DevOps is seeing a mainstream push right now. More organizations have started to embrace DevOps practices across IT operations, services and app delivery, seeking to transform their business. DevOps has traditionally been the domain of early IT adopters. However, as previously held assumptions are dispelled -- from security through to benefits -- we’re seeing more risk-averse companies recognizing the need to shift their thinking. So, why are more organizations coming round to the critical opportunity that DevOps can bring into their business?

The DevOps Start Line

Continue reading →

We've heard the phrase, "users are the weakest link," more than we can count. Building a more resilient cyber security strategy means flipping the model on its head and making people part of the solution. Instead of starting with a technology-based strategy, Absolute discusses how and why organizations can take a people-first security strategy.

Paul Proctor, chief of research for risk and security at Gartner was quoted as saying: "we are facing a cultural disconnect [...] executives believe that IT risk and security is a technical problem." Of course, that’s wrong. Deep down, we know it’s wrong. Security, is, and always will be, a people problem. At least until the robots fully take over. Until then, though, we have to come to grips with the simple fact that with the way security is typically deployed in enterprises today, users will continue to click on things they shouldn’t, visit sites they shouldn’t, or make other uninformed or careless choices leading to breaches, incidents, or loss in availability of systems and data.

Continue reading →

Data breaches caused by account take overs (ATOs) are a growing problem, partly due to people reusing passwords so that when a high profile breach -- such as the recent one at Yahoo -- occurs other accounts are put at risk.

User behavior specialist Sift Science is taking on this threat and expanding into the cyber security market with a new tool to detect ATOs.

Continue reading →

As the UK enters an uncertain economic future, the issue of falling productivity is once again center stage. Since the 2008 financial crisis, studies measuring how much output is produced per hour or worker have been constant disappointments when compared to the country’s global counterparts. According to the latest reports from the Office of National Statistics, UK productivity rose by 0.4 percent between July and September 2016. However, this figure is still far below the 2.1 percent average being achieved before 2008.

In response, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has announced plans to launch a national industrial strategy aimed at creating a prosperous post-Brexit Britain through the development of STEM skills investments in science and innovation, and infrastructure upgrades across every sector and in every corner of the country. With this plan the UK government has sent a clear signal: organizations of every size and within every industry must prioritize digital transformation if they are to succeed in a cloud-first world.

Continue reading →

With increasing amounts of sensitive data stored in the cloud and accessed on mobile devices, protecting that information presents a major challenge.

Data management specialist Informatica is adding to its Secure@Source platform with behavioral analytics to detect high risk data and ensure it's properly protected.

Continue reading →

With more and more organizations moving their operations to the cloud, old approaches to security are put under strain and struggle to cope with the new way of working.

Network security specialist Observable Networks has put together an infographic looking at the current state of cybersecurity and how old approaches don’t adapt to the cloud.

Continue reading →

There’s a new research report that says companies whose employees use mobile devices for multiple things are more productive than those with limited usage. It was commissioned by Synchronoss and conducted by Sapio Research.

The report says that 38 percent of enterprises use mobility solutions for basic tools like email and calendar. Such enterprises are 15 percent less productive and almost a third (29 percent) less profitable than those with more advanced mobile capabilities.

Continue reading →

More than three quarters (78 percent) of financial organizations in the UK worry about what digital disruption can do to their industry, according to a new Fujitsu report.

The company claims this makes the financial industry the most concerned one, compared with retail, public and manufacturing, and utility sectors.

Continue reading →

Whether public or private, one of the key factors businesses consider in choosing a cloud service is to ensure maximum availability.

Cloud storage specialist Scality is announcing its new HALO Cloud Monitor, a 24/7 solution to provide customers continuous uptime for their managed private cloud storage environments.

Continue reading →

Higher education bodies face a range of challenges including restricted funding and increasing competition for students. The increasing digitization of the education sector adds an additional worry.

To address the latter, IT management solutions specialist Kaseya is launching a new platform aimed specifically at higher education institutions. IT Complete for Higher Education offers a comprehensive toolkit to cut IT costs and maximize resources, while delivering a rich user experience to support students, faculty and administrators.

Continue reading →

The Internet of Things will have been adopted by 85 percent of businesses by 2019 according to a new global study.

The report from Aruba Networks shows that there are clear business benefits from IoT investments despite the fact that they can lead to additional risk.

Continue reading →

Eighteen percent of UK businesses have been the target of a cyber-attack in the last 12 months, according to a new report by Altodigital. These attacks cost the economy £1.9 billion.

Back in 2013 33 percent of companies were hacked, so Altodigital sees the current figure of 18 percent as a "welcome improvement." Each individual attack cost more than £2,000 last year.

Continue reading →

Genymobile, the company behind the Android emulator Genymotion, has announced a new cloud-based virtualization platform aimed at Android developers. Running on Amazon Web Services, Genymotion On Demand offers access to the full Android operating environment online.

Billed by the hour, Genymotion On Demand gives enterprise devs the opportunity to try out apps in the cloud and extend existing services into the cloud. With no contract, the service offers an affordable entry point into virtual Android devices.

Continue reading →

I recently had the opportunity to meet with about 40 executives from a large international construction company. They operate in many different countries and you won’t be surprised to hear that they have a complex application environment. I’d ask someone a question like "How do you keep track of tools and supply inventories at various sites?" and invariably, the answer was a question: "In which country?", "For commercial or residential?" or "For corporate to track it or the site managers?"

They made it clear that while they had a myriad of needs for mobility, there were process differences, regulations, and legacy investments across their operations that made it hard to roll out a single technology solution to any particular business problem.

Continue reading →

Brands often turn to sources like Google and Facebook to find information about consumers, but a new report suggests that telecom carriers could be a valuable source of customer data.

The study of over 300 brands in the US, UK and France by Ovum for mobile technology company Synchronoss Technologies finds that 67 percent of brands consider telecoms operators to be a better original source of data insights than Google, Apple and Samsung.

Continue reading →