This week we continue on the topic of installing using IBM Installation Manager. But with a bit of a difference. Instead of bringing up the IM install GUI and using it to conduct the installation, we will take a step toward greater installation automation and create...
Sometimes finding the information you want for IBM Rational ClearQuest can be a challenge -- and when you find something, it can be that the level of detail needed is not present. That's why we at SPK and Associates started this series of technical how to guides to...
Windows ClearCase has a couple of very useful environment variables - CLEARCASE_PRIMARY_GROUP and CLEARCASE_GROUPS. These variables can be a bit confusing at first blush, but they turn out to be rather important for controlling access to VOB elements, and creating...
In this week’s blog entry, we want to have a look at how Unix and Windows groups work together in a mixed Unix/Windows environment. This topic can sometimes be a bit confusing, and here we hope to contribute to clarifying the subject. Many companies and development...
The use of open source software (OSS) within the medical device industry is a double edged sword. On one end of the spectrum, you have freely available code that is available for the world to scrutinize. In the process, one would hope that bugs are more easily...
Are you missing out on reaching 25% of the US population with your current software engineering project? Maybe the elderly, at 13% of the population, aren't part of your target market, or maybe it's the 12% of the US population who are disabled that you aren't...
In my last post, I introduced Clonezilla as an easy way to deploy Windows-based workstations into a corporate environment. But once a workstation enters the corporate network, what sort of policy applies to it? What sort of actions can a user take on their...
Avoiding 21 C.F.R. §820.70(i) FDA Warning Letters
As Senior Systems Integrator for SPK and Associates, a California based IT services company specializing in infrastructure management services, I recently completed an interesting project. The goal was to create an ESX cluster for a small engineering group...
IT outsourcing has become prominent in nearly every area of the economy -- to the point that its benefits are taken for granted. We're aware of the saving of money, of cloud technology providing cost effective high availability infrastructure, and so forth. The...
In the world of IT, solutions become problems with alarming regularity. The new software of today is the upgrade nightmare of tomorrow. The policies that solved problems create new ones years later. The corporate IT departments that we look to for solutions are...
IT outsourcing contracts, as noted in a recent blog post, should be treated as living documents -- continuously evaluated, refined, and optimized over time. Not only do business conditions continually change, but it’s also important for outsourcing customers to...
