TechTarget News - Week of Jan 31, 2016
Mon Feb 1, 2016
UK surveillance bill could hurt tech sector, warn MPs
Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee says government's planned surveillance bill is too vague and needs to be redrafted to avoid economic damage
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Microsoft Office 365 is beating Google Apps in enterprise adoption – Gartner research
Gartner’s take on the use of cloud email tools within the enterprise shows that Microsoft Office 365 is leading the way
Mon Feb 1, 2016
EE to retain brand, network and shops, says BT
BT has announced a new organisational structure to come into effect in April, following its acquisition of mobile operator EE
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Cyber extortion is a growing, but largely hidden threat
Security industry warns of increasing cyber extortion attacks as Lincolnshire County Council is hit by a ransomware demand
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Jaguar Land Rover sets up ‘living lab’ to test autonomous cars
Car manufacturer invests £5.5m in a 41-mile ‘living laboratory’ to test and develop connected and autonomous vehicle technology
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Leading Edge Forum teams up with Imperial college on business disruption
Global thought leadership membership organisation launches programme to teach business heads about digital disruption
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Malaysia builds smart traffic system in its Silicon Valley equivalent
Malaysia is testing out a traffic management system in the town of Cyberjaya, which is a test bed for smart city innovation
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Oracle to build cloud datacentre in Abu Dhabi
Move seen as acknowledgement that local presence is required for increased cloud growth
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Ofcom: O2 acquisition will damage competition and retail markets
Ofcom chief executive Sharon White outlines the regulator’s concerns over Three’s acquisition of O2
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Göteborg Energi outsources IT with €40m deal
Nordic energy company will use outsourcing agreement as a platform to modernise its IT environment
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Australia offers easy targets for cyber criminals
Security experts criticise organisations for paying up too easily when hit by ransomware
Mon Feb 1, 2016
DDoS is most common cyber attack on financial institutions
January’s attack on HSBC is typical for the financial sector, but no business should consider itself unlikely to be targeted in this way, say security experts
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Winners announced for UK Games Fund as government ramps up creative industries
The Department of Culture Media and Sport has announced the winners of the first round of its UK Games Fund designed to promote growth in UK creative industries
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Boeing plugs ViaSat into new AH-64E Apache helicopters
Boeing awards satellite broadband supplier ViaSat a contract to supply connectivity for its AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Vendor training, certification gets new twist at Atrion
In a departure from typical vendor relations scenarios, Atrion, a consulting and managed services firm, is asking vendors to certify themselves in a reciprocal loyalty program.
Mon Feb 1, 2016
Irish row over Safe Harbour deepens
Ireland faces legal challenge over the independence of its data commissioner, in wake of the scrapping of the Safe Harbour data protection agreement
Tue Feb 2, 2016
No supplier immune from declining smartphone market, says Juniper Research
Juniper Research’s latest assessment of the smartphone market reveals virtually all suppliers are being affected by the global slowdown
Tue Feb 2, 2016
G-Cloud 6 wins six-month extension as government preps next-gen framework
G-Cloud suppliers claim the extension could be a sign of bigger and better things to come in eighth version of the public sector procurement framework
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Women should worry less about not having tech background when going into Stem
Panellists at Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders Today conference claim women don’t need a technical background to build a career in the technology industry
Tue Feb 2, 2016
TalkTalk loses 100,000 customers in cyber attack
Communications service provider says it lost 101,000 customers after last year’s data breach, but claims half a million took up its free upgrade offer
Tue Feb 2, 2016
WhatsApp reaches one billion user milestone
As the WhatsApp messaging service hits a new peak, Facebook plans to use it to make money by enabling businesses to communicate with customers
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Electronic money providers double over past two years
Companies providing electronic money services, such as online or mobile payments accounts, have more than doubled since 2013
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Google parent Alphabet ousts Apple as top global company
In the first quarterly results since switching to the Alphabet structure on 2 October 2015, the company reported a profit of $4.9bn on revenue of $21.3bn
Tue Feb 2, 2016
IT director Gerry Pennell leaves Manchester University
Manchester University’s director of IT, London 2012 Olympics CIO Gerry Pennell, resigns from the role and says he will leave in March 2016
Tue Feb 2, 2016
CIO interview: James Findlay, HS2
The man in charge of the tech behind the UK’s new high-speed railway talks about infrastructure, open data and working with SMEs
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Defra “at the forefront” of open data revolution, says environment secretary
Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss says Defra will increase investment in IT, science and facilities by 30%
Tue Feb 2, 2016
EU commissioner sets out challenges of finding a Safe Harbour replacement
European commissioner Věra Jourová outlines the challenges of establishing a data-sharing agreement between Europe and the US
Tue Feb 2, 2016
More students choose higher education computing courses
Enrolment in full-time computing and science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) courses in higher education increased last year
Tue Feb 2, 2016
21% of UK IT professionals now use OpenStack, SUSE research suggests
Linux distribution provider claims UK IT decision-makers are coming round to the idea of using the open-source cloud platform
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Dell One Identity password management targets channel
Password management appears to be gaining momentum, as Dell launches an offering the company said is designed for the IT channel, with security partners a particular focus.
Tue Feb 2, 2016
NHS London Procurement Partnership to tender for EPR framework
The NHS London Procurement Partnership plans clinical digital information systems framework tender to support the "paperless by 2020" agenda
Tue Feb 2, 2016
University moves library management to Capita cloud
University of Lincoln puts its library management system into a cloud hosted by Capita to improve student experiences
Tue Feb 2, 2016
BT broadband network suffers technical fault
A technical fault on the BT network left users around the country unable to access broadband and phone services
Tue Feb 2, 2016
Panzura Global File System gets management upgrade
Panzura builds a new console that centralizes maintenance for its controllers and Global File System. The Google Maps-based monitoring and reporting tool manages cloud storage.
Tue Feb 2, 2016
EC confirms EU-US Privacy Shield to replace Safe Harbour data-sharing agreement
The European Commission (EC) confirms it has negotiated a replacement for Safe Harbour, and expects it to come into force in three months
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Gridstore plans KVM and container support in further tilt at VMware
Hyper-converged appliance maker Gridstore gets $19m in funding to drive KVM and container support to provide an alternative to “costly” VMware
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Finnish police pick Gemalto for e-passports and IDs
Finnish authorities sign new contract with digital security specialist to supply electronic identity documents for citizens
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Further staff cuts at Yahoo as it reports a $4.43bn loss
Yahoo announces another strategic plan to reduce costs by $400m and raise up to $3bn in the wake of a $4.43bn loss for the fourth quarter of 2015
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Most UK firms lack cyber resilience, Ponemon study shows
Despite understanding the severity of cyber threats, most UK companies are not resilient to attacks and lack confidence in their ability to recover
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Government admits altnets can compete against BT in rural areas
A series of pilot schemes has proved that small broadband suppliers can effectively compete against BT Openreach in rural areas
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Accenture revs up Six Nations analytics programme with rugby stalwarts and VR
Rugby experts Nick Mallett, Ben Kay and David Flatman join the data analysts for the 2016 championship, and virtual reality will play a part
Wed Feb 3, 2016
IT industry fails to break male-only stereotype
Almost half of young people think the technology sector is more suitable for men
Wed Feb 3, 2016
PAC criticises Universal Credit programme for lack of transparency
Public Accounts Committee report slates lack of transparency around Universal Credit and calls for specific plans for the roll out of the digital service to be made public
Wed Feb 3, 2016
HDS launches Pentaho-based HSP 400 scale-out big data appliance
Hitachi Data Systems launches big data appliance, the HSP 400, aimed at data lake use cases, with hardware nodes running the Pentaho Enterprise Platform acquired in 2015
Wed Feb 3, 2016
CIO interview: Fergus Boyd, vice-president for digital, Yotel
The fast-growing international hotel chain sees digital technology as central to its offering and expansion plans
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Cloud security culture a building block for today's businesses
As organizations today move more data to the cloud, it's important to cultivate a cloud security culture and enlist a CISO, a new report shows.
Wed Feb 3, 2016
Service provider turns RAM into VDI storage with Atlantis
OGL Computer rolls out virtual desktop service to customers using Atlantis software to provide RAM as VDI storage for non-persistent desktops with 200 IOPS of performance each
Wed Feb 3, 2016
NHS 24 staff not trained properly ahead of IT system go-live, health board admits
NHS 24 plans comprehensive training ahead of new launch date after helpline was withdrawn 10 days after October go-live
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Google’s Chrome to flag deceptive embedded content
Browser will warn of any embedded content such as ads that pretend to act like, and look and feel like, a trusted entity
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Three chairman promises five-year price freeze after O2 merger
Three chairman Canning Fok pledges a price freeze and a £5bn network investment if the acquisition of O2 is allowed to go ahead
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Gartner says $16.9bn BI market in last stage shift from IT to business
Gartner says the global BI and analytics market is set to hit $16.9bn in sales in 2016, as buying shifts from IT to business in organisations
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Insurance giant RSA outsources to Wipro
Insurance group takes on infrastructure as a service from Indian supplier Wipro in a bid to consolidate its European IT
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Andy Beale takes over as government’s deputy CTO
Government Digital Service appoints new deputy chief technology officer following Magnus Falk’s departure last year
Thu Feb 4, 2016
VoLTE calls not yet as reliable as 2G or 3G, says report
Research by customer experience solutions supplier Amdocs claims VoLTE call drops are four to five times higher than on traditional mobile networks
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Energy sector lacks visibility of damaging cyber attacks
While 82% of energy sector IT professionals say a cyber attack could cause physical damage, 65% cannot track all threats to their networks
Thu Feb 4, 2016
Global mobile traffic to hit 31 exabytes a month by 2020
The boom in global mobile data traffic shows absolutely no signs of slowing, according to Cisco’s latest Visual Networking Index report
Thu Feb 4, 2016
IoT risks raise concerns among IT specialists in central and eastern Europe
The internet of things is gaining momentum in central and eastern Europe, but IT professionals have worries over security
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Italy embraces cloud storage for multiple platforms
Investment in the cloud and storage is rising rapidly in Italy as customers see the benefits of cloud storage for many use cases and the savings it can bring
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Guy’s and St Thomas’ trials smartphones as health monitors
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is trialling the use of smartphones as part of a health monitoring kit for heart failure patients
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Mobile apps are big threat to business security, researcher warns
Attackers could already be exploiting the fact that most mobile apps are ‘leaving the door wide open’ through poor and insecure coding practices, says security researcher James Lyne
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Swedish insurer pens infrastructure deal with City Network
Insurance company Folksam is using infrastructure as a service as part of its IT modernisation programme
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Agreement struck to put superfast broadband in new-build homes
The government has struck a deal with Openreach and the Home Builders Federation to supply superfast broadband connectivity to new homes
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Visa opens up its technology to developers
Software developers at fintech companies and banks are to be given access to Visa’s technology
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Threat intelligence vital to cyber defence, claims CrowdStrike
Companies that ignore the global events that are the drivers behind cyber threats will pay for it in the loss of revenue, jobs, intellectual property, and shareholder value, says CrowdStrike
Fri Feb 5, 2016
Vaizey launches cyber security learning tool for HR professionals
The government and the CIPD have launched a free e-learning module to help HR professionals protect sensitive HR data and educate the wider workforce about cyber security
Fri Feb 5, 2016
ABN Amro reacts to demand for Snapchat customer support
Dutch bank is widening its social media-based channels by communicating with customers using Snapchat
Fri Feb 5, 2016
CIO interview: Kevin O’Connor, group CIO, William Hill
Former Paddy Power CIO aims to bring IT development work back in-house and use technology to improve customers’ betting experience
Fri Feb 5, 2016
HSCIC chair Kingsley Manning to leave in May
Chair of the Health and Social Care Information Centre Kingsley Manning plans to leave his job, making it the second high-profile NHS IT departure in the past few months