5 Benefits of Virtualization Technology

You might already be familiar with virtualization, what it does, and how it is used. For some, however, understanding its benefits is not a familiar topic. Let me share with you several things you can do with virtualization technology.

Project Development

Often times companies will decide to revamp their website. Virtual servers are great places to host websites and other projects as they are being developed. This not only provides a secure space for web developers and others involved to work out the odds and ends, before the final version goes live, but it also ensures that everyone is on the same page with the project.

Training

Virtual environments are great for hosting training programs for specific departments and teams. Here you are able to replicate situations and programs that mimic the real thing, so your teams can get a feel for how they operate. This will also ensure that they don’t mess anything up in the learning process.

Backup

We’ve all been in a situation at some point when “everything was lost”, including all important files and data. Virtualization servers are great places to back everything up. Not only is it a secure solution to data loss, but it’s also one of the easiest ways to restore lost data, because it’s all on one file.

Data Transferring

One of the greatest uses of virtualization is the ability to transfer, or migrate, data from one physical server to another, without any downtime. Why worry about gaining more memory and computing power when you can have limitless capabilities in the virtual environment.

Software Testing

Another great benefit of virtualization is the ability to test out new software before using it on your primary servers. Sometimes software can be corrupted and not having the ability to test them first can mean big trouble for your entire system. With virtual servers, you are able to safely try them out first.

Disclaimer – One thing to consider when using any kind of virtualization program is security. It’s important to use a good firewall to prevent any kind of unauthorized data transferring. Often times it can get difficult to monitor every server that is created and security can become a major issue.

Besides using a good firewall, just make sure everyone is on the same page and people know which servers they are in charge of managing.

There are many great resources on the web that can help you understand how to get the most out of your virtualization tools in a safe and efficient way.

Top Software Innovations for 2013

Most Promising Software Innovations or Products for 2013 While 2013 is still six months away, it’s an interesting time to look at the current state of the market and try to foresee what are going to be the “big deals” in software next year. So here are seven software packages and services that should get a lot of attention. In addition, there are two “gaps” — software innovations that will probably be big, but we haven’t seen any contenders yet.

Business Software

Business software is about content, collaboration, and data. Businesses continue to try to get all their stored documents under control. Additionally, enabling groups to collaborate on single documents or groups of documents will be a high priority. “Big Data” is going to be on the forefront in 2013, and software that makes it easier to work with large amounts of data is going to gain high interest.

Google Docs

Google Docs makes it very easy for a business to post content on the internet, either for public consumption and downloading, or for secure collaboration. In addition Google Docs makes it very easy for any users to work on the same document at the same time. While Google Docs does have some limitations in formatting compared to traditional office software, for most documents, spreadsheets and presentations it’s very capable.

WordPress

WordPress has become the standard for blogging software. Due to the growth of complex themes and plug-ins, it is becoming a contender for the number one software for internet sites in general as well as content management. While it may not make a “big splash” it will continue to generate a steady roar.

Microstrategy and PerformancePoint

Microstrategy is the industry standard for bringing large amounts of structured data under control, and will gain momentum riding on the interest in Big Data. PerformancePoint is part of SharePoint, and the popularity of SharePoint alone may make it a serious contender for business intelligence.

Consumer Software

Consumer software is going to be about mobile and cloud integration. Consumers don’t care if the information they need is “in the cloud” or on their device. They simply want it available when they need it, and they want it easy to share.

Windows Phone

Windows Phone 8 should ship either for Christmas 2012 or in early 2013. Nokia’s investment in the Windows Phone software is helping Windows Phone gain attention and market share. As iPhones become passe and Droid gains a reputation for being “clunky,” the easy integration and usability of the Windows Phone could catapult it into being the top choice for new phones.

Windows 8

Microsoft is investing heavily in the overhaul of the desktop in Windows 8 and the “Metro” interface. Coupled with the new Surface tablet and Windows Phones, Metro will be everywhere. Coupling the unique interface with deep integration with cloud services such as Music and Picutures will make Windows 8 a “must have” upgrade.

Presence

Connecting instant messaging to email to text to Facebook is making where a person is fairly irrelevant to their friends. However, when driving or walking around a city, geographic location is very important for finding your way or finding a restaurant. There are a number of different websites that will return restaurant or movie info based on where you are currently located. In 2013 we’ll see a new breakthrough software that unifies presence the way Facebook unified our online social experience.

Media Management

Streaming media will continue to grow in importance. But if data networks get saturated we could see a consumer pushback on streaming media in favor of digital media files on home entertainment devices or home computers. Hard drives are routinely over 1TB in size, which translates to hundreds of TV shows or movies. The right software that can provide management of these files with show descriptions, actors, and other shows you might like could be the new “Netflix” for the living room.

Top 5 Cloud Services

 

Believe it or not, you have probably been using one form of cloud computing or another for years. Ever emailed a document to yourself so that you could access it on another computer? Well, technically that is cloud computing.

At its heart, cloud computing is no more complicated than this idea, the storage of data online in a remote location to the medium you are accessing it. The information you are accessing could be something as simple as some text, or it could be a complete software program that runs online such as an image or video editing program.

Cloud computing services have a goal of making your life easier, below are a list of the best and the most used cloud computing applications around:

1. iCloud.

iCloud was launched by Apple as a way of keeping all your content up to date across a range of platforms. Apple knew that many people have more than one device to access their media. For example, you would probably use your iMac to browse and listen to iTunes songs, but you are also just as likely to then want to listen to your music on your iPhone. iCloud automatically syncs your files across all your devices so that you don’t have to transfer the files manually. A breeze.

2. Spotify

Spotify has a library of over 15 million songs that you can stream to a device of your choosing. Popular for being one of the first to bring streaming music to the masses and still one of the most popular today.

3. Dropbox

Dropbox was one of the first companies to simplify the process of everyday file storage online. By placing folders on your desktop and other devices, all you have to do is drag and drop files to store them. This will automatically make your files appear in your ‘dropboxes’ on other devices.

4. Netflix & Lovefilm

As bandwidth increases in many areas of the country, more people are able to access video streaming platforms. Sites like Lovefilm and Netflix have taken advantage of the fact that many games consoles offer a portal for the user to connect to the internet and offer apps that stream content though the internet connection shared with the console. Films and T.V instantly!

5. Google Chromebook

Google has taken the approach to cloud computing to new levels by releasing hardware, specifically the Google Chromebook, which relies on its own range of cloud computing applications to do pretty much anything at all!

The Chromebook so far has had a poor reception as I think people are not willing to place their complete trust in a system, whose reliability is still considered fairly weak. But many believe that having everything stored in the cloud is the future. It’s only a matter of time don’t you think?

So, will you be expanding on the number of cloud applications you are using? You have relied for years on your work emails being stored on a hosted exchange server; why not see what else the cloud can do for you?

James Duval is an IT specialist addicted to technology. Solving the worlds I.T issues one at a time, sometimes even two at a time! He currently writes and blogs for Electronic Workplace.