Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Tag: cloud computing

  • Mr Ballmer regrets

    Mr Ballmer regrets

    Following the announcement of his pending retirement, Microsoft CEO Ballmer held his first interview for twenty years with ZD Net’s Mary-Jo Foley.

    During the ZD Net interview, Ballmer and Foley ranged over subjects ranging from his possible replacement, reasons for retirement and his greatest highlight during his thirteen year tenure as CEO.

    Foley’s asked Ballmer what was his greatest disappointment as Microsoft CEO and, not surprisingly, he nominated the development of Microsoft Vista.

    I would say probably the thing I regret most is the, what shall I call it, the loopedy-loo that we did that was sort of Longhorn to Vista. I would say that’s probably the thing I regret most. And, you know, there are side effects of that when you tie up a big team to do something that doesn’t prove out to be as valuable.

    Those side effects of Vista’s botched development were felt across the PC industry as the operating system’s overlong development and disappointing performance broke the three year upgrade cycle that underpinned the sector’s business model.

    Unlike the similar debacle eight years earlier with Windows ME where Microsoft’s market position was unchallenged, Vista came along at the time the computer industry itself was being disrupted by smartphones leaving the entire PC industry exposed to a major shift.

    Now Ballmer’s successor will have to deal with the industry’s broken upgrade model along with the post-PC era where desktop and server operating systems are no longer the key to controlling the market. Every option is a challenge to Microsoft’s existing businesses.

    As discussed in Ballmer’s interview with Mary-Jo Foley, Microsoft still sees its future in consumer IT, whether that includes continuing the company’s three screen strategy of supplying Windows on the desktop, tablet and smartphone will be one of the early and critical decisions the next CEO will have to make.

    While Microsoft Vista might have been Steve Ballmer’s biggest mistake as Microsoft CEO, the challenges ahead for the company’s board and management are great, it’s going to take strong leadership for the once dominant software giant to maintain its place in a radically changed market.

    Song of the day – Ms Otis regrets by Kirsty McColl and The Pogues.

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  • How Google Glass can change business and industries

    How Google Glass can change business and industries

    When we talk about new technologies we often focus on the consumer aspects, in many ways the business and industrial applications are far more exciting with a potential to save lives and change workplaces.

    This week on my regular tech spot with Ed Cowlishaw on ABC Riverland we explained Google Glass and speculated on what some of the applications for listeners could be.

    During the discussion we ranged across the uses we might see for wearable technologies like glasses watches, jeans or even embeddable, vibrating tattoos. With electronics smaller and cheaper than ever, we’re at the stage where putting computers into almost anything is feasible.

    Most of the focus around these technologies has been on the consumer aspects, but wearable technologies like Google Glass probably have more immediate uses in industrial applications ranging from transport and medicine across to farming and emergency services.

    Emergency services

    For emergency services devices like Google glass can be the difference between life and death, first responders at a road accident can quickly evaluate damage and the best course of action for rescuing survivors.

    In firefighting, these technologies become incredibly valuable with protective suits being able to warn when conditions are becoming dangerous or the presence of hazardous materials and heads-up displays – which could be a Google Glass type device or a projection onto a firefighters visor –  can be monitoring weather conditions, the safety of buildings or the state of supplies.

    Police forces are already some way down the path of using these technologies with patrol cars and roadside detectors already monitoring number plates for unregistered and uninsured vehicles. Devices like Google Glass are going to help law enforcement use those technologies, particularly when coupled with facial and voice recognition.

    Medicine

    The use of wearable technologies in the medical industry is fascinating. We’re already seeing smart dressings that alert nurses and doctors to critical conditions and the increased network of devices is making it easier to monitor patients.

    With a Google Glass type device, surgeons and physicians can be receiving real time information on their patients while carrying out procedures and recognition software can help doctors identify the nature of a symptom such as a rash or swelling much earlier. At a hospital triage this can help nurses make quick, life saving decisions as people arrive.

    Farming

    One of the big frontiers of the internet of machines is the agriculture industry. With projects like Tasmania’s Sense-T monitoring natural resources and smart farm equipment reporting the state of soil and crops, a Google Glass type device gives farmers much more information about the paddock or cattle they are looking at.

    Farming is also a hazardous occupation and wearable technologies can also warn agricultural workers of hazards as well as alert family, colleagues or emergency services when a farm worker is in trouble. Occupational health and safety is going to be one of the driving forces for the adoption of these devices.

    Transport

    Safety is one of the key factors of technology adoption in the transport industry and it’s interesting how quickly transportation agencies and police forces have started discussing banning Google Glass.

    While checking your twitter feed or surfing for LOLCats while driving is undoubtedly dangerous, having a heads up display could actually improve the safety of truckers, taxi operators and other professional drivers as they aren’t being distracted from the road by dispatch messages, GPS directions and vehicle warnings.

    As monitoring devices, wearable technologies could also help warn drivers or their employer about looming fatigue or illness.

    In the logistics field, it’s not hard to see warehouse workers using wearable devices to warn them where robots are or to find stock items deep in the shelves.

    Like the tablet computer, it’s easy just to think of Google Glass and other wearable technologies as being solely consumer devices without considering how these devices will change the workplace.

    As the internet of everything and easily accessible broadband – both wireless and wired – becomes pervasive we’ll see most industries adopting these technologies making business more efficient and the workplace safer for the workers.

     

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  • When cloud doesn’t count

    When cloud doesn’t count

    Wired Magazine tells how some businesses are switching away from cloud computing due to increased costs or security concerns.

    This makes sense, cloud computing is just a way of doing business and different methods work for different organisations.

    One of the driving factors is cost, outsourcing your IT requirements to a public cloud company can make sense for a fast growing or cash strapped small business but for a larger organisation it can quickly become expensive.

    Those costs though have to be examined carefully. The Wired article itself shows how major expenses can be overlooked in breaking down MemSQL’s expenses.

    This past April, MemSQL spent more than $27,000 on Amazon virtual servers. That’s $324,000 a year. But for just $120,000, the company could buy all the physical servers it needed for the job — and those servers would last for a good three years. The company will add more machines over that time, as testing needs continue to grow, but its server costs won’t come anywhere close to the fees it was paying Amazon.

    Missing from that calculation is the cost of employing sysadmins to maintain the servers. It’s quite easy to see how the staff expenses could easily eat up the 200,000 dollars a year in hosting costs.

    Added to the staff costs are the security and continuity risks — backups, disaster recovery and fallover systems are not cheap and a handful of system administrators won’t have the resources to deal with all the complexities of modern information security.

    There are many good reasons not to move a businesses’ IT systems onto the cloud, but it’s best to be careful when evaluating the costs and risks.

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  • Is Australia falling behind on the internet of everything?

    Is Australia falling behind on the internet of everything?

    Last Friday Cisco Systems presented their Internet of Everything index in Sydney looking at how connected machines are changing business and society.

    Cisco Australia CEO Ken Boal gave the company’s vision of how a connected society might work in the near future with alarm clocks synchronising with calendars, traffic lights adapting to weather and road conditions while the local coffee shop has your favourite brew waiting for as the barista knows exactly when you will arrive.

    While that vision is somewhat spooky, Boal had some important points for business, primarily that in Cisco’s view there is $14 trillion dollars in value to be realised from utilising the internet of machines.

    Much of that value is “being left on the table” in Boal’s words with nearly 50% of businesses not taking advantage of the new technologies.

    Boal was particularly worried about Australian businesses with Cisco lumping the country into ‘beginner’ status in adopting internet of everything technologies along with Mexico and Russia, with all three lagging far behind Germany, Japan and France.

    cisco-country-capabilities-internet-of-everything

    In Boal’s view, Australian management’s failure is due to “the focus on streamlining costs has come at the cost of innovation.”

    This something worth thinking about; in a business environment where most industries only have two dominant players and the corporate mindset is focused on maximising profits and staying a percentage point or two ahead of the other incumbent, being an innovator itsn’t a priority – it might even be a disadvantage.

    For Australian business, and society, that complacency is a threat which leaves the nation exposed to the massive changes our world is undergoing.

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  • Trust and the cloud

    Trust and the cloud

    The revelations of how the US tech industry has entwined itself with US spy agencies continue with The Guardian reporting that Microsoft gave the NSA access to their encryption services.

    For Microsoft this is very embarrassing as the company has always strongly emphasized their security, that US government agencies turn out to have the keys to those systems will worry many foreign governments and businesses.

    Like everything in business, cloud computing services require trust and this continual stream of revelations will shake the trust of many customers.

    It may well be that the NSA revelations will boost the fortunes of non-US companies, Swiss companies are already reporting soaring sales since the leaks began and it may be that other nations may profit from the suspicions.

    While cloud computing isn’t going away, many people will be thinking seriously about the services they use and whether they can trust them.

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