In Depth

In Depth

• Cloud disaster recovery: The devil is in the detail

  We look at cloud disaster recovery and the potential complexities that can result from partial outages and restores as well as challenges around re-configuring network and security  Continue Reading

• Boots leading drive for ‘professionalisation of IT’ in retail

  Boots becomes member of the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, as CIO Rich Corbridge accelerates drive for the ‘professionalisation of IT’  Continue Reading

• AI more likely to complement than replace predictive analytics

  The discipline of predictive analytics is likely to increase in importance as it is complemented by artificial intelligence. NHS and National Express case studies prove the point  Continue Reading

• How women can succeed in cyber security

  A cyber security professional at Australia’s IAG shares her career journey and insights on how women can succeed in the field  Continue Reading

• Uninterruptible power in the datacentre: Choosing between sustainability and uptime

  With datacentres under heavier pressure to decarbonise, could even the lowly UPS play a larger role?  Continue Reading

• Considerations when deciding on a new SIEM or SOAR tool

  A successful deployment of any security tool very much depends on the maturity of security processes in the organisation  Continue Reading

• First priorities for the third workplace

  Almost 18 months since Covid-19 caused an almost overnight pivot to home working for many firms, hybrid working seems here to stay for knowledge workers. But the role of the 'third workspace' is not yet entirely clear  Continue Reading

• How mobile operators can cope with staycation boom and sport lockdowns lifting

  The periods of lockdown implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to new mobile network traffic patterns. How can operators adapt to shifting consumer behaviours and continue delivering high-quality experiences?  Continue Reading

• APAC buyer’s guide to robotic process automation

  In this buyer’s guide on RPA, we look at where the technology fits into the broader automation landscape, and other purchase and implementation considerations  Continue Reading

• When is SIEM the right choice over SOAR?

  Better instrumentation leads to better IT security but monitoring can quickly overload IT teams. Automation can help, but it may not always be needed  Continue Reading

• Modern ERP breaks the chains

  Modern ERP systems mean user organisations need no longer be stuck with hefty upgrades at times convenient to suppliers  Continue Reading

• Hybrid IT: Making datacentre and cloud work better together in the enterprise

  Enterprises are increasingly trying to balance and manage IT assets in a variety of environments, but there are plenty of tools and technologies out there to make the job a lot easier  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

• Use ERP modernisation to drive efficiency and sustainability

  Evidence of global warming is everywhere, and as organisations update legacy ERP, there is a golden opportunity to build in sustainability KPIs  Continue Reading

• How digital operations drive ERP modernisation

  When it comes to modernising enterprise resource planning, IT decision-makers have a multitude of options. We look at what to consider when planning a modernisation project  Continue Reading

• DNA storage promises 10 million times storage capacity boost

  A datacentre that fits in the palm of your hand? However, right now, DNA storage is an expensive chemical process that researchers are trying to make a practical proposal  Continue Reading

• New thinking and systems required to tackle online fraud in retail

  Online fraud is a growing problem for retail, but are merchants doing enough to update systems and how should they change their actions to address it?  Continue Reading

• Five ways to ensure remote working security and compliance

  A mix of on-site and remote working has become a fact of life for many organisations. We look at five key things you should consider to ensure compliance and security  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

• Windows 11: A first look at the first preview

  Microsoft recently unveiled its plans for the next version of the Windows operating system. We give it a test drive  Continue Reading

• Tips to minimise vulnerabilities in web and mobile apps

  Agile software development can sometimes be at odds with secure by design principles. We look at how organisations are balancing security with coding  Continue Reading

• Microservices: What enterprises need to know

  For any enterprises looking to build cloud-native applications, an understanding of microservices is essential  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

• APAC datacentres gear up for the future

  Datacentre operators in the Asia-Pacific region are dabbling in advanced power and cooling solutions, along with machine learning and edge computing, to keep pace with growing demand for their services  Continue Reading

• Tech and new experiences tackling trouble at t’mall

  UK shopping centres are under pressure, but new concepts, tech-infused spaces, and fresh approaches to consumer engagement are revitalising the sector  Continue Reading

• How software developers can create mobile apps securely and quickly

  The mobile app market is booming, but to achieve success, organisations must develop mobile apps securely and rapidly  Continue Reading

• What steps can we take to finally close the tech skills gap?

  Despite ongoing efforts from government, education providers and industry to close the tech skills gap, not much has changed, so will new initiatives start to close the chasm?  Continue Reading

• Dublin in distress: Power supply issues threaten growth of Europe’s second-biggest datacentre hub

  Dublin’s standing as Europe’s second-biggest datacentre hub could be on potentially shaky ground as Ireland’s electricity infrastructure creaks under the pressure of so many power-hungry server farms plugging into the national grid  Continue Reading

• Oracle Fusion cloud applications pathways tend towards pragmatic

  Oracle’s full suite of cloud applications can be a pragmatic step-by-step journey for customers – we look at some examples  Continue Reading

• Five things you need to know about NVMe over Fabrics

  We look at NVMe-oF, which extends fast flash across the network – what it is, how it works, use cases, benefits and limitations, and the suppliers of NVMe-oF products  Continue Reading

• The beneficial (and frightening) implications of virtualising reality

  The mingling of virtual and physical worlds promises many beneficial and entertaining applications, but there are also some truly worrisome implications of augmented reality  Continue Reading

• Toughening up web and mobile apps

  We look at how organisations can secure internal and web-facing applications against ransomware and injection-style attacks  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

• Why data and the pandemic are ripping up paper processes

  We explore how the Covid-19 pandemic has forced businesses to rip out traditional paper processes and replace them with end-to-end digitisation  Continue Reading

• Real-time analytics begins to find business vocation

  Continuous real-time analytics, operating at sub-second speed, are finding real-world applicability across industry sectors, such as retail, transport and banking. Their value crux: can businesses act on the signals provided?  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage APIs: What are they and what can be done with them?

  We look at the kinds of application programming interfaces (APIs) available to expose cloud storage to applications, from SME-targeted solutions to higher-end hooks  Continue Reading

• Post-pandemic IT: Are virtual datacentre tours here to stay?

  A physical tour of a datacentre has traditionally been a key marketing and selling tool for colocation operators, and the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many to provide virtual alternatives. But how do they compare?  Continue Reading

• Nautilus Data Technologies CEO on building waterborne datacentres in the name of sustainability

  James Connaughton, CEO of waterborne datacentre design champion Nautilus Data Technologies, sets out why the firm is convinced that water-cooled facilities are the answer to the tech industry’s sustainability woes  Continue Reading

• Investigating process and performance improvement in private cloud

  Continuous process improvement means, among other things, creating an environment that helps enterprises gauge performance as requirements change. However, the whole picture should be considered before deciding on an approach  Continue Reading

• Best practices for secure printing

  The reality of a paperless office remains some way off, so printers are here to stay for a while. But their increasingly connected status means securing them should be a priority  Continue Reading

• Storage performance metrics: Five key areas to look at

  We look at the essentials in storage performance metrics: capacity, throughput and read/write capability, IOPS and latency, and hardware longevity measured by failure rates  Continue Reading

• Video commerce and livestreaming make waves in retail

  The growth in e-commerce during the pandemic is well documented, but the fragmented retail environment has also helped video commerce and livestreaming rise to prominence  Continue Reading

• Europe’s proposed AI regulation falls short on protecting rights

  The European Commission’s proposal for artificial intelligence regulation focuses on creating a risk-based, market-led approach replete with self-assessments, transparency procedures and technical standards, but critics warn it falls short of being ...  Continue Reading

• How the pandemic changed backup

  The Covid-19 pandemic forced big changes in how people work – we look at impacts on backup, including increased reliance on the cloud, plus security and compliance vulnerabilities and ransomware  Continue Reading

• Covid-accelerated recruitment digitisation to gain sophistication with hybrid models

  Recruitment has had to go remote and digital during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and looks set to fill out and become more sophisticated as hybrid models of working emerge  Continue Reading

• Private cloud deployments: Beating the blind spots and bottlenecks

  Private cloud can be challenging to manage while meeting the ramped-up demands of data-driven enterprises  Continue Reading

• The rise and rise of supply chain attacks

  Supply chain attacks in Asia-Pacific and elsewhere have intensified as cyber threat actors look to exploit the weakest links in business and digital supply chains  Continue Reading

• The drive towards computational storage

  The explosion in data is driving demand for faster computing and storage remains a bottleneck – but things are about to change  Continue Reading

• What the Telecommunications (Security) Bill means for UK industry

  The Telecommunications (Security) Bill is intended to reinforce the security of the UK telecommunications infrastructure, but what are the implications for industry?  Continue Reading

• Buying a VPN? Here’s what you need to know

  VPNs are an effective cyber security tool for businesses and remote workers, but there are many things to consider before purchasing and implementing one. We explore some of these  Continue Reading

• Gartner: How to turn old datacentres into critical IT assets

  IT infrastructure and operations leaders are increasingly focusing on new ideas and technologies alongside ways to deliver business value  Continue Reading

• How computational storage delivers datacentre benefits

  Computational storage is an emerging field of IT that features compute processing power closely coupled with storage. We look at what it can be used for  Continue Reading

• Revolutionising communication and collaboration for the hybrid world

  As hybrid working looks set to become the norm in the post-Covid world, the lessons learned during lockdown will need to be applied. However, firms will have to overcome the limitations of current communication and collaboration tools  Continue Reading

• Where to run containers? Bare metal vs virtual machines

  We look at the key differences between running containers in virtualised environments and on bare metal servers and focus in on the main trade-offs and decision points  Continue Reading

• How Bureau Veritas migrated 85% of its applications to the AWS cloud

  In six years, France-based services giant BV has migrated 115 applications to the AWS cloud, mostly using in-house expertise. We talk to the company’s IT director  Continue Reading

• Getting ready for the new normal of hybrid working

  Many companies are preparing to return to offices for the first time since the UK’s first lockdown began, but the office environment will look very different to a year ago. With some workers looking forward to returning to the office and others ...  Continue Reading

• Living on the edge: The enterprises working with distributed cloud

  Distributed public cloud services are seen as driving future advances at the network edge but few companies are as yet enjoying full-fledged benefits  Continue Reading

• What digital transformation means for data storage

  We survey the key planks of digital transformation and look at the storage technologies emerging to support it, such as NVMe and QLC flash, hyper-converged infrastructure and cloud storage  Continue Reading

• The National Security and Investment Act: What datacentre operators and investors need to know

  The incoming National Security and Investment Act will give the UK government enhanced powers to pre-screen and intervene on datacentre M&A deals, prompting concerns it could dampen the sector's soaraway growth rates  Continue Reading

• Container-native storage: A definition, and what to ask suppliers

  We look at container-native storage – aka cloud-native storage – what defines it, and its benefits as a way of bringing persistent Kubernetes storage to containerised applications  Continue Reading

• The right tech choices for hybrid workers

  Various studies give a mixed reaction to businesses returning to office work, but what is apparent is that support for remote working will continue  Continue Reading

• Computational storage: What is it? Why now, what for, who from?

  Computational storage is an emerging architecture category, in which compute is put near storage to address I/O bottlenecks resulting from large volumes of data  Continue Reading

• APAC career guide on cloud computing

  Besides having engineering chops and certifications, aspiring cloud professionals should have curiosity and soft skills to succeed in the evolving cloud computing landscape  Continue Reading

• How to support a hybrid workforce

  As the economy opens up, organisations are rethinking the idea of office-based work – and a more flexible approach is on the cards  Continue Reading

• How do I get my users to pay attention to security training?

  As cyber security risks grow daily, businesses must educate staff about these through cyber awareness training. But how can they ensure this is taken seriously by employees?  Continue Reading

• How GCHQ proposes to implement and use ethical AI

  The rise of cyber crime and the escalating threat vectors facing the UK have led GCHQ to invest in automated threat detection and response systems to meet this challenge, as well as liaising with the private sector for the first time  Continue Reading

• Deploying productivity monitoring software ethically

  While software that tracks the activities of staff can be helpful to companies with a remote workforce, managers must consider employees’ concerns and privacy  Continue Reading

• Navigating the sticky issue of monitoring employee productivity

  With employees having shifted en masse to remote working during the pandemic, we explore how enterprises have maintained the productivity of their dispersed workforce  Continue Reading

• Backup failure: Four key areas where backups go wrong

  We look at the key ways that backups can fail – via software issues, hardware problems, trouble in the infrastructure and good old human error – and suggest ways to mitigate them  Continue Reading

• How AI and automation drive better customer service

  Forrester analysts explore the benefits of combining artificial intelligence with automation  Continue Reading

• Five reasons to look at hyper-converged infrastructure

  HCI promises easy setup, purchasing flexibility, low procurement and operation costs, reliability and all in one box – but there are challenges too  Continue Reading

• Customer experience market made leap forward during pandemic

  The discipline of customer experience management made significant advances during the Covid-19 crisis, according to practitioners and advocates  Continue Reading

• A bottom-up and top-down look at intelligent automation

  We look at robotic process automation at a coding level and an organisational level, and see how artificial intelligence fits  Continue Reading

• Cloud archiving: A perfect use case, but beware costs and egress issues

  The advantages of cloud archiving are ease of use and being well-suited to potential latency issues, but IT teams need to be aware of costs and issues around moving data from and between clouds  Continue Reading

• APAC buyer’s guide to HRM software

  In this buyer’s guide, we look at the key considerations when choosing human resource management software to enable workforce resilience, flexibility and agility in the post-pandemic world  Continue Reading

• How the Covid-19 Genomics UK Consortium sequenced Sars-Cov-2

  Consortium of universities and other institutions has harnessed datasets, analytics and cloud computing to sequence Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in a blisteringly short time  Continue Reading

• Why some jobseekers have turned to cyber crime during the pandemic

  Research shows that many people have been seeking cyber crime-related work on the dark web, but why?  Continue Reading

• Five ways to boost systems utilisation in the datacentre

  Datacentre operators are always looking for ways to cut costs and improve the efficiency of their facilities. Here we ask the experts for their top five tips for reducing the operating costs of running a server farm  Continue Reading

• How robotic process automation is getting smarter as it evolves

  Robotic process automation is evolving, adding artificial intelligence layers that render it more resilient and agile. What are its limitations and prospects?  Continue Reading

• Where now for storage? Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage

  Part II: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Hitachi, IBM and Pure Storage. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models  Continue Reading

• Where now for storage? Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE

  Part I: Storage supplier strategy in the cloud era: Dell EMC, NetApp and HPE. We snapshot the big six hardware makers, as they take things to the cloud and as-a-service models  Continue Reading

• Starting a career in the digital economy

  What is it currently like for young people trying to hit the ground running with digital careers? What do employers want from them, and how has the last year of lockdowns affected their chances at a digital career?  Continue Reading

• Data warehouse storage: Has cloud made on-premise obsolete?

  There once was no alternative to building a data warehouse on-premise, but with cloud providers targeting analytics, building data warehouses on-site is looking obsolete  Continue Reading

• Ecolabels and data sanitisation key to recycling and reusing IT assets

  Ecolabels on hardware and data sanitisation of devices are key to recycling and reusing old IT equipment respectively, helping enterprises avoid unnecessary asset destruction and contributing to increasingly high levels of electronic waste globally  Continue Reading

• Preparing for enterprise-class containerisation

  As more workloads are deployed in containers, IT teams will need to assess how to manage container sprawl, reduce cloud bills and support databases  Continue Reading

• Backup appliances the hot topic for Pas-de-Calais fire brigade

  With requirements for strict, long-duration backup and archiving, French fire brigade set out to replace optical media with a StorageCraft appliance and disaster-proof storage  Continue Reading

• The 3-2-1 backup rule: Has cloud made it obsolete?

  The 3-2-1 backup rule was made for small-scale use in the pre-cloud era when tape still ruled. Is it relevant in the 2020s, or can we repurpose its fundamental principles?  Continue Reading

• How to choose the right email security service for your organisation

  With email security threats growing rapidly, businesses can quickly identify and block these by using a top email security service. Here’s how to select the right provider  Continue Reading

• Anti-money laundering technology must operate in a collaborative ecosystem

  With new technologies making it easier for banks to spot money laundering activity, we look at why the problem persists at scale, finding that ecosystems and collaborative processes need to be built  Continue Reading

• QLC flash storage: What it costs and its best use cases

  QLC flash brings high capacities at costs coming down close to spinning disk. So what are the use cases for QLC solid state, which make best use of its relatively low endurance  Continue Reading

• Containers for a post-pandemic IT architecture

  One of the positive effects of Covid-19 is that it has put IT at the top of the business agenda – and containerisation is part of that strategy  Continue Reading

• India is becoming a hotspot for IoT

  India is set to be a cradle for internet of things deployments thanks to its vibrant economy and its potential to play a bigger role in global manufacturing  Continue Reading

• Ski firm dumps ‘motley’ storage for DataCore software-defined

  Eurogroup cuts power usage by 70% and rackspace from 84U to 7U as it consolidates multiple physical servers and storage protocols onto SANsymphony software-defined storage  Continue Reading

• Does email security need a human solution or a tech solution?

  People spend a lot of time using email systems, but many do not realise that this makes them attractive targets for cyber criminals. With education and technology, businesses can tackle this problem head-on  Continue Reading

• Amazon Go – is now the right time?

  In the beginning of 2021, Amazon launched a physical store in London, but is it the right time to be investing in offline?  Continue Reading

• Interview: Uber driver Yaseen Aslam on his Supreme Court battle and what’s next for gig workers

  Private hire driver and union organiser Yaseen Aslam speaks to Computer Weekly about his legal battle with Uber and what the UK Supreme Court ruling means to workers in the gig economy  Continue Reading

• Top five threats to compliance during the pandemic

  We survey the top five pandemic compliance threats – remote working, Covid tracking, criminal exploits, compliance measures slipping, and heightened enforcement to come  Continue Reading

• NHS datacentre transformation projects continue apace during pandemic

  NHS trusts have continued to invest in their datacentre estates throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but the nature of their upgrade projects continues to evolve  Continue Reading

• With connectivity on the rise, Africa is a hotspot for datacentre investments

  We look at opportunities for datacentre operators in setting up or partnering with local firms in Africa  Continue Reading

• Dealing with the challenge of beg bounties

  The rise of so-called beg bounties is becoming a challenge for security teams, and can be a drain on time and resources. But what is a beg bounty, and how does it differ from a bug bounty?  Continue Reading