What's on the VAR horizon in 2012

As 2011 disappears in the rear-view mirror, the channel can expect another year of change in the drive for mobility and efficiency

January 2012 marks the end of the rollercoaster ride that was 2011. No one can accurately predict the road ahead, but the year to come will surely further fuel several overarching themes that are bound to give shape to future industry opportunities.

Dare we mention the cloud? Jon Milward, director of managed and support services at London-based IT consultancy Northdoor, says cloud computing will continue to steer activities in 2012 and more mid-market companies will begin to adopt cloud offerings.

"About 50 per cent of SMEs are already using cloud for part, if not all, IT services. We also predict a big rise in unified communications," he says. "Collaborative working gained a lot of attention in 2011 with Microsoft portals and collaboration tools, but we expect even more interest."

He says mobile apps will move further towards centre stage as employees will expect to be able to do the same work using different devices, and will want to switch between hardware quickly and easily.

"Improving the security and integration of applications across different devices will be critical," Milward says.

He adds that about 80 per cent of the SMBs Northdoor spoke to last year indicated an interest in cloud migration, and many also wanted to use new technologies to accelerate effective staff communications in the office and on the road.

Rise of consumerisation

Chris Knowles, UK head of solutions at services provider Dimension Data, agrees consumerisation will power ahead, flagging a change in the way customers want to manage data. It will be, in a way, "the year of data", he says.

In previous years, firms had to navigate the risk of losing corporate devices, but now that has extended to the loss or mishandling of personal devices that nonetheless have access to sensitive corporate data. Companies will increasingly ask who can access data, and what other activities employees might be doing - in the cloud, for example - via their personal devices. Consequently, encryption will become a bigger focus.

"Will they [staff] then use consumer clouds such as DropBox or iCloud to store corporate data? At a higher level, businesses will need to consider all devices that connect to the corporate network, and all the important data accessed by, stored on, and sent to and from them," Knowles says.

"Answers to these questions that reduce risk to an acceptable level will have to be found."

He suggests organisations might map out a corporate cloud service for employees' use, and require them to use that instead of public cloud services. Customers will need a road map which underlines mobility, datacentre needs, security, and network architecture.

"Crucially, they will also need to view their network as the platform on which to build and enable these services, rather than a set of pipes and boxes," predicts Knowles. "A side effect will be the widespread adoption of converged switching infrastructure linking the datacentre fibre channel and IP networks. The service and storage sides will become integrated. We have already seen converged adapters become available towards the end of 2011."

Putting services in context

Context-based services - location-based services overlaid with other elements, the "context", to improve relevance, utility and efficacy - will also start to be talked about and adopted more, with a view to improving mobile or remote collaboration and communication, Knowles adds.

"In a related trend, this year we will see the term ‘mobile device management', the management of corporate devices, being gradually replaced by ‘mobile risk management'. This will signify a move by corporate IT away from trying to manage the mobile device itself to managing the risks the consumer devices raise, especially regarding data security," he concludes.

Security will be a pivotal issue, according to Dimension Data's global security general manager Neil Campbell, and its UK head of security Chris Jenkins.

Campbell says more organisations will realise that people are bringing their own devices to work whether the firm sanctions it or not, and their approach to consumerisation will mature accordingly. The key is to be proactive, he says, and establish a policy so that "bring your own device" can be sensibly embraced and controlled.

"[It] represents both a risk and an opportunity, and in the coming year it will be up to the organisation to determine which it is by their response to it," he says. "Rather than turning a blind eye while employees find all sorts of creative ways to introduce their new devices to the network."

When it comes to security, targeted attacks on businesses were up in 2011, as was the use of social networks as a route to attack or personal data theft, and both trends will gather pace in 2012, according to Campbell.

"Increasingly, hackers will attack specific targets, whether politically or personally motivated. So companies must start thinking about zero-day threats and the options available to them to secure data," he says.

He also highlights the rise in advanced persistent threats (APTs). "APTs are here to stay until the major targets of such attacks, which include government and enterprise organisations as well as a smattering of smaller businesses, address these vulnerabilities across the board - something that will not happen quickly," Campbell warns.

The channel must help customers deploy policies, processes and technologies in appropriate multi-layered defences against data loss. This will depend on the firm's culture and risk profile.

DiData's Jenkins adds that systems outside the traditional IT remit, such as hospital scanners, which have traditionally been less of a security risk, are growing more vulnerable as they become Windows-based.

"Following several attacks against Windows-operated robots and X-ray machines, organisations must look for security solutions that are not reliant on an internet connection for security updates," Jenkins suggests.

Chris Smith, sales and marketing director at data room services provider on365, says new monitoring tools and equipment guidelines will change the whole journey.

"The datacentre is increasingly the focus for the need to deliver greater value from IT at lower cost. Over the past 12 months, facility managers and CIOs have felt the constant daily pressure to improve operational efficiency and deliver availability and scalability with fewer resources," he adds.

Environmental concerns

Measures such as power usage effectiveness (PUE) have become obsolete as datacentre management progresses towards a more integrated approach to the use of metrics and different technologies as well as sophisticated infrastructure monitoring, Smith claims.

He also says the 2011 thermal guidelines for data processing environments from global heating and cooling body ASHRAE will begin to push operating temperatures as high as 40°C, providing opportunities to make energy-use reductions and emissions savings. He says new HP and Dell kit allows for these hotter temperatures.

"This will bring big capex and opex savings but will require a change of mindset within the ‘white' space. Datacentre equipment in the UK could eventually run much hotter," Smith says. "[And] IT professionals and facility managers alike are beginning to demand a new level of transparency and awareness when it comes to datacentre management."

More datacentre organisations will build cloud infrastructures over the next two years, Smith adds.