In Depth
In Depth
IT news in your industry sector
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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
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Accessible retail: Personalising the UX for disabled consumers
An online marketplace built with an ‘accessibility-first’ mantra is set to go live in spring 2022 – and it comes amid several new inclusive retailing moves Continue Reading
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SMEs step up e-commerce ventures under shadow of Covid
A raft of smaller retailers have stepped up their e-commerce businesses during the pandemic, ranging from books to candles, rugs to togs Continue Reading
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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
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Scale-up vs scale-out: Horizontal vs vertical scaling for storage
We look at the differences between scale-up and scale-out in storage – or horizontal vs vertical scaling – and the key ways it can be carried out on-prem and in the cloud Continue Reading
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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
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Retailers as tech firms: Next, The Very Group and others see power in the platform
Gap and Reiss are set to utilise Next’s end-to-end e-commerce service, Total Platform, in 2022, as more retailers carve out a future as part tech company Continue Reading
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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
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Cloud repatriation: Five reasons to repatriate data from cloud
We look at key drivers of cloud repatriation, including cost, compliance, issues around latency and data gravity, reversing poorly planned moves to the cloud, and supplier failure Continue Reading
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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
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Arkwright’s till, Tesco GetGo and retail tech’s non-linear innovation journey
The checkout-free Tesco GetGo store shows that retail technology has come a long way since the faulty till draws in Open All Hours, but some of today’s innovation goes back to the future Continue Reading
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What Norwegians are learning as they pioneer autonomous ships
Norway is leading the world in developing autonomous ship technology – and the world should pay attention to its latest developments Continue Reading
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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
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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
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Immutable snapshots aim to neutralise ransomware
Snapshots – usually immutable anyway – get functionality to stop ransomware intruders moving or deleting snapshots, so customers know they have clean copies of data to restore from Continue Reading
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How in-store technology is supporting retail’s sustainability agenda
Boots, Costa Coffee and the major grocers’ in-store technology focus is switching towards systems supporting sustainability goals Continue Reading
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Five ways the hyper-converged infrastructure market is changing
We look at changes in the hyper-converged infrastructure market as suppliers go cool, go soft, disaggregate HCI nodes, provide as-a-service options and look to containers Continue Reading
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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
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Retail tech community reacts to BNPL regulatory proposals
Regulation is coming to the buy now, pay later market, but what does it mean for a retail tech community increasingly embracing these solutions? Continue Reading
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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
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NVMe-over-fabrics: Five need-to-knows
We look at five need-to-knows about NVMe-over-fabrics, such as its implementations – RDMA, Fibre Channel and TCP – use cases, hardware and operating system support Continue Reading
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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
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HDD support and Zoned Namespaces: Key takeaways about NVMe 2.0
We look at new capabilities in the most recent iteration of the NVMe flash storage standard Continue Reading
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Five things you need to know about cloud file services
We look at cloud file services, which provide a file system-like architecture that gives users access to file data wherever they are, just as if it were a local NAS filer Continue Reading
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Dell, NetApp and Pure: Healthy results on Covid easing
Dell’s still top of the storage supplier pile with midrange arrays doing well, but meanwhile NetApp and Pure are making gains on the rise of public cloud Continue Reading
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Five key questions to ask about storage-as-a-service and consumption models
We look at important questions to ask providers of consumption-based storage procurement services, such as base costs and burst, usage measurement and upgrade paths Continue Reading
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Boots leading drive for ‘professionalisation of IT’ in retail
Boots becomes member of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, as CIO Rich Corbridge accelerates drive for the ‘professionalisation of IT’ Continue Reading
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AI more likely to complement than replace predictive analytics
The discipline of predictive analytics is likely to increase in importance as it is complemented by artificial intelligence. NHS and National Express case studies prove the point Continue Reading
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Disaster recovery for SMEs: Five key areas to consider
We look at key disaster recovery considerations for SMEs, including why backup is not enough, how to create a disaster recovery plan, best-practice DR testing and DR as a service Continue Reading
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DNA storage promises 10 million times storage capacity boost
A datacentre that fits in the palm of your hand? However, right now, DNA storage is an expensive chemical process that researchers are trying to make a practical proposal Continue Reading
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New thinking and systems required to tackle online fraud in retail
Online fraud is a growing problem for retail, but are merchants doing enough to update systems and how should they change their actions to address it? Continue Reading
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Storage-as-a-service: Consumption models from the big six
We look at the big six storage makers’ consumption model offers, which allow customers to pay for on-prem hardware and cloud storage capacity on a pay-per-use basis, within limits Continue Reading
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Briefing: Cloud storage performance metrics
We look at some of the key storage performance metrics that determine what your applications will get from cloud storage, plus cloud essentials that are beyond simple measurement Continue Reading
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Tech and new experiences tackling trouble at t’mall
UK shopping centres are under pressure, but new concepts, tech-infused spaces, and fresh approaches to consumer engagement are revitalising the sector Continue Reading
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Five things you need to know about NVMe over Fabrics
We look at NVMe-oF, which extends fast flash across the network – what it is, how it works, use cases, benefits and limitations, and the suppliers of NVMe-oF products Continue Reading
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Lakehouse concept aims to merge data lake and data warehouse
Data lakes are big, amorphous and difficult to access, while data warehouses are costly and aimed at structured data. The data lakehouse aims at analytics in an age of unstructured data Continue Reading
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Cloud storage APIs: What are they and what can be done with them?
We look at the kinds of application programming interfaces (APIs) available to expose cloud storage to applications, from SME-targeted solutions to higher-end hooks Continue Reading
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Storage performance metrics: Five key areas to look at
We look at the essentials in storage performance metrics: capacity, throughput and read/write capability, IOPS and latency, and hardware longevity measured by failure rates Continue Reading
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Video commerce and livestreaming make waves in retail
The growth in e-commerce during the pandemic is well documented, but the fragmented retail environment has also helped video commerce and livestreaming rise to prominence Continue Reading
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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
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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
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Where to run containers? Bare metal vs virtual machines
We look at the key differences between running containers in virtualised environments and on bare metal servers and focus in on the main trade-offs and decision points Continue Reading
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How Bureau Veritas migrated 85% of its applications to the AWS cloud
In six years, France-based services giant BV has migrated 115 applications to the AWS cloud, mostly using in-house expertise. We talk to the company’s IT director Continue Reading
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What digital transformation means for data storage
We survey the key planks of digital transformation and look at the storage technologies emerging to support it, such as NVMe and QLC flash, hyper-converged infrastructure and cloud storage Continue Reading
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Container-native storage: A definition, and what to ask suppliers
We look at container-native storage – aka cloud-native storage – what defines it, and its benefits as a way of bringing persistent Kubernetes storage to containerised applications Continue Reading
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Computational storage: What is it? Why now, what for, who from?
Computational storage is an emerging architecture category, in which compute is put near storage to address I/O bottlenecks resulting from large volumes of data Continue Reading
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Deploying productivity monitoring software ethically
While software that tracks the activities of staff can be helpful to companies with a remote workforce, managers must consider employees’ concerns and privacy Continue Reading
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Backup failure: Four key areas where backups go wrong
We look at the key ways that backups can fail – via software issues, hardware problems, trouble in the infrastructure and good old human error – and suggest ways to mitigate them Continue Reading
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Five reasons to look at hyper-converged infrastructure
HCI promises easy setup, purchasing flexibility, low procurement and operation costs, reliability and all in one box – but there are challenges too Continue Reading
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Cloud archiving: A perfect use case, but beware costs and egress issues
The advantages of cloud archiving are ease of use and being well-suited to potential latency issues, but IT teams need to be aware of costs and issues around moving data from and between clouds Continue Reading
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How the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium sequenced Sars-Cov-2
Consortium of universities and other institutions has harnessed datasets, analytics and cloud computing to sequence Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in a blisteringly short time Continue Reading
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Where now for storage? Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage
Part II: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models Continue Reading
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Where now for storage? Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE
Part I: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models Continue Reading
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Data warehouse storage: Has cloud made on-premise obsolete?
There once was no alternative to building a data warehouse on-premise, but with cloud providers targeting analytics, building data warehouses on-site is looking obsolete Continue Reading
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Ecolabels and data sanitisation key to recycling and reusing IT assets
Ecolabels on hardware and data sanitisation of devices are key to recycling and reusing old IT equipment respectively, helping enterprises avoid unnecessary asset destruction and contributing to increasingly high levels of electronic waste globally Continue Reading
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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
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The 3-2-1 backup rule: Has cloud made it obsolete?
The 3-2-1 backup rule was made for small-scale use in the pre-cloud era when tape still ruled. Is it relevant in the 2020s, or can we repurpose its fundamental principles? Continue Reading
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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
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QLC flash storage: What it costs and its best use cases
QLC flash brings high capacities at costs coming down close to spinning disk. So what are the use cases for QLC solid state, which make best use of its relatively low endurance Continue Reading
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India is becoming a hotspot for IoT
India is set to be a cradle for internet of things deployments thanks to its vibrant economy and its potential to play a bigger role in global manufacturing Continue Reading
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Ski firm dumps ‘motley’ storage for DataCore software-defined
Eurogroup cuts power usage by 70% and rackspace from 84U to 7U as it consolidates multiple physical servers and storage protocols onto SANsymphony software-defined storage Continue Reading
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Amazon Go – is now the right time?
In the beginning of 2021, Amazon launched a physical store in London, but is it the right time to be investing in offline? Continue Reading
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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
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NHS datacentre transformation projects continue apace during pandemic
NHS trusts have continued to invest in their datacentre estates throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but the nature of their upgrade projects continues to evolve Continue Reading
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Data lake storage: Cloud vs on-premise data lakes
The data lake is a fundamental concept of data management. But what type of storage do you need to build a data lake on and what are the pros and cons of on-premise vs the cloud? Continue Reading
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Five key points about unstructured data storage on-prem and cloud
We look at unstructured data, the myriad forms of data it comprises and the key storage options available, which include NAS and object storage on-prem and in the cloud Continue Reading
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Five key questions about Kubernetes backup answered
We look at when to back up containers, what to protect, the main methods of backup for Kubernetes and the main Kubernetes backup products available in the market Continue Reading
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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
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Five key benefits of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud file storage
The big three offer cloud file storage that can ease hybrid cloud operations, with consistency between cloud and on-premise as well as greater enterprise application compatibility Continue Reading
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Cloud DR from the Big Three: Who’s best at what?
We look at cloud disaster recovery from AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google to see which is best for provision of turnkey solutions, breadth of portfolio and modular building blocks Continue Reading
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Data Dynamics aims at single view of unstructured data
Data volume is ballooning, and storage is becoming more disparate, which makes the need for a single platform to manage storage and compliance a key requirement for organisations Continue Reading
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Robin.io aims its Kubernetes storage at databases and big data
Cloud-native storage runs in Kubernetes and pools storage media to present it to application persistent storage needs, including snapshots and backup on top Continue Reading
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Five key points about cloud vs in-house disaster recovery
The cloud is well suited as a disaster recovery failover option. The key questions are about what you should keep on-site and what goes to the cloud. We look at five key points to consider Continue Reading
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Innovation at the shelf edge
It’s been a challenging year for stores due to Covid-19, but some retailers have found time to innovate at the shelf edge with noteworthy technology deployments Continue Reading
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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
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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
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Five hyper-converged infrastructure use cases to watch
We look at workloads ripe for hyper-converged infrastructure deployment. These include virtual servers and desktops, SMEs/remote offices, Kubernetes, and analytics and machine learning Continue Reading
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A tech reboot of retail
With 2020 having been the toughest year on record for bricks and mortar retailers, we look at some tech innovations that may be heading for the high street Continue Reading
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Paris post-product studio uses Atempo Miria for live restores
France-based À La Plage Studio decided on tape as a medium to store its visual production work, with Atempo ADA/Miria as a means to access and restore data to work on Continue Reading
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‘Salad as a service’: retailers’ interest in vertical farming grows
Retailers are waking up to the potential of vertical farming, with technology-enabled agriculture a core part of supply chain bosses’ and food buyers’ plans Continue Reading
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Digital donations: retailers using technology to offer something back
Some charities require corporate support like never before, and retailers are finding new ways to use technology to facilitate donations Continue Reading
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RAID, flash and erasure coding: What works best with solid state?
We look at RAID and flash to highlight key choices when it comes to drive data protection. What RAID levels work best with solid state and when is erasure coding a good choice? Continue Reading
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A safe bet: How Covid-19 is fuelling investor interest in the datacentre industry
With demand for cloud and colocation capacity soaring on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, datacentres are looking like an increasingly attractive bet for the investor community. Computer Weekly finds out why Continue Reading
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How retailers are using tech to cope with changing footfall
Customer behaviour was shifting long before the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the online shopping boom, so what technology are retailers using to keep stores relevant? Continue Reading
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This Christmas, Covid-19 heightens retail security risks for everyone
Do you think it’s only retailers and consumers who need to consider cyber security when shopping online during the holidays? You’re dead wrong. This year, the Covid-19 pandemic and the shift to remote working has thrown a spanner in the works Continue Reading
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IP surveillance: The storage it needs, on-premise and in the cloud
Surveillance is changing, with the evolution from simple streams of sequential images to the application of AI to video, as well as an increasing move to use of the cloud Continue Reading
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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
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How retailers are using digital to engage with Covid Christmas shoppers
Christmas is likely to be different this year because of the pandemic, and there is likely to be an altered shopping experience. So how are retailers using digital to cope with this shift in festive shopping? Continue Reading
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Lush’s 25-year journey to digital excellence
Retailers are increasingly focused on using technology to better serve customers, but for high street cosmetic brand Lush, tech has always been part of the picture Continue Reading
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Covid-19: How retailers are using technology to respond to changing shopping habits
As the coronavirus outbreak accelerates the shift in consumer behaviour, how are retailers using technology to keep customers engaged? Continue Reading
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Intel Optane Persistent Memory aims to fill the gap DRAM can’t
We look at Optane and its PMem product that Intel believes will fill a big gap between memory and storage that DRAM technology just cannot deal with Continue Reading
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Spinning disk hard drives: Good value for many use cases
When it comes to storage media, all talk is of flash, but there are plenty of use cases where – far less costly – spinning disk can do a perfectly adequate job in the enterprise Continue Reading
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Unified file and object storage: The best of both worlds?
Unified file and object storage tackles growing volumes of unstructured data in a way that’s compatible with traditional and cloud-era applications, and friendlier to analytics Continue Reading
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Robots delivering the goods for retailers
Amazon is investing in autonomous robot delivery in the UK, adding to pioneering work undertaken by Co-op and Starship Technologies Continue Reading
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Morrisons and Pret join UK retail’s growing subscription economy
Morrisons and Pret A Manger join growing UK retail movement towards subscription models – a space frequented by technology-led players such as Gousto Continue Reading
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NVMe-over Fabrics: How NVMe-oF revolutionises shared storage
NVMe brought super-fast flash storage to the datacentre, but it needs NVMe-oF to allow it to bring the benefits of rapid access and low latency to SAN and NAS shared storage Continue Reading
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UK government coronavirus data flawed and misleading
Government Covid-19 coronavirus data has been a miasma of inexactitude, often basically flawed and misleading Continue Reading
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How the supply chain is handling Covid-19
Cost-cutting habits have left supply chains chasing their tails in the wake of the pandemic. We take a look at how they’re coping Continue Reading
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Backup audit: What is a backup audit and why do we need them?
Backup and recovery are vital components to protect against data loss, whether technical or causes such as ransomware. So how can a backup audit help protect our key assets? Continue Reading
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Erasure coding vs RAID: Data protection in the cloud era
Erasure coding has come to prominence with its use in object storage and, by extension, in the cloud. We run the rule over its pros and cons vs RAID data protection Continue Reading