Application performance is critical to business performance according to 98 percent of businesses, yet 89 percent of executives say the poor performance of enterprise applications has negatively impacted their work, and 58 percent say it impacts their work at least weekly.

This is the key finding of application performance specialist Riverbed Technology's Global Application Performance Survey 2015. 71 percent of respondents say they have felt frequently 'in the dark' about why their enterprise applications are running slowly, highlighting a disconnect between IT teams and business executives, and 27 percent would sacrifice chocolate for peak app performance.

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Nearly half of IT and security professionals across global businesses and government agencies have suffered a security breach in the last 24 months. Headline grabbing hacks such as Talk Talk and Sony are putting both personal and corporate data increasingly at risk as growing numbers fail to keep personal information secure.

Recent news has seen data breach after data breach including those of communications giant TalkTalk, whose customer information was compromised due to a data breach by a third party, and even the Sony hack, where a lack of secure computer systems led to a release of confidential data. Whether a result of malicious intent or simple human error, it is clear that mismanagement of sensitive information is commonplace. A data breach puts your businesses reputation at risk, damages consumer trust and can impact the bottom line. So who exactly is to blame when a data breach occurs?

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The shift towards the cloud means that running applications is now often done in a browser. While this is convenient for the end user it can make life difficult for IT departments who need to know what's being used and where.

To address this browser management company Browsium, is releasing a new web application inventory and analytics solution for enterprises.

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The days and weeks after a major security breach can be trying, even for veterans of the security field. Chaos inevitably erupts as the organization attempts to assess and contain the damage. Often far down the list of priorities is the disclosure of the breach, but this can be one of the most critical steps for an organization to get right.

It is vital for financial reasons, to the recovery of the brand and for the viability of the company. It is not an easy task when customer’s personal information has been stolen. The reaction from customers is almost always the same: swift and highly critical of the organization and how it manages the aftermath.

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Microsoft has always licensed Windows Server on a per-socket basis, but with the 2016 release this is due to change. When Windows Server 2016 launches in the second half of next year, things are being shaken up. As well as the two versions -- Standard and Datacenter -- including different features, there is also a move to per-core licensing.

In a couple of PDF datasheets, Microsoft reveals not only the change in licensing, but also that Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 Standard and Datacenter Editions are scheduled for release in Q3 of 2016. The licensing change is unlikely to be welcomed by many, as it complicates a system that had become familiar -- and could also push up pricing.

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Microsoft has launched a new premium Office 365 package for its enterprise customers, accompanied by a significant price increase.

Office 365 Enterprise E5 replaces Enterprise E4, which will be dropped by June 2016, and will cost $35 per user per month, compared to $22 per user per month for its predecessor.

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In the third quarter of 2015, worldwide server shipments grew 9.2 percent from the third quarter of 2014, while vendor revenue increased 7.5 percent year over year, Gartner has reported.

From the regional standpoint, Asia/Pacific grew the most in shipments, with a 23.8 percent increase. The region also posted the highest vendor revenue growth at 25.4 percent for the period.

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Businesses are increasingly keen to unlock the insights contained within their data. But the tools to do this are often expensive and complex, putting them beyond the reach of smaller organizations.

Analytics specialist BeyondCore has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to make its data discovery solution available to Office users for free.

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Enterprise customers are increasingly concerned about the security of their mobile communications, as well as the ability to deliver auditing and compliance information.

Silent Circle, the Swiss company behind the privacy focused Blackphone, is launching its Enterprise Privacy Platform a set of secure software, services and devices designed to deliver privacy to business and government organizations of all sizes.

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Application producers are aware of rapid change impacting their ability to make money from their software products, but they're not adopting the automated licensing and entitlement management systems that would protect them from those changes and enable them to be more agile, and grow revenues and profits.

This is the conclusion of a new report by Flexera Software which shows that producers are aware that rapid technology changes are impacting the business climate, creating new opportunity and risk.

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When it comes to migrating to the cloud, 65 percent of companies are concerned with security, a new survey by Netwrix has unveiled.

Moreover, 40 percent worry about the loss of physical control over data in the cloud. In particular, 69 percent of companies fear migration will increase the risk of unauthorized access, while 43 percent worry about account hijacking.

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More than 60 percent of companies in the UK and Germany say that they either test their disaster recovery plan either less than once a year, or don't test it at all.

This is among the findings of research conducted by data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack which finds that a mere nine percent of companies test their plan every one to five months and another 29 percent every six months to a year.

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Microsoft has started to offer potentially unwanted application (PUA) protection in its anti-malware products for enterprise firms.

The news means that businesses will finally have an easy way of removing adware, browser hijackers and any other piece of software that deploys programs without the user’s knowledge or consent.

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Companies are very good at collecting data. Hell, some entities, like Google, make an entire business out of the collection. There is nothing wrong with this -- actually, it is quite wise to collect as much data as possible. The problem, however, is that data is worthless unless you use it and sadly, it is not uncommon for data to be underutilized and sit dormant. In other words, unless you can use it to tell a story, your efforts are for naught.

Luckily, solutions such as Microsoft's Power BI can be used to create value and present data to executives in a meaningful and easily-digestible way. Today, Microsoft announces a new public preview that marries Power BI and the popular voice-assistant, Cortana, in a brilliant marriage of data presentation and interaction.

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Microsoft’s decision to make Windows 10 a free upgrade means that, according to industry analysts, more than 350 million Windows machines are expected to be on Windows 10 within the next 12 months. This can create a huge gap between enterprise IT teams and employee devices.

While "free" has accelerated the adoption of Windows 10, what truly sets this release apart from others is that Microsoft plans to expand Windows 10 to an unlimited number of devices via the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is becoming an increasing topic of conversation both in and outside of the workplace, in particular in discussions around how to secure these connected devices.

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