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Business applications

July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11
Carphone Warehouse uses business process management to increase customer satisfaction

Retailer Carphone Warehouse is claiming a 25% jump in its customer satisfaction ratings after investing in BPM software to help staff deal with sales, queries and complaints.
July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11
NPIA rolls out mobile fingerprint technology to the police service

The soon-to-be-axed National Police Improvement Agency has rolled out mobile fingerprinting devices enabling police officers to check an individual's identity on the beat.
July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Government shelves Co-ordinated Online Record of Electors database to save £11m

The government has shelved plans to create a database of electoral information, in a move estimated to save £11m.
July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Over a third of enterprise servers virtual, claims virtualisation penetration index

Over a third of all enterprise servers are virtual, according to the virtualisation penetration index or V-index launched by virtualisation management software firm Veeam.

July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Microsoft outlines plans for single ecosystem across mobile, PC, tablet and TV platforms

Microsoft intends to create a single ecosystem for mobile phones, PCs and tablet devices.
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Google reports strong second quarter results under Larry Page with revenues up 32%

Google has reported a strong financial quarter under the leadership of chief executive Larry Page with revenues of $9.03bn, an increase of 32% compared with the second quarter of 2010.
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
HP releases Touchpad tablet in UK

Running on HP's webOS operating system, the tablet device starts at £399 and aims to take on the growing number of tablets available for consumers and business...
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Oracle customers face rising support costs following Fusion application roll-out delay

Oracle remains tight-lipped over a planned price hike in support fees.
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Microsoft IE9 scores highest in socially engineered malware blocking tests

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 has achieved top scores in blocking socially engineered malware, according to comparative tests conducted by security research analyst NSS Labs.
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust improves performance with Zeus Technology

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has signed a £10,000 three-year contract with Zeus Technology to manage its virtualised medical applications...

July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Tesco uses Kenshoo to boost digital marketing

Tesco, has deployed the Kenshoo digital marketing platform to support its digital marketing strategy across retail promotions and e-commerce initiatives.
July 15, 2011 15 Jul'11
Local authorities wanted for agile development pilot programme

Public sector user group Socitm is launching a programme to test agile methodologies in IT projects for local government...
July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11
Gartner urges IT departments to support end-user application development

Business IT users are increasingly looking outside the IT department for application development and in many cases are building applications themselves,...
July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11
Majority of Adobe Reader users are running vulnerable versions, says Avast

Six out of every ten users of Adobe Reader are running unpatched versions of the software, leaving them vulnerable to a variety of malware attacks, according to researchers at security firm Avast.
July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11
Microsoft says Windows Phone 7 mobile OS should not be used on tablet format

Microsoft has said its Windows Phone 7 mobile phone operating system is not appropriate for tablets.
July 14, 2011 14 Jul'11
Facebook launches Every Phone app to boost growth in developing world

Facebook has made a new push for growth of the social networking site in the developing world by releasing an app that does not require a sophisticated smartphone.
July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11
Firefox 5 update for Mac users could have security links, says Sophos

Mozilla's update to Firefox 5 for Mac users, version 5.0.1, aimed at eliminating crashes when using a downloadable font in OS X 10.7 and fixing the Java plug-in in OS X 10.5, could have security links, says Sophos.
July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11
Unified communications to push mobile cloud sales to $39bn in next five years

Mobile cloud services sales are expected to reach $39bn by 2016 as businesses increase spending on cloud-based unified communications, according to Juniper Research.
July 13, 2011 13 Jul'11
Microsoft urges businesses to upgrade to Windows 7 as XP faces end of support

Microsoft has warned businesses to begin Windows 7 deployments as support for Windows XP will end in less than 1,000 days.
July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11
Citrix boosts cloud infrastructure offering with Cloud.com acquisition

Citrix has announced its acquisition of open source cloud computing platform Cloud.com to help customers build and manage private and public clouds.
July 12, 2011 12 Jul'11
Twitter uses Acquia to provide Drupal-based development community site

Twitter has launched a new developer community site using open source content management system (CMS) Drupal, provided by Acquia.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Universities offered high-performance computing cloud via Janet

Universities can now run cloud-based research on Janet, the joint academic network.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Google+ users hit by spam glitch as social network announces business feature

Early adopters of Google+ have been hit by an avalanche of e-mail notifications, due to a glitch in the system. News of the accidental spamming came as Google revealed it is working on a business-focused feature for the Google+ social networking ...
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Mozilla releases Firefox 5 fix for Mac OS X downloadable font crash bug

Mozilla plans to release an update to Firefox 5 to fix a bug affecting users of Apple's Macintosh operating system, OS X 10.7.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Microsoft packs a lot into July’s four Patch Tuesday security updates

Microsoft is to release only four security updates in this month's Patch Tuesday security update, but these will cover 22 vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Camwood debuts cloud-based application lifecycle management

Camwood has launched Application Lifecycle Manager, a cloud-based service to help application teams monitor application usage.
July 11, 2011 11 Jul'11
Law firm uses RES Software to manage desktop transfer in office move

UK-based international law firm Stephenson Harwood used RES Software to retain and manage user desktop settings as well as upgrade desktop software during an office move.
July 08, 2011 08 Jul'11
Apple promises to fix critical iOS flaws in iPhone, iPad and iPod – but won't say when

Apple has promised to fix a security flaw in its iOS operating system used by iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices that criminals could exploit, but refuses to say when it will release the necessary patches.
July 08, 2011 08 Jul'11
Google+ capitalises on privacy concerns to compete with social network rival Facebook

Google is aiming to compete against social networking rivals by adopting a tougher line on privacy, which has long been one of the most controversial aspects of the service provided by Facebook.
July 08, 2011 08 Jul'11
Traditional payment platforms could face competition from Google and Apple

Secure mobile internet and regulation will force traditional payment platforms to change as competition grows in the European payments.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
SAP releases SaaS sales tool for Blackberry, iPhone and iPad platforms

SAP has released Sales OnDemand, its software-as-a-service product for salespeople, with prices starting at $40 per user per month.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
Worldwide SaaS sales to grow 21% in 2011 driven by CRM purchases, says Gartner

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales are expected to reach $12.1bn in 2011, an increase of 21% compared to $10bn in 2010, according to research firm, Gartner.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
Oracle releases iPad app for virtual desktop client

Oracle has released a virtual desktop client app for the Apple iPad to provide mobile access to server-hosted desktops and enterprise applications.
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
Microsoft Office 365: Could security be the differentiator?

Since the release of Microsoft's Office 365 cloud-based service, the pros and cons of how it stacks up against its competitors in terms of cost and usability have been hotly debated, but it is Office 365's security credentials that really sets it ...
July 07, 2011 07 Jul'11
Kognitio ships data analysis tool Pablo

Data analytics company Kognitio is now shipping Pablo, a product that allows users to build and query virtual OLAP (online analytical processing) cubes without data warehouse specialists.
July 06, 2011 06 Jul'11
Citrix CEO hedges cloud bets on customer demand for web collaboration tools

At Citrix's annual Synergy conference in May 2011, the company introduced its "personal cloud" concept to replace traditional desktop computing and cater for IT departments supporting multiple devices, delivering on-demand applications and desktops,...
July 06, 2011 06 Jul'11
Debra Lilley steps down as chairman as UK Oracle User Group votes for major restructure

After three months as chairman of the UKOUG, Debra Lilley has stepped down in a major reorganisation to change how the group represents its members.
July 05, 2011 05 Jul'11
National Audit Office casts doubt on smart meter roll-out cost

The National Audit Office says it expects the cost of implementing smart meters across the UK to exceed the current budget and questions how a critical change in consumer behaviour will be stimulated.
July 05, 2011 05 Jul'11
Software suppliers must improve e-prescription systems, says Ovum

Suppliers of electronic prescribing software must improve their systems if widespread adoption by hospitals and surgeries is to be reached, according to research from Ovum.
July 04, 2011 04 Jul'11
Chrome boost as IE and Firefox market share decline

Microsoft's share of the worldwide internet browser market continued to decline as Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox stole market share over the past 12 months.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
DWP adds agile development into IT contracts for £2bn Universal Credit system

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has modified contracts governing the supply of its £2bn Universal Credit system by adding clauses encouraging agile development.
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Smart grid security challenge highlighted in report

Government plans to create a smart grid for energy networks will require a coordinated focus on cybersecurity as communication networks play a key role, according to a report from The Energy Networks Association (ENA).
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Office 365 takes Microsoft online with Google – but is it any good for the enterprise?

Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 is now available. While Microsoft Office 365 is aimed squarely at the small business user, does it leave the enterprise wanting?
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Google throws down challenge to Facebook with trials for social media site Google+

Google is to take on Facebook with a social media site, Google+.
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Mozilla seeks to reassure enterprises with Firefox support

Mozilla is trying to find a way to support enterprises using the Firefox web browser.
June 29, 2011 29 Jun'11
Update software to reduce risk of cyber attack, top suppliers tell business

Businesses are unnecessarily exposing themselves to cyber attack simply by failing to update to the latest versions of the software they are running, according to Microsoft and Adobe.
June 28, 2011 28 Jun'11
GPs will need £1.7bn to invest in IT for commissioning

GPs will need up to £1.7bn to invest in data analytics, business intelligence tools and a platform to join up systems if they are to deliver commissioning under the government's controversial NHS reforms.
June 28, 2011 28 Jun'11
Google complies with 89% of UK government content removal requests

Google said it complied with more than 89% of the content removal requests it received from the UK government in the second half of last year.
June 28, 2011 28 Jun'11
Microsoft launches cloud-based Office 365 aimed at small businesses

Microsoft has launched Office 365, a cloud-based version of its office productivity suite which combines communications and collaboration for smaller businesses.
June 28, 2011 28 Jun'11
Telcos increase investment in IT

Mobile and fixed line telecoms companies are stepping up their spending on IT following the downturn, but only slowly, the latest research from analyst group Ovum reveals.
June 27, 2011 27 Jun'11
Queen Victoria Hospital signs deal with Mastek to anonymise patient data

Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) NHS Foundation Trust in West Sussex has signed a deal with IT services company Mastek to pseudonymise its data.
June 27, 2011 27 Jun'11
London 2012 Olympics site buckles under surge in last-chance dash for unsold tickets

The London 2012 Olympics website has failed to cope with the surge in traffic from frustrated users trying to buy remaining unsold tickets.
June 27, 2011 27 Jun'11
BNP Paribas Estate UK uses Talend open source data integration

BNP Paribas Real Estate UK is using the Talend open source data integration suite as part of its drive to improve customer service.
June 23, 2011 23 Jun'11
Accenture inks Nokia deal to continue support for Symbian operating system for five years

Nokia's Symbian operating system (OS) will be supported for another five years after the company finalised a deal to outsource support and development to Accenture.
June 23, 2011 23 Jun'11
Interactive crime maps allow victims to track cases

The government will extend its interactive crime maps site to enable victims to track their cases online, according to Nick Herbert, minister of state for policing and criminal justice.
June 23, 2011 23 Jun'11
CIO interview: Dave Benson, ex-CIO of News Corp

Dave Benson has been in IT for the past 30 years, where he has seen every revolution from the PC to the iPhone. Now CIO at Progress Software, he talks to Cliff Saran about the evolution of IT.
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
European Commission gives green light to CSC acquisition of beleaguered iSoft

The European Commission (EC) has approved CSC's acquisition of healthcare software maker iSoft.
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
Mozilla releases final version of Firefox 5 for download

Mozilla has released a fifth version of its web browser, Firefox, available to download for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
Police National Database launched containing details of 15 million UK citizens

A national database to allow police forces to share locally held information across the country has been launched by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).
June 22, 2011 22 Jun'11
Google takes on Skype with Chrome video chat

Google has built its open source technology project, WebRTC, into its Chrome web browser to support Skype-like video chat.
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Top five tips on migrating data from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010

The business appeal of Microsoft SharePoint has grown rapidly since the release of SharePoint 2010, and users of SharePoint 2007 are now looking to migrate corporate databases to continue driving business efficiency, while empowering end-users to ...
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Smart meter project lacks public support due to concerns about rising energy costs

Fears of initial price rises and a lack of evidence on future savings could de-stabilise government plans to reduce energy consumption through smart metering, according to a survey of 1,000 consumers.
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Enterprise software market on course to pass $267bn in 2011 as global economy recovers

Worldwide enterprise software revenue is on pace to surpass $267 billion in 2011. The enterprise software market is projected for continued growth in 2012, with revenue forecast to reach $288 billion, according to analyst Gartner.
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Bank app store part of community cloud developments

Community-based cloud services for banks, including an app store for financial services organisations, are being incubated on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) network.
June 21, 2011 21 Jun'11
Tesco banking system crashes during account migration

Tesco Bank experienced some problems when it migrated some of its accounts from systems at its former partner Royal bank of Scotland.
June 20, 2011 20 Jun'11
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital uses SOA to trial patient records in private cloud

A pilot study at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital shows how a private cloud could be used to share confidential patient data with consultants and GPs.
June 20, 2011 20 Jun'11
Royal College of Nursing uses SaaS disaster recovery after on-premise contact centre hardware fails

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) used its cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) software-as-a-service (SaaS) for almost two weeks after its on-premise contact centre hardware failed.
June 20, 2011 20 Jun'11
Adobe targets cross-platform mobile apps development for iPhone, Android and Playbook

Adobe has updated Flash Builder and Flex to enable developers to build applications for iPhones, iPads and BlackBerry PlayBooks.
June 20, 2011 20 Jun'11
IT departments ignoring benefits of data virtualisation, claims Forrester report

Less than 20% of IT departments in North America and Europe have incorporated data virtualisation into their integration tool kits. Even fewer are realising its true potential, according to Forrester analyst Brian Hopkins.
June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11
Chinese software flaw makes infrastructure vulnerable, warns report

China's public infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack because of vulnerabilities in software used to run weapons systems, utilities and chemical plants, according to Reuters.
June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11
Internet Explorer will not support insecure WebGL 3D graphics spec, says Microsoft

Microsoft says Internet Explorer will not support the WebGL specification designed to give web applications access to 3D graphics processing power for security reasons.
June 17, 2011 17 Jun'11
Can the Chromebook change enterprise desktop IT?

Can Google's Chromebook shift traditional IT spending to thin client computing? Cliff Saran reports.
June 16, 2011 16 Jun'11
Document Foundation releases LibreOffice 3.3.3 update

The Document Foundation (TDF) has released LibreOffice version 3.3.3 for businesses to download.
June 16, 2011 16 Jun'11
Cabinet Office turns to agile SMEs to reform Whitehall IT development

The Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have called for small software development firms with skills in agile methodologies to help fix government IT and reform the systems integrators behind public sector projects.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
Net-a-Porter doubles IT team to support in-house development

Online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter plans to double its IT team to 200 to support increased in-house product development.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
Mobile security software market to surge as 96% of mobile devices left vulnerable

Security software sales will surge over the next five years as businesses seek to increase protection against security attacks and data loss on mobile devices, according to an analyst.
June 14, 2011 14 Jun'11
iPhone app boosts Addison Lee business by 20% in just six months

London minicab firm Addison Lee is on target to take £20m in bookings through its iPhone app in 2011, having received £1.4m through the app in June.
June 10, 2011 10 Jun'11
Chrome browser warns users before downloading malicious files

Google developers have upgraded the security in the latest stable version of its Chrome browser.
June 10, 2011 10 Jun'11
Ambulance services need better data systems, says NAO report

Ambulance services need to develop data systems that enable organisations to share information to improve patient care, a National Audit Office report has said.
June 09, 2011 09 Jun'11
Plan International moves global systems to SAP

International child welfare charity Plan International is rolling out SAP globally and in doing so is embarking on its first ever major application outsourcing project.
June 09, 2011 09 Jun'11
London Ambulance staff handle 999 calls on paper following software upgrade glitch

The London Ambulance Service was forced to note down 999 calls on paper after an IT upgrade caused a technical glitch yesterday (8 June 2011).
June 09, 2011 09 Jun'11
Royal Bank of Scotland develops HTML5 app for Blackberry Playbook in seven weeks

The Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) investment arm has launched a mobile application for Research in Motion (RIM)'s Blackberry Playbook tablet device.
June 08, 2011 08 Jun'11
Police forces save £6m through NPIA framework agreement

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has saved £6m over the past year using technology procured though its national framework for electronic sign-on systems.
June 08, 2011 08 Jun'11
Planning for Windows 8

With many CIOs still planning or recovering from their Windows 7 deployment, Microsoft has unveiled early builds of Windows 8.
June 07, 2011 07 Jun'11
Blackberry Playbook enables admins to manage virtual datacentres

Netuitive, a company which specialises in predictive analytics for IT administrators, has developed a Blackberry Playbook console, to give IT admins a real-time view of their virtual datacentres.
June 07, 2011 07 Jun'11
HP introduces converged services for enterprise IT

HP has unveiled a suite of offerings designed to provide businesses with pre-configured products and services.
June 07, 2011 07 Jun'11
Apple unveils Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and iOS 5 beta at developer conference

Apple has unveiled the latest versions of its operating system (OS), Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, and mobile OS, iOS, at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).
June 07, 2011 07 Jun'11
Brewers to deploy Wyse thin clients to improve retail customer service at point of sale

UK paints, wallpaper and decorating retailer Brewers is upgrading its back-end IT Infrastructure and retail electronic point of sale systems across 130 stores using thin-client technology from Wyse.
June 06, 2011 06 Jun'11
Honda tests future motorcycle design with SAS business analytics tool

Daniele Lucchesi has a passion for two wheels. The market and product research manager at Honda R&D Europe admits he has a great job. "I just have to think about what the future of two wheels will be like."
June 06, 2011 06 Jun'11
LibreOffice releases 3.4.0 but advises corporations wait for next update

The Document Foundation (TDF) has released a new version of LibreOffice but advised businesses to wait for the 3.4.1 release.
June 03, 2011 03 Jun'11
Government launches Peer to Patent social media tool for patent applications

The government has launched a digital patent application tool to enable the technology community to view and comment on patent applications.
June 03, 2011 03 Jun'11
Accenture: Organisations make inconsistent use of analytics research

When asked to evaluate how well they are using analytics, such as applying data, statistical and quantitative analysis, descriptive and predictive models to drive decisions and enhance customer experience, most organisations' perceptions are very ...
June 03, 2011 03 Jun'11
Sony hit by another major data breach

Sony has been hit by another major data breach just as it restored its PlayStation Network and online entertainment services after the personal data of up to 100 million users was stolen in April.
June 03, 2011 03 Jun'11
Video: Microsoft previews Windows 8 user interface features

Microsoft has unveiled its new operating system (OS) Windows 8 in a preview video.
June 02, 2011 02 Jun'11
Government denies G-Cloud cancellation claims

The Cabinet Office has denied claims the government has canned its G-Cloud project
June 02, 2011 02 Jun'11
Mobile phone retailer Best Buy uses analytics platform to produce business reports

Mobile phone retailer, Best Buy Europe, has reduced the time staff take to produce critical business reports from days to hours, after investing in a business analytics platform.
June 02, 2011 02 Jun'11
Businesses using Google Apps must turn to modern browsers, warns Google

Google has warned Google Apps may stop working on old versions of some web browsers as it plans to pull support from the beginning of August.
June 02, 2011 02 Jun'11
E-mail accounts of senior US officials targeted in Chinese hack attack

Chinese hackers have accessed the accounts of hundreds of Gmail users, including senior US officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, journalists and officials in several Asian countries, Google has said.
June 01, 2011 01 Jun'11
Twitter launches ‘follow’ button tool for websites

Twitter has launched a "follow" button for websites, which will enable users to get updates without opening a Twitter page.
June 01, 2011 01 Jun'11
Kaspersky identifies multi-purpose rootkit threat to Windows and Mac OS X

Kaspersky Lab has detected multi-purpose rootkits capable of posing a threat to 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems, along with a variant that targets Mac OS X