In Depth

In Depth

• How technology can help the aged

  A pioneering approach to programming is helping to develop software that could be used to save the lives of pensioners living alone.  Continue Reading

• Offshore your way out of the credit crunch

  The much-hyped credit crunch and general economic uncertainty of recent times has had an impact at every level of every type of business, and IT is no exception. Even at the best of times IT is cost sensitive, and when the bottom-line of the ...  Continue Reading

• The race to replace IT's baby boomer generation

  At first glance, it's hard to see why the retirement of New Jersey teacher Kathleen Casey-Kirschling last October should be of interest to the IT profession,...  Continue Reading

• Mind the gap: how Tube Lines information director John Connolly sells IT to the board

  Interview: John Connolly, Tube Lines information director, discusses his role as the bridge between IT and the board  Continue Reading

• Why IT must do more to appeal to women

  Over the next few years, the progressive retirement of the baby-boom generation means that IT departments will...  Continue Reading

• Ubiquitous enterprise mobility has arrived

  Have you noticed how often the word "convergence" has cropped up in IT conversations throughout this decade?  Continue Reading

• Next Move: How do I go from sales support to a career in IT?

  I have been working in sales support for an IT company for two years and have a personal interest and natural capability with technology. I understand and sell all aspects of IT (hardware and software, from mice to servers) for all manufacturers.  Continue Reading

• Hot skills: Practical Perl still a popular way of getting things done

  Shipped with HP-UX, supported by AIX and included by Sun in its Solaris-based alternative to the Linux Lamp stack, Perl is a scripting language favoured by systems administrators as a "glue" language.  Continue Reading

• Future network trends: wireless Wan will regroup

  Until recently, a prediction that WiMax would gain traction in 2008 would have seemed pretty likely. But then, Sprint Nextel pulled its deal with US-based company Clearwire, which would have seen a country-wide network of towers supporting the ...  Continue Reading

• Power politics and the IT project

  Who calls the shots when it comes to starting new IT projects in your organisation?  Continue Reading

• How to manage a globalised IT workforce

  The profusion of software development skills in India, the Far East and eastern Europe has resulted in a dearth of IT professionals capable of managing remote and culturally diverse IT suppliers and partners.  Continue Reading

• CIO interview: Richard Cross

  When Carlton Communications merged with Granada to form ITV three years ago, Richard Cross faced the greatest challenge of his career. At the time, he was chief technology officer (CTO) at Carlton. There was also an IT director at Granada. But the ...  Continue Reading

• How to win funds for systems development

  No-one goes into IT just to maintain and tweak old applications. The main attraction is always in creating new systems, preferably using the latest technology. Systems development not only makes life a lot more interesting, but when it comes to ...  Continue Reading

• Wake up to the benefits of global governance

  In a research note on IT management and globalisation, analyst firm Gartner defines governance as, "The organisational style and process for making decisions about business technology and resources." A busy IT manager might think Gartner is being ...  Continue Reading

• Improve usability with assistive technology

  IT products designed for disabled people use cutting edge technology and make a real difference to the end-user. John Lamb takes a look at the assistive technology market  Continue Reading

• South Tyneside Trust cuts costs with business intelligence

  South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust is using business intelligence software to cut costs, reduce hospital waiting lists, and combat its data duplication problems.  Continue Reading

• Next move: The wheels are coming off my MCSE

  The question: I thought you might be able to give me some pointers to help improve my stagnating IT career. I have been working in IT for about 14 years now,...  Continue Reading

• Business intelligence rejuvenates cancer research

  When child cancer charities Cancer and Leukaemia in Childhood and Sargent Cancer Care merged in 2005, the new organisation, called CLIC...  Continue Reading

• DPM's diary: 8 January 2008

  Catch up with the events from Bogcaster Council  Continue Reading

• Tube Lines gets smart to monitor escalator wear

  The in-house escalator maintenance team at Tube Lines has developed a novel escalator "smart step" to help the company understand wear and tear on escalators.  Continue Reading

• HMRC data breach highlights need for data compliance

  The data breach at HMRC, which placed 25 million people at risk of identity theft, has brought information governance back to the fore. Early indications suggest that risk management procedural failures and human error were to blame.  Continue Reading

• Israel takes a lead on information security

  Israel has a booming economy. Westernisation is sweeping the country, and its advances in research and development are taking the global market by storm.  Continue Reading

• Find the right IT investment strategy

  It has never been more important to make the right IT investment decisions, but what are the fundamentals? Global spending on IT is estimated at more than £1m per year, and there is little doubt that much of this spending under-delivers. At the same...  Continue Reading

• Business Intelligence: an expert view

  Latest news, analysis, and case studies from Computer Weekly and the web suitable for those implementing or running a business intelligence system.  Continue Reading

• Finance directors see value of business intelligence

  Finance departments are driving the adoption of business intelligence software, using it to increase the accuracy of their forecasting and develop business strategy  Continue Reading

• Calculating the cost of failed software projects

  The need to adopt a consistent approach to software development and implementation cannot be underestimated. Vague specifications, insufficient planning and poor project management are common causes of software failure  Continue Reading

• IT managers must learn to cope with consumer innovation

  As the mobile market continues to move from a technology to a services focus, IT directors will have to tread a fine line between managing an influx of difficult-to-manage consumer-based devices without stifling innovation.  Continue Reading

• Lessons from a technology start-up

  Fund management software start-up Sutherlands Edinburgh meets the challenges of finding backers, getting the right staff and being open to user feedback  Continue Reading

• Business intelligence rises up the IT agenda

  The need to rationalise and standardise multitudinous business intelligence tools is rising up the IT agenda as organisations struggle to obtain a single version of the truth from their information and contain costs.  Continue Reading

• Hot skills: AIX 6.1

  Thinking of working with IBM's Unix operating system? Get the facts here.  Continue Reading

• Hot skills: PostgreSQL offers opportunities in many languages

  What is it? PostgreSQL is an open source object-relational database management package. It is one of the pillars of Sun Microsystems' alternative to...  Continue Reading

• How to get customer satisfaction with an outsourced IT helpdesk

  Discover how to manage outsourced helpdesk problems to improve customer satisfaction levels  Continue Reading

• BCS IT Industry Awards 2007: In-depth

  This special Computer Weekly report features the winners and medallists at the BCS IT Industry Awards 2007.  Continue Reading

• Hot skills: Java coders get best of both worlds with open source Glassfish and SJSAS

  Skills for IT professionals  Continue Reading

• XML publishing: primed for business

  Enterprises are expanding their understanding and use of component-based publishing processes., writes Rita Knox, research vice-president at analyst firm Gartner.  Continue Reading

• Working overseas: what IT professionals need to know

  Finding a position in a different country can bring personal and professional benefits, but navigating the potential pitfalls requires forward planning  Continue Reading

• Business backing is vital to realise green IT savings

  Although IT directors may be getting sick of all the noise around green IT, it is clear that the hype is way ahead of the reality for most ­organisations.  Continue Reading

• SAP User Conference: Warburtons SAP systems secures better deals on supplies

  The UK's largest independent bakery, Warburtons, has implemented a mobile SAP purchase order approval application to improve productivity and speed up decision making.  Continue Reading

• A look back at Leo

  For John Simmons, comptroller of what was once Britain's largest catering company, J Lyons & Co, there was only one option available to take advantage of the huge benefits offered by electronic calculating machines: Lyons must build its own. It was ...  Continue Reading

• Survive the wait for faster Ethernet

  Many network managers will be eagerly awaiting the 100 Gigabit Ethernet standard, but how can you cope up to 2010, and what difference will it make?  Continue Reading

• Napier University adopts coursework fingerprint scheme

  Napier University in Edinburgh is using biometrics to revolutionise the way that undergraduate and postgraduate students submit coursework within its School of Computing.  Continue Reading

• Next Move

  Career advice for IT professionals  Continue Reading

• HSBC: developing a different way

  How HSBC streamlined its application development by dismantling the silos that had developed across the business and focusing on specific skill sets  Continue Reading

• BA on course for Terminal 5 roll-out

  Interview: Paul Coby, CIO at British Airways, reveals how he is guiding the airline on a course of IT transformation, and how he has cut IT costs by 45% in the process  Continue Reading

• Security Handbook to establishing a security policy - Essential Guide

  There exist many threats to hinder the normal running of organisations, including, of course, being hit by a computer virus intrusion or hack.  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation is one of the key topics in the IT industry right now, and with good reason.

  Virtualisation is a technique that enables organisations to pool their IT resources into one flexible and manageable entity. This executive overview highlights the key challenges of virtualisation so you can put in place a winning strategy that will...  Continue Reading

• The Effectiveness of Collaboration for SMEs

  The aim of this executive overview will be to investigate what collaboration tools comprise, their typical running costs and the benefits that they can deliver to SMEs.  Continue Reading

• Spyware: make sure your company is prepared and protected

  The spyware/malware problem has gotten a lot worse over the last twelve months so it’s vital you get prepared now. This executive overview will indeed help you to undertake such action.  Continue Reading

• Firms causing problems for themselves by outsourcing on cost alone

  Companies that outsource services purely to cut costs are likely to set themselves up for short-term gains and long-term criticisms from management., says Gartner report  Continue Reading

• Microsoft Office 2007 upgrade: the expert view

  Microsoft Office 2007 is the latest upgrade for the Microsoft Office family of products, and brings new productivity and application integration features.  Continue Reading

• Best Places to Work in IT 2008 finalists announced

  Judges have sifted through the entries to find the IT departments doing the most to make their workplaces attractive to staff  Continue Reading

• Wi-Fi linked to childhood autism

  A study published this week in the Australasian Journal of Clinical Environmental Medicine warns that wireless communication technology may be responsible for accelerating the rise in autism among children.  Continue Reading

• Are we on the brink of a Wimax revolution?

  Is Wimax set to become the de facto standard for business, or will advancements in 3G and other wireless technologies leave it by the wayside?  Continue Reading

• IT salary survey: skills gap pushes up pay for key roles

  The summer of 2007 has been the best for IT job-hunters for many years, following a long period of market stability. Jobs advertised are running at their highest level for 22 quarters, according to the cwjobs.co.uk Survey of Appointments Data and ...  Continue Reading

• Virtual job fair gets international response

  Second Life is bringing a highly skilled workforce from 45 countries to a jobs fair in Luxembourg held by software maker Gax Technologies.  Continue Reading

• How to ensure optimium value from IT investments

  Driving value from IT projects requires watching for danger signs and a willingness to let go of a project if it will not deliver return on investment  Continue Reading

• Managed VoIP keeps regatta's communications afloat

  The world's largest rowing regatta utilises managed VoIP to ease its year-round communications needs -- and for a temporary system during its celebrated two-day event.  Continue Reading

• How to select a storage capacity planning tool

  To select a storage management and capacity planning tool, first calculate how much storage is available and how much of your total storage capacity is actually being used.  Continue Reading

• How data deduplication works

  Chapter one of our data deduplication handbook takes you under the hood to show how data deduplication works so you can maximise the efficiency of this data reduction technology.  Continue Reading

• Integrating San and Nas

  Sas and Nas systems are very different types of storage, with different features that serve different business needs. Here are eight best practices for integrating San and Nas.  Continue Reading

• Backup virtual servers with traditional techniques and specialised tools

  As more "logical" servers are consolidated onto fewer "physical" computer systems, it's important to protect each virtual machine's data against failure or loss. Virtual server backups are the key to this protection.  Continue Reading

• The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid): an expert view

  The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) is now law across Europe, bringing major technology challenges to the investment industry.  Continue Reading

• How to run an efficient datacentre

  Today's business environment runs 24 hours a day. Customer demand and global operations mean that access to transactions and services is needed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and downtime has massive business impact.  Continue Reading

• Vanderbilt hospital fights archive growth with grid

  Vanderbilt University Medical Centre simplifies document management using Bycast's archiving grid system.  Continue Reading

• NAS upgrades buying guide: chapter 2 -- NAS management software

  You asked for it, so here it is -- a printable version of our NAS buying guide.  Continue Reading

• NAS upgrades buying guide: chapter 3 -- NAS gateways

  You asked for it, so here it is -- a printable version of our NAS buying guide.  Continue Reading

• Data deduplication explained

  This report provides an extensive overview on data deduplication, the white hot technology storage managers are deploying as we move towards 2008.  Continue Reading

• Crisis management requires pragmatism

  Over the past two years I have facilitated more than 100 exercises for incident management teams from a range of organisations. These have varied in scope from straightforward desktop scenarios to complex multi-level simulations.  Continue Reading

• Data storage hardware quiz

  Storage hardware, also known as primary storage, is a critical aspect in running your storage shop. How does your knowledge of storage hardware stack up? Take our quick quiz and find out today!  Continue Reading

• Checklist for purchasing hardware-based encryption

  Encryption appliances sit inline on a network and use specially designed electronics to encrypt data at line speeds, essentially eliminating the performance penalty imposed by encryption software running on a general server. While software-based ...  Continue Reading

• Hardware-based encryption product specifications

  The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross section of dedicated encryption appliances.  Continue Reading

• Windows XP Service Pack 3 download expected early next year

  Users waiting to download Windows XP Service Pack 3 will have to wait until the first half of 2008, when Microsoft will release the Windows XP Service Pack 3 download to the public  Continue Reading

• Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to enhance Windows Vista

  Development of the Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is under way, with Windows Vista users eagerly anticipating the arrival of the service pack.  Continue Reading

• CRM strategies for SMBs

  Keeping your customers happy is job number one. With CRM software, luckily, that job becomes a lot easier. Here we present our top five CRM tips for SMBs.  Continue Reading

• Open source strategies for SMBs

  One way to make the most of a tight budget is to invest in open source technologies. Not only are they generally more secure than most off-the-shelf proprietary products, they're usually free too. Here we present our top five open source tips for ...  Continue Reading

• Download our all-in-one back-up guide

  You asked for it, so here it is -- a printable version of our back-up all-in-one guide.  Continue Reading

• Virtualisation strategies for SMBs

  Virtualising your servers, storage systems and desktops offers numerous advantages for SMBs. But it's important you understand the trade-offs when making the switch from conventional operations. Here we present our top five virtualisation tips for ...  Continue Reading

• Microsoft patch management tools

  Check out some Microsoft patch management tools, including our entirely free patch management toolbox.  Continue Reading

• Storage for virtual environments learning guide

  Storage considerations for the virtualised environment are outlined in this guide. Learn about storage options and strategies for storage for virtualisation in the datacenter in three categories: architecture, operations and back-up.  Continue Reading

• IP PBX eases VoIP transition for gas company

  An IP PBX with Sip helped one gas company upgrade to a new phone system while also jumping into VoIP.  Continue Reading

• Reaching out for outsourced IT resources and services

  The key trends in data centre outsourcing  Continue Reading

• Datacentre evolution: delivering competitive advantage

  Current trends, such as soaring energy costs, growing security concerns, legislation and blade-server deployments, are driving the evolution of the carrier-independent datacentre  Continue Reading

• Governance, Risk & Compliance management – burden or benefit?

  By taking an integrated, enterprise-wide management approach, governance, risk and compliance can actually be turned into a profit-centre.  Continue Reading

• A guide to iSCSI technology

  This chapter highlights iSCSI details and devices including Ethernet adapters and Ethernet switches. Readers will learn about the pros and cons of iSCSI and its preferred applications.  Continue Reading

• The best Microsoft security content online

  This list features the best pieces of Microsoft Windows content on the internet.  Continue Reading

• Managing endpoint security

  With network access expanding from the office to the home, securing the network perimeter is among a security admin's top concerns. In preparing for the threats that come with remote access, however, it can be easier to secure traditional network ...  Continue Reading

• A guide to Fibre Channel technology

  This chapter offers an overview of Fibre Channel specifications and devices including HBAs and switches. Readers will also learn about the pros and cons of FC SANs in the storage enterprise.  Continue Reading

• CIO spotlight: David Lister

  David Lister, CIO at Reuters, tells us about the pivotal moment in his career  Continue Reading

• CIO spotlight: Maggie Miller

  CIO of the Warner Music Group, Maggie Miller talks of her rise to the top  Continue Reading

• CIO spotlight: Peter Dew

  Linde Group CIO Peter Dew discusses his rise to the top  Continue Reading

• A guide to iSCSI and Fibre Channel

  This handbook offers overviews of Fibre Channel and iSCSI, gives tips on how to enhance iSCSI performance, and outlines how to achieve high availability and reliability in a San.  Continue Reading

• San availability and reliability

  This chapter outlines some of the techniques and tactics used to achieve high availability and redundancy in a San (FC or iSCSI). These can include port aggregation, trunking, and failover.  Continue Reading

• Tape encryption purchase considerations

  Storage administrators who use tape-based won't slow up their backups and will have peace of mind knowing that the tape content is secure. However, LTO-4 tape drives have specific encryption issues.  Continue Reading

• Videocast: data deduplication and protection

  Where is the future of backup heading? How viable are technologies such as data deduplication and continuous data protection? In this videocast, W. Curtis Preston covers the basics and the benefits of some emerging backup technologies  Continue Reading

• How to select the right IP PBX

  Selecting the right IP PBX system for your company can be complicated. Here are some important things to consider when purchasing an IP PBX.  Continue Reading

• How to enhance iSCSI performance

  This chapter examines means of improving iSCSI performance with high-performance Ethernet switches and TOE adapter cards. This chapter also offers tips/guidelines for iSCSI deployment.  Continue Reading

• The future of on-demand applications

  Although corporate adoption of online software delivery models is still relatively low, it is not only the fastest growing sector of the industry, it is also expanding its remit rapidly.  Continue Reading

• Chief Information Officers (CIOs): What it takes to be a good CIO

  CIOs: What is the role of the Chief Information Officer and what makes a good CIO?  Continue Reading

• Storage session downloads: architecture track

  Data classification is at the core of nearly all modern storage management techniques and tools. Featured in this track is the popular tiered storage school sessions, along with other sessions that can help any manager set up or administer this new ...  Continue Reading

• Storage session downloads: infrastructure track

  This track looks at San and Nas issues, virtualization, distance demands, remote offices and how to build out systems.  Continue Reading