Apple: 1, IBM: 2, Microsoft: 3

This are good news to kick off the long weekend (German Unity Day on Monday):

IBM's closing price on 29 September was $214bn (£137.4bn) while Microsoft's was a shade behind at $213.2bn (£136.8bn).  [...] The growth means IBM is now the second largest technology company by market value. Apple still holds the top slot with a value of $362bn (£232bn).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15124005

And I couldn't agree more with what Ted Schadler, analyst at Forrester Research says: "IBM went beyond technology, they were early to recognise that computing was moving way beyond these boxes on our desks."

ISSS/ISAC Annual Conference - Irvine 2011

In less then a month, I will be speaking at the ISSS/ISAC Annual Conference 2011 in Irvine, California. My friend Jan and I are writing a paper titled "Cyber Security: Emerging Challenges to States in an Interconnected World" and will be presenting first results at this conference concerned with "Security for the Future."

We will be part of a panel entitled "Cybersecurity: Emerging Challenges" on Friday, October 14. Further contributors to this panel are Inho Choi, Seoul National University as well as Kurt Howard Braddock and Christopher Griffin, Pennsylvania State University. I'm really looking forward to the feedback to our presentation, to the presentations from the other participants and to any discussions that hopefully will emerge.

Apart from our own panel, I'm particularly looking forward to attending panels about "Terrorism, Propaganda and Media" (with contributions from the MIT and Booz Allen Hamilton, amongst others) and about "Biosecurity and Neuroscience" on Friday as well as another panel entitled "China's Rising Power: Assessment and Strategic Reaction" on Saturday, October 15.