MS bullish on SharePoint

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer claims the software giant's SharePoint 2010 collaboration platform can help propel economic recovery in the IT industry, says Yahoo News.

Ballmer, appearing at the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas, said: “During the next five to 10 years, the challenge to transform the world through technology is as great today as any time, certainly since I've been at Microsoft, which is almost 30 years now.”

SharePoint 2010 features IT governance capabilities and integration with the Visual Studio 2010 software development platform.

SAP and Novell have expanded their partnership to cover governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions, states eWeek.

According to SAP, the collaboration involves a joint go-to-market strategy related to GRC solutions.

Narina Sippy, senior vice-president and GM of GRC solutions for the SAP BusinessObjects Division, says: "The integrated offering from SAP and Novell furthers our commitment to ensure that our customers have the clarity and confidence required to effectively manage risk across their entire business processes and IT environments.”

As many companies plan to return to growth in 2010, there's increased demand on IT organisations for greater transparency and accountability, reports Reuters.

Gartner analysts predict that very few IT leaders will receive budget increases in 2010. Barbara Gomolski, managing vice-president at Gartner, says: "IT organisations need a budget that gives them the flexibility to respond to the changes that they know are going to come, and those that they cannot yet identify."

Paul Proctor, vice-president and analyst at Gartner, says IT organisations cannot go back to the old approach of only protecting and restricting. They must explore the connection between the areas of traditional security responsibility and the larger context of business risk.