They may be stressed about shadow IT, security, endpoint management, and the recent proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. They’re challenged not just by static budgets and rising costs, but by the proliferation of tools they now must use to do their job. And while IT admins are not exactly struggling for work, there is plenty for them to do.

Those are some of the findings in JumpCloud’s latest survey of IT admin decision-makers across the US, UK, and Australia. The report confirms that the workplace continues to become increasingly multi-platform, with 27% of enterprise employees now preferring to use Macs, up from low-single figures at the turn of the century.

JumpCloud, which this week acquired Stack Identity, is one of the larger unified device, identity, and access management platforms to provide support for the burgeoning Apple enterprise.

Windows down, macOS and Linux up

“Windows use has shown the most significant decrease over the last six months, compared to macOS and Linux, which both increased,” said JumpCloud.

When asked about the breakdown of their organization’s device type, admins reported Windows devices comprise 56% (down from 63% in Q3 2024), macOS 27% (up from 24% in Q3 2024), and Linux 20% (up from 18% in Q3 2024).

Mac adoption in the enterprise is certain to continue to climb. The tech support cost overhead of managing Windows systems means a migration might represent low-hanging fruit for many enterprise leaders working to squeeze more from their budgets. Initial cost aside (and the difference between Mac and equivalent Windows systems is smaller now than ever), the total cost of ownership has a significant impact on budgets.

Make no mistake. Budget-wrangling really is a thing: 39% spend up to half of their entire budget on licensing fees. While this reflects the grim reality that tech providers of all kinds are forcing subscriptions onto their customers, it represents a massive increase in such costs. In Q3, 2024 just 28% of admins endured similar budget erosion for licensing fees. 

What do you get for your money?

Windows and other Microsoft devices were seen as the most difficult things to manage by 23% of respondents. To be fair, Apple devices were seen as difficult to manage by 19% of IT admins, with Linux winning unspoken praise — just 14% of admins saw it as the most difficult.

All the same, what that difference in Windows-vs-Mac management difficulty means is that the Windows experience is more abrasive, which — in conjunction with the upcoming Windows licensing replacement cycle — means IT will be tempted to look at alternatives.

Perhaps that’s why 43% of admins expect macOS device use to increase in the coming year, though 54% also anticipate increased use of Windows. The default rate — enterprises dropping support for either platform — is fairly equal, though Apple has the edge. 

On-prem, off-prem, and multicloud

Admins are also frustrated at the complexity of managing cloud and multi-cloud setups. That’s turning into a big opportunity for managed service providers (MSPs) who increasingly offer to ease the pain of managing multi-cloud setups. MSPs aren’t just about cloud services management, of course. But it does appear to be their time to shine, with 93% of organizations already using or considering an MSP. Their role also seems to be changing, as they’re increasingly seen as trusted advisors.

Can AI supplement IT roles? Admins see the technology as both a risk and an opportunity. But organizations appear to be accelerating AI deployments, with 15% of admins warning the tech is being put in place too fast and 67% believing these deployments are outpacing organizational ability to protect against threats.

“Keeping pace with all the improvements and changes keeps me up at night,” one anonymous survey respondent told JumpCloud. “AI has bought a new way of doing business and requires major adjustments.” 

Back to the (AI) future

It’s not just deployment that has admins spooked. Thirty-seven percent of them fear AI will take their jobs — and 56% of corporate vice presidents now worry AI will replace them, up from 29% a year ago. All the same, fear of redundancy is endemic across every role.

How is AI being managed? Most enterprises are taking steps to accommodate its use, with just 21% having taken no steps or put AI restrictions in position. Almost half (49%) of companies have developed policies to guide employee use of AI, with 47% encouraging use of tools such as ChatGPT. 

With data being the new gold, it’s no surprise that 28% of IT admins said their companies now have controls in place to prevent employee use of AI. “To harness [AI’s] power responsibly, organizations must lead with clear governance and innovation frameworks that balance opportunity with risk,” JumpCloud said.

All the same, unauthorized use of AI continues, and just like any other form of Shadow IT this proliferation is a big problem for IT.

The usual suspects

The number of admins concerned about the use of apps and devices that aren’t managed has increased again, with 88% of IT admins now worried about this. They estimate that most employees use between one and five unauthorized applications.

There are lots of reasons for this, one of them being the speed at which businesses are moving, which means the current needs aren’t being met, driving employees to seek solutions that fit. And while you’d expect IT to spend time handling this, lack of time and lack of visibility into all the apps employees use means that just as fiscal budgets demand careful juggling, so too does precious IT time.

What else is eating that time? Security. It currently consumes the lion’s share of IT budgets. A plurality of organizations (47%) spend between 10% and 25% of their yearly IT budget on cybersecurity; another 24% spend 26% to 50%; 5% spend more than half their budget on security; and 24% less than 9% on security. In other words, security remains a tidy little earner for vendors, and a significant revenue expenditure line item for IT. 

You’d think with all that money spent, security would already be tightly constrained, but that’s not the case. 

Almost half (46%) of organizations report that they have fallen victim to a cyberattack. AI-augmented attacks are also proliferating — this is now the third-biggest security concern after phishing and shadow IT. Man-in-the-middle attacks, MFA hacks and security breaches in partner organizations are also on the rise.

In other words, security is an endless feast of fear for some, and of revenue for others. Of course, things might be better if there were platform choices that could mitigate this attack surface.

You can explore some of the highlights from a previous JumpCloud survey here.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

By Thomas Macaulay DeepSeek proves that Silicon Valley can’t monopolise AI innovation, according to a European AI entrepreneur. Muj Choudhury, the CEO and co-founder of British voice processing startup RocketPhone, welcomed DeepSeek’s rapid rise. He hopes the Chinese company signals a shift in the balance of AI power. “AI development has long been dominated by Silicon Valley’s powerful VC firms, which wield immense influence by pouring vast sums into the technology and shaping its trajectory,” he said. “In this landscape, an outsider like DeepSeek breaking through is not just impressive. It’s necessary. The industry needs challengers to drive real innovation and prevent AI’s future…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Imagine sharing your favorite photos, videos, or apps from your iPhone on the big screen of…
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Source:: Fossbytes

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By Siôn Geschwindt Remember when spotting a drone in the sky was a novelty? Now it’s like playing whack-a-mole with flying machines. Delivery drones, military drones, AI drones, hobby drones — our skies are busier than the queue at airport security. Without air traffic control, we’re one step away from midair collisions and drones arguing over parking spots.  Enter AirDodge, a Norwegian startup that’s stepping in to tame the chaos. The Oslo-based company just secured a $500,000 pre-seed funding round, led by VC firms Nordic Makers and Antler. The investment will help AirDodge develop its U-Space software platform, designed to manage large-scale drone…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Two years ago, OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched a new wave of AI disruption that left the tech industry reassessing its future. Now within the space of a week a small Chinese startup called DeepSeek appears to have pulled off a similar coup, this time at OpenAI’s expense.

Nevertheless, DeepSeek’s sudden success — the company’s free chatbot mobile app quickly surpassed even ChatGPT for downloads on Apple’s App Store — has prompted questions. Is the DeepSeek story too good to be true? And should businesses in the US and allied countries allow employees to use an app when the company’s Chinese background and operation are so opaque?

What happened

The DeepSeek storm hit on January 20 when DeepSeek launched its R1 LLM model to the public, complete with big claims around performance.

Using smaller “distilled” LLM models, which require significantly less processing power while replicating the capability of larger models, DeepSeek’s R1 matched or exceeded OpenAI’s equivalent, o1-mini, in important math and reasoning tests.

That performance generated a surge of interest. By Monday the DeepSeek app had overtaken ChatGPT and Temu to become the iPhone App Store’s top free download — and DeepSeek was reporting delays in new registrations to use the app due to what it described as “large-scale malicious attacks” on its services.

Nobody saw this coming. Somehow, R1 was doing this with less hardware. Moreover, DeepSeek-R1 is available through an open-source MIT license, which allows for unrestricted commercial use, including modification and distribution.

With AI sector share prices unsettled by all of this, the implication is that perhaps usable models don’t need the huge chip clusters deployed by the established players and organizations shouldn’t be paying high prices to access them.

Furthermore, if a tiny startup can get by on more limited hardware while training LLMs for a fraction of the cost, perhaps strenuous US attempts to limit the export of the most powerful AI chips to most of the world including China, are already obsolete before they’ve been fully implemented.

Zero day AI

The speed of DeepSeek’s rise is a case of ‘zero-day disruption.’ Organizations have no time to react, and not just because developers across the world have piled in to test DeepSeek-R1 via its API by the thousand. Releasing a free app gives this capability to everyone, including employees who might enter sensitive data into it. By now, DeepSeek is everywhere, which makes it difficult to control.

“The app has raced to the top of the app charts, but I would advise anyone considering installing it and using it to exercise some caution,” warned tech commentator, Graham Cluley, who also hosts the AI Fix podcast.

That said, organizations should already be used to coping with this issue. “Human nature being what it is, there will surely be just as much sensitive data entered into DeepSeek as we’ve seen entered into every other AI out there,” said Cluley. Organizations should probably hold back until it has been more thoroughly audited in the same way they would with any new app.

Or perhaps focusing on the risks is too negative. DeepSeek will ignite more competition in the sector, potentially turning powerful LLMs from an expensive service for the deep pocketed into a cheap utility anyone can access. Rather than dumping existing AI services, organizations should demand a better deal while avoiding becoming too locked into one LLM as new innovations appear.

Censored language model

A lurking possibility is that DeepSeek isn’t as good as it seems, with some skepticism already appearing around its price-performance claims. Stacy Rasgon, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research, questioned DeepSeek’s underlying costs.

“Did DeepSeek really build OpenAI for $5M? Of course not,” he wrote in a client note. “The oft quoted $5M number is calculated by assuming a $2/GPU-hour rental price for this infrastructure, which is fine, but not really what they did, and does not include all the other costs associated with prior research and experiments on architectures, algorithms, or data.”

In use, DeepSeek makes elementary errors, not dissimilar to the ones that afflicted ChatGPT in its early days. Some of its responses also underline that the app imposes guard rails when run from a Chinese host. A good example is this report of its refusal to acknowledge the Tiananmen Square massacre, something the Chinese Government goes to extreme lengths to hide.

In the short term, DeepSeek’s appearance underlines the unstable nature of AI itself. Tech is used to periodic disruptions. AI suggests that these might become more routine, including of its own capabilities. It is unlikely to be the last such breakthrough in a sector that will prove harder to dominate than has been assumed.

Investors and government regulators trying to control AI development won’t like this but if it offers cheaper and earlier AI access across the economy it could still work as a net positive. According to Cluley, DeepSeek should be something for Silicon Valley to worry about.

“If it’s accurate that the Chinese have been able to develop a competitive AI that massively undercuts the US-based giants in terms of development cost and with a fraction of the hardware commitment then that is clearly going to upset the applecart and have a tech billionaire or two crying into their Cheerios this morning,” he said.

Source:: Computer World

By Thomas Macaulay Stunning AI advances from Chinese startup DeepSeek have sent tech stocks tumbling across the US and Europe. DeepSeek released a free chatbot and new open-source AI models last week. Within days, the chatbot had overtaken ChatGPT to reach the top spot on the Apple App Store’s free app rankings. The new R1 models sent further shockwaves through the AI world. R1 promised performance to rival OpenAI top’s reasoning model — at just a fraction of the cost. Marc Andreessen, one of the world’s most powerful VCs, called the release “AI’s Sputnik moment.” The markets were also astounded. Shaken by the…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

Though there are a variety of cool extensions for the Chrome browser, there are also malicious extensions that pose a security threat. To increase security, Google has now launched the Chrome Web Store for Enterprises, a new store specifically designed for business users.

For example, businesses can create a list of approved extensions to ensure employees do not install malicious extensions on their own. Companies can also add their own logos and images to the store if they wish, making it clear to users what applies.

And, according to Bleeping Computer, it will soon also be possible for IT administrators to remotely remove add-ons, if necessary.

Source:: Computer World

By Nick Godt A surge in sales of electric vehicles in the final months of last year could continue well into 2025, as consumers continue to take advantage of federal tax incentives while they last.,

Source:: Digital Trends

Not to be outdone by its close rival OpenAI, Meta has announced its plans to spend $60 to $65 billion on AI infrastructure this year, and is building a data center almost as big as Manhattan.

In a Facebook post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his company’s intent to build a 2GW data center, bring roughly 1GW of compute online in 2025, and end the year with more than 1.3 million GPUs.

Included in his post was a blueprint of the planned “Richland Parish Center Data Center” superimposed on a map of Manhattan (the data center will actually be in northeast Louisiana).

Source:: Computer World

The US Department of Justice this week announced that it had indicted two North Korean nationals and three other men, accusing them of participating in a conspiracy designed to trick US companies into funding the North Korean regime.

According to the indictment, which was filed in federal court in Miami, the scheme leveraged stolen identity documents and paid henchmen in the US to direct well-paid IT work and company computers to two North Korean men, Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song. The idea, the Justice Department said, was to funnel money back to the North Korean regime, which has limited opportunities to generate cash through legal means thanks to heavy international sanctions.

The conspiracy, according to the indictment, centers on North Korean nationals posing as foreign workers in other nations, or as US nationals, and gaining employment via online platforms that allow companies to advertise for contract IT workers. Using fake or altered identity documents, the North Koreans took on contracts for several US companies, which were not identified by name in the indictment. Those businesses then shipped company laptops to three US-based co-conspirators, Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, Erick Ntekereze Prince, and Emanuel Ashtor, who, the Justice Department said, installed remote access software on them so that they could be operated by Jin and Pak.

The US-based members of the group also used their own companies as fronts for the conspiracy, invoicing several of the victim firms and funneling payments to the North Koreans. The indictment stated that at least 64 US companies were victimized, and payments from ten of them generated at least $866,255 in revenue over the duration of the scheme, which ran for more than six years.

All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to damage a protected computer, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, and transferring false identification documents. The two North Koreans are additionally charged with violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Each could face up to 20 years in prison.

Highlights risk from North Korea

“The indictments announced today should highlight to all American companies the risk posed by the North Korean government,” said Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, Bryan Vorndran, in a statement.

While the indictments announced Thursday characterized this conspiracy as largely focused on diverting money to the heavily embargoed North Korean government, similar efforts by that country have been aimed at compromising corporate secrets and sensitive information. The “laptop farm” — where a US-based associate such as Prince and Ashtor hosted the provided company laptops in their own homes to conceal the North Korean involvement — has been a known technique for North Korean cyberwarfare since at least 2022, and has been used not just to collect a salary, but to steal data, explore sensitive parts of strategically significant infrastructure, and attempt to extort victimized firms.

The operations are growing in both numbers and sophistication, according to security firms who spoke to CSO in November. One recent case saw a bad actor use deepfake video technology and automated voice translation in a video interview, though this didn’t work particularly well and the interviewers were easily able to tell that something was wrong.

“Her eyes weren’t moving, the lips weren’t in sync, and the voice was mechanical,” Kirkwood told CSO. “It was like something from a 1970s Japanese Godzilla movie.”

Google-owned threat intelligence provider Mandiant told CSO that the number of North Korean IT workers looking to gain valuable freelance positions number in the thousands, and although not all are engaged in purely nefarious activity, the number of intrusion incidents linked to North Korean workers is high.

Source:: Computer World

President Donald Trump’s executive order removing Biden-Administration rules governing AI development is being cast as an opening of AI development flood gates, which could fast track advances in the still-new technology, but could also pose risks.

Signed on Thursday, the executive order (EO) overturns former President Joe Biden’s 2023 policy, which mandated that AI developers conduct safety testing and share results with the government before releasing systems that could pose risks to national security, public health, or the economy.

The revocation of the 2023 Eo shifts federal oversight from mandates to voluntary commitments, reducing requirements such as safety training submissions and large-scale computer acquisition notices, enabling less regulated innovation.

“This means some states may continue to follow the regulatory guidance in the 2023 EO, while others may not,” said Lydia Clougherty Jones Sr., a director analyst at Gartner Research.

Trump’s policy states its purpose is to “sustain and enhance America’s dominance in AI,” and promote national security. The EO directs the creation of an “AI Action Plan” within 180 days, led by the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, the White House AI and Crypto Czar, and the National Security Advisor. Michael Kritsios (former US CTO under the Trump administration), David Sacks (venture capitalist and former PayPal executive), and US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), have been nominated or appointed, respectively, to these positions.

The EO states part of its purpose is to “enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”

Mark Brennan, who leads the global technology and telecommunications industry sector group for the Washington-based law firm of Hogan Lovel, said setting a 180-day deadline to develop a new AI action plan means the group drafting the plan will need to quickly “gather input and start writing.”

The mention of “human flourishing” is also “sure to spark diverse interpretations,” Brennan said.

A public-private partnership on AI

Along with the order, Trump also unveiled the Stargate initiative, a public-private venture that would create a new company to build out the nation’s AI infrastructure, including new data centers and new power plants to feed them. Initially, Stargate will team up the US government with OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank. The companies will initially invest $100 billion in the project, with plans to reach $500 billion. Trump said the move would create 100,000 US jobs.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, for example, said 10 new AI data centers are already under construction. He linked the project to the use of AI for digital health records, noting the technology could help develop customized cancer vaccines and improve disease treatment.

Not everyone is, however, upbeat about the loosening of government oversight of AI development and partnerships with the private sector.

The Stargate announcement, along with the Trump Administration’s reversal of the earlier AI safety order, could replace many federal workers in key public service roles, according to Cliff Jurkiewicz, vice president of global strategy at Phenom, a company specializing in AI-enabled human resources.

 “While it’s impressive to see such a significant investment by the federal government and private businesses into the nation’s AI infrastructure, the downside is that it has the potential to disenfranchise federal workers who are not properly trained and ready to use AI,” Jurkiewicz said. “Federal employees need training to use AI effectively; it can’t just be imposed on them.”

Stargate will speed up what Jurkiewcz called “the Great Recalibration” — a shift in how work is performed through an human-AI partnership. Over the next 12 to 18 months, businesses will realize they can’t fully replace human knowledge and experience with technology, “since machines don’t perceive the world as we do,” he said.

The move could put smaller AI companies at a competitive disadvantage by stifling innovation, Jurkiewicz said. “Stargate could also deepen inequities, as those who know how to use AI will have a significant advantage over those who don’t.”

Removing AI regulations, however, won’t inherently lead to a completely unbridled technology that can mimic human intelligence in areas such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving.

Commercial risk will drive responsible AI, with investment and success shaped by the private market and state regulations, according to Gartner. Industry commitments and consortia will advance AI safety and development to meet societal needs, independent of federal or state policies.

AI unleashed to become Skynet?

Some predict AI will become as ubiquitous as electricity or the internet, in that it will eventually be operating behind the scenes and woven into everyday life, silently powering countless systems and services without drawing much attention.

“I’m sure the whole Terminator thing could happen. I don’t consider it likely,” said John Veitch, dean of the School of Business and Management at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, CA. “I see lots of positive things with AI and taking the guardrails off of it.”

Regulating something as transformative as AI is challenging, much like the early internet. “If we had foreseen social media’s impact in 1999, would we have done things differently? I don’t know,” Veitch said.

Given AI’s complexity, less regulation might be better than more, at least for now, he said.

AI is valuable as the US faces an aging population and a shrinking labor force, Veitch said. With skilled workers harder to find and expensive to hire, AI can replace call centers or assist admissions teams, offering cost-effective solutions. For example, Notre Dame de Namur’s admissions team uses generative AI to follow up on enrollment requests.

Trump’s executive order prioritizes “sovereign AI” affecting the private market, while shifting most regulatory oversight to state and local governments. For example, New York plans to restrict government use of AI for automated decisions without human monitoring, while Colorado’s new AI law, effective in 2026, will require businesses to inform consumers when they’re interacting with AI, Gartner’s Jones said.

The revocation of Biden’s 2023 order reduces federal oversight of model development, removing requirements such as submitting safety training results or sending notifications about large-scale computer cluster acquisitions, which could encourage faster innovation, according to Jones. “Thus, it was not a surprise to see the Stargate announcement and the related public-private commitments,” she said.

Strengthening sovereign AI, Jones said, will boost public-private partnerships like Stargate to maintain US competitiveness and tech leadership.

What enterprises should focus on

Now that the regulatory buck has been passed to states, so to speak, organizations should monitor US state AI executive orders, laws, and pending legislation, focusing on mandates that differentiate genAI from other AI techniques and apply to government use, according to a Gartner report.

“We have already seen diverse concerns unique to individual state goals across the nearly 700 pieces of state-level AI-proposed legislation in 2024 alone,” Gartner said.

According to Gartner:

By 2029, 10% of corporate boards globally are expected to use AI to challenge key executive decisions.

By 2027, Fortune 500 companies will redirect $500 billion from energy operating expenses to microgrids to address energy risks and AI demands.

By 2027, 15% of new applications will be fully generated by AI, up from 0% today.

Executives should identify patterns in new laws, especially those addressing AI biases or errors, and align responsible AI with company goals. Companies are also being urged to document AI decision-making and manage high-risk use cases to ensure compliance and reduce harm.

Organizations should also assess opportunities and risks from federal investments in AI and IT modernization. For global operations, companies will need to monitor AI initiatives in regions like the EU, UK, China, and India, Gartner said.

“Striking a balance between AI innovation and safety will be challenging, as it will be essential to apply the appropriate level of regulation,” the researcher said. “Until the new administration determines this balance, state governments will continue to lead the way in issuing regulations focusing on AI innovation and safety-centric measures that impact US enterprises.”

Source:: Computer World

OpenAI is releasing a preview version of its first AI agent, Operator, which is specifically designed to use a web browser and can, for example, book a table at a restaurant for the user on its own. (An AI agent is a system that can be given a task and then work on it independently.)

In the meantime, the user can either watch the Operator work on the web or do something completely different. In some cases, the Operator will wait for the user — for example, if it needs to log in somewhere or confirm that an email should be sent.

OpenAI says its Operator will not be able to perform malicious tasks. The company also notes that the tool currently has problems with more complex user interfaces, such as managing a calendar or creating a slideshow for a presentation.

Operator will initially be available to ChatGPT Pro users, which is the most expensive variant of Chat GPT at $200 a month. But ChatGPT Plus users will also have access to the agent in the coming months.

The AI agent will first be available in the US, followed by other countries. More details are available here.

Source:: Computer World

By Siôn Geschwindt Right now, there’s at least one nuclear-power, nuclear-armed submarine stealthily patrolling the waters off the UK. The sub is powered by a nuclear reactor, so it can cruise undetected for over 20 years without refuelling. Oh, and it’s also armed with eight nuclear warheads — each six times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.  Since 1969, the Royal Navy has kept at least one of these fission-powered submarines in the water at all times. The vessels are the backbone of Britain’s nuclear deterrent and send a giant warning to other nations who might get funny ideas.  Rolls-Royce…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

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Source:: Fossbytes

Having reliable internet access is essential for businesses. When connectivity is lost, it can lead to decreased productivity, lost revenue, and even harm to your reputation. To avoid these challenges, a backup internet connection is a practical solution that ensures business continuity and peace of mind.

In this guide, we’ll explain why a backup connection is so important and provide clear, actionable advice on choosing the right option for your business needs. With the proper setup, you can stay connected and keep your critical operations running smoothly, no matter what.

What is connection backup?

A backup internet connection for business is a secondary internet service designed to step in automatically if your primary connection goes down. This ensures you maintain continuous internet access, allowing critical business operations to run smoothly. It’s a simple yet effective way to safeguard your business against unexpected connectivity issues.

Why do businesses need backup internet connection for business?

Downtime can be a significant challenge for any business. Beyond lost revenue, it can lead to reputational damage, frustrated customers, and missed deadlines. Outages can have even more serious consequences for industries like healthcare and finance.

A backup business internet connection is a practical solution beyond addressing major disasters. It can also help mitigate minor disruptions. If your primary connection faces frequent issues, a secondary connection ensures operations run smoothly while a long-term fix is arranged. This consistency keeps your critical workflows on track and boosts team morale and productivity by reducing interruptions.

By planning ahead with a backup connection, you can safeguard your business against unexpected challenges and maintain reliable connectivity—keeping your team focused and your customers satisfied.

How does a backup internet connection for business actually work?

Several technologies can provide backup internet connectivity. Here are some popular options:

Wireless Backup (4G/5G)

Wireless backup relies on cellular networks to provide internet connectivity when your primary connection goes down. When this happens, a wireless modem automatically activates to ensure uninterrupted access to the internet. This setup is often quicker to implement and may involve lower upfront costs, especially if you already have a business account with a service provider.

Typically, wireless backup operates over LTE networks, which use wireless data. However, speeds can vary depending on your carrier, network congestion, and the time of day. To ensure the best performance, consider consulting with your service provider to discuss coverage and network reliability in your area.

Satellite

Satellite internet can be a reliable backup when other connectivity options are unavailable, especially in remote locations with limited access. Still, its latency can pose challenges for real-time activities, such as video conferencing. Understanding these limitations can help you plan accordingly and explore solutions to minimize potential disruptions.

Backup internet connection for business benefits

A backup business internet connection is essential for maintaining reliability and minimizing financial losses during unexpected outages. It also helps protect your brand’s reputation and supports employee morale by ensuring uninterrupted critical workflows. To help you stay prepared, we’ve outlined some backup internet features to consider:

BenefitDescriptionCost savingsReduces lost revenue during outages.ProductivityEnables continued work despite primary connection loss.Customer SatisfactionProvides uninterrupted service, building customer trust.Brand ReputationMinimizes damage from connectivity issues.

Who should invest in a backup internet connection for business?

While all businesses can benefit from reliable internet connectivity, some industries depend on it to ensure seamless operations. For these organizations, a fixed wireless internet backup or similar solution is not just a recommendation—it’s a necessity. Their needs go beyond the capabilities of a standard internet plan. Here’s why backup connectivity is critical for these key sectors:

Healthcare: Hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers rely on real-time data and uninterrupted communication to deliver effective patient care. A backup internet connection is essential to avoid disruptions impacting critical services.

Financial Institutions: Banks and other financial organizations depend on consistent internet access to process transactions and maintain market operations. Downtime can halt these activities, leading to significant disruptions. A secondary connection ensures critical operations continue smoothly.

Online Retailers: E-commerce businesses require constant connectivity to process orders, manage inventory, secure payments, and coordinate shipping. Backup internet ensures operations are not interrupted, protecting revenue and customer trust. Additionally, POS systems depend on a stable internet to function effectively.

Government Agencies: Whether managing routine workflows or responding to emergencies, government agencies require reliable communication and access to real-time information. Backup internet solutions are vital to maintain public safety and operational efficiency, particularly for emergency and security services.

By implementing a reliable backup internet solution, businesses in these industries can safeguard critical operations, maintain productivity, and ensure they’re prepared to overcome unexpected connectivity challenges.

Choosing the right backup solution

Understanding your business needs is the first step to making informed decisions about backup internet. Analyze how daily operations rely on internet access and identify the speed required to maintain critical functions during an outage. Consider how disruptions affect employee productivity and ensure clear communication to minimize internal challenges and maintain team cohesion.

Key considerations for backup internet:

Budget: Balance cost and reliability. Avoid overspending while ensuring your business has the necessary level of protection.

Speed: Select a backup internet service with speeds that support essential operations during outages. Ensure the service can handle your critical online needs without disruption.

Reliability: Research providers’ uptime records to choose one with a consistent track record. Look into their service plans to ensure they meet your reliability requirements.

Scalability: Plan for growth by selecting a solution that can adapt to your business’s evolution. As businesses increasingly rely on online services, a scalable backup internet solution is crucial to staying ahead of future demands.

Carrier Diversity: Opt for a backup connection using a technology different from your primary service. This ensures redundant connectivity, creating resilience against single points of failure. A diverse setup can also help prevent disruptions to systems like VoIP phone services, ensuring seamless communication even during outages.

Stay connected, stay productive with optimum business

At Optimum Business, we understand that uninterrupted connectivity is vital to your success. A backup internet solution isn’t just a safeguard—it’s a business necessity. From protecting revenue and ensuring smooth operations to supporting your team’s productivity and maintaining customer satisfaction, a reliable connection backup makes all the difference.

Let us help you implement the right backup solution tailored to your needs. With Optimum Business, you can trust our expertise, reliable technology, and commitment to your success. Stay connected, stay productive, and stay ahead with Optimum Business.

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FAQs

What are the key differences between connection backup and other redundancy measures?

Connection backup refers to having an alternate internet connection ready in case of service disruptions. Other redundancy measures include hardware and power sources, which can help prevent downtime during system failures.

How much does a connection backup system cost, and what factors influence the cost?

The cost of a connection backup system can vary depending on several factors, such as the type and size of your business, the location of your business, and the level of redundancy required. It’s best to consult with our experts at Optimum Business for a personalized quote tailored to your specific needs. Our team can also provide recommendations on cost-effective solutions that meet your budget while ensuring reliable connectivity.

What should businesses consider when choosing a connection backup provider?

When choosing a connection backup provider, businesses should consider factors such as the reliability and availability of their network, the level of customer support provided, and any additional features, resources, or services offered. Choosing a provider with a proven track record of delivering reliable connectivity solutions and excellent customer service is essential.

How can Optimum Business help organizations implement and maintain connection backup systems?

Optimum Business offers a range of connection backup solutions, including redundant internet connections and failover systems. Our team of experts can work with businesses to assess their needs and recommend the most suitable solution for their specific requirements. We also offer ongoing support and maintenance services to ensure that your connection backup system always remains functional and up-to-date.

To learn more, visit us here.

Source:: Computer World

Apple and Google now face regulatory probes in the ailing UK market, where the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed it intends to investigate both company’s mobile ecosystems under new digital market laws. This is separate from an ongoing UK probe into mobile browsers and cloud gaming that also affects the two companies.

The CMA intends to look into the operating systems, app stores, and web browsers of Apple and Google to see whether they should be given ‘Strategic Market Status.” If they meet that grade, they will be subject to rules dictated by the CMA. Those dictates could extend further even than European demands have gone under the Digital Markets Act, with huge fines for any non-compliance.

For example, the UK regulator might be able to force Apple and Google to open up access to key functionality for use by app developers or force Apple to open up app distribution to third-party services on its platforms.

What will the investigation explore?

The CMA plans to look at:

The extent of competition between and within mobile ecosystems and what barriers prevent rivals from offering products and services on Apple’s and Google’s platforms.

Possible leveraging of Apple’s and Google’s market power to favor their own apps and services.

Potential exploitative conduct, such as forcing “unfair” terms and conditions on developers.

The concern is that Apple and Google together dominate the mobile industry, which means they “exert considerable influence over much of the content, services and technological development provided on a mobile device,” the CMA said.

That’s true, of course, as the big US tech success stories build the operating systems developers use to provide apps and services on the platforms. Given the extensive quantity of personal data gathered by mobile devices, the privacy argument both companies will use in their defense is a viable one.

What the CMA wants

Newly appointed CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said: “The operating systems, apps and browsers installed on our phones and tablet devices act as our gateway into the digital world, whether that is communicating with our friends and loved ones, buying from businesses or accessing creative content. More competitive mobile ecosystems could foster new innovations and new opportunities across a range of services that millions of people use, be they app stores, browsers or operating systems.”

In the fantasy economics at play here, the CMA argues that better competition could “boost growth” in the UK, enabling UK businesses to offer “new and innovative types of product and services on Apple’s and Google’s platforms” and introduce innovative new products and services.

Saying the quiet part out loud, the regulator suggests these amazing innovations could include AI products and services and new types of “super apps” accessed through a mobile browser. The latter is likely music to the ears of Elon Musk, who has long dreamed of turning X into such a service. It must also be noted that AI is certainly part of the intention here; this likely ends with a full-front battle regarding user data privacy.

What Apple said

Apple, of course, doesn’t agree that the ecosystem it created from scratch, armed with nothing but a handful of iMacs and a Unix-based operating system is anti-competitive. “Apple believes in thriving and dynamic markets where innovation can flourish,” the company said. 

Not for the first time, Apple also argued (correctly) that it faces, “competition in every segment and jurisdiction where we operate, and our focus is always the trust of our users.” 

It took pains to note that its platform-based ecosystem delivers big benefits to the UK’s anemic economy. “In the UK alone, the iOS app economy supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and makes it possible for developers big and small to reach users on a trusted platform,” the company said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made similar arguments when he visited the UK to meet King Charles and speak to the incumbent Prime Minister. The implication, of course, is that regulations that damage the trust between consumers and the brand will threaten existing digital business and further harm consumers and the UK economy. Some might see this as a warning against deep state interference in something as complex as OS development. 

Perhaps dialog will help? “We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA as their work on this matter progresses,” the Apple statement said.

We’ll see how it goes.

What happens next?

The CMA now intends to speak with a range of stakeholders, including device manufacturers, software developers and user groups. It also intends to gather evidence from Apple and Google before reaching a decision by the end of October 2025. “Anyone with an interest in these investigations is invited to comment until Wednesday 12 February,” the CMA said.

If that’s you, you can provide your own insights to the UK regulator via this website.

With investigations extending across its business in almost every key market, Apple will certainly hope for support from the home nation it has delivered so much economic benefit to, as the alternative will be fundamental changes in its business. The latter, I feel, has become inevitable at this point, and I’d argue that the company should switch to establish new business models that it can control before it is forced to adapt to business structures over which it has none.

It’s noteworthy that newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump s already pushing back on European efforts to regulate US tech firms. “These are American companies whether you like it or not,” Trump said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “They shouldn’t be doing that. That’s, as far as I’m concerned, a form of taxation. We have some very big complaints with the EU.”

I expect the UK should anticipate slaps with the same stick.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

By Thomas Macaulay Donald Trump’s big AI announcement has turned heads on both sides of the Atlantic. Trump revealed this week that OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have formed a joint venture — called Stargate — that will invest $500bn in AI infrastructure. The companies said $100bn of the funding was available immediately. The rest would be deployed over the next four years. Trump billed Stargate as “the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history.” He added that the project would ensure “the future of technology” is in the US. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank, had another bold prediction. He said the…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Have you ever encountered “TB” in a text and wondered what it means?  Abbreviations like these…
The post TB Meaning in Text Explained: Use Cases & Examples appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes