The Game Changer

"Great Firewall" poses problems for U.S. firms in China
China's policy of censoring the Internet to keep citizens from accessing social networking sites such as Twitter and YouTube is adversely affecting U.S. commercial interests in the country, industry commentators say. According to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, almost 75% of businesses that responded to a survey have experienced a loss of efficiency due to network disruptions tied to the "Great Firewall" that filters traffic, and the problem is so acute that it has forced some companies to close up shop and move elsewhere. The Wall Street Journal (2/13)
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Emerging Tools

Pertino pioneers NaaS platform
Pertino has introduced a beta version of its network-as-a-service solution that allows end users to establish a secure, cloud-based wide-area networking link with an e-mail address and an Internet connection. The service -- which is optimized for mobile and virtual workforces and features a professional plan for $10 per user per month -- relies on the company's Cloud Network Engine to replace identifying device features, such as an IP address, with a single "personal address space" on the cloud. The Register (U.K.) (2/12), Network World (2/12)
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Security Update

Analyst: Cybersecurity order unlikely to aid software sales
Companies that develop and market cybersecurity solutions are unlikely to get a share-price bounce from President Barack Obama's cybersecurity executive order, according to an investor note by Citigroup software analyst Walter Pritchard that brought cybersecurity shares down Wednesday. "While well intentioned, [government efforts] have generally had little impact on spending on IT security products and we believe this will be the case again here," Pritchard wrote. MarketWatch (2/13)
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Tech Business

U.S. firms lag on BYOD rights management
U.S. businesses are more likely than employers in other countries to focus their bring-your-own-device strategies on employees' hardware than on the users themselves, according to a survey released by Dell. The survey finds firms in other countries tend to favor digital rights management over device-level access management. Less than a third of polled executives in the U.S. based rights access on the user, compared with more than 60% in Singapore. Computerworld (2/13)
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Managing IT

Businesses benefit from leadership commitment to IT, survey finds
Companies that invest heavily in next-generation IT solutions are more nimble and robust than similar firms where cloud, mobility and collaboration tools are less ingrained, according to a survey by AT&T and international business school INSEAD. The poll of 225 tech executives found that companies where business leaders express a strong commitment to advancing mobility solutions are more than twice as flexible as those with less engaged management, while heavy investment in the cloud can significantly improve organizational agility. CIOInsight.com (2/12)
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Manage your talent like a sports team, says former Tyco CEO
Successful sports teams usually have a balanced roster of committed and talented players, says former Tyco International CEO Edward Breen. That's the same approach leaders should take in running their companies, Breen explains. "There's no one individual going to make a company. So I always want to put people around me who I think are better than me, who will challenge me," he says. Knowledge@Wharton (2/13)
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Geeking Out

Dogs may grasp how people think, study suggests
Dogs in a recent study demonstrated flexible thinking, which would allow them to understand a human's perspective, according to researcher Juliane Kaminski from the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. In the study of 84 dogs, animals were four times more likely to eat food they had been ordered to stay away from when the lights were turned off, even though the owner was still in the room. Kaminski said the findings mean dogs understood that their owners couldn't see them when the lights were off. BBC (2/11)
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SmartQuote

There's clearly a direct link between specific technology investments and improved organizational performance when these investments are made carefully." -- Theodoros Evgeniou, associate professor of decision sciences and technology management at INSEAD, as quoted by CIOInsight.com Share: