Sir Tim Berners-Lee shares vision for big data

By on November 19, 2013 in Blog, General

The inventor of the web has claimed that society is on the cusp of a revolution, thanks to big data.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man responsible for the concept of the World Wide Web, has called on companies and governments around the world to open up their data.

The pioneer and director of the World Wide Web Foundation said that the United Kingdom was leading the way with its open data policies and called for other governments to follow suit.

The result, he said, would help to accelerate industries, make companies more efficient, fight poverty and increase innovation.

[themecolor]UK leads the way as only 1 in 10 honour pledges[/themecolor]

Speaking at the Open Government Partnership Summit, Berners-Lee said the only one in ten countries had delivered on pledges to open up data.

“It is important that efforts to open up data and information are meaningful and lead to real change,” Berners-Lee said.

“Governments and companies must not shy away from publishing contentious datasets if they contain information that could be used to dramatically improve people’s lives,” he added.

In a recent Data Barometer report, the UK, US, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark and Norway all scored the highest marks for their open data policies.

Quoted by telegraph.co.uk, the inventor of the Internet shared his vision for a much more autonomised future.

“You’ll see companies more and more operate through computers. So they’ll do their buying for instance through computers, because the data will be available for both buyer and seller, rather than with humans,” said Berners-Lee.

While this is already the case to some extent, Berners-Lee believes that as data becomes more open and more accessible, the elements of human interaction will be altogether removed.

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End of the line for SBS and XP

By on November 19, 2013 in Blog, Cloud computing, Microsoft, Product releases

Microsoft has announced the withdrawal of support for some of its most popular and long-serving products, including Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) 2003, Windows XP SP3 and Office 2003.

April 2014 has been set as the cut-off, which leaves five short months for UK businesses to consider their options. Of course, the ‘Millennium Bug’ taught us that systems are unlikely to simply fail from one day to the next. But firms are being reminded not to underestimate the risks associated with running ‘end of life’ software.

After the April 2014 deadline, Microsoft will stop issuing updates and online technical assistance for these products, leaving networks open to attack by cyber criminals who will be looking to exploit this lack of protection.

Support for application software such as accounts packages and CRM products may also be invalidated by running obsolete operating systems.

[themecolor]What are the upgrade options?[/themecolor]

Recent polls reveal that Windows XP still boasts up to 21% of the desktop market but UK businesses will soon need to call time on this workhorse operating system. Replacement options include Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, the second incarnation of Microsoft’s latest operating system, which was released last month.

On the server front, Microsoft is keen to push smaller companies towards its cloud offering when Small Business Server 2011 is withdrawn from sale later this month.

Unlike SBS 2011, its successor, Windows Server 2012 Essentials, which can serve up to 25 users, does not include Exchange as part of the suite. Instead it requires either a connection to hosted Exchange or the purchase of a separate Exchange license which may also mean investing in an additional dedicated server.

Organisations looking to upgrade from Office 2003 have a range of licencing options at their disposal including Office 365, Microsoft’s fast-growing cloud computing solution.

With so many changes underway and so many choices on the table, one thing remains clear: If you are running any of the products due to become obsolete next April, now is the time to be discussing upgrade options with us.

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M2 welcomes new members to the team

By on November 19, 2013 in Blog, Company news

We are pleased to announce the new arrival of Tanya Haeffele, General Manager and Sue Kemp, Marketing Manager, joining M2 Computing this month.

Tanya Haeffele joins us as General Manager on a full time basis to focus on M2 Computing operations and management. Tanya has enjoyed a successful career in operations management in the IT and communications industry and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Outside of the office Tanya is a keen Dressage rider, owning 3 horses, and also has an avid interest in fitness and electronic dance music.

Sue Kemp has also come on board as Marketing Manager on a part time basis to enable us to launch a new brand identity and run our marketing activities more effectively. Sue comes from a strong IT/Telecoms Marketing background bringing experience from Nokia, Samsung and IBM. At present, she spends most of her spare time dressing up as princesses with her two young daughters.

Greg Roffe, Managing Director comments ‘We are very pleased to have Tanya and Sue on board to help facilitate our business plans for the coming years.’

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Watch this white space – coping with the ‘Internet of Everything’

By on October 11, 2013 in Blog, Internet, New technology

Britain is to become one of the first countries in the world to trial white space technology, an initiative which it is hoped will help free up some much needed space for an ever increasing number of connected devices.

The electromagnetic spectrum is a finite resource which is quickly being consumed by the huge demands on wireless connectivity. White space technology seeks to utilise the gaps between frequency bands reserved for other technologies, making use of previously untapped spectrum.

These waves can travel much further than technologies such as Wi-Fi due to their lower frequency, similar to those used for television.

Coping with ‘The Internet of Everything’

According to ofcom.org.uk, one significant impact on the spectrum will be the ‘Internet of Everything’ – a concept that not just phones and computers but an increasing number of other objects such as home fridges and hospital equipment will soon require internet connections of their own. For this reason, Ofcom is keen to get the technology up and running as soon as possible.

The plan is to trial the technology over the next six months across a variety of different applications and with the help of approximately 20 private and public companies.

Microsoft will trial free Wi-Fi in Glasgow, while internet service provider Clock4internet will use white space to provide broadband to remote locations.

BT and Neul will be trialling a new traffic information system while Google has said that it will be exploring intelligent databases in order to ensure white spaces do not interfere with other wireless devices.

“In the future it won’t be just mobiles and tablets that are connected to the internet; billions of other things including cars, crops, coffee machines and cardiac monitors will also be connected,” said Steve Ugner, CTO of Ofcom.

“This is likely to deliver large benefits to society; however there isn’t an unlimited supply of spectrum to meet this extraordinary demand. This is why we need to explore new ways of unlocking the potential of spectrum,” he added.

According to some reports, Ofcom hopes to be able to move this technology into the mainstream sometime next year.

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Businesses reminded of demand for email communication

By on October 11, 2013 in Blog, Productivity, Social networking

When it comes to client communication, it seems some businesses are shifting their attention away from email and towards new social media – a strategy that may be a little premature.

As the expansion of Twitter, Facebook and other social networks gathers pace, a recent survey of Call Centre Association members suggested that email is being treated by some as a ‘second-class service’.

The poll, which examined customer service levels, concluded that 59 percent of organisations took longer than one working day (8 hours) to provide a response via email with over one quarter (26.5 percent) taking longer than 24 hours. Meanwhile other research reveals an average response time of 5.1 hours via Twitter.

Of course, slow response rates risk customer disaffection, or even defection, and damage to brand reputation is another real possibility – especially when customers turn to social media to vent their frustration.

So how do YOU prefer to communicate?

Ask yourself which medium you would generally choose to communicate with your own clients and suppliers and the problem may become clearer.

You see, according to KANA Software, the company that conducted this research, the most common channel for making a complaint is email (42 percent) closely followed by the phone (36 percent).

So whilst some analysts assume clients are gradually switching all communication towards new social media, the reality is that many still want to use email and are doing so in huge numbers.

Horses for courses

Now nobody is suggesting you abandon your social media usage altogether. Twitter and Facebook are playing a vital role for many businesses looking to optimise websites or launch viral marketing campaigns and they do provide exciting new ways to interact with clients and prospects.

But whilst social media usage continues to grow, it is also being predicted that the number of email accounts will rise from the 4.1 billion we saw in 2011 to 5.1 billion in 2015. It seems email is still alive in kicking in 2013 or as Steven Thurlow, head of product strategy for KANA Software, puts it:

“Social customer service is very much the ‘now,’ yet the vast majority of customers still, and will for the foreseeable future, chose to interact with organisations via email. It need not become a second-class citizen to more modern digital channels but, rather, email can fill a dedicated role within robust and highly responsive customer service strategies.”

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Wi-Fi hotspot connections to become simpler and more secure

By on October 11, 2013 in Blog, Internet, Mobile devices, New technology

If you’ve ever worried about the security implications of connecting your mobile device to the web in a coffee shop or airport lounge, you’ll be interested to learn that a new generation of Wi-Fi hotspots is moving ever closer.

The Wi-Fi Alliance’s new Passpoint program will increase the security of public hotspots and make accessing the internet much easier, promises this organisation’s CEO, Edgar Figueroa.

Figueroa commented: “Today, for the most part, when we go on a public hotspot we are sending data without protection. With Passpoint the connections are secure and the communication is encrypted.”

Not only does the new specification encrypt communications, it will also allow for devices to seamlessly pass between the cellular network and Wi-Fi hotspots. Users will no longer need to manually connect to hotspots since this process will happen automatically, with the device being authenticated via the SIM.

This initiative is being spearheaded by both the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is working on specifications for devices and the Wireless Broadband Alliance, which is developing the infrastructure.

New specification should be ready in 2014

The seamless connectivity technology will also allow mobile service providers (MSPs) to offload users’ data onto local wireless networks, freeing up much needed spectrum for core services. It is for this reason that MSPs are quickly striking up new relationships with Wi-Fi providers and expanding their Wi-Fi footprints.

“The beauty of Passpoint is that the whole industry has agreed to do it this way. More than 70 [devices] have been certified,” Figueroa told pcworld.com.

Around 70 of the top MSPs across the globe have also signed up to the program and trials are currently underway. Their plan is to have this new specification ready for next year.

According to wballiance.com, ‘this could perhaps be the single biggest step towards universal data connectivity since the advent of WAP, GPRS and subsequent mobile data standards’.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has also approved the WiGig program, which is capable of gigabit speeds but only over very short distances. The technology, which operates on the 60 GHz frequency, also requires a clean line of sight to work effectively.

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What does it mean to ‘Sign in using Facebook’?

By on October 8, 2013 in Blog, Internet, Social networking

You may have seen an option on certain websites to ‘sign in using your Facebook account’ and wondered what this means and how it might affect your privacy. Well, now might be a good time to find out as you could be seeing more of this in the future.

In August of this year, Facebook posted that its login process had been integrated with 81 of the top 100 grossing iOS apps and 62 of the top 100 grossing Android apps. So what does this mean and how safe is it to log into another site using Facebook?

The benefits of logging in via Facebook

Facebook argues that instead of having to remember strong passwords to all the sites you use, life is much simpler if you use a common and secure credential such as your Facebook login. This sign up mechanism also avoids having to fill out time-consuming forms when registering with a new site. And so, the practice of authentication via third-party is becoming more and more popular.

Of course, it you do choose to login using your Facebook password, you would be well advised to consider how ‘strong’ your Facebook login actually is and whether you are comfortable using it to access multiple sites. After all, you are essentially putting all your logins in one basket.

Facebook calls it ‘Instant Personalization’. In their words, logging into a website via an integrated Facebook login provides a ‘social and personalized experience’. But whilst it may save time if your profile picture and details can be automatically used for each new site, it does also means you can be targeted with relevant advertising and promotions. We’ll let you decide whether that is a benefit or not!

Another potential attraction for the user (but let’s face it, probably even more so for the company whose app you are using) is that, by logging in via your Facebook account, you will be able to see friends of yours who are already logged in with their accounts – and they can see you too. This kind of integration makes it easier for site visitors to share content – which provides brands with free word-of-mouth advertising.

Restrictions on how your information can be used

Thankfully, there are restrictions on how these sites can use your information (visit The Facebook Platform Policies to find out more.

For example, if you have already blocked a user on Facebook, they will not be able to see you on a new site you’ve logged into with your FB credentials. What’s more, when other users log into a website, those users will not be able to see information you’ve added through Facebook that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see simply by browsing Facebook. Remember, you can decide what types of information your friends’ apps can access from the Apps > Apps others use section on the Privacy Settings page.

How safe is it to log in via Facebook?

So how will you know what will be shared with your friends when you use the Facebook login? Websites and mobile apps that use Facebook Login must now ask separately for permission to access your profile information to log in or sign up or share activities back to Facebook.

This allows you to skip sharing altogether should you wish but there is also an option to choose the audience you share to, whether it be to Friends, Only Me or a custom audience. This gives you more control over how and when you choose to share app activities back to Facebook. Facebook also makes it clear in its help section under ‘Facebook on other sites’ that if you sign up using Facebook and the site you are visiting asks for additional information, that information will not be published back to Facebook, and Facebook doesn’t store any data without your explicit permission.

Making sure it’s not a phishing attempt

If you are prompted to log in to a web site or app with Facebook then they should be using the Facebook Platform and as such ought to be following the Facebook Platform Policies alluded to above. But Facebook also warns against the potential for phishing attacks.

It states: ‘You should make sure that clicking on the Login button opens in a separate browser pop-up window, and that the Web address for the pop-up contains the proper “www.facebook.com” domain. If it does, you’ll know that it’s a legitimate Facebook page and not a phishing attempt, and you can log in safely and securely’

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Windows 8.1 release set to boost business confidence

By on October 8, 2013 in Blog, Microsoft, New technology

Windows 7 continues to outsell Windows 8. Whilst new figures show a rapid reduction in Windows XP usage over the third quarter of 2013, rather than this having a positive impact on the sales of Microsoft’s latest product, it seems customers are still opting to run their machines on its predecessor instead.

Infoworld.com says that while Windows 8 increased its total share of the market by 0.61 per cent during this period, hitting 8.02 per cent, Windows 7 grew by an even higher 0.8 per cent, reaching 46.3 per cent of the market.

The anticipation of Windows 8.1

So what’s going on? Well, historically, all Microsoft operating systems have had to be patient as public confidence in them grew. But there might just be an extra factor at play this time around.

Before considering any wholesale migration, businesses have traditionally chosen to await the first service pack of a new operating system, in which all initial bugs and reported insecurities are resolved. However, rarely has there been such anticipation for the release of a service pack.

In fact, with Windows 8, such was the level of debate surrounding new desktop layouts and, in particular, the demise of the Windows Start Button, Microsoft stopped talking about service packs and spoke instead of a new ‘version’ – Windows 8.1 (formally known as Windows Blue) which is due for release this month.

Microsoft will certainly be hoping this latest version, which will be free to existing Windows 8 users and available to retail customers by the end of October 13, will provide a boost to sales. Windows 8 experienced its biggest leap back in August when it grew its usage by 2.01 per cent, but this momentum now seems to have dried up.

Some of this growth will have stemmed from a decline in sales for Windows XP, which dropped by 2.25 to hold 31.4 per cent of the market. This figure is expected to slump even further when Microsoft stops issuing patches and updates for the product in April 2014.

If your business is considering an upgrade to Microsoft’s latest Windows 8.1 operating system, please speak to us about the possible business benefits.

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How long would it take to restore your data?

By on September 11, 2013 in Blog, Security, Tips & tricks

Your backup solution is vital in ensuring your business can continue to function should a crisis befall your systems. But do you know how long it would take to get back up and running if the worst happened?

When it comes to disaster recover, many companies still have no discernible plan and, even those who run a nightly backup, are often unclear as to how long it might take to restore their data if ever this became necessary.

For example, in the case of a server crash where a tape backup is the only safeguard in place, it is not uncommon for the process to take several days, which is why it is important to understand the nature of your backup before things go wrong.

A common cause of confusion is the difference between backup software and imaging software, so we thought a simple explanation of the difference between these two technologies might be useful.

Backup versus imaging software

Backup software generally copies just your files to tape or disk. Many businesses opt for this method as a means of replicating data to keep it offsite, secure from the risks of fire and any other type of physical damage. It’s a fast and cost-effective solution for companies whose primary concern is safeguarding their information.

But if your priority is to get your entire system back up and running as quickly as possible in the wake of a system crash, backup software alone may not be the right option. Since it only copies data, your operating system and all of your software applications would first need to be reinstalled on the new hardware before your backup could be restored. By the time customised settings and preferences are factored in, it could be days before your system is running as it was before.

“By the time customised settings and preferences are factored in, it could be days before your system is running as it was before”

On the other hand, imaging software offers a different solution which can make the disaster recovery process much faster. By taking incremental snapshots of your hard drive, your entire system – data and all – is replicated at regular intervals. Naturally, imaging solutions are more expensive and your investment decision should ultimately be a trade-off between cost and the downtime your business can sustain following a disaster.

The most important thing is that you are clear on the system you are running and the likely timescales and sequence of events that would be necessary should you ever need to restore your data.

All of M2’s management and support contracts have local imaged server backups included as standard. This helps M2 deliver rapid system restores along with hot swap server equipment.

Advanced system imaging and instant virtualisation – The appliance

M2 also deploys a more advanced imaged based backup appliance solution, which not only images the systems locally every 15 mins, it also transfers the images to a secure offsite cloud ready for use in the event of a major disaster. The servers can literally be turned on in the cloud and continue to function as if nothing had happened. This solution offers all businesses with a simple, yet serious level of disaster recovery and allows the business to continue accessing services like emails or the accounts system whilst the business recovers from the disaster.

“The servers can literally be turned on in the cloud and continue to function as if nothing had happened”

Conclusion: Save money, save time, save your business. Develop a solid IT disaster recovery plan. No business is invulnerable to IT disasters, but speedy recovery due to a well-crafted IT disaster recovery solution is expected by today’s ever demanding customers.

Too many businesses fail because they were ill-prepared for an IT disaster, even when a simple solution like online backup could have easily saved them. If your business hasn’t thought about developing an IT disaster recovery plan yet, it should be on the top of your list of priorities. Your business and customers demand it.

Find out more

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss any aspect of your backup or business continuity planning.

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5 ways to tidy up your PC

By on September 11, 2013 in Blog, Productivity, Tips & tricks

A good worker is a tidy worker but, let’s be honest, most of us have a lot of clutter on our computers that could ending up affecting productivity if left unchecked. So this month, we show you 5 simple ways to stay on top of things.

So where do you begin?

Rather than tidying up and deleting what you don’t need as you go along, you’ve left it until your hard drive is bulging at the seams and now you have a mammoth task on your hands to free up some space.

But you need to be savvy about what you delete. Just randomly getting rid of stuff is not going to do the job properly. You want to suss out what is taking up the most amount of space, identify what is worth deleting and ensure you aren’t going to do any harm to the system.

Carrying out the following procedure every few months should help keep your PC a little tidier.

1. Analyse your disk space

First things first. You need to look at your disk(s) to identify what is taking up the most room. Deleting the big hoggers of space first will mean you can free up as much space as possible in the least amount of time. This is also a great way of looking at what files you have – there may be quite a few you’d forgotten were even there.

2. Get rid of temporary files

Temporary files can be deleted without fear of doing any harm. As their name suggests, they are only ever useful in the short term, being used during program installations and by browsers for caching purposes.

3. Delete duplicate files

Many of us end up with multiple versions of files, having downloaded them more than once, or inadvertently saving them to different locations. If these are big, they could be eating up a fair amount of space unnecessarily. There are numerous tools out there that can be used to identify
duplicate files.

4. Find storage space in the cloud

Cloud technology has been big news in recent years and you can use it to store files, releasing space on your local hard drive. There are a number of services you could use – Dropbox and Microsoft SkyDrive being two of the better known – and working in this way can offer other advantages such as the ability to access your data from various devices.

5. Uninstall Programs

Another way to save space is to remove software you haven’t used in ages. If you’re not using it, get rid of it – but before you do, make sure you have a means of re-installing should you ever need those programs again.

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