In Depth

In Depth

IT hardware

• Buyer's Guide: What next for virtualisation?

  You’d be forgiven for thinking that virtualisation is a done deal, but research shows its uptake is still not moving at the speed many would like.  Continue Reading

• Balance security and productivity in consumerisation policy

  The consumerisation of IT and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programmes have become headline-grabbing issues, but in the rush to be seen to be doing something about it, organisations risk compromising security, warns Rob Bamforth.  Continue Reading

• Buyer's guide to IT consumerisation: Rewriting the rulebook

  Desktop computing is no longer about IT providing a set of tools for employees. Consumer technology has advanced, and staff are more tech-savvy.  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: What is the most important nut for infosec to crack in 2012?

  What is the most important nut for infosec to crack in 2012?  Continue Reading

• Flatter, faster, more manageable networks

  As companies rely ever more on IT for enabling their business operations, networks have become the vital plumbing  Continue Reading

• Interview: Mike Lynch on Autonomy at HP

  Mike Lynch co-founded Autonomy and sold it to HP for £7bn. Now he is HP's executive vice-president, information management.  Continue Reading

• CIOs will be fired if they get the cloud wrong, warns HP

  HP cloud guru Pete Karolczak welcomes the end of traditional outsourcing and embraces the disruption of cloud computing.  Continue Reading

• Gartner: 5 trends that will transform the data centre

  The demand for IT as a service, combined with the need to reduce costs, has pushed data centres to the brink of a major transformation.  Continue Reading

• The consumerisation of IT: it’s a trickle, not a tide, but you still need to be ready

  If media headlines and supplier claims are to be believed, organisations today are faced with an unstoppable tide of many different types of personal device connected to the corporate network  Continue Reading

• CW500: How CIOs are exploiting the cloud

  CIOs from the Guardian, Mitchells & Butlers and Oxfam reveal how they are exploiting cloud computing  Continue Reading

• The advantages of integrating technology across the school curriculum with Wi-Fi

  What does ubiquitous broadband coverage mean for the education environment and what challenges and opportunities do schools face in adapting to this?  Continue Reading

• Oracle Openworld 2011: Conference coverage

  Read TechTarget’s news coverage, blogs and tips from Oracle OpenWorld 2011. Everything you need to know about the 2011 San Francisco show.  Continue Reading

• Back-up datacentre challenge - to build or to host?

  The Royal College of General Practitioners has built its own back-up datacentre using a private cloud architecture, rather than use an external provider.  Continue Reading

• Best practice in datacentre transformation

  At a recent Computer Weekly roundtable, in association with Oracle, IT directors discussed best practices for transforming the datacentre and the challenges of such a project. Lisa Kelly reports  Continue Reading

• Self-encrypting drives: What's holding back SED hard drive encryption security?

  The self-encrypting drive (SED) provides a high level of data security, is invisible to the user, does not affect workflow or performance and cannot be turned off, yet SED technology has been adopted by relatively few organisations – so what's ...  Continue Reading

• Self-encrypting drives: SED the best-kept secret in hard drive encryption security

  The SED solves many common data loss problems and is easy to use and manage with minimal impact on system performance – yet relatively few businesses and governments use SEDs.  Continue Reading

• Telemedicine in the NHS: The benefits and costs of implementing telecare services

  Health professionals agree patients will have to do more home monitoring in the future if the NHS is to cope with an expanding population. But how advanced is the telemedicine market in the UK, and how well is the NHS positioned to implement ...  Continue Reading

• Datacentre services supplier Equinix gives its top three tips for apprenticeship selection

  Equinix, provides datacentre services, operating 90 datacentres worldwide, and is taking on two apprentices on 5 September in a four-year "Electrotechnical" programme to grow the team.  Continue Reading

• What is big data and how can it be used to gain competitive advantage?

  Cliff Saran discovers how big data can deliver big business benefits without excessive IT investment  Continue Reading

• CW500: The future of retail IT

  Bricks and mortar retailers may be struggling in the downturn, but online retailing is booming.  Continue Reading

• Special report: VMware vSphere 5.0

  With the latest version of its server virtualisation platform, vSphere 5, VMware is focusing on scalability to support huge virtual machines...  Continue Reading

• Review: VMware PXE Manager

  Learn how to set up VMware PXE Manager and its additional features. Our VMware expert discuses his favourite ‘Fling’: Massimiliano Daneri’s PXE Manager.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Dealing with virtual desktop I/O bottlenecks

  Networking and storage are two areas often overlooked in a virtual desktop infrastructure project. Cliff Saran looks at what can go wrong.  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation's role in datacentre cloud economics and employee consumerisation

  The role of virtualisation in achieving cloud economics in the datacentre and mediating the teeming array of digital platforms with which employees handle organisations' data.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Stroud College Secures Campus Network and Saves Time with CounterACT

  Stroud College’s IT team evaluated several diff erent vendors’ NAC products - including Cisco and Bradford Networks – as well as an open-source NAC solution. None of these solutions met all of the campus’s needs.  Continue Reading

• Buyer's Guide: HP's Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) put to the test

  In the world of datacentres and large-scale enterprise networks there has always been some form of perceived trade-off between performance and resilience. Building in resilience is absolutely essential of course, but it has historically affected ...  Continue Reading

• Upgrade Ethernet to fabric for cloud computing

  The latest thinking on datacentre design recommends that businesses deploy virtualisation, where virtual machines can be started (or spawned) and stopped dynamically. As Cliff Saran discovers, this can have a huge impact on the network.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Oracle turns to BDNA Technopedia and BDNA Discover

  As the world’s leading provider of integrated business software and hardware solutions, Oracle provides IT leaders around the world the tools they need to solve business problems. Oracle itself has more than 110,000 employees and an IT ...  Continue Reading

• Inventing the future of IT

  We take a tour of the school of electronics and computer science at Southampton University.  Continue Reading

• Can data security be pinned down?

  Every organisation knows that information is one of its most valuable assets; increasingly so does anyone looking to exploit that information for their own ends, be they criminals, ex-employees with a grudge or Wikileaks-style whistleblowers - not ...  Continue Reading

• Quocirca: Where to buy good IT security

  When should buyers rely on what is provided by infrastructure suppliers and when should they turn to IT specialists?  Continue Reading

• Google adds real-time traffic data to Android map app

  Google has updated its algorithms to support real-time data for its map application for smartphones running on the Android operating system (OS).  Continue Reading

• Video: Highlights from Mobile World Congress 2011

  Windsor Holden, principal analyst at Juniper Research reports on the highlights from Mobile World Congress 2011.  Continue Reading

• Accenture: Smartphone apps provide ideal model for deterministic software

  Chief information officers should consider the smartphone as their number one target for deploying applications.  Continue Reading

• RIM demo Blackberry Playbook secure pairing with its smartphones

  RIM demo Blackberry Playbook secure pairing with its smartphones The latest video from Research in Motion (RIM) shows off Blackberry Playbook features...  Continue Reading

• Forrester Research: Mobile applications will empower enterprise business processes

  Despite the boom in consumer use of mobile technology and the increased availability of mobile sites and tools for customer engagement, internal business use remains limited beyond e-mail and calendars. E-mail has seen virtually ubiquitous ...  Continue Reading

• What is Near Field Communication (NFC)?

  Near-field communication (NFC) allows data to be exchanged between devices via short-range, high frequency wireless communication technology by combining the interface of a smartcard and reader into a single device.  Continue Reading

• CES 2011: Consumer Electronics Show - 6th – 9th January 2011, Las Vegas

  The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 is back taking place from 6-9 January 2011 in Las Vegas.  Continue Reading

• What is the future for traditional loyalty card schemes?

  Consumers are now better informed than ever, thanks to the richness of information available on the internet. People can find out all sorts of information on products from social media sites, news groups, blogs and the like, along with online ...  Continue Reading

• Meeting the technology and business challenges of managing mobile workers

  Mobile devices have become a standard part of today's multinational organisations - most companies would struggle to operate without them. According to researcher IDC, 35% of the workforce will be mobile by 2013.  Continue Reading

• Managing datacentres in a 'more for less' world

  Computer Weekly recently hosted a CIO roundtable debate, in association with Oracle, to discuss the challenges of building and managing datacentres in an economic environment where CEOs are demanding more services for less money.  Continue Reading

• Plotting a route to the datacentre of the future

  Just as there are many ways to get around London, whether it is by tube, bus, bicycle or walking - all of which fall under the responsibility of Transport...  Continue Reading

• Buyer’s guide to smartphone management

  Today's IT managers support an increasingly decentralised and mobile workforce - one with multiple segments of workers, each with their own unique set of needs.  Continue Reading

• Yahoo preassembles New York data centre

  Scott Noteboom compares the developments in the discipline of datacentre design in recent years to the manufacturing revolution that Henry Ford sparked in...  Continue Reading

• How to measure the value of a green IT infrastructure

  Although 'green' slid down the list of priorities during the recession, it has not disappeared completely thanks to the advent of government-driven green initiatives  Continue Reading

• Stereoscopic 3D animation: Shrek and How to train your dragon

  Already cutting a fiery swath through the box office, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon provides an object lesson in just how far stereoscopic 3D animated films have progressed.  Continue Reading

• Buyers guide to IT infrastructure

  Best practice in datacentre design dictates that as much IT infrastructure as possible should be virtualised. Doing so improves agility, allowing the IT department to flex resources up and down to meet the demands of the business.  Continue Reading

• Scotmid readies for expansion by consolidating with an IBM solution

  As one of Scotland’s leading retailers,the Scottish Midland Co-operativeSociety, or Scotmid, has roots that go back almost a century and a half.  Continue Reading

• Murray Goulburn solves growth and flexibility challenges with IBM

  Farmers’ co-operative Murray Goulburn wanted to introduce faster and more reliable business reporting across its nine manufacturing sites in Australia.  Continue Reading

• Baylor College of Medicine finds an IBM Power Systems solution

  By consolidating their legacy servers onto three Power servers and successfully virtualizing a range of critical applications, Baylor was able to reduce their data center footprint from eight racks to three.  Continue Reading

• Fujitsu: Innovation is a constant for 75 years

  Very few computer companies can trace their history back 75 years, as Fujitsu can. And few indeed can show off a legacy that includes the development of some of the key technologies on which computing depends.  Continue Reading

• Sneaking a smart phone into the enterprise

  Are smart phones connected to the corporate network a good idea?  Continue Reading

• SSD breathes new life into old PCs

  Solid state discs (SSDs) are set to become the preferred way to achieve high performance and high availability storage in the datacentre and, increasingly, on the desktop.  Continue Reading

• Buyers guide to the connected enterprise: the next decade

  The past decade began with the steady adoption for IP telephony and voice and data convergence. Unified communications appeared a few years later and delivered a framework that supports integrated communications and collaboration applications. This ...  Continue Reading

• CIO Interview: Paul Coby, British Airways, on IT with tight budgets and mergers

  The airline has reinvented its approach to IT investment and is looking at innovative technology to support its future plans, which include the imminent technology merger with Spanish carrier Iberia.  Continue Reading

• VoIP test drive

  The asymmetric nature of the ubiquitous ADSL broadband technology means that uplink speeds are very limited, causing problems when trying to combine multiple voice calls with concurrent data activity.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Fulham FC kicks off IT transformation

  Oldest football club in London starts drive to implement series of technology initiatives after revamping infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• Interview: Phil Smith, chief executive, Cisco UK

  With Lord Carter's Digital Britain report and the Digital Economy Bill, attention has been focused once again on how to take the UK into a 21st century digital world. Phil Smith, chief executive for UK and Ireland at Cisco, has detected signs of ...  Continue Reading

• Buyers guide to network security

  For years network security has been seen as central to preventing the undesirable outside world gaining access to corporate networks.  Continue Reading

• Enter our Hardware Hoarders competition and win!

  The search is on for the oldest IT equipment! Computer Weekly has teamed up with ShP Limited, the IT recycling service, to find retro computers, printers, binders and scanners. We've been asking our readers to show off the IT hardware they're ...  Continue Reading

• Digital Economy Bill - Special report

  The Digital Economy Bill is the culmination of the Government’s plans to drive the UK’s creative and digital sectors to boost economic growth and jobs in the digital economy.  Continue Reading

• Interview: John Conoley, CEO of Psion

  John Conoley had his work cut out when he joined Psion in April 2008, tasked with driving change.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft ramps up Azure with additional datacentres

  Microsoft is ramping up its Azure cloud computing platform with the opening of two more datacentres, bringing the total to six.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Bovis Lend lease uses Nightwatchman to support Carbon Reduction Committment

  Project management and construction company Bovis Lend Lease has deployed software which automatically powers down PCs at night, to help it meet its Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC).  Continue Reading

• Mobile World Congress: Juniper extends 3G bandwidth

  With LTE and 4G mobile networks set to be the big theme of Mobile World Congress, Juniper Networks is planning to show how operators will be able to prolong the life of existing 3G networks while LTE gets established.  Continue Reading

• Mobile World Congress: Nujira lowers LTE power barrier

  One day 4G networks will enable mobile users to access streaming media in real time over a 100Mbps network. But before the LTE technology on which fourth-generation...

   Continue Reading

• How technology is improving air traffic control

  Controlling air traffic is one of the world's more stressful jobs. There's the "life and death" element, plus the need for razor-sharp reactions on everything from terrorist attacks to extreme weather. But despite the apparent complexity of the task...  Continue Reading

• Can cloud computing make you greener?

  Although there is little evidence to suggest that cloud computing is intrinsically 'greener' than delivering IT services efficiently in-house, the UK's carbon trading scheme is likely to push organisations down this route anyway.  Continue Reading

• Code breaker secrets

  The fact that the code breakers at Bletchley had cracked the codes used to encrypt the messages sent to and from the German high command was possibly the...

   Continue Reading

• Competition: Hardware Haul - send us pics of your gifts!

  Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? Was it shamelessly geeky? If so, then share your haul with us and you could win fifty pounds Amazon vouchers.  Continue Reading

• The CIO agenda for 2010

  Many IT leaders will be entering 2010 with bruises on their budgets from the recessionary battering they have taken over the past 18 months.  Continue Reading

• CIO 2010 agenda: IT innovation

  Recent economic history contains an important lesson for CIOs. Each of the previous three global downturns were marked by the emergence of an innovative,...  Continue Reading

• CIO 2010 agenda: The business of leadership

  CIOs have rarely had a better opportunity to demonstrate the critical role...  Continue Reading

• CIO 2010 agenda: Mobile world

  Each year, mobile technology has improved significantly. So no outlook for 2010 is complete without reference to the role mobile...  Continue Reading

• Technology review of 2009

  Budgets have been tight, spending has been cut, but the IT industry has not stood still while users tightened their purse strings.  Continue Reading

• Video: Hot handsets for Christmas

  In the market for a mobile? Telecom TV's Leila Makki introduces 2009's hottest handsets for Christmas.  Continue Reading

• Best smartphones for business reviewed

  Businesses now have a dizzying variety of smartphones available to them. Consumer handset makers such as Samsung and HTC are now focusing their attentions on the enterprise market.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Haysmacintyre mobilises the enterprise

  UK chartered accountancy firm Haysmacintyre has a number of years' experience in mobilising its enterprise data, communications and people to provide financial and other business support services predominantly for entrepreneurial businesses,.  Continue Reading

• CERN's LHC pioneers quantum leap in cloud computing

  The Large Hadron Collider at CERN (the European Centre for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, which was switched back on on the 21 November following an electrical fault.  Continue Reading

• Green IT: How to reduce network energy demands

  Companies are faced with the twin threats of escalating energy prices and customer examination of their green credentials. Meanwhile, the network is always on and always eating power. William Knight investigates the route to green networks.  Continue Reading

• Locking down mobile security in the enterprise

  With the potential to free staff from the confines of the office and make them more efficient and productive on the move, mobile communications are moving up the corporate agenda. But, while enabling smarter working practices, mobile technologies ...  Continue Reading

• Three technologies that will reshape desktop computing

  With the Intel Developer Forum behind it, Intel reported third-quarter revenue of $9.4bn, beating analysts' expectations. The company reported operating...

   Continue Reading

• The EU Telecoms Package explained: Europe stumbles on net neutrality

  Should an internet service provider (ISP) be allowed to block, prioritise or degrade network traffic?

  This issue, otherwise known as...

   Continue Reading

• Forensic mobile phone work reveals threat to all of us

  There are certain things you do not want to share with strangers. In my case it was a stream of highly personal text messages from my husband, sent during the early days of our relationship. Etched on my phone's SIM card - but invisible on my ...  Continue Reading

• VMware: five biggest challenges of server virtualisation

  Although the benefits of virtualising x86 servers have been pushed relentlessly for the past five years or so, much less discussed have been the challenges involved in moving to a world where resources are pooled and everything is linked.  Continue Reading

• A guide to Fibre Channel over Ethernet

  Can Fibre Channel over Ethernet offer the reliability and resilience of storage area networks at a fraction of the cost?  Continue Reading

• How to resell old storage when you upgrade

  Reselling old storage devices when upgrading to newer platforms can be a complex issue, particularly when it comes to the content stored on it.  Continue Reading

• Features: Desktop Computing (November 2009)

  Content synopses and information about the storage features that will run through November 2009 at Computer Weekly.  Continue Reading

• The security implications of green IT

  Green IT has gone mainstream. The past year has seen corporations such as Citigroup establishing their environmental credentials by opening green datacentres. But how do the separate disciplines of green IT and information security come together?  Continue Reading

• US infrastructure reveals more than Route 66

  The US road network of the is one of the largest human-made constructions on Earth. The 4 million mapped roads take up about 1 per cent of the nation's land area – about the size of South Carolina. So what would a country look like if the only ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Businesses benefit from consolidation

  Consolidation helps businesses lower the cost of IT management by reducing the number of physical servers, desktop PCs and network infrastructures that must be supported.  Continue Reading

• Quantum maths on a silicon chip

  A quantum calculation able to crack one of the most common forms of data encryption has been performed on a silicon chip for the first time.  Continue Reading

• Wi-Fi weighs in as cost cutter for airlines

  Shedding pounds isn't just a preoccupation of dieters, it is a prime concern for aircraft builders too. In a bid to reduce weight to the minimum they are considering the controversial move of getting rid of the huge quantity of copper wiring used in...  Continue Reading

• Features: Storage (October 2009)

  Content synopses and information about the storage features that will run through October 2009 at Computer Weekly.  Continue Reading

• Neon makes IBM z-series glow

  Neon Enterprise Software has been providing software to the mainframe markets to optimise systems management, application and database performance since 1995.  Continue Reading

• SMI-S storage standard breaks supplier lock-in

  There is work to be done, but the Storage Management Initiative - Specification (SMI-S) standard promises best-of-breed storage systems, easily provisioned by informed users.  Continue Reading

• Guess that kit competition: Terms and conditions

  Terms and conditions for our Guess that kit competition, closing date 30th September 2009.  Continue Reading

• Smartphones: Is there anything they can't do?

  My wife is standing at the door to the bathroom, watching me time my toothbrush routine using an application downloaded to my iPhone.  Continue Reading

• Computing demand pressures the datacentre at Southampton University

  "In common with many people in academia, the datacentre was was built in 1975/76 - trying to put 21st century equipment into an old factility meant that cooling was one of our key issues."  Continue Reading

• An SME’s guide to virtualisation

  Virtualisation is now seen as essential in enabling organisations to manage their vital IT resources more flexibly and efficiently. Yet how challenging is it to successfully deploy virtualisation, especially at an SME?  Continue Reading