Cisco today announced findings from the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study of IT and business leaders that shows IT is accepting, and in some cases embracing, “bring your own device” (BYOD) as a reality in the enterprise. The study findings underscore that BYOD is here to stay, and managers are now acknowledging the need for a more holistic approach – one that is scalable and addresses mobility, security, virtualisation and network policy management, in order to keep management costs in line while simultaneously providing optimal experiences where savings can be realised.

“As the number of devices being brought into work increases, organisations need a comprehensive mobility strategy,” says Leon Wright, Country Lead, Systems Engineering at Cisco SA. “By leveraging the intelligent network, organisations can now provide their employees with the benefits of working anywhere, anytime: in other words, ‘work your way’. These research findings support Cisco’s assertion that mobility needs to extend well beyond BYOD to include the integration of service provider mobility, enterprise mobility, security, collaboration and desktop virtualisation solutions.”

The study shows some of the quantifiable benefits and complexities associated with allowing employees to use their own mobile devices on their employers’ networks. Most organisations are now enabling BYOD in the enterprise, with a staggering 95% of respondents saying their organisations permit employee-owned devices in some way, shape or form in the workplace. This study also concluded that the average number of connected devices per knowledge worker is expected to reach 3.3 by 2014, up from an average of 2.8 in 2012. IT managers are balancing security and support concerns with the very real potential to reap significant cost and productivity benefits from the BYOD trend.

What’s more, the survey found that BYOD is just the gateway to greater business benefits. Over 76% of IT leaders surveyed categorised BYOD as somewhat or extremely positive for their companies, while seeing significant challenges for IT.

Some Key Survey Findings:
More IT and Business Leaders Saying Yes to BYOD:

• 95% of organisations allow employee-owned devices in some way, shape or form in the workplace.
• 84% of respondents not only allow employee-owned devices, but also provide some level of support.
• 36% of surveyed enterprises provide full support for employee-owned devices. In other words, they will provide support for any device (smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc.) the employee brings to the workplace.
• Mobility and device use are on the rise: 78% of U.S. white-collar employees use a mobile device for work purposes, and 65% of white-collar workers require mobile connectivity to do their jobs. By 2014, the average number of connected devices per knowledge worker will reach 3.3, up from an average of 2.8 in 2012.
• On average, mobility initiatives will consume 20% of IT budgets in 2014, compared to 17% in 2012.
• Most IT leaders (76%) consider consumerisation “somewhat” or “extremely” positive for their companies.
• Among respondents, the top two perceived benefits of BYOD were improved employee productivity (more opportunities to collaborate) and greater job satisfaction.
• Employees want to work their way: Employees are turning to BYOD because they want more control of their work experience:
• 40% of respondents cited “device choice” as employees’ top BYOD priority (the ability to use their favourite device anywhere).
• Employees’ second BYOD priority is the desire to perform personal activities at work, and work activities during personal time.
• Employees also want to bring their own applications to work: 69% of respondents said that unapproved applications — especially social networks, cloud-based email, and instant messaging — are somewhat to much more prevalent today than two years ago.
• Employees are willing to invest to improve their work experience. According to Cisco IBSG, the typical Cisco employee who chooses to use his or her own devices at work pays, on average, a $600 premium to do so.
• Benefits of BYOD add up: The benefits of BYOD vary based on an employee’s role and work requirements. Cisco IBSG estimates that in the US for example, the annual benefits from BYOD range from $300 to $1,300 per employee, depending on the employee’s job role.

BYOD Does Bring Complexity: Security and IT Support

• Security and IT support are the top BYOD challenges: Respondents cited security/privacy and IT support for multiple mobile platforms as the top challenges of BYOD.
• Device proliferation requires new policy, approach to control cost: According to Cisco IBSG analysis, only 14% of BYOD costs are hardware-related, highlighting the importance of choosing the right governance and support models to control these costs.

Desktop Virtualisation on the Rise

• Companies recognize the value in desktop virtualisation: 98% of people surveyed were aware of desktop virtualisation. 68% of respondents agreed that a majority of knowledge worker roles are suitable for desktop virtualisation and 50% noted that their organisation is in the process of implementing a desktop virtualisation strategy.
• Desktop virtualisation benefits three key areas: (1) business continuity so that workers can access applications through multiple locations and devices even if, for example, a server goes down, (2) employee productivity, and (3) IT costs.
• Data protection is the number one concern: Ensuring that only the right people have access to sensitive company and customer data is a top priority.

Source:  Top 10 Insights Cisco IBSG Horizons Study

To celebrate its birthday YouTube created and uploaded a video of some of its greatest moments and milestones including statistics, the introduction of YouTube HD the site redesign and most popular videos.

The YouTube blog also revealed that all 800 million users all over the world have “shown us we’re on the right track by increasing subscriptions 50% and watching over 3 billion hours a month.”

Watch the video below:

Millions of people around the world have come to love Angry Birds since the first release in December 2009. It has only been about three months since the latest iteration of the popular series was released, Angry Birds Space, which broke records on both iOS and Android where it was downloaded over 50 million times within 35 days. The small Finnish company Rovio obviously smiled all the way to the bank, and as if that wasn’t good enough, they are lining up another title.

When we think of Finland, Formula 1 does spring to mind, having had so many brilliant drivers over the years. Heikki Kovalainen sports an Angry Birds helmet when driving his notoriously slow Caterham around the circuit these days and it has been reported in the past that Rovio was thinking of incorporating the F1 scene into Angry Birds although it is hard to imagine how that would be done exactly. Will we be firing birds into car windshields (not that an F1 car has one) in the hope of causing massive multi-pileup destruction? Who knows…

What we do know, however, is that Rovio has put up a teaser website for the upcoming game called Angry Birds Heikki which will make its debut on June 18. Angry Birds Space really was a breath of fresh air in the franchise, but will Rovio be able to put together another all new experience? That remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: I will almost certainly download it and at some point in time, play it for a very long time.

Let’s just go ahead and say it now: Congrats to Rovio on another sure thing, which will likely garner over 20 million downloads.

Source: Ubergizmo

CNet

However, there are some similarities with the social network giant, including the ability for users to share interesting websites with a “share on So.cl” button that is added to a user’s tool bar with a “bookmarklet” feature, commenting on and tagging other posts.

Users on So.cl can follow interests like food, art and places in addition to following other users.

In addition So.cl allows users to what it calls “riff” on a post which Microsoft says is another way in which users can interact with content on the site. Another unique feature to So.cl is its “video parties” where users can search for and put together videos that they like and share with others.

A Microsoft representative commented that the project, by FUSE Labs, is now accepting all users to try out the site and its features which focuses “on the future of social experiences and learning, especially among younger people.”

As “an experiment in open search” the site searches will be viewable from other So.cl users and to third parties, but users will have to opt-in to the service for their posts, comments and likes to be visible. Users can sign into So.cl using their Facebook or Windows Live login details.

The So.cl. site, also offers an introductory video to show interested users how it works.

Would you give So.cl a try – let us know your thoughts?

This new technology, is based on a framework of features and specifications, defined within the Wi-Fi Alliance. The technology will be released in June 2012 as the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint certification program from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Says Michael Fletcher, Sales Director for Ruckus Wireless Sub-Saharan Africa; “Historically, to connect to a hotspot, users have had to perform the arduous task of manually selecting from a number of Wi-Fi networks that may or may not be able to provide them service and perform the tedious process of logging in with their user credentials. Using Passpoint-certified devices, this process will be completely automated. Passpoint-certified mobile devices automatically select a Wi-Fi hotspot based on information advertised by Passpoint-certified Wi-Fi access points.  While roaming, mobile devices can identify hotspots supporting roaming with the user’s home service providers.  If it is, the device automatically connects to the hotspot, securing the link with advanced Wi-Fi security.”

According to Informa Telecoms and Media, the number of hotspots worldwide is expected to more than double from 2.1 million in 2012 to over 5.8 million by 2015. And in a January 2012 study, Mobia found nearly 70% of smartphone-originated data traffic was over Wi-Fi, compared to 30% over cellular technology.

One of the first to integrate 802.11u within its Smart Wi-Fi access points, Ruckus has successfully completed interoperability testing with several operators and handset manufacturers around the world. Support for 802.11u and the technology tested by the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Passpoint certification program will be available as a no-cost software upgrade on Ruckus ZoneFlex access points by the end of this year.

Many mobile device manufacturers and infrastructure suppliers, including Ruckus Wireless, are implementing these new Wi-Fi capabilities within their equipment and have participated in trials under the Wireless Broadband Alliance’s Next Generation Hotpots (NGH) initiative.

The Wi-Fi Alliance Hotspot 2.0Specification that underlies the first phase of the Passpoint program includes the automation of three typically manual processes:

1.    Discovering and selecting a Wi-Fi network,

2.    Authenticating the user and device using the internal SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card found in many mobile devices (as well as support for non-SIM devices) and

3.    Securing the connection of each device using WPA-2 Enterprise encryption and authentication

Operators around the world are embracing Wi-Fi as means to inject much needed capacity into their mobile networks caused by the flood of data from new smart mobile devices. The use of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint equipment will benefit service providers in a number of ways such as accelerating the offload of data from cellular networks to Wi-Fi and reducing operational costs by providing a single Wi-Fi network that can advertise support for multiple operators. Ruckus has worked closely with the Wi-Fi Alliance to help advance the Passpoint program.

“Support for Pass point within mobile devices and infrastructure is essential for making the widespread use of Wi-Fi valuable to carriers and their customers,” said Steve Martin, vice president of engineering for Ruckus Wireless. “By automating and streamlining the process of connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot, service providers can look to advanced Wi-Fi systems as a viable way to offload traffic and deliver high-bandwidth services – while subscribers will no longer have to face the frustration and aggravation of connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots.”

 “The Wi-Fi Alliance has made significant progress in transforming and improving users’ Wi-Fi experience, and we are happy to see suppliers, such as Ruckus Wireless, demonstrating the benefits of all this work,” said Wi-Fi Alliance Marketing Director Kelly Davis-Felner. “We believe this is the first step in what will be a welcomed transformation of how users and operators interact with Wi-Fi.”

It’s a momentous day for Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team as the founder rang the NASDAQ’s opening bell at 9:30am this morning on the East Coast of the United States.

To celebrate the moment, Zuckerberg updated his status to read: “Mark Zuckerberg listed a company on NASDAQ. — with Chris Cox and 4 others.”

the status update went live just as Zuckerberg was ringing the bell, which means that it was configured by engineers to appear just as he was in action.

According to Venture Beat, engineers actually “hacked” the NASDAQ button to post the update according to David Garcia, a senior software engineer at Facebook:

“We hooked up our hack to run at exactly the same time as Mark pushed the button to turn on the light and ring the bell. Then we attached a wire that hooks to the hack and into the headset jack of a cell phone,” Garcia said. “When the button was pressed, it sent a signal through the hack, and the phone got the signal that triggered the custom action through our Open Graph API, posting a story onto Mark’s Timeline. It worked.”

Facebook shares will begin trading at a price of $38 each, at around 11am Eastern time in the U.S. on Friday morning. Since boosting its IPO by 25 percent on 16 May, Facebook’s valuation sits at about $104 billion.

Having announced the availability of the upgrade for the latest version of the Android platform – Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – for the Samsung GALAXY S II, yesterday, the uptake has since been astounding says Samsung.

“Android 4.0 builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications and customisation – adding a powerful new way of communicating and sharing,” says Craige Fleischer, Director of Mobile Communications for Samsung Electronics SA. “It’s easy to see why our local Samsung GALAXY S II users are eager to get their hands on the ICS platform.”

“Given the high demand, users may struggle to upgrade immediately due to the limited capacity on the FOTA servers, but we urge GALAXY S II users to keep trying. We also encourage users to upgrade via Kies, as not only is it easy and simple, but as it is done via the PC, it has unlimited server capacity and as such, during this initial period of high demand is the preferred download method.”

Want Ice Cream Sandwich on your Galaxy S2? Get Samsung Kies here

The Samsung Galaxy S2 was BandwidthBlog’s favourite phone of 2011, so we highly recommend users to upgrade their software.

Press Release from Samsung regarding Ice Cream Sandwich for the South African Galaxy S2:

South Africa, Johannesburg – 17 May 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the global leader in Android smartphones, today announced the local availability of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) software upgrade for the GALAXY S II, with other models to follow soon.

Samsung Electronics completed upgrading the GALAXY devices to Gingerbread last year by providing software upgrades to both Froyo and Gingerbread. With the ICS upgrade, Samsung Electronics continues to solidify its position as the leader of Android devices.

“This upgrade has been highly anticipated locally and we expect that our South African customers will enjoy an enhanced experience with their GALAXY device through this upgrade,” says Craige Fleischer, Head of Mobile Communications at Samsung Electronics SA.

The software upgrade and specific models upgradable to Android 4.0 via KIES PC client (by downloading the firmware via the KIES application) is immediately available across; Open (XFA) and Vodacom (XFV) and will be available tomorrow on MTN (XFM) and Cell C (XFC). Similarly, the upgrade via FOTA (by downloading the firmware upgrade over the air directly from your mobile phone) is in the roll out process and will be available by the end of tomorrow (18 May 2012).

Following the success of the Android version of ExpenZa, Apposition Consulting has now made available the BlackBerry version of the smartphone app for free download in BlackBerry App World, developed due to the persistent requests from South Africa’s BlackBerry users.

Since its launch on 17 May, first day download numbers of the BlackBerry version were more than three times the download numbers for the Android version, Apposition Consulting reports.

ExpenZa aims at helping people make smarter decisions about their finances through the automation of expense tracking by intercepting the expenditure SMS message sent by various banks in South Africa and uses the information contained in that SMS to automatically populate a user’s expense list.

With BlackBerry’s 8520 as the most popular phone in South Africa, developers of the BlackBerry version ensured that the app worked optimally for BlackBerry’s OS5 and higher.

The BlackBerry version offers all the features of the Android version with the exception of the importing of previously received SMSes from your inbox. It includes all the banks catered for by the Android version including ABSA, Capitec Bank, Discovery Card, First National Bank, Investec Bank, Standard Bank, Nedbank and RMB Private Bank and the latest feature that allows users to automatically assign certain merchants to specific categories.

Wim Morris, MD of Apposition Consulting says that “Development of ExpenZa is still ongoing. Some of the exciting developments to look out for are synchronization to a backend and income tracking functionality.”

View screenshots from the ExpenZa app for BlackBerry below:

For more about the ExpenZa app and to download it from Google Play click here.

Drexler revealed these never before heard insights at the Fast Company Innovation Uncensored conference that took place in April.

During an interview, Drexler said “Look at the car industry; it’s a tragedy in America. Who is designing the cars? Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.”

While we will never know what the Apple iCar would have looked like with Drexler commenting that Jobs never actually got round to designing one, prior to his death, the former CEO was working on building other transportation vehicles including a luxury superyacht with designer Philip Starck.

Source: Wired

The card will be used to load credits for commuters using the PeopleMover bus service in Durban’s city center. As with the new myconnect card used in Cape Town for the MyCiti Rapid Bus transportation system, the card is tapped against a card reader upon boarding the bus in order to pay for the ride.

As part of its pilot phase, the card will be isssued to about 1000 commuters in Durban, after which it will become available for the remaining 550, 000 commuters.

The Muvo card, developed by Beyond Payments, Standard Bank’s business development unit has said in an official press release that “it is believed to be a world first in the realm of cashless payment technology.”

This was reiterated by chief executive officer of Beyond Payments Herman Singh who said that “The Muvo card is a world first, and showcases a transit ticket sitting inside a banking chip, secured with bank strength security, along with a payment wallet.”

Beyond Payments has also said that it is working on other NFC projects that includes using the card to pay for goods on university campuses as well as fast food outlets. According to Standard Bank, Beyond Payments are also issuing debit and credit cards that are NFC ready