My 2015 Resolutions and Predictions
Predictions and Resolutions for 2015
We ring in a new year for our careers and personal lives, respectively. New goals, new plans, and visceral visions. As a tech company owner, many of my resolutions, naturally, revolved around the technology world and ITP. I ultimately took some time to sit down and put these resolutions in writing. Today, I would like to give you a look at what some of those resolutions and predictions were exactly.
Resolutions for technology for home and family:
Well, I get to “cheat” on this one. We just finished a year long project of planning and seeing through the construction of our new home. Which means I spent a year agreeing with my wife’s choices for colors and finishes while I searched the internet to learn everything I could about home automation technology. I am happy to report that my house has 3 full APC racks: 1 for networking, 1 for video and 1 for audio.
What did I learn in my research on home automation technology? Internet of everything is coming home in a BIG way, very soon.
- Google purchased that little thermostat company, added smoke detectors and then bought Dropcam. Google was not buying those companies for fun; They did it because they see future demand and growth in technology in the home.
- Amazon announced its Echo product to take One-Click ordering to new heights by allowing you to ask a black cylinder questions and even order products. Check out this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOCeAtKHIc
- Revolv – An upstart in home automation, Revolv is striving to support all the different technologies and integrate with anyone and everyone for 1 low startup cost. Definitely a player to watch though the feature set is relatively small so far and is missing some major players.
- Google (Nest) - Nest thermostats and smoke detectors are just plain cool. I have 3 Nest thermostats in my home, and what I love about them is how you can change the temperature anywhere from a simple App… But there’s even more geek here under the hood. The Nest thermostats use the motion sensors in our smoke detectors to notice when no one is typically upstairs and turns down the heat… Saving us dollars when we don’t even know it. Nest thermostats learn over time based on how fast your house heats and gets to temp as well as how the house reacts to the outside temperatures. Impressive real life benefits for a 3 inch round device that hangs on your wall and installs in minutes.
- Control4 - Control4 is the 100 pound gorilla in home automation. I immediately dismissed them for my new home as not open enough and too closed off to change. Then, 2014 happened and Control4 bought out a company that was making API integrations and made it free to all. It stopped requiring crazy firewall rules and made an app that works the same at home as it does anywhere that gives you full control over everything from doors and locks, to temperature, to audio and video. I found a provider who was willing to work collaboratively with me and not lock me out along the way.
Tech Resolution to clean up:
Let’s make 2015 the year we decide that we are never going to make that old PC into a computer for our 2nd cousin. In our offices, let’s get rid of the Windows 95 disks and the old printers. In Madison, there is the Madison Recycling Center and even Goodwill will take working and non-working computer parts. If your business has a lot of build up or just did a refresh on its tablets, monitors, or PC’s, contact ITP. We work directly with CloudBlue Asset disposal. They can come on site and destroy data/hard drives and then pay you for your old technology when they refurbish and resell it. Be the office hero in 2015 who found some extra money in that old server room!
Tech Resolutions for our office in 2015:
ITP is making exciting investments in our office technology in 2015 we will start talking about. Starting with ITP bringing online a brand new HP 3PAR SAN. What does this mean? It means ITP just filled an entire rack in our Network 222 space with brand new shared redundant storage containing blazing fast SSD drives, SAS drives and large reliable SATA. This allows ITP to offer even more in hosted private cloud and hybrid cloud services for desktops and servers. It also means ITP will be offering the leading edge DRaaS/Disaster Recovery As A Service, options for you to send your data to our data center to be spun up on our cloud in the event of a disaster using Veeam’s brand new Cloud Connect feature built into all Veeam products.
Tech Resolutions for the world in 2015:
Security. It’s time to shrug off the data breach fatigue of 2014 and stand up for our consumer protection and demand that companies protect our data. Perhaps the PCI liability shift coming will help encourage people. Perhaps the attacks against Sony were so publicly devastating that people are starting to take notice. Keep your company out of the headlines by making sure that your staff are well trained and your technology is current to keep the bad guys out of your network. ITP is happy to help perform a security audit and/or security training sessions for your staff to make them more savvy. It’s no longer a question of if you will be attacked but a question of when and how bad the ramifications will be.
I hope you enjoyed this article. I would love to hear about your resolutions and predictions for 2015.
Sincerely,
Paul Hager
Chief Executive Officer
Information Technology Professionals