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More Novell Cool Bloggers

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We will soon be welcoming a host more Novell technologists to our Cool Blogs community.

I’ll not steal their thunder; they can and will introduce themselves. We will have Jason Williams representing Open Enterprise Server, Ken Muir and Alex Evans for GroupWise followed by Volker Scheuber giving us the inside track on Novell Identity Manager.

In the run up to Novell BrainShare 2006 we will introduce more Novell insiders from across our business. Stay tuned!

Written at: Provo, UT

ZENworks at BrainShare 2006 – Birds of a Feather breakouts

Lightbulb

I wrote last week about BrainShare 2006 – just one week to go!

A new session introduced a few years ago is the ‘Birds of a Feather forum‘. This differs from the usual technical track in that rather than a Novell or partner subject matter expert giving a one or two hour presentation and demonstration – you run the session and decide the content.

A Novell moderator acts as a host, keeps the peace – and generally facilitates the discussion. Also in the session are several Novell and partner subject matter experts. The rest is entirely unscripted, unrehearsed – and very useful.

There are five BrainShare Birds of a Feather sessions for 2006 that directly cater to ZENworks:

BOF145 FORUM: Novell ZENworks Imaging Techniques, Tricks and Other Magic  
BOF146 FORUM: Novell GroupWise 7 Upgrades Using Novell ZENworks 7  
BOF245 FORUM: Novell ZENworks Engagements – Lessons Learned  
BOF246 FORUM: Architecting and Scaling Your Novell ZENworks Solution  
BOF247 FORUM: Desktop Configuration, Application, and Release Management  

My advice? Get them on your BrainShare Scheduler – it’s now live – and get there early. These sessions are usually standing room only.

Written at: Provo, UT

Novell Cool Blogs – first week

Novell Cool Blogs has been officially up and running for less than a week – but it’s working just great.

Slowly but surely Novell technologists from across the company are being introduced to blogging and let loose on the wider blogosphere.

Seems like I’m the only one posting on a daily basis – I’ve got a lot to post though 🙂 I must work out a way to slow down and spread out the load.

Security and Privacy – the non software part

Keys and Lock

Here is an interesting social experiment – can you resist not looking at a presentation being written on someone elses laptop screen?

Thought not; it’s human nature!

If I then asked you to list your top actions within the IT department for handling the barrage of regulations and laws that cover personal data and information – I’d not be surprised if you included a lot of Novell’s award winning solutions.

Novell Identity Manager, Secure Login, ZENworks, Novell iChain – and many others – play a vital part in securing data and workstations wherever your employees happen to be.

One thing that many people forget is that laptop users often work in public places. As an example I am writing this blog post at San Francisco International Airport. I’ve also been using my laptop on a flight in from London Heathrow this morning. On my flight across I saw presentations being written for many different industries – including those for Novell competitors and partners! One person on the flight was even writing annual performance reviews.

Not so good eh?

Written at: SFO, San Francisco, CA


The issue becomes more critical when you consider the privacy implications of HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, Data Protection Legislation – and others.

I saw about a dozen people using laptops – and not one person thought to consider the audience around them. [As a side note: I’ve not been working on confidential information on flights for about two years now for this very reason]

Several vendors make security screens – 3M have an advertising campaign right now – but there are many others available.

The moral of this story? Consider the ‘non technology’ aspects of a data security policy too!

Share your own best practices here; let me know your horror stories too.

Written at: SFO, San Francisco, CA

Edinburgh, Delays, Snow

I was due to travel from Edinburgh to London Heathrow this morning on the 6.30am flight – scheduled to arrive at London Heathrow at 8.00am

I heard from the people in the Novell Scotland office and a few others that heavy snow was forecast; I decided to travel down from Scotland early – “Just in case”.

Smart planning. Edinburgh Airport was closed for several hours this morning; flights started leaving at 9.30am. My scheduled flight arrived at London Heathrow at 11.30am – much later than my connecting flight to San Francisco.

Phew! I may have had a hectic Saturday travelling down to London – but at least I made my flight and I’ll be back home tonight.

Posted at: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA