There are significant changes coming to the Internet in 2012 and the years to come.  For years, IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) has been the primary protocol used to reach content on the Internet, but Internet Service Providers as well as Content Service Providers are facing the growing problem of IPv4 depletion.

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It may be a new year, but we’re already seeing plenty of the old stuff happening.  You may have been one of the 24 million people who’ve received an email from Zappos.com in the last week, telling you that your personal data on its servers had been hacked, and urging you to change your password. While incidents involving large companies like Zappos may be the most widely reported

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If you thought that cybercrimes weren’t a worldwide problem, we have some numbers that may quickly help you to change your mind.

Worldwide, Norton estimates that cybercrime costs the global economy $338 billion a year; ZDNet says that’s more lucrative than the underground drugs market. And when you consider that more than two-thirds of us, according to Norton, are victims of some sort of cybercrime, it should make you want to do more than just sit up and take notice.

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This is a very special day for all of us at Windstream. Today we officially combine with PAETEC and welcome thousands of great customers and associates into the fold.

Earlier this year, we announced the acquisition of PAETEC, a telecommunications provider with coast-to-coast presence.  Today, that merger takes effect, and Windstream now is a nationwide communications and technology provider offering even greater capabilities.  Together, we are an S&P 500 company, serving more than 450,000 businesses with more than 100,000 miles of fiber across North America, in major cities and small towns.

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Here’s a case where the Federal government is taking the lead on innovation that makes sense for just about any company out there.

A report from InformationWeek magazine reports a significant increase in the number of Federal agencies using cloud-based services.  Of the people who responded to a survey, the report finds almost three times as many are using cloud at their workplace as used it a year ago.  It also finds another 29 percent will implement cloud services within the next year.  Which means, the magazine says, that more than half of Federal government agencies will be using cloud solutions, in one form or another, over the next year.

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Kentuckians will tell you there’s a lot to love about their state, from the bluegrass to its high quality of living.  But they may not tell you about how public schools, colleges, and businesses throughout the Commonwealth are connected through an advanced, flexible telecommunications network that rivals anything you’ll see in other states. Windstream helped design and implement that network, though, so we will.

Community and technical colleges, and state agencies throughout Kentucky have been linked together for the last five years, through an MPLS network. It gives students an incredible advantage, allowing them to take advantage of distance-based learning. For instance, students in a classroom in Hazzard can see a professor delivering a lecture from a classroom in Louisville, hundreds of miles away. And since they’re linked by both audio and video, they can engage in live-time discussions.  

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Enterprise companies have known about and taken advantage of managed services for some time.  As we’ve previously noted, that trend is changing, with more small- and mid-sized businesses investigating the benefits of having a third party host their network or manage their storage, network security and more.

But managed VoIP telephony has always been something of a holdout among smaller companies.  Big companies routinely implement VoIP-based phone systems that combine voice and data across one network.  The capital expenditures required, though, have prevented many smaller companies from taking the plunge.  In addition, some firms wanted their PBX onsite in case of a business continuity threat.

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We’ve all heard the stories of hacked websites and the loss of irreplaceable data and proprietary information.

No business is immune to security breaches, even with advanced technology, smart software and a diligent IT staff, according to Mark Lobel, principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which recently released a telling report on information security titled 2012 Global State of Information Security.

The study surveyed 9,615 executives and revealed a reality check about how companies, both large and small, view their information security strategies.

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If the name Abby Wambach means anything to you, bravo:  you’re a solid soccer fan.  For those of you who didn’t recognize her name right off the top, she is an Olympic gold medalist, player and coach.  During the 2011 World Cup tournament, her header in stoppage time against Brazil gave the US team the spark it needed to win, and advance to the Final Four.  And she’s also been named as the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Athlete of the Year.  In short, she’s a champion.

We don’t share this with you just because we’re fans (although we are).  We tell you this because Abby’s going to be our special guest of honor, joining us tomorrow to mark the formal expansion of our Raleigh data center.

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Every now and then, we run across something that makes us scratch out heads and wonder.  We saw an article recently that made us do precisely that.

A new survey quoted in CIO.com says most mid-market companies still view cloud computing as a complement, not a replacement.  The survey found that more than half of the companies surveyed are not pursuing a cloud computing initiative.  However, it was the headline that had us more than a little confused:  it read, “Value of the Cloud Overstated.”

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