In Depth

In Depth

Enterprise software

• Squeezing it all in

  Are your servers bursting with months-old data that you dare not delete? Is your basement bulging with old tapes? Karl Cushing...  Continue Reading

• Call the IT doctor before you declare the patient dead

  IT directors facing calls from users to replace software or equipment should first check that they know how to use existing kit....  Continue Reading

• C++: a modern classic

  Despite having roots in the 1970s, C++ is as modern as Java or C#, writes Nick Langley  Continue Reading

• Industry warned it faces a "dire shortage of IT testers"

  The IT industry is facing a "dire shortage" of experienced testing professionals, according to testing specialist ImagoQA, which...  Continue Reading

• Getting the best deal out of Oracle

  With the current furore over Oracle's licensing practices, what should Oracle users be doing to get their house in order and put...  Continue Reading

• Is voice-activated IT worth its Salt?

  Microsoft is set to adopt a system that will enable pervasive voice-activated computing, says Jack Schofield.  Continue Reading

• The original open software

  Long before Linux, Unix showed that operating systems could break free of suppliers, writes Nick Langley  Continue Reading

• Automating payments

  The invoice is in the post, but for how much longer will the postal service be used? Philip Hunter takes stock of mobile payments...  Continue Reading

• How to keep Web customers coming back

  Computer Weekly asked 10 suppliers to provide their top tip to improve your online business. Here are their responses.  Continue Reading

• Web3D: still only virtual?

  User apathy and industry greed may doom three-dimensional Web navigation to failure. By Glynn Moody.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise multicast networks - time to switch on?

  Emily Giddings, research analyst at Ovum, examines the reasons why multicast Internet technology is not being used and whether it...  Continue Reading

• Looking after the simpletons

  IT support staff are constantly rescuing dim-witted users, but don't expect any thanks, writes Nick Langley  Continue Reading

• Cisco beats universities to lift the BCS coding trophy

  Cisco Systems has become the first industry team in three years to win the BCS Programming Competition, writes John Kavanagh.  Continue Reading

• Is Linux the right choice for SMEs?

  Cheap software is a top priority for SMEs so software which is effectively free, like open source, would seem an obvious choice....  Continue Reading

• Defend your systems

  The threat to corporate IT systems from viruses, crackers and dim-witted users continues to grow. The trouble is, there is no...  Continue Reading

• Take a top-down approach to SLAs

  Armed with a wad of service level agreements (SLAs) from his suppliers, an IT manager may feel that every ingredient in the...  Continue Reading

• Browsing by design

  We've all seen Web pages that look like they've been thrown together in someone's bedroom. Danny Bradbury explains how to build a...  Continue Reading

• It's time to get your entries in for the BCS IT Awards

  The BCS IT Awards, which celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, are now open for entries, writes John Kavanagh.  Continue Reading

• Strategy: Handle with care

  Customers are not always content to send a help request or a complaint into the ether. Andy Favell explains how you can build an...  Continue Reading

• Harnessing the Web

  Sue Norris explains why your knowledge management system is only as good as the data it contains.  Continue Reading

• E-Business Excellence Awards

  Forget all the flak it's taken: knowledge management is a valuable business tool. If you don't believe us, take a look at the KM...  Continue Reading

• Strategy: Shopping around

  What's on your security shopping list? Karl Cushing suggests a few choice items.  Continue Reading

• The data layer

  The Semantic Web could revolutionise the way we use the Web. But in the short term, it could boost your knowledge management...  Continue Reading

• New JD Edwards chief focuses on customer base

  Bob Dutkowsky, new chief executive of enterprise software maker JD Edwards, speaks to CW360.com about his company's future focus...  Continue Reading

• One small step

  With the government encouraging SMEs to get on-line, enterprises are ready to cross into e-commerce. By aligning their services...  Continue Reading

• Oracle accused of fudging licence policy

  Chairman of the UK Oracle User Group, Ronan Miles, is seeking a clarification of Oracle's licensing policy after leading US...  Continue Reading

• A layman's guide to Web services

  Ever thought your applications team could become a revenue stream? That is effectively what Web services is about, as long as you...  Continue Reading

• The people's operating system

  Linux is an attractive proposition for a quarter of the world's population. Venetia Thompson finds out why  Continue Reading

• Novell's Stone promises to stop whiningand beat Microsoft at its own game

  Chris Stone returned to Novell this month as vice chairman after having left the company in 1999. After opening the company's...  Continue Reading

• Sun shines legal spotlight on its nemesis

  It is fairly standard for an IT company to have a news section on its Web site. For larger operations, it might also be common to...  Continue Reading

• David Anderson, UK managing director, InStranet

  
  
  What have you got in your pockets?
  Coins, mobile phone and some business cards.
  Who would you most like to have a date with?
  It would...  Continue Reading

• Has Unix joined the dinosaurs?

  Next to Linux and Win2000, the original open alternative to proprietary operating systems is starting to look like legacy, writes...  Continue Reading

• Which way for Windows?

  What chance have users got when even the industry analysts cannot agree on which version of Windows to adopt? Nick Langley looks...  Continue Reading

• Unlimited memory

  Although it will undoubtedly bring huge performance benefits, there is a a lot of hype surrounding 64-bit Unix. Frank Booty finds...  Continue Reading

• Rejuvenating the mainframe

  With z/OS, IBM aims to bridge the gap between the mainframe and e-business, but is it just a 13% more expensive name for OS/390?...  Continue Reading

• The problem with customer relationships

  A CRM system can boost sales and profits, but many CRM initiatives are doomed to fail. Cath Everett finds out why a major...  Continue Reading

• February round up

  Businesses warned over Wireless Lan weaknessTens of thousands of UK businesses need to reconsider their use of wireless...  Continue Reading

• Citrix to provide portal access to networks from anywhere

  Citrix aims to give users access to corporate systems from anywhere in the world with a new family of portals and alliances that...  Continue Reading

• Keep track of software licences

  Beware, your unpaid licence fees will find you out - and when they do you will have to pay dearly for them  Continue Reading

• Industry makes a strong challenge for coding cup

  Industry teams have won three of the five heats in the 18th annual BCS Programming Competition - putting IT companies well in the...  Continue Reading

• End of software, end of handouts

  Eighteen months ago the term dotcom was a byword for massive business potential, whereas today it implies "approach at your own...  Continue Reading

• Town hall Web sites: not bad but could do better

  E-government: A comprehensive survey by the local authority IT managers' body Socitm has found that town hall Web sites are...  Continue Reading

• Abbey keeps Web page-count lean to keep customers keen

  Daniel Thomas reports on how a wide-ranging review of e-commerce sites found that users were suffering from "Net-blur" because of...  Continue Reading

• SAP Portals Enterprise Unification Portal

  Butler group analyst Darren Lightfoot looks into the effectiveness of SAP Portals within large businesses  Continue Reading

• Access is power

  Organisations are increasingly attaching importance to giving their staff access to office-based systems while they work away...  Continue Reading

• Don't bet the business on technology

  There are only three major database suppliers these days, with two relatively minor ones standing out from the generic "other"...  Continue Reading

• Too often IT carries the can

  Many CRM failures have little to do with flawed technology and more to do with decisions made outside IT  Continue Reading

• On the campaign with Big Bill

  Bill Gates flew to San Francisco to launch the latest component of his Web services initiative earlier this month. Danny Bradbury...  Continue Reading

• Memories of an e-mail inventor

  Certain pivotal moments have been immortalised in communications history, such as Alexander Graham Bell's rather perfunctory...  Continue Reading

• Users weigh options with new MS environment

  Migration tools are available to help developers port their existing applications to Microsoft's new Visual Studio .net...  Continue Reading

• Got .net yet?

  The Visual Studio.net development tool offers value-added resellers, bespoke software developers and system integrators a way to...  Continue Reading

• Internet security: don't panic yet says new ICANN security chief

  The software that runs the Internet's addressing system is among the world's most vulnerable systems to hacker attack.  Continue Reading

• We've got to rebuild trust, says Microsoft security chief

  Microsoft UK's new chief security officer discusses how he will tackle polices, openness and feature creep.  Continue Reading

• Easy guide to purchasing PCs

  Desktop procurement has traditionally been a headache for IT managers - but a few simple tricks will save you trouble in the long...  Continue Reading

• Speak up for services on the Web

  Speech recognition technology is getting cleverer by the day and could prove ideal for tomorrow's interface with the Web. Already...  Continue Reading

• The revolution is still some way off

  Web services have won plenty of attention as the major IT suppliers declare strategies to enable the interoperability of...  Continue Reading

• Council uses Bacs to take control

  Castle Morpeth Council benefits from implementing its own Bacs payment system.  Continue Reading

• Writing is on the wall for library's shelves

  As a digital version of the oldest known English language Valentine's Day message goes up on its Web site, James Rogers looks at...  Continue Reading

• Make sure you know what you're worth

  If the prospect of conducting a software audit doesn't fill you with glee maybe knowing that it could slash your IT costs will...  Continue Reading

• The search for a software super model

  The problem for users is that there are as many models for software licensing as there are products. And it's going to get worse.  Continue Reading

• Next generation Internet lands

  After years in development, the next version of Internet Protocol (IP) is finally seeing its first live implementations.  Continue Reading

• Winter Olympics IT chief wants a perfect 10

  The Winter Olympics opens today, Friday (8 February), and will put to the test an IT system that has taken a consortium of 16...  Continue Reading

• An ABC guide to data migration

  To achieve an effective migration to a new system, first invest some time and effort in cleaning your data  Continue Reading

• Monkey impressionist is IT's strongest link

  Twelve years of IT knowledge was unlikely to help Ben Baskaran when he faced the formidable Anne Robinson on TV gameshow The...  Continue Reading

• Working towards the paperless office

  Cambridgeshire Council uses CRM to ease the burden of keeping paper files on 12,000 new students a year  Continue Reading

• Microsoft on the spot

  Lindsay Clark talks to Microsoft's UK managing director Neil Holloway about the impact of the company's licensing changes  Continue Reading

• Linux still missing enterprise components

  While suppliers are saying Linux is ready for big business, the reactions from potential customers are mixed.  Continue Reading

• Can Red Hat win the Web for AOL?

  Web services are the future. Talk to Gartner and its analysts will tell you that next year profits from Web services will race...  Continue Reading

• Police dangle a smartcard

  Met scheme rewards kids in Southwark with smartcard points for good behaviour.  Continue Reading

• Shall we Gopher it again?

  The alternative to the Web has been reborn as an open source project  Continue Reading

• A one-stop shop for e-business?

  Oracle claims its E-Business Suite provides 75% of the functionality to run e-business.  Continue Reading

• Wireless companies seek corporate killer app

  Three wireless infrastructure companies have announced different approaches to finding the killer applications that will drive...  Continue Reading

• SOAP

  It's nice to know those higher up the channel have such a positive opinion of their reseller partners. One distributor Soap was...  Continue Reading

• Spaced out storage

  Storage virtualisation promises to be the next IT boom, liberating users from complex data management and taking storage into a...  Continue Reading

• Keeping an open mind

  What are the benefits of using Linux - Karl Cushing unwraps a company that is reaping the rewards of an open source...  Continue Reading

• Using the Web to change attitudes

  The Scottish Executive is using a new Web site to raise awareness of domestic abuse.  Continue Reading

• Think of XML as a four-in-one tool

  Imam Hoque, head of technology, Rubus  Continue Reading

• Linux shows off super powers

  Last year open source operating system Linux rocketed in popularity. This year it has its sights set on conquering the...  Continue Reading

• Ford puts XML in the driving seat

  Analysts from Forrester Research recently spoke with John Stenlake, director of advanced IT at Ford Motor Company, about Ford's...  Continue Reading

• Making XML a shared experience

  Extensible mark-up language (XML) promised to be the universal language that would make interoperability across companies...  Continue Reading

• Enterprise content management - is it anything new?

  The phrase "enterprise content management" (ECM) has been appearing with increasing regularity this year. But is this a real...  Continue Reading

• What's in the fortune cookie for 2002?

  Forget the pundits' predictions. Emma Nash and Bruce Ackland ask IT industry leaders what their hopes are for the next 12 months  Continue Reading

• Three peaks challenge

  If you are looking for a reason to get fit in the wake of the excesses of the festive season, then how about climbing the three...  Continue Reading

• Borland rises to .net challenge with new development suite

  Borland is rising to Microsoft's Visual Studio .net challenge with a new software development suite based on Delphi, writes Eric...  Continue Reading

• Microsoft pushes Office XP into Web services world

  Microsoft is attempting to harness the desktop as a strategic element of its Web services platform with the delivery of its...  Continue Reading

• IBM to re-enter the applications market?

  IBM's e-Business on Demand strategy has encountered a big problem - the business applications are not yet there to support...  Continue Reading

• Next move: Business analysis to Web design

  I have a BSc in computer science and 13 years experience in IT, and have gained hands-on experience of the whole software...  Continue Reading

• 5 minute interview: Tony Anscombe, Northern European director, Stonesoft

  Tony Anscombe, Northern European director, Stonesoft  Continue Reading

• Tried and tested

  Traditional data resellers need to dispel their irrational fears of being left behind as the voice application wave swells. The...  Continue Reading

• Will the penguin take flight?

  Linux on the S/390 mainframe is fluttering from theory to implementation, yet the take-up is still relatively low.  Continue Reading

• Data networking: Off the straight and narrow

  Modern business places heavy demands on data, and requires networks that have the width and capacity to cope. What are the latest...  Continue Reading

• Keeping it up all hours

  Times were when keeping the system up from nine till five was an achievement. Now it's expected 24 hours a day. Adding just one...  Continue Reading

• Dropping a load off the Lan

  The huge growth in online data storage that has come with the Internet age is changing the nature of backup operations.  Continue Reading

• Databases: Tools of the trade

  For years database tools have been provided by third-party vendors. Now, the likes of IBM and Oracle have started undercutting...  Continue Reading

• The mythical man month

  It is more than 20 years since Frederick Brooks first published The Mythical Man Month, his classic work on how software projects...  Continue Reading

• The future role of the CIO

  Ross Bentley talks to Metagroup boss Dale Kutnick about new challenges for IT chiefs  Continue Reading

• Don't delay the move to fibre

  As the cost of running increasing quantities of data along ageing copper networks spirals, migrating to optical technology may be...  Continue Reading

• More power for mySAP Financials

  SAP has added new functionality to its mySAP Financials software designed to enhance strategic enterprise and supply chain...  Continue Reading

• What topped the news in 2001?

  To say that 2001 was a turbulent year for the IT industry would be an understatement. IT managers battled incoming viruses on one...  Continue Reading

• That was the year that was

  People will always remember what they were doing when news broke of the September terrorist attacks in the US, but 2001 is...  Continue Reading