Archive | February, 2011

Microsoft Research UI

by on February 27, 2011 in Microsoft

Below is a video of the latest prototype of a future User Interface from Microsoft.  While the consumer interface will continue to evolve I’m more interested in the Enterprise application.  Today there is no single UI that brings together all the activity that information workers require to be effective.  Email is the current least worst option but as we have seen over the past several months there is a growing acceptance that email can not meet the requirements of an information worker.

Email will continue to be around for many years to come but we need to find a way of presenting many more streams of activity and work flow within a single interface.  Whichever software company can answer the challenge will be well set for the next generation of computing that is just around the corner.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Windows News Day

by on February 21, 2011 in Microsoft

Interesting day within the Windows world.  Windows 8 builds, Phone 7 updates and a possible official Kinect SDK wraps up a busy day of unofficial news.  Why are these three elements important?  Because together they help form the picture of Microsoft’s next Enterprise (Wave 15) assault in 2012.

I have no data to back this next statement up but I suspect the Wave 14 releases (Windows 7, Office 2010, Sharepoint and Exchange 2010) have been a relative (I stress the word relative) sales disappointment to Microsoft.  This could well be due to the general financial climate but I also believe the Wave 14 products did not quite form a collective whole.  Each product was clearly an improvement over previous versions but CIOs need more reasons to invest.  They have questions that Wave 14 can’t quite answer:

  • How does my on premise and cloud investment dove tail together?
  • How do I plan continuous improvement without the need for fork lift upgrades?
  • Can I buy a solution that includes Desktop OS/Mobile/Cloud/Productivity Software and Service within a single consistent contract?
  • How do I show innovation and immediate business impact?
  • How does consumer IT and enterprise IT converge?

We’ll have to wait and see but Wave 15 could be the answer to many of these challenges and if it isn’t then Google and Apple will be more than happy to enter into Microsoft’s enterprise market.  No wonder Steve Balmer says that Windows 8 is Microsoft’s biggest gamble.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Securing Your iOS Device

by on February 18, 2011 in Apple

Here is an interesting blog with some great recommendations on how a corporate security team could configure security for iOS devices. The blog is written by John Halamka a CIO within the US Healthcare industry.  A snippet is below but for the full article take a look here

I’m often asked how IT departments should advise users to secure their iPads and iPhone4′s.

Here’s the process suggested by my security team:

1. Make sure you’re running the latest iOS version (4.2.1 currently)

2. Download “Find My iPhone” (free app) from the Apple App Store. Log in or set up a new Mobile Me account and add the iPad to be tracked. Also try it out from a desktop to make sure you can (as a test) send a message to the device.

3. Make sure the iPad autolocks, requires a long passcode and erases data after 10 failed passcode attempts.

In Settings->General, configure:

a. Auto-Lock: set to something short, like 2-5 minutes (NOT “Never”)

b. Passcode Lock:

1. Turn Passcode On

2. Require Passcode: Immediately

3. Simple Passcode: Off (then set a long passcode)

4. Picture Frame: Off

5. Erase Data: On

Popularity: 2% [?]

Client Matter Tracking App for OCS and Lync

by on February 17, 2011 in Business Process, Microsoft, UC News

One potential issue preventing OCS and Lync adoption could be the relative lack of features that have been built into existing PBX systems over a number of years.  One such feature is the ability to immediately record a call to a client account.  This is a very common requirement in the Legal industry where Lawyers must be able to quickly and easily record their phone conservations with clients and bill for that time.

Microsoft are relying on the development community to fill the gaps of niche applications.  Enabling Tech Corp are one such company and they have developed a time tracking integration for OCS R2 and Lync.

Take a look at the video below, the demo of the application begins at the 3.00 minute mark.  I’d be interested to know how many organisations could exploit this app, I know several large Law firms are heavy users of OCS.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Nokia and Microsoft Tie Up

by on February 14, 2011 in Microsoft

The Nokia/Microsoft partnership must be a huge disappointment to the Nokia employees who were once the giant of the mobile phone industry. Elop’s message struct a perfect cord for me. While his explicit message was clear – Nokia must change or die. It was his implicit criticism of Nokia’s culture and leadership that had the most power.

Nokia like many large organisations has been taken over by a management buercacry focused on producing powerpoints and quartley updates for steering groups that delivers nothing but oblivion.

While the powerpoints and updates circulated at Nokia and the Management Consultants billed more and more hours, Apple and Google beat them in the only place that matters – the marketplace with real users.

Elop had no other option but to put a bonfire to the Nokia management team and strategy. The Windows Phone tie up was an interesting choice. I’m sure Google were tempting Nokia with Android but I’m not sure Android would have been a distinct strategy for Nokia to move forward with.

Although Apple and Google dominate I do think there is space for one more operating system in the mobile market place. If Microsoft can execute quick and feature rich updates to the Windows Phone 7 platform over the next 12 – 18 months and if Nokia can free up their internal resource to deliver really good hardware I think there is a chance that this tie up could work.

It is easy to view Apple’s smartphone dominance as unbeatable but the technology market place is evolving so quickly that even Apple will have to make important strategic decisions over the next 12 months to stay ahead – cloud and diluting their handset mix as two examples.  As do Google, Android marketplace and their diverse handset/software mixture are challenges that they must overcome.  If either Apple or Google stumble Nokia/Microsoft could be ready step in.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Cisco UC Partner Deliver Application for Healthcare

by on February 7, 2011 in Cisco, Telehealth, UC News

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that the FDA had approved the first medial use iPhone application, well it looks like the FDA will be having a busy time over the coming months reviewing more UC applications for the healthcare industry.  Extension Inc has recently submitted to the FDA for Class III Medical Device clearance an application called ‘HealthAlert for Nurses’ built on Extension’s middleware platform.  Their platform takes information from multiple systems and develops an interactive workflow.  In the case of HealthAlert for Nurses, nurses recieve alerts and information on their Cisco wireless handsets.

Extension Inc also has a number of iPhone applications which presents the information gathered by the middleware platform.

There is huge potential for these types of applications within the healthcare industry.  The twin forces of ever increasing costs and complex provision makes the healthcare industry an ideal industry for technology enabled reform.  UC implemented correctly within healthcare will saves billions of dollars, directly improve customer satisfaction and free up resources for investment in patient healthcare.  I do hope the FDA respond positively to the submission and on a wider front help establish a vibrant healthcare technology eco-system which embeds open unified communication standards within the industry.

For further information on the Extension application take a look at the video below

Popularity: 2% [?]

Lync Video: iPhone, Virtualisation and Resiliency

by on February 6, 2011 in Lync, Microsoft

If you want a quick overview of the new features of Lync take a look at the video below from Jeroen Riejing of Avanade.  The video covers a one slide Lync overview of topics such as; mobility, resiliency, clients/phones and virtualisation.

I’m not sure when the slides were presented but they do include some details on the impending Lync mobile client for iPhone (around 2.52 of the video) which suggests they were presented sometime in Q4 2010. The slides are based on Microsoft product team presentations so if you need any specific slides from the video ask your MS account team or you can also send me a message.

Popularity: 4% [?]

FDA Clear First iPad/iPhone App

by on February 4, 2011 in Apple, Telehealth, UC News

It was is sure to be the first of many applications in the health market MIM Software has announced they are the first developer to receive FDA approval for their medial imagining tool for all iOS devices.  The application provides physicians the ability to receive medical scans on iPhone/iPad or iTouch devices from doctors or other health care providers.

Take a look at the MIM website here

Popularity: 2% [?]

Online Lync Resources

by on February 3, 2011 in Lync, Microsoft

Over the past couple of days I’ve come across some really good Lync resources so thought I would share them here.

Lynclab – comprehensive landing page for great content all over the internet, includes both technical content, vendor information and case studies

Verbal Input – great walk through on how to implement Lync on Hyper V

I’m A UC Blog – really interesting Skpye/Asterisk/Lync integration that will allow a Lync client to make calls on Skype (via an Asterisk server)

Take a look.  Lync is building quite a strong community, is it my imagination or has this grown much faster than OCS R2?

Popularity: 3% [?]

IntelePeer Add SIP Trunking for MS Online

by on February 2, 2011 in Lync, Microsoft

For any company that consumes OCS via the Dedicated version of MS Online IntelePeer are now another option to add a SIP trunk to your OCS estate and gain connectivity to landlines/mobiles.

I’m not sure how much longer this capability will last in its current format given that MS Online is soon to be deprecated by Microsoft and replaced with Office365. Office365 will replace OCS with Lync which I assume will require providers to re-certify with Microsoft.  That presumes of course that Microsoft will allow SIP trunking with Office365 and that the dedicated servers that are required for SIP deployment in MS Online are available in Office365.

Popularity: 3% [?]