HP offers SMEs data centre management

Hewlett-Packard is looking to give owners of smaller data centres access to the same services available to their larger counterparts, reports eWeek.

HP rolled out a portfolio of services that bring the vendor's enterprise-level offerings to small to medium enterprises (SMEs) with data centres of less than 5 000 square feet.

The move will help these companies take advantage of such technologies as virtualisation and cloud computing even though they have significantly smaller IT staffs, says Ian Jagger, worldwide marketing manager of HP infrastructure and operations in the technology services business unit.

Companies could save between 10% and 35% in wireless technology costs through better procurement and more relevant management policies, according to a report from Gartner, states Computing.co.uk.

The analyst firm's 'Key enterprise wireless service policy' report says almost 80% of Fortune 1000 companies will be using wireless technology by 2014 to pool voice and data within the business.

However, many companies have yet to create comprehensive wireless usage policies to prepare for growth in the technology. "Policies are a crucial way of managing complex services, and they do not have to be large, lengthy documents. Often the best, most read and most widely adopted policies are brief and to the point," says Phil Redman, research VP at Gartner.

Electronic communication between independent financial advisors (IFAs) and their clients is set to surge over the next year, say advisers, according to IFAonline.

In a poll carried out by Nucleus which questioned 171 advisers from 30 firms, over half think the greatest shift in IFA/client communication over the next 12 months will be towards greater online contact.

However, only a small minority (6%) currently consider their Web sites to be a serious communication tool, but 27% think this will change as more emphasis is placed on electronic relationships.