February 28, 2003 (Computerworld) --
The official activation dates for the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the nation's first Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) are fast approaching. But experts warn that true enterprise integration is many months, if not years, in the future. The new DHS will be legally activated tomorrow, marking the initial reassignment of various federal security agencies to the new organization. Likewise, by May 1, the director of Central Intelligence must have in place the TTIC, a joint information-sharing effort by the CIA, the FBI, the DHS and the State Department initiated by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address. While most security and IT experts say neither of these efforts is technologically impossible, all agree that issues of policy, process, privacy and security will pose the greatest challenge to true enterprise integration. "Everybody says this is an extraordinary task, it's a difficult task, it can't be done," Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said on Tuesday. "We understand that as we merge some of these different units together, we have to have a sensitivity as to how business was conducted in the past ... as we work together to do a better job and build even more capacity. ... But we understand that tradition, we understand that history, we understand that culture." The central debate revolving around the integration of these critical organizations will be deciding between two competing IT architectural approaches, said William McKnight, president of McKnight Associates Inc., a Dallas-based data warehousing and customer relationship management consulting firm. "There is an enterprise data warehouse approach [under consideration], and then there is a federated type approach," said McKnight. "I think ultimately there will have to be some combination of both in a final solution for something of this magnitude." In an enterprise data warehouse approach, multiple databases would feed data into a single database where data would conform to a common standard and be cleansed, integrated and available in a single instance. "Sometimes, however, this approach gets a black eye," said McKnight, explaining that those who implement it often try to do too much at one time. "The first iteration proves the architecture. Then you get a solid tool set and get the processes in place. And then you add data sources over the course of time. The reality is that you never get to an end state; you keep going." He said, however, that elements of a federated data mart approach might be useful to the homeland security effort. "There may be certain data that is not pertinent to the effort as a whole and does not need to flow into the central
"TITLE="IT Blogwatch", where we watch Target pay handsomely for its "failure" to make its Web site work for blind people...."
Read more...
"Gartner Inc. has issued a press release with the headline "Gartner Says Enterprises Must Anticipate How Societal Trends Will Impact..."
Read more... Read more Government & Regulation posts or See all Blogs
Netbooks, ultraportables, mini-notebooks whatever you call them, they've been grabbing headlines. Are they here for the long term or just a flash in the pan?
Computerworld Executive Briefing: The Compliance Era
Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign. The new Computerworld report, The Compliance Era, explains why regulatory compliance has zoomed to the top of the IT agenda and shows how real-world IT executives are dealing with the storage, security and privacy challenges. Get this briefing free (a $195 value), for a limited time, courtesy of VeriSign. Download this executive briefing
From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center
From Laggard to Leader: Transforming the Data Center Register for this complimentary live webcast today! Go to the webcast
Qualified Security Assessors are not created equal
Download this whitepaper, free for a limited time, compliments of VeriSign! (Source: VeriSign) Learn how a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) can help you acheive full compliance and security in this white paper, presented by VeriSign and Computerworld. Download this white paper
White Papers
Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services.
Eliminate SPAM, Gain Productivity Learn all about the dangers and the costs of spam in all its forms – from stock-touting to spreadsheet. Also, understand the drawbacks of traditional hardware- and software-based defenses – and the unique benefits of MessageLabs multi-layered, managed Anti-Spam solution; as illustrated by a real-world case study where MessageLabs stopped spam cold.
Download this white paper now! See more Whitepapers
The Spy Files For Congress to do anything that helps protect consumers and the critical Internet infrastructure as a whole, it must pass laws that require proactive processes to protect computers, not that tell people how to deal with the resulting mess, says Ira Winkler.
Customer Satisfaction with Email Archiving Systems Osterman Research conducted a primary survey asking organizations about a variety of archiving systems to understand the level of satisfaction that customers of Sunbelt Exchange Archiver (SEA) and other email archiving offerings report on a variety of metrics related to product and vendor performance. Download this white paper now!