News

IT strategy

• September 30, 2011 30 Sep'11

  Co-operative Group hires Andy Haywood for new group CIO role

  The Co-operative Group has hired Andy Haywood to become Group CIO.

• September 30, 2011 30 Sep'11

  Chiefs put police IT reforms on remand

  The Home Office has intensified consultations with police chiefs over its new police IT strategy after it emerged some of them were not convinced the proposals for reform were sound.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Analysts predict shift in IT department role as move to cloud gathers pace

  IT departments will focus less on maintenance and more on innovation as they use clouds created and supported by third parties, says analyst Ovum.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Security firm selects Fujitsu IT services

  Security company G4S has outsourced its IT infrastructure and services to Fujitsu and has agreed a £32.9m seven-year contract.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Nokia axes 3,500 jobs

  Troubled mobile phone company Nokia is to axe 3,500 jobs as sales of its handsets continue to plummet.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Nokia and Siemens invest €1bn in joint network venture

  Nokia and Siemens are each investing €500m into Nokia Siemens Networks in a bid to strengthen the joint venture's financial position.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Ten developments that will transform IT outsourcing

  The IT outsourcing sector will be transformed over the next few years, with 10 developments changing the way IT is delivered and used.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  The impact of the Olympics power drain on London-based datacentres

  Power shortages and costs are becoming an increasing concern for companies with datacentres in London as the Olympics approaches.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  IBM signs £525m DWP contract to provide Universal Credit systems

  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has signed a seven-year contract with IBM worth £75m per year to provide systems, which will include the delivery of its flagship Universal Credit programme.

• September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11

  Complicated IT systems deter workers from claiming back company expenses

  A survey of 1,000 public and private sector workers found that over 50% of workers who use their own money to pay for work-related costs don't claim the money back because the process is too complex.

• September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11

  CIOs say move to cloud applications inevitable as public sector leads the way

  CIOs will be spending between 40% and 80% of their IT budgets on cloud services in five years as the promise of lower capital spending on IT, lower overall IT costs and greater technical agility make cloud computing inevitable, according to a panel ...

• September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11

  UK IT gets top marks in R&D - but skills gap is still a concern

  The UK is the fifth most competitive IT market in the world, but the lack of sufficiently qualified IT professionals is still a major concern, according to research.

• September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11

  Government deploys Wi-Fi for Olympics as mobile networks face capacity crunch

  The government is planning to deploy free Wi-Fi around London during the Olympic Games in 2012 amid fears that mobile phone networks could run out of capacity.

• September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11

  Google opens business unit for UK technology start-ups in London's Tech City

  Google is to open an incubator business unit for technology start-ups in East London's Tech City with plans to open amenities to organisations supporting start-ups and a programme of events including training workshops and product demonstrations.

• September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11

  Virgin Media Business launches cloud computing service

  Virgin Media Business has teamed up with web hosting and services provider Savvis to offer a new contract-free cloud computing service to UK customers.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Airbus completes high-performance datacentre deployment with HP

  Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has taken delivery of two pre-configured HP datacentres.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Mitchells & Butlers continues to drive down IT costs

  Pub group Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is continuing an IT cost-cutting plan to respond to pressure on its operating margins.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  MySQL.com hack serves up malware to site visitors

  The open source database website MySQL.com has been hacked, leaving site visitors exposed to malicious code.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Cognizant acquires Zaffera

  Outsourcing company Cognizant has acquired Zaffera, an SAP retail consulting and software development firm, for an undisclosed sum.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Game pursues digital offerings to fend off recession

  Video game retailer Game Group is looking for new sources of revenue from the web and digital gaming to mitigate the effects of low consumer spending.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  How BP made its supplier ecosystem work

  Oil and gas giant BP spent 65% of its $3bn annual IT budget with 3,000 suppliers in 2008, but now it outsources to only seven and has reduced its annual IT budget by $800m as a result.

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  Liberal Democrats call for central IT office to address severe government technology skills gaps

  The Liberal Democrats have called for a new central government office for IT to address the "severe skills gap" of civil servants and government managers. Ministers...

• September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11

  European Payments Council criticises EC anti-trust e-payments investigation

  The European Payments Council (EPC) has spoken out against the European Commission's anti-trust investigation into the development of e-payment standards.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Businesses must invest in ICT to boost economy, finds research

  The European economy could be boosted by billions of euros over the next decade if businesses increase investment in information and communication technology.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Council of Europe countries agree to protect internet freedom of expression

  By adopting recommendations for internet governance tabled at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, ministers of 47 countries clarified their responsibilities under existing law and took one step closer to cementing them in an internet treaty.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Boots launches mobile site to expand multichannel offering

  Retailer Boots has launched a mobile version of its website to expand its multichannel portfolio.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  Whitehall gagging order on SME working group ‘flies in face of transparency agenda’

  The government has issued a gagging order preventing members of an SME working group from commenting on meeting discussions, despite its recent commitment to an "open government" transparency agenda.

• September 26, 2011 26 Sep'11

  EC investigates banking group after antitrust e-payments complaint

  The European Commission (EC) is investigating whether emerging banking standards for e-payments are anti-competitive.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  RSA Europe 2011 to focus on APTs and share lessons learned from RSA’s data breach

  Advanced persistent threats (APTs) are to be a pervasive theme at the RSA Conference Europe 2011 in London next month, coming just six months after the data breach at EMC's security division.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  HP confirms former eBay chief Meg Whitman will replace Léo Apotheker as CEO

  HP has named Meg Whitman as its new chief executive officer, confirming speculation that the former eBay chief would replace Léo Apotheker

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Government G-Cloud roll-out gathers pace as Memset signs as first UK SME partner

  Cloud hosting SME Memset has signed up as one of ten companies to trial G-Cloud services.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Capita continues summer spending spree with acquisition of police software supplier Cedar

  Capita has acquired a software company that specialises in providing human resources software to UK police forces.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Top European banks might switch from the likes of IBM and Accenture to Indian IT

  A report from Deutsche Bank into the plans of CIOs at four major European banks has revealed that the major Western IT services companies face losing business to Indian suppliers because of their reluctance to truly harness the offshore capabilities...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  FBI arrests LulzSec hacker suspect Cody Kretsinger over massive Sony data breach

  The FBI has arrested a suspected member of LulzSec over the breach of computer systems at Sony Pictures. Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested in Arizona and charged with the unauthorised impairment of a protected computer in connection with a SQL ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Demand for SAP and Oracle skills doubles

  Demand for IT professionals with Oracle and SAP skills has doubled over the past three months as employers seek more high-end technical expertise, according to recruitment company Maximus.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Deutsche Bank transforms application support

  Deutsche Bank's investment arm has signed a five-year deal with an Indian service provider to transform the support of its core applications with a service that will meet ITIL and LEAN global standards.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  HP’s new CEO promises better execution, says IDC

  Hewlett-Packard's newly appointed chief executive and president Meg Whitman promises better execution than her predecessor, but the question is how much of his legacy she intends to dismantle, says research firm IDC.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Police IT not fit for purpose, police-led ICT company needs a lot of work, says Home Office report

  A Home Office report into policing has labelled police IT as not being fit for purpose and made recommendations to shake up a mess of different IT systems across 43 forces which is hindering police attempts to fight crime.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Two thirds of companies concerned about security implications of consumerisation

  Two thirds of companies are concerned about the security implications of the number of personal computing devices used by employees at work. More than half of those who voiced concerns said they lacked the tools needed to manage personal devices ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Burying the NHS National Programme for IT

  The government's decision to accelerate the dismantling of the NHS National Project for IT (NPfIT) came as little surprise to those who have followed the terminally ill project since 2002. But what is the prognosis for the NHS's badly needed ...

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Verizon rejects London datacentre site due to Olympic Games power drain

  Concerns over power shortages led Verizon Business to dismiss London as the site for its flagship European datacentre. Verizon was worried about power because of the Olympic Games to be hosted in London and chose Amsterdam instead.

• September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11

  Anti-piracy group FAST applauds government business guide to navigating UK IP law

  The government has published a guide to UK intellectual property law for businesses, providing information on IP policies; procurement of goods and services; reporting IP crime; and auditing IP. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) said it ...

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Researchers claim to have broken SSL/TLS encryption

  Two security researchers claim to have found a way of breaking the SSL/TLS encryption that is widely used to guarantee the reliability and privacy of data exchanged between web browsers and servers.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Software testing should be in partnership with third parties

  Software testing is one of the most important tasks for 91% of IT departments and almost all believe it is crucial to outsource this activity, according to research.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Government pulls plug on ailing £11bn NHS IT programme

  The troubled £11bn NHS National Programme for IT is to be axed, the government is expected to announce later today.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  Léo Apotheker's future uncertain as HP board set to name Meg Whitman as CEO

  HP is expected to replace CEO Léo Apotheker with former eBay chief Meg Whitman, following a recent shake-up at the company when Apotheker announced HP was to sell its market-leading PC business.

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  BASF extends BT network contract

  Chemical group BASF has signed a €200m deal with BT for networking 900 BASF sites in more than 80 countries. The contract includes the provision of IP telephony and local network services (managed LAN services) at 300 sites in North and South ...

• September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11

  SQL injection attacks increasing in number, sophistication and potency, researchers find

  The prevalence and intensity of SQL injection attacks are increasing, according to Imperva.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  CIOs urged to simplify and standardise IT systems to allow for innovation

  Organisations have been urged to simplify and standardise their IT systems to free up time and resources for innovation.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Social engineering attacks hit ill-prepared UK businesses, survey shows

  Less than a third of UK businesses provide regular training aimed at preventing social engineering attacks, despite 42% being hit by such attacks in the past two years at an average cost of £15,000 per incident, a survey has revealed.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Internal IT must focus on integrating external services

  The latest research from analyst firm K2 Advisory urges CIOs to assess how the internal IT department can become a service broker.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Capgemini and EMC offer hosted storage service in first of cloud collaborations

  The storage-as-a-service will be the first of a number of services to be announced over 18 months, with messaging-as-a-service next.. EMC hopes Capgemini's global presence and close relationships with business will accelerate cloud take-up.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Law enforcement needs to get smart about collecting digital evidence, says forensic analyst

  The time has come to empower frontline law enforcement officers to make better decisions when seizing digital evidence, says forensic analyst Andrew Sheldon.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Gartner: Best defence against social media threats is monitoring and education

  Blocking social media in the enterprise encourages bad behaviour by employees but does not prevent access, warns Gartner.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Gartner: A strategic approach to IT security is essential

  Cyber threats will always get ahead of defences, which is why organisations need a strategic approach, says Gartner analyst Lawrence Orans.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Let employees use personal mobile devices to remain competitive, says Cisco CTO

  Businesses must adopt new mobile technologies or risk losing top talent to its rivals, according to Cisco's chief technology officer.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Hackers turn to online games to target victims

  Scammers and hackers are increasingly using online games to trick victims into installing malicious software onto computers, warns security firm BitDefender.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  HP webOS lay-offs could affect European employees

  Hewlett-Packard could lay off European employees as part of the company's decision to discontinue its webOS hardware division, including the Touchpad tablet range.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  RightMove renders property maps with Google

  RightMove is the UK's biggest user of Google Maps and one of the largest users of the mapping software in the world.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Google+ social network now open to all

  Google has finished its trial of social network, Google+, opening up the platform to new members without an invitation.

• September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11

  Global BPO sales to reach £60bn in 2015

  The world market for business process outsourcing (BPO) will be worth $93.4bn (£59.7bn) in 2015 compared with $72bn last year, according to Ovum.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  BP recruits IT professionals to train on Future Leaders Programme

  The oil company's Future Leaders Programme aims to find up to 40 candidates for its information technology & services (IT&S) and other departments.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Rackspace launches hosted platform for virtual desktops in Europe

  Using NetApp storage, Rackspace said its Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) platform allows customers to run virtual desktops via the public cloud or private cloud infrastructure across PCs, smartphones and tablet devices.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Dell SecureWorks warns Gartner summit Trojans make businesses complacent

  Trojan attacks have lulled organisations into a false sense of security, Don Smith, vice-president technology and engineering at Dell SecureWorks, told the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2011 in London.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Debenhams grows web and mobile sales by 70% year-on-year

  In its financial results for the 2010-2011 financial year, Debenham's multi-channel sales grew 71.9% over a 52-week period. Chief executive Michael Sharp said the company will continue to focus on its multi-channel strategy in the coming months.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Thomas Cook creates single European IT structure with Accenture

  Travel operator Thomas Cook is moving several separate IT operations across Europe into one organisation that will harness public and private cloud technologies.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Layered security is best, but don’t overlook the obvious, says M86 Security

  E-mail and end users are overlooked too often in security strategies, with IT professionals tending to take their eye off the ball in these two areas, warns M86 Security.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  European Antitrust Commission clears IBM of emulator market abuse complaints

  The European Antitrust Commission has cleared IBM of allegations of anti-competitive practices stemming from complaints that the company had abused a dominant position in its mainframe business.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Gartner: Keep encryption simple and standardised to cut cost and complexity

  Businesses should consider self-encrypting drives (SEDs) for new installations that hold significant volumes of sensitive data, says Gartner.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Bring your own devices to work is the future of desktop computing

  A global study of 700 CIOs, commissioned by Citrix, has revealed that 94% of organisations are planning to allow staff to bring their own devices to work by 2013.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Canned FireControl project labelled ‘worst government IT failure’ by MPs

  The scrapped £469m FireControl project has been singled out by MPs as the worst government IT failure in many years.

• September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11

  Fewer than half of businesses know how much energy their IT uses, says Fujitsu

  A report from IT service provider Fujitsu revealed a lack of visibility of energy consumption as the main reason businesses are failing to become more energy-efficient.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Severn Trent uses Macro 4 to migrate archived mainframe data

  Severn Trent Water is using software and services company Macro 4 to help decommission a legacy billing system, while retaining access to 10 years' worth of customer data.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Capita acquires more UK BPO resources

  Capita has acquired the UK private sector operation of customer management specialist Vertex for £40m.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Visa Europe opens its doors to IT trainees on Higher Apprenticeship programme

  Visa Europe has recruited 14 IT apprentices through its Higher Apprenticeship programme, launched in April 2011. Most will study for a foundation degree and "level 4" diploma while working in the company's technology division.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  New Look increases sales by 45% after mobile site launch

  Fashion retailer New Look has increased sales by 45% three months after the launch of its mobile commerce site.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Google CFO Patrick Pichette: Growth planning, capital structure and leadership

  When it comes to playing the classic role of the no-nonsense chief financial officer, Patrick Pichette has his own personal interpretation. Google's CFO may oversee $36 billion in cash reserves at one of the world's most recognized companies, but he...

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Deutsche Bank contracts Tata Consultancy to outsource ITIL service model alignment

  Deutsche Bank has contracted Indian IT services giant Tata Consultancy services to transform IT support at its investment banking arm across seven countries.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Gartner: CISOs must use risk to show the value of security to business goals

  Risk is key to enabling IT information security professionals to engage with the business and demonstrate business value to the board, according to Gartner.

• September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11

  Warwickshire County Council signs Google to pilot G-Cloud e-mail service

  Warwickshire County Council is piloting a G-Cloud e-mail service with Google, in a scheme expected to save £250,000.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  IDF: Intel and McAfee announce DeepSafe hardware-based security

  Intel-owned McAfee has unveiled a new hardware-based security technology called DeepSafe at the 2011 Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Unions give go-ahead to one strike against Fujitsu, and call off another

  Unite members working for Fujitsu in Crewe and Manchester are to strike, while members of the Public and Commercial Services union called off strike action against the Japanese outsourcing giant.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Government sends GCSE IT back to school

  The GCSE IT curriculum is to be given a dramatic overhaul to make the subject more focused on the needs of business, science minister David Willets has announced.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Kaspersky Lab vows to remain independent

  Kaspersky Lab said it will remain independent in the face of continued acquisitions by IT services companies and other consolidation within the security industry.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  EBay’s PayPal gives retailers preview of virtual wallet and barcode payment options

  EBay's PayPal service has given retailers a preview of several new features about how they sell goods and accept payments including mobile payments, barcode scanning using handheld devices, store inventory lookup, virtual wallet and location-based ...

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  £12m Royal Courts eWorking system has ‘virtually collapsed’

  Only 11 documents were electronically submitted to the Royal Courts of Justice eWorking system in the second quarter of 2011 - fewer than 0.5% of all files entered on the system.

• September 16, 2011 16 Sep'11

  Insiders increasingly linked to data breaches in the financial sector

  Employees are increasingly responsible for data breaches at financial institutions, according to the US Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Report reveals concerns over consumerisation of IT

  A lack of mobile device management among SMEs is holding back the introduction of schemes where employees can use their own devices to replace company supplied computers.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Rogue trader who cost UBS £1.3bn points to failure to monitor unauthorised dealing

  Another case of the unauthorised activity of a trader at an investment bank has highlighted the need for real-time monitoring and control in the investment banking sector.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  UK business and government dangerously out of tune with cyber threats, says Chatham House

  Business and public sector organisations lack understanding of the nature and gravity of cyber threats and the UK government lacks vision and leadership in dealing with cyber attacks, according to a report by Chatham House.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Soca's online child protection centre beefs up data encryption following ICO investigation

  The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre of the Serious Organised Crime Agency has improved security around data sent from its website after the Information Commissioner's Office received a tip-off that data submitted using an online form...

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Groupon to float as Facebook puts off IPO until late 2012

  Online discount site Groupon is reported to be planning a flotation, while Facebook is rumoured to be delaying its IPO until the end of 2012.

• 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.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Cyber attacks are becoming lethal, warns US cyber commander

  Cyber attacks are escalating from large-scale theft and disruption of computer operations to more lethal attacks that destroy systems and physical equipment, according to the head of the US Cyber Command.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  US companies hire more UK IT consultants

  US firms are hiring UK IT consultants in the digital sector with online business marketplace PeoplePerHour.com reporting a 275% increase in the number of US firms hiring UK IT consultants over the last year.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Comet web operations hit by restructuring

  The owner of electrical goods retailer Comet said sales at the chain's internet arm were hit because of a decision to fully align web and store prices.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Mid-size company resource Knowledge Peers uses Mvine for resilience and security

  Chris Dines founded a company, Knowledge Peers, to develop a forum where executives would feel comfortable sharing ideas with their peers.

• September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11

  Cashless future: VocaLink demos mobile payment gateway

  Payment processing company Vocalink will be showing the future of cash next week at the Sibos financial conference in Toronto.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  PricewaterhouseCoopers takes 40 graduate IT interns on security and testing teams

  Consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers has selected 40 graduate interns for its IT department. The trainees will work with PwC's information security and testing teams.

• September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11

  HP gets serious about IT security, but is it too little too late?

  Hewlett-Packard has announced several new and improved security products and the establishment of an enterprise security products business unit that unifies a string of security-related acquisitions in the past two years, but is the move too little ...