Firms looking to market themselves may be wise to consider a combination of mobile and online advertising.This is the finding of research from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), which looked at how various organisations market themselves.

Mobile internet may play a part in this approach. According to the IAB, if people had been exposed to a mobile advertisement and recalled it they would be more likely to click-through online.

The click-through rate was some 150 per cent higher among such people.

Founder of email and mobile marketing specialist Sign-Up.to Matt McNeil explained that the past year has seen an increasing popularity of mobile marketing.

He said: "One of the good things about mobile is its ability to add to the relevancy of ads in terms of the location of the individual and the personal context of the ads."

More businesses are beginning to notice this opportunity and advertisements can be made far more interesting by this medium, Mr McNeil noted.

Meanwhile, 29 per cent were registered with suspicious information, leading to the belief that security issues may be present and identity theft could have taken place.

Jenny Kelly of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), who headed the investigation, told the publication: "As part of my background preparation, I tried to register domains with different registrars.

"It was clear that some companies have good checks - checking your zip code is right for the city and state you entered, and likely checking credit card details against the registered address. But others did not apply such checks during the registration process."

Some 1,419 representative domain names were analysed as part of the review.

Alongside setting up a website, businesses can also use their domain name for emails by setting up a webmail account, as well as publishing photos on a personalised blog.

Fragmentation "is a major issue" for those who make operating systems (OSs) for the mobile market, it has been claimed.CoolSmartPhone.com's Leigh Geary said that OSs that combat the issue of fragmentation are the ones that will "reign supreme".

Mobile internet could be affected by this issue and smartphones in particular may rely on good management of mobile fragmentation, the website claimed.

Fragmentation can be caused by putting a higher resolution screen on the iPhone, because apps may be unable to cope, Mr Geary explained.

Forrester Research revealed last month that brands should plan ahead for the issue, since more and more people are using mobile internet to visit websites and check emails.

According to the National University of Singapore School of Computing, mobile fragmentation is an inability to develop applications that are "write once and run anywhere".

Damith Rajapakse explained that applications should be developed against a particular handset manufacturer and be able to operate in the same way in all that producer's handsets.

Giving individuals the chance to make quick purchases through online shopping is one of the key benefits of ecommerce. Writing for the Hindu, S Saroja, who works with free advice provider CAG, highlights that people can save vast amounts of time in comparison to entering numerous shops on the high street.

Meanwhile, information on products is more detailed and readily available to give individuals, providing them a greater idea of the items they are adding to their shopping carts.

The writer stated for the publication: "The greatest benefit of ecommerce is the time saved and the fact that the consumer is able to complete his transaction with a single click of the mouse.

"Product information is more extensive, while price and product comparisons are also possible, enabling consumers to make informed choices."

However, it was added that websites have the responsibility to ensure that credit card transactions remain safe and that the chance of hackers committing fraud by obtaining personal details is minimised.

Chris Russell, the director of eDigitalResearch, stated in December last year that the popularity of online shopping will continue into 2010.

There are many strengths to employing a virtual server, but businesses have to decide which of these are important to their individual demands. According to the Register, virtualisation expert Jon Collins highlights that companies have to attempt to see the method as having an impact across the whole environment, instead of its role on a specific aspect of IT.

Among the problems that some businesses may encounter in the longer term is a lack of RAM, alongside storage becoming bottle-necked.

Meanwhile, the benefits include workload flexibility, a more resilient infrastructure and ease of deployment.

Mr Collins revealed on the website: "The architectural view that results from such a prioritisation exercise is fundamental to getting the best out of IT in general and virtualisation in particular.

"If your organisation is highly dependent on transactional applications, you will require a certain IT environment. Meanwhile, if you are a development shop, your needs will be different."

Hostway director Neil Barton recently highlighted that a wider number of companies will turn to virtualisation in 2010.

Businesses have been told of the importance of having a backup plan in place to ensure that problems are kept to a minimum when using dedicated servers.The Hosting News highlights that a selection of problems could lead to a server being ruined, including a fire to a building or simple technical issues.

It is suggested that businesses should seek to ensure they have contingency plans in place immediately, as it is not uncommon for a major crisis to develop with a dedicated server within weeks.

The news provider stated: "You should have a plan in place that includes relocation requirements, backups available on site, support numbers and even more information about your server.

"Best of all, contact the hosting centre of your dedicated server before you have a problem. They will be more than happy to talk with you about their contingency plans."

Dedicated hosting services are often deemed to be more flexible than shared hosting because a company has full control over the servers.

Meanwhile, software from Linux and Windows are regularly used as extreme security measures to protect any stored data from hackers and Trojans.