IT Manager's Journal

While you were gearing up for the big game, here are a couple of news items you might have missed:

For the fourth time in just a few days, problems with undersea cables in the Gulf Arab region disrupted Internet service on two continents. Though large-scale service disruption in North America is rare, it isn't unheard of, and experts have long recommended having a good strategy in place -- just in case.

In addition to speculating about who would win the Super Bowl, lots of tongues were wagging about what Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo! might mean for SMBs. Google senior vice president, David Drummond, says the move "raises troubling questions" and suggests Microsoft could lead to a host of unfair practices and monopolies. Others, however, are optimistic about the value of such a merger. Reuters reports today that sources close to Yahoo! say the company might consider an alliance with Google if the conditions were right.