In Depth

In Depth

• 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

• Digitisation connects customers to companies on a new level

  ‘Digital’ provides more ways for people and businesses to connect than ever before, and a transformed role for IT in businesses old and new  Continue Reading

• NAS vs object: Which one for large volumes of unstructured data?

  Both NAS and object storage offer highly scalable file storage for large volumes of unstructured data, but which is right for your environment?  Continue Reading

• Interview: James Bamford on surveillance, Snowden and technology companies

  Investigative journalist and documentary maker James Bamford was among the first to uncover the secrets of the US National Security Agency and its global surveillance  Continue Reading

• How to deal with the aftermath of a data breach

  Considering that a data breach could happen to any company, at any time, a plan of action is the best tactic  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery planning: Where virtualisation can help

  The disaster recovery planning process is not fundamentally technology-centric, so when can virtualisation make it quicker and easier to restore services after an unplanned outage?  Continue Reading

• The next stage in quantum key distribution

  Authentication schemes based on quantum physics are emerging to address the growing number of ways to compromise data traffic  Continue Reading

• How to free your business and staff with self-service

  Introducing self-service IT can improve efficiency and hand control to the employee – so long as it’s done right  Continue Reading

• Top five things to know about flash and storage tiering

  Automated storage tiering boosts storage efficiency and saves money, but why is tiering different from caching, why is it suited to use with flash and how do suppliers differ?  Continue Reading

• Snapshots: Hypervisor vs Array

  Snapshots are a valuable part of the data protection toolkit, but where is it best to run them from – the hypervisor or the storage array? We look at the pros and cons  Continue Reading

• First steps taken on 'omni-channel' customer experience

  The future customer experience might be personalised, but there is a long road ahead yet  Continue Reading

• Does Cambridge University Hospital’s Epic project indicate NHS lacks capacity?

  Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s £200m eHospital project was seen as a model of how an NHS trust could revolutionise its IT, autonomously. A tale of over-ambition?  Continue Reading

• Acquire new skills for technology management

  The age of the customer requires organisations to focus on both the business technology and IT agendas  Continue Reading

• Avoiding security issues when recycling hardware

  What are the options for the environmentally and ethically responsible recycling of end-of-life hardware, without compromising data security?  Continue Reading

• Object storage: Cloud vs in-house

  Object storage is a rising star in data storage, especially for cloud and web use. But what are the pros and cons of cloud object storage or building in-house?  Continue Reading

• Next‑generation CIOs: The changing role of IT leaders

  The position of CIO is changing and there are more people in the role from less technical backgrounds than in the past  Continue Reading

• Is digital disruption a threat or an opportunity for banks?

  Banks have been relatively unaffected by the digital revolution that has transformed other industries – but that's about to change  Continue Reading

• How CIOs can raise their 'IT clock speed' as pressure to innovate grows

  CIOs are facing pressure from the board to roll out IT projects increasingly quickly. How can they do that without running unacceptable risks? This article, based on cutting-edge research among leading businesses, offers some answers  Continue Reading

• The true cost of a cyber security breach in Australia

  The costs of cyber security breaches can quickly add up with fines, reputational damage and overhauls to network security all hitting the coffers. The case of one Australian firm shows why paying a ransom to a hacker might be tempting.  Continue Reading

• EU Data Protection Regulation: What the EC legislation means for cloud providers

  With the European Commission's data protection rules set to drop before 2016, take a look at what the changes mean for the cloud and datacentre community  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in Hyper-V

  We run the rule over the key functionality in Microsoft Hyper-V that can help with disaster recovery, including backup, migration, high availability and replication  Continue Reading

• The security dangers of home networks

  Most companies take reasonable steps to protect their networks from virus attacks, but one area of vulnerability that is often overlooked is infection from employees’ home networks  Continue Reading

• How to ensure strong passwords and better authentication

  Five steps to ensure stronger passwords and better authentication to reduce the threat of business data theft  Continue Reading

• Max Schrems: The man who broke Safe Harbour

  Schrems has persuaded a high court judge to confirm that Edward Snowden’s evidence is acceptable in court and that the US is engaged in mass surveillance of European citizens  Continue Reading

• Ford reduces injuries with virtual assembly programme

  Ford is using computer-aided design to help reduce cases of productivity-sapping musculoskeletal disorders caused by the labour process  Continue Reading

• The best desktop strategy: Forget the desktop

  Before licensing and rolling out an updated operating system, it may be time to revise your IT estate  Continue Reading

• Netherlands uses female role models to encourage girls into IT industry

  The Netherlands needs to shake up its education system to attract more girls into IT, as only 10% of its IT workforce are women  Continue Reading

• Risky and untested: What went wrong with the ESN procurement?

  In his first major interview since walking away from the Emergency Services Network procurement, Airwave COO John Lewis reveals why his company could take no further part in the process, and discusses the future of emergency services communications  Continue Reading

• How technology is helping deliver aid to Syrian refugees in the Middle East

  The Syrian refugee crisis has engulfed the Middle East, but technology is proving to be an essential tool to help aid organisations support displaced people  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation and disaster recovery: DR features in VMware

  The key areas of functionality in VMware that can help with disaster recovery – including VMware backup, migration, high availability and replication  Continue Reading

• How to fully test IT networks for vulnerabilities

  Making sure a company network is secure is a very important task, and one that should be scheduled regularly  Continue Reading

• Flash in NAS file access storage: Does it need it – and, if so, how much?

  While flash is rapidly going mainstream for primary storage with the all-flash datacentre, does NAS file access storage need flash – and, if so, how much?  Continue Reading

• Inside Taiwan: The engine room of the internet of things

  Computer Weekly travelled to Taiwan to meet some of the tech companies that are quietly laying the foundations for the internet of things  Continue Reading

• Case study: Philips takes agile approach to building bridges between business and IT

  Dutch technology giant talks up the success of its attempts to embrace agile IT delivery methods, and how it's shaping future customer engagements  Continue Reading

• Why Pegasystems' CEO, Alan Trefler, has learned to think smaller

  Pegasystems has made its name supplying CRM, analytics and case management software to the world's largest companies. Now CEO Alan Trefler plans to use cloud computing to broaden Pega's appeal  Continue Reading

• Councils explore options for online mapping tools

  Councils are drawing on Ordnance Survey, Google Maps and OpenStreet Map for online mapping. What’s the optimal mix?  Continue Reading

• Using SAP Hana as a data warehouse

  Enterprises are using SAP Hana for in-memory data marts and SAP Business Warehouse implementations that integrate with other data warehouses  Continue Reading

• Case study: Open University uses Microsoft Azure to create course content clearance hub

  The Open University recently scooped the award for Best Cloud Project at the CW European User Awards, and here's why  Continue Reading

• Digital transformation needs business leaders to develop new skills

  A panel of experts discuss the capabilities business leaders and corporate IT need to develop for digital  Continue Reading

• OpenStack Swift 101: the object store for OpenStack apps

  We run the rule over the OpenStack Swift object storage architecture, its key components, how it achieves resiliency and the data protection methods in use and development  Continue Reading

• SaaS criteria to track for business outcomes

  Organisations should evolve their SaaS selection criteria to focus on newer metrics that are better indicators of supplier performance  Continue Reading

• All-flash vs hybrid flash for virtual desktop storage

  With massive random I/O and a huge bias towards writes, virtual desktop storage – especially for the more feature-rich VDI 2.0 – requires the speed of all-flash and hybrid flash storage  Continue Reading

• Business cases emerge from growing pains of Hadoop 1.0

  The hype around the early generation of Hadoop is giving way to the reality of business programmes based on Hadoop 2 and Apache Spark  Continue Reading

• Better user acceptance testing through log management

  Application log management provides insight into application behaviour, which can be used to build better software and gain a better hold of user acceptance testing  Continue Reading

• Still running Windows Server 2003? Don’t panic

  Many organisations are facing the prospect of running Windows 2003 server unsupported. Where do you go from here?  Continue Reading

• Using data analytics to deliver more personalised customer service

  Personalisation has been the goal for many retailers, but can the emergence of big data analytics be the solution they are looking for?  Continue Reading

• OpenStack Cinder: Block storage on the open-source cloud platform

  OpenStack Cinder 101: The fundamentals of Cinder, how it is implemented, how to provision it, how it works with third-party storage arrays, its features and more  Continue Reading

• App development companies fight back against digital piracy

  How can digital companies protect their IP against a tidal wave of smartphone boosted piracy? Is digital rights management software effective enough, or is it better to adapt your business model?  Continue Reading

• Inside DevOps: How it really works

  DevOps done well can lead to a continuous loop where teams plan, code, build, test, release, deploy, operate and monitor  Continue Reading

• How to write supplier contracts for agile software development

  Typical supplier contracts are not suited to agile software projects where there is no requirements specification – so what should IT leaders do?  Continue Reading

• How to cull old, potentially risky data

  Unused data is a potential security risk, with old spreadsheets, reports and email containing industry secrets and laced with company gossip. If it's no longer useful, it's time to delete it  Continue Reading

• VMware vs OpenStack: How they handle storage

  The opportunities and challenges presented by the two virtualisation environments when it comes to storage, backup and disaster recovery.  Continue Reading

• OpenStack Manila: File access storage for the open source cloud

  OpenStack Manila is the file level access method in development by the open source cloud platform. What is it, how does it work and when will it be ready?  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

• How to reduce the risk of social engineering attacks

  Implement simple checks to reduce the risk of the main types of social engineering attacks  Continue Reading

• Digital customer experience: Beyond the website

  Organisations are faced with the challenge of delivering their customers with an online experience that goes far beyond just a website  Continue Reading

• Augmented reality business applications start to get real

  Augmented reality applications have tended to be gimmicky marketing wheezes, but firms are starting to explore their business potential  Continue Reading

• Erasure coding vs Raid for disk rebuilds

  Erasure coding as a means of data protection has emerged with object storage and offers an alternative to Raid systems  Continue Reading

• Europe rallies together to solve digital skills crisis

  There have been several major announcements to develop skills and ensure the IT workforce adds to Europe’s economic value  Continue Reading

• Benchmarking social business and collaboration tools

  A complete social business strategy requires more than publishing social media guidelines for employees. CIOs need to rethink the enterprise as a social ecosystem  Continue Reading

• Top tips for remote and mobile workers to improve their cyber security

  Steps remote and mobile workers can take to improve cyber security on mobile devices, using public Wi-Fi and computers, and handling USB devices  Continue Reading

• Bill Binney, the ‘original’ NSA whistleblower, on Snowden, 9/11 and illegal surveillance

  Always a patriot: Computer Weekly talks to Bill Binney, the senior NSA official who blew the whistle before Edward Snowden  Continue Reading

• Datacentre PUE: Who's keeping score?

  With datacentre operators under increased competitive pressure to cut their PUE scores, are their ratings really all they seem?  Continue Reading

• Apache Spark speeds up big data decision-making

  Spark, the open-source cluster computing framework from Apache, promises to complement Hadoop batch processing  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

• Docker storage 101: How storage works in Docker

  Docker nails some of the shortcomings of virtualisation, but what about Docker container storage?  Continue Reading

• NHS data security: Lessons to be learned

  The NHS does not always provide a trusted repository for patient data, but some trusts are examples of good practice in action  Continue Reading

• Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup

  MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection  Continue Reading

• Businesses need to equip staff with the tools to do the job

  Workforces will become frustrated if they do not have the technology they need to deliver what their organisation wants  Continue Reading

• Top five things you need to know about VMware Virtual Volumes

  VMware’s Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) promise a revolution in storage for virtual machines, but what are the key things you need to know?  Continue Reading

• Energy-efficient Europe: How the datacentre sector is keeping it clean

  With users becoming increasingly savvy about environmental issues, we take a look at how the datacentre sector is responding  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

• How building information modelling is changing the construction industry

  The Cabinet Office says that by 2016, “collaborative 3D building information modelling will be required on all government projects”  Continue Reading

• How to secure the SDN infrastructure

  As more enterprises look to deploy software-defined networking, the need for security from the ground up should not be underestimated  Continue Reading

• Cyber crime: What every business needs to know

  Computer Weekly gets the low-down on cyber crime from law enforcement officers and investigators  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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Networking technologies emerging in the enterprise

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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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