In Depth

In Depth

• Dame Stephanie Shirley: Entrepreneurs learn to survive

  Dame “Steve” Shirley shares her experiences of being an entrepreneurial woman in IT during the 1950s and 1960s  Continue Reading

• Micro-datacentre: What IT problems it solves and what workload systems suit it

  A micro-datacentre is a smaller containerised datacentre system designed to solve different problems or to handle different workloads  Continue Reading

• Aruba Airheads: Generation mobile forces Wi-Fi rethink

  Aruba Networks tells customers to rethink their Wi-Fi deployments to meet the expectations of a cohort of workers called GenMobile  Continue Reading

• Green storage is dead. Long live green storage

  Green storage may have slipped from the headlines, but the need for better energy efficiency in storage is more pressing than ever  Continue Reading

• CW 500 Security Club: Securing the end point: a key challenge for business

  With multitudes of devices connecting businesses and their customers to interlinking systems, securing the end point has never been more vital  Continue Reading

• Virtual server backup products surveyed

  Specialist virtual machine backup products vary in many ways, including hypervisor and application support  Continue Reading

• Why in-store tracking won’t be like Minority Report

  Retailers need to approach location-based marketing with extreme care if they want to gain customers’ trust and access to more of their valuable data  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery in Turkey: Some businesses shine but many lag

  Overall disaster recovery readiness is poor in Turkey and the Middle East, but some businesses buck that trend  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: Making the business case for digital technology

  When trying to win backing for digital technology, IT leaders would be wise to focus on benefits, not costs  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

• Key choices in virtual machine backup

  Virtual machine backup is a priority for many datacentres. We examine the key choices, and whether to use agent-, hypervisor- or array-based backup  Continue Reading

• Automating workloads to improve business efficiency

  In the age of the customer, more and more pressure is being put on workload automation. We look at where workload automation is heading.  Continue Reading

• OpenStack storage: Cinder and Swift explained

  is a rising star in private cloud infrastructures. But what about OpenStack storage? We run the rule over OpenStack Cinder and Swift  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation is reshaping the network

  Network functions virtualisation aims to reduce network complexity by decreasing the reliance on hardware. We look the implications 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

• Standard Life blazes savings trail with Oracle Fusion

  Standard Life has generated £8m in cash savings on a £12m investment in Oracle Fusion applications but wider market take-up has been slow, says Forrester  Continue Reading

• Future of in-house datacentres in the cloud era

  It is predicted that companies will spend three times more on the cloud by 2017. But as cloud goes mainstream, are in-house datacentres really dying?  Continue Reading

• CW500: IT infrastructure for data protection

  The infrastructure to protect data is a thorny issue especially in an age where data is being proliferated throughout an organisation.  Continue Reading

• In-memory databases - what they do and the storage they need

  In-memory databases offer high performance data processing, but how do you protect data in volatile DRAM and what kind of storage is needed for longer term retention?  Continue Reading

• Backup vs archive: Can they be merged?

  As backup software suppliers build more archiving features into their products, we look at whether it’s possible to merge backup and archive systems  Continue Reading

• Principles of compliance in the financial services industry

  Compliance in financial services can appear a staggeringly complex web of laws and regulations, but some key principles apply, says Mathieu Gorge of Vigitrust  Continue Reading

• The rush to secure IT

  Security budgets in Australia are soaring as hacking incidents become increasingly common.  Continue Reading

• More speed and bandwidth: the road ahead for networks

  IT and networking departments are evolving new strategies and technologies to address demand for apps, bandwidth and services  Continue Reading

• IFS ERP investment underlies port firm’s growth

  PD Ports has seen its traditional markets in chemicals and heavy industry dwindling. It aims to diversify, supporting retail sector and renewable energy. It chose IFS for its new ERP  Continue Reading

• Distributed power generation – Is it right for your datacentre energy strategy?

  As datacentre complexity grows, enterprises seek greener ways to power them. But is distributed generation right for all?  Continue Reading

• Keeping your corporate data in sync

  For collaboration to thrive, the appropriate tools need to be in place, and perhaps the most important is data synchronisation  Continue Reading

• CIO Interview: Chris Birch, IT Director, News UK

  Chris Birch, News UK's IT director talks about how the company adopted a cloud-first strategy to support business innovation  Continue Reading

• Berlin plays growing role in Europe's startup race for innovation

  California's Silicon Valley has had 30 years to develop a thriving tech startup scene. And now Berlin is fast becoming a tech capital in its own right  Continue Reading

• The changing course of collaboration software

  There has been a major shake-up in the collaboration software market, with revenue up 12% year on year in 2013.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Is e-health a cure for European healthcare?

  E-health – the use of technology in healthcare – has so far failed to fulfil its potential. But that could be about to change  Continue Reading

• Collaboration: Building Yammer into a SharePoint world

  With market penetration of well over 100 million seats, SharePoint is a strategic investment for many organisations. Where does Yammer fit?  Continue Reading

• Flash storage gains a foothold in Turkey

  Turkish businesses see the benefits of flash storage for high performance apps, but some think the big suppliers dominate  Continue Reading

• Cloudera v Hortonworks: Hadoop to complement or replace data warehouse?

  As the market for enterprise Hadoop heats up, the battle lines between two suppliers - Cloudera and Hortonworks - become more clearly defined  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

• Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method

  Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software  Continue Reading

• Write-through, write-around, write-back: cache explained

  Cache is vital for application deployment, but which one to choose – write-through, write-around or write-back cache? We examine the options  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of WAN optimisation

  For many businesses, WAN optimisation can provide significant performance improvements, but projects can prove to be costly and complex.  Continue Reading

• Collaborative conversation in the post-email enterprise

  Email is no longer an effective means of collaboration and some companies have even banned it - but what is the alternative?  Continue Reading

• University of Huddersfield revamps Wi-Fi with Meru Networks

  University ditches Cisco and adopts a new Wi-Fi network to support more voice and video applications over mobile devices  Continue Reading

• Get datacentre cooling under control

  Reviewing existing datacentre cooling designs and exploring new ones for efficiency may not be as hard as you think. Here's how  Continue Reading

• Supplier profile: Workday

  Computer Weekly analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the rapidly growing cloud HR and finance software company, Workday  Continue Reading

• Businesses are beginning to adopt context-based security

  It is more than 10 years since context-aware security was proposed. We look at how the technology has evolved.  Continue Reading

• Nordics lead initiative to share European patient records data

  The Nordic countries have played a leading role in epSOS, an EU project to establish infrastructure for patient records data exchanges  Continue Reading

• Undercover economist Tim Harford decries data visualisation dazzle

  The Undercover Economist author says 200 years of statistical science should not be cast aside for the blandishments of ‘big data’ propagandists  Continue Reading

• Protect your business by encrypting the network

  Enabling encryption across different points of the network can provide significant protection from the most advanced of attackers  Continue Reading

• Can telcos tap into the datacentre business?

  Telcos have always run datacentres, but now many are hoping to give commercial providers a run for their money  Continue Reading

• VMware versus Hyper-V storage comparison

  VMware versus Hyper-V storage: How do the two leading hypervisors compare when it comes to deploying storage and in terms of their key storage features and functionality?  Continue Reading

• CW500: Bring your own IT department?

  Bring, your and own (BYO) are the first three words of an acronym being discussed in IT as the next phase of the consumerisation trend  Continue Reading

• Bywaters waste management uses BI to improve customers’ recycling

  Bywaters, a recycling and waste management company, has improved productivity by 4% using Pentaho data integration and business intelligence software  Continue Reading

• Would the real flash storage successor please stand up?

  Flash storage will hit a wall in development terms by around the end of the decade. But which successor is best placed to replace it: Memristor, MRAM or phase-change memory?  Continue Reading

• Messier-Bugatti-Dowty gears up BI with QlikView toolbox

  Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, an aviation industry specialist in aircraft landing and braking systems, is using QlikView to support business process improvement  Continue Reading

• Check the state of network security and stay safe

  Many organisations are planning to increase their investment in proactive security controls and threat intelligence measures.  Continue Reading

• BAFTA nominates cloud to boost web performance

  Arts organisation moves to Rackspace to handle awards-season peaks and help meet the ever-growing demand for rich media content  Continue Reading

• Essential tips for your first 100 days as an IT leader

  IT leadership coach and martial arts teacher James Knight offers six tips on the critical first 100 days in an IT leadership role  Continue Reading

• Accenture’s UK analytics head sees clients reorganising for digital

  Ray Eitel-Porter is managing director of analytics for Accenture UK & Ireland. He talks to Computer Weekly about how data management has assumed a more elevated strategic role as companies go digital  Continue Reading

• Spring cleaning your datacentre

  Although domestic spring cleaning seems to have faded somewhat, perhaps we should consider whether a datacentre spring clean is a good idea  Continue Reading

• IT security analytics: the before, during and after

  Effective IT security calls for intelligence ahead of, during and following an attack.  Continue Reading

• Flash hits the motherboard with memory channel storage

  Memory channel storage puts flash storage into the DIMM slots on servers, offering unprecedented speed of access to hot data. Who’s making it and what are the pros and cons?  Continue Reading

• The business case for next-generation hotspots

  Next-generation hotspot (NGH) is an emerging technology set to redefine how our devices interact with wireless networks  Continue Reading

• How to manage the tension between agility and discipline in IT

  Agility requires a new level of discipline that is redefining IT project management  Continue Reading

• Can the mainframe remain relevant in the cloud and mobile era?

  IBM mainframes run more than 1.1m transactions per second, yet the mainframe has remained largely unfashionable. We investigate  Continue Reading

• The CIO supplier relationship: How to get the best from your suppliers

  Professor Merlin Stone offers some insights to help CIOs manage their suppliers while avoiding potential pitfalls  Continue Reading

• Blackrock: measuring risk in a datacentre

  How the investment giant handles the risk of managing $13 trillion of other people’s money  Continue Reading

• Understanding the real value of IT and proving it to the business

  At a time when costs are being continually squeezed, there is more pressure than ever to demonstrate the business value of technology  Continue Reading

• Using NoSQL databases to gain competitive advantage

  NoSQL is attracting growing interest from businesses - we examine three case studies: Amadeus, i2O and Temetra  Continue Reading

• Target data breach: Why UK business needs to pay attention

  Late last year, US retailer Target was hit by one of the biggest data breaches in the industry's history. So what happened and why is it relevant to UK businesses?  Continue Reading

• Where next for the new EU data protection regulation?

  For many people in business, the proposed new EU data protection regulation has become obscured by a storm of controversy  Continue Reading

• Mölnlycke Health Care and Axfood demonstrate divergent ERP strategies

  Two Swedish firms, Mölnlycke Health Care and Axfood, demonstrate divergent ERP strategies - one standardised, one customised  Continue Reading

• Where is all the innovation in the PC industry?

  PC manufacturers need to innovate to reverse the continuing drop in hardware sales  Continue Reading

• Opportunities and threats to cloud storage adoption in Turkey

  Turkish organisations are taking up cloud storage and other services, but adoption is tempered by concerns over privacy, latency, lack of internet provision and regulatory issues  Continue Reading

• The private sector answer to exploiting public sector data

  The big IT suppliers emphasise the importance of transparent governance and maximising the benefits of open government data.  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: How digital technology will change the way organisations work

  If you are an IT leader, digital technology is likely to be a pivotal factor in your career over the next five years  Continue Reading

• CW500 Security Club: The next threat landscape - what to expect

  The next threat landscape -- what to expect: IT security experts discuss the challenges facing organisations today  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: How digital technology will change the role of IT leaders

  We have now reached the point where corporate IT as we know it will succeed or fail  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

• Using public sector open data to benefit local communities

  Tech City’s Flood Hack shows how open data can help communities - an aspect attracting interest in Leeds council and other UK cities.  Continue Reading

• How to make the most of your annual appraisal

  Industry experts share their tips on how to make the dreaded annual appraisal successful and productive  Continue Reading

• Hacktivism: good or evil?

  IT lawyer Dai Davis looks at the rise of hacktivism and its impact on business and international politics  Continue Reading

• Mobile VPNs: Battered but not broken

  With weaknesses exposed in mobile VPNs in recent months, we examine if they are safe for companies to deploy  Continue Reading

• Big data storage in the Benelux

  Organisation in the Benelux countries are turning to big data analytics, but big data storage options can vary significantly between the lab and production environments  Continue Reading

• How open data can mitigate the floods of the future

  Live, open government data – collated on third-party platforms – can change peoples’ lives profoundly in a wide variety of ways.  Continue Reading

• Is privacy undermining trade in digital services?

  BSA report highlights dangers facing European Union (EU) nations as the European Commission (EC) revises its Data Protection Regulation  Continue Reading

• Converged stacks: What they are and the benefits they bring

  We survey the converged stacks market: Servers, storage and networking in pre-configured product bundles for specific virtualisation and application use cases.  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage options in Scandinavia

  It has never been faster or cheaper to store data in the cloud and Scandinavian businesses have taken up cloud storage with gusto  Continue Reading

• How to select the best hybrid cloud provider for your firm

  A successful shift towards a hybrid cloud corporate environment requires a new approach to trust throughout the organisation.  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

• Hadoop 2 opens new vistas beyond current UK data management practice

  Hadoop 2 enables a greater range of data-crunching tasks, beyond Hadoop’s previous scope of batch processing, directly within the stack itself  Continue Reading

• Let’s not forget the computing curriculum’s bigger picture: Computational thinking

  Computing curriculum is about computational thinking and problem solving, not just coding/programming say education experts  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

• Uppsala Ambulance, Dagens Nyheter favour Swedish-born QlikView for BI

  Sweden has played a big part in data visualisation tools. QlikTech, NComVA and Tibco Spotfire have roots there. Uppsala Ambulance and the Dagens Nyheter newspaper are QlikView users  Continue Reading

• Human factors in the datacentre

  Whether to ensure business continuity or maximise returns, everyone from the finance director to the facilities manager needs further datacentre education  Continue Reading

• No IPv6 explosion, but a ticking bomb

  IPv6 could be a ticking security time bomb in Belgium if businesses fail to respond to the fact that adoption is gaining momentum fast  Continue Reading

• Advanced data visualisation tools transcend traditional bean counting

  Advanced data visualisation tools take Muddy Boots and Volvo beyond conventional business intelligence  Continue Reading

• The UK’s problem with power

  Datacentre power buyers say Britain’s deregulated energy market is as complex as trading in derivatives  Continue Reading

• If the Year of Code has got it wrong, how should we teach kids to code?

  Experts share their views on the Year of Code campaign and the best way to teach children to code  Continue Reading

• How NSA spying disclosures influence security strategies

  How have whistleblower Edward Snowden’s exposés affected the ways organisations deal with internal and external security threats?  Continue Reading

• Future job of the senior infrastructure manager

  Hybrid cloud architectures will need IT departments to move from core server skills to managing the capacity to let developers code  Continue Reading

• Flash storage: What it is and where to deploy it

  A guide to the key decisions in flash storage: MLC vs SLC, all-flash vs hybrid, whether to add flash to an existing SAN, flash as a tier vs cache, and more  Continue Reading

• Troubleshooting datacentre management issues

  Gaining better control of the datacentre has to be a high priority to ensure high levels of performance and availability  Continue Reading

• What does 2014 hold for HR technology?

  A look at the key battlegrounds in HR technology in 2014  Continue Reading