In consulting with so many clients, there are some things that just seem to be universal. One of those nearly universal truths, is the tendency for clients to mix and match or use the terms, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity interchangeably. While these two terms define activities that often parallel each other, they are in fact very different concepts. The confusion or mixing of the terms can lead to clients being misled, or even left at significant risk, due to improper planning.

Many were excited by the passing of Title XIII of ARRA, also known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). It was billed as providing up to $22 billion dollars for taxpayer money to, "advance the use of health information technology." What was not so well trumpeted during all of the excitement, were the massive increases in enforcement, penalties, the changing of the HIPAA enforcement responsibility from CMS to the Office of Civil Right and the extension of the HIPAA Rules to business associates of covered entities.

50% Bonus Depreciation in 2010 May Be A Great Deal For Your Business

Here is some important news for your budget planners, controllers, CFOs, CEOs, presidents and anyone else in charge of tax strategy at your firm. This information is provided to keep you abreast of changes in tax law and stimulus legislation that may impact your asset buying decisions. I suggest you talk to your tax advisor about how you can best take advantage of this legislation. You only have until 12/31/2010 to act.

Here is my understanding of what was signed today:

Today, I am doing a webinar for Ziff Davis and IBM. The subject is Smart IT Tool Management Strategies. As I was preparing the slides, I got to reflect on the evolution of network and server monitoring technologies over the past two decades. It has gone from very basic server and OS monitoring, over dial up lines that report to really simple text based consoles, to very sophisticated application and transaction monitoring that reports to complex graphical consoles.

Profit acquisition models for security integrators and resellers shifted years ago from selling hardware and software to value-added and managed security services.

Sun VARS: Hurd won't change Oracle's direct-sales focus Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director Published: 17 Sep 2010 E-Mail Print Some Hewlett-Packard VARs might follow former CEO Mark Hurd into the Oracle/Sun camp, saying he could moderate the company's direct-sales focus. [...]

An email snooping scandal at Google has prompted fierce criticism and has worried some enterprise users of its Google Apps service into silence. Google says it takes great pains to reassure customers that it has proper controls over sensitive email data.

Intel's acquisition today of security software vendor McAfee Inc. may create a stir for value-added resellers, according to some channel professionals.

Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has formed a volunteer group of the community’s top technology experts for the purpose of providing advice and consultation to the Department.  The Community Technology Advisory Council (CTAC) will assist in defining the future of technology within the department and identifying areas where improvement and efficiencies can be found. The CTAC is 100% independent and focused on technology and best practices that can improve efficiency and the department’s return on tax dollars invested while maintaining the overall security and reliability of the Systems. 

2010 may not be the year of desktop virtualization, but the technology is getting a lot more looks from business customers and broader adoption, VARs say.