Technology For Business (Part 1)

Uncover New Revenue Streams

You may think that the only solution for your old computing equip­ment is to throw it out yourself or find a disposal company to take it off your hands. However, if you take a closer look at the true value of your IT assets, you may discover that they have a secondary market value. Turn to the Essential Business Tech department to learn more about how XTechnology Global makes it simpler and less expensive for companies with data centers to replace equipment.

New Epson line targets architects, engineers & GIS pros

Epson America designed its recently launched SureColor T-Series line of large-format color plotters especially for engineers, architects, and professionals tasked with GIS (geo­graphic information system) projects. Including what the company calls "an unprecedented combination of precision, performance, and value with the fastest plotting speeds in its class," the plotters also use a new type of ink for sharp, smudge free, archival printing on virtually any media. Currently available through Epson resellers, the SureColor T-Series products are Epson's first offerings for engineering and scientific markets.

Epson's new SureColor T-Series are large format plotters for engineering and scientific markets.

Security Survey reveals weaknesses in it planning

The lead message from Ernst & Young's "Global Information Security Survey 2012" is that ad-hoc security solutions are no longer good enough for organizations attempting to keep modern cyber threats at bay. The annual survey, which this year involved 1,850 CIOs and other secu­rity executives worldwide, revealed that 31% of organizations were hit by "a higher number of security inci­dents in the last two years" and 77% of agree "that there is an increasing risk from external attacks." Still, 63% said their organization does not have a strong security framework in place and a mere 16% indicated their cur­rent security measures meet their organization's needs. The report con­cludes that IT must improve not only to meet current threats, but also to address upcoming government and industry regulations.

Aberdeen Group touts benefits of virtual patching

In a report published by Aberdeen Group and posted by Trend Micro, the research firm examines the downtime, workarounds, and regression testing involved in the methods (such as the usual "Patch Tuesdays") many IT departments employ to cope with regular influxes of patches and emer­gency patches for critical system soft­ware. The report found that most companies are able to deal with vul­nerabilities regardless of patch avail­ability, and indicated that only 58% of vulnerabilities discovered in 2011 had patches available the same day. Overall, Aberdeen Group suggests that virtual patching is beneficial to staying on top of patches. To under­score its point, Aberdeen Group stated that "leading organizations" are twice as likely as "lagging performers" to employ virtual patching.

Mobile market sees increase in data, decline in text messages

Data now accounts for about 43% of revenues in the U.S. mobile in­dustry service market, according to a new report from Chetan Sharma Consulting. The mobile data market grew 3%, to $19.9 billion, during the third quarter and is on track to ex­ceed $80 billion this year. During the quarter, U.S. mobile operators added 2.4 million new subscribers, and smartphones accounted for more than 75% of devices sold, Chetan Sharma reports. The quarter marked the first time the United States market saw a decline in both the total number of SMS messages and total messaging revenue. Chetan Sharma notes that it's too early to tell if the decline will continue or if the market will "sputter along before the decline takes place."

Enterprises face mobile challenges

Because of the increased popularity of tablets and functionality of smart­phones, much of the network traffic and corporate data that was once the primary domain of enterprise PCs is now being shifted to mobile devices, according to research firm Gartner. "Securing corporate data on mobile de­vices is a big challenge, but one that companies must embrace," says Phil Redman, research vice president at Gartner. "Enterprises are struggling with how to support and secure this dynamic workforce."

. "Securing corporate data on mobile de­vices is a big challenge, but one that companies must embrace,"

Gartner offers several predictions in the mobile market for the coming years:

§  65% of enterprises will adopt a mo­bile device management solution over the next five years for their corporate liable users.

§  90% of enterprises will support two or more mobile operating systems, at least through 2017.

§  Apple's iOS continues to gain in the enterprise space, with many companies having moved to it as their main mobile device platform during the past year and many more enterprises expected to stan­dardize on iOS in the next 12 to 18 months.

§  Tablets have been one of the fastest-growing enterprise devices in the past 18 months. Most com­panies and users are supporting tablets for limited usage, but users are pushing for support for more enterprise applications.

Connectivity, disaster recovery drive Ethernet market

Revenue in the Ethernet market will grow from $5.2 billion this year to $9.2 billion in 2016, according to IDC. The biggest contributors will be high bandwidth applica­tions such as data center connec­tivity, disaster recovery/business continuity, and data storage repli­cation, the research group reports. "Enterprises are increasingly uti­lizing 100Mb, gigabit, and even 10Gb Ethernet services for do­mestic and international WAN networking," says Nav Chander, IDC research manager, Enterprise Communication Services. The growth of Ethernet access as an alternative to leased lines for ac­cess to other services is also con­tributing to the growth in demand, Chander says.

FCC to boost mobile spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission is on track to make 300MHz of new wireless spectrum available for commercial networks by 2015, according to a recent speech given by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, with 500MHz available by 2020. "To put the 300[MHz] and 500MHz numbers in context," Genachowski says, "con­sider this: when we released the plan, 500MHz represented almost a doubling of the supply of spec­trum for broadband." Genachowski says that the United States is in a "small group at the very top tier of countries" when it comes to making wireless spectrum available for broadband and is committed to meeting its targets to stay ahead.