Abstract: Utilities are under intense pressure to improve corporate performance despite increasing costs, regulatory pressures, and enhanced customer expectations. The need to supplement existing cash flows with the low-risk, low-investment, high-impact option of plugging revenue leakage has never been more critical. Find out how you can plug revenue leakage by using technology to make improvements across the utility revenue chain.

Abstract: Reducing wait time to just 17 hours per week would reflect a gain of approximately 32,160 miles per year by each trailer.

Abstract: Since 1985, TrailTech Inc. has provided the agriculture, construction, and transportation industries with state-of-the-art trailer equipment. However, inaccurate bills of materials (BOMs) were causing bottlenecks, missed delivery dates, and substandard productivity. After TrailTech implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that created real-time BOMs and eliminated bottlenecks, customer complaints of delinquent deliveries reduced dramatically, improving stress levels throughout the plant.

Abstract: Utilities have always held information about their assets, but traditionally this has been held in different parts of the business and not integrated into single coherent systems. Good asset management is increasingly about being able to feed information from business processes across the company into an asset management system, and using information from that system for financial and operational improvement.

Abstract: Server consolidation is a hot topic. As a supplier of enterprise-class servers, Egenera has participated in many consolidation projects, with both customers and prospects. This paper summarizes what we’ve learned about consolidation, and provides a roadmap for driving consolidation in your organization. We answer the question most often asked by our customers: How do we get started?

Abstract: No matter how well an enterprise implements a CRM, ERP, SCM, Business Intelligence, or Data Warehouse project, poor data quality can destroy its utility and cost real dollars.

Abstract: The Internet has grown from mainly academic and military use into a global, integrated, and sophisticated commercial utility. Not just an “information superhighway,” it now offers voice telephony, video, and mobile communications in a converged network. Connection services have expanded, and Internet service providers (ISPs) are adding value. Explore the challenges and opportunities—and find out what lies ahead.

Abstract: The power grid is pushed to its physical limits with our growing demands for cheap electricity. To keep up, we need a “smart” electrical grid prepared for real-time information and enabling fast response. A new power delivery system can manage supply and demand while allowing consumers to manage their energy usage online. Read more about the benefits for utility companies, consumers, the economy, and the environment.

Abstract: With the increasing complexity of the data center and its dependent systems, data center automation (DCA) is becoming a necessity. To replace the costly and inefficient human aspect of managing the data center, IT departments must adopt DCA solutions. Combined with utility-based computing architectures, these solutions can provide greater dynamics in the environment and facilitate speed of response to market demands.

Abstract: Traditionally, utilities have leveraged robust meter, network, and customer service infrastructures. These technologies served the needs of largely regulated energy and utility markets characterized by price regulations, easy access to energy resources, and sufficient infrastructure capacity. There are few examples of 'old' technologies that make such a compelling argument against replacement. All that’s about to change.

Abstract: The client/server trend in multi-tiered computing has been made possible because of reductions in the cost of hardware and software components, as well as the availability of high-performance database engines. The utility of this technology is reflected in the Microsoft Dynamics AX application. Its three-tier client/server technology provides a solution that can be accessed through networks, even with limited bandwidth.

Abstract: There are potential benefits of operating business process management (BPM) side-by-side with business service management (BSM). BPM and BSM are emerging technologies: BPM is concerned with the orchestration and management of effective business processes, while BSM focuses on the operational effectiveness of the enabling IT services. These technologies are mutually beneficial to one another. This white paper is intended for managers interested in implementing robust BPM solutions in IT-dependent business scenarios or managers looking to lay down a basic foundation for effective on-demand utility computing. It addresses the partnership between Fuego and Proxima Technology, vendors in BPM and BSM solutions.

Abstract: The market penetration of server virtualization is staggering. Nearly 100 percent of Fortune 1000 companies are using virtualization technologies on production systems. On the other end of the spectrum, virtual utility hosts and cloud computing vendors are springing up to cost-effectively support smaller companies, showing benefit for those that require only a single server. Everyone is virtualizing, but why? Find out.

Abstract: IT costs are escalating, data centers are multiplying, power and space require¬ments are way too high, complexity is increasing, and businesses are locked into static applications that are making them less competitive, not more. This is the state of IT today and something obviously has to change. Well, the “cheap computing” revolution is dawning. So what do we do now?

Abstract: Internet protocol (IP) and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) systems allow inexpensive transport, cheap phone calls, and simple management of a single network. But the true value is in the new applications IP enables, such as unified communications (UC). How can you use UC to further decrease costs, enhance productivity, and improve customer service? Learn how to go beyond messaging for real-time call control and more.

Abstract: Although short message service (SMS) messaging is a cheap and efficient communication channel, many enterprises are still reluctant to deploy it as a corporate tool. At issue is its lack of reliability and security while transmitting information. The enterprise SMS market thus has to evolve from the person-to-person infrastructure into a model that supplies businesses with secure and scalable messaging.

Abstract: A number of bargain-basement data backup services are entering the market with a barrage of advertising. Some people may make business decisions based on price alone, but when it comes to vital needs like secure data, cheaper is not better. Would you buy the cheapest parachute? Then why settle for the cheapest data backup solution? Learn more about data backup technologies and why you should avoid cheap alternatives.