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Data center downtime can cost companies millions

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As computing power and information storage grow increasingly necessary for businesses, data centers will become even more important in the coming years. The use of cloud computing and virtualization has caused a rise in data center use, but has also created new challenges that can cause downtime to occur, which can be disastrous for enterprises.

According to a data center industry study, each month, one-third of websites experience downtime and 90 percent of organizations have experienced an unexpected loss of access to their critical systems, CloudTweaks reported. Modern businesses are highly reliant on connectivity, making outages a costly occurrence for organizations that are unprepared to mitigate the effects. The report found that the average North American website outage lasts nearly eight hours, while European outages last an average of 10.3 hours, meaning an entire day’s business can be lost simply due to downtime.

Security, revenue lost due to downtime
Productivity also decreases when downtime effects enterprise systems, dropping between 33 and 43 percent depending on the size of the company. According to the report, employees often resort to the use of USB drives and other commercial storage devices, putting organizations at risk for malware and infection and the possibility of lost files. Almost two-thirds of employees surveyed in the study reported utilized such storage solutions, greatly increasing the threat environment for their firms.

Perhaps the most costly part of experiencing downtime is loss of revenue. According to the report, one in six enterprises lose $1 million for each hour of downtime that takes place. In order to offset the effects of downtime and system outages, organizations must implement data center  monitoring and visibility in order to determine threat vulnerabilities, understand the user experience and maximize data center performance. Implementing these systems also serve to lower the total cost of managing a data center, as processes can be automated and the disruptions associated with downtime are eliminated.

Organizations looking to implement more reliable and consistent data center services, ISG offers a network of Midwest regional data centers with the ability to support the business and performance objectives of each client. ISG is a single-source supplier of essential enterprise cloud-computing equipment, putting them in a better position than any other provider to offer organizations continuous, harmonious operations while also enabling firms to experience the most possible benefits from their data center infrastructure.

Schools increase student engagement, understanding with video conferencing

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With the increasing abundance of technology available to schools, classrooms are beginning to implement video conferencing to improve student engagement and enhance curriculum. Schools take advantage of video conferencing to expose students to people and places they may never have been able to see otherwise. Graphics and videos can be easily integrated into lectures to allow for a more comprehensive lesson that helps kids absorb material better. Related technology, like desktop virtualization, allows guest lecturers to share information on students’ computers or tablets to enhance the lesson.

“Children need to have an emotional connection with what they’re learning in order to commit that to long term memory and when you’re learning out of a textbook, that emotional connection isn’t there,” explained teacher Michael Soskil in an interview with New York News 1. “Using technology in this transformative way allows kids to be inspired and it allows that deep learning to take place.”

Improving the classroom experience
A common use of educational video conferencing is to connect students with experts who can give better context to the material being covered in class. Allowing students to directly communicate with someone with special knowledge of a subject can help to create a connection between what’s being taught and how it’s relevant in the real world. This connection helps material to be better absorbed by students and increases the overall value of the lesson.

“Studies show that when students see the connection between what they are learning and its real-world use case, their motivation soars, and so does their learning,” explained a spokesperson for Blue Jean Networks, an educational video conferencing service. “One of the best, and most popular, ways to make that connection is by introducing subject matter experts into education.”

One of the most beneficial uses of video conferencing in classrooms is the ability to offer rural schools access to courses and teachers they may not have otherwise been able to have. Schools with limited resources or in rural locations may not be able to hire teachers knowledgeable in all of the subjects they want to teach, but by implementing video conferencing, students can have access to almost any course they are interested in.

Video conferencing also allows students in classrooms from around the world to connect with one another. This global connection offers students the chance to exchange educational and cultural views, which gives them the chance to see things from a different perspective and create new ideas. Virtual field trips are also made possible by utilizing video conferencing. Just as students can connect with other classrooms overseas, foreign locations can also be visited. Teachers can show their classes historic landmarks and important cultural locations, all by a video conference connection.

IT pros encourage desktop virtualization for improved mobility

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A recently released Forrester report has found that 63 percent of IT professionals believe competitive advantage can be improved by companies increasing focus on employee mobility. Those surveyed suggested it could help employees respond quicker to client needs and provide more effective service. When asked how to improve employee mobility, more than half of the respondents said organizations should implement desktop virtualization within the organization.

As the consumerization of IT gains strength, employees have more opportunities than ever to choose their own applications, devices and even operating systems.

“The consumerization of IT has enabled workers the freedom to choose their own devices,” says Paul Parke, vice president of product and corporate marketing at 1E, a specialist in IT operations management tools and solutions. “IT needs to become more user-centric in order to embrace users that really have gotten rather indifferent to the services and technology provided by IT.”

Because of this, a rising number of organizations are enabling their workers to participate in bring your own device, or even bring your own PC, programs. As this trend grows, desktop virtualization is gaining new adherents.

Improve BYOD, remote workers with virtualization‘s mobility
Virtualization provides employees with mobility as well as seamless access to their office desktop, which allows businesses to adopt BYOD programs while still ensuring data security. Through the use of virtualization, a desktop can be manifested on any endpoint while reducing operational costs and the complexity of managing traditional desktop hardware.

Among the respondents of the Forrester survey, local desktop virtualization, or client-hosted virtualization, seemed to be the most popular option. When using local desktop virtualization, an entire desktop environment is hosted within a protected system on an employee’s device, allowing programs to operate without relying on a high-performance network. Utilizing this type of virtualization enables workers to run business applications from an existing operating system, providing them with the flexibility to work anywhere while still offering a secure way to access sensitive data and personal files.

“IT can fully manage and secure the data and applications using the same policies that govern physical devices, making it easier to manage and support frequently traveling employees or those who work offline,” explained CIO contributor Thor Olavsrud.

Businesses are also able to be more agile when hiring new employees by utilizing virtual desktops, as new hires can be added to networks with just the click of a button, reducing the hassle of creating a new environment. New applications can also be provided to all employees with the same ease as they are part of a centralized management interface.

As well as offering greater mobility and agility, virtual desktops also provide cost-effective disaster recovery solutions that can be employed quickly and easily. Implementing this type of technology gives companies built-in resiliency at every level of the enterprise and ensures that business-critical systems and data are protected and will keep working if a data center is compromised.

Department of Defense pursues cloud storage options for classified documents

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The Department of Defense has announced its intention to store sensitive documents in the cloud, and is in the process of vetting service providers interested in supporting the agency's platform. The DoD currently utilizes cloud services to store low-level documents, but this marks the first time cloud storage has been proposed for highly classified files. The information suggested for storage in the cloud is labeled Level 6, which is assessed as information that could put people in grave danger.

To address security fears, the agency is pursuing two methods of keeping documents protected. The first involves the DoD leasing floor space to vendors who would then install an on-site system. The second would see cloud providers send the agency server equipment that the DoD would set up and manage. The latter method calls for a cloud vendor to create a bespoke data center within a standard shipping container. The container would be outfitted with all the necessary equipment and then sent to the DoD, where it would be installed and provided with power and cooling capabilities.

Whichever method the agency follows through with, it will involve creating a physical connection to a government data server instead of sending encrypted documents over the Internet. While the DoD is employing a private cloud solution and is suggesting some unusual methods, the proposal to store highly sensitive federal documents in the cloud points to a change in view on the security of cloud computing.

The agency has clearly embraced the technology as not only efficient and convenient, but also safe and secure. By utilizing a cloud-based storage service, the DoD will be able to reduce costs dramatically. Everything will be kept in a central location and physical documents can be removed, saving valuable building space and lower the amount of money spent on paper and ink.

African economies experience boost from free Wi-Fi initiatives

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Internet users in Africa are experiencing a new drive by service providers to increase the availability of free Wi-Fi access across the continent in an effort to grow economic activity and improve education.

Countries all over the continent are benefiting from the trend. Rwanda's Smart Kigali initiative is creating free Wi-Fi hotspots around the capital to provide residents and visitors with more information. The Kenyan county of Nakuru, through a partnership with the State House digital team and county government, is offering residents free access. Enterprises are also able to take advantage of Nakuru's program in order to conduct business, according to State House director of digital media Dennis Itumbi, and students can use it to easily study and complete assignments from anywhere.

Nigeria's largest city, Lagos, provides visitors to its airport with free Wi-Fi access through a public-private partnership. Because of the level of Internet service at Lagos' Murtala Muhammad Airport Two, it is the only airport in Africa with the ability to display real-time arrivals and departures online, according to Steve Omolale-Ajulo, spokesman for Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.

While projects in other areas are growing, South Africa has the largest free Wi-Fi program in the region, with both the public and private sectors in the country launching initiatives to provide hotspots. In fact, there are now so many access points in South Africa that a website was created to provide users with a way to find the spot closest to them.

Greater access to Wi-Fi offers increased opportunities
Alan Knott-Craig Jr., whose non-profit Project Isizwe has Wi-Fi deployments in three South African municipalities service 1.5 million people, says the reason countries across Africa are rolling out these programs is clear.

"The World Bank says that for every 10 percent of broadband penetration a country's GDP grows by 1.28 percent,"said Knott-Craig in an interview with The Next Web. "More tangibly, free Wi-Fi in townships allows the unemployed to look for jobs online and email CVs. Education is obviously the other major benefit of free Wi-Fi, as kids and older students can study online, download textbooks, and generally access information about the world."

Global management consulting firm McKinsey and Company has projected that increased Internet penetration in the region could contribute up to $300 billion to the economy by 2025 if the market grows in a similar fashion as mobile phones did.

California breach report highlights need for secure data storage

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The California attorney general, Kamala D. Harris, recently released a study revealing the state’s current cyberthreat landscape.

According to the investigation, 167 data breaches were reported in California last year, jumping 28 percent from 2012. Those breaches exposed the information of more than 18.5 million residents, significantly more than the 2.5 million compromised in 2012.

The retail industry appears to have borne the brunt of the damage last year. Breaches targeting retail companies affected 84 percent of the total records compromised in 2013. The financial services sector came in a distant second, accounting for 20 percent of total breaches.

Theft of payment card and Social Security information also increased this year, resulting in financial losses for victims. While the report did not provide exact numbers on how much California residents have lost or what number have experienced fraud as a result of a breach, it did cite a Javelin Strategy and Research study that estimates more than one-third of breach victims will suffer financial fraud as a result.

In an interview with The New York Times, Harris said that 2014 is shaping up to be even worse for client data than last year, as breaches have already increased 30 percent in the first 10 months.

“We are increasingly adopting technology that is putting our data in systems that are ripe for penetration,”said Harris. “We have not sufficiently inoculated ourselves. The bad guys have figured out where the vulnerabilities are and learned there is much to be profited and gained from exploiting them.”

Organizations looking to protect sensitive personal information stored on their servers can implement cloud storage services to keep privileged data secure and private. Records kept within a cloud environment can be easily encrypted and kept off enterprise networks, increasing security and reducing the risk of hackers discovering sensitive data during a breach of a company system. Cloud services also provide organizations with enhanced business continuity, as records kept in the cloud are safe in case of a disaster or network outage.

Enterprise cloud adoption on the rise, new study finds

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According to a newly-released Verizon report, enterprise IT departments are rapidly adopting cloud computing to deliver applications and services.

The "State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud 2014" study, which collected data from June 2013 and July 2014, found that cloud services have been a driving force behind business innovation. Cloud computing is becoming a more prominent feature in enterprise IT deployments, with current cloud users expecting to spend 54 percent of their IT budgets on cloud services over the next two years. The report revealed that 65 percent of organizations are currently utilizing the cloud, and spending on cloud services by enterprises has increased almost 40 percent from the year before.

Over 70 percent of survey respondents reported having plans to utilize the cloud to run public-facing production applications by 2017, an 11 percent increase. The study also discovered that 72 percent of participants plan to put the majority of their workloads in the cloud by 2017, which shows significant growth from the 58 percent of enterprises taking advantage of application support today. 

Marking a major shift in perceptions of security, 41 percent of companies reported relying on public cloud infrastructures to host mission-critical workloads. In fact, 100 percent of the enterprises that reported currently using cloud services said they did not believe the cloud put their IT systems at risk. One-third of organizations actually reported an improvement in security after deploying a cloud infrastructure.

Another interesting discovery made by the study was that companies are no longer focused solely on reducing expense when turning to the cloud. While cost savings are expected from the use of cloud services, they are no longer the biggest factor in adopting the technology. Agility was the biggest reason participants reported implementing the cloud, with 32 percent citing it as a factor for adoption.​While the cloud is beneficial to all companies, smaller organizations receive an even bigger advantage from the increased agility offered as it helps to create a level playing field with larger enterprises. 

Aid workers fight Ebola with unified communications

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As Ebola continues to spread across West Africa, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is partnering with Airtel, an Indian service provider, and the government of Sierra Leone in order to send health reminders through widespread text messaging campaigns.

Since last April, when the Ebola outbreak first began, officials have been utilizing the Trilogy Emergency Relief Application system to send nearly 2 million texts a month in the country. The messages provide the citizens of Sierra Leone with important health information and facts about Ebola to help educate the public, such as to avoid physical contact with others if they believe they have been infected, not to resist the aid of health workers in the area and other potentially life saving tips. The system is designed to send messages at off-peak hours to prevent network overload and recipients can opt out of the messages at any time.

Messages received by cell phone users include "People with Ebola who go to the health center early have a better chance of survival" and "Healthcare workers who take of Ebola patients have to wear protective clothes, do not be afraid of them." The service also allows text recipients to reply with basic health questions and receive and automated response regarding information about medical help, cleaning tips or treatment options.

Unified communications solutions have proved to be extremely effective in disseminating critical information during times of crisis. The TERA messaging system was also used in Haiti after the country's devastating 2010 earthquake and was first brought to Sierra Leone in 2013 to educate citizens about a cholera outbreak. Similar programs are used in the U.S. to send out information about severe weather or on college campuses to alert students about dangerous situations. 

Text messages reach a wider audience than emails
The messaging system was set up by the IFRC and is capable of sending a text to any cell phone that is turned on within a certain region. In areas like Sierra Leone, Internet access is not nearly as widely available as cell phone service and mobile phones are a vital lifeline for those trying to communicate with a large audience in the midst of a crisis. More than two-thirds of those in Sierra Leone have cell phone service, while only 9 percent have access to a 3G or cellular Internet plan, NPR reported. Because the messages are sent to cell phone users located in specific regions, the IFRC and Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health can tailor the texts to certain populations and provide regional advice.

In an interview with NPR, IFRC mobile operator relations officer Robin Burton noted that the system can also be used to make aid services more effective through feedback from recipients.

"We hope this will empower people to help themselves," said Burton. "They could send a message back to us saying, 'Thanks for the rice, but we have no way to cook it,' or, 'We don't eat pork here.' We call it beneficial communications because it helps everyone do better."

Burton also noted that the information sent in texts is saved on the phone and can be used for later reference, unlike information shared through the television or radio which is often quickly forgotten.

So far, more than 4,000 people have died as a result of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and the rapid pace at which is has been spreading in the region has spurred the Red Cross into expanding the messaging program to seven other countries in the area; Tongo, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and Gambia. Once the Ebola outbreak subsides, the TERA system will remain in use in those countries during natural disasters or times of conflict. 

State governments have their heads in the cloud

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Across the country, states are increasingly adopting cloud services. According to a recent TechAmerica survey, the number of states with high investments in the cloud has increased 14 percent since last year. The number of states that utilize at least some cloud services has also increased 5 percent, with 73 percent of states employing the technology in some form and considering the use of other cloud services.

Delaware was the first state in the U.S. to use the cloud to store the data, applications and operating systems of government departments on centralized servers that can be accessed remotely by employees. The state moved its computer servers to a consolidated data center to create a virtual computing climate seven years ago. Now, Delaware is looking into utilizing a third-party service provider to handle its cloud computing infrastructure to increase ease-of-use and allow IT departments to focus on more business-critical processes.

States find savings in the cloud 
​California was also an early adopter of cloud technology, being one of the first states to adopt cloud computing for government agencies. The state has implemented a shared-services strategy called CalCloud that allows agencies to share resources and information among themselves and their constituents. The model used by California government departments allows the state to minimize upfront capital investment, as cloud services offer states increased computing power at a time when their IT budgets are shrinking.

Many states have turned to the use of cloud services in order to benefit from its cost savings. States have seen estimated savings of between 25 and 50 percent for their computing operations. The first year Delaware's cloud operations were fully functional, the state saved $5 million, according to Delaware's acting CIO William Hickox. The federal government's "cloud first" strategy has also helped states feel more comfortable about adopting cloud strategies.

More employees using personal devices for work, new study finds

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According to a new Gartner study, nearly 40 percent of U.S. professionals who work for large companies use their personal devices for at least some work purposes. The report, which included surveys of more than 4,300 American consumers, looked into technology use and attitudes toward mobile devices.

The study found that only a quarter of employees using their personal devices for work do so because they are required to by their employers.

The study went on to reveal that there are an estimated 770 million devices in the U.S., and that number will likely grow in the next 12 months. Gartner's research found that 32 percent of survey participants are planning to purchase a smartphone over the next year, 23 percent intend to buy a new laptop or notebook and 20 percent are looking to get a new tablet in that time period.

"While this is a large number, it is still a small portion of the potential number of Internet of Things devices people will own in five years' time," said Amanda Sabia, principal research analyst at Gartner. "Newer devices for the connected home and personal trackers are coming to market — these are the seeds of growth — not only for purchasing devices, but also for associated services and apps."

Mobile applications are also witnessing an increase in popularity, experiencing an rise in downloads.  The study found that 80 percent of consumers have downloaded an application in the last year.

Employees finds their own devices better suited for work
The report suggests that a growing number of employees are using their personal devices for work because they are better suited, more powerful and better equipped for the job than devices provided by the company. The survey highlights the need for enterprises to employ bring-your-own-device policies and the security procedures to protect the network devices connect to.

"The lines between work and play are becoming more and more blurred as employees choose to 'use their own device' for work purposes whether sanctioned by an employer or not," said Sabia. "Devices that were once bought purely for personal use are increasingly being used for work and technology vendors and service providers need to respond to this."

Companies looking to benefit from the advantages of implementing BYOD policies while avoiding the security risks that come along with them can utilize a third-party service provider to roll out an enterprise BYOD platform. By professionally developing infrastructure and policies for mobile device use, employees are more aware of the associated security risks and networks are better prepared for the new level of traffic.