IT managers in corporate and mid-size businesses have to balance both network performance and network security concerns. Earlier-generation firewalls pose a serious security risk to organisations today as their technology has effectively become obsolete, failing to inspect the data payload of network packets circulated by today’s internet criminals. Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) have emerged as the solution to this thorny problem. [ + ]

Looking past the initial promise of the big data craze, Cameron Wall, Managing Partner of C3 Business Solutions, discusses why big data predictive analytics is pure hype for the majority of the business world and how companies can better take advantage of the information they already possess. [ + ]

SharePoint is a powerful tool for enterprise collaboration - when used well. With the release of SharePoint 2013 pending, now is a good time to examine your organisation’s use of the tool, and the merits of migrating to the new version. [ + ]

With all the hype about clouds, 2011 was a year of education. The term 'cloud' is overused and has been sullied by the sheer variety of definitions used in the industry. [ + ]

‘Cloud’ has become a pervasive part of the IT vocabulary - but how big a role will it play in enterprise service delivery? Stephen Withers speaks to a panel of senior IT executives drawn from the user and analyst communities and found there was a broad consensus. [ + ]

We are in the middle of the third great revolution of technology delivery. The ages of the mainframe and the PC are quite dead. Anthony Caruana looks to the future and ponders the question: what will your data centre look like in 2025? [ + ]

Andrew Collins takes a look at the more interesting tales from IT in the last seven days, including a spat between Anonymous and WikiLeaks, and iiNet’s new 4G wireless broadband plans. [ + ]

Andrew Collins considers the more curious tales from IT in the last seven days, including continued workers strikes at the Foxconn factory responsible for producing iPhone 5 units; a blow to the guts behind a Microsoft support telemarketing scam; and the US’s opinion on Huawei’s trustworthiness. [ + ]

Transferring large amounts of data between devices is much faster with a recently developed optical wireless communication module that can achieve a transmission rate of 3 Gbps. [ + ]

Australian-based technology services company DiUS Computing has been awarded for developing Easy Care Online (ECO) - a cloud-based compliance management software solution enabling users to securely access sleep apnoea patients’ usage and efficacy data online. [ + ]

When it comes to generating new ideas, many find themselves stuck in the past, able only to produce rehashes of existing concepts. Tracey Tritsch considers why this is so, and the role risk and failure play in innovation. [ + ]

Proposals to impose a two-year retention of data on service providers has caused a big stink amongst the Australian public, civil libertarians, political figures and telecommunications companies. Adrian De Luca, Board Director, SNIA ANZ, comments on the proposed changes. [ + ]

Andrew Collins considers the more curious tales from IT in the last seven days, including Stephen Conroy’s apparent megalomania, Malcom Turnbull’s continued campaign against NBN Co, and New Zealand’s illegal spying on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. [ + ]

The sheer number of mobile apps and the success of the app store model in delivering them has piqued the interest of many enterprises. The dynamics that drive public app stores are consistent with those that will ultimately drive private app stores in the enterprises, says Gartner Research Vice President Brian Prentice. [ + ]

Andrew Collins takes a look at the more curious tales in IT, including Apple’s poor-performing Maps app, Victorian police tapping into myki data and the German government’s warning about Internet Explorer. [ + ]