In Depth

In Depth

• Review: VMware PXE Manager

  Learn how to set up VMware PXE Manager and its additional features. Our VMware expert discuses his favourite ‘Fling’: Massimiliano Daneri’s PXE Manager.  Continue Reading

• IT in Europe e-zine: Data Management & BI Edition

  The benefits of effective data management and business intelligence are many; so are the challenges. Get practical information and advice on data management & BI strategies in the IT in Europe ezine.  Continue Reading

• Is a virtual backup appliance right for your environment?

  A virtual backup appliance is easily deployed and offers latency reduction, scalability, integration and costs savings. But is one right for your environment?  Continue Reading

• IBM: BPM and BI take place in "IT without boundaries"

  IBM's Nancy Pearson explains how BPM, BI and analytics fit in to the new business IT paradigm.  Continue Reading

• Why more businesses are nearshoring in Eastern Europe

  Low-cost, highly skilled IT labour and a relatively close proximity to the UK is making Eastern Europe an increasingly attractive destination to UK businesses  Continue Reading

• DBAs and data warehouse architects in high demand

  Demand for senior DBAs and data warehouse architects has risen sharply. How can UK organisations find needed database skills, and how should skills availability influence database purchasing plans?  Continue Reading

• Case study: How a small business can benefit from SaaS

  Professional beauty products distributor SweetSquared considers using Microsoft Office 365 alongside browser-based SaaS.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Dealing with virtual desktop I/O bottlenecks

  Networking and storage are two areas often overlooked in a virtual desktop infrastructure project. Cliff Saran looks at what can go wrong.  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation's role in datacentre cloud economics and employee consumerisation

  The role of virtualisation in achieving cloud economics in the datacentre and mediating the teeming array of digital platforms with which employees handle organisations' data.  Continue Reading

• CIO Insight - Mark Settle, CIO of BMC Software

  CIOs are leading in a time of rapid change. What are the challenges in front of today's CIO and how can they be faced down? Mark Settle of BMC Software offers some insights.  Continue Reading

• Five questions to ask when choosing a cloud service

  With so many different cloud providers around, choosing the right one can be very tricky. We look at some of the key questions that CIOs need to consider.  Continue Reading

• Six reasons to adopt storage virtualisation

  Storage virtualisation’s benefits are a little more esoteric, but perhaps more profound, than those offered by server virtualisation.  Continue Reading

• Review: Microsoft Office 365 versus Google Apps for Business

  With the launch of Microsoft's cloud offering, Office 365, the race for corporate adoption is truly on. Adrian Bridgwater looks at the pros and cons of Office 365 and how its features compare with those of Google Apps to see which provider is best ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Electronic case filing at the Royal Courts of Justice

  When a major IT project at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to roll out an electronic filing system failed, Nigel Kelly, e-working project manager at the MoJ, created a digital court record system from scratch using an entirely different approach. ...  Continue Reading

• Business process improvement case study: Cooperative Financial Services

  Virtualisation and business process optimisation are key to the strategy of The Cooperative Financial Services following its merger with Britannia in 2009.  Continue Reading

• Buyer's Guide to VDI: How to mitigate latency and data security issues for mobile users

  Thin-client computing from green screens to tablets Thin client challenges: Latency and energy savings Mitigate data security risk among mobile users Stream data and applications kept in the datacentre Server-based computing offers variety of data ...  Continue Reading

• Sterlite’s firewall implementation: Standardizing perimeter security

  Sterlite Technologies’ novel firewall implementation with centralized control of distributed threat management systems boasts a brass-tacks approach to IT.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Leadership skills

  Leadership Skills Will Be the PM's Critical Success Factor.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Informal learning

  Organisations will continue to develop and exploit informal learning approaches such as communities of practice (CoP), various forms of social media, as well as coaching and mentoring.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Competency

  As project management gains greater acceptance as a discipline, the hiring, assignment, promotion and professional development of project and programme managers will be based on comprehensive competency models.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Outsourcing

  The continued growth of outsourcing will force organisations to pay more heed to its associated risks and conduct better due diligence.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: The war on talent

  No Industry will be spared from the war for project management talent.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Asia will focus on project sponsorship

  The roles and responsibilities of the project sponsor are becoming a key focus in South Asia, particularly India and Bangladesh, as organisations try to accelerate their structured approach to project management.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Certification is no longer enough

  With 400,000+ holders, the PMP project management certificate will continue to be the most popular project management credential in the world, outpacing every one of its rivals as the "credential of choice" among practitioners.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Change management

  Projects initiate change and project and programme managers are change agents. Yet, they have been ill-equipped to facilitate the type of change required to adopt the product or service the project delivers.  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Agile

  Project management organisations embracing agile software and product development approaches will continue to grow while being faced with the challenge of demonstrating ROI through agile techniques.  Continue Reading

• How to combat advanced persistent threats: APT strategies to protect your organisation

  Simple defence strategies will go a long way to preparing businesses for APTs  Continue Reading

• Video: Top 10 trends in project management: Learning on the job

  The professional development of project and programme managers will increasingly focus on reality-based learning and on-the-job training, an approach certain organisations in Asia have taken for many years.  Continue Reading

• CIO Profile: Craig Gibbons, Fuji Xerox Australia

  Under the mantra of 'people led systems', Fuji Xerox Australia's new CIO, Craig Gibbons, is driving technical change by changing culture and attitudes.  Continue Reading

• Master data management ‘crosses the chasm’ as corporates sharpen focus

  Master data management programmes are gathering pace in corporate organisations as they try to get more business value from data.  Continue Reading

• Server virtualisation: A perfect fit for your DR plan

  Server virtualisation allows for quicker disaster recovery. See how two UK IT organisations are using server virtualisation to save on DR planning.  Continue Reading

• Case study: FRANCE 24 video clips transcribed automatically to text

  Since its launch in 2006, FRANCE 24 has emerged as an industry leader by offering a unique perspective on international news and by taking advantage of new technologies to do so effectively.  Continue Reading

• Case study: IT the driving force behind Team Lotus Formula One racing

  From designing race cars to supporting track-side communications, Team Lotus set up its entire IT infrastructure in six months to meet a Formula One race deadline.  Continue Reading

• Will businesses opt for SaaS in next ERP lifecycle?

  As companies weigh up options for enterprise resource planning (ERP) replacement in the current upgrade cycle, should businesses opt for SaaS-based or on-premise ERP? Jenny Williams reports  Continue Reading

• Security Think Tank: How can businesses measure the effectiveness of their IT security teams?

  How can businesses measure the effectiveness of their IT security teams to ensure they are getting value? Make sure security information is available...  Continue Reading

• What is big data?

  Big Data is the storage industry's favorite buzzword. But what is it? In this podcast with EMC CTO Chuck Hollis, he gives us his - and EMC's vision - of Big Data, why it matters to business, how it will spawn a new type of worker "the data scientist...  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage takes off for primary data, backup and archiving

  Cloud storage isn’t vapour. For UK organisations cloud storage has become a viable target for backup, archiving and for some primary data scenarios.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Web intelligence is the future for communications agency

  Intendance's team of Business Development and Marketing professionals were looking for the ability to easily and efficiently identify what our clients' pain are and then tailor their proposition to suit each prospect accordingly.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Eaga

  To streamline the surveying process to a single Technical Surveying team. Prior to this, surveys were conducted by different contractors. To ensure data is consistently recorded and systematically transmitted to the Oracle CRM and ERP systems to ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Coface’s EasyNumber uses CloudView to access 100 million business profiles

  Coface Services and CreditReform, Europe’s number one credit management service provider, decided to join forces to develop a universal tool for identifying and researching companies worldwide. This new service, EasyNumber, would provide online ...  Continue Reading

• Top five IT finance and asset management issues

  CIOs and anyone involved in IT procurement should assess the benefits of leasing and alternative financing over making capital purchases for new IT equipment, software and services. Cliff Saran looks at the options.  Continue Reading

• Case study: A total IT managed service

  Scorpio was growing rapidly with its turnover increasing five-fold over nine years. It could see quite clearly that its existing IT infrastructure and systems were not sufficient to keep pace with its growth and knew that something must be done.  Continue Reading

• Hornbill Supportworks ITSM Enterprise in action

  Hornbill's Supportworks ITSM Enterprise has grown from being an IT helpdesk application into an ITSM (IT service management) and business process management (BPM) platform that adheres to the rigorous ITIL v3 management framework. Arif Mohamed looks...  Continue Reading

• The business value of balancing openness with security to manage risk

  The risks to businesses of using social media is a hot topic, but it is indicative of a much broader challenge that is facing not only business, but also government, publishers and regulators, in how to balance openness and collaboration with ...  Continue Reading

• Natural Disaster Recovery Planning from Christchurch Earthquakes

  What do you do when the office is destroyed. We spoke to a number of companies in Christchurch about how they got up and running after the recent earthquakes.  Continue Reading

• Trends in cloud computing technologies

  In this guide to trends in cloud computing technologies, you'll see just how popular cloud has become and how UK organisations are using it to save money and even improve security.  Continue Reading

• Five types of tape for backup or archive

  There are plenty of tape formats to choose from when you are looking for a backup or archival medium. Here are five of the most common formats to consider.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Robell Control Systems gets to grips with Buffalo

  At the heart of any business is an important data set including email databases, customer records, HR forms, contact lists and more. Without access to this data a company will experience undue delays and disruptions to important progress. For SMBs ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Pitney Bowes Uses AMP to Mobilise Procurement over SAP for Field Service Engineers

  Pitney Bowes recognised an opportunity to improve efficiency and reduce costs by eliminating its manual servicing processes. Previously, the company’s customer contact agents allocated jobs to field service engineers over the phone while the ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Stroud College Secures Campus Network and Saves Time with CounterACT

  Stroud College’s IT team evaluated several diff erent vendors’ NAC products - including Cisco and Bradford Networks – as well as an open-source NAC solution. None of these solutions met all of the campus’s needs.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Giving SMEs tailored solutions to their growing IT needs

  Most businesses these days rely heavily on IT systems that are robust, reliable and secure. This is just as true for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as it is for larger firms. In a case study from IT services firm Cloud 9, we examine the ways ...  Continue Reading

• Enterprise MLC: How flash vendors are boosting MLC write endurance

  Enterprise MLC: Flash vendors are boosting MLC write endurance to level read/write wear, improve error correction and combat flash’s inherent tendency to write amplification.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Combining PCI DSS Compliance with Unprecedented IT System Analysis Capabilities

  Like it does with most organisations who must comply, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) triggered a review of how Ventura, one of the UK’s largest customer management outsourcers, handled its log and event data. Since ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Devolved Use

  North Warwickshire & Hinckley College is one of the largest providers of education and training in the Midlands. The College is based on two main campuses in Nuneaton and Hinckley and has outreach centres throughout North Warwickshire, offering a ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Nissan Saves €10 million on LEAF Battery Production

  In 2010 Nissan launched the world’s first mass produced electric car available from a major manufacturer, the LEAF (Leading, Environmentally friendly, Affordable, Family car).  Continue Reading

• Case study: Claranet simplifies hosting infrastructure

  The first issue to confront Five’s Digital Media Group was the unwieldy nature of the company’s web-hosting infrastructure. It discovered that different departments had been charged with launching websites, which meant that Five had employed many ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: You’re so Vane

  Based in Nottingham UK and with facilities across Europe, Asia and the US, RomaxWIND offers its clients with design services, technical consultancy and simulation technology for the development of wind turbine drivetrain systems.  Continue Reading

• Case study: SQS mitigates the risks of migrating to a cloud based platform

  VITAR Software wanted to target more SMEs and needed a solution that provided all the benefits of their existing system, but in a way that would be cost effective and quick to get up and running.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Telstra International helps WWF enhance its green credentials

  WWF-UK is part of the international WWF network (formerly the World Wide Fund for Nature). It is one of the world’s largest independent conservation organisations, working across more than 90 countries to address global threats to people and nature....  Continue Reading

• Case study: WD40 loosens rusty IT to support remote working across Europe

  WD-40’s multi-purpose product is a much loved brand with a long history of success. The company’s unique Water Displacement (WD) formula was first developed in 1953 and, 57 years later, the product is still used in thousands of ways across the world...  Continue Reading

• Clarion Events Extends the Life of its System i and JD Edwards environment with Magic Software

  Clarion Events is one of the UK's leading exhibition and event organisers. For over 30 years Clarion Events has been creating and developing stimulating and effective exhibitions, conferences and seated events in the UK, EMEA, Asia and America. ...  Continue Reading

• Fleet management challenges solved with Kiwi ingenuity

  When you're running a fleet of trucks, the right technology can save you some serious money and pain.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Shipbroking company utilises Telstra International’s Asia expertise

  Howe Robinson & Co. Ltd (Howe Robinson) is one of the world’s largest shipbroking companies, providing dry-cargo and containership broking services to ship owners, charterers and ship buyers and sellers across the globe. Headquartered in London, ...  Continue Reading

• Schiavello drops Symantec, picks up CommVault

  Difficulties backing up remote offices has seen business furniture company Shciavello discard Symantec software in favour of CommVault.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Informed, appropriate and cost-effective commissioning decisions

  The NHS is facing the most radical set of reforms since its inception in 1948. The white paper ‘Liberating the NHS’ outlines unprecedented plans to transform healthcare in the UK. GPs will be handed around £80 billion of the NHS budget to commission...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Magasin du Nord

  Magasin du Nord operates six department stores in Denmark, located in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Fields on Amager, Lyngby, Odense and Rodovre. Established in 1868 and employing 1,200 people, the company primarily offers clothing, home furnishings, ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Visibility enables Walsall to be better eQIPPed

  In 2008, the Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust began working with McKesson to develop and implement HEV with the objective of improving resource efficiency and bed utilisation, to reduce costs and improve the quality of patient care – outcomes that ...  Continue Reading

• Looking a little closer at the winners of the SC Magazine Awards

  2011 marks the third year SC Magazine has incorporated a number of technology awards into the AusCERT gala conference and presentation. Awards receive nominations from across the industry and a panel of thirteen highly experienced security ...  Continue Reading

• Disaster recovery: Risk assessment and business impact analysis

  Disaster recovery: Risk assessment and business impact analysis are key stages in disaster recovery planning, but where do they fit into the DR planning process?  Continue Reading

• Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre invests in business critical infrastructure from Maindec

  Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow (SECC), Scotland’s premier national venue for events, concerts and conferences, employed the services of IT solutions and support specialists Maindec in 2000 to ensure the smooth-running of ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Newport City Homes maximizes staff productivity

  As a registered social landlord, Newport City Homes provides housing to those in need in Newport, working with the public through its Neighbourhood Offices and the Resident Service Center.  Continue Reading

• IT infrastructure must expand exponentially to unlock productivity potential

  Cloud services providers and internet companies such as Google and Amazon are already benefiting from economies of scale, standardisation and automation.  Continue Reading

• iPad apps for CIOs

  The iPad has already infiltrated your organisation. And while that may introduce some management headaches for the IT department, there are lots of really useful apps for CIOs.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Bentley Motors - when heritage meets technology

  The recently launched Bentley Mulsanne is Bentley’s all-new flagship grand tourer. DS PLM solutions including CATIA, ENOVIA, DELMIA and 3DVIA have been deployed to allow Bentley to exploit 3D visualisation and simulation techniques across the core ...  Continue Reading

• Innovation, collaboration and performance: Use new leadership to align IT with business results

  The pioneers of management practices still widely used today - such as Frederick Taylor, Henry Ford or Alfred Sloan - were all born in the 19th century. Their theories and inventions - from workflow optimisation, functional specialisation and ...  Continue Reading

• Unified storage systems cut costs and management pain for UK users

  Unified storage systems combine support for Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NFS and CIFS protocols in the same hardware to cut down cost and management overheads for UK users.  Continue Reading

• Block vs file for Hyper-V and VMware storage: Which is better?

  Is block- or file-based storage better for Hyper-V and VMware virtual server environments? The answer depends on the precise needs of your virtual server environment.  Continue Reading

• The MCITP certification path to career success

  Although not a substitute for proven work-experience, Microsoft’s MCITP certification endorses one’s technical knowledge and could improve job prospects.  Continue Reading

• Case study: De Vere on cloud nine with Claranet’s managed application hosting & networks

  A number of strategic acquisitions and brand mergers form what is today known as the De Vere Group. With acquisitions however, come a plethora of IT challenges – and De Vere was no exception. Jo Stanford, Group IT Director, commented: “Initial Style...  Continue Reading

• Case study: East Sussex County Council re-define IT service delivery to schools with CentraStage

  The Schools ICT Services division of East Sussex Local Authority supports 194 schools. During 2009, East Sussex Local Authority began a strategic review of all ICT Services including those provided to schools. An extensive consultation process with ...  Continue Reading

• LogRhythm Combines GCSx and CoCo Compliance with Improved Reporting and Enhanced Network Analysis

  The introduction of the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx) and Code of Connection (CoCo) initiatives in the U.K. signalled the need for Cardiff County Council to reevaluate how it handled its log data. Since installing a log data management, ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Severn Trent Services Group

  For many firms, regular rehearsals of their business continuity plans are rarely, if ever undertaken – leaving them ill prepared should the time come when they need to invoke them.  Continue Reading

• Case study: C2C ArchiveOne Cloud DR Gets the Job Done at Employment Hamilton

  With copious amounts of personal data required as part of the job application process, Employment Hamilton is committed to ensuring all of this information is protected against unauthorized access, disclosure or misuse. All appropriate security ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Success Story - The Listening Company

  The Listening Company is a rapidly expanding customer communications outsourcer with sites across the UK. The company provides bespoke “Intelligent Customer Management Solutions” to blue-chip clients, household names from industry sectors including ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: ICT on demand

  Belvoir High School had been part of the Leicestershire 3 tier system of schooling until the local authority reviewed its educational provision in the Melton Mowbray area.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Melton Borough Council gets backs to business with ICM

  Dealing with the immediate aftermath of a fire is a daunting and stressful time for any business or organisation.When you have nearly 50,000 customers relying on you daily for essential services and provision the potential is even worse. For Melton ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: Co-operative Food

  Last year, The Co-operative Group spent more than £1.5 billion to acquire supermarket rival Somerfield. In the words of The Co-operative’s Group Chief Executive, Peter Marks, the acquisition propelled the Group “from the second division back into ...  Continue Reading

• Case study: MacGregor Cranes thinks PLM with ENOVIA V6

  MacGregor Cranes produces a wide variety of cranes, some of which can lift up to 450 tons. “We propose both standard cranes with predefined configurations and tailormade cranes based on customer specifications,” said Leif Sundin, Applications and ...  Continue Reading

• Buyer's Guide: HP's Intelligent Resilient Framework (IRF) put to the test

  In the world of datacentres and large-scale enterprise networks there has always been some form of perceived trade-off between performance and resilience. Building in resilience is absolutely essential of course, but it has historically affected ...  Continue Reading

• Buyer's Guide: Network optimisation for cloud computing

  Forrester has identified a new architecture called the user experience network (uXn) which connects users to services that are relevant to the moment, aggregated at the point of use, and originate from multiple locations.  Continue Reading

• Centralised log management provides security and long-term log storage for Astrium Satellites

  “Security is paramount to our organisation,” says Gareth Davis, Network and Telecom Manager, UK.  Continue Reading

• Dedupe technology: A natural partner to backup

  See how three UK IT organisations are saving money and storage capacity with data deduplication for backup.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Backing up Avon's IT infrastructure

  You need to know that your company’s IT infrastructure is as well supported and backed-up as possible.  Continue Reading

• Upgrade Ethernet to fabric for cloud computing

  The latest thinking on datacentre design recommends that businesses deploy virtualisation, where virtual machines can be started (or spawned) and stopped dynamically. As Cliff Saran discovers, this can have a huge impact on the network.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Bury Council upgrades to CTI Group’s Proteus Enterprise call accounting solution

  Bury Council required a robust call accounting solution that could monitor, report and analyse the approximately seven million phone calls that its telecoms network handles on an annual basis over 3,000 extensions in more than 30 locations.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Toshiba provides JLT Mobile with ruggedized hard drives

  JLT provides computing solutions for business operations in demanding industrial environments. It is critical that JLT offers heavy duty computing solutions that can withstand extreme temperature changes, high humidity and strong levels of vibration...  Continue Reading

• Security Zone: Antivirus testing standards at a crossroads

  Security Zone: Testing standards at a crossroads - do changes in the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organisation reflect better practice in antivirus testing?  Continue Reading

• Case study: Dim simplifies IT Service Management with PS’Soft SaaS solution

  The Challenge: To implement an online service desk solution that could be accessed anywhere, anytime.  Continue Reading

• Case study: Armari Installs LSI™ 6Gb/s SATA+SAS RAID Controller Cards

  As a leading specialist manufacturer and integrator of high-performance computer systems and solutions for video, Armari prides itself on delivering best-in-class products to universities, commercial companies, architects, animators, filmmakers, and...  Continue Reading

• Patient confidentiality policy for UK electronic health records

  While electronic health records could provide valuable information in an emergency, they present patient confidentiality concerns. This Royal Holloway thesis examines the issue.  Continue Reading