Computer Weekly articles from September 2004

Computer Weekly archives from September 2004

Bacs move raises demand for IPskills.
September 7, 2004... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IT professionals with knowledge of IP-based networks and sound project management skills will be at a premium over the next three months. Payment clearing company Bacs is migrating 50,000...

work/life balance; Winning loyalty as the world goes mobile.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Myles Hewitt myles.hewitt@rbi.co.uk The death of a "job for life" on which IT giants such as IBM were once built has perhaps achieved business benefits through a flexible workforce, but it has created problems in making staff feel...

Cutty Sark is the model of restoration.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Researchers at the University of Greenwich have created computer models of the Cutty Sark which may help to save the endangered Victorian tea clipper. Major restoration of the craft at Greenwich is needed and researchers have devised a way of...

desktop technology; Users to choose as Microsoft rivals mature.
September 7, 2004... DesKtop management Intel's Developer Forum kicks off this week and, with a host of Microsoft alternatives coming of age, there is a strong focus on the future of the desktop Arif Mohamed computerweekly@rbi.co.uk Intel's Developer...

Companies buy a piece of the outsourcing action.
September 7, 2004... Edward Kirkby Opinion Companies seem increasingly keen to buy a piece of their offshore outsourcing suppliers. Barclays Bank is about to acquire a 50% share in Intelenet Global Services, the Indian business process outsourcing arm...

outsourcing Within 10 years, 150,000 UK IT jobs could be moved abroad, says Forrester; Will offshore boom help the UK economy?
September 7, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Outsourcing has become a standard feature of the modern IT department - and one of the most controversial. Demand for outsourcing has continued to be strong throughout the downturn in the IT...

licensing; Software licence changes means greater management efficiencies.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computerweekly@rbi.co.uk Changes in software licensing models can make desktop management more efficient, according to Butler Group analyst John Holden. "We feel there's going to be a drastic change in how suppliers...

outsourcing; Third-party management reduces desktop setup costs.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computerweekly@rbi.co.uk One way of reducing desktop management costs is to allow a third party to manage part of the desktop setup, for example, applications, networks or hardware, or even the whole infrastructure. ...

smart projects DVLA upgrade set to speed up processing time for applications; Document management investment drives home importance of back-office functions.(Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency)
September 7, 2004... Karen Gomm karen.gomm@rbi.co.uk The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has speeded up its public service through investment in document management software and updating back-office systems. The DVLA, which currently holds 38...

retail; Comet clears chip and-Pin hurdle with ease.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Karen Gomm karen.gomm@rbi.co.uk Electrical retailer Comet has completed a 10-month programme to roll out chip-and-Pin technology to its 247 UK stores. Comet used PCSL to upgrade the ProgessR Windows-based Epos system installed in...

standards; Single-number ID will ease communications.
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The government is considering a new electronic numbering system that will allow companies to roll all their different contact numbers and e-mail addresses into single numbers. Using the...

nhs it National programme for IT reaches milestone with e-booking; First e-booking systems go live in two London area NHS hospitals.(National Health Service)
September 7, 2004... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Two hospitals in the London area are the first in the UK to go live with e-booking systems under the government's [pounds sterling]2.3bn national programme for IT (NPfIT) in the NHS. A third...

microsoft The price of security over compatibility; Prepare to install Windows XP SP2.
September 7, 2004... Jack Schofield Opinion Microsoft has finally released the long-delayed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, and it had people working over the bank holiday to handle queries from consumers. At this point, IT departments and serious...

security; Top UK companies are failing to develop written security policies.
September 7, 2004... l The board is not supporting IT policies, according to 71% of firmsl IT security breaches could have an effect on share prices Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk Almost half (47%) of the UK's top 350 companies do not have a fully...

strategy; E-mail policy needs to be higher up board agenda.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk The IT director must get involved with top business management to establish company policies and put in place technology that will manage e-mail, a report from analyst firm Butler Group has advised....

performance Optimise applications to get value; Fine-tune your software to drive efficiency in IT.(Application Performance Management Software)
September 7, 2004... Michael Azoff Opinion The market for application performance management is a relatively new one in IT. It sits alongside the more mature areas of network services management and IT services management and all three disciplines fit...

change management Employee commitment is crucial to success; Buy-in depends on softer skills.
September 7, 2004... Lindsay WittenbergOpinion Changing human behaviour and culture in the NHS outstrips technological matters as the biggest challenge now facing the project, according to Aidan Halligan, joint head of the national programme for IT in the...

security Spyware poses a genuine risk to corporate security; Beware of spies in the machine.
September 7, 2004... Martino Corbelli Tech talk While spyware is widely used to track the patterns of individual users' internet usage, there is an unexplored and more sinister side to the tracking technology that could pose a real threat to corporate...

project management BCS advice on planning and managing risk; Guide aims to boost success rate.
September 7, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk The British Computer Society has published a book on project management as part of a government-backed campaign to improve the success rate of IT projects. The book, Project Management for...

security IT directors are being called on to provide evidence of computer abuse by employees; IT's latest role as silent witness.
September 7, 2004... Mark Morris Opinion Human resource and legal departments are asking their IT directors to help them to prepare evidence for staff disciplinary situations. Cases of employees committing computer fraud, commercial espionage and...

best practice; Testing the limitations of best practice.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Many IT best practice models exist. Gartner Consulting has its TOP model, KPMG its World Class IT model, and so on. In addition to these proprietary approaches we have those that are in the public domain, in particular the IT Infrastructure...

strategy; Getting rid of the bottlenecks.(workflow systems)
September 7, 2004... Workflow systems have as much, if not a greater, role to play in the IT department as they do in the rest of organisations. A workflow system automates the flow of work in such a way that it is visible, and that it is tracked and escalated if...

contract management Overseeing an outsourced deal can cost 10% of the annual value; The vital role of managing the outsourcer.
September 7, 2004... The role of IT outsourcing manager involves much more than merely administering the contract - it must ensure the arrangement achieves its strategic and tactical objectives while minimising risks. The basic responsibility of the role is to...

open source Mixed approach may offer best recipe; Take the best of Windows and mix with open source.
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computerweekly@rbi.co.uk Linux may finally have come of age but, for most users, there may not be a compelling case for migrating fully from Windows, even after licensing costs and cost of ownership are taken into account....

operating systems; Microsoft to drop storage system from Longhorn to meet 2006 date.
September 7, 2004... l WinFS to go from Microsoft's next operating system l Analysts advise users to stick with Windows XP service pack Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Microsoft is leaving out a key part of Windows Longhorn - the WinFS storage...

open source; SuSE Linux users get free e-mail engine.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Users can now download a free version of the e-mail engine behind SuSE Linux's Open-Xchange e-mail server. Developed by Netline Internet Service, the free GPL version of Open-Xchange Server...

stress; Work stress at record high.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... l 90% of European ITdirectors say their health suffers as a result of workl One-third of IT directors have an impossible workload Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Almost 90% of European IT directors say their health and...

networks; Cisco warns of lock-up flaw for IOS and telnet.(Internetwork Operating System)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Users have been advised of a problem in the way Cisco's Internetwork Operating System handles connections to the telnet networking application used to manage devices remotely. A specifically...

survey; ITmanagers need to be more energised.(Chartered Management Institute)(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IT departments should do more to energise their frontline managers, according to a survey by the Chartered Management Institute and recruitment company Adecco. Some 1,600 responses came from...

servers; Mainframe costs worry IT managers, says survey.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Many IT managers are unhappy with mainframe costs, which are high and unpredictable, according to a survey of IT directors. Forty-four percent of the IT directors surveyed said mainframe...

manufacturing; E-commerce turnover doubles for chemical giant after portal opens.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk BASF has more than doubled its e-commerce turnover. The chemicals giant posted e-commerce sales of [pounds sterling]1.79bn in the first half of 2004, a 70% increase on the same period a year...

Management Swansea strike highlights complex issues beyond technical challenges; IT managers must learn from the Swansea outsourcing strike and tackle people issues.
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Businesses and public sectororganisations in the UK have enthusiastically embraced IT outsourcing. Surveys by analyst groups regularly put the UK at the head of Europe's IT outsourcing league...

BP turns its back on traditional IT security ; with internet access to company systems.
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Thousands of BP staff, almost 10% of the workforce, will access the oil producer's business applications via the public internet, rather than corporate intranets, by the end of 2004. The BP...

SSL encrypted network traffic and Microsoft XP SP2 will protect PCs.
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk BP's pilot project to provide network access to corporate applications for 2,000 staff is based on secure internet connections, where all network traffic is encrypted using secure socket layer (SSL)...

Network and support costs will be cut.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk BP hopes to make substantial savings in networks, telecoms and IT support costs with its radical externalisation strategy. One area of cost reduction is likely to be the replacement of leased...

Formal staff assessment aids security.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk BP is running a formal training programme to educate staff in IT security before they will be able to connect to the company's internal systems over the internet. BP already has a policy of...

Downtime.(meshed briefs)(UK managers polled for complaint about bosses)
September 7, 2004... Shipping news: what's happened to Sri Lanka? Sri Lanka is a beautiful island but it still needs to be connected to the rest of the world. However, an Indian ship passing through last month had other ideas. It dropped anchor on the island's...

disputes; Strike talks continue at; Swansea.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk More talks are planned for this week in an effort to end the increasingly bitter strike by 100 IT workers at Swansea council. Staff are entering the fourth week of indefinite strike action...

operating systems; MS pulls WinFS from Longhorn.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Microsoft is dropping the WinFS file system technology from Longhorn, the next version of Windows, in a bid to introduce the operating system by 2006. WinFS is a file system for Windows based on...

finance; SAP finds [pounds sterling]23m hole in CP Ships' accounts.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Computer Weekly reporter computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk London-based shipping giant CP Ships is facing law suits after it was forced to restate its accounts last month following the installation of a group-wide SAP financials system. ...

government; New heads of IT take up posts in Whitehall.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Two new government IT chiefs, Ian Watmore and Steve Lamey, were confirmed in office last week. Ian Watmore began work as head of the e-government unit, part of the Cabinet Office. This...

BP shifts corporate network to the internet.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk BP is planning to move 60% of its staff and external partners who access company systems via internal networks to the internet. BP has trialled the use of internet connections for remote workers...

best places to work; Deadline for Best Places awards nears.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... There is one week left to enter the Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work 2005 awards with the deadline for entries set for Monday 13 September. Entrants can choose from 17 categories of organisation, spread across 10 industry sectors. ...

Sainsbury's will miss date; for chip-and-Pin roll-out.
September 7, 2004... Karen Gomm karen.gomm@rbi.co.uk Sainbury's is lagging behind its supermarket rivals in the race to implement chip-and-Pin technology, and is set to miss the 1 January 2005 completion deadline set for UK retailers. Morrisons and...

Users set to benefit from commodity blade servers.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Intel and IBM are opening up parts of the design specifications for blade server technology that they have been developing since September 2002. They hope that this will encourage hardware...

ITvolunteering programme; Give a little of your time and make a big difference.(IT4Communities)
September 7, 2004... Have you ever wanted to use your IT expertise to contribute to valuable charity and community projects? If so, you could join more than 2,000 IT professionals who have registered with IT4Communities, the national IT volunteering programme,...

The Data Protection Act will dictate how RFID is used ; The ethical use of RFID.(radio frequency identification)
September 7, 2004... Gillian Cameron Opinion Radio frequency identification (RFID), the new smart-tag technology which can help identify, distribute and keep track of practically anything, is set to have a impact on a wide variety of business sectors from...

hot skills The 40-year-old programming language is still in demand; Cobol integrates with Java and .net.
September 7, 2004... Nick Langley computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk What is it? There are more than 200 billion lines of working Cobol code and five billion lines of Cobol are written every year. Industry analyst Bloor Research said, "This code is not...

Elite group; Users go free at Triple i convention.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... TSuppliers pay, users go free. This formula, echoing that devised by Richmond Events for its on-board cruises for IT directors, has been adopted by the land-locked Triple i Convention which runs from 19-21 September. The British Computer...

NHS signs Microsoft licensing deal as software audit problem is solved.
September 7, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The NHS national programme for IT has agreed a new multimillion-pound deal with Microsoft for software licences, although government auditors have highlighted that the NHS has problems...

Byte night; IT leaders set for charity night beneath the stars.
September 7, 2004... More than 180 senior IT industry professionals, each pledging to raise about [pounds sterling]2,000 for homeless children, have already signed up to sleep out near Tower Bridge, London, for this year's annual Byte Night event on Friday, 17...

regulation; Do not let up on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects, says Gartner.(Brief Article)
September 7, 2004... l Companies need to reassess technologyl SEC delays plans to change report deadlinesl UK companies with US listings will be affected Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk UK companies should not ease up on their IT projects to comply...

Make way for the 'embedded internet'.(Jericho Forum working on securing the Internet)
September 7, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Members of the Jericho Forum, the user group of global IT security chiefs, are developing a set of proposals for making the internet as secure as a corporate network. The group, whose members...

YOUR SHOUT; Have your say at ; computerweekly.com.(Letter to the Editor)
September 7, 2004... On how compensation could have paid for the IT In response to the news that EDS will receive compensation worth [pounds sterling]9m following the cancellation of the NHS e-mail contract (Computer Weekly, 17 August) About two years ago...

Don't ; let your; Staff disappear.
September 7, 2004... With IT spend increasing, higher staff turnover and rising salaries are following along. Lindsay Nicolle looks at the overt and hidden costs of staff churn and recruitment, and how best to keep the staff you value on-side When it comes to...

Outsourcing is a people issue.
September 7, 2004... The three-week strike by IT staff at Swansea Council in protest at possible outsourcing (see page 17) raises serious issues with ramifications far beyond the boundaries of a Welsh local authority. Although outsourcing can offer dramatic...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 7, 2004... Too many excuses for ITproject failures Janice Miller,Chief executive, Partners for Change Confidentiality is only one of the excuses government departments use to disguise misguided or failing IT projects (Computer Weekly, 27 July)....

servers Users are advised to wait before migrating from Hewlett-Packard's Alpha chip ; Countdown starts for HP switch to Itanium.
September 7, 2004... Arif Mohamed computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk With Hewlett-Packard's final Alpha processor rolling off the production line, the clock is ticking for thousands of HP users to re-evaluate their server architectures and consider 64-bit processor...

Incident response plans avert disaster and make breaches 'temporary inconvenience'.
September 14, 2004... John Kavanagh computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk IT security breaches are inevitable but proper incident response can restrict a potential disaster to little more than a temporary inconvenience, according to security specialist Ross Patel. ...

staff motivation; Well informed staff are motivated staff.
September 14, 2004... Myles Hewitt myles.hewitt@rbi.co.uk Good communication is firmly at the top of the list of criteria for a successful workplace, according to Chris Guest, president of public sector IT directors' group Socitm and head of head of...

byte night; Last chance to help this year's charity sleep-out.
September 14, 2004... This is your last chance to support the 200-plus IT industry leaders who have signed up to sleep out near Tower Bridge for this year's annual Byte Night event on Friday 17 September. The event, now in its seventh year, has so far raised...

an end to; one size ; fits all.(small and medium sized companies)
September 14, 2004... IT and communications suppliers realise that there is value in the SME market and have begun to produce cut-down versions of corporate systems. In this overview of the main issues and technologies, Jane Dudman looks at how SMEs can get the most...

the business case.
September 14, 2004... Enterprise efficiency is the ambition of many organisations. This has now become a reality for businesses worldwide, through the growth of wireless technology and accessible devices which allow employees to connect to enterprise networks...

nhs it; NHS could lose IT staff over new pay structure.
September 14, 2004... Lindsay Clark computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Pay scales for NHS IT staff could be cut by thousands of pounds under Agenda for Change, a radical restructuring of pay scales set to be rolled out nationwide from 1 December. With nursing...

grid computing; Oracle predicts grids will be only way to meet processing demands.
September 14, 2004... l Oracle says grids will be needed to meet demand for processing power l Service-oriented architectures could be an alternative, says IDC Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Businesses will have to adopt grid computing if they are to...

Downtime.
September 14, 2004... Nothing to say to several people, apparently Orange is the first company in the UK to launch a "push-to-talk" mobile service that allows you to make simultaneous calls to several other users with a single call, a bit like using a...

Centralised IT can help maintain quality.(information technology)
September 14, 2004... IT governance can be hard to handle for companies with a decentralised service Jessica Twentyman computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The centralised IT department has become the preferred way for European companies to manage their...

Outsourcing pushes up IT spending growth.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Nick Huber nick.huber@rbi.co.uk UK IT expenditure will top 6% in the third quarter, up from 4.7% last quarter, according to the latest Computer Weekly IT Expenditure Report. And on a yearly basis, IT spending, driven by the public...

Watmore plans super-group of CIOs to streamline Whitehall IT.(Ian Watmore, chief executive officers)(information technology)
September 14, 2004... Tony Collins tony.collins@rbi.co.uk Ian Watmore, the new IT tsar for government, is to form a super-group of top information officers across the public sector to help streamline central departments, improve take-up of online services...

SSL VPNs make the connection with users.(Secure Sockets Layer)(Virtual private networks)
September 14, 2004... networks Virtual private networks based on Secure Sockets Layer offer a simpler, more secure way for remote users to connect to corporate networks and take-up is set to rise Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Companies are...

training; (ISC)2 offers postgrad scholarship.(International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium)(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk An international certification body for IT security professionals is offering scholarships to promote research into information security best practice. The International Information Systems...

London colleges set up remote back-up site.
September 14, 2004... l Service is rolled out to colleges and universities following a one-year triall Remote back-up found to be cheaper and more effective than tape storage Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk Universities and colleges in London are...

mobile; Nokia users connect with RIM push e-mail.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Nokia is to enable its corporate phone users to use RIM's Blackberry push e-mail service. The move follows the decision by mobile operating system company Symbian to support RIM's Blackberry...

batch processing; BMC boosts management of batch processes.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk A new product from BMC Software enables users to manage batch processes proactively according to their importance to the business. Mission-critical business services often depend on multiple...

Could security costs tip the TCO balance?(total cost of ownership)
September 14, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Newham Council's decision last month to opt for Microsoft rather than open source technology surprised many in the IT community. The council compared open source software with Microsoft technology...

grid computing ; European Commission donates [pounds sterling]35m to grid computing.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Alan Osborn computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk The European Commission has made a [pounds sterling]35.4m grant towards 12 projects designed to bring grid networked computing "out of research labs and into industry". The payment follows an...

Endangered species tracked with SAS.(Wildtrack)(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Wildtrack, a conservation organisation, is using footprint identification technology to save endangered species in the wild. SAS business intelligence software is used to identify animals and assess group numbers. Wildtrack analyses the data...

Mobile computing; Housing association polices mobile net use.
September 14, 2004... l Software will control internet access even over domestic broadband linksl Controls improve ability to meet corporate governance rules Bill Goodwin bill.goodwin@rbi.co.uk A publicly-funded housing association has worked with a...

compliance; New company law ; could cost IT millions.
September 14, 2004... Computer weekly reporters computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Making IT systems compliant with the Companies Bill, which had its second reading in Parliament last week, could cost UK businesses millions of pounds. Mike Davis, senior...

networks ; Get ready for modular IP-based networks.(Internet Protocol)(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Intel believes networks will become more modular in the next 10 years to support smart mobile devices. Howard Bubb, vice-president and general manager of Intel's communications infrastructure...

broadband; Wimax chips to offer long-distance broadband.(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Antony Savvas computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk Intel told forum delegates it has developed its first Wimax wireless broadband chips. Intel has already made a splash in the corporate market with its Centrino laptop chip, which allows...

business transformation; Intel unveils roadmap to reduce cost of business transformation.
September 14, 2004... intel developer forum Chip maker introduces its first wireless broadband processor and sets out its service-oriented enterprise strategy at last week's conference in the US Cliff Saran cliff.saran@rbi.co.uk Intel unveiled a...

Going the extra mile for SMEs.(small and medium sized companies)
September 14, 2004... Among British politicians' favourite platitudes is the importance of smaller companies to the overall performance of UK plc. Predictably, their flattering words are not so readily translated into real encouragement for small and...

Local Government IT Excellence Awards; Councils shortlisted for IT awards.(information technology)(Brief Article)
September 14, 2004... Mike Simons mike.simons@rbi.co.uk Councils that have pioneered flexible working, CRM, transactional services and innovative outsourcing have made the shortlist of the prestigious Local Government IT Excellence Awards. The winner...