Few enterprises could bear a $7.2bn loss caused by a "computer genius" avoiding company policies and controls. But for international bank Société Générale,...
Sun launched the OpenOffice.org project with the aim of creating a community-based, international office suite, able to run on all major platforms and access all functionality and data using open application programming interfaces and XML.
The internet is arguably evolving as an operating system in its own right, with IP, HTML, SMTP and other underlying protocols combining with online application frameworks such as SOAP, web services, Ajax, Ruby on Rails and mash-ups. Added to this are remote web-based storage services, and increasingly sophisticated online applications. The result looks like an OS operating in the 'cloud'.
South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust is an example of a hospital that has invested in technology to improve its business processes and make impressive cost savings.
"Information security is part of life now for financial services organisations and you have to take it seriously. If the business is linked to any loss of sensitive data, it causes serious reputational damage and you can't afford for that to happen, especially in such a highly regulated industry," says Colin Campbell, IT services manager at Stroud & Swindon Building Society.
Homeworking, video conferencing, instant messaging and some of the other, more progressive capabilities associated with unified communications may not immediately seem of benefit to such a hands-on public service as the fire brigade. But like every public service, where budget is always under pressure to deliver frontline services as well as back office efficiencies, something as simple as voicemail is still a key necessity, and one that Tayside Fire and Rescue lacked until recently.
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