The current 2 year registration period for .uk domain names will change in 2012 to offer flexible registrations of up to 10 years, following a policy process and stakeholder consultation conducted by Nominet.
Nominet, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for the safe and secure running of the .uk internet infrastructure, today announces it will offer multi-year registration periods from 1 May 2012.
Until now it has only been possible to register a .uk domain for a two year period. The change will give businesses and consumers the opportunity to lock in their domains for up to 10 years, giving them security of tenure and a longer period between renewals. One year registrations will also be available.
The changes give registrars – the registration agents for .uk domains – the opportunity to offer a more flexible service.
Before taking the decision, Nominet consulted with its members and stakeholders to ensure their views on whether and how to bring in multi-year registrations were taken into account.
The launch date will allow time for registrars opting for multi-year registrations to develop their systems and plan for any impact this will have on their business.
Lesley Cowley, CEO of Nominet, said: “For millions of businesses, their domain name is mission critical – from their website to the email addresses it supports. By offering longer registration periods, these businesses will have peace of mind that their domain name is secured for a number of years, and they won’t have to worry about renewing so frequently.”
Registrars will be free to choose the registration periods they offer for .uk domain names.
The sun is finally shining, but before you begin discarding your thick jumpers and long trousers in favour of shorts and vest tops make sure that you are fully protected, and not just with sun-cream! Like your skin, your computer is delicate and needs a constant, high level of protection which will protect you from all the nasty little surprises lurking about this summer.
Unfortunately, internet hackers and con artists do not take a summer vacation like the rest of us, so making sure that you are fully protected with antivirus software at all times is vital in protecting yourself, and your family, this summer. Just like the application of sun-cream your protection is useless unless it is consistently maintained.
Antivirus software scans your system regularly to make sure that your protection status is up-to-date, just like reapplying sun protection whilst spending the day at the beach. Thieves won’t take a day off, so neither should your protection!
In fact, with summer spelling the beginning of holiday plans for thousands of people it is more important than ever to make sure that your computer protection is kept up-to-date. Most of us book our holidays online these days, taking advantage of the generous deals and incentives that most providers offer, but without adequate protection for your computer you could be revealing your personal details, including your bank details, to any number of unsavoury characters.
Antivirus systems are vital in ensuring your information is kept safe, and with a large range to choose from you need not worry about expensive or difficult to manage systems. Antivirus’ range in packages from single programmes to premium packages designed for complete security. Opting for a free antivirus trial is a good way for you to see the benefits of computer protection before committing to a particular software.
However, protecting yourself with antivirus software does not end with your computer. Considering the recent developments in mobile technology, protecting yourself while on the move is now an increasingly overlooked requirement. The amount of people carrying mobile phones which can be connected to the internet almost constantly, but without adequate antivirus protection, is phenomenal.
If your phone receives emails in the same way as it does texts then you too could be at risk. Mobile antivirus is an easy way for you to make sure that your details are always kept safe, regardless of where you are or what you are using to access the internet. Your mobile phone has the capacity to store all of your personal data so it is important to keep it well protected from viruses.
So, don’t neglect your antivirus protection this summer by ensuring that all of your devices have sufficient antivirus protection. The last thing anyone wants while enjoying the summer sun is to discover that their personal details are no longer private, so allow yourself to relax this summer by keeping yourself fully covered.
We recently published an article and broadcast outlining what IT industry leaders are saying can be achieved through the use of Cloud Computing – http://blwy.co.uk/uk-smbs-reach-for-the-clouds/
Here is a comment from Dominic Jones, Managing Director of Barton Technology.
Sir, Every time I speak to another IT support consultant, they tell me about the benefits of cloud computing. However, they rarely outline the drawbacks. And I do understand the advantages of the cloud; in fact I’m the first to champion its benefits for the right kind of company.
I would argue that small businesses and SMEs should think twice about the value they will get from having their information infrastructure, software and services hosted on the internet, rather than on their personal computers or network.
Business owners should ensure that they have the right IT infrastructure and broadband services in place to meet their information demands. Cost is clearly an issue, as is security. But the biggest problem is Internet access. If you don’t have sufficiently robust broadband, equipped with adequate bandwidth, it can limit your flexibility and even your creativity. Cloud computing can also restrict the software you can use on individual machines – and we can all agree that lack of flexibility is not an option for small businesses and SMEs for whom agility is often the key selling point.
Cloud computing can be revelatory for the right business, but failure to plan might make it difficult to find the silver lining in this particular cloud.
Uncertain economic conditions have brought about new business models which have fundamentally transformed the way that we do business, for employees and customers alike. With a heightened focus on speed and flexibility to perform everyday business tasks and swiftly meet customer demand, technology is uniquely positioned to help businesses adapt.
Agile and unrestricted unlike many larger players, SMBs have much to gain from technology, particularly cloud computing. The cloud has enormous potential for SMBs in terms of economics, management, productivity and business flexibility. By having the applications at your fingertips to do your job quickly and efficiently are a must in business.
Cloud computing can enable greater collaboration within business by enabling employees to work together regardless of location. By harnessing the power of such technologies, SMBs can enjoy great productivity and flexibility which can be the critical differentiator when competing for potential customers.
Joining Michael Wilson to dispense her top tips and talk about why small business owners should grasp the opportunities available to them via cloud computing and how to adapt and meet changing customer demand, as well as cater to the demands of their own computer savvy staff is Tanya Shirlow, Head of SMB Marketing at Microsoft.
For more information about the HP Business Answers blog, please visit: www.hp.com/uk/bablog
People have different technological learning curves. Some pick up new things incredibly quickly and are always on top of the latest tech trends. Others lag behind, learning new things long after the general populace. Companies are quickly becoming more and more tech savvy and firms which were once late adopters are now becoming trailblazers. This has manifested itself in the use of great services like conference calls with Powwownow by companies all around the world.
Small companies are very much leading the way in this respect, for quite obvious reasons. New technology often allows businesses to perform complicated functions while avoiding significant costs. For instance, companies use sophisticated conference call programs to cut down on travel and allow people to work from home. Small firms are very adaptive and can quickly adopt new technology, overhauling their entire function in just a few days.
These days it is not just the nimble small companies adopting new technology, and corporate giants are starting to get involved. Indeed, huge companies are experimenting with cloud computing and other advanced stuff. These kinds of changes take time and a great deal of money to implement, yet these firms are seeing huge benefits. Indeed, when administrative costs are cut down in a big company it can translate to millions of dollars off the bottom line. Given the savings that are available, we can only expect this to increase and we will soon see major corporations leading the way with new technology.
In the past it was individuals and very small companies which pushed us forward with technology. This is likely to persist for a few years, yet it seems that a sleeping giant has woken and major corporations are soon going to start adopting their practices to cutting edge technology. This is a great thing for many workers as they will see their jobs streamlined and benefit hugely from improved technology. It is likely that some of these companies will move too fast though – we all know how trying it is when a new system functions wrong, this happening for a huge company will multiply this level of chaos many times over. Nonetheless, fast adoption of technology will only spur innovation further, and that cannot fail to be a good thing.
Business owners will want to insure that their current policies protect them against potential losses from cyber-criminals. Recently, a very successful criminal enterprise has developed which presents itself as an IT security firm offering advanced protective software for business.
In truth, the IT Security Professionals are IT criminal professionals, posing as security experts in order to gain access to company computer records. Soon after paying for the security software and downloading it to their computer, unsuspecting companies find that their digital data has been entirely hacked.
True professional computer security experts recommend that you remain with your current security provider and do any and all updates through them. Don’t trade out a trusted relationship for the promise of better protection and lower prices. Whatever unknown companies are claiming to be able to sell, you can already be provided by your current, trusted computer security expert.
No one company is so far ahead of another that they can give you dramatically better security options than your current provider. If you don’t have a computer security provider, get one. Talk to friends who are in business or local business organizations to determine who they use and who they trust.
Lastly, be certain that your business insurance protects against any costs and/or liability associated with data theft or corruption.
Cloudnet has a new savings program to encourage companies to use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone systems. Right now, if you choose Cloudnet as your Voice Over Internet Protocol provider, you can save £70 to £200 per handset.
Cloudnet will give away Siemens Cordless DECT phones or Grandstream Internet phones. This free handset offer remains in effect pending 1 January 2011. Cloudnet Connect is especially geared for businesses that want to avoid large set up charges. The service starts at about £8.50 each month plus calls.
The system utilizes all of the advanced business telephone utilities such as call recording, voice mail and call divert. All phone calls inside the Cloudnet Network are free, as are branch to branch calls. The system is Plug and Play Voice Over Internet Protocol, so there are no capital expenditures. You get free phones, along with online PBX. The international and national calling charges are low.
Cloudnet representatives say that in comparison to IP phones, their Voice Over Internet Protocol system, with free handsets, offers the best telecommunications options for businesses looking to reduce phone costs. Cloudnet claims to have the most cost-effective and easily installed Voice Over Internet Protocol system for small business applications.
As the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) is seen as being in swapping copper cables with networks of optical fibre. The Government has, as such, become bogged down with giving customers a better 2mbp service, which some believe is holding back the introduction of new technology. BT are committed to fibre optics but need reassurance that they can capitalise on any investment.
Ofcom are supporting the major players, knowing that these large ventures involving enormous amounts of money need to be encouraged by allowing a good financial return. Since BT launched the Openreach service, progress has ground to a halt so it believes that letting the networks set price levels for a more efficient service is justifiable.
The UK is the tenth most active user of Information Communication Technology as seen in the latest studies. This is despite the fact that it is one of the highest priced networks in Europe. This is a huge factor that keeps usage down, as consumers watch how much time they spend using their internet broadband and other services. .
A new report from CA Technologies discovered that UK organizations lose around £2b every year due to their failure to effectively manage business systems. The detailed report showed that IT downtime causes organizations to lose about 300,000 hours per year.
On average, the report showed that it the time it takes to fix an IT system when it goes down costs most organizations around £208,000 per year in lost revenues.
The report also showed that when the IT systems are down organizations lose their about 22% of their average revenues.
However, the associated costs and downtime itself could be avoided in most cases if organizations took a better look at developing their disaster recovery strategies. CA Technologies recommends that businesses focus their efforts on speed of data recovery in an effort to form better data protection plans.
200 UK organizations were included in the survey report with each reporting to suffer from about 27 hours of downtime of their IT systems every year.
Also included in the survey were almost 2,000 organizations from across 11 European countries with France found to experience the largest amount of downtime and thus the largest subsequent revenue loss. France organizations are estimated to lose about £424,000 in revenues every year as a result of downtime.
On the other hand, Italy was found to have the best IT system protections in place only losing about an average of £29,000 in revenues every year.
Dubai has emerged in the last decade to reinvent itself away from being an oil producing nation into a major world player in the business, retail and entertainment markets. Its gigantic investments into all kinds of infrastructure, now means that it competes with the main Western destinations for all kinds of amenities such as hotels, conventions, theme parks and sports.
One of its major emerging sports and entertainment events is the Dubai Tennis Championships which is now very much a part of the main international tennis circuit and is jockeying for position against the big competitions such as Wimbledon.
The Dubai Tennis Championships now attract all of the big names in the tennis world, as well as a serious following from those that love the sport. As it has grown in popularity the event has also grown complexity, meaning that it now attracts large numbers of players as well as huge crowds who want to see and be seen at one of the world’s great sporting occasions.
All of this requires an incredible amount of very complex and in-depth organisation on all kinds of levels in order to ensure that all goes well and there are no major logistical problems in holding a competition.
In order to fulfil these requirements the Dubai Tennis Championships have teamed up with Xerox in order to take advantage of their in-depth knowledge of all kinds of essentials from basic printing right up to communicating with hundreds of different organisations spread across the globe in all time zones.
Xerox is also an extremely fundamental part in dealing with the world’s press and giving them everything that they need to cover the event in real time and in depth, so that the right information can be provided to a world audience.
Watch this promotional video to see how Xerox are helping out.
Xerox provides a range of products and specialist services to Dubai Tennis Championships allowing them to focus on what they do best. Visit xerox.com
Business owners will want to insure that their current policies protect them against potential losses from cyber-criminals. Recently, a very successful criminal enterprise has developed which presents itself as an IT security firm offering advanced protective software for business.
Cloudnet has a new savings program to encourage companies to use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone systems. Right now, if you choose Cloudnet as your Voice Over Internet Protocol provider, you can save £70 to £200 per handset.
As the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) is seen as being in swapping copper cables with networks of optical fibre. The Government has, as such, become bogged down with giving customers a better 2mbp service, which some believe is holding back the introduction of new technology. BT are committed to fibre optics but need reassurance that they can capitalise on any investment.
A new report from CA Technologies discovered that UK organizations lose around £2b every year due to their failure to effectively manage business systems. The detailed report showed that IT downtime causes organizations to lose about 300,000 hours per year.