I recently heard a worrying statistic : It is predicted that by 2012, the amount of data being stored will double every 11 hours. I have to say that I view this with a healthy dose of scepticism, but whichever way you look at it, there's still going to be a lot of data around. ...
15/05/2009 | IM - datasort.pdf | VIEW
Anyone who’s ever attempted to avoid certain foodstuffs, whether for reasons of taste, allergy, diet, belief or morals, will know that it’s the fine print in the ingredients list that is all important. The ingredients list, together with standardised disclosure labels such as the Soil Association’s “Organic” symbol, the Fairtrade mark, and the Food Association’s “traffic light” symbol help consumers make informed decisions over what they put in their mouths. It’s worth noting that many foods have ingredients lists longer than the fine print in a mobile phone contract, which is an indicator that when required to by legislation, manufacturing companies can manage to track a complex set of base ingredients in a way that supports required disclosure. ...
09/05/2009 | eweek - tantalum.pdf | VIEW
Why is it that so many companies with great ideas, groundbreaking technologies and solid patents struggle? One reason can be summed up in the question "can we make money out of this idea", which is perhaps more scientifically expressed in the equation ‘is DSC greater or less than CMO at any moment in time?' (Where DSC = Deliverable Solution Complexity and CMO = Convertible Market Opportunity). DSC can be greater than CMO for a period of time - venture capital and investors willing - if the ensuing burn rate results in a better solution that can address an even bigger market, but too many technology led companies spend too long on this path. ...
06/05/2009 | Sell something simple.pdf | VIEW
This question was recently asked of members of the Mobile Data Association (MDA) discussion group on linkedin. In the context of the mobile world, messaging typically refers to Short Message Service (SMS) or text messaging and so the question was trying to gauge when SMS will cease to be important. Despite the protestations of those with a strong vested interest - operators who still make a tidy return on text traffic, and the rest of the industry that makes a turn on the movement of 160 characters - ultimately perhaps SMS should disappear. It is too basic, terse, insecure, non-interactive, is mostly limited to mobile handsets and endures a very high cost per character. ...
24/04/2009 | Is messaging immortal.pdf | VIEW
Most users must have had one of those bad PC days, when you arrive at work enthused to complete a task, only to end up spending the day waiting for IT to fix your newly broken PC, or in a small business often doing it yourself. When this happens at the server level, many users are impacted, and it can be expected to happen at the most inconvenient time, such as the end of a month, quarter or year. ...
24/04/2009 | Plan B - April 2009.pdf | VIEW
It is all too easy when faced with bad news about economies in recession to get depressed. Doom and gloom spreads like an oil slick, so it is no wonder that many advocate a positive attitude. This is fine, but has to go beyond the resurrection of the 30s war slogan "Keep calm and carry on" that has become a recent popular addition to T-shirts, mugs and the like. Times may be tough, but business and commerce will still need to go on, and those companies that survive and thrive tend to have a positive attitude that tries to exploit all assets at their disposal, and that includes technology. ...
22/04/2009 | Positive thinking, not wishful thinking.pdf | VIEW
If you want to make sure your systems are safe from hackers, you've got to test, test, test. ...
22/04/2009 | Why you should hack your own systems.pdf | VIEW
Often the simplest approach yields the best results. A little while ago a study in hospitals in the UK found that one procedure was having a dramatic positive effect. Did it involve complex technology and years of painstaking theoretical research? Not really, it was a checklist that asked two basic questions - is this the right patient, is this the correct organ/limb/procedure? ...
09/04/2009 | Task 1, Adopt simple but effective process.pdf | VIEW
Many resellers will be finding it hard to motivate their customers to make new investments as the economy collapses. However, any purchase that helps them reduce business costs should at least get a hearing. ...
04/04/2009 | Unified Comm - for CRN March 2009.pdf | VIEW
The 'green' hype seems so last year. Today's poor market conditions have refocused business minds on survival, rather than ensuring organisations have a solid environmental plan. Despite this, Quocirca expects to see a lot more green messaging in the coming months. ...
30/03/2009 | Green IT isn't dead yet....pdf | VIEW
