We all know about threats to the valuable data we store everyday, we hear about them all the time. There’s always some anonymous hacker shutting down a website, or publishing someones private data. It’s just something that has become part of living in the age of information. After all, you can’t have so much information so readily available and not have it fall into the wrong hands once in awhile.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to data breaches than just the hacks we hear about in the press. Verizon has taken a particular interest in tracking breaches of data and has been doing so since 2004. You might not be surprised to learn that last year, 2011, was the second highest year for breaches ever.
The breaches occurred in all kinds of industry including; banking, healthcare, retail, information management, food service, and probably just about any field you can think of. They also happened all over the world. So what can be done?
This next infographic from Backgroundcheck.org gives us the lowdown on where these breaches are happening, what we can do to better protect ourselves, and what these breaches are costing us. Everybody should take a look at this one, it’s packed with useful data management information.
IBM has invested millions in R&D and acquisitions in an effort to streamline and add value to IT solutions over the past decade or so. Today they have announced a new category of “expert integrated systems” which promises to revolutionize the way we manage information.
The new platform offers clients an alternative to current computing models and it will deliver a system that eliminates expensive set-up and maintenance fees. Sound good? IBM knows that many organizations are struggling to keep their IT budgets in check and that many current IT solution represent an enormous drain on both budgets and profits.
Here’s some of what IBM promises with their new data management platform:
* “Scale-In” System Design: With PureSystems, IBM is introducing a new concept in system design that integrates the server, storage, and networking into a highly automated, simple-to-manage machine. Scale-in design provides for increased density – PureSystems can handle twice as many applications compared to some IBM systems, doubling the computing power per square foot of data center space.[2]
* Patterns of Expertise: For the first time, IBM is embedding technology and industry expertise through first-of-a-kind software that allows the systems to automatically handle basic, time-consuming tasks such as configuration, upgrades, and application requirements.
* Cloud Ready integration: Out of the box, all PureSystems family members are built for the cloud, enabling corporations to quickly create private, self-service cloud offerings that can scale up and down automatically.
Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive of software and systems at IBM commented on their new PureSystems IT solutions:
“With its new scale-in design and built-in expertise, PureSystems represents an important advance in the evolution of computing,”
“By tightening the connections between hardware and software, and adding incomparable software know-how, PureSystems is designed to help clients to free up time and money to focus on innovation that many businesses cannot address due to ever rising costs and staffing needs in the traditional data center.”
Check out this infographic from IBM:
Now take a look at this Youtube video on the project:
These new solutions are worth taking a look at. Investing in replacement or support of your current IT solutions could start saving you money today, and increase your bottom line a lot sooner than you think. I don’t know if these systems will actually revolutionize the industry, but it sounds like IBM has done their homework and they’re willing to put everything they have in PureSystems.
