Cloud computing is a term used to define products and services delivered through the internet. Since its introduction this IT phenomenon has been growing and evolving towards the right way. Cloud computing has been defined by a leading technology researchers as “a style of computing where massively scalable IT-related capabilities are provided as a service using internet technologies to multiple external customers”. Also known as hosted services, the cloud computing services offering virtualized and web services, along with some other new technologies have turned managed IT systems upside down,
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Times they are a-changin’ and they won’t wait for the rest of us to catch up. Technology is in every nook and cranny of my life, which has created a deep-rooted need I never knew I had for instantaneous access to anything and everything.
Nothing makes me more aware of the technological advances over the past few years than my 20-month old son. He wants to play Elmo’s Monster Maker on a smartphone, watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on-demand, and listen to his favorite music online. All of these just-in-time modes of access to media are happening everywhere, not just when it comes to children’s entertainment.
So how do all of these changes in technology impact business, specifically with regard to learning in the workplace? New means of communication and staying connected are enabling people to share information and participate in learning in newer, more collaborative ways. As younger generations enter the workforce, they look for quicker ways to learn, gain access to information, and share their own thoughts and ideas. They look for faster connections to peers and colleagues regardless of geographical separation.
With the changes in how we communicate or even access information happening so radically, training and development must transform along with them. The lines between formal “classroom-style” learning and informal “social” learning such as on-the-job training will be more blurred than ever with the growing adoption of newer technologies in the training and development industry.
Newer Trends in Technology & Training
Here are a few newer training methodologies gaining lots of traction over the past several years that look to be noteworthy trends in 2011 when it comes to professional learning:
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I took a day trip from Boston to Atlanta this week, 6:00am flight, never fun! However, I made things a little easier on myself this trip. Instead of bringing my laptop, I brought my iPad.
iPads are lighter and smaller than laptops, yet big enough to get more work done in comparison to my Blackberry. I was able to check all my emails, view email attachments without a microscope, review the website of the companies I was meeting with, and provide some feedback on a marketing video. And when I was ready to sleep on the plane, I listened to my music (“Lost Boys” soundtrack).
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Choosing the right smartphone for both business and pleasure can be a daunting task. There are many choices these days that make the decision making process quite difficult when shopping for a new device.
Historically, BlackBerry has been the go-to device for business professionals. The iPhone has MS Exchange integration and loads of useful applications which makes it worthy of consideration as well. Finally, there is the most recent favorite, a group of smartphones running the Google Android operating system.
For the past three years, I have used a BlackBerry. My first Blackberry ever was the 8830 World Edition. I loved this phone and used it for a full year until the trackball stopped working properly. I immediately moved to the fresh new (at the time) “iPhone killer”, the Storm. With its sleek touch screen and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) integration, this phone served me well. About 1 month ago, I was ready for a new phone. I have to admit, with the growing popularity of the Android OS and the huge selection of phones available, I knew I was it was only time before I switched over. I settled with the Motorola Droid X in August 2010.
My Droid X is the ultimate device. It serves my business needs (email, calendaring, organizing) and certainly serves the inner-geek in me with such apps as “Paper Toss”. It comes bundled with a 4.3-inch 854×480 screen, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 24GB storage, 8-megapixel stills, 720p HD video, HDMI Micro out, three microphones for noise cancellation and wireless N with 3G hotspot powers. I have discovered a plethora of cool apps in the short time I have had the device.
If you are currently shopping for a replacement smartphone, here are a few worthwhile Android apps geared towards fulfilling your business needs.
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While CDP is becoming increasingly popular with SMBs, weigh its advantages and disadvantages with your clients’ specific business needs in mind.
By some estimates, more than half of U.S. businesses do not fully back up, or successfully recover, their data in the event of a failure. For SMBs, this can be devastating. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that more than 40 percent of businesses that close down following a disaster never reopen. Of the remaining companies, at least 25 percent will close within two years.
Because of limited resources, some SMBs are using less-than-optimal backup and recovery methods, and some are even dodging the issue altogether. In the event of an IT failure, the consequences can be devastating. According to a recent national survey of small business owners by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples Inc., more than 70 percent of respondents say an IT security incident that takes business operations offline for a day would detrimentally impact their companies or put them out of business altogether.
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Join us on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the Westin Hotel in Waltham, MA to learn about latest technologies that can help your company succeed in today’s changing business climate.
This will be an intimate trade show format with a morning and an afternoon session, allowing for the maximum number of interested companies to attend. Hear from industry-leading experts on topics like:
- Complete Data Protection – Breakthrough technology to consolidate Data Back-up, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery into ONE service.
- Virtualization and Cloud Computing – Could Virtualization help my business? What does cloud computing mean and how does fit into my technology plan? Learn more about the path you should take and the products that best-fit into your technology plan.
- Email Archiving – You can’t live without email! Protect it, store it, recover it and satisfy the new compliance requirements.
- Network Security – As the number of malicious threats to your network continues to rise, the time you spend managing your firewall doesn’t have to.
- Hardware Performance - Slow hard drive? Learn how you can get faster, more reliable performance out our your existing hardware.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Networking Event
At the conclusion of the afternoon session, stay and network with the areas other small business leaders. Open bar and food will be provided from 5:00–7:00pm. Every participant will be registered in a raffle to win:
- Apple iPad
- Tickets for the Boston Celtics/Miami Heat game in February
- Tickets for the New England Patriots/Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday, October 31st
Attendance is limited. Please Register Now so you don’t miss out.
For more information, please visit: www.ThriveNetworks.com/TechConference
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Click here to read “SMTP Lockdown: Inbound Protection (Part I)”
In SMTP Lockdown: Inbound Protection, we discussed controlling who can send email into a mail server. In an effort to reduce spam and avoid being blacklisted or labeled as a spammer, it is equally important to restrict who can send email OUT from a domain. Why? Because if SMTP traffic can flow freely outwards from anywhere on the internal network, a spammer doesn’t necessarily need access to your mail server. And if the domain’s IPs are seen generating abundant amount of Spam SMTP traffic, those IPs and their respective domain name may become Blacklisted (i.e. other email servers will not accept your email anymore).
Spambots and You
Now that inbound SMTP is locked down and nobody can relay off of the mail server, can Spammers still take advantage of your domain? Well, do the employees use the Internet? In most cases, the answer is a “Yes”. Unless HTTP traffic is very thoroughly monitored AND all client Antivirus definitions are in tip-top shape (a whole different article entirely…), then those users and their workstations are vulnerable to become Spammers.
Users Becoming Spammers
A user may browse to their favorite social networking site, get a pop up, and click a link they shouldn’t have. Suddenly, a small program known as a Spambot installs. The Spambot may attempt to harvest email addresses from its infected host. It may also seek to infect other machines and create a Spam BotNet. A Spam BotNet on a network will search for open Port 25 connections and try to send outbound Spam messages by relaying off machines running SMTP.
If you have properly locked down the mail server so that no IPs (or strictly controlled ones) can relay off of it and take the extra step of only allowing Outbound Port 25 traffic from the mail server at the Firewall, this BotNet will not be able to relay off the mail server. Only the mail server will be able to send email out and your domain’s IP addresses will remain in good standing. That being said, there would certainly still be some internal cleanup to do if a Botnet is installed. However, at least it wouldn’t be your Internet domain reputation that suffers.
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Bob Dylan recorded the song (and the album) in 1963. It was written two years before he went electric. If I could speak to him today, I would like to know his take on how different things are today. I am sure he could draw several political and cultural similarities between the present and 1963. But the differences are quite vast. Technology has become the driving force of everything around us.
Consider, if you will, the large number of changes that the music industry has been through because of technology. Think back as far as you can and think about every piece of equipment you have owned in your lifetime that simply allows you to listen to music. Personally, I can remember owning a record player, a walkman or three, many tape decks, four or five CD players, three iPods, and an Android. It is amazing how much media I have owned and do own. (Believe me, I just moved…there’s too much). The best part about the improvement of entertainment media is the decrease in size and weight. I really want to get rid of all of the plastic junk I need to lug around just to enjoy a song. I pity the people who had to dedicate entire living rooms to their record collections.
We don’t need to do this anymore though, do we?
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After my last Blog entry, Brian P. labeled me as an “Early Adopter.” I see myself as more of a “Futurist.”
Early Adopter, Futurist. Tomato, tomahto. Let’s call the whole blog off!
What’s the difference, and why should you care? The key difference is that I don’t care about the technology; I care about the Big Picture.
Let’s look at the multi-touch Smartphone. Specifically, let’s talk about Apple.
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