Computer Weekly articles from April 2004

Computer Weekly archives from April 2004

BCS backs professional register for expert witnesses in forensics.
April 6, 2004... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The prospect of IT staff in certain fields having to be professionally registered has come another step nearer with proposals for a voluntary registration scheme for specialists who advise law...

Team up for innovation.
April 6, 2004... Rob Glenn Opinion Cut through the hype and tell suppliers what you want Research and development got a shot in the arm from the chancellor in his Budget speech last week when he extended tax breaks to include software. That was a...

Happy 40th S/360.
April 6, 2004... Radio Caroline was sailing acrossthe pirate airwaves and "Can't buyme love" was pushing the Beatlesinto superstardom. The day was 7 April 1964 and IBM was about to create IT history with the launchof System/360, the first mass- produced...

Staroffice opens up the desktop.
April 6, 2004... Open source productivity suite provides alternative to MS Nick Langley computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk What is it? Staroffice is a low-cost, open source alternative to Microsoft Office. It lacks the functional richness and some...

Fire puts disaster plans to test in Manchester.
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Scores of businesses across the North West invoked emergency recovery plans to cope with the aftermath of a fire last week in Manchester which destroyed key BT cabling. Business continuity firms...

Improve business skills to keep a place in IT once traditional posts are outsourced.
April 6, 2004... l Gartner predicts that 25% of traditional IT jobs will be outsourcedl In-demand staff will know how to use IT to meet business needs Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Global trends such as offshore outsourcing have started...

Government looking to spread lessons of Granger's procurement record; NHSITleader set for new Whitehall contracts role.
April 6, 2004... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Richard Granger, director general of IT in the NHS, is being lined up for a new role in government after awarding contracts worth [pounds sterling]6.2bn in record time. Computer Weekly has...

Get support for disaster recovery by combining it with the business.
April 6, 2004... Disaster recovery is still a difficult item to sell to the board. The main problem is that all the possible disasters appear to be extremely improbable. It is not a good idea, for instance, to make the board think you spend your expensive...

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Probability software can analyse risk.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... The systematic analysis of risks and their consequences was born out of the insurance industry. These measures work well in the limited field of financial losses, but cannot and do not show the whole spectrum of risk that may face a project....

Balance the right level of security with the needs of your end-users.
April 6, 2004... The balance of security and risk is an issue that affects every aspect of our day-to-day lives. To be absolutely secure means a shut-down, whether that is road travel, allowing people to swim in the sea, having an operation or developing an IT...

Enthuse about IT's potential to stop women leaving the industry.
April 6, 2004... There has been a great deal of talk recently about women in IT; last month Computer Weekly reported that the number of women in IT has fallen by 26,000 in the past 12 months. But why is this? Discrimination may be the obvious answer, but I...

Recruiter predicts IT job market recovery.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk MSB International, one of the 10 largest IT recruitment consultancies in the UK, has predicted a steady recovery in the jobs market over the next eight months. Aidan Anglin, head of sales in MSB's...

security; Firms pay for failing to tackle deluge.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Spam accounts for up to half the e-mails received by businesses, but only a minority are taking steps to prevent it, the DTI's latest Security Breaches Survey reveals. Of the 1,000 organisations...

Downtime.
April 6, 2004... The wheel turns for text 'cheats' A "glamourous Hungarian blonde" and two male Serbian gamblers have reportedly found an ideal use for mobile commerce technology. The three allegedly "cheated" London's Ritz casino out of [pounds...

retail; Wal-Mart suppliers miss first RFID.
April 6, 2004... l Retailer extends deadline as few suppliers deliver tagged products l Manufacturers slow to adopt because they have to pay the full cost of tags Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk US retailer Wal-Mart has admitted that its...

Firms will need clear usage policy to get most from Vodafone's 3G business service.
April 6, 2004... l Mobile operator launches third-generation mobile business servicel 3Gdata card has benefits over GPRS, but it is cheaper to use Wi-Fi Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Vodafone has launched a 3G service for mobile business...

disaster recovery ; Recovery firms come to the rescue.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Disaster recovery companies kicked into action last week as anxious businesses, faced with the loss of computer networks, phone and fax links, invoked their business continuity plans. ICM, which...

Mobile ; Mobiles not guaranteed back-up.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Mobile phones, as well as land lines were affected by the Manchester cable fire, with three of the four main operators unable to re-route all their customers' calls and mobile data connections....

Web services standard.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk IBM, BEA Systems, SAP and Microsoft have published a draft specification for web services which aims to tackle how users' applications can access definitions of data, known as metadata. Metadata...

back-up ; Businesses must ensure back-up phone lines take different routes.
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk The fire in a BT cabling tunnel in Manchester highlights the need for businesses to ensure that they not only have back-up telephone lines, but that their back-up phone lines follow physically...

Suppliers fail to meet users' expectations.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk IT outsourcing suppliers are failing to meet the expectations of companies in a range of key areas, including identifying new cost savings, according to an extensive survey of UK users. Only 22% of...

standards ; Firms back BSI business continuity standard.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk UK corporates are backing the creation of a British Standard that will encourage their key suppliers to adopt best practice in business continuity and disaster recovery planning. The standard,...

NHS plan could face escalating costs and staff resistance to new systems, says BCS.
April 6, 2004... computer weekly campaign NHS ITWATCH Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk The government's [pounds sterling]2.3bn IT-led modernisation of the NHS may run into serious cash problems or fail to meet expectations. This...

FSA e-reporting plans.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk The Financial Services Authority has formally announced plans to require the 30,000 financial firms it regulates to submit information electronically. As reported by Computer Weekly last month, the...

business impact ; Fire in BT cable tunnel paralyses Manchester business community.
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Early estimates suggest the fire in a BT cabling tunnel in Manchester cost companies in the North West tens of millions of pounds in disruption and lost business. The fire destroyed 130,000...

RHS to overhaul its financial systems.
April 6, 2004... The Royal Horticultural Society is planning to overhaul its financial and retail management systems by deploying the Navision suite from Microsoft Business Solutions. The society is rolling out Navision's financials, point of sale, mail...

outsourcing; Goodyear to save [pounds sterling]30m from BPO.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk The European arm of tyre firm Goodyear Dunlop expects to save more than [pounds sterling]30m in the first two years after signing a 10-year business process outsourcing contract with IBM. ...

e-government; Newcastle Council gets services online 21 months ahead of target.
April 6, 2004... l Newcastle residents can access all services via the internet or phonel Success attributed to early user involvement and internal competition Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Newcastle City Council last week announced that...

back-up ; Fire blazes through BT's single point of failure.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk BT faced some tough questions after a fire in a cabling tunnel designed in the 1950s to withstand the impact of a nuclear bomb cut off telecoms links to more than 130,000 businesses and consumers....

warranties; HP reassures Carepaq users.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Paul Kunert computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Hewlett-Packard is investigating complaints that customers have not received Carepaq warranty services they purchased from an HP-approved specialist. Paul Early, HP UK packaged services...

security; 'Exploiter' hack program targets Cisco networks.
April 6, 2004... l Users warned to prepare for a major Cisco hacking programl Improved router configuration could stop attacks getting through Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Cisco has issued an urgent warning to users to update their network...

open source; Linux still not ready for desktops.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Computer Weekly reporter computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Linux is still not ready for widescale deployment on the desktop, according to analyst firm Gartner. The warning came in a briefing paper responding to last month's announcements...

Government IT; MPs want real-time project news.
April 6, 2004... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk MPs are no longer willing to wait for the National Audit Office to reveal details of why public sector IT projects have gone seriously awry. They want real-time information about the progress of...

java; Sun and Microsoft settle Java dispute.
April 6, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Sun and Microsoft have settled their long-standing dispute over Java and access to Microsoft-specific technologies. The agreement should improve Java support on Internet Explorer and will see...

Stop fighting over risk.
April 6, 2004... Jeremy Ward Opinion Risk specialists and IT staff need to work together New international legislation and regulation, such as Basel 2 and Sarbanes-Oxley, states that if you do not have adequate mechanisms for controlling and...

Bridging the gap between security and developers.
April 6, 2004... A lack of common understanding between IT security professionals and application developers is causing security flaws to be built into systems from the earliest stages of development. This problem was the subject of a lively March meeting of...

NHSITleader set for new Whitehall contracts role.
April 6, 2004... Government looking to spread lessons of Granger's procurement record Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Richard Granger, director general of IT in the NHS, is being lined up for a new role in government after awarding contracts...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
April 6, 2004... Firewalls can hinder effective working David Townsend Director, Avisoft Further to complaints of excessive e-mail filtering (Letters, 30 March), sometimes firewall administrators can cause more harm than benefit to a business...

Fire proves that you need to plan.
April 6, 2004... Last week we revealed that many organisations were revisiting their business continuity plans in the wake of the Madrid bombings. As we report this week, businesses with operations in the North West of England and North Wales did not have long...

making History.
April 6, 2004... The Beatles may have been right in 1964 when they sang "Money can't buy me love", but [pounds sterling]250,000 could have bought you a slice of history. Nicholas Enticknap looks back at the birth of the IT industry with the launch of the first...

YOUR SHOUT; Have your say at ; computerweekly.com.(Letter to the Editor)
April 6, 2004... On the legality of bounced virus warnings In response to Terry Davies' comments (Letters, 30March) that returned virus alert e-mails are breaching the Data Protection Act I hope that the comments about the legality of bounced virus...

Business services sector standardises to share data and comply with regulations.
April 6, 2004... it spending Our series on IT expenditure concentrates on the business services sector, where firms are generating new business by using single systems to monitor cl Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk The UK's business services...

Outsource to cut print costs by up to 30%.
April 6, 2004... Copying and printing can cost up to 3% of a company's revenue - equivalent to the average IT budget - so don't overlook services that could help to reduce that outlay Motor manufacturer Ford has saved between 1% and 3% of its annual...

BCS' Hall joins PM's advice panel.
April 6, 2004... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk BCS president Wendy Hall has been appointed to the Council for Science and Technology by Tony Blair. The council is described as the government's top-level advisory body on science,...

New J2EE server will enable rich web apps.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Macromedia has begun shipping a new Java 2.0 Enterprise Edition server and application framework designed to help enterprise development teams build browser-based business applications. Based on...

in brief.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Automatic back-up for PCs and laptops Adaptec has introduced an application-specific storage array that can automatically back-up PCs and laptops. The File Saver ESA1500 is a Raid network-attached storage appliance designed to provide...

Study finds Linux has higher total cost of ownership than Windows.
April 6, 2004... l Linux is more expensive to run for majority of businessesl Switch from Windows could be four times cost of upgrade and take longer Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Open source operating system Linux has a higher total cost...

delivering under pressure.
April 6, 2004... Integrating IT systems of merged companies following an acquisition poses substantial challenges that can represent considerable risk to the business. Global delivery company DHL took a measured approach to the process. Marcia MacLeod reports...

IBM staff fast-tracked to BCS membership.(Brief Article)
April 6, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk IT professionals employed by IBM will be given fast-track entry into the British Computer Society under a membership drive to be unveiled next week. The BCS plans to recognise IBM's IT architect...

Rich internet apps could leave standards advocates with portability problems.
April 6, 2004... There is a hidden cost in leaving HTML behind when building web applications Danny Bradbury computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk If you think HTML and XHTML are the future of the internet, think again. Microsoft and Macromedia are working...

Don't all rush to plunder Yukon.
April 6, 2004... hot skills In the SSL/CW list of IT skills, SQL Server is number 10 Nick Langley computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk What is it? Microsoft's relational database management system (RDBMS). By announcing that the Yukon release will be...

Online mentoring scheme could benefit female IT professionals.
April 13, 2004... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Women working in IT who feel isolated because they are in a minority could soon benefit from an online support scheme after a successful trial among women mathematicians. The national...

Manage work to deliver service and balance.(Letter to the Editor)
April 13, 2004... My organisation has implemented a work-life balance initiative which limits the hours employees can work. In the next few months I expect us to be busy working on new projects and the business has decided we cannot increase our headcount. How...

Government, union and blue-chip firms join to address bullying in the workplace.
April 13, 2004... l Amicus claims bullying is a serious problem in ITl Campaign will devise a "dignity at work" charterl CIO Connect says it is not a widespread issue Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IT user groups and unions have welcomed...

NHS trust proves e-bids potential.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust plans to use e-auctions for much of its procurement after saving [pounds sterling]640,000 in the UK's first reverse online auction for generic drugs. The...

Whitehall urged to curb civil servants' snooping.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... l Hundreds of civil servants disciplined for unauthorised accessl Revenue staff have worst record for breaking computer access rules Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Whitehall departments have been urged to tighten their...

Use CRM to understand priority customer concerns and improve client satisfaction.
April 13, 2004... Companies are setting unrealistic goals for customer relationship management, but IT directors could take some simple steps to get the full potential from a CRMproject BYLINE: Steve Ackling Opinion The excitement generated by the...

s; Award-winning IT staff to show how training has boosted careers.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk IT staff have been encouraged to enter the government-backed National Training Awards for 2004. The awards, run on behalf of the Department for Education and Training (DfES), is open to entries from...

IT is a top choice say potential new entrants.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk The IT industry is among the top career choices for UK teenagers, but there needs to be more explanation on the variety of roles available to new entrants, a survey has found. The IT industry was...

Customer account system aims to stem [pounds sterling]200m a year loss.
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk At the end of the year, the UK's gas and electricity suppliers will begin to roll out an industry-wide billing system. The move is a bid to stem a [pounds sterling]200m a year loss resulting from...

ONS signs up Xansa in ITupgrade deal.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk The Office for National Statistics has signed up IT services supplier Xansa to provide systems and consultancy for its modernisation programme in a deal estimated to be worth [pounds sterling]15m....

Capita to run Dixons' CRM.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Dixons Group has awarded services firm Capita a five-year [pounds sterling]90m deal to provide IT upgrades to customer service centres for the retailer's Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link...

Downtime.
April 13, 2004... Bill Gates unseatedby furniture Bill Gates has been overtaken as the world's richest man. Ingvar Kamprad, the Swede who started furniture retail chain Ikea, is calculated to be worth [pounds sterling]29bn by Swedish business weekly Veckans...

Auditors working on cyber-risk standard.
April 13, 2004... l Consortium creates cyber-risk model to be used by all industriesl Risk-preparedness index to check adequacy of IT security Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Plans by an industry consortium to develop a checklist to assess...

Domino 6.5 to deliver rapid ROI.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk Entertainment site Contactmusic .com expects a return on investment in less than six months after becoming one of the first UK users to roll out the latest version of IBM's Lotus Domino software....

Free database lists security flaws.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk IT staff who need to keep up-to-date with the latest security glitches can now logon to a database that claims to be the first free service to catalogue all known security vulnerabilities for the main...

MoD IT contract down to last two.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk There are now two bidders left in the race to win the contract for the Ministry of Defence's [pounds sterling]4bn IT overhaul, described as one of the world's most difficult infrastructure...

Water firm rolls out user access system to improve IT security.
April 13, 2004... l Northumbrian Water displays corporate governance in ITsecurity l Web software controls user access rights to Windows and Unix kit Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Northumbrian Water is responding to demands from industry...

Boards see IT spend as key to unlock growth.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk UK business leaders have described IT as critical to their long-term strategy and called on the government to introduce further tax breaks for IT investment. In a survey of board directors at more...

Small firms left without support.
April 13, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Hundreds of small businesses have been left without valid maintenance agreements for their servers, desktops and software, Hewlett-Packard confirmed this week. Customers of Connections+, a...

MEPs warn of dangers of offshoring.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Daniel Thomas daniel.thomas@rbi.co.uk A group of UK politicians has called on the European Commission to extend data protection laws to cover customer information handled overseas, warning that offshore outsourcing is "an accident...

Retail sites urged to take card firms' hacking test.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Credit card firms are pressing small businesses to have their websites tested by ethical hackers in a drive to reduce credit card theft and boost public confidence in buying online. Mastercard...

BT problems could have been avoided.
April 13, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Many companies that lost communications due to the BT cabling fire in Manchester two weeks ago could have avoided problems if they had spent more money on building resilience into their telecom...

Cisco hole allows hackers control.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Cisco has warned users of a security hole that could give hackers control of wireless networks. The networking supplier last week warned customers about a security hole in two products used to...

Nurses back NHS IT plans despite lack of consultation on e-records.
April 13, 2004... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Most nurses support NHS plans to spend billions of pounds on new national IT systems, but fewer than 10% say that consultation with them over proposals for electronic health records has been...

IN BRIEF.
April 13, 2004... Prime minister under fire for ID card plans Tony Blair is facing opposition from back-bench Labour MPs over plans to make ID cards compulsory by 2008. MPs have accused the government of using the growing threat of terrorism and concerns...

John Lewis migrates core business system to Linux.
April 13, 2004... High-street retailer moves customer application from Windows to Linux Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk John Lewis has become one of the first UK blue-chip organisations to deploy Linux on a strategic business application. ...

Mainframe will power John Lewis expansion.
April 13, 2004... Keeling said the Z990 has been running under test conditions for a number of months. He said over the Easter weekend the machine was being switched from test into production. As well as running the Linux customer application, the mainframe...

Be an IT crime-stopper.
April 13, 2004... Help beat e-crime with a quiet word to the NHTCU BYLINE: Malcolm Hutty Opinion Organised crime is continuing to use distributed denial of service attacks in an effort to extort money from e-businesses. If this happens to your...

Get your entry in to grab some glory for IT work.
April 13, 2004... The IT Awards season is now in full swing. Entries for two major awards, the British Computer Society IT Professional Awards 2004, and the Corporate IT Forum's 2004 Awards, close this week. There is still one month to go if you want to...

Get a grip on outsourcing.
April 13, 2004... How to avoid the pitfalls of badly negotiated contracts BYLINE: Les Graney Opinion UK companies spend 25%-30% of their IT budgets on external services. Yet Gartner estimates that badly-handled relationships cost European...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
April 13, 2004... Will the NHS be able to support new systems? Richard Hayes Workforce planning manager, Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospital While the NHS is awarding multibillion-pound contracts, agreeing specifications, timeframes and...

Java support will benefit Windows.(Brief Article)
April 13, 2004... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Java support in the Microsoft browser and .net web services framework will benefit a wide range of organisations. Many companies consider Java to be the main application platform for the...