During my last visit to NaSPA’s Milwaukee headquarters, we took another big step into the Web 2.0 world with the creation of our fi rst audio podcast. Our intent is to leverage this new medium to bring life to selected articles, interview industry leaders, or highlight YOU, a NaSPA member, in an interview. As always, our members are in the driver’s seat when it comes to new services or ways to deliver the “how-to” information you’ve grown to know and love NaSPA for over the years. In addition to being interesting drive time listening with your iPod or other portable media player, we hope this foray into podcasting will help
spread the word about NaSPA to the next generation of IT pros.  read more »

I’m in the mid-point of my latest visit to NaSPA headquarters here in Oak Creek, WI. As usual for these visits, the week has been packed from morning to night with planning sessions and updates with the great team here. However, in addition to the routine, this trip coincided with the 2007 kick-off meeting of the Windy City Chapter of NaSPA (http://windycity.NaSPA.com). Jerry Synoga, co-president of the chapter, invited Scott Sherer and myself to join the meeting.  read more »

Happy New Year!

Seems like it was just last week I was writing my first letter as NaSPA's second president, yet another year is history. Over the course of the last year, I've had the privilege to meet, talk, or just correspond with hundreds of NaSPA members from around the world. On behalf of the entire NaSPA team—thank you for all the support and encouragement you offered over the past year as NaSPA has undergone many changes from the website to the transformation of Technical Support magazine to its new digital format.

Congratulations, according to TIME magazine, You are the 2006 person of the year. Across the globe, the masses have been empowered to create content from blog posts, message boards, to podcasts or YouTube videos. Web 2.0 is here, and it’s all about content/"infotainment" created by and for you. And of course this revolution is powered by the scores of IT professionals who insure the myriad of servers, routers, switches, and firewalls that is the distribution infrastructure stay up and running. Kudos to all of you for making your contribution to this revolution!  read more »

Thanks to the combined efforts of the speakers, sponsors, staff, and most of all, to the NaSPA members who attended, NaSTEC 20 was a success!
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OK, I admit it--though I’m usually an “early adopter” when it comes to new technology and gadgets, I’ve only recently become the proud owner of an iPod. Along with the iPod came my first introduction to podcasts, and the wealth of information available in these programs.  For those of you unfamiliar with podcasts, despite the name, you don’t have to have an iPod to enjoy these 3- to 10-minute audio and video programs. All you need is a computer and a Web connection. When a NaSPA member introduced me to GeekBrief.Tv  (http://www.GeekBrief.Tv), by nominating it for one of NaSPA’s Technical Excellence awards; I found a refreshing new approach to the delivery of tech news. Admittedly I was hooked. NaSPA headquarters buzzed excitement recently when we had the opportunity to interview Cali Lewis, the “fearless leader” of the Geek Intelligence Agency and star of GeekBrief. Be sure to check out the interview with Cali on page 8.
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Last week, we introduced the Net Neutrality Issue. Legislation is pending in Congress that could impact the Internet as we know it.

According to some, telecommunication companies are trying to exert more control of the Internet and build their own private networks. Others are saying that the telecommunication companies are simply introducing more economic choices to the Internet marketplace.

Each side make convincing arguments on both sides of the issue. To help make sense of all this, I have listed the major groups that are pushing their side of the issue.

Below are links to the sites. I have included their opening statement on their web page along with some observations about each site. Net Neutrality is being looked from a bunch of different angles.

With football season upon us, it seems appropriate to do a “Team Line up�? of these different groups

After reading these points of view, feel free to drop us a line and give us your two cents. Enjoy reading the lineup.  read more »

Welcome to NaSPA’s IT Forum. In the August issue of Technical Support, NaSPA announced the launch of this forum. As Radi said in his August column - “..there isn’t a question for which an answer can’t be found on the Internet.� The recent explosion of blogs and social networks in cyberspace further prove this point. The challenge is that the answer we find may not always be the right answer. Forums like these might help.

Every once in a while an IT issue gets picked on the controversy radar and gets media attention. I have been noticing this with the “Net Neutrality� issue. Congress is working through telecommunications legislation that could have a lasting impact on the Internet World. We as systems professionals could be affected by this as well.

Summaries of Magazine Articles

Keep the Net Neutral - Scientific American (August 2006)

The editors of Scientific American have shown an interest in this public policy issue. They have a great summary. Their introduction spells out the Internet environment in its current form -  read more »

It’s incredible how the calendar seems to speed up with each passing year.  In many ways, it feels like the year has just started--yet, September is upon us.  Along with it comes the new school year, the new Fall TV schedule, and of course NaSTEC!  Have you registered yet?  I know, you’ve been meaning to register by visiting http://www.NaSPA.com/nastec and clicking the bright red “Register Now” button. So go ahead, now’s the time to make it happen!

From the start, NaSTEC 20 was designed to be a good conference full of technical education and networking opportunities in 3 tracks. But wait, there’s more! Thanks to partnerships with Midwest CMG and Splunk, NaSTEC now has 5 full tracks! Splunk is sponsoring a track combining a “debugging workshop” and roundtable discussions. Midwest CMG will be holding their fall meeting featuring an array of performance-oriented sessions on Friday, October 20 at NaSTEC! These partnerships are so new, that details on the tracks were not available at press time. So be sure to visit http://www.NaSPA.com/nastec for the latest developments. Both the “Windy City” (Chicago) and WASM (Wisconsin) chapters will be having “birds of a feather” sessions at NaSTEC for members interested in joining either chapter. Of course, NaSTEC 20, simply our greatest conference ever, is only possible thanks to the generous support of sponsors like CA, Cornerstone and Splunk. Be sure to checkout the “NaSTEC Conference Guide” in this issue starting on page 21, and be sure to bring it with you when you come to NaSTEC!  read more »

The "Dog Days of Summer"? have arrived, and at least in the US they seem to have struck with a particular vengeance this year. Throughout the country, everyone I’ve talked to has been complaining of unusually high temperatures. Even the San Francisco Bay Area, of which Mark Twain supposedly commented "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,"? has seen the mercury skyrocket to the low 100s!

So just what are the “Dog Days of Summer,” and where did that expression originate? After reading Bill Elder’s article “Blogging and Social Networking—Potential Tools for us as Network and Systems Professionals,” I decided to put [?link:http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] —the collaboratively maintained encyclopedia and one of a myriad of “Social Networking” tools—to the test. Sure enough there was a listing that defined the term as the following:

“The Dog Days or the dog days of summer are typically the hottest and most humid times of the year. They are a phenomenon of the northern hemisphere where they usually fall between July and early September but the actual days vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude and climate. Dog days can also define a time period or event that is very hot and/or stagnant. Also many religious cultures believe that dog days are holy.” (See the complete Wikipedia entry using this link: [?link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Days_of_Summer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Days_of_Summer])

Simply amazing that there isn’t a question for which an answer can’t be found on the Internet. Speaking of answers, Google even has an entry called: “the answer to life the universe and everything.” Answer: 42. (Go ahead, pop over to Google and paste that into the search box).  read more »

Hard to believe it’s July already!  As we reach mid-Summer, NaSPA headquarters is in high-gear as we continue to welcome over 1,000 new members a month to the association.  Welcome to all of the new members!

Even though it’s only mid-Summer, preparations for NaSTEC 20 scheduled for October 20-21 in Chicago, IL are well underway!  If you haven’t registered yet – now is the time to login to the NaSPA website and register for the conference. In addition to “hard core” technical sessions, this year’s conference emphasizes disaster recovery and business continuity planning.  NaSPA author Leo Wrobel will be presenting a “disaster recovery” primer: “Preparing for the next Disaster” and IBM will be reviewing “Business Continuity Basics” to help everyone prepare should disaster strike again. Check out the complete agenda at: http://www.NaSPA.com/nastec - and register today!  read more »

Introducing our new Disaster Recovery segment by noted DR expert Leo Wrobel. Our first international episode with "CICS 3.2 - Do you want it?" by Trevor Eddolls in the UK. Update on NaSPA Chapter development efforts, and our first "listener line" feedback!  read more »