This kind of tagging isn't strictly social networking, so it's usually described as social bookmarking, based more on Del.icio.us than MySpace. It's a big part of ConnectBeam's social networking appliance, as well as new Web 2.0 platforms from IBM and BEA Systems. IBM's system is called Dogear, part of its larger Lotus Connections suite that also includes blogs, wikis and shared workspaces. The latter are integrated with other Lotus applications, offering users the option of uploading files to a workspace instead of sending an attachment—an important practical application in organizations where e-mail has become a de-facto collaboration system. BEA's entry, AquaLogic Pathways, is sold alongside its Pages and Ensemble mashup tools.
Both products are relatively new, as is the concept of enterprise social bookmarking itself. The biggest issues are whether users will be willing to tag content, and if so, whether that's actually worthwhile. Vendors say yes, as users would otherwise be bookmarking things in their browsers or tagging using sites like Del.icio.us. Early proponents of intranet blogs measured success by the number of posts or hits, which in most organizations loses sight of the wider purpose.
Relatively few vendors are pushing full-scale social networking for intranets. Of those that are, VisiblePath is the most ambitious. Its service tries to span the extranet as well as intranet, linking staff to contacts within other organizations as well as their own. Its pitch is heavily oriented toward sales staffers, who can use social networking as a way to reach prospects, as is its own go-to-market strategy: Rather than sell direct to enterprises, it prefers to go through partners like Oracle and Salesforce.com, whose CRM systems its social networking is integrated with. Most people won't join a social network just so that salespeople can contact them, of course, so VisiblePath emphasizes its security and privacy controls at both the individual and corporate levels. Users can decide what kinds of contacts they want to make public and what sort of introductions they want to receive, while companies can override factors like an individual's openness to recruiters.
That might seem to make VisiblePath impractical as a sales tool, since blocking unsolicited sales pitches is a no-brainer for both individuals and their bosses. According to its users, however, this isn't necessarily the case, as it can also help with offline contact by sharing users' Outlook address books.
"People don't have to be users to be accessed through it," says Rod Morris, VP of business information solutions at VisiblePath customer LexisNexis. Morris uses the tool to promote his company's own ExecRelate service, which tracks relationships between C-level executives and board members in publicly traded companies—people who are more likely to rely on the old-boy network than LinkedIn or Twitter.
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.
