As our world becomes more and more connected, the terms used to describe online services blur into abstraction. In this article, I’ll clarify the terms “cloud computing” versus “software as a service,” often referred to as SaaS. In some ways, it’s like describing two sides of the same coin. However, there are some clear distinctions, along with risks and rewards to keep in mind. The Internet is increasingly being referred to as the cloud. One […]
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It seems that every networking event this year, every tech magazine issue, and every vendor worth its salt is talking about “the cloud.” The cloud, in one of its many forms – public, private, or mixed – has become ubiquitous! I’ll confess: I started off my cloud gazing with little interest and several doubts, but I’ve learned a lot over the past year about the potential benefits of obtaining software, platform, and infrastructure as cloud […]
Companies are looking for cloud solutions that satisfy the requirements of the IT manager in terms of reliability, security and rapid access to data, while still receiving everything they need such as service, flexibility and user-friendliness. By consolidating resources into secure, redundant and hardened data centres, providers of cloud solutions can offer a considerably higher degree of reliability and increased network security than before. Yet many companies are still sceptical about these claims and doubt […]
With all the talk about cloud computing and its impact on business it’s important to understand what the cloud is — and what it isn’t. James Staten, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, provided his company’s take on the subject this week at the Autodesk University, where cloud computing was Topic A for the annual users conference that drew more than 8,000 people. The main advantages cloud computing provides — connectivity, mobility, flexibility […]
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: […]
Cloud computing is certainly attracting headlines in the media. You might have noticed Microsoft’s Cloud Power advertising blitz, or seen Apple’s Steve Jobs talking excitedly about iCloud. The trouble is that, for most companies, it’s hard to work out whether any of this hype is relevant to their business. So is the cloud an option for you? As it happens, it is likely that your company already uses a cloud-based solution. If you subscribe to […]
Businesses can finally replace their old phone systems and get a far more flexible phone solution for a fraction of the cost. But it’s not just replacing one phone system for another. With Hosted voice, you get the benefits of a fully managed phone system, which means you’ll need fewer resident experts to handle things. What’s more, Hosted voice expands communications and productivity by providing a range of advanced features and functionality. And it does […]
Back in 1995, the first Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls were made between two PCs. At first, it was just a technological novelty but by 1998, VoIP had begun to establish itself as a means of providing low-cost long distance calls, carrying an estimated 1% of US phone traffic. Jump forward ten years to 2008 and VoIP has revolutionised the way that residential and business communications are delivered. According to Infonetics, around 30% of […]
The telephone switchboard and landline desk phone may not be dead, but they are becoming relics of the past along with office ashtrays and typewriters. Businesses are increasingly turning away from PBX (private branch exchange) phone systems and toward VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony, which enables conversations to travel as data across the Internet. By 2013 more than 80 percent of businesses will use VoIP, according to research by In-Stat. Is VoIP Right for […]
Small businesses looking to ditch old PBX landline phones can save big and increase staff productivity by migrating to Internet-based phone systems. The telephone switchboard and landline desk phone may not be dead, but they are becoming relics of the past along with office ashtrays and typewriters. Businesses are increasingly turning away from PBX (private branch exchange) phone systems and toward VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony, which enables conversations to travel as data across […]
More and more companies are moving from traditional servers to virtual servers in the cloud, and many new service-based deployments are starting in the cloud. However, despite the overwhelming popularity of the cloud here, deployments in the cloud look a lot like deployments on traditional servers. Companies are not changing their systems architecture to take advantage of some of the unique aspects of being in the cloud. The key difference between remotely-hosted, virtualized, on-demand-by-API servers […]
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion and Microsoft are teaming up around a cloud computing strategy through which the two tech titans integrate cloud services and solutions. RIM said Thursday that cloud computing has always been a major component of its BlackBerry business, whether it’s real-time push, security or the backend architecture and RIM’s 2011 BlackBerry Product roadmap will focus heavily on the cloud. “Cloud has been our business for years,” Alec Taylor, RIM’s vice president of […]
If—and it certainly appears to be the case—cloud-based computing, software as a service (SaaS) and mobile are the next wave of technology, it would make sense that venture capital orientates itself along similar lines. That is certainly the view of Notion Capital. Jos White, one of the two founding brothers was in London recently and spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Europe. Mr. White, and his brother Ben, were the people behind MessageLabs, a cloud-based […]
It’s hard to imagine, but roughly 10 years ago as VoIP was being rolled out corporate networkers were quite concerned about the security of VoIP. As we faced a move from voice going over a traditional (and, by the way, unencrypted) network, there was concern that VoIP would be much too easy to eavesdrop on – especially if it traversed the Internet. We’ll leave the question of whether “legal intercepts” as a political and civil […]
For years, enterprise IT departments could be fuzzy about the costs of individual IT services and applications, but tight budgets and the relative clarity of cloud computing costs have forced CIOs into sharp focus. This need for specifics on IT costs has fueled a market for IT financial management software, which helps CIOs figure out how to budget for and assign dollar figures to services that span hardware, software and personnel. While the economy has […]
Cloud computing has quickly established its rightful place in modern IT organisations, helping enterprises become more agile while keeping close watch on costs. As a new mainstream appeal, the new delivery model has proven its stripes with applications like messaging, storage and CRM. Now, technology innovators are applying what they learned. Cloud service delivery has hit critical mass, with the majority of organisations already riding the wave. With that adoption, enterprises have become more comfortable […]
Thanks to innovations in virtualization and the cloud, the IT storage landscape has morphed wildly over the past few years. Organizations now have the power and flexibility to store data to suit not only their budgets and equipment, but also the mobility of their employees and customers. These technologies and others made great headway over the past year and should continue to transform technology in 2011, according to experts. “The virtualization of more and more […]
Now is the time for virtual desktops. There are a lot of people in the industry saying that you should wait. We ask why? There are serious savings in support and energy costs to be garnered along with significant other factors that will increase agility and lower TCO. Don’t wait. If you follow the advice and steps outlined below, and build a solid business case, you will be successful. Virtual desktops are the hottest virtualization […]
If data is sitting in three jurisdictions, what laws apply to it? Dubai: Tighter budgets, less capital investment and fewer IT staff in the corporate world are expected to boost cloud computing storage demands past $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) per year in the Middle East in a third-party global storage market worth $68 billion annually. As the global number grows to $150 billion a year by 2014, some observers warn the amount of money saved […]
Many companies may have e-mail, virus scanning or CRM running as a service over the internet, but most organizations are only just starting out when it comes to cloud computing, according to Microsoft. The software giant’s lists ways the nascent cloud market will change in the next few years. Cloud-centric hardware Servers, microprocessors and client devices will evolve as purpose-built systems to address the new paradigm of cloud computing. For example, diskless laptops that store […]
A short summary of the benefits of the cloud for organizations from here. A key point is to pick a professional and fully redundant supplier. meshIP has redundant systems, data centers and fully backs up your data each day. ‘Cloud computing’ sounds like a complicated idea, but if you use Flickr to store your photos, or Hotmail to keep in touch with friends and family, or stream music over Spotify, then you are, in effect, […]
Businesses are rapidly switching on to the benefits a hosted private branch exchange (PBX) – or switchboard – environment. That’s according to Graeme Victor, CEO of telecommunications solutions company Du Pont Telecom, who says several organizations have already adopted the new technology that aims to expand voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP). Victor says with the growth and maturation of the data networks and the changes in the interconnect agreements, it is now possible to run a company’s […]
Today Forbes had a great article on hosted voice: One of the virtues of Voice over Internet Protocol is that your business can have a sophisticated phone system without installing a phone system. With a VoIP system hosted on the Internet, all you need are the phones. One situation where this particularly makes sense is if you run a relatively small (or lean) business with lots of locations. Rather than have each office install its […]
As the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is expected to grow strongly this year, a software company encouraged call centers to cut capital and operational costs by using cloud computing. “There’s a new call center model in town. At the very least, you should do your due diligence to decide if it’s right for you,” inContact executive vice president Jim Tanner said in a statement issued Monday. Call centers — expected to grow by 28 […]