*IT Exclusive News

20 Ways to Reduce the Operational Costs of Your Network Before it’s too Late

June 22, 2014June 22, 2014 enews

We reached out to over one hundred industry experts and asked, “What don’t people understand about the costs of operating a network but should?” Here’s a collection of our favorite advice. “Networks are expensive, get a bad rap for reliability (even when they are meeting their technical specifications), and at the end of the day few businesses could operate without them,” said Matthew H. Podowitz, (@mpodowitz), Senior Director, Operations and Technology Advisory Services, for Pine Hill Group. Even when networks are so critical for business operations, the money that’s spent on…

5 gadgets that changed Amazon

June 20, 2014June 22, 2014 enews

Ahead of the rumored unveiling of its 3-D smartphone, we take a look at Amazon’s devices through the years. Kindle Year released: 2007 Price: $399 The Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) Kindle wasn’t the first e-reader, but it was the first successful one. When it launched in 2007, its biggest competitors, like the Barnes & Noble(BKS) Nook, were still years away. Since then, the Kindle has gone through several redesigns and editions, including the jumbo-screen Kindle DX, the touchscreen version and the backlit Paperwhite. Today, a Wi-Fi-enabled Kindle is nearly half its original weight, holds up to 1,400 books,…

Microsoft Kills Off Plan to Pay People to Write Good Things About Internet Explorer

June 20, 2014June 20, 2014 enews

Microsoft PR is in damage control after a ‘social strategist’ was caught trying to pay people to write good things about IE. Wed, June 18, 2014 Network World — It was only a couple days ago when Microsoft released its Internet Explorer Developer Channel, “a fully functioning browser designed to give Web developers and early adopters a sneak peek at the Web platform features we’re working on.” Any chance IE might have gotten some long-term social media love was dashed after a clueless “social strategist on behalf of Microsoft” invited the…

What Microsoft’s New CEO Means for Microsoft CRM

June 20, 2014June 20, 2014 enews

On February 4, 2014, Microsoft named the third chief executive officer (CEO) in its history. As such, forgive me in advance if this article is a bit optimistic. After years of watching the decisions made by its second CEO and wondering when the crazy would stop, I’m a little giddy right now. My guess is that others feel the same. When the company announced Steve Ballmer’s retirement, the stock surged 9 percent. Under Ballmer’s leadership, Microsoft saw a festering stock price, with a 44 percent decline and a market valuation sliding from $604 billion to $269 billion.…

Amazon unveils 3-D Fire Phone

June 19, 2014June 20, 2014 enews

Amazon entered the smartphone business Wednesday — and made a big splash doing it. At an event in Seattle, the retail giant unveiled the Fire Phone, a high-end, 3-D smartphone. It is the first smartphone Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) has produced on its own. “Can we build a better phone for our most engaged customers?” asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at the event. “Can we build a better phone for Amazon Prime members? Well, I’m excited to tell you that the answer is yes.” Display: The Fire Phone has a 3-D, 4.7-inch high-definition display. It uses…

Heathrow Terminal 2 trials smart loos to monitor usage and alert cleaners

June 19, 2014June 20, 2014 enews

Heathrow Terminal 2 can use the data to analyse whether new loos are needed… Heathrow airport has installed sensors into its toilets at the newly opened Terminal 2 to monitor the number of people using each unit. When a certain number of people have used a unit, cleaners are alerted and they are cleaned. The data is also sent to the cloud so it can be analysed by planners who are then able to see where the highest demand for toilet facilities around the terminal is. In the long term,…

LSE: Cloud is “years ahead” of modern IT

June 19, 2014 enews

Professor at the London School of Economics hails the cloud as years ahead of modern IT services Cloud computing is experiencing a shift in focus, and companies should avoid comparing it to current IT when it is years ahead of the curve, says London School of Economics (LSE) professor Will Venters. “What some business want from cloud and what cloud is truly offering are different things,” he told journalists at the Cloud World Forum in London today. Modern firms want economy, simplicity, agility and innovation, as these are the short-term…

Seven deadly sins of cloud security

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 enews

Cloud isn’t the root of all evil but sometimes you should be wary of some bad habits Survey after survey, statistic upon statistic, show that security (or the perceived lack of it) is consistently at the top of the list when it comes to reasons why organisations do not migrate data to the cloud. But how does that perception translate into reality? The cloud isn’t inherently insecure, but it’s true to say it does have some common security sins; the trick is knowing how to combat them… 1.Privacy: Big Brother…

Oracle may buy Micros Systems for more than $5bn

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 enews

Is Oracle on the hunt for another acquisition? Oracle is in talks to buy Micros Systems, which makes software for retailers and hotel chains, for more than $5 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. While the companies are in exclusive talks, they could still fail to reach an agreement, the report said. (http://r.reuters.com/hyw22w) Micros shares were up 16 per cent at $67.10 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Oracle shares were up one per cent at $42.61. Micros Systems makes point-of-sale hardware and software for restaurants…

By the 2015 total number of mobile subscriptions will exceed the world’s population

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014 enews

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report reveals that by the 2015 the total number of mobile subscriptions will exceed the world’s population. Mobile subscriptions have grown by 7 percent year-over-year, with 120 million net additions in Q1 alone. Mobile broadband subscriptions also continue to grow and will reach 7.6 billion by the end of 2019, representing more than 80 percent of total mobile subscriptions. In two years’ time, in 2016, the number of smartphone subscriptions will exceed those for basic phones and by 2019 the number of smartphone subscriptions is expected…