Greg Wallace

Let's play word association. I say "Web Hosting." I bet "fat margins" didn't jump into your head. More likely, you thought of some of the "where are they nows" of the bubble, like Exodus and PSINet. Let's do another round - I say "New York City," and I'd wager that "cheap rent" wasn't the first thing you thought of, either. So it may surprise you to learn that one hosting company that's been around since 1993 and that's actually making money, Logicworks (www.logicworks.net), just happens to be based in New York City. What's their secret? Talk to CEO, Carter Burden, and he'll tell you that they have low customer turnover because of their superb support, and that this also allows them to earn a modest price premium over the competition. One customer raves: "I have been a c... (more)

Open Source: Changing the Enterprise Software Supply Chain for Good

The open source software development model clearly represents a profound and fundamental change from traditional, proprietary development models. In the proprietary world, a software company invests massive dollars in development, sales, and marketing. They recoup their investment in license fees, which have strict provisions regarding redistribution of the product (you can't), accessing ... (more)

Who Should Be Behind a Linux "Get the Facts" Campaign

If you do business around Microsoft products, it's obvious where you go for answers on the benefits of their products - Microsoft. However, if you're looking for this kind of information about Linux, where do you go? IBM, Red Hat, Novell, Sun, or all of the above? I believe there's a need for a collective resource for the Linux business case. If you go to www.microsoft.com, and select Win... (more)

Configuration Management Tools Can Ease the Migration From Microsoft to Linux

Here's a scenario. Among the systems administrators (SAs) in your company, you're the exception, not the rule. You cut your teeth on Unix, you keep up your Unix skills, and you still favor Unix in many respects. But you're also a pragmatist, and probably a parent with mouths to feed, so as Microsoft has become more and more prevalent on the server side of the network, you have added to yo... (more)

IT Security Spending: It's Like Meeting Your In-laws

Here's an understatement: security has been pretty front and center lately. When was the last time the "S" word hasn't been somewhere on the cover of at least one of the weekly IT magazines? All this focus on security may have left some sys admins feeling a tad like Greg Fokker in the movie "Meet the Parents." For those who haven't seen it, here's the plot. Greg is in love with Pam, and h... (more)