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Do you have the tools in place to deal with big data?

One of the big trends in the tech industry that you'll no doubt have to deal with at some point is big data. With the amount of information generated by internet users growing at an exponential rate, you'll need some way to interpret this wealth of data and convert it into useful figures you can use to improve your business.

Growing trend

The importance of this was recently highlighted by Gartner, which predicted spending on such solutions is set to jump hugely in the coming years. As a result of this, it forecast demand for people with expertise in the area will lead to the creation of 4.4 million new jobs in managing big data by 2015. It has been stated by the company that this development should be one of the top priorities for the coming years, along with tools such as cloud computing and mobility. But this might present a big challenge to firms, as they'll have to move quickly to put in place the analytics tools necessary to make the most of the available information.

New solutions

One powerful solutions for firms is Hadoop. This is an open-source software framework created by the Apache Foundation and is used by many of the world's largest companies to extract value from their data. In the past, Linux-based servers have been the primary option for users looking to run Hadoop's range of tools, but this is set to change as Microsoft has recently announced new previews of Hadoop-compatible solutions for Windows Server 2012 and Windows Azure.

The firm explained big data should be able to offer answers to enterprises and not increase the complexity of their IT systems. Therefore, the organisation said: "Providing Hadoop compatibility on Windows Server and Azure dramatically lowers the barriers to setup and deployment and enables customers to pull insights from any data, any size, on-premises or in the cloud."
Therefore, even more companies may now be able to benefits from the insights that can be offered to them by big data, allowing them to figure out where they can make improvements to their business.

Are you ready for the explosion of data traffic?

One of the biggest challenges facing many organizations over the coming years will be how they handle the vastly increased amount of information traffic they will be expected to deal with. You've probably noticed in your personal browsing that you use a lot more data than in the past, with improvements in broadband speeds allowing internet users quicker access to streaming video, music and online gaming, among other activities.

This is also affecting business users, as the amount of information being passed through data centers also grows. In fact, new research from Cisco released this week has estimated global data center traffic is set to grow fourfold over the next four years, reaching 6.6 zettabytes annually by 2016.

92 trillion hours of streaming music, or seven trillion hours of high-definition video streaming

To put this into context, this could be used for 92 trillion hours of streaming music, or seven trillion hours of high-definition video streaming - the equivalent of every person on the planet watching a two and a half hour movie online every day. Cisco explained the vast majority of traffic is not the result of activities by end users, but comes from data center processes that are invisible to individuals. Three-quarters of traffic is forecast to remain within the data center and be generated by storage, production and development data. As a result of this, you're going to need to make sure your data center connections and internal networks are robust and able to be scaled up to cope with the increased traffic. By choosing to build your own dedicated server using the options available from Snel.com, you can achieve this and ensure your servers meet your exact needs.

Because there are no contracts to lock you into long-term commitments, you can also quickly upgrade your solutions as and when you need them without losing any of your data or suffering downtime. Solutions such as bandwidth pooling also give you the flexibility to make the most of your servers and cope with increased traffic on certain devices.

Could you benefit from Windows Server 2012 Essentials?

If you're using products from Microsoft on your servers and workstation PCs, you'll no doubt be aware that this year is set to be a hugely important one for the US software giant.

Later this month, the firm will release its Windows 8 operating system to general availability, while it also has a new cloud-based version of its Office application suite in the works. But for IT personnel, one of the most important updates to its portfolio is likely to be its new Windows Server platforms.

The main version of this software for enterprises, Windows Server 2012, has been available since September, but if you're a small business or a home user looking to build a server, this may be more than you need. However, the good news for these users is that the Essentials edition of the operating system is moving closer to launch.

Milestone passed

Last week, Microsoft confirmed the software has reached its release to manufacturing (RTM) milestone. This means the product is ready for delivery to hardware and ecosystem partners. Following on from this, it is expected to be generally available on November 1st.

But why should you consider upgrading to the software? There are a wide range of options available if you're looking to build your own dedicated server, but if you're a small enterprise or individual user, Windows Server 2012 Essentials could offer some key new features to make your life easier.

Cloud-enable your server

In a blog post announcing the RTM milestone, director of program management at the Windows Server Essentials development team Sinead O'Donovan explained the platform has been designed to make it easier than ever to run Essentials in a hosted environment. She also promised greater flexibility, which should allow you to choose which applications and services you want to run, whether your server is on premises or hosted remotely.

If you want to find out what Windows Server 2012 Essentials can do for you, you can download a trial copy now. With a wide range of new and updated features, you may find it offers all the tools you need to take your home or small business server to the next level.

The benefits of using Fedora

If you're looking to use a free, open-source operating system (OS), there are several options available that can offer the tools needed to run an effective system.

One of these is the Fedora OS, which is based on the Linux kernel and is a community-run project that has been installed millions of times. The software is 100% free and open source and is maintained by a global collaboration of contributors.

The Fedora OS offers thousands of free apps ranging from desktop basics to powerful enterprise tools to boost the productivity of an organisation. Being free of viruses and spyware, it offers great security to users, which could give individuals the confidence to focus on their key activities instead of worrying about threats.

Fedora relies on RHEL due to its high performance, stability and security

It is also the foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), one of the most popular Linux-based systems specifically tailored to the needs of business users. This is used by organisations across a range of sectors, such as financial services firms and healthcare providers, who rely on RHEL due to its high performance, stability and security.

RHEL explains the partnership is mutually beneficial, as its customers can take advantage of the innovations created by the Fedora community, which in turn benefits from RHEL bringing these developments to a wider audience.

The principal of freedom is at the heart of the Fedora project, with not only the platform itself available without charge, but a wide range of applications also able to be downloaded for free, while the community encourages users to create their own content and redistribute it without the worry of legal hassles.

Fedora also offers release updates twice a year, meaning that users will never have to wait long to get the latest software. The current version of Fedora for general release is version 17, but the next update, Fedora 18, saw its Alpha version released last month. The final release is estimated to be available from November 27th and is expected to include a range of new and improved features.

And of course, you can order your Dedicated Server or Cloud VPS with Fedora OS by Snel.com

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