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The following is an excerpt from a 10-page special report, exclusive to ECT News Network, that looks at specific advantages of virtual infrastructure management and provides examples of ROI for companies adopting these solutions. The complete report is available as a free download to ECT News Network subscribers The process of deploying virtual mac...

Prior to the mid-1990s, the prospect of launching a globally minded company in rural America was, in a word, remote. However, times have changed. The Web now makes it possible for anyone to do business anywhere in the world. Small towns in America's heartland that have long been dependent on agribusiness, pine for tech-savvy companies that bring youth, energy and new economy revenue.

I am hearing from vendors that their on-premise CRM sales in the early part of this year are pretty good. No one has briefed me ahead of their earnings calls, but the results from late last year and Q1 seem to be pretty good I should probably wait until the numbers for the last quarter come out from the vendors, but I've seen enough to call an obv...

Last year, the buzz surrounding social networking concerned "data portability" -- giving Facebook and MySpace users, for example, an easy way to connect to one another without the need to create new profiles. That once-deafening buzz has now fallen silent, and the social networks are back working to corner more of the Web in exclusion of others "Fa...

Microsoft has launched a competition to develop applications on the Windows Mobile platform, part of the company's effort to follow other mobile operating system makers on the path toward a centralized storefront for all compatible mobile apps The prize: a Microsoft Surface, which is a tabletop multitouch computer with special software, all worth a...

It's easy to get lost in the cacophony of marketing and media hype surrounding Palm Pres, iPhones, app stores and the mobile Web. However, the low-cost, no-hassle prepaid phone market made some noise of its own Tuesday when Sprint announced it was buying Virgin Mobile USA for US$483 million The move brings together two of the better-known brands i...

In what may be a first-of-kind study, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute have concluded text messaging is just about the most deadly thing you can do behind the wheel of a car However, talking on a cellphone isn't that big a deal, the research suggests....

Keeping tabs on how other companies are adopting technologies and leveraging changes in the marketplace to push their business forward can be highly instructive. It's interesting to watch various trends take shape and gain momentum -- and there's no doubt that what's hot right now is social media marketing When Oprah devotes an entire show to Twitt...

In the past, businesses typically used lists of leads in a type of marketing strategy that Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid, refers to as "interruption marketing." The goal was to get in front of a potential customer, book an appointment, and sell the product However, that model is changing into "permission marketing," Port said, a term...

Despite the best efforts of the computer security industry, hackers are launching more attacks than ever. In turn, members of the industry are working together to combat the threat. In line with this, Microsoft on Monday unveiled some new tools at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Nev These include Microsoft Security Update Guide, Pro...

Telecom giant Verizon's second-quarter profits fell 21 percent from the same period last year, but much of the decline was attributable to charge-offs due to previous workforce reductions and deteriorating demand among business customers battered by the global recession, the company reported Monday The company announced plans to cut 8,000 more jobs...

Less than six weeks after announcing the BlackBerry 9630 Tour phone, Research In Motion (RIM) has released news on its latest product, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 The smartphone will be carried by T-Mobile, and it will be available on Aug. 5....

Once again, the CEO of a major American company has met an untimely -- and fake -- demise on the pages of CNN's iReport Web site -- and once again, the mischief-making Web site 4chan is suspected of being behind it all It's likely that excutive Randall Stephenson was selected as the cybervandalism target because his company, AT&T, reportedly denied...

With all the buzz surrounding netbooks, it seems as if they've been around forever. In reality, though, they're youngsters in the great scheme of things. As such, their characteristics are still in flux, their makers still casting about for the best mix of form and power. Acer, with the introduction of its Aspire One AO751h model, is advancing the netbook closer to that best mix.

Not surprisingly, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries -- and, to a lesser extent, biotech -- are waiting with great interest to see how the health insurance and care plan making its way through Congress will look in its final form. What many probably have not realized is that the companies that sell and market to these entities are just as interested -- and just as likely to have their business models impacted to some degree...

I live in Silicon Valley, and sometimes I wonder if someone's putting something in our water. For instance, one of our local folks, who evidently treated his agorophobia by playing "Resistance: Fall of Man,"has sued Sony for stealing money from him as a result of Sony's banning him from the game. Evidently, three warnings about his hostile online behavior weren't enough; he feels he has a right to behave badly and wants at least US$55,000. I think Sony would like him to buy an Xbox. There's plenty more weirdness where that came from, though, and I thought it would be a fun focus for this week's column...

Noting that more and more businesses are using Twitter to communicate with customers, the San Francisco social networking startup has launched a new sub-site to help companies learn strategies to leverage the service to their benefit Twitter101 provides a quick overview explaining what Twitter is, a guide to the service's sometimes impenetrable lin...

Just over a week after Apple cut off the Palm Pre's ability to sync with iTunes, Palm has restored that capability with an update to its webOS operating system In announcing the update on the Palm blog, Palm vice president of business products John Traynor was somewhat circumspect, focusing first on the platform's enhanced support for the enterpris...

As a child of the 1960s, I already knew that Walter Cronkite was the man who told us about the assassinations of two Kennedys and a King, the riots in the streets, the landing at Tranquility Base. Seeing the archival footage was deja vu for me; I watched most of all that as it happened, sprawled out kid-style on the floor of my living room, chin cradled in the palms of my hands, all less than three feet away from the TV screen despite my mom's warnings about the damage being done to my eyes.

Overstock.com is a retail site that, similar to Amazon.com, sells products in just about any consumer category, from clothes to electronics to home goods to furniture. Not surprisingly, it hid a major skid last fall when the U.S. economy went into seizure. "We were growing 27 percent through the first part of the year," CEO Patrick Byrne told the ...