InformationWeek/Doculabs Research Study Shows IT Departments Overly Confident About Internet Infrastructure Scalability

In a report released today, InformationWeek Research, in partnership with Doculabs, a Chicago-based IT research and advisory firm, identified key strategies for building an effective E-Business architecture in The Scaling for E-Business Report. The report includes input from 250 IT managers personally involved in planning, developing or managing their company's E-Business applications. In addition, The Scaling for E-Business Report includes and in-depth technical primer to define best practices in building out Internet infrastructure.

According to the report, network performance, capacity, scalability and reliability are more important to the success of a business than ever before. Organizations are spending large portions of their 2000 IT budgets on building out infrastructures to support increasing transaction volume and E-Business applications. More than a third of respondents set aside at least 20% of their IT budget to strengthen Internet infrastructure. The Scaling for E-Business Report closely examines points of network failure, solutions to performance problems, security issues and offers practical solutions to architecture challenges.

"There is a need for IT professionals to assess their organizations' Internet infrastructure and develop a coherent plan to scale up their architecture efficiently and effectively," said Rusty Weston, editor, InformationWeek Research and informationweek.com. "Not only does this study help organizations see where they are relative to the industry, but it helps them understand where they need to improve scalability."

"One of the key challenges to building a successful E-Business is identifying potential problems and determining how to refine systems to enhance scalability, reliability and performance," said Joe Fenner, director of publishing services for Doculabs. "For companies undergoing E-transformation, this report provides an essential source of information to assess potential pitfalls and make changes earlier in the process."

According to a scalability index created by examining installed products in 250 E-Businesses, InformationWeek Research learned that only 32% of these sites are truly prepared with installed products that create scalable networks. Most organizations have adequate capacity to manage volume, however the key to effective infrastructure management is a series of trade-offs between security, performance, server environment and network monitoring.

The strategic partnership of InformationWeek Research and Doculabs couples the analytical perspectives of in-depth IT market research and IT product and solutions testing. Findings of the The Scaling for E-Business Report research offers an opportunity for IT professionals to benchmark their organization's scalability strategy. In addition, the technical primer will provide direction for future architectural planning.

About InformationWeek

InformationWeek helps the people who buy, build and manage technology drive business innovation powered by technology. In addition to the weekly magazine, InformationWeek provides a system of information solutions including informationweek.com, InformationWeek Research, InformationWeek Events which includes the annual InformationWeek Conference for business and technology executives and InformationWeek Daily, an e-mail news service. In May 2000, InformationWeek was named one of the nation's Top 10 B2B Media Powerhouses by Advertising Age's B2B Magazine.

About CMP Media Inc.

CMP Media Inc. is the leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum-the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. With its portfolio of newspapers, magazines, custom publishing, Internet products, research, consulting and conferences, CMP is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive integrated solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Online editions of the company's print publications, along with products and services created exclusively for the Internet, can be found on CMPnet at http://www.cmpnet.com/.

About Doculabs

Doculabs, Inc., an independent industry analyst firm, is a leading source for research and strategic advisory services on the emerging technologies that drive e-business, including e-commerce, e-content, e-fulfillment and delivery, and e-business infrastructures. Based in Chicago, Doculabs' offerings include project-based services for the end-user and software provider communities, product benchmarking, and publications. For more information about Doculabs, call 312-433-7793 or visit the Web site at http://www.doculabs.com/.

SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

Contact: Jane Kaupp, 516-562-5085, for CMP Media Inc.

Website: http://www.doculabs.com/
http://www.cmpnet.com/

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