MSP Business

In the news: 5 tech news stories worth another look

By Pete Roythorne

19 October, 2015

We’re monitoring technology industry developments and recapping five tech news stories from October 1-15 that stood out to us.

Did you hear? Jack is back.
Twitter’s co-founder, Jack Dorsey, shared the news on October 5 that he’d be taking over as the company’s new CEO.

As you might expect (and WIRED reported), Dorsey made the announcement in a series of tweets to his following of more than 3.1 million users.

According to CNN Money, “Investors had been calling on the company’s board to appoint co-founder Dorsey as permanent CEO since July 1, when he was named interim chief after Dick Costolo stepped down.”

Under Costolo, Twitter was struggling to grow. The company’s stock dropped more than 25% in the past year.

Whether Dorsey was the right replacement had been a popular topic. He is also CEO of Square, another of his social media start-up companies. He will continue in that role as well.
“My commitment to Twitter runs incredibly deep,” Dorsey reportedly said during a call with investors. “No one is more determined than I am to see this company fulfill its promise.”

What else made this round-up? Read on:

Deloitte on disruption
Analytics, cloud applications and security are the top IT issues among mid-market businesses. That’s according to a recent Deloitte survey.

Five hundred mid-market executives were polled “to explore technology trends, determine the role and value of technology, and help gauge how it influences business decisions,” the survey explains.

Deloitte discovered that 67% of respondents say their companies spent more on technology this year than last (58%). Meanwhile, analytics (47%) and cloud applications (43%) are viewed as technologies with the greatest possibility to enhance productivity.

Information security is expected to have the biggest business impact in the next year.

Numbers game
Businesses are embracing Big Data and analytics to improve their operations – and give consumers what they want.

The National Football League is no exception.

According to Forbes, America’s multi-billion-dollar pro football league is experimenting with tools to access a wealth of untapped data.

“The NFL recently announced a deal with tech firm Zebra to install RFID data sensors in players’ shoulder pads and in all of the NFL’s arenas. The chips collect detailed location data on each player, and from that data, things like player acceleration and speed can be analyzed.”

The NFL’s game plan is to make the data accessible to fans and teams, “though not during game play.” Statistical analysis is wildly popular in sports. The belief is fans and teams will eagerly consume the information.

A cautionary tale
Matthew Keys, a former Tribune media employee, could face up to 25 years in prison. He was found guilty of three computer fraud felonies in 2010 that helped hackers deface the Los Angeles Times website.

According to politico.com: “Keys shared logon credentials of the Tribune company’s content management system, then also used by the L.A. Times, with an Anonymous hacker.”

Those credentials came with the expletive-laced instruction to “Go (mess) some (stuff) up!”

Hackers targeted an article about U.S. Congressional reaction to a tax bill. Though quickly pulled from the site, an “obscene version” of the story was published.

Keys, 28, also stands to receive $750,000 in fines for his involvement. He will be sentenced early next year.

10 emerging trends
What would you say is the biggest problem today’s IT departments face? Pointing to Gartner research, CIO.com reports the answer is nonstop demand:

“As more devices connect to the Internet, the need for more computing capability, storage and networking is increasing at a rapid rate.”

In the article, Gartner analyst David Cappuccio describes the demand for data center capacity as “relentless.” He adds, “It’s not about how many systems I have, it’s how efficiently I use that resource.”

Nine more emerging tech trends are on Gartner’s radar. They include: