The return of tape storage

Not long ago, tape storage technology seemed to be on its way out. The growing demands of electronic storage ? for imaging, multimedia, streaming video and other data-intensive applications ? led people to question whether older generations of tape drives and libraries could compete with fast-growing optical technologies. But recent technological developments have helped tape libraries regain their status in large enterprises.

ERP: Not easy, not cheap, but worth the effort

Enterprise resource planning software has been around for about a decade as a tool to help government streamline business processes. If used wisely, it can help agencies meet their goals while squeezing more out of tight budgets.

Integrator Toolbox: Think small, save big with blade servers

What's the big deal about blade servers? Everything's smaller, from the size of the servers, to the number of cables and wires cluttering up the back of a rack, to the time required for setup and management and, at least in some cases, in the amount of power consumed.

Integrator Toolbox: New crop of systems bring more features

At first glance, enterprise database systems seem to be super-sized versions of popular desktop database applications, such as Microsoft Access. But they have distinct differences.