News

Networking hardware

• October 20, 2010 20 Oct'10

  BT to offer FTTP for £21.50 a month from March

  BT has confirmed that its regulated infrastructure arm, Openreach is to offer fibre to the premises broadband access at 110mbps by next March, for around £21.50 a month.

• October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10

  Government CIO Suffolk tells Indian suppliers: ‘bid, bid, bid’

  UK government chief information officer John Suffolk has encouraged Indian suppliers to compete for IT work in the public sector ahead of the massive spending cuts to be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review.

• October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10

  Ofcom stalls on complaints about Project Canvas’ YouView

  Ofcom has stalled complaints that Project Canvas, the internet-based digital terrestrial TV project owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva, is anti-competitive.

• October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10

  NRO warns of “chaotic scramble” for IPv6 addresses

  The Number Resource Organisation (NRO) has warned of a "chaotic scramble" for IPv6 addresses as the world's IPv4 addresses are almost depleted.

• October 19, 2010 19 Oct'10

  BT accused of using predatory tactics to retain broadband dominance

  BT is using "predatory" practices to destroy broadband competitors, particularly in rural areas, claims cross-bench peer Lord Erroll.

• October 18, 2010 18 Oct'10

  Improvement rate slows as UK joins broadband leaders

  The UK stepped up a couple of places in Cisco's third annual broadband quality survey, but is falling behind in its rate of improvement.

• October 18, 2010 18 Oct'10

  Oxford Internet Institute founder sets up internet think tank

  Former MP and founder of the Oxford Internet Institute Derek Wyatt is setting up the Internet Policy Institute (IPI), a high-level think tank to advise governments on developing networking policies.

• October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10

  Leeds CIO calls on local government to engage more on G-Cloud

  A member of the Cabinet Office's Local CIO Council has urged local authorities to have their say on the G-Cloud and the app store.

  Dylan Roberts, chief...

• October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10

  Government seeks legal advice over G-Cloud procurement

  The Cabinet Office is taking legal advice over its £5.8bn cost-cutting IT programme after admitting that its G-Cloud project presents a significant challenge...

• October 13, 2010 13 Oct'10

  RSA Europe 2010: Replace internet with something safer, urges former White House advisor

  The internet is inherently unsafe and should be replaced with a safer, re-architected alternative, says former White House cybersecurity advisor Richard Clarke.

• October 08, 2010 08 Oct'10

  Ofcom sidesteps dark fibre issue

  BT and Ofcom are facing calls to further open up the telecom giant's fibre network to help rivals offer high-speed broadband services.

• October 08, 2010 08 Oct'10

  Ofcom ‘too ready’ to kow-tow to BT, says CMA

  CMA anger grows as Ofcom lets BT off the high-speed hook

• October 07, 2010 07 Oct'10

  Ofcom unveils regulatory framework to unbundle BT fibre

  Ruling aims to speed up rollout of next-generation superfast broadband

• October 06, 2010 06 Oct'10

  Ofcom to grant BT more time on 10Gbps service

  Communications regulator Ofcom proposes to extend BT's relief from its formal undertakings to supply very high speed fibre-based network connections because BT says there is no demand for them.

• October 06, 2010 06 Oct'10

  Minister Ed Vaizey to host broadband summit on fibre rates

  Communications minister Ed Vaizey is likely to host a industry roundtable before the end of the year to discuss the new valuation guidance on the rating of fibre optic networks.

• October 04, 2010 04 Oct'10

  BT extends high-speed broadband footprint

  BT, the UK's biggest network operator, has announced the extension of its optical fibre-based broadband network to 159 locations as part of a £2.5bn plan...

• September 30, 2010 30 Sep'10

  Cornwall to get disputed £132m fibre broadband network

  Plans to give businesses and homes in one of the UK's poorest counties high-speed internet access through fibre to the premises were unveiled today despite...

• September 29, 2010 29 Sep'10

  Facebook improves your happiness, says BCS

  Using social networking sites, such as Facebook, makes a direct impact on our happiness, according to a report by the Chartered Institute for IT, BCS.

• September 27, 2010 27 Sep'10

  Government to announce broadband plan before Christmas

  The government is expected to announce before Christmas how it will deliver broadband to the 160,000 homes that do not now get broadband. It will also try...

• September 27, 2010 27 Sep'10

  How satellite can fill in the UK's broadband not spots

  If you want to plan where to get to, and when to get there, you first have to be sure of where you are starting from, writes Max Gutberlet, product marketing...

• September 27, 2010 27 Sep'10

  Top four issues in tackling the internet business blind-spot

  As more businesses rely on internet-based business applications, they face new challenges in managing them. Now that applications are borderless, in that they can be located and used outside company walls, businesses must ensure they put in place ...

• September 23, 2010 23 Sep'10

  Twice-shy network operators reject high spectrum prices

  Ofcom announced its long-awaited consultation on the auction of so-called 4G spectrum earlier this year. When the UK last auctioned frequencies for mobile phone networks, it enjoyed a £22.4bn windfall. That is unlikely to happen again

• September 23, 2010 23 Sep'10

  Vtesse targets a million homes in broadband ‘not-spots’

  Vtesse Networks plans to provide reliable high speed broadband to a million homes and offices that now exist in broadband 'not-spots' or slow-spots, provided the right market conditions exist, CEO Aidan Paul says.

• September 22, 2010 22 Sep'10

  Video: Cumbria bids to be rural broadband champion

  Penrith and The Border MP Rory Stewart declares himself out of step with his party and government over various taxes that might slow the roll out of broadband, especially to rural communities such as the one he represents, and wants them cleared ...

• September 22, 2010 22 Sep'10

  British Library considers its future as digital material takes over

  The British Library has one of the digital world's biggest challenges ahead: as technology evolves at breakneck speed, how does it collect, manage and analyse the huge amount of digital content produced by publishers, and how does it keep that ...

• September 21, 2010 21 Sep'10

  Sort your broadband spectrum by 2012, says EU

  The European Commission is to consult on a revised spectrum plan to encourage the development of access to mobile broadband networking at a minimum of 30Mbps...

• September 21, 2010 21 Sep'10

  Fibre pioneers run into backhaul problems

  Getting fibre to the home is a piece of cake, if you've got the gumption. The problems arrive when you want to use it. Just ask cattle farmer and community...

• September 21, 2010 21 Sep'10

  UN welcomes call for universal broadband as a 'basic human right'

  An International Telecommunications Union (ITU) report calling for the rapid deployment of mobile broadband worldwide has been welcomed by the UN Foundation,...

• September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10

  Boris Johnson resurrects mobile phone plan for London Underground

  London mayor Boris Johnson has announced plans to install a mobile phone signal in the capital's underground train network in time for the 2012 Olympic Games.

  The...

• September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10

  Widening of digital divide hits rural small businesses

  Rural small businesses are being left further behind their urban counterparts because the digital divide is widening, warn experts.

• September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10

  Broadband is a basic human right, ITU tells UN

  Access to high-speed broadband should be a basic human right, the International Telecommunications Union told world leaders at the UN's Millennium development...

• September 20, 2010 20 Sep'10

  Fierce competition for Cumbrian NGA broadband project

  Villagers and farmers could soon have access to digital "parish pumps" if ideas set out over the weekend to deliver high-speed broadband to Cumbrian communities...

• September 17, 2010 17 Sep'10

  BT offers free fibre upgrade for broadband users

  BT is offering internet users who buy both its telephone and broadband service a free upgrade to the company's fibre broadband service

• September 17, 2010 17 Sep'10

  Europe calls for global internet treaty

  Europe has proposed a global Internet Treaty to protect the net from political interference and place into international law its principles of openness.

• September 13, 2010 13 Sep'10

  MoD extends BT networking DFTS contract

  The Ministry of Defence has extended its network and communications contract with BT by three years to 2015, through the Defence Fixed Telecommunications...

• September 10, 2010 10 Sep'10

  Competition boosts broadband uptake to seven million lines

  Competition in unbundled broadband services has reached seven million lines, up from only 123,000 five years ago.

• September 08, 2010 08 Sep'10

  Vtesse to appeal Cornwall's choice of BT as broadband supplier

  UK telecoms operator Vtesse Networks has appealed against the European Commission's decision to approve a state-aided broadband scheme in Cornwall.

  The...

• September 07, 2010 07 Sep'10

  UK wastes £700m a year on broadband speeds, says O2

  UK consumers are wasting more than £700m every year on under-utilised high broadband speeds.

  According to a survey of 2,000 consumers by mobile operator...

• September 07, 2010 07 Sep'10

  Security and connectivity main worries over smart meter project

  Network security, accuracy and reliability, and first-time connectivity have emerged as energy utility executives' key concerns for the proposed £10bn national smart meter project.

• September 07, 2010 07 Sep'10

  Welsh village gets broadband for 10% of BT quote

  Rutland Telecom is to supply a 40Mbps fibre-based broadband service for £50,000 to about 80 homes in the Welsh village of Erbistock after BT quoted £550,000 for copper-based broadband link.

• September 06, 2010 06 Sep'10

  Zero-rate shared networks to speed up broadband access

  The search is on to find a way for communications minister Ed Vaizey to save face after he reneged on an election promise to review the business rates regime with respect to optical fibre networks.

• September 03, 2010 03 Sep'10

  NHS saving could pay for fibre to the home, says ITU

  A saving of 1% to 1.5% of the cost of healthcare would justify the cost of fibre to the premises throughout the UK, says the International Telecommunications Union.

• September 03, 2010 03 Sep'10

  UK risks losing broadband lead

  The UK risked squandering its lead in broadband access, speed and pricing because of delays in formulating long terms broadband policy, former communications minister Stephen Carter said on Thursday.

• September 02, 2010 02 Sep'10

  HP outbids Dell to buy storage company 3Par

  The bidding war between HP and Dell to buy a specialist storage supplier 3Par appears to be at an end, with HP upping its bid to $2.4bn.

• September 02, 2010 02 Sep'10

  BT drives IP telephony to the enterprise desktop

  BT has expanded its BT Onevoice converged voice platform, in a bid to drive the adoption of communications applications to the desktop in large businesses.

• September 01, 2010 01 Sep'10

  Broadband take-up exceeds 70% of UK

  More than 70% of UK households now access broadband services based on either BT's or Virgin Media's networks.

• August 31, 2010 31 Aug'10

  Consumer panel calls on Vaizey to act on broadband speeds

  Independent watchdog the Communications Consumer Panel has called on broadband minister Ed Vaizey to tackle the discrepancy between advertised and actual broadband speeds.

• August 31, 2010 31 Aug'10

  Bad network configurations a top data breach threat, survey reveals

  Badly configured networks are one of the biggest causes of data breaches according to a majority of IT security professionals.

  Some 76%...

• August 25, 2010 25 Aug'10

  Net neutrality: do you feel lucky?

  The buzz created by the Google-Verizon proposals on net neutrality to the US Federal Communications Commission has given impetus to consultations on the topic by Ofcom and the European Commission. What is less clear is why CIOs should care about the...

• August 24, 2010 24 Aug'10

  4G to start to take off in 2012

  The roll-out of 4G networks will get underway by 2012, with the number of LTE mobile broadband subscribers expected to exceed 300 million globally by 2015, according to a report from Juniper Research

• August 23, 2010 23 Aug'10

  Avaya and BT extend global agreement

  Avaya and BT to continue working together

• August 19, 2010 19 Aug'10

  IT teams fly in to help Pakistan flood victims

  Emergency IT specialists are often the first boots on the ground in a major crisis. While largely behind the scenes, they are a critical part of the mission…

• August 17, 2010 17 Aug'10

  VOA rates leave network operators reeling

  The Valuation Office Agency’s decisions to exclude BT from a £20 levy on all homes connected to next generation networks and to maintain its protection of larger network operators has shocked the communications industry.

• August 16, 2010 16 Aug'10

  Broadband homes face £20 tax

  Non-BT networks will have to pay a £20 tax for every home they connect to a fibre-based next-generation network, according to proposals from the Valuation Office Agency.

• August 16, 2010 16 Aug'10

  Protesters picket Google offices over 'end of net neutrality'

  Protestors have gathered outside Google's offices to rally against proposals which they believe could undermine net neutrality.

• August 12, 2010 12 Aug'10

  Cisco reports 79% rise in profit

  Networks giant Cisco has reported strong fourth quarter 2010 results, with sales of $10.8bn, an increase of more than 28% compared to Q4 2009.

  For...

• August 11, 2010 11 Aug'10

  Vtesse fills broadband 'not spot' in Birch Green

  Broadband minister Ed Vaizey opened a fibre-to-the-cabinet project in Birch Green, Hertfordshire on Tuesday that will see some 200 homes in the former "not...

• August 11, 2010 11 Aug'10

  Vaizey backtracks on promise to review fibre tax

  The government has gone back on a pre-election promise to review business rates on fibre networks, which are said to be the single biggest inhibitor of investment in next-generation networks.

• August 10, 2010 10 Aug'10

  DNSSEC not a panacea for cybercrime, but a step in the right direction

  The global roll-out in mid-July of technology aimed at making the internet safer was billed as a decisive blow against cyber criminals, but has it made a difference?

• August 09, 2010 09 Aug'10

  Inmarsat to set up global 50Mbps satellite broadband network

  Inmarsat is to spend $1.2bn to build a new global satellite-based network to deliver data speeds up to 50Mbps on demand to customers from 2014.

• August 05, 2010 05 Aug'10

  Indespension aims for 50% saving with outsourced network

  Trailer manufacturer Indespension is improving its communications infrastructure through a £50,000 deal with IT services provider Imerja.

  Imerja is...

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  Average UK broadband speeds crawl past 5Mbps

  The average UK broadband speed has increased by 0.91Mbps to 5.106Mbps, following

• August 03, 2010 03 Aug'10

  CIOs drive app development to understand customers

  Developing business applications is a top priority for CIOs for 2010. Forty six per cent of CIOs surveyed said they were actively developing their CRM applications. In the survey of 200 CIOs by Vodafone, data collection was the second highest ...

• July 30, 2010 30 Jul'10

  STA Travel signs Azzurri for global wide area network

  STA Travel has awarded service provider Azzurri Communications a five-year contract to provide a global wide area network (Wan).

• July 30, 2010 30 Jul'10

  Lunchtime surfers put strain on company bandwidth

  Heavy internet usage during lunch hours could be putting too much pressure on companies' bandwidth.

• July 30, 2010 30 Jul'10

  Intel shows silicon laser chip for 50Gbit/s links

  Intel has stepped up its interest in using optical fibres for high speed interconnects in processor-based systems.

• July 29, 2010 29 Jul'10

  Cost-cutting boosts BT's profits

  Despite falling revenue, BT saw its profits climb to £375m for the first three months to 30 June, up 38 % compared to the same period last year.

  The...

• July 29, 2010 29 Jul'10

  Cardiff University invests £1m in infrastructure upgrade

  Cardiff University has invested £1m in its IT network as part of an ongoing upgrade to its infrastructure.

• July 28, 2010 28 Jul'10

  4G spectrum auction set for late 2011

  The long-awaited auction for so-called 4G mobile licences will take place at the end of 2011, communications minister Ed Vaizey announced on Wednesday.

• 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 22, 2010 22 Jul'10

  No room for BT complacency, said chairman

  BT chairman Sir Michael Rake said the previous financial year had been a "year of delivery" at the company's annual general meeting in Liverpool today.

• July 20, 2010 20 Jul'10

  NSN consolidates second place with $1.2bn Motorola deal

  Nokia Siemens Networks' (NSN) proposed $1.2bn takeover of most of Motorola's wireless business will strengthen its position as a supplier of mobile and fixed wireless network infrastructure, but leaves the company still number two to Alcatel-Lucent ...

• 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

  Digital Britain minister seeks Valuation Office Agency meeting over fibre business rates

  The government is seeking a meeting with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to discuss how business rates create a barrier to investment in next generation broadband networks.

• July 14, 2010 14 Jul'10

  Google launches website for ultra high-speed broadband project

  Google has launched a website dedicated to its project to build experimental ultra high-speed fibre optic networks to demonstrate how to achieve universal access at one gigabit per second.

• July 14, 2010 14 Jul'10

  Lords query £140k grant to rural broadband quango

  Questions have been raised in the House of Lords about £140,500 of taxpayers' money given to support a mentoring scheme for rural broadband projects, but more may be at stake.

• July 13, 2010 13 Jul'10

  Cambridge village gets fibre to the home

  Villagers in Broughton, a Cambridgeshire hamlet near Huntingdon, will have access to superfast broadband through a fibre to the home (FTTH) network supplied by Vtesse Broadband, the new broadband arm of Vtesse Networks.

• July 13, 2010 13 Jul'10

  BT wins more time to fight £42m overcharge case

  The Competition Appeal Tribunal has granted BT extra time to prepare its appeal against an Ofcom finding that it overcharged other network operators almost £42m for partial private circuits for five years

• July 12, 2010 12 Jul'10

  Queue forms for UK broadband industry day with cheap ‘not-spot’ fixes

  More than 80 companies have registered to attend the government's industry open day on 15 July on the funding of broadband networks in uneconomic areas.

• July 09, 2010 09 Jul'10

  Kent County Council fills in rural broadband 'not-spots'

  Kent County Council has spent £486,000 to fund the roll-out of high-speed broadband to nearly a dozen villages and parishes

• July 07, 2010 07 Jul'10

  France Telecom to buy new national optical fibre network

  France Telecom/Orange is to spend €2bn on a new optical fibre network that will cover 40% of French homes by 2012, and every French dèpartement by 2015.

• July 06, 2010 06 Jul'10

  Union calls off BT strike ballot

  The Communication Workers Union has cancelled a strike ballot that was expected to favour the start of the first national strike in 23 years at BT.

• July 01, 2010 01 Jul'10

  NHS spent £1.6bn on IT in 2009

  The NHS spent £1.6bn on IT in 2009, the government has revealed.

• June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10

  Government eyes 'big society' rural broadband option

  The government could rely on its "big society" idea to get broadband into rural communities.

  The idea that communities club together and set up their...

• June 28, 2010 28 Jun'10

  Cisco signs network agreement with Abu Dhabi government

  US network equipment maker Cisco has signed a framework agreement with Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (Adsic), the information and communications technology arm of the Abu Dhabi government.

• June 25, 2010 25 Jun'10

  Smaller networks hit by fibre charges

  The Valuation Office Agency plans to publish new business tax rates on optical fibre networks in July, but few if any smaller network operators have been consulted.

• June 24, 2010 24 Jun'10

  Net neutrality: Ofcom asks for comment on traffic blocking and choking

  Communications regulator Ofcom is asking for comment on internet traffic management practices - or net neutrality - just as mobile network operator O2's plan to cap data traffic on its network comes into force.

• 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 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

  London schools save £390m with private fibre network

  London's 33 boroughs are saving £131m a year by aggregating their schools network and content delivery applications onto a newly-upgraded Juniper Networks-based fibre optic network.

• June 22, 2010 22 Jun'10

  Sewer-based dark fibre operator up for entrepreneur of the year

  Elfed Thomas, CEO of metropolitan dark fibre network operator i3, will represent the North West in Ernst & Young’s search to find the UK entrepreneur of the year.

• June 21, 2010 21 Jun'10

  Government seeks no-cost ideas for universal 2Mbps broadband

  The government is to hold a open day on 15 July in London to hear ideas from industry about how to provide and pay for a minimum 2Mbps broadband service to the UK's "not spots", and how to roll a "superfast" service at the same time

• June 18, 2010 18 Jun'10

  Banks rank cable TV firms less risky than telcos for broadband roll-out

  Banks see cable TV companies as better bets than telecommunications companies in the race to deliver national high-speed broadband, it emerged last night.

  Jeffrey...

• 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 14, 2010 14 Jun'10

  World Cup 2010: Huge internet spike expected on 23 June

  UK internet traffic is expected to be almost 50% higher than normal on 23 June, when England plays its final group qualifying match in the 2010 World Cup.

• June 14, 2010 14 Jun'10

  Pizza-sized 4G base stations to become $13bn market

  The increasing density of users with high capacity smart phones could cause a hundred-fold increase in data traffic, putting pressure on next generation...

• June 11, 2010 11 Jun'10

  Cisco debuts Quad collaboration and Prosumer Video

  Cisco has launched an enterprise collaboration platform, called Quad, that offers video, real time instant messaging (IM) and social networking capabilities.

• June 10, 2010 10 Jun'10

  Government introduces Digital Britain 2.0

  "Within this parliament we want Britain to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe," culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said, setting out the new government's ambitions with respect to creating a digital economy in the UK.

• June 09, 2010 09 Jun'10

  India to check all Chinese telecoms equipment for spyware

  India is appointing auditors to check that all telecoms equipment imported from China is free of software designed to monitor data transmissions.

• June 04, 2010 04 Jun'10

  Union ultimatum as BT staff move on with strike ballot

  Over 50,000 workers at BT will now be balloted for strike action after the Communication Workers Union expressed disappointment that BT will not improve its offer of a 2% pay increase.