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Issue 6 | January 2008
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industry spotlight

Charity

The Salvation Army is a well-established charitable institution, but because it is headquartered in London, it is easy to forget just how broad a scope and influence it has around the world. The organisation's global network delivers vital technology services for 42,000 users spanning 59 territorial headquarters and 113 countries.

The Salvation Army first adopted Highlight as a value-added service provided by a previous ISP, and quickly developed the technology as an incisive window into key real-time network performance monitoring and management. When the organisation changed ISP, it discovered it had also lost a service that had become invaluable, so quickly formed a direct relationship with NetEvidence.

Mark Calleran, CIO for The Salvation Army's International Headquarters hub, based in London explains: "Highlight is rather like the 999 service. You can almost forget about it, but when you have that emergency, you'll know it will have been there collecting all the data you need to lead you to what the issue might be. For example, when we suffered a very strange traffic pattern that we were unable to explain, Highlight was able to pin-point to the minute when the shift had occurred. We could then use that evidence to work with our ISP to discover an error in a routing configuration with a high level internet peer."


notworking

Strange Maps

Saucy French author and diarist Anaïs Nin famously suggested: "We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are." Humans are fallible and subjective, which is why we perform better when important visual information is presented to us as transparently, intuitively and accurately as possible. While you'll always be presented with this level of information by Highlight, the same can't be said for Strange Maps. The creator of this always interesting regularly updated blog says: "I like maps. I like weird maps, the kind you won't find in a regular atlas. I've given up on categorising the maps I've collected so far..." And you can see why. This eclectic selection of cartography currently runs to 234 images ranging from The Internet's Black Holes (170) and The World of Online Communities (118) to The Real North/South Divide (193).

Jeremy Edwards, NetEvidence services director

welcome

...to your first issue of The Monthly Highlight for 2008. This is a regular newsletter created exclusively for NetEvidence customers, partners, and users of our core product, Highlight.

As ever we delve into some interesting network industry news headlines from the past month. We also look at the power of visually interesting maps in our NotWorking section. Our IndustrySpotlight showcases The Salvation Army's experience with real-time network performance monitoring, while FeatureFocus has been expanded this month to provide the promised lowdown on News Insight, as well as a link to an exclusive demo.

Please do get in touch with me to chat further about any of the items in this newsletter or share your own ideas for The Monthly Highlight. I hope you enjoy this latest issue.

All the very best regards for the year ahead,

- Jeremy

Jeremy Edwards, NetEvidence services director
jedwards@net-evidence.com


network news

Outsourcing boom imminent

The New Year has sadly brought with it new financial concerns for businesses. The global economy appears to be foundering and the terms 'recession' and 'depression' are being bandied with worrying frequency. Cost-cutting measures are predicted to see businesses accelerate outsourcing growth in 2008. According to a survey of 250 IT professionals conducted by US-based outsourcing outfit Syntel and covered by Silicon.com, more than half (53 per cent) of companies plan to increase outsourcing spending this year, up from 38 per cent in 2006 and 48 per cent in 2007. Bharat Desai CEO of Syntel said "In a weak or uncertain economy, companies look for technology solutions that will increase productivity, efficiency and savings."

Your Nominet fees benefit UK net community

How much money have you handed to UK domain name registrar Nominet over the years? Does it irritate you just a little bit to hear that the organisation has accrued over £5m in excess cash in its time administrating the .uk domain? Are you at all surprised to hear you won't be seeing a penny of that glut? Well, Nominet is at least doing the next best thing by setting up the Nominet Foundation charity to finance worthy projects dedicated to internet-focused education and research. "At the heart of our decision is the fact that Nominet is a not-for-profit organisation," said Lesley Cowley, chief executive of Nominet explained to ZDNetUK. Well, in the sense that as a non-profit, Nominet cannot bank this excess cash or pay it as bonuses to its board and had little choice, certainly. Ah well, it's all in a good cause.

And finally, BUPA's New Year survey tests IT managers resolve...

One problem with powerful centralised network services is that everyday roles in IT departments are becoming more sedentary. Of course we'd argue that time-saving technology frees up opportunities for more exercise and screen-breaks, but the latest health assessment survey from BUPA Wellness is pretty damning about the IT crowd lifestyle. IT Week revealed some of the findings including: one in ten senior level employees in the technology sector still smoking; nearly a quarter failing to take exercise once a week and nearly two-thirds overweight. Fortunately (some might say) IT people don't find time to drink as much as other industries, with just 4 per cent drinking to unhealthy extremes. So, still looking for a New Year's resolution? Then get your work done early, ditch the fags and run to the pub more often! The study was based on data from health assessments undertaken by more than 20,000 employees through BUPA corporate healthcare schemes between July 2006 and June 2007 in the technology and software sector.

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