CIO News

Microsoft will not buy Yahoo insists Ballmer

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:48:00 GMT

New leadership at Yahoo changes nothing

Microsoft will not revive its Yahoo takeover offer, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said during the company's annual shareholders meeting yesterday (19 November), despite a change of CEO at the online company.

Virus attack on London hospitals hits patient care

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:51:00 GMT

Ambulances diverted as hospitals revert to paper systems

Computer systems at three London hospitals were hit on Wednesday morning after PCs were apparently infected with malware.

Burberry CEO puts faith in IT whilst warning of lower profits

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:40:00 GMT

SAP is delivering savings as US slow-down hit classic British clothing company Burberry

Luxury clothing manufacturer Burberry has warned its shareholders that profits for 2008 will be lower than expected, but in a statement to the stock exchange CEO Angela Ahrendts said the existing IT and supply chain rationalisation initiatives will deliver efficiencies in the “near term”.

Google's CEO calls for innovation and US spending on alternative energy

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Pump billions into alternative energy efforts, broadband infrastructure and research

The US government needs to pump billions of dollars into alternative energy efforts, broadband infrastructure and research in an effort to rebuild the nation's economy, CEO of Google said on Tuesday.

Gartner spells out route to datacentre efficiency

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:51:00 GMT

Save money, save a million kilowatt hours

Analysts Gartner has launched a list of best practises in the datacentre, designed to save electricity and improve cooling.

CIO News View: Yahoo's Yang finally walks

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:02:00 GMT

Farewell then, Jerry Yang

The news that Yahoo founder Jerry Yang is to step down from his CEO role comes too late for the company’s investors or for those who thought that a Microsoft-Yahoo combination offered the best prospect of avoiding a Google lock-in on .

Socitm spells out data handling standards

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:41:00 GMT

Information Commissioner backs new approach

Socitm, the public sector IT directors’ organisation and the Local Government Association have jointly produced new guidelines for data handling in local councils.

IT in firing line as Citigroup announces 52,000 jobs to go

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:21:00 GMT

New CIO will lead transformational efforts and centralisation as cuts deepen

Financial services giant Citigroup’s announcement of 52,000 job losses is certain to affect many IT staff.

Yahoo CEO pays price for snubbing Microsoft

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:10:00 GMT

Yang steps down as CEO

After driving off a takeover buyout offer from Microsoft, and losing out on a deal with Google, Jerry Yang is stepping down as chief executive of Yahoo, the company he co-founded.

Capgemini and Amazon bond in the cloud

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:55:00 GMT

Applications 'squirted' at data centres.

Carphone Warehouse may "spin-off" TalkTalk broadband

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:14:00 GMT

ISP to be sold off

Carphone Warehouse is considering plans to spin off its TalkTalk broadband internet business according to weekend reports.

Emails reveal HP's anger at Vista marketing

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:35:00 GMT

Blame game begins over bloated OS.

An HP executive was furious at Microsoft over the company's decision to loosen the requirements for its "Vista Capable" marketing campaign, internal emails unsealed by a federal judge have shown.

BT takes axe to workforce as services unit struggles

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:20:00 GMT

Offshore and subcontractors to bear the brunt.

The former UK telecoms incumbent, BT, has announced that is to axe 10,000 workers as it seeks to cut costs and improve profitability at its services branch.

Hosting company says London power shortage is a myth

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:42:00 GMT

There's power in them there streets

A hosting company has poured scorn on the received wisdom that data centres in London are struggling with shortages of power.Greg McCulloch, managing director of Interxion, said that the company recently expanded its Brick Lane facility, close to the City of London and was looking to open two more London locations. McCulloch said that he was hoping to open the first one next March with a second building later in the year.He said that the company had had little problem in supplying power to its facilities. "We've actually got the reverse problem," he said. "We have more power than we can use." He said that the bigger problem that the company had faced was with wayleaves (land access for utilities) rather than electricity supply. "There's plenty of power in the Grid in London," he said.There are many companies looking to set up data centres in the capital who would be surprised to hear that. Earlier this year, a survey by Vanson Bourne found that data centres in the south east were struggling with capacity and last month NGD announced that it was building a massive data centre in Wales to supply companies struggling for capacity in London. McCulloch said that many organisations made the mistake of asking for too much capacity all at once, amounts that the electricity companies struggle to cope with. "It's no good asking for massive amounts in one go because you're not going to get it."

Women leaving UK IT jobs in droves, says BCS

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:02:00 GMT

Sharp decline over six years, research finds

About 37,000 UK women IT professionals left the business between 2001 and 2007, according to a new report by the British Computer Society (BCS).

IT spend set to slow down dramatically

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:09:00 GMT

Recession hits expenditure plans.

IT spending will increase at just half the rate previously predicted according to IDC.

Virgin announces 2,200 job cuts

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:03:00 GMT

Layoffs not related to financial crisis

Virgin Media is to cut 2,200 jobs by 2012 as part of a group-wide overhaul in the wake of the company's formation following the merger of cable companies Telewest and NTL in 2006. The group, which employs 14,600 people and has Sir Richard Branson as its largest shareholder, has 76 offices across the UK, with major bases in London, Edinburgh, Nottingham and Sheffield. Virgin said it would not start cutting jobs until the fourth quarter of next year, with the majority of the role reductions taking place before the end of 2010. The company insisted the job cuts were not related to the current downturn in the economy.

BBC iPlayer plans global reach, multi-platform coverage

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:40:00 GMT

BBC's technology director discusses plans for iPlayer

Erik Huggers, Director of BBC Future Media & Technology, outlined the plans for the future of the iPlayer, the popular catch-up online media player, during a keynote at Screen Digest’s The Future of Online Media Distribution conference.

CTO role becomes broader, more strategic

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:13:00 GMT

HP and Cisco CTOs detail how role has evolved

The role of the chief technology officer has evolved from one narrowly focused on engineering into one with broader, more strategic responsibilities, according to the CTOs of two major IT companies.

NHS IT offered SOA update with new Lorenzo software

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:10:00 GMT

Core system for health service computer project gets a makeover

ISoft has released its Lorenzo health-care platform, elements of which are already in use as part of the U.K.'s National Health Service's IT modernisation programme.

Google adds video/voice chat to GMail

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Streaming add-ons for free

Google is adding free streamed video and voice chat to its hugely popular GMail free email programme that is also built into the Google Apps suite of tools. The service will be available from tomorrow, 12 November.

World's computer systems vulnerable to cyberattack

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:34:00 GMT

Study: 'Critical infrastructure not secure enough'

Good news for the ailing financial services industry: it's the only part of the world's critical infrastructure with a secure computer system. According to a survey, the computer systems that run the world's critical infrastructure are not nearly as secure as they ought to be. And this is upsetting those who work in the industry.

SAP users unconvinced by promise of extra value from support

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:30:00 GMT

UK user group members puts ERP giant on notice

SAP users will not accept the next round of price rises for support unless the company has clearly delivered improved total cost of ownership for the businesses that run its enterprise software.

CIO News View: Obama CTO role could be poisoned chalice

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:06:00 GMT

Wanted: IT expert with endless appetite for politicking and hassle

It’s hardly surprising that Google CEO Eric Schmidt isn’t interested in becoming Barack Obama’s technology czar. The role of helping government by shedding light on the broad issue of what to do with information technology has always been a stinker of a job and there’s no reason why the the new American regime should change matters.

Servers to get Energy Star rating

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:28:00 GMT

EPA stickers on boxes by February as US takes a green lead.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the third draft of its Energy Star specification for servers and expects the final spec to be ready for use in February.