With the advent of secure, virtual Ethernet over IP, now being provided by major carriers and ISPs, we can see a day, not far off, where video and Voice over IP will be delivered with smart handsets and stations. Traffic will be aggregated and routed over MPLS and other high bandwidth, low latency technologies. Printers will be remotely monitored, managed and connected to the corporate virtual network.  

I recently ran across the work of Nicolas Bry, senior vice president of Orange’s digital innovation unit, Orange Vallée, who makes some great observations on the role of collaboration in business success. There are several major trends that are converging to yield winning business models. Understanding where these are heading will help us lead our organizations and clients to sustainable futures.

Rogue cloud services present issues with data security, transaction integrity, business continuity and regulatory compliance. Risks to the enterprise include exposure of regulated data, improper access to and control over confidential data, and breaching of rules pertaining to how certain data must be handled from a compliance standpoint, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

A recent report by Dimension Data shows that 50% of enterprise network equipment -- including switches, wireless devices and routers -- is either aging or obsolete ... the highest rate in six years.

Consistent with our advice to clients about transitioning to seemingly simple and safe cloud computing,  lawyers advise CIOs to consider cloud computing just like they would consider outsourcing services before using them.

As IT professionals, we must be leading when it comes to the cloud. IT cost savings alone, while helpful and necessary, are not going to revolutionize your business. I liken an IT-oriented cloud strategy to a question one of our team members posed to me the other day, "If everyone has SAP, wherein lies the strategic advantage?"