Archive for the ‘Cloud’ Category
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012
 As cloud computing continues to gain acceptance in emerging markets, service providers (such as telcos, MSOs and hosters) are well positioned to gain mindshare and become an important route to market (RTM) for small and medium businesses (SMBs—firms with 1-999 employees) for acquiring cloud solutions.
AMI-Partners’ recently released 2011 Route-to-Market Opportunity Model shows that in emerging markets, such as China, India, Brazil and Russia, SMB cloud services spending and investments through service providers will increase nearly six-fold from $111M in 2011 to $615M by 2015.
This represents a 4-year annual growth rate of 54%—the largest among all RTMs tracked by AMI and far outpacing the growth in total SaaS spending over the same period.
“Service providers in emerging markets will gain considerable market share in the cloud services space, due to several key factors,” says Rohan Bose, Associate for AMI’s Channels Practice.
“The first is due to mergers and acquisition activity within the channel landscape. Larger telcos and service providers are in the process of acquiring smaller VARs and local channel partners/resellers.
“The acquisition of these partners allows service providers to diversify their product portfolios and enter the cloud market by providing basic SaaS solutions (such as accounting, business intelligence/analytics, email and CRM).
“This is an important step for many telcos and MSOs, as they believe that their traditional offerings such as voice, data and video services will begin to enter a phase of modest growth over the next couple of years. Cloud services allow service providers the ability to meet the growing SMB demand and differentiate themselves from other competitors.”
The second factor for the expected increase in SPs’ share is their ability to bundle SaaS solutions with broadband and high-speed Internet connectivity.
Other cloud providers such as channel partners can bundle multiple SaaS applications together, but cost-conscious SMBs are more likely to purchase bundles containing broadband.
Bose says, “As the demand for cloud services continues to rise, SMBs in emerging markets will require access to high-speed internet to increase business efficiency; it is the service providers who are uniquely positioned to offer such packages.”
Finally, many of these SPs offer datacenters and hosting capabilities to SMBs looking to store infrastructure externally. Similarly, SPs can offer datacenter hosting to traditional channel partners such as VARs for the same reason.
Other channel partners who require space to host their own apps often turn to SPs to meet their needs. AMI studies have shown strong interest by channel partners to partner with SPs for hosting needs and it is up to the SPs to foster and grow the relationship.
Given the gradual shift in SMB preference, IT vendors would be wise to take advantage of this lucrative opportunity.
Since many smaller SPs do not yet have the necessary business applications to offer SMBs, SaaS and other cloud vendors can utilize SPs as a viable option to go-to-market. By entering into strategic and symbiotic relationships, vendors can help SPs add further value to their services.
Tags: AMI Partners, CRM, emerging markets cloud services opportunity, hosts, MSOs, service providers, SMBs, telcos, VARs
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, December 30th, 2011
 With high profile security breaches in the news throughout 2011, security firm Agiliance sees dramatic changes ahead for the security industry in 2012. It’s list of predictions for the coming year in security focus on mobile, cloud computing, legislation, and social media.
These predictions are based on the company’s engagement with Global 2000 companies, government agencies, fellow security vendors, industry analysts and security consultants, as well as market research it conducts on a regular basis.
Topping the list is Agiliance’s prediction that organizations will recognize that risk is security’s new compliance.
A risk-based approach and holistic view of the organization’s IT infrastructure will be driven by further consumerization of IT, challenges related to social media as an instrument in cyber warfare, stricter enforcement and new legislation focused on data protection, threat information sharing, and incident disclosure, as well as the emerging need to assess cloud service providers’ ability to enforce security policies and continuously maintain an adequate compliance posture.
“For many years, complying with government standards and industry regulations has been seen as a check box in the lengthy list of IT security tasks,” said Torsten George, vice president of worldwide marketing at Agiliance.
“In 2012, we will see progressive organizations applying a risk-based, continuous approach to security. By doing so, they will be able to make risk visible, measurable, and actionable.”
Specifically, Agiliance expects dramatic changes in the following areas:
Mobile Devices and Social Media
New products and services will emerge that deal with the necessary delineation of employer-owned versus employee-owned data on mobile devices.
These products will go beyond anti-virus and malware software to deal with embedded strong authentication, secure mobile operating systems scanners, mobile operating system vulnerability scanning, and data segregation / encryption. For social media threats, existing security tools’ capabilities will be extended to cover monitoring of social media networks to tackle the emergency of social media cyber warfare.
Cloud Computing Security
Agiliance predicts an acceleration of efforts to create standards around cloud security, primarily driven by the data consolidation efforts of the U.S. government as well as wide-ranging support of the Cloud Security Alliance. Independent, continuous monitoring of cloud service providers’ security controls will become a standard part of service level agreements.
Legislative Initiatives
Agiliance predicts that, in the second half of 2012, a government mandate will be passed that will lead to a pro-active Information Security Risk Management system and related best practices to tackle cyber security threats.
Similar to stricter enforcement policies of the HiTech Act by the HHS, regulations penalty cases will surge in 2012. Furthermore, privacy audit is becoming a major driver behind security tool investments as organizations are coming up short on audits relating to data breaches, disclosure notifications, data handling, attribution, and incident closure.
Anti-Cyber Crime Collaboration
Sharing of sensitive threat information will become essential to prevent widespread cyber attacks across different verticals and industries. Nowadays, cyber criminals are coordinating their efforts and are well-versed in sharing vulnerabilities and attack methodologies. They even have their own online communities where they exchange information.
This is unmatched by the commercial sector and government agencies. As a result, Agiliance predicts that the increase in cyber security attacks and data breaches will lead to the introduction of a formal information sharing database that will be made accessible to a broader group.
Risk is Security’s New Compliance
With more than 365 security incidents reported this year to date, affecting over 126 million records, cyber security attacks have become a mainstream event in the industry.
Based on these changes, Agiliance predicts further increase in demand for software tools that are able to aggregate data from existing security tools and information management applications to make risk visible, measurable, and actionable.
These tools will not only provide advanced reporting capabilities, but interconnectivity to ensure that remediation actions can be triggered and followed through easily. To better describe the capabilities of these tools, analysts will create a new software category called Security Risk Management.
For the in-depth predictions, data, and accompanying graphics, please see Agiliance’s 2012 IT Security Predictions:http://www.agiliance.com/forms/WhitePaperReg.html?doc=Security_Predictions.
Tags: Agiliance 2012 security industry predictions, anti-crime collaboration, cloud computing secuirty, cyber security legislation, mobile security, risk management, social media
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Security, smartphones, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Friday, December 16th, 2011
 Cyber crooks will target small businesses, social media attacks will be more common, and mobile security threats will reach an all-time high in 2012.
So says The Cyber Security and Information Assurance Division of Kroll Inc., which released its annual security forecast, highlighting key areas of risk and trends that will impact how organizations and governments combat and respond to cyber threats.
“The events of 2011 suggest that the cyber security landscape will find public and private organizations are still on unsteady footing,” said Karen Schuler, practice leader of the Cyber Security and Information Assurance Division. “Traditional pain points for organizations including mobile technologies, incident response and regulatory requirements will intensify as new and developing challenges surface in 2012.”
“We frequently see organizations with protective measures based on the assumption that they are not a target,” said Alan Brill, senior managing director of the Cyber Security and Information Assurance Division. “Yet 2011 taught us that no one is exempt from attack. Companies need to take a strategic and aggressive approach to cyber security. Ignoring a problem is no guarantee that the problem will ignore you.”
Kroll’s 2012 Cyber Security Forecast includes:
1. Mobile technology security threats will be at an all-time high. Mobile technologies are changing so rapidly that in some organizations the demand and pressure to deploy new technologies (e.g., tablet computers) will outstrip the organization’s existing capabilities to secure them. This unfortunate dynamic is no secret to thieves who are ready and waiting with highly targeted malware and attacks employing mobile applications. Similarly, the perennial problem of lost and stolen devices will expand to include these new technologies and old ones that previously flew under the radar of cyber security planning. For example, digital cameras used by medical facilities to document patient treatment are becoming increasingly attractive to potential thieves. The loss of this type of data represents a potential HIPAA privacy law violation and could have serious ramifications for the health care industry.
2. Social media will increase in popularity as a conduit for social engineering attacks. Social media adoption among businesses is skyrocketing and so is the threat of attack. In 2012, organizations can expect to see an increase in social media profiles used as a channel for social engineering tactics. Thieves will utilize clever tactics to coerce end-users into disclosing sensitive information, downloading malware or both. To combat the risks, companies will need to look beyond the basics of policy and procedure development to more advanced technologies such as data leakage prevention, enhanced network monitoring and log file analysis.
3. Small businesses (SMBs) will enter the crosshairs of cyber attacks. “Hacktivism” may make headlines, but the fact of the matter is that data thieves are simply looking for the path of least resistance. Of late, that path has been leading directly to SMBs that house large amounts of valuable data but lack the data security budgets of their big business peers. Common modes of attack include everything from social engineering to SQL injection. In addition, ongoing use of legacy systems – weakened by postponed or overlooked upgrades and replacements – put SMBs at heightened risk.
4. As cloud services gain in popularity, related breach incidents will flourish. If we were meteorologists, we’d definitely be calling for overcast with a chance of storms. Companies are smartly embracing the cloud for the associated cost savings and ease of use. Unfortunately, current surveys and reports indicate that companies are underestimating the importance of security due diligence when it comes to vetting these providers. As cloud use rises in 2012, new breach incidents will highlight the challenges these services pose to forensic analysis and incident response and the matter of cloud security will finally get its due attention.
5. Business and government cooperation will be mission-critical for economic and infrastructure health. Cyber crime has the capacity to cripple almost every aspect of commerce from the largest corporation to the individual consumer. Similarly, the security of U.S. infrastructure is being called into question in disturbingly real ways. For these reasons there is a growing sentiment among both private organizations and the U.S. government about the increased need for information sharing. Improved communication between the private and public sectors will not only give government the ammunition needed to take down major threats, it will also increase private entities’ capacity to respond to large threats more effectively.
6. Privacy concerns will keep geolocation technology in a white-hot spotlight. Geolocation technology is the quintessential double-edged sword. On one hand, consumers love the convenience of innovative mobile apps and services utilizing this technology. On the other, the backlash against surreptitious tracking or disclosure can be swift and strong. In fact, two federal bills were introduced in 2011 dealing specifically with the protection of geolocational information. It’s doubtful either will become law in 2012, but we can expect to see privacy advocates urging businesses to adopt an opt-in or consumer consent model.
7. Management and analysis of logs will gain more respect for its role in incident preparedness and response. Security incidents have increased in sophistication and frequency in recent years and one of the most effective modes of response involves maintaining complete logging for the network and key applications. While historically undervalued, logging provides vital information that can be utilized for analysis of network activities and documentation of security incidents. As companies begin to see the error in their ways in 2012 they will begin to implement formal risk assessments to look for security weak spots.
8. Incident Response Teams will get a permanent seat at the table when it comes to standard business operations. Historically, incident response teams were made of employees from across the organization tapped to mobilize only if and when security incidents occurred. But to remain competitive in today’s market companies need to upgrade incident response teams from contingency plan status to day-to-day operations. Effective incident response teams can include a group of full-time employees designated as incident responders or a team of outside consultants (via a third party) hired for 24/7 incident response support.
9. Companies will overlook key vulnerabilities, as regulatory compliance continues to drive organizational security. Let’s face it – state and federal regulations remain the yardstick by which the comprehensiveness of data privacy and security are measured. But using such a “checklist mentality” to drive security initiatives is dangerous because a number of data security regulations overlook basic IT security controls. Certainly there are regulations that address the need for encryption or the development of an incident response plan but few require a wide range of best-practice controls such as up-to-date anti-virus software. As more breaches occur as a result of security gaps, we should expect to see governing agencies offer specific guidance on risk assessment and standard IT security controls.
10. Breach notification laws will gain traction outside of the US. While the U.S. Congress struggles to reach consensus on a federal breach notification law, internationally the idea is gaining momentum. Germany began requiring breach notice in all sectors in 2010 and several other EU nations have expressed interest in putting similar requirements in place. Meanwhile, Canada is also considering mandatory breach notice as part of proposed revisions to PIPEDA, which governs how Canadian businesses collect, use and disclose personal information. Companies with a global presence should watch these developments closely because they could have significant impact on their operations abroad.
Tags: 2012 security threats, cloud security, cyber crime, Kroll, mobile security threats, social media attacks
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Security, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, TechLife, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
 In less than a decade, as employees “bring their own technology” with them, the workplace will shift to wherever an employee is located, according to initial findings from CoreNet Global’s comprehensive and futuristic look at the workplace, Corporate Real Estate 2020.
The wide-ranging study sheds light on how technology is radically changing the nature of work and even transcending science fiction.
It’s already happening with concepts like collaboration in your pocket, or other advances as seen in artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, biometric security, sensor-driven smart buildings, unified communications, and other breakthroughs like the ability for people to wear or even implant digital devices “as the new user interface.”
“Game changing,” “revolutionary” and “relentless” are among the ways that more than 200 executives taking part in the study are describing the ever-evolving landscape of flexible or alternative workplace strategies.
Bring your own technology impacts the office
Bring your own technology, or “BYOT,” will impact the size and design of the corporate office, as fewer square feet per employee will be needed, and open, collaborative workspaces will continue to replace cubicle and personal office-based designs.
The idea of “BYOT” was improbable, even inconceivable, only five or six years ago because of integration, security and other issues. Yet today, it looms as a strong likelihood thanks to the relentless advance of technology and the continued blurring of lines between personal and business technology.
“BYOT” is one of many “bold statements” coming from corporate executives involved in Corporate Real Estate 2020, which is CoreNet Global’s new transformational research initiative.
Corporate Real Estate 2020 is bringing together thought leaders from around the world to analyze and consider the current state and the future of corporate real estate (CRE) and the workplace through eight strategic areas impacting business drivers like mobility, mergers and acquisitions, talent, innovation, productivity, speed to market and risk management.
“BYOT is happening now,” according to Corporate Real Estate 2020 Technology Team member Keith Perske of E-Business Strategies. “Corporations cannot keep up with personal technology, so the next step is already happening.”
The shift implies a change for corporate information technology (IT) departments, whose long-standing role of providing computing power for companies will migrate to the Cloud.
This is already resulting in a new emphasis on enabling mobility and other forms of flexible work, as well as increasing the IT interface with CRE executives who often manage alternative workplace strategies.
Always Networked
The potential impact of Cloud computing itself could be overestimated, as another Corporate Real Estate 2020 bold statement predicts, starting with the expectation that by 2020 the number of personal digital devices in the world today will double.
“Cloud computing is about to be replaced by ‘always-networked’ personal devices with near-infinite memory,” Perske also advises.
While Corporate Real Estate 2020 participants consider the BYOT concept to be ‘predictable,’ they regard Cloud replacement as a ‘revolutionary’ change to come.
Another revolutionary concept, unified communications, will enable Cloud replacement and BYOT. It’s all about the integration of voice, data, graphic and video for the first time in a single device. “It’s fast becoming collaboration in the pocket,” Perske says. “One day soon, it will take the form of wearable technology.”
Industry experts also identified several “game changing” workplace and technology forces that will pronounce themselves by 2020 and that go beyond being revolutionary.
One of them is biometric-based security. “Technology security will become biometric,” Perske relates. “Security poses real issues in the distributed work environments which many companies have adopted to increase productivity, collaboration and innovation.”
The idea that personal, biological identifiers will allow access to key information transcends science fiction and represents another breakthrough for changing the way we work: the more extensive use of artificial intelligence.
Other advances in areas like nanotechnology will help with the introduction of emotional intelligence sensors to help raise communication effectiveness. “Sensing will increase, and buildings will become better equipped to recognize and differentiate people’s preferred styles or routines,” Perske explains. “On the individual level,” he adds, “ubiquitous technology on our skin, in our clothing and as eyewear represents the new user interface.”
Smaller and Smarter
These and other outcomes, such as the use of predictive technologies to more effectively forecast future demand for office space, are also linked to intelligent infrastructure and smart buildings.
They will tend to be smaller in scale yet provide a competitive advantage in terms of virtual teams and collaboration with multiple stakeholders. “Smarter and smaller” are the terms defining these changes. They are framing the concept of “globally networked enterprises.”
CRE departments and teams are directly influencing the formation of a new “People, Technology and Place” emphasis by integrating resources to enable flexible work and develop smarter buildings.
An increasingly sophisticated tool known as Integrated Workplace Management Systems, or IWMS, is helping accomplish the two objectives, as well as providing a reliable way to inform the C-Suite and business units on key decisions revolving around market growth or contraction, as well as demand for space and employee headcount.
Using technology to better capture, format and disseminate data is a critical aspect of CRE’s current and future focus, but workplace practices and intelligent buildings are not the only reasons for it.
New international accounting standards requiring leased properties to be moved back onto the corporate balance sheet represent another factor affecting the growing need for more effective technology applications that real estate executives are helping to deliver for their companies and clients.
Corporate Real Estate 2020 participants focused on the lease accounting, or FASB 13, standard changing, however, downplay initial fears over the new rules. “The main impact is new lease accounting standards will be like a giant migraine,” rather than a total disaster, predicts Russ Howell of Jones Lang LaSalle, who is taking part in the Corporate Real Estate 2020 Portfolio Optimization Team.
As more CRE executives are realizing, FASB 13′s requirements will create an added administrative burden similar to Sarbanes Oxley that can be mitigated with effective data management.
Carbon Footprint Regulation Is Imminent
Green or sustainable practices represent another strategic area that is fast becoming more reliant on technology and data effectiveness. The Corporate Real Estate 2020 Sustainability Team foresees the inevitability of government regulation at the local and national levels. “Energy performance disclosure will be required,” cautions team member Kevin Kampschroer of the General Services Administration.
Companies that can accurately measure and report their carbon footprint reduction and energy savings to government agencies, as well as incorporating the data into Triple Bottom Line financial reporting to stakeholders, will face much lower risk in terms of taxation or over-regulation.
At the same time, companies are seeking locations that treat green regulations more as carrots to incentivize proactive corporate social responsibility, as opposed to sticks to simply tax them. “Green incentives are one reason why sustainability has become the new sweet spot for corporate location decisions,” observes Corporate Real Estate 2020 Location Strategy and Role of Place Team member Dennis Donovan of WDG Consulting.
Bricks and Mortar Take a Back Seat
On balance, at the half-way mark of a 10-month iteration on future trends and impacts, Corporate Real Estate 2020 thought leaders are proving real estate isn’t so much about bricks and mortar as it is about enabling work and finding ways to help the business stay or become more competitive in a complex, dynamic global economy.
“In tomorrow’s world, work will go to people; people won’t necessarily go to work,” says Corporate Real Estate 2020 Workplace Team member Steve Hargis of HOK. “But that won’t diminish the importance of place, because people, and companies, need human interaction to thrive.”
Does it also mean that companies will occupy more office or other business and commercial space? Not necessarily, when you factor in today’s historically-lower job creation levels along with the now-constant mandate for companies to reduce space and costs – plus, technology’s influence in allowing for mobility, telework or other forms of flexible work.
Considering the fact that most space today is designed for groups and not individuals, and that space per person will drop to below 100-square-feet by 2020, maybe it’s not so far-fetched to ponder another Corporate Real Estate 2020 bold statement: 40 percent vacancy rates in property markets outside Asia.
At a time when multiple forces are converging, such a problem can only lead to yet another opportunity: the retrofit and responsible reuse of more than 200-billion-square feet of existing commercial space globally.
It’s another reason why, as Corporate Real Estate 2020 foresees it, there will be less emphasis on developing new buildings in tomorrow’s world of corporate real estate, including fewer build-to-suit projects.
Tags: bring your own technology, cloud computing, CoreNet, game-changing tech forces, workplace shifts to where employee is
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Friday, December 9th, 2011
 How are small businesses using the cloud? Jess3 and Microsoft 365 teamed to create an infographic on small business and the cloud. It traces cloud computing adoption for small businesses over a period of several years and includes data on how the cloud has impacted IT for small businesses. Data is from Forester, Gartner, IDC and other sources.
Tags: Jess3, Microsoft Office 365, small business use of cloud computing
Posted in Cloud, infographic, IT | Comments Off
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
 Improving business agility, delivering cost savings, meeting increasingly demanding user expectations, and managing the growing mobile workforce will be the top drivers of IT spending on virtualization initiatives in 2012, according to a Quest Software survey of more than 200 organizations.
In addition, more than half of the respondents surveyed indicated that at least 25 percent of their 2012 IT budgets will be allocated to virtualization projects across a broad range of critical initiatives.
Those include backup and recovery, virtual desktops, network management, and performance and capacity management, thus highlighting the clear need among the end-user community for comprehensive virtualization management solutions.
News Facts:
- Asked to identify the business requirements most likely to drive increased prioritization of virtualization initiatives in 2012, the need to improve business agility was cited by 61 percent of respondents. Maximizing reduced budgets was cited by 56 percent of respondents, while meeting increasingly demanding user expectations and managing an increasingly mobile workforce were cited by 31 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
- The Quest survey also indicated that a significant portion of IT budgets in 2012 will be allocated to virtualization-related initiatives, with more than half of respondents indicating that their organizations planned to allocate at least 25 percent of annual spending to virtualization projects. In addition, 40 percent of respondents surveyed indicated that their organizations would spend up to 50 percent of their IT budgets on virtualization, and 10 percent of respondents indicated that more than half of their IT budgets would be allocated to such projects.
- Respondents ranked backup and recovery as the aspect of virtualization management most important to their business, with more than 60 percent identifying it as their most critical virtualization initiative.
- Virtualization monitoring continues to be a priority, as more than 70 percent of respondents indicate they either have a virtualization monitoring solution in place today or are in the process of evaluating one. More organizations are also increasingly prioritizing their desktop virtualization and capacity management projects, with more than 50 percent of respondents stating they already have a solution in place or are in the process of evaluating one for each area.
About the Survey:
- Quest Software surveyed 235 attendees of the 2011 VMworld events in Las Vegas and Copenhagen, a cross-section of IT professionals that included both executive-level decision makers such as chief technology officers and chief information officers, as well as a broad range of end users including systems, network, database, storage and virtualization administrators.
Tags: 2012 virtualization initiatives, business agility, drivers of virtualization, IT cost savings, managing mobile workforce, Quest Software
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
A new survey conducted by CoreNet Global and Newmark Knight Frankshows that despite increases in cloud computing, 50 percent of companies are investing and planning over the long term to build or expand data centers that they manage as a corporate entity.
The survey pointed out that companies are most concerned with risk management and business continuity when deciding where to locate their data centers. One result is a preference for most companies to maintain management of data center operations internally, and not to outsource the function.
“Data centers are the digital-age equivalent of the engine room driving today’s globally networked corporate enterprise,” observes Bryan Loewen, seniorm anaging director—Data Centers, for Newmark Knight Frank Global Corporate Services.
“The reliable, secure, continuous and efficient operation of data centers has thus become a function vital to the profitability of many companies in today’s and tomorrow’s worlds of e-commerce.”
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of executives surveyed from 30 multinational corporations emphasize the selection of low-risk areas for their data center sites. A majority of the respondents (52%) also identified redundant power sources as a key location decision factor, along with access to high-speed fiber optic networks (57%).
The two primary drivers for opening data centers are lack of existing capacity (48%) and company growth (47%).
The joint survey points out the still-relatively low adoption of LEED-certified facilities and outsourced operations. For example, only 5% rate LEED-certified centers as a top criterion for data center site selection. Yet a strong majority (57%) thinks LEED-certified owned or leased data centers are important in terms of future occupancy.
At the same time, very few companies (6%) currently outsource their entire data center computing to the Cloud. Nearly one-fourth (24%) do not use the Cloud at all. Conversely, nearly three-fourths (71%) say their companies outsource at least some of their data center computing to the Cloud. Almost one-third (29%), however, expressed a willingness to use outsourced partners to handle future data center requirements.
The survey shows that companies are also increasingly consolidating or combining their data centers, and that some of the biggest concerns are:
- Cost of relocation (32%)
- Disaster recovery limitations (26%)
- Need for infrastructure upgrades (26%)
- Future rent escalations on leased centers (5%)
- Growth and expansion limited by power supply (5%)
- Growth limited by cooling capacity (5%)
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is also a strategic priority in most data center cases.
Survey participants rated a wide range of ways to improve their PUE, including:
- Dedicated cooling infrastructure
- IT loads with higher efficiency
- Increasing control functionality with aim of improving efficiency
- Increasing efficacy of server usage
- Buying more efficient equipment for the future/meter current equipment more proficiently
Tags: cloud computing, company data centers, Corenet Global, Newmark Knight Frank
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Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
 While most companies today rely heavily on IT, a new semi-annual survey from Stratus Technologies and ITIC Corporation reveals that 52 percent of businesses do not know the potential financial impact of IT downtime.
The survey results underscore that many companies are unaware of the devastating impact that downtime can have on their bottom line and their reputation.
Additionally, even though 48 percent of companies currently calculate the cost of IT downtime, most still drastically underestimate the actual costs of outages, the ensuing remediation efforts, customer dissatisfaction, and the increased potential of litigation.
“It’s shocking that so many businesses have no idea what their cost of downtime is,” said Roy Sanford, chief marketing officer at Stratus Technologies.
“Equally surprising is the fact that people who claim to measure downtime cost fail to include major cost contributors in their calculations. Studies have shown that a high percentage of companies are doomed to failure following periods of extended downtime of a week or more.
“There are so many ways that IT downtime can hurt businesses, from lost revenue to reputation damage to lost productivity. One quarter of the businesses we surveyed, for example, failed to factor in lost manpower hours. They are making technology and staffing decisions without having full awareness of the actual financial impact that IT downtime can have on them.”
Inside the Survey
- 35 percent of survey respondents believe that one hour of downtime for their most business critical applications will cost their company $25,000 or less, potentially underestimating the adverse impact that IT downtime can have on their entire businesses.
- Just 10 percent of survey respondents report financial impact of $150,000 or greater per hour, which is closer to most industry cost estimates — e.g., the Aberdeen Group’s estimate of $110,000 an hour for the average company.
- Customer dissatisfaction and a bad reputation can have an insurmountable impact on a company’s bottom line and long-term success — but 29 percent of survey respondents donot consider customer dissatisfaction a factor contributing to their cost of IT downtime. Meanwhile, 38 percent of businesses do not consider damage to their company’s reputation as a contributing factor to the financial impact.
- Proving that businesses vastly underestimate the financial and overall impact that any downtime can have on their business, 81 percent of survey respondents do not calculate goods and materials lost into their cost of IT downtime, and 45 percent of businesses don’t even consider lost sales revenue as a factor of their IT downtime cost.
- Even though many businesses aren’t accurately calculating the cost of IT downtime, many more don’t calculate this cost at all. 52 percent of survey respondents report that they do not calculate the hourly cost of downtime on their business. Fortunately, there has been a small increase in awareness, as 59 percent of survey respondents did not make these calculations in April 2011.
Businesses and organizations have several options for reducing application downtime duration, the frequency of downtime events and the impact of application downtime.
A new assessment tool from Stratus and Aberdeen Group can identify these options. After taking a 5 minute survey, this tool examines the best practices associated with protecting virtualized applications and enables businesses to benchmark their performance against peers in protecting critical applications. By identifying key areas for improvement, businesses will be better able to achieve the uptime assurance they require.
More information
Tags: companies considering their own data centers, cost of IT downtime, data centers, IT downtime, IT downtime effects, Stratus Technologies, what happens if your IT goes down
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
 A cell phone tower Carriers will be putting a huge emphasis on fiber-based services to deal with mobile networks that are being pushed to their limits, according to M/C Partners, which has released its annual list of the top 10 communications, technology and media industry trends to watch in 2012.
A dramatic increase in cloud services and video consumption are creating serious challenges for carriers, who will be scrambling to address the issue. Many will use fiber to upgrade cell tower backhaul networks to raise network capacity, according to the private equity firm’s list.
M/C Partners compiled the list as part of its ongoing research to understand industry trends and identify investment opportunities in the communications, media, and information technology sectors.
According to M/C Partners, the leading trend in the new year will be carriers’ use of fiber to upgrade cell tower backhaul networks to gigabit connections, a staggering increase from the 1-2 megabits carriers provisioned to cell towers only a few years ago.
“As mobile users expect their phones to operate more like PCs and increase their consumption of social and traditional media, mobile networks are being pushed to their absolute limits,” said James Wade, Managing General Partner, M/C Partners.
“Adoption of cloud services and mobile consumption of video are only in their early stages, but growing very quickly. Networks are struggling to handle it right now. What will happen when demand grows ten-fold, as it likely will? Ubiquitous fiber will be the solution.”
Trends on the M/C Partners’ list include:
1. Fiber to the tower will become the number one priority for network operators struggling to deal with mobile users’ insatiable thirst for broadband.
2. Enterprise adoption of cloud-based services will drive demand for network-based managed services that will provide critical monitoring and management of application and service performance across LANs, MANs, WANs and the public Internet.
3. New technological innovations on the handset and in the network will improve important services like caching, compression and signaling to enhance mobile user experience, battery life and network access.
4. Consumerization of the enterprise will expand as end users move from simply driving iPhone and iPad adoption in the enterprise to pushing IT departments to provide more user-friendly and consumer-style applications for information sharing and management.
5. Micro-transaction business models will expand from social games into MMOGs, console games and other areas such as video, social networks and communications services providing consumer-directed price discrimination across a range of services.
6. HTML 5’s simplification of mobile application development will improve app economics, competition and usage by providing a seamless cross-platform experience and backward compatibility to the PC environment without sacrificing performance.
7. Consumers will realize the value of managed technology services from OEMs, broadband service providers and independent tech support companies to maximize the utility of their networked devices, as the need for better performance and up-time becomes increasingly valuable to consumers.
8. The content rental model will push beyond music and video into print publications with tablets providing an improved consumption medium that content owners will seek to fill with magazines and books.
9. Marketing options for small local businesses will expand beyond daily deals into more powerful tools that provide better yield management and integration with traditional local media and direct marketing for improved customer acquisition and lifetime value of customers.
10. Cable operators will answer over-the-top threats with apps and more subscription package variety to gain the upper hand in alternative video viewing options for consumers while still preserving the critical distribution and billing relationship.
M/C Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the communications, media, and information technology sectors. The firm has invested over $1.5 billion into nearly 100 companies in those sectors. Companies M/C has backed include Cavalier Telephone, Corelink, Fusepoint, GTS Central Europe, ICG Communications, Legendary Pictures, Lightower, MetroPCS, NuVox, Open Mobile, Public Mobile, Seven Networks and Zayo Group.
Tags: cloud-based services, consumerization of the enterprise, content rental model expands to print, fiber to the tower, marketing options for small businesses, micro-transaction business models, stressed mobile networks
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
 Shane Johnston, Capstrat VP By Allan Maurer
So, when you hear talk about digital marketing tactics, what term makes you roll your eyes and curse under your breath? That’s one of the questions communications agency Capstrat asked the marketing and technology pros who attended the recent TechMedia Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC.
“Far and away, of ten choices, they said QR codes,” says Shane Johnston, a vice president and account director at Capstrat. QR codes (Quick Response Codes are those bar codes you scan for information or to go to a web site). “A lot of people think they are overused and misused and don’t pay off,” Johnston adds.
In the survey, 23 percent said QR Codes caused the most eye-rolling, while 14.6 percent said social media, and 10.9 percent said SEO.
Capstrat received about 240 responses to its survey, a statistically significant number of the 1,800 or so people who attended the Internet Summit Nov. 15-16.
“We tried to keep it a bit entertaining and snarky,” Johnston says of the survey. It asked questions such as, “What trend is the next Justin Bieber-in its adolescence now but sure to hit its prime soon.
Mobile headed for prime time
No surprise there: 25.7 percent said “mobile marketing,” followed closely by “location-based marketing,” with 25.2 percent. “Only one vote separated the two,” Johnston notes.
 The 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh filled the ballrooms at the Convention Center. Which tactic is the most misunderstood (the Kanye West of digital marketing, the survey suggests). Social media nabbed 28.3 percent of the votes there, with only analytics at 11.9 percent even close among the ten other choices.
Asked which marketing trend will fade like a fake tan in the next year, QR Codes again won the voting with 37.1 percent, followed by banner advertising at 25.9 percent.
Personally, we think banner advertising gets a bad rap. One of the things we hear from digital marketing experts and measurement firms such as comScore is that for certain campaigns (such as selling package goods), banner ads can be as effective as TV advertising in moving goods off store shelves.
One marketing expert who spoke at the event said, “You hear a lot of talk about people not clicking on banner ads, but if its an ad for something they’re looking for, they click on them.”
Which buzzword is most misused?
What would you respond if asked, “Which digital marketing buzzword do people – like that annoying intern – misuse all the time?”
Those responding to the survey said “cloud,” (25.7 percent), with “engagement” (18.9 percent), “thought-leadership” (16.7 percent) and “new media” (14.9 percent) also getting significant responses.
“What’s the bright shiny tactic your CEO keeps grabbing for? Survey said: Social media (24.5 percent) followed by analytics at 12.3 percent.
Ok marketing wizards, what new technological magic will transform digital marketing in the next two years? The Internet Summit attendees said “digital wallets,” (22.5 percent), mobile (19.3 percent) and new platforms (such as tablets), 19.8 percent.
After using our new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet for only a few days, we suspect new platforms may be a major factor, ourselves.
Bad news for traditional marketing
Here’s some bad news for print, TV and radio media. Asked if they could slash spending in one area, which they would choose, a whooping 41.7 percent said “traditional media.” But online media took its lumps too, because “banner ads” came in second at 25.5 percent.
A majority (20.3 percent) said that if they could, they would throw more money at customer relationship management (20.3 percent), analytics (18.9 percent) and social media (18.7 percent).
And finally, a result we applaud (can you hear me clapping?): most said their number one source of digital marketing news is online publications (37.4 percent) followed by blogs (21.8 percent) and soical media (22.7 percent).
Tags: Capstrat, cloud, Internet Summit, location-based marketing, mobile, SEO, Shane Johnston, social media, thought-leadership
Posted in Cloud, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 21st, 2011
 At $199, we think the Kindle Fire is a good buy for the money By Allan Maurer
I spent the weekend running my new Amazon Kindle Fire through its paces, using the much-ballyhooed cloud-based browser, downloading apps and games, reading books, watching videos, and listening to music.
I also read a number of early reviews in other tech publications and generally, I suspect some of the more negative ones reflect too little time spent testing the device by the users. Or, some of the problems they encountered, such as browser sluggishness, may have been associated with their connections.
The good stuff
Let’s start with the good stuff. The 7-inch screen is bright and its images and text sharp, although like other tablets and LED screen-devices, it isn’t something I”d want to use in full sunlight outside often. I still prefer my WiFi Kindle with its e-Ink technology for reading a book to reading on any LED screen.
Before it arrived I wondered if the 7-inch size would be adequate for watching videos and playing games. It is though. I watched Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire dance on YouTube, listened to an online tech show, and played chess, a zombie shooter game and Angry Birds. The screen size is just right for a handheld device.
It is surprising heavy and solid for its size, weighing in at 14,6 ounces, but unlike larger tablet computers such as the 10-inch Xoom or the iPad, it’s fairly easy to hold in one hand and I have small hands. It has 8 Gigabytes of built-in memory and allows you to keep books, videos, and music in the Amazon cloud or on the device.
I barely strained the memory in mine with half a dozen books, five games, and a dozen free apps from Amazon’s AppStore (Apple Inc. is taking action to get Amazon to change the name, alleging it owns the “AppStore” name).
Touchscreen quirks
The touchscreen has some quirks, but honestly, I have yet to use a touchscreen device of any sort that didn’t. The worst problem, which other reviewers have noted, as anyone who uses a Kindle Fire will, is that it seems overly sensitive to accidental thumb touches if you hold the device with your thumb on one side as is natural.
On the other hand, the screen is not always as sensitive as one might wish when you’re trying to access controls to get back to the home screen or to get a link to work or to navigate the Carousel that provides access to your books, apps, and tools. The Carousel itself takes a bit of getting used to. It really whips the content by, but after a while I was able to stop where I wanted without overshooting.
Some early reviewers complained about that, but I suspect many of the complaints about the Fire are a result of inadequate time using it to learn its rhythms and peculiarities. I fell into that trap reviewing devices in the past, which is why I used mine several days and rather heavily before writing this one.
I’ve already adjusted the way I hold the device to compensate for the problem with those accidental thumb touches – which do result in the screen suddenly doing all sorts of things you don’t want it to.
Adjusting to the device
Using the virtual keyboard has never been my favorite way to type, either, and the one on the Fire gave me as much trouble as any of them. Again, however, all digital device require a certain adjustment to its peculiarities and as I use it, I get faster and more accurate. To some extent, it’s about placing you finger properly (a bit off-center to the left to get the right letter or number works for me.)
It’s not that different from learning the dynamics of a digital game such as Angry Birds. I did, I confess to my shame, actually drop a bird from the slingshot before firing it at those snotty pigs using the Fire. That’s one Kindle first I hope doesn’t repeat itself, but you know, it’s a minor detail. Dern pigs are still laughing at me.
In a perfect world, the device would adjust to you rather than you to it. But I use a large number of digital devices, and they all require getting used to the way they work.
Get a case
The Fire has a rubberized back that makes holding it easier, but I do think a case that let’s you set it up on a surface will be useful for this (and probably for any tablet). It’s also a good idea to protect it.
Some reviewers had problems with the browser, but mine worked smoothly right away. I have learned the touchscreen trick of expanding the copy (when that can be done) before trying to click on a link. Otherwise, it is really easy to hit a different link and go back and forth, back and forth trying to get the right one to respond. I have the same problem with touchscreen phones of all makes and operating systems.
Others mentioned problems with Google apps or reading email. I had no trouble signing into my email via the browser or the gmail app I downloaded (free) from the Store. It’s not ideal for answering email any more than a phone is, but it never ceases to surprise me how we adapt to technology.
I’m a reader, so I buy a lot of books from Amazon, among other things, particularly music. I love having my music (which is a memory hog) in Amazon’s cloud, but I also downloaded the Pandora app and signed in. The speakers provide really decent sound for a small device – better than my mp3 player’s built-in speakers and on a par if not better than my Acer laptop’s. You can also plug in earphones.
No microphone
It doesn’t have a microphone, which may be a drawback as voice recognition becomes more common ala Apple’s Siri and Dragon Naturally Speaking. Operating these mobile devices via voice seems a natural and inevitable evolution.
There has been a fair amount of carping in the tech community about Amazon using a proprietary version of Google’s Android operating system, which means that not all Android apps are available for the Fire (at least not yet). But my experience with app stores is that their are only a handful of actual app categories, games, utilities, and lifestyle aids, and so forth, each of which has a gazillion different apps for each purpose.
Just how many weight loss or movie time or note-taking apps do you need?
Just as an aside, do download and install one of the free (or paid) antivirus programs. Malware is already a growing problem on mobile devices.
An Amazon fan
As a Web access device, I really like the Kindle Fire. The browser showed none of the sluggishness some reviewers mentioned. I also really like the Pulse app, which provides Web sites in a Cool Iris-like display not dissimilar to the Carousel. It makes checking out many of my favorite sites, from Boing Boing to science sites quick, easy, and entertaining.
I downloaded the Facebook and Twitter apps and used both with few problems, although they require a short learning curve. Typing in my passwords was the hardest part. But by Sunday, after I had used the Fire extensively for three days, my typing was already much faster and more sure, if still not without mishit keys.
I suppose I’m an Amazon fan the way lots of people are Apple fans. That doesn’t mean I love everything Amazon does. But I do like its products and its store.
The company’s customer service is just unparalleled in my experience. I dropped a Kindle that was out of warranty and they still overnighted me a new one – which is probably just smart considering the number of books I buy from them, most of them for the Kindle these days. They are always responsive, it’s easy to get to a real human being, they don’t waste a lot of your time solving a problem and they always solved my problems.
But I think the Kindle Fire is a great deal for the money. At $199, Amazon is selling it slight below the cost to make it, hoping to sell more goods, no doubt. But I’d be willing to bet you’re going to see a lot of these around after Christmas. The Kindle Fire may not be an iPad killer, but it is winner in its own right.
Kindle a good bet to win the e-reader wars
Comparison of Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook spex
Tags: Amazon customer service, Amazon Kindle Fire review, Amazon vs. Apple, Angry Birds, app stores, iPad, Kindle Fire browser, mobile apps, mobile malware, should you buy an Amazon Kindle Fire?, tabet computers, weight loss apps
Posted in Amazon, Angry Birds, Apple, Cloud, games, Internet/New Media, IT, Reviewed, smartphones, video | Comments Off
Monday, November 21st, 2011
 Ensuring the recovery of critical information in the wake of a disaster remains a major obstacle for the majority of organizations, according to a recent survey by information management company Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM).
Responses from 1,200 individuals responsible for protecting their organization’s data reveal a divide between disaster recovery awareness and action, and varying practices for how and when data is backed up.
When asked about their day-to-day data management challenges and practices, respondents indicated that:
- Disaster looms large – Sixty-eight percent chose disaster recovery as their biggest data challenge;
- When disaster strikes, not everything makes it back – Only 44 percent successfully recovered their information after a recent data recovery event, largely because it either took too long to recover (27 percent) or they did not have necessary files backed up (15 percent);
- Half keep it on, others take it off – Less than half (48 percent) of respondents keep their data offsite (either backing it up to a remote data center or a tape-storage facility) in the event of a disaster, while an equal number back it up on site, exposing it to potential loss;
- “Keep everything” strategy prevails – When it comes to knowing what to keep and what to destroy, a key best practice for compliant data management, one-quarter (25 percent) keep all information, while only 17 percent have a formal, company-wide retention and destruction policy;
- Cloud popular with smaller companies with less data – Only 20 percent of organizations surveyed rely on cloud technology, and companies with more 1,000 employees and/or more than 25TB of data were less likely to consider backing up to the cloud.
“The amount of information an organization has to manage is growing at an incredible pace, creating new data challenges every day,” said Blaine Rigler, senior vice president and general manager, Data Backup and Recovery, Iron Mountain. “At its basic level, controlling data is about controlling risk, which means being prepared in the event of disaster so that you can restore your business without losing its most important asset – information. This survey shows us that organizations are still struggling to effectively manage and ensure recovery and data access. The right data practices will help deliver peace of mind, while ensuring you can reduce costs, protect your organization from unnecessary legal risks and increase overall confidence in your backup processes.”
In response to these findings, Iron Mountain offers the following tips to help better manage data and improve disaster recovery practices:
- When data grows, adapt and overcome – Consider the impact of information growth on the performance of backup and recovery processes. Companies of all sizes should make sure key policies for data retention and destruction can be adapted to help reduce data management vulnerabilities brought on by growth.
- Keep what you need, destroy what you don’t – Think strategically about retention policies. By keeping only the information you need and destroying what you don’t, the amount of data you have to back up shrinks and processes run more efficiently.
- Enforce the rules so everyone knows – Develop a comprehensive records retention and destruction policy that is applied across all business units and addresses all records, regardless of media, and update it every 12 to 18 months to reflect changes in regulations, industry and the business.
- Treat backup data as a record – Backup data is discoverable in a court of law, as it may contain sensitive information governed by privacy laws and should be considered a record and managed in accordance with retention schedules.
- When in doubt, move it out – If you’re unsure that you’re prepared for the unpredictability – and inevitability – of data loss from a disaster, moving data offsite is a key step in ensuring that your critical information is protected and can be available when you need it most.
To see how your organization measures up against the data management practices of your peers, take the full survey at www.ironmountain.com/databackupreport.
Tags: cloud computing, data loss follows disaster events, disaster preparation, Iron Mountain
Posted in Business advice, Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, November 11th, 2011
 Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes the 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh next week, which is nearly sold-out. Fewer than 50 seats remain for next week’s Internet Summit, which is bringing hundreds of digital media and marketing thought-leaders to the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16.
The event, which attracts a capacity crowd, offers take-away insight into social media marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce trends, email marketing, we and mobile analytics, big data, cloud computing, startup fund-raising and much more.
You’ll have access to visionary thought leaders who will share their insight and experience with you. Hear from the founders of companies like Twitpic, TheLadders & HowStuffWorks! Not enough? How about a Keynote from Top rated SXSW keynote and ‘Social Media King’ Gary Vaynerchuk?
That’s just a sampling of the more than 120 speakers and presenters that will be on hand.
We interviewed just a handful of the many presenters. For a preview of what thought-leaders will be presenting at the event see:
The Internet Summit’s Talented Speakers & Presenters include:
- Gary Vaynerchuk, Co-Founder, VaynerMedia
- Marc Cendella, Founder & CEO, TheLadders
- Marshall Brain, Founder, HowStuffWorks
- David Payne, Chief Digital Officer, Gannett
- Noah Everett, Founder, TwitPic and Heello
- Ro Choy, COO, Formspring
- Liz Strauss, Co-founder, SOBcon & LizStrauss.com
- Brian Hitney, Developer Evangelist, Microsoft
- David Perry, Business Development Executive, Google
- Jack Krawczyk, Sr Product Marketing Mgr, StumbleUpon
- Traug Keller, Sr VP of Production, ESPN
- Catherine Cook, Co-Founder, myYearbook
- Eric Ranta, SVP of Value Engineering, SAP
- Micahel Cristinziano, VP Strategic Development, Citrix
- Doug Smith, Dir Product Management, Taleo
- Malin Huffman, Head of Product Development, NetSuite
- Jerry Cuomo, CTO WebSphere, IBM
- Lee Congdon, CIO, RedHat
- Jeff Ragovin, Chief Revenue Officer, Buddy Media
- Peggy Fry, Chief Revenue Officer, Clearspring Technologies
- Mike Relm, Founder, Relmvision
- Bob Young, Founder & CEO, Lulu.com
- Donna DeMarco, Co-Founder & VP, Viddler
- Emily Keye, Marketing Strategist, Bronto
- Tammy Gordon, Dir Social Communications & Strategy, AARP
- Markus, Renstrom, Head of SEO, Yahoo!
- Dr. Manuel Aparicio, CEO & Co-Founder, Saffon Technologies
- Julianna DeLua, Enterprise Solutions Evangelist, Informatica
- Tony Haile, General Manager, Chartbeat
- Ryan Mannion, Chief Technology Officer, Politico
- David Giambruno, SVP and CIO, Revlon
- Gaurav Howard, Sr. Dir Product Marketing, Marketo
- Michael Lubek, CIO, GE Global Applications
- Angela Connor, Social Media Manager, Capstrat
- Ryan Allis, CEO, iContact
- Prerna Gupta, CEO, Khush
- Kevin Dando, Dir Digital & Education Communication, PBS
- Clint Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, Emma
- Matt Crenshaw, VP of Marketing, Discovery Communications
- Scott Gunter, VP of User Experience, Usability Sciences
- Lindsay Wassell, Partner & Consultant, KeyphraSEOlogy
- Steve Ashley, VP Internet Marketing, Market America
- Dennis Gullitto, APM Product Marketing Manager, Compuware
- Scott Baker, Sr. Mgr Virtualization & Cloud Engineering, NetApp
- Jeramiah Dooley, vArchitect, VCE/Cisco Virtualization
- Gerard Bush, Chief Creative Dir, The brpr Group
- Ted McDonald, Analyst, Verisign
- Rob Ousbey, VP Operations Seattle, Distilled
- David Gudai, VP of Marketing, Storkie
- Glenn Mersereau, Dir of Internet Marketing, PHE
- Jim Tobin, President, Ignite Social Media
- Kevin Pomplun, CEO, SkyGrid
- Sherry Bastion, Web Creative Director, Lenovo
- John Lovett, Sr Partner, Web Analytics Demystified
- Drew Diskin, Dir of Interactive & Web Strategy, Penn Medicine
- Lynette Montgomery, VP Ecommerce, Burt’s Bees
- Noah Dinkin, Co-Founder & President, FanBridge
- Jessica Bowman, SEOinhouse.com
- Todd Moy, Sr User Experience Designer, Viget Labs
- Donna Bedford, Global SEO Lead, Lenovo
- Francis Shepherd, Media Evangelist
- Dallas Lawrence, Chief Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller
- Karen Albritton, President, Capstrat
- Thuy LeDihn, Senior Marketing Manager, .ORG
- Adam Covati, Co-founder & CTO, Argyle Social
- Kyle Scott Richardson, Social Media, NC National Guard
- Cara Rousseau, Social Media Manager, Duke University
- Loren Baker, VP of Marketing, Blueglass
- Matthew Muñoz, Partner & Chief Design Officer, New Kind
- Jill Whalen, CEO, HighRankings
- Jason Caplain, General Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures
- David Heaney, Senior Associate, TomorrowVentures
- John Lawrence, Partner & CFO, Longworth Venture Partners
- Brooks Raiford, CEO, NCTA
- Roger Krakoff, Managing Partner, Cloud Capital Partners
- Charles Nicholls, Chief Strategy Officer, SeeWhy
- Jeff Campbell, VP & Co-Founder, Resolution Media
- Gary Storr, Business Architect & Solutions, Nortel
- Jeff Spivey, VP Board of Directors, ISACA
- Doug Hanna, CEO, A Small Orange
- Lisa, Braziel, Strategy Director, Ignite Social Media
- William Blackmon, CEO, LinkMein
- Chris Condayan, Public Outreach, Am Society for Microbiology
- Kyle Scott Richardson, Dir of Social Media, NC National Guard
- Jill Carlson, Marketing Manager, Argyle Social
- John Lane, VP Strategy & Creative, Centerline Digital
- Michael , Gowan, Associate Dir of Web Strategy, Duke Medicine
- Dana Kirchman, SVP Head of Client Operations, Lumi Mobile
Internet Summit is an outstanding learning experience mixed with prime networking opportunities and entertaining keynotes.
There’s even 5 additional hours of intense session digging deep into Social Media, SEO & Search, User Experience & Design and Analytics when you add the pre-conference to your registration.
Tags: AARP, Buddy Media, Capstrat, chartbeat, Clearspring Technologie, cloud computing, David Payne, David Perry, ecommerce trends, email marketing, ESPN, Gannett, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Howstuffworks, Internet Summit, Khush, Marshall Brain, measuring social, Microsoft, mobile presence, myYearbook, NC, NetSuite, Noah Everett, online advertising, paid search, Politico, Raleigh, Red Hat, reputation management, SAP, SEO, social media marketing, startup strategies, TheLadders, Twitpic, usability, web & mobile analytics, Yahoo
Posted in Amazon, Apple, Best Practices, Business advice, Carolinas, Cisco, Cloud, Education, entrepreneurship, Events, Facebook, games, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Legal, LinkedIn, Marketing, Microsoft, Mobile, mobile games, North Carolina, smartphones, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications, video, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
 Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) continue to embrace advanced technology — including tablet computers, cloud services and virtualization technology — at a rapid pace.
According to the results of the recently released Spiceworks State of SMB ITsurvey, nearly half of SMBs have adopted tablet computers and cloud services, while IT budgets for the second half of 2011 saw the greatest jump in more than two years.
The Spiceworks State of SMB IT survey is a semi-annual global study that investigates the latest technology purchasing, usage and staffing trends among companies with less than 1,000 employees. The study of 1,200+ IT professionals was conducted during the fall of 2011 via the Spiceworks Voice of IT® Market Research Program.
Survey highlights include:
Tablets are becoming more popular among small and mid-sized businesses.
- Fifty percent of SMBs have deployed or plan to deploy tablet devices, such as iPads, within the next six months.
Adoption of cloud services continues to rise rapidly among SMBs, while virtualization is still their top IT initiative.
- Cloud services are now used by 46 percent of SMBs, a significant rise over the 28 percent that reported using cloud services in the first half of 2011 and the 14 percent that reported doing so mid-year 2010.
- Virtualization continues to dominate the SMB market. Currently, 61 percent of small and mid-sized businesses use virtualization, which is up from the 54 percent that reported using virtualization during the first half of 2011.
IT budgets see the largest increase in two years as SMBs continue to add IT staff.
- Overall IT budgets in the second half of 2011 grew 9 percent when compared with IT budgets for the first half of 2011 — the largest increase in two years. The average annual IT budget for SMBs now stands at $143,000, up from the $132,000 previously reported for the first half of 2011.
- Nearly one in three SMBs, or 31 percent, plan to hire IT staff — which is consistent with data reported for the first half of 2011.
“Despite market fluctuations, 2011 proved to be a great year for disruptive technologies as SMBs increasingly adopted tablet computers, cloud services and virtualization technology,” said Jay Hallberg, co-founder and vice president of Marketing for Spiceworks. “The results of our most recent survey show SMBs making similar strategic technology investments with expanded budgets — pointing to a stronger market for IT products and services among small and mid-sized businesses in 2012.”
Tags: cloud services popular with SMBs, half of small and medium-sized businesses adopted tablet computers, SMBs, Spiceworks
Posted in Cloud, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
 CIOs expect to spend 39 percent of their 2012 project budgets on information management initiatives and 32 percent on process automation projects. This represents a significant shift in corporate IT departments’ priorities as information outstrips process automation, according to new research from Corporate Executive Board (CEB) (NYSE: EXBD), a leading research and advisory services company.
CEB also anticipates rapid growth in cloud and mobile applications spending. Cloud spending is projected to increase by more than 20 percent and account for approximately 7 percent of total budgets; mobile applications will increase by more than 60 percent and account for roughly 4 percent of budgets in 2012.
CEB anticipates that the increased focus on information over process, first seen in 2011, will continue into the foreseeable future.
The shift, which the company predicted in 2010 with its Future of Corporate IT study, is accelerated by the rise of big data and the desire for organizations to use information more effectively to gain competitive advantage.
Related CEB research finds that supporting the mobile employee is a top infrastructure priority in 2012. CIOs are increasingly allocating budget to the conversion of existing applications as well as the development of new mobile apps.
They also continue to invest in infrastructure to facilitate mobility. Reducing infrastructure costs and supporting business innovation are also on the priority list and drive much of the increased interest in cloud-based services, particularly Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).
CEB’s projections are based on the company’s 2012 Global IT Budget Benchmarking report representing USD $38 billion in IT spending. The report suggests that overall operating budgets will be roughly flat with growth of just under 3 percent — less than a third of the actual increases reported in 2011.
Capital expenditures will also flatten in 2012 after an increase of more than 20 percent in 2011, which allowed organizations to clear a backlog of projects left over from the recession. With that backlog largely gone, IT capital expenditures will increase by only 5 percent in North America and will decline steeply (14%) in Europeamid economic woes.
“Most IT departments experienced significant budget increases in 2011 — we saw it as a catch-up year coming out of the recession,” said Shvetank Shah, executive director at CEB. ”This year we anticipate more modest growth as companies focus on realizing the benefit of their recent investments and continue to advance their level of sophistication while containing costs.”
Other notable findings of CEB’s 2012 IT Budget Benchmarking report include:
- End-to-end Services Grow in Popularity – the majority of CIOs (54%) are expecting to offer at least some end-to-end services in 2012. An additional 11 percent will move to a multi-functional shared services model in which IT becomes integrated with other corporate shared services. This trend is anticipated to continue far beyond next year. More than 70 percent of organizations will have a more integrated service offering by 2012.
- IT Staffing Remains Constant – with approximately 60 percent of IT operating expenditure allocated to workforce, including internal staff, contractors and outsourcing providers, the allocation of IT staff remains stable. The highest staffed IT function is applications (41%), followed by infrastructure (22%). IT functions are also developing roles to help facilitate the transition to integrated service models.
“CIOs are working hard to balance innovation and austerity,” Shah added. ”Our 2012 IT Budget Benchmarking report helps them understand how their priorities and investments stack up against their peers and lets them validate their thinking to ensure they won’t be left behind when economic conditions improve.”
To learn more about CEB or its IT Budget Benchmarking Survey, please see: www.cio.executiveboard.com.
Tags: 2012 IT budgets flat, CEB research, CIOs, Corporate Executive Board, information management spending, IT budget priorties for 2012, mobile and cloud spending, where will CIOs spend IT budgets in 2012?
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, November 4th, 2011
 Companies are rapidly adopting new technologies, from cloud computing and mobile technology to social media marketing, but meeting the security threats these pose is often dealt with as an afterthought, according to Ernst & Young’s 14th annual Global Information Security Survey released today.
In the rush to utilize new technologies and move into the increasingly borderless world of cloud computing, mobile devices and social media, a growing gap is developing between global organizations’ business needs and their ability to tackle new and complex security threats, the report says.
Furthermore, although 72% of respondents see increasing levels of risk due to external threats, and more companies are likely to adopt mobile tablet usage, security implementation is still low. The survey also reports that only about a third of respondents have updated their information security strategies in the past 12 months.
If there is a good side to the security breaches at top firms such as Citibank, Sony and others this year, it is that it may have raised awareness of a disturbingly widespread lack of effective business cyber security measures despite the high cost of doing so after a breach occurs.
This report further emphasizes the problem.
“Information security is one of the most important issues companies face today, and strategies need to be refined to adjust to an ever-changing environment and resulting security risks,” said Bernie Wedge, Americas Information Technology Risk and Assurance leader at Ernst & Young LLP.
“Mobility and networking are here to stay. The best-protected companies are those that are proactive, detecting and managing minor issues before they become major incidents, and for many companies, this means the current mind-set needs to change from a focus on short-term fixes to a holistic, strategic approach.”
Security an after-thought
In addition, the study found that while 80% of organizations currently are using or considering using mobile tablets and 61% are using or considering the use of cloud computing services within the next year, the threat of security breaches has become an after-thought as companies adapt to the rapidly changing landscape.
The survey of 1700 organizations around the world in more than 25 sectors also found that cloud computing is the top security funding priority for the next year.
More than half plan to beef up security budgets
It is encouraging that 59% of respondents plan on increasing their information security budgets in the coming 12 months. However, only 51% of respondents stated that they have a documented information security strategy.
Overall, for the second consecutive year, respondents have indicated that business continuity is their top funding priority.
“The advanced, persistent threat – or APT – is a game changer for companies, and as a result, cyber-security needs to be among an organization’s top three investments for 2012,” said Jose Granado, Ernst & Young LLP’s Americas Leader for Information Security Services.
“In a mobile, borderless environment, the human is the new perimeter when it comes to protecting data. The approach to protecting the organization needs to combine people, processes and technology.”
Building trust in the cloud
Despite the compelling story for cloud adoption, many organizations are still unclear about the implications of the cloud and are increasing their efforts to better understand the impact and the risks.
In 2011, 48% of respondents listed the implementation of cloud computing as a difficult or very difficult challenge, and more than half have not implemented any controls to mitigate the risks associated with cloud computing. The most frequently taken measure is stronger oversight of the contract management process with cloud providers, but only by 20% of respondents even do this, indicating a high and possibly misguided level of trust.
In the absence of clear guidance, many organizations seem to be making ill-informed decisions, either moving to the cloud prematurely and without appropriately considering the associated risk, or avoiding it altogether.
Almost 90% of respondents are in favor of external certification, with nearly half (45%) saying this should be based only on an agreed-upon standard.
Mobile tablets pose difficult challenge
The adoption of tablets and smartphones ranked second-highest on the list of technology challenges perceived as most significant, with more than half of respondents listing it as a difficult or very difficult challenge.
Policy adjustments and awareness programs are the top two measures used to address risks posed by this new mobile technology. The adoption of security techniques and software, however, is still low. For instance, encryption techniques are used by fewer than half (47%) of the organizations.
Social media
Most respondents (72%) claimed that external malicious attacks were their top risk. These attacks may be fuelled by information obtained through the use of social media used to send targeted phishing messages to individuals.
To help address potential risks posed by social media, organizations seem to be adapting a hard-line response. More than half (53%) have responded by blocking access to sites rather than embracing the change and adopting enterprise-wide measures.
Top level priority
The survey shows that only 12% of respondents are presenting information security topics at each board meeting and less than half (49%) of survey respondents stated that their information security function is meeting the needs of the organization.
“Today, information security is a board-level priority, and the days of delegating cyber-security are over,” said Wedge. “The board is accountable for its information security strategy and must have confidence in what it entails and how it is executed.”
A copy of the report is available at www.ey.com/GL/en/Services/Advisory/IT-Risk-and-Assurance/Information-security.
Tags: adopting new tech leading to security gaps, cyber security breaches, Ernst & Young's 14th annual Global Information Security Survey, lack of cyber security
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Security, smartphones, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture | Comments Off
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
 John Fanning John W. Fanning, founding chairman and CEO of the original, most-popular peer-to-peer music file sharing system, Napster, has joined the advisory board of Savtira Corp., a new B2B cloud commerce solutions company.
Fanning, also founder of NetMovies, a joint venture with Blockbuster, recently joined Savtira’s advisory board as a resource of knowledge in tech specialties such as streaming, distribution of content aggregation and video-on-demand (VOD).
“John is a pioneer in Internet technologies with a valiant appetite for disruptive innovation that introduces new possibilities and opportunities on a business-to-business and business-to-consumer scale,” said Savtira CEO, Timothy Roberts. “
Fanning founded Napster with his nephew, Shawn Fanning, in 1998. Napster, now an online music store, is owned and operated by Best Buy.
With more than 20 years of experience in Internet and technology, Fanning has introduced such net-related innovations as client-server game play, voice over IP, and auto-upgrading/authentication.
He holds patents for Real Time Search Engine, and Use Sensitive Distribution of Data Files Between Users. Since 1994, he founded numerous successful Internet ventures including, Napster, NetGames, NetMovies, and NetCapital.
“I have been present to witness the birth of many great companies including eBay, Google and Facebook. In my opinion, Savtira’s cloud commerce platform has the qualities that fill a massive void in the market landscape,”
said Fanning. “I look forward to working with the company and playing a substantial role on the advisory board.”
Fanning is known not only as an Internet entrepreneur but also as a financial guru from his work at NetCapital in helping finance early state Internet companies and from having worked at Fidelity Investments in Boston.
Pioneered in music, games, and chess
Additionally, Fanning’s pioneering expands from the music industry to games on and off a virtual arena. In collaboration with partners, Fanning built the first Internet chess server, a project that led to the development of Chess.net, an Internet chess service that is currently owned by NetGames and part of the NetCapital portfolio. NetCapital is a boutique equity firm where Fanning serves as the Chairman.
“John’s background in technology, along with his financial expertise makes him a true asset to our board,” said Roberts. “The level of experience and knowledge is insurmountable; and the possibilities to learn and grow are endless with such strong professionals like John guiding our company toward success.”
Tags: Best Buy, Blockbuster, Chess.net, John W. Fanning, Napster, NetMovies, Savtira Corp.
Posted in Cloud, games, Internet/New Media, IT, People | Comments Off
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
 Nearly 2,000 interactive marketers, IT executives, entrepreneurs, digital/new media strategists, venture capitalists and technology professionals will connect at the Raleigh Convention Center for the 2011 Internet Summit Nov. 15-16 to hear more than 120 speakers delivering over 80 presentations and panel discussions about today’s hottest business trends.
Topics include social media, mobile applications, e-commerce, SEO/paid search, Internet usability, analytics & measurement, streaming/interactive video, cloud computing/virtualization and online advertising/branding.
New York Times best-selling author, brains behind the Wine Library, Internet celebrity and social media king Gary Vaynerchuck will deliver the keynote presentation that promises to be enlightening, inspiring and engaging.
A strong business case for for social media
Gary Vaynerchuk “I want to come at you practical, not theory or buzzwords,” says Vaynerchuck. “I guarantee, if you come in skeptical about social media, I will bring a strong B2B and B2C (business case) to the table.”
The conference and exhibits opens Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m, with a keynote panel discussion: “The Future of Digital Media & Marketing” with executives from Google, Gannet Company, Inc., FormSpring, and Discovery Communications.
Participants will choose from over 25 80-minute sessions featuring more than 75 presentations tailored to their interests and needs, as well as get a glimpse into some of the industry’s newest Internet entrepreneurial products and tools in the Demo Showcase and Startup Lounge.
To wrap up day one, award-winning video DJ Mike Relm performs at the opening reception from 6-8 p.m.
Doors open day two at 7 a.m. for a networking breakfast, followed by presentations from featured thought leaders Marc Cendella, CEO, TheLadders.com, and Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.
Register for what is sure to be a sold out event and get the latest about the Internet Summit 2011.
Here’s what some said on Twitter about the 2010 Internet Summit:
blairgraham: Congrats to @Internet_Summit founders @EricGregg and @Scott_Hedrick of @TJ_South! I hear you are crushing it again! Well played.
Cybersig55: @Internet_Summit great job #isum10!! This has been an informative and well organized event. I look forward to attending again next year!
Huddy: Super excited to have been at the #iSum10. Great people, great sessions, great lessons… everything you want from a great conference.
invitecottage: Great 2 days @Internet_Summit #isum10. Lots of ideas for the new year!
DH_David: Not sure if there is enough coffee to get me through the day as I recover from two great days at Internet Summit 2010 in Raleigh. #isum10.
Tags: a strong business case for social media, best practices in social media, cloud computing, digital marketing tips, ESPN, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Howstuffworks, Internet Summit 2011, IT, Marshall Brain, Microsoft, mobile apps, online advertising, Southeast's largest digital media event, thought-leaders coming to Raleigh
Posted in Amazon, Apple, Best Practices, Business advice, Carolinas, Cloud, entrepreneurship, Facebook, games, Google, Internet/New Media, IT, LinkedIn, Marketing, Microsoft, Mobile, mobile games, North Carolina, smartphones, social media, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications, Twitter, video | Comments Off
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
 Law firm technology managers are tempering their interest in cloud computing with a heightened focus on security, according to an annual survey published in the November issue of ALM’s The American Lawyer and at http://www.americanlawyer.com/. Clients are helping drive the trend by asking firms to detail their security policies.
Among the 65% of survey respondents reporting use of cloud computing, non-core functions like e-discovery and human resources made up the bulk of applications. Only 8% say they use the cloud for document management. “Security concerns” were cited as a drawback to cloud computing by 61% of respondents.
Among the technology survey’s other findings are:
- Technology capital budgets of reporting firms average $4.7 million, 7% more than last year.
- While every firm surveyed continues to support BlackBerry phones, fully 96% of respondents also have users on iOS, the operating system for the iPhone and iPad, up from 77% in 2010. Android devices are supported by 67% of firms, compared to 43% last year.
- Top technology executive compensation ranges from $200,000 to $399,999 for the majority of reporting firms, while 14% earned $500,000 or more.
- “Consumerization” of IT through wider use of personal devices in the workplace has complicated data security, but CIOs say they are coping successfully because of a new generation of mobile device management software like Good Technology, Inc.’s Good for Enterprise and MobileIron’s Virtual Smartphone Management Platform.
Respondents were all among the 200 largest U.S. law firms. Full survey results are available from ALM Legal Intelligence at www.almlegalintelligence.com.
Tags: American Lawyer, Android, Blackberry phones, cloud security a concern, iOS, iPad, iPhone, law firm use of technology survey
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT, Legal, Mobile, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Is the cloud living up to CIO & CTO expectations? There has been a lot of speculation about what top computing experts think of the cloud and its advantages.
To clear things up, Logicalis, an international provider of integrated information and communications technology solutions and services, analyzed more than 35,000 online forum and social media posts from CIOs and CTOs over the past 60 days, and found their comments to be overwhelmingly in favor of cloud computing. “Positive” and “very positive” comments outweighed “negative” and “very negative” comments by a dramatic 23:1.
“The majority of these cloud conversations were held on tech-centered message boards and forums, followed closely by Twitter and industry blogs,” says Lisa Dreher, vice president of marketing and business development for Logicalis.
Where the cloud market is going
“That means, we went to the very places that CIOs and CTOs are having open, frank conversations to find out what they really think about the cloud. Knowing how CIOs and CTOs view the cloud can help us shape our cloud offerings in a way that works well for them. This data also gives us a direct line-of-sight into the point of view of IT leaders on the cloud market and where it is going.”
Nearly all of the comments were a combination of neutral and factual critiques delivered by C-level IT pros that offered real substance into the general acceptance of the cloud by key decision makers; terms like “CEO,” “enterprise” and “executive” were among the most frequently used in the conversations, indicating higher level organizational conversations are taking place.
Positive posts cited cloud computing as “cost effective,” a means of increasing capacity beyond a current IT environment and an effective way to free up internal staff, resources and budget. Negative posts included concerns about the difficulty of transitioning and managing applications in the cloud as well as the perceived legal, regulatory and business risks associated with the cloud.
“We’re encouraged to confirm what we have heard from our own customers – that CIOs and CTOs are finding their forays into the cloud to be a significantly positive experience,” says Mike Martin, vice president of cloud solutions for Logicalis.
“Moving into the cloud is not an easy decision at the enterprise level, and it’s important that CIOs and CTOs carefully assess the kinds of data they move into the cloud, the regulatory requirements for that data, and work with their cloud provider’s auditors and legal teams to outline a plan for how their specific data will be managed and protected.
“When a solution provider offers that level of support, the decision to move into the cloud – be it public, private or a hybrid solution – will be that much easier for the client.”
Logicalis Answers CIO/CTO Cloud Concerns
There are six critical questions CIOs should ask before entering the cloud.
There are five common mistakes companies make in their cloud strategies.
Tags: five common mistakes companies make in their cloud strategies, Logicalis, six critical questions CIOs should ask before entering the cloud
Posted in Best Practices, Cloud, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | 2 Comments »
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