Overheard talking about N+1 UPS

Modular systems let you plug in UPS capacity as you need it. Incrementally enabled systems provide the same end result, but are shipped with the extra capacity already installed, but disabled. It’s activated via software or firmware when you’re ready. These systems all grow differently, but the principles are the same — add capacity and pay for it when you need it. Robert McFarlane, How to choose the right uninterruptible power supply for your data center

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is N+1 UPS.

Overheard talking about non-governmental organizations

ISO is a non-governmental organization. As such, its standards are voluntary, but many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structures of their countries, and ISO standards have found their way into many laws. Information technology professionals are probably familiar with the ISO/IEC 27000 series of standards for IT security management. Linda Tucci, FAQ: An introduction to the ISO 31000 risk management standard

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is non-governmental organization.

Overheard talking about the Library of Medicine

The Library’s main portal for consumer health information is MedlinePlus, available in both English and Spanish. MedlinePlus has comprehensive, up-to-date, easy-to-read information on nearly 800 health topics. It also provides interactive health tutorials and a collection of surgery videos, as well as information about thousands of prescription, over-the-counter and herbal medicines. David R. Donohue, M.A., NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE FACT SHEET

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is National Library of Medicine.

Overheard talking about the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act

Our reliance on the conveniences of remote access, and the ability of our networked control systems to reduce costs and manpower needs, have led to weaknesses that are being exploited daily by our opponents. Melissa Hathaway, Government Must Keep Pace with Cybersecurity Threats

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Cybersecurity Enhancement Act 2009. Melissa Hathaway does an excellent job summarizing all the cybersecurity legislation efforts currently in place.

Overheard talking about federal portfolio management

The next time you start a project, begin by creating stakeholder groups, indentifying which stakeholder belongs to each group. Next, initiate the communications process with the main stakeholders before even launching the project. If you don’t have a solid communications link with your stakeholders, then your project is poised for failure. Danielle and Nelson Ruest, Communication with IT project stakeholders is key to success

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is federal portfolio management.

Overheard talking about rugged IT

Cisco says the new smart grid products are “ruggedized” for the electrical network, can tolerate higher and lower temperatures than its traditional network gear, include a high level of security, and can help integrate renewables, detect network outages and migrate older proprietary gear to IP network gear. Katie Fehrenbacher, The Sleeping Giant Awakes: Cisco Launches First Smart Grid Products

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is rugged IT.

If you’ve been wondering (like we have) what exactly networking giant Cisco planned to sell to utilities for the smart grid, ponder no longer. Cisco announced its first smart grid-specific products on Tuesday, including a router and grid switch, which are based on its traditional networking products but have been built specifically for the utility environment.

Overheard talking about SmartBUY government software procurement

“If I could say one sentence to Barack Obama, it would be, ‘Sir, our government’s extreme reliance on outsourcing software development to third parties is a threat to national security.’” Marcus Ranum, Should the Government Stop Outsourcing Code Development?

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is SmartBUY.

“As an industry, we know how to provide security assurance in software and systems. But most of the time, we don’t care; commercial software, as insecure as it is, is good enough for most purposes.” – Bruce Schneier

Overheard talking about Peppermint

Peppermint combines the base Linux operating system with a number of cloud-based applications and services. The result is a lightweight distribution, but with integrated access to some of the most popular online apps. Better yet, Peppermint uses Mozilla Labs Prism so the cloud-based software looks and acts like desktop software. Matthew Humphries, Cloud-focused Peppermint Linux OS now available

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Peppermint.

Overheard talking about EU Transparency Directive

All EU-wide legislation must be “transposed” into nation-specific law by the European Union’s 27 member states; keeping those transpositions in harmony can be difficult, and the Transparency Directive is no exception. Jeremy Woolfe, EU Transparency Directive Seeks to Reshape Reporting

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is EU Transparency Directive.

Overheard talking about the National Quality Forum

The National Quality Forum is mulling a change of the definition of serious reportable event (SRE) and although the change is only involves one word, that word could truly effect the intent of the term. Currently the definition is “preventable, serious, and unambiguous adverse events that should never occur.” The proposed change would replace the word “never” to “not”… The committee is hoping that by dropping the “never” from the definition, more harmful events could be included into what is reported by hospitals, leading to further quality improvement. Heather Comak, NQF considers change of ’serious reportable event’ definition

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is National Quality Forum (NQF).

There are six defined categories for SREs:

•    Surgical (for example, an instrument left in a patient)
•    Product or device (for example, a malfunctioning respirator)
•    Patient protection (for example, a baby is discharged to the wrong person)
•    Care management (for example, the patient receives the wrong medication)
•    Environment  (for example, the patient falls in a health care facility)
•    Criminal event (for example, the sexual assault of a patient)