IT news in your industry sector

Startup trials autonomous delivery robots in Greenwich

Estonian robotics startup Starship Technologies secures permission to trial self-driving delivery robots in Greenwich, south-east London Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Hilton hotel chain powers robot concierge with IBM Watson

The Hilton Worldwide hospitality chain is trialling a robot concierge named Connie, backed by IBM's cognitive computing programme Watson Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Lack of security knowledge limiting business initiatives, survey shows

Security concerns are limiting the adoption of cloud and mobility throughout organisations, according to the first Dell Data Security Survey Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

RWE chief executive points to SAP billing system as cause of npower losses

Npower has announced a radical restructuring plan, shedding 2,400 jobs on the back of losses of €137m. Its parent company’s CEO identified an SAP billing system as the source of the UK unit’s woes Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Enterprise Applications Editor

Virgin supplies Ethernet connectivity to Met Office supercomputer

The Met Office has awarded the contract to provide Ethernet connectivity for its next-generation supercomputer to Virgin Media Business Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Broadband will reach 40% of Vietnam households by 2020, claims government

The Vietnamese government announces plans to increase access to broadband networks for its citizens, proposing a figure of 40% in four years Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

Security Think Tank: Many breaches down to poor access controls

In the modern business environment, what are the most common access control mistakes – and how best are these corrected? Continue Reading

By

• Paul Yung

DHL Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre incubates future logistics technology

DHL's innovation centre in Singapore is trying out the future logistics technologies it plans to introduce across its Asian business Continue Reading

By

• Zafar Anjum

'Complacent' Home Office failed to take responsibility for e-Borders problems

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) criticises the Home Office for allowing the e-Borders programme to run eight years late and £500m over budget Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Why are big government IT projects still going wrong?

The rural payments programme has again been in the spotlight over its failures, continuing the trend of government IT programmes being noted not for their success, but rather the opposite Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Security Think Tank: Top five access control mistakes

In the modern business environment, what are the most common access control mistakes and what is the best way to correct them? Continue Reading

By

• Tim Holman, 2-sec

RSAC16: RSA’s Amit Yoran comes out in support of strong encryption

A policy of weakened encryption would harm US economic interests and undermine those trying to defend digital environments, according to RSA president Amit Yoran Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDS hindered delivery of rural payments programme, says PAC

The rural payments programme was a “Whitehall fiasco” with too much focus on the digital front end, says the public accounts committee (PAC) Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AWS cuts cloud data transfer fees for academic and research user groups

Cloud services giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) rolls out discounts in bid to lower the cost barrier to making scientific discoveries Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

RSAC16: US works on data access agreement with UK

The US is negotiating with the UK to establish a new framework that will permit UK authorities to access electronic communications directly from US companies Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Datacentre heat reuse: Why aren’t more operators doing it?

With the datacentre industry’s sustainability habits coming under increasingly close scrutiny, we find out why operators are not rushing to reuse their waste heat Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

CIO interview: Anders Candell, Stora Enso

CIO at Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer shares advice for shouldering a new CIO position and guiding the business towards innovative technology Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Stadigs

Norfolk County Council on the hunt for ICT boss

The council is looking for a head of ICT and information management to drive its transformation programme, with a potential salary of up to £115,000 Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Majority of Britons support government surveillance for national security

A survey reveals that a majority of UK citizens support government surveillance for national security as Apple attempts to rally public support in its row with the FBI over encryption Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Nissan acts on Leaf car app security flaw after researcher goes public

Nissan suspends its electric car app after a researcher went public about a security flaw that could enable attackers to take control of heating systems Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Tech Nordic Advocates partners with Nordic Startup Conference

Tech Nordic Advocates, sister organisation of startup group Tech London Advocates, is partnering with the Nordic Startup Conference show in Copenhagen in March Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Payments regulator wants banks to sell stakes in Vocalink

The UK payments regulator wants banks to loosen their grip on the payments infrastructure by selling off some of their stake in it Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Cyber crime is fastest growing economic crime, says PwC report

More than half of UK organisations say they expect to be the victim of cyber crime in the next two years, suggesting it will become the UK’s largest economic crime, says a PwC report Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Openreach reformed, but remains part of BT as Ofcom aims to open up fibre broadband market

Telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to stimulate building of fibre broadband direct to homes and premises, but will not split up BT - yet Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Great Ormond Street NHS hunts for EPR and research platform worth up to £50m

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is looking for an electronic patient record system and a clinical research platform worth £50m Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Mapping technology turning Depok in Indonesia into smart city

Depok in Indonesia is using mapping technology to support its smart city ambitions Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

Surviving broadband failure

In this week’s Computer Weekly, after the recent BT broadband outage, we examine the options to keep your communications in place in the event of a failure, to ensure business continuity. We look at the prospects for the OpenStack open source cloud platform in the enterprise. And we see how Ireland is making progress on delivering a digital health service. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Social engineering confirmed as top information security threat

Cyber attackers shifted away from automated exploits in 2015 and instead tricked people into doing the dirty work, Proofpoint researchers found Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Dutch water wants to move beyond dipping its toes into big data pool

Dutch water company Brabant Water wants to use data to improve the service it provides to customers, as well as identify problems on its distribution network Continue Reading

By

• Kim Loohuis

Internet of things helps track endangered dugongs in the Philippines

Fishermen in the Philippines are using smartphones and apps to help conservationists protect an endangered species Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

HR technology heads to cloud in Finland

Computer Weekly talked to Finnish experts about Finnish enterprises moving to cloud-based HR IT systems Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

CIO interview: Catherine Doran, Royal Mail

Royal Mail CIO talks about replacing legacy systems, new contracts and moving to a platform-based model Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

HSBC launches biometric security for mobile banking in the UK

Bank claims UK’s largest planned roll-out of voice biometric security technology, with more than 15 million customers in line for voice and fingerprint authentication services Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Media and marketing industries on the lookout for digital skills

Creative industries such as media, marketing, advertising and sales place more value on digital skills than IT and telecoms sector does Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

CW Europe: February 2016

In Europe cloud is restricted and hybrid setups make use of local compute and storage. Continue Reading

CIO interview: Nick Hopkinson, Devon Partnership NHS Trust

NHS trust’s CIO aims to deliver digital technology that helps clinicians spend more time with patients Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Middle East telecoms operators face up to IoT smart city challenges

As smart city initiatives spring up in the Middle East, telecoms operators contend with the strain of the internet of things (IoT) on networks Continue Reading

By

• Tom Paye

Case study: SEO startup uses Elastichosts’ containers to solve cloud app scalability issues

Search engine optimisation startup talks about the challenges of running unpredictable, resource-hungry applications in the cloud Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

BBC Three moves online-only as broadcaster embraces digital audience

The BBC channel aimed at younger viewers, BBC Three, broadcast its last night as a TV channel before moving to online-only viewing Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Electronics supplier RS Components outsources business process systems in online push

Electronics manufacturer RS Components outsources its corporate software development to Atos in a bid to modernise its customer services Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Judge orders Apple to unlock San Bernardino gunman’s iPhone

A US judge has ordered Apple to help the FBI bypass the auto-erase function on the San Bernardino gunman's iPhone to find the passcode and access data, but the company says it will contest the order Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

HMRC shares details of IT transformation plans

HM Revenue & Customs has published its IT strategy outlining how it plans to transform its IT estate by taking a platform approach, moving to virtual infrastructure and cloud-based services Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Mobile apps could put an end to ‘hated’ staff appraisals

Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin by Deloitte, reveals the top HR technology trends for 2016 Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

EU managers need to up cyber security collaboration, study finds

There is still much work to be done in the area of collaboration and sharing responsibility when it comes to preventing data breaches, a study has found Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Vodafone and Liberty Global to merge in Netherlands

Vodafone and Liberty Global confirm that they are to merge their Dutch businesses Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

'We stumbled on e-commerce,' says Ecco marketing head

Head of e-commerce at retailer Ecco Dana Schwartz explains how the firm’s transformational journey happened as a result of e-commerce adoption Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Telstra is transforming Australian IT infrastructure

Telco is transforming its IT operation to make better use of the cloud, data and application programming interfaces Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Three home broadband service targets students and renters

Mobile network operator Three offers customers in Northern Ireland the chance to trial a mobile home broadband service as an alternative to fixed operators Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Sweden’s NFT Ventures looks to Finland for fintech startups

Swedish startup fund that targets financial technology developers has expanded its reach into Finland Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Interview: Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock on digital government

The government’s minister for digital reform talks about creating a Digital Leadership Academy, learning valuable lessons, and his love for open data Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

US IT professionals overconfident in cyber attack detection, study finds

Most US IT professionals are confident in key security controls to detect cyber attacks – but unsure how long it would take automated tools to discover a breach Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

CIO interview: Ismo Platan, SSAB

Retiring CIO of Swedish steel company tells Computer Weekly about the progress made in merging two Nordic steel firms and looks at the biggest hurdles that lie ahead Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Stadigs

Social engineering is top hacking method, survey shows

Social engineering tops the list of popular hacking methods, underlining the need for continuous monitoring, according to security firm Balabit Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Digital internships in India with TCS now open to UK graduates

India’s biggest IT supplier, Tata Consultancy Services, plans to recruit 1,000 UK graduates for paid internships over the next four years Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

TechUK calls on government to take reports on spy laws seriously

Government must address the fundamental concerns raised by expert witnesses, MPs and Lords about the draft Investigatory Powers Bill, says TechUK Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

MK:Smart enlists IoT supplier ThingWorx for speedy development

Milton Keynes smart city project selects ThingWorx to provide a rapid application deployment environment Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Future technology at the World Government Summit 2016

Delegates at the World Government Summit 2016 in Dubai discussed themes including the future role of governments, robotics and AI, smart cities, sustainable development, renewable energy and longevity. Continue Reading

By

• Adrian Bridgwater

The OpenStack Foundation: Building enterprise trust in open-source clouds

With HMRC and the European Commission emerging as OpenStack adopters, the OpenStack Foundation's CEO explains how it has set about winning over the enterprise with its open-source cloud platform Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Gov.uk Verify identity system targets 50 government services for April go-live

Government identity assurance system is set to move from beta to live in April, three years after its original target date Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Paym usage doubles every six months

Mobile payments provider says use of its mobile payments service is increasing by about four times each year Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Insurance giant RSA announces another outsourcing deal

Insurance company RSA has penned its second major outsourcing contract in a week as it extends a BPO contract with Accenture Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Beverley Bryant gives details on £1.8bn paperless NHS funding

Both capital and revenue funding will be made available to NHS organisations, but not through a “traditional” tech fund Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

AstraZeneca IT insourcing exceeds expectation

The man heading up AstraZeneca’s project to insource its IT updates Computer Weekly on progress and explains the early benefits being reaped Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

How software protects people

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how software is helping to maintain safety in high-risk sectors like oil & gas, aerospace and healthcare – and what lessons they hold for other organisations. We offer six tips from CIOs for innovation with data. And after the HSBC cyber attack, we examine the continuing threat to businesses from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Microsoft’s underwater datacentre: The pros and cons of running subsea facilities

Underwater datacentres can help providers save on land costs and cooling, but at what cost to the environment? Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Assa Abloy outsources IT transformation to Wipro

Swedish lock maker has outsourced its IT infrastructure to Indian IT services firm Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Bulk data collection unnecessary for surveillance, says cyber expert

Opting for bulk data collection and other intrusive surveillance overlooks other means available that do not involve collateral damage to businesses and innocent people, says cyber expert Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office faces group litigation over Horizon IT as subpostmasters fund class action

Subpostmasters who claim to have been wrongly convicted of fraud take the Post Office to court after getting the funds for a group action Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIO interview: Johan Kestens, ING Belgium

ING Belgium’s CIO talks to Computer Weekly in depth about the technology-driven changes in the banking sector Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Visa opens up its technology to developers

Software developers at fintech companies and banks are to be given access to Visa’s technology Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Insurance giant RSA outsources to Wipro

Insurance group takes on infrastructure as a service from Indian supplier Wipro in a bid to consolidate its European IT Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Google’s Chrome to flag deceptive embedded content

Browser will warn of any embedded content such as ads that pretend to act like, and look and feel like, a trusted entity Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

PAC criticises Universal Credit programme for lack of transparency

Public Accounts Committee report slates lack of transparency around Universal Credit and calls for specific plans for the roll out of the digital service to be made public Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

IT down the drain – how cloud is supporting the Thames Tideway tunnel

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the IT decisions behind one of the UK’s largest construction projects – the Thames Tideway sewerage tunnel – and hear why the project chose private cloud. Our latest buyer’s guide looks at containers and microservices and their effect on software architecture. And we find out what US court documents from food giant Mars tell us about Oracle’s controversial licensing policies. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

NHS London Procurement Partnership to tender for EPR framework

The NHS London Procurement Partnership plans clinical digital information systems framework tender to support the "paperless by 2020" agenda Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

DDoS is most common cyber attack on financial institutions

January’s attack on HSBC is typical for the financial sector, but no business should consider itself unlikely to be targeted in this way, say security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

TfL shifts corporate archive to AWS public cloud in digital preservation push

London transport authority has begun moving its first 3TB of corporate archive data to the AWS cloud with the help of Preservica Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Göteborg Energi outsources IT with €40m deal

Nordic energy company will use outsourcing agreement as a platform to modernise its IT environment Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo and David Nikel

Malaysia builds smart traffic system in its Silicon Valley equivalent

Malaysia is testing out a traffic management system in the town of Cyberjaya, which is a test bed for smart city innovation Continue Reading

By

• Ai Lei Tao

HSBC online services hit by DDoS attack

HSBC was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which targeted its online personal banking services. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

ICO launches data privacy assessment tool for SMEs

The ICO has launched an online self-assessment tool to help SMEs to comply with data protection laws and improve data handling procedures Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Business urged to take action on data privacy

Security professionals use Data Protection Day to encourage businesses to do more to protect personal data Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Five CIO tips for building an IT strategy in the digital age

CIOs and strategy experts share their experiences of creating an IT strategy that makes the most of the digital revolution Continue Reading

By

• Mark Samuels

Keep data safe or risk financial impact, ICO warns business

The knock-on effect of a data breach can be devastating for a company, warns information commissioner Christopher Graham Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

VMware to cut 800 jobs in cloud-focused company restructure

Virtualisation company VMware confident adoption of software-defined datacentres will offset softening demand for older products Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

CIO interview: Jo De Vliegher, Hydro

The CIO at Norway's Hydro has established an IT department that allows for regional autonomy and central guidance at the same time Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Stadigs

New government plan to support cyber security startups

Government has announced a £250,000 programme to increase the rate of cyber security startup development in the UK Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Average DDoS attacks fatal to most businesses, report reveals

Criminal activity is top motivation for DDoS attacks as average attacks become strong enough to down most businesses, Arbor Networks report reveals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Could Sweden become the first cashless society?

Sweden is fast becoming a country where cash is on the periphery of payments, and some think it might be the first to become cashless Continue Reading

By

• Eeva Haaramo

Blue light services should share control rooms and IT, Home Office says

The Home Office plans to make emergency services collaboration mandatory and to join up back-office IT and control rooms Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Wal-Mart to make huge data and analytics investment in India

Retail giant Wal-Mart is investing heavily in its IT development centre in Bangalore, turning the city into its most important centre outside the US Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Alstom outsources IT transformation to HCL Technologies

Train engineering company Alstom has outsourced its IT to HCL Technologies as part of a five-year transformation project Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

London mental health trust doctors use Skype for patient consultations

South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust doctors use Skype so patients can stay at home to attend outpatient appointments Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Social media exert influence on millennials' shopping habits

Consumers aged 18 to 34 are more likely to buy items based on what they see on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Shout it out cloud: why Australian CIOs should use cloud to transform

CIOs in Australia, like everywhere else, must look at the cloud options available or face being left behind Continue Reading

By

• David Braue

Lacking the digital skills to shop online costs consumers £744 a year

If consumers are not shopping online for the best deals, they could be missing out on hundreds of pounds of potential savings Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Bank of England CIO John Finch leaves for new role at Thomson Reuters

The Bank of England is dividing its technology team in two to replace departing CIO John Finch Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

NRF 2016: Shopping centres will become “platforms for experiences”, says Westfield co-CEO

As digital causes a shift towards “showrooming”, Westfield co-CEO claims shopping centres will become more experience-focused Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

$54m cyber fraud hits aircraft supplier share price

Austrian aircraft industry supplier reports cyber fraud loss of $54m, way above the average cost of the worst breaches in the UK of up to $4.4m in 2015 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Crunch time for Australian CIOs as analytics platforms drive strategy in 2016

CIOs in Australia and elsewhere will be expected to deploy technologies that promise to help them get more from the information they own Continue Reading

By

• David Braue