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New York library systems launch Wi-Fi lending program

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This holiday season was recently made a little happier for residents of New York who don't have consistent Internet access. Google donated $1 million to the New York Public Library to fund a program that enables residents to borrow Wi-Fi hot spot devices for their homes like they would a book. The goal is to provide residents with 10,000 4G LTE mobile hot spots from all three of the city's library systems, as well as 500 Chromebooks provided by Google specifically for use by children and teens in afterschool programs run by the library.

The program was tested at the branches in Staten Island and the Bronx over the summer. With the money provided by Google and a $500,000 grant from a variety of nonprofit organizations, the hot spot devices can now be checked out of libraries in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens as well. The initial pilot program included 100 families who were asked to complete a survey about their experiences. According to the results, almost all of those who participated spent more than three hours online each day and nearly 100 percent wanted to renew the devices when they were done.

Patrons of the New York Public Library – which servers the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island – who are enrolled in one of the library's several programs will be allowed to borrow a device for six months at a time. Visitors to the Brooklyn Public Library will be lent devices for an entire year if they don't have access to broadband in their home and enroll in one of the library's programs for adult education. Members of the Queens Library's Adult Learning Program can check out a Wi-Fi device for one month with the possibility to renew three times.

Million of New Yorkers without Internet
According to a study conducted by the New York Public Library, more than half of the people who visit the library do so to use the Internet because they don't have access to it at home. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, New York Public Library president Tony Marx said that approximately 2.5 million of the city's residents don't have Internet in their homes, usually because the cost is too high.

"This program is a great movement that includes a lot of helpful services, giving opportunity and access to those who didn't have it before," said Ebony Woodburn, education coordinator at the Mott Haven Library, in an interview with The Bronx Times. "It especially helps low-income residents where there are barriers of access."

Lack of Internet access a barrier to education
According to officials from the New York Public Library, patrons will often sit outside branch locations before they open and after the building is closed in order to sustain a Wi-Fi connection, as it usually extends outside the library's walls.  Those who participated in the pilot program said having access at home was not only more convenient, but it helped their children to do better in school. Many reported their children moving up several grade levels in subjects like reading and math as a result of being able to complete practice assignments and get homework help online.

Google CIO Ben Fried said that the company was interested in backing the project because the ability to quickly and easily access the Internet increases education and makes America more competitive in the global marketplace.

"Far too many New Yorkers do not have regular access to the Internet, and as a result find themselves excluded from a wealth of education, employment, and community resources," said Fried. "This innovative program to loan hotspots to low-income households is a simple, effective way to help those who need broadband and technology the most."

Telecom predictions suggest cloud, IoT will be big in 2015

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As the new year quickly approaches, it’s a good time to look at the IT trends that 2015 will likely bring. A recent report by market research firm Ovum found that telecom budgets are likely to increase in the new year and will bring large investments in network infrastructure and asset optimization and improved service quality. Other big IT trends for 2015 include the Internet of Things, cloud computing and enterprise mobility, according to the study.

Mobility
With the transition to bring-your-own-device policies becoming more popular, mobility in the enterprise has mostly been fuelled by the consumer market. This is causing problems, leading to what Ovum predicted will become “mobility mismatch” – a situation in which the demands brought by employees aren’t able to be met by internal IT departments. To keep this from happening, or fix the issue if it already has, organizations will have to look beyond BYOD and employ a more managed approach to enterprise devices.

“The telecoms industry is witnessing a long-term shift in spend towards client-oriented systems and processes to improve client satisfaction,” said Peter Dykes, one of the authors of the study. “Investment will be geared towards telecoms infrastructure (cloud platforms and BSS/OSS systems to support LTE implementations) and online channels to support the move towards digital lifestyles.”

Internet of Things
The IoT is one of the biggest buzzwords in the industry right now. Everyone is talking about it, but not many have implemented it – yet. Ovum researchers predict that 2015 will be the year of the IoT, as it become a more permanent fixture in the enterprise with more devices connecting to one another in an ever-expanding network. The report suggested that enterprises will begin to leverage the existing systems that have to support IoT use cases.

Cloud
As mobility and IoT programs are used more frequently, cloud infrastructures will be even more important to the enterprise as a secure place to host the influx of data becomes necessary.

“Cloud-based IoT platforms will continue to gain traction and play a key role in the first wave of IoT adoption by enterprises,” the report stated.

Saurabh Sharma, one of the authors of the study, noted that adopting agile approaches to integration will become a bigger priority for organizations as the cloud, IoT and mobility play a larger role. Sharma predicted that large portions of next year’s IT budgets will be spent on modernizing existing infrastructure to support the new middleware necessary for mobile and IoT initiatives.

Predictions for the cloud in 2015

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While much of the tech talk surrounding 2014 was focused on the frequent data breaches that took place, the star of this year was really the cloud.  Many new cloud use cases emerged in 2014, and the technology continues to evolve to meet end-user needs. According to a recent cloud computing study by IDG, 69 percent of organizations currently host some amount of data in the cloud, an increase of 8 percent from 2013.

Cloud infrastructure and service providers have also grown a lot this year, gaining a better understanding of how to offer solutions more efficiently and cost effectively. With all of these improvements taking place this year, 2015 is poised to be another breakout year for cloud computing, with rates of adoption expected to rise dramatically.

Cloud security software provider Skyhigh Networks recently released some predictions for the future of the cloud in 2015. A key element of the predictions was the suggestion that consumer cloud services will begin to enter the enterprise sphere in the coming year. As demand increases for business users to be able to access their favorite consumer cloud applications in the enterprise, major players in the industry will likely establish a more visible presence in the space. This idea is backed up by research showing increased confidence in cloud-based enterprise services. A recent study conducted by Redshift Research found that companies are feeling more comfortable deploying Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and solutions like virtual desktop infrastructure and Data-as-a-Service are earning a greater foothold within businesses as workers demand mobility and bring-your-own-device policies.

Confidence grows as security increases 
​The SkyHigh Networks predictions also pointed out that companies are increasingly employing public cloud IaaS as confidence in the security capabilities of the platform has increased. As device security has proven very difficult, enterprises are beginning to focus more on securing actual data instead. Cloud service providers are becoming very adept at securing public environments, bringing new users to a section of the cloud previously thought unfit for business use. Nearly three-quarters of respondents in the IDG study reported that they were very or somewhat confident in the security of their assets hosted in the cloud.

SkyHigh researchers predicted that 2015 will be big for distributed data management across cloud services as big data analytics and the Internet of Things grow in popularity. Organizations looking to benefit from the business insights provided through the analysis of the information they create will increasingly employ the cloud to run analytics programs and store the raw data.

FCC votes to increase funding for E-Rate

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Earlier this month the Federal Communications Commission approved a measure that would increase consumer wireless service fees in order to subsidize a greater amount of the cost of Internet connectivity for public schools and libraries.

The E-Rate program was created in 1996 as a part of the Telecommunications Act in order to pay for improvements to school and library telecommunication services in disadvantaged areas. Currently the program receives $2.25 billion each year to provide Internet access to underserved school districts and communities. The FCC voted to increase funding for the program by $1.5 billion, bringing the total to nearly $4 billion. This is a major step forward in making Internet access available to every student, as the program's budget hasn't increased in almost a decade.

According to FCC estimates, the increased fees will only result in an additional $1.90 per year for each phone line, which comes out to less than $6 per household annually. In a statement, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that increasing funding for the E-Rate program comes down to a moral issue:  ensuring all children are provided with the same advantages when it comes to their education. Wheeler added that while he can understand why there has been some opposition to the fee increase, he was "aghast at the hostility" directed at the commission's plan to improve access to critical technology for underprivileged students.

Part of the funding increase is being earmarked for the expansion of Wi-Fi coverage over the next few years. Increasing the reach of Internet access in underserved areas enables less privileged schools to provide 1:1 programs to their students and allow students who would otherwise be isolated from the Internet. 

Easing program requirements, increasing access
Along with an increase in funding, the FCC also passed multiple minor rule changes that provide different options for IT infrastructure and enable more institutions to benefit from the program. Schools and other educational organizations can now purchase a dark fiber infrastructure that allows them to build their own high-speed networks if that is a more cost-effective option than traditional operations. Carriers subsidized under the program are also now required to offer educational institutions in high cost rural areas similar rates to their urban counterparts.

School and library officials have expressed concern in recent years that the software and devices necessary to provide students with a modern education now cost more than can be covered with the available funds from the E-Rate program. Increasing the budget and refocusing the program's mission will help close the technology gap between schools, according to supporters.

Partnering with a cloud service provider can calm security fears for enterprises

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A recent survey conducted by NaviSite and Time Warner Cable found that the majority of enterprises are interested in adopting cloud computing and bring-your-own-device initiatives but are encountering a variety of barriers to deployment, chief among them threats to security.

The study, which included responses from 250 companies in the U.S. and U.K., found that implementing cloud services and enabling a mobile workforce are two of the most important initiatives being considered by businesses today. While nearly 90 percent of participant organizations reported having plans to move business-critical applications to the cloud within the next year, 59 percent admitted to having concerns about security related to the technology.

According to the report, 94 percent of organizations are employing the cloud to create a more mobile workforce, but 68 percent of participating enterprises said they did not currently have a BYOD policy in place. This is because of a lack of IT professionals with the necessary skills to implement such a plan and concern from businesses that an influx of mobile devices will lead to security issues they are unequipped to defend against. Other emerging technology like the Internet of Things is also appealing to companies because of the business insights it can offer, but the trend brings along a variety of security concerns of its own.  

Third-party cloud providers offer relief from security threats
Recent data breaches involving cloud-based file sharing services like iCloud and Dropbox have cast doubt on the safety of the cloud for enterprise use, and the very real threat of mobile malware has dampened enthusiasm for BYOD initiatives. However, companies can experience the advantages of both by utilizing a third-party service provider to aid them in their migration. As shown by the study, the vast majority of businesses are looking to deploy a cloud platform and many groups are interested in BYOD, especially as the interest in wearables increases. With the knowledge and expertise of third-party providers, enterprises can realize the benefits of these programs while greatly reducing the risk of security incidents and data loss.

"Effective business leaders recognize that while they need to leverage virtual technologies to remain competitive, they also need to leverage their existing investments in traditional platforms," said Sean McAvan, managing director of NaviSite Europe, in an interview with Business Cloud News. "Those companies who most effectively leverage cloud and virtual technology often partner with a managed service provider, freeing them up to focus on their core competencies."

Take the guesswork out of cloud deployment with a third-party provider

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While the government has made great strides in adopting modern technology platforms, it was recently revealed that the Department of Defense has fallen into a common technology mistake while implementing its new cloud environment.

According to a recent audit by the inspector general, a plan was created in July 2012 to transition to the cloud in an effort to experience the benefits and cost savings associated with the technology, but the entirety of the plan has yet to be implemented. The report found that elements of the cloud environment and guidance on specific roles of the platform have not been fully deployed two years after the program was introduced. By stalling on the implementation, the department is facing potential losses in cost savings, decreased effectiveness and lowered security.

The initial intent of the DoD's cloud program was to cut down on redundant efforts. Part of the issue currently causing delays is that the agency has yet to create an implementation plan to assign roles, responsibilities and goals for the transition, preventing a successful adoption.

"By failing to execute all elements identified in the cloud computing strategy, DoD may not realize the full benefits of cloud computing, which include cost savings, increased mission effectiveness, and increased cybersecurity," the report stated.

Be prepared for the cloud transition
While government agencies have more stringent requirements than most civilian organizations, a similar scenario could easily happen to an enterprise attempting to deploy a cloud platform without a clear strategy. Before migrating to a cloud environment, businesses must take stock of the systems and applications that will be moving to the cloud. Migration planning allows redundant programs to be detected and eliminated before they are transitioned, which increases cost savings in the long run. Assigning benchmarks and goals for implementation can be helpful to ensure expectations are met and the cloud platform is set up in a way that is most beneficial to a company. 

Utilizing the services of a third-party cloud provider can help make the transition to cloud computing simple and painless. Once an inventory has been taken of the necessary systems, a provider like ISG Technology can handle the transition as well as the maintenance of the environment. Working with a trusted, reliable third-party provider takes the hassle out of cloud deployment, allowing enterprises to experience only the benefits that come with use of the cloud. 

Top 4 benefits of the cloud for SMBs

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While cloud computing has been lauded as one of the biggest innovations in technology in recent years and as a growing number of companies have adopted the cloud, there are still some holdouts. Despite its popularity, some small businesses in particular still don't think the cloud is within their reach. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The benefits of cloud computing are especially advantageous for smaller organizations. In fact, businesses with less than 20 employees have a 68 percent adoption rate of cloud services compared with 53 percent of companies with between 500 and 1,000 workers according to information cited by Venture Beat. The cloud provides small companies with a variety of benefits, below are the top four:

1) Collaboration
With a small company, the employees are typically more involved with one another than in a major corporation. The cloud enables collaboration to take place more effectively and efficiently, as everyone can work on the same projects and documents in one central location. Having a streamlined center for edits and changes to be made dramatically reduces the back-and-forth emails and the amount of time spent searching for the necessary materials common with traditional collaboration methods.

According to a recent survey of global workplaces by Frost & Sullivan, organizations that deploy more advanced tools achieve a 400 percent return on their collaboration investments as compared with companies that stick to traditional techniques.

2) Security
The cloud provides invaluable data security and backup. Physical document storage solutions – laptops, external hard drives, USBs, etc. – are easily lost or stolen and devices can crash without notice, leaving documents unsaved and gone forever. Cloud storage services offer a secure option available online so files will never be lost or destroyed because of human error or network issues.

Using the cloud for data storage also helps to protect against attacks by cybercriminals. Security firm Alert Logic found in its 2014 Cloud Security Report that cloud environments are actually safer than on-premises solutions. According to the study, brute force attacks occurred 30 percent more frequently in on-premises data centers.

3) Flexibility
Use of the cloud enables companies to experience greater flexibility and mobility, allowing employees to work from anywhere with a connected device. This is especially advantageous for smaller companies as it allows workers to travel and move around as necessary to grow the business while still being able to connect with the home office and be productive.

4) Low cost
Perhaps the greatest benefit the cloud offers to small businesses is the ability to pay as you go. Cloud services are incredibly scalable and easy to expand or contract as necessary. Such a model is ideal for growing companies with uncertain capacity needs. The cloud also offers inexpensive start-up costs and regular software and security updates that reduce maintenance and licensing fees.

According to information cited by Venture Beat, 70 percent of companies using the cloud were able to invest the money they saved with the technology back into the enterprise, increasing growth and revenue.

Mobile cloud services market growing fast, new study finds

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A recently released study by Markets and Markets on the mobile cloud market found the sector is poised to make rapid gains in the next five years.

According to the “Mobile Cloud Market by Application & by User: Worldwide Market Forecast and Analysis” report, the market is projected to increase an a compound annual growth rate of 37.8 percent between 2014 and 2019, jumping from $9.43 billion to $46.9 billion.

One of the reasons the mobile cloud market has picked up momentum as quickly as it has is because of the increased convenience realized through the use of the cloud. Information is available in a single, streamlined interface and can be accessed from anywhere with often just an Internet connection. This plays into the major factor driving the rise of the mobile cloud market, according to the report. An increased demand from consumers for connectivity has been met by cloud computing, as the technology provides interoperability and connections previously unavailable.

The study noted that the transition of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets away from being used solely as forms of communication or entertainment toward enterprise means has also helped to push the adoption of mobile cloud services, as users are interested in applications that allow them to access all of their data with a single click.

Businesses especially benefit from mobile cloud access
Since the creation of the Internet, nothing has quite shaken up the technology industry quite like cloud computing. As an increasing number of organizations are realizing the business benefits of the cloud, the services and applications that complement the technology have also grown more popular. Enterprises especially are able to experience advantages from the connectivity offered from the cloud, as enhancing the connection to clients and vendors enables improved responsiveness and agility.

As cloud-enabled mobile applications and services earn a larger foothold in the business world, protecting enterprise information is becoming a growing concern. Data security and privacy were both cited as key challenges in the report, and many organizations are held back from experiencing all of the benefits of the cloud because of security concerns. Deploying a cloud platform with the help of an experienced third-party service provider is a simple and reliable way to ensure sensitive data remains private and secure. Cloud service providers utilize tools and techniques like encryption when hosting client files, increasing the security of information and the benefits an organization can realize with the cloud.

Don’t be left in the cold when it comes to disaster recovery

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David Thiemecke, co-founder of Web consulting company Algonquin Studios based in Buffalo, New York, took the time last year to prepare for the inevitability of a damaging winter storm by migrating the company's critical operations to the cloud and allowing issues to remedied remotely.

"We would use those services as our backup data center for quickly moving virtual machines, and have previously planned for the process to migrate what few production services remain in-house," said Thiemecke in an interview with CSO. "We can also move our development and test platforms if necessary."

Luckily for Thiemecke, he planned ahead. Late November brought a storm that slammed parts of Buffalo, dropping more than seven feet of snow over the course of three days. Multiple businesses were disrupted due to the storm and now rising temperatures are causing the giant mounds of snow to become flooding risks. Due to the arrangements already in place, Algonquin Studios experienced zero downtime and employees were able to work remotely, avoiding the dangerous conditions on the roads.

Keep data safe by planning ahead
Disaster recovery is an important step for any business working to avoid wasting the time and money associated with enterprise data loss. Stephen Bigelow, senior technology editor for TechTarget, has noted that while organizations face a variety of risks on a daily basis, data loss is one of the most serious. Any company operating today needs to be concerned about protecting critical information and reducing downtime to as close to zero as possible.

"Disaster planning and preparation are a critical aspect of any business plan," said Bigelow. "But there is no single approach to disaster preparedness and the emphasis on disaster response is changing."

When implementing a disaster recovery solution, it's important to do an audit of all the enterprise information that will need to be replicated and stored in order to assess storage priority. Disaster recovery and business continuity operations must be periodically tested and practiced in order to ensure a smooth transition to backup processes in case of an emergency.

By deploying disaster recovery operations in the cloud, businesses are able to not only save money, but a third-party service provider can manage and oversee testing to reduce the time and hassle of doing it in house. Many cloud-based disaster recovery providers also take steps to encrypt privileged enterprise information, so it is protected at rest.

Creating a disaster recovery plan is a good teaching tool for employees as well as a reliable way to ensure business continuity. Organizations can use the migration of information to the cloud as an opportunity to tell their workers about the importance of data security and to back up sensitive files.

Using the cloud to track the flu

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Last year, in the midst of the government shutdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was left unable to monitor the movement of flu outbreaks in the country. While tracking the flu may not seem like such a major task, healthcare providers across the country rely on information from the CDC to know what to expect from the patient population in order to appropriately stock necessary supplies. To make matters worse, the shutdown occurred at the beginning of October, just about the time flu season was kicking into high gear.

To fill the void left by the CDC, athenahealth stepped in and used its resources to get the job done with the help of cloud computing. athenahealth, an electronic health record and billing management company, used its expansive online database to look at flu-related claims in real time in order to identify patterns regarding where outbreaks of the virus were occurring.

While there are other cloud-based services that perform a similar task, they often provide less precise information. Google Flu Trends, for instance, measures outbreaks based on flu-related searches in a certain area which can cause overestimates about the number of doctor's visits actually taking place. The results gathered by athenahealth's cloud database, on the other hand, were in line with previous CDC statistics, suggesting a high level of accuracy.

Cloud-based health initiatives gaining traction
Now that the shutdown is over, cloud-based tracking systems are still being utilized. This year, data gathered from electronic health records from across the country and stored in the cloud have made it possible for health professionals to see that early cases of the flu are beginning to occur more frequently. Because cloud-based data from EHRs tracks information collected during visits to the doctor, trends can be tracked on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis, allowing for a more accurate view of the trajectory of the virus. For instance, information gathered by athenahealth showed that patients visiting pediatricians that have been diagnosed with influenza-like illnesses increased almost 1 percent between Nov.9 and Nov.22.

A similar program by athenahealth subsidiary Epocrates was launched last year to provide doctors with important information about other kinds of health issues.  Called "bug+drugs," the program offers healthcare professionals a mobile app that uses de-identified patient data from the more than 43,000 providers using athenahealth's cloud-based software to help doctors identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria, like staph infections and E. coli, prevalent in their communities. The campaign is part of a larger effort to use the cloud to geo-locate specific health issues based on patients' ZIP codes.

While private, cloud-based healthcare companies aren't going to start taking over the job of the CDC, they are beginning to provide a larger number of services that benefit public health initiatives. Realizing the advantages of the help athenahealth provided while the CDC was unable to operate, the Ohio Department of Health now receives flu data from the company on a weekly basis. Other public health departments are utilizing the cloud to track the movements of diseases, and a variety of aid organizations in Africa are using the cloud to monitor the spread of the Ebola epidemic.