Internet Resource Management
Encyclopedia
Internet resource management has been the domain of Internet technicians in managing the addressing structure of the Internet to enable the explosive growth of Internet use, and to have enough addressing space for that growth. There is however a different version of this concept used by Sequel Technology upon its release of Internet resource manager. This concept has to do with managing all network resources available to an enterprise, obtaining a view of exactly what resources are being used, and a tool to manage those resources in tandem with Acceptable Use Policies to reduce the total cost of Internet ownership.
This sequel concept of "Internet resource management" has been further moved from the highly technical term, towards meaning a management process taken up at the enterprise level by vision gateway. In this concept, "Internet resources" are all those network and Internet templates, tools, software systems, gateways and websites that an enterprise owns, manages, or to those systems and sites that the enterprise may have access to through a network
.
being "available" that business managers are now requiring capabilities and software tools to be available for the best management of marketing campaigns
, online activities
, purchasing and more.
Everyday Internet resources
of a business are being used by employees, Network administrator
s, third parties, customers, and the public. Managers want to know that employees are able to see any server across the Internet that has information or services that employees needs to get her job done. More and more services such as accounting packages, Customer Relationship Management
tools, spreadsheet
s, document editors
are obtained from servers outside the local area network of the employee.
In addition, however, employees with Internet access now have available the biggest entertainment, video playing, music acquirement tools, shopping facilities, banking and more. A study of 10,000 Internet users has reported that 44.7% workers use the Internet for an average of 2.9 hours a day on personal web/Internet activity.
Software packages that offer businesses with a means to manage one or other aspect of Internet Resource usage includes: Vital Suite performance management, Net IQ, Watch fire, Surf Control, Inet Soft, Clear swift, Elron Software Web filter, Fine Ground App Scope, Cordiant Performance Management, Boost Works Boost Edge, Red line
, Accrue, See run, Maxamine, Packeteer
and INTERScepter by visionGateway.
What needs to be managed includes:
While the software packages named above could provide a management team with the tools needed to manage Internet connectivity within an organization, there would be significant difficulties arise in the cross-over of one tool with another. While there are cross over issues from one package to another there are also significant gaps where there is no product offering.
Spying and censoring have huge drawbacks. Spying creates a rift between employers and employees and does nothing for morale in an organization. After the first two or three examples of employees being "caught out" the required effects of spying reduce as does employee ingenuity to "get around" being spied upon.
Although censoring tools enjoy majority market share, censoring has major drawbacks; the main filtering database can be a bottleneck when employees are working, and also a database of filtered sites is near impossible to keep up to date because there are thousands of sites a day that spring up as new, and it is near impossible for those sites to be viewed by staff to put on the blacklist. Machine listing of sites on filters is not a perfect science and a lot of good sites are wrongly filtered out.
A self-management approach has fewer drawbacks, however, management would need to play an active part in reviewing with employees their goals for the month and dutifully revisit with each staff member how they are progressing in meeting company goals of Internet use.
This sequel concept of "Internet resource management" has been further moved from the highly technical term, towards meaning a management process taken up at the enterprise level by vision gateway. In this concept, "Internet resources" are all those network and Internet templates, tools, software systems, gateways and websites that an enterprise owns, manages, or to those systems and sites that the enterprise may have access to through a network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
.
Need for Internet resource management
Internet resource management (IRM) practices are business practices as distinct from technology practices; the need for business management of Internet Resources comes about because so many business activities are now reliant on the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
being "available" that business managers are now requiring capabilities and software tools to be available for the best management of marketing campaigns
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, online activities
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
, purchasing and more.
Everyday Internet resources
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
of a business are being used by employees, Network administrator
Network administrator
A network administrator, network analyst or network engineer is a person responsible for the maintenance of computer hardware and software that comprises a computer network...
s, third parties, customers, and the public. Managers want to know that employees are able to see any server across the Internet that has information or services that employees needs to get her job done. More and more services such as accounting packages, Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...
tools, spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
s, document editors
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
are obtained from servers outside the local area network of the employee.
In addition, however, employees with Internet access now have available the biggest entertainment, video playing, music acquirement tools, shopping facilities, banking and more. A study of 10,000 Internet users has reported that 44.7% workers use the Internet for an average of 2.9 hours a day on personal web/Internet activity.
Software tools
Currently there are a raft of programs available to businesses each of which focus control over one or two facets of management. Businesses use a software filtering product that maintains a substantial database of sites in many 'categories'. Users can determine which categories they want 'blocked'. The Internet requests are passed through a server and a user policy defines those sites available to employees.Software packages that offer businesses with a means to manage one or other aspect of Internet Resource usage includes: Vital Suite performance management, Net IQ, Watch fire, Surf Control, Inet Soft, Clear swift, Elron Software Web filter, Fine Ground App Scope, Cordiant Performance Management, Boost Works Boost Edge, Red line
Red Line
Red Line may refer to:* Red line , denotes the center of the playing surface on an ice hockey rink* Red Line Synthetic Oil Corporation, an oil manufacturer for automotive and other performance applications...
, Accrue, See run, Maxamine, Packeteer
Packeteer
Packeteer , founded in 1996 by Robert Packer and Brett Galloway, was an I.T. company based in Cupertino, California listed on the NASDAQ. Networking appliances focus on Application Traffic Management and optimization for wide area networks. They held at least 40 patents for various network...
and INTERScepter by visionGateway.
What needs to be managed includes:
- the roleRoleA role or a social role is a set of connected behaviours, rights and obligations as conceptualised by actors in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status or social position...
a connected user from the business needs to play when online, - the range of services that this particular role may require such as whether connection to the Internet for this role requires to see only the software packages to which the company subscribesSoftware as a ServiceSoftware as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
, - how the employee needs to connect to the Internet for example desktop computerDesktop computerA desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
, laptopLaptopA laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
, PDAPersonal digital assistantA personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
, mobile phoneMobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
etc - connectivity for the employee say whether we need to give this employee special online support for handling large scale documents, maybe some special packet switchingPacket switchingPacket switching is a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data – regardless of content, type, or structure – into suitably sized blocks, called packets. Packet switching features delivery of variable-bit-rate data streams over a shared network...
, or additional security levels - the range of online assets to be made available to this employee, usually managed by category, such as Banking assets where all Banks online would be seen by an employee, or a catalogue of small to medium businesses.
While the software packages named above could provide a management team with the tools needed to manage Internet connectivity within an organization, there would be significant difficulties arise in the cross-over of one tool with another. While there are cross over issues from one package to another there are also significant gaps where there is no product offering.
Competing philosophies
There are three competing philosophies of Internet resource management:- spyingSpywareSpyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
on employee without their knowledge, and cracking down on a recalcitrant whenever she/he does anything wrong online (the underlying philosophy of eTelemetry's METRON applianceComputer applianceA computer appliance is generally a separate and discrete hardware device with integrated software , specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. These devices became known as "appliances" because of their similarity to home appliances, which are generally "closed and sealed" –...
);
- filter out (censor)Filter (software)A filter is a computer program to process a data stream. Some operating systems such as Unix are rich with filter programs. Even Windows has some simple filters built into its command shell, most of which have significant enhancements relative to the similar filter commands that were available in...
all the sites that would not be useful to an employee while doing business things on a workplace computerDesktop computerA desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
(Secure ComputingSecure ComputingSecure Computing Corporation, or SCC, was a public company that developed and sold computer security appliances and hosted services to protect users and data...
's gateway security, SurfControlSurfControlSurfControl Plc., was a British software company based in Cheshire, England. The company provided website filtering, e-mail filtering and desktop security software for both enterprise and home users....
Enterprise Protection Suite, and WebsenseWebsenseWebsense is a San Diego-based company specializing in Web security gateway software. It enables clients to block access to chosen categories of websites.-History:Websense was founded by Phil Trubey in 1994...
enterprise)
- a self-management approach where employees are given an account, and in that account it tallies total time on the Internet, activity by protocol, and policies required of the company (visionGateway's INTERScepter)
Spying and censoring have huge drawbacks. Spying creates a rift between employers and employees and does nothing for morale in an organization. After the first two or three examples of employees being "caught out" the required effects of spying reduce as does employee ingenuity to "get around" being spied upon.
Although censoring tools enjoy majority market share, censoring has major drawbacks; the main filtering database can be a bottleneck when employees are working, and also a database of filtered sites is near impossible to keep up to date because there are thousands of sites a day that spring up as new, and it is near impossible for those sites to be viewed by staff to put on the blacklist. Machine listing of sites on filters is not a perfect science and a lot of good sites are wrongly filtered out.
A self-management approach has fewer drawbacks, however, management would need to play an active part in reviewing with employees their goals for the month and dutifully revisit with each staff member how they are progressing in meeting company goals of Internet use.