What began as an experiment in consumer electronics in the early 1990s celebrates its 20th anniversary as a staple of enterprise computing this week. Java has become a dominant platform, able to run wherever the Java Virtual Machine is supported, forging ahead despite the rise of rival languages and recent tribulations with security.
Go to a technology event or corporate meeting these days and you're bound to hear from a guest speaker. It's often someone like a retired politician telling war stories, or a new-age management guru delivering a thinly veiled pitch for their latest book.
Many eyes in the tech world will fall on Oracle later this week, when the vendor's fourth-quarter results are set for release. This is typically the biggest reporting period for Oracle each year in terms of revenue, but a number of questions loom beyond its top-line performance.
Uptime, response time, mean time between failures - the history of IT is full of metrics improved by reducing risk, making sure nothing interferes with operations and productivity.