Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2015

The top technology trends compiled by Gartner have the potential to affect individuals, businesses and IT organizations. They are the prime enablers behind new digital business opportunities. Their disruptive power stems from merging virtual and physical worlds, the growth of intelligence everywhere, and the emerging new realities of IT.

As discussed by David Cearley, Gartner VP & Gartner Fellow, the most fundamental theme behind the top strategic technology trends for 2015 is the shift to digital business.

The merging of the physical and the virtual world offers "Computing Everywhere." It's not just simply about a move to mobile computing, but it's a move beyond those mobile devices to an age where we look at "mobile" meaning "mobile people."

The world is our computer and we are walking around within that. We have those mobile devices, devices on desktops, devices on our wrists, devices on our heads, devices in our clothes, our cars are devices, there are screens all around us. That extends to the Internet of Things, so it's all of the industrial equipment and the sensors in the world that extend this idea of the world being the computer.

3D printing has also reached out into the real world to instantiate something from the virtual world and the real world. So that's the virtual and real worlds coming together.

Smartphone Penetration in PH Expected to Rise at 40 Percent by End of 2015

Mature markets such as Australia and Singapore, where LTE is widely available, have a very high mobile broadband penetration, already exceeding 90 percent. Developing markets on the other hand, still have a long way to go, which offers a unique opportunity for mobile operators to enhance the mobile broadband experience for users.

The Ericsson Mobility Report, presented by one of the world leaders in communications technology and services, shares forecast data, analysis and insight into mobile traffic, subscriptions, and consumer behavior to provide insight into current traffic and market trends in today’s Networked Society, provides us with the following information:

According to the report, smartphone penetration in the Philippines at the end of 2014 was around 30 percent and is expected to be at around 40 percent at the end of 2015. Users consume more data through newer and faster devices so this is an exceptional growth opportunity for service providers and device manufacturers.

“The increasing availability of affordable smartphones, Internet access and mobility is enabling more consumers to access the benefits of the Networked Society. In fact, in the Philippines smartphones are the primary way of getting online” says Afrizal Abdul Rahim, Ericsson Head of ConsumerLab for Region South East Asia and Oceania. 

Michelin and Renault Develop 18- and 17-inch Diameter Tires for Single-Seater Racing Cars

We are not limiting our online publication to ICT as we are very much interested in technologies that also helps transportation, or even racing, vehicles.

The world of sports car racing requires only the most advanced vehicle technology which includes the design and creation of tires. The better the technology incorporated in your vehicle, the more chances of being first in the finish line.

Renault Sport and Michelin have concluded that the replacement of the 13-inch tires that currently equip the WSR’s FR3.5 and FR2.0 cars by 18- and 17-inch tires respectively is a first class solution to make driving even more enjoyable for competitors, including enhanced performance during transient phases. Tires with smaller sidewalls produce less yaw, greater precision and improved steering response. At the same time, the change marks a big step forward in terms of the opportunities it offers when it comes to carrying over technology to Michelin road tires.

Motor racing has served as an important testing and development laboratory for technologies that go on to be used for road car tires. Michelin has long adhered to this philosophy and uses all the disciplines in which it is active to collect technical data that its Research and Development experts can dial into new, ever better-performing and increasingly efficient tires.

Fortinet Announces New Fortiwan Product Line

Fortinet launches three WAN Link Load Balancers under the new FortiWAN product line. The load balancers features the same capabilities and proven reliability of AscenLink (their latest product line acquisition), enhanced with the legendary security and performance that only Fortinet can deliver.

The FortiWAN 200B, 1000B and 3000B models are yet another example of the breadth of integrated end-to-end solutions that Fortinet delivers to secure organizations from endpoint to cloud, and everything in between.

Fortinet’s new Fortiwan product line optimizes and increases bandwidth for secure Internet connectivity, external connection stability and reliable data transmission. The FortiWAN appliances marks the company’s first line of dedicated WAN Link Load Balancers and further demonstrates Fortinet’s commitment to broadening their end-to-end cybersecurity platform.

“Fortinet is constantly developing innovative solutions to help organizations get the most out of their network architectures with high-performance, secure and feature-rich solutions,” said John Maddison, vice president, marketing products at Fortinet. “The launch of our FortiWAN product line demonstrates our commitment to our existing AscenLink customers and our vision to engineer the very best solutions on the planet” he adds.

AMD Radeon R9 and R7 300 Series Graphics Cards Usher In a New Era of PC Gaming

AMD designs and integrates technology that powers millions of intelligent devices, including personal computers, tablets, game consoles and cloud servers that define the new era of surround computing. Their solutions enable people everywhere to realize the full potential of their favorite devices and applications to push the boundaries of what is possible.

Ushering in a new era of PC gaming is the unveiling of AMD's line of next-generation Radeon graphics cards. AMD could not be prouder to bring these graphics cards to gamers. The company unleashed a spectrum of innovation with advanced technologies like High-Bandwidth Memory, the best 4K gaming experiences, and the most advanced VR solutions, all ready for next-generation DirectX 12 gaming.

The AMD next-generation graphics cards, namely the Radeon R9 Fury series, the Radeon R9 300 series and the Radeon R7 300 series graphics cards (seen above is the R7 370) mark a technology turning point in PC gaming, bringing super high resolutions, exceptional VR experiences, smoother gameplay, support for new, advanced APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan, and groundbreaking form factors to gamers everywhere through a top-to-bottom line of GPUs that fit virtually every need and budget.

Pismo: Celebrating Its 2nd Year as a Digital Lifestyle Store

No one will argue that gadgets have become more than just a fad. Most are now an everyday part of our lifestyle. Like smartphones which allows us to remain well-informed and connected with the world, other gadgets like tablets and digital lifestyle and sports cameras are quickly becoming a necessity especially for the young urban professionals,and hobbyist who aim to impress their clients, gain an edge among their competition or be "in" with their peers and colleagues.

With high-end lifestyle products meant for the more critical individuals with eccentric taste, Pismo Digital Lifestyle has become the ideal store for techies and enthusiasts who only want the best for their demanding lifestyle.

Brands like Fujifilm, GoPro, Samsung, Apple, Parrot, Bower & Wilkins, XooPar, Silverlit, plus a lot more including branded accessories and multi-functional bags, are just among the many items you can conveniently find at the store.

Pismo recently celebrated their 2nd anniversary with a three-day celebration full of activities and prizes to reward their loyal customers and also to attract new ones. A media event was held at the first day last June 26, 2015 attended by tech and lifestyle writers and bloggers that were all excited to hear about the updates regarding the digital lifestyle store.

Beep: A New App for Organizing Personal Events

Now you'll have a lot of help in organizing the most important events of your life. Whether it's a personal party or a business function, you can now effectively organize and coordinate any form of gathering with your friends across multiple platforms through the instant messaging service of a new app called Beep.

The new app that helps you schedule and track events occurring within your social circle. You can easily create, organize and send out invitations using this handy mobile app. This app will truly make attending and organizing social gatherings a breeze.

A recent launch dubbed as Beep Bloggers Night was held last June 26, 2015 at House Manila of Remington Hotel and was attended by selected bloggers in the Philippines. Celebrities like Maris Racal, Diego Loyzaga and Mau Marcelo were there to spice up the evening, while Andrei Felix liven up the launch with his vibrant hosting.

The built-in location service of Beep allows guests to easily find and check-in at the destination. Never has planning an itinerary has been this convenient.

SMAC: The ICT Path Towards a Truly Digital Government

SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) is the concept that four technologies are currently driving business innovation.

None of the four technologies can be an afterthought because it's the synergy created by social, mobile, analytics and cloud working together that creates a competitive advantage.

Social media has provided businesses with new ways to reach and interact with customers, while mobile technologies have changed the way people communicate, shop and work. Analytics allow businesses to understand how, when and where people consume certain goods and services and cloud computing provides a new way to access technology and the data a business needs to quickly respond to changing markets and solve business problems.

While each of the four technologies can impact a business individually, their convergence is proving to be a disruptive force that is creating entirely new business models for service providers. Below are most of the insights shared by Lorenzo Fernando Tandeo, PLDT's Head of Business Development for Cloud and Data Center for Enterprise, from his talk at the 2015 NICT Summit.

Based on the latest estimate, there are now about 40 million online Filipinos. Pinoys spend an average of 4 hours a day connected to the Internet. There are also more phones than the number of people in the country thus we are prominent as a mobile-equipped country already. These numbers will unsurprisingly double or triple in the next years. This is the new normal. Everyone is connected somehow and someway, and without hyping PLDT or Globe Telecom, the undebatable fact is "People connect!"

Mandatory Free Peering to Speed Up Internet Access in the Philippines

"Mandatory 'Free Peering' is another way to speed up Philippine Internet service. Its like allowing separate Internet network whether government-owned or private to interconnect with major telecommunication companies to facilitate faster exchange of data. Globe and PLDT have done it with voice. Let them do it this time with data. Government should step in and never take this issue lightly. Investing on ICT is not an EXPENSE but a necessary tool for economic development and job creation" - Rodge Tonacao

Under the memo circular of the National Telecommunications Communications (NTC), all ISPs are required to connect with the IP exchange of the Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) with respect to their domestic Internet traffic.

Proponents of IP peering such as Globe Telecom have said to be erroneously comparing this to interconnection for voice calls and SMS between phone carriers, except that in this case interconnection applies to Internet traffic.

“That is comparing apples and oranges," said PLDT technology group head Roland G. Pena. “IP peering is much more complex than conventional interconnection."

Pena argues that "Unlike conventional phone systems where calls are handled using carefully planned routing tables downloaded into switching systems, the routers of Internet use a self-discovery process to determine the connectivity of the network and decide themselves where to send traffic. Rather than use direct high-usage peering or redundancy throughout the network which is the rule for telephone systems, the Internet achieves reliability via a mesh network rich in alternate routes."

Strengthening ICT Education in the Philippines

The private-public partnership the government has taken to fully utilize benefits presented by ICT in the education sector aims to build global competitiveness.

Modernizing education through uptake of the latest technology would be a win-win situation for both parties.

This move is very effective in increasing access and quality of education from primary to university level.

There are numerous areas where the private sector can come in, from infrastructure development to development of digital content to be used for training of teachers.

Private sector opportunities are not limited to multinationals alone because there are many opportunities that can be pursued by local businesses.

“Studies show that students whose teachers received training in computers performed better than others. Schools that provide teachers with professional development in computers also enjoyed higher staff morale and lower absenteeism” - Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago

Tekkie Brekkie: The Most Important Meal of the Day

Tekkie Brekkie contains overviews of discussions among ICT professionals and enthusiasts raised during breakfast, coffee, brunch, lunch, snack time and dinner breaks.

But we made emphasis on breakfast since we all know that breakfast is highly regarded as the most important meal of the day so it is but necessary to get a fulfilling plateful of facts and opinions related to ICT before we start our day. These discussions are also best when there are actual sumptuous culinary treats that we digest during the same time we take in all the knowledge.

"Tekkie" is another way to write techie which is short for technology expert or enthusiast, and "brekkie" is short for breakfast.

We are not limiting ourselves to gadgets and the usual retail products for end-users because this publication will carry very diverse topics within and beyond Information and Communication Technology.