In today’s dynamic digital landscape, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face a myriad of challenges, from tightening budgets to sophisticated cyber threats. According to JumpCloud Inc.’s Q3 2024 SME IT Trends Report, titled “Detours Ahead: How IT Navigates an Evolving World,” 67% of SMEs plan to increase their investment in Managed Service Providers (MSPs) over the next 12 months. The study finds IT teams operating in troubled economic waters, with nearly half of those surveyed furloughing employees or instituting layoffs within the past six months. Although an improvement from the 57% in Q1 2024, nearly 30% predict additional layoffs. However, it’s not all doom and gloom—77% of SMEs saw a rise in their IT budgets, with close to one-fifth (17%) experiencing more than a 20% surge over the last year. A critical insight from the report is the rising demand for a unified platform to manage user identity, access, and security. This preference has grown from 75% in Q1 2024 to 84% in the latest survey, reflecting a broader industry shift towards integrated IT solutions. Security remains the top challenge for 60% of SMEs, followed by the rollout of new services and applications (42%), the cost of remote work solutions (41%), and device management (39%). Shadow IT, alongside network attacks, software vulnerability exploits, and ransomware, remains a significant concern. To address these challenges, more SMEs are now seeking help from MSPs. Seventy-six percent of SMEs use MSPs for some level of identity, user, and device management, with another 12% actively evaluating partnering with an MSP. The primary business benefits of MSPs include saving costs (58%), keeping up with the latest technologies (55%), improving user experience (50%), and strengthening identity access security for users (40%). Key IT programs under MSP control include cloud storage (53%), system security (52%), system management (49%), system monitoring (46%), and managed backup (37%). The report also highlights a slow but steady AI revolution occurring within SMEs. While concerns about AI-generated attacks continue—affecting 25% of organizations last year—planning for AI projects is increasing. Only 10% of organizations have no plans to implement AI, down from 13% six months ago, with another third planning projects within the next six months. Despite the growing adoption of AI, 61% of IT professionals feel that AI is advancing faster than their security capabilities, a sentiment consistent with Q1 2024 findings. However, the intensity of this concern is waning, with only 22% strongly agreeing, down from 29%. As businesses navigate this ever-changing landscape, the role of MSPs has become even more integral. MSPs help companies maintain an orderly IT environment, keep pace with technological advancements, and protect against security threats—imperative features for staying competitive in the digital age. Read all
Alerify, Inc., a newly formed colocation firm, has acquired Elevated MSP’s data center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The 68,830 sq ft facility at 2330 Vartan Way will enhance Alerify’s hosting and colocation services in South Central PA. Founder Andy Kochanowski aims to leverage his industry experience to grow the business regionally. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read all
Memphis residents are raising serious concerns over Elon Musk’s latest venture—a massive data center dubbed the “gigafactory of compute”—set to be built in their city. The project, spearheaded by Musk’s xAI, promises to house the world’s most powerful supercomputer, but locals fear the initiative will overburden the city’s power grid and unfairly saddle taxpayers with the bill. Read all
CalEthos is setting new standards with a 315-acre purchase in California’s Lithium Valley, boosting its data center project to 420 MW in its first phase. Positioned for optimal high-voltage power access and geothermal proximity, the site supports hyperscalers, cloud, and AI workloads, all powered by 100% renewable energy. This marks a significant leap towards sustainable tech infrastructure. Read all
Earlier today, Microsoft Azure went down for New Zealand customers, disrupting Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online and Teams. The four-hour outage caused widespread frustration, particularly among administrators dealing with recent Azure and CrowdStrike issues. Users faced login problems, and public sector services like the New Zealand Police experienced email disruptions. The incident reignites debates on the reliability of cloud migration. Read all
Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Nokia, alleging that the Finnish company was utilizing 12 of its cloud computing-related patents illegally. The complaint, filed Tuesday in Delaware federal court, claimed that Nokia has stolen the cliff notes of certain Amazon Web Services (AWS) custom-services to deploy with its own cloud offerings. It comes after its patent lawsuit against Amazon over video tech. Amazon wants to stop the alleged infringement and be paid for damages. Read all
Data center operators are caught in a perfect storm of soaring costs, staffing shortages, and an evolving stance on AI technology. Even as the need for digital services grows, the financial strain of running and upgrading facilities is becoming increasingly burdensome. According to the Uptime Institute’s 14th annual Global Data Center Survey [PDF], costs related to energy, equipment, labor, construction, and infrastructure upgrades are top concerns for operators. Read all
In an unexpected move, Microsoft has announced an ad-free update for Skype, now available to testers in its Insider program. While this declutters the user experience, it doesn’t bring back the popular Split View feature that many users miss. Instead, the update focuses on new AI-powered image creation, leaving some long-time users frustrated. Read all
The growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) is “challenging global data center supply chains, causing significant power shortages and construction delays,” reports CBRE in its latest market forecast — Global Data Center Trends 2024. Data Center operators in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific named power availability as their top concern. Read all
Excess heat from Equinix’s PA10 data center is warming the aquatic centre at Paris Games 2024. The volume of heat equivalent to 10,000 MWh is reused every year in an ecological and sustainable way – warming up the waters so that they reach people at just the right temperature. Designed for a long-lasting initiative, the PA10 project represents innovative initiatives contributing to reduce carbon emissions and advancing circular economy principles. Read all
