CIOs Protect IT From Lawyers ...

Computerworld - ... with a clever tool that helps your software understand legalese. With Oblicore Guarantee ESP, shipping today, IT managers can get extra insurance that their organizations are complying with the nitty-gritty details of service-level agreements. According to Hal Steger, vice president of worldwide marketing at Oblicore Inc. in Columbia, Md., by using the SLA Language of Modeling, or Slalom, a contract's blizzard of prose is rendered into easy-to-define, programmable service-level objects (SLO) that are then linked to specific IT operations. Users get a slick dashboard view of the state of SLA compliance. If something appears out of whack, you click on a problem area and discover how severe the penalty will be for blowing the SLA. Because the software integrates with tools like Tivoli and Unicenter, you can discover the source of the operational problem of any SLO in jeopardy. Depending on how precarious your SLA is, Oblicore could keep you off many a slippery slope. Pricing starts at $175,000.
Disk Defragger Strikes Chord ...

Gibson's Les Paul Indian Guitar

... with Gibson Guitar Corp. John Kindt, senior network engineer at the famous Nashville guitar maker, says he has installed the latest version of PerfectDisk, disk defragmentation software from Raxco Software Inc. in Gaithersburg, Md., on his Microsoft SQL Server and Exchange systems for 1,500 users spread across the globe. Prior to PerfectDisk, Kindt used Microsoft Corp.'s tools to trim the number of file fragments, but he still suffered performance problems, especially with e-mail, which he calls "our most important app." He says the defragging tool solved the performance problem caused by files strewn hither and yon. He also appreciates the advanced scheduling features of PerfectDisk, which he says he didn't find in other products. Raxco CEO Bob Nolan points out that everyday use of software disperses file fragments across a disk, but PerfectDisk creates a logical view of file locations for the file system, which greatly improves disk performance. He says applications like Lotus Notes, digital video and CAD applications are particularly susceptible to file fragmentation. Kindt says the tool's user interface is "functional" but could be improved, which Nolan says will happen with the next release in Q4. Before volume discounts, per-server pricing for PerfectDisk 6.0 starts at $249; it's $44 for PCs.

Map Web Services Dependencies ...
... to create a view like the London Underground of your Web services application world. That's what you'll be able to do when Web services management tool AmberPoint 4.3 ships in August, claims vice president of marketing Ed Horst at AmberPoint