In Depth

In Depth

• Post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know

  Computer Weekly has investigated the Post Office Horizon scandal since 2008 and is, in fact, part of the story. This guide contains essential information about the scandal  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Ransomware and storage and backup

  We look at ransomware attacks, and the importance of good backup practice as well as immutable snapshots, air-gapping, network segmentation, AI anomaly detection and supplier warranties  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Flash vs HDD

  In this guide, we examine the differences between flash storage and HDD, the rise of NVMe and much denser formats such as QLC, and whether or not flash will vanquish HDD in the all-flash datacentre  Continue Reading

• The Loan Charge scandal explained: Everything you need to know

  Tens of thousands of IT contractors have been saddled with life-changing tax bills as a result of a controversial, retroactive government policy – and the fall-out from its introduction has been likened to the Post Office IT scandal  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: What is S3 and what is it good for?

  We look at S3, AWS’s object storage protocol that originated in its cloud services and has now spread as near enough a standard and to third-party on-premise deployments  Continue Reading

• Schools go smartphone-free to address online harms

  Schools are implementing smartphone-free policies in an attempt to curb students’ exposure to online harms, but teachers and parents are worried the Online Safety Act will only partially address concerns  Continue Reading

• AWS storage: Key storage options in the Amazon cloud

  We survey the key cloud storage options available from AWS, which include S3 object storage and its options, block storage in EBS and a range of file storage choices  Continue Reading

• IAM: Enterprises face a long, hard road to improve

  Poor identity and access management puts enterprise data at risk, but the path to stronger IAM remains complex  Continue Reading

• Beyond VPNs: The future of secure remote connectivity

  As more companies adopt cloud services and remote work, the limitations of VPNs are becoming obvious. We explore what’s next for secure remote connectivity  Continue Reading

• What are the security risks of bring your own AI?

  The rise of generative AI has led to a plethora of publicly accessible artificial intelligence tools, but what are the risks when external AI tools are used with corporate data?  Continue Reading

• Storage explained: Consumption models of storage procurement

  We look at consumption models of storage purchasing and how cloud operating models have made them mainstream and supplanted the traditional three-year lift-and-shift datacentre refresh  Continue Reading

• Virtual collaboration within and across industries – promises and challenges

  New technologies enable intuitive and realistic visual and auditory landscapes that put users within applications. We look at which industries will likely illustrate the impact of virtual collaboration in commercial environments  Continue Reading

• Data classification: What, why and who provides it

  You need to know where your data is, what it is, its governance requirements and relationship to the rest of your data. We look at data classification and how AI can help  Continue Reading

• Rewiring Whitehall: The next steps in digital government

  There’s a new government in place with fresh impetus to accelerate the digital transformation of public services – but what’s going to be different, better and more successful this time around?  Continue Reading

• Kenyan workers win High Court appeal to take Meta to trial

  Despite the company arguing that Kenyan courts have no jurisdiction over an American company, the Nairobi High Court has ruled that Meta must face more than 180 content moderators and data labellers in court over allegedly poor working conditions, ...  Continue Reading

• Detect ransomware in storage to act before it spreads

  Anomaly detection and immutable copies can be frontline tools against ransomware – we look at the role storage can play against the latest techniques employed by ransomware gangs  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Tips for choosing a UCaaS provider

  Forrester analysts assess the various options and licensing arrangements available for unified comms-as-a-service offerings  Continue Reading

• What are tensor processing units and what is their role in AI?

  We look at Google’s TPUs – tensor processing units – and ask what makes them different to CPUs, GPUs and DPUs, as well as how you can take advantage of them in AI processing  Continue Reading

• Reinventing security operations for the modern threat landscape

  The growing pace of digital transformation has opened new avenues for attackers, making traditional security measures obsolete. Organisations must modernise their security operations to fortify their defences and navigate the evolving threat ...  Continue Reading

• The future of collaboration in virtuality

  The internet has introduced a host of applications to enable increasingly sophisticated collaboration across distances. Email catapulted economies into near real-time cooperation of teams, but new technologies promise to unleash immersive ...  Continue Reading

• Global file systems: A single view of on-premise and cloud data

  Global file systems aggregate data into a single hybrid cloud from multiple locations using object storage with access that satisfies traditional application needs, like file locking  Continue Reading

• Azure storage: Key options in Microsoft cloud storage

  We survey the key cloud storage options available from Microsoft Azure, which include Files, Blob, Elastic SAN, Managed Disk and NetApp files, for a range of use cases  Continue Reading

• What the datacentre industry would like to see from the government's planning reforms

  How can datacentre policy and planning reform better reflect the criticality of both energy and data?  Continue Reading

• Datacentre power purchase agreements: Are they the right way to lower emissions?

  Could datacentre energy procurement do even more to green the grid, accelerating the rise in renewables?  Continue Reading

• How datacentres can turn the tide on carbon emissions

  Operators have revealed troubling increases in their carbon emissions of late, but could these have been prevented?  Continue Reading

• Why responsible AI is a business imperative

  Tools are emerging for real-world AI systems that focus more on responsible adoption, deployment and governance, rather than academic and philosophical questions about speculative risks  Continue Reading

• Shrinking the carbon footprint of datacentres

  The digital economy is increasing demand for datacentres, and in turn pushing up the use of power and cooling. Granular metrics are key to achieving digitisation with a low environmental impact  Continue Reading

• How to keep datacentres cool

  We look at how datacentre cooling is developing, and how the right choice can increase capacity and cut costs  Continue Reading

• Driving IT sustainability in datacentres

  Europe’s datacentre operators need to get their power report cards to comply with the European Commission’s drive to greener EU datacentres  Continue Reading

• The CMA anti-trust investigation into AWS and Microsoft explained: Everything you need to know

  After regulator Ofcom raised red flags about the anti-competitive behaviour of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, the UK cloud market was referred to the Competition and Markets Authority – here’s why  Continue Reading

• DC01UK: Everything you need to know about the UK government-backed Hertfordshire mega-datacentre

  A proposal to build one of the biggest datacentres in Europe has been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council, and already has the support of the technology secretary and local councillors  Continue Reading

• AI: From exploration to production – five case studies on GenAI in action

  Many organisations are testing out uses for generative AI, but how are they getting on? We speak to five early adopters to find out the lessons learned so far  Continue Reading

• The flex to frontline hybrid working

  Hybrid working is a reality for businesses everywhere. Research shows that just under two-thirds of employers offer frontline workers some form of time-based flexibility, yet many workers in this category feel less valued than desk-based colleagues  Continue Reading

• Misinformation runs deeper than social media

  While social media may contribute to the increasing rapid spread and reach of misinformation, the root causes of the problem go much deeper than the role of a particular company or way of using technology to communicate  Continue Reading

• Will autonomous weapons make humans passive participants in war?

  Experts warn the emergence and adoption of AI-powered military systems may eventually push battlefield decision-making beyond the limits of human cognition  Continue Reading

• Automation driving SD-WAN optimisation

  AIOps is being deployed to help manage highly distributed enterprise networking configurations  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes disaster recovery: Five key questions

  We look at disaster recovery for Kubernetes environments, the key challenges to deployment of K8s DR, the risks we aim to mitigate, how to build a plan and the key infrastructure requirements  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Vector databases at the core of AI

  We look at the use of vector data in AI and how vector databases work, plus vector embedding, the challenges for storage of vector data and the key suppliers of vector database products  Continue Reading

• CTO interview: Budgeting in nanoseconds

  At high-performance financial exchange LMAX Group, applications are allowed just eight nanoseconds of latency – but how does it achieve this?  Continue Reading

• AI in the enterprise: How to build an AI dataset

  The successful execution of an enterprise's AI strategy lives or dies on the quality of the data underpinning it, so how can companies ensure they are on the right path when it comes to cracking on with the early stages of this process?  Continue Reading

• SD-WANs in a cloud-native world

  We look at where software-defined wide area networks fit in a modern, cloud-native IT architecture  Continue Reading

• Cloud repatriation: How to do it successfully

  The keys to reverse migration success include workload selection, how to prepare your on-premise infrastructure and future-proofing the decision to come back in-house  Continue Reading

• ERP firms target carbon reporting role

  As their customers face regulatory challenges ahead, ERP providers have been busy adding functionality to support reporting their green initiatives  Continue Reading

• Asia raises the 5G bar in the next digital revolution

  Half a decade since their introduction, 5G networks are being deployed across the world. Yet Asia is already raising the bar, with 5G now flying – literally in some places – and 5G-Advanced coming into play  Continue Reading

• The 5G-Advanced era is now as Asia raises the 5G bar

  Continuing our look at 5G-Advanced, we find out what products and services the new network will support and which operators are already planning for a new era in communications  Continue Reading

• Key-value flash targets more efficient data storage

  We look at key-value storage, which promises much greater I/O efficiency and longer flash drive lifespans, but may be constrained by limited use cases and lukewarm productisation efforts  Continue Reading

• Police Digital Service staff arrests: Everything you need to know

  In July 2024, details emerged that two employees working for the Police Digital Service had been arrested on suspicion of bribery, fraud and misconduct in public office. Here’s everything we know about the story so far  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Kubernetes, containers and persistent storage

  In this guide, we look at the market-leading container platform Kubernetes, how it works, the challenges with persistent storage and backup, and how they have been overcome  Continue Reading

• SD-WAN: The evolution continues

  We go through the alphabet soup of secure networks, propelled by artificial intelligence and 5G, which have rejuvenated software-defined wide area network technology  Continue Reading

• Updating taxation: Can AI and data analysis help with HMRC’s human resources problem?

  HMRC resources are currently thinly spread in the aftermath of Covid and Brexit. Could automating systems using generative AI help HMRC’s digital transformation?  Continue Reading

• Computer simulations show Swedish fusion initiative could have global impact

  The only nuclear fusion initiative in the Nordics, Novatron, believes it has a lot to offer on the global scale  Continue Reading

• Post Office Horizon IT scandal inquiry: Three years of shocking revelations

  Over two years of shocking revelations from the Post Office Horizon scandal inquiry  Continue Reading

• Keeping control of SaaS costs

  The ease with which someone with a corporate credit card can buy a SaaS product can lead to runaway costs and data leakage risks  Continue Reading

• AI interview: Thomas Dekeyser, researcher and film director

  On the politics of ‘techno-refusal’, and the lessons that can be learned from a clandestine group of French IT workers who spent the early 1980s sabotaging technological infrastructure  Continue Reading

• Forrester: Rethink your software asset management practices

  Software as a service needs to be managed as part of software asset management. Forrester analysts offer some practical advice on how to succeed  Continue Reading

• Deep dive into quantum-resistant cryptography for email security

  Quantum computers have the potential to crack many of the encryption methods we currently rely on to keep our digital communications safe. Quantum-resistant cryptography may be the answer  Continue Reading

• How UK firms can get ready for the implementation of NIS2

  Many British companies will need to adhere to NIS2’s cyber security risk management and reporting requirements if they want to continue operating in the EU market and avoid huge fines  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes and storage in the enterprise: What the analysts say

  We talk to analysts about Kubernetes adoption in the enterprise, how mature it is, deployment challenges and key obstacles to enterprises that want to go cloud-native with containers  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: CRDs at core of extensible, modular storage in K8s

  We talk to VMware engineer Xing Yang, who saw Kubernetes storage evolve from the early days where its modular, extensible origins translated to Operators for storage and backup  Continue Reading

• The shifting landscape of DEI in the tech industry

  Diversity, equity and inclusion was once a regularly discussed part of the tech industry, but as attitudes shift, what does this look like for the DEI landscape of tech in the near future?  Continue Reading

• CX+EX=BG, with added AI: A winning formula for customer experience

  Guaranteeing customer experiences of the highest level possible is one of the cornerstones of the modern business. Is there a magic formula? It could well be a combination of artificial intelligence and pixie dust  Continue Reading

• AI disempowers logistics workers while intensifying their work

  Conversations on the algorithmic management of work largely revolve around unproven claims about productivity gains or job losses - less attention is paid to how AI and automation negatively affect low-paid workers  Continue Reading

• How to optimise SAM budget in today’s heterogeneous environments

  Hidden software costs and ecosystem complexity make managing a mixed software estate harder than ever. Here’s how to optimise your spending  Continue Reading

• CISO mentoring – who to turn to when the worst happens

  Those who get the role of a CISO may have overcome some professional hurdles, but are they ready to face what comes as part of the job? And who do they ask for advice? We look at the mentoring dilemma  Continue Reading

• CrowdStrike update chaos explained: What you need to know

  A botched software update at cyber security firm CrowdStrike has caused IT chaos around the world. Learn more about the global CrowdStrike update outage as it develops  Continue Reading

• Cloud databases: Base jumping for the bigger picture

  In the era of cloud-native computing, graph and NoSQL have emerged as two alternatives to the relational database model  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: The long road to mastery of persistent storage

  Jan Safranek of Red Hat saw containers emerge as an exciting new way of deploying applications, but it took several additions to make it the mature enterprise platform it is today  Continue Reading

• Enhancing mobile app security with behaviour-based biometrics

  Behavioural-based biometrics offer tantalising advantages over more traditional biometric solutions. Learn about some of the benefits and potential challenges for safe and secure implementation  Continue Reading

• Hybrid multicloud storage: Pros, cons and key workloads

  We look at hybrid multicloud storage, making the best of on-premise and multiple cloud application locations, its key benefits, some pitfalls and the technologies to build it with  Continue Reading

• IT sustainability: Why we’re still waiting for quantified emissions reductions

  It is not all down to greenwashing. Genuine challenges stand in the way of many organisations implementing IT in support of their environmental, social and governance goals  Continue Reading

• Engaging young people with careers in STEM at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

  Backed by astronaut Tim Peake, the Future Lab exhibition at Goodwood’s annual celebration of motoring aimed to engage children with the excitement of technology innovation. Computer Weekly went to take a look  Continue Reading

• The sky’s the limit with the two sides of AI and networking

  Generative AI is a hyped topic in virtually all industries. But within the realms of infrastructure management, there are two aspects to consider: AI for networking, and networking for AI  Continue Reading

• Riding the cloud database wave

  There is set to be a surge in demand for cloud databases, driven by new use cases and greater decentralised IT spending  Continue Reading

• Opening the gates of the smart city

  Driven by the growing prevalence of smart tech such as 5G, AI and IoT, cities around the world will be able to become smarter places to live and work. But how can smart tech get to places hitherto unconnected to prevent a digital divide?  Continue Reading

• Interview: Nvidia on AI workload demands and storage performance

  We talk to Charlie Boyle of Nvidia about AI impacts on storage I/O, key performance metrics for storage for AI, and storage attributes required across differing AI workloads  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: From stateless also-ran to ‘platform to build platforms’

  Sergey Pronin of Percona was all for ‘Kubernetes for stateless’ at a time when it was hard to provision storage and day-two services – then Operators and Stateful Sets came along  Continue Reading

• IOWN explained: Everything you need to know

  In this essential guide, Computer Weekly investigates the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network project, and why the technology it’s aiming to produce could form the future basis of networking  Continue Reading

• Cloud repatriation: What it is and when you can benefit

  We look at the growing trend of cloud repatriation, why organisations repatriate data, the pros and cons, who can most benefit, and how to decide which data to move  Continue Reading

• The human side of the industrial metaverse

  As the metaverse evolves, could workers get lost in the process of implementing advanced simulations, automated operations and increasing connectivity between systems?  Continue Reading

• Updating agriculture: Can data analysis save farming?

  Modern agriculture is experiencing challenges due to increased costs and environmental disruption. Could data analysis help farmers overcome these issues?  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: When K8s ‘won’ and life now as a ‘surly teenager’

  We talk to Datastax’s Patrick McFadin about Kubernetes’ success against competitors and how StatefulSet and operators solved key challenges, but why there are still obstacles to clear  Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud storage vs on-premise: What data goes where?

  We look at hybrid cloud in storage strategy, key benefits of the cloud vs on-premise storage, key workloads that suit the cloud and how to decide which workloads work best where  Continue Reading

• Deep dive: How Pure Fusion plans to implement storage classes

  We spoke to Pure Storage founder John ‘Coz’ Colgrove about how Pure Storage’s Fusion control plane will make its capacity available to applications via pre-defined storage classes  Continue Reading

• Rise of the citizen developer: GenAI and the democratisation of code

  Computer Weekly asks artificial intelligence and data specialists for their take on the large language model-powered rise of so-called ‘citizen developers’  Continue Reading

• APAC career guide on software development

  In this career guide, we look at what it takes to land a career and thrive in the fast-moving world of software development  Continue Reading

• Women in Data: Barilla chief of analytics on reaching the ‘so what?’ moment with data insights

  Barilla’s chief of analytics and insights, Lyndsay Weir, talks about how to get from data to results, and where the industry needs to change  Continue Reading

• Trends in the cloud database market

  We look at how the cloud database market is evolving  Continue Reading

• The shift towards developing internal tech talent

  When it comes to tech roles, companies often have difficulty hiring skilled workers to fill positions, so some are looking internally to develop the talent they need  Continue Reading

• Security in the public cloud explained: A guide for IT and security admins

  In this guide, IT security and industry experts share their top recommendations for protecting public cloud deployments  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: Building stateful app storage and data protection

  Google engineer Michelle Au was involved in Kubernetes storage early, as the container orchestration platform was developed to support data protection operations such as snapshots  Continue Reading

• Pure’s storage as a service: We can offer what others can’t

  All-flash storage vendor Pure makes bold claims about subscription pricing for storage, stating that the competition can’t offer what it can because its arrays are built for non-disruptive upgrades  Continue Reading

• The pros, cons and misconceptions of dynamic pricing for retailers

  The terms dynamic pricing and surge pricing are often conflated, leaving retailers battling against misconceptions and angry consumers as they use technology to implement price flexibility across their stores  Continue Reading

• IOWN: Shining light on the future of communications

  With rising demand for data and energy consumption due to the vast compute power required by applications such as AI and large language models, something needs to change in networks – this could be IOWN  Continue Reading

• IOWN: Putting vision into reality

  Continuing our look at the work of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network project, we find out what use cases the infrastructure will support and look at the application of IOWN technologies  Continue Reading

• Autonomous weapons systems defy rigid attempts at arms control

  In an ever more dangerous world, the technology is outpacing diplomacy and holds clear strategic value. Retaining human control over its use will require embracing imperfect solutions  Continue Reading

• The sustainable office in the age of hybrid work hotelification

  For many, the phrase ‘hotelification’ may raise some hackles, yet in the context of the office, the concept has continued apace since the pandemic struck. The move towards creating a more sustainable workspace, however, remains rather more muted  Continue Reading

• Best practices to beat container misconfiguration

  How can organisations ensure containerised environments are configured correctly and adequately defended, without getting lost in the complexity?  Continue Reading

• Kubernetes at 10: Persistent storage matures, helped by Operators

  Google engineer Saad Ali remembers the early days of Kubernetes, the storage challenges faced and overcome, and the revolution in application awareness that comes from Operators  Continue Reading

• An IT admin’s guide: Windows 10 end of support explained

  In this guide, we look at what issues end user computing IT teams need to consider when migrating from Microsoft Windows 10 to Windows 11  Continue Reading

• Storage technology explained: Key questions about tape storage

  We look at the benefits of tape storage – low cost, inherent security, excellent energy efficiency – the workloads it is best for, and how tape fits a wider storage strategy  Continue Reading