De-distancing remote IM services

Gartner defines global remote monitoring services as the remote monitoring and management of various IT services that are related to infrastructure support from global delivery sites.

What is remote infrastructure management (RIM)?

Remote Infrastructure Management Services (RIMS) is the management of an enterprise’s critical or core IT systems that include data center (comprising messaging and application servers) and network management, end-user desktop services and security (hardware, software, connectivity and people), remotely.

RIMS is driven by factors that include continuous effort by enterprises to enhance service and performance levels and reduce costs, advancements in technology, the spread of low-cost bandwidth and the wider availability of high-speed networks, improved infrastructure efficiency and management; and evolution in offshore capabilities.

Why should enterprises opt for offshoring their IT infrastructure management?

The basic value proposition for RIM is “better service levels at a lower cost”. Customers have begun to enjoy several benefits from RIM. The most significant is reduction in overall infrastructure management costs, almost by 25-45 per cent. They are getting better service and quality, thereby increasing scale and customer satisfaction.

How safe is it to offshore IM services?

Several success stories across industries and functions stand testimony to offshore infrastructure management. Original barriers to off-shoring infrastructure management have been eliminated or reduced largely.

These include:
Processes and tools required to manage infrastructure remotely.
High price, poor performance and instability of international data telecommunications.
Lack of available resources with infrastructure skills at suitable remote locations.
Organizations still accessing results from existing off-shoring initiatives.

Companies are continuously developing intellectual property via integrated tools.
Enhancing operational efficiency via standardized processes.
Driving differentiation through increased service levels.
Building skills and capabilities to scale in profitable service lines.
Exhibiting high transparency and governance.

What is driving the demand for RIM in the present scenario?

There are two-three important things that drive the demand
Advances in RIM capabilities: This is the single largest factor that has made RIM possible. Simplification in enterprise infrastructure architecture, simplification of IT management and governance tools and much improved telecom infrastructure have made the current RIM wave possible.

Changes in customer behaviour : Customers now see a value chain in every component of their infrastructure and are increasingly outsourcing it that way too. They have very specific needs when it comes to network management and a different set of needs when it comes to messaging management and they don’t necessarily think that the same vendor will provide them the best of both services. This is also reflected in decreasing deal sizes despite an increased share of deals being signed by >$10 billion companies.

Customer offshore maturity: Customers are increasingly comfortable with outsourcing their services to a remote location. Infrastructure management works in real-time, and the consequences of an error are more immediate. However, after successfully outsourcing application and BPO services to India and other RIM locations, many more customers would be willing to try RIM.

What are the challenges in this space?

Since talent supply, not demand, will constrain growth, the industry needs to create new talent sources. A concerted branding exercise, which highlights the exciting aspects of working in real-time technology environments, will be required.

There is also a need to address skill gaps through improving relevant curricula in educational institutions and obtaining hardware OEM certification.

While poor urban infrastructure including office space, roads and planned townships and reliability and cost of powers continue to pose challenges to the industry as a whole, RIM services are more vulnerable to these issues.

Given the 24x7 real-time nature of the work, availability and uptime needs of the customers, investments required in physical networking operating centres (NOCs), and disruption of services directly affect service levels.

Compensating for any lack is costlier. In many cases, such disruptions are unacceptable and concerns could prevent migration of sensitive services.

Large legacy outsourcers still work on T&M prices for a majority of their engagements.

From a regulatory standpoint, cyber laws, telecom policies and improved security need to be looked at more stringently.

Cloud computing and its relevance in India

Cloud computing represents a major shift in information technology architecture, sourcing, and services delivery for a given IT organization.

There are three kinds of cloud –
Vendor cloud (External): Cloud computing services from vendors that can be accessed across the Internet or a private network, using systems in one or more data centres, shared among multiple customers, with varying degrees of data privacy control. Sometimes called “public” cloud computing.

Private cloud (Internal): Computing architectures modeled after vendor clouds, yet built, managed, and used internally by an enterprise; uses a shared services model with variable usage of a common pool of virtualized computing resources. Data is controlled within the enterprise.

Hybrid cloud: A mix of vendor cloud services, internal cloud computing architectures, and classic IT infrastructure, forming a hybrid model that uses the best-of-breed technologies to meet specific needs.

SME/MME Sector
Many IT applications and services can be structured and accessed as needed through virtualized architectures, either internally or through service providers. Since there is a possibility to procure the IT services/applications from a third party service provides, Indian SME/MME companies can now avail these.

Hitherto, these enterprise class IT capabilities were only available to large-cap companies as the upfront capital expenditure was not practicable for most of the Indian SME/MMEs. Vendor clouds can now act as a game changer.

Quick startup time; no capital investment required.

In managing in-house applications, enterprise needs to procure license and shell out cash to the implementation providers or maintain enough in-house IT specialists; thus, this constitutes a large part of capital expenditure (CAPEX).

However, in cloud computing, this becomes a recurring monthly license fee and not an upfront investment – thus it becomes a part of OPEX.

Allows outsourcing of noncore functions to a service provider; yet some enterprises may not be ready to turn over control of technical architecture.

Leverage highly scalable vendor infrastructure.

Gain access to best practices which might otherwise be costly to manage in-house.

Lower initial fees, variable costs, billed by usage; however, beware of vendor lock-in.

Vendor can provide best-in-class infrastructure and technology since they obtain economies of scale.

The Cloud and Security Concerns
The most common issue perceived by customers while adopting SaaS is the security/confidentiality of their data as the data resides outside their direct control.

Even SalesForce.com has been hit by high-impact data security issues with clients. These concerns are even more applicable in an Indian context, especially with financial/accounting data.

Some high-profile data security breach has been seen in the recent past, including leak/misuse of financial information of a large British bank and Citibank from some of the leading BPO companies of the country.

Possible solutions may be: 
Enterprises must carefully manage trust, authentication, and authorization to applications and data in the cloud, especially with "cloud to cloud" and "hybrid cloud" inter – application authorizations

Enterprises that manage sensitive information, such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, and patient health information must implement protection measures and policies when using the cloud.

Financial institutions must protect consumers from fraud and identity theft.

Loss of confidential information can result in compliance infractions, lawsuits from customer and/or patients, potential identity theft, and significant harm to an organization’s credibility and reputation.

Compliance standards assurance will be needed: SAS70, ISO27001, SysTrust.

Enterprises need incident and breach response policies for cloud computing.

Records management and eDiscovery implications must be considered.

Portfolio Management and Data Governance requirements.

Looking at the above, it might be a good idea to put certain applications/data stores on the cloud and manage the rest in-house.

Types of information that must be closely managed when using vendor cloud service providers include:
Personal information
Patent or trade secret
Customer information
Corporate information
Medical information
Financial information
Other sensitive information

No matter what the technology, enterprises need to adequately protect data throughout its life cycle in the enterprise and into the cloud.

3G or 4G : The race is not about speed but reach

Bridging the last mile broadband connectivity gap seems to be the latest craze among Indian telcos. No one, not especially the giants of the the likes which include Bharti, Vodafone, Reliance Communications (RCom) and Tatas, wants to be left behind. They want to try their hands on every technology they can afford to.

Gone are the days of dial-up connections, where one used to get an Internet connectivity speed of up-to 56 Kbps, that too over a wireline. Today one talks of megabits over kilobits, and that too over wireless connection, for data, voice and text.

Be it LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), 3G (Third Generation)or WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), the wireless future of India shines bright.

On one hand, where the second generation of communication technology, 2G/2.5G, is set to give way for the third generation (3G). On the other, 4G technologies, such as LTE (the surprise factor of the BWA spectrum) and WiMAX, have also booked themselves a berth in India's race for wireless networks. Not to be left behind is WiFi, one of the longest serving wireless technologies in India today.

Theoretically, WiFi (IEEE 802.11g) can transmit up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps), whereas, WiMAX ((IEEE 802.16e) can provide a speed of up to 70 megabits per second. LTE allows a peak download speed of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on mobile phones, whereas, 3G will provide up to 20Mbps.

Considering the advanced versions of these technologies, Wireless N ((IEEE 802.11n) of WiFi, which will be rolled out this year, is said to give a speed of 300 Mbps, whereas, WiMAX 2.0, (IEEE 802.16m) will provide a throughput of over 350+ Mbps. Now coming to LTE, both Rel 10 and Advanced are said to give much more speed than its predecessor.

So, among these technology siblings, who will win the race?

Sudarshan Boosupalli, country head, Ruckus Wireless, notes: “All technologies will co-exist. Today, the question is not about speed, but who will reach the market first and how affordable will their technology be for masses.”

Along with affordability, subscribers also seek reliability, that of network and service. We are all very well aware of slow Internet and dropping calls, irrespective of service providers. So if the same gets repeated over 3G, it will seriously damage the 2G successor's traction into the market.

Today India needs better coverage, which means better RF management, cellular network, towers etc. Thus, there will be a huge disappointment with 3G during the early commercial deployment. Lack of subscribers will make service providers unhappy with the 3G revenue and lack of proper coverage will make subscribers unhappy with the service.

Another factor that will decide the fate of a technology is the cost factor, especially when technologists vouch for rural connectivity as the major drive behind the success of wireless technologies. India, owing  to its high price sensitive nature, has one of the lowest call tariffs than anywhere else in the world. Moreover, a smartphone comes for a few hundred bucks in gray markets, which resulted in a major setback for many of the great handset makers in India and forced them to go back to their marketing and pricing strategies and take a re-look. The same applies to 3G and 4G technologies as well.

If the prices are too high, people are not going to use the services. For India, 2.5G and 3G are good solutions for next five-ten years. The reason being simple - cost effective services. With regard to LTE, the equipment cost will be very high.

Although WiMAX Forum claims that there are over 300 WiMAX embedded devices in the market and yet more are under production, the pricing strategy is not yet very clear. On the other hand, Qualcomm assures that LTE modems already exist in the market and handsets are expected next year. And similar to WiMAX's case here too the pricing strategy is very vague, since the bids are only happening right now.

Though Intel assures that WIMAX embedded handset prices will be cheaper and on a par with 3G, it will take some more time for the market to come to a consensus in terms of pricing. Moreover, it goes without saying that apprehension over high price of 3G and 4G technologies is not far from truth.

How many clients laptops, mobile phones, have WiMAX chips embedded on them. Whereas, almost all devices have WiFi chips on it. So it makes sense to have a WiFi embedded device, whereas, it is also considerable to have a WiMAX chip in the backhaul, to sort out traffic. If ever so, cost of WiMAX chip is very high today.

Boosupalli further adds that in a country like India, which doesn't have enough copper or fiber networks, it is a tedious job to dig and put cables across the country.

However, with WiFi one doesn't need spectrum or cables. So, as long as you get good speed, you don't think what is the technology that is going at the back end. A study on WiMAX and WiFi deployments finds that WIFi can be rolled out at one-fifth of the cost of the former

Maybe, eventually, the cost of every technology will come down, similar to what happened in Japan, one of first markets to roll out 3G. Since the deployment of 3G services in 2003-04, the cost of 3G handsets and infrastructure has declined significantly in Japan.

However, at that point, what needs to be looked at is whether there will be any other better and affordable technology coming in at that time

Facebook Adds Remote Logout Security - A New Security Feature

This new security feature allows users log out of their accounts remotely from another computer.

With this new security feature, Facebook expects to address the problem that many of the PC users who forget to log out of their account.

The feature is currently rolling out to the more than 500 million users gradually and it may take a couple of weeks before it becomes available to everyone.

The feature consists of a new “Account Activity” chart divided into two categories – “Most Recent Activity” and “Also Active.” While 'Most Recent Activity' shows the last device where a user logged in from, 'Also Active' shows other devices where a users is logged in simultaneously. From there, a user can choose to “end activity” on any active session.

To do this, go to "account settings" on your Facebook page and click on "change" next to "account security." There, you'll see where else your Facebook account is logged in, including the type of device and the city it's in or near. To log out of any of them, click "end activity."

The Most Dangerous Jobs in Technology

In the world of information technology, some professions are particularly perilous. Whether you’re risking psychological stress or your very life, these fields aren’t for the faint of heart. Some people in these roles thrive on adrenaline, climbing thousands of feet to fix communications towers. Others risk only emotional damage, getting paid to consume disturbing Internet content.

1. Internet Content Moderation

Now imagine viewing the stuff that nightmares are made of--hate crimes, torture, child abuse--in living color, from 9 to 5 every day. That's the work of Internet content moderators, who get paid to filter out that kind of material so you don't have to see it pop up on a social network or photo-sharing site. Demand for the work is growing, especially as more Web-based services enable users to post pictures instantly from their mobile devices.

2. Electronics Assembly

Safety nets around the dorms of an electronics factory in Shenzen, China, are a grim reminder that ten employees have jumped to their death there. A 25-year-old employee who later committed suicide reportedly had been beaten at the Hon Hai plant after losing a prototype iPhone 4 last year.
Recall the frenzy, hoopla, and lines around the block at the launch of Apple's latest smartphone, and you can imagine the deadline pressure for the people assembling it. Foxconn, which makes iPhones, iPads, and other electronics from Apple, Dell, and HP, has been accused of fostering "sweatshop" conditions. However complex the chain of events leading to suicide may be, human-rights groups have criticized Foxconn and other manufacturers for creating an unbearable, pressure-cooker environment for workers, mostly young migrants from rural areas.
In light of the suicides, the company has raised wages, promised psychological testing for employees, and tried to boost morale with rallies. Foxconn plans to increase its workforce of more than 900,000 to 1.3 million in the next year.
Psychological pressure isn't the only rough condition reported in electronics factories, though. Labor and human-rights organizations also charge that workers testing microchips and assembling LCDs for Samsung were exposed to radiation that caused cancer.

3. Fixing Undersea Internet Cables

Cables that span the oceans keep people connected online across continents. Contrary to popular belief, it's hard connections such as these--not satellites in space--that provide more than 99 percent of the world's Internet connectivity. Someone has to lay and fix those cables when an undersea earthquake or errant anchor cuts off the data flow.
 
The crew of the vessel 'Pacific Guardian' recovers a cable for repair to restore telecom links across the Atlantic. Credit: Global Marine Systems
About 70 vessels around the world are tasked with fiber-optics installation and repairs. Some are on call around the clock. Each has a crew of about 50 people, including cable-installation engineers and controllers of remote-operated vehicles, who spend weeks or months at sea.
Robots rather than human divers lay and bury cables in the seabed as deep as 16,000 feet below the water's surface, but it takes the human hands on deck to haul in, repair, and drop heavy cables. Though they wear rubber gloves, in a worst-case scenario a cable operating with 10,000 volts could become energized. And looking straight into the lasers of a sliced cable can burn out your retinas in a matter of seconds.
As with fishing--perhaps the deadliest profession--this job carries the risk of encountering "acts of God" on the sea. Members of the crew are also prone to slips, trips, and falls on wet decks.

4. Communications-Tower Climbing

Close to 11,000 people install and fix the communications towers that keep our mobile calls connected. In 2006, 18 of them died on the job.The head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2008 called cell-phone-tower climbing the most dangerous work in America.


 
Communications towers can reach 2000 feet high. 
The industry has made improvements, but any work at extreme heights involves the risk of a fall. Fatalities tend to happen when workers don't use the right safety gear, or when they disconnect just for a moment. When a person is positioned 30 to 2000 feet in the air, such shortcuts can make routine tasks--such as testing an antenna--deadly. Accidents can happen even when the employee takes precautions; a tower can weaken at its base and fall, for instance, or a lanyard can break from a safety harness.
Amid a construction boom to make way for 3G and 4G wireless networks, Lekutis estimates, there are a quarter of a million communications towers--and rising.

5. Unregulated E-Waste Recycling

When you send an old computer or CRT monitor off for recycling, chances are it will wind up in a junkyard halfway around the world rather than being dismantled safely nearby. Used hardware from the industrialized world often travels thousands of miles to developing parts of Asia and Africa.

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Workers at this e-waste processing center in Bangalore, India, have more protection than others. Credit: Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
People hoping to earn a dollar a day collect machines and smash them with crude tools to strip gold, silver, and other precious metals out of circuit boards. They may come into dangerous contact with lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants. Some are exposed to more chemical harm by soaking circuit boards in acid, or burning PVC cabling to retrieve copper.
In addition, inmates in some U.S. prisons are exposed to the same toxic substances in e-waste recycling operations, earning from a nickel to $1.25 an hour.

6. Mining 'Conflict Minerals'

The eastern Congo is rich in the key ingredients that keep electronics ticking. The area holds tantalum for use in capacitors, tin for circuit-board solder, tungsten to make cell phones vibrate, and gold for connecting components. Despite such natural wealth, tens of thousands (or, by some estimates, hundreds of thousands) of people work in appalling conditions to extract those materials.
"It's analogous to blood diamonds. You get a bunch of people digging in river streams by hand. Some are carving out a mountain literally. When I went out to the mines, I met many children as young as 11 years old. There were military commanders with AK-47s easily extracting money from everyone who mines."
Armed Congolese groups earn about $180 million each year in this trade, while the majority of the people live in poverty. Smugglers take $1 billion in materials out of the country every year, according to the Congolese government.
No tech company has been able to audit and certify that all of its products are "conflict-free," but some--including Intel and Motorola--are taking steps in that direction.

7. Infrastructure Work in War Zones

A dangerous job in peacetime is one thing, but try focusing on a task when you're the potential target for a sniper or a bomb. Whether building communications infrastructure for civilians or military operations, military personnel and private contractors in the conflict zones of Iraq and Afghanistan risk their lives on a regular basis.
It's unclear exactly how many people doing IT-related work have lost their lives among the 4734 Coalition military deaths in Iraq since 2003, and the 2061 dead in Operation Enduring Freedom since 2001 so far, as counted on the independent iCasualties Website.
According to a count conducted in September 2009, at least three telecommunications engineers are among the 533 foreign private contractors who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the conflict there. Two telecom engineers are among the 146 private foreign contractors who have perished in Afghanistan.

How can I get better data on my competitors?

Join professional groups, attend trade shows and subscribe to industry publications. Such organizations often publish surveys and trend reports that will give you insights on what others in your field are doing.But don't spend too much time studying your competition when you should be focusing on your customers. Customers are looking for companies that solve their problems or give them what they want.

Enabling Mobile access to Enterprise Applications

Introduction 
          In today's world, the mobile phone is the most widely-used electronic device on the planet. Mobile has become a prominent mode of effective communication for organizations. More and more enterprise applications are thus mobile enabled to improve the execution of day-to-day business activities.
          The growth of mobility-enabled applications is driven essentially by the same factors that are driving IT and business process change, namely the need to be more responsive, optimize the efficiency of staff resources, and shorten the cycle time of key processes throughout their value chain. Although mobile applications have been for the most part about pushing information out into the field, less customer-centric applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) will more likely promote process optimization in areas such as production planning, inventory management, and logistics by bringing in and incorporating information from the field faster.
           Although the use of mobile technology has clearly begun to take hold for industry specific applications, enterprises that seek to capitalize on it must overcome a series of challenges.

Challenges 
       The following are some of the challenges in mobile enabling enterprise applications:

• Incompatibility between mobile phone platforms and the target application’s platform 
• Look and feel needs to be consistent across channels for ease of use
• Data security risks

       The drivers and patterns of mobile application adoption vary across industries, but organizations have started to apply mobile technology to those processes where the integration of real-time information can drastically improve process quality. The seamless integration of enterprise applications with mobile devices is described below.

Solution 
         Mobile application development is the process by which applications are developed for hand held devices such as PDAs or mobile phones. These applications are installed in the user’s hand held device. These applications can communicate to enterprise application and serve necessary information to the users.      
          Enterprise applications can be mobile enabled by creating a web service that would communicate to enterprise database and serve data to mobile device. Data transfer between the application system and mobile devices can be achieved by either using Push or Pull technology.


Benefits 
          The mobile enabling of enterprise applications has the ability to transform the fundamental business processes relying on them. The agents of this transformation include alert-based automation, improved data transparency throughout the process cycle, and improved efficiency.

Some of the other benefits are given below:

• Provide users with access to real time data views and reports
• Minimize user training by retaining the look and feel of the original application
• Manage mobile assets effectively and reduce overhead expenses
• Offer opportunities to provide greater flexibility to an organization’s workforce
• Improve employee response time
• More accurate billing and reduced paperwork