News

Database software

April 25, 2012 25 Apr'12
SAP reports double-digit growth

SAP has continued where it left off last year with an 11% increase in sales in the first three months of 2012.
April 23, 2012 23 Apr'12
What is the future of open source in government?

While the pace of the move to open source in the public sector has been slow so far, a number of factors are converging to determine the blueprint for its future use in government IT.
April 20, 2012 20 Apr'12
BBC wants to build a cultural API

With over 80 years of cultural information in its archive, the BBC is looking at making programme metadata available
April 19, 2012 19 Apr'12
IT staff lack understanding to succeed with big data

IT professionals lack the skills to truly understand the big data opportunity for business and government

April 19, 2012 19 Apr'12
Amazon launches software marketplace on AWS

Amazon claims its new online store will make it easy for customers to find, compare, and start using cloud software.
April 17, 2012 17 Apr'12
NHS institute roll outs Skydox document-sharing platform

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement has deployed a document-sharing platform from Skydox
April 13, 2012 13 Apr'12
Financial companies leading race to digitisation

Financial companies are embracing digitisation faster than other sectors of the economy, says Booz&Co.
April 11, 2012 11 Apr'12
SAP takes on Oracle in database war

SAP is making Sybase its core relational database technology in a move towards challenging Oracle's dominant market position
April 11, 2012 11 Apr'12
Mining company AngloGold Ashanti hosts global ERP in UK

Gold mining company AngloGold Ashanti is moving to a single global SAP ERP system, based in the UK and managed by Fujitsu
April 05, 2012 05 Apr'12
HMRC slammed for IT system shutdown at end of tax year

HMRC has told businesses it is shutting down IT systems just weeks before the end of the financial year, due to a complex systems upgrade

April 03, 2012 03 Apr'12
HMRC awards IE6 upgrade contract to SME and saves £50m

HMRC has cut the cost of an IT project by nearly £50m after awarding the contract to a start-up, rather than a traditional systems integrator
April 02, 2012 02 Apr'12
Gartner: Business intelligence still highest priority for CIOs

Analytics and business intelligence is the number one technology priority for CIOs in 2012, according to analyst firm Gartner
March 29, 2012 29 Mar'12
Case Study: The Guide Dogs' BPM modernisation

The Guide Dogs has undergone a major modernisation and restructuring business process management (BPM) programme.
March 28, 2012 28 Mar'12
Cabinet Office negotiates £75m saving on Oracle deal

The Cabinet Office has signed a deal with Oracle to save £75m by 2015 across central government, the emergency services and the NHS
March 21, 2012 21 Mar'12
'Big data' wades into mainstream

“Big data” is gathering interest beyond high-tech companies. But there is much confusion, a lack of governance and a skills shortage that won’t go away soon.
March 21, 2012 21 Mar'12
Oracle beats third quarter estimates with strong software sales

Oracle Corporation has reported $9.1bn revenues for the third quarter, up 3% from the same period a year ago, beating analysts' expectations
March 19, 2012 19 Mar'12
Case Study: US Xpress deploys hybrid big data with Informatica

US Xpress is using a suite of data tools and integration products from Informatica to boost its fleet management
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
Microsoft readies SQL Server 2012

On 1 April, Microsoft releases SQL Server 2012, its relational database server updated to support big data and improved business intelligence
March 07, 2012 07 Mar'12
Cabinet Office shunned £47m Oracle ERP upgrade costs, says NAO

The Cabinet Office’s new shared services strategy was driven by the prospect of a £47m upgrade for Oracle ERP systems, says the National Audit Office (NAO)
February 23, 2012 23 Feb'12
CIO priorities 2012: Chris Price, CIO, West Midlands Police

Chris Price, CIO of West Midlands Police, talks about his IT challenges for 2012.
February 14, 2012 14 Feb'12
CIO priorities 2012: Paul Coby, CIO of John Lewis

Paul Coby, CIO of high street retailer John Lewis, talks about the challenges he faces in 2012.
February 10, 2012 10 Feb'12
Government takes on proprietary software lobby in open standards battle

The government wants to push through open standards against vested interests keen to maintain the dominance of proprietary systems.
February 07, 2012 07 Feb'12
Survey reveals need for new approach to back-up and recovery

Traditional approaches to back-up and recovery of IT systems no longer work and a new approach is needed, a survey of more than 1,400 IT professionals worldwide has revealed.
February 06, 2012 06 Feb'12
Gartner: You have the BI tools, now tackle the skills

Business intelligence is the top concern of CIOs, but they need to go beyond basic investment in IT, according to Gartner.
January 31, 2012 31 Jan'12
CIOs warn of massive UK IT skills shortfall

Over 80% of CIOs say it is increasingly difficult to find people with the right skills as over half of businesses plan to invest in new technology.
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
SAP UK pushes mobility and Hana

SAP is pushing the benefits of Hana, its in-memory database and mobile data management, from the acquisition of Sybase in 2010
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
Government inconsistency on ERP costs is 'inexcusable'

Whitehall departments are spending up to three times more than others for the use of near-identical software, Computer Weekly can reveal.
January 30, 2012 30 Jan'12
Oracle and SAP worst for government ERP cost differences

Oracle and SAP have been singled out as having the most inconsistent prices for ERP systems across government departments.
January 26, 2012 26 Jan'12
SAP accelerates plans to wean customers off Oracle databases

SAP is to accelerate plans to migrate customers away from Oracle databases by introducing in-memory computing support for its ERP product in 2012.
January 24, 2012 24 Jan'12
Accenture predicts the rise of the data guru

Accenture predicts CIOs who understand the power of data will make great strategic partners for business
January 20, 2012 20 Jan'12
IBM profits remain steady for 2011

IBM profits remained steady in its fourth quarter, buoyed by sales from its software segment
January 20, 2012 20 Jan'12
Microsoft sales up, profits slightly down

Microsoft reported a 5% year-on-year increase in revenue for its latest financial quarter, but profit dipped slightly.
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
Oracle integrates data management with Sun servers

Oracle is tackling the challenge of data management by providing pre-integrated systems based on Sun hardware.
January 17, 2012 17 Jan'12
SAP announces best financial results in 40 years

SAP has announced record preliminary full-year and fourth quarter results for the German-based company’s 40-year history.
January 16, 2012 16 Jan'12
Businesses fight downturn with data analytics investment

Businesses are responding to the downturn by stepping up their investment in data analytics technology, claims business advisory firm Deloitte.
January 11, 2012 11 Jan'12
European river managers delve into new knowledge management system

The UK’s Environment Agency has procured a semantic wiki based knowledge management (KM) system to aid river restoration across Europe.
January 10, 2012 10 Jan'12
CIO interview: Vince Groome director of IT solutions at HMRC

Vince Groome, director of IT solutions at HMRC, talks about Universal Credit, the role of system integrators and cutting costs with benchmarking.
January 06, 2012 06 Jan'12
Why CIOs must get a handle on their data woes

Businesses are only making use of 5% of the data they collect, according to Forrester Research.
December 23, 2011 23 Dec'11
Top 10 business software stories of 2011

Businesses and software suppliers are adopting new models, strategies and technologies in an increasingly cloud-based IT world.
December 09, 2011 09 Dec'11
'Big data' management: What big data is and how to cope with it

The “big data” deluge from email, social networks, digital images, sensor output and other sources is putting relational databases out of their comfort zone. How are UK organisations coping?
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Storage gets the X-Factor with Acunu big data voting software

Mobile voting will be a big factor in the X-factor, with millions expected to tune in on Saturday to see the showdown between Little Mix, Amelia Lilly and Marcus Collins.
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
UKtech50: Meet Mike Lynch, the most influential person in UK IT

Mike Lynch, voted as the most influential person in UK IT, doesn’t like to think about challenges, but about opportunities.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
'Big data' technologies emerge to battle large, complex data sets

‘Big data’ technologies that allow the storage, management and analysis of big data are on stream: NoSQL, Hadoop, MapReduce. Mark Whitehorn explains the reasons for their emergence and how they work.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
Does SAP’s acquisition of SuccessFactors make sense?

SAP is to acquire human capital management software-as-a-service (SaaS) supplier SuccessFactors, but appears to be paying a hefty premium.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
CIOs slam Microsoft and Oracle for milking the licence-fee cash cow

Paul Cheesbrough and David Jack, two CIOs who have pioneered cloud computing, have slammed traditional software suppliers for sticking with “cash cow” licensing models.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
SAP buys SaaS firm SuccessFactors in $3.4bn deal

Enterprise software company SAP announces a $3.4bn deal to acquire software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider SuccessFactors.
December 02, 2011 02 Dec'11
Spending on IT projects to drop in Europe in 2012

European businesses and public sector organisations will significantly cut their IT project spending in 2012 following a spending surge in 2011.
November 24, 2011 24 Nov'11
SAP extends Business Suite 7 maintenance: What is the real reason?

SAP has extended maintenance for Business Suite 7 from 2016 to 2020, supposedly to give customers predictability and remove the burden of upgrades.
November 22, 2011 22 Nov'11
CIOs must be in driving seat, or get bypassed, says SAP CIO

Chief information officers must be in the driving seat for implementing mobility and cloud computing in the enterprise, otherwise the business will bypass them, said SAP CIO Oliver Bussmann.
November 22, 2011 22 Nov'11
SAP can help business harness disruptive tech, says UK MD

Businesses currently face three disruptive technologies – mobility, big data and cloud computing – that will change the IT landscape forever, according to Steve Winter, managing director of SAP UK.
November 21, 2011 21 Nov'11
SAP user group calls for better engagement from SAP

SAP UK & Ireland User Group chairman Alan Bowling has called on business software maker SAP to continue to focus on customer engagement and communication.
November 16, 2011 16 Nov'11
The Weather Channel uses Talend to drive MDM

The Weather Channel is embarking on a master data management project, which will help grow the business.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
Google, Oracle surpass Microsoft in vulnerabilities, study shows

Google has replaced Microsoft as the number one software supplier for reported vulnerabilities, with a total of 82.
November 15, 2011 15 Nov'11
SAP to invest $2bn in China by 2015

Business software maker SAP has announced plans to invest more than $2bn and almost double its workforce in China by 2015 to grow its business in the world’s second-largest economy.
November 14, 2011 14 Nov'11
CIO Interview: IT should drive company innovation, says SAP's Oliver Bussmann

Driving innovation has become one of the key roles of the chief information officer, says Oliver Bussmann, CIO at business software maker SAP.
November 09, 2011 09 Nov'11
Moss Bros expects £10m boost after introducing multi-channel customer system

Suit hire firm Moss Bros expects to make an extra £10m next year after implementing a central customer system across 150 stores and online channels.
November 09, 2011 09 Nov'11
SAP focused on business value not features, Snabe tells Sapphire Now delegates

Businesses need to optimise processes to free resources for innovation to enable growth in an uncertain and volatile world, according to Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-chief executive officer at SAP.
November 03, 2011 03 Nov'11
Data protection regulators will increase focus on HR systems

Protecting the confidentiality of personal data and employee records will become a major challenge for enterprises and IT suppliers.
October 27, 2011 27 Oct'11
Analysis: What is the secret sauce in SAP's success?

The last major upgrade to SAP's core enterprise resource planning (ERP) product was released in 2005, so how is the company achieving record growth? Warwick Ashford reports
October 26, 2011 26 Oct'11
John McCarthy, father of Artificial Intelligence and creator of LISP language, dies aged 84

The artificial intelligence (AI) community is mourning the death of John McCarthy, the US scientist who invented the LISP computer language at the heart of this field of study.
October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11
IT companies dominate global brand index as Apple leads top 100 companies' growth

According to Interbrand's Top 100 Best Global Brands report, Apple saw the biggest rise in brand value while HTC became the one to watch. Interbrand's index places over 20 IT companies in the top 100 index, six of which are in the top 10.
October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11
Warwick University enters final phase of three-step IT transformation programme

Warwick University has started the last phase of its three-year IT transformation, introducing small, user-driven IT projects to transform its IT operation into one that offers services users need, rather than merely supporting technology.
September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11
European Commission buys Microsoft for 20 years without competition

The European Commission has been buying Microsoft software since 1993 without an open and public competition to assess alternative products, Computer Weekly has learned.
August 24, 2011 24 Aug'11
Big data: large problems or huge opportunities?

With the increasing ubiquity of technology comes the increase in electronic data. Just a few years ago, corporate databases were measured in tens to hundreds of gigabytes. Now, multi-terabyte or even petabyte databases are normal.
August 15, 2011 15 Aug'11
Government must change the way it stores citizens' personal data, calls the EHRC

The government must bring in changes to better protect personal information, calls the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
August 15, 2011 15 Aug'11
Swift proposes identity management system to banks

Banks could become the guardians of their customers' digital identity if a pilot being run by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) is accepted by its members.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Binley’s wins landmark ruling on database infringement

Healthcare information provider Binley's has won a landmark court decision against pharmaceutical mailing services and marketing business Precision Marketing Group for infringing its database rights.
August 04, 2011 04 Aug'11
Government seeks public opinion on open data policy

The government has launched a public consultation on its open data policy.
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Tesco signs eight-year deal to use Microsoft products and services

Tesco has signed a software licensing and services deal with Microsoft aimed at helping improve the retail giant's global productivity and international growth.
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.
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 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
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 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 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 ...
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....
April 26, 2011 26 Apr'11
Can Oracle kill off Itanium?

At the end of March, Oracle announced it would no longer be developing its software for the Intel Itanium chip.
April 21, 2011 21 Apr'11
National Archives scoops Queen’s Award for Enterprise

The National Archives has been awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise - the first public sector body to receive the gong in more than ten years.
April 13, 2011 13 Apr'11
Microsoft launches UK mapping service to rival Google Streetview

Starting in London, Microsoft has begun taking photographs of the UK for its street-level mapping service, Streetside.
April 12, 2011 12 Apr'11
Axed police agency to earn £5m from data sharing application

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has agreed a deal for an information sharing application it developed to be licensed to other organisations, potentially earning the police service £5m.
April 08, 2011 08 Apr'11
Facebook has launched a project to ‘open source’ its datacentre

In the spirit of open source software, Facebook says it wants to share the innovations in one of its datacentres with the rest of the industry in its
April 04, 2011 04 Apr'11
Chivas Brothers use CommVault data deduplication to maximise disc back-up

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch Whisky company, has deployed CommVault to manage data deduplication.
March 30, 2011 30 Mar'11
SAS and Teradata establish customer council

Users of SAS and Teradata are being encouraged to join a Product Advisory Council that aims to provide customer input and validation to joint SAS and Teradata in-database products.
March 23, 2011 23 Mar'11
Budget 2011: HMRC might combine NI and income tax systems

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) could face major IT integration following the government's announcement in the budget that the income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) systems could be brought together in an effort to reduce complexity.
March 22, 2011 22 Mar'11
Governments need new policies to cope with

Every government agency needs a "big data" policy to cope with the rising tsunami of data, to protect personal data, and to extract information on which it can act, says a report from the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology ...
March 09, 2011 09 Mar'11
CSA spends millions processing claims by hand

The Child Support Agency is spending millions processing child maintenance claims by hand because of failures in its computer systems
March 09, 2011 09 Mar'11
IT fails to curb anti-social behaviour

Information technology failures are a key reason why efforts to stamp out anti-social behaviour have failed for at least a decade....
February 24, 2011 24 Feb'11
Data warehousing technologies to evolve rapidly, says Gartner

Gartner says data warehousing technologies are turning the corner.
February 17, 2011 17 Feb'11
London Stock Exchange works with partners to resolve technology migration problems

The London Stock Exchange says some data providers have not been able to get their systems ready for the new core trading platform to which it migrated this week.
February 14, 2011 14 Feb'11
London Stock Exchange migrates to MillenniumIT platform

The London Stock Exchange is migrating trading to its MillenniumIT trading platform today in a move that will see its ailing .Net-based Tradelect system switched off.
January 26, 2011 26 Jan'11
Jaspersoft delivers open source big data reporting

Open source business intelligence provider Jaspersoft has released a set of tools for running reports over large database systems.
January 21, 2011 21 Jan'11
Organ donors preferences recorded inaccurately

The preferences of 444,031 organ donors were recorded wrongly on the Organ Donation Register (ODR) because of a software problem.
January 10, 2011 10 Jan'11
Colt to offer sub-millisecond connectivity to London Stock Exchange

Colt is enabling trading companies to connect to the London Stock Exchange datacentre in 100 microseconds, following a deal with the UK's primary trading...
January 06, 2011 06 Jan'11
Gartner: BI set to move from IT to users

IT needs to prepare for a major shift in how business intelligence is delivered and used within companies, according to analyst Gartner
January 05, 2011 05 Jan'11
UK school networks vulnerable to attack

UK schools are vulnerable to cyber attack, putting pupil, employee and administrative data at risk, according to security testing firm NGS Secure.
January 05, 2011 05 Jan'11
BCS CEO David Clarke talks about the future of the IT industry

David Clarke, CEO of the chartered institute of computing the BCS, talks to Computer Weekly about being awarded an MBE, the future of the IT profession and tackling a membership revolt against his leadership last year.
January 05, 2011 05 Jan'11
RIM reacts to Indian Blackberry data interception reports

Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) says there will be no change to the security model of Blackberry Enterprise Server.
January 04, 2011 04 Jan'11
In depth: Cognos 10

Writing on the ComputerWeekly.com Database Notes and queries blog, Ian Murphy discusses the new version of Cognos. Cognos 10 is an upgrade to Cognos...
December 31, 2010 31 Dec'10
2010 Review: Top 10 retail IT stories

As online sales have been the only area of consistent growth in the retail sector, many players began to think seriously about their multi-channel offerings...