MDM moves beyond mobile devices into Macs
MobileIron today announced that its mobile device management (MDM) tool now supports the new OS X Mountain Lion operating system for Macs, released on Wednesday. The company cited fast adoption of Macs in business as the reason it moved out of its mobile-only roots (iOS, Android, and some lesser-used mobile OSes). "Forrester Research forecasts that enterprises will spend $19 billion on the Mac and iPad in 2012, with that number increasing to $28 billion in 2013," MobileIron noted. In June, MDM provider AirWatch annoucned similar support for OS X Lion and says Mountain Lion support is due soon.
The management capabilities MobileIron and AirWatch offer IT for OS X are minimum passcode and password requirements, Wi-Fi and VPN configurations, authentication certificates (for users, apps, and devices), email configuration, remote lock and wipe, and removal of enterprise provisioning information when retiring Macs. Although OS X Server provides these same capabilities for Macs and iOS devices, it requires that IT have a separate server than what is used for managing other devices and doesn't provide as much management capability as available in an MDM tool such as MobileIron's or AirWatch's. Read more...
Google establishes partner program for cloud services
Following the best marketing practices of traditional IT firms, Google has launched a partner program to help third-party vendors use and sell Google cloud services.
The Google Cloud Platform Partner Program will provide "our partners with the tools, training, and resources they need to successfully address your business' IT needs," wrote Eric Morse, who is Google's head of sales and business development for the Google Cloud Platform, in a blog entry announcing the program.
Google will offer resources around its cloud offerings, such as the Google Compute Engine, Google App Engine, Google BigQuery, and Google Cloud Storage. Google did not detail what specific tools, training and resources it would offer, nor what the qualifications are for becoming a partner. Read more...
Dell announces big storage for big data
Dell's announcement of a new Big Data Storage Data Retention product today highlights anew the company's ongoing transition from consumer hardware manufacturer to business service provider.
The company says that the solution runs best on its DX Object Storage Platform, combining the ability to sharply reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored via compression and deduplication with advanced management options.
"Being able to cost-effectively capture and store all of the relevant data makes it possible to gain insights that support innovation and business value. The key is having the right data management solution to fluidly move data, tier it, dedupe it, protect it and archive it. To us, that means your data is fluid," said Dell Enterprise Storage vice president and general manager Darren Thomas. Read more...
Office 2013 shifts security focus from devices to identities
Business users may find the productivity-boosting potential of Office 2013 tantalizing; its ties to the cloud and support for devices beyond PCs means on-the-go users are never far from their important documents. IT admins, on the other hand, may feel more wary than excited by Microsoft's move to untether its ubiquitous productivity suite from the desktop because it represents a significant shift from traditional end-user security.
Microsoft summarizes the nature of the shift pretty well in a security overview of Office 2013: "[This release] makes a fundamental change from computer-centered identity and authentication to user-centered identity and authentication. This shift enables content, resources, most recently used lists, settings, links to communities, and personalization to roam seamlessly with users as they move from desktop, to tablet, to smartphone, or to a shared or public computer." Read more...
IDC: Analytics software market will remain strong
The global market for business analytics software grew roughly 14 percent in 2011, fueled by pervasive hype about "big data" as well as new technological innovations, according to a report unveiled by analyst firm IDC on Wednesday.
Between now and 2016, the business analytics market will have a compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent, reaching $50.7 billion, IDC said.
Economic uncertainties persist throughout the world, and other analyst reports have predicted slower growth for IT spending, particularly in Europe.
Still, analytics will remain in demand due to a number of factors, according to IDC. "Compliance, security, fraud detection, and risk management requirements are driving demand for software ranging from reporting tools to analytic applications," the report states. Read more...
A third of IT shops support personal smartphones, tablets at work
Some IT shops provide technical support for personal smartphones, tablets and laptops used at work, but the percentage is still relatively small, a Gartner poll found.
Of 938 businesses surveyed in nine countries, 32% said they support personal smartphones, while 37% said they support tablets, Gartner said Thursday. Laptops owned by workers got the highest level of IT technical support, at 44%.
The overall level of support for personal devices was 44% in Brazil, Russia, India and China, known as the BRIC countries, which have a larger number of young workers and growing economic power. The five non-BRIC countries surveyed, U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia and Japan, had support levels at 28%, Gartner said. Read more...
Facebook file-sharing could be security, piracy nightmare
Facebook has started to roll out a new file-sharing capability -- and Dropbox shouldn't be the only worried party. The addition of a low-security file-sharing tool to the world's most popular social networking site could open a world of security pain on businesses and home users alike.
Facebook's new file-sharing feature enables members of Facebook Groups to upload and download files as large as 25MB, with only two file-type restrictions: no music files (such as MP3s) and no executables (files ending with ".exe"). Beyond that, everything is fair game. Facebook won't police the file swap either; it's entirely up to users to report content that's pirated or dangerous. Additionally, there are no security controls for permitting limited or full access, as you might find on Dropbox. Read more...
Media.net is building an army to challenge Google’s contextual advertising dominance
You’ve probably never heard of Divyank ‘Div’ Turakhia, and that’s a shame.
Turakhia is an amazing India-born serial entrepreneur who started his first business when he was 14 years old, and co-founded domain name, Web hosting and Internet services giant Directi when he was only 18, turning it into a $300 million business in less than a decade (see my video interview with Turakhia from November 2010). Read more...
B&N, Microsoft team up on Nook, college businesses
An infusion of money from Microsoft Corp. sent Barnes & Noble Inc.'s stock zooming Monday, as the software giant established a way to get back into the e-books business.
The two companies are teaming up to create a subsidiary for Barnes & Noble's e-book and college textbook businesses, with Microsoft paying $300 million for a minority stake.
Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped $10.41, or 76 percent, to $24.09 in morning trading. The opening price of $26 was a three-year high. Microsoft's stock rose 2 cents to $32. Read more...
Apple’s squeeze hits phone companies, competitors
Apple is set to report another record quarterly profit on Tuesday, continuing the relentless string of results that's made it the world's most valuable company. Those profits don't come out of thin air: A range of businesses —from the company's wireless carrier friends to its PC-making foes— are seeing their profits melt away and flow to Apple's bottom line.
Apple's success is good for the U.S. economy, and some businesses, like software developers and memory-chip makers, have benefited from the disruption Apple is causing. But its enormous gains have resulted in others' pains, sometimes in unexpected places.
—AT&T Inc., for instance, took a chance on Apple's unproven phone in 2007, but the company might be regretting that decision. Since it became the first U.S. phone company to carry the iPhone, its stock is down 25 percent. Apple's is up 415 percent. Read more...
Major European operators label Nokia smartphones expensive, unoriginal and buggy
European mobile operators appear to have dealt Nokia a fresh blow in its bid to overturn its flagging smartphone business, with its latest devices receiving a lukewarm response from four of the continent’s major carriers, Reuters reveals.
Nokia, which signed an agreement with Microsoft to power its new smartphones with the Windows Phone operating system in early 2011, has been accused of lacking innovation, inflating the price of its handsets, launching devices with major software issues and failing to back up launches with a big marketing spend. Read more...
Geek deals: $437 off Dell laptop, docking station, and 20-inch monitor mega bundle
Business laptops can be boring. We understand your pain when your system breaks down and it’s time for a thick, hefty BlandBook, in a business-friendly color, with the mandatory optical drive, average about of RAM, and cost effective processor. Sometimes computers exist to get work done — you know it and we know it — but when you have to pick up a work computer, it makes sense to minimize the blandness and minimize the price, so as much many as possible can go back in your pocket. Read more...
Selling Versus Selling Out
“For many Instagram users it’s discomfiting to see a giant company they distrust purchase a tiny company they adore — like if Coldplay acquired Dirty Projectors, or a Gang of Four reunion was sponsored by Foxconn.” — Paul Ford
“ They didn’t sell “out”. They just sold. They’re a company not the fucking Rolling Stones.” — Paul Carr
“They could have done so much more,” is a quip I’ve been hearing a lot the past few days, about, who else? Instagram. The news that the Silicon Valley darling sold to Facebook left so many people heartbroken. Paul Ford over at New York magazine even wrote a long article about why so many people were heartbroken and, gasp, threatening to delete their Instagram accounts. Read more...
How IBM manages 80,000 bring-your-own devices
IBM CIO Jeanette Horan has plenty of IT projects and systems to worry about, but perhaps one of the most pressing and timely is Big Blue's ongoing BYOD (bring your own device) rollout, which is aimed at including all of the company's 440,000 employees over time.
The IBM workforce is "hugely mobile," with many working at client sites, home offices, and other locations outside corporate buildings, Horan said in a recent interview at IBM's office in Cambridge, Mass. IBM has long had a corporate managed mobile phone plan that historically has focused on BlackBerrys, she said. Read more...