The collaboration landscape is no longer about isolated groups of people that work together to complete a specific job. Today, enterprise collaboration extends more broadly across the organization, encouraging partnerships across teams that might not have previously worked together. What's the reason behind this shift?
Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS will regain some of the smartphone market share it has lost recently - but will still be in last place in 2014, according to research firm IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
Who is doing it: Companies that can't afford multiple data centers or that want to get into a new location quickly can turn to a service provider to store their data. Ethernet switch startup Arista Networks uses a service from Egnyte to back up PCs and share files internally, as well as with partners and customers. Each time Arista sets up a sales operation in a new country, its data is available at the end of any broadband connection. Cloud-based storage on U.S. soil can help companies get around certain countries' censorship rules, says analyst Andreas Antonopoulos of Nemertes Research. It may also support use of encryption technologies that are subject to export controls.
Google made a news splash when it introduced a new VoIP functionality to Gmail yesterday. Gmail users based in the United States can now dial other Gmail users and accept calls from them right from their computer-a seemingly cool feature and thrifty alternative to placing long-distance calls (international rates start at 2 cents per minute).
I often hear a debate about exactly who is using cloud computing - especially the IaaS variant. Many times I hear people aver that cloud computing is mostly being used by SMB companies. Others assert that cloud computing will really pick up when really large companies make the move. I dissent from both of those perspectives. I believe over the next couple of years it will be midsize companies that really leverage IaaS cloud computing.
When CEO Steve Ballmer gave a quick peek at an HP Slate running Windows 7 at CES in January, Microsoft seemed prepared for battle against the iPad, which, at the time, had not even been announced yet.
First there was location-based social network Foursquare. Then Gowalla and other sites followed suit and launched. And now with news that Facebook is slowly rolling out its own location-based technology, you can expect to hear a lot-both true and false-about what these services really are.
The tech world is all a-twitter (literally!) about an article in this month's Wired Magazine which announces "The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet". The article recites a litany of problems that are choking the Web: the rise of apps that replace use of a Web browser; the growth of uber-aggregation sites like Facebook that are closed platforms; the destruction of traditional advertising and replacement by Google, the semi-benevolent search monster; and even the move away from HTML and use of port 80-based apps.
While the newest version of VMware's vSphere virtualization suite represents a big step toward practical cloud computing, virtualization technology continues to spread based on the same basic benefits that made it popular in the first place, analysts say.
A key benefit often discussed about cloud computing is how it enables agility. This benefit is real and powerful. However, the term agility is used to describe two different kinds of benefit; both are real, but one of them will, ultimately, be seen as offering the greatest impact. This post will discuss the two types of agility and provide some examples of how compelling the second type is.
Recently I was in London, speaking at the Cloud Computing World Forum. From my perspective, it was an ideal event: large enough to have a critical mass of interesting vendors and attendees, and small enough to support quality conversation. If you've been to any of the large U.S. cloud shows, you'll know how hard it is to accomplish the latter quality at them - they're packed and conversations are reduced to sound bites. Of course, the conference being located in Britain, there was less tolerance for over-the-top claims and marketing hype, which was also a refreshing relief.
LinkedIn announced today a bundle of updates to its Groups pages-the section of the social networking site dedicated to communities of professionals based on common interests, experiences, affiliations and goals. This update, rolling to users out throughout this week, is the first major facelift for LinkedIn since Groups launched in August 2009.