Many design and construction companies affected by Hurricane Sandy harnessed the powers of technology to serve their clients and remain operational in the aftermath of the storm. Investments that paid off the best were virtualization tools and cloud-based private networks, say some firms. To communicate, most firms rerouted e-mail, sent out mass e-cards or used social media to alert clients and employees with key updates. Others went to much greater lengths and the difference showed. […]
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT – there is a sea change happening as individuals and companies slowly grasp the upside of cloud computing. But I still get challenged at conferences: “What about the security risk? I have to know that my bits are safe. How do I know these service providers are not going to mine my data and exploit all my information?” The short answer is that you don’t – no one does. But then […]
The use of technology is among one of the greatest challenges facing medium sized businesses. It also presents one of the biggest transformational opportunities to drive growth, promote innovation, reduce costs and ensure your business maintains a competitive edge. 1. Free up resources Most businesses today are concerned about the state of the economy. Moving in-house hardware and software to a highly secure data centre means it can be delivered back as a fully managed […]
Despite the hype and claims by large software companies about the miracles of cloud computing, a combined study by Ireland’s National Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero) and NUI Galway has shown that cloud actually results in significant time savings for firms and drives down administrative costs. The new report claims to offer the first empirical evidence globally of the benefits of cloud computing. Globally, the market for public cloud services is expected to increase by […]
Security issues in industrial markets have been receiving much attention in the media. The vast majority of devices that power infrastructures offer aging technology in many cases and are not well prepared for the latest cyber security threats. Taking the energy grid as an example: one does not have to be a scientist to find the holes when approximately 70% of the infrastructure is more than 30 years old. Devices that were never designed for […]
The cloud seems to be a prickly, double edged sword at the moment. Well, that’s if Steve Wozniak’s predictions of doom are to be believed. His belief that the cloud will bring “a lot of horrible problems in the next five years” seems to be at odds with the view of enterprises whose rapid adoption of cloud computing is reflected in Gartner’s predictions of a 48% increase in cloud services this year alone. While this […]
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new software tool to prevent performance disruptions in cloud computing systems by automatically identifying and responding to potential anomalies before they can develop into problems. Cloud computing enables users to create multiple “virtual machines” that operate independently, even though they are all operating on one large computing platform. However, this approach can cause performance issues when a software bug, or other problem, in one virtual machine […]
The benefits of removing the capital investment and the day to day management of hardware and software to leverage an on-demand, metered computing service, charged on a consumption basis, are now widely accepted. The rise in cloud computing is indicative of our need to make the most efficient use of resources and minimise costs by accessing computing resources and infrastructure when, and as, it is needed. This business model has drawn many comparisons between the […]
Cloud computing promises a low cost of entry and fast return on investment, but that ROI can fall short of expectations if hidden costs are left out of the equation. A new white paper from global IT association ISACA, “Calculating Cloud ROI: From the Customer Perspective,” takes a close look at the true costs of cloud migration and offers a practical framework for calculating returns on migrating to the cloud. The free white paper outlines […]
There are many benefits of cloud computing that don’t necessarily make the headlines or the 30-point bold bullet in the PowerPoint slide, but they are still important when considering using a cloud service. It’s pretty apparent to anyone in the technology world that cloud computing is an established and accepted approach to the delivery of computer software and infrastructure as a service. From music and movie streaming services such as Netflix and Pandora, to personal […]
Enterprises are beginning to change their buying behaviors based on the deployment speed, economics and customization that cloud-based technologies provide. Gartner cautions however that enterprises are far from abandoning their on-premise models and applications entirely for the cloud. Based on an analysis of the Gartner Hype Cycle for Cloud Computing, 2012, the best results are being attained by enterprises that focus on a very specific strategy and look to cloud-based technologies to accelerate their performance. […]
The emergence of new media (such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and even the virtual world of Second Life) is spelling new challenges for businesses. They have widened the scope for consumers to air their fury against any product imperfections or service inefficiencies they experience. They have in fact become a potent weapon like no other as the damage is instantaneous and global. Companies have to deal with them with a sense of urgency, […]
The increasingly integral role of cloud computing in IT operations is accompanied by significant change and disruption for cloud users, their IT staffs and their technology providers, new research released today by CompTIA, the leading non-profit association for the information technology (IT) industry, reveals. CompTIA’s Third Annual Trends in Cloud Computing study indicates that the market for cloud solutions is robust, with the number of organizations using cloud resources rising for the third straight year. […]
Security exists to protect the tangible things in life. If something is deemed special enough to be protected, we do so with highly visible declarations of security. Deadbolts on doors are large and comforting; alarm systems used to protect buildings are there for all to see; seatbelts in cars tell the world that we are taking our safety seriously. While protecting homes and possessions is simple human behaviour, there are important aspects of day-to-day life […]
Since the mid 2000s one of the prevailing trends in the IT world has been to move networks, data, operating systems and servers into an environment where they are not tied to a specific piece of hardware. In the early days the emphasis was on virtualisation. Organisations concentrated on increasing the number of servers on one machine using a hypervisor program with the activities kept in-house. More recently there has been an emphasis on cloud […]
Cloud computing has become mainstream in 2012 for providing IT facilities, but the public sector is slower to move into the cloud than private companies. Cisco commissioned independent research amongst IT decision makers, in enterprises with more than 1,000 employees across a broad range of vertical sectors including government. The results clearly show that cloud has moved from hype to reality, with cloud now seen as a mainstream element of IT strategy. Cloud computing, which […]
Dimension Data, released the results of a Network Barometer study for this year, which evaluates the readiness of enterprise networks to support ongoing business operations. The report found that technology trends such as bring-your-own-device (BYOD), video and virtualization are rapidly consuming network capacity and capabilities, and that 45 per cent of the enterprise networks assessed during 2011 will be obsolete within five years. This represents a 38 per cent increase over the 2010 data, indicating […]
I think the enterprises of the future will look very different from those of today. Organizations will become leaner and more virtualized as their business processes grow more reliant on ecosystem partners. Process boundaries will transcend a specific entity. Many macroeconomists believe that real shareholder value (and, ultimately, economic growth) will be driven by the speed and quality of innovation. Historically, enterprises have been successful by capitalizing on a disruption (market transition) that plays into […]
Saleforce.com’s chief scientist has slammed the concept of private cloud, claiming that the whole point of cloud computing is that resources, costs and risk are shared between multiple parties. Speaking at the Cloud Computing World forum in London today, JP Rangaswami said that cloud provides the scalability and flexibility that organisations need to survive in the modern age. However, organisations that choose to adopt private rather than public cloud will miss out on the benefits. […]
Virtualization has “virtually” changed the IT world in which we all work and play. Why is virtualization so attractive to IT administrators? The answer is easy — there are many uses and benefits that we gain through virtualization. For starters, the thought of being able to have a single server’s physical footprint represent many servers on the network has been a boon to administrators looking to consolidate space and reduce operation costs. Having the ability […]
Cloud computing and business analytics are set to inject new life into the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector through reduced upfront costs and better use of the data. IT-enabled BPO is big business, but IT’s role is largely as an enabler of efficiencies. The IT infrastructures that support BPO can be fine-tuned to cut costs, but the best-performing BPO deals are using IT to innovate. Recent research from Accenture revealed that only 20% of BPO […]
Google research says financial bosses will take more active role in buying IT services Cloud computing will give chief financial officers (CFOs) the chance to become more influential on the technology side of a business, according to a new study. According to the research by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Google, half of the senior financial decision makers quizzed believe that as the adoption of cloud computing within enterprise continues to grow, CFOs will become […]
Frost & Sullivan, an IT analysis and consulting firm, predicts that the platform as a service market will be the next area of keen competition for cloud innovators, as the infrastructure- and software-as-a-service spaces have been commoditized. The platform-as-a-service space will be the next battleground for cloud service providers, as the infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service markets face commoditization, according to a study by Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan’s new “Asia-Pacific Platform as a Service Market […]
Today, it is no longer a question of when IT will align with business leaders, but how. That is the conclusion of a new report from Forrester Research, which describes the policies and procedures for implementing cloud computing in the corporate environment. These are required, according to Forrester, because the traditional model of IT management under the rigid control of the IT department has now become restrictive and outdated. Business managers want the power to […]
An interesting infographic forecasting the change in the revenues and growth of cellular, land line and VoIP services through 2015. Source
Small and medium businesses have a lot to gain through adopting cloud computing, a recent research from comScore – sponsored by Microsoft – shows. Not only would these companies benefit from important time and money savings when adopting the cloud, but they also see increased security levels, the aforementioned research shows. According to the survey, which was conducted among both cloud and non-cloud SMBs in the U.S., India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, most businesses […]
As the role of cloud computing is growing significantly in its ability to deliver business applications, many IT decision makers are facing challenges with their existing network infrastructure to support the migration of their business applications to the cloud. An international study by Cisco revealed that without the proper cloud migration strategy, more than one third (38 percent) of IT decision makers would rather get a root canal, dig a ditch, or do their own […]
Biggest spending is going towards tablets, cloud and virtualization, according to a new study. Small and medium-sized businesses are spending more money on IT, including adopting tablets, cloud services and virtualization to a greater extent, according to Spiceworks’ State of SMB IT survey. IT budgets at companies with fewer than 1,000 employees grew 6 percent in the first half of 2012 from the second half of 2011, and 15 percent year-over-year, according to the survey. […]
In a bid to make virtualisation and cloud computing more palatable to enterprises which have a high concentration of mobile users, or are implementing a Bring your Own Device (BYOD) strategy, VMware has launched a fistful of new products and a public beta of a system that offers what it describes as “Dropbox for the enterprise”. The products available today and later this year bring to life the product roadmap that VMware outlined at its […]
Building an effective communication strategy through the use of appropriate technology is a key to any successful enterprise, especially in today’s times. Communication technology has undergone a sea-change from just voice-based communication through telephone to the use of collaborative tools in communication, such as email, voicemail, instant messaging, video conferencing, smartphones and the like. In the past four to five years, Unified Communication (UC) has become the next-gen communication methodology of choice for effective corporate […]