Government IT News For VARs — December 4, 2013
This week, analysts forecast growth in the disaster recovery services market, and a DDoS protection services survey reveals companies prefer a having a service provider to stop distributed denial-of-service attacks, with response time backed by an SLA.
Disaster Recovery Services Market Trending Toward Recovery
Technavio’s Global Disaster Recovery Services market report says the market trend is toward stressing recovery rather than back up. Other trends include increasing demands for cloud-based disaster recovery and virtualization in disaster recovery services. Analysts forecast the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.18 percent from 2012 to 2016 — market revenue in 2012 was $18.18 billion and is expected to grow to $27.78 billion. One driver in market growth is the recent increase in the number of natural disasters. Other drivers include needs to reduce downtime, for better data security, and to meet customer expectations.
DDoS Survey Reveals Companies Want Trusted Service Provider
“DDoS Protection Services: What Really Matters to e-Commerce Companies” by Prolexic reveals almost all companies surveyed across many business sectors believe their websites are at mid- to high risk for DDoS attacks over the next year. The survey also revealed most respondents believed their ISPs and content delivery networks did not provide the preferred level of protection. Respondent prefer having a competent DDoS mitigation service provider stop attacks and fast mitigation backed by an SLA (service level agreement).
Big Data Is Driver In Public-Private Collaboration
Big Data is driving collaboration, according to an E-Commerce Times article. One example is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Amazon Web Services (AWS). NASA is making information available to researchers and educational institutions through an AWS cloud platform.
Avoid Pitfalls With E-Ticketing Solutions
An article in the Kansas City Star reports that Kansas City patrol officers are issuing fewer tickets since they began to use e-ticketing two years ago. Connectivity problems are a barrier to efficiency, as well as the familiarity and comfort with the new system — particularly with patrol officers who may write tickets occasionally between answering calls.
Post Office Bar Code Requirement For Business On Hold
Post & Parcel reports the U.S. Postal Service has chosen to delay the bar code requirement for business mail. The article explains that the Postal Regulatory Committee said the requirement would have created extra cost for business — in effect, an extra price increase with costs for postage increasing on January 26, 2014. The Postal Service said delaying the requirement will “hinder the Postal Service’s ability to promote a technology that enhances the value of mail, which is critical to the development of next-generation digital products and services.”
Government IT Talking Points
Suresh Chandrasekaran is senior vice president at Denodo Technologies provides insight into how virtualization can increase efficiency and decrease costs for government agencies. In his industry insight column for GCN, he gives examples of agencies using virtualization to make data accessible, to deliver intelligence for situation awareness and crisis management, and to facilitate electronic applications and eligibility determination for various programs.
There are several resources online if you are considering expanding your business through GSA Schedule contracts.
- The U.S. General Services Administration website provides information and resources, including FAQs about the Small Business Set-Aside.
- An Ingram Micro article and The Washington Management Group presentation slides give an overview of the program, as well as insight into what a third-party can do to help you do business with the government.