News

Software licensing

• May 06, 2015 06 May'15

  EMC courts developers with open-source storage software push

  Storage giant wants to make it easier for developers to get hold of its software and accelerate app development times

• April 23, 2015 23 Apr'15

  Gartner: Enterprises opt for open-source and cloud middleware alternatives

  Gartner has reported a bigger focus on subscription-based licensing and open-source platforms in the middleware market

• April 17, 2015 17 Apr'15

  Payments firm Monitise puts application programming interfaces in cloud to provide services

  Monitise puts its application programming interfaces (APIs) in the cloud for banks and payment firms to use its technology in their services

• March 30, 2015 30 Mar'15

  Major software companies bamboozle local authorities with audits

  Software companies are resorting to audits and complex licensing in a bid to make more money from existing public sector customers

• February 25, 2015 25 Feb'15

  To partition or not to partition Oracle

  Oracle licence contracts are unclear on soft partitioning so CIOs need to get to the licence negotiation table to extract the best deal

• February 23, 2015 23 Feb'15

  Ordnance Survey announces open data innovation project

  Ordnance Survey marked International Open Data Day by announcing plans to launch an open data digital map

• January 27, 2015 27 Jan'15

  Your digital projects are doomed to failure, warns Cisco

  At Cisco Live! In Milan, Cisco set out the challenges of going digital, with many projects doomed to fail unless businesses embrace ‘Fast IT’

• January 07, 2015 07 Jan'15

  Oracle will lose out unless it changes its software licensing

  In an open letter, Campaign for Clear Licensing highlights the risk to Oracle’s future earnings due to aggressive licensing

• November 19, 2014 19 Nov'14

  Case study: North Wales Fire and Rescue Service secures email for public sector collaboration

  The North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS) has secured its information exchange with Egress Switch encryption

• November 12, 2014 12 Nov'14

  How to deal with the next software renewal call from the big four suppliers

  IT departments are being subjected to ruthless tactics by software sales teams when they renegotiate contracts with the big four suppliers

• November 11, 2014 11 Nov'14

  Qantas puts Oracle ERP in the cloud with Tata Consultancy Services

  Airline Qantas signs IT outsourcing services firm TCS to upgrade its Oracle ERP platform and move it into the cloud

• November 05, 2014 05 Nov'14

  Government open standards - the curious case of Microsoft and the minister

  What role, if any, did science minister David Willetts take in helping Microsoft try to overturn government IT policy?

• November 04, 2014 04 Nov'14

  Airbus interview: research, innovation and the future of aviation

  IT plays a substantial role in creating the aircraft of the future, with research and innovation at the core of the Airbus business strategy

• November 03, 2014 03 Nov'14

  Users warned over 'aggressive' Oracle software licensing tactics

  Oracle has been slammed by a new report for its lack of transparency and aggressive sales practices

• October 31, 2014 31 Oct'14

  Microsoft threatened MPs over open-standards policy, claims advisor

  Microsoft told MPs it would cut investment if they supported plans for open standards, says former Cameron advisor

• October 28, 2014 28 Oct'14

  Government replaces Becta education IT procurement framework

  Government seeks up to 20 suppliers to form a £300m procurement framework for ICT services to public-sector education organisations

• October 20, 2014 20 Oct'14

  SAP grows cloud revenue by 45%

  SAP’s revenue from cloud services has grown 45% year-on-year

• September 29, 2014 29 Sep'14

  Case study: Deutsche Post DHL develops software contract templates to reduce costs

  Deutsche Post DHL has created contract templates to manage software costs. Computer Weekly speaks to the people leading the initiative

• September 16, 2014 16 Sep'14

  Microsoft pitches new Dynamics CRM 2015 as ‘one cloud for all’

  Microsoft is making its Dynamics CRM 2015 available next quarter along with updates to its Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online services

• September 15, 2014 15 Sep'14

  Why AWS is being held back in the public sector

  Public sector is a fast growing area of the Amazon Web Services cloud business. Yet it is often not seen as a first choice in government

• August 20, 2014 20 Aug'14

  Stuck between a rock and a hard place: How to renegotiate software contracts

  As a ruling against support provider Rimini Street demonstrates, suppliers can and will exploit any doubt in a software contract

• August 13, 2014 13 Aug'14

  Home Office pours £3.8m into shared service for biometric cards

  The Home Office has awarded a £3.8m contract to Thales for a service to support the production of Biometric Residence Permit cards

• July 28, 2014 28 Jul'14

  Oracle in-memory option creates licensing pain and audit risk

  A former Oracle employee has highlighted a major issue in the way the new Oracle Database 12c Release 12.1.0.2 is licensed

• July 25, 2014 25 Jul'14

  Bank of America: When software relationships turn sour

  Tibco has filed a lawsuit alleging the Merrill Lynch division of Bank of America illegally used $300m of its software for a major IT project

• July 24, 2014 24 Jul'14

  Citrix SaaS revenue rises 12% while overall revenue grows 7% YoY

  Citrix has reported a 7% revenue increase in its second quarter of fiscal year 2014 . But it reported double-digit revenue growth in SaaS

• July 23, 2014 23 Jul'14

  VMware Q2 revenue up 17% as investor pushes for spin-off from EMC

  VMware has reported a 17% year-on-year revenue growth to $1.46bn for the second quarter of 2014

• July 23, 2014 23 Jul'14

  Interview: Working with software providers to improve licensing Ts&Cs

  Managing director Mark Flynn aims to turn Campaign for Clear Licensing into a membership and lobby group for IT users

• July 23, 2014 23 Jul'14

  Microsoft attacks UK government decision to adopt ODF for document formats

  Microsoft has questioned the merits of the UK government’s decision to adopt ODF - but meeting minutes show OOXML was given due consideration

• July 22, 2014 22 Jul'14

  UK government confirms ODF as standard document format, rejecting Microsoft proposals

  The government has confirmed plans to standardise document formats and has resisted Microsoft lobbying by rejecting its preferred standard

• July 17, 2014 17 Jul'14

  Microsoft makes severe job cuts - 18,000 to go

  Microsoft is cutting 18,000 jobs next year with Nokia bearing the brunt of the company’s strategy

• July 15, 2014 15 Jul'14

  Microsoft tells Labour not to mandate a single open standard for documents

  Microsoft has told the Labour Party not to mandate a single standard for open documents

• July 09, 2014 09 Jul'14

  Software asset management can drive down licensing costs

  With suppliers pulling the audit card, IT needs to get licence key in order. But strong software asset management (SAM) offers more than just licence compliance

• July 04, 2014 04 Jul'14

  NHS trusts in Microsoft’s sights for licence shortfall

  Microsoft auditors are expected to target NHS trusts for using unlicensed software

• July 04, 2014 04 Jul'14

  What IT challenges would an independent Scotland face?

  If Scotland votes ‘Yes’ for independence in September, what are the costs and challenges of building new government IT systems?

• June 25, 2014 25 Jun'14

  Cloud app logins reused in piracy scam

  Software piracy will remain prevalent even though more applications are delivered as a service, according to the BSA

• June 25, 2014 25 Jun'14

  CIOs unaware of application usage

  CIOs grossly underestimate the proportion of installed applications that are not being used in their organisations

• June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14

  How the FBI is using technology to put customers first

  Businesses and public sector organisations are under pressure to use technology to put the needs of customers first

• June 10, 2014 10 Jun'14

  Engineering firm fined for using unlicensed Autodesk software

  Project Options has been fined £16,000 by the Business Software Alliance, following an online tip-off

• June 04, 2014 04 Jun'14

  Banks set to launch customer app stores, says Gartner

  By 2016, 25% of the world’s largest banks will have launched an app store for customers to find digital services, says Gartner

• June 02, 2014 02 Jun'14

  Computer Weekly European User Awards for Enterprise Software: Shortlist 2014

  See who made the shortlist for the Computer Weekly European User Awards for Enterprise Software 2014

• May 27, 2014 27 May'14

  Unite deploys Windows 7 and tracks Microsoft licensing with Snow Software

  Trade union Unite has migrated from XP to Windows 7 and Office 2010, using Snow Software’s asset management platform

• May 21, 2014 21 May'14

  Swale Heating emulates head office in national expansion

  SE England based Swale Heating emulated its head office IT set-up in the Midlands when it expanded through a major contract

• May 06, 2014 06 May'14

  SAP’s innovation champion Sikka departs

  Vishal Sikka, the SAP executive most closely associated with the supplier’s innovation drive with the in-memory database Hana, has resigned

• May 01, 2014 01 May'14

  Case study: Balfour Beatty extends Fujitsu contract to support messaging

  Balfour Beatty has signed a new contract with Fujitsu to provide email, extending an IT transformation deal the companies agreed in July 2013

• April 30, 2014 30 Apr'14

  Oracle updates Solaris, but is its server strategy sound?

  Oracle has released a beta versdion of Solaris 11.2. But does Solaris and the Sparc server platform have a future?

• April 08, 2014 08 Apr'14

  Microsoft ends XP support – what should users do next?

  For organisations that still have a significant Windows XP user base, it's no surprise there is rising concern over what to do next

• April 02, 2014 02 Apr'14

  Government signs £5.5m Microsoft deal to extend Windows XP support

  The government has signed a deal with Microsoft to support Windows XP across the UK public sector for 12 months after 8 April deadline

• April 01, 2014 01 Apr'14

  Arup uses Snow to recoup Microsoft and Adobe licences

  Arup has used Snow Licence Manager to make significant savings on its enterprise agreements with Microsoft and Adobe

• March 25, 2014 25 Mar'14

  OFT tells government how to improve IT procurement

  The public sector is changing the way it buys IT but there is scope for improvement, says findings of an investigation by Office of Fair Trading

• March 19, 2014 19 Mar'14

  Oracle finally sees revenue growth from hardware business

  Oracle has finally seen a boost from its server business, with hardware sales up 8% in its latest financial results

• March 18, 2014 18 Mar'14

  Salesforce.com: a CIO's friend or foe?

  SaaS company Salesforce.com has recently celebrated its 15th birthday. We look at its strategy and the impact on corporate IT

• March 05, 2014 05 Mar'14

  Half of CIOs believe business has too many applications

  Almost half (48%) of CIOs believe their business has more applications than it needs and only 37% think most of their applications are business critical, according to a study

• March 05, 2014 05 Mar'14

  The wider implications of Oracle's Rimini licensing dispute

  Companies may need to distinguish between software development work on commercial software they do themselves and what they outsource

• February 20, 2014 20 Feb'14

  Microsoft rallies partners in government open standards debate

  Microsoft’s UK chief has written to partners encouraging them to support its stance against government proposals for open document standards

• February 18, 2014 18 Feb'14

  Is second-hand software illegal?

  The action by Federation Against Software Theft to suspend one of its members confuses users over legal second-hand user licences

• February 07, 2014 07 Feb'14

  Met Police releases ‘Total Technology’ IT strategy

  The Metropolitan Police Service has released a three to four-year plan on how to transform the use of technology in the organisation

• January 28, 2014 28 Jan'14

  BBC failed to get "sufficient grip” over failed DMI project, says NAO

  The National Audit Office has slammed the BBC over its failed Digital Media Initiative (DMI), project saying the broadcaster was “too optimistic” and the BBC executive “did not have sufficient grip of the programme"

• January 28, 2014 28 Jan'14

  DECC IT overhaul follows government digital standards

  The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is accustomed to large outsourcing contracts, yet it is the first department within government to move away from a single supplier approach, to a new multi-sourcing model across all its core ...

• January 24, 2014 24 Jan'14

  Microsoft shares up on better than expected results

  Microsoft's shares rose nearly 4% on news of better than expected financial results for the quarter ending 31 December 2013

• January 13, 2014 13 Jan'14

  Predictions 2014: How CIOs plan to spend their 2014 IT budget

  Computer Weekly asks IT experts what they believe will be the biggest areas of IT investment in 2014, and how different industries will be spending their IT budgets.

• December 30, 2013 30 Dec'13

  Top 10 supplier profiles 2013

  Are you thinking of doing business with an IT technology supplier? Check out our independent profiles of the leading technology companies.

• December 20, 2013 20 Dec'13

  Met Police IT strategy expected 9 months late

  A new Metropolitan Police IT strategy is to be released in January nine months later than recommended by a critical report into the force’s IT

• December 18, 2013 18 Dec'13

  Three approaches to slash virtualisation costs

  The beauty of virtualisation is that it increases server utilisation. But, the fact is, there is still far too much under-utilised CPU capacity

• December 13, 2013 13 Dec'13

  CIO interview: Joan Miller director of Parliamentary ICT

  Parliamentary ICT director Joan Miller talks about how Parliament should use technology and the challenges of the digital world

• December 12, 2013 12 Dec'13

  CIO Interview, David Southern, CIO WWF UK

  UK CIO of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), David Southern, describes a technology refresh at its Woking HQ

• December 05, 2013 05 Dec'13

  700,000 benefit claimants miss out on Universal Credit deadline

  The secretary for work and pensions has admitted the Universal Credit benefit scheme will miss its 2017 deadline

• December 04, 2013 04 Dec'13

  Microsoft changes its licensing terms

  Microsoft is offering a single Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) to simplify its volume licensing agreements. But what does it mean to SAM?

• December 03, 2013 03 Dec'13

  SAP user group: Innovation agenda clear but for long haul

  Philip Adams, of the UK & Ireland SAP user group, speaks to Computer Weekly about SAP’s promotion of Hana, cloud and mobile

• November 20, 2013 20 Nov'13

  Huddle: The UK cloud software firm that grows by over 100% a year

  Cloud collaboration software supplier Huddle is on the verge of expanding into Australia

• November 14, 2013 14 Nov'13

  MoD appoints new CIO and releases ICT strategy

  The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has appointed Yvonne Ferguson as CIO and released its latest Defence ICT Strategy document

• November 11, 2013 11 Nov'13

  Midcounties Co-op increases return on service desk investment

  The Midcounties Co-operative has increased the uses for its IT service management software since initially buying a system back in 2004

• November 05, 2013 05 Nov'13

  Cloud not meeting CIO expectations and SaaS still dominates take-up

  Software as a Service (SaaS) is dominating cloud adoption as CIOs fail to meet their expectations regarding cloud computing services

• October 31, 2013 31 Oct'13

  Software licensing: SAP terms and conditions are not above European law

  The district court of Hamburg has ruled against SAP over its case against a German second-user software reseller

• October 11, 2013 11 Oct'13

  Nuance demos virtual healthcare assistant

  Speech software company Nuance has demonstrated how a voice-based user interface could streamline medical consultation

• October 02, 2013 02 Oct'13

  Belfast Health Trust virtualises its way to the cloud

  The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust is implementing virtualisation technology across the trust, with hopes to become a cloud provider in the near future

• September 19, 2013 19 Sep'13

  Software licences drive Oracle revenue, but hardware takes a hit

  A drop in hardware sales dragged down Oracle’s revenue in its Q1 financial results, but software revenue increased

• September 19, 2013 19 Sep'13

  Mobile app downloads worth $26bn in 2013

  The number of mobile app downloads in 2013 will reach 102 billion, with a total value of $26bn, according to Gartner

• September 11, 2013 11 Sep'13

  CW500 Club: BYOD best practice

  Company schemes for staff to use their own devices are relatively new; CW500 delegates discuss bring your own device (BYOD) best practice

• September 10, 2013 10 Sep'13

  Windows Server 2012 R2 available to MSDN subscribers

  Microsoft has made the release code for Windows 2012 R2 available to developers and users through its MSDN and TechNet subscription

• August 23, 2013 23 Aug'13

  SAP user groups welcome 'partial termination' licensing changes

  SAP customers can now partially terminate licenses and will not be required to pay maintenance on unused licenses

• August 21, 2013 21 Aug'13

  VMware must demonstrate it is a ‘serious IaaS provider’ at VMworld: Gartner

  As VMworld 2013 is about to kickoff, Gartner analyst explains what users can expect at the event and VMware’s future in the mobile and cloud era

• August 09, 2013 09 Aug'13

  CIO interview: Mike Timlett, CitySprint

  Mike Timlett's career as an IT director has tracked the rise of mobile technologies that empower new business processes

• July 24, 2013 24 Jul'13

  UK CIOs admit they cannot support software

  CIOs admit their IT teams cannot support large parts of their application estates and operating systems, according to research

• July 16, 2013 16 Jul'13

  Tablet jackpot spoiler leads to FAST audit at London bingo club

  London Palace Bingo Club IT director Chris Pugh took a gamble when he bought tablet PCs direct from a Chinese manufacturer

• July 10, 2013 10 Jul'13

  IT directors attack dire software licensing schemes

  Software companies are making it difficult for IT departments to buy legitimate software

• July 10, 2013 10 Jul'13

  CIO interview: Stuart Wright, director of IT & networks, Sega Europe

  Simplifying IT with a move to the cloud and reducing costs have been the main drivers of an IT overhaul at games publisher Sega Europe

• June 05, 2013 05 Jun'13

  Irish Life migrates mainframe workload onto Windows

  Insurer Irish Life has migrated 97% of its mainframe workload onto a Windows server environment to save costs and support expansion

• June 05, 2013 05 Jun'13

  Centrica migrates desktops from Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7

  Utilities giant Centrica migrates 26,500 staff from Microsoft Windows XP to Windows 7, completing the desktop transformation by the end of 2013

• May 29, 2013 29 May'13

  Is Google mature enough for the enterprise?

  The enterprise business is core to Google’s future. Its approach to collaboration has potential benefits. But are IT directors ready to give it a go?

• May 24, 2013 24 May'13

  How Adobe Creative Cloud will impact budgets

  Adobe is replacing its traditional Creative Suite perpetual licensing model with a cloud-based subscription model. Is it cost-effective?

• May 23, 2013 23 May'13

  Where does Microsoft fit in the future of VDI and remote applications?

  Users say they prefer Citrix over Microsoft for desktop virtualisation, but will Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 change that?

• May 23, 2013 23 May'13

  Interview: Government CTO Liam Maxwell

  Government CTO Liam Maxwell has driven Whitehall’s IT agenda for years, previously as deputy government CIO and director of ICT futures

• May 16, 2013 16 May'13

  CSC returns to profitability

  Beleaguered software firm CSC has returned to profitability in its full year results, posting operating profits of $900m (£600m) compared with losses of $1.36bn for the previous year 2011-12.

• May 15, 2013 15 May'13

  Sapphire 2013: Business Suite on HANA goes to general availability

  Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP, has announced the general availability of HANA on its Business Suite ERP software at Sapphire 2013 in Orlando

• May 13, 2013 13 May'13

  Firms not ready for Windows XP end-of-life could face compliance risks

  In less than a year, Microsoft ends support on Windows XP. Companies must have a migration plan or face compliance issues

• May 13, 2013 13 May'13

  UKOUG extends reach to CIOs and business leaders

  The UK Oracle User Group is set to raise its profile among C-level executives

• May 08, 2013 08 May'13

  Adobe moves to cloud-based subscription model

  Adobe has announced that it is to introduce a cloud-based subscription model for popular applications, including Photoshop

• April 19, 2013 19 Apr'13

  Microsoft reports strong quarterly results for all divisions

  Microsoft reported profit of $6bn for the past quarter, up 17% from a year ago, despite a mixed response to Windows 8 and a decline in PC sales

• April 18, 2013 18 Apr'13

  IT rationalisation must be combined with layoffs for long-term savings

  Long-term IT cost reduction requires more than just server consolidation and cuts to software licences, says Gartner

• February 14, 2013 14 Feb'13

  CIOs should scrutinise Oracle's Fusion strategy

  A Forrester report paints a bleak picture for Oracle's Fusion Applications business, suggesting price hikes could be on the horizon