Microsoft this week unveiled details about the upcoming Windows 8 editions, which include Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro for x86-based PCs, as well as Windows 8 RT for tablets and devices powered by ARM-based processors.

On Wednesday, the software giant shed more light on Windows 8 Enterprise, the corporate version of the operating system designed to meet the mobile productivity, security, manageability and virtualisation needs of today’s businesses. …

If the prototype of Microsoft’s Surface 2.0 unveiled last May got you excited, it’s time to ready your wallet: the SUR40 table-top computer is finally available for order.

Made in partnership with Samsung, Microsoft initially said the SUR40 will launch in late 2011, but it evidently ran into some delays. This week, we’re told the software has been further refined, and several new applications developed specially for it. …

Healthcare service providers in the Asia-Pacific region are planning to turn to cloud computing to improve patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes, a new survey has found.

According to IDC Health Insights, 69 per cent of IT decision makers across the region indicated that they have allocated budgets to cloud computing. None of the respondents intend to reduce cloud spending, while more than half plan to spend more within the next three years. …

The story is all too common.

Tired of clearing his inbox all the time because he only has 100MB of storage, an employee signs up for a Gmail account and forwards all his office e-mail to his private mailbox, which gives him more than 7GB of space and never bugs him to delete anything.

Separately, another employee, who hates it that his company does not let him read e-mail on the go, also forwards his office e-mail to a Google account, which can be retrieved easily on his iPhone.

The result of such exploits, common in so many organisations, is a breach of security and, in some industries where information has to be kept under lock and key, a breach of their compliance with local laws.

“Shadow IT”, however, is not only caused by rogue users in an organisation, but can be part of a poorly-planned cloud rollout that could compromise a company’s security and compliance, according to a survey conducted by HP Enterprise Services.

While cloud computing offers agility and fast response, the study revealed a worry among top executives that a “free rein” could lead to users tapping on IT resources that jeopardise the organisation they work for. …

Fraser & Neave (F&N) became the latest large enterprise to hop onto the cloud computing wave when it announced plans to move 3,000 employees in Singapore to Google Apps.

The move follows an earlier effort by the producer of Tiger Beer and energy drink 100 Plus to move 2,000 employees in its Malaysian subsidiary F&N Holdings Berhad to Google Apps last year.

In a media statement, Google said F&N had sought a secure, accessible cloud-based email solution that could scale for new devices and keep up with their fast-moving, far-ranging employees.

F&N was using Lotus Notes as its e-mail system, which could not be accessed by employees who were on the move, according to Leong Yin Hoe, manager of manufacturing systems at F&N Holdings Bhd. …

As more companies jump on the enterprise mobility bandwagon, security has become a prime concern among CIOs. According to a recent Symantec study, businesses are incurring hefty losses due to mobility-related security incidents. Still, many companies remain convinced that the productivity benefits of mobility outweigh the costs, and have taken measures to protect corporate information.

In this month’s Goondu Q&A, we asked David Dzienciol, Symantec’s vice president for channel sales and SMB in Asia Pacific and Japan, to delve deeper into the motivations behind the uptake of enterprise mobility and what companies can do to protect their data from prying eyes. …

The global spending on IT products and services is expected to reach US$3.7 trillion this year, a 2.5 percent increase from 2011.

The new forecast marks a decline from Gartner’s previous estimate of 3.7 percent growth in IT spending for 2012. The tech analyst firm attributed the lower growth rate to the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, rather than lower IT spending. …

Compliance labels that stick out like a sore thumb on your shiny new gadgets could become a thing of the past in Singapore, after the government infocomm regulator said on Wednesday that it is allowing electronic versions that are less costly and easier to show to consumers.

These labels are meant to show consumers that the equipment are allowed for use in Singapore, without interfering wirelessly with other gadgets using the frequency spectrum in the country. Currently, dealers have to paste their stickers either on their phones or on the instruction manuals.

Now, instead of the traditional stickers, dealers can now show these labels electronically either on the phone or tablet’s screen or by including it in a soft-copy of the instruction manual. 
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An overwhelming majority of Singaporeans bring their personal devices to work, with half of them using the devices for work-related tasks, a new survey has found.

According to the VMware New Way of Work study released today, 88 percent of workers in Singapore remain tethered to their personal devices in the workplace. Those who use them in their jobs tend to enjoy greater job satisfaction, lower stress levels and increased productivity. …

When you have seen a printer, you’ve seen them all, right? At least, that’s what a lot of many small business owners like to think, when they next buy an all-in-one machine for their office or SOHO.

The Officejet Pro 8600 Plus from HP hopes to change that mindset, by essentially putting together not just the expected print features but also lots of handy features that take away the frustration of everyday tasks.
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