My Grandmother always told me that a lucky person can count the really good friends they have on one hand, but a small amount of good friends far outweigh having many acquaintances. That was proven to me once again this weekend.  Ever since before I had my 2 sons, I had dreams of taking my children to both a Pittsburgh Steeler game and a NY Yankee game. Last year I had a chance to take Landon and Bradley to Pittsburgh and see a Steeler game.  With this being the last year for the old Yankee Stadium, I wanted to take the boys to see the Yankees at home and in the old stadium. 

Getting tickets to a game at Yankee Stadium is not cheap.  In looking around StubHub, for a hundred bucks a ticket (which is all I was willing to pay), the best I was going to do was out in the bleachers somewhere. But I figured it was better than nothing and was going to go for it.  That was when I called my best buddy from college Tyler to see if he wanted to go with us.  Tyler still lives in NY, actually he has an apt in Trump Palace and works in advertising for a large company, handling one of the very biggest accounts.  When I told him what I was looking at buying he said to hold on and let him see what he could do.

Well Tyler came through big time.  Not sure which vendor he got them from, but we had 6th row box seats behind third base, tickets to the Stadium Club, free parking (didn???t use it as we took the subway) and to top it off, Tyler was staying at his friends place and insisted we stay in his place at Trump. 

The boys and I had a blast hanging out in the city, going to Dylan???s candy store, the Empire State Building and then heading up to the Stadium.  I am sure it will be a time both they and I will never forget.  Like the commercial says:

1. 3 round trip airline tickets from Florida to NY ??? $750.00

2. 1 night in a hotel in NYC - $400.00

3. 3 field box seats to a Yankee game - $1000.00

4. A fried like Tyler to make it all happen for free (I used miles for the airfare) and give the kids this kind of memory??? PRICELESS!

Thanks Tyler!

My Grandmother always told me that a lucky person can count the really good friends they have on one hand, but a small amount of good friends far outweigh having many acquaintances. That was proven to me once again this weekend.  Ever since before I had my 2 sons, I had dreams of taking my children to both a Pittsburgh Steeler game and a NY Yankee game. Last year I had a chance to take Landon and Bradley to Pittsburgh and see a Steeler game.  With this being the last year for the old Yankee Stadium, I wanted to take the boys to see the Yankees at home and in the old stadium. 

Getting tickets to a game at Yankee Stadium is not cheap.  In looking around StubHub, for a hundred bucks a ticket (which is all I was willing to pay), the best I was going to do was out in the bleachers somewhere. But I figured it was better than nothing and was going to go for it.  That was when I called my best buddy from college Tyler to see if he wanted to go with us.  Tyler still lives in NY, actually he has an apt in Trump Palace and works in advertising for a large company, handling a one of the very biggest accounts.  When I told him what I was looking at buying he said to hold on and let him see what he can could do.

Well Tyler came through big time.  Not sure which vendor he got them from, but we had 6th row box seats behind third base, tickets to the Stadium Club, free parking (didn’t use it as we took the subway) and to top it off, Tyler was staying at his friends place and insisted we stay in his place at Trump. 

The boys and I had a blast hanging out in the city, going to Dylan’s candy store, the Empire State Building and then heading up to the Stadium.  I am sure it will be a time both they and I will never forget.  Like the commercial says:

1. 3 round trip airline tickets from Florida to NY – $750.00

2. 1 night in a hotel in NYC - $400.00

3. 3 field box seats to a Yankee game - $1000.00

4. A fried like Tyler to make it all happen for free (I used miles for the airfare) and give the kids this kind of memory– PRICELESS!

Thanks Tyler!

Not sure if it is because of the slumping market and economy or in spite of it, but there pace of merger activity has been picking up lately and the security industry has not been immune to it.  Today saw two meaningful deals announced that could have an impact on the security landscape:

1. Sophos buys Utimaco - Saw this one when I woke up today, as it is a European deal.  UK based Sophos is buying German based Utimaco, makers of the SafeGuard line of data encryption/protection/DLP product line.  Sophos is paying cash $340 million US for in this deal.  This means they are substantially dipping into the credit market, as this is far more than they reported cash on hand. So like the Brocade/Foundry deal, the acquiring company feels strong enough about the acquisition to mortgage the house to get it.  In this case, I think Sophos is making a smart deal. They clearly say that to compete with Symantec, McAfee and Microsoft they are going to need a full endpoint security suite. AV alone is not just going to cut it. This gives Sophos a real play in DLP and data storage space. 

Yes they could have just done a partner deal for this type of technology, but I applaud them for going out and buying the technology.  I wondered if they would use this as a reverse merger entry to the public markets but it doesn't look like that.  In any event it looks like Sophos is making the play and spending the bucks to be a player in the endpoint security suite game.

2. Motorola buys AirDefense - Well one of the air brothers finally found a taker. I always thought that for all of the press AirDefense, AirTight and AirMagnet receive, the revenue just didn't match the hype. Stand alone wireless security was a tweener.  Would traditional security cover wireless or would traditional wireless cover wireless security.  In any event a stand along wireless security play is a tough road.  So with this answer Motorola says wireless handles wireless security. 

My question is what does the future hold for Motorola.  They are reportedly getting out of the cell phone business.  Is their wireless business, even a secure one enough to support this giant?  I don't know but there is a bit of "dead man walking" over there if you ask me. 

I think the play is clear though that wireless providers are going to snap up wireless security companies. The real issue is at what prices.  If anyone hears a price on this one, let me know.

Not sure if it is because of the slumping market and economy or in spite of it, but there pace of merger activity has been picking up lately and the security industry has not been immune to it.  Today saw two meaningful deals announced that could have an impact on the security landscape:

1. Sophos buys Utimaco - Saw this one when I woke up today, as it is a European deal.  UK based Sophos is buying German based Utimaco, makers of the SafeGuard line of data encryption/protection/DLP product line.  Sophos is paying cash $340 million US for in this deal.  This means they are substantially dipping into the credit market, as this is far more than they reported cash on hand. So like the Brocade/Foundry deal, the acquiring company feels strong enough about the acquisition to mortgage the house to get it.  In this case, I think Sophos is making a smart deal. They clearly say that to compete with Symantec, McAfee and Microsoft they are going to need a full endpoint security suite. AV alone is not just going to cut it. This gives Sophos a real play in DLP and data storage space. 

Yes they could have just done a partner deal for this type of technology, but I applaud them for going out and buying the technology.  I wondered if they would use this as a reverse merger entry to the public markets but it doesn't look like that.  In any event it looks like Sophos is making the play and spending the bucks to be a player in the endpoint security suite game.

2. Motorola buys AirDefense - Well one of the air brothers finally found a taker. I always thought that for all of the press AirDefense, AirTight and AirMagnet receive, the revenue just didn't match the hype. Stand alone wireless security was a tweener.  Would traditional security cover wireless or would traditional wireless cover wireless security.  In any event a stand along wireless security play is a tough road.  So with this answer Motorola says wireless handles wireless security. 

My question is what does the future hold for Motorola.  They are reportedly getting out of the cell phone business.  Is their wireless business, even a secure one enough to support this giant?  I don't know but there is a bit of "dead man walking" over there if you ask me. 

I think the play is clear though that wireless providers are going to snap up wireless security companies. The real issue is at what prices.  If anyone hears a price on this one, let me know.

So I got my iPhone 3G on Friday morning and have been using it for a few days now. I have never used one before, don't use an iPod or even a Mac computer.  The iPhone was incredibily easy to use and without using and manuals quickly had a most everything working and downloaded a bunch of apps from the app store. 

Over all, the iPhone just is really nice to use and in many ways very easy, polished and intuitive. In other ways, it is still missing some key features in my book:

1. Sort and filter email be date, sender, etc.
2. Select more than one mail at a time to delete, move, copy.  Yes I know you can go to edit and select messages to work on, but you still have to select them one at a time. In Windows Mobile you can just run your finger over multiple messages to complete this.
3. Deleting duplicate contacts in bulk.  Doing them one at a time is just painful
4. A task manager. I would like to see some list that shows me which apps are running, how many resources they are using, battery usage and stuff like that.  Also to shut down running apps
5. Better calendar integration. I tried to click on and open calendar items, but just does not seem to work.
6. The battery sucks! I am not getting more than about 6 to 7 hours of battery time. I think I have to turn off the push for my Exchange email.  This is much less that I was getting on my Windows Mobile phone.

I do like the phone, the iPod MP3 and camera and the overall "feel" of the phone. Went to the Apple store in the maill (which was jam packed) and bought a rubberized case, but was unable to get a phone car charger for it yet.  I ordered one for 5 bucks on Amazon and will see it if works.

All in all, things are OK but I am going to withhold my final verdict for a while yet.

So I got my iPhone 3G on Friday morning and have been using it for a few days now. I have never used one before, don't use an iPod or even a Mac computer.  The iPhone was incredibily easy to use and without using and manuals quickly had a most everything working and downloaded a bunch of apps from the app store. 

Over all, the iPhone just is really nice to use and in many ways very easy, polished and intuitive. In other ways, it is still missing some key features in my book:

1. Sort and filter email be date, sender, etc.
2. Select more than one mail at a time to delete, move, copy.  Yes I know you can go to edit and select messages to work on, but you still have to select them one at a time. In Windows Mobile you can just run your finger over multiple messages to complete this.
3. Deleting duplicate contacts in bulk.  Doing them one at a time is just painful
4. A task manager. I would like to see some list that shows me which apps are running, how many resources they are using, battery usage and stuff like that.  Also to shut down running apps
5. Better calendar integration. I tried to click on and open calendar items, but just does not seem to work.
6. The battery sucks! I am not getting more than about 6 to 7 hours of battery time. I think I have to turn off the push for my Exchange email.  This is much less that I was getting on my Windows Mobile phone.

I do like the phone, the iPod MP3 and camera and the overall "feel" of the phone. Went to the Apple store in the maill (which was jam packed) and bought a rubberized case, but was unable to get a phone car charger for it yet.  I ordered one for 5 bucks on Amazon and will see it if works.

All in all, things are OK but I am going to withhold my final verdict for a while yet.

1. What product(s) & version(s) should I use?
2. How much should I plan to spend?

The simplest answer of course is “it depends”. I’ve seen implementations range from a thousand bucks to over several million. Ideally, your virtualization project needs & goals should drive your product selection. The bells & whistles you chose will determine your spending.

10 Basic questions that will help you determine product & cost:

1. Will your Virtual Infrastructure (VI) host production Virtual Machines (VM)?
2. What servers do you already have that can be used as hosts (32bit, 64bit, Mem, Disk, Network)?
3. Do you have a need for High Availability (HA)?
4. Do you have the need to manage SLA’s on your VMs?
5. What will a typical VM in your VI look like (OS, Disk, Mem, Network, CPU)?
6. What other IT resources do you have that can be used (SAN, NAS, Switches, etc…)?
7. What level of comfort does your existing staff have with the various IT resources?
8. Do you have existing hardware/software support agreements with Vendors you could leverage?
9. What tools do you already own that are “virtualization aware” and what new tools will you need?
10. How many VM’s do you plan to scale to?

Please, please, please, don’t make the mistake of implementing features that you don’t need and over-engineering just because the product lets you do so.

If you plan it right your product & cost, questions will be answered with no unpleasant surprises.

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Barracuda continues their poker game with Sourcefire today raising their $7.50 all cash bid to $8.25.  Are Dean and company just bluffing for publicity or are they willing to keep playing and stay in this game until all the cards are on the table?  I don't know for sure, but find it interesting that Barracuda did say to Sourcefire that they would be willing to explore ways that would show Sourcefire's increased value to Barracuda and based upon that increase their offer.  Of course $8.25 is still to low, but it is getting closer.  If the offer gets near 10 bucks, Sourcefire has some serious decisions to make.  In the meantime, Barracuda will again reap the PR bounty from having a seat at the hottest poker game in security.

Barracuda continues their poker game with Sourcefire today raising their $7.50 all cash bid to $8.25.  Are Dean and company just bluffing for publicity or are they willing to keep playing and stay in this game until all the cards are on the table?  I don't know for sure, but find it interesting that Barracuda did say to Sourcefire that they would be willing to explore ways that would show Sourcefire's increased value to Barracuda and based upon that increase their offer.  Of course $8.25 is still to low, but it is getting closer.  If the offer gets near 10 bucks, Sourcefire has some serious decisions to make.  In the meantime, Barracuda will again reap the PR bounty from having a seat at the hottest poker game in security.