In Depth

In Depth

• Single inventory accuracy: the holy grail of retail

  The ability to accurately pinpoint where stock is at every point in the supply chain is one of the biggest challenges facing retailers today  Continue Reading

• Mobile apps bring benefits and problems for enterprises in Poland

  Mobile business applications are gaining importance in Poland as broadband coverage expands and smartphone and tablet use increases  Continue Reading

• Cloud and the need for microservices

  Cloud holds the promise to change the way IT supports the business by using hybrid private/public cloud services  Continue Reading

• $/GB vs $/IOPS and how to compare enterprise storage pricing

  While raw drive prices are pennies per GB, the actual cost of enterprise storage is much higher. Finding a baseline can save you money  Continue Reading

• TUPE or not TUPE? That is the question

  Designed to enable employees and business units to be transferred from one owner to another, TUPE legislation is now 33 years old  Continue Reading

• Customer experience is big differentiator for organisations

  It has become hard for firms to stand out from the crowd in pricing, products or services. Now customer experience is the big differentiator  Continue Reading

• How to achieve optimum performance in a hybrid cloud

  As hybrid cloud systems become increasingly popular, we look at how to implement them and the advantages they can offer  Continue Reading

• Travel Corporation finds data fast track with Informatica Cloud MDM

  The Travel Corporation has chosen Informatica Cloud to migrate on-premise systems and data into Salesforce.com  Continue Reading

• Virtual reality comes of age in manufacturing

  Will there be virtual reality headsets in the living room by the end of 2015? Perhaps not, but Ford and BAE Sytems are putting virtual reality to work  Continue Reading

• Economy, jobs and technology trends on CIOs' minds in 2015

  CIOs gathered at the first CW500 meeting of 2015 to discuss the economy, the technologies driving business and good IT leadership  Continue Reading

• Netherlands takes steps to become the startup-friendly 'West Coast of Europe'

  New immigration laws and Startup Delta’s Neelie Kroes propel Netherlands towards startup success  Continue Reading

• How to combat VM sprawl

  VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it  Continue Reading

• Polish companies face challenges with big data storage infrastructure

  As Polish enterprises embrace data analytics they face the challenge of big data storage that can handle rapidly growing and varied datasets  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

  Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong  Continue Reading

• What are the options for electronic patient records in the NHS after NPfIT?

  Many hospitals lack comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) systems. What are the options now, in the wake of the NPfIT disaster?  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

• A closer look at Google Container Engine

  In just 12 months, Docker has transformed from a simple open-source container management project into a powerful platform  Continue Reading

• Making the most of AWS’s reserved instances

  What makes the CIO choose a cloud service? Is it the reliability of the service being offered, or the range of products?  Continue Reading

• Virtual server backup catches up with virtualisation in Poland

  Server virtualisation has swept Poland, but businesses are still catching up to the reality that backup requires a different approach  Continue Reading

• Software-defined datacentres a work in progress

  IT managers need to adopt interim SDDC offerings and build on them as the technology matures  Continue Reading

• Quantum key distribution is the future for secure comms

  Quantum teleportation is a technology that will ultimately replace encryption as the foundation of communication security  Continue Reading

• Thin provisioning – hypervisor vs array

  Thin provisioning can be done at the storage array or virtualisation hypervisor. We look at the pros and cons of each – or both  Continue Reading

• Software defined everything: Throwing more software into the mix

  In theory, the move to software-defined everything makes sense. What are the practicalities of the "SD" approach?  Continue Reading

• How to make applications resilient on AWS

  Cloud services are susceptible to network and other outages. There is no silver bullet to boost the resilience of an AWS-hosted application  Continue Reading

• Chief data and digital officers rise to threaten the CIO

  Just as the most senior IT executive finally proves their worth, a new evangelist tries to take credit for all-things-digital: the CDO  Continue Reading

• Top five issues in VM backup

  Virtual machine backup is a vital task for IT departments. But pitfalls abound. We look at the top five issues encountered in VM backup  Continue Reading

• Microservices: How to prepare next-generation cloud applications

  A microservice architecture promotes developing and deploying applications composed of autonomous, self-contained units  Continue Reading

• CIO agenda: What to prioritise in 2015

  Disruption is everywhere. Anybody with responsibility in IT needs to consider how their jobs will change this year  Continue Reading

• SAP bets future on cloud in central and eastern Europe

  SAP’s turn to cloud services for the delivery of its business applications seems especially energetic in central and eastern Europe  Continue Reading

• Businesses dig for treasure in open data

  Open data, a movement that promises access to vast swaths of information held by public bodies, has begun getting its hands dirty, or rather its feet  Continue Reading

• Data analysts deploy Monte Carlo modelling gambit to fight West African Ebola virus epidemic

  Mathematicians are using data analytics to predict how the Ebola epidemic will spread so aid can be deployed effectively  Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud storage: What it is and how to deploy it

  Hybrid cloud storage optimises the opportunities provided by the cloud while recognising and working with its limitations  Continue Reading

• Two resolutions every IT leader should make in 2015

  Rather than waiting for somebody to take over IT, why not aim to do something different that gets you noticed  Continue Reading

• Top 10 flash storage stories of 2014

  Most organisations have flash storage or plan to deploy it, but who are the key players and where’s best to install it?  Continue Reading

• Top 10 information management stories of 2014

  How SAP’s technology helped Germany win the football World Cup was 2014’s top information management story  Continue Reading

• Review 2014: Top 10 business applications stories of 2014

  This year’s top 10 business applications stories show an increasing corporate IT appetite for better collaboration between organisations  Continue Reading

• Network strategies for 2015

  Looking at the bigger picture provides an opportunity to assess what emerging companies are doing to redefine networking thinking  Continue Reading

• Storage performance metrics: How suppliers spin performance specifications

  Array makers’ storage performance specs are not always what they seem. Storage analysts explain how suppliers spin spec sheet figures  Continue Reading

• The state of mobile back end as a service

  Common mobile application services are increasingly being hosted on central back-end servers – but what does that mean for the enterprise?  Continue Reading

• Dutch organisations gradually take up cloud HCM software

  While organisations in the Netherlands tend to use the traditional HR modules of the large software packages, some diversity is beginning to emerge  Continue Reading

• Technology’s growing role in keeping Europe safe

  Technology is playing a growing role in keeping Europe safe, but faces the challenge of ensuring it has the right legal frameworks in place  Continue Reading

• England's computing curriculum: How was the first term?

  Teachers’ confidence grows as the first term of the English computing curriculum goes down well with teaching staff and students  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

• Inside the Digital Catapult, six startups at the forefront of data innovation

  The recently opened Digital Catapult in London’s Kings Cross is home to ambitious technology startups innovating around big data  Continue Reading

• Digital ad delivery firm Adstream uses Pentaho to add analytics edge

  Global digital asset management company Adstream turns to Pentaho’s data integration technology to mount its Adbank platform  Continue Reading

• Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust completes £200m Epic and HP IT project

  Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust completes its eHospital programme based on Epic software and HP hardware  Continue Reading

• The technology opportunity for UK shopping centres

  While retailers are setting the innovation barrier high, how are shopping centres using technology to improve their customer offerings?  Continue Reading

• Networking technologies emerging in the enterprise

  We look at the latest networking technologies on offer, and those being adopted in the enterprise  Continue Reading

• Companies must act quickly to tackle cyber crime

  With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and widespread, companies must take stronger measures to prevent and tackle them  Continue Reading

• Companies must act quickly to combat cyber crime

  With cyber attacks becoming more sophisticated and widespread, companies must take stronger measures to prevent and tackle them  Continue Reading

• Interview: Fujitsu CTO Joseph Reger on human-centric innovation

  Joseph Reger, Fujitsu's EMEIA CTO, discusses human-centric innovation and the need for responsible attitudes to technology  Continue Reading

• Companies driving growth of cloud

  Companies and organisations are increasingly adopting cloud services for more secure and efficient device management  Continue Reading

• Unlock the business benefits of digitisation

  Analytics technology can help to transform the customer experience, but to achieve its full potential, IT and marketing must work together  Continue Reading

• Polish enterprises embrace cloud and virtual disaster recovery

  Polish enterprises are increasingly breaking the habit of using the cheapest route to disaster recovery and opting for cloud and virtualisation  Continue Reading

• In-store retail experience evolves with the demands of tech-savvy shoppers

  The increasing demands of today's "always-connected" shoppers are redefining the in-store buying experience  Continue Reading

• Put your business users first when building your global network

  A guide for commissioning best-fit network services  Continue Reading

• Storage performance metrics: How to read array supplier specification sheets

  Storage array makers’ spec sheets can be difficult to translate and sometimes prove misleading – the trick is to dig out the devil in the detail  Continue Reading

• How the development of standards will affect the internet of things

  As the internet of things (IoT) grows, so will the number of applications developed to control internet-connected devices and objects  Continue Reading

• Time is running out for Windows Server 2003 migration

  Support for Windows Server 2003 will end next year, but careful planning can ease operating system migration  Continue Reading

• Why does Amazon still dominate the cloud world?

  Amazon has long been the gold standard for public cloud but its array of support and services suggests a market-leading maturity  Continue Reading

• Lyndsay Wise: Make self-service business intelligence part of your business

  Organisations must be more diligent in buying self-service business intelligence (BI) technology, says Lyndsay Wise, BI industry analyst  Continue Reading

• Moving on: How to cope when Windows Server 2003 expires

  How to overcome challenges when Microsoft ends support for Windows Server 2003 next year  Continue Reading

• Flash storage 101: How solid state storage works

  Why flash writes are troublesome, why endurance is limited and what suppliers are doing to overcome these issues  Continue Reading

• The business challenges and benefits of identity and access management

  IT leaders gathered at a CW500 Club meeting to hear from peers about the challenges of identity and access management  Continue Reading

• Managing risk after support for Windows Server 2003 ends

  With Microsoft due to end support for Windows Server 2003 in July 2015, we look at best practice for migration  Continue Reading

• Transport for London builds customer profiles using RFID data analytics

  Transport for London (TfL) uses cashless payment cards and RFID tags to create detailed customer profiles  Continue Reading

• Key challenges in storage and virtualisation, and how to beat them

  Server virtualisation brings benefits but increases storage-capacity needs. Here we survey the key challenges and what to do about them  Continue Reading

• Big storage hybrid cloud moves show limits of cloud storage

  Cloud storage has its limits, but also its opportunities, shown by the hybrid cloud storage offerings recently announced by EMC and NetApp  Continue Reading

• How Amsterdam crowdsourced environmental monitoring with the IoT

  Amsterdam launched an IoT project to crowdsource local air quality measurement. While it faced a lot of hurdles in the project, it is implementing it on a wider scale based on the lessons learnt  Continue Reading

• Firms set eyes on digital, but will it fulfil their demands?

  We look at the effect of digitisation and how CIOs can help businesses move forward while keeping day-to-day systems running  Continue Reading

• IBM India staff reductions are sign of shift in outsourcing sector

  Talk of IBM reducing its India-based workforce by 50,000 is a reflection of the diminishing importance of low-cost operatives  Continue Reading

• Cellist and composer Philip Sheppard counterpoints music and IT

  Philip Sheppard is a composer and cellist who also speaks at IT conferences about the parallels between IT and music  Continue Reading

• Currency exchange business Travelex cuts HR costs by 25% with cloud IT systems

  Travelex's cloud human resources (HR) project survived a budget overrun to cut costs and job recruitment times  Continue Reading

• How the BBC became digital in three-and-a-half years

  The BBC has undergone a digital transformation that started 18 months prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games  Continue Reading

• Interview: Ed Vaizey MP on broadband, mobile networks and the internet of things

  Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey MP reflects on the next steps for the BDUK project and talks mobile roll-out, 5G and the internet of things (IoT)  Continue Reading

• Managing workloads in an era of changing datacentre architecture

  Different workloads require different basic resources and hybrid cloud needs more intelligent workload management  Continue Reading

• How to support digitisation through project management

  Agile and DevOps approaches mean large projects with a defined end point are disappearing. How is project management changing?  Continue Reading

• Polish enterprises speed apps with flash and hybrid flash storage

  Flash storage might cost more but enterprises in Poland are using flash and hybrid flash arrays for their low latency  Continue Reading

• Interview: Ed Vaizey MP talks digital economy and digital skills

  Minister for the digital economy Ed Vaizey discusses his new role and the future of digital policy  Continue Reading

• Social media for communication inside the enterprise

  Companies have long used social media technology such as Facebook and Twitter to reach more customers – but how are businesses using it internally?  Continue Reading

• Meet the men and women who keep AT&T's network running

  Somewhere in the UK, a crack team sits waiting to spring into action to support, protect and repair AT&T’s global network  Continue Reading

• Firms must incorporate agile into their strategic planning

  Firms must achieve greater levels of transparency to create a strong link between strategic planning and execution  Continue Reading

• What's causing Poland's datacentre market to flourish?

  The Polish datacentre market, although still in its early phases of development, is worth more than 1bn Polish zloty  Continue Reading

• Genomics England exploits big data analytics to personalise cancer treatment

  Cancer Research UK and government-funded Genomics England use DNA-sequenced big data analytics to develop personalised cancer treatment  Continue Reading

• Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure

  The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model  Continue Reading

• Dutch government organisations innovate in the field of BI

  The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency are using advanced BI to do new things  Continue Reading

• Backup and disaster recovery in the age of virtualisation

  One of the benefits of using virtual machines is the scope for improved backup. We look at the product offerings from traditional and new suppliers  Continue Reading

• Subscription-based businesses are cheerleaders for CIOs on the board

  CIOs at subscription-based businesses play a crucial role in transforming their enterprises by focusing on customers  Continue Reading

• Tick or click: Why electronic voting is unlikely in 2015

  With the 2015 UK general election ahead, electronic voting is once again under consideration, but security questions remain  Continue Reading

• Challenges in virtual server backup and how to tackle them

  We look at the problems associated with virtual server backup and how they can be mitigated to ensure smooth and efficient data protection  Continue Reading

• Product survey 2014: Hybrid flash arrays from the big six

  A look at the options to build hybrid flash arrays from the big six SAN makers  Continue Reading

• All-flash array startups overview 2014

  All the big storage suppliers have all-flash array products – some designed from the ground up, others HDD arrays retrofitted with flash  Continue Reading

• How cloud companies are engaging in price wars

  Cloud prices are coming down, which is great news for organisations taking their first steps into using public cloud services  Continue Reading

• MicroStrategy’s Klein: Enterprise analytics base confers mobile edge

  Jonathan Klein, president and chief legal officer of business intelligence company MicroStrategy, talks to Computer Weekly  Continue Reading

• A guide to scale-out NAS: The specialists and startups

  Specialist suppliers and startups in scale-out NAS, a technology that’s gone mainstream for its superior ability to scale capacity and performance  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: Motivate the elephant

  CIO coach James Caplin explains how IT leaders can achieve results by thinking about problems in a different way  Continue Reading

• Microsoft vies with VMware in the virtual machine market

  VMware launched live migration in 2003. Since then, its capabilities have seen many enhancements, but Microsoft is starting to catch up  Continue Reading

• Polish banking, energy and public services weigh up benefits of big data applications

  For many Polish institutions big data is still only in the planning stage, but banks and the energy and public sectors are beginning to use the technology  Continue Reading

• Q&A: MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom talks strategy

  Gary Bloom, CEO of NoSQL database supplier MarkLogic, talks to Computer Weekly about strategy  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: Why embrace digital innovation?

  Having the right digital strategy can make or break an organisation  Continue Reading