This week in ISM3004 we learned about advanced storage in computer systems. One particular system we learned about was the RAID1. I think this particular system is best for high security systems that contain sensitive information. The attributes of the RAID1 that make it the best for this scenario are if there is a single drive failure the RAID1 will not lose any data and continue working at full speed. This could be very important for a bank or similar type of business that uses software.
However, there are many types of RAID systems and each one caters to a particular type of system. For instance, the RAID5 is very common in network servers. I would imagine RAID5 is popular among large companies with many different computers that pull from one server or memory drive.
For businesses that are looking to store large amounts of data with low costs, the HSM enterprise storage is probably the best option. The net result is usually more total capacity and you spend less money on high performance disk systems.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
WEEK 13:CLEAR
This week in ISM3004 we learned about various computer functions including viruses, piracy, acceptable use policies and many other things. I enjoyed learning more about secure e-mail and the ways I could use it personally and in the business world.
I also read over the University of Florida's acceptable use policy and found it very interesting. E-mails on the surface seem like just simple messages from one person to another person, but they are complex. They are subject to Florida Public Records law. UF also does a great job of explicitly stating that chain mail, hate mail, spamming and virus hoaxing are illegal on UF's e-mail server. After four years at the university, I have seen less than 10 e-mails of this nature.
I also remember when people were phishing on the UF Webmail and UF cracked down on it right away, educating students to not give their password to anyone. These are all great things to have in the acceptable use policy.
I also read over the University of Florida's acceptable use policy and found it very interesting. E-mails on the surface seem like just simple messages from one person to another person, but they are complex. They are subject to Florida Public Records law. UF also does a great job of explicitly stating that chain mail, hate mail, spamming and virus hoaxing are illegal on UF's e-mail server. After four years at the university, I have seen less than 10 e-mails of this nature.
I also remember when people were phishing on the UF Webmail and UF cracked down on it right away, educating students to not give their password to anyone. These are all great things to have in the acceptable use policy.
Secure E-mail Project
This week in ISM3004 we had to use Microsoft Thunderbird to send e-mails that are electronically signed and encrypted. Several businesses use secure e-mail to exchange information and create business transactions over the Internet.
One of the businesses that does this is one of my favorites - Nike. In a Business Wire article, Nike announced that they purchased a worldwide license for its World Secure (TM) Server. By doing this, Nike was able to establish a "S/MIME Network" with its key trading partners in order to seamlessly and securely exchange proprietary and sensitive information over Internet e-mail.
I think this move to secure e-mail makes a lot of sense for Nike. I imagine they do so much business around the globe, especially China, and the best and fastest way to exchange business transactions is over secure e-mail. It is also interesting to note that his article was published in 1999 and it mentions how Nike can be a huge corporation setting the trend for secure e-mail in all businesses. I think it is very prevalent today in business, and I had to use it for my internship and sign things with PDF documents as well.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
WEEK 12: CLEAR
This week in ISM3004 I learned a lot about server hardware. This was a valuable learning experience because my previous summer internship I worked in a big office with tons of computers and technology gadgets, but I didn't understand how everything really worked together. These lectures gave me a better idea on how the office protects itself against power failures from lightning storms or circuit breaker trips.
I remember during one meeting we were "skyping" with the office in London in the conference room. The connection went out on one television screen but switched over to the adjacent television screen and the connection dropped. It is great how this technology can protect itself and reduce server administration paranoia.
There was a cluster of networks in the office with different computers connected to many different power supplies - a great therapy to prevent any shortages or losses of important data. I did have on experience where I thought I lost this information; however, when the IT person was called he was able to fix and retrieve it for me. That is how most of his time was used. User error is the greatest cause of lost data.
I remember during one meeting we were "skyping" with the office in London in the conference room. The connection went out on one television screen but switched over to the adjacent television screen and the connection dropped. It is great how this technology can protect itself and reduce server administration paranoia.
There was a cluster of networks in the office with different computers connected to many different power supplies - a great therapy to prevent any shortages or losses of important data. I did have on experience where I thought I lost this information; however, when the IT person was called he was able to fix and retrieve it for me. That is how most of his time was used. User error is the greatest cause of lost data.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
VoIP and Video Capture
VoIP was very easy to use and entertaining. Using Jing I was able to get screen captures and audio recording of my computer screen in a video. I had never used software like this before. I Skype every once and while. For this assignment, I called my brother as you can see in the video.
I hope you enjoy the video. You can watch it HERE.
I hope you enjoy the video. You can watch it HERE.
Monday, November 8, 2010
AVATAR
I just made an avatar of myself. Check it out here.
It looks similar to me with brown, spiked hair and green eyes. I love to play basketball, and I try and play 3-5 days a week. I used Meez to create my avatar. It was surprisingly simple and very interactive. The process starts with the basics of you picking your skin color, face, eye color and hair. Then there are tons of options to "purchase" (although its free because they give you the points) to get items to enhance your avatar and give your personal touch. There was a variety of looks, faces, hairstyles, clothes and accessories to choose from.
I decided to choose the basketball jersey, shorts, and shoes. I wanted to enhance it further so I found a basketball and got my finger spinning. Meez also lets you choose a background and you can find a great one easily by searching through the categories you want. To further the basketball theme, I went with an outdoor court in the city just like where I used to play growing up.
It looks similar to me with brown, spiked hair and green eyes. I love to play basketball, and I try and play 3-5 days a week. I used Meez to create my avatar. It was surprisingly simple and very interactive. The process starts with the basics of you picking your skin color, face, eye color and hair. Then there are tons of options to "purchase" (although its free because they give you the points) to get items to enhance your avatar and give your personal touch. There was a variety of looks, faces, hairstyles, clothes and accessories to choose from.
I decided to choose the basketball jersey, shorts, and shoes. I wanted to enhance it further so I found a basketball and got my finger spinning. Meez also lets you choose a background and you can find a great one easily by searching through the categories you want. To further the basketball theme, I went with an outdoor court in the city just like where I used to play growing up.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
WEEK 11: CLEAR
This week in ISM3004 we learned about system analysts and their role in some specific projects at the University of Florida and business in general. It was interesting to get a real life perspective from Christine Schoeff and what her UF project for instructor evaluations. She helped develop the program to create the instructor evaluations completely online so all students can easily do them, whether they are distance learning students in Man's Food or at a class here on campus.
I was really intrigued by the amount of human interaction and actual interpersonal communication skills needed to a successful system analyst. From planning all the way to the last part of the cycle, operations, support and security, there are large amounts of communication necessary with your team as well as outsiders affiliated with the project. The analyst needs to develop a solution or enhance a business model and this is done by speaking to lowest person on the company ladder to the senior executives. Communication skills here are a must because some employees may resist change when they don't see a problem.
The system analysts job is to watch and listen. I thought Shoeff's example of getting work done was great. She said she preferred to do 3% each day instead 50% during the week and 50% over the weekend. That way didn't put all her eggs in one basket in case something went wrong one day. You would never be able to bounce back from a 50% loss if that was the work schedule you chose.
I was really intrigued by the amount of human interaction and actual interpersonal communication skills needed to a successful system analyst. From planning all the way to the last part of the cycle, operations, support and security, there are large amounts of communication necessary with your team as well as outsiders affiliated with the project. The analyst needs to develop a solution or enhance a business model and this is done by speaking to lowest person on the company ladder to the senior executives. Communication skills here are a must because some employees may resist change when they don't see a problem.
The system analysts job is to watch and listen. I thought Shoeff's example of getting work done was great. She said she preferred to do 3% each day instead 50% during the week and 50% over the weekend. That way didn't put all her eggs in one basket in case something went wrong one day. You would never be able to bounce back from a 50% loss if that was the work schedule you chose.
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