Can coalition Government create ‘super-fast broadband Britain’?

The Conservatives and coalition partners the Liberal Democrats will help to get the UK online if they stick to the Conservatives’ pre-election plans to make the UK a European hub for hi-tech, digital and creative industries. But the spectre of the rural broadband challenge lingers.

According to Elfed Thomas, ceo at fibre optic infrastructure specialist, i3 Group, the Conservatives were the only party to deliver a ‘structured and believable’ strategy for super fast broadband, with pre-election plans to build a nationwide network by 2017.

However, Thomas warned that the rural broadband issue persists, and that it won't be solved without the aid of public spending. “Often, the figures to build a commercially-viable infrastructure just don’t stack up. I am in favour of their idea to use the BBC licence fee to fund connectivity in areas with limited access,” he said.

The question now is whether super-fast Broadband makes the cut [as it were], with the axe soon to be taken to the UK’s public finances.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the UK recorded a general government deficit of £159.2 billion in the calendar year 2009. This was equivalent to 11.4 percent of GDP. And at the end of December 2009, general government debt was £950.4 billion, or 68.1 percent of GDP.

The Maastricht Treaty’s ‘Excessive Deficit Procedure’ sets deficit and debt targets of 3 percent and 60 percent respectively for all EU countries.

Cloudy future for data

The amount of digital information created annually will grow by a factor of 44 between 2009 and 2020, as all major forms of media complete the journey from analogue to digital. The number of files, images, records and other digital information containers is also forecast to grow, by a factor of 67.

These are the findings of an EMC-sponsored study by IDC, which predicts that more than a third of all digital information created annually will either live in, or pass through the cloud by 2020. The market watcher expects cloud computing to stimulate more than $1 trillion in incremental business revenue by 2014.

“This year’s ‘Digital Universe’ study exposes many of the most pressing short- and longer-term strategic issues CIOs grapple with as they map out their IT strategies and investments,” commented Joe Tucci, chairman and ceo, EMC Corporation. “They’re quickly discovering that, to remain in the game, they need to do things differently, transforming traditional infrastructures into private cloud data centres that offer internal and external customers IT as a service.”

Clouds gather

IBM is one major player to have advanced its cloud credentials this week, with its acquisition of Cast Iron Systems, a provider of cloud integration software, appliances and services. Although financial terms were not disclosed, IBM said the acquisition gives it the ability to help businesses rapidly integrate cloud-based applications and on-premise systems.

“The integration challenges Cast Iron Systems is tackling are crucial to clients who are looking to adopt alternative delivery models to manage their businesses,” commented Craig Hayman, general manager, IBM WebSphere.

The IBM Software Group has acquired more than 55 companies since 2003, with its latest purchase advancing its ability to offer a ‘hybrid’ cloud model, whereby enterprises can blend data from on-premise applications with public and private cloud systems.

True hybrid hosting with easy server upgrades is the promise now being put forward by managed Web hosting provider, Liquid Web. The company’s ‘Storm Bare Metal’ is claimed to be ‘a revolutionary server technology’ that allows users to provision and manage private dedicated servers with cloud hosting features.

Users can deploy flexible hybrid hosting configurations that contain a mixture of ‘Storm Cloud Servers’ (cloud servers managed from within a Web browser) and Storm Bare Metal dedicated servers. The latter enable users to specify the exact processor, memory and hard drive configuration that is right for their project.

Er, just one more thing…

A thought-controlled software application known as ‘Jedi Mouse’ is being submitted as a patent application to the United States Patent and Trademark office. The software, which sells for $99.00 and requires the use of a wireless headset, allows users to navigate the computer, click and double click to open programs, compose email and send, ‘using the power of their mind’.

The neural processing technology is being developed by Jedi Mind, who claims it is on pace to create one new thought-controlled application per quarter. Jedi Mouse is aimed at typical PC users, associations for the disabled, clinics and non-profit organisations.

The company also said that it intends to patent all of its proprietary products to provide a stable of intellectual [sic] properties.