Technology For Business (Part 2)

Kaspersky helps Facebook curb malware

The Internet can be a dangerous place, and malicious software tends to spread most widely and easily via the most popular search engine results and gathering places on the Web. It makes sense, then, that Facebook would seek an expert security company to help keep its pages and customers safe, which is exactly what the social network service has accomplished through its new part­nership with digital security firm Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky Lab now provides Facebook with real-time data about the latest malicious software and websites. Facebook, in turn, can now provide this information to its users in the form of alerts. With more Facebook users warned of impending risks, the result will be fewer computer infections.

Partnership between Kaspersky Lab and Facebook brings safer social networking

Survey shows two sides to public cloud services

The increased adoption of public cloud services is cannibalizing IT ser­vices spending, particularly in the data center, according to Bryan Britz, research director at Gartner. But at the same time, he says, "Public cloud adoption offers service providers the opportunity to accelerate externalization of spending for the non-public cloud workloads and IT operations and service management responsibil­ities in tandem with clients pursuing a public cloud initiative." Gartner re­search shows that 19% of organiza­tions are using cloud computing for most of production computing, and 20% are using storage as a service for all, or most, storage requirements. Public cloud adoption varies by ser­vice, Gartner reports, with IaaS (in­frastructure as a service) moving into production environments. Adoption of PaaS (platform as a service) shows the growing importance of public cloud services for organizations that are adopting cloud infrastructure. SaaS (software as a service) adoption continues to reduce the total market available for application outsourcing, according to Gartner.

Study: Big data results in big increases in jobs

Big data, or the creation and ac­cumulation of huge amounts of structured and unstructured data from the countless sensors, sys­tems, and programs in use today, is having an exciting impact on jobs, according to Gartner. The research firm predicts that, by 2015, 4.4 mil­lion IT jobs worldwide will be cre­ated to support big data, with 1.9 million IT jobs in the U.S. alone. But perhaps the more promising part is that, in the U.S., every IT job re­lated to big data will create employ­ment for three people outside of IT, says Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner and global head of research. That adds up to about 6 million jobs during the next four years. The downside? "There is not enough talent in the industry," Sondergaard says. "Our public and private education systems are failing us. Therefore, only one-third of the IT jobs will be filled."

Big Data a big opportunity to discover new revenue streams

PC shipments decline, breaking 11 year streak

According to the latest sta­tistics from IHS iSuppli Compute Platforms Service, the total number of PC shipments for the year will de­cline from 352.8 million units in 2011 to 348.7 million units in 2012. That is only a 1.2% decline, but it is sig­nificant in that it marks the first such year-over-year decline in the past 11 years. Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for computer systems with IHS, recalled that there was hope for a rebound in the first half of the year, but said "the usual boost from the back-to-school season appears to be a bust . . . and the industry is now training its sights on 2013 to deliver the hoped for rebound."

Market for high performance servers remains flat

Although revenue in the worldwide HPC (high performance computing) server market dropped slightly year-over-year during the second quarter, IDC maintains that the overall market will grow 7.1% this year to reach $11 billion. During the second quarter, revenue was down 0.9% compared to a year ago, and shipments dropped more than 21%. Revenue in the market for high-end HPC systems, classi­fied as those selling for $500,000 or more, was up 21.8% from the first quarter. But revenue in the workgroup HPC market, or those selling for less than $100,000, was down 13.9% from the first quarter.

Government saving billions in it spending

The government will save about $2.5 billion over the next three years by consolidating systems, buying in bulk, and ending or streamlining off-­track projects, according to Jeffrey Zients, deputy director for manage­ment at the Office of Management and Budget. The savings are part of PortfolioStat, which is the "coor­dinated effort" federal government agencies are undertaking to "scour their IT budgets to find unnecessary IT spending and develop a plan to root out waste," Zients says. As part of PortfolioStat, he says, agencies are collecting and analyzing base­line data on 13 specific types of com­modity IT investments, including infrastructure, business systems, and enterprise IT.

Tech industry gains jobs

In the first six months of this year, the high tech industry added about 100,000 jobs, according to the latest job report from the TechAmerica Foundation. In the 18 months studied for the report, the tech industry added jobs in 16 of the months, with the total number of jobs in the high-tech field growing 3.3%, to about 6 million jobs. "While the growth has been modest, it is up and fairly consistent," says Matthew Kazmierczak, senior vice president, TechAmerica Foundation. The re­port looked at jobs in four sectors: tech manufacturing, communica­tions services, software services, and engineering and tech services. The number of jobs increased in all sec­tors except communications services, according to the report.

Researchers say SMBs using (but need help with) social media

A 2012 study from SMB Group examining the ways small and me­dium-sized businesses use social media found that "structured users" (those with a plan) were generally happier with the results social media delivered compared to "ad hoc users." According to Sanjeev Aggarwal, SMB Group founder and partner, "The needle for SMBs using social media as part of a planned, corporate strategy has barely moved at all. More SMBs are using social media, but they lack the solutions, exper­tise, and guidance to integrate them with other business processes and use them more effectively in their businesses." The data below from SMB Group indicates the pertinent differences.

	Structured users satisfied or very satisfied	Ad Hoc users satisfied or very satisfied	Structured users dissatisfied or very dissatisfied	Ad Hoc users dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
Monitor and enhance company reputation	59%	60%	4%	9%
Improve services/support and customer retention	64%	65%	6%	3%
Analyze data to improve knowledge of market trends, etc.	61%	37%	7%	21%
Bring voice of the customer into the company	68%	55%	2%	15%
Improve internal collaboration	66%	54%	5%	15%
Gather competitive intelligence/research	68%	59%	8%	12%
Get input for product development	64%	29%	0%	29%
Aid new employee recruitment	74%	85%	0%	0%