Scope

This first article in the series will explain the basics of the COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language) programming language. If you have no previous coding experience, COBOL is a good way to get started. If you do have coding experience, COBOL will probably be easy to learn.
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Virtualization is already considered a mainstream technology among IT professionals. According to Forrester Research, within the past two years, the number of enterprises and small- and mid-size businesses in North America using virtualization has increased from 29 to 40 percent.  read more »

A mesh network is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes.1 Using that definition, the Internet is a giant mesh network. We will focus on more modest-sized wireless mesh networks in this article.  read more »

Botnets, just another threat, same as the last one with a different name, right? Actually, no. These threats are different in ways that affect how a technical support team should respond. This article will provide a brief overview of botnets and describe a response method for tech support. The article does not cover detection methods.  read more »

As Steve Wozniak has been to personal computers, so was Arthur Andrew Collins before him, to ham radio. Using crude materials largely created for other purposes (a cylindrical oatmeal box, a lump of coal, a glass rod from a towel rack, a coil from a Model T), he and his childhood friend
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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a way to identify goods, components and even people via smart tags that emit radio signals and that don't require direct scanning as in a bar code. A growing range of applications are being developed to harness this technology and tie it in to enterprise management systems in order to accelerate and streamline business processes.  read more »

Data center cooling used to be a simple affair. You put a couple of computer room AC (CRAC) units against the wall, hook them up to the building chiller system and blast cold air under the floor. By having the racks arranged in alternate hot aisles and cold aisles with perforated tiles on the cold aisle floor, the cool air is sent up to the front of the racks to keep them cool.  read more »

Scope

We're going to look at the process of creating a Web site from scratch. We'll cover the things you should plan and do to create a commercial "show and tell" site. When we're done, you should be able to do a lot of the legwork of designing the site yourself before calling in a Web site specialist. After all, his time is your money.  read more »

Last month, we talked about the basic structure, and some of the general details, of the TSO Broadcast Dataset, which used to exclusively be called SYS1.BRODCAST. The Broadcast Dataset is part of the "messaging facility" which belongs to TSO under MVS, and it has been around (as SYS1.BRODCAST) since the MVT times, long before MVS was given its name.  read more »

It is great to have NaSPA articles published online. This gives readers the opportunity to provide instant feedback and interact with others online.  read more »

Year after year, technology and market conditions accelerate and IT finds itself scrambling to stay on top of project loads. Proactive strategizing helps to anticipate rapidly changing technologies and business conditions--but it also helps to determine where trends are likely to accelerate fastest.  read more »

Retraining Your Organization's IT Department to Make Faster, Better Decisions about Modernization Projects

"Modernization" is a hot word in the IT world today. Analysts, IT experts and companies are talking or writing about it. What is causing this sudden buzz around legacy system modernization?  read more »

A few months ago we touched on satellite communications in an article on wireless communications. Given the recent rash of "mega disasters" however, when for all practical purposes the communications infrastructure in the affected area ceases to exist, a refresher of this technology is in order.  read more »