Guides

CW500: Managing IT transformation at the BBC

The BBC planned to cover every sport from every venue during the entire London 2012 Olympic Games. With more than 2,000 hours of live sport that meant the pressure on the IT department to ensure that everything worked was enormous.

But the BBC has this year faced several major challenges, from broadcasting the Diamond Jubilee and the European football championships not to mention the Proms, and live music festival the Hackney Weekend, all while moving large chunks of its operation from London to Manchester, and into its newly expanded Broadcasting House location in central London.

Computer Weekly Supplier Directory

In this Computer Weekly Supplier Directory you will find supplier profiles on a full range of vendors. A downloadable report is available, on each supplier, analysing the challenges facing it, along with figures about financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold.

In addition you will find up to date news and tips on each supplier, videos and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

A guide to the Public Services Network (PSN)

The Public Services Network (PSN) is intended to create a “network of networks” to enable the delivery of government services from any provider or location.

Whitehall has already released two frameworks for PSN connectivity and services this year, and hopes that will save £390m by cutting costs and providing greater flexibility.

But rather than existing as a centralised programme, PSN can be viewed as an on-going move toward network aggregation. Many local authorities have already created local PSNs in their area, rather than waiting for central government to take the lead in creating a ‘top down’ national PSN.

In this guide to the Public Sector Network you will find news, case studies and videos on the topic.

A guide to business process automation software

Automation software is being used by businesses to reduce the costs associated with completing particular processes. It is a way of reducing labour intensive activities.

Business processes begin with a task such as a customer asking a mobile operator for a new SIM card, which triggers off a chain of events that is concluded when the customer confirms receipt of the card.

This guide, with news, case studies and research, describes what automation software is and how it is transforming businesses. Keep up to date with the spread of business process automation software.

IT in Healthcare

Health informatics in the NHS is going through a massive period of change, following plans to dismantle the National Programme for IT and devolve procurement to local commissioning groups.

While trusts will be tasked with overseeing systems such as electronic patients records at a local level, central government is intent on pushing through an open data agenda for health in an attempt to broaden the marketplace for companies offering mobile health apps.

Supplier profile: Cisco

In this Cisco supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Cisco, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Cisco in addition to further Cisco resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

A guide to application performance management

Application monitoring solutions are designed to aid your organisation in detecting and resolving issues with application performance, before they affect your end users.

Focusing on monitoring and managing the performance/availability of applications, this guide offers news articles, tips and advice. This guide includes topics such as the speed of transactions, networking issues, workflow and related tools for performance detection and diagnosis.

Supplier profile: IBM

In this IBM supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing IBM, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on IBM in addition to further IBM resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

CW500: Datacentre transformation

IT departments are often caught up in a dilemma when it comes to datacentre management. Demands for storage and processing power continuously increase, while budgets are nearly flat. Meanwhile, new technology models, such as virtualisation and cloud computing, are offering radical new ways to deliver datacentre services.

In such a scenario, what should the CIO do? How can an organisation ensure that a datacentre transformation improves service levels, meets user needs and cuts costs?

Supplier profile: Microsoft

In this Microsoft supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Microsoft, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Microsoft in addition to further Microsoft resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

CW500: The future of software development

Today’s software development strategy needs to consider trends such as agile, mobile, app stores, cloud, middleware, open source and open standards – and more. The future of software development increasingly blurs the lines between in-house applications, packaged software, and the cloud.

How can an IT leader ensure their software strategy meets such demands, and uses the right combination of in-house and external skills?

Supplier profile: Infosys

In this Infosys supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Infosys, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Infosys in addition to further Infosys resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Next Generation Firewalls: Learning Guide

Networking has come out of the shadows in recent years. With more mobile devices than ever, cloud computing taking hold and highly virtualised data centre environments, it is no longer about dumb pipes or the plumbing in the background, but a key feature to modern tech deployments.

But, with great power comes great responsibility, and as much as networks have never been as important as they are now, keeping those networks secure is top priority.

The term firewall has been used for many years as something to keep the bad guys out of the corporate network and keeping your data safe. Now, the phrase on the lips of networking professionals is Next Generation Firewalls, where the safety of the application is king.

In this guide, we give you the definition of a Next Generation Firewall, tell you about the big players involved and try to cut through the hype of the phrase that is becoming common place in data centre conversations.

CW500: Managing social media

With the advent of IT consumerisation, employees continue to increase the pressure on CIOs to allow more flexibility in how they operate. Staff who are familiar with social media in their personal lives want to use similar tools to help their working life. Increasingly, business leaders also want to deliver products and services based on social media.

IT leaders need suitable strategies and governance to exploit social media technology to improve productivity and collaboration, to set the boundaries between flexibility and corporate data security, and also to measure results.

Supplier profile: Capita

In this Capita supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Capita, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Capita in addition to further Capita resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Supplier profile: HP

In this HP supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing HP, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on HP in addition to further HP resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Supplier profile: EMC

In this EMC supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing EMC, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on EMC in addition to further EMC resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

IT in Europe

The IT in Europe ezine explores hot topics and issues that European businesses are currently facing. Take a look each month for in-depth European news and technical advice. Below you can download our collection of IT in Europe ezines.

Contributors to the IT in Europe ezine include:

Supplier profile: Dell

In this Dell supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Dell, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Dell in addition to further Dell resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

London 2012 Olympic Games Coverage

The London Olympics is finally underway! As thousands of tourists and locals descend on the Olympic Park, we keep you up to date with all the news from the Games.

In this guide you will find all the London Olympic news so far, including the effect it will have on London businesses, commuters, power drainage, bandwidth and more. Read the opportunities that have been created with local communities, IT skills and job creation.

Keep up to date on IT news from the 2012 London Olympics here.

Supplier profile: CA Technologies

In this CA Technologies supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing CA Technologies, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on CA Technologies in addition to further CA Technologies resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

EMC World 2012 conference coverage

EMC World 2012 is taking place 21-24th May at The Venetian, in Las Vegas.

Keep up to date with all the conference news and industry tips.

A beginner's guide to virtualisation

You would be hard pushed to find someone in the IT sector that hasn’t heard of the word ‘virtualisation’ by now. However, just because it is a hot topic and regularly used buzzword doesn’t mean that everyone is a pro on the subject.

For those who have only heard of the word ‘virtualisation’ and would like to know more this guide contains information on installation, troubleshooting, configuring, virtual storage, and the different virtualisation technologies available to you.

Supplier profile: Accenture

In this Accenture supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Accenture, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Accenture in addition to further Accenture resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Supplier Profile: Oracle

In this Oracle supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Oracle, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Oracle in addition to further Oracle resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

InfoSec Europe 2012: Conference coverage

Keep up date with all the news from InfoSec Europe 2012, taking place 24-26 April at London’s Earls Court.

Here you will find pre-show news, conference news and features, videos and images from exhibitors and attendees around the show.

Supplier profile: SAP

In this SAP supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing SAP, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on SAP in addition to further SAP resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

How to comply with the EU cookie law

The EU cookie law is a piece of privacy legislation that was originally adopted by all EU countries on May 26th 2011. The UK was given one year to comply with the EU directive after it updated its Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which brought the EU directive in to UK law.

The cookie law requires websites to gain consent from visitors to store or receive any information on a computer or any other web connected devices (e.g. smartphone or tablet). The cookie law has been designed to protect online privacy of customers by making them aware, and giving them a choice, about the amount of information collected by websites. Each EU member has its own approach to the law; however the basic requirements of the directive remain the same.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is responsible for ensuring that organisations comply with the cookie law. The ICO has issue two sets of guidelines, so far, with the most recent reminding those concerned how the law ‘will not go away.’

After May 26th if a business is not compliant, or is not visibly working towards compliance, it will run the risk of enforcement action and a possible fine of up to half a million pounds.

Read news and tips on how to comply with the EU cookie law.

The Budget 2012: Are you better or worse off?

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne reveals the contents of his red box, this year, find out all the news from the Budget 2012.

Keep up to date on the UK government’s plans for the economy and public finances, for the year ahead.

Supplier profile: Symantec

In this Symantec supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Symantec, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Symantec in addition to further Symantec resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Blade servers: How to decide on Unix or Linux

How do you decide whether to use Unix or Linux for your blade server and whether now is even the right time to consider a migration?

Common questions that should influence your choice are:

• Why are you considering moving off your current platform?
• How many users do you support?
• Does your application require high availability?
• Which operating system does your staff know best?

In this guide you will find news, tips and features on Unix and Linux for blade servers. In addition you will find the most popular and helpful command lines for both operating systems.

A UK guide to government and public sector IT

A guide to support IT professionals in making well informed decisions about technologies used within public sector organisations. Tips, news and podcasts include examples from the National Audit Office, the British Army, and local councils on how to translate technology into business benefits.

Learn how public sector organisations are using virtualisation, business intelligence, and unified communications in addition to implementing tighter security regulations.

IT Works

Keep up to date on IT skills and training in the UK with news, video interviews, tips and blogs from industry experts.

Supplier Profile: Fujitsu

In this Fujitsu supplier profile you will find a special nine-page report from Computer Weekly which analyses the challenges facing Fujitsu, its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the IT market and its future strategies.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Fujitsu in addition to further Fujitsu resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Virtualisation

While virtualisation may be considered the best way forward for data centre infrastructure, there are plenty of barriers to successful adoption.

A quick guide to IT security

Information security and data protection is crucial for every business, as it is likely that your company’s most prized asset is its data. Failure to secure your company’s sensitive information could be damaging to its brand in addition to leading to possible legal ramifications.

This quick guide, to IT security, includes news, tips, and articles on tackling cyber-attacks, data protection, malware and computer viruses.

A guide to embracing IT consumerisation

In this guide you will learn how to accept IT consumerisation as part of your IT department. As enterprises proactively address this trend, new relationships with between the IT department and users are being developed; however so are new fears.

Learn how to secure a mobile environment, the best networking techniques and how to benefit from BYOD.

Desktop computing is no longer about IT providing tools for employees. Consumer technology requires a rethink of IT support.

A guide to buying storage hardware and software

This guide has been designed to help storage managers with their storage software and hardware decisions. It contains information on managing, implementing and maintaining storage technologies to help IT professionals with their storage software and hardware purchases.

This guide to buying storage hardware and software covers hard disks, tape drives, disk storage, and virtual storage.

Reflections on 2011 and predictions for 2012

With 2011 now behind us we have taken a look back at technology trends throughout last year, in addition to looking ahead to what 2012 may hold.

In this guide you will find 2011 roundups on virtualisation, cloud computing, outsourcing, storage, data management, careers and the IT channel.

A guide to simplifying data centre management

Nowadays a data centre is a complex and sometimes daunting environment to manage. Efficient data centre management enables you to plan updates and schedule changes in line with your data centres’ build out. Expansions, data centre updates and server consolidation projects are more popular than ever, but can uncover many challenges.

This guide has been designed to improve your knowledge around data centre management, so you can stay compliant, hit green IT initiatives and targets, lower costs, and increase scalability, in addition to keeping the lights on. Let this data centre managers’ guide be your one-stop resource centre for information and advice on data centre management.

This data centre management guide covers management tools, data recovery and virtualisation management.

IT services and managed services

Deciding on whether to utilise IT services, as part of your business strategy, can be a hard decision to make. Firstly you need to decide whether or not IT services will be right for your business, in the long term, and secondly decide which IT services will be better suited for your company.

For example outsourcing may not always save you money, so it is important to do your research on the subject. According to a survey carried out at InfoSecurity Europe 2011, in London, and the RSA Conference 2011, in San Francisco, IT services contracts were costing more than expected for 62% of businesses.

The survey conducted by automation software supplier Lieberman Software found that out of the 500 IT professionals, who responded, a landslide 62% admitted to their outsourcing contracts costing them more than expected, despite turning to the option of outsourcing as a way to cut costs. Of these, 27% said costs were significantly higher when they included outsourcing as part of their IT strategy.

The guide has been designed to support you with decisions about IT services and managed services. Whether you are considering using IT services, currently receiving poor managed services, or outgrowing an existing provider, let this guide be your one-stop resource centre for information and advice on IT services.

This IT services guide covers outsourcing, managed service providers and cloud services.

Green computing energy efficiency guide

Green computing is no longer just a white-wash expression, as government schemes like the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) or the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), are encouraging companies to revaluate their use of IT resources. Finding new ways of improving energy efficiency is no longer a boardroom discussion, but a reality for many UK businesses.

This guide has been designed to help you improve overall energy efficiency, within the IT department, and implement the right green technology for your business.

This green technology guide covers green computing, government legislation and energy efficiency.

The network administrators’ guide

As a network administrator it’s your job to install, configure and maintain PCs, network operating systems and network equipment.

To support you in managing your network, establish security levels, and control system access, we’ve put this mini tutorial together for you. The network administrator tutorial has been designed to support you with your network security and network management needs. Let this tutorial be your one-stop resource centre which contains information and advice for network administrators.

This network administrators’ tutorial covers network security and your network management.

Social Media Awards 2011

Computer Weekly's search for the best use of social media in IT is back for its fourth year and we want you to take part in our new, improved awards programme for 2011.

Social media is an increasingly important tool for communication, collaboration and sharing experiences among the UK IT community, so we’ve expanded our successful blog awards to become the Social Media Awards.

If you need some help deciding, then click on the category pages to find out more about the shortlisted social media heroes.

Find out more about IBM's involvement in the Social Media Awards.

Voting has now begun so click on the link below and be sure to vote for your favourites!

Blade servers: How to decide on Unix or Linux

How do you decide whether to use Unix or Linux for your blade sever and whether it’s time to consider a migration?

Common questions that should influence your choice are:

• Why are you considering moving off your current platform?
• How many users do you support?
• Does your application require high availability?
• Which operating system does your staff know best?
Nowadays both Unix and Linux are valid and reasonable infrastructure choices, so you just need to figure out which is the best option for you and your business.

In this guide you will find news, tips and features on Unix and Linux for blade servers. In addition you will find the most popular and helpful command lines for both operating systems.

Essential guide: EU Data Protection Regulation

This guide lays out what the new European Data Protection Regulation means for European businesses.

Find news, features, tips and videos on the European Data Protection Regulation

Data analysis and business intelligence tutorial

Business intelligence can be beneficial for analysing internal raw data, such as turnover by department or product, and identify inefficient business processes that can be re-engineered to better suit your business needs. However, you have to ensure that your data is clean, trustworthy and of good quality for those who will use it.

This guide has been designed to enable you to maintain a competitive edge, through the analysis of business data and better data management.

This business intelligence tutorial covers data management, data analysis, business data usage and business analytics.

Business intelligence (BI) is an all-encompassing category of applications and technologies for gathering, storing, analysing, and providing access to data to support enterprise users in making better informed business decisions. Business intelligence applications include the activities of decision support systems, query and reporting, online analytical processing (OLAP), data management, statistical analysis, forecasting, data analytics and data mining.

Migrating to a private cloud data centre

How do you run your own data centres as efficiently as Google, Facebook, Microsoft or Amazon? Most enterprises are not fortunate enough to start on a greenfield site, so existing data centres must be retrofitted to accommodate greater demands from the business.

Gartner estimates that the useful life of a datacente can be extended significantly through the use of low power server blades that can run VMs to achieve 90% utilisation. In this series of articles we will look at how the industry is starting to offer hardware as a service to support the private cloud, where users can pay for additional CPUs, storage, and UPS and cooling capacity almost on-demand.

We will also include case studies that showcases how the major shifts in the approach taken by systems management tools is helping them to reduce the amount of human intervention required to operate private clouds.

Spotlight on women in UK IT

There is growing concern around the lack of women in IT and whether the numbers will improve for roles which are both available now and in the future. In light of this Computer Weekly recently held an event to address the issue of attracting more females to the technology sector, inviting some of the most influential women in IT to share their views and personal experiences.

You can find coverage of this event below along with the results of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in UK IT Awards. In addition you will find the results of Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly’s Women in Technology 2012 survey.

Networking and IPv6

The move to IPv6 has the potential to revolutionise network infrastructure. IPv6 networks provide auto-configuration capabilities. They are simpler, flatter and more manageable, especially for large installations. Networks must be configured manually or with DHCP. IPv4 has had many overlays to handle Internet growth, which demand increasing maintenance efforts.

End-to-end connective integrity. Direct addressing is possible due to vast address space - the need for network address translation devices is effectively eliminated. With all these benefits, what are the pitfalls, and how does a large enterprise migrate?

Supplier profile: Adobe

In this Adobe supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Adobe, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Adobe in addition to further Adobe resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Storage and backup infrastructure

As with the rest of data centre computing, storage is becoming virtual. The industry is addressing the need for virtual server storage and virtual server backup.

Virtualisation will drive the need for faster storage, such as solid state disks and hybrid drives to cope with the increased demand for more IOPs.

Along with these trends storage provisioning for disaster recover remains a top priority for IT departments. Investment in SANs is being diverted to more cost-effective data centre replication, such as running Fibre Channel over Ethernet on top of existing wide area networks.

VMworld 2012 conference coverage

VMworld 2012 ran August 26-30, at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco. We had a team of TechTarget editors at the show covering the latest news and analysis.

Find out the latest news coverage from VMware’s annual conference.

Big Data

Information is the lifeblood of an organisation. In these tough economic conditions business and government are applying sophisticated data analytics to help them identify opportunities and efficiency gains.

But with the explosion of web metrics, social media and the "internet of things". there is an opportunity to radically reengineer data architectures to provide organisations with a tiered approach to data collection and analysis, using real time and historical data.

Where next for virtualisation

Not many of us are fortunate enough to have shiny new infrastructure.

While virtualisation may be considered the best way forward for data centre infrastructure, there are plenty of barriers that prevent users from deploying virtual machines, ranging from incompatible hardware, unsupported software to organisational structures that restrict how IT charges and manages virtual assets.

Given the growing maturity of the virtualisation market, we investigate how IT departments are overcoming such issues.

FreeForm Dynamics Library

In this Freeform Dynamics Library you will find regular contributors from research house Freeform Dynamics.

Click on the images of the analysts below to read their articles.

These Computer Weekly contributors provide expert tips and opinion pieces.

You will also find the latest news from Computer Weekly.

Supplier profile: Steria

In this Steria supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Steria, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Steria in addition to further Steria resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

CW500: The boardroom view of IT

What does your boardroom really think of IT – and of how the IT function is led and delivered? Surveys often highlight a mismatch between how CIOs perceive the relationship with their senior peers, and how those same executives view IT.

The so-called “IT-business divide” has existed since IT has been used in business, or so it seems. Yet the modern organisation is more dependent on technology, and the skills of those who lead in IT, than ever before.

So how can the CIO and the CEO best come together to meet the needs of both? In this CW500 Club event, we invited some tech-savvy business leaders to give their views on how IT is perceived in the boardroom.

Conference coverage: Dreamforce 2012

Dreamforce attracted 70,000 people to the Moscone Center in San Francisco recently and 30,000 watched coverage of the conference online.

The four day event, run by Salesforce.com even managed to entice The Red Hot Chili Peppers and MC Hammer to perform for attendees.

TechTarget had a team of reporters at the show, finding out what makes it so attractive to attendees every year.

Read all our news coverage of Dreamforce.com below.

VMworld Europe 2012 Coverage

VMware’s annual VMworld Europe 2012 is taking place in Barcelona this year at the Gran Via. TechTarget has a team of reporters at the show to keep you up to date on all the news, tips and expert advice.

The Best of VMworld Europe 2012 user awards will also be unveiled, so you can find out all the winners and read their case studies here.

RSA Conference Europe coverage 2012

RSA Conference Europe 2012 recently took place on 9-11 October. Computer Weekly’s Security Editor was present reporting on all the latest news and tips.

Taking place at the Hilton London Metropole the three days were designed for users to learn, network and discuss the best way to address security issues that threaten us all.

Read all the news from the event below.

IP Expo 2012 conference coverage

IP Expo 2012 recently opened its doors to 250 exhibitors and 12,000 visitors, who were interested in finding out everything they needed to know about IT infrastructure.

Taking place over two days, at London’s Earls Court, the show offered 260 seminar sessions across 18 content theatres and a series of keynotes from industry speakers.

Citrix Synergy Barcelona 2012 coverage

Citrix Synergy Barcelona 2012 took place 17-19 October at the International Convention Centre of Barcelona (CCIB). An estimated 2,000 people attended for keynotes, training, certification, networking, and the chance to speak to industry experts.

Find out all the news from the show here, including videos from the conference.

Everything you need to know about Windows 8

The much anticipated Microsoft Windows 8 has been released, with its touch-control interface, and single operating system that works on desktops and mobiles.

Microsoft has described parts of Windows 8 as the most important redesign, of its interface, in more than a decade.

Find out all the Windows 8 news here, including a Windows 8 Buyers Guide, videos and tips.

Supplier profile: Atos

In this Atos guide you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Atos, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the vendor.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Atos in addition to further Atos resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

SNW Europe 2012 coverage

Cloud, storage and virtualisation professionals from around the globe head for SNW Europe 2012 in Frankfurt taking place 30-31st October.

Find out all the news from the show here, in addition to what took place last year, videos and more news from Computer Weekly.

EMC Momentum – Vienna 2012

EMC Momentum is taking place in Vienna this year, at the Messe Wien Congress Centre. Thousands of EMC attendees will descend on the conference for hands-on-sessions and a selection of sessions.

Find out all the conference news here in addition to other cloud and storage resources.

AWS re: Invent 2012 conference coverage

Cloud computing is evolving to become a mainstream technology with an increasing number of businesses looking to adopt cloud-based services for scalability, agility and cost savings.

And one proof of cloud’s growing popularity is that Amazon Web Services – the company that has become synonymous to public cloud computing – is holding its first annual customer and partner conference – AWS re: Invent between November 27 and 29 2012 at The Venetian, Las Vegas.

Watch this space for our AWS re: Invent conference coverage including AWS cloud use cases, cloud computing best practice tips, cloud’s future and what the future of Amazon is in the cloud space.

Below is our preconference coverage on Amazon Web Services’ cloud services. Keep watching this space during and after the conference.

UKtech50: All our coverage of the 2012 programme

Computer Weekly has announced the third UKtech50, our annual definitive list of the real movers and shakers in UK IT - the CIOs, industry executives, public servants and business leaders driving the role of technology in the UK economy.

Our aim was to once more identify the 50 most influential leaders in UK IT. An expert judging panel, representing every aspect of the IT profession, helped decide the results, along with a reader vote to determine who holds the most influence over the future of the UK IT sector in 2013 – and hence the future of IT professionals across the country.

View the complete coverage of UKtech50 below.

Supplier profile: Wipro

In this Wipro supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing Wipro, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on Wipro in addition to further Wipro resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

Supplier profile: TCS

In this Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) supplier profile you will find a special nine page report from Computer Weekly analysing the challenges facing TCS, along with figures about its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the market and what the future may hold for the supplier.

You will also find up to date news and tips on TCS in addition to further TCS resources and whitepapers from TechTarget’s research library.

2012: A review of the year

Here we have put together a full review of 2012 for you. Read the top 10 articles from a full range of different topic areas and see what topped the lists for last year.

For all of 2012’s hot topics see below for our 2012: A review of the year.

Consumer Electronics Show 2013 coverage

The Consumer Electronics Show was held 8-11 of January, in Las Vegas, with 150,000 attendees viewing the latest technology being showcased by the world’s biggest brands including Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Lenovo and many more.

Computer Weekly reporter, Caroline Baldwin, took a look at the latest gadgetry to enter the market this year.

Guide to mobile business intelligence

Mobile business intelligence has been gathering pace in corporate organisations. It brings together two strong trends: the proliferation of hand-held devices and the turning of data to business advantage.

In 2011 the hype was well in advance of implementation, but last year saw reality catching up with the marketing propaganda, to a significant extent. The use cases are not just traditional BI, however. Instead, mobile workers, from doctors and nurses, to truck drivers and police officers are getting decision support information delivered into their hands, whether on smart phones or tablets.

Focusing on mobile business intelligence in action, this guide offers news, analysis, and a quiz.

It includes topics such as mobile BI use up and down the organisation, the benefits and challenges of the technology, and how mobile, as a vector, necessitates a rethink of business intelligence itself. It starts with a TechTarget Whatis definition and then a quiz testing your knowledge of the trends.

LTFS tape NAS: What it is and how to build it

In storage, cost is everything. So, imagine a storage medium with the frugal cost profile of tape and access times of NAS. Well, it already exists. Since 2010 the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) has allowed access to tapes as if they are spinning disk. Part of the LTO-5 tape format, LTFS partitions the tape, with one containing indexing information for all the data on the cartridge and the other contains the actual data. Marry this capability to a hardware NAS protocol front end with a disk cache and you have the potential for rapid access to massive amounts of data held on tape.

Tiered storage is now mainstream. We have super-rapid flash for virtual machines and their data; Fibre Channel and 15k SAS for other fast access use cases. After that there is high-capacity SATA for bulk data, but here is where LTFS could start treading on the toes of disk vendors. That’s because, in some cases, where the use profile of data requires long retention and infrequent but relatively quick access, LTFS tape now rivals large capacity SATA as a nearline store.

Maybe that’s why LTFS has failed to set the world on fire; there are just too many disk vendors who see it as a threat. Nevertheless, LTFS is worth looking at. And in this ComputerWeekly.com Guide you’ll find articles on why LTFS should be taken seriously and explanations of how tape NAS works and who sells products.

Bett Show 2013

Bett Show 2013 is taking place Jan 30-Feb 2 2013, at the London Excel Centre. Thousands of attendees will visit the education show for a look at some of the latest technologies and to hear from some of the industry’s hottest speakers.

Find out all the news from the show and keep up to date on the latest IT skills and education hot topics.

Cisco Live London 2013

Cisco Live London took place at the Excel Centre 28 January – 1 February 2013. Attracting over 5,000 attendees the show included technical breakout sessions, keynotes from Cisco executives and hundreds of exhibitors.

Read the news from Cisco Live London 2013 and find out more information on networking.

Dell Technology Camp 2013: Amsterdam

This year Dell Technology Camp 2013 took place in Amsterdam. The annual event showcases technology solutions and invites industry experts to meet with customers to discuss key challenges such as cloud computing, data insights and mobility.

Computer Weekly attended the Dell Technology Camp 2013. Below you will find news from the event and other information of interest.

Cloud Expo Europe 2013

Cloud Expo Europe 2013 recently took place 29-30 January at the National Hall, Olympia, in London.

Along with thousands of other attendees Computer Weekly was present to talk to industry experts, see the dedicated technology theatres and hear the conference programme.

Read what happened at Cloud Expo Europe 2013 below.

IT priorities survey 2013

IT priorities change annually and a TechTarget/Computer Weekly study of nearly 400 UK IT professionals, on IT priorities for 2013, has revealed that technology requirements are still changing rapidly.

Below you will find our coverage of the IT Priorities survey 2013 and a global forecast of what’s to come.

VDI storage: Key steps in preparation and deployment

Virtualisation has swept through datacentres affecting all in its path, especially storage. That’s due to the random throughput and I/O needs of virtual machine storage, which are quite distinct from those of physical servers and desktops.

And virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) storage brings additional requirements: The need to service many simultaneous storage I/O requests as users login at the start of shifts and across a variety of network connections.

So, before embarking on a VDI storage deployment you’ll need to consider the IOPS performance requirements of VDI storage, what array and drive type to use, how to configure LUNS and RAID levels, how to maximise efficiency across the network and how to protect VDI storage.

This ComputerWeekly.com guide has articles that take you through all the key steps in implementing VDI storage, plus case studies from organisations that have been through the process already.

Mobile World Congress: Barcelona 2013

Mobile World Congress is taking place at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona, Spain.

Taking place 23-28 February, the event is expected to draw 70,000 attendees.

Computer Weekly is on the ground, at MWC 2013. Here you can find all the news from the show including updates on mobile technology, contactless payments and new applications.

CW500 Security Club:Building a robust architecture

Research suggests that many organisations think information security professionals are not fulfilling the needs of business. This should serve as a wake-up call for information security leaders to present IT security as a business issue and build a robust security architecture framework.

The CW500 Security Club examined the issues of linking IT security with business strategy, enterprise architecture and business processes.

Speakers:

• Mark Brown, director of risk & information security at Ernst & Young
• Alan Jenkins, chief security officer at T-Systems
• Gareth Lindahl-Wise, group information security manager at British American Tobacco

CW500: Building effective shared services

Employing shared services and using technology to improve collaboration can bring a host of benefits to organisations, from cutting costs and increasing efficiency through to driving business transformation.

But what should you keep in mind when applying such models to your organisation?

Speakers:

• David Wilde, CIO, Essex County Council
• Malcolm Lambell, interim IT director - shared services, Bupa
• Jonathan Cooper-Bagnall, Head of Shared Services & Outsourcing, PA Consulting

CW500: Key trends for IT leaders in 2013

In the first CW500 session of 2013, we took our annual start-of-the-year look forward to the 12 months ahead for IT leaders and the key trends of the coming year, to discuss how the challenges may impact your strategic planning process.

Speakers:

• The business and economic environment for 2013, by Mark White & Kevin Walsh, Deloitte Consulting
• The key technology trends, by Tim Jennings, chief IT analyst, Ovum
• The major recruitment, skills and career development issues, by Sam Gordon, director, Technology & Digital Search Practice, La Fosse Associates

A guide to Software as a Service integration

With Oracle’s recent acquisition of RightNow and SAP buying SuccessFactors, it looks 2013 will be the year that Saas finally becomes enterprise-class software.

Computer Weekly looks at how businesses and the public sector are taking advantage of this low-cost model for delivering enterprise software. We will cover aspects associated with growing maturity such as vendor-lock-in and issues relating to service levels and data sovereignty.

National Museum of Computing and Bletchley Park

The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park is an establishment close to the heart of Computer Weekly. The organisation's dedication to the history of computing has been covered many times by Computer Weekly. The relationship between TNMOC and the publication was solidified when Computer Weekly donated 44 years of archives to the museum in 2010.

Recently, TNMOC organised a lecture in which Professor Brian Randell told the story of how he uncovered the secret of Colossus – the first programmable computer which helped to break codes during World War II.

Inside the 2013 Budget: What does it mean for IT?

Find out what was in the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s red box this year, and what it means for the IT sector.

Keep up to date on the UK government’s plans for the economy and public finances, for the year ahead.

All the IT healthcare news from HC2013

The national health conference and exhibition HC2013 took place 16-17 April, in Birmingham.

Over 2,100 attendees were present for updates from organisations that provide care and business that provide systems to enable care.

Find the news from the show below.

Infosec Europe 2013 coverage

Infosec Europe 2013, now in its 18th year, is taking place at Earl Court London. Attracting 12,500 visitors and 350 exhibitors Computer Weekly is there to cover all the industry news.

In this guide you will find up to date news from the show, pre-show coverage and other security resources.

Big data storage: What it is and how to build it

Big Data has hit the headlines in a big way over the past couple of years. It has perhaps become the biggest buzzword in supplier marketing-speak during that period too.

How much of that is mere hype? Well, analysis of big data sets is not new. Oil and gas companies and financial houses have been interrogating their stores of data for years to gain value from them.

But, big data has come to particular prominence recently as a result of the activities of web big shots, like Facebook, Amazon and Apple.

And so, big data has come to mean deployment of near or real-time analytics on large volumes of data. All of which has implications for storage, which needs to be able to handle large capacities and provide rapid throughput.

But, not all big data environments need the kind of hyperscale compute and storage systems used by the Facebooks of this world. There are many options for big data storage.

This ComputerWeekly.com guide has articles that define big data, explain the key elements of big data storage environments, the storage implications of a shift to big data platforms such as Hadoop, the use of hyperscale compute and storage platforms for big data, and why big data isn’t just about storage.

BlackBerry Live 2013

BlackBerry Live 2013 is taking place May 14-16 in Orlando, Florida.

Computer Weekly’s Caroline Baldwin is on the ground to bring you all the latest news and Blackberry updates.

A Guide to Software Defined Networks

Software defined networking (SDN) allows network engineers to support a switching fabric across multi-vendor hardware and application-specific integrated circuits.

A network administrator can shape traffic from a centralised control console without having to touch individual switches.

SDN is also useful for maintaining service level in a cloud environment, by providing an API-enabled approach to manage the network and move workloads in a consistent way.

Sapphire Now 2013 coverage

SAP’s annual Sapphire Now 2013 show took place May 14-16.

Brian Mckenna, Computer Weekly’s business applications editor headed to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida to find out all the latest SAP news and updates.