In Depth

In Depth

Networking hardware

• IT departments need holistic circular economies to fight climate change

  With sustainability moving up the boardroom agenda, IT managers should revamp procurement strategies to align with the principles of the circular economy, but what does this mean for managing the IT lifecycle?  Continue Reading

• 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

• 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

• 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

• NVMe-over-TCP brings super-fast flash over standard IP networks

  TCP is the latest transport protocol that can be used to connect NVMe flash storage. We explain how NVMe-over-TCP works and the key advantages for datacentre customers  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

• Private 5G networks: Are they the right choice for you?

  The concept of dedicated private mobile networks for large enterprises is not a new one, but with the advent of ultrafast 5G networks, they are starting to attract more interest  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

• Securing your mobile estate – best practice for CIOs

  The prevalence of mobile devices in every part of daily life is shaping how enterprises make choices about software and network infrastructure, but how do businesses go about securing these vast new endpoint estates?  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

• Enterprise HPC: Why HPE is buying Cray

  HPE’s decision to acquire supercomputing pioneer Cray for $1.3bn serves to highlight the growing importance of high-performance computing (HPC) deployments in the enterprise market  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

• What does the 802.11ax wireless standard mean for your network?

  The publication of the 802.11ax standard will pave the way for the next generation of wireless technology, but what does it mean for enterprise networks?  Continue Reading

• When networks collide: how M&A brings infrastructure together

  Enterprise IT runs on networking, so fixing up the network should be a priority issue during mergers and acquisitions – but that’s not always the case. Find out how the pros manage it  Continue Reading

• Sustainability and the smartphone: How to give your old device a second life

  Find out what happens to your smartphone after you’re finished with it and why you should commit to the circular economy  Continue Reading

• The great 5G bake-off: where are we and where are we going?

  With Mobile World Congress 2018 a week away, early 5G network standards formalised and tests up and running at the Winter Olympics, we assess the state of 5G, and what's needed to kick-start commercial roll-outs  Continue Reading

• The death of the mainframe is greatly exaggerated, says CA

  With mainframe software tools forming a key part of its overall growth strategy, CA Technologies remains proud of its mainframe heritage  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

• Formula 1: Mercedes team turns to big data in quest for victory in Grand Prix

  Data analytics could help Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team gain an edge on rival Ferrari during the 2017 and 2018 Grand Prix season. Its head of IT, Matt Harris, reveals the team’s plans  Continue Reading

• Datacentre decisions: Converged vs hyper-converged infrastructure

  Converged and hyper-converged infrastructure are ready-tested ways to put compute and storage into the datacentre. But which should you choose for your deployment?  Continue Reading

• Bring the cup home: mobile holds key to UK’s America’s Cup challenge

  Computer Weekly visited the Land Rover BAR sailing team in Portsmouth to find out how mobile innovation may help bring the America’s Cup back to the UK for the first time since 1851  Continue Reading

• Enterprise wireless: trends and developments in 2017

  What will be the main developments in wireless this year and what challenges will this bring to enterprises?  Continue Reading

• How will the network manager’s role change in the SDN world?

  We explore how traditional network managers are changing the habits of a lifetime as SDN remakes the enterprise network  Continue Reading

• At IBM’s Watson lab, customers marry the power of AI with the IoT

  IBM formally inaugurated its Watson Internet of Things headquarters in Munich, Germany in February, and Computer Weekly went to meet the customers and partners who are using Watson AI to deliver on the promise of the IoT  Continue Reading

• Cutting the cable: why industry is turning to wireless

  Wireless networking technology is heading out of the office and the living room, and on to the factory floor. We explore the trend  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation gives CIOs chance to be agents of change

  Whether it’s the IoT, cloud, mobility, big data or analytics, there is always something new to grapple with. Attendees found out how to keep up at Cisco Live in Las Vegas  Continue Reading

• Executive interview: Phil Smith, UKI chief executive, Cisco

  Cisco’s Phil Smith discusses digitisation, its impact on national productivity, and how enterprises can apply the lessons lived and learned by tech companies to their own strategy  Continue Reading

• My first IoT project: A guide for businesses

  We’ve all had a good giggle about having our fridges hacked – but now it’s time to get real. What are the first steps enterprises should take when implementing their first internet of things project?  Continue Reading

• [email protected]: From Captain Kirk to 5G – 50 years of mobile

  As Computer Weekly prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our first edition in 1966, we look back at 50 years of British innovation and development in mobile networking  Continue Reading

• Interview: How John Deere uses connectivity to make farms more efficient

  After pioneering the use of automated vehicle technology 15 years ago, farm equipment supplier John Deere is now going further, with its sights set on efficiency and sustainability, says sales VP Christoph Wigger  Continue Reading

• UK datacentre growth trends: Why are users shunning inner-city facilities?

  Research suggests inner cities are falling out of favour with datacentre developers, with cost-sensitive users willing to look further afield for co-location services  Continue Reading

• Marseille: Europe’s networking gateway to Africa

  The city of Marseille in southern France is fast becoming a hub for datacentre and network operators who want low latency connections to Africa.  Continue Reading

• Journey to the West: Will Huawei make its services ambitions stick?

  As network hardware supplier Huawei enters the services game, we consider if the West is ready to buy IT services from China  Continue Reading

• Software-defined networking in Europe: The state of play

  What stage of the evolution of software-defined networking are we really at, and when will the hype turn to reality?  Continue Reading

• What’s slowing down your network and how to fix it

  When using the network feels like wading through molasses, finding the cause can be a difficult process  Continue Reading

• Wi-Fi in the sky: The good, the bad and the ugly

  With in-flight internet options spreading around the world, which services should discerning business travellers try, and which should they avoid?  Continue Reading

• Five tech trends that will change the mobile world in the next 10 years

  Computer scientist Kevin Curran discusses some of the trends that will shape the future of mobile at Mobile World Congress 2015  Continue Reading

• Why 2015 won't be the year of software-defined everything

  With the technical and market parameters of SDE still taking shape, CIOs are in no rush to adopt, despite the hype going into overdrive  Continue Reading

• Cisco is missing the transition to software-defined networks

  Little doubt remains that the future of networking will be defined by software, but market-watchers warn Cisco is missing this move  Continue Reading

• CIO Interview: Gary Steen, CTO, TalkTalk

  Gary Steen, CTO at ISP TalkTalk, says transforming internal IT will help him meet growing demands for superfast data connectivity  Continue Reading

• The internet of things is coming: Is your datacentre ready?

  Gartner estimates the IoT will see 26 billion units installed by 2020 – channelling huge volumes of data traffic into datacentres  Continue Reading

• Rural communities take the initiative on superfast broadband

  Amidst the furore over the deployment of superfast broadband in remote rural areas, communities and businesses in Oxfordshire took action  Continue Reading

• Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?

  Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it?  Continue Reading

• After VLANs: managing the new virtualised networks

  Managing an ever-changing network landscape calls for as much automation as possible. Can Juniper, HP and Cisco help?  Continue Reading

• Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust secures government backing for £6m IT modernisation programme

  CIO interview: Joanna Smith, CIO. Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust  Continue Reading

• Managing Wi-Fi and mobility

  Wi-Fi is a critical system, but it’s also the point where BYOD meets your network. New tools promise to simplify things, but can they?  Continue Reading

• No more email? Why companies are turning to collaboration technology

  Collaboration technologies are helping companies improve their employees' work-life balance  Continue Reading

• A guide to APM for the network manager

  Has application performance management become a much needed discipline for the network manager? We examine the issues for IT departments  Continue Reading

• How to navigate the IT supplier jungle

  Being a CIO is interesting and satisfying, but there is a relentless pressure on them to improve  Continue Reading

• Next generation hotspots: The future of Wi-Fi?

  A new solution for connecting to wireless hotspots could change the user experience forever. But as Steve Evans points out, there will need to be more collaboration in the telecoms and networking industries before we start to reap the benefits.  Continue Reading

• Make a high-performance computing and high-availability datacentre

  High performance computing and high availability systems are no longer limited to engineers and scientists. But is your datacentre ready?  Continue Reading

• The technology behind Birmingham NEC

  The NEC exhibition centre's IT director reveals how a £40m investment from Birmingham City Council has been spent  Continue Reading

• How Capgemini keeps its Merlin datacentre green and energy-efficient

  Capgemini's Swindon-based Merlin datacentre is one of the most energy-efficient in the world. But what makes it green?  Continue Reading

• How to make your datacentre BYOD-ready

  BYOD is changing how employees interact with corporate data. Datacentre managers should follow these steps to prepare their infrastructure for BYOD  Continue Reading

• 802.11ac: Inside the heart of state of the art

  Computer Weekly explains the new 802.11ac wireless standard and whether it is ready for businesses to adopt  Continue Reading

• Shining a light on The OpenDaylight Project

  Steve Evans looks at the progress so far of the software defined networking (SDN) consortium and its effects on the networking industry  Continue Reading

• The University of Nottingham innovates with wireless

  The University of Nottingham's IT director and project manager tell Computer Weekly how partnering with BT for its wireless network has opened up even more opportunities for students and staff  Continue Reading

• CW500: The rise of the machines – how devices are taking over the internet

  By 2020, there will be a trillion sensors sending data over the internet  Continue Reading

• CIO interview: Mark Austin, Bedford Hospital

  A CIO with 18 years' NHS experience, on whether paperless can be achieved by 2018 and how wireless technology is helping his Trust  Continue Reading

• How to monitor and improve the health of your datacentre

  Any datacentre manager looking to support the business should take an end-to-end systems management approach to keep the datacentre in shape  Continue Reading

• The open source impact on networking

  As other areas of the technology industry embrace open source, how is the trend affecting networking?  Continue Reading

• Sweating your datacentre’s IT assets - is it a good idea?

  Amid economic uncertainties, businesses want to get more from existing IT assets. But does it make sense from an IT point of view?  Continue Reading

• Wireless charging: The story so far...

  Rupert Goodwins looks into the technology behind wireless charging and whether it is good enough yet for wider adoption  Continue Reading

• 100Gbps Ethernet – is it time to move?

  Do you need 100Gbps Ethernet in your datacentre, or is the technology just going through a hype cycle? Computer Weekly investigates.  Continue Reading

• Management tools to create a Workload-Centric Network

  Software-defined networking provides the means to automate networks to better support a range of different workloads.  Continue Reading

• SDN will change the world of network professionals

  By providing the capability to move a large proportion of a switch’s work to an abstracted software layer, SDN is the way forward.  Continue Reading

• Wired vs wireless in the enterprise

  What are the pros and cons of wired and wireless connectivity, and what does the future hold for the corporate environment?  Continue Reading

• Can mobile networks learn to share?

  Mobile operators are not renowned for playing nicely with one another, but sharing networks and backhaul may be the only option for survival  Continue Reading

• Configure datacentres with green tech to save costs

  The current driver for green technology is to save money through optimising energy use, rather than a desire to be seen to be green.  Continue Reading

• Top 10 networking stories of 2012

  We give a run down of the top 10 stories in the networking industry throughout 2012  Continue Reading

• Top 10 gadget reviews of 2012

  Inspect-a-Gadget has been busy reviewing a range of gadgets over the past 12 months and it has been another big year in the world of tech  Continue Reading

• Top 10 supplier profiles 2012

  Download in-depth reports on leading IT suppliers from Computer Weekly  Continue Reading

• Lack of cloud standards holds up enterprise progress

  Problems with management, portability and interoperability are preventing firms realising the benefits of infrastructure on demand.  Continue Reading

• High-performance computing drives high-performance F1 cars to success

  Jennifer Scott investigates how Formula 1 team Marussia uses a supercomputer to design and test its cars on a budget  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Derive maximum value from storage

  Forrester analysts Andrew Reichman and Vanessa Alvarex identify the top trends in the storage market  Continue Reading

• Buyer's Guide: Forrester reveals the value of IPv6 to the enterprise

  IPv6 can support a new set of customers and offers the opportunity to generate revenue from digital services  Continue Reading

• Computer Weekly / TechTarget IT priorities survey 2012

  Learn which IT priorities are at the top of UK IT managers lists for 2012. Coverage from across our network includes cloud, budget cuts, networking, security, disaster recovery and more.  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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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