In Depth

In Depth

• Is cloud data storage right for your organisation?

  Find out if cloud data storage is a serious option for you with this evaluation of its suitability for primary, nearline, backup and archive data  Continue Reading

• All-flash array products take aim at virtualisation I/O demands

  The all-flash array is built to meet demanding server and desktop virtualisation I/O requirements. Computer Weekly surveys a rapidly evolving market and looks at use cases and products  Continue Reading

• Procurement function to squeeze value from supply chain analytics

  Supply chain analytics promises savings for procurement. But spending data can be scattered around the organisation. Procurement Lincolnshire, a collaborative local government entity, might show the way  Continue Reading

• Gathering retail intelligence

  Learning their customers’ habits through business intelligence is vital for bricks-and-mortar retailers to stay competitive  Continue Reading

• Static code analysis tools gain traction in India as SDL models mature

  Static analysis tools are gaining popularity with Indian companies as software development models and perspectives mature. Here are some popular choices.  Continue Reading

• Tablets: The best tools for the job

  Tablets have replaced laptops for many uses because of their light weight and longer battery life, but there remain important distinctions  Continue Reading

• CW500: The boardroom view of IT

  Jim Norton, former BCS president, Nick Beighton CFO of Asos and Robin Young COO of Mitchells & Butlers offer advice to IT leaders  Continue Reading

• HDFC Bank’s ISO 27004-compliant security metrics a boost toward GRC

  An ISO/IEC 27004-compliant metrics program is a rarity in the Indian infosec circuit. Indian BFSI major HDFC Bank’s ISMS has been there, done that  Continue Reading

• Tablets in the enterprise: Challenges of office mobility

  Moving the physical desk environment onto a tablet-based one brings a host of IT obstacles  Continue Reading

• Setting up a botnet is easier than you think

  Acquiring, installing, configuring and using a powerful data-stealing banking Trojan toolkit is not as difficult as it sounds  Continue Reading

• Virtual server backup software survey

  In this virtual server backup software survey, we run the rule over the key third-party VM backup products, from the fully featured for the enterprise to thin and light products for SMBs.  Continue Reading

• Data visualisation success hinges on solid storytelling skills

  Tableau's Jock Mackinlay explains why data is inert and worthless without the twin practices of visualisation and storytelling.  Continue Reading

• SMEs: Do business the smart way

  Speedy IT purchasing decisions can be beneficial both to SMEs and their suppliers  Continue Reading

• Build consensus on MDM programme goals to boost chances of success

  Advice on how to build political consensus for successful MDM initiatives, distilled from Jim Mortleman's fieldwork for SearchDataManagement.co.UK. Common advice uncommonly gathered.  Continue Reading

• Business focus vital for effective master data management strategy

  To be successful, a master data management programme must be designed from the outset with business objectives foremost in mind. Get advice on how to build a business-trained MDM strategy.  Continue Reading

• Business focus vital for effective master data management strategy

  To be successful, a master data management programme must be designed from the outset with business objectives foremost in mind. Get advice on how to build a business-trained MDM strategy.  Continue Reading

• Outsourcing IT services: goals and negotiations

  Tactical and strategic negotiations are important to businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to the largest enterprises  Continue Reading

• If the popularity of ICT is on the rise, why are we scrapping the curriculum?

  Recent GCSE results revealed more students are choosing to study ICT, however the government still plans to scrap the curriculum two years ahead of the planned computer science replacement  Continue Reading

• The implications for storage of EU data protection regulation

  EU data protection regulations are set to change, and the implications for data storage are manifold and include far-reaching effects on in-house and external cloud storage.  Continue Reading

• BI dashboards help South Leicestershire College track performance

  A college administrator discusses the steps to implementing a BI and dashboard product at her college in central England to help decision making.  Continue Reading

• SMEs: Optimising IT assets

  A full lifecycle management approach to hardware can help small businesses extract the greatest value from their IT purchases.  Continue Reading

• Big Data: Utilities rise to the smart meter challenge

  The mass of information from smart meters is leading utility suppliers to reconsider how they use their data  Continue Reading

• Post A-Level IT apprenticeship options: What if you didn’t get the grades you wanted?

  IT apprenticeship schemes are increasingly being offered by tech companies to students who choose not to attend university  Continue Reading

• BYOD: Can enterprise mitigate the risks?

  What can businesses do to mitigate the risks of employees using their own devices as the trend for IT consumerisation gathers momentum?  Continue Reading

• Big data analytics and the end of sampling as we know it

  To sample or not to sample? It didn't used to be a question. Data sets were so huge and compute resources so overwhelmed that BI professionals were resigned to sampling. Enter big data analytics.  Continue Reading

• Mobile BI sparks recast of business intelligence

  Mobile BI constitutes an entirely new usage paradigm, says the TDWI: one which fundamentally recasts how, when and where people interact with and consume information.  Continue Reading

• Data's role in customer engagement

  A combination of traditional business intelligence and big data can help businesses manage information overload  Continue Reading

• Weighing up the options for software testing

  We examine the reasons why software testing is increasingly being outsourced  Continue Reading

• BI, advanced analytics offer edge for wind turbine, blinds makers

  Two European manufacturers explain how using advanced analytics give their businesses an edge: Danish wind turbine company Vestas and Nottinghamshire-based Hillarys Blinds.  Continue Reading

• Goodbye Wi-Fi, hello WiGig

  The organisation behind the new wireless standard says WiGig will be the wireless technology for the enterprise.  Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud storage product comparison

  Hybrid cloud storage products are, with certain provisos, up to the task of providing primary or nearline storage to organisations that want to offload working data to the cloud.  Continue Reading

• Best of VMworld Europe 2012 Awards: Nomination form

  Enter your products in the Best of VMworld Europe 2012 Users Awards with this nomination form. The deadline is Friday, September 14, 2012.  Continue Reading

• IRM solution helps training provider secure critical assets

  Information rights management (IRM) with Seclore’s FileSecure was PurpleLeap’s weapon of choice against the dangers of intellectual property leakage  Continue Reading

• Teradata CTO: 'Big data' technology starting to hit the mainstream

  Teradata’s chief technology officer Stephen Brobst reflects on the “big data” landscape, in-memory as hype, cloud data warehousing and mobile consumer intelligence.  Continue Reading

• How to make sense of the big data universe

  Analysing big data can be a daunting prospect, so find out what you need, where it is and how to deal with it  Continue Reading

• The future of electronic healthcare records

  What are the options open to health trusts for digitising patient records once the NHS IT infrastructure is decentralised?  Continue Reading

• Interview: Angela Tucci, chief strategy officer, Symantec

  Angela Tucci, chief strategy officer at Symantec, talks to Computer Weekly about the company's strategic plans  Continue Reading

• Taking the tablets to boost healthcare efficiency

  Mobility is one of the big drivers in the NHS. We look at how consumerisation trends are improving healthcare.  Continue Reading

• Key technologies driving healthcare

  We look at the intelligent tools being utilised in the health sector to improve patient care and wellbeing  Continue Reading

• Enterprise SAN survey: A feature-rich market with some key differences

  The enterprise SAN market is full of large-capacity beasts with advanced features common to all, but vendors’ high-end array products are by no means all the same.  Continue Reading

• Cloud archive: The most mature of the cloud storage services

  Cloud archive: The cloud is an ideal fit for long-term remote service provider data retention. We list the key benefits of cloud archive services and some UK providers.  Continue Reading

• Compliance, risk and the coming EU data protection framework: a CISO's perspective

  Compliance and risk managers in Europe are facing one of the biggest challenges for decades as the region moves to a new data protection framework  Continue Reading

• Predictive sports analytics put in play for Wimbledon, Formula One

  Predictive analytics in sports is proving itself in tennis and car racing. Can it make the leap to team sports, long the preserve of barroom anoraks?  Continue Reading

• Best practice in outsourcing security

  The issues CIOs must consider in balancing security needs and budgetary constraints  Continue Reading

• Men and women disagree on reasons why IT is less attractive to women

  Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly survey finds men and women disagree on why IT is a less attractive career choice for females  Continue Reading

• What is driving desktop virtualisation?

  Thin-client computing has been around for years. But until recently, it failed to make progress in the enterprise. But it is now a top priority.  Continue Reading

• VMware disaster recovery using VMware onboard features

  Find out how to prepare for VMware disaster recovery using features such as Site Recovery Manager, vSphere Replication, VMware High Availability and VMware Data Recovery.  Continue Reading

• Using IT to capitalise on austerity

  FM Conway IT chief Ed Lynott talks about how the civil engineering firm uses IT to deal with public sector cuts  Continue Reading

• Data virtualisation on rise as ETL alternative for data integration

  The Phone House and Novartis have turned to data virtualisation from Denodo and Composite to gain a single logical view of disparate data sources.  Continue Reading

• GPU Computing in High-Performance Computing: A Status Check

  While GPU computing in HPC clusters is not new, it has become popular in recent times. We explain GPC computing and show you how to get the most out of it.  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

• Virtual solution to consumerisation

  Archana Venkatraman looks at how the virtual desktop can help businesses with employees using their own devices  Continue Reading

• Network security assessments: India Inc. is going beyond routine

  As network security assessments become essential hygiene, security experts at Indian enterprises are honing in to specifics. Some tips, insights and advice.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: A framework for preventing cross-site scripting

  Based on his Royal Holloway thesis, Joseph Bugeja proposes a new framework for preventing cross-site scripting attacks.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: Designing a secure contactless payment system

  In his Royal Holloway thesis, Albert Attard proposes a contactless payment system to make card-not-present credit card transactions more secure.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: An incident response process for armoured malware

  An incident response process may be futile when dealing with today’s armoured malware, as explained in this Royal Holloway article.  Continue Reading

• Options in small-business storage for server virtualisation

  SMBs moving to virtualised servers need shared storage to support a new, dynamic environment. We survey the key file- and block-level options in small-business storage.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: Risks of multi-tenancy cloud computing

  In his Royal Holloway 2012 thesis, Jacobo Ros examines the risks of multi-tenancy cloud computing.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: An analysis of cloud security certifications

  In his Royal Holloway 2012 thesis, Robert Farrugia analyses cloud security certifications and suggests ways organisations can reduce cloud risks.  Continue Reading

• Royal Holloway 2012: PCI compliance, cloud computing are a costly pair

  It is possible to achieve PCI DSS compliance in a cloud environment, but it may not be cost-effective, as explained in this Royal Holloway article.  Continue Reading

• HTML5: The end of native apps?

  Will the platform-agnostic common language HTML5 force apps from the device to the web?  Continue Reading

• How technology is changing BPO

  Karl Flinders discovers how IT has become central to the provision of outsourced business processes  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Desktop virtualisation demands detailed request for proposals

  Forrester's Clarence Villanueva and Chris Andrews provide tips on how to build a successful RFP for desktop virtualisation  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

• Mandatory carbon reporting: Indirect emissions guidelines for IT managers

  As the UK government announces mandatory carbon reporting for listed companies, how are IT managers to interpret guidelines on indirect emissions?  Continue Reading

• Storage capacity planning tools: Why virtual machines change everything

  Because virtual servers are easy to create, delete and move and their storage needs grow rapidly and unexpectedly, you need to be on top of storage capacity planning.  Continue Reading

• 'Big data' MDM processes key to finding business value in new info

  Big data MDM projects encounter a green field in the form of social media. And all big data is enterprise data, by definition. Business leaders will look to IT to derive serious business value.  Continue Reading

• VMware data protection: An overview of how it works

  There is a variety of tools that improve VMware data protection, with advantages in the areas of VM backup, replication and snapshots, compared with a traditional server environment.  Continue Reading

• iSCSI security: Networking and security options available

  iSCSI security options include physical and virtual IP/Ethernet networking methods as well as built-in storage and switch device security features. Read about them here.  Continue Reading

• Could G-Cloud become the pride of public sector IT?

  Despite the gloomy financial climate, the government has stated that G-Cloud remains a priority. Clive Longbottom looks at the impact.  Continue Reading

• Automate testing for agile quality

  As agile methodology piles pressure on quality assurance, automation could ease resources.  Continue Reading

• HDFC Bank’s BS 25999 certification journey: An exploration

  With BS 25999 certification hot these days, we take a look behind the scenes at HDFC Bank. The BFSI player just completed its first year of certification.  Continue Reading

• Delivering value from desktop virtualisation

  IT leaders met at a recent Computer Weekly roundtable event to discuss the implications of desktop virtualisation on their technology infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• MDM technology still affords chance to make poor software choices

  The MDM market is not so mature that bad choices are difficult to make. Beware the hype of multi domain, and don't expect technology to solve governance problems, in isolation.  Continue Reading

• 10 GbE: iSCSI bandwidth increase improves protocol’s position against FC

  With a boost to iSCSI bandwidth with 10 Gigabit Ethernet, products that support the protocol offer features to rival Fibre Channel SANs, including scalability and hypervisor integration.  Continue Reading

• How transforming a datacentre can transform your business

  IT leaders from Domino's Pizza and TheTrainline.com reveal how transforming their datacentres transformed their businesses.  Continue Reading

• How will storage infrastructure change with VDI deployments?

  The benefits of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) are well-documented but firms implementing VDI may have to re-appraise their storage options  Continue Reading

• VMware backup and the VMware snapshot

  The VMware snapshot is a critical component of VMware backup. In this guide to the basics of VMware backup, we walk you through the key processes and suggest some best practices.  Continue Reading

• CEH certification gains credence in IT security domain

  CEH certification is much sought after in the IT security domain today. Here’s how you can obtain CEH certification and why you should attempt do so.  Continue Reading

• What IT leaders say about big data

  IT leaders met at a recent Computer Weekly roundtable event, in association with Oracle, to discuss the possibilities and challenges of big data.  Continue Reading

• HyperCITY’s retail store management system: Profit with promotions

  HyperCITY services a million customers selling them about 40,000 products. Know how one of India’s largest hypermarket chains accomplishes this.  Continue Reading

• Server SSD guide to form factors and implementations

  Server SSD offers immense gains in IOPS and throughput. We look at how it works, form factors available and its advantages and pitfalls, and we survey key vendors in the market.  Continue Reading

• Cloud backup options: Pure cloud vs hybrid cloud backup

  Cloud backup is increasingly being seen as a flexible and cost-effective option by many organisations, but what are the pros and cons of pure cloud backup and hybrid cloud backup?  Continue Reading

• Using open data in local government

  Developers are using open data from local government to create new, innovate public services. Cliff Saran reports.  Continue Reading

• CW500: The business case for social media

  BT, the Met Office and the Department of Work and Pensions reveal how they are using social media to interact with staff and customers  Continue Reading

• Essar’s WAN encryption strategy to secure data in motion: In focus

  Indian conglomerate Essar puts WAN encryption in place using Cisco’s GET VPN to protect data flows between remote locations. A closer look.  Continue Reading

• Making money from data: Financial business intelligence at work

  Finance professionals are heavy users of BI and predictive analytics software. Find out how a variety of European finance functionaries are analysing trends, cutting costs and finding new business.  Continue Reading

• 'Big data' applications bring new database choices, challenges

  The dormitory world of databases has been roused from slumber by “big data” and associated technologies: MapReduce, Hadoop, MPP, NoSQL. Andy Hayler details big data’s impact and the issues it raises.  Continue Reading

• Big vendors tail startups in primary storage deduplication

  Primary storage deduplication can slash disk utilisation rates, but it has yet to gain widespread mainstream product implementation. It’s coming though, and startups lead the way.  Continue Reading

• CW500: Transforming IT at HMRC, with CIO Phil Pavitt

  Phil Pavitt, HM Revenue & Customs CIO, revealed the secrets behind running the UK's largest IT estate to CW500 Club members.  Continue Reading

• HPC storage requirements: Massive IOPS and parallel file systems

  We survey the key vendors in HPC storage, where huge amounts of IOPS, clustering, parallel file systems and custom silicon provide storage for massive number crunching operations.  Continue Reading

• Object-based File Systems come of age for HPC

  With HPC raring to enter the exaflop realm, object-based file systems can ensure better I/O performance. We take a look at the leading options.  Continue Reading

• Vodafone India’s PCI DSS compliance journey: A dissection

  With Vodafone India’s PCI DSS compliance journey in its third iteration, we share practical PCI DSS tips and ground realities from the telecom major.  Continue Reading

• Do not delay, EU data protection changes on the way

  Three or four years is plenty of time to get ready for the new data protection framework in Europe, but the clock is ticking  Continue Reading

• Blade servers: How to decide on Unix or Linux

  If you’re contemplating Unix or Linux for your blade server, or a migration from one to the other, in this guide you will find everything you need to make up your mind. Useful Unix and Linux command lines also included.  Continue Reading

• Cisco everywoman in Technology Awards: The winners’ stories

  The winners of the everywoman in Technology Awards 2012 have been announced. Find out why they won  Continue Reading

• F5: The last vendor standing in file virtualisation?

  Since 2005 file virtualisation has gone from emerging technology to a field with one active vendor. What has caused the demise of file virtualisation and why does F5 persist with it?  Continue Reading

• India Inc guns for SIEM tools as maturity, viability drive growth

  SIEM tool adoption in India is rising, spurred by growth in maturity of both SIEMs and organizations. We take a broad status check of the Indian SIEM space.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise flash: Three implementation options for virtualisation

  Enterprise flash now comes in a variety of form factors aimed at speeding I/O beyond what’s possible with spinning disk in server and desktop virtualisation scenarios.  Continue Reading

• Bringing back the romance of engineering: Technician Council unveils framework

  The Technician Council has unveiled a framework for employers which aims to recreate the romance that once surrounded engineering  Continue Reading