IT management

How the internet of things could save the honeybee

In this week’s Computer Weekly, with bee populations being decimated, we find out how the internet of things could save the honeybee and secure crop production. Amid fears that artificial intelligence could end human innovation, we hear from the experts on AI about the reality. And we examine the challenges of delivering quality customer service in a multi-channel world. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Openreach CEO defends current operating model

Openreach CEO Joe Garner says that separating the organisation from BT would make no sense in light of improvements to its service Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Anyone still running Windows Server 2003 is now at risk

Businesses still running Windows server 2003 are vulnerable to attack from hackers looking to exploit security holes Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

CIO interview: Mattias Forsberg, Systembolaget

Systembolaget CIO Mattias Forsberg says IT and business need to have a relationship of co-operation and expects every successful IT project to include some pain Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Stadigs

Huawei joins European 5G research project

Huawei commits to pan-European 5G Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) plan to strengthen five separate 5G research projects Continue Reading

Better user acceptance testing through log management

Application log management provides insight into application behaviour, which can be used to build better software and gain a better hold of user acceptance testing Continue Reading

By

• Adrian Bridgwater

CIO interview: Lars Ruben Hansen, Rema 1000 Denmark and Reitan Distribution

The CIO of supermarket chain Rema 1000 Denmark and wholesale company Reitan Distribution wants his staff to love coming to work Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Stadigs

Still running Windows Server 2003? Don’t panic

Many organisations are facing the prospect of running Windows 2003 server unsupported. Where do you go from here? Continue Reading

By

• Jim Mortleman

Rolls-Royce signs up to supercomputing on-demand from HPC Midlands

Rolls-Royce is the first company to sign up to a supercomputing brokerage scheme, giving it access to £60m worth of high-performance computing Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

CW Europe – July 2015 Edition

The economy in central and eastern Europe (CEE) is starting to recover, which means investment in IT across the region is also starting to return. This issue of CW Europe investigates how the boost in IT is changing the role of the CIO, from supporting the business to driving its growth. Continue Reading

The IT behind Angry Birds

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO of Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the gaming phenomenon Angry Birds, about how he supports a global business with a five-person IT team. We assess your options for moving off Windows Server 2003 now support is ending. And our buyer's guide looks at log management. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

The internet of things could save the honeybee from extinction

Gemalto’s M2M unit is developing an ambitious project with agricultural science firm Eltopia and the University of Minnesota. The objective: to save the honeybee from extinction Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Ofcom fines EE £1m for breaking regulatory complaints procedures

Ofcom has fined mobile network operator EE £1m for failing to give customers information about taking stalled complaints to a dispute resolution process Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Immigration is a dirty word - but it's one IT has to address to solve digital skills gap

The political climate in the UK makes it difficult to talk about immigration and its effect on the IT sector, given the wider sensitivities around the subject. But it's a topic that needs to be ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

How Deutsche Telekom plans to challenge AWS and Google in the cloud

German telco Deutsche Telekom wants to evolve into the public cloud and plans to beat sector giants such as Amazon and Google at their own game Continue Reading

By

• Anne Morris

Metropolitan Police picks Innopsis to lead network procurement

London’s Metropolitan Police Service signs public-sector networking association Innopsis to lead engagement on network procurement Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

NHS IT system for GP data upload slammed for delays and overspend

National Audit Office report highlights problems that led to four-year delay and a system that did not work when completed Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Facebook wins first round in European privacy battle

Facebook has welcomed a Vienna court’s rejection of a 25,000-strong class action lawsuit against the social networking firm for allegedly breaching European privacy laws Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Do not leave digital government development to Whitehall, says Chi Onwurah MP

Whitehall should not be left with sole responsibility for the government drive to building a digital future, says shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Windows Server 2003 end of support: Five options to choose from

Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 ends in July. Should you upgrade to a newer version of the operating system or choose an alternative? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

BT rejects Sky calls for Openreach competition inquest

BT hits back after Sky asks telecoms regulator Ofcom to initiate a full investigation into Openreach Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cisco launches IoT System for enterprise and smart cities

Cisco unveils 15 products to address the growing complexity of internet of things deployments Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

The rise of general-purpose AI and its threat to humanity

Socially aware general-purpose artificial intelligence in the form of a dog could be the ideal form factor to take over the world Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

The legacy IT challenge for CIOs

In this week’s Computer Weekly, CIOs in financial services hoping to fight off challenger banks face a huge hindrance from their legacy IT – we assess the difficulties and reveal a diagram that shows the scale of the problem. We look at how to prepare for information security audits and why they are so vital. And we ask if HM Revenue & Customs’ plan for online tax accounts will make tax more taxing for the digitally excluded taxpayer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Universal Credit costs leap by more than 20% to £15.8bn

Figures reveal increase in lifetime cost since changes to the plan made to 'reset' the troubled welfare reform programme Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CIO Interview: Ian Bell, CIO, Cambridgeshire Police Service

The CIO of Cambridgeshire Police Service talks about the constabulary’s move to digital for collaboration and information sharing in its effort to increase efficiency Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Digital government 'a chance to build a new state', says Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock

Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock says the move to digital government is a “chance to build a new state” in a speech outlining his priorities Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

John Swainson, president of Dell Software, argues the case for rethinking datacentres

Having previously worked for Silver Lake, CA and IBM, Swainson now heads the company’s software business Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Case study: Model railway company Hornby overhauls payments with Braintree

Hornby’s head of digital strategy explains how the firm chose Braintree as its online payments platform following its website migration last year Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Box ties up with IBM to boost enterprise credibility and global reach

IBM and Box have forged a global partnership to integrate their existing products and services, and develop new ones for secure collaboration Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

IT professionals give Windows 10 Start button the thumbs up

A survey of European and North American IT professionals has found that the return of the Start button is the most enticing feature in Microsoft's latest operating system Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Bet365: A company betting on its own technology innovations

While many sites make great use of agile development, run on the cloud and are built on Java and JavaScript, Bet365 is doing IT its own way Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Pharmaceutical companies use BPM to cut cost of clinical trial drugs

Pharmaceutical companies have developed an IT system to secure the supply of medicines they need for clinical studies, saving hundreds of thousands on their drugs bill in the process Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Government Digital Service insists Verify safe despite claims of vulnerabilities

An academic paper suggests the Gov.uk Verify system could be used as a spy network, but the Government Digital Service (GDS) insists this is not the case Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Inside DevOps: How it really works

DevOps done well can lead to a continuous loop where teams plan, code, build, test, release, deploy, operate and monitor Continue Reading

By

• Adrian Bridgwater

Navigating complex IT

In this week's Computer Weekly, the complexity of legacy IT is a problem for most CIOs, but is it an inevitable consequence of using technology to keep the business simple? IT leaders share their experiences. Windows 10 is out soon – we look at what it means for enterprise IT. And we examine the Open Data Platform for Hadoop. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Legacy systems holding back 90% of businesses

Most businesses are being held back from making digital advances by their reliance on legacy applications Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Rovio Entertainment's Kalle Alppi believes IT staff should be embedded in business

The CIO at the company behind Angry Birds talks about running global IT with only five permanent staff Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

How to write supplier contracts for agile software development

Typical supplier contracts are not suited to agile software projects where there is no requirements specification – so what should IT leaders do? Continue Reading

By

• Adam Bernstein

Royal Bank of Scotland goes back to 1970s values with big data

RBS, once the world's largest bank, is using analytics technology to go back to the era of personal customer service Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

What's slowing down your network and how to fix it

In this week's Computer Weekly, network performance problems are a common occurrence – we look at the likely causes and the way to fix them. Our latest buyer's guide takes a focus on DevOps, the combining of agile operational and development processes. And we find out how Apache Spark can help with real-time big data analytics. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Hello computer. Wanna talk dirty?

The Turing Test is a famous challenge to computer scientists to create an artificial intelligence machine that is so convincing people believe they are talking to a real human being. Meanwhile, it ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Is HMRC making tax more taxing for non-digital taxpayers?

Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has made tax data accessible online – but how should it cater for those unable (or unwilling) to use digital services? Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

OnApp helps small public cloud firms take on AWS, Google and Microsoft

The OnApp Federation marketplace will help smaller firms compete more effectively with the public cloud giants, it is claimed Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Boots cuts 700 jobs in bid to restructure and improve tech

Cosmetics firm Boots has announced it will be cutting 700 non-store roles in an attempt to invest in technology and simplify back-office operations Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Case study: What the enterprise can learn from Etsy's DevOps strategy

Jon Cowie, operations engineer at online marketplace Etsy, advises enterprises on how to develop a DevOps-friendly business culture Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

HMRC denies reports of Verify causing users problems

HMRC has denied that problems faced by the public attempting to claim marriage tax breaks are caused by the Gov.uk Verify scheme Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The top 10 myths about agile development

Examining some of the most common misconceptions in the growing field of agile software development Continue Reading

By

• Peter Measey

The file-sharing face-off: Box or Dropbox

In this week's Computer Weekly, we look at the two most popular tools for cloud-based enterprise file sharing and assess the relative merits of Box and Dropbox. We talk to some of the early pioneers in developing smartwatch apps. And we find out why IT security spending is shifting from prevention to detection and response. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Digital services not saving government departments money, says NAO

Government departments are not making the savings digital services were aiming to deliver Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

John Lewis incubator sees first round of second-year pitches

More than 20 startups have presented their pitches to John Lewis executives in the first round of this year’s Jlab accelerator Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The state of NHS IT? Ring a random NHS trust and see if they have IT problems - it worked for us

We'd like to let you in on a little secret. In the past week, Computer Weekly uncovered IT problems at two NHS trusts in the north-west of London. In one, medical staff were unable to access ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Peugeot Citroën prepares for in-car apps with Sierra Wireless

French car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroën plans to deploy device-to-cloud technology to support its connected car strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

HMRC looks for transformation partner ahead of Aspire end

HMRC is seeking transformational help ahead of the demise of its Aspire contract in 2017. Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The drivers and inhibitors of cyber security evolution

A study shows a shift in IT security spending to detection and response – but why are most organisations falling way behind the more enlightened front runners? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government as a platform, or a platform for government? Which are we getting?

Government as a platform is the latest buzzword in Whitehall - but is that really what they are going to deliver? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Most of more than 733,000 police communications data requests approved

Big Brother Watch is calling for a curb on the scale of police access to communications data and greater transparency in the use of this data Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Marseille: Europe’s networking gateway to Africa

The city of Marseille in southern France is fast becoming a hub for datacentre and network operators who want low latency connections to Africa. Continue Reading

By

• Anne Morris

Using green computing for improving energy efficiency guide

Green computing is no longer just a white-wash expression, as government schemes like the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, the Climate Change Agreement (CCA) or the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), are encouraging companies to revaluate their use of IT resources. Finding new ways of improving energy efficiency is no longer a boardroom discussion, but a reality for many UK businesses. This guide has been designed to help you improve overall energy efficiency, within the IT department, and implement the right green technology for your business. This green technology guide covers green computing, government legislation and energy efficiency. Continue Reading

CIO Interview: Mike Young, CIO, Dentsu Aegis Network

CIO Mike Young describes how Dentsu Aegis Network used technology to become a consolidated company with a unified collaboration strategy Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

NATS failure down to bug from the 90s and redundant code

A bug present in Nats since 1990s has been identified as the root cause of the five-hour outage of UK air traffic control on 12 December 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Civil Servants point to lack of skills as barrier to IT procurement

Adoption of IT for public services is held back due to a lack of skills, despite civil servants agreeing IT is a necessity, according to techUK Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Microservices and DevOps are changing software development

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to Hailo about its software development approach, which sees the taxi app use microservices and DevOps techniques. We hear from users of OpenStack, the open source cloud software, about how they are building digital businesses. And our buyer's guide looks at customer experience management. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Digital customer experience: Beyond the website

Organisations are faced with the challenge of delivering their customers with an online experience that goes far beyond just a website Continue Reading

By

• Rob Bamforth, Timefort

Air Traffic Control gallery opens at The National Museum of Computing

Sponsored by Nats, the air traffic control gallery features IRIS radar, a restored PDP-11 and high definition air traffic control simulator Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth talks about space, drones and smartphones

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, strives towards the vision of a converged handheld device Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

CIO interview: Myron Hrycyk, CIO, Severn Trent Water

Severn Trent water company is working on technology initiatives to lower bills and improve customer service Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

CIO interview: Austerity drives joined-up council IT with Force.com

Peterborough has become a big user of software-as-a-service for council services. We speak to its IT head Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

G.fast ultrafast broadband test lab opens in Swansea

BT kicks off trials of G.fast broadband technology in Swansea and opens a new test lab for startups Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government cloud adoption hit by ongoing legacy tech investments

IT supplier Eduserv wants government departments banned from investing in legacy tech to drive up cloud adoption Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BT and BDUK failed to make costs transparent, says report

A major report on BDUK commissioned by DCMS identifies a number of failures around the transparency of the scheme’s costs Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

GDS will not scale locally with continued bespoke approach

If the Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to develop bespoke digital services, the progress it has made to date will not scale at a local level, Eddie Copeland, head of technology at the Policy Exchange, has warned Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Vodafone returns to quarterly revenue growth

A minute rise in quarterly sales gives mobile network operator Vodafone hope that its financial situation is now stabilising Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Canonical offers SaaS pricing for on-site VMs and storage

Open source supplier Canonical has introduced software as a service pricing for on-premise storage in a move that could change the way traditional software is licensed Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Delivering first-class IT at Royal Mail

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to Royal Mail CIO Catherine Doran as her five-year IT transformation plan comes to fruition. We review Microsoft Office 2016 and evaluate its use for corporate collaboration. And we look at best practice in implementing customer relationship management software. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Augmented reality business applications start to get real

Augmented reality applications have tended to be gimmicky marketing wheezes, but firms are starting to explore their business potential Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

Whitehall technology chiefs vetoed new Windows XP support deal

Government technology chiefs vetoed a new deal with Microsoft to continue Windows XP support to force laggards to move off the OS Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

What does the end of the "Francis Maude era" mean for GDS?

Earlier this week, I wrote here that a new Conservative government could mean more changes in government IT than such administrative consistency would suggest. It already seems those changes may be ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems

Southwark's continuing care database included names of patients who had been dead for several years, a tribunal is told Continue Reading

By

• Julia Gregory and Bill Goodwin

New government, same government IT? Perhaps not...

On first impressions, the Conservative election victory appears to be business as usual for IT across government. The challenges before the election are the same challenges now; the civil service ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

PSNGB rebrands to drive information sharing across PSN

PSNGB, the trade association set up to promote the Public Services Network, rebrands itself as Innopsis and says its work is far from over Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EMC predicts return to double-digit sales growth

Storage giant's EMEA chief claims downbeat first quarter results are as bad as things will get for EMC, and that normal service will soon resume Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Huawei opens European Research Institute

Huawei opens doors of European Research Institute in Leuven, Belgium Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

EU revamp of payment services draws nearer

The EU cannot afford to continue with costly payment services if it wants to be globally competitive, says MEP Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The digital challenge for the new government

It's been said that the general election this week is the most important for a generation. That's probably true on a number of levels - and certainly within the microcosm of the IT and digital ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

CIO interview: Darrell Stein, vice-president of information systems at Reckitt Benckiser

Seven months after taking charge of IT at Reckitt Benckiser, Darrell Stein is pushing ahead with a strategy to increase digital revenues Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK election special – who wins the digital vote?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the UK goes to the polls in the general election, we take an in-depth look at the political parties’ manifestos for technology, and examine what the IT sector wants from the next government. Our latest buyer’s guide covers collaboration software. And we analyse host identity protocol (HIP), an emerging standard for endpoint security. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Home Retail Group grows profits 15% with mobile and online channels

Mobile and online initiatives at Home Retail Group – parent company of Argos and Homebase – drove a 15% growth in its yearly operating profit Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Windows 10: Why you should work around PC price hike

IT departments planning a PC refresh to tie in with Windows 10 can expect to pay more due to the strong US dollar Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

If not GDS, then what?

The closer we've come to the UK general election, the more it seems the Government Digital Service (GDS) is taking a public bashing. You might wonder why.It's certainly true to say that GDS divides ... Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Met Police offers up to almost £200,000 for CIO role

The Metropolitan Police is offering up to almost £200,000 to fill its CIO position, which has been open since February 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Criminal Courts Review Commission set to review subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution

The Criminal Courts Review Commission (CCRC) reviews subpostmasters' claims of wrongful prosecution by the Post Office due to IT problems Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Vodafone sends network in a backpack to Nepal earthquake zone

Vodafone’s charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, deploys instant mini networks to help restore communications in quake-hit Nepal Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Bill Binney, the ‘original’ NSA whistleblower, on Snowden, 9/11 and illegal surveillance

Always a patriot: Computer Weekly talks to Bill Binney, the senior NSA official who blew the whistle before Edward Snowden Continue Reading

By

• Fiona O'Cleirigh

The National Trust's great IT renovation

In this week's Computer Weekly, we talk to the CIO of the National Trust, Sarah Flannigan, about her £40m IT strategy to transform one of the UK's favourite charities. We examine best practice in how to set up applications on Amazon Web Services. And we talk to a UK challenger bank about how technology will shake up the sector. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Datacentre PUE: Who's keeping score?

With datacentre operators under increased competitive pressure to cut their PUE scores, are their ratings really all they seem? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

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 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Why self-service and automation will power mass adoption of BI

Tibco’s analytics head, Brian Gentile, believes business intelligence needs to adapt for mass-market adoption Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Zurich Insurance turns to augmented reality to train 10,000 managers

The £74bn turnover company aims to harness the capabilities of augmented reality to train 10,000 employees in 170 countries Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

What’s slowing down your network and how to fix it

When using the network feels like wading through molasses, finding the cause can be a difficult process Continue Reading

By

• Rene Millman