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Future of Cloud Computing Services

This is a guest post by AT&T.

Every business has two obstacles: time and money. While it’s always good to take advantage of the newest technology, usually there is a big price to pay in terms of capital commitment. After all, you have to purchase the hardware, sign extended service agreements, train your staff new processes, and then hope it interfaces well with the infrastructure you’ve already built.

These concerns can be minimized if not eliminated when you take advantage of cloud computing services. Just like a cell phone with a pay as you go plan, AT&T’s cloud computing services are scalable based on your needs. If you have a sudden rush of orders or need a new application now, you can quickly implement what you need and dial back down later when the need is gone.

As we become increasingly more connected with Smartphones, Tablet PCs, and of course traditional PCs, your company needs to have the flexibility to serve all of those needs within your network. Cloud computing is a flexible cost-effective alternative for delivering IT services across your entire organization from any physical location.

Since cloud services are network based, you need to choose your provider wisely. AT&T has 99.9% network availability as well as enterprise security measures built in to ensure maximum performance without sacrificing security.

If you would like to learn more about cloud computing and the services that AT&T offers, please download this white paper from AT&T: Cloud Services: What Are They, What Value Do They Provide?

Galaxy Tab hitting AT&T on November 21st for a $649 premium?

It’s not official but that image above sure as hell looks like an official AT&T training document. AT&T already announced that it would carry the Samsung Galaxy Tab but has been coy with details about launch date, pricing, and custom apps. Now, if the screengrab above can be believed, we know that it’ll hit AT&T shops on November 21st for a “HQ recommended” price of $649.99 without contract and featuring the same data plans (250MB for $14.99 per month or 2GB for $25 per month) AT&T offers alongside its $629 16GB WiFi + 3G iPad offering. Right, that’s 20 bucks and change more for half the display and $50 more than the base price of Verizon’s Galaxy Tab offering. Of course, AT&T will preinstall the Nook eReader and the AT&T Account Manager app for on-device activation and monthly credit refills. Not sure that’s worth the premium though. Hold tight to see how this plays out as we should see an official pricing and launch date announcement any day now.

[Thanks, tipster]

Galaxy Tab hitting AT&T on November 21st for a $649 premium? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 03:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon Signals the End of the Unlimited Data Plan

The unlimited data plan party could end soon. Verizon Wireless has hinted it is likely to follow AT&T and restrict the amount of data consumers can suck in through their phones.

“We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not be totally unlimited, flat rate,” Verizon’s chief financial officer John Killian told Bloomberg.

For nearly 90 percent of smartphone users, new pricing plans are unlikely to make a big difference in how they use their phones, says Chetan Sharma, who runs a consulting firm focusing on telecom issues. But for super-users, this could signal a change in how smartphones and apps are designed.

It could force developers and entrepreneurs to take a second look at how data is delivered and optimized.

“So far,  the ecosystem hasn’t paid attention to delivery efficiency,” says Sharma. “Content developers rarely care how much data is being transferred over their app. Now there’s room for technology that can help change that.”

Wireless service providers’ decision to do away with unlimited data plans plans runs orthogonal to what smartphones makers are doing. Smartphones today are in a race to offer more storage, along with the ability to shoot high-definition videos and photos. And they encourage you to share, uploading those files to YouTube and Flickr. Add to that video chat capability, especially over cellular networks, and there’s more stress than ever on the network.

“It was unsustainable,” says Sharma. “It couldn’t have gone on forever.”

After Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, it unlocked a world where users spend more time surfing on the phones, playing with apps and watching YouTube clips than talking on their phone. A Consumer Reports study found that the average iPhone user consumes 273 MB of data per month. About 4 percent users in that study gobbled an average of 1 GB per month.

Sharma estimates an average iPhone consumer uses about 600 MB a month, while a smartphone user who’s not on the iPhone or using an Android device takes in about 300 MB of data monthly. Unless, something changes, that data consumption will only go up, especially with the introduction of more powerful smartphones, straining the network’s capacity, he says.

With the iPhone, AT&T has been the first to feel the pain. In response, earlier this month, AT&T introduced a tiered pricing structure for data. Instead of a flat monthly fee of about $30 for unlimited data, AT&T users will now pay $15 a month for 200 MB, or $25 a month for $2GB. (See what AT&T’s limited data plans mean for you.)

Verizon is not changing the status quo just yet. The company has hinted it will introduce tiered data pricing plans as it opens up its LTE or 4G network. 4G data cards on the Verizon’s network could be launched later this year, followed by the first 4G smartphone next year, estimates Sharma.

A Verizon spokesperson declined to comment on when the company plans to introduce new data pricing plans.

“Unlimited pricing works well when you are trying to create demand,” says Sharma. “But now carriers are facing the reality that while their data revenue is fixed, their costs keep going up.”

Last year, approximately 70 percent of data traffic on wireless networks came from data cards. This year, smartphones will pretty much account for all data requests, says Sharma.

“The iPhone has catapulted the whole data issue to the forefront.”

See Also:

• 3G iPad’s ‘Unlimited’ Data Plan Survives Torture Test
• AT&T Adds iPhone Tethering, Kills Unlimited Data for iPad
• O2 Cuts Unlimited iPhone Data to Just 1GB in UK
• What AT&T’s Limited Data Plans Mean for You
• Cap My iPhone? Try This Instead, AT&T

Photo: (DJOtaku/Flickr)

With all eyes on WWDC, AT&T makes some changes to their plans and lineup. Again.

It’s official, AT&T has sold out of the 8GB iPhone 3G. But that’s not as exciting as the clue provided to us by AT&T about its replacement and the iPad’s soon-to-be-dead unlimited plan.

Continue reading…

Dissatisfied AT&T Customers Plan Network Attack

Some AT&T customers are taking Fake Steve (who is, in reality, Newsweek’s Dan Lyons pretending to be Steve Jobs) seriously. The satirical blogger on Monday encouraged his readers to take part of Operation Chokehold — a plan to overload the AT&T network by with ruthless, bandwidth-sucking activities.

On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. The idea is we’ll create a digital flash mob. We’re calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!

Fake Steve’s post was in response to statements made last week by AT&T executive Ralph de la Vega, who said 3 percent of smartphones were using 40 percent of the bandwidth of its network capacity. He added that the company would find ways to persuade heavy users to reduce activity and that the company could impose caps on data usage, which would put an end to our all-you-can-eat data plans.

Of course, everything on that blog should be considered a joke. However, Cult of Mac’s Leander Kahney notes that comments on Twitter, forums and Facebook suggest people are actually planning to participate in Operation Chokehold.

AT&T has provided an official response, dismissing the act an irresponsible media stunt.

“We understand that Fakesteve.net is primarily a satirical forum, but there is nothing amusing about advocating that customers attempt to deliberately degrade service on a network that provides critical communications services for more than 80 million customers,” a spokesman said in a statement. “We know that the vast majority of customers will see this action for what it is: an irresponsible and pointless scheme to draw attention to a blog.”

AT&T doubts that the protest will have much an effect on the network, as the number of participants may be diminutive. So far the Facebook page for Operation Chokehold has about 300 members.

See Also:

• Wired.com’s iPhone 3G Survey Reveals Network Weaknesses
• AT&T Addresses Network Challenges, iPhone’s MMS Delay in Video …
• AT&T Outage Has San Francisco Users in a Tizzy
• Cap My iPhone? Try This Instead, AT&T

Photo: alexkingorg/Flickr

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