The Internet of Things is not about the Things.

First published in The Star, January 12, 2016

Certain trends, such as ‘wearables’, get a lot of media attention because of their obvious visibility and relevance to the man in the street. Because of a small electronic bracelet on his wrist, a person can now measure the number of steps he takes in a day, his sleep patterns, his heart rate and a host of other data that always existed but simply didn’t resonate.  

Brave New World

First Published: The Star, August 2014

One of the big technology industry analysts predicts that 2014 to be the breakout year for wearable technology. There’s a big takeup in wearables, with more and more people sporting wristpieces that measure their lifestyle, or sports activities or are an extension of their smartphones.  Unlike earlier models, latter-day models are sleek and stylish.  Google’s Glass has also been attracting media attention for quite a while now, just one of a number of smart eyeglasses.  

Wearable technology is only one small sliver of a much larger trend. Google’s acquisition of Nest, the home thermostat company in early 2014 is an example of the hive of activity in connected devices, while Apple’s inclusion on its latest smartphone operating system (iOS8) of Homekit, which allows developers to connect their devices to Apple’s platform, provides tantalizing hints of what’s to come in the area of the connected home. 

In 2014 Google unveiled its driverless car, which depends on sensors to sense its surroundings and navigate its way to the destination. All the major car manufacturers are working on some version of autonomous driving cars.

Hybrid Clouds

Hybrid flowers, Hybrid cars and Hybrid clouds?

 First Published in November 2014:

The Star: On Hybrid Clouds 

Most CIOs have their heads in the cloud these days. But if they’re leading established enterprises, they’d better have their feet firmly planted on the ground.

Many CIO’s are feeling pressure – whether from CEOs, employees, customers, partners or the market - to implement the latest cloud-based IT technology for efficiency, agility and economy.

But they also have their existing IT infrastructure, and as a Malaysian CIO may say “So how??”

For these CIOs, with conflicting demands, the answer may lie in “hybrid clouds”, which combine private and public clouds and maybe even some non-clouded dedicated servers.  Say what?

Cloudy and Hold the Meatballs

First published in  The Star, April 14, 2014

The IT world is up in the clouds. That should be a capital “C”, because the latest buzz is about Cloud technology.  Cloud is not new, having been with us now for a number of years. Conceptually, pundits claim that cloud computing goes much further back to the days of the greenscreen and mainframe computer.  However, everyone - the media, analysts, vendors – have never been hotter over Cloud than now.  And perhaps the picture has never been cloudier.

In the simplest terms, Cloud computing can be thought of as a utility: computing power on tap.  It’s there when the user needs it at the click or two of a mouse.  Like tap water or electricity. To the end-user, the promise is enormously seductive: no more need to worry about IT infrastructure, security, maintenance and having to put up with geeky IT managers who always want more money to upgrade the servers, whatever those are.