2012: The year that was in the IT Macrocosm

BANGALORE, INDIA: The two trends that caught headlines in 2012 in the IT world were increased popularity of open source and debate around disaster recovery practices adopted by companies.

Among the notable trends that emerged this year, one of them was a shift in adoption of open source solutions as compared to licensed products. Statistics speak for themselves and this is how it stacks up: according to a report by IDC published in August 2012 (Worldwide Client and Server Operating Environments 2012 - 2016 Forecast, IDC 235428), worldwide the licensed software are growing at 4.2 per cent while Open Source Linux is growing at 17.9 per cent.

And driving this game changing trend is SUSE Linux at 22 per cent growth delivering increased interoperability, efficiency and cost efficiency. Today large and complex enterprises are relying on Linux for their mission critical solutions. The London Stock exchange for instance or the BSE in India are testimony to this trend. Even banks in India have begun riding the Linux wave with customers acknowledging its capabilities on the safety and security front.

Disasters which are an act of God such as Hurricane Katrina and Sandy have also prompted debate on trends and solutions in Disaster recovery. Historically companies shy away from requisite investments that can match the complexity and scale of modern day Data Centres.

In the event of a natural disaster, even if you have an emergency response plan which you review annually or if you think you've foreseen every possible scenario, the question you need to ask yourself is - ‘are you actually disaster prepared'?

Until you are confronted with an actual emergency, your organization will never know for certain whether your personnel are equipped to communicate and respond effectively using existing resources and effectively help minimize the loss of life and property. Well so is the case in IT.

In such situations one needs to prioritize in terms of what one would need for business continuity during a disaster. And as a result analyse the importance of real time availability for mission critical applications as opposed to functions that can accommodate a lag due to down time. Hence it would be right to say that DR options that offer a customized midway solution will be the need of the hour.

The author os country head at Attachmate Group (TAG) India.