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The Federal Communications Commission has voted in favor of a preliminary proposal to allow both "best effort" and "quality assured" Internet access services for consumers. But the proposal also is tentative, as the FCC also asked for public comment on whether the proposal should be changed before actual rules are adopted, perhaps later in 2014. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is part of the FCC's effort to craft new network neutrality rules that will withstand court challenge.
 Why You Need to Know: Now begins a lengthy process of public comment and advocacy by Internet ecosystem participants, as well as a behind the scenes effort to find some workable common ground between the imposition of common carrier regulation and no rules about content blocking; with some new ability to create quality-enhancing features of consumer Internet access services. |
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Cloud computing adoption has been growing by leaps and bounds, largely driven by enterprise adoption. But consumer demand is also an important contributor to cloud growth and new findings from Juniper Research show what an important role consumers are playing. A new report from Juniper forecasts that the number of unique consumers accessing cloud-based services will jump from an estimated 2.4 billion in 2013 to more than 3.6 billion by 2018. That growth will be attributed to the growing number of connected services and devices using cloud-based storage, music and games.
Why You Need to Know: There is now a massive increase in new user-generated content that requires storage. With the emergence of the personal cloud, this fast-growing consumer digital content will quickly get disaggregated from connected devices. |
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Mergers and acquisitions go on most every day, as companies find new ways to streamline business and combine core competencies to take better advantage of market situations. One new such merger was recently established between Mitel and Aastra, and at last report, this merger was done with a particular focus on the customer. A recent update suggests that product development will be of particular focus here, and these developments should in turn bring a lot of new capability to users once complete. The reports suggest that the Mitel / Aastra coalition is looking to focus on two key points: development of an applications portfolio, which is expected to get its first feature integration before the end of 2014, and a common desktop system, which isn't expected to arrive until the middle of 2015.
Why You Need to Know: The new developments will help drive communications and collaboration efforts regardless of location, thanks to a focus on both open standards and industry-standard material, particularly the material offered by Microsoft and Google, among several others. |
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May 2013, the International Data Corporation (IDC) published its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker report. The results showed that with a total shipment of 49.2 million units, the first quarter of 2013 surpassed total shipments for the entire first half of 2012. Growth was fueled by increased market demand for smaller screen devices. Fast forward to one year later and we see that the market share has steadily increased. On May 14, 2014, Strategy Analytics released the results of their latest research on the tablet market. According to this report, global tablet shipments reached 56.7 million units in the Q1 of 2014. That represents about a 15 percent increase year-over-year.
Why You Need to Know: This clearly demonstrates the strong grip it has on the premium end of the market, but the declining unit share indicates that it is the lower price-tiers that are gaining traction especially in the Asia-Pacific region which is now the largest in terms of Tablet shipments and value. |
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There has never been a more important time for IT managers to seek the assistance of outside partners. Increasingly, IT managers are turning to Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to help fill the talent pool gap that prevents many from implementing helpful but increasingly complex apps and technologies. While many IT managers may be motivated to replace antiquated networks that have been in use since before the Great Recession, they may be hindered by the inability to find skilled resources to define and implement a roadmap and the tools to simplify the evolution.
Why You Need to Know: Working with a virtual staff and/or leveraging a cloud-based solution without having to bring people on board is likely to be the best solution for many businesses in 2014 and beyond. |
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