IT services and outsourcing

Dear Chancellor: Unlocking private sector collaboration is the key to tech growth

Chancellor Rishi Sunak asked the tech sector for ideas to promote growth – startup hub Plexal makes its case in response Continue Reading

ASEAN organisations face observability gap

Organisations in Southeast Asia are grappling with a hodgepodge of observability tools and have some way to go before they can achieve full visibility over their technology stacks Continue Reading

UK tech sector on track for another record year of investment

The UK creates one unicorn tech business a week, as startup funding during the first half of 2021 rockets to £13.5bn Continue Reading

NTT and Equinix lead APAC co-location market

The two datacentre service providers are leading the pack in co-location services in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to their growing business from hyperscale cloud suppliers Continue Reading

Interview: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on supporting the UK tech sector

Computer Weekly talked to Sunak at a Treasury event in front of an audience of tech sector leaders, investors and startups, to discuss how the government can support the digital economy Continue Reading

Tech Nation announces second cohort for Net Zero accelerator

The Net Zero programme from Tech Nation aims to help tech startups and scaleups realise their potential to reduce global emissions Continue Reading

Transport for London contracts TCS as it modernises taxi and private hire operation

TfL signs 10-year deal with Indian IT services giant to digitally transform taxi and private hire administration Continue Reading

UK government takes equity shares in more than 150 startups

Covid-support loans given to startups through the UK government’s Future Fund have given it stakes in more than 150 high-growth enterprises Continue Reading

RPA adoption still in its infancy in Asia-Pacific

While there have been successful deployments of robotic process automation in mature markets, adoption of the technology is largely in its infancy across Asia-Pacific, says a regional Blue Prism executive Continue Reading

Five things you need to know about cloud file services

We look at cloud file services, which provide a file system-like architecture that gives users access to file data wherever they are, just as if it were a local NAS filer Continue Reading

CW Europe: Dutch researchers build security software to mimic human immune system

In this issue of CW Europe, find out how researchers in the Netherlands are attempting to help IT systems fight certain cyber attacks in a similar way to the human immune system works. One of the team at Dutch research institute TNO was originally an immunologist, and saw parallels with the human immune system in the field of cyber security. Also in this issue, find out about the so-called “Klarna academy” in Stockholm, which has created the next set of Nordic fintech entrepreneurs. Continue Reading

Estonian government opens its digital heart to tech testers

Tech startups are being invited to build and test their products and services on the Estonian government’s IT estate for free, in return for use of the software developed Continue Reading

Dell, NetApp and Pure: Healthy results on Covid easing

Dell’s still top of the storage supplier pile with midrange arrays doing well, but meanwhile NetApp and Pure are making gains on the rise of public cloud Continue Reading

NetApp and AWS launch fully managed Ontap cloud file storage

But hybrid cloud still limited, according to NetApp. Until containerisation is widespread, applications tend to be built for the cloud or work better in the datacentre Continue Reading

Saudi tourism development fund goes cloud-first with Oracle

$4bn fund will be used to invest in developing Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry as the country reduces its economic reliance on oil and gas Continue Reading

How NZ schools are tapping managed network services

Using managed network services has freed up time and resources for New Zealand school teachers and alleviated the pressure and challenges of maintaining technology infrastructure Continue Reading

Berlin court reverses ban on use of EncroChat evidence in criminal trials

Berlin Superior Court allows use of EncroChat evidence in criminal trials but lawyers say the question will ultimately need to be decided by the German Supreme Court Continue Reading

Five key questions to ask about storage-as-a-service and consumption models

We look at important questions to ask providers of consumption-based storage procurement services, such as base costs and burst, usage measurement and upgrade paths Continue Reading

Tech sector spends nearly €100m a year lobbying the EU

Study on technology firms’ lobbying efforts in the European Union shows the sector spends more than any other in trying to influence policies and legislation Continue Reading

Mainland Chinese businesses lead tech adoption in APAC

Chinese firms are more likely than others in Asia-Pacific to tap on artificial intelligence and business intelligence among other technologies to drive innovation Continue Reading

Supply chain cyber security is only as strong as the weakest link

A spate of high-profile cyber attacks has highlighted the criticality of supply chain security and put new pressures on security leaders. How can we ensure that cyber security remains robust down the full length of supply chains? Continue Reading

CW Nordics: Klarna alumni energise Stockholm’s startup scene

Klarna, established in 2005, has not only grown into a well-known Swedish fintech brand, but former staff have gone on to create some of the Nordic region's new startup ventures that are currently riding a wave of growth. Find out more about the so-called ‘Klarna academy’. Also read in this issue why growing tech companies in Stockholm say the city's startup environment needs to diversify more. Continue Reading

Stockholm’s startup scene seeks more diversity

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Klarna’s alumni thrive with new ventures after witnessing path to success

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Basel III: How fintech can provide allocated gold for banks

Banking rules that were over 10 years in the making as a response to the financial crisis have finally come into effect, marking a seismic shift for European banks and their dealings with gold – potentially completely altering the landscape of precious metal investment. Sylvia Carrasco, CEO of Goldex, explains Continue Reading

UCAS renews IT services contract with Infosys to drive automation

IT cost optimisation and enhancing services for students are among the main goals for the UK's Universities and Colleges Admissions Service Continue Reading

How datacentre power growth is leaving Dublin in distress

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at the challenges faced by Dublin’s datacentre sector, as growth leaves the city’s electricity infrastructure creaking. We ask whether recent initiatives to close the UK’s digital skills gaps are working. And we examine the latest injustice to hit the Post Office Horizon scandal. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How Zendesk is gearing up for growth in APAC

Zendesk has its eye on Japan and the enterprise segment while building up its partner ecosystem to grow its business in the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading

Veeam survey: Big cloud impact on backup and disaster recovery

Backup specialist finds cloud eclipses on-site compute for all workloads while DR makes big strides in the cloud despite concerns about complexity and security Continue Reading

Australia names ‘strategic’ datacentre operators

Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency certifies Macquarie Telecom, Canberra Data Centres and Australian Data Centres as strategic operators for hosting government data Continue Reading

How the pandemic transformed IAG’s Hangar 51 accelerator

Businesses of all shapes and sizes have had to take a different approach during the pandemic – Dupsy Abiola, head of global innovation at IAG, explains how IAG transformed its Hangar 51 accelerator during the coronavirus outbreak Continue Reading

Alibaba tops global AI challenge

Alibaba’s AliceMind algorithm recorded a higher accuracy rate than humans in answering questions related to images in the global VQA challenge Continue Reading

Inside Estonia’s tech startup scene

Estonia is a Baltic tech tiger that is fast-gaining an international reputation for competently delivered government e-services at a level that surpasses most of its European and international counterparts Continue Reading

Thames Valley Police drops ERP system after spending £14m

Thames Valley Police exits tri-force programme to develop new enterprise resource planning software for the police Continue Reading

NAB partners AWS, global banks on open finance

Australia’s NAB teams up with three other banks and AWS to run an open global finance challenge that will see participating teams prototype new digital banking services Continue Reading

Cyber Runway programme supports new security businesses

The Cyber Runway programme is a government-backed scheme to support entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups in launching and growing new security businesses Continue Reading

Hospitals see cyber security investment as a low priority

Almost half of hospitals have experienced an IT shutdown as a result of a cyber attack in the past six months, but just over one in 10 hospital executives see cyber security investment as a high priority Continue Reading

GoStudent: Europe’s newest edtech unicorn

Europe’s biggest ed-tech unicorn reaches unicorn status and tests sector traditions Continue Reading

NCSC for Startups initiative launched with Plexal

National Cyber Security Centre and Plexal will support startups to develop products to address the government’s cyber security priorities Continue Reading

ICO consults on new international data transfer agreement

Information Commissioner’s Office to consult on its draft international data transfer agreement and guidance, which will replace standard contractual clauses to protect personal data during overseas transfers Continue Reading

Ransomware demands and payments hit new records

Ransomware groups continue to intensify their operations as ransom demands and payments increase alongside use of “quadruple extortion” tactics during first half of 2021 Continue Reading

Researchers uncover database with 126 million unsecured records

Business-to-business marketing firm OneMoreLead was storing tens of millions of records in an unsecured database, exposing at least 63 million people to fraud, identify theft and phishing campaigns Continue Reading

How Grab is using Kafka in fraud detection

Grab is using Apache Kafka in its fraud detection and prevention platform to ingest event streams from its mobile software development kits and client backends to pick up fraudulent activities Continue Reading

Possible ransomware attack hits Italian vaccine booking system

It is still unclear who is behind the attack that caused Covid-19 vaccine bookings in Lazio, Italy, to grind to a halt, as despite masses of files being encrypted no specific ransom demands have been made for the decryptor Continue Reading

Nine security flaws found in critical hospital infrastructure

The ‘PwnedPiper’ vulnerabilities identified in systems used by 80% of US hospitals could be used to launch ransomware attacks Continue Reading

Cloud misconfiguration a growing cause of security incidents

Rapid cloud adoption during the pandemic has increased the attack surface and heightened the risk of misconfiguring services, leaving organisations more vulnerable to cyber attacks Continue Reading

Unit4 doubles down on APAC business

Supplier of mid-market ERP systems Unit4 is investing in a research and development centre in Jakarta as part of efforts to win market share from established players Continue Reading

Six Isle of Wight schools hit by ransomware attack

Authorities are still working to manage the fallout from the attack, which has already forced at least one school to delay the start of the new term in September Continue Reading

Leading venture capital firms are failing to protect human rights

Venture capital firms and high-profile tech accelerators are not conducting human rights due diligence on their investments, which means they cannot be sure the companies they invest in are not causing, or contributing to, human rights abuses Continue Reading

Disaster recovery for SMEs: Five key areas to consider

We look at key disaster recovery considerations for SMEs, including why backup is not enough, how to create a disaster recovery plan, best-practice DR testing and DR as a service Continue Reading

UK MoD turns to hackers to help secure digital assets

Hackers given direct access to internal Ministry of Defence systems to identify and report security vulnerabilities Continue Reading

The fears and benefits of virtualising reality

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the mingling of virtual and physical worlds and find positive applications and worrisome implications from augmented reality. We find out how to run a virtual hackathon during the pandemic – pizza still included. And we look at how to improve performance of your private cloud. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Huawei courts Asian startups in cloud push

Huawei will spend $100m over three years to grow the startup ecosystem in key markets as it eyes a bigger slice of Asia’s cloud market Continue Reading

IR35 reforms: TUC demand for government ban on umbrella companies raises eyebrows

The Trades Union Congress has raised eyebrows within the contracting community by calling for a ban on umbrella companies to help stamp out malpractice Continue Reading

Building supply chain resilience with cloud ERP

Vallen Asia’s cloud enterprise resource planning system has enabled it to scale its operations across the region and made its supply chain operations more resilient amid the pandemic Continue Reading

Joint parliamentary committee to scrutinise Online Safety Bill

A parliamentary “super committee” made up of MPs and lords has been established to scrutinise government online harms approach Continue Reading

Olympic Broadcasting Services taps cloud for content delivery

Live footages of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are being supplied to broadcasters through the public cloud for the first time Continue Reading

Thousands wrongly given criminal convictions after computer error

HM Courts and Tribunals Service report reveals that computer error wrongly assigned guilty pleas to more than 5,000 defendants Continue Reading

APAC organisations can reduce carbon footprint with cloud

Energy savings of nearly 80% can be achieved by running business applications in the cloud rather than on-premise infrastructure, study finds Continue Reading

Gaming could reduce the gamble for users of online finance

Financial gaming platform designed to educate the increasing number of amateur traders Continue Reading

Government-led innovation can help cyber startups find a market

There are many reasons why early-stage cyber startups often struggle to get off the ground, but government-backed programmes can help them find a path Continue Reading

DWP hit with £87.9m tax bill by HMRC over 'historic' IR35 status contractor assessment errors

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) annual accounts highlight the challenges the public sector body has faced with implementing the IR35 reforms since they came into force in the public sector in April 2017 Continue Reading

Kaseya obtains universal ransomware decryptor

Kaseya says it obtained a ransomware decryptor key from a trusted third party, but there is no word on whether a ransom was paid Continue Reading

Beeinfotech PH opens telco-neutral datacentre in the Philippines

Datacentre startup is touting carrier neutrality, bespoke services and cyber security capabilities to meet the growing demand for co-location services in the Philippines Continue Reading

Infosys to open German operation focused on automotive sector

Infosys is establishing a centre in Germany that will focus on supporting customers in the German automotive sector Continue Reading

How IoT and machine learning are automating agriculture

A new generation of farmers is tapping the internet of things and machine learning to operate self-sustaining urban farms with minimal supervision Continue Reading

Research and development investment programme launches in UK

A government-backed investment programme designed to direct more capital towards research and development-intensive technology firms has opened for applications Continue Reading

Uber drivers face real-terms pay cut after service fee hike

Unionised Uber drivers have condemned the ride-hailing firm for ‘cynically’ framing its UK service fee rise as a way of improving equality among drivers, rather than a pay cut Continue Reading

HMRC CEO claims email querying legal basis for loan charge ‘overplayed’ at committee hearing

HMRC CEO Jim Harra continues to downplay significance of email questioning legal basis of the loan charge during a grilling by the Economic Affairs Committee Continue Reading

Storage-as-a-service: Consumption models from the big six

We look at the big six storage makers’ consumption model offers, which allow customers to pay for on-prem hardware and cloud storage capacity on a pay-per-use basis, within limits Continue Reading

Briefing: Cloud storage performance metrics

We look at some of the key storage performance metrics that determine what your applications will get from cloud storage, plus cloud essentials that are beyond simple measurement Continue Reading

Smart Buildings and IoT: Supporting a safe return to the office

Quocirca’s Smart Buildings and IoT Study analyses how IoT-enabled smart buildings are presenting new opportunities for managed service providers (MSPs) in the post-pandemic workplace.  As more ... Continue Reading

More than half of European IT outsourcing spending will soon be on cloud services

Cloud services will soon be the largest part of the IT services market in Europe, as enterprises invest in them as part of their Covid-19 recovery strategies Continue Reading

Regional cyber clusters score £700k of funding

DCMS has awarded £700,000 of funding to a network of 20 regional cyber clusters Continue Reading

AI to have biggest impact on fintech development over next five years

Artificial intelligence will become the most influential technology in the fintech sector over the next five years Continue Reading

Driving intelligence – behind the scenes of Volkswagen’s in-car software

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we go behind the scenes of Volkswagen’s in-car software R&D centre. The UK’s largest supercomputer has gone live in Cambridge – we find out how it will transform healthcare research. And we talk to DWP’s digital chief about the restructuring of its IT capabilities. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Kaseya VSA services coming online after week-long outage

Kaseya has successfully deployed a patch to its ransomware-hit VSA product as per a revised schedule, and customers are beginning to come back online Continue Reading

Choose the right ITSM tool for digital era success

IT service management (ITSM) tools are essential for many organisations to help optimise the design, delivery, support, use and governance of IT, but not all ITSM solutions are created equal, therefore selecting the right one is crucial Continue Reading

Developers have a moral duty to create ethical AI

Corsight AI publishes report on how organisations can develop more human-centric AI and biometric technologies Continue Reading

How zero-trust security can bolster Managed Print Services (MPS) offerings

MPS providers must build expertise to address the zero-trust requirements of their customers. This means offering and implementing a multi-layered security proposition to protect printing across ... Continue Reading

Kaseya apologises for extended downtime after ransom attack

CEO of Kaseya apologises after pushing back the restoration of the firm’s VSA service following a REvil ransomware attack Continue Reading

IT and business services spending bounces to new heights

Second-quarter results reveal IT and business services spending at a new high, in stark contrast to the Covid-19-hit quarter a year ago Continue Reading

CW Middle East: Pandemic speeds up edtech revolution in Gulf

One of the lessons the Covid-19 pandemic has taught governments across the world is that education providers can still teach when their premises are inaccessible. Read how organisations in the Gulf region’s education sector have been quick to adopt the latest education technology, known as edtech, to help in this endeavour. Also read in this issue how Indian IT services company TCS is bringing together universities, businesses, tech startups and government to work on sustainability challenges. Continue Reading

Flexify brings virtualisation layer to multi-cloud storage

Cloud storage virtualisation provider allows application access via S3 API calls to a single destination while capacity can be in numerous clouds with migration between them Continue Reading

US Department of Defense cancels controversial $10bn JEDI contract

The US Department of Defense has cancelled the controversial JEDI cloud project awarded to Microsoft and will replace it with multi-supplier contracts. Continue Reading

Opportunists seen targeting Kaseya REvil victims

Malwarebytes researchers highlight new spam campaign targeting businesses impacted by the ongoing Kaseya REvil ransomware incident Continue Reading

NCS outlines regional expansion plans

IT service provider NCS is going after the high-growth markets of Australia and the Greater China region with core technology and industry-specific offerings as it pits itself against global rivals Continue Reading

Google Cloud ties up with AI Singapore on skills training

Google Cloud is working with Singapore’s national AI programme to build up the country’s talent pool in machine learning and AI Continue Reading

About 60 Kaseya customers hit by REvil

Kaseya has revised upward the number of managed service providers compromised by the REvil ransomware gang in a supply chain attack at the weekend Continue Reading

Gulf hospitals flock to digital health to manage lifestyle diseases

The Middle East is accelerating its take-up of digital healthcare technologies following lessons learned in the Covid-19 pandemic Continue Reading

Nordic fintech could lead the world

Will the Nordics become the fintech and open banking innovation capital of the world? Continue Reading

REvil crew wants $70m in Kaseya ransomware heist

Two days after one of the largest ransomware attacks in history by the REvil/Sodinokibi gang, the security community is assessing its next moves, while over 1,000 victims remain in limbo Continue Reading

CIO interview: Simon McKinnon, chief digital and information officer, DWP

The Department for Work and Pensions’ CDIO sheds light on its digital ambitions and how it is bringing more digital capability in-house through the integration of Benefits and Pension Digital Technology Services staff Continue Reading

Klarna’s alumni thrive with new ventures after witnessing path to success

Former Klarna employees are using their experiences with the fintech giant to create the next wave of Swedish tech startups Continue Reading

Ascendas India Trust to build datacentre near Mumbai

New datacentre campus near Mumbai will deliver 90MW of power to host technology and cloud suppliers as well as large Indian companies in a fast-growing market Continue Reading

Cricket Australia’s replatforming of online services paid off during pandemic

Cricket Australia was able to keep digital services up and running during a period of unprecedented customer demand Continue Reading

UK government issues “safety by design” guidance for tech firms

The guidance is designed to help technology companies embed safer design for users into their services in anticipation of the Online Safety Bill becoming law Continue Reading

Nordic mobile wallets to merge onto single tech platform

Plans underway to merge the mobile wallets of various Nordic banks into a single public cloud-based technology platform Continue Reading

Lakehouse concept aims to merge data lake and data warehouse

Data lakes are big, amorphous and difficult to access, while data warehouses are costly and aimed at structured data. The data lakehouse aims at analytics in an age of unstructured data Continue Reading

Putting cloud repatriation into perspective

Moving public cloud workloads back on-premise is among the decisions that organisations have to make as they straddle between public and private cloud environments Continue Reading