News

Business applications

July 28, 2010 28 Jul'10
SAP shares dip on disappointing business outlook

SAP shares dipped over 2% despite reporting software and related service revenues of €2.3bn (£1.9bn) in preliminary financial results for the second quarter of 2010, up 16% compared with a year ago.
July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
CIO interview: Greater London Authority ramps up IT while cutting costs

The GLA is in a unique position for a public sector body - taking on more responsibilities, a potentially higher budget, and employing more staff as it absorbs the work of other organisations that are likely to be closed.
July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
Betfair seeks IT recruits with global ambitions

Online gambling firm Betfair is looking to hire nearly 100 technology employees and graduates across different areas of expertise. The company is now looking to recruit 80 to 90 people with expertise in areas including C#, C++, SQL Server and Java, ...
July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
Bayer signs five-year deal for global SAP system

Pharmaceuticals company Bayer has signed a five-year global enterprise agreement with SAP to support the company's IT strategy to standardise globally on...

July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
BMW slashes security management costs

BMW has reduced the complexity and cost of security with an identity and access management service from Logica.

The Identity and Access Management...
July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
SAP reports strong second quarter growth

SAP has reported software and related service revenues of €2.3bn in preliminary financial results for the second quarter of 2010, up 16% compared with a year ago.
July 27, 2010 27 Jul'10
iPhone jailbreaking not illegal, says US government

The US government has given iPhone users the go-ahead to bypass electronic protection on Apple's iPhones to enable them to use any wireless service provider.
July 26, 2010 26 Jul'10
UK launches Cyber Security Challenge

The UK has officially launched its Cyber Security Challenge to find and attract new talent to the IT security industry.
July 26, 2010 26 Jul'10
Microsoft deal boosts Arm shares

Shares in Cambridge-based UK chip designer ARM rose more than 11% after the announcement on Friday of a licensing agreement with Microsoft.
July 24, 2010 24 Jul'10
Webinar Registration: Using Windows 7 to transform IT Systems Management

Thank you for registering for the Kaseya Webinar "Using Windows 7 to transform IT Systems Management" on Thursday 12th August at 2:30pm (BST).

July 22, 2010 22 Jul'10
Facebook aims for $1bn sales with Salesforce.com

Social network site Facebook has chosen fellow web phenomenon Salesforce.com to manage its growing sales team in a bid to improve its efficiency.
July 22, 2010 22 Jul'10
Yorkshire and Clydesdale human error exacerbated by computer

Thousands of customers of the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks face having to pay more for their mortgages after a "rounding error" was made when a system was upgraded.
July 22, 2010 22 Jul'10
IBM delivers meanest mainframe

IBM has launched its most important server product a so-called cloud-in-a-box, that combines mainframe processors, Power 7 blades and x86 in a single system...
July 21, 2010 21 Jul'10
Yahoo shares dip on disappointing financial results

Yahoo shares fell more than 6% after second-quarter sales came in at $1.13bn (£7.39bn), failing to reach analyst expectations of $1.16bn.
July 20, 2010 20 Jul'10
Spar rolls out contactless payments

The convenience store chain Spar has introduced contactless payment technology to speed up service and benefit from lower transaction costs. By using...
July 20, 2010 20 Jul'10
Thetrainline.com pays £15m to extend Capgemini deal

Online ticket provider Thetrainline.com has extended its infrastructure services contract with Capgemini for £15m.
July 19, 2010 19 Jul'10
BT hitches onto Arqiva wagon for utility smart meter ride

Signal distribution company Arqiva has attracted BT and security specialist Detica as partners to address communications for the UK's £10bn smart meter roll-out programme.
July 19, 2010 19 Jul'10
Farnborough Air Show: Supply chain software cuts air freight costs for component supplier

High-tech component supplier JAE Europe expects to save £500,000 a year by rolling out demand planning software
July 16, 2010 16 Jul'10
RNLI taps into user community to get more value from SAP investments

Sea rescue charity the RNLI has unlocked more value out of its SAP systems with the help of the SAP UK & Ireland User Group.
July 16, 2010 16 Jul'10
IT services and outsourcing firm TCS reports second quarter growth

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported revenues of $1,794m (£1,164m)for the second quarter, up 6.4% on the first quarter and 21.2% up on the same period a year ago.
July 15, 2010 15 Jul'10
Thin clients take second place as enterprise refreshes legacy XP PCs

In spite of industry noise concerning the merits of deploying virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), businesses appear to be in the midst of a PC revamp.
July 15, 2010 15 Jul'10
Tibco puts free BI into the cloud

Tibco Software has launched a business intelligence tool which will give users free access to cloud-based reporting and analytics for the first year of use.
July 14, 2010 14 Jul'10
Internet security takes a leap forward

Internet security takes a giant leap forward today with the global roll-out of technology aimed at making the public network safer for all users without affecting performance.
July 14, 2010 14 Jul'10
Government scraps £80m Microsoft licensing deal with NHS

The government has scrapped the long-running NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) enterprise agreement (EA) software licensing deal with Microsoft after deciding there was no business case or budget to renew it.
July 13, 2010 13 Jul'10
Microsoft builds Dynamics Marketplace

Microsoft has unveiled Dynamics Marketplace for its latest Dynamics CRM product at its worldwide partner conference in Washington. The company said the new online catalogue, which is due to be available in September 2010, would provide a way for ...
July 12, 2010 12 Jul'10
Microsoft debuts Azure platform appliance

Microsoft has introduced the Windows Azure platform appliance, which it says will enable service providers and larger businesses to provide on-demand IT...
July 12, 2010 12 Jul'10
Software piracy has long-term effects on UK economy

Tough economic times are driving software piracy in the UK as some small computer shops look to boost sales and cut costs. But what is good for some is not good for all.
July 09, 2010 09 Jul'10
New phishing attack disguised as a PDF reader update

Malicious e-mail attacks that look like PDF reader updates have been increasing in volume since the middle of June, says Symantec Hosted Services.

The...
July 09, 2010 09 Jul'10
Netsuite seeks experts to rebadge white label platforms for vertical markets

Netsuite, the cloud-based business software firm, is "verticalising" its product platform to increase its appeal to specific market sectors, and is seeking "domain experts" with specific knowledge of different business sectors to customise Netsuite ...
July 08, 2010 08 Jul'10
UK business needs multi-channel software strategy, says SAP

SAP's strategy of focusing on multiple types of delivery supports the needs of UK business, says Tim Noble, managing director of SAP UK & Ireland.
July 08, 2010 08 Jul'10
UBS bank gets CSC voice and data services

UBS bank has signed a five-year deal with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) for networking services for $580m.
July 08, 2010 08 Jul'10
Lloyd's Register moves to Netsuite cloud for business tools

Lloyd's Register, the certification, classification, and inspection service provider to the energy and transport sectors, is to adopt the cloud-based product Netsuite OpenAir .
July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10
Paddy Power slashes staffing costs with scheduling system

Bookmaker Paddy Power plans to implement a system to manage its retail operations across the UK and Ireland to generate yearly savings of up to 7%.

The...
July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10
ITC wins £1m business funding under EFG

ITC Global Security has won £1m funding from NatWest under the government-backed Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.

The Enterprise Finance Guarantee...
July 05, 2010 05 Jul'10
Microsoft cracks down on UK software pirates

Microsoft's investigators have caught 25 UK computer shops selling illegal software in the past six months. The software company has reached settlements with 21 sellers, who admitted loading pirated software onto the hard discs of computers sold.
July 05, 2010 05 Jul'10
Insurance companies plan IT enhancements

More than a fifth of insurance firms are planning to enhance their IT as mergers, expansion and regulation top industry concerns
July 05, 2010 05 Jul'10
Apple says tests confirm iPhone 4 has best wireless performance ever

Apple has denied a design fault in the antennae of the iPhone 4 and has blamed instead the formula used to calculate signal strength.
July 02, 2010 02 Jul'10
Interview: Simon Post, chief technology officer, Carphone Warehouse

The retailer's IT chief talks to Angelica Mari about his extended role, outsourcing plans and the BestBuy integration
July 01, 2010 01 Jul'10
UK government urged to use technology to reform security

The UK's approach to security needs radical reform, says Martin Sutherland, managing director of information intelligence firm Detica.
June 30, 2010 30 Jun'10
Symantec launches security benchmarking tool for small businesses

Symantec has launched an online tool to enable small businesses to see how their security, data protection and storage profiles measure up against those...
June 30, 2010 30 Jun'10
Many organisations in the dark about advanced cyber attacks, research reveals

Many organisations are unaware they are being targeted by advanced cyber attacks and are failing to respond effectively, according to the Ponemon Institute.
June 29, 2010 29 Jun'10
Reliance on passwords is biggest security threat, says hacking expert

Passwords are fundamentally insecure and represent the biggest security threat facing organisations, says Jason Hart, senior vice-president for Europe at security firm Cryptocard.
June 29, 2010 29 Jun'10
National Grid outsources more to Tata

National Grid has outsourced its finance and human resource support to Tata Consultancy Services with about 300 workers affected.
June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10
Cabinet Office seeks opinions on transparency and open data

The Cabinet Office says it wants the public to have a say on which data sets it releases, as part of its new "commitment to transparency".
June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10
Congressmen ask Steve Jobs to explain changes in Apple’s privacy policy

US congress members have written to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs about concerns that the firm is collecting and sharing geo-location data of iPhone and...
June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10
Video: Intel demos MeeGo for Tablet

Intel has posted a video demo of the pre-alpha MeeGo for tablets on YouTube. MeeGo, the Linux operating system from Nokia and Intel, aims to provide a cheap alternative to Windows and Android on Net Books and smartphones.
June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10
US sets out plan to boost online security with trusted identities

The US has published a strategy aimed at improving the security of online transactions. The report builds on the Cyberspace Policy Review, commissioned by President Barack Obama, which analysed the government's ICT infrastructure defensive ...
June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10
Cloud will help enable creativity and growth, say IT pros

Cloud computing is exciting to IT pros because the ability to reassign resources enables them to be more creative and focus on growth, a survey has revealed....
June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10
Critical security fixes for Adobe Reader and Acrobat on track for 29 June

Adobe Reader and Acrobat updates are still on schedule for 29 June, according to the software supplier.
June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10
US authorities take Twitter to task over security

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has criticised Twitter's lax internal security procedures, which enabled hackers to post fake statements from the accounts of US President Barack Obama and others.
June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10
Oracle Q4 earnings boost investor confidence

Oracle has announced that revenues for its fourth quarter, ending 31 May, were up 39% to $9.5bn (£6.4bn) and earnings of 46 cents a share, up 24% compared with the same period a year ago.
June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10
HP collaborates with VMware to slash virtualisation costs

HP is collaborating with VMware to provide integrated storage, desktop and connectivity to support virtualisation in the datacentre and pave the way towards...
June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10
Red Hat puts open source in the cloud

Red Hat has unveiled a suite of products and services aimed at supporting cloud infrastructure, based on open source software.

The Red Hat Cloud Foundation...
June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10
NCP targets barriers to enterprise mobility

Concern about the security of public internet access is still preventing many businesses giving mobile access to company data, says secure connection software...
June 23, 2010 23 Jun'10
Two London teenagers arrested in cybercrime investigation

The Metropolitan Police's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has arrested two teenagers in an international cybercrime investigation.
June 23, 2010 23 Jun'10
RSA and Lumension partner on data protection

RSA, the security division of EMC, and endpoint security firm Lumension have announced a partnership aimed at helping organisations better protect and share...
June 21, 2010 21 Jun'10
SMB data leak costs top £200,000, says Symantec report

Data leaks cost small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) an average of £200,000 each during the past year, research shows.

More than two thirds of...
June 18, 2010 18 Jun'10
Most web attacks come via compromised legitimate wesites

About 90% of web attacks take place through legitimate, compromised websites, up from 80% in 2009, according to Symantec Hosted Services (SHS).
June 18, 2010 18 Jun'10
IT security pros must enable business to win support

Business has traditionally tackled the problem of data security by spending money on technology, but a growing number of security experts say this approach is misguided.
June 18, 2010 18 Jun'10
Google faces legal action on Wi-Fi interception in US and France

Three US states and France are considering action against Google over the company's interception of private Wi-Fi data by its Street View vehicles as they collected images in 30 countries.
June 17, 2010 17 Jun'10
New cyber security threats facing the public sector

The recent attacks on Google have pushed the issue of targeted internet security breaches up the agenda for the public sector
June 17, 2010 17 Jun'10
Colt plans concrete moves with cloud

Colt (formerly Colt Telecom) is using the hype around cloud computing to boost its claim to a greater share of the hosted infrastructure and services market.
June 16, 2010 16 Jun'10
Met Police wants system to track location and activity of officers

The Metropolitan Police Authority wants to implement a system that will allow staff to track the location of officers and keep tabs on what they are doing...
June 16, 2010 16 Jun'10
Latest Mac OS X version still needs Adobe update

The latest version of the Mac OS X operating system includes Adobe's Flash Player, but it is not the latest patched version. Mac users who update to...
June 15, 2010 15 Jun'10
Transport for London opens data to app developers

Transport for London has opened up its website to software developers to allow them to build mashups using its transport information.
June 15, 2010 15 Jun'10
Business Link Northwest set to encrypt all data

Business Link Northwest has rolled out full disc encryption and media encryption systems to secure confidential data on all its office and mobile computers.
June 15, 2010 15 Jun'10
Twitter wobbly after failed upgrade

The Twitter service continued to be patchy hours after the firm said it would be down last night due to a failed upgrade.
June 14, 2010 14 Jun'10
Westminster replaces Contactpoint with local Children's Hub

Westminster City Council has developed a Children's Hub that replaces a lot of what the cancelled child database Contactpoint would have done.
June 14, 2010 14 Jun'10
Business must re-evaluate software-as-a service, says Gartner

Software as a service (SaaS) will have a role in the future of IT, but not the dominant future that was first thought, according to research firm Gartner.
June 11, 2010 11 Jun'10
SAP programmers to get new code checker

German software house SAP has licensed code-checking software from Virtual Forge to help companies test and secure code written in the high level Abap programming language, part of SAP's NetWeaver suite.
June 11, 2010 11 Jun'10
Adobe rushes out fix for Flash Player zero-day vulnerabilities

Adobe has rushed out a fix for zero-day vulnerabilities in its Flash Player in less than a week, proving claims that a process review has improved its security team's response times.
June 11, 2010 11 Jun'10
Kaspersky, Aveva, Progress join BSA in piracy fight

Three leading software firms have joined the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the industry body dedicated to fighting software piracy.
June 10, 2010 10 Jun'10
Twitter prepares to launch own link shortener to boost security

Twitter has announced it is another step closer to launching its own web link shortener to boost security, which could push out popular services such as bit.ly and tinyurl.
June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10
Australian ISP code could defeat new generation of DDoS attacks, says Imperva

The Australian Internet Industry Association (IIA) has called on ISPs across the country to adopt a voluntary code of conduct on cyber security.
June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10
Ingres slashes database query time

Open source database supplier Ingres has launched a database project which it claims can cut the time taken to answer business queries by up to 70 times.

The...
June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10
Software producers work together to turn the tide on cybercrime

Cyber attacks that exploit security weaknesses in software and cost business millions through fraud, theft, downtime and recovery, are increasing in complexity and number.
June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10
Adobe security update to fix zero-day bugs promised tomorrow

Adobe has announced that it expects to release a fix for a zero-day vulnerability for Flash Player 10.x for Windows, Mac and Linux by 10 June.
June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10
Microsoft’s June security update equals record number of vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released 10 security bulletins for 34 vulnerabilities in the heaviest Patch Tuesday monthly security update so for this year.
June 08, 2010 08 Jun'10
UK’s quest for a fair and rational privacy law

The government's decision to scrap identity cards relieved privacy advocates but did not solve the basic problem, which is that citizens need a cheap, reliable, easy to use and universally accepted way to assert their identity.
June 08, 2010 08 Jun'10
Pentaho offers free trial of cloud-based BI suite

Open source business intelligence (BI) company Pentaho has introduced an on-demand subscription service for the Pentaho BI Suite.
June 07, 2010 07 Jun'10
How to escape the online police

Despite the Cameron government's promise to publish more government data, it is unlikely to publish everything, especially where publication might prove damaging or embarrassing.
June 07, 2010 07 Jun'10
Visa improves security for online transactions

Visa has launched a payment card in Europe to improve security for online transactions. The CodeSure card contains a keypad and an eight-character display for showing a one-time passcode for any Visa debit or credit card.
June 07, 2010 07 Jun'10
Adobe fears exploits of critical vulnerability for Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Acrobat

Adobe has announced that there is a critical vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player, Reader and Acrobat for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris that could allow attackers to take control of the affected system.
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
Lloyds uses technology to track oil spills and ash clouds

Insurance companies have always had high exposure to environmental disasters, and with BP's oil spill and Iceland's volcano 2010 has placed plenty of demands on their IT systems.
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
Microsoft needs "cooler" products to battle revenue losses, says chairman

Microsoft will have to become "cooler" to attract the new users it needs to shore up sales as cloud computing reduces its average revenue per user, the software firm's chairman for Europe told Computer Weekly in an exclusive video interview.
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
Levi Strauss uses planning software to predict demand

Retailer Levi Strauss has signed a deal for planning software that it hopes will help it expand its network of stores.

Levi Strauss has a total of...
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
E-mail data leaks a worry for most IT professionals

Most IT professionals are concerned about the safety of data sent via e-mail, a survey has revealed.
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
June Microsoft Patch Tuesday will keep systems admins busy, says Qualys

Microsoft is to release 10 fixes for 34 vulnerabilities in its Patch Tuesday monthly security update on 8 June.
June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10
Ballmer defends Windows after Jobs' attack

Windows will be increasingly modified and optimised for various functions and different types of hardware, says Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft.
June 03, 2010 03 Jun'10
CIO interview: Aurora paves the way for multichannel IT and collaboration

Retailer conglomerate Aurora Fashions is pressing ahead with a series of initiatives around boosting its multichannel capability to respond to customer demands in a challenging business environment.
June 03, 2010 03 Jun'10
Ten technologies that could save the life insurance industry

Life Insurance companies that have survived the turmoil of recent years now face massive challenges.
June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10
Podcast: Microsoft uses multilayered approach to cloud security

Microsoft is among the emerging suppliers of cloud computing services that are seeking to win the confidence of enterprises.
June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10
West Berkshire Council found in breach of Data Protection Act

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has found the West Berkshire Council in breach of the Data Protection Act (DPA).
June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10
Few heed calls to quit Facebook over privacy concerns

Fewer than 40,000 Facebook account holders have committed to quit the social networking site because of concerns about privacy.
June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10
Millions of internet users risk attack with ageing IE6 browser

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 browser is still used by more than 25% of internet users, even though it attracts cyber attackers because it lacks up-to-date security features, a study has revealed.
June 02, 2010 02 Jun'10
World Cup spam volumes soar

Spam relating to the FIFA 2010 World Cup has soared by about 27% according to security firm, Symantec.
June 01, 2010 01 Jun'10
Security concerns hasten Google’s move off Windows

Google is moving from Microsoft's Windows operating system in favour of Apple's Mac OS and open source Linux because of security concerns after its Chinese operations were hacked in late 2009.
May 28, 2010 28 May'10
Video: How Microsoft is tackling IT's biggest problems

Despite almost 70 years of research into digital electronic computing, there remain some tough questions.
May 28, 2010 28 May'10
Novell struggles through Q2

Novell has reported a $12m drop in net income for the second quarter of 2010 from the same period last year. Novell reported net revenue of $204m for the...
May 27, 2010 27 May'10
How to use IT to convert complaints into profits

CIOs will have to manage a growing range of communications channels and provide frontline staff with fast access to accurate data to keep customers happy,...