In Depth

In Depth

IT for government and public sector

• CEA-Leti and the Silicon Valleys of Grenoble, France

  At the intersection of three valleys in the French Alps lies the city of Grenoble, a hotbed of microelectronics, where much of the innovation is fuelled by CEA-Leti  Continue Reading

• The cyber security impact of Operation Russia by Anonymous

  The campaign against the Russian government by Anonymous surprised many with the depth and scale of the cyber attacks. What can we learn from this online war?  Continue Reading

• Tech companies join UK four-day work week trial

  Computer Weekly speaks with tech companies taking part in the UK’s upcoming four-day work week trial, which will measure the impact of shorter working weeks on productivity, wellbeing and the environment  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery is an essential service for EDF with Phenix-IT

  EDF has built disaster recovery tracking, planning and testing software on a six-month upgrade cycle based on governance, risk and compliance functionality in Mega’s Hopex platform  Continue Reading

• Electric vehicle transition comes with uneven costs

  Governments, car makers and tech companies are promoting electric vehicles, but are they considering the uneven social and environmental costs from extracting the critical minerals needed to make batteries?  Continue Reading

• Recruitment risks: Avoiding the dangers of fraudulent candidates

  Tech companies are seeing an increase in fraudulent job applications, with associated impacts on risk and cyber security. So how can organisations protect themselves from fraudulent applicants while ensuring they recruit the best talent?  Continue Reading

• How can I avoid an exodus of cyber talent linked to stress and burnout?

  Cyber security professionals have played a crucial role during the pandemic, yet many feel like their employers aren’t providing adequate mental health support and have considered quitting their jobs as a result. What can employers do to help them?  Continue Reading

• English Channel surveillance used ‘to deter and punish migrants’

  Instead of opening safe and legal routes to the UK, the country’s border control ecosystem is deploying surveillance technologies in the English Channel to deter migrant crossings, it is claimed  Continue Reading

• Storage and 5G: Big impacts likely as wide-area topologies evolve

  Enterprise 5G will boost the need for storage generally. It will also push capacity needs closer to the edge and create new locations for processing and storage  Continue Reading

• What neurodivergent people really think of working in cyber security

  Many firms are filling cyber security skills gaps by hiring neurodivergent talent – but more support is needed for neurodivergent cyber security professionals, writes autistic tech journalist Nicholas Fearn  Continue Reading

• Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust advances digital-first strategy

  Trust is making progress with its 10-year plan, centred around an electronic patient records system  Continue Reading

• Object storage: How research institute got 850TB for €150,000

  French scientific research institute had its budgets cut and to meet the new cost constraints, it settled on Swarm software-defined object storage from DataCore  Continue Reading

• New supercomputer opens doors for researchers in Sweden

  More than twice as powerful as its predecessor, a new supercomputer ushers in new opportunities for researchers who rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning  Continue Reading

• Is the IT sector beset by fear-mongering?

  The arms race between hackers and security teams has led to a plethora of new technologies, but it can be hard to differentiate between sensible cyber purchases and those that are promoted by exaggerating risk  Continue Reading

• Edge storage: Four key points

  Edge storage is driven by rapidly emerging edge computing and data gathering use cases. We look at why it makes sense to store data at the edge and the key challenges involved  Continue Reading

• Swedish researchers are patiently developing a useful quantum computer

  By 2028, the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology in Sweden expects to have a useful quantum computer  Continue Reading

• Social value not yet fully embedded in procurement practices

  Social value procurement rules are designed to diversify the public sector’s supplier base while providing society with wider collective benefits, but are yet to be fully introduced  Continue Reading

• Digital surveillance of remote workers may increase enterprise risk

  From productivity tools to security threats, we explore how digital surveillance is forcing remote workers towards shadow IT  Continue Reading

• How to manage endpoint security in a hybrid work environment

  The future of the workplace is clearly hybrid, but this has untold implications around endpoint security. How can businesses overcome these?  Continue Reading

• How software can help clean up emission-intensive industries

  The potential to reduce emissions by making heavy industries and commercial buildings more efficient using software is immense. We explore the field  Continue Reading

• French Caisse uses NetApp to move backups to object storage

  State financial arm wanted to move backups held on NAS file-based storage to object storage, so stuck with NetApp StorageGRID and achieved near-seamless migration  Continue Reading

• How Estonia’s country-as-a-service scheme has attracted tens of thousands of foreign entrepreneurs

  Estonia has created a country-as-a-service offering which is attracting entrepreneurs and businesses from across the world  Continue Reading

• Europe’s proposed AI regulation falls short on protecting rights

  The European Commission’s proposal for artificial intelligence regulation focuses on creating a risk-based, market-led approach replete with self-assessments, transparency procedures and technical standards, but critics warn it falls short of being ...  Continue Reading

• What the Telecommunications (Security) Bill means for UK industry

  The Telecommunications (Security) Bill is intended to reinforce the security of the UK telecommunications infrastructure, but what are the implications for industry?  Continue Reading

• Backup appliances the hot topic for Pas-de-Calais fire brigade

  With requirements for strict, long-duration backup and archiving, French fire brigade set out to replace optical media with a StorageCraft appliance and disaster-proof storage  Continue Reading

• Anti-money laundering technology must operate in a collaborative ecosystem

  With new technologies making it easier for banks to spot money laundering activity, we look at why the problem persists at scale, finding that ecosystems and collaborative processes need to be built  Continue Reading

• Interview: Uber driver Yaseen Aslam on his Supreme Court battle and what’s next for gig workers

  Private hire driver and union organiser Yaseen Aslam speaks to Computer Weekly about his legal battle with Uber and what the UK Supreme Court ruling means to workers in the gig economy  Continue Reading

• How can healthcare organisations fight increased cyber crime in 2021?

  As the Covid-19 pandemic enters what may be its most dangerous phase, we explore how healthcare organisations can ward off cyber threats while preserving their ability to deliver critical care  Continue Reading

• Interview: AWS’s Teresa Carlson talks about new role and cloud adoption during Covid-19

  AWS executive talks about her expanded remit beyond public sector to include other industries, and driving a unified agenda to push cloud and data adoption worldwide  Continue Reading

• Interview: Chris Hayman, AWS UK public sector director, on cloud evolution during Covid-19

  AWS executive discusses the evolution of cloud technology in government, the need for dynamic procurement, skills, and joining the oligarchy of government tech suppliers  Continue Reading

• Brain researchers get NVMe-over-RoCE for super-fast HPC storage

  French neurological researchers deploy Western Digital OpenFlex NVMe array for super-fast HPC storage with Ethernet-based NVMe-over-Fabrics connectivity across several floors  Continue Reading

• Auditing for algorithmic discrimination

  Despite the abundance of decision-making algorithms with social impacts, many companies are not conducting specific audits for bias and discrimination that can help mitigate their potentially negative consequences  Continue Reading

• Surveillance capitalism in the age of Covid-19

  Could the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic further consolidate surveillance capitalist practices and enterprises? Author Shoshana Zuboff warns Computer Weekly it is possible  Continue Reading

• Five pillars of public sector IT

  Finding better ways for people to collaborate and share information digitally is the challenge government needs to embrace. We look at ways in which this can be achieved  Continue Reading

• How Blackwell's is responding to the coronavirus pandemic

  Traditional bookshop chain Blackwell’s talked about adaptations to its business model, trends and IT operation during the coronavirus crisis  Continue Reading

• Changing realities of digital transformation in the public sector

  Digitisation of citizen service delivery and government operations has accelerated during the coronavirus outbreak, despite legacy constraints  Continue Reading

• Public sector IT: The road to digital

  Progress to digital transformation is patchy in the public sector, but some CIOs are embracing the strategy  Continue Reading

• Governing by data: Limits and opportunities

  Governing by the use of data analytics may be fashionable, but what are its limits as well as its opportunities? Lessons from Estonia, Essex, and healthcare  Continue Reading

• From Pixar to GovTech: The inside story of Singapore’s AI whizz

  After nearly a decade at Pixar, GovTech’s Chong Jiayi is leading a team of experts to solve hard problems in robotics and artificial intelligence  Continue Reading

• Alan Bates: The ‘details man’ the Post Office paid the price for ignoring

  In 2003, subpostmaster Alan Bates had his contract terminated when he refused to comply with Post Office policy. A decade and a half later, against the odds, he took the Post Office to the High Court and won a multimillion-pound legal case  Continue Reading

• Virtuous circles: Skilling up for an ethical web

  Tim Berners Lee’s Contract for the Web aims to drive the internet in a more ethical, open and human-centred direction. What does this mean for the future of IT skills and governance?  Continue Reading

• Top 10 storage deployment stories of 2019

  Here are ComputerWeekly’s top 10 storage deployment stories for 2019, which see quite a move away from traditional SAN and NAS to hyper-converged, software-defined storage and object storage  Continue Reading

• How software can support public involvement with democracy

  Iceland, Scotland and Sweden have experimented with using online software to involve citizens more deeply in democratic processes. The key seems to be encouraging enlightened debate  Continue Reading

• Building a 5G city: Bristol’s valuable lessons for the UK’s digital future

  West of England Combined Authority is taking part in DCMS’s 5G Testbeds and Trials programme, exploring applications for tourism and entertainment. We find out how it is applying its learnings to life in Bristol and Bath  Continue Reading

• French national research centre insources with Rubrik backup

  France’s national research organisation wanted to insource IT back from Atos and built its private cloud on VMware across two locations with Rubrik appliances for backup  Continue Reading

• What 5G applications will transform your business?

  The UK’s mobile network operators have started work on their 5G roll-outs, but what applications are most likely to gain enterprise traction for the new standard?  Continue Reading

• How UK councils are using technology to support adult social care

  As budgets dwindle and central government delays the creation of an overarching strategy around the future of care, local authorities are looking into innovations such as robotics and voice assistant technologies to ease the pressure on resources  Continue Reading

• CW500: How AI will transform technology leadership

  Addressing issues around data and defining strategies that will attract top talent are among the key challenges discussed at the Computer Weekly CW500 Club  Continue Reading

• How tech leads local government innovation in Vienna, Helsinki and Belfast

  Digital leaders in the cities of Vienna, Helsinki and Belfast are innovating new services to help citizens and local economies  Continue Reading

• How to get the basics of mobile device management right the first time

  When adopting mobile device management, there are often fears around implementation and whether or not the strategy is even required  Continue Reading

• Exploring UCaaS: The main benefits for enterprises

  Getting unified communications-as-a-service right can mean more agility, higher productivity, and cost control  Continue Reading

• How facial recognition technology threatens basic privacy rights

  As adoption of facial recognition systems continues to grow worldwide, there is increasing concern that this technology could undermine fundamental privacy rights and how it can be kept in check  Continue Reading

• Interview: How Hackney Council will help accelerate innovation across London boroughs

  Hackney Council’s director of ICT, Rob Miller, talks to Computer Weekly about how one of the most digitally advanced local authorities plans to collaborate with counterparts across the capital to revamp public services delivery  Continue Reading

• Rise in business-led IT spend increases risks and opportunities

  Digitally leading businesses benefit from faster time to market, better employee experience and improved finances, but lack of partnership between CIOs and business units can jeopardise progress, says Harvey Nash / KPMG survey  Continue Reading

• CW500 Club: Rising to the IT ethics and sustainability challenge

  As technologists are asked to take a position of continuing leadership in the digital revolution brought about by tools such as artificial intelligence, the Computer Weekly CW500 Club looked at how to innovate in an ethical and sustainable way  Continue Reading

• Regional differences in the UK’s computing curriculum

  Teaching young people about the importance of digital skills is a focus of the education system across the UK, but the delivery of these skills is different across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – who has it right?  Continue Reading

• Interview: Data takes centre stage at Lloyd’s of London

  The 330-year-old insurance market is evolving its data efforts as part of a far-reaching modernisation strategy, focusing on artificial intelligence and driving employee data literacy  Continue Reading

• Mobile phones and health: is 5G being rolled out too fast?

  European countries are rolling out 5G mobile communications at breakneck speed as they seek to gain a competitive edge over the US and Asia. But some scientists have raised questions about the effects of 5G mobile phone radiation on public health ...  Continue Reading

• Politics, privacy and porn: the challenges of age-verification technology

  The age-verification requirements of the Digital Economy Act are to come into force in July this year, but registering people’s personal details for accessing age-restricted content carries significant risks and challenges  Continue Reading

• Competitive threats: What the growth in new public sector cloud frameworks means for G-Cloud

  Public sector IT buyers may soon find themselves spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding where to procure their cloud services, thanks to the emergence of several new frameworks, but where does that leave G-Cloud?  Continue Reading

• Is it too soon for AI in the education landscape?

  This year saw education secretary Damian Hinds call for more tech in schools to help reduce teacher workload, but are schools ready, and how do we fix the pressing issues faced by UK education?  Continue Reading

• What are the CDN options for enterprises?

  We look at how content delivery networks can give your organisation’s web presence a literal edge  Continue Reading

• The rise of DevSecOps

  The increasing complexity of security threats facing enterprises is leading to DevSecOps approaches, which combine operations and development with security, so that all business units are involved in security operations  Continue Reading

• Brexit implications for data protection

  Leaving the European Union will have serious implications for data protection in the UK unless adequate steps are taken, so businesses are advised to have contingency plans in place  Continue Reading

• Securing the SD-WAN: The next network challenge

  Every time an enterprise weighs up whether or not to try SD-WAN, security is an essential part of the picture  Continue Reading

• Trusted nodes: The next generation in quantum key distribution

  QKD is a form of protection against interception by quantum computers, but cost and technical limitations have made the technology impractical. Could trusted nodes make all the difference?  Continue Reading

• Prepare now for quantum computers, QKD and post-quantum encryption

  The predicted processing power of quantum computers is likely to make existing encryption algorithms obsolete. Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a possible solution - we investigate whether QKD is viable  Continue Reading

• What are the current SD-WAN options for enterprises?

  Software-defined wide area networking is well on its way to being a multi-billion dollar market. We assess the current state of the market and look at some of the options for enterprise CIOs and network managers  Continue Reading

• Employers turn to wearable technology to help staff manage work-life balance

  Companies are realising that there are sound business reasons for ensuring their employees get enough sleep and exercise, so they are turning to wearable technology to help their staff stay healthy, despite the pressures of work  Continue Reading

• National Archives races to create electronic archive of EU law before Brexit

  The National Archives faces challenges converting the EU's enormous library of laws into a publicly accessible UK archive ahead of Brexit. The Archives’ digital director, John Sheridan, explains how  Continue Reading

• An exciting time to be in cyber security innovation

  Cyber security innovation has received a £1.35m shot in the arm from the UK government with the opening of a new innovation centre in London. Computer Weekly looks at why now is a good time to be working and innovating in this industry  Continue Reading

• Assessing the hyperscale squeeze on G-Cloud's SMEs

  The latest government spend data suggests public sector IT buyers are increasingly using G-Cloud to procure services from the hyperscale cloud community, prompting concerns about the impact this might have on the SME-friendly framework  Continue Reading

• Need for speed: designing a modern campus LAN

  Just like datacentres before them, campus LANs are increasingly being defined by virtualisation and software-based controls. Next to this shift, the hardware also continues to improve as network owners look to keep pace with user demand  Continue Reading

• IPsoft’s digital worker is part of a shift in human productivity

  IPsoft used its annual user summit to allow customers to update themselves on the career of its cognitive digital agent Amelia  Continue Reading

• Digital identity: Is the puzzle about to be solved?

  Solving the digital identity problem is key to the future of the digital economy as a whole – but how close are we? Computer Weekly looks at what is happening with Gov.uk Verify, private sector involvement, and lessons the UK could learn from other ...  Continue Reading

• Brexit is coming, but is the government technologically ready?

  Brexit requires huge IT and technology changes across government, but as departments seem to be struggling to get to grips with the workload, Computer Weekly looks at how preparations are going  Continue Reading

• What is digital transformation?

  A guide for executives in the public and private sectors on the myths, realities and best practice of digital transformation, by digital leaders who have been there and done it  Continue Reading

• GDPR: An overview of the latest data protection legislation

  The forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have wide-ranging implications for every organisation that processes personal data. This comprehensive overview tells you what you need to know  Continue Reading

• Software-defined networking: gathering momentum in the enterprise?

  Suppliers are pushing the benefits of software-defined networking harder than ever, and enterprises are starting to take the plunge rather than remaining on the sidelines  Continue Reading

• Network security in the age of the internet of things

  Wireless devices and smart technologies are increasingly being brought into the workplace, and pose a growing risk to company data  Continue Reading

• Assessing the disparate initiatives tackling the UK’s technology skills gap

  As the UK’s skills gap widens, initiatives aim to ensure the population has the skills needed for roles now and in the future, but are these disparate efforts helping or hindering the cause?  Continue Reading

• Businesses need to take cryptojacking seriously

  Organisations must pay attention to cyber criminals hijacking computing resources to mine cryptocurrencies, because nearly half are affected and the impact is greater than many realise  Continue Reading

• Universal Credit: How did it go so wrong?

  The DWP’s flagship welfare reform was meant to change the lives of benefits claimants through one simple IT system, but was beset by IT problems, low staff morale and delays. Newly released documents help explain what went wrong  Continue Reading

• The EURECA moment: Counting the cost of running the UK’s public sector datacentres

  The EU-backed EURECA project has spent the past 36 months assessing the state of public sector datacentres across Europe, and is revealing what it found  Continue Reading

• How secure are smart energy grids?

  The improved efficiency of smart grids need to be weighed against the cost of security - presenting a unique opportunity for the tech sector and a new market for security companies  Continue Reading

• DevOps in the public sector: Assessing the challenges and the benefits

  Public sector IT leaders trying to transform the way their organisation works using DevOps talk about the challenges they face  Continue Reading

• Government IT contracts: Are the new kids taking over the block?

  A new breed of SME supplier is challenging the reported status quo on government contracts and replacing the usual suspects. However, with distractions such as Brexit and GDPR, can David really take on Goliath?  Continue Reading

• Staffordshire University goes all-in on Microsoft Azure for digital transformation

  Andrew Proctor, director of digital services at Staffordshire University, describes how ditching its datacentres and moving to the Microsoft Azure public cloud has set the organisation on the path to digital transformation  Continue Reading

• Content filtering a potential challenge in digital single market

  The proposed digital single market directive is intended to harmonise e-commerce and copyright throughout the European Union, but concerns have been raised over the technological impact this would have on UK industry  Continue Reading

• UK sale of surveillance equipment to Macedonia raises questions over export licence policy

  The UK approved an export licence for the sale of surveillance equipment to Macedonia – while the country was engaged in an illegal surveillance programme against its citizens. A senior minister was consulted on the decision  Continue Reading

• Is the Budget enough to drive post-Brexit success for UK?

  The chancellor has delivered an innovation and technology-laden Budget, but has it eased the tech industry’s fears about Brexit?  Continue Reading

• Hard work, big prize: Bristol is shaping what it means to be a smart city

  Two-and-a-half years after the ambitious Bristol is Open smart city project launched, we return to the West Country to explore how things are progressing, and find out what has been learned  Continue Reading

• Brexit uncertainty dominates UK’s digital conversation

  Uncertainty over the impact of Brexit dominated conversations at TechUK’s second annual Supercharging the Digital Economy event. Can technology really lessen the impact?  Continue Reading

• UK Data Protection Bill vs EU General Data Protection Regulation

  The UK Data Protection Bill is due to come into force this year, ahead of the EU General Data Protection Regulation in May 2018 - we look at the differences between the two  Continue Reading

• London councils tackle housing fraud with data science

  London's local authorities have a fraud problem with Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and are using data science to combat it, with help from Nesta, The Greater London Authority and ASI Data Science  Continue Reading

• Gitex 2017: How can blockchain make you a happier person?

  An initiative underway at Avaya hopes to use blockchain networks to help make the citizens of Dubai happy  Continue Reading

• Where the device hits the network – a mobile device management update

  As business becomes increasingly mobile, we look at the latest trends in mobile device management to give businesses the edge  Continue Reading

• Can fixed wireless access fix business connectivity problems?

  Fixed wireless access is being touted as a panacea for poor network connectivity, but is it a viable solution, and what are the benefits for businesses?  Continue Reading

• How Wales has evolved into a hotspot for cyber security

  Wales may be a small country but, in just a few years, it has become a global hotspot for cyber security innovation  Continue Reading

• The Macedonian surveillance scandal that brought down a government

  Macedonia has been accused of using surveillance technology for covert spying - the subsequent political protests were instrumental in the ruling party losing power after 10 years  Continue Reading