A stunning forty-seven present of global personal computer users get their software illegally, according to a Business Software Alliance (BSA) study. China, with having close to one-fifth of the world’s population, is the major pirating culprit. The survey, which keyed-in on piracy stats, also unearthed the general mentalities towards the issue of piracy, with the Chinese having the most liberal attitude amongst the group of people surveyed.

According to BSA, 86-percent of the Chinese acquire their software illegally most or all of the time, which they noted was of “epidemic” proportions.

The survey shed light on the fact that only 13-percent buy original software, while another 40-percent of users get a majority of their software through illegal means. Socioeconomic factors underscore the purchasing trends, with a majority of users located in the developing world resorting to acquiring pirated software. Behind China, the study found that Nigeria, Vietnam, Ukraine and Malaysia closed out the top five as having the highest propensity to acquire pirated software materials.

The definitional scope of piracy included downloading programs from peer-to-peer networks like Vuze, and buying single licenses for multiple devices. The Washington-based Alliance includes software leaders –such as Apple, Microsoft and Adobe – and actively work on their behalf to protect copyright infringement and intellectual property, and who suffer $59 billion globally in 2010. Just to gain a more intimate view on the impact of piracy, Steve Balmer, Microsoft’s CEO, says that Microsoft loses close to 95-percent of their market share in China because of piracy. In terms of value, the United States trumps China by costing software-makers $9.5 billion, while the latter stole $7.78 billion in programs. BSA surveyed 15,000 personal computer users from thirty-two countries for this report. These piracy stats were troublesome.

Pirated software, while they lure people in under the guise of being the ultimate cost-efficient tool (by being free), they present major security breaches and can compromise entire company data. Fidelity IT Solutions, a Toronto-based computer service provider, will transform your IT infrastructure by injecting integrity, high-level security and ensure that your business is compliant with local and international copyright laws.

Fidelity IT Solutions will implement an auditing process that will manage not only your assets in an effective manner but address your organization in a top-to-bottom manner and through forensics to ensure optimal performance, productivity and mitigate risk. Fidelity IT Solutions, a Toronto software integrator, we will:

(i) Identify your Software Assets
(ii) Verification of Software Assets
(iii) Identify gaps between software installations and licenses you’ve purchased and whether or not you have rights of usage
(iv) Rectify existing gaps, and elevating your software license environment up to par
(v) Record the findings in a centralized location, and create a Proof of Purchase profile

We will ensure that your organization is protected from viruses, malware and spyware, and we will offer round-the-clock support for your Small to Medium sized business needs. If you’re a Small-to-Medium sized business in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and you’re looking for a highly qualified and affordable Toronto-based software license integrator, IT Support, and Toronto IT Infrastructure services provider, then Fidelity IT Solutions is the right FIT for you.

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Summary

A recent study by the Business Software Alliance, on piracy stats, has revealed the depth and breadth of the piracy epidemic, on a global scale, has been seriously underestimated. With nearly half of the global population engaging in routine acts of copyright infringement through various mediums, such as purchasing pirated goods on the black market or open market, or downloading them on peer-to-peer networks. One thing is clear, the fight against piracy is a losing one.

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As a software integrator,Toronto IT infrastructure and Toronto Networking solutions designer, from Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS), Fidelity IT Solutions will provide auditing process that will ensure that your SMB is standardized and licensed for security, usage and compliance purposes. We take no shortcuts in the auditing process, and perform the upgrades and updates that will crystallize your status as a genuine and authentic software user.

Located in the Heart of the Silicon Valley of the North, Fidelity IT Solutions can be your outsourced IT provider. By adding value to your existing product, as we offer cutting-edge solutions for businesses of all sizes and industries across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). In keeping to our philosophy, we are self-committed to see you succeed by engaging in an enduring partnership, as we integrate the latest technologies that will get you ahead.

I have never worked with the cloud.

The cloud is when a service is being fed through the World Wide Web to your computer monitor, smartphone or tablet. For example, when you are mirroring the images on your phone to your computer, using Apple’s iTunes platform, you are using a synching process via the cloud. Cloud computing is the infrastructure that is used to ensure that when you’re in an online mode, the pictures you have stored on your smartphone, is delivered to your computer. It is extremely difficult to avoid using cloud technologies in your day-to-day life.

The cloud is an unreachable technology for most SMBs

In the world of the cloud, renting is a great option, especially for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). In the real world, if you design and construct a building, you need to determine how many floors and units are in that building. In the cloud universe, it works differently: the building does not have a certain, limited number of floors and units. The building can get bigger in size and you can rent-out more units as you grow. The cloud will mitigate your growing pains and is scalable.

The cloud is limited in scope

The cloud is a catalyst for Big Data and uses a number of different technologies, such as the cloud. The cloud has helped accelerate Big Data and bolstered its potential. Most of the world’s data is actually small data. It is tiny data bits, such as Facebook likes, to streets on Google Maps and so forth, which when aggregated and combine form Big Data. The cloud churns through Big Data in a multitude of ways and can help you slice and dice through it all and put everything in a manageable context.

The cloud is too metric-heavy and unanalyzable

Not everyone is a data scientist. You don’t have to be mathematician wizard to understand all of this data coming your way. If you are pulling datasets from government websites, collecting traffic data streams and going through the latest Ocean discoveries, there are tons of online resources that can help you cut through the clutter and get the information you need (and most of them are free). You can parse the information and help delineate patterns that exist.

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Cloud services has made the delivery of on-demand computing resources, from software applications to services, over the web for everyday users. A pillar of this widely-used technology is that it meets business demands and is metered and on a pay-as-you go basis. The business-critical features of the cloud has made it an indispensable part of everyday business and small business and medium-sized enterprises are no longer looking up to attain the cloud. With connectivity a necessary and critical part of business life, you can now access all of your IT resources through the cloud. If you need help to get there, Fidelity IT Solutions, a Toronto-based cloud computing service provider can help you with your private, public and hybrid cloud needs.