Blog-comment spam will be a huge concern for business in 2006. Bloggers want to keep comments on blog postings open to build a community and two-way communications between blogger and reader. However, spammers have found they can automate postings to sell products or raise their own blog or Web site's Google ranking through hyperlinking. There should be a few solutions in place before the end of 2006. Like e-mail spam, these solutions won't be perfect. Until a sufficient mechanism is developed and implemented, expect bloggers to turn off anonymous postings or remove commenting altogether.
Podcasting was the last buzzword of 2005, and you'll hear that term frequently in the first half of 2006. Podcasts overcome the limitations of streaming audio by letting you buffer the entire program to your local disk drive in the background and listen to it offline. As an IT strategy, you shouldn't need to worry about podcasts, assuming you don't work for the media. The public is expecting the media and content creators to offer podcasts, but this expectation doesn't transcend to most other industries.
Podcasts will become a new advertising medium, so alert your marketing department. Should you be creating podcasts anyway? It couldn't hurt. IBM created a podcast that ranked No. 55 out of 20,000 posted to the Apple iTunes music store.
The best part about podcasts is that they are essentially vendor-neutral. You don't need to commit to any hosting provider, podcast-creation software or media player. The iTunes music store has a 90 percent market share in legal music downloads, which makes it vital that any podcast you create be submitted to Apple's podcast directory.
For externally facing podcasts, you can use them to generate hype and a following for your products. Internal podcasts provide a more personal way to communicate to employees, such as periodic management updates, employee training or dispensing workplace advice. Apple, for instance, releases podcasts of its quarterly earnings report to the public. Employees also can listen to podcasts on their way to and from work and possibly during work hours. Podcasts are like radio programs--but with less distraction, since podcasts let the listener pause and rewind.
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.
