Author: Eva Glass

Eva Glass first rose to prominence in The INQUIRER. She continues to work behind the scenes to dig out the best stories.

Big Data will bring bonanza

Posted on December 18, 2013 by - News

clouds3The market for Big Data tech and services is expected to be worth $32.4 billion by 2017, growing between then and now at a CAGR of 27 percent.

That’s what market research company IDC is projecting, in a report that says that growth is about six times the growth rate of the ICT market.

Dan Vesset, a VP at IDC, said that the Big Data market is growing fast as startups and large IT company attempt to take market share and fold in customers.

Cloud infrastructure has the highest CAGR in individual segments, at 49 percent until 2017.  And automation based on Big Data tech is set to affect knowledge worker roles.

And datacentres are likely to suffer too, because it will either be discarded or archived to the cloud, meaning the storage market will be affected.

AMOLED market set to take off

Posted on December 18, 2013 by - News

tv58The global market for materials to construct active matrix organic light emitting (AMOLED) panels next year will grow by 27 percent.

That’s according to a report from IHS, which predicts the market will be worth an estimated $445 million in 2014.

The leader of the AMOLED pack is Samsung which has pioneered the technique over the last five years by making three inch to five inch smartphone panels, according to Doo Kim, a principal analyst at IHS.

However, Kim says other manufacturers will “cash in” on growing demand for smartphones, telephones and other gizmos.

This LG Display introduced a TV panel and a flexible AMOLED panel, but Taiwanese firm AU Optronics have also entered the game.  Increased production of panels means the market will be more diverse with Samsung facing competitive challenges.

Governments need to go cloud busting

Posted on December 17, 2013 by - News

cloudbustA report from Gartner said that by 2017 public cloud offerings will account for over 25 percent of government business services, not counting defence and security.

But CIOs need to get themselves into the debate on public cloud sourcing, and kick of sourcing strategies with politicos.

By 2017, predicted Gartner, 35 percent of government shared service organisations will be managed by private sector companies. Public private partnerships are already embracing infrastructure as a service but governments will move to integration and software as a service.

And, Gartner predicts, by 2017 as many as 60 percent plus of government open data programmes that do not use open data internally will be discontinued.

And if you’ve a job in government software development, mind your back, because at least 25 percent of such jobs will be axed while governments hire data analysts from outside.  Data analysis is now a high priority.

Business to go for smart specs

Posted on December 17, 2013 by - News, Products

spyspexA company claims that enterprises will adopt smart glasses faster than your average geek.

APX Labs, which makes Skylight software, claims that Google, Epson and others are making devices which in conjunction with apps will be adopted by large corporations.

Skylight, it claims, will let workers share their view with remote colleagues, continuously monitor important information, control devices, sensors and equipments remotely and find and track objects and people.

Vertical sectors adopting smart glasses are likely to include nurses, doctors, fieldservice technicians, warehouse workers, and factory workers.

Skylight is already being used in multiple large businesses in a beta programme while the software officially launches next January.

Ed English, product manager at APX Labs, gives a little demo in a video here. He isn’t wearing smart glasses.

ARM servers are on the rise

Posted on December 16, 2013 by - News

arm_chipThere’s more gloomy news for chip giant Intel.

A report by Digitimes Research estimates that a total of 20,000 units of ARM-based servers ship this year. And while that’s hardly made a dent in Chipzilla’s armour yet, only representing 0.2 percent of that market, that’s set to change.

By 2017 the volume will grow to 1.06 million with a CAGR of 170 percent.

ARM itself thinks that by 2016, chips based on its technology with account for five to 10 percent while that percentage will grow to 10 or 15 points by 2017.

A lot depends, according to Digitimes Research, on support from Microsoft on the Windows Server front.

Home workers are up in internet arms

Posted on December 16, 2013 by - News

cloud 1Thinkbroadband surveyed close to 900 British workers and has discovered a large percentage have gripes about using the internet from home.

While the majority of people working from home feel that it’s important to their job, their ability to do their job is marred by defects with their broadband conection.

Buffering (23%), slow download and upload speeds (34%) and service loss (16%) are their major gripes.

Thinkbroad believes companies should offer a second line, testing the service, paying attention to upload speeds, use the same cloud based sharing systems, and ensure employees test access if they only work from home when the weather’s bad, and the like.

Google to design its own chips

Posted on December 13, 2013 by - News

google-ICThe hegemony of Intel looks to be under further threat after a report that search giant Google is to design its own chips.

That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which speculates that because it buys more servers than anyone else in the world, it could dictate prices to component makers.

The newspaper says that the chips it may design will be based on ARM technology.

Google has, apparently been recruiting a number of chip designers and it’s certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility that it may well have a stab at chip design.

If it does, the question will be which fab company it chooses to create the microprocessors.  Although Intel is attempting to become yet another foundry, many vendors are reluctant to put their fate into the chip giant’s hands.

Capita signs on the Microsoft dotted line

Posted on December 12, 2013 by - News

datacentrebatteriesMicrosoft has signed up Capita to its global Cloud OS Network.

And Capita, as a result, has introduced a private cloud product called Capita Productivity Hub – yu can get it using the existing Capita Private Cloud infrastructure.

It lets UK customers using Outlook, Lync, Sharepoint, Word, Excel and Powerpoint to increase productivity, Capita claims.

The apps are used in a secure setting with data held in Capita’s UK data centres.

Microsoft man Maurice Martin said his firm is offering people the ability to use hybrid stuff working with local service providers like Capita.

Ingram Micro sponsors cloud event

Posted on December 12, 2013 by - Events, News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeThe first UK Cloud awards are to be sponsored by Ingram Micro UK.

The awards have been created by the Cloud Industry Forum in conjunction with techUK and Cloud Pro.

The jamboree is set to take place in February 2014, giving gongs to vendors, customers and individuals notable for pushing the edge of the cloud industry.

Apay Obang-Oyway, general maner at Ingrom UK said he wanted to encourage his company’s partners to submit products, projects and services that could win gongs.

Alex Hilton, CEO of the Cloud Industry Forum, added that the organisation created the UK awards and to showcase the best examples of what the IT world can deliver.

Judges include journos Max Cooter, Maggie Holland and Clive Longbottom of Quocirca.

You can enter the awards by scooting over to www.ukcloudawards.co.uk

Innovaphone signs up Ingram

Posted on December 11, 2013 by - News

ingram-mico-hqGerman Voice over IP phone company Innovaphone says it has signed up Ingram to distribute its products through Europe.

The aim is to use Ingram’s Micro Unified division to sell its VOiP Unified Communication Solutions products.

Ingram senior manager Cristophe Mory said that the firm’s products are easy to use and will provide its customers – resellers – with a “best of breed” communication tool.

He said that the company was one of the first manufacturers to use the Energy Efficient ethernet 802.3az which means that the port only uses power when data is transferred.

Konstantin Kruse, head of international sales said the agreement will let Innovaphone work with Ingram to educate resellers about the importance of VoIP.

Where big data is headed

Posted on December 11, 2013 by - News

John Dee and Queen Elizabeth the firstAs predicted here, now is the time for predictions for 2014. And the latest seer to gaze into his dark John Dee style speculum is Mario Faria, from ServiceSource.

Fario says many companies have experimented with big data stuff during 2013 and tried pilots. The crunch time will be when these pilots start to show a return on investment.

And next year, he says, the phrase big data will yield to analytics because it’s not about collecting data but to capture, analyse and act in the here and now to stay cmpetitive.

Fario’s job title is Chief Data Officer and he explains that this function is the janitor of data but also an evangelist and will engage in 2014 with the board of directors. No doubt the board of directors will engage with chief data officers too.

Unlike the Harris poll we published earlier, which shows a degree of insouciance about wearable stuff, Fario thinks that Fistbit, Nike devices and Google Glasses will be part of our everyday life.

But ultimately, everything is down to the quality of data because if its not reliable any amount of analysis will not deliver results. He says that data quality is a  money maker.

No-one gives a stuff about wearable tech

Posted on December 11, 2013 by - News

google-ICA Harris poll has shown that people largely show a vast indifference to wearable technology.

That could be bad news for vendors who have hyped up the category like there’s no tomorrow.

Harris surveyed 2,250 people aged 18 or over in the USA. The majority of these sensible folk don’t really know what it’s all about while 19 percent were vehement and said they’d never buy a wearable tech device.

Nearly half (46 percent) of those surveyed said there were no benefits to wearable tech – while 54 percent said it might benefit them in some way.

Only 24 percent say they don’t have any worries about wearable tech while 76 percent say they do have worries.  The biggest worry is that this tech will be too expensive, while other worries include privacy and lack of unique features.

IBM takes plastic quantum route

Posted on December 10, 2013 by - News

ibm-officeBig Blue said it has made a breakthrough that will provide the potential to create ultra fast optical switches, suitable for future big data computer systems.

The company said its scientists have demonstrated a quantum mechanical process known as Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC).

It uses a luminescent polymer similar to the light emitting displays in smartphones of today.

The phenomenon demonstrated by the scientists is named after Satyendranath Bose and Albert Einstein – they predicted it in the mid 1920s, said IBM.  A BEC is a state of matter when a dilute gas of particles (bosons) are cooled to close to absolute zero (-273C).

However, IBM has achieved the same state at room temperature in a thin plastic film of 35 nanometres with bosonic particles created through interaction of the polymer material and light.   The phenomenon last for a few picoseconds, but the IBM scientists think that is long enough to create a source of laser-like light or an optical switch.

Argos has canned its tablet – report

Posted on December 10, 2013 by - News

Argos MyTabletAfter rumours that high street giant Argos had dropped its MyTablet, it now appears that,  er, it has.

A report on Hudluser.com quotes a customer service rep from Argos saying that its Bush MyTablet pink and its Bush MyTablet silver have been discontinued.

Argos had previously said that it was out of stock because of its popularity.

We have contacted Argos for comment and will update this story when we hear from the company.

Big printers down, document scanners up

Posted on December 9, 2013 by - News

HPAn IDC report said that the Western Europe  large format printer market fell in the the third quarter of 2013 by 2.9 percent. Meanwhile it also reported that the document scanner market was up by more than 30 percent.

The top three vendors in the large format printer market are HP, Canon and Epson – together they accounted for 89.3 percent of shipments – they were close to 15,500 units in Q3.  LED tech fell by over 13 percent, but UV inkjet printers grew by more than 30 percent year on year.  The technical segment accounts for a 60 percent share of the application type while the graphics segment fell from 41.5 percent in share from Q3 2012 to 39.7 percent in Q3 2013.

For document scanners, the top five vendors in Western Europe were Brother, Canon, Epson, Fujitsu and HP – making of 83.9 percent of shipments, which numbered around 83,000 during the quarter.

Distributed document scanners is larger of two main segments with 97 percent share, but production document scanners increased by 8.7 percent in Q3, compared to the same quarter this time last year.