"communities"},"409":{"id":409,"title":"Content Collaboration","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Content collaboration</span> software makes it easy for your users to securely create, access, share and manage business content.\r\nThe content collaboration platform (CCP) market covers a range of products and services that enable content productivity and collaboration. CCPs are aimed at individuals and teams, inside or outside an organization. Additionally, CCPs increasingly support lightweight content management and workflow use cases. <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Core user functionalities include: </span>\r\n<ul><li>Mobile access to content repositories.</li><li> File synchronization across devices and cloud repositories.</li><li>File sharing with people and applications, inside or outside an organization. </li><li>Team collaboration, with dedicated folders.</li><li>A content repository. This can be cloud based collaboration software or on-premises program, native to the CCP platform or based on other file servers or repositories.</li></ul>\r\nCommon <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">features </span>of collaboration software include messaging, audio and video conferencing, task management, document management, calendars, and time tracking.\r\nFrom employees and decision-makers to partners, vendors, regulators and customers, your users benefit from easy, secure access to valuable business content. Rather than keeping files locked up in silos, content collaboration software enables information to flow safely and freely within your organization and across your firewall to external contacts.\r\nSecuring those documents is the challenge. Unless your content collaboration software maintains the highest standards of performance, security, auditing and reliability, cross-enterprise document sharing may lead to inadvertent data leaks or malicious security breaches.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Types of collaboration software tools</h1>\r\nGenerally, collaboration software can be divided into synchronous (or real-time) and asynchronous. Using synchronous software, teammates can work together at the same time, for example with apps that allow several users to edit the same document in real time. Asynchronous software enables users to work on the same task at different times.\r\nBased on their key features, collaboration software can be classified into:\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Communication software</span></p>\r\nTo solve communication problems, communication software offers chat and audio or video collaboration platform so people can communicate within teams without having to travel. As a result, communication software saves time, helps solve problems faster, and allows remote teams to connect, which otherwise would be difficult and time-consuming.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Key features include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Chat and messaging to enable real-time text conversations using direct messages or group chats</li><li>Audio and video conferencing to let people make calls and hold meetings regardless of their location</li><li>Discussion threads to allow users to reply to one particular message in a group chat or channel without distracting other teammate</li><li>File sharing or file collaboration software to make it fast and easy to upload and send files</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Task management software</span></p>\r\nTask management is an important part of collaboration. Teams use task management software to prioritize and track tasks, which helps to keep track of deadlines. To make collaboration more transparent and effective, task management software often provides boards, timelines, and calendars.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Key features include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Boards to create and manage tasks</li><li>Task assignment to appoint people to a task</li><li>Task prioritization to move tasks and set the project schedule</li><li>Planning and scheduling to create plans and meet deadlines using timelines and calendars</li><li>File management to attach and arrange file</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Document and content management software</span></p>\r\nDocument and content management software allows users to store, share, and work together on different files. Most of these tools track history of changes that different users make. Some collaboration apps and platforms also have features like chat and video conferencing, allowing users to collaborate on a document and communicate at the same time.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Key features include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Document and content management to store and track documents and other files</li><li>Cooperative writing to let several people write content together</li><li>Synchronous editing to let several people edit the same document at the same time and see changes in real time</li><li> Ready-made templates to create documents faster</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Content_Collaboration.png","alias":"content-collaboration"},"411":{"id":411,"title":"Enterprise Cloud Content Collaboration","description":" Cloud collaboration is a way of sharing and co-authoring computer files through the use of cloud computing, whereby documents are uploaded to a central "cloud" for storage, where they can then be accessed by others. Cloud collaboration technologies allow users to upload, comment and collaborate on documents and even amend the document itself, evolving the document. Businesses in the last few years have increasingly been switching to the use of cloud collaboration.\r\nCloud computing is a marketing term for technologies that provide software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, where end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to utilize the technology.\r\nCollaboration refers to the ability of workers to work together simultaneously on a particular task. Document collaboration can be completed face to face. However, collaboration has become more complex, with the need to work with people all over the world in real-time on a variety of different types of documents, using different devices.\r\nEnterprise cloud content collaboration software works as dedicated cloud storage for documents, spreadsheets, images, videos, and other files created by a business.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Enterprise Cloud Content Collaboration?</span>\r\nCloud collaboration enables people to work simultaneously on documents that live ‘in the cloud’ – so you can access files from anywhere with an internet connection.\r\nThe start of a cloud collaboration process involves one user creating a file or document and giving access to other members of the team. Anyone who has access can make changes to the document at any time, including when other people are editing or viewing it. Any changes that you make save and sync – so every user sees the same version of the project whenever (and wherever) they view it.\r\nThis means that teams in different locations can collaborate on documents together. And there are other benefits too:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Say goodbye to email attachments</span></span>\r\nIt used to be the case that you’d have to email separate attachments to each person participating in a project if they were working remotely. This makes version control hard. People end up with several different versions of the same document which complicates things – parts of the project can get missed or people duplicate the same work.\r\nCloud collaboration tools simplify the process by keeping files in a central location. Employees can edit and review the same document without having to send an updated version to everyone in the team.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Equal Participation with other team members</span></span>\r\nSome remote employees can feel left out of the conversation. All too often they think they don’t have the same opportunities as others to share their input, which isn’t good for team morale.\r\nWith cloud collaboration tools, every employee has access to projects and can offer their viewpoint and creativity. They can also share ideas in informal online meetings.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Work as a team in real-time</span></span>\r\nWith the rise in flexible working, employees are no longer expected to stick to the traditional 9-5 Monday-Friday. Teams can work on projects at any time of the day and don’t even have to be in the same country. Edits and updates appear in real-time and everyone who has access to the document can read them.\r\nUsing the right collaboration platforms is also important. It’s particularly useful if your platforms integrate with the tools you already use. Existing cloud-based tools such as Jira and BlueJeans can be paired with platforms like Workplace, for example. This helps speed up collaboration among your teams and helps you get the very best out of the various tools your organization uses every day.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Brainstorm ideas better</span></span>\r\nWhen your teams are disparate and far-flung, it can be difficult to get everyone together to discuss ideas. The cloud can be a valuable brainstorming facility – enabling you to share thoughts and have productive interactions. The cloud is an ideal medium to develop innovative ideas and facilitate better communication between staff, project managers, and other contributors.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Access large files easily</span></span>\r\nSending and receiving large files can slow you down. Most email servers can’t handle documents bigger than a few megabytes. With a cloud-based collaboration platform, you can share audio, video and other large files with ease. Because you’re simply storing them in the cloud, there’s no need to ‘send’ them. People can go directly to the cloud storage service to find the file they need.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Enterprise_Cloud_Content_Collaboration.png","alias":"enterprise-cloud-content-collaboration"},"413":{"id":413,"title":"eDiscovery","description":" Electronic discovery (also e-discovery or ediscovery) refers to discovery in legal proceedings such as litigation, government investigations, or Freedom of Information Act requests, where the information sought is in electronic format (often referred to as electronically stored information or ESI). Electronic discovery is subject to rules of civil procedure and agreed-upon processes, often involving review for privilege and relevance before data are turned over to the requesting party.\r\nElectronic information is considered different from paper information because of its intangible form, volume, transience and persistence. Electronic information is usually accompanied by metadata that is not found in paper documents and that can play an important part as evidence (e.g. the date and time a document was written could be useful in a copyright case). The preservation of metadata from electronic documents creates special challenges to prevent spoliation. In the United States, electronic discovery was the subject of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), effective December 1, 2006, as amended on December 1, 2015. In addition, state law now frequently also addresses issues relating to electronic discovery. Other jurisdictions around the world also have rules relating to electronic discovery, including Part 31 of the Civil Procedure Rules in England and Wales.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is eDiscovery?</span>\r\neDiscovery, or electronic discovery, is the process used by organizations to find, preserve, analyze, and package electronic content (often referred to as electronically stored information or ESI) for a legal request or investigation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does eDiscovery work in Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync?</span>\r\nThe eDiscovery Center is a SharePoint site collection where cases are defined, sources to be tracked are identified, holds on content are placed or removed, queries are issued, and results reviewed and exported.\r\nSome key features of the SharePoint eDiscovery Center are:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Manage Cases</span> - An eDiscovery administrator or user creates, manages and uses eDiscovery cases through the eDiscovery Center (EDC).</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work with Multiple Types of Content:</span> Preserve, search, and export documents, email messages, OneNote files, webpages, community posts, microblogs, Lync IMs, and more, providing they are crawled indexed by search.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Identify Content Sources:</span> Content sources that might be relevant, such as e-mail messages and documents, are added to one or more collections of source content called eDiscovery Sets.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Perform In-Place Hold:</span> A copy of the content can be preserved in-place and in real time, while people continue to work on the original content.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Create and Run Queries:</span> Enable you to get relevant content and statistics quickly to help you answer questions fast.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Export Content:</span> After you review your results, relevant content can be transferred out of the system into an offline and portable format.</li></ul>\r\nExchange In-Place holds enable you to place mailboxes content on hold indefinitely, based on a query, or based on a time period. Key features include:\r\n<ul><li>Place user mailboxes on hold and preserve mailbox items immutably Jump.</li><li>Preserve mailbox items deleted by users or automatic deletion processes such as messaging records management (MRM).</li><li>Use query-based In-Place Hold to search for and retain items matching specified criteria.</li><li>Preserve items indefinitely or for a specific duration.</li><li>Place a user on multiple holds for different cases or investigations.</li><li>No user impact – In-Place Hold is transparent to users.</li><li>In-Place eDiscovery searches include items placed on hold.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_eDiscovery_.png","alias":"ediscovery"},"415":{"id":415,"title":"Mobile Enterprise Applications","description":"The term <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">enterprise mobile application</span> is used in context of mobile apps created/brought by individual organizations for their workers to carry out functions required to run the organization.\r\nAn enterprise mobile app belonging to an organization is expected to be used by only the workers of that organization. The definition of enterprise mobility apps do not include the mobile apps that an organization create for its customers or consumers of the products or services generated by the organization. \r\nProviders of mobile enterprise application solutions create and develop apps for individual organizations that can buy instead of creating the apps themselves. Reasons for Organizations buying the apps include time and cost savings, technical expertise. Today Enterprise Mobility is playing track role for enterprise transformation.\r\nCompanies are rapidly incorporating mobile applications into their larger IT strategies, allowing them to grow their mobile presence further. Big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and machine learning are all propelling this growth.\r\nNeed for enterprise mobility applications arose with mobile devices becoming essential in the day to day life and with employees using mobile devices for business purposes. This lead companies to adapt to either Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled (COPE) approach for Enterprise Mobility. BYOD is making significant progress in the business world, with employees using their own technology at work.\r\nOrganizations having their internal mobile teams develop the apps internally and deploy them. However, some organizations go for enterprise mobile app development company with wide experience in creating Mobile strategies and deploying the apps for Medium to Large Scale Enterprises. These companies provide options for Pre built and custom built turn-key suite of apps. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are corporate mobile apps?</span></h1>\r\nConventionally, corporate mobile applications can be divided into several groups.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The first group</span></span> is applications designed only for work. Their main goal is to reduce company costs, optimize business processes, and, as a result, increase profits. Another option is an application to increase the efficiency of the analytical department, giving its users the opportunity to improve monitoring of the market, competitors, quickly collect and process data on prices, points of sale of goods, etc.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The second group</span></span> is applications that integrate work and communication. These include corporate social networks, so popular recently. Created in the image and likeness of social networks familiar to everyone, they successfully combine work functionality and allow employees to communicate with each other, create personal pages, workgroups, communities, keep blogs, receive news about the company, share important files, create a common information base and use it at any time. </li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The third group</span></span> is applications for monitoring remote employees. Office workers are easy to control: most of the day they are at their workplace, and if necessary, you can organize a system of electronic passes. Remote employees are left to their own devices - it’s very difficult to check whether they arrived at the site on time and reached at all, how many points they visited in a day, and whether they used company materials and equipment to fulfill “left” orders. </li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The fourth group</span></span> is Service Desk and Help Desk, designed to automate the processing of client requests while providing technical support to users of IT departments. Most of these systems are online, because it is important for the user to solve the problem as quickly as possible. With their help, you can provide customer support directly from your mobile device. Applications provide an opportunity in the background to access the list of applications, view in detail individual applications, make changes to them, respond and work with comments.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Top 5 enterprise mobility app features you must know</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centrally Moderated and Strongly Secured Data Infrastructure.</span> Security must never be at bay when it comes to enterprise mobility apps. In the age of information, data is undoubtedly the most valuable commodity, losing which can result in a massive loss for business enterprises. Data sharing done via enterprise mobility apps or solutions need to be monitored. Construct a centrally moderated and highly secure (multi-level security) infrastructure for enterprise mobility solutions. This approach enhances trust and ensures that critical business data remains safe always.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automation of Processes.</span> Automation is the main factor behind the adoption of enterprise mobility in the core business processes by the organizations. Businesses aim to streamline their operations with minimal human intervention and cut back on time/cost. The number of device usage in the enterprise domain is increasing year-after-year. The growth showcases the seriousness of organizations to adopt top enterprise mobile apps for enhancing automation and processes for better efficiency. </p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Real-Time Analytics and Connectivity.</span> The integration of enterprise mobility applications in the existing system leverages the technology benefits for seeking better insights into the ongoing processes. Every enterprise app must have cognitive analytical capabilities to succeed. Modern organizations have to manage thousands of procedures, offerings and deal with hundreds of stakeholders at any point in time. In case of such massive data overloads, every enterprise aims to have a real-time data analysis to make better decisions for growth in the future.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Incredible User Experience. </span>An enterprise mobility app must deliver an intuitive user experience. Not only should it focus on making the functionality better, but also on offering the best experience to the users. This step, in turn, will boost app adoption within the enterprise, fulfilling the organization’s aim for automation. The app must contain futuristic features such as in-app notifications, multi-platform support, offline functionality, etc., to offer an incredible user experience. <br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Event-Driven Approach. </span>Event-driven approach and architecture is the main differentiator, which fuels digital business transformation. This approach mainly revolves around the delivery of solutions that fulfill organizational objectives by offering rapid response to specific events. Moreover, the event-driven approach aims to transform the task flow based on particular circumstances. Businesses would be able to leverage dynamic opportunities to the maximum potential and provide real-time solutions by choosing the event-driven approach for their enterprise mobility applications. </p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Enterprise_Applications.jpg","alias":"mobile-enterprise-applications"},"417":{"id":417,"title":"Product Life-Cycle Management Applications","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Product_Life_Cycle_Management_Applications.png","alias":"product-life-cycle-management-applications"},"419":{"id":419,"title":"Services Resource Planning Applications","description":" The world economy has become service- and project-driven. Global businesses have realized the new playing field is not based solely on competing with products and price, but rather through client-driven projects that require unique consulting knowledge, skills and experience.\r\nThis project-driven service economy depends on accurately capturing knowledge-worker productivity—how much time, skill, materials, and intellectual property are required to produce favorable client outcomes? New cloud-based services resource planning (SRP) applications have emerged to manage the entire project lifecycle from requirements to quoting, time and expense capture and billing.\r\nSRP provides the systems basis for the initiation, planning, resource management, execution, close and control of projects and services. An SRP solution combines the best elements of previous standalone business applications for accounting (ERP), client relationship management (CRM) and professional services automation (PSA) to support the entire bid-to-bill lifecycle of a project- and service-driven organizations.\r\nA complete SRP solution provides all aspects of project-based finance and accounting to generate invoices based on a variety of methods (time and materials, milestone-based, fixed price, etc.), ensuring accurate invoicing, timely cash collection and revenue recognition.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Six Reasons Services Resource Planning is a Game-Changer for Services Organizations</span>\r\nIn the 1970s and ‘80s, materials requirements planning helped to transform the manufacturing industry.\r\nNow, three decades later, Services resource planning (SRP) is poised to be just as transformative for software and professional services. SRP provides a consistent and comprehensive platform for services organizations to manage the entire client lifecycle, from lead to project to cash. Simply put, services organizations can't afford to ignore the potential of Service Resource Planning. Here are six reasons why:\r\n<ol><li>Integration -- Integrating project management, resource optimization, project accounting, and client management is an idea whose time has come. It is virtually impossible to provide real-time insights to all stakeholders when dozens or even hundreds of simultaneous projects are being managed on spreadsheets, email, and stand-alone systems.</li><li>Decision making -- Until accounting, sales, human resources, project management and field professionals all speak the same languages of planning and execution, it is impossible to make coordinated decisions that lead to better client outcomes and increased efficiencies.</li><li>Globalization -- MRP brought centralized and consistent controls to every step of the manufacturing process at a time when globalization was shrinking the industrial world. American, Asian and European businesses vied with one another for the same customers with the same product lines. MRP sorted the winners from the losers by giving the winners tremendous cost and efficiency advantages. This should sound familiar. The market for professional services and other knowledge-based businesses has become global, and competitive pressures are coming from all corners of the world. SRP delivers the same edge to services businesses today that manufacturers needed in order to succeed three decades ago.</li><li>Coordination -- In the past, it was possible for many organizations to use professional services as a loss-leader to secure a larger piece of business, such as a long-term software contract. Now that the market for professional services is so competitive, this loss-leader mentality is a business-killing dead end. Becoming a profit center requires coordination, and that means SRP.</li><li>Growth -- Accounting and sales departments need to understand future revenue and profit opportunities, which is difficult to do when information about professional services projects and resource utilization is not readily available. SRP gives sales the information they need to understand resource availability when pitching new business, and provides accounting with the insight they need to produce more accurate forecasts and timely invoices.</li><li>Profitability -- The disciplines of Services Resource Planning expose the profitability of every resource and every project. That's the kind of granularity professional services organizations need in order to make competitive strategic decisions in the face of global competition.</li></ol>\r\nSoftware, consulting, advertising and accounting service organizations are already transforming their business with cloud SRP solutions. Here are some of the SRP success stories and take the first steps towards modernizing your own practice.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Services_Resource_Planning_Applications.png","alias":"services-resource-planning-applications"},"421":{"id":421,"title":"Digital Commerce Applications","description":"E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.\r\nModern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electric markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.\r\nE-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:\r\n<ul><li>Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants;</li><li>Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales;</li><li>Business-to-business buying and selling;</li><li>Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media;</li><li>Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange;</li><li>Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters);</li><li>Engaging in pre-retail for launching new products and services;</li><li>Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">5 Reasons Why E-commerce Is So Important For Your Business</span>\r\nFrom startups to small businesses right through to huge brands, there are a huge number of companies that can benefit from their own e-commerce website, where they can sell their own products or services. In today's competitive and convenience-focused society, no longer do consumers want to venture to the high street in order to buy items, instead, consumers want to shop from their own homes, making e-commerce a flexible solution for both businesses and buyers.\r\nIf you’re still on the fence about launching an e-commerce store then look no further, here are the top 5 reasons e-commerce is so important for your business and just how you can benefit from moving online this year!\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Can Broaden Your Brand</span>\r\nE-commerce is an ideal way you can take your brand from a traditional brick and mortar store to an innovative, well-loved brand. By offering great products 24 hours a day along with online customer service, blogs and social media, no longer is your business one singular store, with an online presence your business can be the home of your products and the general home of your business, allowing you to fully expand your product ranges without having to worry about moving locations or worrying about not being able to expand your business.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">It’s More Convenient</span>\r\nAn online store is available all day, every day meaning your customers can visit your store at all times, no matter what their schedule might be. These days people don’t always have the time to physically go shopping, instead more and more people are choosing to shop online to find the items they want or need and if your business can offer this for your customers there’s no you shouldn't appeal to a wider range of customers all looking for a convenient and flexible experience.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Increase Your Reach</span>\r\nDue to the internet’s accessibility, millions of people across the world can view your website at any time, meaning that for those looking to expand their businesses and reach out to a larger audience, you have many more opportunities to do so. Compare the number of people you can reach through a website to the amount you can reach through a high street store or local advertising, there’s no reason you shouldn’t look at taking your business online if you’re looking to improve your reach.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Gives You Marketing Opportunities</span>\r\nYour website is one of the best marketing tools your business has, not only can the use of SEO when building your site lead to more chances of your business getting found in search engines, but a huge number of marketing techniques can also work alongside your website, including pay per click advertising, your social media marketing, and your email marketing, all of which can include links back to your website.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalable</span>\r\nAs your business grows it’s very likely you’ll want to grow your product range and your target audience, as well as develop your business for customer requirements and consumer demand. An e-commerce site lets you scale your business accordingly, allowing you to add more lines, add more payment options and even grow when you choose to ship to, without having to worry about changing your location or moving to larger premises as you might with a brick and mortar store.\r\nE-commerce offers the business a whole range of opportunities, from marketing opportunities to increase your products ranges to generating more sales and with an optimized and well-developed website, you can not only achieve these goals but also offer your customers around the clock, convenient service, that can boost your business.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Digital_Commerce_Applications.png","alias":"digital-commerce-applications"},"423":{"id":423,"title":"EDA-Electronic Design Automation","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Electronic design automation (EDA)</span> is a term for a category of software products and processes that help to design electronic systems with the aid of computers. These tools are often used to design circuit boards, processors and other types of complex electronics. Electronic design automation is also known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">electronic computer-aided design.</span>\r\nElectronic design automation tools have largely replaced manual methods for circuit board and semiconductor design techniques. In the past, technicians used tools like a photoplotter to render drawings of circuit boards and electronic components. Many engineers and others would say that EDA automation has really improved the construction of electronic components, mainly through universal design techniques that eliminate different kinds of bugs or defects in chips, circuit boards, etc. However, there are still trade-offs – and some experts point to situations where a circuit board might work despite not being transparent to modeling in an EDA software. In general, these tools have standardized and streamlined the creation of circuit boards and chips through automation processes.\r\nThe electronic design automation market is divided up into a number of segments:\r\n<ul><li>Chip Design and Verification</li><li>Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and Multi-Chip Modules (MCM)</li><li>Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP)</li><li>Services</li></ul>\r\nThe EDA industry is closely related to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, the embedded software industry and increasingly to industries such as photonics and micro-mechanical that are seeing continued miniaturization and integrations into electronic systems.\r\nWhile the bulk of electronic design automation software is still primarily utilized within the semiconductor industry, the emergence of several trends associated with digital transformation has brought IC and complex PCB design to a much broader market. \r\nIn the automotive industry, original equipment manufacturers are investing in EDA design automation to develop the next generation of electrified, autonomous vehicles. In aerospace & defense, powerful EDA capabilities are becoming more and more important as avionic systems grow in complexity.\r\nAcross all industries, technologies such as 5G telecommunication, machine leaning, cloud computing, edge computing, and cybersecurity have become key components of strategic roadmaps. This is putting further pressure on semiconductor and high-tech electronics suppliers to innovate, which in turn drives the EDA electronics software market. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">EDA Electronic Design Automation : What’s Next?</h1>\r\nElectronic Design Automation Industry has been a crucial driving force behind the growth of the Semiconductor Industry. EDA electronic design automation companies deliver software products, tools, and platforms which assist in designing and verifying Integrated Circuits(ICs) and Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). Today, computers have billions of transistors and manual design and layout are not a feasible option anymore. EDA electronic design drastically reduces the cost and time as the chips can be tested, verified and simulated before the actual manufacturing.\r\nTo explore this industry from the lens of first design principles, we need to know a high-level overview of the chip design process. The process starts by writing the specifications for a chip using a Hardware Description Language. Chips can have millions of lines of specifications. The next step is to generate gates from these specifications and make the chips testable by using techniques like adding special gates to send signals to the chip. This is followed by simulations and several rounds of verification of the schematic. Next, we have the blueprint and actual layout of all the gates and their connections. As we can imagine, the sheer number of components have made it mandatory to use software automation for most if not all of these steps. EDA tools are also used in further steps for optimizing and making the layout ready for manufacturing.\r\nDespite being at the heart of innovation, the electrical design automation industry faces its own set of challenges which it needs to overcome in order to increase its growth rate. One of the major challenges that restrict the growth of the EDA industry is its limited customer base. The primary customers of EDA are big semiconductor companies, and with acquisitions happening inside the semiconductor industry EDA consumer base is further declining. While EDA companies try to solve complex design automation challenges of ever-evolving semiconductor technologies, it also needs to attempt to make software tools more powerful. \r\nEDA should attempt to leverage the power of open source software, crowd-sourced developments, and standard platforms. Some computation intensive tools could be made available as web services to users. Another interesting future perspective is the design and verification of IoT devices. IoT consists of several connected devices that gather information from the environment and possibly performing some actuation. Majority of these individual devices are less complex and current EDA tools can be used for their design. However, a lot of these devices will be created by individuals, communities and small companies. \r\nEDA attempts to solve a really complex problem and requires knowledge from various other domains like physics, manufacturing processes, application software, etc. EDA tools have to support increasing chip design complexity, new semiconductor technologies, enhanced debugging and verification techniques while improving the performance of their tools and maintaining ease of use. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_EDA_Electronic_Design_Automation.png","alias":"eda-electronic-design-automation"},"427":{"id":427,"title":"Translation Memory","description":" A translation memory (TM) is a database that stores "segments", which can be sentences, paragraphs or sentence-like units (headings, titles or elements in a list) that have previously been translated, in order to aid human translators. The translation memory stores the source text and its corresponding translation in language pairs called “translation units”. Individual words are handled by terminology bases and are not within the domain of TM.\r\nSoftware programs that use translation memories are sometimes known as translation memory managers (TMM) or translation memory systems (TM systems, not to be confused with a Translation management system (TMS), which is another type of software focused on managing process of translation).\r\nTranslation memories are typically used in conjunction with a dedicated computer assisted translation (CAT) tool, word processing program, terminology management systems, multilingual dictionary, or even raw machine translation output.\r\nResearch indicates that many companies producing multilingual documentation are using translation memory software. In a survey of language professionals in 2006, 82.5% out of 874 replies confirmed the use of a TM. Usage of TM correlated with text type characterised by technical terms and simple sentence structure (technical, to a lesser degree marketing and financial), computing skills, and repetitiveness of content.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Types of translation-memory systems</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Desktop:</span> Desktop translation memory tools are typically what individual translators use to complete translations. They are machine translation software that a freelance translator downloads and installs on his/her desktop computer.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Server-based or Centralised:</span> Centralized translation memory systems store TM on a central server. They work together with desktop TM and can increase TM match rates by 30–60% more than the TM leverage attained by desktop TM alone.<br /><br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">How does translation memory works?</span></h1>\r\nTranslation memory works in the background of your translation software programsl, offering sentence suggestions as you translate. Its memory consists of your previous translations and only identical or similar sentences are suggested.\r\nThe similarity between the source and target segments is indicated with percentages (100% is the perfect match) while differences are highlighted with colors. This means that somebody in the past had already translated that exact segment. There are also 101% and 102% matches, which means that not only the current segment, but also one or both of those before and/or after it are the same as stored in this TM entry.\r\nMatches below 100% are called fuzzy matches. These are ranked from 0% to 99%. A 99% match means that the segments differ by at least one character. Matches below 70% are often considered useless and might not show up, depending on the settings.\r\n“Repetitions” are identical segments within one document that have no translation in the translation memory yet. Most automated translation software scan for repetitions before the translator starts working. After the translator is done with the first occurrence of these, all others will get filled in automatically. \r\nBesides matches as such, you can use your existing translation memories for concordance searches — where you investigate if the translation memory has a certain term was translated before, if the segment as a whole wasn’t.<br />\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the benefits of translation memory?</span><br /></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Speeds up Translation: </span>A TM offers previously translated sentences that are identical to the current translation, with differences only in numbers, tags, formatting, punctuation or spacing.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reduces Translation Costs:</span> Translation memory is usually the most effective with texts that include many repetitions, such as website content, games, contracts and product manuals.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Increases Translation Quality: </span>Proactively prevent inconsistencies by storing correct phrases and sentences. It can be extremely useful when several people are working on the same text.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Translation_Memory.png","alias":"translation-memory"},"429":{"id":429,"title":"Machine Translation","description":" Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT (not to be confused with computer-aided translation, machine-aided human translation (MAHT) or interactive translation) is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of software to translate text or speech from one language to another.\r\nOn a basic level, MT performs simple substitution of words in one language for words in another, but that alone usually cannot produce a good translation of a text because recognition of whole phrases and their closest counterparts in the target language is needed. Solving this problem with corpus statistical, and neural techniques is a rapidly growing field that is leading to better translations, handling differences in linguistic typology, translation of idioms, and the isolation of anomalies.\r\nCurrent machine translation software often allows for customization by domain or profession (such as weather reports), improving output by limiting the scope of allowable substitutions. This technique is particularly effective in domains where formal or formulaic language is used. It follows that machine translation of government and legal documents more readily produces usable output than conversation or less standardised text.\r\nImproved output quality can also be achieved by human intervention: for example, some systems are able to translate more accurately if the user has unambiguously identified which words in the text are proper names. With the assistance of these techniques, MT has proven useful as a tool to assist human translators and, in a very limited number of cases, can even produce output that can be used as is (e.g., weather reports).\r\nThe progress and potential of machine translation have been debated much through its history. Since the 1950s, a number of scholars have questioned the possibility of achieving fully automatic machine translation of high quality, first and most notably by Yehoshua Bar-Hillel. Some critics claim that there are in-principle obstacles to automating the translation process.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Machine Translation?</span>\r\nMachine translation (MT) is an automated translation by computer software. MT can be used to translate entire texts without any human input or can be used alongside human translators. The concept of MT started gaining traction in the early 50s and has come a long way since. Many used to consider MT an inadequate alternative to human translators, but as the technology has advanced, more and more companies are turning to MT to aid human translators and optimize the localization process.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How Does Machine Translation Work?</span>\r\nWell, that depends on the type of machine translation engine. There are several different kinds of MT software which work in different ways. We will introduce Rule-based, Statistical, and Neural.\r\nRule-based machine translation (RBMT) is the forefather of MT software. It is based on sets of grammatical and syntactical rules and phraseology of a language. RBMT links the structure of the source segment to the target segment, producing a result based on analysis of the rules of the source and target languages. The rules are developed by linguists and users can add terminology to override the MT and improve the translation quality.\r\nStatistical MT (SMT) started in the age of big data and uses large amounts of existing translated texts and statistical models and algorithms to generate translations. This system relies heavily on available multilingual corpora and an average of two millions words are needed to train the engine for a specific domain – which can be time and resource-intensive. When using domain-specific data, SMT can produce good quality translations, especially in the technical, medical, and financial fields.\r\nNeural MT (NMT) is a new approach that is built on deep neural networks. There are a variety of network architectures used in NMT but typically, the network can be divided into two components: an encoder which reads the input sentence and generates a representation suitable for translation, and a decoder which generates the actual translation. Words and even whole sentences are represented as vectors of real numbers in NMT. Compared to the previous generation of MT, NMT generates outputs which tend to be more fluent and grammatically accurate. Overall, NMT is a major step in MT quality. However, NMT may slightly lack previous approaches when it comes to translating rare words and terminology. Long and/or complex sentences are still an issue even for state-of-the-art NMT systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the Pros and Cons of Machine Translation?</span>\r\n<ul><li>MT is incredibly fast and can translate thousands of words per minute.</li><li>It can translate into multiple languages at once which drastically reduces the amount of manpower needed.</li><li>Implementing MT into your localization process can do the heavy lifting for translators and free up their valuable time, allowing them to focus on the more intricate aspects of translation.</li><li>MT technology is developing rapidly and is constantly advancing towards producing higher quality translations and reducing the need for post-editing.</li></ul>\r\nThere are many advantages of using MT but we can’t ignore the disadvantages. MT does not always produce perfect translations. Unlike human translators, computers can’t understand context and culture, therefore MT can’t be used to translate anything and everything. Sometimes MT alone is suitable, while others a combination of MT and human translation is best. Sometimes it is not suitable at all. MT is not a one-size-fits-all translation solution.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">When Should You Use Machine Translation?</span>\r\nWhen translating creative or literary content, MT is not a suitable choice. This can also be the case when translating culturally specific-texts. A good rule of thumb is the more complex your content is, the less suitable it is for MT.\r\nFor large volumes of content, especially if it has a short turnaround time, MT is very effective. If accuracy is not vital, MT can produce suitable translations at a fraction of the cost. Customer reviews, news monitoring, internal documents, and product descriptions are all good candidates.\r\nUsing a combination of MT along with a human translator post-editor opens the doors to a wider variety of suitable content.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which MT Engine Should You Use?</span>\r\nNot all MT engines are created equal, but there is no specific MT engine for a specific kind of content. Publicly available MT engines are designed to be able to translate most types of content, however, with custom MT engines the training data can be tailored to a specific domain or content type.\r\nUltimately, choosing an MT engine is a process. You need to choose the kind of content you wish to translate, review security and privacy policies, run tests on text samples, choose post-editors, and several other considerations. The key is to do your research before making a decision. And, if you are using a translation management system (TMS) be sure it is able to support your chosen MT engine.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Using Machine Translation and a Translation Management System</span>\r\nYou can use MT on its own, but to get the maximum benefits we suggest integrating it with a TMS. With these technologies integrated, you will be able to leverage additional tools such as translation memories, termbases, and project management features to help streamline and optimize your localization strategy. You will have greater control over your translations, and be able to analyze the effectiveness of your MT engine.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Machine_Translation.png","alias":"machine-translation"},"431":{"id":431,"title":"Electronic dictionaries","description":" An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including software installed on tablet or desktop computers, mobile apps, web applications, and as a built-in function of E-readers. They may be free or require payment.\r\nMost of the early electronic dictionaries were, in effect, print dictionaries made available in digital form: the content was identical, but the electronic editions provided users with more powerful search functions. But soon the opportunities offered by digital media began to be exploited. Two obvious advantages are that limitations of space (and the need to optimize its use) become less pressing, so additional content can be provided; and the possibility arises of including multimedia content, such as audio pronunciations and video clips.\r\nElectronic dictionary databases, especially those included with software dictionaries are often extensive and can contain up to 500,000 headwords and definitions, verb conjugation tables, and a grammar reference section. Bilingual electronic dictionaries and monolingual dictionaries of inflected languages often include an interactive verb conjugator, and are capable of word stemming and lemmatization.\r\nPublishers and developers of electronic dictionaries may offer native content from their own lexicographers, licensed data from print publications, or both, as in the case of Babylon offering premium content from Merriam Webster, and Ultralingua offering additional premium content from Collins, Masson, and Simon & Schuster, and Paragon Software offering original content from Duden, Britannica, Harrap, Merriam-Webster and Oxford. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the capabilities of electronic dictionaries?</span>\r\nCompared with printed analogues, computer dictionaries provide the user with many additional features:\r\n<ul><li>multiple increase in search speed;</li><li>a set of entries in the dictionary: vocabulary, alphabetical index, entering words and phrases from the keyboard, from a text editor;</li><li>search for words with insufficient spelling;</li><li>full-text search (not only in the vocabulary, but also in the texts of all dictionary entries);</li><li>the use of multimedia tools for vocabulary semantization;</li><li>the presence of a hyperlink system;</li><li>the presence of cross-references to all words in the dictionary;</li><li>the ability to store a large amount of information;</li><li>in bilingual dictionaries - the possibility of direct and reverse translation;</li><li>the inclusion in the structure of a computer dictionary of several dictionaries of different types and genres;</li><li>simultaneous search in several dictionaries;</li><li>restriction of the search area by keywords, thematic groups, parts of speech, etc.;</li><li> replenishing the dictionary by the user, or creating a custom dictionary;</li><li>preservation of the search sequence during the session (the so-called chronology/search history);</li><li>saving "bookmarks" in the dictionary;</li><li> compatibility with text editors, the ability to copy dictionary entries and access to the dictionary from the editor;</li><li>compatibility with machine translation programs;</li><li>compatibility with web browsers and other types of programs (application, training, gaming);</li><li>providing additional background information on phonetics, grammar, style and other aspects of the language;</li><li>the possibility of using dictionaries in local and global networks, etc.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Electronic_dictionaries.png","alias":"electronic-dictionaries"},"433":{"id":433,"title":"Spelling Check Systems","description":" In software, a spell checker (or spell check) is a software feature that checks for misspellings in a text. Spell-checking features are often embedded in software or services, such as a word processor, email client, electronic dictionary, or search engine.\r\nA basic spell checker carries out the following processes:\r\n<ul><li>It scans the text and extracts the words contained in it.</li><li>It then compares each word with a known list of correctly spelled words (i.e. a dictionary). This might contain just a list of words, or it might also contain additional information, such as hyphenation points or lexical and grammatical attributes.</li><li>An additional step is a language-dependent algorithm for handling morphology. Even for a lightly inflected language like English, the spell-checker will need to consider different forms of the same word, such as plurals, verbal forms, contractions, and possessives. For many other languages, such as those featuring agglutination and more complex declension and conjugation, this part of the process is more complicated.</li></ul>\r\nIt is unclear whether morphological analysis — allowing for many different forms of a word depending on its grammatical role—provides a significant benefit for English, though its benefits for highly synthetic languages such as German, Hungarian or Turkish are clear.\r\nAs an adjunct to these components, the program's user interface will allow users to approve or reject replacements and modify the program's operation.\r\nAn alternative type of spell checker uses solely statistical information, such as n-grams, to recognize errors instead of correctly-spelled words. This approach usually requires a lot of effort to obtain sufficient statistical information. Key advantages include needing less runtime storage and the ability to correct errors in words that are not included in a dictionary.\r\nIn some cases spell checkers use a fixed list of misspellings and suggestions for those misspellings; this less flexible approach is often used in paper-based correction methods, such as the see also entries of encyclopedias.\r\nClustering algorithms have also been used for spell checking combined with phonetic information.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the functionality of spelling check systems?</span>\r\nThe first spell checkers were "verifiers" instead of "correctors." They offered no suggestions for incorrectly spelled words. This was helpful for typos but it was not so helpful for logical or phonetic errors. The challenge the developers faced was the difficulty in offering useful suggestions for misspelled words. This requires reducing words to a skeletal form and applying pattern-matching algorithms.\r\nIt might seem logical that where spell-checking dictionaries are concerned, "the bigger, the better," so that correct words are not marked as incorrect. In practice, however, an optimal size for English appears to be around 90,000 entries. If there are more than this, incorrectly spelled words may be skipped because they are mistaken for others. For example, a linguist might determine on the basis of corpus linguistics that the word baht is more frequently a misspelling of bath or bat than a reference to the Thai currency. Hence, it would typically be more useful if a few people who write about Thai currency were slightly inconvenienced than if the spelling errors of the many more people who discuss baths were overlooked.\r\nThe first MS-DOS spell checkers were mostly used in proofing mode from within word processing packages. After preparing a document, a user scanned the text looking for misspellings. Later, however, batch processing was offered in such packages as Oracle's short-lived CoAuthor and allowed a user to view the results after a document was processed and correct only the words that were known to be wrong. When memory and processing power became abundant, spell checking was performed in the background in an interactive way, such as has been the case with the Sector Software produced Spellbound program released in 1987 and Microsoft Word since Word 95.\r\nIn recent years, spell checkers have become increasingly sophisticated; some are now capable of recognizing simple grammatical errors. However, even at their best, they rarely catch all the errors in a text (such as homophone errors) and will flag neologisms and foreign words as misspellings. Nonetheless, spell checkers can be considered as a type of foreign language writing aid that non-native language learners can rely on to detect and correct their misspellings in the target language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spell-checking non-English languages</span>\r\nEnglish is unusual in that most words used in formal writing have a single spelling that can be found in a typical dictionary, with the exception of some jargon and modified words. In many languages, words are often concatenated into new combinations of words. In German, compound nouns are frequently coined from other existing nouns. Some scripts do not clearly separate one word from another, requiring word-splitting algorithms. Each of these presents unique challenges to non-English language spell checkers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Context-sensitive spell checkers</span>\r\nThere has been researched on developing algorithms that are capable of recognizing a misspelled word, even if the word itself is in the vocabulary, based on the context of the surrounding words. Not only does this allow words such as those in the poem above to be caught, but it mitigates the detrimental effect of enlarging dictionaries, allowing more words to be recognized. For example, baht in the same paragraph as Thai or Thailand would not be recognized as a misspelling of a bath. The most common example of errors caught by such a system are homophone errors, such as the bold words in the following sentence:\r\n\r\n<blockquote><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Their</span> coming <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">too sea</span> if <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">its reel</span>.\r\n</blockquote>\r\nThe most successful algorithm to date is Andrew Golding and Dan Roth's "Winnow-based spelling correction algorithm", published in 1999, which is able to recognize about 96% of context-sensitive spelling errors, in addition to ordinary non-word spelling errors. A context-sensitive spell checker appears in Microsoft Office 2007 and also appeared in the now-defunct Google Wave.\r\nGrammar checkers attempt to fix problems with grammar beyond spelling errors, including incorrect choice of words.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Spelling_Check_Systems.png","alias":"spelling-check-systems"},"435":{"id":435,"title":"Rack Server","description":"A rack mount server is a great way to maximize your shelf space by packing a lot of servers into a small space. Rackmount servers are typically easier for administrators to manage due to proximity, modularity and better cable management. Lockable rack cabinet doors and steel server front panels provide an additional level of physical security. Additionally, rack unit designed servers are better able to keep the server components cool than traditional tower form factor. Industry standard 19-inch racks will allow you to easily expand your business without taking up more valuable floor space.\r\nThere is a lot of thought that needs to go into which size rack server is best bet for your project. Both current requirements and future expansion plans need to be taken into account to ensure your server remains capable in the future.\r\nBoth large and small projects can be built on the 1U server platform. "U" stands for unit, “unit”, and this means thickness: server rack 1U = 1.75 inches or 44 mm wide. A reasonable amount of storage can fit within a 1U, processing power has no limits, and some models even allow up to two PCI-Express cards. Modern computer hardware uses much less power than it ever has in the past, which means less heat generation. Some 1U servers to still produce some acoustic noise, but is nowhere near the level of needing earmuffs like the old days. The only reason to go up in size is for additional expansion options.\r\n2U models allow for multiple "low-profile" PCI-Express cards while keeping a compact form factor and also providing some additional storage space. If the plan is to use multiple full height cards, then 3U or 4U servers should be the focus. The 4U models are very popular and offer flexible options. The 3U models do have limitations on expansion card compatibility and are really only for situations where rack space needs to be absolutely optimized (14x3U servers or 10x4U servers can fit in a 42u rack).","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a ‘rack unit’?</span>\r\nA rack unit is the designated unit of measurement used when describing or quantifying the vertical space you have available in any equipment rack. One unit is equal to 1.75 inches, or 4.45 centimeters. Any equipment that has the ability to be mounted onto a rack is generally designed in a standard size to fit into many different server rack heights. It’s actually been standardized by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). The most common heights are between 8U to 50U, but customization is also a viable option if you’re working with nonstandard sizes.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Are there any specific ventilation requirements with server racks?</span>\r\nOver 65% of IT equipment failures are directly attributed to inadequate, poorly maintained, or failed air conditioning in the server room. So yes, proper ventilation is a critical part of maintaining any data center. Some cabinet manufacturers construct side panel ventilation instead of front and back ventilation, but experts say it’s inadequate for rack mount servers. This can be especially dangerous if more than one cabinet is being set up at once. The importance of proper ventilation should not be taken lightly, and you should always opt for front to back ventilation except in network applications where the IT equipment exhausts out the side.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is meant by ‘server rack depth’?</span>\r\nServer rack depth is a critical aspect of the ventilation process. Connectworld.net says, “Server cabinet depth is important not only because it has to allow room for the depth of the particular equipment to be rack-mounted (deep servers vs. routers or switches), but also it has to allow sufficient room for cables, PDU’s as well as airflow.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Rack_Server.png","alias":"rack-server"},"437":{"id":437,"title":"PSM - Privileged Session Management","description":" Session management is a comprehensive IT Security process to control, monitor and record administrative access to servers, databases, and network devices. Properly implemented RBAC controls should include lock down based on day, date, time and location. Monitoring and recording should be fine-grained enough to capture keystrokes, text/graphical screen output, and mouse movements.\r\nOrganizations use session management to improve oversight and accountability over privileged accounts and credentials. Privileged session management refers to the monitoring, recording, and control over privileged sessions. IT needs to be able to audit privileged activity for both securities and to meet regulations from SOX, HIPAA, ICS CERT, GLBA, PCI DSS, FDCC, FISMA and more. Auditing activities may also include capturing keystrokes and screens (allowing for live view and playback).\r\nWhile you can manually implement some processes – such as screen recording – integrated solutions allow you to accomplish it seamlessly and at the scale of hundreds or thousands of concurrent sessions. Moreover, some third-party solutions can provide automated workflows giving IT granular control over privileged sessions, such as allowing them to pinpoint an anomalous session, and terminate it, or alternatively pause/lock it until a determination is made that the activity is appropriate.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Privileged Session Management?</span>\r\nPrivileged session management allows security administrators to monitor, control, and audit work sessions of privileged users. The session manager provides proxy-access to all critical resources and therefore prevents direct access to those resources. A session manager is central to privileged access management (PAM) and is generally integrated with an access manager and a password manager.\r\nPrivileged session management allows you to identify suspicious or unauthorized actions and stop them in their tracks. What’s more, session management provides an unimpeachable audit trail that allows for compliance and incident investigation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What features has Privileged Session Management?</span>\r\nThe key features of a privileged session management solution include:\r\n<ul><li>Real-time monitoring and alerting.</li><li>Real-time control systems.</li><li>RDP/SSH access control.</li><li>Authorization workflow.</li><li>Compliance and audit systems.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Session Management: Why do you want it?</span>\r\nPrivileged session management will allow security teams to:\r\n<ul><li>Monitor, audit, and control privileged sessions across on-premises and cloud-based applications and resources.</li><li>Prevent insider attacks, privileged account escalation, and third-party access problems.</li><li>Prove regulatory compliance for HIPAA, GDPR, PCI, SOX, NYCRR 500, and other regulations.</li><li>Provide an easy-to-utilize workflow that enables the easy provisioning and de-provisioning of privileged credentials while creating 100% accountability for those privileged users.</li><li>Revolutionize incident response by enabling both automatic response and mitigation while at the same time providing a searchable database and video record that allows for a start-to-finish post-mortem analysis.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_PSM_Privileged_Session_Management.png","alias":"psm-privileged-session-management"},"441":{"id":441,"title":"Pen Tablets","description":" A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, drawing tablet, drawing pad, digital drawing tablet, pen tablet, or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a special pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil and paper. These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures. It can also be used to trace an image from a piece of paper which is taped or otherwise secured to the tablet surface. Capturing data in this way, by tracing or entering the corners of linear poly-lines or shapes, is called digitizing.\r\nThe device consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" or trace an image using the attached stylus, a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image is displayed on the computer monitor, though some graphic tablets now also incorporate an LCD screen for a more realistic or natural experience and usability.\r\nSome tablets are intended as a replacement for the computer mouse as the primary pointing and navigation device for desktop computers.\r\nGraphic tablets, because of their stylus-based interface and ability to detect some or all of pressure, tilt, and other attributes of the stylus and its interaction with the tablet, are widely considered to offer a very natural way to create computer graphics, especially two-dimensional computer graphics. Indeed, many graphic packages can make use of the pressure (and, sometimes, stylus tilt or rotation) information generated by a tablet, by modifying the brush size, shape, opacity, color, or other attributes based on data received from the graphic tablet.\r\nIn East Asia, graphic tablets, known as "pen tablets", are widely used in conjunction with input-method editor software (IMEs) to write Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters (CJK). The technology is popular and inexpensive and offers a method for interacting with the computer in a more natural way than typing on the keyboard, with the pen tablet supplanting the role of the computer mouse. Uptake of handwriting recognition among users who use alphabetic scripts has been slower.\r\nGraphic tablets are commonly used in the artistic world. Using a pen-like stylus on a graphic tablet combined with a graphics-editing program, such as Illustrator or Photoshop by Adobe Systems, or CorelDraw, gives artists a lot of precision when creating digital drawings or artwork. Photographers can also find working with a graphic tablet during their post processing can really speed up tasks like creating a detailed layer mask or dodging and burning.\r\nEducators make use of tablets in classrooms to project handwritten notes or lessons and to allow students to do the same, as well as providing feedback on student work submitted electronically. Online teachers may also use a tablet for marking student work, or for live tutorials or lessons, especially where complex visual information or mathematical equations are required. Students are also increasingly using them as note-taking devices, especially during university lectures while following along with the lecturer.\r\nTablets are also popular for technical drawings and CAD, as one can typically put a piece of paper on them without interfering with their function.\r\nFinally, tablets are gaining popularity as a replacement for the computer mouse as a pointing device. They can feel more intuitive to some users than a mouse, as the position of a pen on a tablet typically corresponds to the location of the pointer on the GUI shown on the computer screen. Those artists using a pen for graphic work will as a matter of convenience use a tablet and pen for standard computer operations rather than put down the pen and find a mouse. A popular game osu! allows utilizing a tablet as a way of playing.\r\nGraphic tablets are available in various sizes and price ranges; A6-sized tablets being relatively inexpensive and A3-sized tablets far more expensive. Modern tablets usually connect to the computer via a USB or HDMI interface. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a pen tablet?</span>\r\nAlso called a drawing tablet or a pen tablet, a graphics tablet is a natural input device that converts information from a handheld stylus. The user uses the stylus like a pen, pencil, or paintbrush, pressing its tip on the tablet surface. The device can also be used in the replacement of a computer mouse.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who uses graphics tablets?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Architects and Engineers;</li><li>Artists;</li><li>Cartoonist;</li><li>Fashion designers;</li><li>Graphic designers;</li><li>Illustrators;</li><li>Photographers;</li><li>Teachers.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Pen_Tablets.png","alias":"pen-tablets"},"443":{"id":443,"title":"Application Delivery Controller (load balancer) - appliance","description":" Application Delivery Controllers are the next generation of load balancers, and are typically located between the firewall/router and the web server farm. An application delivery controller is a network device that helps sites direct user traffic to remove excess load from two or more servers. In addition to providing Layer 4 load balancing, ADCs can manage Layer 7 for content switching, and also provide SSL offload and acceleration. They tend to offer more advanced features such as content redirection as well as server health monitoring. An Application delivery controller may also be known as a Web switch, URL switch, Web content switch, content switch and Layer 7 switch.\r\nToday, advanced application delivery controllers and intelligent load balancers are not only affordable, but the consolidation of Layer 4-7 load balancing and content switching, and server offload capabilities such as SSL, data caching and compression provides companies with cost-effective out-of-the-box infrastructure.\r\nFor enterprise organizations (companies with 1,000 or more employees), integrating best-of-breed network infrastructure is commonplace. However best-of-breed does not equate with deploying networks with enterprise-specific features and expensive products, but rather, deploying products that are purpose-built, with the explicit features, performance, reliability and scalability created specifically for the companies of all sizes.\r\nIn general, businesses of all sizes are inclined to purchase “big brand” products. However, smaller vendors that offer products within the same category can provide the optimal performance, features and reliability required, with the same benefits - at a lower cost.\r\nFor the enterprise market, best-of-breed comes with a high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), since deploying products from various manufacturers requires additional training, maintenance and support. Kemp can help SMBs lower their TCO, and help them build reliable, high performance and scalable web and application infrastructure. Kemp products have a high price/performance value for SMBs. Our products are purpose-built for SMB businesses for dramatically less than the price of “big name” ADC and SLB vendors who are developing features that enterprise customers might use.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are application delivery controllers?</span>\r\nApplication Delivery Controllers (ADCs) are the next stage in the development of server load balancing solutions. ADCs allow you to perform not only the tasks of balancing user requests between servers, but also incorporate mechanisms that increase the performance, security and resiliency of applications, as well as ensure their scalability.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">And what other possibilities do application controllers have?</span>\r\nIn addition to the function of uniform distribution of user requests, application delivery controllers have many other interesting features. They can provide around-the-clock availability of services, improve web application performance up to five times, reduce risks when launching new services, protect confidential data, and publish internal applications to the outside with secure external access (a potential replacement for outgoing Microsoft TMG).\r\nOne of the most important functions of application delivery controllers, which distinguish them from simple load balancers, is the presence of a functional capable of processing information issued to the user based on certain rules.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the prerequisites for implementing application delivery controllers in a particular organization?</span>\r\nA number of factors can determine the criteria for deciding whether to implement application controllers in your organization. First, this is the poor performance of web services, which is a long download of content, frequent hangs and crashes. Secondly, such a prerequisite can be interruptions in the work of services and communication channels, expressed in failures in the transmitting and receiving equipment that ensures the operation of the data transmission network, as well as failures in the operation of servers.\r\nIn addition, it is worth thinking about implementing application delivery controllers if you use Microsoft TMG or Cisco ACE products, since they are no longer supported by the manufacturer. A prerequisite for the implementation of ADC may be the launch of new large web projects, since this process will inevitably entail the need to ensure the operability of this web project with the maintenance of high fault tolerance and performance.\r\nAlso, controllers are needed when you need to provide fault tolerance, continuous availability and high speed of applications that are consolidated in the data center. A similar situation arises when it is necessary to build a backup data center: here you also need to ensure fault tolerance between several data centers located in different cities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the prospects for the introduction of application controllers in Russia and in the world?</span>\r\nGartner's research shows that there have recently been marked changes in the market for products that offer load balancing mechanisms. In this segment, user demand shifts from servers implementing a simple load balancing mechanism to devices offering richer functionality.\r\nGartner: “The era of load balancing has long gone, and companies need to focus on products that offer richer application delivery functionality.”\r\nIn Russia, due to the specifics of the internal IT market, application controllers are implemented mainly because of the presence of some specific functionality, and not because of the comprehensive solution for delivering applications in general, which this product offers. The main task for which application delivery controllers are now most often sold is the same load balancing function as before.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Application_Delivery_Controller_load_balancer_appliance.png","alias":"application-delivery-controller-load-balancer-appliance"},"445":{"id":445,"title":"Penetration Testing","description":" A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">penetration test</span>, colloquially known as a pen test, <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">pentest </span>or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">ethical hacking</span>, is an authorized simulated cyberattack on a computer system, performed to evaluate the security of the system.\r\nStandard penetration test is performed to identify both weaknesses (also referred to as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">vulnerabilities</span>), including the potential for unauthorized parties to gain access to the system's features and data, as well as strengths, enabling a full risk assessment to be completed. \r\nThe main objective of system penetration testing is to identify security weaknesses. Vulnerability testing can also be used to test an organization's security policy, its adherence to compliance requirements, its employees' security awareness and the organization's ability to identify and respond to security incidents.\r\nTypically,<span style=\"font-size:11pt; font-family:Arial; font-style:normal; \">professional penetration testing</span>provides information about security weaknesses that are identified or exploited through pen testing is aggregated and provided to the organization's IT and network system managers, enabling them to make strategic decisions and prioritize remediation efforts. \r\nA wide variety of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software security testing tools </span>are available to assist with penetration testing, including free-of-charge, free software, and commercial software. Penetration tools scan code in order to identity malicious code in applications that could result in a security breach. Pen testing tools examine data encryption techniques and can identify hard-coded values, such as usernames and passwords, to verify security vulnerabilities in the system.\r\n Important aspect of any penetration testing program is defining the scope within which the pen testers must operate. Usually, the scope defines what systems, locations, techniques and tools can be used in a penetration test. Limiting the scope of the penetration test helps focus team members - and defenders - on the systems over which the organization has control.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Here are several of the main vulnerability penetration testing approaches:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Targeted testing</span> is performed by the organization's IT team and the penetration testing team working together. It's sometimes referred to as a "lights turned on" approach because everyone can see the test being carried out.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">External testing</span> targets a company's externally visible servers or devices including domain name servers, email servers, web servers or firewalls. The<span style=\"font-size:11pt; font-family:Arial; font-style:normal; \">objective of penetration testing</span>is to find out if an outside attacker can get in and how far they can get in once they've gained access.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Internal testing</span> mimics an inside attack behind the firewall by an authorized user with standard access privileges. This kind of test is useful for estimating how much damage a disgruntled employee could cause.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Blind testing simulates</span> the actions and procedures of a real attacker by severely limiting the information given to the person or team performing the test beforehand. Typically, the pen testers may only be given the name of the company.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Double-blind testing</span> takes the blind test and carries it a step further. In this type of pen test, only one or two people within the organization might be aware a test is being conducted. Double-blind tests can be useful for testing an organization's security monitoring and incident identification as well as its response procedures.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Black box</span> testing is basically the same as blind testing, but the tester receives no information before the test takes place. Rather, the pen testers must find their own way into the system.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">White box</span> testing provides the penetration testers information about the target network before they start their work. This information can include such details as IP addresses, network infrastructure schematics and the protocols used plus the source code.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What Is Penetration Testing?</span></h1>\r\nThere is a considerable amount of confusion in the industry regarding the differences between vulnerability assessment and penetration testing tool,as the two phrases are commonly interchanged. However, their meaning and implications are very different. A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">vulnerability assessment </span>simply identifies and reports noted vulnerabilities, whereas a pentest attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities to determine whether unauthorized access or other malicious activity is possible.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"> Penetration testing</span> typically includes network penetration testing and web application security testing as well as controls and processes around the networks and applications, and should occur from both outside the network trying to come in (external testing) and from inside the network.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What is a pentesting tool ?</span></h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Penetration tools are used as part testing to automate certain tasks, improve testing efficiency and discover issues that might be difficult to find using manual analysis techniques alone. Two common penetration testing tools are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">static analysis </span>tools and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">dynamic analysis</span> tools. Tools for attack include software designed to produce <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">brute-force attacks</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">SQL injections</span>. There is also hardware specifically designed for pen testing, such as small inconspicuous boxes that can be plugged into a computer on the network to provide the hacker with remote access to that network. In addition, an ethical hacker may use social engineering techniques to find vulnerabilities. For example, sending phishing emails to company employees, or even disguising themselves as delivery people to gain physical access to the building.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">What are the benefits of penetration testing?</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Manage the Risk Properly. </span>For many organizations, one of the most popular benefits of pen testing services is that they will give you a baseline to work upon to cure the risk in a structured and optimal way. It will show you the list of vulnerabilities in the target environment and the risks associated with it.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Increase Business Continuity.</span> Business continuity is the prime concern for any successful organization. A break in the business continuity can happen for many reasons. Lack of security loopholes is one of them. Insecure systems suffer more breaches in their availability than the secured ones. Today attackers are hired by other organizations to stop the continuity of business by exploiting the vulnerabilities to gain the access and to produce a denial of service condition which usually crashes the vulnerable service and breaks the server availability.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Protect Clients, Partners, and Third Parties.</span> A security breach can affect not only the target organization but also their associated clients, partners and third parties working with it. However, if company schedules a penetration test regularly and takes necessary actions towards security, it will help professionals build trust and confidence in the organization.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Helps to Evaluate Security Investment. </span> The pen test results will give us an independent view of the effectiveness of existing security processes, ensuring that configuration management practices have been followed correctly. This is an ideal opportunity to review the efficiency of the current security investment. What needs to be improved and what is working and what is not working and how much investment needed to build the more secure environment in the organization.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Help Protect Public Relationships and Guard the reputation of your company.</span>A good public relationship and company reputation are built up after taking many years struggle and hard work and with a huge amount of investment. This can be suddenly changed due to a single security breach.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Protection from Financial Damage.</span> A simple breach of the security system may cause millions of dollars of damage. Penetration testing can protect your organization from such damages.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Helps to tests cyber-defense capability.</span> During a penetration test, the target company’s security team should be able to detect multiple attacks and respond accordingly on time. Furthermore, if an intrusion is detected, the security and forensic teams should start investigations, and the penetration testers should be blocked and their tools removed. The effectiveness of your protection devices like IDS, IPS or WAF can also be tested during a penetration test.<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"></span></li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Client-side Attacks. </span>Pen tests are an effective way of ensuring that successful highly targeted client-side attacks against key members of your staff. Security should be treated with a holistic approach. Companies only assessing the security of their servers run the risk of being targeted with client-side attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in software like web browsers, pdf readers, etc. It is important to ensure that the patch management processes are working properly updating the operating system and third-party applications.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Penetration_Testing.png","alias":"penetration-testing"},"447":{"id":447,"title":"Corporate Telephony","description":" Corporate telephony is the complexes and networks within corporate communications, usually created for geographically distributed enterprises, providing communication, single address space and a single service. Converging telephony is actively used when building the telephone network.\r\nWhen creating corporate telephony, the following tasks are solved:\r\n<ul><li>Improving the security of information transmitted over communication channels</li><li>Reducing telephone costs</li><li>Simplified operation</li><li>Improving communication reliability</li><li>Improving communication quality</li></ul>\r\nConvergent telephony involves the use of both traditional and IP-telephony. IP-telephony has a high-quality voice transmission, which confirms a very large number of successfully installed telephony systems around the world.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is corporate IP telephony software?</span>\r\nThe corporate telephony market is evolving from a focus on innovation in proprietary hardware to use of commodity hardware and standards-based software. While most telephony solutions are Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled or IP-PBX solutions, the associated endpoints are a mix of time division multiplexing (TDM) and IP. Corporate telephony platforms focus on high-availability, scalable solutions, which support Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), desktop and soft phone functionality, and the ability to integrate with enterprise IT applications while delivering toll-grade voice quality.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a Call Center?</span>\r\nCall Center (Call Center) is a set of specialized automatic call distribution software that provides efficient routing and optimal selection of resources that increase the productivity of operators and the contact center as a whole. In a call center, a client can get online help, place an order, leave a message, etc.\r\nThe composition:\r\n<ul><li>The telephone platform + automatic call router (ACD)</li><li>The camera room</li><li>The interactive Voice Response System</li><li>The reporting system</li><li>Multimedia client interaction systems</li><li>Recording Systems (Nice, Verint)</li><li>The fax Server (Smartphone)</li><li>The management software</li></ul>\r\nBenefits from the implementation of call centers:\r\n<ul><li>Operational processing of a large number of incoming calls with a minimum number of operators</li><li>Improving the quality of customer service by operators</li><li>Control over the activities of operators</li><li>Automating the process of providing standard background information.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are DECT Microcellular Communication Systems?</span>\r\nRecently, more and more users have preferred the use of microcellular DECT-systems for organizing wireless communications in an enterprise, office or institution. The standard is based on digital radio transmission of data between radio base stations and radiotelephones using time division multiple access technologies.\r\nThis technology provides the most efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum, has high noise immunity and low transmitter radiation.\r\nThe introduction of DECT-systems will give the company a number of advantages:\r\n<ul><li>Increased mobility and accessibility of staff for communication interaction.</li><li>Ensuring a high degree of protection of telephone conversations (inability to listen).</li><li>Providing high-quality corporate communications.</li><li>No need for permission to use frequencies.</li><li>Ability to organize an autonomous telephone network in the office. there are no restrictions on the distance to locate base stations within the corporate network (including in any remote branches, warehouses, etc., as a result of which the need to install separate PBX systems in remote offices).</li><li>Reducing the cost of building a corporate IT infrastructure by reducing the total number of cables.</li></ul>\r\nThis type of communication is safe for the health of employees. DECT uses the frequency range of 1880-1900 MHz and has an extremely low radiation power - 10 MW.\r\nThen choosing a DECT microcellular system, there are the following limitations:\r\n<ul><li>The maximum number of base stations in the system (it is important if you need stable radio communication in large areas).</li><li>The maximum number of mobile DECT handsets in the system (it is important when planning the organization of a communication system in a company based primarily on the wireless principle).</li><li>The number of simultaneous calls supported by each base station (important when using a large number of mobile subscribers in a limited space).</li></ul>\r\nA qualified team of the System Project company will implement for your organization projects of telephony deployment based on DECT-systems in an enterprise, office or institution.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Corporate_Telephony.png","alias":"corporate-telephony"},"449":{"id":449,"title":"Digital Press","description":" Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image (variable data) used for each impression. The savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses means that digital printing is reaching the point where it can match or supersede offset printing technology's ability to produce larger print runs of several thousand sheets at a low price.\r\nThe greatest difference between digital printing and traditional methods such as lithography, flexography, gravure, or letterpress is that there is no need to replace printing plates in digital printing, whereas in analog printing the plates are repeatedly replaced. This results in quicker turnaround time and lower cost when using digital printing, but typically a loss of some fine-image detail by most commercial digital printing processes. The most popular methods include inkjet or laser printers that deposit pigment or toner onto a wide variety of substrates including paper, photo paper, canvas, glass, metal, marble, and other substances.\r\nIn many of the processes, the ink or toner does not permeate the substrate, as does conventional ink, but forms a thin layer on the surface that may be additionally adhered to the substrate by using a fuser fluid with heat process (toner) or UV curing process.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is digital printing?</span>\r\nDigital printing is a modern method of production that makes prints from electronic files. It involves your artwork being created on a computer and then printed directly onto the material of your choice. Digital printing is an alternative to traditional methods such as lithography, flexography, gravure, letter press, and others – it eliminates many of the mechanical steps required for conventional printing, such as making films and color proofs, manually stripping the pieces together, and making plates.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How it works?</span>\r\nWith the method of digital printing, an image is sent directly to the printer using digital files in PDF, TIFF, PSD or other formats. Digital printing is best used for items that require high amounts of detail and smaller quantity orders. Unlike conventional printing, there are no pre-press stages between the digital document files and the final product; there is also no need for messy formatting equipment like film plates or photo chemicals.\r\nDigital prints should come out perfectly when the following stages of production are done accurately.\r\n<ul><li>The file is prepared with a clean and sharp image in a high enough resolution for the print’s size requirements.</li><li>Crop marks and bleed are added as needed. Crop marks are lines on the corner of the print job. After trimming the bleed, crop marks ensure that no unprinted edges occur in the final trimmed document.</li><li>The next stage is imposition – ensuring that as much of the area of the paper as possible is used for the print in order to make the job efficient and cut down on paper waste.</li><li>Before being sent to the printer, your electronic document file (the image or text that you are printing) will need to be converted to a BMP, TIFF, GIF, or JPEG file format. These are known as raster image files or bitmaps. Depending on the software used, PDF files can also be used to print from.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why Digital Printing?</span>\r\nDigital printing is a new paradigm for the industry. It provides more choices, features and flexibility than older methods such as offset or flexographic printing. Today, we expect printed materials to be accurate and up to date – clients need printers to be able to produce cost effective, high quality, short run color printing in the fastest possible time frame. However, it is not always easy to decide which process will best suit your job, so before you choose how to print your design, there are a few things you should consider. Below is a guide to help you understand the advantages of digital printing.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of digital printing?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">High Quality:</span> This offers impressive quality and consistency over the other options. The colors show up perfectly on the prints and there are no issues with harsh lines. With digital printing, the quality of the last card, brochure or flyer in a batch is same as that of the first.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Timeliness:</span> There are fewer steps in the printing process, and as a result, the final product can be delivered quicker.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cost Effective:</span> Because printing plates are not required, there is less investment involved to set up a single job.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Short Runs:</span> Digital printing is the ideal method of producing short to medium print runs compared to traditional methods.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Customization:</span> Digital printing provides the most affordable solution to customize marketing materials, direct mail pieces and letters, business cards, and more.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Digital_Press.png","alias":"digital-press"},"451":{"id":451,"title":"Printers and All-in-Ones","description":" An MFP (multi-function product/printer/peripheral), multi-functional, all-in-one (AIO), or multi-function device (MFD), is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, so as to have a smaller footprint in a home or small business setting (the SOHO market segment), or to provide centralized document management/distribution/production in a large-office setting. A typical MFP may act as a combination of some or all of the following devices: email, fax, photocopier, printer, scanner.\r\nMFP manufacturers traditionally divided MFPs into various segments. The segments roughly divided the MFPs according to their speed in pages-per-minute (ppm) and duty-cycle/robustness. However, many manufacturers are beginning to avoid the segment definition for their products, as speed and basic functionality alone do not always differentiate the many features that the devices include. Two-color MFPs of a similar speed may end in the same segment, despite having potentially very different feature-sets, and therefore very different prices. From a marketing perspective, the manufacturer of the more expensive MFP would want to differentiate their product as much as possible to justify the price difference, and therefore avoids the segment definition.\r\nMany MFP types, regardless of the category they fall into, also come in a "printer only" variety, which is the same model without the scanner unit included. This can even occur with devices where the scanner unit physically appears highly integrated into the product.\r\nAs of 2013, almost all printer manufacturers offer multifunction printers. They are designed for home, small business, enterprise, and commercial use. Naturally, the cost, usability, robustness, throughput, output quality, etc. all vary with the various use cases. However, they all generally do the same functions; Print, Scan, Fax, and Photocopy. In the commercial/enterprise area, most MFP has used laser-printer technology, while the personal, SOHO environments, utilize inkjet methods. Typically, inkjet printers have struggled with delivering the performance and color-saturation demanded by enterprise/large business use. However, HP has recently launched a business-grade MFP using inkjet technology.\r\nIn any case, instead of rigidly defined segments based on speed, more general definitions based on the intended target audience and capabilities are becoming much more common as of 2013. While the sector lacks formal definitions, it is commonly agreed amongst MFP manufacturers that the products fall roughly into the following categories: all-in-one, SOHO MFP, office MFP, production printing MFP.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a multifunction printer?</span>\r\nA multifunction printer (MFP) is a device that consolidates the functionality of a printer, copier, scanner and/or fax into one machine. Multifunction printers are a common choice for budget-minded businesses that want to consolidate assets, reduce costs and improve workflow. As you move to more digital workflows, take a look at our list of multifunction printers specifically recommended for scanning documents.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Multifunction Printer Evaluation Considerations</span>\r\nTo make an informed decision about what multifunction printer is right for you, you need to ask the right questions. Here are the 10 things you must know before you buy a multifunction printer.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">1. Know your requirements.</span></span>\r\nUnderstand what you need the multifunction printer to do for you and your end users. Beyond printing and copying, how do you want to use the multifunction printer to help manage documents, reduce paper, simplify workflow, scan to the cloud, work remotely, etc.? How many copy, print, fax, scan and email jobs will you run each day? How many users will share the device? Will you need it to be color capable? Wireless? Mobile- and cloud-connected? There are a number of requirements to consider.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">2. Know the total cost of ownership (TCO) and cost/value benefits.</span></span>\r\nWhen evaluating a multifunction printer, beware of looking only at the cost of the initial hardware. There are a number of other factors to consider, including the cost of supplies. Once ink costs are taken into consideration, inkjet multifunction printers, initially perceived as being low-cost, often turn out to have an equivalent or higher TCO than the better-performing laser multifunction printers. TCO can also increase significantly for devices that are hard to use and maintain, unreliable, or lack the features and capability to efficiently and effectively produce the results you need.\r\nYour multifunction printer can become a useful asset in managing and controlling costs for printing and imaging, and can also add new capabilities to your organization if you choose wisely. Consider how multifunction printers can address total cost of ownership for printing and imaging assets, better consolidate and improve management of resources across the organization, and improve business process efficiency.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">3. Know what third parties have to say.</span></span>\r\nCompare the data on the actual performance and management and support issues promoted on the vendor's specification sheets with data from independent testing agencies. What are experienced people in the industry saying about the quality and performance of the product you are considering?\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">4. Know how easy it is to connect to an existing network.</span></span>\r\nConsider how easily the multifunction printer system will integrate with your existing network. Is it easy to deploy? Does it require minimal start-up training? Does it come with software or wizards to guide you through installation, troubleshooting and upgrading?\r\nIf your workgroup needs to print from multiple, distributed devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.) to one easily accessible location, then consider buying a wireless, or WiFi, multifunction printer. WiFi multifunction printers connect to a network without needing to be hard-wired or cabled into that network. This enables easy mobile printing, without unsightly cords to trip over.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">5. Know how easy it is to use.</span></span>\r\nPrevent bottlenecks and costly employee downtime by finding a multifunction printer that's easy to operate. Check for intuitive user interfaces, minimal training requirements, and easily accessible online help and documentation. If you do need support, check that the product is backed by manufacturer-provided service and support coverage.\r\nTablet-like interfaces make the newest-generation multifunction printers especially easy to use. They let you touch, swipe, pinch and scroll just like you would on a smartphone or tablet. And with apps integrated into the interface, you can add, delete or swap tools for your own customized workflows.\r\nMobile- and cloud-connected multifunction printers make it easy to work from just about anywhere. On these MFPs, apps become your shortcut for downloading, sharing, printing, scanning, distributing -- even translating -- documents on the go.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">6. Know its multitasking abilities.</span></span>\r\nLook for a multifunction printer that can truly multifunction. Can users access each function they need, even if other functions are already in use? Be aware that some products, such as All-in-Ones (AiOs), offer multiple functions all in one device, but may not multitask simultaneously. If they cannot deliver all the functions of a multifunction printer concurrently, then you may risk downtime due to bottlenecks.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">7. Know its bi-directional communication capabilities.</span></span>\r\nA failure to communicate timely and accurate information to users and IT administrators on the status of jobs, queues, and devices will result in more intervention by you and your staff to solve, prevent or anticipate problems. Solid bi-directional communication, both at the multifunction printer and across the network is essential to keeping a product running consistently. Look for print job and device status capabilities from the desktop and the ability to view all job queues at the device and across the network.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">8. Know the available device management, remote intelligence and support.</span></span>\r\nConsider the vendor's commitment to providing robust device and fleet management tools and utilities. This is something you may want now or in the future. Look for device relationship management software that optimizes the multifunction printer’s availability and uptime. Does the vendor provide superior response time and provide consistent quality of service? You want to trust your multifunction printer will stay up and running to ensure you have an efficient and productive office.\r\nThe more sophisticated multifunction printers let you not only manage fleets, but also information. With the right tools built in, such as integration with Managed Print Services, your MFP becomes the hub of your document environment. It can automate business processes, optimize device management remotely, and assist your help desk with built-in tools. An app-connected interface opens a gateway of future possibilities for device, and document, management as well.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">9. Know whether it provides the level of security and confidentiality you need.</span></span>\r\nDoes the device offer the appropriate level of security for your business? Is it scalable to provide more security if your needs change?\r\nLeft unchecked, multifunction printers can be vulnerable entry points for data breaches or malicious attacks. The best way to keep your data secure is to choose multifunction printers that exceed industry standards for intrusion prevention, device detection and data encryption. Also look for multifunction printer manufacturers who partner with information technology security experts, such as McAfee and Cisco.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">10. Know what software and solutions are available.</span></span>\r\nUnderstand what compatible software and solutions are available from the vendor, as well as their solution partners.\r\nMultifunction printers can help you streamline duplicate and cumbersome document processes and electronically organize, edit and archive your paper documents. With a multifunction printer and a simple software application, you can turn paper documents into electronic formats and send them to multiple destinations - email, cloud-based document repositories, network folders, remote printers, back-office automation systems, etc. - with a single scan.\r\nApp-enabled multifunction printers take these processes a step further. They put functions and workflows into an easy, app interface like what you see on your mobile phone or tablet. They let you print from or scan to the cloud, and connect smartphones to WiFi MFPs so you can work from anywhere, anytime.\r\nOnce you're armed with the knowledge you've gathered by asking these questions, you'll be prepared to make the right decision for your business.\r\n\r\nMultifunction printers can help you streamline duplicate and cumbersome document processes and electronically organize, edit and archive your paper documents. With an multifunction printer and a simple software application you can turn paper documents into electronic format and send to multiple destinations - email, document repositories, network folders, even remote printers - with a single scan.\r\nOnce you're armed with the knowledge you've gathered by asking these questions, you'll be prepared to make the right decision for your business.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Printers_and_All_in_Ones.png","alias":"printers-and-all-in-ones"},"453":{"id":453,"title":"Desktop PC","description":" A desktop computer is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk or table due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply, motherboard (a printed circuit board with a microprocessor as the central processing unit (CPU), memory, bus, and other electronic components), disk storage (usually one or more hard disk drives, solid state drives, optical disc drives, and in early models a floppy disk drive); a keyboard and mouse for input; and a computer monitor, speakers, and, often, a printer for output. The case may be oriented horizontally or vertically and placed either underneath, beside, or on top of a desk.\r\nDesktop computers are designed to work at the table. Usually, they are bigger and more powerful than other types of personal computers. Desktop computers are made up of individual components. The main component is called the system unit - usually, it is a rectangular case that is on or under the table. Other components, such as the monitor, mouse and keyboard, are connected to the system unit.\r\nAs a rule, all additional external devices are connected to the PC system unit using special connectors. Their main part is located on its rear wall. Some, the most popular ones, are brought to the front, for example, USB connectors and audio outputs. The system unit itself consists of internal devices, called components.","materialsDescription":" Main components of the desktop system unit:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A CPU</span> is the main information processing and computer control device.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A video card</span> is a device for processing two-dimensional and three-dimensional graphics, as well as displaying an image on a monitor (screen).</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">RAM</span> - used for short-term storage of data during operation of the computer. When it is turned off, the information recorded in the RAM disappears.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A storage device (hard disk)</span> - used as the primary means for storing all user data and programs. Its capacity is much more than the amount of RAM, however, the speed of reading and writing information is less than when working with RAM.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A motherboard</span> is a complex device that combines all the components of a personal computer and ensures their well-coordinated work.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">An optical drive</span> - a device for reading and writing information on optical CDs, DVDs and Blue-ray discs.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A case</span> - protects all components from harmful external influences (for example, moisture) and gives an aesthetic look to your computer.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A power supply unit</span> converts the alternating current of ordinary electric networks of high voltage (220 Volt) into direct current of low voltage (12 V, 5 V and 3 V), required for powering computer components.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Desktop_PC.png","alias":"desktop-pc"},"455":{"id":455,"title":"Portable PC","description":" A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard. The first commercially sold portable was the 50 pound IBM 5100, introduced 1975. The next major portables were Osborne's 24 pound CP/M-based Osborne 1 (1981) and Compaq's 28 pound 100% IBM PC compatible Compaq Portable (1983). These "luggable" computers lacked the next technological development, not requiring an external power source; that feature was introduced by the laptop. Laptops were followed by lighter models, so that in the 2000's mobile devices and by 2007 smartphones made the term almost meaningless. The 2010's introduced wearable computers such as smartwatches.\r\nPortable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Larger portable computers were commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers. They are also called 'Portable Workstations' or 'Portable PCs'. In Japan they were often called 'Bentocom'. (ベントコン, Bentokon) from "bento".\r\nPortable computers, more narrowly defined, are distinct from desktop replacement computers in that they usually were constructed from full-specification desktop components, and often do not incorporate features associated with laptops or mobile devices. A portable computer in this usage, versus a laptop or other mobile computing device, have a standard motherboard or backplane providing plug-in slots for add-in cards. This allows mission specific cards such as test, A/D, or communication protocol (IEEE-488, 1553) to be installed. Portable computers also provide for more disk storage by using standard disk drives and provide for multiple drives.\r\nPortable computers have been increasing in popularity over the past decade, as they do not restrict the user's mobility as a desktop computer does, and do not restrict the computer power and storage available as a laptop computer does. Wireless access to the Internet, extended battery life, and more elaborate cases permitting multiple screens and even significant RAID capacity, have contributed.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What does Portable Computer mean?</span>\r\nA Portable computer is a computer that comes with a keyboard and display and one which can be easily relocated or transported, although less convenient compared to a notebook.\r\nThey have lower specifications and are not well suited for full-time usage as they are less ergonomic. However, they take less space than desktop computers and come with most features found on a desktop. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the advantages of portable PC?</span>\r\nAdvantages of a portable computer:\r\n<ul><li>Compared to other mobile computing device or laptop, portable computer makes use of standard motherboards and also provide plug in slots for add in cards.</li><li>Portability and flexibility to use is a definite advantage for portable computer over desktop computers.</li><li>Portable computers use less space than desktop computers and are smaller in size.</li><li>Compared to a desktop computer, the power consumed is less in case of portable computer and can help in power and cost savings.</li><li>Compared to desktop computers, immediacy is more pronounced in the case of portable computers.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the disadvantages of portable PC?</span>\r\nDisadvantages of a portable computer:\r\n<ul><li>They have a lower specification than most desktop systems.</li><li>They are less ergonomic and are less suited for full-time usage in most of the cases.</li><li>Expansion is tough and any repair could prove costly.</li><li>Most of portable computers are not upgradeable.</li><li>Compared to desktop systems, they are less reliable mostly due to overheating problems and often run slower.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Portrable_PC.png","alias":"portable-pc"},"457":{"id":457,"title":"DDoS Protection","description":" A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connected to the Internet. Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding the targeted machine or resource with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload systems and prevent some or all legitimate requests from being fulfilled.\r\nIn a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), the incoming traffic flooding the victim originates from many different sources. This effectively makes it impossible to stop the attack simply by blocking a single source.\r\nA DoS or DDoS attack is analogous to a group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard for legitimate customers to enter, disrupting trade.\r\nCriminal perpetrators of DoS attacks often target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks or credit card payment gateways. Revenge, blackmail and activism can motivate these attacks. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the Different Types of DDoS Attacks?</span>\r\nDistributed Denial of Service attacks vary significantly, and there are thousands of different ways an attack can be carried out (attack vectors), but an attack vector will generally fall into one of three broad categories:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Volumetric Attacks:</span>\r\nVolumetric attacks attempt to consume the bandwidth either within the target network/service or between the target network/service and the rest of the Internet. These attacks are simply about causing congestion.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">TCP State-Exhaustion Attacks:</span>\r\nTCP State-Exhaustion attacks attempt to consume the connection state tables which are present in many infrastructure components such as load-balancers, firewalls and the application servers themselves. Even high capacity devices capable of maintaining state on millions of connections can be taken down by these attacks.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Application Layer Attacks:</span>\r\nApplication Layer attacks target some aspect of an application or service at Layer-7. These are the deadliest kind of attacks as they can be very effective with as few as one attacking machine generating a low traffic rate (this makes these attacks very difficult to proactively detect and mitigate). Application layer attacks have come to prevalence over the past three or four years and simple application layer flood attacks (HTTP GET flood etc.) have been some of the most common denials of service attacks seen in the wild.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_DDoS_Protection.png","alias":"ddos-protection"},"459":{"id":459,"title":"Monitor","description":" A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial form. A monitor usually comprises the display device, circuitry, casing, and power supply. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) with LED backlighting having replaced cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlighting. Older monitors used a cathode ray tube (CRT). Monitors are connected to the computer via VGA, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) or other proprietary connectors and signals.\r\nOriginally, computer monitors were used for data processing while television sets were used for entertainment. From the 1980s onwards, computers (and their monitors) have been used for both data processing and entertainment, while televisions have implemented some computer functionality. The common aspect ratio of televisions, and computer monitors, has changed from 4:3 to 16:10, to 16:9.\r\nModern computer monitors are easily interchangeable with conventional television sets. However, as computer monitors do not necessarily include integrated speakers, it may not be possible to use a computer monitor without external components.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is an LCD monitor (TFT)?</span>\r\nLiquid crystal monitor (also Liquid crystal display, LCD monitor, flat indicator) - a flat monitor based on liquid crystals.\r\nLCD TFT is one of the names of the liquid crystal display, which uses an active matrix controlled by thin-film transistors. The TFT amplifier for each subpixel is used to increase the speed, contrast and clarity of the display image.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">How does an LCD monitor work?</span>\r\nEach pixel of the LCD display consists of a layer of molecules between two transparent electrodes, and two polarizing filters, the polarization planes of which (as a rule) are perpendicular. In the absence of liquid crystals, the light transmitted by the first filter is almost completely blocked by the second.\r\nThe surface of the electrodes in contact with liquid crystals is specially processed for the initial orientation of the molecules in one direction. In the TN matrix, these directions are mutually perpendicular, therefore, the molecules line up in a helical structure in the absence of voltage. This structure refracts the light in such a way that, before the second filter, the plane of its polarization rotates, and light passes through it already without loss. Except for the absorption by the first filter of half of the unpolarized light, the cell can be considered transparent. If voltage is applied to the electrodes, the molecules tend to line up in the direction of the field, which distorts the helical structure. In this case, the elastic forces counteract this, and when the voltage is turned off, the molecules return to their original position. With a sufficient field value, almost all molecules become parallel, which leads to the opacity of the structure. By varying the voltage, you can control the degree of transparency. If a constant voltage is applied for a long time, the liquid crystal structure may degrade due to ion migration. To solve this problem, an alternating current is applied, or a change in the field polarity at each addressing of the cell (the opacity of the structure does not depend on the field polarity). In the entire matrix, each of the cells can be controlled individually, but with an increase in their number this becomes difficult to accomplish, as the number of required electrodes increases. Therefore, row and column addressing is used almost everywhere. The light passing through the cells can be natural - reflected from the substrate (in LCD displays without backlight). But more often an artificial light source is used, in addition to independence from external lighting, this also stabilizes the properties of the resulting image. Thus, a full-fledged LCD monitor consists of electronics that process the input video signal, LCD matrix, backlight module, power supply and housing. It is the combination of these components that determines the properties of the monitor as a whole, although some characteristics are more important than others.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the most important features of LCD monitors?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Resolution:</span> The horizontal and vertical sizes, expressed in pixels. Unlike CRT monitors, LCDs have one, “native”, physical resolution, the rest is achieved by interpolation.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Point Size:</span> The distance between the centers of adjacent pixels. Directly related to the physical resolution.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Aspect ratio:</span> The ratio of width to height, for example: 5: 4, 4: 3, 5: 3, 8: 5, 16: 9, 16:10.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Visible diagonal:</span> the size of the panel itself, measured diagonally. The display area also depends on the format: a monitor with a 4: 3 format has a larger area than with a 16: 9 format with the same diagonal.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Contrast:</span> the ratio of the brightness of the lightest and darkest points. Some monitors use an adaptive backlight level; the contrast figure given for them does not apply to image contrast.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Brightness:</span> The amount of light emitted by the display is usually measured in candelas per square meter.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Response Time:</span> The minimum time a pixel needs to change its brightness. The measurement methods are ambiguous.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Viewing angle:</span> the angle at which the contrast drop reaches the set one is considered different for different types of matrices and by different manufacturers, and often can not be compared.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Matrix type:</span> LCD technology.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Inputs:</span> (e.g. DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, etc.).</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the technologies for LCD monitors?</span>\r\nLCD monitors were developed in 1963 at the David Sarnoff Research Center at RCA, Princeton, New Jersey.\r\nThe main technologies in the manufacture of LCD displays: TN + film, IPS and MVA. These technologies differ in the geometry of the surfaces, the polymer, the control plate, and the front electrode. Of great importance are the purity and type of polymer with the properties of liquid crystals, used in specific developments.\r\nThe response time of LCD monitors designed using SXRD technology (English Silicon X-tal Reflective Display - silicon reflective liquid crystal matrix) is reduced to 5 ms. Sony, Sharp, and Philips have jointly developed PALC technology (Plasma Addressed Liquid Crystal - Plasma Control of Liquid Crystals), which combines the advantages of LCD (brightness and color richness, contrast) and plasma panels (large viewing angles, H, and vertical, V, high refresh rate). These displays use gas-discharge plasma cells as a brightness controller, and an LCD matrix is used for color filtering. PALC technology allows you to address each pixel of the display individually, which means unsurpassed controllability and image quality.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Monitor.png","alias":"monitor"},"461":{"id":461,"title":"Data Diode","description":"A unidirectional network (also referred to as a unidirectional gateway or data diode) is a network appliance or device that allows data to travel in only one direction. Data diodes can be found most commonly in high-security environments, such as defense, where they serve as connections between two or more networks of differing security classifications. Given the rise of Industrial IoT and Digitization, this technology can now be found at the industrial control level for such facilities as nuclear power plants, power generation and safety-critical systems like railway networks.<br />After years of development, the use of data diodes has increased, creating two variations:\r\n<ul><li>Data Diode: more often used to refer to the simple hardware version that physically enforces data to flow in only one direction.</li><li>Unidirectional Gateway: Used to describe a more sophisticated device that typically has a computer on both its critical and open side. Unidirectional gateways are a combination of hardware and software. The hardware (data diode) permits data to flow from one network to another but is physically unable to send any information at all back into the source network. The software replicates databases and emulates protocol servers and devices, enabling compatibility with existing network protocols, allowing organizations to gain their benefits without changes to their existing systems.</li></ul>\r\nOnce only commonly found in high-security military environments, unidirectional gateways are now becoming widely spread in sectors like Oil & Gas, water/wastewater, airplanes (between flight control units and in-flight entertainment systems), manufacturing and cloud connectivity for Industrial IoT primarily as a result of new regulations, increased demand and big industrial powerhouses. These industries/sectors and betting on this technology, which has had the effect of lowering the technology's core cost.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Data Diode Technology & How Does It Work?</span>\r\nToday's business environment is increasingly digital and more vulnerable than ever to a cyber attack. Because of this, various network security technologies have been developed to protect organizational data and infrastructures. One of the most effective of these modern technologies is the data diode. Although it is one of the most effective network security tools available, you may not have heard of this technology and know little of what it does. Below, you'll find a description of what data diode technology is and how it works.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Data Diode Technology?</span>\r\nA data diode is a communication device that enables the safe, one-way transfer of data between segmented networks. Intelligent data diode design maintains physical and electrical separation of source and destination networks, establishing a non-routable, completely closed one-way data transfer protocol between networks. Intelligent data diodes effectively eliminate external points of entry to the sending system, preventing intruders and contagious elements from infiltrating the network. Securing all of a network’s data outflow with data diodes makes it impossible for an insecure or hostile network to pass along malware, access your system, or accidentally make harmful changes.\r\nData diodes allow companies to send process data in real time to information management systems for use in financial, customer service, and management decisions — without compromising the security of your network. This protects valuable information and network infrastructure from theft, destruction, tampering, and human error, mitigating the potential loss of thousands of dollars and countless hours of work.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does Data Diode Technology Work?</span>\r\nA "diode" is an electronic component that only allows current to flow in one direction. Similarly, data diode technology lets information flow safely in only one direction, from secure areas to less secure systems, without permitting reverse access. A data diode also creates a physical barrier or “air gap” between the two points. This one-way connection prevents data leakage, eliminates the threat of malware, and fully protects the process control network. Moreover, a single data diode can handle data transfers from multiple servers or devices simultaneously, without bottlenecking.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is it used?</span>\r\nIt’s typically used to guarantee information security or protection of critical digital systems, such as industrial control systems, from cyber attacks. While the use of these devices is common in high-security environments such as defense, where they serve as connections between two or more networks of differing security classifications, the technology is also being used to enforce one-way communications outbound from critical digital systems to untrusted networks connected to the Internet.\r\nThe physical nature of unidirectional networks only allows data to pass from one side of a network connection to another, and not the other way around. This can be from the "low side" or untrusted network to the "high side" or trusted network or vice versa. In the first case, data in the high side network is kept confidential and users retain access to data from the low side. Such functionality can be attractive if sensitive data is stored on a network which requires connectivity with the Internet: the high side can receive Internet data from the low side, but no data on the high side is accessible to Internet-based intrusion. In the second case, a safety-critical physical system can be made accessible for online monitoring, yet be insulated from all Internet-based attacks that might seek to cause physical damage. In both cases, the connection remains unidirectional even if both the low and the high network are compromised, as the security guarantees are physical in nature.\r\nThere are two general models for using unidirectional network connections. In the classical model, the purpose of the data diode is to prevent the export of classified data from a secure machine while allowing the import of data from an insecure machine. In the alternative model, the diode is used to allow export of data from a protected machine while preventing attacks on that machine.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_Diode.png","alias":"data-diode"},"463":{"id":463,"title":"KVM switch","description":" A KVM switch (with KVM being an abbreviation for "keyboard, video and mouse") is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from one or more sets of keyboards, video monitors, and mice. Although multiple computers are connected to the KVM, typically a smaller number of computers can be controlled at any given time. Modern devices have also added the ability to share other peripherals like USB devices and audio.\r\nBefore the mouse became relevant in server switching applications, the term Keyboard Video Switch (KVS) was used to describe keyboard and monitor switching devices. With the increased adoption of Microsoft Windows, the mouse and other I/O ports in peripheral switching became prevalent. Remigius Shatas, the founder of Cybex (a popular peripheral switch manufacturer at that time) expanded the initialism to Keyboard, Video and Mouse (KVM) in 1995. Some years later, Universal Serial Bus (USB) began to become the new industry standard for connecting computer peripherals.\r\nAs a result of the growing need to switch peripherals (such as touchscreens) in addition to the keyboard, mouse and monitor, some companies are now selling "KVMP" switch devices (standing for keyboard, video, mouse and peripheral).\r\nA KVM Switch is a hardware device, used in data centers, that allows the control of multiple computers from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse (KVM). This switch then allows data center personnel to connect to any server in the rack. A common example of home use is to enable the use of the full-size keyboard, mouse and monitor of the home PC with a portable device such as a laptop, tablet PC or PDA, or a computer using a different operating system.\r\nKVM switches offer different methods of connecting the computers. Depending on the product, the switch may present native connectors on the device where standard keyboard, monitor and mouse cables can be attached. Another method to have a single DB25 or similar connector that aggregated connections at the switch with three independent keyboard, monitor and mouse cables to the computers. Subsequently, these were replaced by a special KVM cable which combined the keyboard, video and mouse cables in a single wrapped extension cable. The advantage of the last approach is in the reduction of the number of cables between the KVM switch and connected computers. The disadvantage is the cost of these cables.\r\nThe method of switching from one computer to another depends on the switch. The original peripheral switches (Rose, circa 1988) used a rotary switch while active electronic switches (Cybex, circa 1990) used push buttons on the KVM device. In both cases, the KVM aligns operation between different computers and the users' keyboard, monitor and mouse (user console).\r\nIn 1992-1993, Cybex Corporation engineered keyboard hot-key commands. Today, most KVMs are controlled through non-invasive hot-key commands (e.g. Ctrl+Ctrl, Scroll Lock+Scroll Lock and the Print Screen keys). Hot-key switching is often complemented with an on-screen display system that displays a list of connected computers.\r\nKVM switches differ in the number of computers that can be connected. Traditional switching configurations range from 2 to 64 possible computers attached to a single device. Enterprise-grade devices interconnected via daisy-chained and/or cascaded methods can support a total of 512 computers equally accessed by any given user console.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is KVM?</span>\r\nKVM is an abbreviation for Keyboard (keyboard), Video (video) and Mouse (mouse), which connect to computer ports. KVM products connected to various ports transmit or switch computer signals.\r\nConsequently, KVM is a designation of a group of technologies, not special brands or companies.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is KVM technology?</span>\r\nThe acronym KVM means keyboard, video, and mouse, and refers to computer ports. KVM equipment connects to these and other ports, from where computer signals expand or switch. In this way, KVM stands for technology, not a brand or a company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Who needs KVM?</span>\r\nKVM products can be used by anyone using computers.\r\nKVM products are used for:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Noise reduction.</span> Ability to move computers from radio studios.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Save space.</span> Ability to move computers from an air traffic control tower.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Protect computers from damage.</span> The ability to move computers from the test room to a secure server room.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Create more ergonomic consoles.</span> The ability to avoid heat generation by moving computers.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reduce the number of peripherals.</span> Ability to control multiple computers using one monitor, keyboard and mouse.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplification of administration.</span> The ability to facilitate maintenance and administration of computers by moving to a central server room.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Create flexible working concepts.</span> The ability for users to access the computer (s) from various consoles.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a KVM switch?</span>\r\nThe KVM switch connects several computers that can be controlled from a single console (monitor, keyboard, mouse).\r\nSwitching between computers is carried out through the button on the switch or using hotkeys. Depending on size, KVM switches also support OSD technology for switching between computers.\r\nFor example, Guntermann & Druck offers KVM switches for DVI and VGA signals that allow the user to control from two to 64 computers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a KVM transmitter?</span>\r\nThe KVM transmitter transmits keyboard, video, and mouse signals to control the computer remotely.\r\nEach KVM transmission system consists of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter connects to the computer keyboard, video, and mouse interfaces, while the receiver connects to a remote console. Both devices are connected by one or more cables.\r\nVarious suppliers offer KVM transmitters for DVI and VGA signals, which use CAT cable (“twisted pair”) or optical fiber for transmission. Signals such as audio, RS-232, USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 can also be transmitted.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What do I need to work with KVM switches?</span>\r\nDifferent KVM switches have different requirements. In most cases, all you need is a KVM switch, the required number of cables to connect all your computers, keyboard, monitor and mouse, and, in fact, the computers themselves. This is the basic configuration; more complex systems may require more components.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a matrix KVM switch?</span>\r\nThe matrix KVM switch combines multiple transmitters and switches in one device.\r\nMultiple consoles can access multiple computers - even over long distances. Systems are mainly divided by the type of video signal transmitted. Matrix KVM switches are available for expanding DVI, VGA and other signal signals.\r\nIn addition, matrix switchers are divided into compact devices (specific device characteristics, such as the G&D CompactCenter) and modular systems (such as the G&D DVICenter).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why are some KVM switches so much cheaper than others?</span>\r\nAs with all products, some of them have more options. Certain switches offer equipment sharing via USB, On-Screen Display (OSD), audio support, emulation ports, multi-platform capabilities, built-in converters, and shipped with cables and power supplies. You decide whether you need these options or not.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is an OSD?</span>\r\nOSD, short for On-Screen Display, is a graphical representation of computers connected to the KVM switch, allowing you to select the computer you want without pressing the buttons on the KVM switch or using hotkeys. If you have a multi-user switch, this function can also show you which computer each user currently has access to.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a video splitter?</span>\r\nThe video splitter allows you to split the VGA/DVI signal and display it on multiple monitors. This product also has several options. You can send these signals via a CAT5 cable or a standard VGA cable. You also have the option of transferring audio for multimedia applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a remote reboot?</span>\r\nRemote reboot allows you to reboot servers from anywhere in the world using the Internet. You can do this with a simple web browser.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_KVM_switch.png","alias":"kvm-switch"},"465":{"id":465,"title":"UEBA - User and Entity Behavior Analytics","description":"Developments in UBA technology led Gartner to evolve the category to user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA). In September 2015, Gartner published the Market Guide for User and Entity Analytics by Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Avivah Litan, that provided a thorough definition and explanation. UEBA was referred to in earlier Gartner reports but not in much depth. Expanding the definition from UBA includes devices, applications, servers, data, or anything with an IP address. It moves beyond the fraud-oriented UBA focus to a broader one encompassing "malicious and abusive behavior that otherwise went unnoticed by existing security monitoring systems, such as SIEM and DLP." The addition of "entity" reflects that devices may play a role in a network attack and may also be valuable in uncovering attack activity. "When end users have been compromised, malware can lay dormant and go undetected for months. Rather than trying to find where the outsider entered, UEBAs allow for quicker detection by using algorithms to detect insider threats."\r\nParticularly in the computer security market, there are many vendors for UEBA applications. They can be "differentiated by whether they are designed to monitor on-premises or cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) applications; the methods in which they obtain the source data; the type of analytics they use (i.e., packaged analytics, user-driven or vendor-written), and the service delivery method (i.e., on-premises or a cloud-based)." According to the 2015 market guide released by Gartner, "the UEBA market grew substantially in 2015; UEBA vendors grew their customer base, market consolidation began, and Gartner client interest in UEBA and security analytics increased." The report further projected, "Over the next three years, leading UEBA platforms will become preferred systems for security operations and investigations at some of the organizations they serve. It will be—and in some cases already is—much easier to discover some security events and analyze individual offenders in UEBA than it is in many legacy security monitoring systems."","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is UEBA?</span>\r\nHackers can break into firewalls, send you e-mails with malicious and infected attachments, or even bribe an employee to gain access into your firewalls. Old tools and systems are quickly becoming obsolete, and there are several ways to get past them.\r\nUser and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) give you more comprehensive way of making sure that your organization has top-notch IT security, while also helping you detect users and entities that might compromise your entire system.\r\nUEBA is a type of cybersecurity process that takes note of the normal conduct of users. In turn, they detect any anomalous behavior or instances when there are deviations from these “normal” patterns. For example, if a particular user regularly downloads 10 MB of files every day but suddenly downloads gigabytes of files, the system would be able to detect this anomaly and alert them immediately.\r\nUEBA uses machine learning, algorithms, and statistical analyses to know when there is a deviation from established patterns, showing which of these anomalies could result in, potentially, a real threat. UEBA can also aggregate the data you have in your reports and logs, as well as analyze the file, flow, and packet information.\r\nIn UEBA, you do not track security events or monitor devices; instead, you track all the users and entities in your system. As such, UEBA focuses on insider threats, such as employees who have gone rogue, employees who have already been compromised, and people who already have access to your system and then carry out targeted attacks and fraud attempts, as well as servers, applications, and devices that are working within your system.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of UEBA?</span>\r\nIt is the unfortunate truth that today's cybersecurity tools are fast becoming obsolete, and more skilled hackers and cyber attackers are now able to bypass the perimeter defenses that are used by most companies. In the old days, you were secure if you had web gateways, firewalls, and intrusion prevention tools in place. This is no longer the case in today’s complex threat landscape, and it’s especially true for bigger corporations that are proven to have very porous IT perimeters that are also very difficult to manage and oversee.\r\nThe bottom line? Preventive measures are no longer enough. Your firewalls are not going to be 100% foolproof, and hackers and attackers will get into your system at one point or another. This is why detection is equally important: when hackers do successfully get into your system, you should be able to detect their presence quickly in order to minimize the damage.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does UEBA Work?</span>\r\nThe premise of UEBA is actually very simple. You can easily steal an employee’s user name and password, but it is much harder to mimic the person’s normal behavior once inside the network.\r\nFor example, let’s say you steal Jane Doe’s password and user name. You would still not be able to act precisely like Jane Doe once in the system unless given extensive research and preparation. Therefore, when Jane Doe’s user name is logged in to the system, and her behavior is different than that of typical Jane Doe, that is when UEBA alerts start to sound.\r\nAnother relatable analogy would be if your credit card was stolen. A thief can pickpocket your wallet and go to a high-end shop and start spending thousands of dollars using your credit card. If your spending pattern on that card is different from the thief’s, the company’s fraud detection department will often recognize the abnormal spending and block suspicious purchases, issuing an alert to you or asking you to verify the authenticity of a transaction.\r\nAs such, UEBA is a very important component of IT security, allowing you to:\r\n1. Detect insider threats. It is not too far-fetched to imagine that an employee, or perhaps a group of employees, could go rogue, stealing data and information by using their own access. UEBA can help you detect data breaches, sabotage, privilege abuse and policy violations made by your own staff.\r\n2. Detect compromised accounts. Sometimes, user accounts are compromised. It could be that the user unwittingly installed malware on his or her machine, or sometimes a legitimate account is spoofed. UEBA can help you weed out spoofed and compromised users before they can do real harm.\r\n3. Detect brute-force attacks. Hackers sometimes target your cloud-based entities as well as third-party authentication systems. With UEBA, you are able to detect brute-force attempts, allowing you to block access to these entities.\r\n4. Detect changes in permissions and the creation of super users. Some attacks involve the use of super users. UEBA allows you to detect when super users are created, or if there are accounts that were granted unnecessary permissions.\r\n5. Detect breach of protected data. If you have protected data, it is not enough to just keep it secure. You should know when a user accesses this data when he or she does not have any legitimate business reason to access it.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_User_and_Entity_Behavior_Analytics.png","alias":"ueba-user-and-entity-behavior-analytics"},"467":{"id":467,"title":"Network Forensics","description":" Network forensics is a sub-branch of digital forensics relating to the monitoring and analysis of computer network traffic for the purposes of information gathering, legal evidence, or intrusion detection. Unlike other areas of digital forensics, network investigations deal with volatile and dynamic information. Network traffic is transmitted and then lost, so network forensics is often a pro-active investigation.\r\nNetwork forensics generally has two uses. The first, relating to security, involves monitoring a network for anomalous traffic and identifying intrusions. An attacker might be able to erase all log files on a compromised host; network-based evidence might therefore be the only evidence available for forensic analysis. The second form relates to law enforcement. In this case analysis of captured network traffic can include tasks such as reassembling transferred files, searching for keywords and parsing human communication such as emails or chat sessions.\r\nTwo systems are commonly used to collect network data; a brute force "catch it as you can" and a more intelligent "stop look listen" method.\r\nNetwork forensics is a comparatively new field of forensic science. The growing popularity of the Internet in homes means that computing has become network-centric and data is now available outside of disk-based digital evidence. Network forensics can be performed as a standalone investigation or alongside a computer forensics analysis (where it is often used to reveal links between digital devices or reconstruct how a crime was committed).\r\nMarcus Ranum is credited with defining Network forensics as "the capture, recording, and analysis of network events in order to discover the source of security attacks or other problem incidents".\r\nCompared to computer forensics, where evidence is usually preserved on disk, network data is more volatile and unpredictable. Investigators often only have material to examine if packet filters, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems were set up to anticipate breaches of security.\r\nSystems used to collect network data for forensics use usually come in two forms:\r\n<ul><li>"Catch-it-as-you-can" – This is where all packets passing through a certain traffic point are captured and written to storage with analysis being done subsequently in batch mode. This approach requires large amounts of storage.</li><li>"Stop, look and listen" – This is where each packet is analyzed in a rudimentary way in memory and only certain information saved for future analysis. This approach requires a faster processor to keep up with incoming traffic.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is network forensics important?</span>\r\nNetwork forensics is important because so many common attacks entail some type of misuse of network resources.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the different ways in which the network can be attacked?</span>\r\nAttacks typically target availability confidentiality and integrity. Loss of any one of these items constitutes a security breach.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is the best place to search for information?</span>\r\nInformation can be found by either doing a live analysis of the network, analyzing IDS information, or examining logs that can be found in routers and servers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does a forensic analyst know how deeply to look for information?</span>\r\nSome amount of information can be derived from looking at the skill level of the attacker. Attackers with little skill are much less likely to use advanced hiding techniques.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_Forensics.png","alias":"network-forensics"},"469":{"id":469,"title":"Secure E-mail Gateway","description":" According to technology research firm Gartner, secure email gateways “provide basic message transfer agent functions; inbound filtering of spam, phishing, malicious and marketing emails; and outbound data loss prevention (DLP) and email encryption.”\r\nTo put that in simpler language, a secure email gateway (also called an email security gateway) is a cybersecurity solution that monitors incoming and outgoing messages for suspicious behavior, preventing them from being delivered. Secure email gateways can be deployed via an email server, public cloud, on-premises software, or in a hybrid system. According to cybersecurity experts, none of these deployment options are inherently superior; each one has its own strengths and weaknesses that must be assessed by the individual enterprise.\r\nGartner defines the secure email gateway market as mature, with the key capabilities clearly defined by market demands and customer satisfaction. These capabilities include:\r\n<ul><li>Basic and Next-Gen Anti-Phishing and Anti-Spam</li><li>Additional Security Features</li><li>Customization of the Solution’s Management Features</li><li>Low False Positive and False Negative Percentages</li><li>External Processes and Storage</li></ul>\r\nSecure email gateways are designed to surpass the traditional detection capabilities of legacy antivirus and anti-phishing solutions. To do so, they offer more sophisticated detection and prevention capabilities; secure email gateways can make use of threat intelligence to stay up-to-date with the latest threats.\r\nAdditionally, SEGs can sandbox suspicious emails, observing their behavior in a safe, enclosed environment that resembles the legitimate network. Security experts can then determine if it is a legitimate threat or a false positive.\r\nSecure email gateway solutions will often offer data loss prevention and email encryption capabilities to protect outgoing communications from prying and unscrupulous eyes.\r\nMuch like SIEM or endpoint detection and response (EDR), secure email gateways can produce false positives and false negatives, although they do tend to be far less than rates found in SIEM and EDR alerts.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does a Secure Email Gateway Work?</span>\r\nA secure email gateway offers a robust framework of technologies that protect against these email-borne threats. It is effectively a firewall for your email and scans both outbound and inbound email for any malicious content. At a minimum, most secure gateways offer a minimum of four security features: virus and malware blocking, spam filtering, content filtering and email archiving. Let's take a look at these features in more detail:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Virus and Malware Blocking</span></span>\r\nEmails infected with viruses or malware can make up approximately 1% of all email received by an organization. For a secure email gateway to effectively prevent these emails from reaching their intended recipients and delivering their payload, it must scan every email and be constantly kept up-to-date with the latest threat patterns and characteristics.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spam Filtering</span></span>\r\nBelieve it or not, spam filtering is where the majority of a secure email gateway's processing power is focused. Spam is blocked in a number of different ways. Basic spam filtering usually involves a prefiltering technology that blocks or quarantines any emails received from known spammers. Spam filtering can also detect patterns commonly found in spam emails, such as preferred keywords used by spammers and the inclusion of links that could take the email recipient to a malicious site if clicked. Many email clients also allow users to flag spam messages that arrive in their mailbox and to block senders.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Content Filtering</span></span>\r\nContent filtering is typically applied to an outbound email sent by users within the company. For example, you can configure your secure email gateway to prevent specific sensitive documents from being sent to an external recipient, or put a block on image files or specific keywords within them being sent through the email system.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Email Archiving</span></span>\r\nEmail services, whether they are in the cloud or on-premise, need to be managed efficiently. Storage has been a problem for email administrators for many years, and while you may have almost infinite cloud storage available, email archiving can help to manage both user mailboxes and the efficiency of your systems. Compliance is also a major concern for many companies and email archiving is a must if you need to keep emails for a certain period of time.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Email_Gateway.jpg","alias":"secure-e-mail-gateway"},"473":{"id":473,"title":"Projector","description":" A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image on a projection screen using a lens system. All video projectors use a very bright ultra high pressure mercury lamp, LED or solid state blue, RB, RGB or remote fiber optic RGB lasers to provide the illumination required to project the image, and most modern ones can correct any curves, blurriness, and other inconsistencies through manual settings. If a blue laser is used, a phosphor wheel is used to turn blue light into white light, which is also the case with white LEDs. (White LEDs do not use lasers.) A wheel is used in order to prolong the lifespan of the phosphor, as it is degraded by the heat generated by the laser diode. Remote fiber optic RGB laser racks can be placed far away from the projector, and several racks can be housed in a single, central room. Each projector can use up to 2 racks, and several monochrome lasers are mounted on each rack, the light of which is mixed and transmitted to the projector booth using optical fibers. Projectors using RB lasers use a blue laser with a phosphor wheel in conjuntion with a conventional solid state red laser.\r\nVideo projectors are used for many applications such as conference room presentations, classroom training, home cinema and concerts. In schools and other educational settings, they are sometimes connected to an interactive whiteboard. In the late 20th century they became commonplace in home cinema. Although large LCD television screens became quite popular, video projectors are still common among many home theater enthusiasts.\r\nA video projector, also known as a digital projector, may project onto a traditional reflective projection screen, or it may be built into a cabinet with a translucent rear-projection screen to form a single unified display device.\r\nCommon display resolutions include SVGA (800×600 pixels), XGA (1024×768 pixels), SXGA+ (1400x1050 pixels), 720p (1280×720 pixels), and 1080p (1920×1080 pixels), 4K UHD (3840x2160), as well as 16:10 aspect ratio resolutions including WXGA+ (1280x800 pixels) and WUXGA (1920x1200 pixels).\r\nThe cost of a projector is typically driven by its base technology, features, resolution, and light output. A projector with a higher light output (measured in lumens, “lm”) is required for a larger screen or for a room with a larger amount of ambient light. For example, a light output of approximately 1500 to 2500 ANSI lumens is suitable for small screens viewed in rooms with low ambient light; approximately 2500 to 4000 lm is suitable for medium-sized screens with some ambient light; over 4000 lm is needed for very large screens or for use in rooms with no lighting control such as conference rooms. High brightness large-venue models are increasingly common in Boardrooms, Auditoriums and other high profile spaces, and models up to 30,000 lm are used in large staging applications such as concerts, keynote addresses and displays projected on buildings.\r\nA few camcorders have a built-in projector suitable to make a small projection; a few more powerful "pico projectors" are pocket-sized, and many projectors are portable. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What's the Difference Between DLP LCD, and LED Projectors?</span>\r\nMainstream projectors use one of several technologies to project an image on a wall or screen. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projectors, which have been around for years, use three separate glass panels that separate the color spectrum into red, green, and blue to create an image. The newer digital light processing (DLP) processing integrates Texas Instruments’ DLP chip, which is a reflective surface with thousands of tiny, spinning mirrors, takes the reflected light and puts it through a color wheel to create an image. The smallest projectors, called Pico projectors, use solid-state technology, such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), which are desirable in portable projectors for low power consumption.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Much Brightness Do I Need?</span>\r\nBrightness (how much light the projector can produce) is measured in ANSI lumens. The brightness of the room where you’ll be projecting will dictate the lumens you will need. That is, brighter rooms need a projector with higher lumens. For dark rooms, 1000 to 1200 lumens is probably adequate, although professional presenters tend to want 1800 lumens or more. In addition, if you are projecting large images, you’ll want a projector with a higher brightness rating. When choosing your projector, consider your application, the size of your group, the size of your room and the amount of light in the room.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Resolution Do I Need?</span>\r\nResolution is the term used to describe the number of pixels, used to display an image. Higher resolutions--more pixels are used to create the image--allow you to display more information on your screen and create a crisper, cleaner image. Today, you’ll see a number of possible resolutions: SVGA (800x600 pixels), XGA (1024x768 pixels) and SXGA (1280x1024 pixels). For standard presentations, 800x600 pixels may be sufficient, but for other uses (such as larger images or advanced presentations) you’ll want a higher resolution, such as 1024x768. The highest resolutions may be needed for presenting detailed AutoCAD drawings or videos.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Contrast Ratio Do I Need?</span>\r\nContrast ratio measures how well a projector can reproduce black and white. Although the contrast ratio is not terribly important to those using projectors for still presentations, this measure is more important if you will be projecting video. Currently, there is no industry-standard method for measuring contrast ratio, so this stat may vary between manufacturers. Basically, a higher contrast ratio indicates a greater ability for the projector to show subtle color details and tolerate extraneous room light.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Input/Output Options Do I Want?</span>\r\nToday’s projectors offer an array of input and output connectors. A projector with both HDMI and VGA ports lets you connect to many different video sources, including set-top boxes; DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc players; camcorders; PCs; video game consoles; and AV receivers. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) supports any uncompressed TV or PC video format on a single cable, including standard, enhanced, and high-definition video; up to eight channels of compressed or uncompressed digital audio; a Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) connection; and an Ethernet data connection.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Much Should I Worry About Projector Weight?</span>\r\nCommon sense should reign when decided what size projector to buy. Consider whether you will be traveling with your projector and choose accordingly. A hard-sized case with wheels will also ease transport.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is a Normal Warranty?</span>\r\nDepending on the projector brand, warranties do vary. Generally, the projector is covered for a year, with the lamp having a shorter coverage (30 days to six months).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Long Will My Lamp Last?</span>\r\nBoth DLP and LCD projectors integrate lamps (light bulbs optimized for use in a projector). Lamp life is measured in hours (example, 2000 or 4000), which for most users will translate to years of use. Over time, the brightness of the lamp may deteriorate. LED projectors, meanwhile, do not use a lamp. The result is that these projectors generate less heat and demand virtually no maintenance. Meanwhile, since LEDs incorporate no lead or mercury, these projectors provide a compelling solution for those seeking a green projector.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Projector.jpg","alias":"projector"},"475":{"id":475,"title":"Network Management - Hardware","description":" Your business is much more than just a machine that dispenses products or services in exchange for money. It’s akin to a living and breathing thing. Just as with the human body, in business, all the parts are interconnected and work together to move things forward.\r\nIf a company’s management is the brain, then its employees are the muscles. Muscles don’t work without the oxygen carried to them by the blood. Blood doesn’t pump through the body without the heart and circulatory system.\r\nData moves through your network like blood through veins, delivering vital information to employees who need it to do their jobs. In a business sense, the digital network is the heart and circulatory system. Without a properly functioning network, the entire business collapses. That’s why keeping networks healthy is vitally important. Just as keeping the heart healthy is critical to living a healthy life, a healthy network is a key to a thriving business. It starts with network management.\r\nNetwork management is hardware with a broad range of functions including activities, methods, procedures and the use of tools to administrate, operate, and reliably maintain computer network systems.\r\nStrictly speaking, network Management does not include terminal equipment (PCs, workstations, printers, etc.). Rather, it concerns the reliability, efficiency and capacity/capabilities of data transfer channels.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Network Management?</span>\r\nNetwork management refers to the processes, tools, and applications used to administer, operate and maintain network infrastructure. Performance management and fault analysis also fall into the category of network management. To put it simply, network management is the process of keeping your network healthy, which keeps your business healthy.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are the Components of Network Management?</span>\r\nThe definition of network management is often broad, as network management involves several different components. Here are some of the terms you’ll often hear when network management or network management software is talked about:\r\n<ul><li>Network administration</li><li>Network maintenance</li><li>Network operation</li><li>Network provisioning</li><li>Network security</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Is Network Management so Important When It Comes to Network Infrastructure?</span>\r\nThe whole point of network management is to keep the network infrastructure running smoothly and efficiently. Network management helps you:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Avoid costly network disruptions.</span> Network downtime can be very costly. In fact, industry research shows the cost can be up to $5,600 per minute or more than $300K per hour. Network disruptions take more than just a financial toll. They also have a negative impact on customer relationships. Slow and unresponsive corporate networks make it harder for employees to serve customers. And customers who feel underserved could be quick to leave.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Improve IT productivity.</span> By monitoring every aspect of the network, an effective network management system does many jobs at once. This frees up IT staff to focus on other things.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Improve network security.</span> With a focus on network management, it’s easy to identify and respond to threats before they propagate and impact end-users. Network management also aims to ensure regulatory and compliance requirements are met.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Gain a holistic view of network performance.</span> Network management gives you a complete view of how your network is performing. It enables you to identify issues and fix them quickly.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are the Challenges of Maintaining Effective Network Management and Network Infrastructure?</span>\r\nNetwork infrastructures can be complex. Because of that complexity, maintaining effective network management is difficult. Advances in technology and the cloud have increased user expectations for faster network speeds and network availability. On top of that, security threats are becoming ever more advanced, varied and numerous. And if you have a large network, it incorporates several devices, systems, and tools that all need to work together seamlessly. As your network scales and your company grows, new potential points of failure are introduced. Increased costs also come into play.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_Management_Hardware__1_.png","alias":"network-management-hardware"},"477":{"id":477,"title":"Cabinet","description":" An electrical enclosure is a cabinet for electrical or electronic equipment to mount switches, knobs and displays and to prevent electrical shock to equipment users and protect the contents from the environment. The enclosure is the only part of the equipment which is seen by users. It may be designed not only for its utilitarian requirements, but also to be pleasing to the eye. Regulations may dictate the features and performance of enclosures for electrical equipment in hazardous areas, such as petrochemical plants or coal mines. Electronic packaging may place many demands on an enclosure for heat dissipation, radio frequency interference and electrostatic discharge protection, as well as functional, esthetic and commercial constraints.\r\nIn the United States, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) publishes NEMA enclosure type standards for the performance of various classes of electrical enclosures. The NEMA standards cover corrosion resistance, ability to protect from rain and submersion, etc.\r\nFor IEC member countries, standard IEC 60529 classifies the ingress protection rating (IP Codes) of enclosures.\r\nElectrical enclosures are usually made from rigid plastics, or metals such as steel, stainless steel, or aluminum. Steel cabinets may be painted or galvanized. Mass-produced equipment will generally have a customized enclosure, but standardized enclosures are made for custom-built or small production runs of equipment. For plastic enclosures ABS is used for indoor applications not in harsh environments. Polycarbonate, glass-reinforced, and fiberglass boxes are used where stronger cabinets are required, and may additionally have a gasket to exclude dust and moisture.\r\nMetal cabinets may meet the conductivity requirements for electrical safety bonding and shielding of enclosed equipment from electromagnetic interference. Non-metallic enclosures may require additional installation steps to ensure metallic conduit systems are properly bonded.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Stainless steel and carbon steel</span></span>\r\nCarbon steel and stainless steel are both used for enclosure construction due to their high durability and corrosion resistance. These materials are also moisture resistant and chemical resistant. They are the strongest of the construction options.\r\nStainless steel enclosures are suited for medical, pharma, and food industry applications since they are bacterial and fungal resistant due to their non-porous quality. Stainless steel enclosures may be specified to permit wash-down cleaning in, for example, food manufacturing areas.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Aluminum</span></span>\r\nAluminum is chosen because of its light weight, relative strength, low cost, and corrosion resistance. It performs well in harsh environments and it is sturdy, capable of withstanding high impact with a high malleable strength. Aluminum also acts as a shield against electromagnetic interference.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Polycarbonate</span></span>\r\nPolycarbonate used for electrical enclosures is strong but light, non-conductive and non-magnetic. It is also resistant to corrosion and some acidic environments; however, it is sensitive to abrasive cleaners. Polycarbonate is the easiest material to modify.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Fiberglass</span></span>\r\nFiberglass enclosures resist chemicals in corrosive applications. The material can be used over all indoor and outdoor temperature ranges. Fiberglass can be installed in environments that are constantly wet.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a 19-inch Rack Cabinet?</span>\r\nA 19-inch rack cabinet is a standardized size frame or enclosure for mounting equipment. Each piece of equipment has a front panel that is 19 inches wide. To determine if your rack cabinet is a 19тА│ rack, measure the hole to hole spacing and it will measure 18.31 inches.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the types of rack cabinets available?</span>\r\nThe most common types are:\r\n<ul><li>Rack cabinets or Server Racks</li><li>Open Frame racks - 4post racks</li><li>Relay racks - 2Post racks</li><li>Portable rack cabinets</li><li>Wall Mount enclosures</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a Rack Unit (U or RU)?</span>\r\nThe Rack Unit is a unit of measurement used for defining the vertical space available in an equipment rack cabinet. A 'U' equals 1.75 inches or4.45cm. Rack-mountable equipment is usually designed to occupy an integer number of U. This dimension has been standardized by the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are some common or standard heights for rack cabinets?</span>\r\nServer racks come in a wide variety of heights anywhere from 1U to 50U and above.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">When are Four- post racks used?</span>\r\nFour-post racks allow for mounting rails to support equipment at the front and rear. These racks may be open in construction or enclosed by front and/or rear doors, side panels, or tops. Four-post racks can provide both robust support and security.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">When are Two- post racks used?</span>\r\nTwo-post racks provide just two vertical posts. Equipment can be mounted either via its front panel holes, or close to its center of gravity, depending on the design of the rack. Two-post racks are most often used for telecommunication installations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the Applicable Standards for rack cabinets/enclosures design and manufacturing?</span>\r\n<ul><li>The EIA-310. It is standardizing features like the Rack Unit, vertical & horizontal hole spacing, rack cabinet openings and front panel width.</li><li>IEC Standards. IEC 60297 (IEC 60297-3-100, -101, -102, -104, -105 and IEC 60297-5) standardize the dimensions and the mechanical structure of the 19 inch rack cabinets.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the significance of the Rack Cabinet Depth?</span>\r\nRack cabinet depth is important not only because it has to allow room for the depth of the particular equipment to be rack-mounted (deep servers vs. routers or switches), but also it has to allow sufficient room for cables as well as airflow indispensable in cooling rack cabinets and enclosures.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What rack cabinet options for front and rear doors are available?</span>\r\nFront as well as Rear doors are available in many different materials, sizes and with various ventilation options. Locking systems are also available on most doors. Choosing a ventilated front and rear door is key in air circulation by creating a front to back flow pattern within the rack cabinet.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Side Panel options are available for rack cabinets and enclosures?</span>\r\nThe typical types of rack cabinet side panels are: solid removable, solid fixed and louvered removable and fixed.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the most economical rack cabinet cooling technique?</span>\r\nOur approach to efficient cooling of datacenter rack cabinets begins with a sealed separation between the cold isle in front of the equipment row and the hot isle in the back of the equipment. The sealing between hot and cold is done at the front rail level of the enclosure. We implemented this solution, for instance, for a wide variety of Cisco routers: 2821, 7613, 3560E, 3845, 2911, 6509E, 4507R, 4510R, 4510E, 4900M.\r\nSince the router is designed to intake cold air from the side, which is now left by our separation in the hot isle, we needed to create a duct that would connect the router's intake to the cold isle in front of the cabinet. We accomplished the whole task by designing a cold air intake plenum mounted under the router, and connecting this plenum through a duct to the intake on the side of the router. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Cabinet.png","alias":"cabinet"},"481":{"id":481,"title":"WAF-web application firewall","description":"A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">WAF (Web Application Firewall)</span> helps protect web applications by filtering and monitoring HTTP traffic between a web application and the Internet. It typically protects web applications from attacks such as cross-site forgery, cross-site-scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and SQL injection, among others. A WAF is a protocol layer 7 defense (in the OSI model), and is not designed to defend against all types of attacks. This method of attack mitigation is usually part of a suite of tools which together create a holistic defense against a range of attack vectors.\r\nIn recent years, web application security has become increasingly important, especially after web application attacks ranked as the most common reason for breaches, as reported in the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. WAFs have become a critical component of web application security, and guard against web application vulnerabilities while providing the ability to customize the security rules for each application. As WAF is inline with traffic, some functions are conveniently implemented by a load balancer.\r\nAccording to the PCI Security Standards Council, WAFs function as “a security policy enforcement point positioned between a web application and the client endpoint. This functionality can be implemented in software or hardware, running in an appliance device, or in a typical server running a common operating system. It may be a stand-alone device or integrated into other network components.”\r\nBy deploying a WAF firewall in front of a web application, a shield is placed between the web application and the Internet. While a proxy server protects a client machine’s identity by using an intermediary, a web firewall is a type of reverse-proxy, protecting the server from exposure by having clients pass through the WAF before reaching the server.\r\nA WAF operates through a set of rules often called <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">policies.</span> These policies aim to protect against vulnerabilities in the application by filtering out malicious traffic. The value of a WAF management comes in part from the speed and ease with which policy modification can be implemented, allowing for faster response to varying attack vectors; during a DDoS attack, rate limiting can be quickly implemented by modifying WAF policies.\r\nWAF solutions can be deployed in several ways—it all depends on where your applications are deployed, the services needed, how you want to manage it, and the level of architectural flexibility and performance you require. Do you want to manage it yourself, or do you want to outsource that management? Is it a better model to have a cloud WAF service, option or do you want your WAF to sit on-premises?\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A WAF products can be implemented one of three different ways:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A network-based WAF</span> is generally hardware-based. Since they are installed locally they minimize latency, but network-based WAFs are the most expensive option and also require the storage and maintenance of physical equipment.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A host-based WAF</span> may be fully integrated into an application’s software. This solution is less expensive than a network-based WAF and offers more customizability. The downside of a host-based WAF is the consumption of local server resources, implementation complexity, and maintenance costs. These components typically require engineering time, and may be costly.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cloud-based WAFs</span> offer an affordable option that is very easy to implement; they usually offer a turnkey installation that is as simple as a change in DNS to redirect traffic. Cloud-based WAFs also have a minimal upfront cost, as users pay monthly or annually for security as a service. Cloud-based WAFs can also offer a solution that is consistently updated to protect against the newest threats without any additional work or cost on the user’s end. The drawback of a cloud-based WAF is that users hand over the responsibility to a third-party, therefore some features of the WAF may be a black box to them. </li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"> </p>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What types of attack WAF prevents?</span></span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">WAFs can prevent many attacks, including:</span></p>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cross-site Scripting (XSS) — Attackers inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">SQL injection — Malicious code is inserted or injected into an web entry field that allows attackers to compromise the application and underlying systems.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cookie poisoning — Modification of a cookie to gain unauthorized information about the user for purposes such as identity theft.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Unvalidated input — Attackers tamper with HTTP request (including the url, headers and form fields) to bypass the site’s security mechanisms.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Layer 7 DoS — An HTTP flood attack that utilizes valid requests in typical URL data retrievals.</span></li><li><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Web scraping — Data scraping used for extracting data from websites.</span><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span></li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are some WAFs Benefits?</span></p>\r\nWeb app firewall prevents attacks that try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities in web-based applications. The vulnerabilities are common in legacy applications or applications with poor coding or designs. WAFs handle the code deficiencies with custom rules or policies.\r\nIntelligent WAFs provide real-time insights into application traffic, performance, security and threat landscape. This visibility gives administrators the flexibility to respond to the most sophisticated attacks on protected applications.\r\nWhen the Open Web Application Security Project identifies the OWASP top vulnerabilities, WAFs allow administrators to create custom security rules to combat the list of potential attack methods. An intelligent WAF analyzes the security rules matching a particular transaction and provides a real-time view as attack patterns evolve. Based on this intelligence, the WAF can reduce false positives.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the difference between a firewall and a Web Application Firewall?</span></p>\r\nA traditional firewall protects the flow of information between servers while a web application firewall is able to filter traffic for a specific web application. Network firewalls and web application firewalls are complementary and can work together.\r\nTraditional security methods include network firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS). They are effective at blocking bad L3-L4 traffic at the perimeter on the lower end (L3-L4) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Traditional firewalls cannot detect attacks in web applications because they do not understand Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which occurs at layer 7 of the OSI model. They also only allow the port that sends and receives requested web pages from an HTTP server to be open or closed. This is why web application firewalls are effective for preventing attacks like SQL injections, session hijacking and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_WAF_web_application_firewall.png","alias":"waf-web-application-firewall"},"487":{"id":487,"title":"Secure Web Gateway","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Secure Web gateway</span> solutions protect Web-surfing PCs from infection and enforce company policies. A secure Web gateway is a solution that filters unwanted software/malware from user-initiated Web/Internet traffic and enforces corporate and regulatory policy compliance. \r\nThese gateways must, at a minimum, include URL filtering, malicious-code detection and filtering, and application controls for popular Web-based applications, such as instant messaging (IM) and Skype. Native or integrated data leak prevention is also increasingly included. Data leak prevention features are also essential. Let's take a look at some of these features in more detail:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Real-Time Traffic Inspection.</span> A secure web gateway inspects web traffic in real-time, analyzing content against corporate policies and ensuring any content that is inappropriate or which contravenes company policy is blocked. The majority of secure web gateways allow administrators to enforce common security policy templates straight off the shelf and also configure policies that are suited to their business model or compliance requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Protection for Off-Grid Workers.</span> As workforces become more distributed, there is a need for security solutions to offer protection on an anywhere, anytime and any device basis. A secure web gateway allows roaming users to authenticate seamlessly and to have the same security policies applies to their devices as they would if they were in the office. The result is a protected connection no matter where they are working and total peace of mind that all internet traffic is secure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Time and Content-Based Access.</span> Whether you need to restrict access to the internet at specific times, or you wish to control access to particular web content, your secure web gateway can be configured to suit your acceptable use policy and compliance requirements. Individual users can be allocated time quotas or schedules that ensure maximum productivity or only permitted access to websites that are relevant to their job roles.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Leak Prevention.</span> As its name suggests, data leak prevention stops your corporate data from being leaked to or stolen by a third party. From detecting common business terms such as payment card industry (PCI) number patterns and phrases or personally identifiable information, a web security gateway coupled with data leak prevention software can be a very robust line of defense from both internal and external threats.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> Secure web gateway market</h1>\r\nThere are a variety of <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">secure web gateway vendors</span> operating - among them Symantec, iboss, F5, Check Point Software, zScaler, Barracuda, Forcepoint, McAfee and Cisco<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">. </span>Most of these companies are now emphasizing <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">cloud web gateway</span>. Although many still carry, maintain and market their on-premises versions, the competitive battleground has largely shifted to the cloud.\r\nAccording to Gartner, Symantec and Cisco are the market leaders in terms of revenue. Their efforts in this space give an indication of where the market is heading. Symantec favors proxy-based SWG appliances and services. Cisco, on the other hand, has concentrated on a hybrid of DNS and proxy capabilities. Both have acquired CASB technology and have been integrating it with their secure web gateway services. Cisco has also added DNS-based inspection into its package. This allows it to use DNS for most inspection traffic to raise performance. More involved content inspection of potentially risky websites can be done using HTTP/HTTPS proxying.\r\nCloud based secure web gateway offerings have been growing at around 30 percent per year for the last several years, according to Gartner. When coupled with growing integration with other security features, on-premises standalone secure web gateways are slowly giving way to larger cloud-based suites that incorporate gateway security. \r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Web_Gateway.png","alias":"secure-web-gateway"},"489":{"id":489,"title":"Network Security Policy Management","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Network security policy management </span>streamlines security policy design and enforcement. It applies rules and best practices to manage firewalls and other devices more effectively, efficiently, and consistently. Administrators need network security management solutions to get a high level of visibility into network behavior, automate device configuration, enforce global policies, view firewall traffic, generate reports, and provide a single management interface for physical and virtual systems.\r\nSecurity policies govern the integrity and safety of the network. They provide rules for accessing the network, connecting to the Internet, adding or modifying devices or services, and more. However, rules are only effective when they are implemented. Network security management policy helps organizations stay compliant and secure by ensuring that their policies are simplified, consistent, and enforced. It helps reduce manual tasks and human errors by simplifying administration with security policy and workflow tools through a centralized management interface.\r\nNetwork security management can reduce risk across the network and protect data by leveraging the information on threats, network vulnerabilities and their criticality, evaluating potential options to block an attack, and providing intelligence for decision support. Policy administration is improved by unifying common policy tasks within a single interface, automating policy change workflow, including compliance audits and the management of multiple firewall vendors. This simplified and automated security policy management enables IT teams to save time, avoid manual errors, and reduce risk. \r\nThere are the whole network security policy management market with different tools and solutions available. Businesses use them to automate administrative tasks, which can improve accuracy and save time. The solutions can make management processes less tedious and time consuming, and can free up personnel for higher-value projects. These solutions also help IT teams avoid misconfigurations that can cause vulnerabilities in their networks. And if problems arise, network security policy management solutions can ease troubleshooting and remediation. ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of network security policy management</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Streamline security policy design and enforcement</span>\r\nA network security policy management solution can help organizations achieve:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Better security.</span> Network security policy management streamlines security policy design and enforcement.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Ease of use.</span> Network security policy management tools orchestrate policy design and implementation.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Consistency. </span>Solutions provide templates, model policies, and configurations.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Time savings.</span> Deployments are faster, and automation helps empower staff to focus on other business priorities.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lower costs.</span> Cloud-based solutions scale to thousands of devices, requiring fewer resources and allowing for centralized management.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Apply best practices to meet challenges in firewall management</span>\r\nOver time, firewalls collect more and more configuration rules and objects. Network security policy management solutions can help combat this bloat and improve security by addressing:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Object auditing.</span> Administrators need to merge and reduce duplicate objects, determine which unused objects should be deleted, and identify inconsistent objects. Network security policy management tools help them achieve a cleaner, more consistent configuration that is less of a nuisance to manage and less vulnerable to attacks.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Policy inconsistencies.</span> The network security policy management tools locate unused or shadow policies and assist IT to fix possible problems.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Version control and upgrades.</span> Network security policy management solutions ease these transitions with filters that simplify and automate processes and ensure high availability.</li></ul>\r\n<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_Security_Policy_Management.png","alias":"network-security-policy-management"},"491":{"id":491,"title":"Datacenter Automation","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Data center automation</span> is the process by which routine workflows and processes of a data center—scheduling, monitoring, maintenance, application delivery, and so on—are managed and executed without human administration. Data center automation and orchestration increases agility and operational efficiency. It reduces the time IT needs to perform routine tasks and enables them to deliver services on demand in a repeatable, automated manner. These services can then be rapidly consumed by end users.\r\nData center automation is primarily delivered through a composite data center automation software that provides centralized access to all or most data center resources. Typically, data center automation market solutions enable automating the servers, network and other data center management tasks.\r\nThe massive growth in data and the speed at which businesses operate today mean that manual monitoring, troubleshooting, and remediation is too slow to be effective and can put businesses at risk. Automation can make day-two operations almost autonomous. Ideally, the data center provider would have API access to the infrastructure, enabling it to inter-operate with public clouds so that customers could migrate data or workloads from cloud to cloud. \r\nTypical high availability architecture includes application servers with apps replicated multiple times. The applications in this scenario are virtualized in every application delivery controller. This architecture supports high availability and performance necessities. However, high efficiency may not be supported in this model, as the resources provisioned for each app is not efficiently reallocated to the other apps.\r\nAn automation architecture based on server virtualization requires images to be created and software to be installed in each physical server in order to support automated provisioning of applications through VM images. Additional storage in case of server virtualization or OS virtualization incurs additional costs. While server virtualization deploys applications across all usable resources, OS virtualization stores them locally. In case of OS virtualization, however, not only is the application stored, but the application server and the virtual image are also stored.\r\nIn order to reduce the impact on either of these methodologies, virtualization for data center automation in cloud computing can be used. Storage virtualization is the concept of amalgamating multiple storage networks into a single storage unit. Usually, the storage unit is managed and utilized with the help of software, making the storage software-defined. Virtualization obfuscates the storage systems used, making any kind of storage network be part of the virtualized environment. Virtualization of data center automation makes such tasks as backup, archiving, and recovery easier and faster.\r\nData center automation is immensely valuable because it frees up human computational time and: \r\n<ul><li>Delivers insight into server nodes and configurations </li><li>Automates routine procedures like patching, updating, and reporting </li><li>Produces and programs all data center scheduling and monitoring tasks </li><li>Enforces data center processes and controls in agreement with standards and policies </li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why Data Center Automation Is Important?</span></h1>\r\nAutomation is drastically changing the IT scene. Almost 40% of technology professionals recently surveyed claim to employ automation services in some or the other capacity. This includes automating data centers. Automation of virtual data centers provide numerous benefits.<br />Unavoidable repetitive tasks are a cause for many errors in a traditional environment. This can be wiped out with the implementation of automation. Automation also frees up critical time of IT team and lets them invest time in more value adding tasks. This leads to a responsive business, thus accelerating time-to-market for IT services. Virtualized data centers reduce configuration issues by maintaining consistent systems across the data center. Like most automated processes, it minimizes risk.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What are the automation and orchestration layers?</h1>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Server layer.</span> There are systems now available which take almost all of the configuration pieces out of deploying a server. Administrators only need to deploy one server profile and allow new servers to pick up those settings. More data centers are trying to get into the cloud business. This means deploying high-density, fast-provisioned, servers and blades. With the on-demand nature of the cloud, being able to quickly deploy fully configured servers is a big plus for staying agile and very proactive.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software layer.</span> Entire applications can be automated and provisioned based on usage and resource utilization. Using the latest load-balancing tools, administrators are able to set thresholds for key applications running within the environment. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Virtual layer.</span> The modern data center is now full of virtualization and virtual machines. In using solutions like Citrix’s Provisioning Server or Unidesk’s layering software technologies, administrators are able to take workload provisioning to a whole new level. Imagine being able to set a process that will kick-start the creation of a new virtual server when one starts to get over-utilized. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Cloud layer.</span> This is a new and still emerging field. Still, some very large organizations are already deploying technologies like CloudStack, OpenStack, and even OpenNebula. Furthermore, they’re tying these platforms in with big data management solutions like MapR and Hadoop. What’s happening now is true cloud-layer automation. Organizations can deploy distributed data centers and have the entire cloud layer managed by a cloud-control software platform. Engineers are able to monitor workloads, how data is being distributed, and the health of the cloud infrastructure. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data center layer.</span> Although entire data center automation technologies aren’t quite here yet, we are seeing more robotics appear within the data center environment. Robotic arms already control massive tape libraries for Google and robotics automation is a thoroughly discussed concept among other large data center providers. <br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Datacenter_Automation.png","alias":"datacenter-automation"},"492":{"id":492,"title":"Enterprise Service Bus Middleware","description":" An enterprise service bus (ESB) implements a communication system between mutually interacting software applications in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). It represents a software architecture for distributed computing, and is a special variant of the more general client-server model, wherein any application may behave as server or client. ESB promotes agility and flexibility with regard to high-level protocol communication between applications. Its primary use is in enterprise application integration (EAI) of heterogeneous and complex service landscapes.\r\nThe concept of the enterprise service bus is analogous to the bus concept found in computer hardware architecture combined with the modular and concurrent design of high-performance computer operating systems. The motivation for the development of the architecture was to find a standard, structured, and general purpose concept for describing implementation of loosely coupled software components (called services) that are expected to be independently deployed, running, heterogeneous, and disparate within a network. ESB is also a common implementation pattern for service-oriented architecture, including the intrinsically adopted network design of the World Wide Web.\r\nNo global standards exist for enterprise service bus concepts or implementations. Most providers of message-oriented middleware have adopted the enterprise service bus concept as de facto standard for a service-oriented architecture. The implementations of ESB use event-driven and standards-based message-oriented middleware in combination with message queues as technology frameworks. However, some software manufacturers relabel existing middleware and communication solutions as ESB without adopting the crucial aspect of a bus concept.\r\nThe ESB is implemented in software that operates between the business applications, and enables communication among them. Ideally, the ESB should be able to replace all direct contact with the applications on the bus, so that all communication takes place via the ESB. To achieve this objective, the ESB must encapsulate the functionality offered by its component applications in a meaningful way. This typically occurs through the use of an enterprise message model. The message model defines a standard set of messages that the ESB transmits and receives. When the ESB receives a message, it routes the message to the appropriate application. Often, because that application evolved without the same message model, the ESB has to transform the message into a format that the application can interpret. A software adapter fulfills the task of effecting these transformations, analogously to a physical adapter.\r\nESBs rely on accurately constructing the enterprise message model and properly designing the functionality offered by applications. If the message model does not completely encapsulate the application functionality, then other applications that desire that functionality may have to bypass the bus, and invoke the mismatched applications directly. Doing so violates the principles of the ESB model, and negates many of the advantages of using this architecture.\r\nThe beauty of the ESB lies in its platform-agnostic nature and the ability to integrate with anything at any condition. It is important that Application Lifecycle Management vendors truly apply all the ESB capabilities in their integration products while adopting SOA. Therefore, the challenges and opportunities for EAI vendors are to provide an integration solution that is low-cost, easily configurable, intuitive, user-friendly, and open to any tools customers choose.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)?</span>\r\nAn Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) is a type of software platform known as middleware, which works behind the scenes to aid application-to-application communication. Think of an ESB as a “bus” that picks up information from one system and delivers it to another.\r\nThe term ESB first appeared in 2002, but the technology continues to evolve, driven by the need for ever-emerging internet applications to communicate and interact with one another.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why would I want an ESB?</span>\r\nImagine that there are two systems in an organization that needs to exchange data. The technical teams that represent each system plan and implement a solution that allows these systems to communicate. A year or two later, the organization deploys several more systems that need to interact with each other as well as the existing two systems. How can all teams develop and reach an agreement on the best solution?\r\nIt becomes very complicated to manage and maintain one solution as an organization’s IT systems expand. With just 10 systems, there could be 100 different interfaces and scores of disparate technical requirements.\r\nAn ESB provides a secure, scalable and cost-effective infrastructure that enables real-time data exchange among many systems. Data from one system, known as a service provider, can be put on the enterprise service bus as a message, which is sent immediately to a service consumer of the data. If a new system wants to consume this same data, all it has to do is plug into the bus in the same manner.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Enterprise_Service_Bus_Middleware.png","alias":"enterprise-service-bus-middleware"},"495":{"id":495,"title":"Instant Communications Applications","description":" Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area network. Short messages are typically transmitted between two parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send". Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are composed. More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat.\r\nNon-IM types of chat include multicast transmission, usually referred to as "chat rooms", where participants might be anonymous or might be previously known to each other (for example collaborators on a project that is using chat to facilitate communication). Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also known as a "buddy list" or "friend list"). Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client-server (an Instant message service center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device).\r\nBy 2010, instant messaging over the Web was already in sharp decline, in favor of messaging features on social networks. The most popular IM platforms, such as AIM, closed in 2017, and Windows Live Messenger was merged into Skype. Today, most instant messaging takes place on messaging apps which by 2014 had more users than social networks.\r\nInstant messaging is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication between two or more participants over the Internet or other types of networks. IM–chat happens in real-time. Of importance is that online chat and instant messaging differ from other technologies such as email due to the perceived quasi-synchrony of the communications by the users. Some systems permit messages to be sent to users not then 'logged on' (offline messages), thus removing some differences between IM and email (often done by sending the message to the associated email account).\r\nIM allows effective and efficient communication, allowing immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply. However IM is basically not necessarily supported by transaction control. In many cases, instant messaging includes added features which can make it even more popular. For example, users may see each other via webcams, or talk directly for free over the Internet using a microphone and headphones or loudspeakers. Many applications allow file transfers, although they are usually limited in the permissible file-size.\r\nIt is usually possible to save a text conversation for later reference. Instant messages are often logged in a local message history, making it similar to the persistent nature of emails. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is instant messaging used for?</span>\r\nInstant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission over the Internet. A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area network. Short messages are typically transmitted between two parties when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send".\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What kind of protocols are used in instant messaging applications?</span>\r\nTwo of the main protocols used for instant messaging in the market today are WebSocket and XMPP.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between texting and instant messaging?</span>\r\nText messaging, or simply "texting," is a cellular phone service typically limited to 160 characters, whereas instant messaging is usually a computer session with longer message size. Both text messaging and instant messaging are often called just plain "messaging."\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the key features of instant messaging?</span>\r\nThe exchange of text has long been the chief function of instant messaging, but it is now one feature of many. The ability to insert images and emojis into messages is now standard in many clients, as are file transfers. Facebook Messenger even enables users to send money via IM.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Instant_Communications_Applications.png","alias":"instant-communications-applications"},"497":{"id":497,"title":"Backup and Recovery Reporting Software","description":" Backup and recovery describes the process of creating and storing copies of data that can be used to protect organizations against data loss. This is sometimes referred to as operational recovery. Recovery from a backup typically involves restoring the data to the original location, or to an alternate location where it can be used in place of the lost or damaged data.\r\nA proper backup copy is stored in a separate system or medium, such as tape, from the primary data to protect against the possibility of data loss due to primary hardware or software failure.\r\nThe purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event, such as a malicious attack (virus or malware), or accidental deletion of data. Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time to help the business recover from an unplanned event.\r\nStoring the copy of the data on separate medium is critical to protect against primary data loss or corruption. This additional medium can be as simple as an external drive or USB stick, or something more substantial, such as a disk storage system, cloud storage container, or tape drive. The alternate medium can be in the same location as the primary data or at a remote location. The possibility of weather-related events may justify having copies of data at remote locations.\r\nFor best results, backup copies are made on a consistent, regular basis to minimize the amount data lost between backups. The more time passes between backup copies, the more potential for data loss when recovering from a backup. Retaining multiple copies of data provides the insurance and flexibility to restore to a point in time not affected by data corruption or malicious attacks.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do Backup and Recovery mean?</span>\r\nBackup and recovery refer to the process of backing up data in case of a loss and setting up systems that allow that data recovery due to data loss. Backing up data requires copying and archiving computer data, so that it is accessible in case of data deletion or corruption. Data from an earlier time may only be recovered if it has been backed up.\r\nData backup is a form of disaster recovery and should be part of any disaster recovery plan.\r\nData backup cannot always restore all of a system's data and settings. For example, computer clusters, active directory servers, or database servers may need additional forms of disaster recovery because a backup and recovery may not be able to reconstitute them fully.\r\nToday, a great deal of data can be backed up when using cloud storage, which means archiving on a local system's hard drive or using external storage is not necessary. Mobile devices, in particular, can be set up using cloud technologies, allowing data to be recovered automatically.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Backup_and_Recovery_Reporting_Software.png","alias":"backup-and-recovery-reporting-software"},"499":{"id":499,"title":"SDN Software-Defined Network","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software-defined networking (SDN)</span> technology is an approach to network management that enables dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring, making it more like cloud computing than traditional network management.\r\nSDN encompasses several types of technologies, including functional separation, network virtualization and automation through programmability. SDN solution is meant to address the fact that the static architecture of traditional networks is decentralized and complex while current networks require more flexibility and easy troubleshooting. \r\nSDN technology attempts to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of network packets (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane</span>) from the routing process (<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">control plane</span>). The control plane consists of one or more controllers which are considered as the brain of SDN network where the whole intelligence is incorporated. Originally, software defined technology focused solely on separation of the network control plane from the data plane. While the control plane makes decisions about how packets should flow through the network, the data plane actually moves packets from place to place. \r\nIn a classic SDN scenario, a packet arrives at a network switch, and rules built into the switch's proprietary firmware tell the switch where to forward the packet. These packet-handling rules are sent to the switch from the centralized controller. The switch - also known as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">data plane device</span> - queries the controller for guidance as needed, and it provides the controller with information about traffic it handles. The switch sends every packet going to the same destination along the same path and treats all the packets the exact same way.\r\nSoftware defined networking solutions use an operation mode that is sometimes called adaptive or dynamic, in which a switch issues a route request to a controller for a packet that does not have a specific route. This process is separate from adaptive routing, which issues route requests through routers and algorithms based on the network topology, not through a controller.\r\nThe <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">virtualization</span> aspect of SDN comes into play through a virtual overlay, which is a logically separate network on top of the physical network. Users can implement end-to-end overlays to abstract the underlying network and segment network traffic. This microsegmentation is especially useful for service providers and operators with multi-tenant cloud environments and cloud services, as they can provision a separate virtual network with specific policies for each tenant.","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Benefits of Software Defined Networking</h1>\r\nWith SDN software, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary</span> - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.\r\nOther benefits of SDN are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">network management</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">end-to-end visibility.</span>A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.\r\nSoftware defined networking software also <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">virtualizes hardware</span> and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">services </span>that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.\r\nAdditionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN)</span> technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any SDN security benefits?</h1>\r\nAs security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Centralized Network Control </span></li></ul>\r\nIn a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic. In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Simplify Configuration</span></li></ul>\r\nThe SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities. \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Creation of High-level Network Policies</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management. </span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"><span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)</span></span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"color: rgb(97, 97, 97); \">Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently. </span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SDN_Software_Defined_Network.png","alias":"sdn-software-defined-network"},"501":{"id":501,"title":"All-flash and Hybrid Storage","description":" Costs have come down making hybrid and all-flash enterprise storage solutions the preferred choice for storing, processing and moving the massive volumes of business data generated in today’s cloud, mobile and IoT environment.\r\nll-flash storage arrays utilize solid-state drives (SSDs) to deliver high-performance and low-latency workloads using data compression and deduplication technologies. Hybrid Storage combines those same solid-state drives (SSDs) with SAS or NL-SAS drives to offer a more cost-effective storage solution that balances cost with superior performance and high storage density.\r\nBoth options lower the complexity of providing scale-out performance at ultralow latency for data-intensive loads and big data analytics.\r\nWhether you are building a new storage array or refreshing your existing storage infrastructure we will work with you to plan, source, install and configure a storage solution to meet you budgetary and business requirements.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is flash storage and what is it used for?</span>\r\nFlash storage is any storage repository that uses flash memory. Flash memory comes in many form factors, and you probably use flash storage every day. From a single Flash chip on a simple circuit board attached to your computing device via USB to circuit boards in your phone or MP3 player, to a fully integrated “Enterprise Flash Disk” where lots of chips are attached to a circuit board in a form factor that can be used in place of a spinning disk.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is flash storage SSD?</span>\r\nA “Solid State Disk” or EFD “Enterprise Flash Disk” is a fully integrated circuit board where many Flash chips are engineered to represent a single Flash disk. Primarily used to replace a traditional spinning disk, SSDs are used in MP3 players, laptops, servers and enterprise storage systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between flash storage and SSD?</span>\r\nFlash storage is a reference to any device that can function as a storage repository. Flash storage can be a simple USB device or a fully integrated All-Flash Storage Array. SSD, “Solid State Disk” is an integrated device designed to replace spinning media, commonly used in enterprise storage arrays.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between flash storage and traditional hard drives?</span>\r\nA traditional hard drive leveraged rotating platters and heads to read data from a magnetic device, comparable to a traditional record player; while flash storage leveraged electronic media or flash memory, to vastly improve performance. Flash eliminates rotational delay and seeks time, functions that add latency to traditional storage media.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between an all-flash array and a hybrid array?</span>\r\nA Hybrid Storage Array uses a combination of spinning disk drives and Flash SSD. Along with the right software, a Hybrid Array can be configured to improve overall performance while reducing cost. An All-Flash-Array is designed to support only SSD media.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Al_flash_and_Hybrid_Storage.png","alias":"all-flash-and-hybrid-storage"},"503":{"id":503,"title":"Storage Networking","description":" A storage area network (SAN) or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used to enhance accessibility of storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries, to servers so that the devices appear to the operating system as locally-attached devices. A SAN typically is a dedicated network of storage devices not accessible through the local area network (LAN) by other devices, thereby preventing interference of LAN traffic in data transfer.\r\nThe cost and complexity of SANs dropped in the early 2000s to levels allowing wider adoption across both enterprise and small to medium-sized business environments.\r\nA SAN does not provide file abstraction, only block-level operations. However, file systems built on top of SANs do provide file-level access, and are known as shared-disk file systems.\r\nStorage area networks (SANs) are sometimes referred to as network behind the servers and historically developed out of the centralised data storage model, but with its own data network. A SAN is, at its simplest, a dedicated network for data storage. In addition to storing data, SANs allow for the automatic backup of data, and the monitoring of the storage as well as the backup process. A SAN is a combination of hardware and software. It grew out of data-centric mainframe architectures, where clients in a network can connect to several servers that store different types of data. To scale storage capacities as the volumes of data grew, direct-attached storage (DAS) was developed, where disk arrays or just a bunch of disks (JBODs) were attached to servers. In this architecture storage devices can be added to increase storage capacity. However, the server through which the storage devices are accessed is a single point of failure, and a large part of the LAN network bandwidth is used for accessing, storing and backing up data. To solve the single point of failure issue, a direct-attached shared storage architecture was implemented, where several servers could access the same storage device.\r\nDAS was the first network storage system and is still widely implemented where data storage requirements are not very high. Out of it developed the network-attached storage (NAS) architecture, where one or more dedicated file server or storage devices are made available in a LAN. Therefore, the transfer of data, particularly for backup, still takes place over the existing LAN. If more than a terabyte of data was stored at any one time, LAN bandwidth became a bottleneck. Therefore, SANs were developed, where a dedicated storage network was attached to the LAN, and terabytes of data are transferred over a dedicated high speed and bandwidth network. Within the storage network, storage devices are interconnected. Transfer of data between storage devices, such as for backup, happens behind the servers and is meant to be transparent. While in a NAS architecture data is transferred using the TCP and IP protocols over Ethernet, distinct protocols were developed for SANs, such as Fibre Channel, iSCSI, Infiniband. Therefore, SANs often have their own network and storage devices, which have to be bought, installed, and configured. This makes SANs inherently more expensive than NAS architectures.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is storage virtualization?</span>\r\nA storage area network (SAN) is a dedicated high-speed network or subnetwork that interconnects and presents shared pools of storage devices to multiple servers.\r\nA SAN moves storage resources off the common user network and reorganizes them into an independent, high-performance network. This enables each server to access shared storage as if it were a drive directly attached to the server. When a host wants to access a storage device on the SAN, it sends out a block-based access request for the storage device.\r\nA storage area network is typically assembled using three principle components: cabling, host bus adapters (HBAs), and switches attached to storage arrays and servers. Each switch and storage system on the SAN must be interconnected, and the physical interconnections must support bandwidth levels that can adequately handle peak data activities. IT administrators manage storage area networks centrally.\r\nStorage arrays were initially all hard disk drive systems, but are increasingly populated with flash solid-state drives (SSDs).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What storage area networks are used for?</span>\r\nFibre Channel (FC) SANs have the reputation of being expensive, complex and difficult to manage. Ethernet-based iSCSI has reduced these challenges by encapsulating SCSI commands into IP packets that don't require an FC connection.\r\nThe emergence of iSCSI means that instead of learning, building and managing two networks -- an Ethernet local area network (LAN) for user communication and an FC SAN for storage -- an organization can use its existing knowledge and infrastructure for both LANs and SANs. This is an especially useful approach in small and midsize businesses that may not have the funds or expertise to support a Fibre Channel SAN.\r\nOrganizations use SANs for distributed applications that need fast local network performance. SANs improve the availability of applications through multiple data paths. They can also improve application performance because they enable IT administrators to offload storage functions and segregate networks.\r\nAdditionally, SANs help increase the effectiveness and use of storage because they enable administrators to consolidate resources and deliver tiered storage. SANs also improve data protection and security. Finally, SANs can span multiple sites, which helps companies with their business continuity strategies.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Types of network protocols</span>\r\nMost storage networks use the SCSI protocol for communication between servers and disk drive devices.[citation needed] A mapping layer to other protocols is used to form a network:\r\n<ul><li>ATA over Ethernet (AoE), mapping of ATA over Ethernet</li><li>Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), the most prominent one, is a mapping of SCSI over Fibre Channel</li><li>Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)</li><li>ESCON over Fibre Channel (FICON), used by mainframe computers</li><li>HyperSCSI, mapping of SCSI over Ethernet</li><li>iFCP or SANoIP mapping of FCP over IP</li><li>iSCSI, mapping of SCSI over TCP/IP</li><li>iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER), mapping of iSCSI over InfiniBand</li><li>Network block device, mapping device node requests on UNIX-like systems over stream sockets like TCP/IP</li><li>SCSI RDMA Protocol (SRP), another SCSI implementation for RDMA transports</li></ul>\r\nStorage networks may also be built using SAS and SATA technologies. SAS evolved from SCSI direct-attached storage. SATA evolved from IDE direct-attached storage. SAS and SATA devices can be networked using SAS Expanders.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Storage_Networking.png","alias":"storage-networking"},"505":{"id":505,"title":"Entry Level Storage","description":" Ready-made entry-level storage systems are often used in various solutions for the SMB segment: disk space consolidation, virtualization, various cluster solutions requiring shared block access.\r\nKey architecture features of most entry-level storage systems on the market:\r\n<ul><li>Use one or two hot-swap controllers that use disk sharing. The controller means a specialized server in a special form factor that provides storage operation (working with disks, servicing arrays and providing volumes to hosts, etc.).</li><li>The presence of two controllers provides an increase in the overall reliability of storage - the ability to avoid downtime during the planned shutdown or failure of one of the controllers) and additional scaling of performance when distributing volumes across different controllers. When using the write cache, its integrity is protected: power protection (regular battery or ionistors plus flash memory reset) and duplication of content between controllers.</li><li>The choice of host interfaces: 16 and 8 Gb FiberChannel, 1 and 10 Gb Ethernet (iSCSI, some models may have FCoE support), SAS. For some models, there are combined options, for example, FC + SAS.</li><li>It is possible to connect additional disk shelves (simple cases with SAS expanders) through the SAS interface. To increase the reliability of the connection, a 2-way connection can be applied (below is an example of one of the possible connection schemes).</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Entry-Level Storage?</span>\r\nEntry-level flash storage is simple, smart, secure, affordable, high-performance data storage for enterprises to start small and grow with seamless cloud connectivity as business requirements increase.\r\nOrganizations large and small are navigating at a rapid pace of change in a data-driven economy. Delivering data simply, quickly, and cost-effectively is essential to driving business growth, and the hybrid cloud has emerged as the most efficient way to meet changing business needs. Every IT organization is trying to determine how to modernize with hybrid cloud, and all-flash storage systems are critical on-premises to speed up enterprise applications. However, small enterprises have continued to use hard disk storage systems because of the high cost of all-flash solutions.\r\nAn entry-level storage system offers compact, dense, cost-effective, and easy-to-use storage. These storage systems can be deployed in small offices, small enterprises, and remote locations to run both file and block workloads effectively and efficiently. A simple storage system should support multiple protocols, including FC, NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, and FCoE, to help customers consolidate multiple applications onto a single simple system. It must be easy to install and deploy, secure and provide flexibility to connect to the cloud.\r\nEntry-level flash storage systems help accelerate all applications, consolidate workloads with better user experience, more effective storage and offer the best value to the customer.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are the Benefits of Entry-Level Storage?</span>\r\n The benefits of entry-level storage include:\r\n<ul><li>Improved user experience with fast, secure, and continuous access to data;</li><li>Improved storage efficiency;</li><li>Reduced cost through improved TCO;</li><li>Increased ability for IT to support new business opportunities by leveraging the latest technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and cloud.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Entry_Level_Storage.png","alias":"entry-level-storage"},"515":{"id":515,"title":"Tower Server","description":"A tower server is a computer that is built in an upright cabinet that stands alone and that is designed to function as a server. The cabinet is known as a tower, and multiple tower servers can work simultaneously for different tasks and processes. Tower servers are popular owing to the scalability and reliability features since unlimited servers can be added to the existing network largely because of the independent nature of the individual tower servers.\r\nTower servers support most basic applications such as system management, file management, print collaboration, ER applications, distribution and system security.\r\nThere are certain advantages in using tower servers. A tower server is robust and simple in nature. As overall component density is low, easier cooling is possible in tower servers. Possible damage, overheating or downtime can thus be prevented. The scalability factor is high in tower servers, and it is much easier to add servers to a simple network, leading to adaptable integration. Again, the maintenance factor is less when compared to other designs. Easy identification both on the network and physically is possible in tower servers as the data are usually stored in a single tower and not across various devices.\r\nThe cabling involved in tower servers can be complicated, and several tower servers in a single location could be noisy due to the fact that each tower might need a dedicated fan. An individual monitor, mouse or keyboard is required for each tower server, or a keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switch needs to be available for managing devices using a single set of equipment. Again, in comparison to blade servers or rack servers, tower servers could be more bulky.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a tower server?</span>\r\nA tower server is a computer that is built in an upright cabinet that stands alone and that is designed to function as a server. The cabinet is known as a tower, and multiple tower servers can work simultaneously for different tasks and processes. Tower servers are popular owing to the scalability and reliability features since unlimited servers can be added to the existing network largely because of the independent nature of the individual tower servers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the advantages of a tower server?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Easier cooling, because the overall component density is fairly low.</li></ul>\r\nA tower server is robust and simple in nature. As overall component density is low, easier cooling is possible in tower servers. Therefore, it can prevent possible damage, overheating or downtime.\r\n<ul><li>Scalability, an unlimited number of servers can be added to an existing network.</li></ul>\r\nThe scalability factor is high in tower servers, and it is much easier to add servers to a simple network, leading to adaptable integration. Easy identification both on the network and physically is possible in tower servers as the data are usually stored in a single tower and not across various devices.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the disadvantages of tower server?</span>\r\n<ul><li>A set of tower servers is bulkier and heavier than an equivalent blade server or set of rack servers.</li><li>A group of several air-cooled tower servers in a single location can be noisy because each tower requires a dedicated fan.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Tower_Server.png","alias":"tower-server"},"517":{"id":517,"title":"Blade System","description":" A blade server is a stripped-down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Blade servers have many components removed to save space, minimize power consumption and other considerations, while still having all the functional components to be considered a computer. Unlike a rack-mount server, a blade server needs a blade enclosure, which can hold multiple blade servers, providing services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management. Together, blades and the blade enclosure form a blade system. Different blade providers have differing principles regarding what to include in the blade itself, and in the blade system as a whole.\r\nIn a standard server-rack configuration, one rack unit or 1U—19 inches (480 mm) wide and 1.75 inches (44 mm) tall—defines the minimum possible size of any equipment. The principal benefit and justification of blade computing relates to lifting this restriction so as to reduce size requirements. The most common computer rack form-factor is 42U high, which limits the number of discrete computer devices directly mountable in a rack to 42 components. Blades do not have this limitation. As of 2014, densities of up to 180 servers per blade system (or 1440 servers per rack) are achievable with blade systems.\r\nEnclosure (or chassis) performs many of the non-core computing services found in most computers. Non-blade systems typically use bulky, hot and space-inefficient components, and may duplicate these across many computers that may or may not perform at capacity. By locating these services in one place and sharing them among the blade computers, the overall utilization becomes higher. The specifics of which services are provided varies by vendor.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Power.</span></span> Computers operate over a range of DC voltages, but utilities deliver power as AC, and at higher voltages than required within computers. Converting this current requires one or more power supply units (or PSUs). To ensure that the failure of one power source does not affect the operation of the computer, even entry-level servers may have redundant power supplies, again adding to the bulk and heat output of the design.\r\nThe blade enclosure's power supply provides a single power source for all blades within the enclosure. This single power source may come as a power supply in the enclosure or as a dedicated separate PSU supplying DC to multiple enclosures. This setup reduces the number of PSUs required to provide a resilient power supply.\r\nThe popularity of blade servers, and their own appetite for power, has led to an increase in the number of rack-mountable uninterruptible power supply (or UPS) units, including units targeted specifically towards blade servers (such as the BladeUPS).\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cooling.</span></span> During operation, electrical and mechanical components produce heat, which a system must dissipate to ensure the proper functioning of its components. Most blade enclosures, like most computing systems, remove heat by using fans.\r\nA frequently underestimated problem when designing high-performance computer systems involves the conflict between the amount of heat a system generates and the ability of its fans to remove the heat. The blade's shared power and cooling means that it does not generate as much heat as traditional servers. Newer blade-enclosures feature variable-speed fans and control logic, or even liquid cooling systems that adjust to meet the system's cooling requirements.\r\nAt the same time, the increased density of blade-server configurations can still result in higher overall demands for cooling with racks populated at over 50% full. This is especially true with early-generation blades. In absolute terms, a fully populated rack of blade servers is likely to require more cooling capacity than a fully populated rack of standard 1U servers. This is because one can fit up to 128 blade servers in the same rack that will only hold 42 1U rack mount servers.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Networking.</span></span> Blade servers generally include integrated or optional network interface controllers for Ethernet or host adapters for Fibre Channel storage systems or converged network adapter to combine storage and data via one Fibre Channel over Ethernet interface. In many blades at least one interface is embedded on the motherboard and extra interfaces can be added using mezzanine cards.\r\nA blade enclosure can provide individual external ports to which each network interface on a blade will connect. Alternatively, a blade enclosure can aggregate network interfaces into interconnect devices (such as switches) built into the blade enclosure or in networking blades.\r\nBlade servers function well for specific purposes such as web hosting, virtualization, and cluster computing. Individual blades are typically hot-swappable. As users deal with larger and more diverse workloads, they add more processing power, memory and I/O bandwidth to blade servers. Although blade server technology in theory allows for open, cross-vendor system, most users buy modules, enclosures, racks and management tools from the same vendor.\r\nEventual standardization of the technology might result in more choices for consumers; as of 2009 increasing numbers of third-party software vendors have started to enter this growing field.\r\nBlade servers do not, however, provide the answer to every computing problem. One can view them as a form of productized server-farm that borrows from mainframe packaging, cooling, and power-supply technology. Very large computing tasks may still require server farms of blade servers, and because of blade servers' high power density, can suffer even more acutely from the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning problems that affect large conventional server farms.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is blade server?</span>\r\nA blade server is a server chassis housing multiple thin, modular electronic circuit boards, known as server blades. Each blade is a server in its own right, often dedicated to a single application. The blades are literally servers on a card, containing processors, memory, integrated network controllers, an optional Fiber Channel host bus adaptor (HBA) and other input/output (IO) ports.\r\nBlade servers allow more processing power in less rack space, simplifying cabling and reducing power consumption. According to a SearchWinSystems.com article on server technology, enterprises moving to blade servers can experience as much as an 85% reduction in cabling for blade installations over conventional 1U or tower servers. With so much less cabling, IT administrators can spend less time managing the infrastructure and more time ensuring high availability.\r\nEach blade typically comes with one or two local ATA or SCSI drives. For additional storage, blade servers can connect to a storage pool facilitated by a network-attached storage (NAS), Fiber Channel, or iSCSI storage-area network (SAN). The advantage of blade servers comes not only from the consolidation benefits of housing several servers in a single chassis, but also from the consolidation of associated resources (like storage and networking equipment) into a smaller architecture that can be managed through a single interface.\r\nA blade server is sometimes referred to as a high-density server and is typically used in a clustering of servers that are dedicated to a single task, such as:\r\n<ul><li>File sharing</li><li>Web page serving and caching</li><li>SSL encrypting of Web communication</li><li>The transcoding of Web page content for smaller displays</li><li>Streaming audio and video content</li></ul>\r\nLike most clustering applications, blade servers can also be managed to include load balancing and failover capabilities.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Blade_System.png","alias":"blade-system"},"519":{"id":519,"title":"Density Optimized Server","description":" The high-density server system is a modern concept of building an economical and scalable computing equipment subsystem within the data processing center (hereinafter referred to as the data center).\r\nThe high-density server system includes server equipment, modules of the organization of network interaction, technologies of resource virtualization and has constructive opportunities to install all the components of a modern data center within a single structural unit (chassis).\r\nThe virtualization tools used and the adaptive management system combines the high-density server system resources for collective use in processing various combinations of workloads.\r\nThe high-density server system in the information system infrastructure allows achieving significant cost savings by compacting components and reducing the number of cable connections, jointly managing systems, using virtualization tools, reducing power and cooling costs, simplifying deployment and the possibility of rapid interchangeability of server equipment.\r\nThe high-density server system can be used as a subsystem of corporate data centers, as well as act as a computing center for an information system of a small company, thanks to its design features and applied technologies.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The High-Density Server System Structure</span>\r\nThe composition of the high-density server system includes:\r\n<ul><li>server equipment;</li><li>interconnect modules;</li><li>software (software);</li><li>management subsystem the high-density server system.</li></ul>\r\nConstructive the high-density server system is designed to install servers of special performance, called the "blade" (from the English "blade"). At the level of the system and application software, the “blade” does not differ from a typical server installed in a standard mounting rack.\r\nSSVP includes a universal chassis with redundant input-output systems, power, cooling and control, as well as blade servers and storage of similar performance. The use of the high-density server system means the provision of a functional management subsystem and services for installation, launch and maintenance.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Density_Optimized_Server.png","alias":"density-optimized-server"},"531":{"id":531,"title":"Thin client","description":" A thin client is a lightweight computer that has been optimized for establishing a remote connection with a server-based computing environment. The server does most of the work, which can include launching software programs, performing calculations, and storing data. This contrasts with a fat client or a conventional personal computer; the former is also intended for working in a client-server model but has significant local processing power, while the latter aims to perform its function mostly locally.\r\nThin clients occur as components of a broader computing infrastructure, where many clients share their computations with a server or server farm. The server-side infrastructure uses cloud computing software such as application virtualization, hosted shared desktop (HSD) or desktop virtualization (VDI). This combination forms what is known as a cloud-based system where desktop resources are centralized at one or more data centers. The benefits of centralization are hardware resource optimization, reduced software maintenance, and improved security.\r\n<ul><li>Example of hardware resource optimization: Cabling, bussing and I/O can be minimized while idle memory and processing power can be applied to user sessions that most need it.</li><li>Example of reduced software maintenance: Software patching and operating system (OS) migrations can be applied, tested and activated for all users in one instance to accelerate roll-out and improve administrative efficiency.</li><li>Example of improved security: Software assets are centralized and easily fire-walled, monitored and protected. Sensitive data is uncompromised in cases of desktop loss or theft.</li></ul>\r\nThin client hardware generally supports a keyboard, mouse, monitor, jacks for sound peripherals, and open ports for USB devices (e.g., printer, flash drive, webcam). Some thin clients include legacy serial or parallel ports to support older devices such as receipt printers, scales or time clocks. Thin client software typically consists of a graphical user interface (GUI), cloud access agents (e.g., RDP, ICA, PCoIP), a local web browser, terminal emulators (in some cases), and a basic set of local utilities.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Thin Client?</span>\r\nA thin client is a computer with no hard drive or other moving parts that can lead to machine failure. Thin clients operate on a mainframe paradigm. All instructions and sessions come directly from a central, secure Windows server. Each thin client realizes its own session and operates independently from the other thin clients. Because thin clients have no hard drives, there is no loss of data if a local thin client gets damaged or has a local power failure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why use a Thin Client instead of a regular PC?</span>\r\nThe main reason thin clients are better than PCs is that they offer "Lower Total Cost of Ownership". By reducing maintenance and install time, thin clients keep downtime to an absolute minimum. For example, to update 5 PCs you need to reinstall and configure all 5 PCs one at a time. With thin clients, you would simply make the update once on the server and all 5 thin clients would realize the update immediately.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where should I use a Thin Client?</span>\r\nThin clients can be used anywhere you would normally have a PC workstation. ACP has a number of partners who provide state of the art Thin Client hardware. These Thin Clients range from office-grade to light industrial, to heavy industrial including Class I Div 2.\r\nThin Clients are particularly favored in harsh conditions - most Thin Clients do not have cooling fans, are very small and easy to mount, and can be replaced within a minute or two.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When should I use a Thin Client?</span>\r\nUse thin clients when you need to have one or several PC workstations that substantially "Lower Total Cost of Ownership" while remaining easy to install and support. Use thin clients when you have harsh factory conditions or when you don't have the time or money to hire an IT staff to keep your industrial or office systems up and running.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Thin_client.png","alias":"thin-client"},"536":{"id":536,"title":"WAN optimization - appliance","description":" WAN optimization appliance is a collection of techniques for increasing data-transfer efficiencies across wide-area networks (WANs). In 2008, the WAN optimization market was estimated to be $1 billion and was to grow to $4.4 billion by 2014 according to Gartner, a technology research firm. In 2015 Gartner estimated the WAN optimization market to be a $1.1 billion market.\r\nThe most common measures of TCP data-transfer efficiencies (i.e., optimization) are throughput, bandwidth requirements, latency, protocol optimization, and congestion, as manifested in dropped packets. In addition, the WAN itself can be classified with regards to the distance between endpoints and the amounts of data transferred. Two common business WAN topologies are Branch to Headquarters and Data Center to Data Center (DC2DC). In general, "Branch" WAN links are closer, use less bandwidth, support more simultaneous connections, support smaller connections and more short-lived connections, and handle a greater variety of protocols. They are used for business applications such as email, content management systems, database application, and Web delivery. In comparison, "DC2DC" WAN links tend to require more bandwidth, are more distant and involve fewer connections, but those connections are bigger (100 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s flows) and of longer duration. Traffic on a "DC2DC" WAN may include replication, back up, data migration, virtualization, and other Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) flow.\r\nWAN optimization has been the subject of extensive academic research almost since the advent of the WAN. In the early 2000s, research in both the private and public sectors turned to improve the end-to-end throughput of TCP, and the target of the first proprietary WAN optimization solutions was the Branch WAN. In recent years, however, the rapid growth of digital data, and the concomitant needs to store and protect it, has presented a need for DC2DC WAN optimization. For example, such optimizations can be performed to increase overall network capacity utilization, meet inter-datacenter transfer deadlines, or minimize average completion times of data transfers. As another example, private inter-datacenter WANs can benefit optimizations for fast and efficient geo-replication of data and content, such as newly computed machine learning models or multimedia content.\r\nComponent techniques of Branch WAN Optimization include deduplication, wide-area file services (WAFS), SMB proxy, HTTPS Proxy, media multicasting, web caching, and bandwidth management. Requirements for DC2DC WAN Optimization also center around deduplication and TCP acceleration, however, these must occur in the context of multi-gigabit data transfer rates. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What techniques does WAN optimization have?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deduplication</span> – Eliminates the transfer of redundant data across the WAN by sending references instead of the actual data. By working at the byte level, benefits are achieved across IP applications.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Compression</span> – Relies on data patterns that can be represented more efficiently. Essentially compression techniques similar to ZIP, RAR, ARJ, etc. are applied on-the-fly to data passing through hardware (or virtual machine) based WAN acceleration appliances.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Latency optimization</span> – Can include TCP refinements such as window-size scaling, selective acknowledgments, Layer 3 congestion control algorithms, and even co-location strategies in which the application is placed in near proximity to the endpoint to reduce latency. In some implementations, the local WAN optimizer will answer the requests of the client locally instead of forwarding the request to the remote server in order to leverage write-behind and read-ahead mechanisms to reduce WAN latency.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Caching/proxy</span> – Staging data in local caches; Relies on human behavior, accessing the same data over and over.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Forward error correction</span> – Mitigates packet loss by adding another loss-recovery packet for every “N” packets that are sent, and this would reduce the need for retransmissions in error-prone and congested WAN links.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Protocol spoofing</span> – Bundles multiple requests from chatty applications into one. May also include stream-lining protocols such as CIFS.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Traffic shaping</span> – Controls data flow for specific applications. Giving flexibility to network operators/network admins to decide which applications take precedence over the WAN. A common use case of traffic shaping would be to prevent one protocol or application from hogging or flooding a link over other protocols deemed more important by the business/administrator. Some WAN acceleration devices are able to traffic shape with granularity far beyond traditional network devices. Such as shaping traffic on a per-user AND per application basis simultaneously.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Equalizing</span> – Makes assumptions on what needs immediate priority based on data usage. Usage examples for equalizing may include wide open unregulated Internet connections and clogged VPN tunnels.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Connection limits</span> – Prevents access gridlock in and to denial of service or to peer. Best suited for wide-open Internet access links, can also be used links.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simple rate limits</span> – Prevents one user from getting more than a fixed amount of data. Best suited as a stop-gap first effort for remediating a congested Internet connection or WAN link.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_WAN_optimization_appliance.png","alias":"wan-optimization-appliance"},"542":{"id":542,"title":"UTM - Unified Threat Management Appliance","description":"A unified threat management (UTM) system is a type of network hardware appliance that protects businesses from security threats in a simplified way by combining and integrating multiple security services and features.<br />UTM devices are often packaged as network security appliances that can help protect networks against combined security threats, including malware and attacks that simultaneously target separate parts of the network.\r\nWhile UTM systems and next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) are sometimes comparable, UTM devices include added security features that NGFWs don't offer.\r\nUTM systems provide increased protection and visibility, as well as control over network security, which reduces complexity. UTM systems typically do this via inspection methods that address different types of threats.\r\nThese methods include:\r\n<ul><li>Flow-based inspection, also known as stream-based inspection, samples data that enters a UTM device, and then uses pattern matching to determine whether there is malicious content in the data flow.</li><li>Proxy-based inspection acts as a proxy to reconstruct the content entering a UTM device, and then executes a full inspection of the content to search for potential security threats. If the content is clean, the device sends the content to the user. However, if a virus or other security threat is detected, the device removes the questionable content, and then sends the file or webpage to the user.</li></ul>\r\nUTM devices provide a single platform for multiple network security functions and offer the benefit of a single interface for those security functions, as well as a single point of interface to monitor or analyze security logs for those different functions.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How do UTM Appliances block a computer virus — or many viruses?</span>\r\nUnified threat management appliances have gained traction in the industry due to the emergence of blended threats, which are combinations of different types of malware and attacks that target separate parts of the network simultaneously. Preventing these types of attacks can be difficult when using separate appliances and vendors for each specific security task, as each aspect has to be managed and updated individually in order to remain current in the face of the latest forms of malware and cybercrime. By creating a single point of defense and providing a single console, UTM solutions make dealing with varied threats much easier.\r\nWhile unified threat management solutions do solve some network security issues, they aren't without some drawbacks, with the biggest one being that the single point of defense that an UTM appliance provides also creates a single point of failure. Because of this, many organizations choose to supplement their UTM device with a second software-based perimeter to stop any malware that got through or around the UTM firewall.\r\nWhat kind of companies use a Unified Threat Management system?\r\nUTM was originally for small to medium office businesses to simplify their security systems. But due to its almost universal applicability, it has since become popular with all sectors and larger enterprises. Developments in the technology have allowed it to scale up, opening UTM up to more types of businesses that are looking for a comprehensive gateway security solution.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What security features does Unified Threat Management have?</span>\r\nAs previously mentioned, most UTM services include a firewall, antivirus and intrusion detection and prevention systems. But they also can include other services that provide additional security.\r\n<ul><li>Data loss prevention software to stop data from exfiltrating the business, which in turn prevents a data leak from occurring.</li><li>Security information and event management software for real-time monitoring of network health, which allows threats and points of weakness to be identified.</li><li>Bandwidth management to regulate and prioritize network traffic, ensuring everything is running smoothly without getting overwhelmed.</li><li>Email filtering to remove spam and dangerous emails before they reach the internal network, lowering the chance of a phishing or similar attack breaching your defenses.</li><li>Web filtering to prevent connections to dangerous or inappropriate sites from a machine on the network. This lowers the chance of infection through malvertising or malicious code on the page. It can also be used to increase productivity within a business, i.e. blocking or restricting social media, gaming sites, etc.</li><li>Application filtering to either a blacklist or whitelist which programs can run, preventing certain applications from communicating in and out of the network, i.e. Facebook messenger.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Unified Threat Management?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Simplifies the network</span></li></ul>\r\nBy consolidating multiple security appliances and services into one, you can easily reduce the amount of time spent on maintaining many separate systems that may have become disorganized. This can also improve the performance of the network as there is less bloat. A smaller system also requires less energy and space to run.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Provides greater security and visibility</span></li></ul>\r\nA UTM system can include reporting tools, application filtering and virtual private network (VPN) capabilities, all of which defend your network from more types of threats or improve the existing security. Additionally, monitoring and analysis tools can help locate points of weakness or identify ongoing attacks.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Can defend from more sophisticated attacks</span></li></ul>\r\nBecause UTM defends multiple parts of a network it means that an attack targeting multiple points simultaneously can be repelled more easily. With cyber-attacks getting more sophisticated, having defenses that can match them is of greater importance.\r\nHaving several ways of detecting a threat also means a UTM system is more accurate at identifying potential attacks and preventing them from causing damage.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_UTM_Unified_Threat_Management_Appliance.png","alias":"utm-unified-threat-management-appliance"},"544":{"id":544,"title":"DLP - Appliance","description":"DLP (Data Loss Prevention) is a technology for preventing leakage of confidential information from an information system to the outside, as well as technical software and hardware devices for such prevention of leakage. According to most definitions, information leakage is the unauthorized distribution of restricted access data that is not controlled by the owner of this data. This implies that the person who committed the leak has the rights to access information.\r\nThe most effective way to ensure data security on corporate computers today is to use specialized data leakage prevention tools (Data Leak Prevention or DLP). DLP solutions are designed to eliminate the “human factor” and prevent misconduct by preventing (and fixing) data leaks from a computer for as many scripts as possible.\r\nEmail and webmail services, instant messaging services, social networks and forums, cloud file storages, FTP servers - all these benefits of the Internet can at any moment be a channel for leaking corporate information, disclosure of which may be undesirable or even dangerous for business.\r\nYou shouldn’t disregard traditional local channels - data storage devices (flash drives, disks, memory cards), printers and data transfer interfaces and synchronization with smartphones.\r\nAn effective DLP solution should control the widest possible range of network communications channels, local devices, and interfaces. At the same time, the effectiveness of a DLP solution is determined by the flexibility of the settings and the ability to ensure a successful combination of business interests and security.\r\nToday, DLP products are a rapidly growing information security industry, and new products are released very often. Installing a DLP system will allow you to distinguish confidential information from the usual, which in turn will reduce the cost of the entire complex for the protection of information and resources in general. No unimportant moment when choosing a DLP-system is its price, but Data Leak Prevention has a modularity that allows you to protect the channels you need and not pay extra for protecting unnecessary ones.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Data Loss Prevention (DLP)?</span>\r\nData loss prevention, or DLP, is a set of technologies, products, and techniques that are designed to stop sensitive information from leaving an organization.\r\nData can end up in the wrong hands whether it’s sent through email or instant messaging, website forms, file transfers, or other means. DLP strategies must include solutions that monitor for, detect, and block the unauthorized flow of information.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does DLP work?</span>\r\nDLP technologies use rules to look for sensitive information that may be included in electronic communications or to detect abnormal data transfers. The goal is to stop information such as intellectual property, financial data, and employee or customer details from being sent, either accidentally or intentionally, outside the corporate network.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do organizations need DLP solutions?</span>\r\nThe proliferation of business communications has given many more people access to corporate data. Some of these users can be negligent or malicious. The result: a multitude of insider threats that can expose confidential data with a single click. Many government and industry regulations have made DLP a requirement.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_DLP_Appliance.png","alias":"dlp-appliance"},"546":{"id":546,"title":"WAF-web application firewall appliance","description":"A web application firewall is a special type of application firewall that applies specifically to web applications. It is deployed in front of web applications and analyzes bi-directional web-based (HTTP) traffic - detecting and blocking anything malicious. The OWASP provides a broad technical definition for a WAF as “a security solution on the web application level which - from a technical point of view - does not depend on the application itself.” According to the PCI DSS Information Supplement for requirement 6.6, a WAF is defined as “a security policy enforcement point positioned between a web application and the client endpoint. This functionality can be implemented in hardware, running in an appliance device, or in a typical server running a common operating system. It may be a stand-alone device or integrated into other network components.” In other words, a WAF can be a physical appliance that prevents vulnerabilities in web applications from being exploited by outside threats. These vulnerabilities may be because the application itself is a legacy type or it was insufficiently coded by design. The WAF addresses these code shortcomings by special configurations of rule sets, also known as policies.\r\nPreviously unknown vulnerabilities can be discovered through penetration testing or via a vulnerability scanner. A web application vulnerability scanner, also known as a web application security scanner, is defined in the SAMATE NIST 500-269 as “an automated program that examines web applications for potential security vulnerabilities. In addition to searching for web application-specific vulnerabilities, the tools also look for software coding errors.” Resolving vulnerabilities is commonly referred to as remediation. Corrections to the code can be made in the application but typically a more prompt response is necessary. In these situations, the application of a custom policy for a unique web application vulnerability to provide a temporary but immediate fix (known as a virtual patch) may be necessary.\r\nWAFs are not an ultimate security solution, rather they are meant to be used in conjunction with other network perimeter security solutions such as network firewalls and intrusion prevention systems to provide a holistic defense strategy.\r\nWAFs typically follow a positive security model, a negative security model, or a combination of both as mentioned by the SANS Institute. WAFs use a combination of rule-based logic, parsing, and signatures to detect and prevent attacks such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection. The OWASP produces a list of the top ten web application security flaws. All commercial WAF offerings cover these ten flaws at a minimum. There are non-commercial options as well. As mentioned earlier, the well-known open source WAF engine called ModSecurity is one of these options. A WAF engine alone is insufficient to provide adequate protection, therefore OWASP along with Trustwave's Spiderlabs help organize and maintain a Core-Rule Set via GitHub to use with the ModSecurity WAF engine.","materialsDescription":"A Web Application Firewall or WAF provides security for online services from malicious Internet traffic. WAFs detect and filter out threats such as the OWASP Top 10, which could degrade, compromise or bring down online applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are Web Application Firewalls?</span>\r\nWeb application firewalls assist load balancing by examining HTTP traffic before it reaches the application server. They also protect against web application vulnerability and unauthorized transfer of data from the web server at a time when security breaches are on the rise. According to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, web application attacks were the most prevalent breaches in 2017 and 2018.\r\nThe PCI Security Standards Council defines a web application firewall as “a security policy enforcement point positioned between a web application and the client endpoint. This functionality can be implemented in software or hardware, running in an appliance device, or in a typical server running a common operating system. It may be a stand-alone device or integrated into other network components.”\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does a Web Application Firewall wWork?</span>\r\nA web application firewall (WAF) intercepts and inspects all HTTP requests using a security model based on a set of customized policies to weed out bogus traffic. WAFs block bad traffic outright or can challenge a visitor with a CAPTCHA test that humans can pass but a malicious bot or computer program cannot.\r\nWAFs follow rules or policies customized to specific vulnerabilities. As a result, this is how WAFs prevent DDoS attacks. Creating the rules on a traditional WAF can be complex and require expert administration. The Open Web Application Security Project maintains a list of the OWASP top web application security flaws for WAF policies to address.\r\nWAFs come in the form of hardware appliances, server-side software, or filter traffic as-a-service. WAFs can be considered as reverse proxies i.e. the opposite of a proxy server. Proxy servers protect devices from malicious applications, while WAFs protect web applications from malicious endpoints.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are Some Web Application Firewall Benefits?</span>\r\nA web application firewall (WAF) prevents attacks that try to take advantage of the vulnerabilities in web-based applications. The vulnerabilities are common in legacy applications or applications with poor coding or designs. WAFs handle the code deficiencies with custom rules or policies.\r\nIntelligent WAFs provide real-time insights into application traffic, performance, security and threat landscape. This visibility gives administrators the flexibility to respond to the most sophisticated attacks on protected applications.\r\nWhen the Open Web Application Security Project identifies the OWASP top vulnerabilities, WAFs allow administrators to create custom security rules to combat the list of potential attack methods. An intelligent WAF analyzes the security rules matching a particular transaction and provides a real-time view as attack patterns evolve. Based on this intelligence, the WAF can reduce false positives.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is the Difference Between a Firewall and a Web Application Firewall?</span>\r\nA traditional firewall protects the flow of information between servers while a web application firewall is able to filter traffic for a specific web application. Network firewalls and web application firewalls are complementary and can work together.\r\nTraditional security methods include network firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS) and intrusion prevention systems (IPS). They are effective at blocking bad L3-L4 traffic at the perimeter on the lower end (L3-L4) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Traditional firewalls cannot detect attacks in web applications because they do not understand Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) which occurs at layer 7 of the OSI model. They also only allow the port that sends and receives requested web pages from an HTTP server to be open or closed. This is why web application firewalls are effective for preventing attacks like SQL injections, session hijacking and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When Should You Use a Web Application Firewall?</span>\r\nAny business that uses a website to generate revenue should use a web application firewall to protect business data and services. Organizations that use online vendors should especially deploy web application firewalls because the security of outside groups cannot be controlled or trusted.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Do You Use a Web Application Firewall?</span>\r\nA web application firewall requires correct positioning, configuration, administration and monitoring. Web application firewall installation must include the following four steps: secure, monitor, test and improve. This should be a continuous process to ensure application specific protection.<br />The configuration of the firewall should be determined by the business rules and guardrails by the company’s security policy. This approach will allow the rules and filters in the web application firewall to define themselves.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_WAF_web_application_firewall_appliance.png","alias":"waf-web-application-firewall-appliance"},"550":{"id":550,"title":"Web filtering - Appliance","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A web filter appliance</span> is a device that allows the user to filter all online content for censorship purposes, such that any links, downloads, and email containing offensive materials or pornography is outright blocked or removed. Web filtering appliance can also help you prevent malware infection because, more often than not, malware is usually hidden within links that promise porn or controversial content. Moreover, because the number of online hazards is un stopped increasing every day, it's always prudent to get a web filter appliance that can adapt to the changing times and the ever-evolving hazards posed by the Internet.\r\nAt any rate, content filtering appliance has a distinct advantage over their software counterparts in terms of stable restriction features, unrestricted monitoring, no platform-based limitations, easy upgrades and improvements, and so on. That's because the best web filters are fully integrated software and hardware systems that optimize their hybrid attributes when it comes to content filtering by gaining full, unmitigated control over online usage through well-defined policies as mandated by the owner of the network or the IT security administrator.\r\nGetting a web content filtering appliance that has a list of premium-grade and detailed content analysis with predefined categories (which includes keywords for pornography, game downloads, drugs, violence, adult content, offensive content, racist content, controversial content, and the like) is a must for any major network. All of the items you'll ever need to block should be easily selectable with a click of your mouse as well; after all, sophisticated technology aside, a good web filter appliance should also be intuitive and practical to use as well.<br /> ","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">How a Web Content Filter Appliance Works</h1>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Typically a web content filter appliance protects Internet users and networks by using a combination of blacklists, URIBL and SURBL filters, category filters and keyword filters. Blacklists, URIBL and SURBL filters work together to prevent users visiting websites known to harbor malware, those that have been identified as fake phishing sites, and those who hid their true identity by using the whois privacy feature or a proxy server. Genuine websites have no reason to hide their true identity.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">In the category filtering process, the content of millions of webpages are analyzed and assigned a category. System administrators can then choose which categories to block access to (i.e. online shopping, alcohol, pornography, gambling, etc.) depending on whether the web content filter appliance is providing a service to a business, a store, a school, a restaurant, or a workplace. Most appliances for filtering web content also offer the facility to create bespoke categories.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\">Keyword filters have multiple uses. They can be used to block access to websites containing specific words (for example the business name of a competitor), specific file extensions (typically those most commonly used for deploying malware and ransomware), and specific web applications; if, for example, a business wanted to allow its marketing department access to Facebook, but not FaceTime. Effectively, the keyword filters fine-tune the category settings, enhance security and increase productivity.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Are there any home web filter appliance?</h1>\r\nFor children today, the Internet has always existed. To them, it’s second nature to pop online and watch a funny video, find a fact, or chat with a friend. But, of course, the Internet is also filled with a lot of dark corners (It’s a hop, skip, and a click to adult content). Parents, then, are presented with the daunting task of not only monitoring what sites their children visit but also their screen time consumption. There are a number of home content filtering appliance that allow parents to do just this. The best parental control apps and devices, be they hardware or software, not only put parents in command of such things as the content their children can view and the amount of time they can spend online but help restore a parent’s sense of control. With them, parents, from can restrict access to only specific sites and apps, filter dangerous or explicit web-content, manage time, and even track their location.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Web_filtering_Appliance.png","alias":"web-filtering-appliance"},"552":{"id":552,"title":"Secure Web Gateway - Appliance","description":"Secure web gateways are generally appliance-based security solutions that prevent advanced threats, block unauthorized access to systems or websites, stop malware, and monitor real-time activity across websites accessed by users within the institution.\r\nA secure web gateway is primarily used to monitor and prevent malicious traffic and data from entering, or even leaving, an organization’s network. Typically, it is implemented to secure an organization against threats originating from the Internet, websites and other Web 2.0 products/services. It is generally implemented through a hardware gateway device implemented at the outer boundaries of a network. Some of the features a secure Web gateway provides include URL filtering, application-level control, data leakage prevention, and virus/malware code detection.\r\nA Secure web gateway (SWG) protects users against phishing, malware and other Internet-borne threats. Unlike traditional firewalls, SWGs are focused on layer 7 web traffic inspection, both inbound and outbound. As web security solutions, they apply no protection to WAN traffic, which is left to the corporate next generation firewalls. In recent years, SWGs appeared as a cloud service. The cloud instances enable secure web and cloud access from anywhere – including outside the office by mobile users. The traffic coverage and solution form factor remain the key distinctions between SWGs and next generation firewalls, which often provide a very similar level of security capabilities.\r\nA converged, cloud-based network security solution converges the capabilities of a next generation firewall (WAN and Internet traffic inspection) and the extended coverage for mobile users of SWGs.\r\nA converged approach eliminates the need to maintain policies across multiple point solutions and the appliance life cycle.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is a secure web gateway important?</span>\r\nSecure web gateways have become increasingly common as cybercriminals have grown more sophisticated in embedding threat vectors into seemingly innocuous or professional-looking websites. These counterfeit websites can compromise the enterprise as users access them, unleashing malicious code and unauthorized access in the background without the user's knowledge. These fake, criminal websites can be quite convincing.\r\nSome of these scam websites appear to be so authentic that they can convince users to enter credit card numbers and personal identification information (PII) such as social security numbers. Other sites require only the connection to the user to bypass web browser controls and inject malicious code such as viruses or malware into the user's network. Examples include fake online shopping sites posing as brand-name sellers, sites that appear to be legitimate government agencies and even business-to-business intranets. Secure web gateways can also prevent data from flowing out of an organization, making certain that restricted data is blocked from leaving the organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does a secure web gateway work?</span>\r\nSecure web gateways are installed as a software component or a hardware device on the edge of the network or at user endpoints. All traffic to and from users to other networks must pass through the gateway that monitors it. The gateway monitors this traffic for malicious code, web application use, and all user/non-user attempted URL connections.\r\nThe gateway checks or filters website URL addresses against stored lists of known and approved websites—all others not on the approved lists can be explicitly blocked. Known malicious sites can be explicitly blocked as well. URL filters that maintain allowed web addresses are maintained in whitelists, while known, off-limits sites that are explicitly blocked are maintained in blacklists. In enterprises, these lists are maintained in the secure gateway's database, which then applies the list filters to all incoming and outgoing traffic.\r\nSimilarly, data flowing out of the network can be checked, disallowing restricted data sources—data on the network or user devices that are prohibited from distribution. Application-level controls can also be restricted to known and approved functions, such as blocking uploads to software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications (such as Office 365 and Salesforce.com). Although some enterprises deploy secure web gateways in hardware appliances that filter all incoming and outgoing traffic, many organizations use cloud-based, SaaS secure web gateways as a more flexible and less costly solution to deploy and maintain. Organizations with existing hardware investments often combine the two, using hardware at their larger physical sites and cloud-based gateways for remote locations and traveling workers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are some features of secure web gateways?</span>\r\nBeyond basic URL, web application control and data filtering, secure web gateways should provide additional controls and features that enhance network security.\r\n<ul><li>Encrypted traffic analysis. The gateway should compare all traffic to local and global threat lists and reputation sources first, then also analyze the nature of the traffic itself to determine if any content or code poses a threat to the network. This should include SSL-based encrypted traffic.</li><li>Data Loss Prevention. If, for example, a website accepts uploaded documents or data, the documents should first be scanned for sensitive data before being uploaded.</li><li>Social media protection. All information to and from social media should be scanned and filtered.</li><li>Support for all protocols. HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP internet protocols must be supported. While HTTPS is the industry standard now, many sites still support HTTP and FTP connections.</li><li>Integration with zero-day anti-malware solutions. Threats will be discovered, and integration with anti-malware solutions that can detect zero-day (never seen before) threats deliver the best prevention and remediation.</li><li>Integration with security monitoring. Security administrators should be notified of any web gateway security problems via their monitoring solution of choice, typically a security information and event management (SIEM) solution.</li><li>Choice of location. Choose where your secure web gateway best fits in your network—the edge, at endpoints, or in the cloud.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Web_Gateway_Appliance.png","alias":"secure-web-gateway-appliance"},"556":{"id":556,"title":"Antispam - Appliance","description":"Anti-spam appliances are software or hardware devices integrated with on-board software that implement spam filtering and/or anti-spam for instant messaging (also called "spim") and are deployed at the gateway or in front of the mail server. They are normally driven by an operating system optimized for spam filtering. They are generally used in larger networks such as companies and corporations, ISPs, universities, etc.\r\nThe reasons hardware anti-spam appliances might be selected instead of software could include:\r\n<ul><li>The customer prefers to buy hardware rather than software</li><li>Ease of installation</li><li>Operating system requirements</li><li>Independence of existing hardware</li></ul>","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How does an Antispam Appliance Work?</span>\r\nSince an antispam appliance is hardware, it can be placed at the entry point of the email server to inspect and filter every message that enters the email server. An antispam appliance is capable of evaluating IP addresses that are included in the email messages from the sender. The appliance can also examine the message content and then compare it against the criteria and parameters that have been set for receiving email messages.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advantages of an Antispam Appliance</span>\r\nAntispam appliances are capable of providing more email security to large networks because it is hardware that is specifically designed to handle email security on larger networks. Also, since an antispam appliance is hardware, it is much easier to install and configure on a network, as opposed to software that may require a specific operating system infrastructure. For example, if the organization is running the Linux operating system, this type of system will not support antispam filtering software.\r\nAnother advantage of using an antispam appliance is its ability to protect a large network from codes that are designed to destroy the individual computers on the network. These are malicious codes that can enter the email server and then transmit to the email client via spam. When the individual computers get infected, it slows the productivity of the organization and interrupts the network processes.\r\nAlthough many large networks deploy a vulnerability assessment program that can protect the network against criminals with malicious intent, sometimes vulnerability assessment is not enough to protect the massive amounts of email that enter an email server on a large network. This is why it is important to deploy an antispam appliance to provide added security for your email server and the email clients on the individual computers that are connected to the network.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Antispam_Appliance.png","alias":"antispam-appliance"},"558":{"id":558,"title":"Secure E-mail Gateway - Appliance","description":"According to technology research firm Gartner, secure email gateways “provide basic message transfer agent functions; inbound filtering of spam, phishing, malicious and marketing emails; and outbound data loss prevention (DLP) and email encryption.”\r\nTo put that in simpler language, a secure email gateway (also called an email security gateway) is a cybersecurity solution that monitors incoming and outgoing messages for suspicious behavior, preventing them from being delivered. Secure email gateways can be deployed via an email server, public cloud, on-premises software, or in a hybrid system. According to cybersecurity experts, none of these deployment options are inherently superior; each one has its own strengths and weaknesses that must be assessed by the individual enterprise.\r\nGartner defines the secure email gateway market as mature, with the key capabilities clearly defined by market demands and customer satisfaction. These capabilities include:\r\n<ul><li>Basic and next-gen anti-phishing and anti-spam</li><li>Additional security features</li><li>Customization of the solution’s management features</li><li>Low false positive and false negative percentages</li><li>External processes and storage</li></ul>\r\nSecure email gateways are designed to surpass the traditional detection capabilities of legacy antivirus and anti-phishing solutions. To do so, they offer more sophisticated detection and prevention capabilities; secure email gateways can make use of threat intelligence to stay up-to-date with the latest threats.\r\nAdditionally, secure email gateways can sandbox suspicious emails, observing their behavior in a safe, enclosed environment that resembles the legitimate network. Security experts can then determine if it is a legitimate threat or a false positive.\r\nSecure email gateway solutions will often offer data loss prevention and email encryption capabilities to protect outgoing communications from prying and unscrupulous eyes.\r\nMuch like SIEM or endpoint detection and response (EDR), secure email gateways can produce false positives and false negatives, although they do tend to be far less than rates found in SIEM and EDR alerts.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does a Secure Email Gateway Work?</span>\r\nA secure email gateway offers a robust framework of technologies that protect against email-borne threats. It is effectively a firewall for your email, and scans both outbound and inbound email for any malicious content. At a minimum, most secure gateways offer a minimum of four security features: virus and malware blocking, spam filtering, content filtering and email archiving. Let's take a look at these features in more detail:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Virus and Malware Blocking</span></span>\r\nEmails infected with viruses or malware can make up approximately 1% of all email received by an organization. For a secure email gateway to effectively prevent these emails from reaching their intended recipients and delivering their payload, it must scan each email and be constantly kept up-to-date with the latest threat patterns and characteristics.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Spam Filtering</span></span>\r\nBelieve it or not, spam filtering is where the majority of a secure email gateway's processing power is focused. Spam is blocked in a number of different ways. Basic spam filtering usually involves a prefiltering technology that blocks or quarantines any emails received from known spammers. Spam filtering can also detect patterns commonly found in spam emails, such as preferred keywords used by spammers and the inclusion of links that could take the email recipient to a malicious site if clicked. Many email clients also allow users to flag spam messages that arrive in their mailbox and to block senders.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Content Filtering</span></span>\r\nContent filtering is typically applied to an outbound email sent by users within the company. For example, you can configure your secure email gateway to prevent specific sensitive documents from being sent to an external recipient, or put a block on image files or specific keywords within them being sent through the email system.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Email Archiving</span></span>\r\nEmail services, whether they are in the cloud or on-premise, need to be managed efficiently. Storage has been a problem for email administrators for many years, and while you may have almost infinite cloud storage available, email archiving can help to manage both user mailboxes and the efficiency of your systems. Compliance is also a major concern for many companies and email archiving is a must if you need to keep emails for a specific period of time.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Secure_Email_Gateway_Appliance.png","alias":"secure-e-mail-gateway-appliance"},"562":{"id":562,"title":"DDoS Protection - Appliance","description":"A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connected to the Internet. Denial of service is typically accomplished by flooding the targeted machine or resource with superfluous requests in an attempt to overload systems and prevent some or all legitimate requests from being fulfilled.\r\nIn a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack), the incoming traffic flooding the victim originates from many different sources. This effectively makes it impossible to stop the attack simply by blocking a single source.\r\nA DoS or DDoS attack is analogous to a group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard for legitimate customers to enter, disrupting trade.\r\nCriminal perpetrators of DoS attacks often target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks or credit card payment gateways. Revenge, blackmail and activism can motivate these attacks.\r\nBuying a DDoS mitigation appliance can be highly confusing, especially if you have never done this before. While selecting a DDoS protection solution you must understand the right features and have proper background knowledge. In case of distributed denial of service attacks, the bandwidth or resources of any targeted network is flooded with a large amount of malicious traffic. As a result, the system becomes overloaded and crashes. The legitimate users of the network are denied the service. The mail servers, DNS servers and the servers which host high-profile websites are the main target of DDOS attacks. Customers who use services of any shared network are also affected by these attacks. Therefore, anti-DDOS appliances are now vital.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">DDoS mitigation solution</span>\r\nThere are two types of DDoS mitigation appliances. These include software and hardware solutions. Identical functions may be claimed by both forms of DDoS protection.\r\n<ul><li>Firewalls are the most common protection appliance, which can deny protocols, IP addresses or ports. However, they are not enough strong to provide protection from the more complicated DDoS attacks.</li><li>Switches are also effective solutions for preventing DDoS attacks. Most of these switches possess rate limiting capability and ACL. Some switches provide packet inspection, traffic shaping, delayed binding and rate limiting. They can detect the fake traffic through balancing and rate filtering.</li><li>Like switches, routers also have rate limiting and ACL capability. Most routers are capable of moving under DoS attacks.</li><li>Intrusion prevention systems are another option for you when it comes to protection from DDoS attacks. This solution can be effective in several cases of DDoS attacks. It can identify DDoS attacks and stop them because they possess the granularity as well as processing power required for identifying the attacks. Then they work in an automated manner to resolve the situation.</li><li>There are also rate-based intrusion prevention mechanisms, which are capable of analyzing traffic granularity. This system can also monitor the pattern of traffic.</li></ul>\r\nYou must check the connectivity while selecting a DDoS mitigation appliance. Capacity is also an important aspect of a DDoS protection solutions. You must figure out the number of ports, IPs, protocols, hosts, URLs and user agents that can be monitored by the appliance. An effective DDoS mitigation solution must also be properly customizable. Your DDoS mitigation appliance should be such that it can be upgraded according to your requirements. These are some important factors that you need to consider while choosing a DDoS mitigation appliance for your system.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_DDoS_Protection_Appliance.png","alias":"ddos-protection-appliance"},"567":{"id":567,"title":"Graphics Design","description":" Graphic design is the process of visual communication and problem-solving through the use of typography, photography, and illustration. The field is considered a subset of visual communication and communication design, but sometimes the term "graphic design" is used synonymously. Graphic designers create and combine symbols, images and text to form visual representations of ideas and messages. They use typography, visual arts, and page layout techniques to create visual compositions. Common uses of graphic design include corporate design (logos and branding), editorial design (magazines, newspapers and books), wayfinding or environmental design, advertising, web design, communication design, product packaging, and signage.\r\nGraphic design is applied to everything visual, from road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals.\r\nDesign can aid in selling a product or idea. It is applied to products and elements of company identity such as logos, colors, packaging and text as part of branding (see also advertising). Branding has become increasingly more important in the range of services offered by graphic designers. Graphic designers often form part of a branding team.\r\nGraphic design is applied in the entertainment industry in decoration, scenery and visual story telling. Other examples of design for entertainment purposes include novels, vinyl album covers, comic books, DVD covers, opening credits and closing credits in filmmaking, and programs and props on stage. This could also include artwork used for T-shirts and other items screenprinted for sale.\r\nFrom scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use graphic design. With the advent of the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools are increasingly used to illustrate the background to news stories. Information design can include data visualization, which involves using programs to interpret and form data into a visually compelling presentation, and can be tied in with information graphics.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is graphic design and what does it include?</span>\r\nGraphic design is a design process that combines text and graphics in a way that is intended to communicate a specific message.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is graphic design used?</span>\r\nYou will find graphic design in company logos, printed materials like brochures, posters, signs, greeting cards, postcards, business cards, billboards and ads. Advances in technology have brought us the digital environment complete with websites, online ads, virtual brochures and presentations, and so very much more.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do graphic designers use to create these designs?</span>\r\nGraphic designers can use hand-illustrated designs as well as computer-aided designs thanks to a wide range of software with nearly endless digital design tools. The availability of software like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop have become staples of the graphic designer.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What can a graphic designer do that I can’t do?</span>\r\nA graphic designer does more than just put their creative skills to work. Though most graphic designers are intuitively creative already, they have generally spent time studying numerous design principles. It’s vital to understand how to use design elements to transmit the required messages and values as well as evoke a certain feeling in the viewer. As a visual communicator, they leverage these design elements and use concepts such as color, typography, space, balance, form and lines to create their visual message.\r\nSome graphic designers are also able to understand the more technical aspects of the design required to create digital assets for a company. For example, a web designer is often able to create wireframes, workflows, and sitemaps and understand how to develop easy navigation for the user experience.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What else does a graphic designer accomplish as part of the work they produce for a client?</span>\r\nBesides turning their client’s vision, brand image and value proposition into a graphic display, a designer will undertake many specialty tasks as part of a graphic design project. The specialty tasks include collaborating on the concept (usually with a team), attending meetings about the project, paying attention to what customers are clicking on, doing presentations that explain the various potential designs, revising designs, and preparing asset files for others on the team and for client use.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Graphics_Design.png","alias":"graphics-design"},"569":{"id":569,"title":"Website Design","description":" Web design is the process of creating websites. It encompasses several different aspects, including webpage layout, content production, and graphic design. While the terms web design and web development are often used interchangeably, web design is technically a subset of the broader category of web development.\r\nWebsites are created using a markup language called HTML. Web designers build webpages using HTML tags that define the content and metadata of each page. The layout and appearance of the elements within a webpage are typically defined using CSS, or cascading style sheets. Therefore, most websites include a combination of HTML and CSS that defines how each page will appear in a browser.\r\nSome web designers prefer to hand code pages (typing HTML and CSS from scratch), while others use a "WYSIWYG" editor like Adobe Dreamweaver. This type of editor provides a visual interface for designing the webpage layout and the software automatically generates the corresponding HTML and CSS code. Another popular way to design websites is with a content management system like WordPress or Joomla. These services provide different website templates that can be used as a starting point for a new website. Webmasters can then add content and customize the layout using a web-based interface.\r\nWhile HTML and CSS are used to design the look and feel of a website, images must be created separately. Therefore, graphic design may overlap with web design, since graphic designers often create images for use on the Web. Some graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop even include a "Save for Web…" option that provides an easy way to export images in a format optimized for web publishing.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is Web Design Important?</span>\r\nIt can be difficult to understand why most businesses are willing to pay top dollar for web design work. After all, having a functional website matters more than how it looks, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Today, the most important aspect of an online business presence in web design.\r\nThis means that businesses should always try to find the best web styles that work for their businesses. Although there are several people who can create websites, it takes a skilled person to design a website that looks polished and functional. Here are some more reasons why web design is important to good business.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A Good Site Increases Customer Conversion</span>\r\nWhen a business has a well-designed website, it becomes easier to get more customer conversions. This is because a well-designed website uses its elements to lead customers directly to what they need without distractions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A Responsive Website Helps Business Reach More Clients</span>\r\nAccording to recent research by Pew Research Center, it was discovered that more and more users are using their mobile phones to do business. This means that businesses need to take advantage of this new set of customers by creating websites that can get clients who are away from their computers.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Websites Help in Business Branding</span>\r\nA poor looking website will damage the brand of any company while a scummy-looking website drives customers away. However, an elegant website will help people to connect with a business’s branding. A website with a user-friendly page tends to attract clients more to businesses.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Website_Design.png","alias":"website-design"},"571":{"id":571,"title":"Flash Design","description":" Flash is a vector animation software, originally designed to create animations for display on web pages. Vector graphics are ideal for the web because they are so lightweight.\r\nFlash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page Flash components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics and supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash content.\r\nPreviously Flash was purely used for creating the 2d animation and gaming that was a part of the entertainment industry. Nowadays, Flash has become the effective language of websites. Flash gives influential web experiences for web users. Flash template helps the web designers to save time and maximizes capital in e-commerce business enterprises. The flash template makes the website design interface more interesting and sharing.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Flash?</span>\r\nFlash is software that allows users to create animated works that are saved as .FLV and can be viewed over the Internet.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the advantages of Flash Websites?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Interactive movies, animation and menus are possible</li><li>Flash animation is easy to create and easy to view</li><li>Flash is independent of browsers and operating systems. It can be viewed correctly by anyone who has the Flash plug-in</li><li>Animated banner advertisements in Flash have higher click-through rates than static gifs</li><li>Flash is good for web site intros and adds zing to a site</li><li>Video works well in Flash applications. It doesn’t need a plug-in that’s dependent on a specific operating system like MediaPlayer or QuickTime.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Flash_Design.png","alias":"flash-design"},"573":{"id":573,"title":"Facebook Page Design","description":" Facebook was initially created to connect people. It is now a vast social network comprising different features and providing opportunities for brands and communities to promote their services. And with 2 billion monthly users, this social media channel can’t be ignored.\r\nFacebook pages are specifically designed for businesses to showcase their services, serve customers and answer the most pressing questions about the product. They are also a perfect way to relay the brand’s message and publish informational, educational and entertaining content.\r\nWhen it comes to Facebook page design, you need to keep two things in mind: the engagement level and the brand’s vision. Facebook as a marketing channel is a very fast-paced, oversaturated medium. People spend an average of 35 minutes on Facebook each day, but due to information overload and unique news feed algorithms, the amount of time people spend on an individual post is actually calculated in seconds. Moreover, it’s ten times harder for brands to get in front of their audience, simply because Facebook favors personal and friends’ news over branded content.\r\nLuckily, there are ways around it. If a business produces engaging content on a regular basis, people will keep coming back for more. They will make an effort to stay in touch with the updates and return to the page every time there is a new post or a heated community discussion. They can even pin your updates to the top of the news feed!\r\nBranding is another way to retain the community. Brands don’t start on Facebook, but a Facebook page is a logical continuation of a brand story. When you redirect people from your website to a Facebook page you need to make sure that the brand experience is coherent and logical. For a designer, it means creating a profile photo and cover image that ensure fantastic user experience and prevent users from leaving. The best Facebook covers, therefore, have a “wow” effect or an element of surprise. They also highlight the brand’s vision in a clear and concise way.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Facebook?</span>\r\nThe social networking website Facebook has established itself as the premier social networking website, according to the technology review website Social Media Today. Facebook critics decry a number of issues stemming from social networking in general, such as fears of the loss of privacy. Although Facebook has benefits and disadvantages, it can be an indispensable tool for business users.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Communication in Facebook</span></span>\r\nAlthough critics claim that Facebook isolates people from one another by putting users behind a computer screen, an article in Psychology Today explains that Facebook allows members to quickly and efficiently exchange information they once held private. For business users, this open communication channel means that customers can ask questions they may feel uncomfortable asking in person or even over the phone. In addition, the nearly real-time communication facilities available on Facebook allow business owners to provide customer service and answer sales questions directly though the social networking service.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Networking Tools</span></span>\r\nNetworking has always been a key component of business, but Facebook’s massive social network contains significant resources for people seeking exposure. With just a few keystrokes, business owners can quickly update key contacts, suppliers, investors and high-value customers. When publicly posting news about a company’s services or offerings, though, users should remain aware that competitors can see this information; for this reason, business owners should use discretion with sharing information on Facebook pages.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Social Marketing</span></span>\r\nFacebook offers a number of benefits to marketing professionals and small business owners alike. With its massive user base, Facebook gives marketers a nearly limitless audience for commercial messages. In addition, Facebook ad tools allow business users to target message delivery using a variety of demographic information that ranges from geographic location to age, relationship status and even sexual preference. Facebook also provides an array of analytical tools that marketers can use to gauge advertising effectiveness and adjust ads as necessary.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Research and Insights</span></span>\r\nJust as business owners must remember that competitors can see publicly posted information, savvy entrepreneurs can use the service’s public communication venues to research offers from other companies. Some organizations use Facebook pages to post newsletters and other updates, and business owners can use this information to keep abreast of competitor activity. In addition, Facebook users frequently share interesting details about their lives with hundreds of friends; business owners can use this information to keep track of popular culture and emerging trends. By staying up to date on customer interests, businesses can adapt to changing environments.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Facebook_Page_Design.png","alias":"facebook-page-design"},"575":{"id":575,"title":"Video Design","description":" A <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">videoclip making</span> is one of the most effective means of advertising. Video production (the creation of such advertising messages) is a very complex creative process that requires the work of many specialists. Well-designed video advertising sets the company apart from the competition, emphasizes the advantages of a particular product and leads to successful business development.\r\nCreating videos is a wise and right decision to make yourself known and about your business. Today, technology is developing rapidly, therefore, to be always in demand, you need to keep up with innovations. Creating videos from videos requires certain skills and efforts.\r\nThere are several types of videos:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Presentation.</span></span> These are videos that talk about a product, service, company, etc. Their main goal is to demonstrate the main advantages.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Image.</span></span> Such videos differ from presentation videos in that they do not sell or present anything, but only create the right image. Their main task is to evoke certain emotions associated with a product, person or company.\r\nEducational. The purpose of the video is to convey new information to the viewer or talk about certain rules. The peculiarity of training videos is that they should be as simple and clear as possible.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Viral.</span></span> Such unattractive title these videos received for the speed of distribution. By their content, viral videos attract attention and arouse the desire of viewers to distribute them further. However, the main purpose of such videos is to draw attention to information that is not directly related to the video itself and may be contained at the end of the video or in the description.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Social.</span></span> Such videos are created in order to highlight a particular social phenomenon and draw the attention of a large number of people to it. Social videos are usually designed to evoke strong emotions, often negative ones.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Video Art.</span></span> This category of videos does not have a specific purpose. Video art is pure art, so there are no rules and restrictions.\r\nTypically, promotional videos last about 30 seconds. During this time, it is necessary to attract the attention of viewers, interest them and encourage them to make a purchase. Therefore, this type of product promotion should be:\r\n<ul><li>unusual and interesting;</li><li>bright and memorable;</li><li>efficient and selling.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Steps for creating a video:</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Pre-production</span> - determination of goals, audience, product features, campaign budget and task completion period. At this stage, important work such as:\r\n<ul><li>video concept development;</li><li>script creation;</li><li>storyboard story;</li><li>casting;</li><li>choice of location;</li><li>selection of costumes, props;</li><li>selection of equipment for shooting;</li><li>approval of the director and cameraman.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Production</span> - direct shooting advertising.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Post-production</span> - processing the footage (editing, dubbing, mixing audio from video, adding special effects, etc.).","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> What are the commercials for ads?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Video screensaver - a short plot based on 2D and 3D graphics.</li><li>Advertising plot - serves to promptly inform the audience (for example, talks about the opening of a new cafe).</li><li>A simple video clip is created using computer graphics (both two-dimensional and three-dimensional).</li><li>Production video - advertising involving actors.</li><li>Cartoon video - equally well accepted by both children and adults.</li><li>Animation movie - can be made in the form of 3D or Flash-animation.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of commercials?</span>\r\n<ul><li>An advertising video has the main advantage - it is an appeal directly to the audience. Today, most people pay attention only to audiovisual information, so the creation of promotional videos makes you better in the eyes of the consumer against the background of competitors;</li><li>The second advantage is brevity. Media-dependent people perceive visual information so quickly that it’s impossible to interest them in a long video. Therefore, it is necessary to invest in five to ten minutes;</li><li>The third advantage is the availability of video and audio accompaniment. In today's world, regular text advertisements are ineffective;</li><li>Accessibility - everyone has access to the Internet today, so it will be easy to find your video clip;</li><li>Developing a video requires a special creative approach.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What makes up the cost of the video?</span>\r\nDifferent videos vary significantly in price, however, the creation of any of them requires financial investments.\r\nYou can approximately calculate the cost of a video based on the following indicators:\r\n<ul><li>the depth of study of the target audience and competitors;</li><li>number of shooting days;</li><li>the location of the shooting and the complexity of the scenery;</li><li>the presence of graphics, animation and special effects;</li><li>fees of all persons involved in the development and shooting of the video.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Video_Design.png","alias":"video-design"},"577":{"id":577,"title":"Advertisement Design","description":" The term "advertising design" refers to the synthesis of marketing, psychology, creativity and design - integral parts in the development of visual advertising tools.\r\nIf just a design is the creation of a beautiful picture, then an advertising design is the creation of a beautiful picture that brings its owner money. For an advertisement to work, "move the trade" - it must be based on the Idea that would affect the customers of the Customer. Moreover, it would have worked as planned and planned.\r\nThe sphere of design-design is currently carried out within the framework of already established traditions, but innovations in this area are primarily related to the search for specific, interesting, original graphic ways of expressing advertising ideas that contribute to a more effective impact on the consumer, one of which is the use of metaphor in creating an advertising image. It is not by chance that design in the broad sense means “the original train of thought, a new layout idea, a beautiful design”. The realization of a creative goal as the development of an advertising concept for a product or service in our time is an indispensable condition for performing advertising functions.","materialsDescription":" Advertising design is a project activity aimed at developing visualization tools for an advertising image of a product as part of a creative strategy for an advertising campaign.\r\nThe visualization of the advertising image is achieved mostly with the help of design graphics.\r\nAdvertising image is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, the study of which can be carried out from different positions: economics and marketing, psychotechnologies and perception problems, methods of its creation, etc.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Advertisement_Design.png","alias":"advertisement-design"},"579":{"id":579,"title":"Website Mockup Design","description":" Mock-ups are the key aspects of web visual design. They are typically the mid-to-high fidelity representation of products’ visual appearance; mock-ups dictate the product’s typography, color schemes, iconography and also hint at the basics of product functionality. Mock-ups are usually confused with wireframes and prototypes. Wireframes are low-fidelity blueprints with placeholders & gray boxes for detailed content while prototypes demonstrate how the design works. The functioning of a prototype is more complex; they explore a combination of interactions and help refine usability.\r\nMock-ups are quite relevant in any web design since they give users a hint on how the final product will appear. They also help in the implementation of some interactive elements like icons & buttons and usually have an advantage over wireframes & prototypes; mock-ups offer a friendly user interface and you need not rely much on imagination. Generally, Mockups are more complex than wireframes but less functional than prototypes, they fit perfectly as a transitional step between the two.\r\nMockups play a vital role during the process of web designing for business. This is because it will allow website owners to preview the design of their website before it reaches the final stage. If you want to use mockups while designing your business website, hiring mockup design services is the best and the most affordable option.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a website mockup?</span>\r\nIn the world of web design, a website mockup is a high-fidelity simulation of how a website will look. Website mockups combine the structure and logic of a wireframe but with the images, graphics and UI elements that the final product will have.\r\nHowever, while website mockups don’t include the transitions and usable functions you’ll see in a prototype and in the final product, they generally include basic navigation and interactions. Simply put, mockups help us define:\r\n<ul><li>Information architecture: how you organize your website’s information logically and hierarchically</li><li>User flow: how the user will interact with your website and the navigation UX</li><li>Visual hierarchy and layout: how all the elements appear on your webpages, their size and position relative to one another and the spacing between</li><li>Color: nearly always contain the color scheme you’ll use in the final product</li><li>Typography: contain the exact fonts types, sizes and boldness that your final product will have</li><li>Images: Use SVGs and high-quality images that mirror exactly the ones you’ll include in your final product</li></ul>\r\nIn short, website mockups help you to define all the important factors of your product to ensure the best UX possible before expensive coding begins. Because at that stage, any changes you make will be paid for in arms and legs!","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Website_Mockup_Design.png","alias":"website-mockup-design"},"581":{"id":581,"title":"3D model Design","description":" In 3D computer graphics, <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">3D modeling</span> is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any surface of an object (either inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software. The product is called a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">3D model.</span> Someone who works with 3D models may be referred to as a <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">3D artist.</span> It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation of physical phenomena. The model can also be physically created using 3D printing devices.\r\n3D modeling can be achieved manually with specialized 3D model design software, such as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">computer-aided design</span> (CAD) programs, that lets an artist create and deform polygonal surfaces or by scanning real-world objects into a set of data points that can be used to represent the object digitally.\r\nSoftware to create 3D models is a class of 3D computer graphics software used to produce 3D models. Individual programs of this class are called <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">modeling applications</span> or <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">modelers</span>.\r\nThree-dimensional (3D) models represent a physical body using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Being a collection of data (points and other information), 3D models can be created by hand, algorithmically (procedural modeling), or scanned. Their surfaces may be further defined with texture mapping.\r\nAlthough complex mathematical formulas are at the foundation of 3D drawing software, the programs automate computation for users and have tool-based user interfaces. 3D models are an output of 3D modeling and are based on a variety of digital representations. Boundary representation (B-rep) uses mathematically defined surfaces such as cones, spheres and NURBS (non-uniform rational basis spline) which are connected by topology to accurately represent objects as water-tight volumes. B-rep models are the preferred solution for engineering, and many 3D modeling applications for the design, simulation and manufacture of consumer and industrial products are B-rep based. \r\nVirtual 3D models can be turned into physical objects through 3D printing or traditional manufacturing processes. Models can also be converted into a static image through 3D rendering, commonly used to create photo-realistic representation for sales, marketing and eCommerce applications. 3D models can be created by the process of reverse engineering, in which 3D scanning technology is used to create digital replicas of real-world objects, including manufactured parts and assemblies, free-form models designed in clay and human anatomy. Modern 3d modeling and animation tools create and interact with a “digital twin”, which is used to develop, test, simulate and manufacture its real world counterpart as part of the product lifecycle.\r\n3D modeling is used in a wide range of fields, including engineering, architecture, entertainment, film, special effects, game development, and commercial advertising. It is an integral part of many creative careers. Engineers and architects use it to plan and design their work. Animators and game designers rely on 3D modeling tools to bring their ideas to life. And just about every Hollywood blockbuster uses 3D modeling for special effects, to cut costs, and to speed up production.\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Criteria to consider when choosing between 3D software programs</h1>\r\nThere is a wide range of 3D modeling and animation software addressing <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">different fields of activity</span>. For instance, there is software dedicated to mechanical design, to engineering design, to civil engineering, to product design, to industrial design or to graphic design. The first thing to take into account is to select a design <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">software targeted to your project</span>. Each field of activity has different needs. For example, a project about the creation of jewelry does not require the same 3D object software as a project of creation of aircraft models.\r\nAre you using a 3D drawing software for 3d printing, Laser Cutting or just for creating some digital art? Always take into account<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"> the necessities of the technology</span> that you are designing for. Then, you can think: what is the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">budget</span> to select 3D modeling programs? If you afford to, you can pay for the required subscription. Alternatively, you can use the student license or the educational license that some design suites provide. Otherwise, there is various good quality 3D modeling app and software that is available for free and is equally good as professional options. In that case, you would like to get to know the software by downloading the limitied time and/or restricted functionality version that most vendors provide.\r\nChoose 3D design programs that are <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">compatible with the Operating System</span> (OS) you are using, since not all the packages are meant to be used by all OS: Windows, Mac, Linux. Last but not least, choose a 3D modeling program according to your age and <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">level of expertise.</span>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_3D_model_Design.png","alias":"3d-model-design"},"583":{"id":583,"title":"Vector Graphics Design","description":" Vector graphics are computer graphics images that are defined in terms of 2D points, which are connected by lines and curves to form polygons and other shapes. Each of these points has a definite position on the x- and y-axis of the work plane and determines the direction of the path; further, each path may have various properties including values for stroke color, shape, curve, thickness, and fill. Vector graphics are commonly found today in the SVG, EPS, PDF or AI graphic file formats and are intrinsically different from the more common raster graphics file formats such as JPEG, PNG, APNG, GIF, and MPEG4.\r\nOne of the first uses of vector graphic displays was the US SAGE air defense system. Vector graphics systems were retired from the U.S. en route air traffic control in 1999, and are likely still in use in military and specialized systems. Vector graphics were also used on the TX-2 at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory by computer graphics pioneer Ivan Sutherland to run his program Sketchpad in 1963.\r\nSubsequent vector graphics systems, most of which iterated through dynamically modifiable stored lists of drawing instructions, include the IBM 2250, Imlac PDS-1, and DEC GT40. There was a home gaming system that used vector graphics called Vectrex as well as various arcade games like Asteroids, Space Wars and many cinematronics titles such as Rip-Off, and Tail Gunner using vector monitors. Storage scope displays, such as the Tektronix 4014, could display vector images but not modify them without first erasing the display.\r\nModern vector graphics displays can sometimes be found at laser light shows, where two fast-moving X-Y mirrors position the beam to rapidly draw shapes and text as straight and curved strokes on a screen.\r\nVector graphics can be created in a form using a pen plotter, a special type of printer that uses a series of ballpoint and felt-tip pens on a servo-driven mount that moves horizontally across the paper, with the plotter moving the paper back and forth through its paper path for vertical movement. Although a typical plot might easily require a few thousand paper motions, back and forth, the paper doesn't slip. In a tiny roll-fed plotter made by Alps in Japan, teeth on thin sprockets indented the paper near its edges on the first pass and maintained registration on subsequent passes.\r\nSome Hewlett-Packard pen plotters had two-axis pen carriers and stationery paper (plot size was limited). However, the moving-paper H-P plotters had grit wheels (akin to machine-shop grinding wheels) which, on the first pass, indented the paper surface, and collectively maintained registration.\r\nPresent-day vector graphic files such as engineering drawings are typically printed as bitmaps, after vector-to-raster conversion.\r\nThe term "vector graphics" is mainly used today in the context of two-dimensional computer graphics. It is one of several modes an artist can use to create an image on a raster display. Vector graphics can be uploaded to online databases for other designers to download and manipulate, speeding up the creative process. Other modes include text, multimedia, and 3D rendering. Virtually all modern 3D rendering is done using extensions of 2D vector graphics techniques. Plotters used in technical drawing still draw vectors directly to paper.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are Bitmap Images?</span>\r\nBitmap images are images that are described by pixels - squares of color arranged in a grid.\r\nBitmap images are also known as raster images.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Are Vector Images?</span>\r\nVector images are images described by shapes such as circles and squares, as opposed to bitmap images which are described by pixels - squares of color arranged in a grid. The shapes are precise mathematical descriptions of the image and can be scaled without becoming blurry or "pixelated" (that blocky look that bitmap/raster images so often get when scaled up).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why Use Vector Images?</span>\r\nVector images are used in most aspects of graphic design and are the preferred format for printing, both on paper and on clothes. The reason for this is that while a bitmap image can look great on the screen, which usually has a resolution of about 72 pixels/dots per inch (DPI), it will normally have to be scaled by a factor of 8 or more when printed since modern printers routinely produce resolutions of 600 pixels/dots per inch. Vector images can handle this type of scaling without any problems while bitmap images struggle with it.\r\nMany forms of printing require vector input in order to work - flex printing and embroidery for example.\r\nVector images are also used on the web in for example flash animations.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Tracing? Vectorization?</span>\r\nTracing, also known as vectorization, is the process of converting a bitmap image to a vector image.\r\nIt can be done by hand ("hand-tracing"), or by a computer program ("auto-tracing").","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Vector_Graphics_Design.png","alias":"vector-graphics-design"},"585":{"id":585,"title":"Corporate Identity Design","description":" The Branding of a company is very important and it gives the first impression of your company to its customers. The design of the brand gives judgment about your business and thus it should be very memorable and attractive. A professional branding or logo leaves a good image of your concern and also results in a great impression about the business. With today’s modern trend, you can design various creative and elegant designs for your brand name which leaves the potential customer to identify your company immediately.\r\nThe Brand is much more than the name of the company or its logo. It is the combination of all the experiences and impressions of a concern which includes the public relations, vendors, employees, customers or the communities. There are efficient people who represent the image of a company behind every good brand. When the expectations of the customers are met by the company, the loyalty of the brand is automatically developed. Thus, it is very important to focus on the design of the Brand name which should be descriptive about its services or products, memorable, short and attractive.\r\nBefore designing the brand, decide if it is going to be used on business cards, website, CD’s, clothing’s or printing materials, stickers, pens, on the products sold, or on any social network. Thus, plan accordingly and choose the appropriate designs or colors for your brand. Create a powerful logo with graphic design for your brand name which should speak about your business. It should be bold and distinctive and should be able to advertise about your company. A Tag line is also important for a Brand which could express the benefits of your concern and could leave an impression in the minds of the customers.\r\nThe important elements in a Brand design are the logo, names, tag lines, trademarks and packaging. The brand of the company mostly attempts the customers to purchase the products or services. Therefore, the name of the brand also plays a major role in the success of a business. There should be a life in your Brand designing with a good combination of the color, visual appearance or style, name, topography, intensity and size. Appropriate usage of these elements will provide uniqueness to your brand. You can also use a hired professional to create your brand design to make it more memorable.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How to develop a strong brand identity?</span>\r\nKnow who you are!\r\nBefore you know what tangible elements you want to make up your brand identity, you need to know who you are as a brand.\r\nWho you are as a brand is made up of a few key elements:\r\n<ul><li>Your mission (what’s your “why?”)</li><li>Your values (what beliefs drive your company?)</li><li>Your brand personality (if your brand was a person, what kind of personality would they have?)</li><li>Your unique positioning (how do you differentiate yourself from the competition?)</li><li>Your brand voice (if your brand was a person, how would it communicate?)</li></ul>\r\nThese elements are what define your brand, and before you start building your brand identity, it’s important you have a clear understanding of each.\r\nIf you’re having trouble figuring out who exactly you are, don’t sweat it. Sometimes, all you need is a simple brainstorm to help you get clarity on who you are as a brand.\r\nAsk yourself:\r\n<ul><li>Why did we start this business?</li><li>What are the beliefs and values that are important to us as a company?</li><li>What do we do better than anyone else?</li><li>What makes us special?</li><li>If we could describe our brand in three words, what would they be?</li><li>What are the three words we would want our customers to use to describe us?</li></ul>\r\nYou can also check out this awesome branding workbook from consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. While this workbook is geared towards personal branding, the strategies will work for any type of business model.\r\nOnce you’ve locked in who you are as a brand, it’s time to build the identity that will bring your brand to life and show who you are to the people who matter most: your customers.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Corporate_Identity_Design.png","alias":"corporate-identity-design"},"587":{"id":587,"title":"Packaging Design","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Package design</span> is a key element in consumer branding. It allows goods to stand out on the shelf, attract attention and motivate the buyer to purchase in conditions of high level of competition in the market. In turn, label design is one of the stages in creating packaging. It is often associated with the development of the original form of packaging - shaping. In a number of categories, such as spirits, brand success depends on the integrity of the design concept embodied in the label and the shape of the bottle.\r\nIn the field of consumer goods, packaging is an integral part of the brand - it is the main identifier that makes a product desirable and recognizable. We can distinguish several stages of interaction or “communication” of the packaging with the consumer, as well as several basic functions that it performs in this case:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">"Attraction"</span></span>\r\nEach modern buyer, having come to the store, is under the attack of a huge amount of information - around him are shelves with a wide variety of packages, different manufacturers, shapes, sizes and colors. Considering that the shopping list is usually rather big, we spend from a few seconds to a couple of minutes choosing each item. That is why the moment of contact of the buyer with the new brand is very brief. And only in the case when the packaging design is noticeable among many competitors, we can talk about the fulfillment of the first function - to stand out, attract attention, arouse interest.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">"Acquaintance"</span></span>\r\nAfter attention is drawn and the product is in the hands of the buyer, the stage of acquaintance with the product begins. Given the presence of dozens of competitors on the shelves - it will also not be long. Therefore, the next task is to convey to the consumer the most important information about the brand and product as briefly, clearly and structured as possible. This information can be emotional and functional. Thus, the packaging design and its individual components (logo, illustrations, product image, color, font and compositional solutions) are evaluated by the consumer more likely from an emotional point of view, with their help you can convey the brand’s target associations. For example, the packaging design of a dairy product or mineral water most often exploits a sense of naturalness and environmental friendliness, and the cognac label design reflects status and traditions.\r\nThe “functional” part of the package is data that the customer analyzes rationally. This information is about the manufacturer, place and date of production, shelf life, availability of preservatives, number of calories, etc. Despite the technical nature of this information, its presentation can also significantly affect the impression of acquaintance with the brand. Therefore, the development of packaging design always implies a layout in which information that is significant for the consumer and forms a positive image of the brand comes to the fore.\r\nAccordingly, the second function of packaging at the stage of dating is to be informative and form a positive brand image.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">"Dialog"</span></span>\r\nIf the acquaintance turned out to be successful and the consumer made a purchase, the third stage of interaction begins, which can conditionally be referred to as a “dialogue”. Often, after the purchase, we begin to consider the product in more detail: notice new design details, carefully read the texts, delve into their meaning. When the packaging design is built taking into account this stage - on it you can often find interesting details that are invisible at first sight; any texts and facts that reveal the brand’s legend. It is these details that allow the brand to build a dialogue with the consumer.\r\nThe function that is pronounced at this stage is to communicate with the consumer, revealing interesting details.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">"Recognition"</span></span>\r\nFinally, if the packaging design was done correctly, and the brand managed to build a dialogue with the consumer, having won his sympathies, the stage of re-purchase becomes relevant.\r\nIf at the first stage of communication with the consumer, uniqueness is important for attracting attention, then for making a repeat purchase, the uniqueness and recognition of the packaging become even more important. Here, by uniqueness, we mean: a) the presence of unusual copyright findings in design; b) avoiding established categorical stereotypes and the possibility of differentiation from competitors.\r\nThus, the final function of packaging design is to demonstrate individuality and be recognizable.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is packaging design?</span>\r\nPackaging design is one of the most powerful marketing tools for promotion, a certain channel of communication between the manufacturer and its target audience. The more attractive the goods are, the greater demand they will enjoy. A tricky move can significantly increase the percentage of sales, because it is a well-known fact that a beautiful, bright, catchy container helps to buy it deliberately and spontaneously. Each smallest element should be worked out and thought out because it is important to create it so that it works for the brand, its success.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What features does the packaging design provide?</span>\r\nA competent packaging design allows you to:\r\n<ul><li>highlight the product among competitors;</li><li>draw the attention of the target audience to him;</li><li>cheer up the buyer;</li><li>make the customer trust the brand.</li></ul>\r\nThe visual effect is very important. Numerous marketing studies confirm that the consumer, among many other similar products, will choose what looks best to him.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How is packaging design developed?</span>\r\nThe development of individual packaging design is a complex process because its result can be the acquisition by a product of one of the main competitive advantages - an aesthetically harmonious appearance. Be sure to take into account the features and characteristics of the product. The color scheme, font, images, materials used - everything matters, nothing should be missed. It is also worth taking care of preserving originality and originality, protection from fakes, which are possible in the future.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Work Stages:</span></span>\r\n<ul><li>market analysis;</li><li>development of an original concept;</li><li>creation of several options;</li><li>the choice of one option, making changes to it;</li><li>layout preparation;</li><li>determination of optimal printing technology.</li></ul>\r\nThis is a complex, multi-level, multi-tasking, a lengthy procedure that requires specialists to have certain knowledge, skills, and experience.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Packaging_Design.png","alias":"packaging-design"},"589":{"id":589,"title":"Design Animation","description":" Visual marketing is firmly in the lead when it comes to promoting a business. And the most effective tool for him can surely be called an animated movie. It's no secret that the visualization of information facilitates its perception.\r\nAnimated video is one of the most original ways of presenting advertisements for your company. Animated advertising will attract the views of new customers and you will certainly want to buy products or services. Today, an animated video is a fairly well-known and sought-after form of advertising.\r\nAnimation video today is a must-have for any company that has a website. It is desirable that this video was creative, even if it tells about a large company or reveals serious questions. A distinctive feature of the drawn clips is the ability to present information from the face of any character, even the directly promoted product “animated” with the help of animation.\r\nBefore you order an animated video, it is important to decide which type of video is needed. A video can:\r\n<ul><li>Promote the brand. Such videos reveal the main characteristics of the product and tell about its strengths. In order for such a video to be effective, it is important to get an emotional response from the audience. To do this, you need to create a thoughtful character with an obvious pattern of behavior so that the viewer associates himself with him.</li><li>Talk about the company. The target audience of such clips is existing and potential employees and partners. Such videos are ordered to emphasize the positive features of the company. Due to this, there is a desire to cooperate with such an organization and/or work in it.</li><li>Be informative. These are intelligent videos that do not contain a call to action. The task of the informational video is to increase the involvement of the target audience and increase the level of brand loyalty. It is the most capacious and easy to hear important information.</li></ul>\r\nHaving made the decision to order an animation video, you need to understand what tasks it should perform. It is necessary to clarify the interests and preferences of the target audience and focus on them, choose an understandable and pleasant (if appropriate, with a humorous tint) style of narration and talk about the real merits of the product or service.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is 2D animation?</span>\r\n2D animation - fully two-dimensional rollers. Characters, titles, buildings and any other objects in such videos are flat, as in the pictures. Today it is this kind of graphics that is most in demand. Often, these videos look simple and neat, but at the same time informative.\r\n2D animation can be executed in a classic drawing format or created using computer graphics, for example, Shape animation.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is 3D animation?</span>\r\n3D animation is its main difference from 2D in that the characters and any other objects in such a video are three-dimensional. Such videos allow you to fully demonstrate to customers a product from virtually all sides before it is created. It can be video smartphones, cars, houses. In the production of 3D animation is more complicated and more expensive than 2D, but at the same time much more spectacular, it means that it is better remembered.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a cartoon video?</span>\r\nHand-drawn video is a modern marketing tool that will be useful for any kind of business. It is easier and clearer for a client to watch a short video than to wade through the wilds of numerous pages on the site.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Design_Animation.png","alias":"design-animation"},"595":{"id":595,"title":"iOS Software Development","description":"iOS is Apple’s mobile OS that runs on an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch hardware. Apple provides tools and resources for creating iOS apps and accessories for these devices. As an iOS developer, you can program in native languages such as Swift or Objective-C or build cross-platform native applications using React Native (JavaScript) or Xamarin (C# & F#).<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Developer Requirements.</span> To develop iOS apps, you need a Mac computer running the latest version of Xcode. Xcode is Apple’s IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for both Mac and iOS apps. Xcode is the graphical interface you'll use to write iOS apps. Xcode includes the iOS SDK, tools, compilers, and frameworks you need specifically to design, develop, write code, and debug an app for iOS. For native mobile app development on iOS, Apple suggests using the modern Swift programming language. It is important to note that Xcode only runs on Mac OS X and the only supported way to develop iOS apps. Like desktop software, iOS development software are designed using a range of programming languages and frameworks.<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"></span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">iOS software development kit. </span>Mobile iOS app creation software requires access to software development kits (SDKs) that provide an environment through which programmers can design and test code in a simulated mobile environment. Some iOS SDK essentials are the Cocoa Touch frameworks that include the UIKit, GameKit, PushKit, Foundation Kit, and MapKit. These frameworks and others allow you manipulate the iPhone or iPad camera, add voice interaction using SiriKit, explore music with MusicKit, expand viewing and listening via AirPlay 2, and even add iMessage Business Chat to your application. iOS 11 added the power of machine learning with Core ML and augmented reality (AR) experiences with ARKit.\r\n<p id=\"Beta_Testing\" style=\" color:#232f3e; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Beta Testing.</span> <span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">Once you have built and tested (using XCTest framework or iOS Unit test) your app, you can invite users to your apps and collect feedback using TestFlight prior to deploying to the App Store. This is a good time for testing Push Notifications, data storage using Core Data, and making network calls to 3rd party APIs. To get going, you simply upload a beta build of your app, and use iTunes Connect to add the name and email of testers. <br /></span></p>\r\n<p id=\"Beta_Testing\" style=\" color:#232f3e; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cloud Testing.</span><span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">Testing your iOS app on real devices is critically important since the performance of the real device, different operating system versions, modifications made by manufacturer and carriers firmware may lead to unexpected issues with your app. Testing on real device gives you a more accurate understanding of how your users interact with your app. On the other hand, obtaining physical devices for testing is a logistical challenge. This is where cloud testing comes into play. With cloud testing, you can test your application on real devices that are accessible on the cloud. <br /></span></p>\r\n<p id=\"Beta_Testing\" style=\" color:#232f3e; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Deployment.</span> <span style=\"font-weight: normal; \">Once you have built, tested, and beta tested your iOS app, you can deploy to the App Store. At this point, you must join the Apple Developer Program. As a member, you’ll get access to beta iOS app development software, advanced app capabilities, extensive beta testing tools, and app analytics.</span></p>\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the advantages of iOS App Development?</span></h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">iOS is easy to use interface.</span> Apple’s iPhone becomes the dream of many smartphone users, providing high customer service and become a market leader for offering unmatched devices. You can attract your Apple users easily if an application will be created on a synchronized environment Apple’s platform. These special flexible User Interface of the features of the iOS app can make your business application more desirable and boost up their sales and earn maximum benefits.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">iOS has more security.</span> iOS platform offers its users stay safe from external threats which is the best part and advantage of this platform. While developing an app for the business, providing a powerful shield against malware, virus and other internet threats for app development of a business. iOS applications are secured applications, allows effortless transaction facilities app without spending more time on testing different devices.</li><li>For <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">business</span>, there are multiple options available in the highly popular iOS app making software market, this is because important to attract new customers to increase sales and chance to empower your business in the global market. The web is not a safe place for so thanks to a well-developed iPhone app Development Company can increase their availability and protect your customer’s information. With an iOS mobile app, always been an attractive device to the public with constant acknowledgment from App Store and business can flourish on a regular basis.</li><li>iOS users are usually <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">happy users,</span> an efficiently developed iOS app helps to promote your brand or your organization to enhance productivity with profitability services to reach your targeted audience. iOS application builds a strong relationship with customers and clients, and the great audience to deliver your product and solutions to achieve their goals. Better the application is, strong would be the relationship with the superior brand in consumer electronics.</li><li>iOS applications are <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">innovation </span>and the latest technology used globally and this can help your business to expand the most secure way. With best iOS app development software is accepted globally, you may transforming traditional business processes in a modern way and find customers from every part of the world.</li></ul>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is IDE?</h1>\r\nIDE is the acronym for Integrated Development Environment. This contains a set of tools, resources and programming essentials within itself. It helps software/web/ mobile app developers to create new programs. This is a comprehensive solution for creating software or mobile app independently. These resources make development, deployment and debugging processes very simple. Choosing an IDE for iPhone app development is dependent on the budget, kind of programming language you prefer, etc. There are so many functionalities in an IDE that gives you a lot of benefits for app development.\r\nThe IDE makes strategies and streamlines the development phase for your entire team. It has many tools for automation, programming, debugging, compiling and for interpretation. There are three general types of IDE available. They are cloud-based, software as a service (SaaS) type and installing on the server type. IDE for iOS application development software is preferred bycompanies to reduce development time and costs. It helps in accurate testing and easy coding. Integration is also possible with these IDEs. It is as simple as a word processing program used by developers to create robust mobile applications.<br /> ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_iOS_Software_Development.png","alias":"ios-software-development"},"597":{"id":597,"title":"Android Software Application","description":" Android software development is the process by which new applications are created for devices running the Android operating system. Google states that "Android apps can be written using Kotlin, Java, and C++ languages" using the Android software development kit (SDK), while using other languages is also possible. All non-JVM languages, such as Go, JavaScript, C, C++ or assembly, need the help of JVM language code, that may be supplied by tools, likely with restricted API support. Some languages/programming tools allow cross-platform app support, i.e. for both Android and iOS. Third party tools, development environments and language support have also continued to evolve and expand since the initial SDK was released in 2008. In addition, with major business entities like Walmart, Amazon, Bank of America etc. eyeing to engage and sell through mobiles, mobile application development is witnessing a transformation.\r\nAndroid was created by the Open Handset Alliance, which is led by Google. The early feedback on developing applications for the Android platform was mixed. Issues cited include bugs, lack of documentation, inadequate QA infrastructure, and no public issue-tracking system. In December 2007, MergeLab mobile startup founder Adam MacBeth stated, "Functionality is not there, is poorly documented or just doesn't work... It's clearly not ready for prime time." Despite this, Android-targeted applications began to appear the week after the platform was announced. The first publicly available application was the Snake game.\r\nA preview release of the Android SDK was released on November 12, 2007. On July 15, 2008, the Android Developer Challenge Team accidentally sent an email to all entrants in the Android Developer Challenge announcing that a new release of the SDK was available in a "private" download area. The email was intended for winners of the first round of the Android Developer Challenge. The revelation that Google was supplying new SDK releases to some developers and not others (and keeping this arrangement private) led to widely reported frustration within the Android developer community at the time.\r\nOn August 18, 2008, the Android 0.9 SDK beta was released. This release provided an updated and extended API, improved development tools and an updated design for the home screen. Detailed instructions for upgrading are available to those already working with an earlier release. On September 23, 2008, the Android 1.0 SDK (Release 1) was released. According to the release notes, it included "mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added." It also included several API changes from the 0.9 version. Multiple versions have been released since it was developed.\r\nOn December 5, 2008, Google announced the first Android Dev Phone, a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced developers. It was a modified version of HTC's Dream phone. While developers can use regular consumer devices to test and use their applications, some developers may choose a dedicated unlocked or no-contract device.\r\nAs of July 2013, more than one million applications have been developed for Android, with over 25 billion downloads. A June 2011 research indicated that over 67% of mobile developers used the platform, at the time of publication. Android smartphone shipments are forecast to exceed 1.2 billion units in 2018 with an 85% market share.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where does Android come from?</span>\r\nIt comes from Google, who actually acquired Android in 2005 (no, Google didn't invent it). The search giant performs regular updates along with an annual major update.\r\nThe operating system is based on the Linux kernel – if you have friends who work in IT, you may have heard of it. This is the GNU / Linux operating system based structure, which is a unix type system (portable operating system, multitasking and multi-user). The Linux kernel is one of the most prominent examples of free software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why does Android look different on each phone?</span>\r\nAndroid doesn't look different on every device, but it does have a number of different versions. Android is open-source, which means that manufacturers are free to customize the software and make it their own.\r\nThe 'purest' version of Android is often referred to as 'stock Android' and it's often preferred by the Android community: it's the original software as Google intended.\r\nOther user interfaces (UI) include Samsung's TouchWiz, Sony's Xperia, and Huawei's Emotion. See what they all look like in our Android UI comparison.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the advantages of Android?</span>\r\nChoice. For example, if you want iOS, you have a choice of iPhone, iPhone or iPhone. If you go for Android there are stacks of great devices to choose from, from cheap and cheerful handsets to really impressive flagships. Those flagships are often cheaper than the equivalent Apple devices, too.\r\nAndroid’s choice isn’t just about hardware. It’s about everything else too. Android is incredibly easy to customize, both in terms of how it looks and how it works, and the various app stores aren’t as tightly controlled as its rivals’ stores, like Apple.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s with the candy names?</span>\r\nEach new version of Android gets a code name based on consecutive letters of the alphabet. The most recent version is known as Marshmallow because it is the Android M release. Previous versions have included Lollipop, KitKat, Jelly Bean and Gingerbread.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s the best thing about Android?</span>\r\nOptions, many options. With Android, you have hundreds of gadgets at your disposal, the cheapest, the most expensive and innovative market. Android is also incredibly customizable, both in their roles, as in his appearance. You can really make a unique mobile experience for yourself with this OS.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s the worst thing about Android?</span>\r\nGetting updates. In many cases, manufacturers don’t seem to care about providing software updates for devices they’ve already sold you. Even when they do provide updates they take their sweet time about it. That’s why some consider rooting: you can download the updates yourself and apply them instead of waiting for the manufacturer to get around to it.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Android_Software_Application.png","alias":"android-software-application"},"598":{"id":598,"title":"Mobile Website Development","description":" Today, virtually no company can effectively conduct its business without having its own website. A site is not just the face of the company, which should be nice to look at, not an attribute of doing business, but an urgent need. If the company has its own website, then it:\r\n<ul><li>facilitates potential customers and partners access to information about themselves;</li><li>attracts the target audience from the Internet;</li><li>significantly increases market coverage;</li><li>increases brand awareness;</li><li>facilitates communication both with partners and with the target audience;</li><li>improves customer feedback;</li><li>increases customer loyalty.</li></ul>\r\nHowever, the main advantage of owning a website, of course, is that it helps to significantly increase sales, and, consequently, profit. In general, now having a website is almost a prerequisite for successful business development.\r\nComputers, smartphones, tablets, other mobile devices, and the Internet have penetrated all spheres of our lives. A variety of mobile devices are especially popular, and that is why it is no longer possible to limit oneself to a PC version of a site. The website version for the PC is bad for mobile devices, and this, as you might guess, negatively affects sales and profits. If the site is uncomfortable to use, then the potential client will not rack their brains, but simply use the services of competitors. The vast majority will not even try to find something on the site if it is not adapted for mobile devices.\r\nA separate mobile version of the site is a site specifically designed for mobile users. As a rule, a mobile version of a site is hosted on a dedicated subdomain.\r\nThe mobile version of the site, in most cases, is simply a greatly reduced version of the site for the PC. Only those functions that, according to the developers, maybe needed by those users who access the site with a smartphone or tablets, are left on the mobile site.\r\nThe mobile version of the site is good in that it does not depend on the main one, can be easily changed and edited, loads quickly is quite convenient for users, and also has the option of switching to the main version of the site.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s a mobile website?</span>\r\nMobile devices have transformed the way we live, putting the digital world at our fingertips 24 hours a day, wherever we are.\r\nThis means establishing your mobile presence is more important now than ever as you have the opportunity to put your business in the pockets of your consumers and create more meaningful interactions with your users. Almost 80% of people use smartphones to search the internet, so if your business is lacking a mobile website or app, you are missing out on a huge market opportunity.\r\nThere are two types of mobile development – responsive mobile sites and mobile applications. We build easy to use, intuitive and responsive mobile apps and websites, designed for optimization across all devices to keep you ahead of your competitors.\r\nA mobile website is a website with a responsive, fluid design, that is user-friendly on multiple devices and web browsers. A study conducted by Google and Galaxy in June 2015 found that 74% of Australians rely on their phones at least as much as they rely on desktops when searching for information, ideas or advice. This is when responsive design plays a huge role.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do I need a mobile website?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Mobile traffic has taken over</span></span>\r\nAs mobile traffic has taken over desktop traffic in 2015, more and more people only browse the internet on mobile phones. This means that businesses now need to adopt a mobile-first approach to their online strategies.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Search engines are pushing for better UX</span></span>\r\nMobile users tend to have poor experiences on desktop websites. This is something that search engines such as Google have understood, and are putting initiatives in place to improve mobile web experiences. For example, Google released its mobile-friendly update in 2015 and is switching its search index to mobile-first.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Competitive advantage</span></span>\r\nWebsite owners now need to provide compelling experiences to their mobile users. This is something that is now vital in order to reach business goals and lead users to conversion. As a result, the fast adoption of a mobile strategy is a competitive advantage.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Website_development.png","alias":"mobile-website-development"},"603":{"id":603,"title":"MacOS Development","description":" The key to great app development lies in having a solid foundation, ideally laid in having a good operating system, to begin with on which your app will stand on and initiate all its operations. For a long time, Windows was the dominating operating system of the nineties.\r\nWhy Should You Use Mac OS X in App Development? A reason for this system’s stagnation in progress is the brand’s fear in offending its corporate clients; therefore every tech change has to be introduced painfully slowly so as to be assimilated by its clients.\r\nApple, on the other hand, has slowly crept up and overtaken Windows and other operating systems primarily because they are not afraid of taking giant leaps. Their “it’s our way or the high way” approach to their operating system has enabled them to make significant improvements in their software, which other operating systems are almost incapable of attaining.\r\nMAC OS X software is essentially a two-layered system. Its impressive GUI sits on top of a UNIX core, and UNIX is notorious for its impressive security features. UNIX makes it’s nearly impossible to install a Trojan or a virus to the system unless the user gives it root access to the system by essentially typing in the admin password into the system.\r\nThe beauty of MAC OS X built-in firewall is that it operates out the box, while at the same time being highly flexible. While MAC users should ideally remain vigilant about foreign files and consequentially never allow them into the system by giving them an admin pass, they then do not need special software to block out these viruses.\r\nMAC OS interface is simple, you can pin as many apps as possible to dock at the bottom of your screen, plus they are always available to you. Besides this, you can run multiple desktops, make use of your iCloud chain to decipher your credit card information, share various files wirelessly through Airdrop, and still monitor the operating system via a set of in-built high-grade utility tools.\r\nThe system also has a rapid start-up resume time. All this is essentially made possible by MAC OS powerful stability. Even though systemic degradation is expected over time, as is the case with just about every operating system, the rate is significantly reduced on MAC products and freezing and crashing are not a common everyday occurrence as is the case with a few operating systems.\r\nMAC’s impressive reliability can be primarily attributed to the fact that the operating system was built from the ground up. Apple essentially controls the production of its software and hardware products from start to finish, and so every part of the system is designed and tested out to work cohesively together.\r\nThose who complain that Apple forces its consumers to use its proprietary software couldn’t be more misguided. MAC OS automatically recognizes and works well with other Apple products including iPads, iPhones, etc.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Mac OS X?</span>\r\nMac OS X is an operating system created by Apple for Mac computers (the first version was introduced in 2001), which replaced the then outdated Mac OS 9.\r\nThis is a POSIX-compatible system, that is, all Unix operations can be performed in it. Built on the basis of the XNU core with the Aqua graphical interface.\r\nStarting with version 10.8 it is called OS X.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the advantages of macOS?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Fewer virus attacks:</span>\r\nAs macOS is the second most used operating system and has fewer active users so it has fewer virus attacks also. The other reason for virus safety is its UNIX relationship which is more secure than Windows OS.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Good customer support:</span>\r\nMac users get a good response from their support team as compared to other operating systems. Apple has skilled engineers which help the user in fixing the issues in their hardware and software.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Similar GUI for all the products:</span>\r\nmacOS has the same graphical user interface (GUI) as found in other Apple products like iPhone and tablets. Users feel comfortable in using macOS if they shifted from other Apple products.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Performance and long life:</span>\r\nAs Apple makes both hardware and software so it’s hardware communication is very efficient and it improves performance. The operating system and hardware work great. Apple computer has a longer life than other computers. The battery timing of mac laptops is also longer.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Default apps:</span>\r\nIf you install Windows then it comes with pre-installed apps that slow down your computer e.g. Onedrive slows your computer. But this is not the case with macOS, it comes with powerful apps which don’t affect the performance of your system. Some of the pre-installed apps of macOS are iPhoto and iMovie.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Support NTFS and FAT:</span>\r\nmacOS support Windows file system formats including both NTFS and FAT.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Can run Windows:</span>\r\nYou can run the Windows operating system if you have macOS installed by using Bootcamp or parallels software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the disadvantages of macOS?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Expensive:</span>\r\nThe minimum cost of a Mac PC is higher than $1000. You can get a good Windows PC at $1000 with more hardware specifications.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Fewer games and software:</span>\r\nMost game developers prefer to make games for the Windows OS because they have more percentages of users. Mac users have fewer games available. Also, mac computers have low graphics capability to run high graphics games. There is some software that is available for Windows and not available for mac users e.g. adobe premiere pro etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">No hardware customization:</span>\r\nIf you buy any Mac computer/laptop then you cannot change its hardware parts like processor, graphics card, etc. For some mac computers, you can change hardware and RAM but it is not for all mac computers. It is also not possible to change other hardware accessories like internal computer parts, the only choice you have is to buy a new mac computer. On every major release of your operating system you have to change your computer else 50% of your operating system features not work.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Windows cannot read the macOS file system:</span>\r\nmacOS can read NTFS and FAT Windows format but Windows cannot read the macOS file system. You need to install 3rd party software in Windows to do so. Some other software like footnotes has compatibility issues while moving files from macOS to Windows.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">Less hardware used:</span>\r\nThe new version of macOS computer supports fewer USB ports and they also not shipped with CD/DVD writer.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MacOS_Development.png","alias":"macos-development"},"605":{"id":605,"title":"Java Development","description":" Java is a general-purpose programming language that is class-based, object-oriented, and designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is intended to let application developers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but it has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. As of 2019, Java was one of the most popular programming languages in use according to GitHub, particularly for client-server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers.\r\nJava was originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems (which has since been acquired by Oracle) and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The original and reference implementation Java compilers, virtual machines, and class libraries were originally released by Sun under proprietary licenses. As of May 2007, in compliance with the specifications of the Java Community Process, Sun had relicensed most of its Java technologies under the GNU General Public License. Meanwhile, others have developed alternative implementations of these Sun technologies, such as the GNU Compiler for Java (bytecode compiler), GNU Classpath (standard libraries), and IcedTea-Web (browser plugin for applets).\r\nThe latest versions are Java 13, released in September 2019, and Java 11, a currently supported long-term support (LTS) version, released on September 25, 2018; Oracle released for the legacy Java 8 LTS the last free public update in January 2019 for commercial use, while it will otherwise still support Java 8 with public updates for personal use up to at least December 2020. Oracle (and others) highly recommend uninstalling older versions of Java because of serious risks due to unresolved security issues. Since Java 9 (and 10 and 12) is no longer supported, Oracle advises its users to immediately transition to the latest version (currently Java 13) or an LTS release.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Java technology and what is its application?</span>\r\nJava is a programming language and computing platform that was first launched by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are many applications and websites that do not work when Java is not installed, and the number of such websites and applications is increasing every day. Java is fast, highly secure, and reliable. From laptops to data centers, from game consoles to supercomputers used for scientific research, from cell phones to the Internet - Java is everywhere!\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the performance of Java?</span>\r\nPrograms written in Java have a reputation for being slower and taking up more RAM than those written in C. Nevertheless, the speed of execution of programs written in Java has been significantly improved with the release of the so-called JIT compiler in 1997-1998. in version 1.1, in addition to other language features to support better code analysis (such as inner classes, StringBuffer class, simplified logic calculations, and so on). In addition, the Java virtual machine was optimized - since 2000, the HotSpot virtual machine has been used for this. As of February 2012, Java 7 code is approximately 1.8 times slower than C code.\r\nSome platforms offer hardware runtime support for Java. For example, microcontrollers that run Java code on hardware instead of software JVMs, as well as ARM-based processors that support Java bytecode through the Jazelle option.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the main features of Java?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Automatic memory management.</li><li>Advanced exception handling capabilities.</li><li>A rich set of I/O filtering tools.</li><li>A set of standard collections: array, list, stack, etc.</li><li>The presence of simple tools for creating network applications (including using the RMI protocol).</li><li>The presence of classes that allow you to perform HTTP requests and process responses.</li><li>Built-in language tools for creating multi-threaded applications, which were then ported to many languages (for example, Python).</li><li>Unified access to databases: at the level of individual SQL queries - based on JDBC, SQLJ; at the level of the concept of objects with the ability to store in the database - based on Java Data Objects (English) and Java Persistence API.</li><li>Generalization support (since version 1.5).</li><li>Support for lambdas, closures, built-in functional programming features.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Java_Development.png","alias":"java-development"},"607":{"id":607,"title":"C/C++ Development","description":" C++ is a general-purpose object-oriented programming (OOP) language, developed by Bjarne Stroustrup, and is an extension of the C language. It is therefore possible to code C++ in a "C style" or "object-oriented style." In certain scenarios, it can be coded in either way and is thus an effective example of a hybrid language.\r\nC++ is considered to be an intermediate-level language, as it encapsulates both high- and low-level language features. Initially, the language was called "C with classes" as it had all the properties of the C language with an additional concept of "classes." However, it was renamed C++ in 1983.\r\nC++ is one of the most popular languages primarily utilized with system/application software, drivers, client-server applications and embedded firmware.\r\nThe main highlight of C++ is a collection of predefined classes, which are data types that can be instantiated multiple times. The language also facilitates declaration of user-defined classes. Classes can further accommodate member functions to implement specific functionality. Multiple objects of a particular class can be defined to implement the functions within the class. Objects can be defined as instances created at run time. These classes can also be inherited by other new classes which take in the public and protected functionalities by default.\r\nC++ includes several operators such as comparison, arithmetic, bit manipulation and logical operators. One of the most attractive features of C++ is that it enables the overloading of certain operators such as addition.\r\nA few of the essential concepts within the C++ programming language include polymorphism, virtual and friend functions, templates, namespaces and pointers.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \"> Bjarne Stroustrup's FAQ</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">C is better than C++ for small projects, right?</span>\r\nNot in my opinion. I never saw a project for which C was better than C++ for any reason but the lack of a good C++ compiler.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Is C a subset of C++?</span>\r\nIn the strict mathematical sense, C isn't a subset of C++. There are programs that are valid C but not valid C++ and even a few ways of writing code that has a different meaning in C and C++. However, C++ supports every programming technique supported by C. Every C program can be written in essentially the same way in C++ with the same run-time and space efficiency. It is not uncommon to be able to convert tens of thousands of lines of ANSI C to C-style C++ in a few hours. Thus, C++ is as much a superset of ANSI C as ANSI C is a superset of K&R C and much as ISO C++ is a superset of C++ as it existed in 1985.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the difference between C and C++?</span>\r\nC++ is a direct descendant of C that retains almost all of C as a subset. C++ provides stronger type checking than C and directly supports a wider range of programming styles than C. C++ is "a better C" in the sense that it supports the styles of programming done using C with better type checking and more notational support (without loss of efficiency). In the same sense, ANSI C is a better C than K&R C. In addition, C++ supports data abstraction, object-oriented programming, and generic programming (see my books).\r\nI have never seen a program that could be expressed better in C than in C++ (and I don't think such a program could exist - every construct in C has an obvious C++ equivalent). However, there still exist a few environments where the support for C++ is so weak that there is an advantage to using C instead.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Do you really think that C and C++ could be merged into a single language?</span>\r\nI think that it would be a very good thing for the C/C++ community if they were. That is, if the C/C++ incompatibilities were systematically and completely eliminated and that future evolution was organized so as to prevent new incompatibilities from emerging. Whether that's possible is another matter.\r\nMy basic point is that the current C/C++ incompatibilities are "accidents of history" that have no fundamental reasons behind them (though they all "looked like a good idea at the time" to some competent and well-meaning people). The C/C++ incompatibilities provide no benefits to the community at large, cause serious problems to a large section of the C/C++ community, and could - with great difficulty - be eliminated.\r\nFor a far more detailed presentation of my views on C/C++ compatibility, see the series of papers I wrote about this:\r\n<ul><li>B. Stroustrup: C and C++: Case Studies in Compatibility. The C/C++ Users Journal. September 2002.</li><li>B. Stroustrup: C and C++: A Case for Compatibility. The C/C++ Users Journal. August 2002.</li><li>B. Stroustrup: C and C++: Siblings. The C/C++ Users Journal. July 2002.</li><li>B. Stroustrup: Sibling rivalry: C and C++. AT&T Labs - Research Technical Report. TD-54MQZY. January 2002. </li></ul>\r\nI imagine that if incompatibilities were eliminated (by making changes to both C and C++), there would still be entities called C and C++, but then C really would be defined as a subset of C++.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why did you make C++ (almost) compatible with C?</span>\r\nI wanted C++ to be compatible with a complete language with sufficient performance and flexibility for even the most demanding systems programming.\r\nAt the time, I considered C the best systems programming language available. That was not as obvious then (1979) as it later became, but I had experts such as Dennis Ritchie, Steve Johnson, Sandy Fraser, Greg Chesson, Doug McIlroy, and Brian Kernighan down the corridor from whom I could learn and get feedback. Without their help and advice, and without C, C++ would have been stillborn.\r\nContrary to repeated rumors, I was never told that I had to use C; nor was I ever told not to use C. In fact, the first C++ manual grew from troff source of the C manual that Dennis gave me. Many new languages were designed at Bell labs; in "Research" at least, there were no rules enforcing language bigotry.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What do you think of C/C++?</span>\r\nNo that's not really a question I often get. In that sense, it is the only "fake FAQ" in this FAQ. However, it ought to be a FAQ because people use "C/C++" as if it meant something specific and as if they knew what it meant, leading to much confusion and misery. People should ask "What is C/C++?" and then on reflection stop using the term. It does harm.\r\nThere is no language called "C/C++". The phrase is usually used by people who don't have a clue about programming (e.g. HR personnel and poor managers). Alternatively, it's used by people who simple do not know C++ (and often not C either). When used by programmers, it typically indicates a "C++ is C with a few useful and a lot of useless complicated features added" attitude. Often, that is the point of view of people who like to write their own strings and hash tables with little knowledge of the standard library beyond printf and memcpy. There are people who stick to a restricted subset of C++ for perfectly good reasons, but they (as far as I have noticed) are not the people who say "C/C++".\r\nI use C/C++ only in phrases such as "C/C++ compatibility" and "C/C++ community".\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When was C++ invented?</span>\r\nI started work on what became C++ in 1979. The initial version was called "C with Classes". The first version of C++ was used internally in AT&T in August 1983. The name "C++" was used late that year. The first commercial implementation was released October 1985 at the same time as the publication of the 1st edition of The C++ Programming Language. Templates and exception handling were included later in the 1980's and documented in The Annotated C++ Reference Manual and The C++ Programming Language (2rd Edition). The first ISO C++ standard was C++98 as described in The C++ Programming Language (3rd Edition).\r\nThe current definition of C++ The 2011 ISO C++ Standard described in The C++ Programming Language (4th Edition).\r\nYou can find a more complete timeline and more detailed explanations in The Design and Evolution of C++ and A History of C++: 1979-1991 and Evolving a language in and for the real world: C++ 19.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_C_C_Development.png","alias":"cc-development"},"609":{"id":609,"title":".Net Development","description":" .NET Framework is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large class library named Framework Class Library (FCL) and provides language interoperability (each language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages. Programs written for .NET Framework execute in a software environment (in contrast to a hardware environment) named Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. As such, computer code written using .NET Framework is called "managed code". FCL and CLR together constitute the .NET Framework.\r\nFCL provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. Programmers produce software by combining their source code with .NET Framework and other libraries. The framework is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. Microsoft also produces an integrated development environment largely for .NET software called Visual Studio.\r\n.NET Framework began as proprietary software, although the firm worked to standardize the software stack almost immediately, even before its first release. Despite the standardization efforts, developers, mainly those in the free and open-source software communities, expressed their unease with the selected terms and the prospects of any free and open-source implementation, especially regarding software patents. Since then, Microsoft has changed .NET development to more closely follow a contemporary model of a community-developed software project, including issuing an update to its patent promising to address the concerns.\r\n.NET Framework led to a family of .NET platforms targeting mobile computing, embedded devices, alternative operating systems, and web browser plug-ins. A reduced version of the framework, .NET Compact Framework, is available on Windows CE platforms, including Windows Mobile devices such as smartphones. .NET Micro Framework is targeted at very resource-constrained embedded devices. Silverlight was available as a web browser plugin. Mono is available for many operating systems and is customized into popular smartphone operating systems (Android and iOS) and game engines. .NET Core targets the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), and cross-platform and cloud computing workloads.","materialsDescription":"When Microsoft formally introduced its .NET strategy in mid-2000, analysts were confused about how the company would pull off such a massive platform shift. Over two years later, they're still wondering. But .NET isn't vaporware, and it's not a pipe dream. In fact, .NET is happening today.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is .NET?</span>\r\nActually, .NET is many things, but primarily it's a marketing term for a set of products and technologies that Microsoft is creating to move personal and enterprise computing beyond the PC desktop and into a distributed Internet-based environment. So .NET--which was originally called Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS)--is also a platform, one that Microsoft sees as the successor to Windows. The .NET platform is based on Web services which are, in turn, defined by a language called XML.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is XML?</span>\r\nXML--the eXtensible Markup Language--is a self-descriptive, data definition language. It's structure is similar to HTML, the language of the Web, but it's far more powerful because it's not limited to a static list of language constructs ("tags") that the language's authors supply. Instead, XML is extensible and dynamic: Programmers can define new types of data using XML and then describe that data so that others will know how to use it.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are Web services?</span>\r\nWeb services are functions exposed by server-side applications. They are programmable units that other applications (and Web services) can access over the Internet.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Does .NET require Windows?</span>\r\nTechnically, no, but realistically, yes. It's possible the .NET platform could be ported to other operating systems, such as Linux, FreeBSD, the Macintosh, or whatever, and indeed, some work is being done now in this area. However, .NET very much requires Windows today, on both the server and the client. One might say that .NET and Windows have a symbiotic relationship going forward.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Is .NET is being ported to Linux?</span>\r\nYes. A company called Ximian is porting the standards-based parts of .NET to Linux as you read this, and the work is amazingly far along. Code-named Mono, this project seeks to bring the C# programming language, the Common Language Runtime (CLR, see below), and other .NET features to Linux.\r\nOn a related note, Microsoft has contracted Corel (makers of CorelDRAW and Word Perfect) to port .NET to FreeBSD.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Isn't .NET just another name for COM, COM+, Windows DNA, or some other previous Windows technology?</span>\r\nActually, no. Microsoft spent considerable time and effort developing and promoting a set of Windows technologies that was at various times called OLE, COM, COM+, and Windows DNA (Distributed InterNet Architecture) but .NET is not the next iteration. Windows DNA, which was the final umbrella term for this set of technologies, was based around a concept where Windows-based software components could expose their services for other local and remote Windows software components. But though this sounds passingly similar to .NET, Windows DNA is very much based on proprietary Windows technologies. By comparison, .NET is based on open standards (XML and various related technologies), so it will be much easier for other vendors to adopt the platform and write compatible software. So we can eventually expect to see .NET clients and servers on platforms other than Windows.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">So what technologies are part of .NET?</span>\r\n.NET is comprised of several related technologies, including:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Framework</span></span> - A runtime environment and set of standard services which .NET capable applications and services can utilize. Implemented as a code library, the .NET Framework includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR), the .NET run-time environment; ASP .NET, a Web applications platform; and ADO .NET, for data store access.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Compact Framework</span></span> - A subset of the .NET Framework designed for Pocket PCs, Microsoft Smart Phones, and other Windows CE .NET-based mobile devices.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">MSN consumer services</span></span> - Microsoft will use its consumer-oriented MSN online service to expose Web services to individuals. The current version, MSN 8, includes the .NET Passport's authentication services, email, address book, calendaring and tasks, and other similar services.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Enterprise Servers</span></span> - An extensive set of Microsoft server software that runs on Windows servers, including Application Server, BizTalk Server, Exchange Server, Host Integration Server, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, SQL Server, and many others. Microsoft is currently shipping many such server products, but they are all based on Windows DNA currently, not .NET. Future server products--beginning with Windows .NET Server 2003, due in April 2003--will actually be based on .NET technologies for the first time.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Visual Studio .NET</span></span> - Microsoft's .NET development environment, with support for languages such as Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, Visual C# .NET, and Visual J#, which all target the .NET Framework. Other vendors can add other language capabilities to Visual Studio .NET, and the suite can be used to target a wide range of applications and services, including .NET Web services, Windows applications, and Web applications. Note that Visual Studio .NET is not required to create .NET applications and services: Developers can download the .NET Framework for free; this download includes compilers for Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET and Visual C# .NET.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">OK, so what's the point? How does this make my life better?</span>\r\nWith apologies to Microsoft for stealing the term, .NET enables a better PC ecosystem. That is, by making life easier for everyone involved with PCs, the benefits are cross-pollinated. Here's how .NET makes life easier on various groups:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Programmers</span></span> - Because developers now have a consistent, language-neutral programming environment, they can create better applications and services more quickly. And because .NET encompasses such a wider range of functionality, those applications and services can be connected to back-end services via the Internet, offering better, and more exciting functionality.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">IT administrators</span></span> - Because .NET applications and services do away with the "DLL Hell" found in previous Windows applications, they are amazingly easy to distribute and install.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">End users</span></span> - For the reasons listed above, and many others, a new generation of .NET applications and services will provide new types of connected functionality. Access your email from anywhere. Pay for products online without typing in your credit card information. Access weather, traffic, music, and other personal information from a variety of devices, from anywhere in the world. The future is all connected, and .NET will get us there.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Net_Development.png","alias":"net-development"},"611":{"id":611,"title":"ObjectiveC Development","description":"Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. It was the main programming language supported by Apple for the macOS, iOS and iPadOS operating systems, and their respective application programming interfaces (APIs) Cocoa and Cocoa Touch until the introduction of Swift in 2014.\r\nThe language was originally developed in the early 1980s. It was later selected as the main language used by NeXT for its NeXTSTEP operating system, from which macOS and iOS are derived. Portable Objective-C programs that do not use Apple libraries, or those using parts that may be ported or reimplemented for other systems, can also be compiled for any system supported by GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) or Clang.\r\nObjective-C source code 'implementation' program files usually have .m filename extensions, while Objective-C 'header/interface' files have .h extensions, the same as C header files. Objective-C++ files are denoted with a .mm file extension.\r\nObjective-C was invented in the early 1980s as a means to add Object-Oriented programming capabilities to C. The inventors, Brad Cox and Tom Love, thought that Smalltalk (an early OO language) could provide the tools needed for truly re-usable code and for creating development environments for systems developers.\r\nCox began by writing a pre-processor for C that allowed for the inclusion of Smalltalk-like code, which would then be rendered into compilable C. This turned into a fully-Object-Oriented C extension.\r\nObjective-C was eventually fully defined and described in the book Object-Oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach.\r\nNeXT licensed Objective-C in 1988 and developed several tools based on it. These tools eventually became (after several intermediate steps) the Cocoa development environment, which is used by several Apple systems: Mac OS X, iOS, Apple WatchOS.\r\nFor several years now, apps are written for one of these Apple operating systems needed to be written (or compiled to, or run on top of) Objective-C. That situation is changing now as Apple moves its platform to Swift.\r\nIn addition to Cocoa, Objective-C is also used in the GNUstep platform, which can run on Linux, Unix, BSD, and Windows environment, and which closely mirrors Cocoa.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Objective-C?</span>\r\nObjective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. This is the main programming language used by Apple for the OS X and iOS operating systems and their respective APIs, Cocoa and Cocoa Touch. This reference will take you through a simple and practical approach while learning Objective-C Programming language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is OOP?</span>\r\nOOP means Object Oriented Programming; it is a type of programming technique that helps to manage a set of objects in a system. With the help of various programming languages, this method helps to develop several computer programs and applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Objective-C program consists of?</span>\r\nThe objective-c program basically consists of:\r\n<ul><li>Preprocessor commands</li><li>Interface</li><li>Implementation</li><li>Method</li><li>Variables</li><li>Statements & Expressions</li><li>Comments</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_ObjectiveC_Development.png","alias":"objectivec-development"},"613":{"id":613,"title":"C# Development","description":" C#, (C-Sharp) is a programming language that combines object-oriented and aspect-oriented concepts. Developed in 1998–2001 by a group of engineers under the leadership of Anders Hejlsberg at Microsoft as the main language for developing applications for the Microsoft .NET platform. The compiler with C# is included in the standard installation of the .NET itself, so programs on it can be created and compiled even without tools like Visual Studio.\r\nC# refers to a family of languages with a C-like syntax, of which its syntax is closest to C++ and Java. The language has strict static typing, supports polymorphism, operator overloading, pointers to member functions of classes, attributes, events, properties, exceptions, comments in XML format. Having taken a lot from their predecessors - C++, Java, Delphi, Modula and Smalltalk - C#, based on the practice of using them, excludes some models that have proven to be problematic when developing software systems: thus, C # does not support multiple class inheritance (unlike C ++).\r\nC# was developed as an application level programming language for the CLR and, as such, depends primarily on the capabilities of the CLR itself. This concerns, first of all, the C # type system, which reflects FCL. The presence or absence of certain expressive features of the language is dictated by whether a particular language feature can be translated into the corresponding CLR constructs. So, with the development of the CLR from version 1.1 to 2.0, C # itself was significantly enriched; similar interaction should be expected in the future. (However, this pattern was broken with the release of C # 3.0, which are language extensions that do not rely on .NET platform extensions.) The CLR provides C #, like all other .NET-oriented languages, many of the features that the “classical” programming languages lack. For example, garbage collection is not implemented in C # itself, but the CLR is done for programs written in C # just like it is done for programs on VB.NET, J #, and others.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\"> Why is it necessary to study the C# programming language?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reason # 1. Language program C# develops.</span>\r\nNew programming languages appear annually. And the main demand is expanding and progressing. Since the C# programming language was created and accompanied by Microsoft, this technological “hippopotamus” periodically makes improvable with the addition of useful functions in C #, and you can be sure that it will perform many, many iterations ... Also, billions of lines of code are written all over the world not only under Microsoft, so the work is foreseen to everyone who wants to learn the C # programming language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reason # 2. Your bright future with C#.</span>\r\nThis item smoothly continues the previous one. According to the ratings of the domestic DOU, it is clear that the C# programming language in Ukraine is in 3rd place in 2018 among programming languages. And in the world charts on the 4th place by PYPL PopularitY of Programming Language is a rating using Google Trends.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reason # 3. The possibility of greater profits.</span>\r\nOf course, this statement should be evaluated relatively by comparison. Today they like to say: “A programmer’s working time is more expensive than additional memory or a more powerful computer processor. It is recommended to choose more modern tools that don’t over-brain a programmer.”\r\nOn the other hand, when they talk about C#, they always mean speed and large, valuable, serious projects, even Megaprojects. For example, in C#, the Linux kernel, Unix, libraries, environment, interpreters of many modern programming languages are written.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reason # 4. C# has a huge set of use cases.</span>\r\n<ul><li>The C # programming language is mainly used to create corporate software, financial projects, for example, for banks and stock exchanges, in particular, mobile applications, cloud services.</li><li>Compared to Java, C# interacts more easily with code written in other languages. And it is precisely in C# that extensions are often written for other programming languages used as a layer between the C # library and the language, the possibilities of which are planned to be extended for specific purposes.</li><li>A pretty popular blockchain in C#.</li><li>C# is widely used in developing games on Unity. Have you ever heard of Unity? Unity is a popular game engine. This means that hundreds of thousands of games, including the most popular, were created using C#.</li><li>C# is good for working with iron, the so-called embedded. Asking what is embedded technology? Embedded system - a specialized computer system or computing device designed to perform a limited number of functions, from Wikipedia: traffic lights, cash registers, vending machines, set-top boxes, test equipment, etc.</li><li>The popular C# programming language is equally good for IoT. Again, what is IoT? IoT (Internet of Things) is a concept of a comprehensive Internet, Internet connection of refrigerators, air conditioners, cars and even sneakers with the aim of providing its owner with greater comfort, and on the other hand increasing their retailers' profits, calculating the amount of what, how much and when availability in warehouses, obtaining certain information about a person and his habits, about the environment.</li><li>Science and its application, for example, conducting complex experimental calculations, cryptography, pattern recognition, and the like.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reason # 5. C# is strongly typed, so it is easier for them to master beginners</span>\r\nAs for the comparison of programming languages, it should be noted that the C# programming language is multi-level. This means that it is somewhat similar to English. The C# programming language has strong static typing, supports polymorphism, operator overloading, pointers to member functions of classes, attributes, events, properties, exceptions, comments in XML format. Having adopted a lot from their predecessors - C++, Delphi, Modula, Smalltalk - in C #, relying on the practice of using them, deliberately excluded some models that proved to be problematic when developing software systems in the above-mentioned programming languages.\r\nThe syntax is quite minimalistic - with manual memory management. This is inconvenient for many, but tracking the correctness of functions, understanding the transmission of arguments is closely related to the study of the C# programming language.\r\nSince the syntax of C# is close to C, C++ and Java, then, fluent in C #, you can later learn them in one breath.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_C_Development.png","alias":"c-development"},"617":{"id":617,"title":"Joomla Development","description":"Joomla is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) for publishing web content, developed by Open Source Matters, Inc. It is built on a model–view–controller web application framework that can be used independently of the CMS.\r\nJoomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming techniques (since version 1.5) and software design patterns, stores data in a MySQL, MS SQL (since version 2.5), or PostgreSQL (since version 3.0) database, and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, search, and support for language internationalization.\r\nOver 8,000 free and commercial extensions are available from the official Joomla Extensions Directory, and more are available from other sources. As of 2019, it was estimated to be the fourth most used content management system on the Internet, after WordPress and Drupal.\r\nJoomla has thousands of verified third party extensions which can be found on the Joomla Extensions Directory - extensions.joomla.org. There are also thousands of high end templates available, many of which are free. Paid templates are also available and come with support. Many templates provide a graphical user interface which allow you to change colors, fonts, layouts and features. Joomla has SEO tools built in. Includes Metadata and Keywords, Mod_rewrite support for SEF URLs and Menu creation for clear and consistent sitemaps.\r\n<ul><li>Multilingual: Offering over 75 languages.</li><li>Search Engine Optimization: Out of the box SEO & SEF.</li><li>Flexible: Make a blog, business website, intranet, community website… From the simplest to the most complex website.</li><li>Free: Joomla is free to use under GPL.</li><li>Extendable: Extensions are available to extend website functionality.</li><li>User Management: Access Control Lists allow management of the users of a website, and different groups.</li><li>Menu management: Create as many menus and menu items as you need.</li><li>Cache management: Caching for performance.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Joomla?</span>\r\nJoomla has been on the web since 2005 and has gained a massive number of users; over 50 million downloads according to www.joomla.org. It makes this CMS (content management system) the second most popular after WordPress.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the key features of Joomla?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Responsive.</span></span> Responsiveness is a “must have” for any up-to-date website. You, as well as almost every other Internet user today, expect the website to scale gracefully to any screen resolution and that is what Joomla is totally capable of doing.\r\nMobile devices, desktops, tablets - your website is not going to look “broken” on any of them.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Multilingual.</span></span> Do you operate in a non-English market? No problemo. Localizing the Joomla engine to your language is easier than it is with most of its competitors in the CMS world.\r\nThere are almost 70 language packs in Joomla which are just several clicks away from being installed and used.\r\nEven if a theme you use has some words that aren’t translatable with the language pack, you can translate the rest of them in a language override tool. This is great because in some other popular CMSs you’d need to go to your server and operate in the theme’s files directly.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Easy to update.</span></span> Joomla is one of the most frequently updated engines and that’s a good thing because the Joomla developer’s team brings us new features and new useful functions each time.\r\nWhat is even better, you can apply the update in two-three clicks from your admin panel. I can’t stress this point enough!\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Well Supported.</span></span> Joomla is an open-source platform, which enables anyone to contribute on a volunteer basis.\r\nThe downside to it is the fact that you can’t get on live chat or call someone from Joomla to get a free consultation for your site.\r\nLuckily, the Joomla team developed very detailed Joomla Documentation. If you’re more of a social type, you’ll enjoy Joomla User Forum.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What makes Joomla stand out?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Joomla Media Manager</span></span>\r\nJoomla Media Manager is a tool that allows you to operate your media files in your Joomla admin panel. Media Manager in Joomla is one of the most intuitive and easy to use among similar tools.\r\nUnlike other CMS systems, you can easily create new folders on your server and upload files there. It would require going to FTP or Cpanel in most other CMSs.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Joomla Contact Manager</span></span>\r\nJoomla is well prepared for being a corporate site that has numerous users with different roles and capabilities. Joomla contact manager enables you to create users in different departments and categories.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Joomla Content Management</span></span>\r\nEven though I’ve heard customers saying Joomla has a longer learning curve, compared to WordPress, it’s so worth it, because with Joomla comes greater flexibility and content combining possibilities.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Joomla Extensions (8000+)</span></span>\r\nJoomla has one of the most powerful extension databases among both CMS and eCommerce platforms.<br />You can find a plugin or module to do almost anything. What is remarkable regarding Joomla extensions - a lot of great plugins and modules are free, while most paid ones come with a free lite version and there is the possibility to upgrade to a premium version whenever you decide to do so.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Front-end Editing</span></span>\r\nI left it till the very end of the guide as it’s my favorite one. That’s what bugs me about WordPress and what cheers me up when working with Joomla - there is no need to go to the admin panel to edit some piece of content.\r\nIf you enabled front-end editing of your site, there will be a gear wheel next to any module and by clicking on it you’ll be able to make changes on the go. It’s a thrill in this bustling world in which we live.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Joomla_Development.png","alias":"joomla-development"},"619":{"id":619,"title":"Drupal Development","description":" Drupal is a content management software. It's used to make many of the websites and applications you use every day. Drupal has great standard features, like easy content authoring, reliable performance, and excellent security. But what sets it apart is its flexibility; modularity is one of its core principles. Its tools help you build the versatile, structured content that dynamic web experiences need.\r\nIt's also a great choice for creating integrated digital frameworks. You can extend it with anyone, or many, of thousands of add-ons. Modules expand Drupal's functionality. Themes let you customize your content's presentation. Distributions are packaged Drupal bundles you can use as starter-kits. Mix and match these components to enhance Drupal's core abilities. Or, integrate Drupal with external services and other applications in your infrastructure. No other content management software is this powerful and scalable.\r\nThe Drupal project is open source software. Anyone can download, use, work on, and share it with others. It's built on principles like collaboration, globalism, and innovation. It's distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). There are no licensing fees, ever. Drupal will always be free.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What can Drupal do? And why is it different from other CMS?</span>\r\nThere are many reasons why Drupal is the top three most used CMS, and why tons of small to big complex systems have made it their options. Here are those:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reliability.</span> Drupal is one of the top three most popular content management systems in the world. It has a longstanding history. Though Drupal is a work in progress, it has been stable along the way. We have Drupal 7 now while Drupal 8 is going to be released. But you can be assured that you will be supported for Drupal previous version at least 5 years. Meanwhile, the resources will stay there for goods.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Available resources.</span> Nearly anything you want to do with the system has been priorly created and done absolutely well by other people. Other great news is nearly all of the most useful modules (Drupal add-ons) are contributed to the Drupal community. This is invaluable because, in many CMS, you have to pay for important features. As a user, you have benefited greatly from someone’s efforts, and experience.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A huge dedicated community.</span> The Drupal community is large, dynamic and has functioned well since 2001. As a newbie or a senior developer, Drupal.org is a must-have resource where you dig in for learning material, upcoming news, or ask for support from contributors, and specialists.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Robust and convenience.</span> Be assured that the source code for building your Drupal sites has been precisely written, and designed by Drupal experts. When you have an intention to do more complex and advanced work, you will find it easy and convenient to modify the system. This grants users a great advantage over other CMS.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Flexibility.</span> It’s not a chance that Drupal is considered the most flexible CMS. We have always thought that if you have an idea about any functions, contents, you can certainly create it with Drupal. Seriously. You can create any content on site. You can customize anything to fit your taste. You can create any website type that you want.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Scalability.</span> By scalability, we mean that you can extend your Drupal core to a higher level with a variety of contributed Drupal modules. What’s great with the Drupal modules is that they integrate perfectly well with Drupal core. They also connect absolutely efficiently with the modules. This is regardless of the fact many modules are totally different. It is due to the natural structure & built-in system of Drupal. This thereby enhances the power of extending your Drupal website. It is also a core strength of Drupal compared with other CMS. Meanwhile, Drupal is an open source. So suppose the modules you want don’t exist, you can create one, edit an existing module, or hire someone to do the job.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Security.</span> Drupal has been meticulously tested up to strict security rules by Drupal experts and contributors. Its built-in security is strong. Drupal will lock down whatever directory installed, rendering important data, configuration files unable to be accessed directly. No wonder that many big sites with extreme security are using Drupal, namely - whitehouse.org, commerce.gov, weforum.org,...</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the uses of Drupal?</span>\r\nAs stated, due to its flexibility and extensibility, Drupal is not limited to any kind. Browse these lists to see the wide range of things that Drupal can build:\r\n<ul><li>Personal or corporate Web sites</li><li>Community portal sites</li><li>Intranet/Corporate sites</li><li>Blogs, art, portfolio, music, multimedia sites</li><li>Forums</li><li>International sites (websites with multi languages)</li><li>E-commerce sites</li><li>Resource directories</li><li>Social networking sites</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When Drupal isn't right?</span>\r\nIf it is necessary to know about a system before we set our foot on, it’s never been less important to explore its cons. Here we bring some of our caveats for the system:\r\n<ul><li>There’s a little learning curve. You will not learn and work with Drupal in a few days. Accept this fact. It’s harder to start compared with other CMS like Wordpress. But once you learn some basic things, it’s easy, and the flow is smoother.</li><li>It is not for those who have insufficient time to educate themselves about this system, or little money to pay a Drupal developer to carry out the work.</li><li>Finding a good Drupal developer is harder to find than that of Wordpress or other systems. It’s not hard to guess this considering the number of Wordpress developers compared with Drupal.</li></ul>\r\nIt always takes some investments to learn about something. For a new user, it would be a huge opportunity cost - what you will gain and lose working with one system and leave others behind.\r\nBut after all the choice is always yours.We expect it would be worth. The CMS you will spend thousands hours working. The system through this you make a living. The option that yields energy and satisfaction.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Drupal_Development__1_.png","alias":"drupal-development"},"621":{"id":621,"title":"WordPress","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_WordPress.png","alias":"wordpress"},"623":{"id":623,"title":"Magento Development","description":" Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP. It is one of the most popular open e-commerce systems in the network. This software is created using the Zend Framework. Magento source code is distributed under an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved by the Open Software License (OSL) v3.0, which is similar to the AGPL but not GPL compliant.\r\nThe software was originally developed by Varien, Inc, a US private company headquartered in Culver City, California, with assistance from volunteers.\r\nMore than 100,000 online stores have been created on this platform. The platform code has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, and $155 billion worth of goods have been sold through Magento-based systems in 2019. Two years ago, Magento accounted for about 30% of the total market share.\r\nVarien published the first general-availability release of the software on March 31, 2008. Roy Rubin, the former CEO of Varien, later sold a share of the company to eBay, which eventually completely acquired and then sold the company to Permira; Permira later sold it to Adobe.\r\nOn November 17, 2015, Magento 2.0 was released. Among the features changed in V2 are the following: reduced table locking issues, improved page caching, enterprise-grade scalability, inbuilt rich snippets for structured data, new file structure with easier customization, CSS Preprocessing using LESS & CSS URL resolver, improved performance and a more structured code base. Magento employs the MySQL or MariaDB relational database management system, the PHP programming language, and elements of the Zend Framework. It applies the conventions of object-oriented programming and model–view–controller architecture. Magento also uses the entity–attribute–value model to store data. On top of that, Magento 2 introduced the Model-View-ViewModel pattern to its front-end code using the JavaScript library Knockout.js.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Magento? What is the benefit of choosing an Open Source platform?</span>\r\nMagento is an open-source eCommerce platform that enables the online business owners to control their online store and add powerful and flexible tools for marketing, catalog management, and search engine optimization.\r\nThe open-source platform offers much more innovation, customization, quality, support and agility at a very low cost. It enables the users to share and access the platform, add rich features according to the needs, thereby making changes more effective and easier.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How can my Magento site be at par with the latest mobile trends and activities?</span>\r\nResponsive designs, device-specific applications have brought a great change in the business world over the past few years. Magento’s latest version includes a responsive template, and it offers great features that meet the needs of the mobile world both for the B2B and the B2C businesses.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What should be included in my eCommerce Magento strategy?</span>\r\nBefore you plan to start with your Magento project, it is very important to write down the business goals of your website. This will help you to measure success. Once you are done with this, you can plan for the remaining strategies that include target audience, personalization, content plan, mobile strategy, third party add-ons and support services that you would require to keep your site running and performing.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Magento_Development.png","alias":"magento-development"},"625":{"id":625,"title":"Typo3 Development","description":" TYPO3 is a free and open-source Web content management system written in PHP. It is released under the GNU General Public License. It can run on several web servers, such as Apache or IIS, on top of many operating systems, among them Linux, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS and OS/2.\r\nTYPO3 is, along with Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress, among the most popular content management systems worldwide, however it is more widespread in Europe than in other regions. The biggest market share can be found in German-speaking countries.\r\nTYPO3 is credited to be highly flexible, as code and content are operated separately. It can be extended by new functions without writing any program code. Also, the software is available in more than 50 languages and has a built-in localization system, therefore supports publishing content in multiple languages. Due to its features like editorial workplace and workflow, advanced frontend editing, scalability and maturity, TYPO3 is used to build and manage websites of different types and size ranges, from small sites for individuals or nonprofit organizations to multilingual enterprise solutions for large corporations. According to the ability to support a corporate environment, it classifies itself as an enterprise level content management system.\r\nTYPO3 was initially authored by the Dane Kasper Skårhøj in 1997. It is now developed by over 300 contributors under the lead of Benjamin Mack (Core team leader) and Mathias Schreiber (Product Owner).\r\nCalculations from the TYPO3 Association show that it is currently used in more than 500,000 installations. The number of installations detected by the public website "CMS Crawler" was around 384,000 by February 2017.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the official site of TYPO3?</span>\r\nhttps://typo3.org/ :: TYPO3 — the Professional, Flexible Content Management System. TYPO3 CMS is an Open Source Enterprise Content Management System with a large global community, backed by the approximately 900 members of the TYPO3 Association.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Where did the name TYPO3 come from?</span>\r\nTYPO3 creator Kasper Skårhøj remembers it something like this:\r\nBack in the late 1990s, while still working on the initial version of his new CMS, he was looking for a name for the new software. At the time, the name “freestyle” appealed to him, but it posed some problems through its over-association with certain activities, products and trademarks. So the issue of naming stayed on the back burner for want of a better idea.\r\nThen, one Friday evening while he was alone in the office after hours coding, Kasper inadvertently typed an error into the command line of his Linux server and accidentally deleted a whole week work. He recalls that feeling you get of a cold rush through the body, when you realize something dreadful has happened. Slowly he got up, walked to the other end of the room and sat down in the couch looking back across the office at the laptop on his desk.\r\nHe stayed like this for a while, just staring out into the room. Then, after the initial shock had subsided, he walked back, sat down, and began to recreate the lost code. This went surprisingly quickly; as such things do when you have them fully worked out in your head. And it was during this new rush of adrenaline and the satisfaction that all was not actually lost, that he began to put the incident into perspective. The recreated programming was going smoothly and cleanly, which made him wonder how ironic it would be if a typo ended up actually improving the product! It was this thought that first brought up the expression “typo” as a possible name. It seemed to fit especially well because\r\n<ul><li>“typo”, as in typography, had something to do with layout and content and</li><li>“typo”, as in a typing mistake, now had a quirky share in the product’s history.</li></ul>\r\nThe newborn child now had a name.\r\nOriginally there were Typo versions 1, 2 and 2.5. But with the success of version 3, which had branded itself more or less by default, a “3” was eventually appended to the product title itself. Since the launch of “TYPO3 version 4”, TYPO3 has remained as the product name for all future versions. So, TYPO3 it is called … and TYPO3 it will continue to be.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is TYPO3?</span>\r\nTYPO3 is a free and open-source Web content management system written in PHP. It is released under the GNU General Public License. It can run on several web servers, such as Apache or IIS, on top of many operating systems, among them Linux, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS and OS/2.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Why use TYPO3?</span>\r\nBecause TYPO3 is the CMS for you! TYPO3 is an Enterprise Content Management System. If you need to create, manage and output any kind of digital content, TYPO3 is the right tool for you. You can start small and grow fast, but while your business case might change - you'll never need to change the Content Management System since TYPO3 adapts to your needs.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the system requirements?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Operating System: Linux, Windows or Mac, or common cloud infrastructure setups</li><li>Webserver: Apache httpd, Nginx, Microsoft IIS, Caddy Server</li><li>PHP: PHP >= 7.2</li><li>Database: PostgreSQL //Microsoft SQL Server //MariaDB(>= 10.2) //MySQL(>= 5) //SQLite</li><li>Hardware: RAM >= 256 MB</li><li>Supported Browsers: Chrome (latest) //Firefox (latest) //Safari (latest) //Edge (latest) //Internet Explorer (>= 11)</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Typo3_Development.png","alias":"typo3-development"},"627":{"id":627,"title":"CSS Development","description":" Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language like HTML. CSS is a cornerstone technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and JavaScript.\r\nCSS is designed to enable the separation of presentation and content, including layout, colors, and fonts. This separation can improve content accessibility, provide more flexibility and control in the specification of presentation characteristics, enable multiple web pages to share formatting by specifying the relevant CSS in a separate .css file, and reduce complexity and repetition in the structural content.\r\nSeparation of formatting and content also makes it feasible to present the same markup page in different styles for different rendering methods, such as on-screen, in print, by voice (via speech-based browser or screen reader), and on Braille-based tactile devices. CSS also has rules for alternate formatting if the content is accessed on a mobile device.\r\nThe name cascading comes from the specified priority scheme to determine which style rule applies if more than one rule matches a particular element. This cascading priority scheme is predictable.\r\nThe CSS specifications are maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Internet media type (MIME type) text/css is registered for use with CSS by RFC 2318 (March 1998). The W3C operates a free CSS validation service for CSS documents.\r\nIn addition to HTML, other markup languages support the use of CSS including XHTML, plain XML, SVG, and XUL.\r\nBefore CSS, nearly all presentational attributes of HTML documents were contained within the HTML markup. All font colors, background styles, element alignments, borders and sizes had to be explicitly described, often repeatedly, within the HTML. CSS lets authors move much of that information to another file, the style sheet, resulting in considerably simpler HTML.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which is better: plain HTML or HTML with CSS?</span>\r\nMany site developers wonder why you need CSS if you can use plain HTML. Most likely, they only know the development of the site and have a number of gaps in knowledge. The bottom line is that HTML is used to structure the content of a page. And CSS allows you to format this content, make it more attractive to users.\r\nWhen the World Wide Web was created, the developers used only one language - HTML. It was used as a means of outputting structured text. The author had scant functional at his disposal. The maximum that could be done - to designate the title, select the paragraph. Tags were not enough.\r\nIn connection with the development of the Internet, the base of HTML language tags was expanded to allow the appearance of documents to be adjusted. At the same time, the structure remained unchanged.\r\nStructuring tags, for example <table>, began to spread. It was they who were more often chosen to design the pages instead of the structure itself. Some browsers offered their own tags, which only they could reproduce.\r\nThus, users often stumbled upon the message: "To view a page, you need to use browser XXX."\r\nTo correct the situation and create a single database of tags for formatting was created CSS. He allowed refusing to bind tags to browsers.\r\nUsing HTML with CSS is more convenient than using plain HTML. CSS provides the following benefits:\r\n<ul><li>Designed to the smallest detail.</li><li>Using a single table, you can manage various documents.</li><li>You can customize the page display options for different devices: computer screen, smartphone screen, etc.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Website Promotion with CSS</span>\r\nThe emergence and development of CSS have made the development of web resources more efficient and effective. Now it’s much easier and more convenient to control the design. Also, using CSS, we managed to reduce the code of the pages, their size. This had a positive impact on the download speed, the indexing also began to pass faster. The use of an adaptive approach allowed us to make a breakthrough in the field of mobile versions of Internet resources.\r\nTo improve the website promotion, experts recommend placing the CSS style sheets in a separate document so as not to increase the amount of code. You can create one or more such files.\r\nPreviously, search engines could not read style sheets, which made it possible to use them in black SEO, for example, to create invisible texts. Now it is better to abandon the use of CSS for other purposes.\r\nCSS has several advantages and allows you to improve the site, making it more attractive to visitors. However, it is important to correctly register all the elements.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_CSS_Development.png","alias":"css-development"},"629":{"id":629,"title":"PHP Development","description":"PHP is a general-purpose programming language originally designed for web development. It was originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994; the PHP reference implementation is now produced by The PHP Group. PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive initialism PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.\r\nPHP code may be executed with a command line interface (CLI), embedded into HTML code, or used in combination with various web template systems, web content management systems, and web frameworks. PHP code is usually processed by a PHP interpreter implemented as a module in a web server or as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) executable. The web server outputs the results of the interpreted and executed PHP code, which may be any type of data, such as generated HTML code or binary image data. PHP can be used for many programming tasks outside of the web context, such as standalone graphical applications and robotic drone control.\r\nThe standard PHP interpreter, powered by the Zend Engine, is free software released under the PHP License. PHP has been widely ported and can be deployed on most web servers on almost every operating system and platform, free of charge.\r\nThe PHP language evolved without a written formal specification or standard until 2014, with the original implementation acting as the de facto standard which other implementations aimed to follow. Since 2014, work has gone on to create a formal PHP specification.\r\nAs of September 2019, over 60% of sites on the web using PHP are still on discontinued/"EOLed" version 5.6 or older; versions prior to 7.2 are no longer officially supported by The PHP Development Team, but security support is provided by third parties, such as Debian.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is PHP?</span>\r\nPHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. It is an open-source server-side scripting language that is widely used for web development. It supports many databases like MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, generic ODBC, etc.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is PEAR in PHP?</span>\r\nPEAR is a framework and repository for reusable PHP components. PEAR stands for PHP Extension and Application Repository. It contains all types of PHP code snippets and libraries. It also provides a command-line interface to install "packages" automatically.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Who is known as the father of PHP?</span>\r\nRasmus Lerdorf.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What was the old name of PHP?</span>\r\nThe old name of PHP was Personal Home Page.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Explain the difference b/w static and dynamic websites?</span>\r\nIn static websites, content can't be changed after running the script. You can't change anything on the site. It is predefined.\r\nIn dynamic websites, the content of a script can be changed at the run time. Its content is regenerated every time a user visits or reload. Google, yahoo and every search engine is an example of a dynamic website.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the name of the scripting engine in PHP?</span>\r\nThe scripting engine that powers PHP is called Zend Engine 2.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_PHP_Development.png","alias":"php-development"},"631":{"id":631,"title":"CakePHP Development","description":" CakePHP is an open-source web framework. It follows the model–view–controller (MVC) approach and is written in PHP, modeled after the concepts of Ruby on Rails, and distributed under the MIT License.\r\nCakePHP uses well-known software engineering concepts and software design patterns, such as convention over configuration, model–view–controller, active record, association data mapping, and front controller.\r\nCakePHP started in April 2005, when a Polish programmer Michal Tatarynowicz wrote a minimal version of a rapid application development in PHP, dubbing it Cake. He published the framework under the MIT license, and opened it up to the online community of developers. In December 2005, L. Masters and G. J. Woodworth founded the Cake Software Foundation to promote development related to CakePHP. Version 1.0 was released on May 2006.\r\nOne of the project's inspirations was Ruby on Rails, using many of its concepts. The community has since grown and spawned several sub-projects.\r\nIn October 2009, project manager Woodworth and developer N. Abele resigned from the project to focus on their own projects, including the Lithium web framework (previously part of the CakePHP project). The remaining development team continued to focus on the original roadmap that was previously defined.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is CakePHP? Why it’s Useful?</span>\r\nCakePHP is a free, open-source, rapid development framework for PHP. It’s a fundamental framework for developers to produce web applications.\r\nCakePHP has an active developer team and also the community, bringing terrific worth to the job. Along with maintaining you from wheel-reinventing, utilizing CakePHP suggests your application’s core is well examined as well as is being continuously boosted.\r\nBelow’s a quick listing of functions you’ll delight in when using CakePHP:\r\n<ul><li>Active, friendly community</li><li>Flexible licensing</li><li>Suitable with variations 4 and also 5 of PHP</li><li>Integrated CRUD for database Interaction</li><li>Application scaffolding</li><li>Code generation</li><li>MVC architecture</li><li>Request dispatcher with clean, customized URLs as well as routes</li><li>Integrated validation</li><li>Fast and also adaptable template (PHP phrase framework, with helpers)</li><li>Look for Helpers for AJAX, JavaScript, HTML Forms as well as a lot more</li><li>Email, Cookie, Security, Session, and also Request Handling Components</li><li>Flexible ACL</li><li>Data Sanitization</li><li>Flexible Caching</li><li>Localization</li><li>Works from any kind of web site directory site, with little to no Apache setup involved</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_CakePHP_Development.png","alias":"cakephp-development"},"633":{"id":633,"title":"Ruby on Rails Development","description":" Ruby on Rails, or Rails, is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Rails is a model–view–controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages. It encourages and facilitates the use of web standards such as JSON or XML for data transfer, HTML, CSS and JavaScript for user interfacing. In addition to MVC, Rails emphasizes the use of other well-known software engineering patterns and paradigms, including convention over configuration (CoC), don't repeat yourself (DRY), and the active record pattern.\r\nRuby on Rails' emergence in the 2000s greatly influenced web app development, through innovative features such as seamless database table creations, migrations, and scaffolding of views to enable rapid application development. Ruby on Rails' influence on other web frameworks remains apparent today, with many frameworks in other languages borrowing its ideas, including Django in Python, Catalyst in Perl, Laravel and CakePHP in PHP, Phoenix in Elixir, Play in Scala, and Sails.js in Node.js.\r\nRuby on Rails is intended to emphasize Convention over Configuration (CoC), and the Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle.\r\n"Convention over Configuration" means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. For example, if there is a class Sale in the model, the corresponding table in the database is called sales by default. It is only if one deviates from this convention, such as calling the table "products sold", that the developer needs to write code regarding these names. Generally, Ruby on Rails conventions lead to less code and less repetition.\r\n"Don't repeat yourself" means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. For example, using the ActiveRecord module of Rails, the developer does not need to specify database column names in class definitions. Instead, Ruby on Rails can retrieve this information from the database based on the class name.\r\n"Fat models, skinny controllers" means that most of the application logic should be placed within the model while leaving the controller as light as possible.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Ruby on Rails?</span>\r\nRails is a development tool that gives web developers a framework, providing structure for all the code they write. The Rails framework helps developers to build websites and applications because it abstracts and simplifies common repetitive tasks.\r\nRails are written in Ruby, the programming language which is also used alongside Rails. Ruby is to Rails as PHP is to Symfony and Zend, or as Python is to Django. The appeal of Ruby to developers lies in the elegance and terseness of the language.\r\nOne of the key principles of Ruby on Rails development (henceforth ‘Rails’) is convention over configuration. This means that the programmer does not have to spend a lot of time configuring files in order to get set up, Rails comes with a set of conventions which help speed up development.\r\nAnother characteristic of Rails is the emphasis on RESTful application design. REST (Representational State Transfer) is a style of software architecture based around the client-server relationship. It encourages a logical structure within applications, which means they can easily be exposed as an API (Application Programming Interface).\r\nFrom a project management point of view, the Ruby on Rails community advocate Agile web development – an iterative development method, that encourages collaborative and flexible approach, which is particularly well-suited for web application development with fast-changing requirements.\r\nOver the last few years Ruby on Rails has gained a large and enthusiastic following, but let’s consider the main arguments for and against Rails.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it necessary to use Ruby on Rails?</span>\r\n<ul><li>The process of programming is much faster than with other frameworks and languages, partly because of the object-oriented nature of Ruby and the vast collection of open source code available within the Rails community.</li><li>The Rails conventions also make it easy for developers to move between different Rails projects, as each project will tend to follow the same structure and coding practices.</li><li>Rails are good for rapid application development (RAD), as the framework makes it easy to accommodate changes.</li><li>Ruby code is very readable and mostly self-documenting. This increases productivity, as there is less need to write out separate documentation, making it easier for other developers to pick up existing projects.</li><li>Rails have developed a strong focus on testing and have good testing frameworks.</li><li>Rails and most of its libraries are open sources, so unlike other commercial development frameworks, there are no licensing costs involved.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Potential Rails problems and limitations and how to overcome them:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Not all website hosts can support Rails</li><li>Java and PHP are more widely used, and there are more developers in these languages</li><li>Performance and Scalability</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Ruby_on_Rails_Development.png","alias":"ruby-on-rails-development"},"635":{"id":635,"title":"Python Development","description":" Python is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language. Created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991, Python's design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its notable use of significant whitespace. Its language constructs and object-oriented approach aim to help programmers write clear, logical code for small and large-scale projects.\r\nPython is dynamically typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming. Python is often described as a "batteries included" language due to its comprehensive standard library.\r\nPython was conceived in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC language. Python 2.0, released in 2000, introduced features like list comprehensions and a garbage collection system capable of collecting reference cycles. Python 3.0, released in 2008, was a major revision of the language that is not completely backward-compatible, and much Python 2 code does not run unmodified on Python 3.\r\nThe Python 2 language, i.e. Python 2.7.x, was officially discontinued on 1 January 2020 (first planned for 2015) after which security patches and other improvements will not be released for it. With Python 2's end-of-life, only Python 3.5.x and later are supported.\r\nPython interpreters are available for many operating systems. A global community of programmers develops and maintains CPython, an open source reference implementation. A non-profit organization, the Python Software Foundation, manages and directs resources for Python and CPython development.\r\nPython is a multi-paradigm programming language. Object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many of its features support functional programming and aspect-oriented programming (including by metaprogramming and metaobjects (magic methods)). Many other paradigms are supported via extensions, including design by contract and logic programming.\r\nPython uses dynamic typing and a combination of reference counting and a cycle-detecting garbage collector for memory management. It also features dynamic name resolution (late binding), which binds method and variable names during program execution.\r\nPython's design offers some support for functional programming in the Lisp tradition. It has filter, map, and reduce functions; list comprehensions, dictionaries, sets, and generator expressions. The standard library has two modules (itertools and functools) that implement functional tools borrowed from Haskell and Standard ML.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Python?</span>\r\nPython is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It incorporates modules, exceptions, dynamic typing, very high level dynamic data types, and classes. Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various window systems, and is extensible in C or C++. It is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface. Finally, Python is portable: it runs on many Unix variants, on the Mac, and on Windows 2000 and later.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the Python Software Foundation?</span>\r\nThe Python Software Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that holds the copyright on Python versions 2.1 and newer. The PSF’s mission is to advance open source technology related to the Python programming language and to publicize the use of Python. The PSF’s home page is at <link https://www.python.org/psf/.>https://www.python.org/psf/.</link>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Are there copyright restrictions on the use of Python?</span>\r\nYou can do anything you want with the source, as long as you leave the copyrights in and display those copyrights in any documentation about Python that you produce. If you honor the copyright rules, it’s OK to use Python for commercial use, to sell copies of Python in source or binary form (modified or unmodified), or to sell products that incorporate Python in some form. We would still like to know about all commercial use of Python, of course.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Python good for?</span>\r\nPython is a high-level general-purpose programming language that can be applied to many different classes of problems.\r\nThe language comes with a large standard library that covers areas such as string processing (regular expressions, Unicode, calculating differences between files), Internet protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, XML-RPC, POP, IMAP, CGI programming), software engineering (unit testing, logging, profiling, parsing Python code), and operating system interfaces (system calls, filesystems, TCP/IP sockets). Look at the table of contents for The Python Standard Library to get an idea of what’s available. A wide variety of third-party extensions are also available. Consult the Python Package Index to find packages of interest to you.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Python_Development.png","alias":"python-development"},"637":{"id":637,"title":"eCommerce development","description":" Electronic commerce is an online transaction of buying and selling products through World Wide Web-based websites and mobile applications. The examples of eCommerce business include supply chain, funds transfer, banking and electronic data interchange (EDI) and others. The electronic transactions are carried out through many eCommerce software platforms and eCommerce applications that are integrated with online websites with the help of eCommerce developers. The eCommerce applications are linked with the payment gateways for a smooth transfer of credit from one entity to another one.\r\nAn eCommerce developer is a very important role in eCommerce app development and web services to realize the power of online sales and marketing in all domains of businesses. The eCommerce developers are normally the web developers with additional exposure to the eCommerce tools and platforms commonly used in online businesses. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby on Rail and related technologies are the fundamental components of eCommerce developer skills. In addition to those skills, the knowledge of eCommerce software platforms and API integration is very important for a good eCommerce developer resume.\r\nA good eCommerce website should be highly professional looking with great features and intuitive interface for the checkout process. This is only possible with the help of professional eCommerce developers. You need to evaluate a lot of things before you decide to hire eCommerce developers such as the backend technologies of your website, type of eCommerce, a domain of business, type of database and many others. Once you have decided about all these things, you need to match the eCommerce web developer resume, which is under consideration, with those factors to find a good eCommerce developer.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it important for business owners to create an eСommerce site?</span>\r\nToday, people have very less time to purchase items, by going to physical stores. They prefer to browse their mobile devices or PC and shop online. Having an e-commerce site for your business will help you to capture this market base and keep your customers informed about all your latest products and services.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How can I choose the best platform for my eСommerce business website?</span>\r\nBefore getting started with your eСommerce web development, consider the few fundamentals that can help to choose the best platform. Always consider the items that you are selling. Some eСommerce platforms can handle inventory tracking and multiple product options while some others will not. Consider the design options, payment gateways, the security of the site, integration with other tools, features and pricing before finalizing on the platform.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How should I promote my eСommerce site?</span>\r\nThere are various ways to do this and the first thing to do is to promote the site to all the customers. This will help to increase your customer base. Your website address should be present in every advertisement that your company invests in. Register with the search engines and optimize your website as this will affect the traffic of your site.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the important things that can turn browsers into buyers?</span>\r\nCreate your site so that it is much more oriented towards sales rather than marketing. Let your visitors see your products immediately instead of hiding them behind lots of marketing copy. Make a page that reads the terms and conditions as it will offer a professional look. Provide your contact details and explain your return policies, security, encryption methods, and payment options.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How to create an impressive website?</span>\r\nThe beauty of a site lies in the way it operates and how user-friendly it is. Ensure that your site is fast, easy to use, professional and attractive. Also, make sure that you are able to fulfill the orders very promptly without any delay. In case you are unable to offer the service, make sure that your customer is informed about it via email.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the security risks that are involved with eСommerce sites?</span>\r\neCommerce website owners should always keep in mind the three dimensions of security - confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Business owners should develop a good strategy that can help to make the site and transactions secured. To avoid any hackers gain access to important confidential data, include encryption methods for any data transactions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Is there any limit on the size of my product or customer database?</span>\r\nNo, as such there are no limits on the size. The biggest benefit of having an online store is that you can add unlimited products and catalogs and at the same time you can grow your customer base as you require.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_eCommerce_development.png","alias":"ecommerce-development"},"639":{"id":639,"title":"HTML Development","description":" Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScript.\r\nWeb browsers receive HTML documents from a web server or from local storage and render the documents into multimedia web pages. HTML describes the structure of a web page semantically and originally included cues for the appearance of the document.\r\nHTML elements are the building blocks of HTML pages. With HTML constructs, images and other objects such as interactive forms may be embedded into the rendered page. HTML provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural semantics for text such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, quotes and other items. HTML elements are delineated by tags, written using angle brackets. Tags such as <img /> and <input /> directly introduce content into the page. Other tags such as <p> surround and provide information about document text and may include other tags as sub-elements. Browsers do not display the HTML tags, but use them to interpret the content of the page.\r\nHTML can embed programs written in a scripting language such as JavaScript, which affects the behavior and content of web pages. Inclusion of CSS defines the look and layout of content. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), former maintainer of the HTML and current maintainer of the CSS standards, has encouraged the use of CSS over explicit presentational HTML since 1997.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is HTML5?</span>\r\nHTML5 contains powerful capabilities for Web-based applications with more powerful interaction, video support, graphics, more styling effects, and a full set of APIs. HTML5 adapts to any device, whether desktop, mobile, tablet, or television. HTML5 is an open platform developed under royalty-free licensing terms.\r\nPeople use the term HTML5 in two ways:\r\n<ul><li>to refer to a set of technologies that together form the future Open Web Platform. These technologies include HTML5 specification, CSS3, SVG, MathML, Geolocation, XmlHttpRequest, Context 2D, Web Fonts (WOFF) and others. The boundary of this set of technologies is informal and changes over time;</li><li>to refer to the HTML5 specification, which is, of course, also part of the Open Web Platform.</li></ul>\r\nAlthough it would be great if people used one term to refer to the specification and another term to refer to a set of specifications, in practice people use the term both ways.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">HTML5 has been cited by many thought leaders as the future of the Web. Why is HTML5 generating this excitement?</span>\r\nThere is huge demand for open standards that allow the creation of rich internet applications. Watching videos, finding the nearest restaurant, accessing emails while being offline are just some of the powerful new capabilities enabled by the set of specifications in development at W3C.\r\nOne aspect that interests W3C, in particular, is enabling people to combine different technologies. W3C works to ensure not just interoperable support in the software of a single specification, but compatibility among specifications.\r\nEven though HTML5 is still a draft, browser vendors are deploying features and generating a lot of excitement in the IT industry. This experience, in turn, allows W3C to revise its drafts. In this way, the final standard can transparently inform implementers where they need to pay close attention to security and privacy issues.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">When can I use HTML5?</span>\r\nPeople can already use parts of the platform that interoperate, but W3C's mission is global interoperable, to ensure that the web is available to all. Not all elements are fully implemented yet and some of them provide builtin fallback mechanisms, such as <video> or <input>. One can use HTML5 today, knowing the existing limitations and ensuring proper fallbacks.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which Web Browsers support HTML5?</span>\r\nW3C encourages implementation and testing long before a specification becomes a standard to ensure that two people can read a specification independently and write interoperable software. Early adopters provide implementers and W3C with tremendously valuable feedback because they help identify where interoperability issues exist.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do you think that the benefits of HTML5, such as its neutrality, rich graphics, no need plug-ins, outweigh the security risk it carries?</span>\r\nNow entering its third decade, the Web has evolved from a Web of documents into a formidable platform for networked applications that let us share information and services over the Internet. In this highly connected environment, it is important that powerful Web applications be designed with sensitivity to user privacy and security needs. The risks associated with modern Web applications are familiar to the HTML5 community.\r\nHTML5 and related specifications are being developed in W3C's open standards process. This process allows an expert review of features along with their security and privacy implications. Rich functionality that was previously available only through proprietary plugins is now documented in an open specification for all experts to review and improve. We're pleased to see the HTML5 specifications subject to rigorous public review since that helps make the Web a more secure environment.\r\nSome security issues are not confined to HTML5. W3C and IETF are working closely to specify technologies and protocol extensions to mitigate some issues (such as cross-site request forgery and cross-site scripting).\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Will there be an HTML6?</span>\r\nNo work is currently happening on HTML6 but feature requests that are not planned to be addressed in HTML5 are available at listed under HTML.next.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_HTML_Development.png","alias":"html-development"},"641":{"id":641,"title":"XML Development","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_XML_Development.png","alias":"xml-development"},"643":{"id":643,"title":"AJAX Development","description":" Ajax (also AJAX; short for asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a set of web development techniques using many web technologies on the client side to create asynchronous web applications. With Ajax, web applications can send and retrieve data from a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. By decoupling the data interchange layer from the presentation layer, Ajax allows web pages and, by extension, web applications, to change content dynamically without the need to reload the entire page. In practice, modern implementations commonly utilize JSON instead of XML.\r\nAjax is not a single technology, but rather a group of technologies. HTML and CSS can be used in combination to mark up and style information. The webpage can then be modified by JavaScript to dynamically display—and allow the user to interact with—the new information. The built-in XMLHttpRequest object within JavaScript is commonly used to execute Ajax on webpages allowing websites to load content onto the screen without refreshing the page. Ajax is not a new technology, or different language, just existing technologies used in new ways.\r\nThe term Ajax has come to represent a broad group of Web technologies that can be used to implement a Web application that communicates with a server in the background, without interfering with the current state of the page. In the article that coined the term Ajax, Jesse James Garrett explained that the following technologies are incorporated:\r\n<ul><li>HTML (or XHTML) and CSS for presentation</li><li>The Document Object Model (DOM) for dynamic display of and interaction with data</li><li>JSON or XML for the interchange of data, and XSLT for its manipulation</li><li>The XMLHttpRequest object for asynchronous communication</li><li>JavaScript to bring these technologies together</li></ul>\r\nSince then, however, there have been a number of developments in the technologies used in an Ajax application, and in the definition of the term Ajax itself. XML is no longer required for data interchange and, therefore, XSLT is no longer required for the manipulation of data. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is often used as an alternative format for data interchange, although other formats such as preformatted HTML or plain text can also be used. A variety of popular JavaScript libraries, including JQuery, include abstractions to assist in executing Ajax requests.\r\nAsynchronous HTML and HTTP (AHAH) involves using XMLHTTPRequest to retrieve (X)HTML fragments, which are then inserted directly into the Web page.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is AJAX?</span>\r\nAJAX is an acronym that stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, and it describes a set of development techniques used for building websites and web applications. According to web developer and Skillcrush WordPress instructor Ann Cascarano, the best way to understand AJAX is to start with identifying its specific purpose in the web development process. AJAX’s core function is to update web content asynchronously (the “A” of AJAX), meaning a user’s web browser doesn’t need to reload an entire web page when only a small portion of content on the page needs to change.\r\nOne of the most ubiquitous examples of asynchronous updating is Google’s “Google Suggest” feature. When you enter a search query into Google’s search bar and the Google website automatically begins offering auto-complete options while you type, that’s AJAX in action. The content on the page changes (in this case, the auto-complete options in the search bar) without having to manually refresh the page (something that would make Google Suggest impractical to use). Features like Google Suggest are a fundamental part of contemporary web browsing, which points to how essential AJAX is in web development. In addition to Google Suggest, Cascarano says that AJAX is commonly used to update features like status and notification bars, online forms, comments sections, and surveys and polls. But what exactly are the “J” and “X” of AJAX and how do they make asynchronous updating possible?\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">JavaScript and XML</span>\r\nAs mentioned above, the “J” in AJAX stands for JavaScript. JavaScript is a type of scripting language—coding languages used to automate website processes so web developers don’t have to individually program each instance of the process that appears on a page. In JavaScript’s case, it’s used specifically to create, add, and manage dynamic website content. In other words, after markup languages like HTML and CSS are used to build and display static web features (headers, fonts, paragraphs, etc.), JavaScript is then used to control features that require real time updates while a visitor is viewing a page (think interactive maps, animated graphics, scrolling video, jukeboxes, etc). Since JavaScript is in the business of updating page content without requiring viewers to manually reload entire pages, it’s a critical component for AJAX’s asynchronous updating.\r\nThe “X” in AJAX is XML (Extensible Markup Language). As its name suggests, XML is a markup language, which means it’s in the same family as languages like HTML and CSS. Markup languages are coding languages used to annotate parts of a web document that are intended to give web browsers instructions about how to understand, process, and display a web page, versus the actual text intended to be displayed on the page. While HTML and CSS focus on instructing how page content is displayed (paragraphs, headers, fonts, colors, etc.), XML is used to transfer data stored on the page to the browsers that view it. Individual computer systems are often incompatible with one another and can’t understand or interact with data formatted by a different system. XML allows developers to bypass this obstacle by storing data in plain text format between XML tags. By doing this, XML offers a way of storing, moving, and sharing data that isn’t dependent on a particular software or hardware system (something that’s crucial for the internet, where data needs to be available and understandable across all software and hardware platforms). RSS feeds—subscription web feeds that allow users to access content from blogs and news sources as they are updated in real time—are built with XML and are an example of the language’s practical data-sharing capabilities. But how does XML combine with JavaScript to form AJAX?\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does AJAX Work?</span>\r\nAccording to Cascarano, JavaScript and XML combine to make asynchronous updating happen through the use of something called an XMLHttpRequest object. When a user visits a web page designed to make use of AJAX and a prescribed event occurs (the user loads the page, clicks a button, fills out a form, etc.) JavaScript creates an XMLHttpRequest object, which then transfers data in an XML format between a web browser (the program being used to view the website) and a web server (the software or hardware where a website’s data is stored). The XMLHttpRequest object sends a request for updated page data to the web server, the server process the request, a response is created server-side and sent back to the browser, which then uses JavaScript to process the response and display it on the screen as updated content.\r\nTo recap: JavaScript automates the updating process, the request for updated content is formatted in XML to make it universally understandable, and JavaScript again kicks in to refresh the relevant content for the user viewing the page. Cascarano notes that the AJAX technique ignores extraneous page data and only handles requests for updated information and the updated information itself. This is really the heart of AJAX’s effectiveness, making websites and applications that use AJAX faster and more responsive for users.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_AJAX_Development.png","alias":"ajax-development"},"645":{"id":645,"title":"JavaScript development","description":" JavaScript, often abbreviated as JS, is a high-level, just-in-time compiled, object-oriented programming language that conforms to the ECMAScript specification. JavaScript has curly-bracket syntax, dynamic typing, prototype-based object-orientation, and first-class functions.\r\nAlongside HTML and CSS, JavaScript is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web. JavaScript enables interactive web pages and is an essential part of web applications. The vast majority of websites use it, and major web browsers have a dedicated JavaScript engine to execute it.\r\nAs a multi-paradigm language, JavaScript supports event-driven, functional, and imperative (including object-oriented and prototype-based) programming styles. It has APIs for working with text, arrays, dates, regular expressions, and the DOM, but the language itself does not include any I/O, such as networking, storage, or graphics facilities. It relies upon the host environment in which it is embedded to provide these features.\r\nInitially only implemented client-side in web browsers, JavaScript engines are now embedded in many other types of host software, including server-side in web servers and databases, and in non-web programs such as word processors and PDF software, and in runtime environments that make JavaScript available for writing mobile and desktop applications, including desktop widgets.\r\nThe terms Vanilla JavaScript and Vanilla JS refer to JavaScript not extended by any frameworks or additional libraries. Scripts written in Vanilla JS are plain JavaScript code.\r\nAlthough there are similarities between JavaScript and Java, including language name, syntax, and respective standard libraries, the two languages are distinct and differ greatly in design. JavaScript was influenced by programming languages such as Self and Scheme. The JSON serialization format, used to store data structures in files or transmit them across networks, is based on JavaScript.\r\n"JavaScript" is a trademark of Oracle Corporation in the United States. It is used under license for technology invented and implemented by Netscape Communications and current entities such as the Mozilla Foundation.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is JavaScript?</span>\r\nJavaScript is a client-side as well as a server-side scripting language that can be inserted into HTML pages and is understood by web browsers. JavaScript is also an Object-based Programming language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the differences between Java and JavaScript?</span>\r\nJava is a complete programming language. In contrast, JavaScript is a coded program that can be introduced to HTML pages. These two languages are not at all inter-dependent and are designed for different intent. Java is an object-oriented programming (OOPS) or structured programming languages like C++ or C whereas JavaScript is a client-side scripting language.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do I have to buy JavaScript?</span>\r\nNo--there is nothing to buy. The JavaScript interpreter is included in all major Internet Browsers--so as long as you have an Internet Browser, you're all set. JavaScript source files are written using an ordinary text editor, such as Notepad.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is JScript?</span>\r\nJScript is Microsoft's version of Netscape's JavaScript. Each Internet Browser vendor creates their own version of what is collectively known as JavaScript---however, the latest versions of these browsers are moving towards the ECMA Script standard.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who 'owns' JavaScript?</span>\r\nECMA governs the standard features of JavaScript---however, each vendor writes the code for their own versions of JavaScript.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the features of JavaScript?</span>\r\n<ul><li>JavaScript is a lightweight, interpreted programming language.</li><li>JavaScript is designed for creating network-centric applications.</li><li>JavaScript is complementary to and integrated with Java.</li><li>JavaScript is complementary to and integrated with HTML.</li><li>JavaScript is open and cross-platform.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_JavaScript_development.png","alias":"javascript-development"},"649":{"id":649,"title":"QA - Quality assurance","description":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality Assurance (QA)</span> is defined as an activity to ensure that an organization is providing the best possible product or service to customers. QA focuses on improving the processes to deliver Quality Products to the customer. An organization has to ensure, that processes are efficient and effective as per the quality standards defined for software products. Quality Assurance is popularly known as <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">QA Testing. </span>\r\nQA establishes and maintains set requirements for developing or manufacturing reliable products. A quality assurance system is meant to increase customer confidence and a company's credibility, while also improving work processes and efficiency, and it enables a company to better compete with others.\r\nQuality assurance helps a company create products and services that meet the needs, expectations and requirements of customers. It yields high-quality product offerings that build trust and loyalty with customers. The standards and procedures defined by a quality assurance program help prevent product defects before they arise.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality assurance utilizes one of three methods:</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Failure testing, </span>which continually tests a product to determine if it breaks or fails. For physical products that need to withstand stress, this could involve testing the product under heat, pressure or vibration. For software products, failure testing might involve placing the software under high usage or load conditions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Statistical process control (SPC),</span> a methodology based on objective data and analysis and developed by Walter Shewhart at Western Electric Company and Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1920's and 1930's. This methodology uses statistical methods to manage and control the production of products.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Total quality management (TQM),</span> which applies quantitative methods as the basis for continuous improvement. TQM relies on facts, data and analysis to support product planning and performance reviews.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality assurance in software.</span> Software quality assurance management (SQA) systematically finds patterns and the actions needed to improve development cycles. Finding and fixing coding errors can carry unintended consequences; it is possible to fix one thing, yet break other features and functionality at the same time.\r\nSQA software has become important for developers as a means of avoiding errors before they occur, saving development time and expenses. Even with SQA processes in place, an update to software can break other features and cause defects - commonly known as bugs.\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> Differences between Software testing and SQA services</h1>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">SQA tools</span></li></ul>\r\n- Is about engineering process that ensures quality\r\n- Involve activities related to the implementation of processes, procedures, and standards.\r\n- Process focused \r\n- Preventive technique\r\n- Proactive measure\r\n- The scope of software quality testing tools applied to all products that will be created by the organization\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software Testing</span></li></ul>\r\n- Software Testing is to test a product for problems before the product goes live\r\n- Involves actives concerning verification of product Example - Review Testing\r\n- Product focused\r\n - Corrective technique\r\n- Reactive measure\r\n- The scope of Software Testing applies to a particular product being tested\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">Manual QA testing services Vs Automated Quality Assurance Testing</h1>\r\nSoftware testing is a huge domain, but it can be broadly categorized into two areas: manual testing and automated testing. Both of them can be used to achieve the best results, but it is always worth knowing the difference between the two. Each testing type – manual and automated – comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. \r\nYou can choose between manual and quality assurance testing services based on a variety of factors. These include:\r\n- Project requirements\r\n- Timeline\r\n- Budget\r\n- Expertise\r\n- Suitability<br /> \r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manual Testing </span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Exploratory Testing:</span> This scenario requires a tester’s expertise, creativity, knowledge, analytical and logical reasoning skills. With poorly written specifications and short execution time, human skills are a must to test in this scenario.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Ad-Hoc Testing:</span> It is an unplanned method of testing where the biggest difference maker is a tester’s insight that can work without a specific approach.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Usability Testing:</span> Here you need to check the level of user-friendliness and check the software for convenience. Human observation is a must to make the end user’s experience convenient.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality Assurance automation tools</span></li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Repeated Execution:</span> When you need to execute a use case repeatedly, automated testing is a better option.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Regression Testing:</span> Automated automated QA software is better here because the code changes frequently and the regressions can be run in a timely manner\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance:</span> You need an automated QA testing software when thousands of concurrent users are simulated at the same time. Additionally, it is a better solution for load testing.\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Quality_assurance.png","alias":"qa-quality-assurance"},"651":{"id":651,"title":"Interface Testing","description":"When an application or a software or a website is developed, then there are several components of it. Those components can be server, database etc. The connection which integrates and facilitates the communication between these components is termed as an <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Interface</span>.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Interface Testing</span> is performed to evaluate whether systems or components pass data and control correctly to one another. It is to verify if all the interactions between these modules are working properly and errors are handled properly.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Interface Testing - Checklist</span>\r\n<ul><li>Verify that communication between the systems are done correctly</li><li>Verify if all supported hardware/software has been tested</li><li>Verify if all linked documents be supported/opened on all platforms</li><li>Verify the security requirements or encryption while communication happens between systems</li><li>Check if a Solution can handle network failures between Web site and application server</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Phases of Interface Testing. </span>\r\nThere are 2 components involved in Interface testing: 1) web server and application server interface and 2) web server and database server interface.\r\nBasically, 3 phases are involved in the Interface testing which is mentioned below:\r\n<b>Configuration and Development. </b>After the configuration of the interface and the development initialization, the configuration is needed to be verified as per the requirement. In simple words, verification takes place.\r\n<p style=\" text-align: justify; \"><b>Validation. </b>After the configuration and development stage, validation of the interface is necessary.</p>\r\n<p style=\" text-align: justify; \"><b>Maintenance.</b> After the completion of the project, when the project reaches it’s working stage, the interface is set to be monitored for its performance.</p>\r\n<p style=\" text-align: justify; \"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify; \"><a name=\"StepsinvolvedinInterfaceTesting\"></a></p>","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\">Types of Interface Testing </h1>\r\nDuring Interface Testing various types of testing done on the interface which may include:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Workflow:</span> It ensures that the interface engine handles your standard workflows as expected.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Edge cases -unexpected values:</span> This is considered when testing include date, month and day reversed.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Performance, load, and network testing:</span> A high-volume interface may require more Load Testing than a low-volume interface, depending on the interface engine and connectivity infrastructure.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Individual system interface testing:</span> This includes testing each system individually. For example, billing system and inventory management system for the retail store should be able to operate separately.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What is Graphic User Interface (GUI) Testing?</h1>\r\nGraphic User Interface Testing (GUI) testing is the process of ensuring proper functionality of the graphical user interface (GUI) for a specific application. This involves making sure it behaves in accordance with its requirements and works as expected across the range of supported platforms and devices.\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">GUI Testing Approaches</span></p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manual Based Testing: </span>Under this approach, the screens of the application are checked manually by testers. They are being confirmed with the requirements that are stated in the business requirements. The UI is also matched with the designs that are provided during the documentation phase of the application.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Automation Based Testing:</span> Automated user interface testing approach is performed in 2 steps i.e, record and play. While doing this, the steps are captured/recorded with the help of the automation tool while performing the first round of testing. And during playback, that recorded steps script is run when the application is under test. If the position of any button or image changes that during the playback, it does not get tracked and the test fails.</p>\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\">What Features Should I Look for in a GUI Testing Tool?</h1>\r\nObviously the first answer is to choose a tool that can automate the specific technologies you’re testing, otherwise your automation is doomed to fail. Secondly you should choose a tool that has some of the following characteristics:\r\n<ul><li>Good interface testing software that makes it easy for your automation engineers to write tests, make changes, find issues and be able to deploy the tests on all the environments you need to test.</li><li>A tool that is well supported by the manufacturer and is keeping up to date with new web browsers, operating systems and technologies that you will need to test in the future. </li><li>An object abstraction layer so that your test analysts can write the tests in the way most natural for them and your automation engineers can create objects that point to physical items in the application that will be robust and not change every time you resort a grid or add data to the system.</li><li>Support for data-driven testing since as we have discussed, one of the big benefits of automation is the ability to run the same test thousands of times with different sets of data.</li></ul>\r\n\r\n","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Interface_Testing.png","alias":"interface-testing"},"655":{"id":655,"title":"Perl Development","description":" Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was officially changed to Raku in October 2019.\r\nThough Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language". Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions. Raku, which began as a redesign of Perl 5 in 2000, eventually evolved into a separate language. Both languages continue to be developed independently by different development teams and liberally borrow ideas from one another.\r\nThe Perl languages borrow features from other programming languages including C, shell script (sh), AWK, and sed; Wall also alludes to BASIC and Lisp in the introduction to Learning Perl (Schwartz & Christiansen) and so on. They provide text processing facilities without the arbitrary data-length limits of many contemporary Unix command line tools, facilitating manipulation of text files. Perl 5 gained widespread popularity in the late 1990s as a CGI scripting language, in part due to its unsurpassed regular expression and string parsing abilities.\r\nIn addition to CGI, Perl 5 is used for system administration, network programming, finance, bioinformatics, and other applications, such as for GUIs. It has been nicknamed "the Swiss Army chainsaw of scripting languages" because of its flexibility and power, and also its ugliness. In 1998, it was also referred to as the "duct tape that holds the Internet together," in reference to both its ubiquitous use as a glue language and its perceived inelegance.\r\nAccording to Wall, Perl has two slogans. The first is "There's more than one way to do it," commonly known as TMTOWTDI. The second slogan is "Easy things should be easy and hard things should be possible".\r\nThe overall structure of Perl derives broadly from C. Perl is procedural in nature, with variables, expressions, assignment statements, brace-delimited blocks, control structures, and subroutines.\r\nPerl also takes features from shell programming. All variables are marked with leading sigils, which allow variables to be interpolated directly into strings. However, unlike the shell, Perl uses sigils on all accesses to variables, and unlike most other programming languages that use sigils, the sigil doesn't denote the type of the variable but the type of the expression. So for example, to access a list of values in a hash, the sigil for an array ("@") is used, not the sigil for a hash ("%"). Perl also has many built-in functions that provide tools often used in shell programming (although many of these tools are implemented by programs external to the shell) such as sorting, and calling operating system facilities.\r\nPerl takes lists from Lisp, hashes ("associative arrays") from AWK, and regular expressions from sed. These simplify and facilitate many parsing, text-handling, and data-management tasks. Also shared with Lisp are the implicit return of the last value in a block, and the fact that all statements have a value, and thus are also expressions and can be used in larger expressions themselves.\r\nAll versions of Perl do automatic data-typing and automatic memory management. The interpreter knows the type and storage requirements of every data object in the program; it allocates and frees storage for them as necessary using reference counting (so it cannot deallocate circular data structures without manual intervention). Legal type conversions — for example, conversions from number to string — are done automatically at run time; illegal type conversions are fatal errors.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Perl?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Perl is a stable, cross-platform programming language.</li><li>Though Perl is not officially an acronym few people used it as <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Practical Extraction and Report Language</span>.</li><li>It is used for mission-critical projects in the public and private sectors.</li><li>Perl is an Open Source software, licensed under its Artistic License, or the <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">GNU General Public License (GPL)</span>.</li><li>Perl was created by Larry Wall.</li><li>Perl 1.0 was released to Usenet's alt.comp.sources in 1987.</li><li>Perl is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the features of Perl programming?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Perl takes the best features from other languages, such as C, awk, sed, sh, and BASIC, among others.</li><li>Perl's database integration interface DBI supports third-party databases including Oracle, Sybase, Postgres, MySQL, and others.</li><li>Perl works with HTML, XML, and other mark-up languages.</li><li>Perl supports Unicode.</li><li>Perl is Y2K compliant.</li><li>Perl supports both procedural and object-oriented programming.</li><li>Perl interfaces with external C/C++ libraries through XS or SWIG.</li><li>Perl is extensible. There are over 20,000 third party modules available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN).</li><li>The Perl interpreter can be embedded into other systems.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Perl programming in using it in web-based applications?</span>\r\n<ul><li>Perl used to be the most popular web programming language due to its text manipulation capabilities and rapid development cycle.</li><li>Perl is widely known as " the duct-tape of the Internet".</li><li>Perl can handle encrypted Web data, including e-commerce transactions.</li><li>Perl can be embedded into web servers to speed up processing by as much as 2000%.</li><li>Perl's mod_perl allows the Apache web server to embed a Perl interpreter.</li><li>Perl's DBI package makes web-database integration easy.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Is Perl a case sensitive language?</span>\r\nYes. Perl is a case sensitive programming language.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Perl_Development.png","alias":"perl-development"},"657":{"id":657,"title":"Oracle Applications Development","description":" Oracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of the Oracle Corporation. The term refers to the non-database and non-middleware parts.\r\nOracle sells many functional modules that use the Oracle RDBMS as a back-end, notably Oracle Financials, Oracle HRMS, Oracle SCM, Oracle Projects, Oracle CRM and Oracle Procurement.\r\nOracle initially launched its application suite with financial software in the late 1980s. The offering as of 2009 extends to supply-chain management, human resource management, warehouse-management, customer-relationship management, call-center services, product lifecycle management, and many other areas. Both in-house expansion and the acquisition of other companies have vastly expanded Oracle's application software business.\r\nOracle released Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS/e-BS) Release 12 (R12) – a bundling of several Oracle Applications – in February 2007. The release date coincided with new releases of other Oracle-owned products: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Siebel Systems and PeopleSoft.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Oracle E-Business Suite?</span>\r\nOracle E-Business Suite is a replicated integrated application software package manufactured by Oracle, which includes functional blocks ERP, CRM, PLM. Designed to automate the main activities of enterprises, including finance, production, personnel management, logistics, marketing, sales and sales, customer service, relationships with suppliers and customers, and others.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Oracle_Applicatons_Development.png","alias":"oracle-applications-development"},"659":{"id":659,"title":"SAP Applications Development","description":" ABAP is the SAP programming language. The syntax of the programming language is similar to COBOL, but it is very different from languages such as Java, C, or Python. Since ABAP is a non-standardized programming language, it is only used in connection with SAP programs. However, ABAP has powerful concepts for developing business applications in this environment. Since 1990, ABAP has also been a so-called object-oriented programming language.\r\nAs an SAP developer, you work closely with other software engineers. Together, you will develop, implement and maintain the modules and features of the software that works for your customer or employer. Specifically, these can be architectures, applications, and specific solutions.\r\nABAP is one of the many application-specific fourth-generation languages (4GLs) first developed in the 1980s. It was originally the report language for SAP R/2, a platform that enabled large corporations to build mainframe business applications for materials management and financial and management accounting. ABAP establish integration between independent software.\r\nABAP used to be an abbreviation of Allgemeiner Berichts-Aufbereitungs-Prozessor, German for "generic report preparation processor", but was later renamed to the English Advanced Business Application Programming. ABAP was one of the first languages to include the concept of Logical Databases (LDBs), which provides a high level of abstraction from the basic database level(s),which supports every platform, language and units.\r\nThe ABAP language was originally used by developers to develop the SAP R/3 platform. It was also intended to be used by SAP customers to enhance SAP applications – customers can develop custom reports and interfaces with ABAP programming. The language was geared towards more technical customers with programming experience.\r\nABAP remains as the language for creating programs for the client-server R/3 system, which SAP first released in 1992. As computer hardware evolved through the 1990s, more and more of SAP's applications and systems were written in ABAP. By 2001, all but the most basic functions were written in ABAP. In 1999, SAP released an object-oriented extension to ABAP called ABAP Objects, along with R/3 release 4.6.\r\nSAP's current development platform NetWeaver supports both ABAP and Java.\r\nABAP has an abstraction between the business applications, the operating system and database. This ensures that applications do not depend directly upon a specific server or database platform and can easily be ported from one platform to another.\r\nSAP Netweaver currently runs on UNIX (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Linux), Microsoft Windows, i5/OS on IBM System i (formerly iSeries, AS/400), and z/OS on IBM System z (formerly zSeries, S/390). Supported databases are HANA, SAP ASE (formerly Sybase), IBM DB2, Informix, MaxDB, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server (support for Informix was discontinued in SAP Basis release 7.00).","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a SAP Developer?</span>\r\nSAP is the #1 creator of business software solutions. It's the fourth largest software company globally -- just a couple notches behind Microsoft. What this means is that there's a huge market for developers who are knowledgeable of SAP solutions -- outside of the parent company and outside of Germany. Among these solutions are SAP Business Warehouse, SAP Business Objects, and Sybase mobile.\r\nSAP has contributed to one thing that most software companies haven’t – its own computer language. One possible role for a SAP developer is to write programs using Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP). Some SAP projects are also developed in Java.\r\nMany U.S. companies use SAP technologies. By perusing job posting, you may find some big names: Costco, REI, Nike, even Raytheon.\r\nThere are a lot of different roles from SAP systems analyst to SAP architect. It can be surprising just how much know-how and education these positions require.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Education</span>\r\nThe bachelor’s degree is the typical entry point for a career in software development. Industry-specific knowledge can be important – in the case of a SAP developer, it is often finance or business.\r\nMany nationally advertised SAP positions favor candidates with master’s degrees; depending on the position, the master’s maybe in business administration or a more technical field.\r\nHigher-level software development positions typically ask for experience taking a software product through the lifecycle. They may ask for knowledge of specific models -- e.g. the Full Lifecycle Model.\r\nThose with SAP expertise often go on to work as consultants. There are two types: functional consultant and technical consultant. The functional consultant is focused on meeting business needs and the technical consultant, well you can guess what their focus is.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SAP Certification</span>\r\nLike its "big brothers" Microsoft and Oracle, SAP offers a host of certifications. They are available in technology, development, and application.\r\nIt is possible to simultaneously earn a master's degree and SAP certification. The masters may be in any of several fields, including business engineering and computer science.\r\nJob advancement takes more than just technical skills. A 2012 survey of SAP professionals asked what skills were most important for advancement and raises. Project management topped the list. Business skills and communication skills were also seen as important.\r\nDevelopers can find lots of resources on the site of the SAP Community Network.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SAP_Applications_Development.png","alias":"sap-applications-development"},"661":{"id":661,"title":"Sharepoint Development","description":" SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and usage varies substantially among organizations.\r\nSharePoint infuses AI into the mobile app experience to keep you focused and productive while on the go. AI builds an understanding of what you work on, how you work, and how your colleagues' work relates to you. When you need expertise, content, or resources when you're on the go, SharePoint is a great place to start looking.\r\nSharePoint is comprised of a multipurpose set of technologies that has tight integration with Office 365 as well as handy document management capabilities.\r\nAccording to Microsoft, SharePoint is used by 78% of Fortune 500 companies. Between 2006 and 2011, Microsoft sold over 36.5 million user licenses.\r\nSharePoint is a collection of software products and components that includes:\r\n<ul><li>a set of web applications for organizing collaboration;</li><li>functionality for creating web portals;</li><li>module for searching information in documents and information systems;</li><li>workflow management functionality and enterprise-wide content management system;</li><li>module for creating forms for entering information;</li><li>functionality for business analysis.</li></ul>\r\nMicrosoft states that SharePoint has 190 million users across 200,000 customer organizations.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is Microsoft SharePoint important?</span>\r\nSharePoint’s core functions are\r\n<ul><li>a) to store documents in a more effective format than a regular folder system, and</li><li>b) bring an organization together so that everyone receives critical information that’s relevant to them.</li></ul>\r\nHere are some benefits your organization can get from using SharePoint:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Context around documents and folders</span></span>\r\nA traditional document storage facility is usually a folder on a server somewhere. The reason why SharePoint is more effective than the traditional method is that it brings context around the folder itself by tracking versions of the document. For example, in a traditional folder setup, you can’t have a running version history for each document or see any changes to the file name. Whereas with SharePoint, there’s more information provided about the file. It’s not just some file sitting in a folder; it’s an evolving piece of information that has a history as well as context.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Enable constant communication with all staff</span></span>\r\nIn the past, you might send a group email and copy everyone. The problem with that approach is a lot of information gets ignored or even lost, so some people might not get the information they need. For example, maybe you lost a company document and you missed an important discussion. Or maybe you did read it but afterward, it was very difficult to find and reference that information. SharePoint brings collaboration to the table so that all staff can see the important information and communication accordingly.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Store all information in a central location</span></span>\r\nThis can range from things such as updates from the CEO to important meetings or events. SharePoint brings all the information to one internal place so staff can quickly find the information they need. Other use cases might be general warnings about particular customers or even incidents that everyone needs to be aware of. With SharePoint, simply post the message and everyone can access it from there. Forget email or announcement boards; simply post it on SharePoint.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Encourage collaboration</span></span>\r\nSharePoint is really designed around getting the organization into a central point where they can collaborate. This is particularly important for organizations that are not geographically connected. With some branches working in a very isolated format, SharePoint provides staff with the ability to connect with each other via a portal. Where in the past some staff might only interact with the company during a company meeting, SharePoint brings those people together so everyone can work together, all the time. Collaboration fosters innovation and builds a company culture that spawns creative ideas.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the challenges of Microsoft SharePoint?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Support for certain industry standards.</span> SharePoint's records-management capabilities give it the ability to save documents for legal or historical reasons. This can be a challenge in some industries (medical and financial) where there are complex regulatory requirements for record-keeping. In those cases, you should consult a professional about an industry-specific solution.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Customize out of the box with third-party solutions.</span> Some organizations won’t find what they need out of the box. A third-party solution can help you build something you want. This can be easily achieved if you work with an IT service provider that has SharePoint experience. ","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Sharepoint_Development.png","alias":"sharepoint-development"},"665":{"id":665,"title":"User Interface Development","description":" User interface design (UI) or user interface engineering is the design of user interfaces for machines and software, such as computers, home appliances, mobile devices, and other electronic devices, with the focus on maximizing usability and the user experience. The goal of user interface design is to make the user's interaction as simple and efficient as possible, in terms of accomplishing user goals (user-centered design).\r\nGood user interface design facilitates finishing the task at hand without drawing unnecessary attention to itself. Graphic design and typography are utilized to support its usability, influencing how the user performs certain interactions and improving the aesthetic appeal of the design; design aesthetics may enhance or detract from the ability of users to use the functions of the interface. The design process must balance technical functionality and visual elements (e.g., mental model) to create a system that is not only operational but also usable and adaptable to changing user needs.\r\nInterface design is involved in a wide range of projects from computer systems, to cars, to commercial planes; all of these projects involve much of the same basic human interactions yet also require some unique skills and knowledge. As a result, designers tend to specialize in certain types of projects and have skills centered on their expertise, whether it is a software design, user research, web design, or industrial design.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Graphical User Interface?</span>\r\nThe graphical user interface, developed in the late 1970s by the Xerox Palo Alto research laboratory and deployed commercially in Apple’s Macintosh and Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, was designed as a response to the problem of inefficient usability in early, text-based command-line interfaces for the average user.\r\nGraphical user interfaces would become the standard of user-centered design in software application programming, providing users the capability to intuitively operate computers and other electronic devices through the direct manipulation of graphical icons such as buttons, scroll bars, windows, tabs, menus, cursors, and the mouse pointing device. Many modern graphical user interfaces feature touchscreen and voice-command interaction capabilities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Does a Graphical User Interface Work?</span>\r\nGraphical user interface design principles conform to the model–view–controller software pattern, which separates internal representations of information from the manner in which information is presented to the user, resulting in a platform where users are shown which functions are possible rather than requiring the input of command codes. Users interact with information by manipulating visual widgets, which are designed to respond in accordance with the type of data they hold and support the actions necessary to complete the user’s task.\r\nThe appearance, or “skin,” of an operating system or application software may be redesigned at will due to the nature of graphical user interfaces being independent from application functions. Applications typically implement their own unique graphical user interface display elements in addition to graphical user interface elements already present on the existing operating system. A typical graphical user interface also includes standard formats for representing graphics and text, making it possible to share data between applications running under common graphical user interface design software.\r\nGraphical user interface testing refers to the systematic process of generating test cases in order to evaluate the functionality of the system and its design elements. Graphical user interface testing tools, which are either manual or automated and typically implemented by third-party operators, are available under a variety of licenses and are supported by a variety of platforms. Popular examples include: Tricentis Tosca, Squish GUI Tester, Unified Functional Testing (UFT), Maveryx, Appium, and eggPlant Functional.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Graphical User Interface Examples</span>\r\nSketchpad, believed to be the first graphical computer-aided design program, was developed in 1962 by Ivan Sutherland while he was at MIT, and consisted of a light pen that enabled users to create and manipulate objects in engineering drawings in real-time with coordinated graphics.\r\nModern operating systems and graphical user interfaces are incorporated into nearly every interactive application, such as ATMs, self-service checkouts, airline self-ticketing and check-in, video games, smartphones, and desktops. Some popular, modern graphical user interface examples include Microsoft Windows, macOS, Ubuntu Unity, and GNOME Shell for desktop environments, and Android, Apple's iOS, BlackBerry OS, Windows 10 Mobile, Palm OS-WebOS, and Firefox OS for smartphones.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Advantages of Graphical User Interfaces</span>\r\nThe advantage of a graphical user interface is a stark improvement in useability for the average person. The features of a graphical user interface leverage familiar metaphors, such as drag-and-drop for transferring files, and use familiar icons, such as a trash bin for deleted files, creating an environment in which computer operations are intuitive and easily mastered without any prior practice or knowledge of computing machinery or languages. Graphical user interface applications are self descriptive, feedback is typically immediate, and visual cues encourage and steer discoverability.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_User_Interface_Development.png","alias":"user-interface-development"},"669":{"id":669,"title":"MySQL Development","description":" MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter, and "SQL", the abbreviation for Structured Query Language.\r\nMySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, and is also available under a variety of proprietary licenses. MySQL was owned and sponsored by the Swedish company MySQL AB, which was bought by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle Corporation). In 2010, when Oracle acquired Sun, Widenius forked the open-source MySQL project to create MariaDB.\r\nMySQL is a component of the LAMP web application software stack (and others), which is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python. MySQL is used by many database-driven web applications, including Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, and WordPress. MySQL is also used by many popular websites, including Facebook, Flickr, MediaWiki, Twitter, and YouTube.\r\nMySQL is written in C and C++. Its SQL parser is written in yacc, but it uses a home-brewed lexical analyzer. MySQL works on many system platforms, including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, eComStation, i5/OS, IRIX, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, NetBSD, Novell NetWare, OpenBSD, OpenSolaris, OS/2 Warp, QNX, Oracle Solaris, Symbian, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Sanos and Tru64. A port of MySQL to OpenVMS also exists.\r\nThe MySQL server software itself and the client libraries use dual-licensing distribution. They are offered under GPL version 2, or a proprietary license.\r\nSupport can be obtained from the official manual. Free support additionally is available in different IRC channels and forums. Oracle offers paid support via its MySQL Enterprise products. They differ in the scope of services and in price. Additionally, a number of third party organisations exist to provide support and services, including MariaDB and Percona.\r\nMySQL has received positive reviews, and reviewers noticed it "performs extremely well in the average case" and that the "developer interfaces are there, and the documentation (not to mention feedback in the real world via Web sites and the like) is very, very good". It has also been tested to be a "fast, stable and true multi-user, multi-threaded sql database server".","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is MySQL?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">MySQL is a database management system.</span>\r\nA database is a structured collection of data. It may be anything from a simple shopping list or a picture gallery or the vast amounts of information in a corporate network. To add, access, and process data stored in a computer database, you need a database management system such as MySQL Server. Since computers are very good at handling large amounts of data, database management plays a central role in computing, as stand-alone utilities, or as parts of other applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">MySQL is a relational database management system.</span>\r\nA relational database stores data in separate tables rather than putting all the data in one big storeroom. This adds speed and flexibility. The tables are linked by defined relations making it possible to combine data from several tables on request. The SQL part of "MySQL" stands for "Structured Query Language" the most common standardised language used to access databases.\r\nMySQL, the most popular Open Source SQL database, is developed and provided by MySQL AB. The MySQL web site ( http://www.mysql.com ) provides the latest information about MySQL software and MySQL AB.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do I need MySQL?</span>\r\nIf you have any information such as products, dates, customers, pictures, or any data that is not static, a database is an efficient way to manage that information. Sites that contain message boards, guest books, dynamic galleries, contact lists, or online product information can greatly benefit by storing their information on our fast, reliable and secure database server.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MySQL_Development.png","alias":"mysql-development"},"671":{"id":671,"title":"Oracle Database Development","description":" Oracle Database (commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply as Oracle) is a proprietary multi-model database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation.\r\nIt is a database commonly used for running online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing (DW) and mixed (OLTP & DW) database workloads. The latest generation, Oracle Database 19c, is available on-prem, on-cloud, or in a hybrid-Cloud environment. 19c may also be deployed on Oracle Engineered Systems (e.g. Exadata) on-prem, on Oracle (public) cloud or (private) cloud at a customer. At Openworld 2017 in San Francisco, Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO, Larry Ellison announced the next database generation, Oracle Autonomous Database.\r\nA 2016 Gartner report claimed to show Oracle holding #1 RDBMS market share worldwide based on the revenue share ahead of its four closest competitors – Microsoft, IBM, SAP, and Teradata.\r\nIn the market for relational databases, Oracle Database competes against commercial products such as IBM's DB2 UDB and Microsoft SQL Server. Oracle and IBM tend to battle for the mid-range database market on Unix and Linux platforms, while Microsoft dominates the mid-range database market on Microsoft Windows platforms. However, since they share many of the same customers, Oracle and IBM tend to support each other's products in many middleware and application categories (for example WebSphere, PeopleSoft, and Siebel Systems CRM), and IBM's hardware divisions work closely with Oracle on performance-optimizing server-technologies (for example, Linux on IBM Z). Niche commercial competitors include Teradata (in data warehousing and business intelligence), Software AG's ADABAS, Sybase, and IBM's Informix, among many others.\r\nIncreasingly, the Oracle database products compete against such open-source software relational and non-relational database systems like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Couchbase, Neo4j, and others. Oracle acquired Innobase, supplier of the InnoDB codebase to MySQL, in part to compete better against open source alternatives, and acquired Sun Microsystems, owner of MySQL, in 2010. Database products licensed as open-source are, by the legal terms of the Open Source Definition, free to distribute and free of royalty or other licensing fees. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is Oracle Such a Popular Relational Database?</span>\r\nIn the Oracle Bigdata base, a collection of data is treated as one. The purpose of a database is to store and retrieve organized information. In general, an Oracle server manages a huge amount of data in a multiuser environment so that many users can concurrently access the same data and all this is delivered with high performance. Prevention of unauthorized access and efficient solutions for failure recovery is also provided by the Oracle server.\r\nThe most flexible and cost-effective way to manage information and applications is offered by Oracle Database and is the first database designed for enterprise grid computing. Enterprise grid computing enables the creation of a large pool of industry-standard, modular storage, and servers.\r\nThis architecture enables every new system to be quickly provisioned from the collection or pool of components. Peak workloads are not required since capacity can easily be added or reallocated from the resource pool as required.\r\nThe database has logical and physical structures. Because the physical and logical structures are separate, the physical storage of data can be managed without affecting the access to logical storage structures.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Oracle Database Features</span>\r\nFollowing are the features of Oracle Database:\r\n<ul><li>Scalability and Performance;</li><li>Manageability;</li><li>Database Backup and Recovery;</li><li>High Availability;</li><li>Business Intelligence;</li><li>Content Management;</li><li>Security;</li><li>Data Integrity and Triggers;</li><li>Information Integration.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Oracle Database Application Development</span>\r\nOracle Database is a simple, widely understood, unified data model. It is used as a standalone in many applications, but it is also invoked directly from Java (JDBC), Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI), or XSU (XML SQL Utility). Stored packages, procedures, and triggers can all be written in PL/SQL or in Java.\r\nSQL and PL/SQL are the core of Oracle’s application development stack. Most enterprises run SQL in back-ends and Web applications accessing databases do so by utilizing SQL (wrapped by Java classes as JDBC). Enterprise Application Integration applications generate XML from SQL queries, and content repositories are built on top of SQL tables.\r\nOracle server covers the following:\r\n<ul><li> Oracle SQL;</li><li>PL/SQL;</li><li>Application Programming Languages (APIs);</li><li>Transactions;</li><li>Datatypes;</li><li>Globalization.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Oracle_Datase_Development.png","alias":"oracle-database-development"},"673":{"id":673,"title":"MS SQL Development","description":" Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system, or RDBMS, that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence and analytics applications in corporate IT environments. It's one of the three market-leading database technologies, along with Oracle Database and IBM's DB2.\r\nLike other RDBMS technologies, SQL Server is primarily built around a row-based table structure that connects related data elements in different tables to one another, avoiding the need to redundantly store data in multiple places within a database. The relational model also provides referential integrity and other integrity constraints to maintain data accuracy; those checks are part of a broader adherence to the principles of atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability - collectively known as the ACID properties and designed to guarantee that database transactions are processed reliably.\r\nThe advanced security features supported in all editions of Microsoft SQL Server starting with SQL Server 2016 SP1 include three technologies added to the 2016 release: Always Encrypted, which lets user update encrypted data without having to decrypt it first; row-level security, which enables data access to be controlled at the row level in database tables; and dynamic data masking, which automatically hides elements of sensitive data from users without full access privileges.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is MS SQL?</span>\r\nMS SQL is short for Microsoft SQL Server. It is a relational web hosting database that is used to store web site information like blog posts or user information. MS SQL is the most popular type of database on Windows servers. It is not free but it has many advanced features that make it suitable for businesses.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the features of MS SQL?</span>\r\nIn basic terms, an MS SQL database is capable of storing any type of data that you want. It will let you quickly store and retrieve information and multiple web site visitors can use it at one time. You will use SQL statements to accomplish all of this. In more technical terms, most versions of MS SQL have the following features:\r\n<ul><li>Buffer management</li><li>Logging and Transaction</li><li>Concurrency and locking</li><li>Replication services</li><li>Analysis services</li><li>Notification services</li><li>Integration services</li><li>Full-text search service</li><li>Stored procedures</li><li>Triggers</li><li>Views</li><li>Sub-SELECTs (i.e. nested SELECTs)</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is MS SQL used for?</span>\r\nMS SQL is the database of choice for web applications on a Windows platform (using .NET or ASP). These languages make is extremely easy to connect to the MS SQL database. It is also used for many popular content management systems and other scripts.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MS_SQL_Development.png","alias":"ms-sql-development"},"675":{"id":675,"title":"MariaDB Development","description":" MariaDB is a community-developed, commercially supported fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. Development is led by some of the original developers of MySQL, who forked it due to concerns over its acquisition by Oracle Corporation in 2009.\r\nMariaDB intended to maintain high compatibility with MySQL, ensuring a drop-in replacement capability with library binary parity and exact matching with MySQL APIs and commands. However, new features diverge more. It includes new storage engines like Aria, ColumnStore, and MyRocks.\r\nIts lead developer/CTO is Michael "Monty" Widenius, one of the founders of MySQL AB and the founder of Monty Program AB. On 16 January 2008, MySQL AB announced that it had agreed to be acquired by Sun Microsystems for approximately $1 billion. The acquisition completed on 26 February 2008. MariaDB is named after Monty's younger daughter, Maria. (MySQL is named after his other daughter, My.)","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is MariaDB?</span>\r\nMariaDB is a backward compatible, drop-in replacement of the MySQL® Database Server. It includes all major open source storage engines.\r\nThe source code for MariaDB is publically available on GitHub. Binaries and packages are also available.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is MariaDB's Release Policy and Schedule?</span>\r\nThe <link https://mariadb.com/kb/en/plans/ - external-link-new-window \"Opens internal link in current window\">MariaDB Development Plans</link> page links to plans for future versions of MariaDB.\r\nThe release schedule for upcoming MariaDB releases can be found on the <link https://jira.mariadb.org/projects/MDEV?selectedItem=com.atlassian.jira.jira-projects-plugin:release-page - external-link-new-window \"Opens internal link in current window\">MariaDB Jira release page</link>.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MariaDB_Development.png","alias":"mariadb-development"},"676":{"id":676,"title":"PostgreSQL Development","description":" PostgreSQL, also known as Postgres, is a free and open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) emphasizing extensibility and technical standards compliance. It is designed to handle a range of workloads, from single machines to data warehouses or Web services with many concurrent users. It is the default database for macOS Server, and is also available for Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Windows.\r\nPostgreSQL features transactions with Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability (ACID) properties, automatically updatable views, materialized views, triggers, foreign keys, and stored procedures. PostgreSQL is developed by the PostgreSQL Global Development Group, a diverse group of many companies and individual contributors.\r\nPostgreSQL's developers pronounce PostgreSQL as /ˈpoʊstɡrɛs ˌkjuː ˈɛl/. It is abbreviated as Postgres because of ubiquitous support for the SQL standard among relational databases. Originally named POSTGRES, the name (Post Ingres) refers to the project's origins in that RDBMS that originated at University of California, Berkeley. After a review the PostgreSQL Core Team announced in 2007 that the product would continue to use the name PostgreSQL.\r\nPostgreSQL manages concurrency through multiversion concurrency control (MVCC), which gives each transaction a "snapshot" of the database, allowing changes to be made without affecting other transactions. This largely eliminates the need for read locks, and ensures the database maintains ACID principles. PostgreSQL offers three levels of transaction isolation: Read Committed, Repeatable Read and Serializable. Because PostgreSQL is immune to dirty reads, requesting a Read Uncommitted transaction isolation level provides read committed instead. PostgreSQL supports full serializability via the serializable snapshot isolation (SSI) method.\r\nPostgreSQL is available for the following operating systems: Linux (all recent distributions), 64-bit installers available for macOS (OS X) version 10.6 and newer – Windows (with installers available for 64-bit version; tested on latest versions and back to Windows 2012 R2, while for PostgreSQL version 10 and older a 32-bit installer is available and tested down to 32-bit Windows 2008 R1; compilable by e.g. Visual Studio, version 2013 up up to most recent 2019 version) – FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, and UnixWare; and not officially tested: DragonFly BSD, BSD/OS, IRIX, OpenIndiana, OpenSolaris, OpenServer, and Tru64 UNIX. Most other Unix-like systems could also work; most modern do support.\r\nPostgreSQL works on any of the following instruction set architectures: x86 and x86-64 on Windows and other operating systems; these are supported on other than Windows: IA-64 Itanium (external support for HP-UX), PowerPC, PowerPC 64, S/390, S/390x, SPARC, SPARC 64, ARMv8-A (64-bit) and older ARM (32-bit, including older such as ARMv6 in Raspberry Pi), MIPS, MIPSel, and PA-RISC. It was also known to work, but not tested in a while, on Alpha (dropped in 9.5), M68k, M32R, NS32k, and VAX. Beyond these, it is possible to build PostgreSQL for an unsupported CPU by disabling spinlocks.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is PostgreSQL? How is it pronounced? What is Postgres?</span>\r\nPostgreSQL is pronounced Post-Gres-Q-L.\r\nPostgreSQL is an object-relational database system that has the features of traditional proprietary database systems with enhancements to be found in next-generation DBMS systems. PostgreSQL is free and the complete source code is available.\r\nPostgreSQL development is performed by a team of mostly volunteer developers spread throughout the world and communicating via the Internet. It is a community project and is not controlled by any company.\r\nPostgres is a widely-used nickname for PostgreSQL. It was the original name of the project at Berkeley and is strongly preferred over other nicknames. If you find 'PostgreSQL' hard to pronounce, call it 'Postgres' instead.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who controls PostgreSQL?</span>\r\nIf you are looking for a PostgreSQL gatekeeper, central committee, or controlling company, give up --- there isn't one. We do have a core committee and git committers, but these groups are more for administrative purposes than control. The project is directed by the community of developers and users, which anyone can join. All you need to do is subscribe to the mailing lists and participate in the discussions.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who is the PostgreSQL Global Development Group?</span>\r\nThe "PGDG" is an international, unincorporated association of individuals and companies who have contributed to the PostgreSQL project. The PostgreSQL Core Team generally act as spokespeople for the PGDG.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who is the PostgreSQL Core Team?</span>\r\nA committee of five to seven (currently six) senior contributors to PostgreSQL who do the following for the project: (a) set release dates, (b) handle confidential matters for the project, (c) act as spokespeople for the PGDG when required, and (d) arbitrate community decisions which are not settled by consensus. The current Core Team is listed on top of the contributor's page.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What about the various PostgreSQL foundations?</span>\r\nWhile the PostgreSQL project utilizes non-profit corporations in the USA, Europe, Brazil, and Japan for fundraising and project coordination, these entities do not own the PostgreSQL code.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the license of PostgreSQL?</span>\r\nPostgreSQL is distributed under a license similar to BSD and MIT. Basically, it allows users to do anything they want with the code, including reselling binaries without the source code. The only restriction is that you not hold us legally liable for problems with the software. There is also the requirement that this copyright appears in all copies of the software.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_PostgesSQL_Development.png","alias":"postgresql-development"},"679":{"id":679,"title":"Games Development","description":" Video game development is the process of creating a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC and console games is normally funded by a publisher, and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games usually take less time and money and can be produced by individuals and smaller developers. The independent game industry has been on the rise, facilitated by the growth of accessible game development software such as Unity platform and Unreal Engine and new online distribution systems such as Steam and Uplay, as well as the mobile game market for Android and iOS devices.\r\nThe first video games, developed in the 1960s, were noncommercial. They required mainframe computers to run and were not available to the general public. Commercial game development began in the '70s with the advent of first-generation video game consoles and early home computers like the Apple I. At that time, owing to low costs and low capabilities of computers, a lone programmer could develop a full and complete game. However, in the late '80s and '90s, ever-increasing computer processing power and heightened expectations from gamers made it difficult for a single person to produce a mainstream console or PC game. The average cost of producing a triple-A video game slowly rose, from US$1–4 million in 2000, to over $5 million in 2006, then to over $20 million by 2010.\r\nMainstream commercial PC and console games are generally developed in phases: first, in pre-production, pitches, prototypes, and game design documents are written; if the idea is approved and the developer receives funding, then full-scale development begins. The development of a complete game usually involves a team of 20–100 individuals with various responsibilities, including designers, artists, programmers, and testers.\r\nThe game revenue from retails is divided among the parties along the distribution chain, such as — developer, publisher, retail, manufacturer and console royalty. Many developers fail to profit from this and go bankrupt. Many developers seek alternative economic models through Internet marketing and distribution channels to improve returns., as through a mobile distribution channel the share of a developer can be up to 70% of the total revenue and through an online distribution channel almost 100%.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How important are games?</span>\r\nThe popularity of smart gadgets like smartphones, tablets etc have opened up a new avenue of entertainment in the software industry and that is the domain of the mobile gaming sector. And now the games market is a big part of the mobile ecosystem and is estimated to reach $14.4 billion by 2017.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Which are the gaming platforms available?</span>\r\nDifferent smart gadgets are running on different operating systems or platforms and the popular ones are:\r\n<ul><li>Smartphone: Apple iOS, Android, Windows;</li><li>Desktop: PC (Windows), Mac & Linux;</li><li>Online: Browser and Facebook games.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How I will get revenue from games?</span>\r\nAs soon as your game is live, you will start earning your revenue and profits by selling your game (paid games) and in-app purchases.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How to start my game development project?</span>\r\nFor staring your own game development project, you just need an initial spark or a core idea that will be worked upon by a team of developers to transform it into an addictive gaming experience.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Games_Development.png","alias":"games-development"},"681":{"id":681,"title":"Software Architecture Design","description":" Software architecture refers to the fundamental structures of a software system and the discipline of creating such structures and systems. Each structure comprises software elements, relations among them, and properties of both elements and relations. The architecture of a software system is a metaphor, analogous to the architecture of a building. It functions as a blueprint for the system and the developing project, laying out the tasks necessary to be executed by the design teams.\r\nSoftware architecture is about making fundamental structural choices that are costly to change once implemented. Software architecture choices include specific structural options from possibilities in the design of the software. For example, the systems that controlled the Space Shuttle launch vehicle had the requirement of being very fast and very reliable. Therefore, an appropriate real-time computing language would need to be chosen. Additionally, to satisfy the need for reliability the choice could be made to have multiple redundant and independently produced copies of the program, and to run these copies on independent hardware while cross-checking results.\r\nDocumenting software architecture facilitates communication between stakeholders, captures early decisions about the high-level design, and allows the reuse of design components between projects.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is the scope of software architecture?</span>\r\nOpinions vary as to the scope of software architectures:\r\n<ul><li>Macroscopic system structure: this refers to architecture as a higher-level abstraction of a software system that consists of a collection of computational components together with connectors that describe the interaction between these components.</li><li>The important stuff—whatever that is: this refers to the fact that software architects should concern themselves with those decisions that have a high impact on the system and its stakeholders.</li><li>That is fundamental to understanding a system in its environment.</li><li>Things that people perceive as hard to change: since designing the architecture takes place at the beginning of a software system's lifecycle, the architect should focus on decisions that "have to" be right the first time. Following this line of thought, architectural design issues may become non-architectural once their irreversibility can be overcome.</li><li>A set of architectural design decisions: software architecture should not be considered merely a set of models or structures, but should include the decisions that lead to these particular structures, and the rationale behind them. This insight has led to substantial research into software architecture knowledge management.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the characteristics of software architecture?</span>\r\nSoftware architecture exhibits the following:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">A multitude of stakeholders:</span> software systems have to cater to a variety of stakeholders such as business managers, owners, users, and operators. These stakeholders all have their own concerns with respect to the system. Balancing these concerns and demonstrating that they are addressed is part of designing the system. This implies that architecture involves dealing with a broad variety of concerns and stakeholders, and has a multidisciplinary nature.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Separation of concerns:</span> the established way for architects to reduce complexity is to separate the concerns that drive the design. Architecture documentation shows that all stakeholder concerns are addressed by modeling and describing the architecture from separate points of view associated with the various stakeholder concerns. These separate descriptions are called architectural views.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Quality-driven:</span> classic software design approaches (e.g. Jackson Structured Programming) were driven by required functionality and the flow of data through the system, but the current insight is that the architecture of a software system is more closely related to its quality attributes such as fault-tolerance, backward compatibility, extensibility, reliability, maintainability, availability, security, usability, and other such –ilities. Stakeholder concerns often translate into requirements on these quality attributes, which are variously called non-functional requirements, extra-functional requirements, behavioral requirements, or quality attribute requirements.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Recurring styles:</span> like building architecture, the software architecture discipline has developed standard ways to address recurring concerns. These "standard ways" are called by various names at various levels of abstraction. Common terms for recurring solutions are architectural style, tactic, reference architecture and architectural pattern.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Conceptual integrity:</span> a term introduced by Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month to denote the idea that the architecture of a software system represents an overall vision of what it should do and how it should do it. This vision should be separated from its implementation. The architect assumes the role of "keeper of the vision", making sure that additions to the system are in line with the architecture, hence preserving conceptual integrity.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Cognitive constraints:</span> an observation first made in a 1967 paper by computer programmer Melvin Conway that organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations. As with conceptual integrity, it was Fred Brooks who introduced it to a wider audience when he cited the paper and the idea in his elegant classic The Mythical Man-Month, calling it "Conway's Law."\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the motivation of software architecture?</span>\r\nSoftware architecture is an "intellectually graspable" abstraction of a complex system. This abstraction provides a number of benefits:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It gives a basis for an analysis of software systems' behavior before the system has been built.</span> The ability to verify that a future software system fulfills its stakeholders' needs without actually having to build it represents substantial cost-saving and risk-mitigation. A number of techniques have been developed to perform such analyses, such as ATAM.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It provides a basis for the re-use of elements and decisions.</span> A complete software architecture or parts of it, like individual architectural strategies and decisions, can be re-used across multiple systems whose stakeholders require similar quality attributes or functionality, saving design costs and mitigating the risk of design mistakes.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It supports early design decisions that impact a system's development, deployment, and maintenance life.</span> Getting the early, high-impact decisions right is important to prevent schedule and budget overruns.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It facilitates communication with stakeholders, contributing to a system that better fulfills their needs.</span> Communicating about complex systems from the point of view of stakeholders helps them understand the consequences of their stated requirements and the design decisions based on them. Architecture gives the ability to communicate about design decisions before the system is implemented when they are still relatively easy to adapt.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It helps in risk management.</span> Software architecture helps to reduce risks and the chance of failure.</li><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">It enables cost reduction.</span> Software architecture is a means to manage risk and costs in complex IT projects.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Architecture_Design.png","alias":"software-architecture-design"},"685":{"id":685,"title":"Database Administration","description":" Database administration refers to the whole set of activities performed by a database administrator to ensure that a database is always available as needed. Other closely related tasks and roles are database security, database monitoring and troubleshooting, and planning for future growth.\r\nDatabase administration is an important function in any organization that is dependent on one or more databases.\r\nThe database administrator (DBA) is usually a dedicated role in the IT department for large organizations. However, many smaller companies that cannot afford a full-time DBA usually outsource or contract the role to a specialized vendor, or merge the role with another in the ICT department so that both are performed by one person.\r\nThe primary role of database administration is to ensure maximum up time for the database so that it is always available when needed. This will typically involve proactive periodic monitoring and troubleshooting. This in turn entails some technical skills on the part of the DBA. In addition to in-depth knowledge of the database in question, the DBA will also need knowledge and perhaps training in the platform (database engine and operating system) on which the database runs.\r\nA DBA is typically also responsible for other secondary, but still critically important, tasks and roles. Some of these include:\r\n<ul><li>Database Security: Ensuring that only authorized users have access to the database and fortifying it against any external, unauthorized access.</li><li>Database Tuning: Tweaking any of several parameters to optimize performance, such as server memory allocation, file fragmentation and disk usage.</li><li>Backup and Recovery: It is a DBA's role to ensure that the database has adequate backup and recovery procedures in place to recover from any accidental or deliberate loss of data.</li><li>Producing Reports from Queries: DBAs are frequently called upon to generate reports by writing queries, which are then run against the database.</li></ul>\r\nIt is clear from all the above that the database administration function requires technical training and years of experience. Some companies that offer commercial database products, such as Oracle DB and Microsoft's SQL Server, also offer certifications for their specific products. These industry certifications, such as Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) and Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA), go a long way toward assuring organizations that a DBA is indeed thoroughly trained on the product in question. Because most relational database products today use the SQL language, knowledge of SQL commands and syntax is also a valuable asset for today's DBAs.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data Resource Management</span>\r\nAccording to the Data Management Association (DAMA), data resource management is "the development and execution of architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an enterprise". Data Resource management may be thought of as a managerial activity that applies information system and other data management tools to the task of managing an organization’s data resource to meet a company’s business needs, and the information they provide to their shareholders. From the perspective of database design, it refers to the development and maintenance of data models to facilitate data sharing between different systems, particularly in a corporate context. Data Resource Management is also concerned with both data quality and compatibility between data models.\r\nSince the beginning of the information age, businesses need all types of data on their business activity. With each data created, when a business transaction is made, need data is created. With these data, new direction is needed that focuses on managing data as a critical resource of the organization to directly support its business activities. The data resource must be managed with the same intensity and formality that other critical resources are managed. Organizations must emphasize the information aspect of information technology, determine the data needed to support the business, and then use appropriate technology to build and maintain a high-quality data resource that provides that support.\r\nData resource quality is a measure of how well the organization's data resource supports the current and the future business information demand of the organization. The data resource cannot support just the current business information demand while sacrificing the future business information demand. It must support both the current and the future business information demand. The ultimate data resource quality is stability across changing business needs and changing technology.\r\nA corporate data resource must be developed within single, organization-wide common data architecture. A data architecture is the science and method of designing and constructing a data resource that is business driven, based on real-world objects and events as perceived by the organization, and implemented into appropriate operating environments. It is the overall structure of a data resource that provides a consistent foundation across organizational boundaries to provide easily identifiable, readily available, high-quality data to support the business information demand.\r\nThe common data architecture is a formal, comprehensive data architecture that provides a common context within which all data at an organization's disposal are understood and integrated. It is subject oriented, meaning that it is built from data subjects that represent business objects and business events in the real world that are of interest to the organization and about which data are captured and maintained.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Database_Administration.png","alias":"database-administration"},"687":{"id":687,"title":"Network Administration","description":" Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks. They organize, install, and support an organization’s computer systems, including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), network segments, intranets, and other data communication systems. Administrators manage an organization’s servers and desktop and mobile equipment. They ensure that email and data storage networks work properly. They also make sure that employees’ workstations are working efficiently and stay connected to the central computer network. In some cases, administrators help network architects design and analyze network models. They also participate in decisions about buying future hardware or software to upgrade their organization’s network. Some administrators provide technical support to computer users, and they also may supervise computer support specialists who help solve users’ problems.\r\nAs with many technical roles, network administrator positions require a breadth of technical knowledge and the ability to learn the intricacies of new networking and server software packages quickly. Within smaller organizations, the more senior role of a network engineer is sometimes attached to the responsibilities of the network administrator. It is common for smaller organizations to outsource this function.\r\nA computer network is a telecommunications network that allows computers to exchange data. In computer networks, networked computing devices exchange data with each other along with network links (data connections). The connections between nodes are established using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known computer network is the Internet.\r\nNetwork computer devices that originate, route and terminate the data are called network nodes. Nodes can include hosts such as personal computers, mobile phones, servers as well as networking hardware. Two such devices can be said to be networked together when one device is able to exchange information with the other device, whether or not they have a direct connection to each other.\r\nComputer networks differ in the transmission media used to carry their signals, the communications protocols to organize network traffic, the network's size, topology, and organizational intent. In most cases, communications protocols are layered on (i.e. work using) other more specific or more general communications protocols, except for the physical layer that directly deals with the transmission media.\r\nComputer networks support an enormous number of applications such as access to the World Wide Web, video, digital audio, shared use of application and storage servers, printers, and fax machines, and use of email and instant messaging applications as well as many others.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is a network administrator?</span>\r\nA network administrator is responsible for keeping an organization’s computer network up-to-date and operating as intended. Any company or organization that uses multiple computers or software platforms need a network admin to coordinate and connect the different systems. It seems simple enough—but there’s another common IT job title that may trip you up: systems administrator.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Is a network administrator the same thing as a systems administrator?</span>\r\nIn short — not really. But the lines can blur depending on the work environment. Careers in IT can sometimes take a page from the rules of Whose Line Is It, Anyway? — “Where the titles don’t matter and the duties are made up!” While that’s clearly a bit of an exaggeration, in many smaller organizations, the terms “network administrator” and “systems administrator” are often interchangeable as they cover the same tasks. That being said, the differences between network and systems administrators become much clearer in large organizations. The best way to differentiate between the two is to examine the type of work they do.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the job duties of network and systems administrators?</span>\r\nThe duties of a network administrator will vary considerably depending on the organization they work for. Some work as broad, jack-of-all-trades generalists who cover everything from hardware setup to troubleshooting servers while others have a much narrower focus.\r\nHere are some sample network and systems administrator job duties. In environments where the duties of network administrators and systems administrators are split and more clearly defined, the italicized duties align more with systems administrators:\r\n<ul><li>Configuring network hardware like servers, routers, and switches</li><li>Upgrading and repairing computer networks</li><li>Troubleshooting network issues</li><li>Assisting network architects with the design of network models</li><li>Deploying and updating software</li><li>Managing servers and their operating systems</li><li>Implementing security measures and basic testing</li><li>Managing cloud and physical network storage</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What skills or traits do the best network administrators possess?</span>\r\nObviously, network administration positions will require substantial technical competence, but there’s more to the job than just knowing your stuff. Here are a few of the most common nontechnical abilities that will benefit you as a network administrator:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Analyzing and critical thinking</span></span>\r\nNetwork admins need to explore and solve problems logically and consistently. “[The] ability to take the concepts you’ve learned in school and understand how they work and affect other concepts is the bread and butter of being a network administrator,” says Brad Meyer, systems administrator at TechnologyAdvice. Even if you don’t yet know the solution, he believes thinking critically will help you get there.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Time management</span></span>\r\nNetwork admins juggle several projects, people and problems simultaneously. This means it’s essential to be organized in the present and looking ahead to prepare for what’s coming next. It’s like spinning plates—with a little practice, a network admin can keep everything balanced.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Interpersonal skills</span></span>\r\nNetwork admins work with a range of people, from network engineers to help desk employees to end-users, explains IT consultant Eric Jeffery. He says bridging the gap between diverse groups of people requires patience and understanding.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">A drive to learn more</span></span>\r\nThe IT field is no stranger to change—and new technologies can put even well-established network admins behind the eight balls. This means the best network admins have a passion for learning as they adapt to changing tech demands. This desire to learn more is also important for the more mundane day-to-day work—inevitably you’ll encounter issues you’ve never seen before and the only solution is to start researching potential answers.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Network_Administration.png","alias":"network-administration"},"689":{"id":689,"title":"Amazon Web Services","description":"Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms to individuals, companies and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. In aggregate, these cloud computing web services provide a set of primitive, abstract technical infrastructure and distributed computing building blocks and tools. One of these services is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, which allows users to have at their disposal a virtual cluster of computers, available all the time, through the Internet. AWS's version of virtual computers emulate most of the attributes of a real computer including hardware (CPU(s) & GPU(s) for processing, local/RAM memory, hard-disk/SSD storage); a choice of operating systems; networking; and pre-loaded application software such as web servers, databases, CRM, etc.\r\nThe AWS technology is implemented at server farms throughout the world, and maintained by the Amazon subsidiary. Fees are based on a combination of usage, the hardware/OS/software/networking features chosen by the subscriber, required availability, redundancy, security, and service options. Subscribers can pay for a single virtual AWS computer, a dedicated physical computer, or clusters of either. As part of the subscription agreement, Amazon provides security for subscribers' system. AWS operates from many global geographical regions including 6 in North America.\r\nIn 2017, AWS comprised more than 90 services spanning a wide range including computing, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, mobile, developer tools, and tools for the Internet of Things. The most popular include Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). Most services are not exposed directly to end users, but instead offer functionality through APIs for developers to use in their applications. Amazon Web Services' offerings are accessed over HTTP, using the REST architectural style and SOAP protocol.\r\nAmazon markets AWS to subscribers as a way of obtaining large scale computing capacity more quickly and cheaply than building an actual physical server farm. All services are billed based on usage, but each service measures usage in varying ways. As of 2017, AWS owns a dominant 34% of all cloud (IaaS, PaaS) while the next three competitors Microsoft, Google, and IBM have 11%, 8%, 6% respectively according to Synergy Group.","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is "Amazon Web Services" (AWS)?</span>\r\nWith Amazon Web Services (AWS), organizations can flexibly deploy storage space and computing capacity into Amazon's data centers without having to maintain their own hardware. A big advantage is that the infrastructure covers all dimensions for cloud computing. Whether it's video sharing, high-resolution photos, print data, or text documents, AWS can deliver IT resources on-demand, over the Internet, at a cost-per-use basis. The service exists since 2006 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon Inc. The idea arose from the extensive experience with Amazon.com and the own need for platforms for web services in the cloud.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Cloud Computing?</span>\r\nCloud Computing is a service that gives you access to expert-managed technology resources. The platform in the cloud provides the infrastructure (eg computing power, storage space) that does not have to be installed and configured in contrast to the hardware you have purchased yourself. Cloud computing only pays for the resources that are used. For example, a web shop can increase its computing power in the Christmas business and book less in "weak" months.\r\nAccess is via the Internet or VPN. There are no ongoing investment costs after the initial setup, but resources such as Virtual servers, databases or storage services are charged only after they have been used.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where is my data on Amazon AWS?</span>\r\nThere are currently eight Amazon Data Centers (AWS Regions) in different regions of the world. For each Amazon AWS resource, only the customer can decide where to use or store it. German customers typically use the data center in Ireland, which is governed by European law.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How safe is my data on Amazon AWS?</span>\r\nThe customer data is stored in a highly secure infrastructure. Safety measures include, but are not limited to:\r\n<ul><li>Protection against DDos attacks (Distributed Denial of Service)</li><li>Defense against brute-force attacks on AWS accounts</li><li>Secure access: The access options are made via SSL.</li><li> Firewall: Output and access to the AWS data can be controlled.</li><li>Encrypted Data Storage: Data can be encrypted with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256.</li><li>Certifications: Regular security review by independent certifications that AWS has undergone.</li></ul>\r\nEach Amazon data center (AWS region) consists of at least one Availability Zone. Availability Zones are stand-alone sub-sites that have been designed to be isolated from faults in other Availability Zones (independent power and data supply). Certain AWS resources, such as Database Services (RDS) or Storage Services (S3) automatically replicate your data within the AWS region to the different Availability Zones.\r\nAmazon AWS has appropriate certifications such as ISO27001 and has implemented a comprehensive security concept for the operation of its data center.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Do I have to worry about hardware on Amazon AWS?</span>\r\nNo, all Amazon AWS resources are virtualized. Only Amazon takes care of the replacement and upgrade of hardware.\r\nNormally, you will not get anything out of defective hardware because defective storage media are exchanged by Amazon and since your data is stored multiple times redundantly, there is usually no problem either.\r\nIncidentally, if your chosen resources do not provide enough performance, you can easily get more CPU power from resources by just a few mouse clicks. You do not have to install anything new, just reboot your virtual machine or virtual database instance.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Amazon_Web_Services.png","alias":"amazon-web-services"},"691":{"id":691,"title":"UNIX Administration","description":" Unix was originally meant to be a convenient platform for programmers developing software to be run on it and on other systems, rather than for non-programmers. The system grew larger as the operating system started spreading in academic circles, and as users added their own tools to the system and shared them with colleagues.\r\nAt first, Unix was not designed to be portable or for multi-tasking. Later, Unix gradually gained portability, multi-tasking and multi-user capabilities in a time-sharing configuration. Unix systems are characterized by various concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; a hierarchical file system; treating devices and certain types of inter-process communication (IPC) as files; and the use of a large number of software tools, small programs that can be strung together through a command-line interpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic program that includes all of the same functionality. These concepts are collectively known as the "Unix philosophy". Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike summarize this in The Unix Programming Environment as "the idea that the power of a system comes more from the relationships among programs than from the programs themselves".\r\nIn an era when a standard computer consisted of a hard disk for storage and a data terminal for input and output (I/O), the Unix file model worked quite well, as I/O was generally linear. In the 1980s, non-blocking I/O and the set of inter-process communication mechanisms were augmented with Unix domain sockets, shared memory, message queues, and semaphores, as well as network sockets to support communication with other hosts. As graphical user interfaces developed, the file model proved inadequate to the task of handling asynchronous events such as those generated by a mouse.\r\nBy the early 1980s, users began seeing Unix as a potential universal operating system, suitable for computers of all sizes. The Unix environment and the client–server program model were essential elements in the development of the Internet and the reshaping of computing as centered in networks rather than in individual computers.\r\nBoth Unix and the C programming language were developed by AT&T and distributed to government and academic institutions, which led to both being ported to a wider variety of machine families than any other operating system.\r\nThe Unix operating system consists of many libraries and utilities along with the master control program, the kernel. The kernel provides services to start and stop programs, handles the file system and other common "low-level" tasks that most programs share, and schedules access to avoid conflicts when programs try to access the same resource or device simultaneously. To mediate such access, the kernel has special rights, reflected in the distinction of kernel space from user space, the latter being a priority realm where most application programs operate. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is Unix?</span>\r\nUnix is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, development starting in the 1970s at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others.\r\nInitially intended for use inside the Bell System, AT&T licensed Unix to outside parties in the late 1970s, leading to a variety of both academic and commercial Unix variants from vendors including University of California, Berkeley (BSD), Microsoft (Xenix), IBM (AIX), and Sun Microsystems (Solaris). In the early 1990s, AT&T sold its rights in Unix to Novell, which then sold its Unix business to the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) in 1995. The UNIX trademark passed to The Open Group, a neutral industry consortium, which allows the use of the mark for certified operating systems that comply with the Single UNIX Specification (SUS).\r\nUnix systems are characterized by a modular design that is sometimes called the "Unix philosophy": the operating system provides a set of simple tools that each performs a limited, well-defined function, with a unified filesystem (the Unix filesystem) as the main means of communication, and a shell scripting and command language (the Unix shell) to combine the tools to perform complex workflows. Unix distinguishes itself from its predecessors as the first portable operating system: almost the entire operating system is written in the C programming language, thus allowing Unix to reach numerous platforms.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of Unix?</span>\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Multitasking by making use of protected memory</span></span></li></ul>\r\nIt helps in multitasking with the help of a protected memory. There are a number of users present and each of these users will be able to run numerous different programs. These programs will not at all interfere with each other and will also not crash the system.\r\nWhen you need help with your assignments make sure that you take UNIX assignment help services from a recognized company.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">It has a virtual memory that is very efficient</span></span></li></ul>\r\nThis operating system also has a virtual memory that is highly efficient and so there are a number of programs that can run with a proper amount of the physical memory.\r\nIn case you get stuck in the middle of your homework then do take UNIX homework help from one of the best and the most recognized organizations.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Accesses control as well as security</span></span></li></ul>\r\nIt accesses both security as well as control. It is important that all the users are authenticated by a proper account as well as the password in order to make use of the system. All the files that are there are owned by certain accounts. It will be the owners who will decide as to whether the users will be able to access the account.\r\nTaking UNIX homework help from a renowned organization will certainly be a very good choice.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">It is a powerfully united file system</span></span></li></ul>\r\nUNIX is a file system that is very powerfully united and everything here is considered to be a file.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Lean kernel that will make use of the basics:</span></span></li></ul>\r\nIt is a lean kernel that will make use of the basics but will never interfere in case there is something unusual.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Portable operating system</span></span></li></ul>\r\nThey are also available in a number of machines and they also have an operating system that is portable.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Helps in proper development of the product</span></span></li></ul>\r\nThey are also optimized in a way so that the programs are properly developed.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_UNIX_Administration.png","alias":"unix-administration"},"693":{"id":693,"title":"Linux Administration","description":" Linux is an operating system or a kernel created by Linus Torvalds with other contributors. It was first released on September 17, 1991. The main advantage of Linux is that it is distributed under an open-source license means programmers can use the Linux Kernel to design their own custom operating systems. Most of Linux code is written in C Programming Language.\r\nSome of the most popular operating systems that use Linux as kernel are Debian, Knoppix, Ubuntu, and Fedora. Nevertheless, the list does not end here as there are thousands of operating systems based on Linux which offer a variety of functions to the users.\r\nSystem Administration has become a solid criterion for an organization and institute that requires a solid IT foundation. Hence, the need for efficient Linux administrators is the requirement of the time. The job profile might change from each organization as there may be added responsibilities and duties to the role. The main role of the Linux Systems Administrator is to manage the operations like install, observe the software and hardware systems and taking backup. And also have a good ability to describe an In-depth understanding of technical knowledge. Even freshman-level Professionals has great possibilities for the position of System Administrator with the yearly median salary is around INR 3 Lacs, salary increase with an increase in job experience.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is Linux?</span>\r\nLinux is the kernel of operating systems that look like and perform as well or better than the famous operating system from AT&T Bell Labs. Linus Torvalds and a loosely-knit team of volunteer hackers from across the Internet wrote (and still are writing) Linux from scratch. It has all of the features of a modern, fully-fledged operating system: true multitasking, threads, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared, copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, loadable device driver modules, video frame buffering, and TCP/IP networking.\r\nMost people, however, refer to the operating system kernel, system software, and application software, collectively, as "Linux,'' and that convention is used in this FAQ as well.\r\nLinux was written originally for 386/486/586-based PC's, using the hardware facilities of the 80386 processor family to implement its features. There are now many ports to other hardware platforms.\r\nThere are also Linux distributions specifically for mobile and handheld platforms. An API specification and developers kit for the Crusoe Smart Microprocessor developed by Transmeta Corporation is at <link http://www.transmeta.com/>http://www.transmeta.com/</link> The Linux kernel is distributed under the GNU General Public License.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Hardware Is Supported?</span>\r\nA minimal Linux installation requires a machine for which a port exists, at least 2Mb of RAM, and a single floppy drive. But to do anything even remotely useful, more RAM and disk space are needed.\r\nIntel CPU, PC-compatible machines require at least an 80386 processor to run the standard Linux kernel. Linux, including the X Window System GUI, runs on most current laptops.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the duties of a Linux Administrator?</span>\r\nSystem Administration has become a solid criterion for an organization and institute that requires a solid IT foundation. Hence, the need for efficient Linux administrators is the requirement of the time. The job profile might change from each organization as there may be added responsibilities and duties to the role. Below are some duties of a Linux Administrator:\r\n<ul><li>Maintain all internet requests inclusive to DNS, RADIUS, Apache, MySQL, PHP.</li><li>Taking regular back up of data, create new stored procedures and listing back-up is one of the duties.</li><li>Analyzing all error logs and fixing along with providing excellent customer support for Webhosting, ISP and LAN Customers on troubleshooting increased support troubles.</li><li>Communicating with the staff, vendors, and customers in a cultivated, professional manner at all times has to be one of his characteristics.</li><li>Enhance, maintain and creating the tools for the Linux environment and its users.</li><li>Detecting and solving the service problems ranging from disaster recovery to login problems.</li><li>Installing the necessary systems and security tools. Working with the Data Network Engineer and other personnel/departments to analyze hardware requirements and makes acquiring recommendations.</li><li>Troubleshoot, when the problem occurs in the server.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Linux_Administration.png","alias":"linux-administration"},"695":{"id":695,"title":"Windows Server Administration","description":"","materialsDescription":"","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Windows_Server_Administration.png","alias":"windows-server-administration"},"697":{"id":697,"title":"Backup Administration","description":" Nowadays, information, along with human capital, is the most valuable asset of every enterprise. The backup system administration is an integral part of data and IT system security structure. It is the backup process quality and method that determine whether in the case of a system failure or data loss it will be possible to maintain functionality and continuity of the enterprise’s operations. This is why careful creation of backup copies is so important.\r\nCreating backup copies may be burdensome and very expensive and time-consuming when you do it all by yourself. On the other hand, the automation of the process introduces a range of improvements, saves time and eliminate the risk of data loss. The copies are created automatically and are protected against interference by third parties. The network administrator is capable of remote backup system management, validity monitoring of created copies as well as retrieving lost information.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The need for backup: when will help out the backup scheme?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Data corruption</span>\r\nThe need to create a backup is most obvious in the case when your data may undergo damage - physical destruction or theft of the carrier, virus attack, accidental and/or illegal changes, etc.\r\nA working backup plan will allow you to return your data in the event of any failure or accident without the cost and complexity.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Copying information, creating mirrors</span>\r\nA less obvious option for using the backup scheme is to automatically create copies of data not for storage, but for use: cloning and mirroring databases, web sites, work projects, etc.\r\nThe backup scheme does not define what, where and why to copy - use backup as a cloning tool.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Test, training and debugging projects</span>\r\nA special case of data cloning is the creation of a copy of working information in order to debug, improve or study its processing system. You can create a copy of your website or database using the backup instructions to make and debug any changes.\r\nThe need for backing up training and debugging versions of information is all the more high because the changes you make often lead to data loss.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Backup_Administration.png","alias":"backup-administration"},"699":{"id":699,"title":"SAP Administration","description":" SAP Basis is the technical foundation that enables SAP applications to function. It consists of middleware programs and tools that support the interoperability and portability of SAP applications across systems and databases.\r\nSAP Basis is essentially the system administration platform for SAP environments from SAP R/3 through SAP S/4HANA. Its purpose is to make sure that all SAP systems in the environment run smoothly and consistently. Tasks SAP Basis handles include:\r\n<ul><li>making sure that all users have the proper access rights and can use the functions they need quickly;</li><li>installing and configuring all SAP systems and applications;</li><li>backing up and restoring data;</li><li>tuning performance and troubleshooting problems;</li><li>managing batch jobs;</li><li>configuring SAP's transportation management system (TMS);</li><li>managing transports;</li><li>running and managing background jobs;</li><li>installing and configuring printers and other devices;</li><li>setting up operation modes.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">The differences between SAP Basis and SAP ABAP</span>\r\nWhile SAP Basis is SAP's version of system administration, SAP ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is one of the two primary programming languages that are used to develop SAP applications (the other is Java). ABAP programs run on an SAP NetWeaver ABAP application server.\r\nIn many organizations, the line between SAP Basis administrators and ABAP developers is blurry. Some Basis administrators know ABAP and it's common for ABAP developers to know Basis. However, in most SAP organizations the competency areas of Basis and ABAP remain separate.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">SAP Basis jobs</span>\r\nA number of specific jobs for SAP Basis professionals are available, with titles that include SAP Basis Administrator, SAP Basis Consultant, SAP Basis application support specialist, SAP Basis architect, and SAP HANA Basis, consultant. An organization that uses SAP products may have its own titles and responsibilities for SAP Basis jobs.\r\nSAP Basis administrators are generally responsible for managing an SAP environment on a day-to-day basis. Their responsibilities typically include configuring, monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting the environment, as well as scheduling and running the TMS.\r\nSAP Basis consultants generally provide technical support and high-level leadership for SAP systems. This typically includes establishing standards and requirements, evaluating and directing enhancements or upgrades, implementing processes for performance monitoring, and system configuration, design, and implementation.\r\nSAP offers technical certifications for various levels of SAP Basis administration. These create benchmarks that allow Basis professionals to demonstrate expertise in various tasks or functional areas. SAP certification classes or courseware are available from SAP and other vendors, and certifications are usually achieved after passing an exam. Although SAP Basis certifications can be helpful in advancing careers for Basis professionals, they are not always mandatory for finding Basis jobs.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SAP_Administration.png","alias":"sap-administration"},"703":{"id":703,"title":"Website Administration","description":"Web administration is the practice of keeping a website running efficiently and securely. Responsibility for the website is managed by the website administrator or webmaster, whose job is to perform the many daily tasks required to maintain a website. Website administrators plan and perform website enhancements and manage website content. They build web pages, fix bugs, and perform system upgrades. Website administration also involves managing user accounts, web software, web servers, web security, log analysis, content, and more.\r\nSecurity is probably the most important part of web administration. If your web server is not secure, it can become a source for hackers to use to attack your customers directly, or bring down your site, or take even more malicious actions against your business.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Does a Website Administrator Do?</span>\r\nWebsite administrators, also known as webmasters, web developers or network and computer system administrators, are responsible for all aspects of keeping website content and design fresh, backed up, and fully functional. They typically work closely with clients to make sure they understand how they want their websites to look and function. Depending on their specific role, they may also be responsible for making sure local networks are functioning properly as well. The following chart provides an overview of the education, job outlook and average salaries in this field.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Website Administrator?</span>\r\nAlthough sometimes called upon to create websites, the main responsibility of administrators is to maintain, back up and update existing websites for organizations. A website administrator would be responsible for making sure the site's user interface is easy to understand and efficient. He would ensure that all websites are operating securely and at optimum speeds. Approval of the content and links within the website might be part of his job description, and he will be responsible for evaluating each website's analytics, such as user feedback and traffic.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Website_Administration.png","alias":"website-administration"},"705":{"id":705,"title":"SEO & SEM","description":"SEO is a key part of your digital marketing strategy and some knowledge is essential no matter what area of digital marketing you specialize in.\r\nSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the process by which search engines “crawl” content to see how effective it will be to attract traffic. Search engines will assess a number of things in a website (such as keywords, tags, and link titles) and rank it for its capacity to attract organic traffic based on a variety of factors.\r\nSearch Engine Marketing (SEM) is a descriptor that incorporates various types of paid search advertising. This is the type of thing that you’ll see as Google ad and usually ends up on the top of a page list. Usually, this has a to do with keyword placement and usage and that’s one reason why doing it well can require some extra knowledge and strategy.\r\nHow are SEO and SEM Complementary?\r\nSEO and SEM both rely heavily on keywords to drive traffic to business websites and web pages. Though the marketing techniques used for each are different, they are both focused on traffic flows and how these relate to marketing activities. People will use search engines to search for something that they’re looking for, and they’ll be able to find it by the organic results (SEO) or by the paid results (SEM).\r\nMost people search online before buying anything, so having a strong presence in search is crucial and using a strategic combination of both can boost your visibility in the long term.\r\nSEO is for organic traffic – so that’s unpaid or free listings, and SEM is for targeted ads that you pay for. They can be complementary but only if the website itself is SEO-friendly first, then SEM has a greater chance of being successful.\r\nSEO is the foundation for good SEM and when you have each set up properly, you have a better chance of getting high-quality traffic and improving conversion rates. Once you have an SEO-friendly site and sponsored ads that are targeted properly using the right keywords, you have more chance of showing up at the top of paid searches. But you have to have your SEO in place in order for Google to see you as a credible website.\r\nIf your website is on the newer side, you can prioritize your PPC campaign first as it can take a while for SEO rankings to become established, but don’t ignore your SEO during this process.<br /><br />","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is SEO?</span>\r\nSEO is essentially a component of the larger category, SEM. According to Google’s Knowledge Graph, search engine optimization is “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”\r\nThe SEO industry is continually changing due to the frequent changes made to Google’s algorithm. But, there is one aspect of SEO that stays constant: SEO is made up of On-Page and Off-Page activities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Components Does SEO Include?</span>\r\nAs stated above, SEO is comprised of two different activities:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">On-Page SEO</span> includes incorporating selective keyword naturally into title tags, meta descriptions, heading tags, alt text, etc.; blog posts and page copy that is written and optimized with quality; clean and formatting page URLS; optimized page load speed; Google authorship incorporated; social sharing integration within your content and much more.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Off-Page SEO</span> includes creating a high quality, natural backlink profile (aka having other high-quality/authoritative sites link to your site naturally); social sharing signals; social bookmarking (Stumbleupon, Reddit), and so on.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is search Engine Marketing (SEM)?</span>\r\nAccording to Wikipedia, “Search engine marketing is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimization and advertising.” SEM includes SEO tactics, as well as several other search marketing tactics.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Components Does SEM Include?</span>\r\nOther than search engine optimization, SEM includes the use of paid search, such as pay per click (PPC) listings and advertisements. Most of the time, SEM strictly includes PPC campaigns and activities, but if you use SEO and paid search, that falls under SEM efforts.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is the Main Difference Between SEO and SEM?</span>\r\nThe main difference between these two terms is that search engine optimization is simply a component of search engine marketing. As mentioned above, SEM includes components of paid search, such as PPC and also SMM (social media marketing).\r\nIt is important to note that you should never use the terms SEO and SEM interchangeably because although they work hand in hand, they are not the same term.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_SEO_SEM.png","alias":"seo-sem"},"707":{"id":707,"title":"Software Development Project Managements","description":" Software project management is an art and science of planning and leading software projects. It is a sub-discipline of project management in which software projects are planned, implemented, monitored and controlled.\r\nA software development process is concerned primarily with the production aspect of software development, as opposed to the technical aspect, such as software tools. These processes exist primarily for supporting the management of software development, and are generally skewed toward addressing business concerns. Many software development processes can be run in a similar way to general project management processes. Examples are:<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Interpersonal communication and conflict management and resolution.</span> Active, frequent and honest communication is the most important factor in increasing the likelihood of project success and mitigating problematic projects. The development team should seek end-user involvement and encourage user input in the development process. Not having users involved can lead to misinterpretation of requirements, insensitivity to changing customer needs, and unrealistic expectations on the part of the client. Software developers, users, project managers, customers and project sponsors need to communicate regularly and frequently. The information gained from these discussions allows the project team to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) and to act on that information to benefit from opportunities and to minimize threats. Even bad news may be good if it is communicated relatively early, because problems can be mitigated if they are not discovered too late. For example, casual conversation with users, team members, and other stakeholders may often surface potential problems sooner than formal meetings. All communications need to be intellectually honest and authentic, and regular, frequent, high quality criticism of development work is necessary, as long as it is provided in a calm, respectful, constructive, non-accusatory, non-angry fashion. Frequent casual communications between developers and end-users, and between project managers and clients, are necessary to keep the project relevant, useful and effective for the end-users, and within the bounds of what can be completed. Effective interpersonal communication and conflict management and resolution are the key to software project management. No methodology or process improvement strategy can overcome serious problems in communication or mismanagement of interpersonal conflict. Moreover, outcomes associated with such methodologies and process improvement strategies are enhanced with better communication. The communication must focus on whether the team understands the project charter and whether the team is making progress towards that goal. End-users, software developers and project managers must frequently ask the elementary, simple questions that help identify problems before they fester into near-disasters. While end-user participation, effective communication and teamwork are not sufficient, they are necessary to ensure a good outcome, and their absence will almost surely lead to a bad outcome.<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Risk management</span> is the process of measuring or assessing risk and then developing strategies to manage the risk. In general, the strategies employed include transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk. Risk management in software project management begins with the business case for starting the project, which includes a cost-benefit analysis as well as a list of fallback options for project failure, called a contingency plan.<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Requirements management</span> is the process of identifying, eliciting, documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. New or altered computer system Requirements management, which includes Requirements analysis, is an important part of the software engineering process; whereby business analysts or software developers identify the needs or requirements of a client; having identified these requirements they are then in a position to design a solution.<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Change management</span> is the process of identifying, documenting, analyzing, prioritizing and agreeing on changes to scope (project management) and then controlling changes and communicating to relevant stakeholders. Change impact analysis of new or altered scope, which includes Requirements analysis at the change level, is an important part of the software engineering process; whereby business analysts or software developers identify the altered needs or requirements of a client; having identified these requirements they are then in a position to re-design or modify a solution. Theoretically, each change can impact the timeline and budget of a software project, and therefore by definition must include risk-benefit analysis before approval.<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Software configuration management</span> is the process of identifying, and documenting the scope itself, which is the software product underway, including all sub-products and changes and enabling communication of these to relevant stakeholders. In general, the processes employed include version control, naming convention (programming), and software archival agreements.<br /><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Release management</span> is the process of identifying, documenting, prioritizing and agreeing on releases of software and then controlling the release schedule and communicating to relevant stakeholders. Most software projects have access to three software environments to which software can be released; Development, Test, and Production. In very large projects, where distributed teams need to integrate their work before releasing to users, there will often be more environments for testing, called unit testing, system testing, or integration testing, before release to User acceptance testing (UAT).\r\nAs a subdiscipline of project management, some regard the management of software development akin to the management of manufacturing, which can be performed by someone with management skills, but no programming skills. John C. Reynolds rebuts this view, and argues that software development is entirely design work, and compares a manager who cannot program to the managing editor of a newspaper who cannot write.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a software project?</span>\r\nA software development project is a complex undertaking by two or more persons within the boundaries of time, budget, and staff resources that produce new or enhanced computer code that adds significant business value to a new or existing business process.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does a software development project manager do?</span>\r\nA software project manager is the most important person inside a team who takes the overall responsibilities to manage the software projects and plays an important role in the successful completion of the projects. A project manager has to face many difficult situations to accomplish these works.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Development_Project_Managements.png","alias":"software-development-project-managements"},"709":{"id":709,"title":"Data Entry","description":" Data entry, a person-based process, is "one of the important basic" tasks needed when no machine-readable version of the information for planned computer-based analysis or processing is readily available.\r\nSometimes what is needed is "information about information (that) can be greater than the value of the information itself." It can also involve filling in required information which is then "data-entered" from what was written on the research document, such as the growth in available items in a category. This is a higher level of abstraction than Metadata, "information about data."\r\nData entry is often done with a keyboard and at times also using a mouse, although a manually-fed scanner may be involved.\r\nHistorically, devices lacking any pre-processing capabilities were used.\r\nKeypunching. Data entry using keypunches was related to the concept of Batch processing - there was no immediate feedback.\r\nComputer keyboards. Computer keyboards and online data-entry provide the ability to give feedback to the data entry clerk doing the work.\r\nNumeric keypads. The addition of numeric keypads to computer keyboards introduced quicker and often also the less error-prone entry of numeric data.\r\nComputer mouse. The use of a computer mouse, typically on a personal computer, opened up another option for doing data entry.\r\nTouch screens. Touch screens introduced even more options, including the ability to stand and do data entry, especially given "a proper height of work surface when performing data entry."","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does Data Entry mean?</span>\r\nData entry is the process of transcribing information into an electronic medium such as a computer or other electronic device. It can either be performed manually or automatically by using a machine or computer. Most data entry tasks are time consuming in nature, however data entry is considered a basic, necessary task for most organizations.\r\nData entry is considered a non–core process for most organizations and is usually performed on data forms such as spreadsheets, handwritten or scanned documents, audio or video. Addition, modification and deletion are the three modes of operation in data entry.\r\nData entry jobs do not require any special qualifications, knowledge or talent, and only require accuracy and fast turnaround. As such, data entry jobs are frequently outsourced in order to lower costs. Computers are also used in automated data entry, as they are highly accurate and can be programmed to fetch and transcribe data into the required medium.\r\nAccurately keyed data is the base upon which the organization can perform analyses and make plans.\r\nManual data entry often requires good concentration and focus over a long duration of time, and this can prove physically and mentally challenging for data entry workers.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Data_Entry.png","alias":"data-entry"},"713":{"id":713,"title":"IT Trainings","description":" IT Training is specific to the Information Technology (IT) industry, or to the skills necessary for performing information technology jobs. IT Training includes courses related to the application, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems.\r\nThe IT training market is segmented into six broad market segments. Based on TrainingIndustry.com research, these segments reflect how IT training companies focus their suite of offerings and from which areas they derive most of their revenue.\r\n<ul><li>IT Infrastructure Training focuses on building, sustaining, and managing technical infrastructure.</li><li>Programming and Database Training involves database construction and management, programming language, and similar areas.</li><li>Enterprise Business Applications Training involves software applications that manage organizations’ processes, such as ERP, CRM, call center management, automated billing systems, etc.</li><li>Desktop Applications Training focuses on how to use programs and applications for desktop users.</li><li>Certification Training includes certifications, compliance, exam preparation, or boot camp style training programs.</li><li>Cyber Security Training involves courses and training programs centered on IT network and system security.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IT Training?</span>\r\nThe organized activity aimed at imparting information and/or instructions to improve the recipient's performance or to help him or her attain a required level of knowledge or skill in the IT-sphere.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who is an information technology (IT) trainer?</span>\r\nInformation technology trainers may teach IT administrative support staff or an organization's non-technical business users how to operate, configure, and maintain new technology. Employed either in-house as part of the IT department or by a technology vendor, the information technology trainer helps a company get the most value from its investment in an IT solution.\r\nAn information technology degree helps IT professionals build a foundation for a technical training career. In addition, IT trainers must stay up to date with evolving technology. IT certification programs such as MCSE certification allow trainers to build expertise in specific vendor technologies and systems components. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, training and development specialists in all fields earned a mean annual salary of $55,310 in 2009. Software publishing was among the top-paying industries for trainers, with a salary of $71,960.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the target audience of IT Training?</span>\r\nStudents of IT training programs are predominately those who work in jobs related to computer science, network administration, information technology management, cloud computing, telecommunications, etc.\r\nGeneral business professionals and consumers who use IT applications, and computer and software products are other important audiences for IT training. IT training, more so than most other content segments of the training market, contains a substantial amount of business to consumer (B2C) training. Consumer training occurs when a student (or purchaser of a training program) completes the training on their own, without the recommendation, supervision, or support of an employer. This includes individuals aiming to improve their IT skill set or to gain certifications.\r\nThere is also a considerable amount of government spending in the IT training market, predominately in the area of cybersecurity.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Trainings.png","alias":"it-trainings"},"715":{"id":715,"title":"Business Training","description":"Business training is the most popular form of training. Business training helps employees acquire certain knowledge or skills. Through such training, they can achieve quality results in a short time.\r\nBusiness training helps to study:\r\n<ul><li>effective business negotiation methods;</li><li>organization of cohesive and highly effective teamwork; increase sales;</li><li>create the most optimal strategy for the organization and development of the company;</li><li>find your effective way to work in the company;</li><li>properly allocate your work resources and so on.</li></ul>\r\nBusiness training is divided into four main categories:\r\nTraining for people who want to start their own business. They help a person to set goals for their business correctly and identify the best ways to achieve them. It should be noted that such training will not tell where to get a million the next day. Organizational issues help everyone with this training. In all other respects, you will need to rely only on your own mind, perseverance and desire to make money.\r\nEffective management training is designed for work team leaders. They help the manager to solve the tasks facing him, to increase the motivation of the company's employees, effective personnel management, the use of effective models of leadership, etc.\r\nTraining is aimed at a flexible response in a specific situation. This is, in fact, crisis management. At such business training, managers help find flexible and innovative ways to solve specific problems.\r\nTraining aimed at developing certain business skills of an employee of the company. The themes of such business training can be completely different: effective sales, presentations, an organization of finances, etc.\r\nAlso, all business training is also divided into open and corporate. In open classes, general issues of effective work are addressed. Corporate training provides for the consideration of topics related exclusively to the specifics of a particular company.\r\nBusiness training is an opportunity in the shortest possible time to acquire the skills necessary for running a business. It can also give a significant impetus to the achievement of new life goals.","materialsDescription":" Here are five reasons why investing in employee training programs is good for your business.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">1. It helps attract and retain great talent.</span>\r\nBy training your staff through employee development programs, you might overcome major hurdles in the hiring process and employee retention that many organizations experience. For one, employees regard training initiatives as one way of improving their craft based on the premise that such programs are educational in nature.\r\nBy sponsoring sales training programs, for instance, your salespeople can gain new or additional insights to improve their selling skills as well as develop their self-confidence and positive attitude at work. Needless to say, your reputation as a good employer that cares about your employees' professional development will also be enhanced. As you help your employees further their skills and achieve personal growth, you create a goldmine of talent, which can give your business a market edge over competitors.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">2. It identifies which employees are worthy of promotion.</span>\r\nTrained employees can form your pool of candidates for possible future promotion as they have developed certain levels of competence over time. With this pool, you need not look further for qualified candidates for managerial or executive posts in your organization, which, incidentally, are best given to someone promoted from within the organization.\r\nAs these employees are highly familiar with the business operations and organizational structure, you can be certain that they understand and are capable of complementing the goals of the company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">3. It increases employees' level of engagement.</span>\r\nTraining your employees is a great way to take their mind off of their usual work for a short period of time. Employees who are not given opportunities to participate in other productive activities, such as those offered in training courses, are prone to become less motivated and happy at work.\r\nYour employees are also likely to be more loyal to your company, seeing that you are willing to expend resources for their attendance at conferences or enrollment in specialized courses. The bottom line is that your willingness to invest in your employees' training and development will likewise inspire them to invest as much hard work as they can into your business.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">4. It translates into savings for the company.</span>\r\nEmployees who receive good quality training emerge highly skilled, creative, and confident, thereby increasing their efficiency and usability at work. To put things in perspective, the most effective training programs are those that empower employees to become multiskilled – extending their skill set across various areas.\r\nIt then becomes easier for companies to tap employees with diversified skills in performing a variety of functions or in transitioning them to other related roles within the organization. In return, employees feel empowered having expanded roles and responsibilities in your organization.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">5. It helps shape the future of your organization.</span>\r\nAs you make employee training and development programs part of your organization, you will find the need to update your offerings continuously. You have to think ahead about how you should be designing or refining your training methods over the long term to make them more responsive to employees' needs, interests and goals.\r\nYou'll also need to make sure that your organization is abreast with the current trends in the industry and make an assessment whether they warrant a change in your business culture or brand of customer service, in which case, a new training framework should also be put in place.\r\nEmployee training and development should be a shared responsibility among employees, managers and the organization. When planned and implemented correctly and consistently, the benefits gained can spur considerable growth at both individual and organizational levels.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Business_Training.png","alias":"business-training"},"718":{"id":718,"title":"IT Consulting","description":" In management, information technology consulting (also called IT consulting, computer consultancy, business and technology services, computing consultancy, technology consulting, and IT advisory) as a field of activity focuses on advising organizations on how best to use information technology (IT) in achieving their business objectives.\r\nThe IT consulting industry can be viewed as a Four-tier system:\r\n<ul><li>Professional services firms which maintain large professional workforces and command high bill rates.</li><li>Staffing firms, which place technologists with businesses on a temporary basis, typically in response to employee absences, temporary skill shortages and technical projects.</li><li>Independent consultants, who are self-employed or who function as employees of staffing firms (for US tax purposes, employed on Form W-2), or as independent contractors in their own right (for US tax purposes, on "1099").</li><li>Information Technology security consultants</li></ul>\r\nThere are different reasons why consultants are called in:\r\n<ul><li>To gain external, objective advice and recommendations</li><li>To gain access to the consultants' specialized expertise</li><li>Temporary help during a one-time project where the hiring of a permanent employee(s) is not required or necessary</li><li>To outsource all or part of the IT services from a specific company.</li></ul>\r\nThere is a relatively unclear line between management consulting and IT consulting. There are sometimes overlaps between the two fields, but IT consultants often have degrees in computer science, electronics, technology, or management information systems while management consultants often have degrees in accounting, economics, Industrial Engineering, finance, or a generalized MBA (Masters in Business Administration).\r\nAccording to the Institute for Partner Education & Development, IT consultants' revenues come predominantly from design and planning based consulting with a mixture of IT and business consulting. This is different from a systems integrator in that you do not normally take title to product. Their value comes from their ability to integrate and support technologies as well as determining product and brands. ","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Who is an information technology (IT) consultant?</span>\r\nAn information technology consultant is a third-party service provider who is qualified to advise clients on the best use of IT to meet specific business requirements. IT consultants may work with a professional IT consultancy firm or as independent contractors. They may conduct a business needs assessment and develop an information systems solution that meets the organization's objectives.\r\nSome information technology consultants emphasize technical issues while others help organizations use IT to manage business processes. Still others specialize in a specific IT area such as information security.\r\nIT consultants need a deep knowledge of both business and information technology. A bachelor's degree in management information systems, computer science, or information science is the typical path into a technical consultancy career. IT certifications supplement this foundation with specialized technical training. Information technology degree and certification programs are available online to accommodate working IT professionals.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the prerequisites and major obstacles?</span>\r\nOnce a business owner defined the needs to take a business to the next level, a decision maker will define a scope, cost and a time-frame of the project. The role of the IT consultancy company is to support and nurture the company from the very beginning of the project until the end, and deliver the project not only in the scope, time and cost but also with complete customer satisfaction.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project scoping and planning</span></span>\r\nThe usual problem is that a business owner doesn't know the detail of what the project is going to deliver until it starts the process. In many cases, the incremental effort in some projects can lead to significant financial loss.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business process and system design</span></span>\r\nThe scope of a project is linked intimately to the proposed business processes and systems that the project is going to deliver. Regardless of whether the project is to launch a new product range or discontinue unprofitable parts of the business, the change will have some impact on business processes and systems. The documentation of your business processes and system requirements are as fundamental to project scoping as an architects plans would be to the costing and scoping of the construction of a building.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project management support</span></span>\r\nThe most successful business projects are always those that are driven by an employee who has the authority, vision and influence to drive the required changes in a business. It is highly unlikely that a business owner (decision maker or similar) will realize the changes unless one has one of these people in the employment. However, the project leadership role typically requires significant experience and skills which are not usually found within a company focused on day-to-day operations. Due to this requirement within more significant business change projects/programs, outside expertise is often sought from firms which can bring this specific skill set to the company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the skills of IT-consulting?</span>\r\nAn IT consultant needs to possess the following skills:\r\n<ul><li>Advisory skills</li><li>Technical skills</li><li>Business skills</li><li>Communication skills</li><li>Management skills</li><li>Advisory language skills</li><li>Business and management language skills</li><li>Technical language skills</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Consulting.png","alias":"it-consulting"},"721":{"id":721,"title":"Business Consulting","description":"Business consulting is a type of services related to the preparation of recommendations for the achievement of set goals in economic activity.\r\nBusiness consulting may include not only consulting support but also the implementation of management decisions. A business consultant is included in the search for the best, optimal ways of getting out of a situation that requires outsourcing support.\r\nExperts in the field of business consulting are attracted if companies need external evaluation for further development or to develop a short-term and long-term strategy.\r\nThe result of the work is consulting on business consulting, as well as the development and forecasting of the company-employer.\r\nAs part of business consulting, the following services are usually provided:\r\n<ul><li>drawing up business plans;</li><li>вrawing up marketing plans;</li><li>marketing consulting.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" Business consultants almost never use the word "problem"; instead, they talk about opportunities to enhance value. Ask any consultant what they do, and they'll likely say "I'm in the solutions business." Despite criticism that's sometimes leveled at business consultants, they truly can add value to your middle market company, but you need to know when and why to use them. There is a huge range of business issues that consultants can provide solutions for, and different types of consultants bring different ideas to the table.\r\nConsultants come in many forms. Most businesses are familiar with the "big four" audit firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG. These big-name firms are most likely out of a midmarket business's price range, which will lead midsized companies to work with smaller boutique firms and even individual experts for hire.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Types of Consultants:</span>\r\nBusiness consultants can generally add value in five major areas of your middle market business:\r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Management and strategy.</span> Qualified consultants should have a deep understanding of your particular market and bring the best practices from your industry (or even other industries) to your company. If you're looking to expand your markets geographically, extend your product portfolio, reorganize your middle market company to promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness, buy out a smaller competitor, or increase your overall capabilities, then hiring an experienced management/strategy consultant can make perfect sense. Firms such as McKinsey & Company are famous for helping clients develop and execute better strategies.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Operations.</span> Want to improve the quality and efficiency of your production processes? An operations consultant such as Accenture can help you create and implement a new way of doing just that. Some consultants specialize in business process re-engineering, meaning that they come in and map out your existing processes, analyze opportunities for reducing the number of steps in that process while maintaining quality, and re-engineer your processes in a way that reduces steps and costs. Other consultants are experts in quality control systems and can help you make changes that will reduce defects.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT.</span> This is a fast-growing area for consulting, as the demands of new technology are impacting middle market companies every day. Whether you need to develop a new system or integrate your old systems so that they work together, an IT consultant can help. IT consultants such as IBM will enhance your capabilities and also make your IT more flexible in meeting the dynamic needs of internal and external customers.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">HR.</span> Need to improve the overall satisfaction of your employees, recruit top talent, and retain your top performers? HR consultants such as Hay Group specialize in developing compensation strategies that align with your overall business goals, training, and developing your people in areas such as business communication and leadership. They can help you improve performance-related feedback and evaluation to your team, making your employees work smarter.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Marketing.</span> Whether you need a new logo for your company, a new market position for one of your brands, or a new social media strategy to interact with your customers, marketing consultants can help. Consultants such as The Boston Consulting Group can offer you a creative spark when your own people have run out of ideas, letting you see what other companies have done to attract more customers.</li></ol>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Reasons for Hiring a Consultant</span>\r\nNow that you know the major types of consultants, why would you need to hire one? Here are five common reasons:\r\n<ol><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Rent a brain.</span> You don't have the human resources you need because some internal person has quit or your head count has been slashed, so hiring a consultant for a project or on a temporary basis can fill the gap until a full-time internal person is found. You won't have to make a consultant a full-time employee, so breaking off the relationship is relatively easy and cost-effective.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Manage change (and take the heat).</span> Consultants are experts at fostering change in organizations, so if your midsized company is rife with internal squabbling concerning imminent changes, bringing in a consultant can break the logjam. Consultants know that they're often brought in for political cover and will shoulder blame for unpopular changes such as reducing head count and other cost-cutting measures.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Teach and implement best practices.</span> Consultants are often the leading experts in the fields they work in. They not only have academic and theoretical expertise, but they've also worked directly with leading companies to implement change. If you want best practices in areas such as IT and management, then consultants are the best source available. Why try to invent a best practice when consultants have already implemented some with multiple clients?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Infuse creativity.</span> Consultants have a fresh perspective on your business, so having an outsider come in and offer ideas can be tremendously helpful. Sometimes your in-house people are too close to your company and don't have the perspective to examine the bigger picture within your market, but consultants can share valuable insights that boost your internal creative thinking.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Deliver training.</span> You can hire a consultant to share knowledge about almost anything. Consultants are born trainers, so they're a natural choice to do a training course or day-long presentation for your company in almost any area. A good consultant blends theory and practice, and this can deliver high value to your midmarket company.</li></ol>\r\nConsultants can obviously be expensive, and you need to carefully weigh the costs and benefits. Only you know the particular needs of your midsized firm, but chances are that a consultant can help turn those needs into highly beneficial solutions.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Business_Consulting.png","alias":"business-consulting"},"725":{"id":725,"title":"IT Audit","description":"An information technology audit, or information systems audit, is an examination of the management controls within an Information technology (IT) infrastructure. The evaluation of obtained evidence determines if the information systems are safeguarding assets, maintaining data integrity, and operating effectively to achieve the organization's goals or objectives. These reviews may be performed in conjunction with a financial statement audit, internal audit, or other form of attestation engagement.\r\nIT audits are also known as automated data processing audits (ADP audits) and computer audits. They were formerly called electronic data processing audits (EDP audits).\r\nAn IT audit is different from a financial statement audit. While a financial audit's purpose is to evaluate whether the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, an entity's financial position, results of operations, and cash flows in conformity to standard accounting practices, the purposes of an IT audit is to evaluate the system's internal control design and effectiveness. This includes, but is not limited to, efficiency and security protocols, development processes, and IT governance or oversight. Installing controls are necessary but not sufficient to provide adequate security. People responsible for security must consider if the controls are installed as intended, if they are effective, or if any breach in security has occurred and if so, what actions can be done to prevent future breaches. These inquiries must be answered by independent and unbiased observers. These observers are performing the task of information systems auditing. In an Information Systems (IS) environment, an audit is an examination of information systems, their inputs, outputs, and processing.\r\nThe primary functions of an IT audit are to evaluate the systems that are in place to guard an organization's information. Specifically, information technology audits are used to evaluate the organization's ability to protect its information assets and to properly dispense information to authorized parties. The IT audit aims to evaluate the following:\r\nWill the organization's computer systems be available for the business at all times when required? (known as availability) Will the information in the systems be disclosed only to authorized users? (known as security and confidentiality) Will the information provided by the system always be accurate, reliable, and timely? (measures the integrity) In this way, the audit hopes to assess the risk to the company's valuable asset (its information) and establish methods of minimizing those risks. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Is an IT Audit?</span>\r\nIn the typical software audit, your system administrators will be asked to show that software is not illegally loaded onto machines it shouldn’t be on, that the number of licenses matches up with the number of users or, if you purchased a bulk license, that you don’t exceed the bounds of that license. One thing you definitely don’t want to happen is for an auditor to find that an employee has brought a home version of a software package and installed it on his or her work computer.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Do Auditors Want?</span>\r\nIn short, software auditors want to know that companies are following the rules with regard to software licenses. How much slack they’ll give you if they find a minor violation depends on several factors. If you can show your company makes a good-faith effort to stay on top of all software license requirements, it could act in your favor.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Should We Do to Prepare for an IT Audit?</span>\r\nIf you have a strong IT asset management program in place, preparation for an audit is far less stressful. When you can easily create reports showing the number of copies installed, the number of licenses, license expiration dates, and hardware where the software is installed, you can create those reports in advance and look for potential problems. If you notice discrepancies, you can take steps to correct them before the auditors arrive.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How Can We Do a Self-Audit Beforehand?</span>\r\nPerforming periodic self-audits is not just busywork, but could potentially save your company a lot of money and embarrassment. The three main steps in a self-audit are: reading the vendor’s contract, gathering purchase information, and getting an accurate count of how many licenses are deployed:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Read the Contract</span> – Understand license types and models, including maintenance requirements. Learn if there are limitations on where the software can or cannot be used. For example, are you allowed to use it on laptops that travel outside the US?</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Gather Purchase Information</span> – Know where to get your hands on purchase data. If you purchased from a reseller, make sure that the reseller passed on your purchase information to the vendor.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Get an Accurate License Deployment Count</span> – If your company has a solid IT asset management program, this shouldn’t be a challenge. Otherwise, you’ll need to manually locate receipts and serial numbers and match them up to the machines where the software is deployed.</li></ul>\r\nThe self-audit is much easier to do when you don’t have an actual audit staring you in the face.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Audit.png","alias":"it-audit"},"727":{"id":727,"title":"IT Security Audit","description":" A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">computer security audit</span> is a manual or systematic measurable technical assessment of a system or application. Manual assessments include interviewing staff, performing security vulnerability scans, reviewing application and operating system access controls, and analyzing physical access to the systems. Automated assessments, or CAAT's, include system generated audit reports or using software to monitor and report changes to files and settings on a system. Systems can include personal computers, servers, mainframes, network routers, switches.\r\nAt its root, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT security audit</span> includes two different assessments. The manual assessment occurs when an internal or external IT security audit companies interview employees, reviews access controls, analyzes physical access to hardware, and performs vulnerability scans. \r\nAudit, performed by IT security audit services or IT security audit software, analyzes individual technical infrastructure components at a detailed level, ensuring that each is functioning in a manner that reinforces appropriate information security. The stakes are made higher with a number of regulatory compliance requirements mandating that IT audits be included in organizational due diligence efforts. These reviews should occur, at a minimum, annually. Some organizations, however, prefer to do them more frequently.\r\nOrganizations should also review system-generated reports. Automated assessments not only incorporate that data, but also respond to software monitoring reports and changes to server and file settings.\r\nSecurity audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing are the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">three main types of security diagnostics. </span>Each of the three takes a different approach and may be best suited for a particular purpose. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Security audits</span> measure an information system's performance against a list of criteria. \r\nA <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">vulnerability assessment,</span> on the other hand, involves a comprehensive study of an entire information system, seeking potential security weaknesses. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Penetration testing</span> is a covert operation, in which a security expert tries a number of attacks to ascertain whether or not a system could withstand the same types of attacks from a malicious hacker. In penetration testing, the feigned attack can include anything a real attacker might try, such as social engineering. Each of the approaches has inherent strengths, and using two or more of them in conjunction may be the most effective approach of all.\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a security audit?</span></h1>\r\nA Security Audit is a process or event where the IT security policy or standards are used as a basis to determine the overall state of existing protection and to verify whether existing protection is being performed properly. It aims to determine whether the current environment is securely protected in accordance with the defined IT security policy.<br />Before performing a security assessment or audit, the organization should define the scope of the security audit, and the budget and duration allowed for the assessment/audit.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How often should a security audit be performed?</span></h1>\r\nA security audit only provides a snapshot of the vulnerabilities in a system at a particular point in time. As technology and the business environment changes, periodic and ongoing reviews will inevitably be required. Depending on the criticality of the business, a security audit might be conducted yearly, or every two years.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who should perform a security audit?</span></h1>\r\nA security audit is a complex task requiring skilled and experienced personnel; it must be planned carefully. To perform the audit an independent and trusted third party is recommended. This third party can be another group of in-house staff or an external audit team, dependent on the skills of the internal staff and the criticality/sensitivity of the information being audited.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Security_Audit.png","alias":"it-security-audit"},"731":{"id":731,"title":"IT Project Management","description":" IT project management is the process of planning, organizing and delineating responsibility for the completion of an organizations' specific information technology (IT) goals.\r\nIT project management includes overseeing projects for software development, hardware installations, network upgrades, cloud computing and virtualization rollouts, business analytics and data management projects and implementing IT services.\r\nIn addition to the normal problems that can cause a project to fail, factors that can negatively affect the success of an IT project include advances in technology during the project's execution, infrastructure changes that impact security and data management and unknown dependent relationships among hardware, software, network infrastructure and data. IT projects may also succumb to the first-time, first-use penalty which represents the total risk an organization assumes when implementing new technology for the first time. Because the technology hasn’t been implemented or used before in the organization, there are likely to be complications that will affect the project’s likelihood of success.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Project?</span>\r\nA Project is an initiative launched to create a unique product or service. A Project has a defined start date and a defined end date. The start date represents when the project will be launched. The end date specifies when the project will be completed.\r\nA Project is not a reoccurring activity; but rather is a single effort to produce something new.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Project Management?</span>\r\nProject Management is the collection and application of skills, knowledge, processes, and activities to meet a specific objective that may take the form of a product or service. Project Management is an integrated process of applying 5 major processes and their related activities throughout a project lifecycle: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and Controlling, Closeout.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a Project Management Methodology?</span>\r\nA Project Management Methodology is the overall approach (system) that will be followed to meet the project objectives.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the characteristics of a project?</span>\r\nA Project has three characteristics:\r\n<ul><li>Temporal nature (Is not ongoing and has a definite start and end date.)</li><li>Unique Deliverable (Produces a new unique product or service that does not exist.)</li><li>Progressive (Actions follow a sequence or pattern and progress over time.)</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who is responsible for the project?</span>\r\nThe Project Manager is directly responsible for the results of the project. He/She should use the necessary skills, knowledge, and tools to meet the project objectives. During the early phases of the project, the Project Manager, working with the project team, should be able to:\r\n<ul><li>Determine project goals and objectives</li><li>Determine assumptions and constraints</li><li>Define and validate product description</li><li>Determine project requirements</li><li>Define Project deliverables</li><li>Estimate and monitor project resource allocation</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Project_Management.png","alias":"it-project-management"}},"companyUrl":"https://oes-uk.com/","countryCodes":["GBR"],"certifications":[],"isSeller":true,"isSupplier":true,"isVendor":false,"presenterCodeLng":"","seo":{"title":"Office Equipment Systems","keywords":"","description":"Who we are OES is one of the Northwest’s premier IT, Web and Print solutions providers. For many years we have worked hard and earned a reputation for providing only the highest level of IT solutions and support into businesses, ranging from the small one-man ","og:title":"Office Equipment Systems","og:description":"Who we are OES is one of the Northwest’s premier IT, Web and Print solutions providers. 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