IBM seeks to score with new compliance suite
687489
IBM's Solution for Compliance in a Regulated Environment is a suite of middleware tools that includes document and data management, application integration, business process management and collaboration features.
367641
IBM (NYSE: IBM) has launched a new version of its WebSphere application server software, adding autonomic troubleshooting capabilities and other new features designed to improve performance in the middleware platform.
663535
NEW YORK, December 31  - In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, International Business Machines (IBM.
227124
IBM Wednesday released new SMB tools on its emerging technology Web site to help customers deal with compliance issues as well as enable Business Partners to build solutions on WebSphere Express software.
8012
IBM Monday introduced a security service that offers a concise, monthly global-network threat report designed to help organizations assess security needs and vulnerabilities from a business perspective.
316370
(InfoWorld) - Delivering on a promise made earlier this year, SAP has unveiled the first set of products to help businesses meet their compliance requirements, in addition to announcing a marketing agreement with Cisco Systems. The three new governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) applications, based on SAP's new SOA (service-oriented architecture), offer companies help with repository, process control, and risk management functions, the Walldorf, Germany, company said Wednesday. In May, SAP announced theÂ creation of a new GRC business unitÂ at its Sapphire customer event in Orlando. The unit was set up to develop new technology to help companies meet a growing list of compliance requirements, such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for pharmaceutical companies, and Basel II regulations for the banking sector. The SAP GRC Repository application documents and maintains GRC information in a single central system, including corporate policies and regulations, and will also store and link risk and control libraries to multiple control frameworks and international regulations. The centralization of GRC information simplifies risk management, increases transparency and cuts costs associated with GRC initiatives, according to SAP. SAP GRC Process Control is designed to automatically aggregate business process risks for the entire company, provide supporting evidence of compliance and pinpoint control violations so that corrective action can be given a priority. The software integrates automated control monitoring for SAP and non-SAP applications. To help customers implement collaborative risk management processes, the SAP GRC Risk Management application provides a thorough analysis of key business risks at multiple levels of the company, across organization entities, business process and IT infrastructure, according to SAP. It is designed to help professional risk managers and company owners identify financial, legal and operational risks, analyze business opportunities in light of these and develop appropriate responses. SAP will sell all three products separately. The repository and process control applications will ship Nov. 30, with the risk management software product to follow in December. In addition, SAP has signed a joint marketing agreement with Cisco that will target GRC business processes and IT control issues across the entire IT infrastructure, including the network and application layers. Under the agreement, targeted at the U.S. and Canada, the companies will collaborate in sales and marketing activities, and provide complementary products that offer new levels of IT management and controls between Cisco's service-oriented network architecture (SONA) and SAP's three new GRC applications. Further information about the products isÂ available here.
155865
IBM is set to begin offering a range of new services designed to bring the benefits of radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems to industrial firms and mid-size businesses.
345542
IBM is laying out a new road map for its mainframe that will include the adoption of the Common Information Model standard that allows different platforms to exchange information.
183407
IBM has launched a new intelligence service to give enterprises a monthly report showing the big picture of security attacks and other business threats, the Armonk, NY-based giant said Tuesday.
51978
IBM will put a collection of its On Demand-related products and technologies to this test next week at the U.S. Open tennis championships, implementing a grid-based infrastructure capable of running multiple workloads including two not associated with the tournament.
709919
Stuart McIrvine, IBM's new director of corporate security strategy, said he's working to better align the company's various IT security offerings to help users cope with regulatory compliance requirements, cyberattacks and other issues.
358582
IBMÂ hopes to bring BI to a wider audience of midmarket customers with a new software stack developed in partnership with Business Objects SA, industry sources said.
471996
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new software and business consulting services to accelerate the company's global Information on Demand initiative, which is aimed at helping clients better compete and pursue new business opportunities by using information as a strategic asset.
381383
(InfoWorld) - Companies working to achieve passing grades in their regulatory compliance audits can greatly improve their ability to meet the requirements if they can somehow bridge the cultural gap that commonly exists between IT workers and those hired to apply the tests, according to a panel of industry leaders. Taking the stage at the ongoing Security Standard Conference in Chicago, the collection of seasoned compliance and auditing specialists called for an end to the turf war that tends to materialize when internal and external auditors begin running their reports. By fostering a more cordial relationship between IT departments and auditors, and pushing the groups the engage in more comprehensive exchange of ideas, businesses may be able to lessen the pain typically associated with allowing for the systems assessments. Minimizing the pain While the concept may sound corny or even far-fetched to many corporate technology workers and auditors, the experts said the best way to improve the efficacy of compliance programs and minimize the pain of the work is to do whatever it takes to get the teams on the same page. "The perspective [of IT workers] is that audit is always out to get them. But once you get over that hurdle things improve," said Lane H. Boyd, director of IT audits at fast food giant McDonald's. "It really comes down to communication. You need to meet frequently and be honest." Boyd said it's particularly crucial for companies to make an extra effort to encourage interaction between IT workers and third-party auditors, as the outsiders tend to come into the testing process expecting friction with internal teams. "The security teams are most often responsible for managing outside auditors, and the perception is most often that [auditors] only come bearing bad news," he said. "Even internally we try to work closely, but [internal IT] is typically not too happy to see us; but as this whole process matures, I expect that this [interaction] will improve." Aligning goals The closer that IT management and auditing teams can become, said Boyd, the greater the likelihood the different groups can align goals, with those doing the assessments providing a "point in the right direction" of how they will look to test various systems for compliance. In addition to helping internal teams better understand the thrust of the auditors' work, bridging the two groups will make it easier for the assessors to tailor their work to suit the operational demands of each business, said Rick Boren, a partner with New York-based consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. Any level of trust that can be established will also encourage auditors to ensure they handle with discretion any sensitive corporate information they encounter, the consultant contends. "The same level of trust is needed for external auditors as with internal. They have to know the process for protecting clients' information assets," Boren said. "These auditors are being put in a position of trust and this type of relationship needs to be there for everyone to work together effectively." The process of building a relationship between IT and auditors will also give the internal technology managers more confidence that the assessors won't commit mistakes, such as crashing crucial business systems during their testing -- a perception that often stifles interaction between such groups, according to Boren. Communicating with business execs Another vitally important element of improving compliance efforts internally is to seek out wider support of the auditing process from senior business executives, the experts agreed. Many business leaders still question why they are spending so much time and money trying to appease each aspect of the regulatory requirements, said Michael Garber, director of IT assurance management in Motorola's Information Protection Services group. As with many other areas of IT, finding a way to illustrate the challenges and demands of the compliance audit process to non-technical business audiences is extremely vital, the panel of experts said. The tendency for those working in assessment to defer to industry jargon when attempting to explain issues to senior management will only make it harder for everyone involved in the decision-making process to understand how to prioritize support and spending, they said. "It's important to communicate to the right audience in the right language," said Boren. "IT and security teams tend to be technical; many executives may not understand and sometimes the auditors themselves aren't technical enough. If you can improve the understanding between these groups, you can improve everyone's view dramatically." Lack of communication Conference attendees agreed that a lack of communication among business workers, IT departments, and auditors remains one of their biggest challenges in achieving compliance, with the lack of trust between administrators and assessors proving very hard to overcome, at least one end-user representative said.Â  "The biggest challenge for us is distrust, with auditors consistently viewed as someone out to get IT workers," said William Helgren, applications development lead at Premier Farnell, an electronics distributor which has its headquarters in Leeds, U.K. "The perception is that external auditors are getting paid to find something wrong and that they will keep testing until they find something," Helgren said. "There must be a balance of trust with both internal and external auditors, but that's not there yet in many cases."
18573
IBM is introducing a line of radio-frequency identification services for midmarket companies that are based on practices that have been honed by IBM itself at its facilities for more than a year.
383853
IBM (NYSE: IBM) is rolling out a new version of WebSphere software, using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and middleware targeting retail operations.
192713
IBM hopes to ease the minds of roving execs by adding yet another layer of security to its ThinkPad notebooks. Mirroring Microsoft&#39;s &quot;biometrics for the desktop&quot; move, IBM has added fingerprint readers to