Category: Comments & opinions

When we look back on 2014 in IT, there are going to be a couple of things that dominate our thinking and my guess is it won’t be BYOD or Big Data. In reality, a much more mundane yet critical event will be at the forefront. That is the end of extended support status for key workhorse applications Windows XP, Exchange 2003 and Windows Server 2003.  I’ve written before about the level of effort needed to migrate from Windows XP and the bottom line is, if you haven’t started that data migration,…

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New Demands Require a Shift in Business Processes What an exciting time to be in the tech industry.  We are at the beginning of a major transition to the Mobile-Cloud era.  Trends like bring your own device (BYOD), access anywhere, virtualization, and machine-to-machine connections have given way to a new breed of applications.  We estimate that approximately 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020. In 2010 alone, more than 350, 000 applications were developed with more than three million downloads.  A 44-fold increase in data creation is predicted from…

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April deadline looms large but 95 per cent of all ATMs still run the ancient OS. Banks around the world are set to stump up millions of pounds to Microsoft in a bid to keep their cash machines running after support for the venerable operating system runs out in April. According to reports by Reuters, only a third of cash machines running will have upgraded to Windows 7 by the April deadline. There are around 2.2 million machines worldwide and currently 95 per cent of them run XP. The move to…

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The IT analysts at Gartner have analyzed and summarized 70 IT future trends until the year 2017. The analysts’ Insights that the social media bubble would burst In 2014 and that the development of mobile applications would exceed the development of PC applications by 2015 are of particular interest here. Furthermore. IT departments are to delegate more and more of their responsibilities to other departments by the year 2015. After all, in times of increasing IT penetration, IT projects are becoming business projects and the CIO has to hand over…

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 Convergence, Microsoft’s premier business event taking place this week in Atlanta, is a celebration of business achievement and an opportunity to connect, engage and discover. We are pleased to highlight the achievements of great Microsoft customers such as Delta Air Lines, New Belgium Brewery, Lotus F1 and others that are succeeding by connecting with their customers.   This is an exciting time. Microsoft Dynamics is on the cusp of delivering a staggering wave of innovation to the market this spring that will significantly help businesses deliver amazing experiences to their…

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As municipal needs get more sophisticated, more cities turn to cloud services. Want a smart city without cloud services? Good luck with that. The cloud approach, in which providers outside city government deliver a technological platform for gathering and mining data and producing city applications over the public Internet or a virtual private network, has become the favored means for municipalities to move to the next level. “While it’s possible for cities to enable smart technology without using cloud-based services, it’s unlikely you will be able to do so in…

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Big data might be controversial, but it also represents big business for many… Last year’s revelations over the US tapping of phone and internet data gave telecoms firms pause for thought over whether they should sell their “big data” for gain, but the commercial potential could prove irresistible. Although figures are scarce, analysts think selling data on mobile users’ locations, movements, and web browsing habits may grow into a multi billion-dollar market for the business. Big carriers like Telefonica, Verizon, Orange and Singapore’s Starhub warn that they are only just…

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Distributed denial-of-service attacks aren’t new, but they’ve certainly gotten plenty of news coverage over the past year. In large part that’s due to the splash made by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters and their series of attacks against U.S. banks. A few months ago the Cyber Fighters announced phase four of their attacks, but since the announcement, it’s been fairly quiet. DDoS has also been the go-to tool for hacktivists, extortion, and business revenge. Here at HackSurfer we like to make fun of these so-called “hackers,” particularly those that…

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Redmond chief talks about Steve Ballmer’s influence, and his plans for the future in his first interview. Microsoft’s newly installed chief executive Satya Nadella has given his first interview to The New York Times (NYT). During the wide-ranging chat, Nadella covered what he learnt from Steve Ballmer, the role of Bill Gates, and why Microsoft needs to re-invent itself. Nadella claimed the biggest lesson he learnt was from his predecessor Steve Ballmer who told him to “stay grounded, and to be brutally honest with yourself on where you stand”. The Microsoft…

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Richard Engle and NBC News recently posted several reports from Sochi, Russia based on an “experiment” they did. I applaud them for bringing attention to the critical condition of cybersecurity, but the report is misleading in two major respects. First, they have directly positioned this as just turning on your mobile device and computer will result in you being “hacked.” To quote Brian Williams introducing the story: “If <travelers to Sochi> fire up their phones at baggage claim, it’s probably too late to save the integrity of their electronics and everything…

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