Business Technology Roundtable

Across the globe, increased Internet use will fuel new growth in the Global Networked Economy . Mobile Internet users will create new demands and expectations for mobile networking infrastructure. This ongoing growth trend is highlighted by the adoption and use of mobile applications (apps). Meanwhile, enterprise C-suite leadership teams contemplate digital transformation agendas that are enabled by the significant new technology investments by telecom network service providers. That, in turn, will drive accelerated enterprise investment in business technology-based innovations.  Executive Summaries for Digital Transformation Fifth-generation (5G) wireless communications will support more than 10 percent of the world’s mobile connections by 2023, according to the latest Cisco Annual Internet Report. The average 5G speed will be 575 megabits per second or 13 times faster than the average mobile connection. With advanced performance capabilities, 5G will deliver more dynamic m...

Throughout 2013 most senior executives have been exposed to the key emerging business technology trends. During 2014, you're going to see and hear a lot more about the Internet of Things (IoT) -- and the impact will reach just about every industry and all the major markets within the Global Networked Economy. Let's consider the forward-looking outlook, from a leading industry analyst. International Data Corporation (IDC) recently offered their predictions for the coming year. "The 3rd Platform's impact was felt throughout the ICT industry in 2013 as a high-profile CEO lost his job, a major IT player went private, numerous vendors endured cash cow stagnation, and billion-dollar bets were placed on new technologies," said Frank Gens, Senior Vice President and Chief Analyst at IDC . In 2014, IDC believes that we'll see big investments to scale up cloud services, mobile internet, big data capabilities, and efforts to attract the independent developers who wi...

We already know that savvy executives and managers everywhere are the early-adopters of a variety of mobile devices. They use these devices to connect to an online world of infinite possibilities. Behind every great device is a great network. The same essential network that's the platform for the emerging Internet of Everything ( IoE ). Exponential growth in the use of these smart devices has led to significant and increased demand for network bandwidth across 84 percent of organizations surveyed globally, according to the findings from a new market study commissioned by BT and Cisco. More than half (56 percent) of IT managers have also noticed a resulting performance decline in some applications, which impacts negatively the productivity gains promised by these smart devices. Almost half (46 percent) of workers with Wi-Fi access in their office have experienced delays logging on or accessing an application, while 39 percent have noticed they are running more slowly now than...

Cisco issued results of their annual Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016). It's the company's ongoing initiative to forecast and analyze Internet Protocol (IP) networking growth and trends worldwide. The VNI Forecast update projects the significant amount of IP traffic expected to travel public and private networks -- including Internet, managed IP, and mobile data traffic generated by all users. This year, Cisco has also developed a new complementary study -- the Cisco VNI Service Adoption Forecast, which includes global and regional residential, consumer mobile, and business services growth rates. By 2016, annual global IP traffic is forecast to be 1.3 zettabytes -- (a zettabyte is equal to a sextillion bytes, or a trillion gigabytes). The projected increase of global IP traffic between 2015 and 2016 alone is more than 330 exabytes, which is almost equal to the total amount of global IP traffic generated in 2011 (369 exabytes). This significant level of ...

The healthcare and social services vertical marketplace is extensive. It includes companies that provide medical care and social assistance for individuals -- which includes ambulatory healthcare services, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, and social assistance services. Healthcare has been a growth vertical in U.S. business markets. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , research supports a forecast of continued growth, with healthcare spending $518 million on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in 2015. Overall telecom spending by the healthcare and social services vertical was just under $16 billion in 2010. Wireless communications is the largest of the product categories, comprising about 40 percent of telecom spending in the healthcare and social services vertical. Cloud computing and managed services is the fasting growing component. Wireline data and wireline voice comprise the remainder of the telecom spend. Increased Demand for Man...

This week, the world's financial markets have been negatively impacted by continued concerns about the global economic outlook. There has been little good news about the economy lately, particularly regarding the U.S. jobs forecast. That said, enterprise related IT spending has apparently been one positive forward-looking market indicator -- particularly the current and planned use of managed cloud services . According to the latest market study by In-Stat , enterprise business spending on IT and telecom services -- which include cloud computing, wireless, wireline voice, wireline data, and business IP/VoIP -- will move in a positive direction in 2011, increasing by healthy 6 percent. "There will be positive growth across all 20 verticals with education and healthcare & social services leading the surge with growth of 10 percent and 9 percent respectively,” says Greg Potter, analyst at in-Stat. These forecast increases in spending are across all product groups e...

Cisco commissioned a study of present-day challenges that companies face as they strive to address employee and business needs amid increasing mobility capabilities, security risks, and technologies that can deliver applications and information more ubiquitously -- from virtualized data centers and cloud computing services to traditional wired and wireless networks. The results of this international workplace study reveals that many people now believe that they no longer need to be "in the office" anymore in order to be truly productive. This and other findings provide new insight into the expectations, demands, and behavior of today's global workforce -- that's influencing the way information is accessed and how business communications are changing. "The Cisco Connected World Report gives further insight into the future of the workplace and it is clear from the research findings that the desire among employees to be more mobile and flexible in their work ...

I'm in Orlando, Fla., this week "on vacation." As a small business owner, I can't afford to fully unplug from my business. Sure, managed service providers keep my company running even when I'm focused on family time. However, I still need a mix of unified communications and mobile technologies to really keep the business optimized. Here are three key technologies that can give me -- and my customers -- peace of mind while I'm (mostly) unplugged from my business. 1. iPhone 3G : I wasn't a big fan of my iPhone 3G when I initially purchased it. Dropped connections seemed quite common during the first few weeks with the device. But the iPhone 3G has proven to be a great device for my business travel. I can monitor our company Web sites, Internet traffic patterns, reader loyalty, reader comments and more from the iPhone's browser. My family cringes when I open a laptop during vacations. But smart phones can let you quickly check in with your online busines...