You’ve been hearing about Web 2.0 technology in the enterprise for what seems like ages but are your peers really rushing to deploy Web 2.0 tools? The answer might surprise you: according to a Q3 2007 survey by Forrester Research, some 42 percent of businesses are not planning to invest in Web 2.0. Despite this fact, Forrester predicts that half of those businesses will change their mind and decide to invest in Web 2.0 tools–like blogs, wikis and social networking applications–by the end of the year. “The IT shops that began experimenting with enterprise Web 2.0 tools for their own use in 2007 — for tasks like help desk ticket resolution, standards and documentation tracking, and IT project management — will begin rolling out these tools more broadly to lines of business as they pass IT muster,” the report says. Will Web 2.0 tools really become business-critical or is this all just a bunch of warrant-less hype? Let us know what you think in the comments.

For more on Web 2.0 trends:
- see this Computerworld article

You might know a thing or two about writing good UNIX software but do you know how to stay productive? If not, you might want to apply the principles of UNIX development to your everyday life. “Reprogramming your personal workflow with a productivity system is a lot like programming computer software,” Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani writes, ”given a stream of incoming information and tasks, you set up holding spaces and logical rules for turning it all into action. ” Article

Until recently, extract, transform and load (ETL) was considered the most effective way to load information into a data warehouse. It was a method developed because data warehouses were not considered capable of handling the extensive processing required to perform the complex transformations. Third-party tools such as IBM’s WebSphere have been used to orchestrate the data movement. But now, there’s a newer technique called extract, load and transform (ELT) which moves data to an intermediate platform before passing it along to the data warehouse. ETL transfers data directly into a data warehouse infrastructure. We all know that data preservation is becoming more important for a variety of reasons. As business intelligence becomes part of your protocol, a vibrant data warehouse becomes an essential component of your business plan. Let us know how you are dealing with this issue and whether it is among the biggest challenges you face.

For more on data warehousing:
- See this SearchCIO article 

Thanks for submitting your inquiry. We will review your request and get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day! - IT Knowledge Hub Team

RFID is not dead. In fact, it’s very much alive. The technology is being used in many commercial sectors and many private companies are now trying it on for size. It may be that RFID got some bad publicity over the issues of privacy and security. But at the end of the day, this is a really neat technology that can help companies track their goods, create a streamlined supply chain and cut the cost of transferring goods from one place to another. We’re interested in your stories, too. Let us know how you are using RFID, whether you have had good luck or bad or if it has saved you money.

For more on RFID
- Check out this New York Times article