Communication Magazine - Issue 7

1Communication Magazine

Big DataWhere are We heaDeD?

RobotsouR New PlaNet PaRtNeRs

why the tablet is a PoweRful busiNess statemeNt

seRvice is the Key

taking Back control of your corporate Data

Issue 7 dec. 2015

2 Communication Magazine




Are you ready to

Technology?

Don’t get behind the ball

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BIG DATAWHERE ARE WE HEADED?

Robots.. Our New Planet Partners

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News

Tripartite Protocol to Provide Lawsuit Services and Data Using ICTs

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser ElKady and the President of the Court of the Cassation and the Supreme Judiciary Council Ahmed Gamal El-Din Abdel Latif have witnessed the ceremony of signing a three-year tripartite protocol between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the Court of Cassation and eFinance Co. to provide judiciary services and lawsuit data using ICTs. The protocol also aims to provide these services electronically to citizens and lawyers to assist them with the follow-up on judicial proceedings, exchange documents and memos and get information about their content—except confidential –by means of modern technology including mobile messages, e-mail, call center service, mobile phone applications and service of paying fees and expenses and others. This will be achieved after the Court of Cassation launches its judicial services electronically.

ERP in the cloud gaining popularity

Just over a third of organisations have moved all, or at least part of their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to the cloud, a new survey by Hitachi Solutions Europe has found.The survey questioned 315 senior finance professionals with the aim of understanding their position and perceptions around ERP in the Cloud.At this time 69 per cent of respondents have not moved their ERP systems to the Cloud, but close to half said they would consider such a move in the future. The majority of those planning to move said they’re thinking about doing it in the next two years.Looking at the responses from larger organisations (those with over 500 employees) suggests that it is no longer just smaller organisations taking a Cloud-based approach to ERP. In fact, almost a third of larger organisations surveyed said they have moved all or part of their ERP to the Cloud, or are in the process.

LG Display announces major investment in OLED displays

LG Display Co. has announced that it will invest more than $8.7 billion on building a new plant for expanding production of its OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens.These OLED screens are the latest type of LED display that manufacturers of smartphones, smartwatches, and other wearable devices, are adopting into their products designs as they significantly cut power use, therefore extending battery life as well as allowing designers to make thinner devices that also show brighter colours. LG Display, said in August it planned to invest heavily to develop the advanced OLED screens, which offer a brighter, sharper picture than current LCD technology. The OLED panels, are also thinner, therefore critically from a design perspective save space and power because they do not need a backlight. Consequently, there has been slowing sales of LCDs and that has accelerated the drive to produce sufficient OLEDs for the smartphones and wearable devices market.

ICT Minister Witnesses ‘Health Mobile Technology’ Initiative, ‘mHealth’ Program First Phase Launching

The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser ElKady witnessed, today, the ceremonies of launching “Health Mobile Technology” initiative, and implementing the first phase of the national program “mHealth” to fight diabetes through ICT means. The initiative aims to use ICTs through mobile phone technology to communicate with patients, who are vulnerable to diseases, by sending them free text messages. It also aims to use mobile phone applications to raise citizens’ health awareness to deal with chronic and endemic diseases.


Microsoft’s four promises to keep our data safe in the cloud

In a lengthy, rambling blog post, Microsoft President Brad Smith explains how what has happened in relation to security over the past year is shaping the company’s attitude to the cloud. He says that “it’s time to rebuild the world’s faith in the technology that empowers us all”.He takes a while to get to the point, meandering slowly around anecdotes aboutWindows 10, Edward Snowden, terrorist attacks in Paris, hacking, and governmental desires to weaken encryption. He says that these and other events “show it’s crucial to have a conversation about worldwide information security”.Smith makes the point that it can be difficult to comply with the differing data storage and security laws around the world. Despite this, he wants Microsoft to be a voice for the people as well as standing up for the right of governments and businesses. The new Microsoft is all about the cloud (“mobile first, cloud first” as we have been told ad nauseum) after all.

Tiny Chinese outfit pips Samsung, Sandisk to 10TB post with 9.5mm SSD

A little-known Chinese manufacturer, Sage Microelectronics, has managed to out-gun its much bigger rivals (Kingston, Sandisk and Samsung to name a few) by bringing to market the world’s first 10TB 9.5mm SSD. The drive was first demonstrated last month at the China Data Summit 2015 in Beijing and comes months ahead of its previous launch targets. Samsung is the only big SSD vendor that has announced an SSD larger than 10TB.

egID dedicated a part of its data center to accommodate The Egyptian Exchange technology infrastructure

Another part of the usable space will be occupied by the brokerage firms that are in a serious need to host their hardware close to EGX trading venue. Co-location for brokerage firms and data vendors in egID Data center will save them huge expenses spent on communication, Hardware, Software and IT operations. It will also allow the customer a low-latency access to EGX market, since the connection between the customer servers and EGX servers will be via a Local Area Network (LAN). In addition, the brokerage firm will gain the competitive advantage of having infrastructure connectivity to enhance its electronic trading capabilities. Low-latency will also encourage brokerage firms to implement Algorithmic trading. Speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency will all be gained by co-locating near EGX servers.

ESI is a leading company at FTTH solution

ESI is offering a new solution for green infrastructure network FTTH that could be applied in both real estates and data centers with creative designs and professional product profile.One of ESI,s successful projects that was designed and implemented is Damac Park Avenue ;which is one of the most successful projects totally based on green infrastructure FTTH 3ip system.


ROBOTSOUR NEW PLANET PARTNERS

For millions of years, humans shared this planet with other species & creatures then after the technological boom, man invented Robots that can move, talk, act, and even have names. Moreover, robots have jobs as we do and some of them live in our homes as our new pets.

By: Mohamed AbdelazizBusiness Solutions Manager - Esri Northeast [email protected]


The ISO definition of a robot is «automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes».A robot simply is an integration of mechanics, electronics and software, designed to perform specific tasks, automated and controlled by an embedded computer or controlled remotely by human operators. Most robots today are used to do repetitive actions or jobs considered too dangerous for humans. Humanlike robots take a particular valuable role beside other shapes and designs of huge, micro, industrial robots.. etc.

What Is a Robot

What Do Robots Do

Where does the word “Robot” come from?The word was introduced in a play called R.U.R. (from the Czech word «robota» meaning labor or servitude) which debuted in January of 1921 by artist Josef Capek brother of the Bohemian writer Karel Capek

Originally, robots were created legally for entertainment. Most robots today are used to do repetitive actions or jobs considered too dangerous for humans, robots are often cheaper to be used over humans, easier for robots to do some jobs and sometimes the only possible way to accomplish some tasks.

Military robots: A common example of military robots is the Unmanned Aerial vehicles (UAV) commonly used worldwide, could also be used in supporting tasks such as surveillance, inspecting suspicious objects or rescuing wounded soldiers

Industrial Robots: in 2011, there were about 1.2 million industrial robots around the world serving in factories to speed up production and reduce costs, tasks include welding, painting, assembly, quality control and quality assurance

Medical Robots: doctors are able to perform remote surgeries without physically being in the operating room just by using a computer console to move instruments attached to robot arms with very high precision, small incisions and less blood loss than traditional surgeries.

Car Robots: self-driving or robot cars. cars with auto parking features are equipped with sensors collecting data about surroundings which is then analyzed, decision made and car moved without human interaction.

Dangerous Activities: used to perform activities in hazardous and dangerous environments in extreme weather conditions For example, robots climb walls of tall buildings and bridges to do required inspection, they navigate in the space, underwater exploration much deeper than humans to perform scientific tasks, work, inspect and deal with explosives or polluted objects.


Back in 2007, studies showed that there were about 6.5 million robots worldwide. 4 years later, that number has tripled to reach about 18.2 million (the population of Austria & Hungary summed together). With this growth rate, Predictions show that robots will increase to exceed human population before the end of this century, having billions of robots moving around

“Robot Density” a term in industrial field to measure the number of robots per 10,000 persons employed in manufacturing. Statistics show that Japan still occupies the first place in having the highest number of industrial robots in operation. Competing with this number, China was recorded with the highest growth in robots added yearly to the industry, as in 2013 one of five robots sold globally was purchased by China.

The Evolution

Robot Population

Long time ago, man totally used his muscles to move from a place to another and lift things, he used animals for doing hard physical efforts. Then came the industrial revolution that was a turning point in history to make man depend on machines in almost all daily life aspects. Then came the role of computers with the ability to solve complicated calculations faster than human brain.

With the technology advances, man takes one more step forward inventing the Artificial Intelligence, which allowed to act with human-like behavior recreating human intelligence by receiving inputs, analyzing situations and taking actions, those what called Robots.


Robotics VS. Employment

A common question is: Will robots increase the un-employment rates?

Yes: Robots work anytime for long hours with higher productivity and without promotion, annual raise and definitely do not spread negative energy among employees. Simply, a robot represents the ideal employee for business owners. No: According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), manufacturing one million industrial robots is creating about three million jobs for humans, decreasing production costs significantly which allows further business expansion and consequently opening new jobs. In addition to human need for

process supervision and working robots programing.

According to an American steel company CEO: in 1998, employees were paid $6/hour with no benefits and they typically produced 300 hand bends in an hour. «It was a boring and unsafe job, with a low level of quality, now our employees are paid $25 to $30/hour including bonuses, overtime and great benefits. Each employee oversees four robots that produce 20,000 CNC bends in an hour and the quality has sky rocketed, Last year was our most successful one as a business, exporting to more than 30 countries. We>ve increased our workforce by more than a quarter. Thanks to the robots, jobs are both interesting and safe”.


Personal Robots

Personal Robot is one whose human interface and design make it useful for individuals enables them to automate the repetitive or menial part of home or work life making them more productive.

Personal robots are not everywhere yet making you think that there are not many of them available, but in the contrary, there is quiet a list of them:

Home Assistance: Robotic Assistance for the elderly, robotic vacuum cleaners, window cleaners, robotic lawn mowers and pool cleaners.

Entertainment: Robot toys and heavyweights such as articulated robot arms used as motion simulators.

Education: Helping with the development of social and interaction skills in children, besides developing language, concentration, and memory.Security: Keeping property safe and can be used for

flying around property to ensure it is safe while there’s nobody home babysitting children and taking care of them in your absence.

Sports: Performing sports applications, helping coaches during training camps and filming you as you make your way through a forest on your mountain hike.

Telepresence: The robots that help you to be where you are not, can be used to save travel costs of a business trip, differ from traditional video conferencing tools in that they allow the person on the other end of the video call to control what they are seeing

And many other examples for personal robots already in the market, each one is designed to fulfill a specific job, improving our lives in many ways, so, people will have their personal computers, personal smartphones and their personal robots.



Humans, Robots & Future

Yesterday, software experts were developing applications for personal computers. Today, trend is changing towards mobile applications. Tomorrow, it is predicted to have the need for operating systems & applications to robots.

From the economic perspective, automation keeps invading production lines. The result is output products with competitive prices that can penetrate markets. However, the increase in automation opens the door for the opposite direction production, which is hand-made. Despite lower prices of automated mass production, a trend is appearing towards the human touch of hand-made products even with relatively higher prices.

In General, robots cannot cancel the human touch, world will always need humans. We can say that along history, man has delegated physical power to animals

& machines, delegated logical thinking to computers and delegated taking actions to robots. However, the unique skill that is exclusively owned humans is Creativity.

Creativity allows humans to invent & innovate. Although robots have a super performance, only humans have the capabilities to enhance & improve the performance of these robots.

Using creativity, humans generate art. Only human make new novels, movies, advertisements, cartoon characters, musical symphonies…etc.

This means that we, humans, have the responsibility to focus direct our efforts towards the highest level of human skills. It is our responsibility to think, create, invent & innovate for making this planet a better place and without losing our human touch.



In 1999, EGX realized that technology has to be on the top of its priorities, therefore, Egypt for Information Dissemination - egID was established with the vision of increasing market efficiency by enabling the market technology. egID started by providing the Egyptian Exchange’ Listed Companies’ information and Software solutions. egID started growing inside and outside Egypt and this encouraged NASDAQ OMX in year 2007 to partner with the Egyptian Exchange - EGX and invest in egID.egID capitalized on combining information and technology with solutions to various market participants towards more efficient and transparent financial markets. The main goal is to be able to build the investors’ confidence in the region’s market. An important step to creating a more efficient and profitable enterprise is to identify “pain points” – those costly bottlenecks and redundancies that affect internal and external efficiencies. We were capable of learning about problems that affect Brokers, Vendors and information technology developers of all sizes, and find out how to avoid these problems by offering and implementing Full Solution to increase workflow processes efficiency. The Full Solution provided for brokerage firms consists of Hosting services, Low Cost Connectivity, Backoffice and Frontoffice systems, Online Trading, Market Data and Order Routing through FIX Hub. All these services are provided in one place at very reasonable prices.egID also provides the data feed service for the financial market players which enables them to have instant view

of the Stock Exchange Trading market (securities prices, order book, market announcements, etc...) It also offers the required fundamental and background data of any listed company on EGX that can enter into various applications and are very crucial to various market segments including investors, brokers, data vendors, students… etc. All the data are extracted from the database of the Feed, the disclosure department of the exchange, the listing department and the research department of the exchange. We offer Company information, Periodical publication, Market indicators, Customized Reports. This helped us to have experience in developing Investor Relation (IR) websites where each listed company can list all their Information, disclosures and their stock movement in a way to automate business process. egID also acts as a software developer , including a multi – task full range trading system back office and Front Office.Matador is intended to manage all operations of a brokerage firm as a complete solution for both back-end and front-end functionalities through the order management module, the general ledger, the subsidiary ledger and the reporting module. The system is designed using the latest technologies allowing for efficiency in handling large amounts of data; in addition to its quick and speedy implementation.The Front Office is provided in desktop and web applications, which provides real-time market view, order management system and cash and security position.egID also provides consultancy services for exchanges

By: Maher Asham, Managing Director

EXCEL TO SUCCESS, SECURE TO DELIVER



that need to upgrade/change their trading systems environment. egID participated in the installation and testing of trading and surveillance systems in several exchanges in the region (The Egyptian Exchange, Dubai Financial Market and the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange). egID owns and operates its world class datacenter which is relatively new, put into operation in 2012 and currently hosting more than 140 clients (for production and Disaster Recovery services). This provided egID a unique opportunity to build the center from the ground up according to the most recent standards available. egID built the data center to withstand the most rigorous standards and needs of its customers. In particular egID referred to the ANSI/TIA 942 standard for data centers, the only approved standard in existence at the time, PCI-DSS standards for security. These standards call for rigorous procedures in all facets of datacenter operation.

The data center is currently connected with the biggest 4 ISPs through different media (Fiber optic, Copper Lines, WIMAX and Microwave) egID dedicated a part of its data center to accommodate The Egyptian Exchange technology infrastructure.Another part of the usable space will be occupied by the brokerage firms that are in a serious need to host their hardware close to EGX trading venue. Co-location for brokerage firms and data vendors in egID Data center will save them huge expenses spent on communication, Hardware, Software and IT operations. It will also allow the customer a low-latency access to EGX market, since the connection between the customer servers and EGX servers will be via a Local Area Network (LAN). In addition, the brokerage firm will gain the competitive advantage of having infrastructure connectivity to enhance its electronic trading capabilities. Low-latency will also encourage brokerage firms to implement Algorithmic trading. Speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency will all be gained by co-locating near EGX servers.

The next phase is to provide hosting/co-location services for the banking sector; this will enable the connectivity of the banking and trading infrastructures to facilitate post-trade services.

Apart from hosting equipment and hardware for clients, egID coordinated with two of the biggest ISPs to act in its data center as an ISP Point Of Presence (PoP). This will enable egID to have unlimited internet bandwidth

with very low cost. In addition, egID will provide connectivity through the 4 biggest ISPs which is an advantage from most of the ISPs that provide hosting, as they have a single point of failure by providing connectivity through their own infrastructure only.

Below are the hosting services that egID provides to the market:• Co-Location• Dedicated Hosting• Virtual Dedicated Hosting• Shared Hosting• Websites Hosting• Hosted Email services• Streaming Solutions• Backup and Restore services• Disaster Recovery servicesegID also provides Managed hosting which adds more value to co-location and dedicated hosting because it frees up internal IT personnel from mundane infrastructure related tasks which can be redeployed into understanding and supporting the business more effectively. Managed Hosting eases the overall maintenance problem of carrying multiple spares of every component, the cost of 24 / 7 / 365 staff and re-creating network infrastructure to ensure there is no single point of failure. In addition it frees up cash flow, by spreading the cost on a flexible monthly basis, avoiding up front capital expenditure. Through managed hosting at egID, companies benefit from our experience and expertise as a managed hosting specialist, with highly skilled certified engineers available 24 x 7 to monitor solutions and resolve issues as quickly as possible. A company also gains access to the egID multi-homed network for additional redundancy and benefits from our partnerships with many industry leaders, which allow us to collaborate on the best solutions, tools and procedures needed to deliver superior support services for customers, saving their internal resources and costs and reducing overall risk.



The fact that half of all new businesses will fail within the first five years is a sobering reminder that each business decision can make or break the bottom line. What makes the difference between a successful business and a failure? The answer is simple: customers choose to continually do business with a company based on the quality of service they receive – not just the products they sell.Customer experience, according to a Customer Effort Impact survey Avaya recently released, needs to be characterized by a holistic, low effort, personalized approach to fulfill the customer’s needs. It is quickly

becoming the key to business differentiation. Customer effort is basically how easy it is for a customer to have that stellar service experience, which puts a company top of mind for the next purchase.We also already know that when making purchasing decisions, consumers are looking for referrals. They want to be reassured by friends, family and social networks that they will be investing in quality goods and services. Since younger adults are significantly more likely to find referrals very important, a focus on quality customer experience is an increasingly integral part of success.

SERVICEIS THE KEY

By:Eng. Hesham ABDELSALAMGeneral Manager. MAIN TELECOM, [email protected]


The best businesses are proactive—they stay ahead of the problem and offer a no-effort experience. Sure, the quality and price of products and services will always be important; but if a young business plans to be around in five years, it needs to think long and hard about the quality of customer service it’s providing. In the age of reputation, referrals and the connected consumer – they can’t afford not to.

1.Strengthen your customer service skillsFirst, it’s important to make sure that your customer service team has the right skills for your managing customers’ needs. Adaptability: Every customer is different, and some may even seem to change week-to-week. You should be able to handle surprises, sense the customer’s mood and adapt accordingly. This also includes a willingness to learn– providing good customer service is a continuous learning process.Clear communication: Ensure you convey to customers exactly what you mean. You don’t want your customer to think he’s getting 50% off when he’s actually getting 50% more product. Use authentically positive language, stay cheerful no matter what and never end a conversation without confirming the customer is satisfied.Work ethic: Customers appreciate a rep who will see their problem through to its resolution. At the same time, you must have good time management skills and not spend too much time handling one customer while others are waiting. Stay focused on your goals to achieve the right balance.

Knowledge: Ultimately your customers rely on you for their knowledge of your product. Stay informed enough to respond to most inquiries and know where to turn if the questions become too detailed or technical for you to answer. But don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” either. Customers will appreciate the honesty and your efforts to find the right answer.2. Look at every Front DoorA bad customer experience at any point in the customer lifecycle can ruin your relationship. In addition to making sure the right skills are demonstrated, you need to be sure they’re being demonstrated consistently. Pay the most attention to key Front Doors, but make sure you have a full view of the customer experience, or you risk lapses in service that can really hurt business.

3. Improve your customer interactionsIf your staff has the necessary skill set, that’s a good start. But they still need to relate to your customers. Here are some tips for making sure customer service is both thorough and well received:Practice active listening so your customers feel heard. Clarify and rephrase what the customers say to ensure you understand them. Empathize with and reflect their feelings by saying things like, “That must have upset you” or “I can see why you feel slighted.”Admit your mistakes, even if you discover them before your customers do. This builds trust and restores confidence. It also allows you to control the situation, re-focus the customer’s attention and resolve the issue.Follow-up after a problem is solved. Make sure the issue stays fixed and that your customers were satisfied with the service. Sending an email, or even a feedback survey is an excellent way to let the customer know you’re still on their side.4. Enhance your customer service strategyGet personal. Your customers want to feel like they have access to real people, not bots and FAQs. Offer more than just automated email responses, and do not


let your telephone prompts or website send them down a rabbit hole. Take full advantage of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter) and write responses when your customers post on your page. Be available. Part of the personal touch is making sure your customers can reach you. For example if your business is primarily online, meet in person occasionally with local customers and offer video calls (such as Skype) for those farther away. 5. Make sure your reps are engagedYou can have the best customer service skills and the best training in the world, but if your reps are checked out, it won’t matter at all. Improving employee engagement is another way to make sure customers have a great experience. Since engagement can vary from industry to industry, you may also want to look at more specific data through a service like SurveyMonkey.6. Give your customers a way to provide feedbackWhether it’s a phone survey at the end of a service call, an email survey sent directly from your CRM tool, or a form on the “Contact Us” page of your website, creating a means for customers to give feedback makes it easier for you to learn what needs improvement. It also helps keep unhappy customers from voicing their displeasure on highly visible places like your social media pages.Not only will you discover Front Doors and skills that need improvement, but your customers will see that are dedicated to providing top-notch, proactive customer service7. The Customer Service Metrics that MatterThere are vanity metrics in nearly every aspect of your business, and customer support is no different.Remember that it’s people who pay you, not the superfluous stats. Since that’s the case, it’s important that you focus on the customer service metrics that will have the biggest impact on your bottom line.Here are the important metrics you should be keeping an eye on:1. Total Volume by ChannelThe total volume of all of the support queries you receive is incredibly important to track.One thing to note here is that it is to your advantage to pick the “channel” that works best for your business. You have to work with the channel that works for you and your customers, and which will allow you to scale as your company grows.2. Response Time

While a few consumer studies have noted that customers do have quite a bit of patience – 50 percent of consumers give a brand one week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with them – providing “okay” support really isn’t okay, especially if you want to stand out.In fact, to give you an idea of how far service quality has come and what the best companies are working to provide these days, the Buffer support team is looking at improving their 1 hour response rates.3. First Contact Resolution RatesThis is especially true for customer complaints, as data from Lee Resources shows that up to 95% of customers will give you a second chance if you handle their initial complaint successfully and in a timely manner.Tracking and actively improving how many interactions your team resolves on the initial engagement with a customer will go a long way toward improving the overall customer experience your business is able to offer.4. Hold Time and Abandonment RatesFor chat, especially, response time is crucial, as some recent consumer data shows that 71% of customers on live help expect assistance within 5 minutes, and 40% of those folks want help immediately.Since most (up to 60%) will outright abandon a site if they don’t get hold of someone, you can lose potential prospects and upset otherwise happy customers if you don’t keep a close eye on these numbers.5. Reports & Dash Boards: Reports & Dash boards link each BP and communications activities in single report, to guide the organization about quality of services, service levels and business targets archived.Performance Upgrade:Through integration between Contact Centers and CRM Systems, you can measure each part of your business cycle, considering customer as core of your processes, turning your business processes into business opportunities.

About MAIN TELECOMMAIN TELECOM providescontactsolutions that will help better manage your business and provide your customers with better services. Weprovide a single platform to develop voice, data, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), business process automation(BPA), multimedia communications (SMS, FAX, and E-mail) solutions, and services, with integration openness, to avoid customer pains with multi-suppliers platforms.


DON’T LET AN ATTACKERSINK YOUR

NETWORKBy: TK Keanini, CTO, Lancope


Too many of today’s networks are easy to sink. One attack pierces the perimeter, and all of the organisation’s most sensitive data comes rushing out. Soon after, their logo is slapped across the evening news as the pundits start circling the water.Modern ships are not built under the assumption that their hull is too strong to breach. In fact, they are designed to contain a breach as quickly as possible to keep the entire vessel from going under. Organsations can adopt this philosophy to make sure that one intrusion doesn’t compromise all of their data.Network segmentation functions by cordoning off resources and users by role to limit the reach of an intruder. In an unsegmented network, everyone has access to everything. By dividing these different groups into separate areas it limits their access and the overall security posture of the organisation is improved.We can compare it to compartments on a ship. When the ship is healthy, all of the different compartments operate in concert with one another. But in the event of a hull breach or flooding, the affected compartments seal off from the others to contain the water. If it is working as intended, then the water is contained and the ship is able to maneuver to a safe location to perform repairs. It isn’t perfect – most famously illustrated by the Titanic – but it is effective most of the time.

In a segmented network, normal business functions are unimpeded as everyone has access to what they need. But in the event of an attack, the threat actor is confined to whichever segment is compromised, drastically reducing the amount of sensitive material obtainable.Segmentation also improves visibility and threat detection by providing more points of monitoring. As traffic crosses segmentation borders, it can be inspected and audited, giving the security team insight into what is happening on the ground.This is in stark contrast to an attack on an unsegmented network, where the attacker is able to move laterally across the entire network. In that time, they are able to identify all of the sensitive data and take advantage of every vulnerability that might be present. This results in an attack that is able to quickly pilfer anything valuable while also leaving more opportunity for persistence and a continuous compromise.

So what’s the problem?Historically network segmentation has had two major flaws; it required too much effort and maintenance, and wasn’t scalable. It relied on extensive access control lists, and points of enforcement had to be updated individually every time there was a change in policy.


Another drawback of traditional segmentation was the difficulty of testing and implementing it. Few organisations are aware of every valuable resource that resides on the network, and fewer still understand what resources are needed by users to perform their job. This often forced administrators to segment based on intuition, which almost always resulted in weakened security or disruption to day-to-day businessWhat was required to make segmentation practical was a platform that is easy to manage, the network insight necessary to craft effective policies and a process to maintain integrity in dynamic environments. Thanks to advancements in technology and methodology, these things are now practical for even the largest networks.

A new era of segmentationThe advent of software-defined segmentation made great strides in bringing segmentation to large, modern networks. It functions by abstracting security policies away from hardware terms, making crafting policies much easier to understand whilst maintaining integrity even in fluid network environments.Software-defined segmentation facilities centralised management. Instead of manually updating policies on every network infrastructure device individually, administrators can design and change policies in one location before pushing it out to all points of enforcement simultaneously. This method reduces the amount of man-hours required to maintain segmentation and ensures policies are up to date

network-wide.A new methodology for a new eraEven with these capabilities, segmentation can be a complicated process. Organisations are dynamic beings. They grow and change. To keep up, segmentation policies must be continuously evaluated and tweaked to remain relevant.The key to this challenge lies in active segmentation, a methodology designed to efficiently identify changes within the network and adapting policy to match. Based on theOODA Loop, active segmentation is a cyclical process of observing network behaviour, orienting segmentation goals to that behaviour, adapting policies and implementing them.This process would be a tall order, except much of it can be streamlined using network visibility tools. The beauty of comprehensive visibility is you can implement soft policies that can trigger alerts when certain traffic is observed. Administrators can quickly identify new machines and test run policy changes before enforcing them.

Flood-proof your networkThe ever-evolving threat landscape and sophistication of cyber attackers make relying solely on traditional perimeter defense ineffective. The good news is the battle isn’t lost at the initial compromise. Like ships contain flood water, networks can be designed to confine intruders to a small area, preventing a breach from spreading.Shoring up internal defences and making your network inhospitable to intruders can drastically reduce the time to identify a threat, providing a window of opportunity to security personnel.


XBRL

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a financial reporting markup language derived from XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The markup language is used to tag or label information within the financial statement. The XBRL tags are used to identify and describe the items on the face of the financial statements and related footnote disclosures. XBRL tags are classified according to a taxonomy (e.g. US GAAP Taxonomy) which defines and structures how each tagged line item in the financial statements relates to a structure of reporting concepts.

For example, the tag <cash> would be defined under the taxonomy as a current asset which would fall under the asset section of the balance sheet. Financial reports filed in XBRL format were mandated in 2009

by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and required a phase in period for public companies to comply. XBRL promises to revolutionize financial business reporting. By 2011, all public companies regulated by the SEC would have filed financial reports (10Q, 10K, transition reports, 8K, 6K, Restatements, and Securities Act registration statements) in XBRL in addition to their normal filings. XBRL and related technologies will ultimately enable machines to read, understand, retrieve, and manipulate financial statement data.

According to (FASB 2006), the objective of financial reporting is to provide useful financial information to its intended users. The FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) qualitatively describes financial

By: Eng. Mohamed Ibrahim ElbagouryPre Sales Manager at Delta [email protected]


information as useful if the information is relevant, faithfully represented, comparable and consistent, and understandable. The intentions of the SEC in mandating XBRL for public companies is to make financial statement information available in a format that will improve its usefulness to its users1. Furthermore, according to XBRL proponents, XBRL will provide greater transparency of accounting and financial data to investors, analysts, government and other external stakeholders. The nexus between the SEC’s intention of XBRL and the objective of financial reporting by FASB is to ultimately make financial information more useful to its users.

Standardization of concepts and taxonomies can be a daunting task since there are many companies and different industries. Furthermore, there are companies that have global businesses which follows alternative XBRL taxonomies. However, to truly have an open information exchange there needs to be a universal standard taxonomy or dictionary. This feature will become increasingly important as business become more global in operations. At the infancy of mandating XBRL filings by public companies, it is expected that there will be many extensions added to the XBRL taxonomy. As XBRL filings mature, extensions representing new concepts will shrink.

Companies and their industries will agree on taxonomy that encompasses most common business conceptsl. However, it would be unwise to say that all business concepts can be represented by a standard taxonomy since the format of financial reporting is discretionary and is always adapting to the needs or usefulness of its users. But taxonomy standardization is ultimately necessary to support comparability and consistency which are qualitative attribute of usefulness in financial reporting. Hence, new companies may be forced to adapt their reporting to the standard taxonomy.

Although there may be concerns about too many unique company specific extensions to agree upon going forward, the advancement in convergence or standardization of the XBRL taxonomy will be pushed by the accounting software or enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) developers. They will champion the development of a unified standardized taxonomy for the financial reporting domain. For example, the developers will have a standard template

for their chart of accounts and companies will have to adapt their financial reporting requirements to those standard template. However, this will not preclude the specialty needs of individual companies. The developers will still support individual companies that need company specific extensions.

These new extension will just be added to the universal XBRL taxonomy and will be available to other companies for use. As time goes by, most business concepts will be represented by the XBRL taxonomy and thus less extensions will be needed going forward. Furthermore, the push by developers for converging a standard taxonomy may have an indirect effect on helping unify the difference between international accounting taxonomies. This is cause by the fact that many companies are operating globally and rely on the same developers for their accounting information systems. The unification of taxonomies will improve comparability and consistence and hence the usefulness of financial reporting for end users.


Big data is currently on the fast track. The rapid ongoing developments are not showing any signs of slowing down in 2015, as seen by the following trends for the coming year:Big Data, a Treasure ChestCompanies lose a lot of potential when their various departments work as isolated entities. When there is

BIG DATA WHERE AREWE HEADED?

a lack of information flow and communication within the company, a great deal of knowledge is lost or unutilised.A company’s internal data can be a veritable buried treasure. Those who manage to unearth it and use it effectively for their business are the companies who will take the lead.

By: Daniel Fallman, CEO of Mindbreeze


Making the ConnectionMost people view big data as an unstructured and chaotic mass of worthless information. Yet in reality, big data contains a vast potential to recognise patterns and correlations in information. Big data analyses can predict the course of an influenza epidemic in minute detail or analyse typical behaviour patterns to anticipate when a customer is toying with the idea of terminating a contract.The development and use of these intelligent assistance systems will continue to escalate in the future, helping people and companies navigate in a steadily more complex world and create the necessary competitive edge in business.

Customised Information ProcessingEvery one of us works most effectively when the user interface and the structure of the content we receive are customised to fit our needs and preferences. Big data solutions automatically analyse user behaviour and tailor the system to match the individual user.The result of this process is that, for instance, although all employees of a company will have access to the same knowledge base, they will be able to do so in completely different and individual ways, with significantly increased productivity and greater job satisfaction as a result.

Self-learning SystemsBig data systems are intelligent and self-learning. They can help businesses such as insurance companies to economically handle the flood of correspondence by extracting all relevant information from the incoming mail. Based on this information, the damage reports can be classified automatically, increasing processing speed.

Closing the Data Flood GatesThe sheer amount of information makes it next to imposssible to get a handle on the flood of data. Yet closing the data flood gates is one of big data’s main jobs. This means that incoming streams of information are continuously analysed and filtered according to various criteria. At the end of this process the user is left with information which ideally can help form concrete answers out of the mass of data.

Data Scientists & Big QuestionsBig data systems need to be planned and implemented by specialists who have a deep understanding of the business processes and the core business. These experts, “data scientists”, are a pleasantly exotic mixture of mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists.Fulfilling these prerequisites could start virtually any big data engine if the right questions are asked. Because big data needs big questions.


HOW TO PROTECT YOURBUSINESS AGAINST

DDOS ATTACKS

In the last few years, the surge in cyber attacks and security breaches across both the public and private sector has not only increased but become far more damaging.Rogue cyber-gangs such as Lizard Squad and DD4BC have been targeting major establishments, bringing down the networks of banks, media and gaming companies with DDoS attacks.Attacks this year have been on the rise, with Verisign mitigating against 34 per cent more attacks in the first half of 2015 than in the first half of 2014. Out of these attacks, our latest report figures show that for the third consecutive quarter IT Services/Cloud and SaaS remain

the most heavily targeted sectors.One of the most prolific cyber-attack stories in the last quarter was that of DD4BC. The group has been active since September 2014 and continually grew the frequency of its attacks and broadened its geographic targets. Known for holding organisations at ransom for up to 50 bitcoins (£8,000 currently) at a time, the one commonality that allowed DD4BC to be successful is the broad array of company networks vulnerable to DDoS attacks.A 2014 Survey on DDoS conducted by the SANS Institute found that of 378 IT professionals surveyed, 39 per cent either didn’t have a DDoS mitigation plan

By: Josh Ray, Director of Intelligence,Verisign


or were unaware of one existing for their organisation. As these attacks are becoming increasingly complex, organisations need to take the crucial steps to mitigate these threats and protect their assets:

1Use a Cloud-Based Managed DNS ServiceWhether it is a primary or backup service, every business can improve its website availability by utilising a highly available authoritative domain name system (DNS) service. The DNS is a critical component of internet infrastructure that essentially controls the ability of

customers to get to your website. It translates the domain names used for easy identification of websites into their not-so-easy-to-remember IP addresses.Consequently, if the authoritative DNS for your domain goes down, your customers and users can’t find your website or Internet service. The site may still be operational, but since no one will be able to get to it – it might as well be down. There are a variety of issues that can cause a website’s DNS to go down, including configuration errors, natural disasters, and of course DDoS attacks. In fact, DNS issues are one of the top reasons today for website downtime. That is why it is


important to use a cloud-based managed DNS service, so that your business can rely on dedicated experts with globally distributed networks to help ensure your web presence and critical web services are always available.Moving your DNS to a reliable, cloud-based service is fairly easy though not all services are created equal, so be sure that the vendor you select has the experience, resources, and infrastructure required to help ensure availability.

2Have a DDoS Protection PlanEnsuring that your business is fully prepared to withstand a DDoS attack against your website and other Internet services is paramount to ensure business continuity in today’s world. Although some sectors are bearing the brunt of attacks more than others, today everyone with an online presence is a potential target.Due to new plug-and-attack software cropping up in underground markets, DDoS attacks are one of the easiest types for cyber-miscreants to launch. There are many options to protect your business against DDoS attacks and the most common approach is to utilise a cloud-based service, which is the solution most favoured by businesses who find it the most cost-effective and comprehensive.This approach requires no upfront capital investment or in-house experience and unlike traditional security solutions like firewalls, cloud-based DDoS protection

services filter harmful traffic in the cloud before it reaches your network.

3Serve Your Website from Multiple LocationsHaving a backup is one of the best ways to improve your website’s performance and availability. Scaling up to hosting from additional sites and using cloud providers can help you expand your global reach. For example, you might want to deploy your website at multiple leased data centres, or cloud services, located around the world.In this scenario, services such as Verisign Managed DNS with Traffic Management enables web traffic to be effectively managed to direct users to the site located closest to them. When a site fails, the system simply and automatically routes users to one of the other available locations. Managing web traffic in this way provides a win-win for both your business and your users, who will experience not only availability but also faster load times.These days, with connectivity a crucial element for many businesses, especially those who trade online, even an hour of downtime due to an outage or malicious attack can have far-reaching consequences on your business and reputation. By understanding the threat landscape and developing appropriate mitigation plans, it could make the difference in future-proofing your business for the impending rise in cyber attacks.


3 FACTORSTO CONSIDER BEFORE STARTING UP AS AN IT CONTRACTOR

The transition from permanent employee to full time freelancer is filled with questions. Are you ready to make the leap? Can you succeed financially as a contractor? Will you be able to find work?There are many aspects to factor in when it comes to changing your job – and contracting is no different. It may seem like a move into the unknown as the legislation and practicalities of contracting can seem confusing at first glance.

As someone who has recently made the move, it’s not as daunting as it seems. You just need to factor in some key considerations when you set up as an IT contractor:

1Do a skills checkAs an IT contractor, your skill set is your life line.


Before you hand in your resignation, check the contractor job boards to ensure your skills are in demand within the marketplace.Demand for time-honoured technologies such as .NET and Java remains high but also keep your finger on the pulse with new coding languages. IT contractors with a knowledge of Apple’s new programming language Swift, for example, are popular as mobile development has become one of the hottest contractor skills to have during 2015.Spotless syntax does not guarantee a contract though. Make sure you research popular industries within the IT sector. For example, there has been a significant rise in the number of cyber security contractors over the last 12 months – and the value of security skills is reflected in the daily rate on offer. Your experience within the wider corporate world and your soft skill set can help you to win contracts, so bear this in mind.

Also, research the rates of pay currently on offer and come up with a rough financial plan based on these figures. There are a lot of hidden costs when working for yourself – holiday pay, sick pay and other employee benefits are no longer available. Although, a higher rate of pay is available as a contractor, giving you the freedom to choose how to spend your earnings.

2Outsource the tough stuffWhen you become an IT contractor you have to wear a lot of hats. You are your marketer, HR department, accountant, financial advisor, facilities manager, CEO, CIO and help desk. Plus you have to find time to complete a few contracts as well.Make the most out of online tools and outsource as


much of the peripheral work as possible. There are many cloud-based services out there to help you on your way and to offer you further flexibility in the way you work as a contractor.For example, an online accountant can take care of processes such as setting up as a contractor, those endless HMRC forms and maximising your take home pay. There are many on offer but try to pick an accountant that specialises in the IT contractor market – Nixon Williams and their Vantage service are a sound choice, offering a fixed monthly fee, easily accessible cloud-based portal and direct contact with a personal accountant.

3Prepare for the rainy daysThe IT marketplace is continually evolving so your

skill set will need to shift to meet the demands of the industry. In quieter periods, invest in yourself with some training or embrace a networking opportunity to try to foster new leads. Market yourself.Training should focus on your existing skill set so you can build expertise in one area. For example, .NET skills are constantly in demand but, while a knowledge of C#.NET is obviously required, try adding some web-based development training on top to boost your CV.

You will also need to build up a cash reserve for quieter periods. A good rule of thumb is to have three months worth of earnings set to one side so you can weather the storm. As contractors demand daily rates of between £500 and £750, according to theNixon Williams 2015 Contractor Survey, this should be easily achievable and help you to prepare for the future.


This year, disaster recovery (DR) has been a top priority for 45 per cent of UK IT departments. With the increase in legal and regulatory compliance coupled with virtualisation and cloud-based strategies for disaster recovery, more IT departments (5 per cent more than 2014, to be exact) are recognising the importance of DR.But knowing DR is necessary and implementing it effectively are two separate things. In a separate study by Timico, only 5 per cent of respondents said they

By: Brandon Tannersenior manager at nationwidemanaged service provider IT Specialists (ITS)

HOW TO PREPARE YOURIT DEPARTMENT FOR

A DISASTER

were totally confident that their DR plan was adequate.UK businesses face both man-made and natural disasters such as software and power failures, electrical fires, and flash flooding or high winds. Today, customers expect always-on service, so how can an IT department do its part to avoid downtime when disaster strikes?

Each business has different requirements depending on the company’s industry and size, but following


these guidelines can help the business prepare its IT infrastructure for a disaster.

Prioritise critical systemsOne of the most important components of being ready for a disaster is classifying important systems and processes and mapping out any interdependencies. A financial organisation, for example, probably needs to restore customers’ online access to their accounts before it restores access to internal files.If the servers powering the customer portal are dependent on other systems or a specific power supply, the business must take measures to ensure redundancy of the core servers and power supplies.Of course, prioritising systems and processes should not be conducted by IT alone. Input from other departments is critical to successfully recovering from downtime, because what IT may consider critical is not a top priority for other key departments. This is why the DR plan should be created in conjunction with a business continuity plan. Typically the business continuity plan is driven by the results of business impact and risk analyses, which have identified the business’s core objectives and departmental priorities.

Identify a solution for backing up and recovering an IT environmentWhether it’s legacy systems that can’t keep up with growing volumes of data, a lack of redundancy or storage media corruption, too many businesses realise during a disaster that they aren’t able to recover their data, or worse, their IT environment. In fact, data loss is up by more than 400 per cent since 2012, according to the EMC Global Data Protection Index. It’s important that a business’s current backup and recovery solution ensure the strategy is adequate for the business’s needs and can protect critical data and systems.For example, Lyco, a specialist lighting e-commerce company based in Milton Keynes, had backed up to disk on-site. But as the organisation’s business grew, management realised the risk of housing backups on-site was too great. They wanted to move backups off-site while reducing recovery time objectives (RTOs). The backup software they were using, however, was not designed to write to a disk at a third-party site, so they switched to the disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solution BlackVault Managed Recovery Platform, which uses an on-site appliance in conjunction with a private cloud, BlackCloud.


was able to manage backups on-site while efficiently sending them off-site to ensure data redundancy. During a disaster, employees are able to access the environment over the Internet or another connectivity option.The appeal of DRaaS solutions is that they provide the ability to recover key IT systems and data quickly (within a 24- hour recovery time objective in some cases), which is crucial to meeting customers’ expectations for high availability.

Decide how and where employeeswill resume operationsCompanies need to have an alternate work environment

available at the time of an emergency, whether it’s employees’ homes or rented office space. If renting office space, the facility should be pre-contracted to help ensure it will be available during a disaster.Simply having a space is not adequate, however. Staff members need a way to access their work environment, including documents, business applications and communications platforms such as email and instant messaging. As a managed service provider, we have found that companies are increasingly using DRaaS solutions, which allow employees to access the environment through a VPN or online. Having a backup Internet provider can help ensure a reliable connection will be available.


Have a plan for receiving businessphone callsCommunication is key in any disaster recovery scenario, so businesses need to consider how they will continue to receive calls. If using landlines, the business should consult its telecom carrier or managed service provider to review options for rerouting numbers in the event of a disaster. These offerings will expedite the reroute of telephone numbers, rather than calling at time of disaster to have the calls rerouted, which could take hours, if not a day or two.If a business has a cloud-based or voice over IP (VoIP) telephony solution in place, communication options can be remotely managed. Businesses are able to

deploy pre-recorded greetings and redirect phones to staff cell phones or an alternate office location. This solution ensures employees can take inbound calls as well as make outbound calls in the event of a disaster.When redirecting calls to cell phones during a disaster, businesses should bear in mind that during a large-scale crisis, overloaded circuits can make it difficult to obtain a signal for placing calls, and emergency services might invoke the government’s Mobile Telecommunication Privileged Access Scheme (MTPAS) procedure. The London bombings of 77/ is a prime example: for four hours, the network within a mile of Aldgate Tube station was disabled. In these situations, redirecting calls to a landline can provide a more reliable connection.

Document and regularly test the disaster recovery planDocumenting the disaster recovery plan is an important step, because during a high-pressure situation it’s all too easy to neglect key parts of the plan. In addition, if any critical personnel who were involved in the planning process leave the business, subsequent employees can properly implement the plan. The documentation can also be useful if a managed service provider plays a role in implementing any part of the plan.For a plan to reach its maximum effectiveness, however, it should be tested regularly (annually at minimum) to work out any kinks before a crisis arises. Those responsible might balk at the cost of testing the plan because of resources consumed (e.g. bandwidth) and the disruption to daily operations, but the alternative of not testing enough or at all is a risk that could leave a business vulnerable after a disaster.It may help to break down disaster recovery testing into manageable parts until an organisation is able to complete a full test. Some businesses will perform an IT test of specific systems or processes before conducting a full-scale test involving end users. If an organisation is using a DRaaS solution, IT personnel should take advantage of the ability to spin up a sandbox environment so they can test recovery capabilities without affecting production systems.After successfully completing a test run, the business can schedule a follow-up test, involving end users as necessary.With the right plan in place, a business can cope with a range of disasters – whether a small, localised one like server failure or a region-wide flood – without sacrificing uptime and customers.


Tablets may be a relatively recent phenomenon, but they have quickly become the third pillar in the business landscape alongside smartphones and PCs.While some claim that they are useful only as consumer gadgets – good for watching Netflix in bed, but not much else – these misconceptions are being dismissed by businesses all over the world reaping the productivity benefits that tablets can offer.

WHYTHE TABLET IS

A POWERFUL BUSINESS STATEMENT

The tablet landscape is already incredibly diverse, catering for a wide range of companies looking to gain a competitive edge and it’s important that your business doesn’t get left behind.In fact, there are a number of ways that tablets can be used in the workplace – their versatility is one of their best attributes. Perhaps most obviously, tablets provide an effective way of presenting visual information on


long-term, a 36-month tablet plan not only aligns well with three-year business technology cycles, but also provides significant savings. EE offers three-year plans to businesses only, which can generate savings of 25 per cent when compared to 24-month contracts.

While it’s important for businesses to choose the right tablet and contract, having the right applications is also vital. Businesses will find that certain applications work just as effectively across tablets, if not more so. With Business Apps from EE, companies can manage their security, finances and customer relations easily and effectively. In the retail sector, apps like Shopwave can speed up payment processes and stock management, while website building app Moonfruit can help organisations create an effective online presence. Many apps also benefit from a tablet’s larger display, which can make navigation and document sharing much easier.

Tablets have clearly come a long way in a short time. They are no longer viewed merely as consumer play-things and are making serious business statements in companies all over the world.With the diversity of tablets and mobile applications now available, a wide range of industries from construction to accountancy are becoming part of the tablet workplace revolution. With EE, companies benefit from flexible data plans and applications that transform tablets from just another workplace device to an essential business tool.

a more user-friendly screen size, because they offer more mobility compared to a laptop but don’t suffer from the small display associated with smartphones. This could prove useful in a variety of settings, such as carrying out presentations or accessing customer data on the move.

Tablets are also proving useful for businesses that are looking to transition towards a paperless and more productive way of working. Filling out paper forms in the field – whether you’re running through checklists, getting customer signatures, or completing job sheets – is time consuming, error-prone and ultimately costly to your business. Apps like Smart Forms from EE, using Canvas, allow you to create your own smart forms on a tablet so you can capture information instantly, saving you time and money.Although investing in tablets will require some financial outlay, in the long run they are capable of saving businesses significant sums of money due to the increase in productivity that they generate. A recent study by Dynamic Markets found that 70 per cent of employers had witnessed “substantial” improvements to productivity as a result of tablet usage and estimated that productivity levels had increased by approximately 44 per cent. Research indicates that tablets are not just proving useful in an office environment either. Retailers are using them as barcode scanners, restaurant staff are able to manage bookings more efficiently and construction managers can evaluate plans on site.

However, to ensure tablets make the biggest impact on your business, you must first assess which device is right for your line of work. Fortunately EE has made this decision easier for companies by offering a wide range of tablets to suit a variety of business needs. All EE tablets come with superfast 4GEE as standard meaning you can download large files, stream video content and work quickly wherever you are. For businesses that take part in international travel, EE also offers a number of roaming add-ons and companies with tablet plans of £30 or more will automatically receive 100MB of data to use in Europe at no extra cost.

As well as opting for more affordable devices, there are other ways that businesses can embrace tablets without crippling their IT budget. If companies look


As the number of organisations allowing their employees to work from home continues to grow, so too does the need for users to access all of their content on various platforms and at all times.For this reason, consumer-focused file sync and share (CFSS) solutions have become one of the most popular categories of applications used in the workplace.While employees tend to think using CFSS solutions are a good idea, the typical use of CFSS solutions can bring a multitude of problems such as a higher likelihood of data breaches, more difficult and expensive compliance, and the potential loss of corporate data.Osterman Research’s recent study, ‘The Critical Need for Enterprise-Grade File Sync and Share Solutions’

TAKING BACK

CONTROL

OF YOUR CORPORATE

DATABy: Todd PartridgeDirector of Product Marketing at Intralinks


commissioned by Intralinks found that problems with these various file sync and share tools have increased significantly over the years.

Email, the preferred file sharing methodOrganisations are slowly integrating a wider range of platforms and technologies to share information than ever before. For most, however, email is still the most commonly used platform.Email is ubiquitous and based on standards that make content delivery highly reliable and file transfer easy. But while the process may seem easy and effective, it also suffers from significant limitations.Email file sharing can easily impact bandwidth during peak periods and can cause senders’ and receivers’

mailboxes to grow quickly as a result of storing sent and received files. This forces individuals into spending time on mailbox management, and results in long downtime periods in the event an email server has to be restored from backup due to large mailboxes. Furthermore, corporate or sensitive data information leaks are a huge problem, even for the smallest companies, when files are shared directly through attachments.

Managing corporate contentAmong the findings, the Osterman study revealed that 13 per cent of corporate data is stored in employees’ laptops, five per cent is stored in smartphones and tablets and one per cent is stored on employees’ home computers.


To get around this problem of having documents stored on various devices, many employees are using CFSS solutions. This means organisations are losing much of their control over corporate content because copies of these assets are stored with a variety of third party providers. IT is less able to control the management of information in their own organisation for purposes of legal and regulatory compliance.With a variety of these employee-managed tools either installed without the blessing of IT or in some cases even without their knowledge, the concept of “Shadow IT” or “consumerisation” of IT is growing. CFSS tools are both a key component of the problem and the cause of it.According to the Osterman study, most IT decision makers and influencers understand just how serious this problem is becoming. Only eight per cent of those surveyed in the study give their organisations an “A” grade for their management of information security best practices in the context of file-sharing, and nearly one-half give themselves a grade “C” or lower.While employees often try to get around IT teams by using CFSS tools, decision makers should focus on enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) to combat the issues with consumer tools in the workplace.

Taking back control of our dataEFSS tools allow files to be shared as secure, password-

protected links rather than as attachments. The links can be set to expire after a certain time or even on first download. Moreover, users can audit the links to track who has shared, downloaded and read the file.A key distinction between EFSS and CFSS tools is where primary control over content is managed: IT with the former and individual employees with the latter. Consequently, it is essential that any EFSS solution under consideration puts IT in complete control of corporate data, while still enabling users to work with data as they need it.The Osterman study found that a significant majority of organisations agree on certain security traits that an EFSS system should have. Most of them agree that data should be fully encrypted between endpoints, with no intermediate steps where data is not encrypted. Only 19 per cent of organisations have already replaced their CFSS tools with EFSS alternatives however 55 per cent consider it to be a “moderately” or “very” high priority to do so over the next 12 months.CFSS tools introduce significant legal, regulatory and other risks to an organisation. The bottom line is that IT has less control over corporate content because IT cannot control how content is accessed and managed.For this reason, replacing CFSS tools with EFSS solutions can provide organisations with the same productivity gains but enables their IT department to regain full control over corporate information.


A LOOK AT THE DARKER SIDE OF

GOOGLEGLASS

Google’s latest invention, the augmented reality (AR) eyewear known simply as Glass, is not even on the market, yet along with excitement over this possible glimpse into the future, Glass is also causing controversy. It’s become the focus of a Stop the Cyborgscampaign, spawned proposed legislation in the US state of West Virginia that bans its use while driving, and is device non grata at one bar in Seattle.Dubbed Glass Explorers, 8,000 American beta users who have been given Google Glass are about to embark on an experiment documenting what Glass can and can’t do; the reactions and results generated will determine its future. Until now only a select few Google employees (including co-founder Sergey Brin) have sported Glass in public, mainly eliciting curiosity. But outside the

tech-friendly environs of Silicon Valley and New York, Glass Explorers are sure to get different receptions.Steve Mann, a wearable tech pioneer (pictured below) sometimes described as a cyborg, was assaulted last July during a visit to a McDonald’s in Paris when he wore his sartorially similar augmented reality device EyeTap. While no explicit reason for the attack was given, Mann inferred from words exchanged in the scuffle that his assailant feared the EyeTap was a recording device.That sentiment has morphed into a movement with Stop the Cyborgs, a London-based organisation’s campaign to ban Google Glass and similar devices. It formed in February when some friends were discussing an article that fatalistically accepted the demise of privacy.“There were a few privacy activists voicing concerns but


nobody was suggesting there was anything people could do about it,” an unnamed Stop the Cyborgs spokesperson said.

Cyborg discriminationStop the Cyborgs acts as an information hub for Glass-related privacy concerns by aggregating stories on its site, and also as an advocacy effort, with a mission statement calling for selective adoption of new technologies. The core group is comprised of a programmer, an artist, and an artificial intelligence researcher, all in their late 20s, who say on the site that: “Despite what some people think we are not Neo-Luddites.” The group praises Google, stresses that it is not looking for a government ban on wearable tech, and makes exceptions for assistive devices – within limits.While Mann does not need the EyeTap or the other devices he’s created and worn, his research is designed to benefit those with vision problems. That includes Rob Spence, a filmmaker and self-described cyborg who has compensated for a lost eye with an implanted camera that he uses when making films.

“Technology is moving so rapidly many theorists are saying we’re on the verge of fundamentally changing as human beings,” Spence says in his documentary Deus Ex: The Eyeborg Documentary. “In the meantime, for those of us missing parts of our bodies, we’ll keep exploring and upgrading. It’s possible we are the pioneers of a new cybernetic age.”Like all pioneers, they face resistance. Take Neil Harbisson. He has a disability not visually detectable by others, but one that he compensates for in a very attention-grabbing way. Harbisson was born with a condition that only allows him to see the world in black and white. He has learned to interpret colour through sound via a head-mounted device, which he calls an eyeborg. The device encodes colours as musical notes and allows Harbisson, an artist, to experience the world more fully and to interpret it in his paintings. He considers himself officially recognised as a cyborg after successfully lobbying to have the eyeborg included in his passport photo.Harbisson’s experience with the eyeborg hasn’t been without its frustrations, though. He’s been asked to leave


cinemas and supermarkets because of fears his eyeborg could be a recording device. In response, he’s created the Cyborg Foundation to help others use cybernetics, defend cyborg rights, and promote cybernetics in the arts.In the short film Cyborg Foundation – embedded below – Harbisson says that a dream in which he heard colours made him realise what being a cyborg means. “It’s not the union between the eyeborg and my head that converts me into a cyborg, but the union between the software and my brain,” he said.Regarding the technologies Mann, Spence, and Harbisson use, the Stop the Cyborgs spokesperson conceded that: “It certainly helps that they are entirely controlled by their wearers, are not monitored by a huge corporation, and don’t encourage sharing to the cloud or social media.”While Stop the Cyborgs supports private (as opposed to government) banning of Google Glass and other wearable devices, it says it has nothing against those who identify as cyborgs. In fact, it admits, the two groups have much in common.“There is a whole complex area here, that of cyborg rights versus privacy rights, but we are confident it can be resolved,” the spokesperson said. Each side’s main concern is how it identifies itself and is perceived by others. “In the end it comes down to trust and respect.

We need people to have control over data and we need ways in which we can signal and assure each other that we respect each other’s rights – a new etiquette of technology.”

DetachmentWearable tech might require external behavioural changes, and cause internal ones too. How people relate to each other when smartphones are present is a harbinger of how Glass is likely to affect human interaction.In his 1954 text The Question Concerning Technology, German philosopher Martin Heidegger addresses the rejiggered relationship to the world that technology creates. When given a new way of interpreting reality, people lose the need to determine their relationship to it on their own, which is part of what makes us human. Heidegger says this danger can be mitigated by realising that technology is just one way of viewing the world. But heedless of Heidegger, people walk down the street, wait in line, or while away a commute relating only to the phone in their hands.John Suler, professor of psychology at Rider University and a specialist in online behaviour, argues that those distracted by their smartphones aren’t fully involved with either the world around them or the one in their phones. “Where are we, psychologically and emotionally, when we carry our communication devices with us?” Suler


asked. “For many people, they are neither here nor there.”The impact extends to those conversing with someone who is wearing Google Glass. Glass removes the visual cues of distraction visible to both parties, such as tapping at a phone or glancing at something in the environment. “The added complication is that the psychological and emotional effect of the Google Glass input might be unconscious to the [wearer],” Suler said. “They might deny looking into their glasses rather than at their companion, and in fact they might not be consciously aware of the fact that they are being distracted. Don’t underestimate the power of subliminal visual input.”That input might also affect the user’s memories, Suler also noted. Because research suggests eye movements are associated with cognitive processing, Glass content and its placement could interfere with recall, he reasoned. “If you’re thinking about something that happened last week with your mother and your eyes go up and to the right as you start to access that visual memory, will that memory be affected by the fact that there’s a sports video playing in your Google Glasses?” Suler said. “Very likely, it will.”

DistractionWhile Spence believes Google Glass itself might be a fad, he sees potential for building augmented reality into other types of glasses. “Much like phones

have progressed, so will head-mounted options for easier visual access to data,” Spence said. “I can see [augmented-reality] driving glasses being popular.”West Virginia state legislator Gary G. Howell, on the other hand, believes this will lead to more accidents caused by distracted drivers. Howell has introduced legislation banning the use of head-mounted gadgets while driving. Howell stated: “I think [Google Glass] is a great product with great possibilities, but an unwelcome distraction behind the wheel.”He also said that since news of the bill has spread he’s received a lot of feedback. “Many see Google Glass as an interesting and useful tool,” he explained, “But nearly all have concerns about people using it to read text or watch video while driving.”There are three types of distractions that can occur while driving – manual, visual, and cognitive. Glass fits the last two categories and, in some uses, the first as well. A CDC study found that one-third of drivers in the United States had read or sent emails or texts while driving, and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributes 18 per cent of distraction-related fatalities to mobile phone use.

PrivacyIt’s not that Glass has invented the invasion of privacy; it’s that it makes it easier. University of South Carolina researcher and Professor Srihari Nelakuditi has been


given a Google Faculty Research Award to develop a people-recognition app called InSight for Google Glass.Spence jokes about the Stop the Cyborgs movement. “I think it’s funny,” he laughed. “I’d like to ask these bastards, though, who they think will stand against the robots when they come for the humans if not us cyborgs.” Spence says that Google Glass does not upset him, but in some ways his views on it don’t differ so much from Stop the Cyborgs.“We are already living in a Big Brother society but we will soon be living in a transparent society and this will be much worse,” the Stop the Cyborgs spokesperson said. “Not all oppression comes from the government; for some people it might be their overbearing boss, their partner, their peers, their parents, or their religious community.”The concerns Spence has regarding Google Glass and other technologies are much the same. “The truth is people are often more scared of what other people will do to their privacy,” he said. “Are you more scared of what a downtown surveillance camera will do to your life? Or what some idiot friend of yours is posting about you on YouTube on Friday night at 3:30 a.m.? For me it’s the latter. Especially if that person is wearing bloody Google Glasses.”It’s easy enough to tell that someone is wearing Google Glass, but that might not always be the case. Babak Parviz, head of Project Glass, gave a talk on eye

microsystems at Google think-tank conference Solve for X. Parviz started out speaking about the healthcare benefits of a high-tech contact lens but soon transitioned to the possibilities of integrating Glass-like augmented reality into lenses, something Google has begun work on.Parviz has a theory of “one display per human” in which the lens precludes the need for displays for watches, smartphones, television, computer screens, and dashboards. “Including billboards,” he throws in at the end, making the concept of “eyeballs reached” for an advert quite literal. Parviz said that Google has already begun to test lenses on animals for safety.While there is still a way to see who is using Google Glass technology, Stop the Cyborgs has taken a step toward trying to define social boundaries. The group offers two posters for download with a crossed-out drawing of Google Glass – one reading “Google Glass is Banned on these Premises,” and the other, “No Surveillance Devices.”“One of us, I forget who, came up with the ban sign idea,” the Stop the Cyborgs spokesperson said. “These things are 21st century cigarettes – an addictive habit which can harm the people around you – so why not ban them from enclosed public spaces?Why not shape the social norms before the things are out and it is too late?”


IOTFROM SMART IDEASTO SMART REALITY..BUT IS YOURNETWORK

READY?



The stats are here: investment bank Goldman Sachs cites the Internet of Things as a $7 trillion opportunity by 2020 – with IoT set to have an impact at every stage in the production and distribution of products.Wikibon predicts the value of efficiency savings from machine data alone could reach close to $1.3 trillion and will drive $514 billion in IT spend by 2020. Manish Sablok, Head of Field Marketing, North West and East Europe at ALE, looks at the four fundamental network requirements to enable business to take full advantage of the transformations that IoT will drive.The hype surrounding the potential of IoT shows no sign of subsiding, and now – IoT is morphing from a smart concept to reality. The ‘smarts’ are on parade: smart cities with their smart grids and smart transportation systems and smart cars, all demonstrating the benefits of machine to machine (M2M) connectivity.ALE is already involved with the communications and networking backbone of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City in India, a Smart City development that implements IoT at a fundamental level.There are many ways in which IoT can be

implemented and one such example is how it can help a transportation department, responsible for the road network in a city, leverage the potential of M2M in order to create a smart transportation system. This type of IoT may involve polling data from thousands of roadway sensors and devices such CCTV cameras, vehicle detectors, weather stations, signs, ramp meters, traffic signals, and other devices multiples times a second in near or real time – and all this requires connectivity.It’s the connectivity that becomes critical to how these devices will inform travellers of road conditions, events, and incidents to keep the transport network following. And having the right network infrastructure is crucial to enabling this connectivity.

IoT ready infrastructureFrom remote pipeline monitoring to healthcare telemetry, M2M technology provides the framework for wired and wireless devices to interact and transmit data to other interoperable devices. A vast interconnected web of “smart” devices provides continuous streams of data and leaves businesses with a wealth of large data sets.



But without a suitable network infrastructure, millions of pounds worth of sensors and smart devices can be bottlenecked and rendered useless by inadequate and ineffective information routing and distribution.There are four key requirements for the development of the smart network:1. Reach to the EdgeThe sprawling nature of IoT requires comprehensive management of the entire network, wired and wireless, right to the edge as devices – smart and not so smart – seek access and data transfer to core network components. This is why the switch is key. All the connected devices and sensors are transmitting data on the network, but sending data from devices straight to the data centre can be inefficient, cause bottlenecks on the network, and impact performance.An intelligent network needs to extend functionality right to the edge so data can be analysed and processed on the way to the core, or from device to device. To manage the increased flow of IoT traffic, switches at the edge of the network will need to offer enhanced security and integrated analytics. New switch technologies which now incorporates Deep Packet Inspection, application fingerprinting and application monitoring make this possible – giving

administrators a comprehensive view of apps on the network and the information needed to optimise network performance.2. One network, many applicationsIt is virtually impossible for a network that has been installed and upgraded on an ad-hoc basis – often with a separate solution for voice, data, wired and wireless – to deliver on the promise of IoT. There are many enterprise IT systems out there that are simply not fit for IoT purpose.A single converged network is fundamental to an IoT environment and guarantees a greater level of interoperability and support for IoT applications and devices.Unified management eliminates network silos, allows greater central control and enables an intelligent network management solution that can automatically prioritise data traffic to ensure real-time communications, and enable business critical applications get the network service they need, with considerable cost savings.It also provides the foundation to build the IoT applications of the future.3. Make smarter decisionsIoT brings with it big data – and with big data comes


the need for advanced analytics to provide real-time insights.Predictive analysis and reporting functions are vital in enabling enterprises to use big data to build proactive, data-driven, decision making.Analysis of big data can also provide valuable insight into network operations. Predictive network analytics tools delivered alongside network management systems provide reporting utilities that offer detailed network performance indicators. This can be as simple as determining whether a new service or application a business is rolling out will exceed current network capacity, or that every Thursday afternoon the R&D department needs extra bandwidth to support its data heavy processes.By examining this data, enterprises can achieve greater return on investment in their applications, identifying redundant or unpopular features and allow developers to target their resources more effectively.4. A smart network to educate dumb devicesNot every device is smart. Poorly secured smart devices such as smart watches and activity trackers pose a threat to essential network security – as do traditional

‘dumb’ devices such as door locks. Simply monitoring and controlling the flow of packets to and from IoT devices is not enough to guarantee security. A network management system – such as the OmniVista® NMS is essential to provide traffic analytics and regulate control over authorised and unauthorised access. Remote or centralised management enables system administrators to efficiently manage devices and safeguard network integrity and data.All devices right out to the network edge must be made smarter by the network management and the switches on the network.

The converged road to IoTIoT offers the chance for enterprises to deliver compelling new applications and support deployments with millions of endpoints by providing real-time insights that help enterprises capture, understand and make more effective use of device data. But it will also bring new challenges and expectations.The key is one converged network supported by state of the art switches that enable an enterprise to remotely manage, monitor and safeguard all devices, software and data to provide IT departments with in-depth intelligence to make smarter decisions.



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Communication Magazine - Issue 7