In Depth

In Depth

• Inside DevOps: How it really works

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

• How to write supplier contracts for agile software development

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

• How to cull old, potentially risky data

  Unused data is a potential security risk, with old spreadsheets, reports and email containing industry secrets and laced with company gossip. If it's no longer useful, it's time to delete it  Continue Reading

• VMware vs OpenStack: How they handle storage

  The opportunities and challenges presented by the two virtualisation environments when it comes to storage, backup and disaster recovery.  Continue Reading

• OpenStack Manila: File access storage for the open source cloud

  OpenStack Manila is the file level access method in development by the open source cloud platform. What is it, how does it work and when will it be ready?  Continue Reading

• Five critical actions CIOs should take to improve the customer experience

  Actions include upgrading IT roles, amending measurements, structural changes and a cultural shift from internal to external  Continue Reading

• Marseille: Europe’s networking gateway to Africa

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

• How to reduce the risk of social engineering attacks

  Implement simple checks to reduce the risk of the main types of social engineering attacks  Continue Reading

• Digital customer experience: Beyond the website

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

• Augmented reality business applications start to get real

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

• Erasure coding vs Raid for disk rebuilds

  Erasure coding as a means of data protection has emerged with object storage and offers an alternative to Raid systems  Continue Reading

• Europe rallies together to solve digital skills crisis

  There have been several major announcements to develop skills and ensure the IT workforce adds to Europe’s economic value  Continue Reading

• Benchmarking social business and collaboration tools

  A complete social business strategy requires more than publishing social media guidelines for employees. CIOs need to rethink the enterprise as a social ecosystem  Continue Reading

• Top tips for remote and mobile workers to improve their cyber security

  Steps remote and mobile workers can take to improve cyber security on mobile devices, using public Wi-Fi and computers, and handling USB devices  Continue Reading

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

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

• Datacentre PUE: Who's keeping score?

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

• Apache Spark speeds up big data decision-making

  Spark, the open-source cluster computing framework from Apache, promises to complement Hadoop batch processing  Continue Reading

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

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

• Docker storage 101: How storage works in Docker

  Docker nails some of the shortcomings of virtualisation, but what about Docker container storage?  Continue Reading

• NHS data security: Lessons to be learned

  The NHS does not always provide a trusted repository for patient data, but some trusts are examples of good practice in action  Continue Reading

• Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup

  MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection  Continue Reading

• Businesses need to equip staff with the tools to do the job

  Workforces will become frustrated if they do not have the technology they need to deliver what their organisation wants  Continue Reading

• Top five things you need to know about VMware Virtual Volumes

  VMware’s Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) promise a revolution in storage for virtual machines, but what are the key things you need to know?  Continue Reading

• Energy-efficient Europe: How the datacentre sector is keeping it clean

  With users becoming increasingly savvy about environmental issues, we take a look at how the datacentre sector is responding  Continue Reading

• Wi-Fi in the sky: The good, the bad and the ugly

  With in-flight internet options spreading around the world, which services should discerning business travellers try, and which should they avoid?  Continue Reading

• How building information modelling is changing the construction industry

  The Cabinet Office says that by 2016, “collaborative 3D building information modelling will be required on all government projects”  Continue Reading

• How to secure the SDN infrastructure

  As more enterprises look to deploy software-defined networking, the need for security from the ground up should not be underestimated  Continue Reading

• Cyber crime: What every business needs to know

  Computer Weekly gets the low-down on cyber crime from law enforcement officers and investigators  Continue Reading

• $/GB vs $/IOPS and how to compare enterprise storage pricing

  While raw drive prices are pennies per GB, the actual cost of enterprise storage is much higher. Finding a baseline can save you money  Continue Reading

• TUPE or not TUPE? That is the question

  Designed to enable employees and business units to be transferred from one owner to another, TUPE legislation is now 33 years old  Continue Reading

• How to combat VM sprawl

  VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

  Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong  Continue Reading

• What are the options for electronic patient records in the NHS after NPfIT?

  Many hospitals lack comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) systems. What are the options now, in the wake of the NPfIT disaster?  Continue Reading

• A closer look at Google Container Engine

  In just 12 months, Docker has transformed from a simple open-source container management project into a powerful platform  Continue Reading

• Quantum key distribution is the future for secure comms

  Quantum teleportation is a technology that will ultimately replace encryption as the foundation of communication security  Continue Reading

• Thin provisioning – hypervisor vs array

  Thin provisioning can be done at the storage array or virtualisation hypervisor. We look at the pros and cons of each – or both  Continue Reading

• How to make applications resilient on AWS

  Cloud services are susceptible to network and other outages. There is no silver bullet to boost the resilience of an AWS-hosted application  Continue Reading

• Top five issues in VM backup

  Virtual machine backup is a vital task for IT departments. But pitfalls abound. We look at the top five issues encountered in VM backup  Continue Reading

• Microservices: How to prepare next-generation cloud applications

  A microservice architecture promotes developing and deploying applications composed of autonomous, self-contained units  Continue Reading

• The state of mobile back end as a service

  Common mobile application services are increasingly being hosted on central back-end servers – but what does that mean for the enterprise?  Continue Reading

• Dutch organisations gradually take up cloud HCM software

  While organisations in the Netherlands tend to use the traditional HR modules of the large software packages, some diversity is beginning to emerge  Continue Reading

• England's computing curriculum: How was the first term?

  Teachers’ confidence grows as the first term of the English computing curriculum goes down well with teaching staff and students  Continue Reading

• Networking technologies emerging in the enterprise

  We look at the latest networking technologies on offer, and those being adopted in the enterprise  Continue Reading

• In-store retail experience evolves with the demands of tech-savvy shoppers

  The increasing demands of today's "always-connected" shoppers are redefining the in-store buying experience  Continue Reading

• How the development of standards will affect the internet of things

  As the internet of things (IoT) grows, so will the number of applications developed to control internet-connected devices and objects  Continue Reading

• Flash storage 101: How solid state storage works

  Why flash writes are troublesome, why endurance is limited and what suppliers are doing to overcome these issues  Continue Reading

• The business challenges and benefits of identity and access management

  IT leaders gathered at a CW500 Club meeting to hear from peers about the challenges of identity and access management  Continue Reading

• Key challenges in storage and virtualisation, and how to beat them

  Server virtualisation brings benefits but increases storage-capacity needs. Here we survey the key challenges and what to do about them  Continue Reading

• Currency exchange business Travelex cuts HR costs by 25% with cloud IT systems

  Travelex's cloud human resources (HR) project survived a budget overrun to cut costs and job recruitment times  Continue Reading

• How the BBC became digital in three-and-a-half years

  The BBC has undergone a digital transformation that started 18 months prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games  Continue Reading

• Interview: Ed Vaizey MP talks digital economy and digital skills

  Minister for the digital economy Ed Vaizey discusses his new role and the future of digital policy  Continue Reading

• Social media for communication inside the enterprise

  Companies have long used social media technology such as Facebook and Twitter to reach more customers – but how are businesses using it internally?  Continue Reading

• Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure

  The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model  Continue Reading

• Backup and disaster recovery in the age of virtualisation

  One of the benefits of using virtual machines is the scope for improved backup. We look at the product offerings from traditional and new suppliers  Continue Reading

• A guide to scale-out NAS: The specialists and startups

  Specialist suppliers and startups in scale-out NAS, a technology that’s gone mainstream for its superior ability to scale capacity and performance  Continue Reading

• Q&A: MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom talks strategy

  Gary Bloom, CEO of NoSQL database supplier MarkLogic, talks to Computer Weekly about strategy  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: Why embrace digital innovation?

  Having the right digital strategy can make or break an organisation  Continue Reading

• Demystifying Kubernetes: the tool to manage Google-scale workloads in the cloud

  We are witnessing a new technology wave in the form of immutable infrastructure and micro-services  Continue Reading

• Sweden’s Klarna and Spotify design big data architectures to aid business growth

  Many organisations still don't know how to capitalise on big data. Swedish firms Klarna and Spotify are making use of its possibilities  Continue Reading

• Government's digital strategy could cut red tape

  Governments can harness digital technology to make public services more efficient and generate significant cost savings  Continue Reading

• Choice and ease of use: key elements of a good app store

  Companies need to focus on individual user requirements and make sure their app store delivers the right tools for the right job  Continue Reading

• The internet of things is coming: Is your datacentre ready?

  Gartner estimates the IoT will see 26 billion units installed by 2020 – channelling huge volumes of data traffic into datacentres  Continue Reading

• Scale-out NAS product survey: The big six

  We survey the big six storage array makers’ scale-out NAS product ranges  Continue Reading

• What ingredients go into the successful app store?

  An enterprise app store should provide the controlled availability of apps for employees.We look at what is available for organisations to use  Continue Reading

• The UK’s new computing curriculum is here: Are teachers ready?

  The computing curriculum is finally commencing, so have teachers found the support they needed to prepare in time?  Continue Reading

• Wearable technology will up the game for sports data analytics

  Wearable technology is a big industry thanks to the ‘quantified self’ movement. It’s now giving a boost to professional sports data analytics professionals  Continue Reading

• Key storage performance metrics for virtual environments

  We run the rule over storage performance metrics – latency, throughput and IOPS – that are key to optimising virtual machines  Continue Reading

• Big Apple revolution: How to manage Macs in the enterprise

  Apple’s products were once niche devices. Now, following a consumer-led initiative, they are widely used across the enterprise  Continue Reading

• A guide to smart home automation

  Unless it is a new build, the challenge in creating a smart home is that technology must work irrespective of the age of the property  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of iPads in the enterprise

  The iPad is often the first platform for which developers produce apps – but it is substantially more expensive than its competitors  Continue Reading

• Analytics scours World Cups for greatest footballer of all time

  Sports data company Opta’s analytics of every World Cup finals match ever played since 1966 adds to the debate on who is football’s greatest of all time  Continue Reading

• Big players target object storage at cloud and archive

  All but one of the big six storage vendors have object storage products that target public and private cloud environments and/or archiving use cases  Continue Reading

• Unilever puts SAP at the captain’s table

  Consumer goods company Unilever works hand in glove with SAP in “speeding up its growth”, according to senior executives at the two firms  Continue Reading

• Backup vs replication, snapshots, CDP in data protection strategy

  Best practice data protection strategy combines backup with snapshots, CDP and replication for different levels of recovery  Continue Reading

• Dame Stephanie Shirley: Entrepreneurs learn to survive

  Dame “Steve” Shirley shares her experiences of being an entrepreneurial woman in IT during the 1950s and 1960s  Continue Reading

• Micro-datacentre: What IT problems it solves and what workload systems suit it

  A micro-datacentre is a smaller containerised datacentre system designed to solve different problems or to handle different workloads  Continue Reading

• Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?

  Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it?  Continue Reading

• OpenStack storage: Cinder and Swift explained

  is a rising star in private cloud infrastructures. But what about OpenStack storage? We run the rule over OpenStack Cinder and Swift  Continue Reading

• Future of in-house datacentres in the cloud era

  It is predicted that companies will spend three times more on the cloud by 2017. But as cloud goes mainstream, are in-house datacentres really dying?  Continue Reading

• In-memory databases - what they do and the storage they need

  In-memory databases offer high performance data processing, but how do you protect data in volatile DRAM and what kind of storage is needed for longer term retention?  Continue Reading

• 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

• Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method

  Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software  Continue Reading

• Write-through, write-around, write-back: cache explained

  Cache is vital for application deployment, but which one to choose – write-through, write-around or write-back cache? We examine the options  Continue Reading

• VMware versus Hyper-V storage comparison

  VMware versus Hyper-V storage: How do the two leading hypervisors compare when it comes to deploying storage and in terms of their key storage features and functionality?  Continue Reading

• Would the real flash storage successor please stand up?

  Flash storage will hit a wall in development terms by around the end of the decade. But which successor is best placed to replace it: Memristor, MRAM or phase-change memory?  Continue Reading

• How to manage the tension between agility and discipline in IT

  Agility requires a new level of discipline that is redefining IT project management  Continue Reading

• Can the mainframe remain relevant in the cloud and mobile era?

  IBM mainframes run more than 1.1m transactions per second, yet the mainframe has remained largely unfashionable. We investigate  Continue Reading

• Understanding the real value of IT and proving it to the business

  At a time when costs are being continually squeezed, there is more pressure than ever to demonstrate the business value of technology  Continue Reading

• Using NoSQL databases to gain competitive advantage

  NoSQL is attracting growing interest from businesses - we examine three case studies: Amadeus, i2O and Temetra  Continue Reading

• Target data breach: Why UK business needs to pay attention

  Late last year, US retailer Target was hit by one of the biggest data breaches in the industry's history. So what happened and why is it relevant to UK businesses?  Continue Reading

• The digital CIO: How digital technology will change the way organisations work

  If you are an IT leader, digital technology is likely to be a pivotal factor in your career over the next five years  Continue Reading

• Hacktivism: good or evil?

  IT lawyer Dai Davis looks at the rise of hacktivism and its impact on business and international politics  Continue Reading

• Converged stacks: What they are and the benefits they bring

  We survey the converged stacks market: Servers, storage and networking in pre-configured product bundles for specific virtualisation and application use cases.  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage options in Scandinavia

  It has never been faster or cheaper to store data in the cloud and Scandinavian businesses have taken up cloud storage with gusto  Continue Reading

• No more email? Why companies are turning to collaboration technology

  Collaboration technologies are helping companies improve their employees' work-life balance  Continue Reading

• Hadoop 2 opens new vistas beyond current UK data management practice

  Hadoop 2 enables a greater range of data-crunching tasks, beyond Hadoop’s previous scope of batch processing, directly within the stack itself  Continue Reading

• A guide to APM for the network manager

  Has application performance management become a much needed discipline for the network manager? We examine the issues for IT departments  Continue Reading

• The UK’s problem with power

  Datacentre power buyers say Britain’s deregulated energy market is as complex as trading in derivatives  Continue Reading

• Flash storage: What it is and where to deploy it

  A guide to the key decisions in flash storage: MLC vs SLC, all-flash vs hybrid, whether to add flash to an existing SAN, flash as a tier vs cache, and more  Continue Reading

• Troubleshooting datacentre management issues

  Gaining better control of the datacentre has to be a high priority to ensure high levels of performance and availability  Continue Reading