In Depth

In Depth

• Post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know

  Computer Weekly has investigated the Post Office Horizon scandal since 2008 and is, in fact, part of the story. This guide contains essential information about the scandal  Continue Reading

• Why run AI on-premise?

  Much of artificial intelligence’s rapid growth has come from cloud-based tools. But there are very good reasons to host AI workloads on-premise  Continue Reading

• Clubcard at 30 – the evolution of retail loyalty

  When Tesco Clubcard was developed 30 years ago, using the technology of the time to analyse data was a long shot, but it grew into a scheme that birthed retail loyalty as we know it today  Continue Reading

• EdgeNebula: The UK startup turning disused office spaces into micro-datacentres

  With the government committed to growing the number of UK datacentres, despite long-standing concerns about suitable sites and power availability, EdgeNebula thinks it might have the answer  Continue Reading

• A guide to DORA compliance

  We look at the new EU regulation for cyber resiliency, the role of IT asset management in auditing and third-party risks  Continue Reading

• Backup technology explained: The fundamentals of enterprise backup

  We look at backup and its role in enterprise data protection, including what to backup and how often, RPO and RTO, full and incremental, and if backups can be replaced by snapshots  Continue Reading

• Third-party storage: Key storage supplier offers in big three clouds

  We look at storage supplier offerings available in the big three public clouds, their pros and cons, and key use cases  Continue Reading

• Preparing for AI regulation: The EU AI Act

  The EU AI Act builds on existing cyber security, privacy and data governance regulations such as GDPR  Continue Reading

• Will Europe be the first region to enact regulation for green software?

  There is currently no regulation in the world specific to the environmental impact of software  Continue Reading

• Nordic innovators drive the evolution of engagement

  Nothing is off limits for digitisation in the Nordic region, with startups applying their skills to even the most unexpected lifestyle and business challenges  Continue Reading

• Digital twins drive efficiency across machines and infrastructure

  Digital twins of machines, facilities and infrastructures will create a portfolio of virtual representations that, in time, will connect to allow city planners and engineers to plan and monitor urban environments from the smallest features to its ...  Continue Reading

• Digital twins map the world and guide strategic decisions

  Digital twins are seeing use in an increasing number of potential applications such as decision-making purposes with a focus on scenarios and potential dynamics to capture uncertainties and make them manageable  Continue Reading

• Collaborative transport optimisation helps towards decarbonisation goals

  Real-life pilot projects show the potential, but industry mindset change is required to help retail and wholesale fleets drive major decarbonisation gains in the year ahead  Continue Reading

• What is Dunelm doing for women in tech?

  A dedicated Women in Tech Week event, coffee roulette, and boosting knowledge, confidence and connections – the women in tech work at Dunelm is building momentum  Continue Reading

• Navigating the practicalities of AI regulation and legislation

  What CIOs need to know about the global patchwork of existing and upcoming laws governing AI – and what CIOs need to be doing about them  Continue Reading

• Zoom pursues the path to happiness through AI

  Pandemic-era breakout video comms and collaboration company makes pivot towards being an AI-first work platform  Continue Reading

• Citius, altius, fortius, wireless: How Orange claimed Olympic gold

  How Olympic-sized networking nightmares were avoided in Paris despite unprecedented traffic peaks and usage patterns  Continue Reading

• Big data and Google BigQuery improve cancer drug development by detecting bacteria

  Biotech firm BioCorteX uses what may be the world’s largest biological knowledge graph to understand how bacteria impact the effectiveness of cancer drugs  Continue Reading

• Top 10 AI and storage stories of 2024

  In this 2024 review, we look at the impact of AI on data storage, what’s needed to support AI during training and inference, and storage suppliers’ responses to the rise of AI  Continue Reading

• Google Cloud Platform: Key storage options in the Google Cloud

  We survey the key cloud storage offers available from GCP, which include Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk and Filestore, with a range of service levels and app-specific options  Continue Reading

• Is diversity suffering because of budget management?

  Many are considering quitting their jobs over the next year because of rising workloads and falling team sizes. Are firms misallocating budgets and causing retention issues?  Continue Reading

• From front to back: tech vice-president Dan Lake on Notonthehighstreet.com’s tech strategy

  Notonthehighstreet.com vice-president of technology, Dan Lake, says that the online marketplace has underinvested in back-end systems – but it’s time for change  Continue Reading

• Oracle Java licensing explained: Addressing complexity, cost and audits

  Now that Oracle Java SE is sold as a subscription, organisations using the Oracle JDK have a minefield of licences to navigate  Continue Reading

• AIOps and storage management: What it is and who provides it

  We look at AI-powered tools to manage storage and data protection that can help to detect infrastructure issues and help to optimise performance and even cloud costs  Continue Reading

• Computer Weekly Buyer's Guide features list 2025

  Here is our 2025 schedule of up-and-coming in-depth articles that will cover carefully selected topics to help IT leaders select the right technology for their organisation  Continue Reading

• Automated patch management: A proactive way to stay ahead of threats

  Timely patch management should be crucial in any organisation, but too often it goes by the wayside. Automating the process may offer a path forward for hard-pressed cyber defenders  Continue Reading

• Cloud data lakes: Where do they fit and what are their benefits?

  We look at cloud data lakes, what they are, where they fit in the data management lifecycle, their benefits and the key providers in the hyperscaler clouds  Continue Reading

• Could generative AI help to fill the skills gap in engineering?

  The role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in society continue to be hotly debated as the tools promise to revolutionise our lives, but how will they affect the engineering sector?  Continue Reading

• Case study: Manchester Airports Group using AWS to revamp its data strategy

  Manchester Airports Group is using AWS technology to improve passenger experience through a revamp of its data strategy, as set out by the organisation's chief digital officer, Ryan Cant  Continue Reading

• LGE looks to mean business with tech pivot

  Refusing to rest on its laurels as a giant in consumer electronics, LGE unveils plan to take accumulated wealth of knowledge to the business sector. We look at how and why this pivot is taking place and where it will drive the company  Continue Reading

• IAM within the framework of defence in depth

  If it is deployed correctly, identity and access management is among the plethora of techniques that can help to secure enterprise IT  Continue Reading

• Post Office Horizon IT scandal inquiry: Three years of shocking revelations

  Nearly three years of shocking revelations from the Post Office Horizon scandal inquiry  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Ransomware and storage and backup

  We look at ransomware attacks, and the importance of good backup practice as well as immutable snapshots, air-gapping, network segmentation, AI anomaly detection and supplier warranties  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Flash vs HDD

  In this guide, we examine the differences between flash storage and HDD, the rise of NVMe and much denser formats such as QLC, and whether or not flash will vanquish HDD in the all-flash datacentre  Continue Reading

• The Loan Charge scandal explained: Everything you need to know

  Tens of thousands of IT contractors have been saddled with life-changing tax bills as a result of a controversial, retroactive government policy – and the fall-out from its introduction has been likened to the Post Office IT scandal  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: What is S3 and what is it good for?

  We look at S3, AWS’s object storage protocol that originated in its cloud services and has now spread as near enough a standard and to third-party on-premise deployments  Continue Reading

• Schools go smartphone-free to address online harms

  Schools are implementing smartphone-free policies in an attempt to curb students’ exposure to online harms, but teachers and parents are worried the Online Safety Act will only partially address concerns  Continue Reading

• AWS storage: Key storage options in the Amazon cloud

  We survey the key cloud storage options available from AWS, which include S3 object storage and its options, block storage in EBS and a range of file storage choices  Continue Reading

• IAM: Enterprises face a long, hard road to improve

  Poor identity and access management puts enterprise data at risk, but the path to stronger IAM remains complex  Continue Reading

• Beyond VPNs: The future of secure remote connectivity

  As more companies adopt cloud services and remote work, the limitations of VPNs are becoming obvious. We explore what’s next for secure remote connectivity  Continue Reading

• What are the security risks of bring your own AI?

  The rise of generative AI has led to a plethora of publicly accessible artificial intelligence tools, but what are the risks when external AI tools are used with corporate data?  Continue Reading

• Storage explained: Consumption models of storage procurement

  We look at consumption models of storage purchasing and how cloud operating models have made them mainstream and supplanted the traditional three-year lift-and-shift datacentre refresh  Continue Reading

• Virtual collaboration within and across industries – promises and challenges

  New technologies enable intuitive and realistic visual and auditory landscapes that put users within applications. We look at which industries will likely illustrate the impact of virtual collaboration in commercial environments  Continue Reading

• Data classification: What, why and who provides it

  You need to know where your data is, what it is, its governance requirements and relationship to the rest of your data. We look at data classification and how AI can help  Continue Reading

• Rewiring Whitehall: The next steps in digital government

  There’s a new government in place with fresh impetus to accelerate the digital transformation of public services – but what’s going to be different, better and more successful this time around?  Continue Reading

• Kenyan workers win High Court appeal to take Meta to trial

  Despite the company arguing that Kenyan courts have no jurisdiction over an American company, the Nairobi High Court has ruled that Meta must face more than 180 content moderators and data labellers in court over allegedly poor working conditions, ...  Continue Reading

• Detect ransomware in storage to act before it spreads

  Anomaly detection and immutable copies can be frontline tools against ransomware – we look at the role storage can play against the latest techniques employed by ransomware gangs  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Tips for choosing a UCaaS provider

  Forrester analysts assess the various options and licensing arrangements available for unified comms-as-a-service offerings  Continue Reading

• What are tensor processing units and what is their role in AI?

  We look at Google’s TPUs – tensor processing units – and ask what makes them different to CPUs, GPUs and DPUs, as well as how you can take advantage of them in AI processing  Continue Reading

• Reinventing security operations for the modern threat landscape

  The growing pace of digital transformation has opened new avenues for attackers, making traditional security measures obsolete. Organisations must modernise their security operations to fortify their defences and navigate the evolving threat ...  Continue Reading

• The future of collaboration in virtuality

  The internet has introduced a host of applications to enable increasingly sophisticated collaboration across distances. Email catapulted economies into near real-time cooperation of teams, but new technologies promise to unleash immersive ...  Continue Reading

• Global file systems: A single view of on-premise and cloud data

  Global file systems aggregate data into a single hybrid cloud from multiple locations using object storage with access that satisfies traditional application needs, like file locking  Continue Reading

• Azure storage: Key options in Microsoft cloud storage

  We survey the key cloud storage options available from Microsoft Azure, which include Files, Blob, Elastic SAN, Managed Disk and NetApp files, for a range of use cases  Continue Reading

• What the datacentre industry would like to see from the government's planning reforms

  How can datacentre policy and planning reform better reflect the criticality of both energy and data?  Continue Reading

• Datacentre power purchase agreements: Are they the right way to lower emissions?

  Could datacentre energy procurement do even more to green the grid, accelerating the rise in renewables?  Continue Reading

• How datacentres can turn the tide on carbon emissions

  Operators have revealed troubling increases in their carbon emissions of late, but could these have been prevented?  Continue Reading

• Why responsible AI is a business imperative

  Tools are emerging for real-world AI systems that focus more on responsible adoption, deployment and governance, rather than academic and philosophical questions about speculative risks  Continue Reading

• Shrinking the carbon footprint of datacentres

  The digital economy is increasing demand for datacentres, and in turn pushing up the use of power and cooling. Granular metrics are key to achieving digitisation with a low environmental impact  Continue Reading

• How to keep datacentres cool

  We look at how datacentre cooling is developing, and how the right choice can increase capacity and cut costs  Continue Reading

• Driving IT sustainability in datacentres

  Europe’s datacentre operators need to get their power report cards to comply with the European Commission’s drive to greener EU datacentres  Continue Reading

• The CMA anti-trust investigation into AWS and Microsoft explained: Everything you need to know

  After regulator Ofcom raised red flags about the anti-competitive behaviour of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, the UK cloud market was referred to the Competition and Markets Authority – here’s why  Continue Reading

• DC01UK: Everything you need to know about the UK government-backed Hertfordshire mega-datacentre

  A proposal to build one of the biggest datacentres in Europe has been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council, and already has the support of the technology secretary and local councillors  Continue Reading

• AI: From exploration to production – five case studies on GenAI in action

  Many organisations are testing out uses for generative AI, but how are they getting on? We speak to five early adopters to find out the lessons learned so far  Continue Reading

• The flex to frontline hybrid working

  Hybrid working is a reality for businesses everywhere. Research shows that just under two-thirds of employers offer frontline workers some form of time-based flexibility, yet many workers in this category feel less valued than desk-based colleagues  Continue Reading

• Misinformation runs deeper than social media

  While social media may contribute to the increasing rapid spread and reach of misinformation, the root causes of the problem go much deeper than the role of a particular company or way of using technology to communicate  Continue Reading

• Will autonomous weapons make humans passive participants in war?

  Experts warn the emergence and adoption of AI-powered military systems may eventually push battlefield decision-making beyond the limits of human cognition  Continue Reading

• Automation driving SD-WAN optimisation

  AIOps is being deployed to help manage highly distributed enterprise networking configurations  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes disaster recovery: Five key questions

  We look at disaster recovery for Kubernetes environments, the key challenges to deployment of K8s DR, the risks we aim to mitigate, how to build a plan and the key infrastructure requirements  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Vector databases at the core of AI

  We look at the use of vector data in AI and how vector databases work, plus vector embedding, the challenges for storage of vector data and the key suppliers of vector database products  Continue Reading

• CTO interview: Budgeting in nanoseconds

  At high-performance financial exchange LMAX Group, applications are allowed just eight nanoseconds of latency – but how does it achieve this?  Continue Reading

• AI in the enterprise: How to build an AI dataset

  The successful execution of an enterprise's AI strategy lives or dies on the quality of the data underpinning it, so how can companies ensure they are on the right path when it comes to cracking on with the early stages of this process?  Continue Reading

• SD-WANs in a cloud-native world

  We look at where software-defined wide area networks fit in a modern, cloud-native IT architecture  Continue Reading

• Cloud repatriation: How to do it successfully

  The keys to reverse migration success include workload selection, how to prepare your on-premise infrastructure and future-proofing the decision to come back in-house  Continue Reading

• ERP firms target carbon reporting role

  As their customers face regulatory challenges ahead, ERP providers have been busy adding functionality to support reporting their green initiatives  Continue Reading

• Asia raises the 5G bar in the next digital revolution

  Half a decade since their introduction, 5G networks are being deployed across the world. Yet Asia is already raising the bar, with 5G now flying – literally in some places – and 5G-Advanced coming into play  Continue Reading

• The 5G-Advanced era is now as Asia raises the 5G bar

  Continuing our look at 5G-Advanced, we find out what products and services the new network will support and which operators are already planning for a new era in communications  Continue Reading

• Key-value flash targets more efficient data storage

  We look at key-value storage, which promises much greater I/O efficiency and longer flash drive lifespans, but may be constrained by limited use cases and lukewarm productisation efforts  Continue Reading

• Police Digital Service staff arrests: Everything you need to know

  In July 2024, details emerged that two employees working for the Police Digital Service had been arrested on suspicion of bribery, fraud and misconduct in public office. Here’s everything we know about the story so far  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Kubernetes, containers and persistent storage

  In this guide, we look at the market-leading container platform Kubernetes, how it works, the challenges with persistent storage and backup, and how they have been overcome  Continue Reading

• SD-WAN: The evolution continues

  We go through the alphabet soup of secure networks, propelled by artificial intelligence and 5G, which have rejuvenated software-defined wide area network technology  Continue Reading

• Updating taxation: Can AI and data analysis help with HMRC’s human resources problem?

  HMRC resources are currently thinly spread in the aftermath of Covid and Brexit. Could automating systems using generative AI help HMRC’s digital transformation?  Continue Reading

• Computer simulations show Swedish fusion initiative could have global impact

  The only nuclear fusion initiative in the Nordics, Novatron, believes it has a lot to offer on the global scale  Continue Reading

• Keeping control of SaaS costs

  The ease with which someone with a corporate credit card can buy a SaaS product can lead to runaway costs and data leakage risks  Continue Reading

• AI interview: Thomas Dekeyser, researcher and film director

  On the politics of ‘techno-refusal’, and the lessons that can be learned from a clandestine group of French IT workers who spent the early 1980s sabotaging technological infrastructure  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Rethink your software asset management practices

  Software as a service needs to be managed as part of software asset management. Forrester analysts offer some practical advice on how to succeed  Continue Reading

• Deep dive into quantum-resistant cryptography for email security

  Quantum computers have the potential to crack many of the encryption methods we currently rely on to keep our digital communications safe. Quantum-resistant cryptography may be the answer  Continue Reading

• How UK firms can get ready for the implementation of NIS2

  Many British companies will need to adhere to NIS2’s cyber security risk management and reporting requirements if they want to continue operating in the EU market and avoid huge fines  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes and storage in the enterprise: What the analysts say

  We talk to analysts about Kubernetes adoption in the enterprise, how mature it is, deployment challenges and key obstacles to enterprises that want to go cloud-native with containers  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: CRDs at core of extensible, modular storage in K8s

  We talk to VMware engineer Xing Yang, who saw Kubernetes storage evolve from the early days where its modular, extensible origins translated to Operators for storage and backup  Continue Reading

• The shifting landscape of DEI in the tech industry

  Diversity, equity and inclusion was once a regularly discussed part of the tech industry, but as attitudes shift, what does this look like for the DEI landscape of tech in the near future?  Continue Reading

• CX+EX=BG, with added AI: A winning formula for customer experience

  Guaranteeing customer experiences of the highest level possible is one of the cornerstones of the modern business. Is there a magic formula? It could well be a combination of artificial intelligence and pixie dust  Continue Reading

• AI disempowers logistics workers while intensifying their work

  Conversations on the algorithmic management of work largely revolve around unproven claims about productivity gains or job losses - less attention is paid to how AI and automation negatively affect low-paid workers  Continue Reading

• How to optimise SAM budget in today’s heterogeneous environments

  Hidden software costs and ecosystem complexity make managing a mixed software estate harder than ever. Here’s how to optimise your spending  Continue Reading

• CISO mentoring – who to turn to when the worst happens

  Those who get the role of a CISO may have overcome some professional hurdles, but are they ready to face what comes as part of the job? And who do they ask for advice? We look at the mentoring dilemma  Continue Reading

• CrowdStrike update chaos explained: What you need to know

  A botched software update at cyber security firm CrowdStrike has caused IT chaos around the world. Learn more about the global CrowdStrike update outage as it develops  Continue Reading

• Cloud databases: Base jumping for the bigger picture

  In the era of cloud-native computing, graph and NoSQL have emerged as two alternatives to the relational database model  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: The long road to mastery of persistent storage

  Jan Safranek of Red Hat saw containers emerge as an exciting new way of deploying applications, but it took several additions to make it the mature enterprise platform it is today  Continue Reading

• Enhancing mobile app security with behaviour-based biometrics

  Behavioural-based biometrics offer tantalising advantages over more traditional biometric solutions. Learn about some of the benefits and potential challenges for safe and secure implementation  Continue Reading

• Hybrid multicloud storage: Pros, cons and key workloads

  We look at hybrid multicloud storage, making the best of on-premise and multiple cloud application locations, its key benefits, some pitfalls and the technologies to build it with  Continue Reading

• IT sustainability: Why we’re still waiting for quantified emissions reductions

  It is not all down to greenwashing. Genuine challenges stand in the way of many organisations implementing IT in support of their environmental, social and governance goals  Continue Reading