Tag Archives: Japan

Shameful UK Internet Speeds

October 26, 2011

Akami just published the results of a survey which monitored 604 million unique IP addresses from 238 countries and regions.

Asia dominated this contest with South Korea emerging top with an average 13.8Mbps connection speed. This was closely followed by Hong Kong with 10Mbps then Japan at 8.9Mbps.

The UK had a shocker and trailed at 25^th in the world with an average speed of just 5Mbps. It didn�t even fair well in Europe coming 15 out of the 22 countries surveyed.

The Netherlands won the contest in Europe with average speeds of 8.5Mbps. In addition the Netherlands came top with regards to having �higher broadband.� This refers to connections higher than 5Mbps. In the Netherlands 68% of connections were in this bracket.

The UK again fell flat in this respect with just 30% of the population having access to �higher broadband.� This is particularly shameful as 7 of the top 10 were in Europe!

Positive was the fact that the average global broadband speed has improved by 21% to 2.6Mbps. In the UK speeds have increased by 28% in the last 12 months. However this has not improved in the last quarter, whereas 80 other countries/regions saw their connection speeds increase by 10% within this period.

It is not just the online backup and disaster recovery market which would benefit from more modern internet speeds, it�s every industry. The UK needs to double its efforts to stay up to date.

Gartner Ramps Up IT Spending Expectations

August 1, 2011

Gartner have again ramped up their IT expenditure expectations for 2011.

The analyst is now predicting a spending increase of 7.1% worldwide. This would take global IT expenditure up to $3.67 trillion. Such growth is also expected to continue into 2012 according to Gartner�s Vice President Richard Gordon.

Hardware is one area where expenditure is increasing exponentially and Gartner now envisage companies worldwide spending $419 billion within this particular sector. This is a 11.7% increase from last years $365 billion.

Particular emphasis has been placed on Public Cloud spending which is predicted to reach $89 billion this year. By 2015 this is expected to be up to $177 billion representing 5% of total IT spending worldwide.

In addition Gartner predict that companies will collectively spend $13 billion more on software this year. Additional spending on ‘Software As A Service (SAAS)’ applications is expected to grow to $20 billion by 2015.

�At about $10 billion, Software As A Service already accounts for 10% of enterprise applications software spending, and by 2015 this share is expected to increase to close to 15% and to exceed $20 billion in annual spending,� Gordon said.

One main reason for revised projections has been the realised impact of the Japanese tsunami.� Despite production in Japan being slowed overall IT expenditure has not being affected.

Data Loss will incur increased financial penalties

May 18, 2009

Data loss is increasing……

Last year KPMG reported the worst year for data loss since 2005. More worryingly if the same data loss trend continues, the number of cases of data loss globally could rise to over 190 million this year. However, if the ever threatening possibility of data loss isn�t alarming enough how about adding a large fine as a consequence.
It was revealed last week that The European Commission will pursue a new law that would require most businesses, agencies and organisations in Europe to notify consumers when they lose sensitive customer data. The United States and Japan have had such laws in place since 2003. While it isn�t compulsory for European countries, including Britain, to notify of data loss at present, some do so voluntarily. A company penalised for such a breach was Nationwide Building Society when:

�The British financial regulator in 2007 imposed a �980,000, or $1.5 million, fine on the mortgage lender Nationwide Building Society after an employee laptop with data on millions of customers was stolen.�

So how are organisations reacting to such data security threats?

Well businesses fully understand the negative reputation risk that a data loss incident may bring and are therefore decidedly interested in preventing such incidents. Businesses also realise the reputational risk of neglecting what is a strategic and fundamental business concern to protect data securely.
So what are the key areas to consider when updating and improving an organisation�s data security and methodology?

It is crucial to include senior management when creating a framework that supports strong corporate governance, assurance, confidentiality and data life-cycle management change. Another key consideration is educating employees and creating awareness in data protection and its importance.
There are 5 key questions an organisation should ask themselves to ensure they are using the best methods:

1.�Where does your data come from and what is it stored on?
2.�How is your data backed up?
3.�Is your data backup automated, offsite and encrypted?
4.�Do you have a clear disaster recovery plan of what to do should you lose data?
5.�Are senior management aware of realistic recovery times is the event of disaster?

If any of these questions can�t be answered with conviction then it�s of paramount importance to address your backup and recovery requirements with immediate effect.