VOLUME 20: Table of Contents
COVER STORY
Virtualisation: Key to Dynamic IT
Virtualisation offers clear advantages when it comes to storage, server and desktop virtualisation. Servers, desktops and storage can be consolidated easily and reduce energy, costs associated with new hardware, storage and management overhead. Benefits are clear especially for those managing complex data centres. Virtualisation holds the key to more efficient deployment of IT resources and higher productivity.
INTERVIEW
Large Fish In a Small Pond: Q&A with Harry DEbes, CEO Lawson Software
In the hotly contested Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market in Asia Pacifi c where celebrated companies such as SAP and Oracle are the bellwethers, competes a company whose name is almost alien to many. Lawson software, who although might have little known presence in Asia but has some 30 years of experience as a global player, prides itself as being a major ERP player in the midmarket sector. With its recent acquisition of Intentia, Lawson is now the third top ERP vendor in size and according to a recent study done by Aberdeen Group, the software provides the most value for money to mid-size manufacturing companies. However, now the “big boys” want to play in the midmarket playground, threatening to shake the comfortable niche Lawson has carved for itself and where it’s a leader at to the core. But Lawson’s CEO Harry Debes is unfazed. In fact he seems to be looking forward to it! SDA Asia sits down with Debes to find out exactly how Lawson plans to tackle the “big boys” of ERP whilst at the same time increase its presence in Asia Pacifi c and maintain a competitive edge.
CIO WATCH
Focusing Data Security Beyond Threat Prevention and the Network
With the need to increase data security today, it has created a new and broad set of challenges for the IT team and for key security executives like the Chief Information Offi cer (CIO) and Chief Security Offi cer (CSO). The ability of an organization to protect and verify the security of its valuable information will be a critical success factor in the future. This article will examine the trends driving requirements for data security today. The challenge for the IT team is to ensure that they derive the business benefi ts delivered by a strategic security strategy.
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: IT IN TELECOM
Evolution not Revolution
Organisations today depend on instantaneous communication between geographically dispersed departments. If departments cannot communicate, businesses cannot operate – or at least not to optimum performance. When building global business operations, organisations face new challenges that can seem daunting. Developing an effective supporting infrastructure is often the key concern. However, this must be approached in the context of the wider, global business environment and, more importantly, the challenge of running seamless 24/7 global operations in different locations and time zones.
The Emerging Broader Market Opportunity
Even now, in their relative infancy, mapping applications continue to enjoy strong rates of adoption and growing momentum across numerous consumer demographics. Most prominently, with their ability to assist drivers in reaching destinations safely and accurately, invehicle navigation systems are quickly becoming a must-have option in more vehicle categories than ever. But it’s possible that the use of maps on increasingly powerful consumer electronics devices – such as dedicated “personal navigation” (PNAV) devices or GPS-enabled cell phones – could drive even faster rates of market growth among broader segments of consumers. There are several practical factors bringing the market to wireless maps and mobile mapping applications.
Essential Steps to Wireless Freedom
Wireless has been the buzzword of recent years. Consumers, companies, and even whole cities, are converting in droves to enjoy the promise of “wireless freedom.” Adoption rates may vary and standards may differ, but one thing is for certain: wireless technologies are here to stay. The advantages are clearly transparent. Adopting wireless solutions cuts the unsightly and unwieldy cords, giving users freedom to do what they want, and where they want.
Secure Mobile Access Using SSL VPNs
The ways that mobile and remote workers are accessing corporate resources continue to expand. Remote access used to consist mostly of dial-up connections. Now, remote access encompasses a wide range of networking options, including home networks, public Wi-Fi networks, and 3G cellular networks. At the same time whilst network connectivity options are increasing, the types of mobile devices used for access are expanding as well. Company-issued laptop computers were once the primary means of remote access, but now workers also want access to corporate resources from home systems, public terminals, and a variety of mobile devices, such as wireless PDAs and smartphones. Although organizations provide many such devices for their employees, it has become common for individual users to purchase their own mobile devices for both business and personal use.
Unified Communications – Freedom to Further Productivity & Profitability
Many organizations recognize that communication is the lifeline of a business and that a well integrated, intelligent communications strategy will differentiate the leaders from the pack. As a result, an increasing number of Asia Pacifi c organizations are embedding intelligent communication applications into their mission-critical processes to profoundly transform their businesses and achieve the next quantum leap in productivity improvement and profitability. Intelligent communications represent a new approach for enterprises seeking to achieve increased business agility and competitive differentiation. It is basically a means to an end where the final objective is acquiring more productive employees, more intelligent business processes and more satisfied customers.
Controlling Contact Center Chaos
Anyone running a contact center is already well aware of the need to provide multiple channels of communication to their customers. For years, every trade show, conference and trade publication has been talking about adding and integrating inbound and outbound telephone channels – or a blend of both – voice portals, email and web interactions in the contact center. Contact center managers are aware of the potential cost advantages and they’re regularly reminded of customers’ demands to communicate via their choice of channel. At the same time the same contact center managers are also conscious of the dark side of comprehensive multimedia contact centers. They have seen the difficulties, through their own or a colleague’s painful experience, of actually implementing and operating one of these centers. What sounds great on paper or in a PowerPoint presentation isn’t necessarily so great in real life.
NEWS & TRENDS
Between a rock and a hard place: why 93% of telecoms CIOs fear complex data migrations
HP, IBM Target SMBs with Blades, Data Center Services
Japan’s KDDI Unveils InfoBar2 to Rival iPhone
Social Networking Helps Sell Servers, But Sun Focuses on Virtualisation
CHANGE OF GUARD
Tom Cheong as Managing Director Cisco for Singapore and Brunei
Graham Sweden as Senior Vice President of Asia Pacific Sales for Informatica, the provider of enterprise data integration software and services
Raymond Ng as General Manager in Vietnam for the US-based Telecom Giant AT&T
Penny Wilson as Chief Marketing Officer for Juniper, the networking security solutions company
Rory Buckley, Chief Executive Officer for Acision, the company that provides intuitive messaging, intelligent charging and customer intelligence management
Jacques Tierny as Chief Financial Officer of Gemalto, the France-based digital security provider
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