IT news in your industry sector

The Great Deverticalisation - part 2: The power of open

The public sector has the opportunity, through the power of 'open', to take the lead in creating organisations for the future success of UK plc Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Mozilla announces handsets for Firefox OS

Alcatel, LG and ZTE will be the first mobile manufacturers to bring Firefox OS handsets to the market Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Universal Credit has the hallmarks of another IT failure

Charities, housing associations and consultancies have warned that the Department for Work and Pensions’ £2.2bn Universal Credit programme has all the hallmarks of another public sector IT disaster. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Music companies critical of Google’s anti-piracy efforts

Music companies have accused Google of failing to fulfil a pledge not to give prominent rankings in search results to websites offering illegal music downloads. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Pitchford to head-up Universal Credit programme

David Pitchford, executive director of Major Projects Authority heads up the Universal Credit at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Top technologies that can make your datacentre green

Energy-efficient technologies that can reduce running costs in the datacentre and across the business Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Bad outsourcing decisions cause 63% of data breaches

Bad outsourcing decisions nearly two-thirds of data breaches investigated by security firm Trustwave in the past year Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT budgets to grow in 2013 as economy bumps along

UK IT departments are planning to spend more on IT in 2013 despite the downturn, a worldwide survey of IT managers has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Google battles BT in patent row

Google has launched legal action against BT, accusing the British firm of four counts of patent infringement Continue Reading

Grant Thornton uses Huddle for business support programme

Grant Thornton is using Huddle to share information and content as part of the £200m government-backed GrowthAccelerator Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Boots to roll out contactless payments nationwide

Boots is to roll out contactless payments across its stores nationwide, in a deal with payment providers Visa Europe and Streamline Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Barclays bank cuts UK jobs

Barclays will cut jobs in the UK as part of a total reduction of 3,700 staff after reporting a substantial drop in profits for the last 12 months Continue Reading

HMRC alerts businesses to impending real-time PAYE changes

HMRC is notifying businesses about impending real-time information (RTI) changes to the PAYE payroll system Continue Reading

How to find the most vulnerable systems on your internal network

Most corporate networks share common vulnerabilities, but many could be mitigated with education in “hacker thinking” for technical staff Continue Reading

By

• Peter Wood, First Base Technologies LLP

IT expert in Microsoft monopoly case faces £2.5m legal fight

A computer expert who advised the European Commission in its investigation into anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft faces £2.5bn legal battle Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

CIO interview: David Matthewman, CIO, Open University

Three years after joining the Open University, CIO David Matthewman continues to push a strategic programme to deliver value and innovation Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

BYOD with VMware

New Windows 8 tablets and laptops are great...but not exactly corporate. So why not run a Windows 7 virtual machine? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Interview: Phil Smith, CEO of Cisco UK & Ireland

Cisco's UK CEO talks about innovation, wireless vs wired and software defined networking at the company’s annual Cisco Live event in London Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Social media: A security challenge and opportunity

Generation Y workers are posing increasing security challenges to their employers as they share data unreservedly Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

EU cyber strategy aimed at boosting preparedness and cooperation

The European cyber security strategy addresses insufficient national preparedness and boosting co-operation in the region, says the EC Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Business avoids cloud over fear of government snooping

Almost half of IT professionals are deterred from keeping sensitive data in the cloud because of fear of government intervention and possible legal action, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Twitter strengthens login security after hacker attack

Days after a hacking attack, it has emerged that Twitter plans to strengthen its login security with two-factor authentication Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Raspberry Pi Model A computer goes on sale for £16

The latest version of the small single-board Raspberry Pi computer – Model A – has gone on sale in Europe at just £16 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Interview: John Harris, vice-president of global enterprise architecture, Aimia

Aimia, the organisation behind retail loyalty programme Nectar, is overhauling its IT to make the most of customer data Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Process big data at speed

Low-cost solid state memory is powering high-speed analytics of big data streaming from social network feeds and the industrial internet. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Baer

Five steps to turn Windows 8 into Windows 7

Windows 8 ships with new PCs, but many people prefer the old user interface. Here is a guide to getting it back. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

How 3D printing impacts manufacturing

With the ability to create on-demand specialist tools, any initial investment in 3D printing technology could quickly pay for itself. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Twitter resets a quarter of a million accounts after hacker attack

Twitter has reset the passwords of 250,000 accounts after detecting and shutting down a hacker attack last week. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

EasyJet lifts off with Azure seat bookings

The Azure cloud has allowed Easyjet to enable web site and mobile users to check seat availability Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

The great deverticalisation – part 1: the street

Why do we persist in running vertically integrated organisations when standardising many of these processes would free us up to do things so much better, and more cheaply? Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson & Jerry Fishenden

Amazon sales soar in 2012

Amazon sales rose 27% to $61bn (£39bn) in its 2012 results and 22% in its 2012 fourth quarter revenues to $21.27bn, compared with 2011 Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Why has NAC, like DLP, failed to take off?

Why are organisations not investing in systems that are designed to keep malicious actors out of their networks? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Procter & Gamble appoints new UK CIO as predecessor moves to Ipsos

Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has appointed a new UK CIO following the departure last month of previous incumbent, Dave Ubachs Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Encryption is safe bet, says SafeNet

Encryption is the only thing that can give peace of mind to CIOs and CISOs, says Dave Hansen, president and CEO of security firm SafeNet Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Nokia bounces back in Q4

Nokia returned to profit in the fourth quarter of 2012, reporting profit of €439m and sales of over €8bn Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

ICO hits Sony with £250,000 data breach penalty

The Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) has fined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe £250,000 for breaching the Data Protection Act Continue Reading

The human face of Big Data

Former Time, Life and national Geographic photographer Rick Smolan visualises and navigates the world of Big Data. Continue Reading

By

• Rick Smolan

European bank IT investment lags US and Asia-Pacific equivalents

Banks in Asia-Pacific and North America will increase their IT spending significantly more than those in Europe Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Defra plans £80m agile CAP system

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is planning a single integrated £80m Common Agricultural Policy system Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

BYOD: People pay for devices to use for work

Over half of employees buy their own devices for work use, according to new report from mobile device management specialist Good Technology Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Why has DLP never taken off?

Why is data loss prevention (DLP) technology not being adopted if it provides the very protection most businesses need? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GDS must not become an outlier, warns Martha Lane Fox

The Government Digital Service (GDS) must not remain an outlier to the way the public sector delivers online services, says Martha Lane Fox Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

UK citizens unwilling to embrace big data

The public sector could improve services by imitating the private sector’s use of big data, but citizens are overwhelmingly against the idea Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

ZTE predicts major losses for 2012

Delayed projects and shrinking sales saw net profits plummet 240% at Chinese telecoms company ZTE in 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

G-Cloud powers Huddle’s public sector sales growth

Cloud collaboration firm Huddle saw its public sector sales double to 30% of all revenues this year due to uptake generated through the CloudStore Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

GE uses big data to power machine services business

GE, one of the UK's largest manufacturers, is using big data analytics with data generated from machine sensors to predict maintenance needs Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Met Police to equip officers with 30,000 mobile devices

The Metropolitan Police wants to roll out 30,000 mobile and tablet devices to officers this year to give better information on the beat Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Post Office wants to get to bottom of IT system allegations

A system that set out to modernise the Post Office in 1996 is under the spotlight after claims that Horizon accounting system is error prone Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CIOs must hunt and harvest digital opportunities

It is time for CIOs to focus on the outside world instead of internal IT, according to Gartner Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Gartner predicts the demise of the desktop PC refresh cycle

Data from market analyst Gartner paints a bleak picture of the PC industry, suggesting the era of desktop replacement cycles has ended. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Post Office announces amnesty for Horizon evidence

The Post Office is calling for evidence from people who have used the Horizon IT system which some have blamed for accounting discrepancies Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

The limitations of traditional SaaS integration approaches

Time and budget constraints are forcing many organisations to rethink their integration strategy and find a well-aligned solution Continue Reading

By

• Saurabh Sharma

Oracle rushes out patches for Java zero days

Oracle has released two out-of-band security updates for the latest zero day vulnerabilities in Java Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

NATS says BI key to five-year investment plan

The UK’s air traffic control business NATS will make business intelligence (BI) a priority investment over the next five years Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Disable Java to protect from latest zero-day

Security researchers are warning of a zero-day vulnerability in all versions of Java, including the latest Java 7 update 10 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government extends employer £1,500 apprenticeship grant for further 12 months

Government and National Apprenticeship Service extend AGE 16-24 grant for further 12 months Continue Reading

By

• Kayleigh Bateman, Computer Weekly

Software piracy international in scope, says Fast

The scale of software piracy is both international in scope and military in its execution, says the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT contractors seek to fill skills gap left by public sector cuts

IT contractors are increasingly confident about job opportunities in the public sector due to reductions in the civil service's head count, finds research Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

UK Border Agency tenders for security systems

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) and Border Force is tendering for an integrated border security system Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Misuse of social media could wreak havoc, warns World Economic Forum

The rapid spread of false information through social media poses a growing threat to business and society, the World Economic Forum has warned Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Are software audits good for your health?

The Business Software Alliance's claim that 90% of all audit letters sent in 2012 were the result of tips from whistle-blowers is a wake-up call to CIOs Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

VoIP awareness up but user numbers remain low

A report from Ofcom claims four in five consumers know what voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is, but just 29% use the technology Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

MPs slam the award of government contracts to tax-avoiding IT firms

MPs allege that Accenture used revenue from its deal with HMRC to reduce its tax bill Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Barclays' Linux programme not a snub to suppliers

Barclays says it is not snubbing any supplier by developing a private cloud infrastructure and using Linux to cut software development costs by 90%. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

IT spending to rise in 2013

Find out what analysts are predicting for technology in Europe this year, including changes in budgets and how companies can reduce costs and improve sustainability. Continue Reading

Parliamentary commission calls for electrified banking ring fence

A parliamentary report on plans to separate retail and investment banking calls for legislation to prevent breaches of the ring fence Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Morrisons sees poor sales due to lack of online presence

Supermarket chain Morrisons posted “disappointing” sales over the Christmas break, due to the retailer’s lack of online presence. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Ernst & Young email keyword analysis identifies fraudsters

Fraud investigators have revealed the most common words used in email conversations by employees engaged in rogue trading and fraud Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to integrate SaaS with your local business systems

As software as a service matures, CIOs need to look at how well cloud-based products integrate with existing on-premise systems Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Business priorities: what to protect, monitor and test

How information security professionals can prioritise what to protect, monitor and test in the light of current budget and resource constraints Continue Reading

Executive brings own software which is adopted by business

Rochdale Development agency (RDA) has started using cloud based Huddle collaboration software after a development officer started using it at work. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Wi-Fi Alliance to merge with WiGig

The wireless technology will retain its WiGig name but the standard will be looked after by the Wi-Fi Alliance Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Immigrants wrongly told to leave UK due to inaccurate data

Some immigrants have been accidentally contacted by Capita and told to leave the UK as a result of inaccurate data used in a government push to remove thousands of illegal immigrants Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Ofcom proposes early exit to combat price rises

Regulator Ofcom says users should be able to leave mobile, broadband and landline contracts without charge if their provider ups the price Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Ubuntu Linux adapted for Android smartphones

The open source Ubuntu operating system, a distribution of Linux, has been adapted to run on smartphones Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office admits that Horizon system needs more investigation

Campaigners have forced the Post Office to look again at a computer system blamed for sub-postmasters being wrongly accused of false accounting Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Home Retail Group cuts call costs with SMS automation

Home Retail Group, whose brands include Argos, Homebase and Habitat has cut telephony costs by rolling out an automated text messaging service across its three call centres. Continue Reading

Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch co-operates in HP fraud probe

Former CEO and founder of Autonomy Mike Lynch says he will co-operate with a US investigation into fraud alleged by parent firm HP Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2012

Ten articles that illustrate some of the major trends in cyber crime in 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Top 10 business software articles of 2012

The main thrust in enterprise software this year has been the introduction of a new Windows OS, programming model and user interface. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Top 10 financial services IT stories in 2012

The industry that you expect to hit the IT headlines on a regular basis has not let us down in the last 12 months, despite continued tough market conditions. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Facebook pays £2.6m tax on £840m profit

The social networking giant faces criticism for paying minimal tax by pushing all of its operations outside of the US through Ireland Continue Reading

By

• Jennifer Scott, TechTarget

Top 10 IT outsourcing stories of 2012

Research into the UK outsourcing sector in 2010 found that 7.4% of the UK’s total production came from outsourcing, and about a third of that – some £38.7bn – was IT outsourcing Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Government to cut large frameworks following procurement review

Government is to put an end to large ICT frameworks, following a review into the efficacy of procurement practices for SMEs Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Essex County Council signs £81m PSN deal

Essex County Council has signed a £81m network and telephony deal to introduce a Public Services Network (PSN) across its 200,000 users Continue Reading

Unilever ramps up social networking for recruitment

Unilever has agreed a five-year HR BPO contract with Accenture that will expand the manufacturer’s recruitment activity into social networking Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Mott MacDonald rolls out Microsoft software globally

Engineering firm Mott MacDonald is rolling out Microsoft products globally over the next year as it moves towards a Microsoft-centric business strategy Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Amazon: Gold standard of the cloud?

Amazon Web Services is the benchmark for cloud in the enterprise but can it handle the challenge of federated cloud services? Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Shore up your organisation’s fleet with the right MDM

There are many mobile device management products, but approaches vary. We outline how to choose the right one for your business Continue Reading

By

• Adrian Bridgwater

Mazars outsources access management

Global accountancy firm Mazars has outsourced the management of access to Oracle and Sharepoint applications for 6000 global staff Continue Reading

CIO interview: Kevin O’Connor, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

As the new CIO at Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Kevin O’Connor is looking to bring in a new approach to the company’s IT strategy Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Liam Maxwell named as first government chief technology officer

Liam Maxwell becomes the first Whitehall CTO, in the latest stage of a major shake-up of the government IT leadership organisation Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Securing Macs in the enterprise

A Mac can be more secure than Windows, yet just as insecure; it is harder to configure, easier to use; will not fit in the enterprise, but does not need to. Continue Reading

By

• Rob Buckley

Government IT reformers criticise IT leadership shake-up

Government IT reformers have criticised plans to give procurement chief Bill Crothers a more prominent role in the IT leadership team Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

How to preserve forensic evidence in the golden hour after a breach

There is a golden hour at the outset where a clear head and good planning can make or break any subsequent forensic investigation Continue Reading

By

• Martin Roots, NIIP

Ghost Shell hacktivists publish over a million credentials

The Ghost Shell group, an offshoot of the Anonymous hacking collective has published the log-in details from 1.6 million accounts Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Low-level tasks eat up 30% of IT departments' time, report reveals

IT departments spend 30% of their time carrying out basic tasks and are growing frustrated with the lack of time available to focus on transformational work Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

UK CIOs see EU regulation as key

A third of UK CIOs are more concerned with EU regulation, such as the data protection directive, than their own local laws, a study has revealed. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK government jobs website exploited by hackers

Hackers have been able to exploit security flaws in a new government jobs website to steal personal information about job applicants Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Emulex buys Endace for $130m

Networking company Emulex hopes to boost its performance management skills by acquiring Endace Continue Reading