By Espie Angelica A. de Leon
The top IT trends expected to take Philippine businesses to higher levels in 2017 were highlighted in a recent press event organized by WordText Systems Inc. (WSI), an IT solutions distributor in the country.
Held at the WSI corporate office in Makati City on Feb. 17, the event dubbed ?Taking Tech to the Next Level,? featured IT experts who discussed some of the products, services, and technologies set to raise the bar for mobility, data security, and cloud computing solutions.
Mobility
The first of these trendsetting technologies is OpenScape Mobility, an app for seamless unified communication (UC).
According to Benjamin Flores, WSI?s senior pre-sales engineer, OpenScape Mobility works by allowing a caller, who tries to contact someone through his office phone number at a time when the latter is outside, to still reach the person he is calling via his mobile number, provided the latter is on Wi-Fi or cellular data with OpenScape Mobility.
A unique feature of OpenScape Mobility is Call Swipe. This enables the user to switch from his mobile phone to his desk phone when necessary by simply swiping the screen to transfer the call to his desk phone.
With its integrated VoIP, UC, and video functionality on a single client, the app also offers instant messaging, Web collaboration, and video call services. Additional call control features are also available, such as Toggle, consultation, and three-party conference.
Data and security
For data and security solutions, Gemalto enterprise and cybersecurity?s regional sales director Alex Tay revealed Gemalto?s three-step approach via its SafeNet Identity and Data Protection portfolio.
These are Data Encryption that protects an enterprise?s sensitive data wherever it resides and when it is transmitted, Crypto Management which secures cryptographic keys, and Identity and Access Management which enables secure access to online resources and protects digital interactions with top-of-the-line authentication and digital signing solutions.
These enable organizations to achieve compliance with data privacy regulations and ensure that sensitive corporate assets, customer information, and digital transactions are safe.
Veritas Technologies also previewed its products on the growing portfolio of data and security solutions for digital environments.
Veritas sales manager for professional services Patrick Kuah identified these products, namely, the Veritas NetBackup 5240 Appliance, Information Map, Resiliency Platform, and Velocity.
Veritas NetBackup is a fully integrated Enterprise backup appliance with expandable storage, flexible deduplication options on both the client and target sides, greater capacity, density, and performance designed to lessen operating and capital expenditures, among others.
It is suitable for any environment, with a transfer rate as much as ten times faster for backups to cloud and replicating off-site, and may be deployed as master server, media server or both, among others.
Meanwhile, Veritas Information Map provides a visual context of an organization?s unstructured data for identification of risk areas, areas of value, and areas of waste to help achieve intelligent decision making.
Together, NetBackup and Information Map provide complete unstructured data inventory in 24 hours without scanning any source, quick identification of data targeted for deletion or archival, and deliver accurate storage forecasts.
NetBackup also works with the Veritas Resiliency Platform, a unified solution for business resiliency across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. This allows single-click migration and recovery, assured predictability by orchestrating the Application Recovery across all service levels, and testing of disaster recovery readiness.
NetBackup and Veritas Velocity, on the other hand, eliminate time and cost to re-ingest data, allow rapid self-service access to data via role-based access permissions, reduce copy data scrawl and cost, and simplify creation and storage of physical copies.
Emmanuel Catimbang, channel and OEM manager for Nuance Communication for Asia and the Pacific, also introduced the two technologies of Nuance, a speech-recognition and imaging technology company.
The first is Dragon, a speech-recognition software for dictating documents, creating spreadsheets, Web search, email management, and others.
?As you speak, everything you say appears on the screen,? Catimbang explained.
This process is three times faster than the traditional process of typing, with 99% accuracy, he added.
Another is Power PDF dubbed as ?the next generation of PDFs.? Tailor fit for business users who need only three to five key PDF features, this practical and powerful alternative comes with an intuitive interface and unique collaboration tools which make it easier to edit, annotate, and share files. It also supports 20 languages including Pilipino.
Nuance said it helped make Siri, Samsung Speech Recognition, and Voice Recognition in automobiles, possible.
Cloud computing
?Microsoft spends over a billion dollars in security R&D every year,? shared Herns Hermida, cloud and enterprise business group lead for Microsoft Philippines. ?Our billion dollars are spent on something called Cyber Defense Operations Center. We have one in Singapore.?
The center operates to protect Microsoft customers as well as Microsoft itself, against increasing security risks which necessitate a coordinated response.
One of its component units is the Digital Crimes Unit which searches the Internet for child prostitution and pornography rings and the like, and work with authorities to try to stop these people.
Rounding up the center?s other components are Cyber Security Services Engineering, Information Security and Risk Management, Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center, Windows and Devices Group, and Microsoft?s security platforms Office 365, Windows Azure, and Windows 10 Enterprise.
These platforms have features for advanced threat and information protection, anti-spam, anti-malware, message encryption, advanced security management, data loss prevention, backup and disaster recovery, analytics and monitoring, cloud app security, among others.
The company also created a separate group called Enterprise Cybersecurity Group which assists customers who want to know their security stature, detect their flaws, and respond to immediate threats such as a hacking attempt.
?The security landscape has changed,? Hermida stressed. ?No longer is the network your perimeter for security. It is your identity. The perimeter now becomes your identity. You have to prove you are who you are.?
He added, ?Cybersecurity is now a board level issue because it is their own personal data that is already at risk.?
?Taking Tech to the Next Level? also featured the launching of WSI?s Tech Lab for all products distributed by WSI. It will also serve as support facility for resellers and end-users, with consultation and other value-added services.
WSI?s 3D Print and Design Hub likewise exhibited the latest in printing technology such as the MakerBot Desktop 3D printers and Stratasys industrial 3D printers.
