In Depth

In Depth

• How to tune storage performance for different workloads

  We run the rule over what’s needed to get the best storage performance for databases, virtual servers and desktops, web and email servers and analytics use cases  Continue Reading

• How UK organisations are leaving themselves open for cyber attack

  UK organisations are leaving themselves wide open to cyber attack despite huge investments in cyber security systems, according to two former hackers now working in cyber defence  Continue Reading

• How to implement a low-power WAN to support the IoT

  We explore the options and the implementation process for an LPWAN to support internet of things projects in the enterprise  Continue Reading

• Blockchain starts to prove its value outside of finance

  Technology behind bitcoin is being adopted in supply chains, power networks and even to support independent musicians  Continue Reading

• Time to restore from backup: Do you know where your data is?

  Making a backup is only the start of the process. You must be sure you can restore, that backups contain what you need, and that they will work with the applications that need them  Continue Reading

• Inside the well-planned metro network: how CityFibre does it

  Computer Weekly met metro network builder CityFibre to find out why, and how, the organisation believes it can mount a credible challenge to Openreach’s dominance of wholesale fibre  Continue Reading

• Australian startups find their way in the cloud

  Public cloud services have empowered Australian startups to scale up and go global from day one  Continue Reading

• How composable applications can improve software development

  We speak to experts in the field of software development about the pros and cons of componentising application software  Continue Reading

• Silicon Valley startups aim to make big data capture and prep slicker

  A group of California-based startup and early-stage data analytics and management companies are bidding to make big data, including sensor data, more tractable for analysis  Continue Reading

• Storage performance 101: Server, array and fabric/network basics

  We look at the key performance attributes of storage media in use today, and the choices and basic tuning steps you can take to get the most from your storage  Continue Reading

• Storage 101: Object storage vs block vs file

  We recap the key attributes of file and block storage access and the pros and cons of object storage, a method that offers key benefits but also drawbacks compared with SAN and NAS  Continue Reading

• DevOps done right: Why work-life balance matters to digital transformation success

  DevOps practitioners warn enterprises off neglecting the health and well-being of the IT staff responsible for delivering their digital transformation projects  Continue Reading

• The changing shape of mobile apps

  We find out how organisations can gain the agility they need to keep pace with mobile app innovation  Continue Reading

• Software asset management maturity in the age of SaaS

  For asset tracking, software as a service is no different from any other type of software licensing – but the process of software asset management needs adapting  Continue Reading

• Cloud contracts are still a minefield

  Cloud computing is maturing in the enterprise space, but the contracts that underpin cloud services have not evolved at the same pace  Continue Reading

• Private cloud: Orchestration, storage and containers

  We look at the key requirements and components of private cloud – including the use of container platforms – and the impact of private cloud on storage in the datacentre  Continue Reading

• Breaking the cyber kill chain

  Traditional antivirus is no longer good enough for fileless malware attacks that don’t leave a trace  Continue Reading

• DevOps done right: Creating a collaborative and supportive business culture

  Cultivating a supportive and collaborative business culture is considered central to getting DevOps to take hold in an organisation. We take a look at what this entails  Continue Reading

• Storage 101: Queue depth, NVMe and the array controller

  We look at queue depth and fan-out and fan-in ratios. With NVMe they could become a thing of the past, but for now there’s still a bottleneck at the storage array controller  Continue Reading

• Moore’s Law is running out – but don’t panic

  Can system performance continue to improve to cope with the burgeoning needs of datacentres  Continue Reading

• NVMe: PCIe card vs U.2 and M.2

  We talk NVMe form factor choices – add-in card vs U.2. vs M.2 – and their uses, for primary storage or cache, with Server StorageIO founder and analyst Greg Schulz  Continue Reading

• Challenges of complying with the Investigatory Powers Act

  Despite opposition by civil liberties groups and technology companies, the UK government has passed the controversial Investigatory Powers Act, adding a host of security and contingency requirements that UK businesses need to consider  Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud 101: Using the cloud as a storage tier

  We look at what’s possible when it comes to hybrid cloud, what types of data and what hybrid cloud architectures can combine on-premise and cloud storage capacity  Continue Reading

• Backup 101: Incremental vs differential vs synthetic full backup

  Backup methods pros and cons: Full, incremental, differential, synthetic full, incremental forever, and reverse incremental. We set out the advantages and drawbacks of each  Continue Reading

• How information security professionals can help business understand cyber risk

  Information security is continually moving up business and board agendas, but information security professionals find it challenging to help business leaders to understand fully the cyber risks across increasingly digital businesses.  Continue Reading

• Secure IoT before it kills us

  Experts say more must be done to mitigate the potentially catastrophic threats presented by connected devices  Continue Reading

• NVMe over fabrics vs Fibre Channel, Ethernet, Infiniband

  NVMe over fabrics takes the built-for-flash advantages of the PCIe-based protocol, and allows NVMe to be sent via Fibre Channel, Ethernet and Infiniband networks  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery testing: technology systems to test DR

  In this concluding part of a two-part series, Computer Weekly looks at ways of testing disaster recovery plans, with methods including array-based replication and hypervisor-based approaches  Continue Reading

• End user devices require careful orchestration

  Options for access to IT have soared since the desktop PC’s heyday, and organisations must conduct a balancing act  Continue Reading

• Storage briefing: NVMe vs SATA and SAS

  NVMe brings blistering performance gains over existing HDD-era disk protocols, and is a straight swap-in for PCIe server-side flash with array and hyper-converged products on the way  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery testing: A vital part of the DR plan

  Disaster recovery provision is worthless unless you test out your plans. In this two-part series, Computer Weekly looks at disaster recovery testing in virtualised datacentres  Continue Reading

• Future of the server operating system

  We look at the evolution of the server operating system, and how the next generation is moving into the cloud  Continue Reading

• Looking beyond PUE to assess the true environmental impacts of datacentre growth

  Sustainability experts want operators to look beyond the accepted datacentre metrics to assess the impact the industry's growth is having on the environment  Continue Reading

• Software-defined storage: The pros and cons, and what is available

  Software-defined storage is a rapidly rising trend in the datacentre, but what are the advantages and disadvantages of building your own storage, and is it suitable for all organisations?  Continue Reading

• Value chain mapping – making sense of executive strategy

  In this first excerpt from his book on value chain mapping, Simon Wardley explains why business leaders need to understand the importance of maps for corporate strategy  Continue Reading

• Value chain mapping – finding a path

  In the second extract from his forthcoming book, Simon Wardley explains how to draw a map to describe the changing nature of your business  Continue Reading

• The cyber threats lurking within every company

  Insider threats have been around for a long time, but it is only recently that people have begun to acknowledge the true danger they pose  Continue Reading

• How to beat Oracle licence audits

  An eight-step guide to tame the Oracle auditors. Don't take the bait...  Continue Reading

• Neutron’s role evolves in OpenStack networks

  We examine the progress of Neutron, OpenStack’s cloud networking module  Continue Reading

• Docker storage: how to get persistent storage in Docker

  Docker, by default, doesn’t come with persistent storage, which presents an issue to some workloads customers that want to run in containers – however, there are ways to achieve persistent storage  Continue Reading

• Lauri Love: the student accused of hacking the US

  How did a brilliant but fragile computer science student from a rural English town end up facing life imprisonment in the US? Computer Weekly speaks to Lauri Love  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of cloud bursting

  The much-vaunted benefits of cloud computing can be overshadowed by portability and interoperability issues  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Networks replace hierarchies – how IT changed society

  The first issue of Computer Weekly in 1966 predicted huge social changes from IT – but what has really changed in 50 years?  Continue Reading

• Blockchain and the promise of cooperative cloud storage

  Blockchain technology allows distributed retention of encrypted data and is at the heart of cooperative cloud storage  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The next 50 years

  As Computer Weekly celebrates its 50th anniversary, we look ahead to what we might be writing about in another 50 years from now  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Bugs, blunders and bad practices

  Computer Weekly’s arrival on 22 September 1966 reflected a growing global industry and the hopes for British computing  Continue Reading

• Gain insights into customer behaviour

  Predictive analytics can give marketing campaigns a head start, but business stakeholders may need convincing  Continue Reading

• SAP Hana storage 101

  If you're starting down the road towards SAP Hana in-memory analytics you'll need to understand its storage requirements. Here are some basics to get you started  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Women in technology – the shifting gender landscape

  As Computer Weekly celebrates its 50th anniversary, we look back on the great women who have made technology as well as the IT industry possible  Continue Reading

• CIO Interview: Graeme Hackland, Williams Martini Racing

  Williams Martini Racing CIO Graeme Hackland discusses network infrastructure, data analytics and the future for wearable tech and augmented reality in Formula 1 motor racing  Continue Reading

• Cost-effective managed IPS for small businesses

  Small businesses typically struggle to afford cyber intrusion prevention systems, but the introduction of a service tailored for this market could change that  Continue Reading

• Make fictional expense claims a thing of the past

  Some executives think that travel and entertainment (T&E) expense claims are a licence to practise their creative fiction skills  Continue Reading

• CW@50: A history of IT outsourcing

  Computer Weekly looks at where and when IT outsourcing was invented and considers the changes the sector has gone through since  Continue Reading

• Datacentre cooling upgrades: Helping operators decide where best to invest

  Upgrading a datacentre cooling system is an expensive undertaking, but should operators stick with what they've always done or try something new?  Continue Reading

• The problem of passwords and how to deal with it

  Security experts have long recognised passwords as inadequate, but finally technology is offering some viable alternative authentication methods that businesses can explore to keep their data safe  Continue Reading

• Overcoming the scale-up challenge of enterprise DevOps adoption

  CIOs and IT leaders share their advice on what enterprises can do to accelerate the spread of DevOps within their organisations  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The story of the internet, and how it changed the world

  Computer Weekly’s journey through 50 years of innovation in technology continues with a look back at the history of the internet and the huge changes it has brought to society  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Spreadsheets and ERP – 50 years of software coding business

  Business software has been a rich field for IT professionals over the past five decades, and we are on the cusp of a new era of customers rolling their own for competitive advantage  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The evolution of the CIO

  From working in statistics departments to becoming a key part of any business transformation – as Computer Weekly gets ready to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we look back at the changing role of IT leaders  Continue Reading

• NoSQL database technology finds use cases, but still minority sport

  From managing water meter data, through Bitcoin and video data, to web publishing, NoSQL database technology is finding real use cases. But it's likely to be stuck at 10% of the market for some time  Continue Reading

• Isle of Man: From seaside getaway to tech startup hub

  The Isle of Man government is stepping up efforts to position itself as the low-tax jurisdiction of choice for the startup community. But what's it like to do business there?  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The Great British chip invention

  There is a link between the world’s first working computer and the world’s most successful chip: they are both British  Continue Reading

• NoSQL offerings from Microsoft and Oracle

  Cloud and big data applications have led to a new wave of NoSQL data stores. We look at what Microsoft and Oracle have to offer  Continue Reading

• Growing possibilities for 3D printing

  As 3D printing disrupts business and technology mandates, CIOs can gain new relevance as business enablers  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Government IT goes full circle in the space of 50 years

  As Computer Weekly prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary this September, we take a look at how government IT has changed over the years  Continue Reading

• For IBM, the answer is Watson. But what is the question?

  IBM is promoting its Watson natural language processing analytics technology as it tries to move its core business beyond technologies that it pioneered, but which have become commoditised. Will it fly?  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

• It makes sense to go hyperscale/hyper-converged

  Hyperscale computing and storage are the norm for web giants. Hyper-converged scenarios make it possible for small and medium-sized enterprises to gain the advantages of combined server/storage nodes  Continue Reading

• How to build your own IoT with Azure

  Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform has gone well beyond mere virtual machines and orchestrated workflows. It can now also power internet of things applications  Continue Reading

• An overview of cloud customer relationship management

  Businesses are confident about buying customer relationship management (CRM) software as a cloud-based service. Computer Weekly looks at the main players  Continue Reading

• UK startups seek to lead the world in smart city technologies

  Government trade mission to south-east Asia helps UK startups to target the region’s growing smart city projects  Continue Reading

• How 3D printing will disrupt industry worldwide

  The technology is helping startups model prototypes and inventory suppliers lop millions from supply chain costs  Continue Reading

• CW@50: How networking became the core of IT

  Compared with the network, Computer Weekly is but a sprightly youngster. We take a look back not at just 50, but 200 years of British innovation in communications technology  Continue Reading

• PCIe SSD: Cache vs storage tier

  Adding PCIe flash is a popular way of speeding up application response times, with more rapid I/O guaranteed, but should PCIe SSD be added as cache or as a tier of storage?  Continue Reading

• Graph database technology starts to come of age beyond social media

  Graph databases, based on mathematics known for three centuries, are starting to yield value for businesses beyond Facebook and Twitter  Continue Reading

• CW@50: How UK home brew gave computing to the masses

  From batch processing to the graphical user interface, from desktop PCs to smartphones, from luggables to wearables, computing has come a long way since Computer Weekly was first published in 1966. We look at some of the personal computers that ...  Continue Reading

• CW@50: From bricks to clicks – how technology has changed the shopping experience

  As Computer Weekly prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we look back at how retail has evolved from the small corner store of the 1960s to the omni-channel world of today  Continue Reading

• Amazon S3 storage 101: Object storage in the cloud

  Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) has emerged as a de facto standard for accessing data in the cloud. We run the rule over S3, its key attributes and what you need to know to use it with your applications  Continue Reading

• CW@50: From local innovations to centralisation – 50 years of healthcare IT

  From broom cupboards doubling as server rooms to teleprinters and green screens, as Computer Weekly prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday, we look back at NHS innovations, pitfalls and attempts to digitise over the past five decades  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Data management – Five decades of prospecting for business value

  Data management and business intelligence have been at the heart of business value creation for decades. Read about how Computer Weekly has tracked their promise and tribulations  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The changing face of the datacentre over the past 50 years

  As Computer Weekly prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary, we take a look back at how the design and role of the datacentre has changed over the past five decades  Continue Reading

• Singapore’s Jurong Health Services: Transforming healthcare through data technologies

  Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) is being recognised for its high standards of data use  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Storage – From punched cards to flash and the cloud

  Since the launch of Computer Weekly in 1966, we have moved from a world of punched cards and paper tape to one where flash and the cloud have revolutionised data storage  Continue Reading

• CW@50: From ICL to ITIL

  Standardisation helps industries to grow. Here in the UK, a number of highly influential standards emerged that have become building blocks for the modern computer industry  Continue Reading

• CW@50: Fertile British breeding grounds for information security innovation

  Computer Weekly is marking its 50th anniversary this year with a series of articles celebrating 50 years of British technology innovation. In this article, we look at the evolution of information security threats and some of the British innovation ...  Continue Reading

• Hunters: a rare but essential breed of enterprise cyber defenders

  They wait, they watch, they search the outer reaches of networks and the darkest corners of the web, setting traps, crafting tools, collecting evidence and going in pursuit: they are the hunters  Continue Reading

• How to manage IT access for external users

  Identity and access management has extended from being solely an internal IT management process to focus on external business engagement too  Continue Reading

• CW@50: 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

• IAM is the future for managing data security

  Why identity and access management is taking centre stage in companies’ access policies  Continue Reading

• CW@50: The heyday of British computing - how the Brits ruled IT

  We examine how the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s became an age of great innovation for the British computer industry  Continue Reading

• CW@50: 1966 - Computer Weekly goes to bat for the British computer industry

  Launched in 1966 as part of a modernising wave to change British society, Computer Weekly battled for the nation’s industry against the US, and saw IT as an entry ticket to the Common Market  Continue Reading

• Co-ordinate outsourced services with Siam

  We look at the practical considerations of implementing an effective service integration and management strategy  Continue Reading

• Combine data mining and simulation to maximise process improvement

  Data mining and computer simulation can be used together to better model and improve industrial processes, city development and other complex systems  Continue Reading

• Datacentre heat reuse: Why aren’t more operators doing it?

  With the datacentre industry’s sustainability habits coming under increasingly close scrutiny, we find out why operators are not rushing to reuse their waste heat  Continue Reading

• Microsoft’s underwater datacentre: The pros and cons of running subsea facilities

  Underwater datacentres can help providers save on land costs and cooling, but at what cost to the environment?  Continue Reading

• What are containers and microservices?

  Independently deployable bits of code can be used to build agile applications. We look at some of the main players  Continue Reading

• Divide and conquer in software architecture

  Applications built out of independently deployable modules are the future of flexible solution development  Continue Reading

• Five CIO tips for building an IT strategy in the digital age

  CIOs and strategy experts share their experiences of creating an IT strategy that makes the most of the digital revolution  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage appliances: What they are and who provides them

  We look at the cloud storage appliance market – everything from local gateway presentation of the cloud, via hybrid cloud, to the new generation of cloud-resident appliances  Continue Reading

• Unaligned I/O: A storage performance killer

  As the stack piles higher – with virtual servers, their virtual disks and guest operating systems – the scope for unaligned or misaligned I/O to affect performance increases  Continue Reading