"To have the same number of takeoffs and landings and never have my name in the paper".

I received that well-practiced answer when I asked a commercial wide-body pilot nearing retirement what his goals had been during his nearly 30 years flying.

I thought vendors of key IT infrastructure should have the same goals no major crashes and staying out of the headlines. My pilot friend understood implicitly that he was part of the transportation infrastructure and that "boring was beautiful." Every element of the aircraft, the flight procedures and even personnel assignment, were centered on maximizing reliability and thus safety. IT infrastructure vendors need to be thinking the same way.

By Kevin Tolly
Network World, 02/03/03

If a company's software applications are the 'castle', then access control is the moat or first level of defense. Logon controls are the outer gate and dial up and FTP access are the postern gates, CMON and HP Safeguard software are the gatekeepers, lookouts and tattletales. Safeguard Protection Records and HP Guardian Security vectors are the bricks in the castle wall encircling all the application objects files, source files and data files. Other subsystems such as NonStop TMF software and SCF and the operating system in general are the underpinnings or foundation that support the applications and also 'live' within the walls. Application databases and reports, proprietary corporate data and personal employee data are the treasures that must be protected.

Application users are the tenants of the castle. The security, operations and technical support groups...