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Business applications

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
May 31, 2011 31 May'11
Case study: Invensys saves £546,000 with SMS tokens for 150,000 users

Engineering firm Invensys is embarking on a global roll-out of software-based tokens from SecurEnvoy to replace physical token-based authentication.
May 31, 2011 31 May'11
Google Chrome OS keeps focus on notebooks despite tablet explosion

Google will keep the focus of its Chrome operating system on notebooks rather than tablets for now, according to a senior executive at the search company.
May 27, 2011 27 May'11
DWP prepares alternative to identity cards for Universal Credit

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is grooming a British tech start-up to play a key role in its £2bn Universal Credit benefits system.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
Chrome OS not as secure as it looks, says Trend Micro

Google's Chrome operating system is not as secure at it might look at first glance, says Rik Ferguson, director of security research at Trend Micro.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
Microsoft launches online Marketplace app store

Microsoft is to launch an online version of its Windows Phone mobile application store, Marketplace.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
Data warehouse and business intelligence projects fail to meet companies' requirements

Over half of businesses gave their business intelligence and data warehouse projects a rating of "average" when asked how well they met business objectives.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
Twinfield offers mileage accounting on iPhone

Online accounting services provider Twinfield has created an iPhone application that will enable users to automatically record time and mileage. Available as a free download from the Apple AppStore, the app uses global positioning to track mileage.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
Analytical tools for measuring customer sentiment

Businesses often use a set of multiple-choice questions to gather customers' views on the company, yet the most interesting customer feedback generally appears in free text form. How can businesses analyse this data?
May 25, 2011 25 May'11
Microsoft previews Mango update of Windows Phone 7 OS

The next major version of the Windows Phone operating system (OS), code-named Mango, has been unveiled by Microsoft.
May 24, 2011 24 May'11
Bloomberg survey reveals CIOs plan to spend more

Over three-quarters of CIOs at global financial services companies expect to spend more money on IT in the next 12 months, with managed services, compliance and the cloud favoured for increased investment, according to research from Bloomberg.
May 23, 2011 23 May'11
Mozilla releases Firefox 5 beta for testing

Mozilla has released a beta version of the fifth version of the Firefox web browser for downloading and testing.
May 23, 2011 23 May'11
Video: Graphics processors power hybrid computing

The power of graphics processors is being exploited by software companies and researchers to run tasks once the preserve of supercomputer and high-performance graphics workstation. As Cliff Saran discovers, this technology is becoming increasingly ...
May 20, 2011 20 May'11
Salesforce.com gains 5,400 customers but profit slumps by 97%

Salesforce.com posted a 97% profit slump since last year despite its subscription-based CRM software growing to be used by over 97,000 companies.
May 20, 2011 20 May'11
SAP says cloud-based SaaS is ready for UK primetime

Business ByDesign, SAP's cloud-based software-as-a-service offering, is ready for the primetime, the enterprise software company says.
May 20, 2011 20 May'11
LinkedIn’s $10bn stock valuation raises fears of second technology bubble

Social networking site LinkedIn's stock market valuation of $10bn (£6bn) has raised concerns of a new tech bubble.
May 20, 2011 20 May'11
Red Hat boosts Enterprise Linux virtualisation performance with 6.1 update

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 is now available.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
Government outlines plans for identity assurance services

The government has outlined plans for identity assurance services to be used across all online public sector services.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
London Stock Exchange averages 100 microsecond trades

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) completes trades in just over 100 microseconds on average as its latest core trading system beds in.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
Microsoft attempts to cement Azure values at TechEd Atlanta

"Cloud Power Delivered" is the subtitle of this year's Microsoft TechEd conference, held in Atlanta and attended by around 10,000 IT professionals and developers. Tim Anderson reports from the event.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
SAP highlights customer experiences of in-memory computing at Sapphire Now

SAP's high-performance analytic appliance (HANA) for in-memory computing is central to the company's immediate plans, says Vishal Sikka, executive board member, technology & innovation at SAP.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
Compuware tackles poor mobile web and app performance

Compuware has extended its Gomez application performance management (APM) to enable developers to optimise the mobile web and mobile apps.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
Nokia’s sales hit 14-year low as worldwide smartphone sales soar

Nokia's worldwide market share of mobile devices dropped to the lowest level since 1997, according to research from Gartner.
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
Sony reset suffers setback after security flaw discovered

Sony has been forced to suspend the PlayStation Network (PSN) and Qriocity password reset web pages after discovering a flaw that could be exploited by hackers....
May 19, 2011 19 May'11
SuiteWorld 2011: How will software-as-a-service change the IT department?

CIOs are aware of the benefits of SaaS applications as being faster, better, cheaper. But how will the reduction in IT costs change the IT department? Jenny Williams investigates.
May 18, 2011 18 May'11
SuSE becomes separate Attachmate division

SuSE will be run as a separate company under Attachmate, which acquired SuSE as part of its purchase of Novell, which completed in April.
May 18, 2011 18 May'11
HP grows business 1% in Q2 but corporate products and services take off

HP's latest financial results show corporate users are still buying enterprise IT products and services.
May 18, 2011 18 May'11
Missing opportunities the real risk for business, says SAP UK

Not taking advantage of the opportunities enabled by emerging technologies is a greater risk to business than the technologies themselves, says Tim Noble, SAP managing director for UK and Ireland.
May 17, 2011 17 May'11
SAP co-chiefs highlight innovation at Sapphire 2011

SAP's co-chief executives have highlighted in-memory computing, mobile access to data and people-centric collaboration applications at the SAP Sapphire Now 2011 conference.
May 17, 2011 17 May'11
SAP expands partnership with Dell in cloud and in-memory computing

SAP has announced that it has joined forces with Dell
May 17, 2011 17 May'11
Government vigilance steps up after George Osborne reveals extent of cyber attacks

Security experts have called for UK government departments to be vigilant after chancellor George Osborne revealed that 20,000 e-mails are sent by hostile intelligence agencies to the UK government each month.
May 17, 2011 17 May'11
IBM qualification courses rolled out in Scottish universities

IBM has introduced qualification courses for its Power systems and System z mainframes throughout Scottish universities and colleges.
May 13, 2011 13 May'11
Government website pilot points to future public sector software development

Alpha.gov.uk is a pilot for a website that could put all UK government digital services and websites on one URL
May 12, 2011 12 May'11
Analysis: Will Android dominance increase IT security threats for business?

The Android Market is forecast to become the world's biggest mobile content platform by August 2011, according to research by mobile application research firm Distimo.
May 11, 2011 11 May'11
Ford uses Google Prediction to analyse driver behaviour

Developers at car maker Ford are using Google's cloud-based Prediction engine to analyse driving behaviour.