IP telephony encompasses a set of technologies enabling voice, data and video over existing IP-based LANS, WANs and the internet. Using voice over IP (VoIP) as the enabling technology to transport phone calls allows firms to eliminate legacy circuit-switched (TDM) systems and lower equipment costs by converging applications onto a single infrastructure, while browser-based interfaces can simplify system management. Software upgrades are also much easier to implement, as are adds, moves and changes (AMCs). At […]
Cloud Computing
607 posts
You are not alone if you are confused about cloud computing – recent research has shown that nearly half of those not using cloud computing don’t know what it means. Whether you are worried about security or how you would access your data without internet access read on and see my answers to the common questions which people ask me about cloud computing. 1. Is there a difference between ‘The Cloud’ and ‘Cloud Computing’? Isn’t […]
If your organization doesn’t actively manage E911 location information you are increasing the odds that an emergency responder may not be able to find a 911 caller in need quickly enough to help. It’s that simple. What should be a no-brainer component of an enterprise workplace safety plan is too often overlooked or, worse, consciously passed over. This isn’t a technology problem; a wide range of hardware, software and cloud-based E911 solutions exist to address […]
The issue of success or failure in moving your company data, IT storage, servers or software to the cloud is often driven by technical issues, including performance, bandwidth, security and total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) considerations. While many of these factors are key criteria for selecting cloud solutions, they usually don’t align with the bigger picture that C-level executives must consider when adding new IT solutions. How IT can help sustain or create a competitive advantage has never […]
Thin-client devices soldier on in the battle to unseat entrenched PCs as the device of choice for both task and knowledge workers. Thin-client hardware devices are gaining processing power, codec smarts and management tools that combine with speed boosters from virtual desktop platforms and are mounting a serious challenge to the PC refresh treadmill. Even more extreme slimming called a “zero client” is stripping out any local operating system, thus reducing the attack surface, power […]
For today’s CIO, the perceived barriers to cloud computing remain security, regulation and compliance. The danger that data loss poses to brand equity, customer trust and share price is just the same whether data is stored in a cloud computing or traditional infrastructure model. The severity of the issue is reflected in legislation like the recent Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which states that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) now has the authority to levy […]
Historically, business telecommunications has been a highly exclusive club of well-financed service providers who have been highly dependent upon business models that are pegged to over-subscription, product bundling and oligopolistic market control. Telecommunications infrastructure has been a world of very expensive, highly proprietary equipment and telecom applications such as voicemail, conferencing, three-way calling and caller ID have been developed exclusively within the doors of the large service providers who intended to put them in the […]
IBM, HP, and other established vendors entering cloud computing are often already outsourcing partners to the firms that are now frequently looking for an infrastructure service provider. But that doesn’t mean they have an inside track on the business. They do not. Established vendors are going to face stiff competition for outsourcing business from the new infrastructure providers: Amazon, Rackspace, and others, according to a report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Traditionally, IT works in a break-fix […]
Telefonica and Verizon will become the first operators to offer Android phones running VMware’s mobile hypervisor, the companies announced on Wednesday at the VMworld 2011 Europe conference in Copenhagen. VMware has previously said that Verizon would offer the service, without disclosing details about timing, but this is the first time Telefonica has said it plans to offer phones with the hypervisor. Users of phones with the VMware product will find two profiles on their devices: […]
After a decade of enormous budget increases the American intelligence community’s budget will probably decline by billions of dollars, Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper said here. Clapper told more than 3,000 people at the annual Geoint conference that the intelligence community’s budget had been handed in to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. “We are all going to have to give at the office,” Clapper said. The bulk of the cuts will […]