AMD`s new Spider platform is a final attempt to take back some of the consumer market share it lost to Intel over the past year. s AMD back from the ashes?

Local banks aren`t sitting around waiting for phishing attacks to happen. They`re going after the source.

Instead of buying computer equipment, lease it from a service provider that takes all responsibility for the asset lifecycle, from initial purchase to delivery and installation, collection and disposal.

Pay-TV provider MultiChoice is facing a growing challenge both within South Africa and beyond its borders.

With attention being paid to broadband projects in major centres, not much is being said about rural areas, where access to information is just as important.

After many years of promises and disappointments, the South African telecoms market is ready for real competition, says Laurie Fialkov.

Judging by the limited response Brainstorm received to this month`s On the Spot feature, the overriding answer to the question of web hosting and its importance to local companies is that it`s not very strategic at all.

Storage is a critical issue for some industries, given that their data grows 60 percent or more year-on-year. To the pressure for more space, add power consumption concerns, the trend towards virtualisation and the paradoxically negative effect of cheaper disk on storage management and you have an interesting year ahead.

Intel`s reaction to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has been typical: ignore it, laugh at it, then fight it.

Your network is everywhere. At its myriad ends are a host of users running around the planet with devices that you do not own, but are expected to secure and support. Welcome to the era of distributed networking, mobile computing and even more chaos than usual.

Hacking? Who`s hackig?

Despite all the hype, VOIP has been slow to take off locally and providers are still making losses. That said, things are moving, if not visibly so.

Forget the hype around web services; some companies are quietly getting on with the business of making money out of them.

When other IT consultancies focused on the manufacturing sector, Izazi pinned its hopes on financial services. That gamble is now paying off.

If markets are good predictors, then Google`s future in offering virtual desk-top applications across the net-work appears a lot brighter than that of its dedicated-software rivals.

Chip manufacturer Intel has pledged its commitment to lowering power consumption in the IT industry and saving the environment.

Unified communications, collaboration, IP, IPT, VOIP. The world is converging on your cellphone, your laptop and in your inbox.

Mindset Network is reaping the flexibility, remote functionality and billing benefits of its new VOIP solution.

Microsoft`s Surface computing platform has caused quite a stir from a technology perspective. It is able to not only work as a touch-sensitive monitor, but also recognise devices placed on it, opening computing services based on that recognition.

MB Technologies has decided to start its own financial services company to help the dealer channel with credit and finance.