In Depth

In Depth

IT hardware

• Stock exchange to move to new IP-based network

  
  
  Nick Huber

  The London Stock Exchange is to overhaul its network and introduce a new user group as an olive branch to disgruntled IT...

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• Comdex speakers see shift to wireless Internet in face of PC market slowdown

  The Comdex trade fair last week heralded a computing future splintered into a variety of mobile units communicating via the...  Continue Reading

• Do computers really boost productivity?

  Paul Mason offers a 10-point briefing on the issues confronting strategists and policy makers as they get to grips with the new...  Continue Reading

• Is Bluetooth still 'blue sky'?

  Bluetooth promised an end to cables, but, one year on, where is it? Marc Ambasna-Jones reports  Continue Reading

• Xmas booze fears over off-licence IT problems

  Off-licence group First Quench is suffering from network capacity problems when processing credit and debit card payments,...  Continue Reading

• An alphabetical slice of the telecoms pie

  To get real value for money from your communications infrastructure, you've got to understand exactly what the suppliers are...  Continue Reading

• Back to the floor: Bigwig survives helpdesk shift

  
  
  When Graham Salmons learned that he was to spend a morning on his company's helpdesk, he went into shock. "I was terrified beyond the capacity for rational...  Continue Reading

• Is there any bite in Bluetooth?

  Bluetooth is a new short-range radio technology on a chip that enables devices such as laptops, phones, printers, pagers and PDAs...  Continue Reading

• IBM-Compaq alliance: is it showing signs of strain?

  As the disk storage market continues its inexorable growth, the alliance between IBM and Compaq is 'not a side-show but two...  Continue Reading

• AS/400: the host with the most?

  Question: which IBM server range can run applications written for Windows NT and 2000, Novell NetWare, Aix and OS/2 as well as...  Continue Reading

• The road to convergence is paved with re-branding

  At first sight, IBM's new eServer branding looks like a marketing exercise pure and simple.  Continue Reading

• Can you beat the Internet traffic?

  Analysts and users agree that the biggest problem curtailing e-business is that the Internet is still slow and unreliable  Continue Reading

• Awards go to public and private research

  
  
  Eric Doyle

  Former president the Duke of Kent presented the British Computer Society's annual IT Awards last week.

  The awards,...

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• Intel backtracks over Rambus rumpus

  Chip maker Intel is backtracking over the comment made by its CEO Craig Barrett in a recent Financial Times interview, in which...  Continue Reading

• Net appliances yet to realise corporate potential

  Audrey, 3Com's Internet appliance aimed at consumers, is the latest in a series of similar launches from big IT brands in the US....  Continue Reading

• Why I go for 23x7

  
  
  Frank Puranik

  Soapbox

  It's all over the press now - 24x7. You can't turn a page, even in a top publication like Computer...

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• The threat of bust in the storage boom

  Vacated offices stand as tombstones to one-time industry giants that failed to anticipate CIOs' wants  Continue Reading

• The long arm of IT

  Software agents can act as good angels at the side of customers and staff, letting you manage and milk pervasive devices. Ian...  Continue Reading

• Big Blue unveils chip plans

  
  
  IBM has announced its forthcoming 64-bit microprocessor as well as details of a future chip architecture for its midrange servers, writes Antony...  Continue Reading

• Imagine there's no Bill Gates...

  Chaos theory tells us that the flutter of a butterfly wing in Brazil can alter the weather on the other side of the globe. So...  Continue Reading

• EasyJet says it can cope with 100% online sales

  
  
  Nick Huber

  EasyJet's Web site is robust and scalable enough to meet the ambitious target of selling nearly all its tickets online, the...

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• When mobile phones and PDAs collide

  The convergence of mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) looks as if it will finally happen in the next 18 months,...  Continue Reading

• Tories favour single comms watchdog

  A Conservative government is likely to create a single regulator for the digital, broadcasting and telecoms industry.  Continue Reading

• Taken for saps over 'multi-tier' architecture

  Professor Martin Healey sees through the 'multi-tier' architecture concept  Continue Reading

• Eight days a week

  Do you need an 'always-on infrastructure'? Do you yearn to 'scale up, not out'? Have you observed the benefits of 'net effect...  Continue Reading

• Intelligent radio tagging: Lock stock and stolen barrels

  
  
  Every year the UK's brewing industry manages to lose 300,000 empty beer kegs. Some are pilfered, others are illegally resold, and the rest are probably...  Continue Reading

• Mastering technical writing

  Technical writing requires a knack for separating the wheat from the chaff, writes Nick Langley  Continue Reading

• Lost stock and stolen barrels

  Intelligent radio tagging keeps track of assets and helps streamline business. Bill Goodwin reports  Continue Reading

• Dabs.com shows how the experts do it

  
  
  If any one should be able to put together a successful e-commerce business, it is a company whose business involves high-end technology. This makes a site such...  Continue Reading

• Entering the post-Y2K doldrums

  Our biannual survey of IT spend shows that it is firmly back in synch with the GDP index after the Y2K boom. John Riley reports  Continue Reading

• Fattening up the thin

  Provided you are certain that thin-client computing suits your organisation, it can lighten the helpdesk's load substantially  Continue Reading

• Small change doubles productivity at RSA

  Royal Sun Alliance streamlined its correspondence scanning process in customer services and doubled productivity. Julia Vowler...  Continue Reading

• Pizza adds heat to office productivity

  Have you ever stared down at your keyboard and wondered how many things were hidden in it as a result of countless snacks and...  Continue Reading

• Flexible IT aids hostile exchange takeover

  Flexible trading technology behind OM Group's hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange will minimise conversion costs for London...  Continue Reading

• Play hard, work hard? Life inside a dotcom

  Dotcom offices have a reputation for being more game zone than work zone, but staff claim to work long hours. Roisin Woolnough...  Continue Reading

• NAS has the edge as storage booms

  Demand for network-attached storage has boomed thanks to the dotcoms. Nicholas Enticknap reports  Continue Reading

• From here to Netfinity

  Of the four mainstream server markets, IBM owns two (System 390 and AS/400), and has a strong presence in the third (Unix - via...  Continue Reading

• Play away in the heart of the capital

  Roisin Woolnough visits one of London's brightest Internet gaming bars, The Playing Fields  Continue Reading

• Dr Midgley's Internet panacea

  Robert Dunt meets a GP working to unlock the Internet's potential as a knowledge source for doctors  Continue Reading

• When two become one

  
  
  IT recruitment group, Computer People, and its sister company, The Span Consultancy, have merged in a bid to become the UK's leading provider of IT and...  Continue Reading

• What's going to drive your e-business?

  An e-commerce software buyer's guide by Nick Booth  Continue Reading

• Triumph of the super nerds

  IT-phobic bosses are in danger of being superseded by their more computer-friendly staff, as technological advancements in the...  Continue Reading

• Bring your Web pages to life with Javascript

  Javascript transforms static HTML pages with animations, sounds and interactivity.  Continue Reading

• Why support staff matter

  Without desktop support the business would grind to a halt, but don't expect thanks, writes Nick Langley.  Continue Reading

• Into the mobile millennium

  The technology that will fuel a boom in mobile computing is now a reality. Murdoch MacTaggart reports  Continue Reading

• Dell gains on Compaq for PC sales top spot

  
  
  Sales of PCs to businesses appeared to remain sluggish last year, with spending stuck at 1997 levels of £4.3bn.

  However, the latest Kew...

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• Mobile Windows in 12 months

  Intelligent wireless connection from mobile devices to the Internet and corporate intranets based on Microsoft's server...  Continue Reading

• The good old days of early computing

  Bill Ayers recalls the heady days of early computing:  Continue Reading

• PC-to-phone service provides 'free' transatlantic phone calls

  US-based company Go2Call is using the Internet to offer "free" transatlantic calls from the UK, writes Caroline Davis  Continue Reading

• IT bosses back the over-50s

  
  
  Mike Simons

  IT analyst Richard Holway kicked up a storm when he said that you cannot turn 50-year-old Cobol programmers into Web...

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• CODE/400 offers many advantages

  What are the advantages of CODE/400 and why would RPG or Cobol developers want to use it?  Continue Reading

• Gimme shelter

  In 1979 - two years before William H. Gates III said '620K should be enough for anyone' - Messrs Egan, Marino, and Collins...  Continue Reading

• ISP you is, or ISP you ain't on Unix

  It's all happening. The race is on. Dominance is sought in the ISP (internet service provider) space.  Continue Reading

• MPs condemn justice agencies' IT efforts

  
  
  Parliamentary reporter

  The Government's attempts to computerise the criminal justice system have been condemned by MPs as inconsistent,...

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• Backwards step to develop Linux standard

  The Free Standards Group is developing a specification designed to ensure that applications written for Linux run on all the...  Continue Reading

• Like father, like son: the tale of two techies

  It's not often that you come across a father and son who are both out-and-out techies. We searched high and low and found Ian and...  Continue Reading

• Internet traffic management – building a better Web

  When considering implementing Internet traffic management, traffic needs to be analysed in a more advanced way than merely pushing packets from switch to server. Depending on whom you talk to, the best solution for streamlining your data traffic is ...  Continue Reading

• IT conversion costs hit exchange merger plans

  
  
  Nick Huber

  Multi-million-pound IT conversion costs are threatening to derail the planned merger of the London and Frankfurt stock...

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• A Model T for the IT generation

  Ford believes a new generation of drivers will value their computer more than their car, and has used IT as the starting point...  Continue Reading

• C# falls flat with IT managers

  Most IT managers think there is no need for Micro-soft to develop the C# language as an alternative to Java.  Continue Reading

• Mainframes to work with NTin IBM/Compaq storage deal

  Last week's link-up between IBM and Compaq promises to increase interoperability between high-end and NT storage systems, writes...  Continue Reading

• Storage Area Networks for Internet ventures

  While the costs to set up a Storage Area Network (SAN) may seem daunting to many Internet ventures, the potential benefits it can...  Continue Reading

• Claws out for copycat

  Electronic plagiarism by university students is spreading through academic institutions around the country and threatening to...  Continue Reading

• The Data General One

  Bob Parsonage, intranet technology leader at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group writes fondly about his old computer.  Continue Reading

• Scalability boosted for Exchange 2000

  Microsoft has promised to make e-mail servers more scalable and easier to manage with the launch of Exchange 2000  Continue Reading

• Future mobile

  Antony Savvas explores the future mobile network  Continue Reading

• WAP will be superceded by GPRS

  The significance of Wap lies not so much in the technology, but the acronym's pronouncability. Everyone seems to have heard of...  Continue Reading

• How do SANs work

  Are the claims that have been made for storage area networks true. We provide some analysis of how SANs work  Continue Reading

• IBM targets Unix dominance

  Having made the boast in September 1999 that it wanted to be Unix business market leader in a couple of years, IBM claims to be...  Continue Reading

• Child Support Agency to benefit from DSS testing

  
  
  Bill Jacobs

  The Department of Social Security has promised a major user testing procedure for the new computer system for the Child...

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• Next move: getting a job in VB programming

  Our team of experts offer advice on how to further your career in IT  Continue Reading

• Microsoft C# promises 'elegance on the Net'

  Microsoft's new programming language C# is not designed to be a Java clone. It will be a more user-friendly version of C...  Continue Reading

• Harking back to the Epson HX-20

  Remember the Epson HX-20? Reader Peter Lancashire does.  Continue Reading

• Socialising is key to information flow in companies

  
  
  While IT departments attempt to persuade IT directors to invest in vast and expensive computer systems to improve the flow of knowledge through their...  Continue Reading

• The early days of Cad remembered

  Paul Bold reminisces over the early days of Cad  Continue Reading

• Case ‘corrodes’ Palm organiser

  by Paul Kunert Palm’s handhelds may have caused a stir in the market but the vendor has lost a friend in customer John Murdoch.  Continue Reading

• Complaints continue to dog BT's Internet service

  
  
  Antony Savvas

  Despite high-profile advertising campaigns promoting its e-business solutions, BT has been hit by a volley of complaints from...

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• The final frontier

  Will the next generation of mobile phones enable businesses to explore strange new worlds? Philip Hunter boldly goes into the...  Continue Reading

• NAS and SANS: which best suits your needs?

  Is the network attached storage approach a mirror-image of storage area networks or are there distinct advantages to implementing...  Continue Reading

• Cold determination

  Martin Couzins reports on the action at the second Computastars heat in York  Continue Reading

• Distributed computing: a question of balance

  By solving the age-old dilemma of harnessing the potential power of distributed computing, a new software system could help you...  Continue Reading

• Mobile video promised on 3G networks

  The promise of two-way live video using mobile phones may be a pipe dream for some, but an Israeli developer is trying to make it...  Continue Reading

• Power struggle in the processors market

  Intel has a raft of new processors on the way, but there are serious challenges to the company’s market share on all fronts  Continue Reading

• Is Big Blue Linux the future of e-business?

  William Zeitler, head of IBM's server division, speaks to Cliff Saran about the future of the mainframe and its leading role in...  Continue Reading

• AMD hopes Athlon will perform

  AMD must prove itself worthy of Intel's crown. Caroline Davis reports  Continue Reading

• IT: is it good for your health?

  For IT guys, it's work hard, play hard and to hell with the consequences. But if you worry that your debauched lifestyle is...  Continue Reading

• I want to get into Windows 2000

  I currently work in datacentre operations and have two-and-a-half years' experience with Vax VMS/Sun Solaris/NT/Lan and Novell. I...  Continue Reading

• Difficult Web sites fail to entice customers

  
  
  Bill Goodwin

  Some of the biggest names in online retailing are failing to attract paying customers because their Web sites are poorly...

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• Servers developments under the spotlight

  
  
  IBM claims a 20%-30% efficiency improvement with its latest processor technology compared with existing chips. The silicon-on-insulator technology uses a glass...  Continue Reading

• The Net's not just the Web

  Interactive TV, Wap and PDAs are some of the devices set to unlock the real value of the Net  Continue Reading

• Unisys/Microsoft collaboration challenges Unix platforms

  The ES7000 offers high-end Risc server performance and is being heralded as the first Intel mainframe. Who will win the battle of...  Continue Reading

• Volunteers work to preserve Britain's computer heritage

  John Kavanagh looks at the work of the BCS Computer Conservation Society  Continue Reading

• Servers developments under the spotlight

  
  
  IBM claims a 20%-30% efficiency improvement with its latest processor technology compared with existing chips. The silicon-on-insulator technology uses a glass...  Continue Reading

• Ethernet tie boosts SAN market

  Another industry alliance – the Open Storage Networking Initiative – has been formed to promote storage area networks, with the backing of several companies, including Network Appliance and Cisco  Continue Reading

• Council and its partners gang up to plot crime

  The best IT projects involve doing something new with your existing infrastructure. And that is just what Havant Borough Council...  Continue Reading

• IStar triples the speed of AS/400 server

  
  
  Cliff Saran

  Pioneering chip technology is being used in the newest member of the AS/400 family due out in August to more than triple...

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• Suppliers in dock after collapse of Boo dotcom

  
  
  Cliff Saran & David Bicknell

  As news broke last week of the failure of sports fashion retailer Boo, the biggest European Internet...

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• What does the future hold for WAP?

  By adding basic web surfing capabilities to an otherwise conventional cellular phone, the Wireless Application Protocol brings...  Continue Reading

• Waiting for the bus to deliver datacentre-class PC servers

  Users will be able to migrate to 64-bit Intel server technology delivering the potential for data centre-class PC servers by the...  Continue Reading

• StorageTek unveils San strategy

  
  
  Troubled storage giant StorageTek announced a big push into the storage area networks (San) market at its EuroStorage Users' Conference in Barcelona,...  Continue Reading