News

Networking and communication

December 12, 2011 12 Dec'11
Cloud leaves many firewalls wanting – but could automation prove the silver bullet?

Most companies rely on firewalls, but the IT landscape is changing and so must approaches to security. Is there a silver bullet?
November 29, 2011 29 Nov'11
Standard Life overhauls IT department and cuts jobs

Insurer Standard Life is to axe a number of IT staff following a review of its IT and operations division.
November 03, 2011 03 Nov'11
BT second quarter sales fall 2% despite 166,000 new broadband customers

BT sales fell 2% in its fiscal Q2 despite the addition of 166,000 broadband customers and continued growth in its Openreach and Global Services businesses.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Government trials voice recognition for Universal Credit benefit claims

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is testing a voice recognition system to authenticate claimants of its flagship Universal Credits system, as part of the department's work on identity assurance (IDA).

October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
Are network performance monitoring tools ready to meet new challenges?

Network performance monitoring tools must adapt to handle virtual infrastructure, new applications and hybrid cloud environments. Are they ready?
October 27, 2011 27 Oct'11
IP network critical to video technology at FA’s St George's Park development

The Football Association (FA) is implementing the latest networking and video technology at its coaching and education centre. The St George's Park centre will be the FA's second major centre alongside Wembley, where operations are currently centred.
October 24, 2011 24 Oct'11
UK broadband speeds increase, but thousands left in the slow lane

Thirty percent of UK internet traffic is now at speeds above 5Mbps, an increase of 70% compared to last year.
September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11
Amazon launches Kindle Fire tablet but experts doubt its use as a business device

Amazon has confirmed its much-anticipated entry into the tablet market with the US launch of its Kindle Fire device - but analysts doubt it will appeal to corporate IT buyers.
September 28, 2011 28 Sep'11
Microsoft starts roll-out of Mango update for Windows Phone 7

Microsoft has started rolling out the next major version of its Windows Phone 7 operating system, codenamed Mango.
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 20, 2011 20 Sep'11
How to justify the business case for virtual desktop infrastructure licensing

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technology can cut energy bills, increase business agility and improve mobile working flexibility. But licensing cost and complexity can wipe off the financial savings of VDI deployment. Jenny Williams explores ...
September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11
Cisco halves sales forecast as CEO John Chambers eyes Huawei market share

Following Cisco Systems' warning it is to halve its sales forecast as it struggles with reduced demand and increased competition, CEO John Chambers said he intends to battle with Chinese network provider Huawei.
September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11
Openreach expands fibre to 114 more exchanges

BT Openreach has unveiled 114 exchanges that will be upgraded to deliver fibre broadband as part of its plan to deliver fibre to two-thirds of the UK by the end of 2015.
September 08, 2011 08 Sep'11
University challenge: using IT to improve services and reduce costs

Universities face a balancing act as they become increasingly expected to improve the experiences of more demanding students while making budgets go further, and IT is a critical tool in finding this balance.
September 01, 2011 01 Sep'11
Ofcom gives green light to use TV spectrum for rural broadband

Telecommunications regulator Ofcom has given the go-ahead for internet providers to use unused TV spectrum to deliver broadband to rural areas.
August 24, 2011 24 Aug'11
Nokia launches three smartphones running Symbian Belle operating system

Nokia has unveiled three smartphone devices running its new operating system, Symbian Belle.
August 24, 2011 24 Aug'11
Durham University upgrades communications infrastructure and adopts IP telephony

Durham University is to upgrade its communications infrastructure after signing a deal with Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEC) which will see the university adopt IP telephony.
August 22, 2011 22 Aug'11
Unified network management: Wired and wireless together for good?

With an integrated network management vision, two organizations improved security and reliability, and have made steps towards a fully integrated network. But will we get there?
August 17, 2011 17 Aug'11
Cisco hardening guides for IOS, IOS-XR and NX-OS devices

Patching routing and switching infrastructure in any organisation is often delayed, sometimes due to the potential impact on production systems and sometimes because the IT resources are simply too busy fighting fires.
August 16, 2011 16 Aug'11
Information Commissioner calls for more privacy improvements at Google

The Information Commissioner's Office says an audit at Google's London office shows the company has taken reasonable steps to improve its privacy policies, but could do more.
August 09, 2011 09 Aug'11
Blackberry to co-operate with police after youths used BBM to organise riots

Research in Motion has said that it will co-operate with the police after it was revealed that London rioters used Blackberry Messenger rather than Twitter to organise looting sprees across the capital, with violence later spreading to Birmingham, ...
August 08, 2011 08 Aug'11
Who needs MPLS? A dark fibre network saves York Council

The City of York Council set out to rethink its Internet and voice network services and ended up building a dark fibre network that will support city-wide free wireless.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
Sunderland City Council signs multimillion-pound 10-year network deal with BT

BT will deliver a corporate network connecting 188 sites.
August 03, 2011 03 Aug'11
eBay boosts virtual servers with 100 terabytes of flash memory

Online auction site eBay has deployed more than 100 terabytes of flash memory to power its VMware virtual server infrastructure. The S-class flash storage from solid state disk provider Nimbus is believed to be among the world's largest consolidated...
August 02, 2011 02 Aug'11
Amazon closes Android appstore submissions in Germany after Apple lawsuit

Amazon has closed submissions for its Android app store in Germany following a lawsuit from Apple.
August 01, 2011 01 Aug'11
CIO interview: Michael Foster, European vice-president of IT, FedEx Express

What role should IT play in business? This is the question Michael Foster, vice-president of IT at Fedex Europe, tackles at the global courier. Cliff Saran reports.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
Apple and Samsung overtake Nokia as worldwide smartphone shipments grow 76%

Nokia's woes continue as Apple and Samsung overtake the Finnish giant to become the largest global smartphone manufacturers, according to analyst figures.
July 29, 2011 29 Jul'11
BSkyB wins 174,000 new broadband subscribers

BSkyB has reported a surge in its broadband business in yearly results, taking its subscriber base to 711,000.
July 28, 2011 28 Jul'11
KLM deploys RightNow natural language search for mobile website

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has rolled out software-as-a-service provider RightNow's CX Intent Guide on its mobile website.
July 27, 2011 27 Jul'11
Virgin Media sees small drop in business sales, and loses 18,000 broadband users

Cable telecoms supplier Virgin Media has reported a small drop in business revenue for its second quarter, while the firm also revealed it has lost 18,000 broadband users...
July 26, 2011 26 Jul'11
UK fails to make world’s top 10 high-speed broadband countries - but Ireland scrapes in

The UK has failed to make it into the top 10 countries with the highest average broadband speed, but neighbouring Ireland scrapes in...
July 25, 2011 25 Jul'11
Virgin Media trials 1.5Gbps broadband at London's Silicon Roundabout

Virgin Media has rolled out broadband speeds of up to 1.5Gbps as part of a trial for businesses in the "Silicon Roundabout" area of London...
July 22, 2011 22 Jul'11
Vodafone increases UK enterprise sales, driven by greater data traffic

Vodafone's latest results reflect increased use of smartphones and data consumption within the workplace.
July 19, 2011 19 Jul'11
Carphone Warehouse uses business process management to increase customer satisfaction

Retailer Carphone Warehouse is claiming a 25% jump in its customer satisfaction ratings after investing in BPM software to help staff deal with sales, queries and complaints.
July 18, 2011 18 Jul'11
Cloud network design: Your apps are ready, but is your infrastructure?

Cloud network design means creating a flat infrastructure for horizontal virtual machine traffic flow along with distributed applications for bandwidth optimisation.
July 06, 2011 06 Jul'11
Ofcom UK broadband speed map shows wide areas of internet underinvestment

An interactive map of broadband speeds has revealed large sections of the UK need investment in internet connectivity.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
Betfair sees 120% increase in mobile customers

The online gambling firm increased sales via mobile applications by 88% as customer mobile use grows.
July 01, 2011 01 Jul'11
Overcoming mobile cloud computing challenges with distributed apps

Mobile cloud computing solutions are challenged by network latency and delay, but distributing mobile cloud applications so they're closer to users may be an answer to the problem.
June 20, 2011 20 Jun'11
Ofcom grants mobile phone operators right to trade radio spectrum to expand capacity

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has given mobile phone operators rights to trade radio spectrum holdings to help increase mobile network capacity for consumers.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
Government to create market for personal identity data

The government is preparing to create a marketplace for citizens' personal data to be used for accessing online public services, according to documents that were issued to industry in preparation for the coalition's next-generation identity scheme.
June 15, 2011 15 Jun'11
Pizza Express rolls out Wi-Fi for smartphone connectivity

Pizza Express has rolled out Wi-Fi across its 384 stores to meet growing customer demand for mobile internet connectivity.
June 10, 2011 10 Jun'11
Former T-Mobile employees ordered to pay nearly £80,000 for data theft

The Chester Crown Court has ordered two former employees of UK mobile operator T-Mobile to pay a total of £73,700 after stealing and selling customer data from the company in 2008.
June 09, 2011 09 Jun'11
Visa predicts 20 million contactless payment cards in UK by 2012

Visa Europe expects the number of contactless cards being used in the UK to reach 20 million by the end of 2011.
June 08, 2011 08 Jun'11
TfL makes real-time information available for ‘Boris Bikes’ apps

Transport for London (TfL) has made real-time information available on its "Boris Bikes" scheme for developers seeking to create mobile apps.
June 07, 2011 07 Jun'11
Skype suffers second outage as users locked out

Some Skype users have been unable to sign into accounts after the service suffered a second outage in as many weeks.
June 02, 2011 02 Jun'11
Using network management and monitoring systems across IT and buildings

Bolton College linked its buildings facilities to the campus network and is using a network monitoring and management system that sees both buildings and IT resources.
May 27, 2011 27 May'11
UK government announces next wave of rural broadband deployment

Consumers and businesses in Wiltshire, Norfolk, Devon and Somerset are to benefit from the next phase of the UK government's drive to roll out superfast broadband connections to rural areas.
May 27, 2011 27 May'11
Skype users locked out as internet telephony service works on fix

Skype was forced to issue a workaround for users unable to sign into their accounts while the internet telephony service worked on a permanent fix.
May 26, 2011 26 May'11
For cloud automation, think flat networks and Ethernet fabric

For cloud automation, vendors are preaching flat cloud networks based on Ethernet fabrics and open network software that enable engineers to build in cloud management tools.
May 25, 2011 25 May'11
BT and Everything Everywhere trial 800MHz 4G LTE broadband in Newquay

BT and mobile operator Everything Everywhere are seeking 200 volunteers in South Newquay, Cornwall to trial a joint high-speed 4G broadband initiative.