Windows Server 2012 kicks ass: discuss
Reg commentards weigh in
A little experiment from us: we are rounding up comments on a couple of articles - and turning them into articles. Some might call this stretching the material - social media types might call it amplification. But we think that not all of our commentards are mad - and many have very interesting insights to share. Yesterday we …
Commentards Ahoy! How about a Petabyte of storage?
Let's do some data recycling
A little experiment from us: we are rounding up comments on a couple of articles - and turning them into articles. Some might call this stretching the material - social media types might call it amplification. But we think that not all of our commentards are mad - and many have very interesting insights to share. Today, we mine …
Want your social media to swing? First, get the staff onboard
The more the merrier
Social networking clearly has the potential to totally change the way we work, especially in large or widely dispersed organisations.
It might actually allow companies to see our natural inclination to share information (the technical term is “gossip”) as a business tool, rather than a drain on company time.
However, more so …
So, you want to get closer to the workers with social media?
Well, close enough...
We often hear how social networking has the potential to revolutionise the way we communicate and collaborate in business.
People like to gossip, to share information, to argue and to chat, and will use whichever media are available to do so. For proof, we need only consider the inexorable rise of services such as Facebook and …
How do you measure up at the Olympics?
Lane-watchers, touch pads, stop watches and time triggers
In Rome in 1960, a very strange thing happened in the men’s 100m freestyle Olympic swimming final: the man who recorded the fastest time was given the silver medal.
In the absence of touch pads to record a swimmer’s finishing time, the method of determining the winner was complex in the extreme. Firstly, there were finishing …
Oiling the big wheels that keep the Paralympics moving
Bladerunner techs and wheelchair wizards gear up
The Olympic Games: just saying it conjures up images of top athletes straining for the finishing line, the crowd roaring during the 100 metres final, the heartbreak of a relay team dropping their baton, the sudden spurt in public expertise on sports such as shooting or three-day eventing as the medal tally highlights their …
Just how do you build the perfect Olympic stadium?
London Olympics What have the Romans ever done for us....
On 27 July, London will be transformed as the biggest celebration of sports in the world kicks off in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
The stadium has been designed to hold 80,000 people, and the Olympic Village will certainly hold many more.
On a normal day, Stratford tube station handles somewhere between 220,000 …
What you should know about migrating to the cloud
Have a pleasant journey
Small businesses account for roughly half the UK economy. The technology requirements for a one-man band are wildly different from those of a 250-seat tech support service company, yet both fall under the SME banner.
So what is the general advice that will work for everyone and anyone who is considering moving some IT into the …
Clouds of Sushi?
Yo!
When the on-site tin comes creaking and wheezing to the end of its life, overburdened by inboxes that were never supposed to get that big, its the IT department that has to decide what to do next. Upgrade? Outsource? Go into the cloud?
Billy Waters, who is the whole of the IT function at the YoSushi restaurant chain, had to make …
What smaller businesses should look for in cloud software
Cutting SaaS down to size
Cloud services – particularly software as a service, or SaaS – ought to be an obvious option for a smaller business.
Who wouldn’t want to cut their hardware costs? Isn’t it a good idea to gain instant access to a range of otherwise unaffordable enterprise grade software, get better security systems and shift the IT budget from …
SaaS brings software to the masses
Collaborative tools for SMEs
Unless you’ve been living in a cave even less well equipped for the modern age than Fred Flintstone’s, you will have noticed the buzz about something called cloud computing. It comes with a menagerie of buzzwords: software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure on demand, hosted apps … We could go on. …
Glad to be hybrid: Office 365 flits from cloud to cloud
Interview Public and private partnership
“The hybrid cloud environment is a great place for Office 365,” evangelises Simon May, appropriately enough a tech evangelist at Microsoft UK.
May began his professional life with an eight-year stint at a global financial institution where he covered plenty of tech ground, from desktop and server support through to IT project …
Forecasting logon storms with desktop virtualisation
You the Expert Planning for bad weather
For an IT manager, desktop virtualization is no bad thing, if only because it limits how badly a user can mess up his or her own settings. So if you are thinking that you could slim down your desktop hardware requirements and maybe keep track of everyone’s software upgrades more simply are there any downsides consequences it …
National Air Traffic Services lands desktop virtualisation
Interview Head of IS swoops in to explain how
You think you have a stressful job? Try Gavin Walker. He’s the man in charge of the tech and comms infrastructure (Head of Information Solutions) at NATS, the artist formerly know as National Air Traffic Service Control Services. Yes, the people who know where all the planes are over the Atlantic and the UK.
We went to the NATS …
We need to talk about desktop virt
Readers, we want you
Sometimes we are forced to acknowledge that there is a group of people even more knowledgeable and informed than even Register journalists: you, our beloved readers.
So we turn to you for help with a question that bears proper scrutiny. All this talk of cloud (and let’s face it, there has been a fair bit) has prompted some more …
Data retention, FOI and the storage budget
You the Expert Managing the archive
We set you a challenge. How do you resolve the conflicting requirements of data retention rules, the Freedom of Information Act and managing a storage budget?
Email, as you know, clogs up your storage boxes like nothing else. And if your policy is “hang on to it, you never know when you might need it” you could find yourself …
Data retention, compliance and the storage budget
Experts Which one do you blow first?
Compliance. Was there ever a word to strike such terror into the heart of the average techie? (OK, “Audit”. But don’t blame us, we didn’t want to say it…)
Juggling the often conflicting requirements of your budget and compliance is enough to give anyone a headache. So help us out with a question, if you would be so good.
Email …
The road to Office 2010
Worth the shoe leather?
Office 2010 is something of a conundrum. First the good news: it is the fastest selling version of Office in history, according to US analyst Forrester. Half of the businesses the firm surveyed in March had started the migration process, and the “vast majority” of the rest planned to upgrade in the future.
According to Gartner, …
Self Service BI: Would you, should you?
Expert Clinic Reg Readers say Yes!
We asked last week for your expert views on the state of self-service business intelligence.
Let us set the scene: Analysts at Gartner (and Forrester, and elsewhere) have predicted that 2011 will be the year of self service business intelligence, as users demand tools to help them access and understand company data.
The users’ …
Pick the right tools for your Office 2010 migration
Paving the way
Microsoft reports the take-up of Office 2010 is the fastest for a software product in the company’s history. All well and good, but some doubters remain.
Microsoft is keen to mop up migration and has assembled a bag of tools to smooth the process.
The company’s in-house tech evangelist, Simon May, refers to Office 2010 …
Email and compliance: How not to blow the storage budget?
Commentards, we need your input
Compliance. Was there ever a word to strike such terror into the heart of the average techie? (OK, “Audit”. But don’t blame us, we didn’t want to say it…)
Juggling the often conflicting requirements of your budget and compliance is enough to give anyone a headache. So help us out with a question, if you would be so good.
Email …
Can a user really do BI from the desktop?
Commentards, tell us what you think.
Analysts at Gartner (and Forrester, and elsewhere) have predicted that 2011 will be the year of self service business intelligence, as users demand tools to help them access and understand company data.
The users’ motives are easy to understand: identifying and responding quickly to trends and patterns in business data is vital …
Cloud Security Alliance crosses the Pond
Bringing cloud to the masses
“The cloud agenda has to move beyond the security field and into business,” says Jacqui Taylor, freshly minted director of communications for the UK and Ireland wing of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
“There is an education process that has to be done, and it needs an independent voice. That is where we come in.”
A not-for- …
SaaS for speedy relief of licence headaches
It's simpler than you think
Managing software licensing has to be one of the least fun aspects of an IT professional’s life. For one thing, it is medically proven* that there is no better means of inducing a headache than trying to read the whole of a software licence.
And that is before you get to the logistics of managing the things: making sure they are …
Are your secrets safe with SaaS providers?
Plugging the leaks
There are plenty of opportunities for people to disclose, steal or sell sensitive company data. After all, anyone who really wants to swipe information needs only the intent and a USB stick.
Admittedly, truly nefarious types are in fairly short supply. But the every day threat to any company’s data comes from the unintentional …
Cloud changes shape in a crystal ball
What the future holds
“The mark of a successful technology,” says Simon May, tech evangelist at Microsoft, “is that it vanishes.”
By that measure, cloud computing has a way to go, as it is surely the most visible technology out there – if you are counting headlines, at least.
So it is interesting to speculate when it will fade from our discussions, …
The cloud and the incredible shrinking office
Home is where the heart is
Those in the know say that cloud computing will fundamentally change the way we office creatures work.
“I am slightly too young to remember the workplace before the arrival of the PC,” says Jacqui Thomas, director of Comms at the UK and Ireland chapter of the Cloud Security Alliance. “But cloud is the same kind of game changer …
Data ownership becomes fuzzy in the cloud
Stand up for your rights
If Facebook has taught us nothing else, it is that people can be cavalier about protecting their data.
The social networking giant has forced consumers to think differently about their data: have I just handed over the rights to the photos of my kids? Am I going to appear on my friends' pages endorsing fashion leggings thanks to …
Software as a service: Separating the bells from the whistles
Stack it high, sell it cheap
The most obvious attraction of software as a service (SaaS) is that it gives small firms access to software they could not otherwise afford.
In exchange for handing their data over to the care of someone with a huge data centre, they also benefit from economies of scale. But since there is no such thing as a free lunch, these …
Make sure your data finds a safe harbour
Danger in international waters
The drive to buy local is very much in vogue, even though the note of nationalism in the Buy British slogan may not sit comfortably with some.
And despite the many good reasons to support one’s local economy, there are limits: this writer is not buying local bananas until well into retirement on Mustique.
Outsourcing is also a …
Be happy in the cloud with the right SLA
Fine print reveals providers' true intentions
Cloud services are not perfect. They are run on computers, by technical people, for customers: a triumvirate of imperfection.
It is easy to get very excited by the possibilities of the cloud, so when Flickr accidentally deletes 4,000 photographs, or hotmail and gmail vanish email data, it serves as a useful reminder of the …
DeepZoom rises to royal occasion
Cloud cuts projects down to size
To celebrate a recent Royal Event you might have heard of, developers at Shoothill were asked to build an application that would add to the red-white-and-blue fun.
The idea was that people could upload pictures of themselves to be stored in a giant photo montage portraying the faces of Prince William and his bride.
Unreasonable …
Can cloud save the NHS?
Public sector looks for gentler cuts
As the scope of cuts to the UK public sector becomes clearer, the holy grail becomes finding places where money can be saved with no impact on frontline services.
No one wants fewer hospital beds, cuts to school meals or mothballed paramedic crews if we can make do with fewer email servers and fat terminals.
Socitm logo
The …
Mind the GAP: Alert system saves lives
Case study Azure to the rescue
Some time in the not-too-distant future, a brave, if chilly, soul will send the following tweet: “on #K2 summit. v tired. awesome view. cu @ basecamp”. You will have the UK firm Active Web Solutions (AWS) to thank for it.
AWS has developed a Global Alerting Platform (GAP) based on Microsoft’s Azure cloud service that will allow …
Data encryption and the Cloud
Not what it's cracked up to be
Survey after survey finds that IT professionals’ number one concern about cloud services is security.
Some may say that concerns are overblown and that IT managers are more worried by loss of control than by real security risks. In some cases, the argument goes, security may even be better with a cloud deployment.
That may be …
Cloud in 2011: A bright new dawn...
...or a shadow hanging over IT pros?
An awful lot has been written about cloud computing in recent months. Big vendors are climbing over each other to claim an understanding of cloud and 2011 is the year it is supposed to go mainstream.
Cloud computing will save us money, it will simplify our IT systems, it will transform the way we interact with government, it …
Student books Vegas trip with Twitter mood detection app
PHP on Azure prize winner
Ben Waine, a self described "student ninja” who scooped first prize at the PHP Benelux Azure coding contest on May 21, has announced his victory on Twitter in a fittingly dignified and restrained manner:
“Vegas baby yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!!!! Thanks to the @PHPAzureContest team who gave advice and support. #dpc11”
But before we …
Read-only nation: can Open Source change the British way?
Workshop Reg readers duke it out with Canonical
We asked if open-source software had a part to play in increasing technological innovation in the UK. It seems that for a nation with such a great engineering heritage, we have too easily passed the tech leadership flag over to the US and to the emerging economies.
Steve George from Canonical speculated that open-source software …
Desktop Linux: the final frontier
Strange new worlds
Depending on who you talk to, 40 to 75 per cent of the world’s web servers are Linux-based. That is some serious market penetration. But even in organisations running Linux on their servers the operating system is on just 20 per cent of desktops.
Despite its success in the back office, Linux has not yet made such an impact on …
Getting data in and out of a cloud service
Check those pre-nups
Two problems with getting data in and out of a cloud service: the technology, meaning bandwidth and networking protocols, and contractual obligations.
There are limits to what can be done to download terabytes of data faster, but the right tools can certainly make things simpler. And as usual when taking on contracts, cloud …
Skilling up the cloud: What it means for infosecurity pros
Remote controls
In its 2011 Global Information Security Workforce Study, Frost and Sullivan argues that cloud computing “illustrates a serious gap between technology implementation and the skills necessary to provide security”.
The analyst firm’s survey of more than 10,000 information security professionals worldwide found widespread use of …
Research scientist: Cloud is good for IT pros
Skilling up
“Cloud computing does not mean the end of the IT professional.” So says Professor Marin Litoiu, research professor at York University in Canada, erstwhile IBM research director and now one of the world’s foremost thinkers on cloud.
This may seem a strange statement - coming from a man who has predicted that cloud computing will …
Open source and the sluggish UK public sector
Workshop Chicken and egg
Confronting their rapidly shrinking budgets, public sector bean counters must imagine that someone somewhere has been casting Chinese curses about living in interesting times. Because when money gets tight, things sure do get interesting.
You would think that at times like these open-source deployments would be the obvious …
Belt, braces and external security standards
The risky business of assessing the public cloud
If you are about to hand the day to day running of your company’s technology and handling of data to a third party, you had better be sure they know what they are doing, and that what they are doing matches your requirements.
The business case for adopting cloud computing is already clear for many: it can save a lot of money, …
UK is a closed source 'stronghold'
Workshop Proprietary software is the opiate of the people
The UK lags behind the rest of the world in deployments of open source software. Steve George, vice-president of business development at Canonical, believes this is a mistake that compromises not only our economy but also our global competitiveness.
In China rural communities are receiving millions of PCs running Linux. In India …
Let’s get commercial
Workshop Making the business case for open software
IT people already know the benefits of open source software. A fair number of them run Linux at home (not least, according to one chief technical officer, so they can deny all knowledge of recent editions of Windows to friends and family wanting off-duty technical support), and persuading them to use it at work is not a hard …
Cutting the cost of innovation
Workshop Open source gears up to re-enter the fray
Open source software might be free to download, but it ends up costing as much as traditional software because of the complexities of supporting it, or inflexible licensing structures. Or so the argument goes.
You would expect to hear this from Steve Ballmer, Larry Ellison or any of the other grand old men of proprietary …
What did happen to all those London mayoral votes?
We observe the election count
Last week, the nation turned out in record numbers (45 per cent) to decide who would run their local councils. In London, that meant voting Boris Johnson into what Ken Livingstone probably thought was his office for life.
Some time earlier, the Open Rights Group had called for volunteers to be part of an election observation …
How scanners and PCs will choose London's mayor
Can e-counting technology get it right this time?
Very few politicians are recognisable by their first names only, but next week, two such larger than life characters will face each other in the closest battle for the office of London Mayor since it was re-established in 2000.
The polls have the Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone running neck and neck with the Tory contender, …
NASA reveals manned Mars mission plans
Heading for the red planet
NASA says it will send a 400,000kg crewed spacecraft on a 30-month round trip to Mars as early as February 2031. The details of the planned mission were announced at a meeting in Houston, Texas, the BBC reports.
According to the plans, the spacecraft will be built in orbit, being far too large to ever be lifted from the bottom …
