It is clear that the Internet of Things is starting to make quite a splash in the enterprise space. That’s where better platforms for deploying and managing M2M systems (from likes of Axeda, Sierra Wireless, and ThingWorx), together with involvement from relevant software houses (take e.g. IBM, Salesforce, and Splunk), are paving the way for a whole new range of business cases to connect and analyse machines and equipment. It's about extending the power of analytics to assets that used to be opaque, data-wise. That was one of the key takeaways from the M2M Innovation World Congress I attended and spoke at in late September.

At a company event in New York City today, Dell formally introduced its Venue line of tablet devices.  Four initial models -- the Venue 7, Venue 8, Venue 8 Pro, and Venue 11 Pro -- make up the 2013 portfolio.  All Venue models are powered by Intel processors, though the OS duty is evenly split between Android Jellybean and Windows 8.1.

NextNav announced today that Broadcom has licensed its Metropolitan Beacon System (“MBS”) technology. This agreement enables Broadcom to integrate NextNav’s advanced location technology into its mass-market global navigation satellite system (GNSS), connectivity and mobility platforms.

Project 2020 is a study launched by the International Cyber Security Protection Alliance (ICSPA) and led by Europol, and in particular it’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3). Launched in 2012, the project participants include City of London Police, ENISA and experts from the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC) and the International Association of Public Prosecutors.

The news that BlackBerry has entered into a letter of intent with a consortium led by Fairfax Financial is only surprising in its speed. BlackBerry shareholders would receive $9 per share in cash, making the transaction worth approximately $4.7 billion. The Consortium is permitted 6 weeks to conduct due diligence and BlackBerry entitled to go-shop during due diligence period, subject to payment of a termination fee in the event an alternative offer is accepted.

When the SDN/NFV buzz started, it seemed that only the WebScale operators could leverage such things, because after all, one needed data centers that are measured in acres with Avogadro’s Number of servers.   But these turns out not to be the case.  In fact, small operators should take a close look at virtualization technology beginning with the Network Services Plane. 

A year ago the popular assumption was that NFC was dead because it was not included by Apple in its then new iPhone 5.  I am still seeing this as a topic of discussion with the announcement last week of the iPhone 5S (and 5C) and the fact that ocne again Apple has missed an opportunity to demonstrate its as a market leader in this space.  However, for me it is no longer a relevant question and those that argue so are a) being a little lazy, and b) ignoring the facts.