IT news in your industry sector

Big IT suppliers top government spending on contracts

IT firms are earning the most from government contracts, with HP alone earning more than £1.7bn a year Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Go Ahead uses Huddle to improve mobility

Go-Ahead transport’s engineers are using Huddle for mobility and collaboration when maintaining its fleet of vehicles. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Benefits of accessing data outweigh privacy risks for chronically ill

Over half of UK patients with chronic health conditions want access to their medical records and believe the benefits outweigh privacy risks Continue Reading

Oracle set to boost retail business with $5bn Micros acquisition

Oracle is expected to acquire internet-enabled point-of sale-specialist Micros Continue Reading

Centrica's datacentre move to HP still not complete after three and a half years

Centrica is yet to transfer its entire datacentre operations to HP despite signing a contract with the supplier in 2010 Continue Reading

Six suppliers shortlisted for NHS HR system replacement

Six suppliers have been shortlisted for the NHS electronic staff record project – the world's largest HR and payroll software implementation Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

BDUK to grill local authorities on broadband postcode data

New BDUK CEO Chris Townsend plans urgent review of local authorities to establish which are releasing broadband postcode data Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Government reveals winning bids in superfast broadband trials

Government reveals names of eight suppliers that have won a share of a £10m funding pot to trial superfast broadband in rural areas Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Facebook launches Slingshot to rival Snapchat

Facebook has launched its limited lifetime messaging app Slingshot in the US to rival Snapchat Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Case study: How eBay uses its own OpenStack private cloud

eBay runs one of its most crucial workloads – its website – on an OpenStack private cloud platform developed by itself Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Interview: John Swainson, president of Dell Software

Dell Software president John Swainson's aims to make Dell Software a $5bn business Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

YouTube to block indie labels unwilling to join paid service

YouTube plans to drop music videos from independent record labels unwilling to join its new subscription music service Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Department of Health sets out technology priorities for coming year

The Department of Health (DoH) has outlined changes in the way technology and information will be used over the coming year Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

IFDS integrates UK and India service centres

International Financial Data Services has implemented software to balance workloads across UK and Indian delivery centres Continue Reading

Wimbledon to analyse social interactions at tennis championship

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon will be analysing social interactions throughout tennis championship Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Domino’s breach underlines value of personal data, say experts

The latest cyber breach to hit a high-profile brand underlines the high value of personal data, say security experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Just Eat builds in-house IT workforce in Ukraine

Online takeaway service Just Eat has built a team of software development and project managers in the Ukranian capital Kiev Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Travel group Expedia aims to predict your holiday plans

Travel group Expedia is developing technology that will predict the needs of its customers before they call about their travel plans Continue Reading

What’s new in SQL Server 2014

We give Microsoft’s latest release of SQL Server a test drive to find out if the new features really make the effort of upgrading worthwhile Continue Reading

By

• Tim Anderson

St Pancras International WLAN upgrade promises gigabit speeds

Upgrade at St Pancras International and other stations served by High Speed 1 rail service will see increases in capacity and speed Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Technology key to secure document future, says UK Home Office

Physical security is just as important as digital security in documents such as passports, says UK Home Office Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

House of Lords sets up Digital Skills Select Committee

The House of Lords has set up a select committee for digital skills Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Microsoft admits running out of IP addresses for Azure

Microsoft has assured US Azure customers data remains in the US, despite running out of US-registered IP addresses at times Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Drone kill communications net illustrated

Computer Weekly can illustrate how a UK network connection forms part of a US weapons targeting system that has slaughtered civilians in attacks gone wrong.The illustrations add credibility to a ... Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

HSBC makes executives responsible for application consolidation

In the next few weeks, senior executives at HSBC globally will have KPIs to reduce the number of applications they run Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Can Salesforce.com re-engineer business IT?

With 1.5 million developers and a new focus on industry solutions, is Salesforce.com a business platform? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Datacentre spending shifts to Europe as buyers focus on low-cost servers

Server manufacturers made 20% less in sales in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the fourth quarter of 2013 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Tesco Bank launches current account on off-the-shelf platform

Tesco has launched a current account four years after implementing its core banking platform Continue Reading

Register to vote online goes live

The latest online transactional service from government has gone live as part of the ‘digital by default’ initiative Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

EE drives mobile phone deals with CRM software implementation

Mobile phone operator Everything Everywhere claims a 400% increase in phone deals after rolling out customer relationship management software Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

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 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

IT departments unprepared for internet of things

Only 41% of IT professionals are working on projects to prepare their business for the internet of things Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Turing Test 2014 marks historic milestone in artificial intelligence

A computer program has made history by passing the artificial intelligence test set by computer science pioneer Alan Turing Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft retaliates to China’s Windows 8 spying claims

Microsoft has launched a social media campaign against China’s claims that Windows 8 is being used for US spying Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Unilever appoints Jane Moran as global CIO

Former CIO of Thomson Reuters, Jane Moran, has joined Unilever as its new global CIO Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

UK airports lead move to cloud services

UK airports are at the vanguard of using cloud to develop innovative services, says Gatwick CIO. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

CIOs should 'leave innovation to marketing'

CIOs should focus on managing the technical infrastructure and leave innovation to other parts of the business – conclusion of a major study. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Chelsea Pensioners go online with Wi-Fi upgrade

The historic Royal Hospital Chelsea has turned to Ruckus Wireless to overcome an aging legacy broadband deployment and keep its residents – the famous Chelsea Pensioners – online Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Cyber threats hiding in plain sight, says Palo Alto Networks

Cyber attackers exploit commonly used business applications to bypass security controls, research shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK shoe retailer Office hit by data breach

Data breach at UK shoe retailer Office prompts calls for online firms to beef up security around customer details Continue Reading

IT supplier insolvencies fall for first time as economy recovers

Technology companies have reached a turning point as insolvencies fall for the first time in 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Tim Wood and Henry Kirby

Google launches right-to-be-forgotten application form

Google has introduced an online application form for Europeans who want personal data to be removed from online search results Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BSkyB retunes IT to ready-for-anything datacentre quad

British broadcaster BSkyB has based its IT on four core datacentres that are resilient, interconnected, energy-efficient and cloud-ready Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

CIO interview: Ian Cohen, CIO, Jardine Lloyd Thompson

Running a programme to transform the business is the wrong way to go about change, according to Ian Cohen, CIO at insurance broker JLT Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Principles of compliance in the financial services industry

Compliance in financial services can appear a staggeringly complex web of laws and regulations, but some key principles apply, says Mathieu Gorge of Vigitrust Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

NHS shared services aims to end paper invoicing

NHS Shared Business Services hopes to eradicate paper invoicing by implementing an e-invoicing system that will be free for suppliers to use Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Targeting the digital customer

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we go behind the scenes of John Lewis’s £40m e-commerce transformation plan to find out how to target the digital customer. Starbucks’ European CIO talks about the coffee chain’s IT strategy. And we evaluate three big suppliers’ plans for virtualised networking. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Android Outlook app has privacy issues, warn researchers

Microsoft’s Outlook.com app for Android is exposing users' data, warn security researchers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

HP job cuts head towards the 50,000 mark as company tackles cost

A further 16000 jobs are set to go as HP continues to slash its workforce through a restructuring initiative which began in 2012 Continue Reading

eBay under fire over handling of data breach

eBay is coming under increasing criticism over its handling of the data breach that exposed millions of user records Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Salesforce.com opens UK datacentre to support data sovereignty

Cloud CRM company Salesforce.com has announced its first UK datacentre, which is also its first in Europe Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Case study: Bank of America and Nationwide use in-branch telepresence

Bank of America and Nationwide implement video conferencing technology to enable customers to speak to banking specialists Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Political parties open sites to search engines after Tories' 2013 deletion

The Conservative Party’s deletion and purge of its archive of speeches from internet search engines last October was unique among political parties Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

eBay reveals major security breach and urges users to change passwords

eBay has revealed it was hit by a major cyber attack earlier this year, and is urging users to change their site passwords. Continue Reading

Tablet banking to quickly overtake mobile banking

The number of people in Europe banking on tablets will grow at twice the rate of those on mobile phones, with security concerns not a major driver Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

US cyber criminal jailed for 20 years

US authorities have jailed a cyber criminal for 20 years, for trading in stolen credit cards and identities Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Shell thinks technology first in preparation for internet of everything

Shell is reshaping its business to think technology first as it uses the internet of everything to change its business processes Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Public sector dominates UK outsourcing so far this year

Public-sector outsourcing accounted for three-quarters of spending in the first three months of this year, according to analyst NelsonHall Continue Reading

IT headcount lags behind growth in digital strategies

There is a huge gap in technology staffing for e-commerce operations, according to a new report from analyst Forrester Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

YouTube Twitch acquisition not imminent, say reports

YouTube’s acquisition of videogame-streaming company Twitch is not imminent, according to latest reports Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Why did GPs turn their back on Choose and Book?

NHS England has scrapped its £356m outpatient booking system, Choose and Book, which was largely ignored by doctors Continue Reading

Internet of things security is relevant to business, says researcher

Internet of things is relevant to enterprise information security professionals, says researcher Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Minnesota passes mobile kill switch law to stop theft

Minnesota has become the first US state to introduce legislation aimed at reducing the theft of smartphones Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Net neutrality under threat from US plan

The US telecoms regulator has approved proposals that opponents believe will quash the principle of net neutrality Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Ex-BBC CTO claims he was the scapegoat for failed DMI project

John Linwood, former chief technology officer at the BBC, claimed he is the “fall guy” for the failed £100m Digital Media Initiative. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Justifying the business case to update Oracle eBusiness Suite

To justify the upgrade cost needed to move to Oracle eBusiness Suite Release 12, IT departments need consider how the implementation can deliver value. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Can Tech City deliver reliable fast internet for startup businesses?

Technology companies based in London’s Tech City are struggling to access high-speed fibre optic broadband, which is dramatically affecting the success their businesses. Continue Reading

What is holding Berlin back from becoming a European centre for startups?

Berlin is one of Europe’s most up-and-coming hotbeds for technology startup companies, but red tape and legislation is preventing it from fulfilling its potential Continue Reading

New NHS e-Referral Service to use agile and open technologies

The new National Health Service outpatient appointment booking system will use agile and open technologies, the NHS has said. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Government should use influence to cut outsourcer executive pay, says think tank

The government should use its outsourcing budget to influence service providers to reduce executive pay, says a think tank report Continue Reading

German companies look to Berlin startups for innovation

German companies are beginning to recognise Berlin as a hot spot for technology innovation thanks to the many startups there Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Orange data breach underlines need for encryption, say experts

The theft of 1.3 million customer records from Orange, France underlines the need for encryption, say experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Vodafone cuts 121 staff with Burton site closure

A review of Vodafone sites following its 2012 acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide will see its Vodafone Business Services centre in Burton-on-Trent shut down, with 121 jobs at risk Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor

Facebook debuts ‘Rapid Deployment Data Centre’ design in Swedish facility

Facebook is expanding its Luleå datacentre in Sweden by deploying Rapid Deployment Data Centre (RDDC) design developed in collaboration with Emerson Power Network Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Internet privacy could thwart data security, warns expert

Steps to improve online privacy could thwart data security, warns security expert Hugh Thompson Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Next Treasury tower contracts go to Centerprise and NTT Data UK

The HM Treasury has awarded its second and third SME supplier contracts to Centerprise International and NTT Data UK Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

CIO interview: Robert Teagle, European IT director, Starbucks Coffee

Robert Teagle leads IT across the 30 markets that Starbucks owns and operates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

UK helping US military build intelligence software for drone targeting

The UK has been helping the US military build software to share intelligence for weapons such as drones for the past 14 years Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

The problems of legacy IT in banking

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as problems caused by legacy IT in banks become increasingly critical, we assess the difficulties in updating banking systems. After the Windows XP support issues – we look at a similar problem facing Oracle users. And we take an in-depth look at managing corporate networks to enable mobile IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Analysis: How the UK connects to the US global drone network

A single acronym in a US defence contract provided the clue that established the role of the UK’s telecoms infrastructure in US drone flights Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

Addressing security and privacy on the industrial internet

The smart grid and smart meters are part of the wider industrial internet, which will offer insight into people’s life at home. What are the security implications? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

City University London launches data science and cyber security courses

City University London will this year begin its first post-graduate courses in data science and cybersecurity. Continue Reading

UK telecoms infrastructure used to support controversial US drone operations

The UK’s telecommunications infrastructure is being used as part of a global defence network the US government uses for drone operations Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

CW Europe – May 2014 Edition

This issue of CW Europe looks at how European Union (EU) countries vary in sharing patient records and exchanging data. Continue Reading

Co-operative Bank report reveals challenge of legacy IT replacement

A report into the £1.5bn losses at Co-operative Bank reveals numerous failures in a project to replace core banking systems Continue Reading

GDS working to secure Google Apps for government

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is in talks with CESG, the IT security arm of GCHQ, to get approval for using Google Apps within government. Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Case study: How the BBC uses cloud to process media for iPlayer

The BBC has taken its iPlayer video-on-demand service to the cloud and cut media processing time from 9-10 hours to 20-30 minutes Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

British Gas brings central heating control to smartphones with AWS

British Gas used public cloud IT to enable people remotely control their homes’ central heating with smartphone apps and save on utility bills Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Infosec 2014: Threat knowledge is key to cyber security, say experts

Business should improve awareness of cyber risks to stay ahead of criminals, say experts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Interview: Nick Roberts, president of Socitm and IT group manager

This month, Nick Roberts, IT group manager at Surrey County Council, took over as president of Socitm, the association of IT and digital professionals working in and for local public services Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Software developers suffer as IT companies endure rising insolvencies

Increase in the number of IT insolvencies expected as the economy improves Continue Reading

By

• Tim Wood and Henry Kirby

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? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

SDL turns to cloud HR to join up businesses in 40 countries

The technology is central to the company’s strategy to integrate formerly autonomous businesses in 38 countries into a single operation Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Case study: How big data powers the eBay customer journey

With 50TB of machine-generated data produced daily and the need to process 100PB of data, eBay has an astronomic data challenge Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Berlin: A hotbed of European technology startups

Berlin is one of the hottest new places to be an entrepreneur with technology startups from all over the world heading to the German capital Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

UK and Ireland cyber attacks up 300% in 2013, says FireEye

UK and Ireland enterprises were hit by an average of more than 70 new infections a day in 2013, a report shows Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fiat and Chrysler to integrate separate IT systems

Car manufacturing group Fiat and Chrysler have contracted IBM to integrate their separate IT infrastructures into a single global operation, following the companies coming together after Chrysler applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Continue Reading

Gartner: CIOs spend more on BI as business growth returns

The return to business growth is driving IT spending among UK and Irish CIOs, according to Gartner's 2014 CIO Agenda survey Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Cyber threat detection paramount, says SANS fellow

Cyber threat prevention is ideal, but detection is a must, says Eric Cole, SANS Institute fellow Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Heartbleed prompts tech firms to pledge open-source support

Top tech firms have joined forces to support open-source software to help prevent future bugs like Heartbleed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst