Computer Weekly articles from March 2005

Computer Weekly archives from March 2005

Have you got what it takes to be a winner at the BCS Awards 2005?
March 1, 2005... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk More than 20 awards across five categories are up for grabs in the 2005 BCS IT Professional Awards, run in association with Computer Weekly. The BCS said the awards have become the UK's...

Help update UK IT skills framework.(Skills Framework for the Information Age)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IT specialists are being asked to help update the Skills Framework for the Information Age, the UK standard for the assessment and planning of IT staff skills development and training. The...

Technology awards deadline nears.
March 1, 2005... This month sees the first deadline for entries to this year's British Computer Society IT Professional Awards, run in partnership with Computer Weekly. The closing date for entries in the Technology category is 24 March. Awards in this category...

user authentication; RSA looks to one-time password standards plan to beat fraudsters.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk RSA Security has announced plans to encourage the development of technical standards to speed up the introduction of secure "one-time" passwords. At its annual conference in San Francisco last...

public sector; Met IT chief wins a seat on the board.(Ailsa Beaton appointed at Metropolitan Police Service)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The Metropolitan Police Service has appointed its director of information, Ailsa Beaton, to the commissioner's management board. Beaton has been director of information at the Met for five...

security; Oil giant drops passwords in favour of smartcards.
March 1, 2005... l Proximity sensors will read smartcards to enable staff to log on to desktopsl Cost of resetting passwords was a factor in smartcard decision Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk ChevronTexaco has embarked on a multimillion-pound...

contracts.(industry briefs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Eircom call centres to be run by Capita Irish telecom company Eircom has awarded a [pounds sterling]14m three-year outsourcing deal to services supplier Capita to provide managed call centre services for Eircom's outbound customer call...

Council claims quality improved by insourcing helpdesk.(Tower Hamlets Council in London)
March 1, 2005... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Tower Hamlets Council in London claims to have improved the quality of its IT helpdesk service after ending an outsourcing agreement and bringing the service back in-house. Last year, Tower...

in brief.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Actuate looks to aid financial compliance Actuate Corporation has released reporting software called Financial Performance Management for firms that need to comply with financial regulations such as the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Actuate...

Intel offers 64-bit desktop processors.(Intel EM64T)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Intel has introduced five processors for desktop computers using its Extended Memory Technology, EM64T, which supports hybrid 64-bit computing. Intel plans to ship EM64T on every forthcoming Intel...

Fujitsu release aims to improve; mid-range mainframe reliability.(Fujitsu Siemens Computers SX150 business server)
March 1, 2005... l SX150 offers dynamic allocation of software and processor resourcesl Server provides BS2000 users with a migration path to Sun Solaris Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Fujitsu Siemens Computers is aiming to boost mid-range...

Prepare staff policy for jobs market upturn.
March 1, 2005... Julia Vowler julia.vowler@rbi.co.uk The IT market appears to have mounted a sustained recovery, with increased IT investment and rising salaries for staff with key skills. A more buoyant jobs market is also set to increase staff...

Laser chip sheds light on faster processing speeds to come.(Intel creates wave silicon lasers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Intel has announced a breakthrough in using standard silicon chip manufacturing processes to create the world's first continuous-wave silicon laser to deliver faster processing. The...

Beware upgrading enterprise software: total cost can be many times the licence fee.
March 1, 2005... There is a lot more to buying software than just paying for the licences. The real catch for many long-time enterprise resource planning customers is the continuing cost of upgrades. One of AMR's clients is looking at upgrading its ERP...

Forrester predicts the return of ASP.(Application service providers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Application service provision could be set for a resurgence, according to Forrester Research. The analyst firm highlighted IBM's [pounds sterling]96m acquisition of ASP pioneer Corio last month as...

IBM introduces new leasing plans to aid PC management.(personal computers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IBM has introduced three new PC leasing programmes to make it easier for firms to acquire and manage PCs. Analyst firm Gartner said the move could drive a trend towards users taking longer leases....

Vodafone funds charity's Dell-powered directory.
March 1, 2005... l Vodafone funds online directory of services for National Autistic Societyl The directory uses ASP .net developed using Visual Studio 2003 Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The National Autistic Society and Vodafone launched...

UK's most powerful IT users form new lobby group; User groups unite to help IT suppliers improve services.(Strategic Supplier Relationship Group)
March 1, 2005... John Riley john.riley@rbi.co.uk Ten of the UK's most powerful IT user groups will next month launch an organisation aimed at improving the relationship between IT users and suppliers. The Strategic Supplier Relationship Group...

Study looks to help women in IT.(British Computer Society and the Department of Trade & Industry study report)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk The British Computer Society and the Department of Trade & Industry are among the organisations backing a three-year study to find ways of encouraging more women to pursue careers in IT. A...

Compliance tasks offer extra benefit.(Sarbanes-Oxley)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Businesses that completed their IT projects for Sarbanes-Oxley and other financial compliance regulations last year are re-visiting their work to look at more effective means of implementation. ...

US spy chief calls for collaboration on e-crime.(W. Ralph Basham)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk The director of the US Secret Service has called for increased collaboration between businesses, international law enforcement agencies and financial regulators fighting the rising tide of organised...

security ; Egg cuts costs with online Pins.(Egg Banking PLC provides online services)
March 1, 2005... l Egg is the first bank to distribute Pins on the webl The bank has saved an estimated 50p for each Pinl Users download Pins through a secure gateway Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Online bank Egg has said it has made...

Intel forum spotlights extended memory and multi-core chips.
March 1, 2005... l Chip maker drumming up support for extended memory applicationsl Debate on how to license software running on multi-core systems Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Intel chief executive Craig Barrett is due to kick off Intel's...

Leading UK firms fail the Google test.(top 10 search listings)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Most top UK companies are spurning search engine optimisation and pay-per-click opportunities on the web with the result that their brands do not feature prominently on popular search sites such...

Formation of SSRG could mark a turning point in IT user/supplier relationships.(Strategic Supplier Relationship Group)
March 1, 2005... John Riley john.riley@rbi.co.uk The creation of the Strategic Supplier Relationship Group (SSRG), an overarching organisation set up by 10 of the UK's most authoritative independent user groups, could mark a new phase in the maturity...

EC may curb RFID roll-out.(European Commission)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The European Commission could place restrictions on the deployment of radio frequency identification tags following a consult- ation which closes at the end of March. At present RFID...

security; Online bank guards e-mail from harvest attackers.(Bancorp Bank)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk US online bank Bancorp Bank claims to have eliminated website downtime and improved the efficiency of its e-mail communications after installing IT to protect its systems against directory harvest...

Document management aids Williams' race preparations.(BMW WilliamsF1 )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... As it gears up for the first race of the Formula One season this weekend in Melbourne, WilliamsF1 is using document management from Stellant to allow its engineers to collaborate. The software, which runs on HP servers, is being used to share...

legacy systems; XML can give legacy systems new lease of life.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk IT directors should consider updating ageing legacy systems using technology such as XML rather than embarking on costly and high-risk projects to renew their core infrastructure, experts have advised....

public sector; Councils buy FOI apps.(invested in freedom of information)
March 1, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk More than half of UK local authorities have invested in freedom of information request management technology, according to a survey of 438 councils by information and knowledge management company...

Database; Microsoft details SQL Server 2005 family and pricing.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Microsoft has released details of its next generation SQL Server 2005 database, which will be available in four versions this summer. The SQL Server 2005 family will comprise Enterprise...

jobs market; Demand for IT staff accelerates as delayed projects get green light.
March 1, 2005... l Demand expected to grow throughout 2005l Pay rates starting to rise for those with key skillsl Projects on hold during downturn get go-ahead Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Demand for skilled IT professionals is expected to...

retail ; IT enables quick action on Sudan 1.(ASDA Group PLC uses product tracking systems)
March 1, 2005... Cahn said, "Should any such products not get removed by that process, the same flag gets checked when the product is scanned at the till, and the till operator receives a large red message box saying that the product cannot be sold." ...

NHS ITtsar steps in to rescue critical project.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Richard Granger, the director general of NHS IT, has intervened to help rescue a delayed project which has become critical to the success of the technology-led modernisation of health services in...

Major SAP roll-out boosts the Grid.(SAP's technology utilities in National Grid Transco)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... National Grid Transco (NGT) has rolled out one of the largest implementations of SAP's Industry Solution for Utilities. Using SAP, NGT has integrated its value chain, including meters, gas retailers and meter installers, into a single,...

United we stand for user needs.
March 1, 2005... Suppliers often talk about partnerships with their customers, but these have too often turned out to be one-sided, with little shared risk. In too many cases suppliers do not understand the context in which their products will be used and, more...

Tested to the limit.
March 1, 2005... Accounting, communications, staffing and the website were among the areas that faced massive strains as Oxfam's IT operations responded to the tsunami crisis. Julia Vowler reports on how the charity's technology and IT team overcame the...

Oracle boosts security.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Oracle has bolstered its security evaluation programme with support for the Common Criteria Evaluations specification, which will provide users with a secure, integrated infrastructure stack. The...

Biometrics; Fingerprint scan will fill in e-timesheets.(Tokheim Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Fuel pump manufacturer Tokheim has introduced a fingerprint scanner to monitor the working hours of its employees and integrate the results directly into its payroll and HR system. This month...

Clara offers spam filter.(Claranet anti virus filtering software)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Internet service provider Clara.net is offering spam and anti-virus filtering to small businesses, after developing an e-mail filtering technology which it claims is more effective than external...

Business continuity ; Virtual server provides back-up for legal practice.(Addleshaw Goddard contracts with VMware Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... l Law firm opts for virtual server to take care of disaster recovery l Co-location allows firm to maintain fewer servers for business critical apps Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Law firm Addleshaw Goddard is establishing a...

software ; MS security is a conflict of interest, says Gartner.(Gartner has criticised Microsoft)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Gartner has criticised Microsoft's plans to develop anti-virus and anti-spam add-ons for its software products. The analyst group said Microsoft's move, announced last month, could represent a...

supply chain ; MFI blames drop in profits on supply chain IT.(financial reports)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Furniture retailer MFI reported a sharp fall in profits last week following its struggle to remedy a botched implementation of [pounds sterling]50m supply chain system. Operating profits in...

Use outsourcing standards to reap in-house benefits, users advised.(successful insourcing management)
March 1, 2005... l Cost and efficiency savings can be made by running ITas a servicel Insourcing involves applying market forces to internal IT services Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk One of the main attractions of outsourcing IT has been the...

NEXT MOVE.(IT career )
March 1, 2005... The question Has de-skilling made me unemployable? I am to be made redundant from a local authority in March. After 10 years in manufacturing I took up a career in IT, trained in Access programming and got an MCSE, CCNA and City &...

Developer community leaders call for Oasis boycott in row over code royalties.(Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
March 1, 2005... l Some developers have called for a boycott of standards body Oasisl Change to rules allows developers to charge royalties for some code Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Leading open source developers are calling for a...

e-government ; IT leaders fear loss of key e-gov projects as support scheme closes.(Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)
March 1, 2005... l ODPM to end central support for [pounds sterling]100m National Projectsl If no council wants to take responsibility for a project, it will be dropped Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Local government IT leaders fear that...

Demand for Exchange 2003 skills set to grow as support for 5.5 ends.(Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003)
March 1, 2005... Nick Langley computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk What is it? Exchange Server 2003, the current version of Microsoft's messaging and collaboration software, was designed to run with Windows 2003 Server. However, many users kepttheir wallets...

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YOUR SHOUT; Have your say at ; computerweekly.com.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... On skills shortages and recruitment agencies In response to reports that a quarter of businesses are struggling to keep skilled staff following a surge in demand (Computer Weekly, 15 February) For years organisations have complained...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2005... Firms need qualified IT security staff Matthew Poyiadgi Regional director, Europe, CompTIA I was surprised by comments in the article "Open the door to a secure career" (Computer Weekly, 8 February). To suggest that...

Networks; Siemens builds BBC fibre network.(Siemens Business Services contracts with British Broadcasting Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Siemens Business Services is to oversee the development of an optical fibre network for the BBC to transmit voice, data and digital content across its sites. Siemens, which signed a [pounds...

NCCputs spotlight on compliance.(National Computing Centre)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... The National Computing Centre is holding a major one-day conference entitled "Managing compliance in the public sector". The conference aims to help IT managers understand the compliance landscape and the overlap between legislation,...

Top four pitfalls of BPO.(business process outsourcing)
March 1, 2005... As IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) have being round for more than 40 years as well-established options for companies, one wonders why we often read about outsourcing contracts failing to deliver as expected. Often that...

Young IT professionals get advice on 'soft' skills.
March 1, 2005... The BCS Young Professionals Group is running two events to help its members develop the communication skills they need to be successful in a modern business/IT environment. The first event will be held at the group's annual general meeting...

Rewarding best practice at work.(Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in ITAwards 2005)
March 1, 2005... Tomorrow (2 March) the winners of the Computer Weekly Best Places to Work in IT 2005 will be revealed at a special luncheon at The Park Lane Hotel, London. All the shortlisted entrants have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to making the...

British Computer Society ; IT literacy programme throws a ; digital lifeline to those left behind.
March 8, 2005... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The BCS has launched an IT literacy campaign to help the millions of people who risk exclusion from the growing number of online government and other services. Its new e-Citizen scheme aims...

inside the bcs; Linux group to hold first meeting.(British Computer Society)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk BCS members have formed the Open Source Specialist Group, which will have its inaugural meeting on 14 March in London. At the meeting, Sarah Ewen, Linux evangelist in Sony Computer...

A sound architecture involves both strong technology and a professional approach.
March 8, 2005... Allen Brown Opinion Although many large organisations need to respond rapidly to changes in the market as well as to competition and globalisation forces such as the internet, that is hard to achieve without a well-defined...

how it works in the real world.(use of radio frequency identification tags for the improvement in the efficiency of the staffs)
March 8, 2005... Businesses adopt mobile IT to improve their efficiency and empower staff. Helen Beckett and John Kavanagh look at companies where practice matches up with the best of theory RFID tracking speeds up checkouts The use of radio frequency...

mobile gets hotter.(demand of wireless communications)
March 8, 2005... Andy Greenhalgh Opinion In the two years since the launch of the Intel Centrino, considerable progress has been made in developing new mobile technology and expanding the entire wireless ecosystem. Now, the use of notebook PCs is...

t; IT should take the lead on Sarbanes-Oxley.
March 8, 2005... Ashley Braganza Opinion We appear to be in the quiet before the storm. The US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation aims to make companies more financially transparent and better at dealing with business risks. It is looming over all...

COMPliance; Don't ignore compliance, SMEs warned.(small and medium sized companies)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Small and medium-sized organisations have been urged not to bury their heads in the sand over the challenge of meeting a growing list of corporate governance regulations. Tim Wickes, chief executive...

MICROSOFT; Could Firefox have assisted birth of IE7?(internet explorer )
March 8, 2005... Jack Schofield Tech Talk Microsoft plans to release a new beta test version of Internet Explorer this summer, but it will only run on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed. Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates made the...

SERVERS; Websites could ease server load by making use of edge computing.
March 8, 2005... l Edge Side Includes boosts delivery of web pages by offloading workl Interest rekindled after Akami service extended to handle Flash Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Edge Side Includes (ESI) could be making a comeback, thanks to...

jobs market; E-Skills UK survey adds to evidence of a resurgence in the number of IT vacancies.
March 8, 2005... l Number of people working in IT has risen for past three quartersl Salaries for permanent staff have gone up on average by 2% Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Further confirmation of the recovery in the IT jobs market came...

public sector; Council IT managers offered skills bursaries.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk IT managers and e-government managers in local authorities are being offered bursaries to improve their leadership and management skills. The bursaries, worth [pounds sterling]3,500, will cover...

E-MAIL; Exchange Server 2003 is stable, says Forrester.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Sixteen months after its release, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is now fit for large-scale roll-out, Forrester Research said in a report published last week. Forrester said users were...

INTERNET; SME leaders embrace use of e-mail.(small and medium-sized business)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Bosses in small and medium-sized business around the world have accepted e-mail as a major form of communication, according to research. UK business leaders spend less time on e-mail than...

skills; Freelance pay rises 30% in a year as demand for web developers soars.
March 8, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Demand for web development skills is booming for the first time since the dotcom collapse. A study by the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco) found that freelance web...

Spam costs UKbusiness [pounds sterling]1.3bn a year, says study.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... l UK firms hit by more spam than companies based in other countriesl Filtering software can have high ROI but efficacy may be exaggerated Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Junk e-mail is costing businesses in the UK [pounds...

virtual private networks; BA rolls out Vanco VPN across 64 countries.(British Airways PLC)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk British Airways is rolling out an IP virtual private network across 155 sites in a multimillion-pound deal with Vanco. The project will deliver ADSL broadband access and back-up services...

IT central to deliver government savings.
March 8, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk For New Labour to fulfil its spending promises without raising taxes, public sector IT managers must pull off a neat trick. Last year, chancellor Gordon Brown announced a target of 2.5%...

New hospital battles to implement care component of health service's IT upgrade.(University College London Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust)(Richard Granger, Robert Naylor)
March 8, 2005... computer weekly campaign NHS ITWATCH Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Richard Granger and Robert Naylor have something more in common than senior NHS roles: they are running high-risk IT programmes which could end in...

Board paper outlines implementation problems.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Some of the challenges faced by University College London Hospitals NHS Trust as it helped to Anglicise systems from US supplier IDX were outlined in a board paper. The UCLH paper last October...

convergence ; Intel points way to convergence.
March 8, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Intel chief executive Craig Barrett outlined his company's road-map for the delivery of technology merging computing and communications at last week's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco. ...

ENTERPRISE; EMC software allows faster archive searches.(EMC Computer Systems (UK) Ltd.)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk EMC has launched a software product that allows users to more effectively search, retrieve and use enterprise archives. The new EMC Centera Seek and EMC Centera Chargeback Reporter products...

NETWORKS; I/O technology created to speed up server applications.(new technology from Intel Corp.)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Intel is developing I/O Acceleration Technology to improve the way computers handle input and output protocols. The company claimed its approach could boost network data and server applications...

Maintaining contact with GlobalFlyer.(Energis PLC, contract)(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Energis provided hosting and streaming technology for the GlobalFlyer, which last Thursday night successfully achieved the fastest solo non-stop, non-refuelled circumnavi-gation of the globe. Pilot Steve Fossett was in the air for under 80...

e-GOVERNMENT; Council sites improving.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The number of high-quality local government websites has increased by 65% over the past year, according to the local authority IT managers' group Socitm. Research into 468 local authority...

SERVERS; IBM announces upgrade to Informix database.(Brief Article)
March 8, 2005... l Version 10 to provide better performance, reliability and scalabilityl Security changes will allow compliance with latest regulations Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IBM has announced what it describes as the most...

work-life balance; Commitment to work-life balance clinches Procter & Gamble's win.
March 8, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Procter & Gamble was last week named as the best place to work in IT, after a panel of judges in Computer Weekly's annual Best Places to Work award's recognised its commitment to ensuring a flexible...

careers; Money is not the main motivator, says Cox.(George Cox)
March 8, 2005... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Fair reward is better than high pay in motivating staff, IT industry veteran George Cox told finalists at Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work awards ceremony. Cox, former managing...

OUTSOURCING; MoD awards [pounds sterling]4bn contract to EDS.
March 8, 2005... Computer Weekly reporters computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk A consortium led by EDS has won the [pounds sterling]4bn IT services contract with the Ministry of Defence. The 10-year deal, one of the biggest in IT outsourcing in UK history,...