Jenny Thomas
Jenny Thomas is the Publisher and Advertising Director for Guild Companies' IT Jungle newsletters. Thomas has 25 years of experience in the publishing industry and has worked as an editor and writer in several industries, including the IT and medical fields. Thomas has a bachelor's degree in journalism from San Diego State University.
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BYOD Brings New Challenges For Businesses
June 18, 2012 Jenny Thomas
In theory, the explosion of mobile computing devices like smartphones and tablets should be great for businesses around the globe. Employees are more connected to their jobs than ever before, and they are footing the bill for the privilege of using their personal devices. Why wouldn’t companies be jumping for joy at this new computing trend?
While business are adapting quickly to mobile-enable their IT infrastructures to meet the growing demand for mobile device use in the enterprise IT environment, a survey recently conducted by the analysts at Gartner found that this willingness to include personal mobile computing devices–meaning those
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IBM Serves Up Private Cloud At The 2012 French Open
June 11, 2012 Jenny Thomas
To fans of the 2012 French Open tennis tournament, cloud technology might be as interesting as a rain delay. But those same fans would be the first to go all John McEnroe on the closest computing device if they couldn’t access the real-time action or the latest data on their favorite player.
Fan interest in the French Open, which wrapped up on June 10, was anticipated to drive a visitor surge of 100 times normal traffic to the tournament Web site at www.rolandgarros.com, which is impressive on its own. Traffic on the Roland-Garros site has been growing consistently year-to-year,
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CEOs Say Get Connected Or Get Left Behind
June 4, 2012 Jenny Thomas
None of us have a crystal ball, but that doesn’t stop us from trying to predict the future. So what’s the best way to plan for what might be coming down the road? If you’re IBM, you start by asking 1,709 friends for their outlook on what lies ahead.
IBM recently conducted face-to-face interviews with just a shade over 1,700 CEOs, general managers, and senior public sector leaders from 64 countries in 18 industries around the globe. Big Blue wanted to know how these individuals are dealing with rapidly converging digital, social, and mobile technologies.
This convergence, aptly coined
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Double-Digit Growth For Supply Chain Management Software Sellers
May 21, 2012 Jenny Thomas
Despite uncertain economic times in most industries, IT related or not, there’s at least one group that’s got a reason to smile. According to a recent report from the analysts at Gartner, the worldwide supply chain management software market grew 12.3 percent in 2011, totaling out at a whopping $7.7 billion.
Just two years ago, IT Jungle reported on slumping sales in SCM software revenue, which hit a mere $6.2 billion in 2009. The jump in 2011 is actually the second year of double-digit growth for the SCM software market.
There wasn’t any shuffling for position amongst the top
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Connectria Adds Fourth Data Center And AIX Cloud
May 14, 2012 Jenny Thomas
For once, growing clouds aren’t a sign of gloomy days ahead. At least not for Connectria Hosting, which currently provides cloud computing, managed hosting, and custom hosting solutions to more than 1,000 customers in more than 30 countries worldwide.
IT Jungle recently reported on Connectria’s plans to host public and private IBM i clouds. Now comes news of the addition of a fourth data center at Connectria to accommodate growing demand.
The new data center will be located in a CyrusOne facility in Lewisville, Texas. The data center is a Tier 4 designated facility, which is the highest
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Get IBM i Work Management And Security Skills In Under A Week
May 7, 2012 Jenny Thomas
Just because the IBM i has been around awhile doesn’t mean there aren’t new operators coming to the platform in need of education on how to better utilize its power. And it’s probably safe to assume there are even a few experienced operators out there who could use a brush-up on the basics.
In today’s workplace, where budgets are tight and headcounts are small, employees often have to dive in and learn on the job. So when time and money can be made available for training, companies want to know their employees are coming back with skills that can be
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What’s Your Digital Personality?
April 23, 2012 Jenny Thomas
No, you haven’t accidentally clicked over to the results of the latest Teen Beat poll. IBM recently released the results of a survey that reveals an individual’s digital behavior, part of IBM’s continued effort to help its customers understand and capture the elusive and growing digital consumer.
You might be wondering how this news is relevant to the IBM i aficionados who rely on IT Jungle for all things i-related? So let’s go straight to the most interesting finding from this survey before we hash through the details and discover your digital personality: IBM’s Beyond Digital study discovered that the
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Businesses Optimistic About Second Quarter IT Hiring
April 16, 2012 Jenny Thomas
As the United States continues to push through these tough economic times, one of the often cited indicators of recovery, or lack thereof, is how many people are searching for jobs. Whether or not you believe the latest unemployment statistics, which are hanging a shade over 8 percent, there is a glimmer of good news for those looking for work in IT, at least according to the latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
While the numbers do indicate a slower pace than three months ago, the fact is RHT expects continued IT hiring in the
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Maxava iFoundation Renews Grant Funding For Second Year
April 9, 2012 Jenny Thomas
It is not hard to get a room full of IBM i advocates to agree that more needs to be done to support and promote their beloved platform. But agreeing on the best ways to further the IBM i community can result in heated debate. Rather than jump into the fray, IBM i high availability and disaster recovery software developer Maxava decided to give nonprofit groups the means to offer some solutions, in the form of cold hard cash.
Maxava launched the iFoundation in March 2011 with the mission of offering financial assistance to front-line, not-for-profit organizations in their work
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Smart IBM i Shops Get Connected. . . Devices, That Is
April 2, 2012 Jenny Thomas
Smart connected devices, which includes PCs, media tablets, and smartphones, are taking over the world. At least, that’s what I decided when I saw IDC reported more than 916 million units shipped and revenues surpassing $489 billion dollars in 2011 for these three classes of devices.
By now, most of us get it. You can’t escape smart devices, which are no longer a personal luxury, but becoming a common tool in schools and in the workplace. But let’s put things into perspective by looking at the numbers.
IDC combined the totals from its worldwide quarterly PC tracker, mobile phone tracker,