Part II
But reporting is one thing and analysing and interpreting i.e., using the reported information, is another thing. Interpretation and analysis is the real deal and as we all know, unless everyone follows the same set of rules the interpretation and analysis could lead to different results. In general we usually report the information in a generalised/resultoriented summary. These summaries are usually accompanied by a whole lot of notes (to help the user understand the summary). Nonetheless, users still spend humongous amounts of time trying to normalise data.
XBRL stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), an XML-based technology standard, it is a language for capturing financial information throughout a business information process that will eventually be reported to shareholders, banks, regulators, and other parties. The goal of XBRL is to make the analysis and exchange of corporate information more reliable and easier to facilitate, in that it can help business in increasing the business value and provide reliable, and transparent financial data. The adoption of XBRL may permit stakeholders to access, compare and analyse data in ways that are at this time impractical or unreal. The reason is that the language is robust enough to boast of capabilities like :
- Drill-down facility for abridged data
- Reduced preparation time, effort and cost
- Enhanced analytical capability
- Standardised and simplified international access and acceptability
- Platform neutrality ensures wider acceptability
- Leverages the efficiencies of the Internet.
I am looking forward to the day that we will be able to file (upload) tons of information at a single click— hopefully this experience will be less painful as compared to what we face today. (learn more about open document formats — read my write-up in the Jan-Mar 2006 and May 2008 issues of the BCAJ).
Mashup tools :
In web development, a mashup is a web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. An example of a mashup is the use of cartographic data from Google Maps to add location information to real estate data, thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally provided by either source. Mashups and meshups are different from simple embedding of data from another site to form a compound page. A mashup or meshup site must access third-party data and process that data to add value for the site’s users. Mashups typically ‘screen-scrape’ or use other brute-force methods to access the untyped linked data; meshups typically use APIs to access typed linked data. A mashup or meshup web application has two parts:
- A new service delivered through a web page, using its own data and data from other sources.
- The blended data, made available across the web through an API or other protocols such as HTTP, RSS, REST, etc.
Our methods of collecting and sharing information have evolved over a period of time. Mashup tools hold the promise of an intelligent information collection as well as a collaboration tool. Watch out for more on this tool.
Desktop virtualisation :
Desktop virtualisation is the decoupling of a user’s physical machine from the desktop and software he or she uses to work. Most desktop virtualisation products emulate the PC hardware environment of the client and run a virtual machine alongside the existing operating system located on the local machine or delivered to a thin client from a data center server. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is a server-centric computing model that borrows from the traditional thin-client model, but is designed to give system administrators and end users the best of both worlds: the ability to host and centrally manage desktop virtual machines in the data center while giving end users a full PC desktop experience. The user experience is intended to be identical to that of a standard PC, but from a thin-client device or similar, from the same office or remotely. Installing and maintaining separate PC workstations is complex, and traditionally users have almost unlimited ability to instal or remove software.
Desktop virtualisation provides many of the advantages of a terminal server, but (if so desired and configured by system administrators) can provide users much more flexibility. Each, for instance might be allowed to instal and configure his own applications. Users also gain the ability to access their server-based virtual desktop from other locations.
Advantages:
- Instant provisioning of new desktops
- Near-zero downtime in the event of hardware failures
- Significant reduction in the cost of new application deployment
- Robust desktop image management capabilities
- Normal 2-3 year PC refresh cycle extended to 5-6 years or more
- Existing desktop-like performance including multiple monitors, bi-directional audio/video, streaming video, USB support, etc.
- Ability to access the users’ enterprise desktop environment from any PC, (including the employee’s home PC)
Convergence:
This is one development that has been talked about for as long as I can remember. Telecom Media Convergence is about crossing multiple industries. Fixed, mobile, and IP service providers can offer content and media services, and equipment providers can offer services directly to the end user. Content providers are consistently looking for new distribution channels. Convergence is the combination of all these different media into one operating plat-form. It is the merger of telecom, data processing and imaging technologies. This convergence is ushering in a new epoch of multimedia, in which voice, data and images are combined to render services to the user. I am waiting for the day when 3G/WIMAX will be a common thing and your mobile phone will be more than just a communication device – it would be your TV, your travel guide, your office away from office (yikes – strike that out), your wallet.
Well that’s all for now. Just to share a small secret, as I was penning this write-up, it gave me a chance to go thru my earlier articles and it made me realise what seemed outrageous then seems like a no-brainer today, innovation is so much a part of our life today, that, changes in the last few years also seem so significant.
I will probably revisit this write up next March to see where we stand……….
