Yonas Tibebu

Cowboy coding is an undisciplined approach to  software development that gives programmers complete control over the development process. In this context, cowboy is a synonym for maverick -- a loner who does things his own way.  An organization might permit cowboy coding because there are not enough resources to commit to the design phase or a project deadline is looming. Sometimes cowboy coding is permitted because of a misguided attempt to stimulate innovation or because communication channels fail and there is little or no business stakeholder involvement or managerial oversight. An individual developer or small team might be given only a minimal description of requirements and no guidance regarding how these objectives should be achieved. They are free to select frameworks, coding languages, libraries, technologies and other build tools as they see fit.  The cowboy approach to coding typically focuses on quick fixes and getting...

Edge virtualization is the practice of using software versions of physical computing resources at the edge of a network, closest to the devices that produce data. In  virtualization, the entire software stack -- including operating systems (OSes) and everything that runs on them -- is separated from the underlying hardware. Instances can then be copied and distributed to many different types of hardware. This is valuable for at the edge because the hardware at the edge where the environment is involves limited bandwidth and latency issues, is varied and dispersed geographically, and needs to be managed independently from the geographically distant core data center. Edge virtualization is important because it extends the  software-defined concept of the cloud universally. This software-defined approach enables the remote provisioning, management and monitoring of edge devices across large geographical footprints, providing a more secure and cost-effective ...

A data citizen is an employee who is given access to an organization's proprietary information. Use of the word "citizen" is meant to emphasize the idea that an employee's right to access corporate data also comes with responsibilities. While citizens in the United States have the right to assemble, for example, they also have a responsibility to obey federal, state and local laws. Similarly, an employee who has been granted the right to access corporate data also has a responsibility to support the company's data governance policies. As corporate data citizens increasingly expect more transparent, accessible and trustworthy data from their employers, it has become more important than ever for the rights and responsibilities of both parties to be defined and enforced through policy. In some large organizations, data governance policies define and enforce the data citizen's right to easily access trustworthy data while data stewardship policies de...

DataOps (data operations) is a business strategy that seeks to ensure an organization's data can be used in the most flexible, effective manner possible in order to achieve positive business outcomes. Like the DevOps movement that broke down silos between software development and operations teams, the DataOps movement focuses on people as well as processes and software tools. It emphasizes communication and collaboration and its adoption is intended to foster a culture of continuous improvement supported by best practices. DataOps grew out of a need for businesses to provide internal support for data governance and data-driven business projects. An important goal of the DataOps movement is to accelerate the speed with which data models are built, tested and deployed. It's important for data engineers, data scientists and data analysts to have the ability to create data models and run tests with customer data in a way that complies with p...

Ansible is an  open source IT configuration management (CM) and automation platform, provided by Red Hat. It uses human-readable YAML templates so that users can program repetitive tasks to occur automatically, without learning an advanced language. Ansible replaces ad hoc  scripting or manual CM with an automated and repeatable process. The tool pushes application code, programs and IT infrastructure setup instructions via modules to managed nodes, whether physical servers, virtual machines (VMs) or cloud instances. The tool also gives users the option to invert its setup to a pull architecture, where managed nodes request instructions from the tool, typically done to enable scaling. Ansible components An Ansible user sets up instructions as commands or packages them into reusable plays, executed in playbooks. Ansible performs an orchestration function, giving the user control over the order in which it carries out automated steps. ...

Zero trust  is a cybersecurity strategy that assumes all users, devices and transactions are already compromised. The zero-trust model requires strict identity and device verification, regardless of the user's location in relation to the network perimeter. A network that implements the zero-trust model is referred to as a zero-trust network. The traditional approach to network security is known as the castle-and-moat model. The focus of this concept is that gaining access to a network from the outside is difficult, but once inside the firewall, users are automatically trusted. While there are various technologies and principles that can be used to enforce zero trust security, the basic fundamentals include the following: Microsegmentation -- Security perimeters and network components are broken into smaller segments, each of which has its own access requirements. Least-privileged access -- Users are only granted access to what they need to do their ...

An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a  prolonged and targeted cyberattack in which an intruder gains access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period of time. APT attacks are initiated to steal data rather than cause damage to the target organization's network. APT attacks are typically aimed at organizations in sectors such as national defense, manufacturing and the financial industry, as those companies deal with high-value information, including intellectual property, military plans, and other data from governments and enterprise organizations. The goal of most APT attacks is to achieve and maintain ongoing access to the targeted network rather than to get in and out as quickly as possible. Because a great deal of effort and resources usually go into carrying out APT attacks, hackers typically target high-value targets, such as nation-states and large corporations, with the ultimate goal of stealing information over a long period of time. ...

A contact center -- also referred to as a customer interaction center or e-contact center -- is a central point from which all customer interactions across various channels are managed. Their primary purpose is to provide customers with efficient and effective technical support, customer service and sales assistance. The contact center typically includes one or more call centers, but may also include other types of customer contact, including emails, webchats and social media interactions. Contact centers are often integrated into an enterprise's customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. Contact centers are growing in importance as customers increasingly expect businesses to be consistently available on various channels, not just over the phone. The multichannel approach that contact centers take allows them to create better customer experiences by refining customer service, increasing efficiency and improving their insights into their customers...