Fewer than 30% of respondents in our survey have enterprise IM servers such as Lotus SameTime (see poll results charts). Actual use is likely a lot lower, as staff in many companies ignore the officially sanctioned software and install their own. The move to enterprise VoIP is bringing other players like Cisco into the IM game, attempting to converge IM's presence features with telephony, but they could be too late. The public IM services are already integrated into cell phones, another technology frequently used in the workplace but not controlled by IT.Stop! Or We'll Say Stop Again!
Loss of IT control is a consistent theme as Web 2.0 penetrates business. The greatest upheaval is likely to come from enterprise mashups, which combine the social and technical aspects of Web 2.0 by letting users develop their own applications. Though very few businesses are using mashups at present, those that are see great benefits, and larger players like IBM, BEA and Oracle are entering the game. Cutting out the middleman—that's the IT department—can be a great way of aligning business and technology.
"Mashups have let end-users do more of what used to be done by IT," says Warren Breakstone, executive vice president in charge of client services at investment tools provider Thomson Financial. Although not in the IT department, Breakstone started using a hosted mashup service from Serena Software and now runs a team of business analysts who develop Web-based applications for sales, marketing and other personnel. "Now we're moving into traditional IT services: The IT department is using apps that we built."
Breakstone says this doesn't bring his team into conflict with the IT department. "It frees IT up to do those mission-critical tasks behind the scenes," he says. "There will always be a need for those guys behind the scenes."
IM itself is already giving way to newer technologies that are even further outside IT's control. The leading candidate so far is Second Life. Though often seen (and increasingly scoffed at) as a marketing vehicle, its true potential is as a glorified chat room. Like IM, it's free, but it gives users a more immersive experience and is designed for multi-party conversations.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
