Information management

Hadoop vs. Spark: An in-depth big data framework comparison

Hadoop and Spark are widely used big data frameworks. Here's a look at their features and capabilities and the key differences between the two technologies. Continue Reading

By

• George Lawton

multidimensional database (MDB)

A multidimensional database (MDB) is a type of database that is optimized for data warehouse and online analytical processing (OLAP) applications. Continue Reading

By

• Alexander S. Gillis, Technical Writer and Editor

How one Singapore company is keeping drivers safe

TNT Surveillance’s technology is being deployed by bus and port operators to reduce driver fatigue and prevent accidents using cameras and radar sensors Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

DWP data sharing pilot aims for single source of the truth

A pilot to share labour data across government departments aims to develop a safe framework for collaboration and to improve policy-making Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

The Citrix deal and what it means for Tibco

The investment firm behind Tibco has been on a spending spree, bolstering its product portfolio and offering new ways to access and connect to data Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Australian public sector facing transformation challenges

Public sector organisations in Australia are facing organisational and technological challenges in driving back-office innovation and digital-first strategies, new study finds Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Fuzzy logic: The challenge of building data science teams

In the face of a dearth of data science talent, and a crippling lack of diversity in the pool as it is, what are companies doing to build, manage and keep data science teams together? We find out Continue Reading

On a mission to track space junk

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to the space experts tracking orbital debris using graph database technology. We meet the startups taking very different approaches in trying to develop commercial quantum computers. And we ask why it’s so difficult to build a data science team and how to overcome the challenges. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Evolving a data integration strategy

Linking IT systems together is never going away, but the approach CIOs adopt is key to ensuring relevant data feeds the decision-making process Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

order of magnitude

An order of magnitude is an exponential change of plus or minus 1 in the value of a quantity or unit. Continue Reading

By

• Ben Lutkevich, Site Editor

The birth of Estonia’s digital civil servant

As Estonia finalises the initial version of its government services digital assistant for launch later this year, the man heading the project describes the birth of Bürokratt and beyond Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Rackspace buys Singapore firm to bolster analytics capability in APAC

Rackspace Technology’s acquisition of Just Analytics will bring delivery capabilities to Southeast Asia and pave the way for its expansion into Vietnam Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

CW Benelux: Unesco members adopt AI ethics recommendation

Unesco member state have adopted an AI ethics recommendation that seeks to define a common set of values and principles to guide the development of ethical AI globally. Also read about a large-scale national cyber exercise in the Netherlands, and the Estonian government’s Siri-like digital assistant. Continue Reading

Government earmarks £23m for 2,000 AI scholarships in England

The DCMS has confirmed £23m government funding for 2,000 scholarships in England for AI and data science Masters degree conversion courses Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Data strategy highlights geospatial data challenges

A new assessment discusses the importance of data sharing, a lack of standards and the skills gap Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

How Carrefour is lowering its Oracle footprint

Migrating core business applications requires a multi-pronged approach, so what remains on-prem, and where does SaaS fit? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Log4Shell, Ukraine and umbrella firm cyber attacks – Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

Alex Scroxton joins the team to discuss the Log4j vulnerability and Russian pressure on Ukraine. Also discussed are cyber attacks on umbrella companies, neuro-diversity and junk in space Continue Reading

By

• Alex Scroxton, Security Editor
• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Data fabric vs. data mesh: who wins?

This is a guest blogpost by John Wills, Field CTO, Alation Arsenal vs Spurs. Federer vs Nadal. Senna vs Prost. Frost vs Nixon. There have been a lot of great rivalries over the years, and now, ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Porn sites will be legally required to verify users’ ages

Porn sites could be legally obliged to verify that their users are 18 or over under proposed online safety rules, in UK government’s second attempt to prevent children from accessing pornography online Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Female-led data hackathon runs for second year

After a successful first year, TrueCue has partnered with several firms to run another female-only hackathon to encourage data analysts to solve real-world problems Continue Reading

By

• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

Right to disconnect and less monitoring key to better remote work

The World Health Organisation and International Labour Organisation warn against invasive workplace surveillance and promote right to disconnect in joint briefing on how to promote healthy and safe remote working Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Why data integration is a business and CIO opportunity

With a focus an agile approach and continuous learning and improvement, data integration has proven integral to end-to-end digital transformation Continue Reading

By

• Rani Johnson, Tibco

Data integration remains essential for AI and machine learning

As our artificial intelligence algorithms continue to struggle with metacognition and causal inference, it is essential that we feed them the right data Continue Reading

By

• Junade Ali

Exploring the metaverse

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the metaverse is set to become a highly competitive commercial playground –profitable markets but also high-profile failures will follow. IT contractors have been hit by cyber attacks on the firms that pay their wages – we examine the impact. And we ask if it’s time to plan for quantum computing. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Met police deploy facial recognition in Westminster

Police facial recognition deployment resulted in four arrests, but questions remain about the necessity, proportionality and legality of the technology’s use Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Four emerging data integration trends to assess

To accelerate their performance in data integration, companies are evaluating and adopting a range of contributing technologies Continue Reading

By

• Noel Yuhanna

How to choose an enterprise video content management system

With more video content than ever, many organizations have adopted video content management systems. This comparison chart highlights five different vendors and what they offer. Continue Reading

By

• Geoffrey Bock, Bock & Company

Idol thoughts

HP, angry that it had to write down $5 bn on its purchase of Autonomy, has now made a breakthrough in the UK court. The court ruled that HP “substantially succeeded” in its claims against the ... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Data integration dogged by complexity and vital to business

Integrating data is one of the thorniest challenges in business intelligence and analytics – achieving it is technically and organisationally complex, while it is gaining in importance all the time Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Pritchard

British court rules in HP’s favour in Mike Lynch fraud case

What next for Mike Lynch as judge rules that HP has ‘substantially succeeded’ in its complaint against him Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

SAP full-year 2021: Revenue nudges up 1%, cloud growth up 17%

SAP has announced a 2% rise in full-year 2021 revenue, to just under €28bn, while S/4 Hana customer base increased by 18% to 18,800 Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

CORT deploys IoT to monitor indoor air quality

New Zealand community housing provider is rolling out sensors and analytics software to track the air quality of its premises Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Space junk revealed by University of Texas graph database

Aerospace engineers, led by space environmentalist Moriba Jah, at The University of Texas at Austin have built a graph database, AstriaGraph, to track space junk that is a threat to life on Earth Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Retailers mired by manual data integration

Retail relies on third-party data sources to drive business decisions and competitive pricing, but many struggle to pull in this data Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Heathrow Airport takes to the cloud with Oracle Fusion Applications

Airport has implemented a full spread of Oracle Cloud Applications, including ERP and HCM, as it looks to recover from the pandemic Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Tinder algorithm charging users more based on age

Popular dating app Tinder could have broken data protection and equality laws by using personal data about people’s age to set different prices Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Singapore to tighten digital banking security

Banks in Singapore will have to put in place more stringent measures to combat the rise in online phishing scams targeted at bank customers in the city-state Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Test police algorithms in court rather than legislate, Lords told

Police algorithms and their impacts should be tested and challenged in court, rather than controlled by new laws, says policing minister Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

‘Russian-backed’ hackers defaced Ukrainian websites as cover for dangerous malware attack

Kiev claims that a hacking group in Belarus – a close ally of Russia – was responsible for hacking Ukrainian government websites amid threats of military action Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Automation and interoperability key to UK’s digital energy plans

Energy Digitalisation Taskforce recommends that policy-makers and regulators drive open standards across the energy sector Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Twinings selects Rise with SAP to simplify its business brew

Tea company Twinings Ovaltine has chosen SAP’s Rise subscription service to simplify its relationship with the supplier and focus on future growth Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

content aggregator

A content aggregator is an individual, organization or tool that gathers web content and applications from different online sources for reuse. Continue Reading

By

• Ben Lutkevich, Site Editor

CW Middle East: What does Saudi Arabia’s autonomous vehicle agenda mean for the world?

If all goes according to plan, within a few years, one million people will live in Saudi Arabia’s ‘city of the future’ – and every one of them will depend on a fleet of self-driving cars. Also in this issue, read about the UAE's bid to become a world-leading location for artificial intelligence innovation. Continue Reading

ICO investigates police use of app to covertly record calls from mobile phones

Surrey and Sussex police forces call in regulators after 1,000 police officers downloaded an app to covertly record phone calls on police-issued mobile phones Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Government backs Turing Institute in bid to set global AI technical standards

The DCMS has announced an AI Standards Hub, comprising The Alan Turing Institute, the National Physical Laboratory and the British Standards Institution to set a global bar for AI technical standards Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

How digital-twin technology could revolutionise the healthcare industry

Digital-twin technology is not new, but in many industries it is still regarded as novel and is often misunderstood Continue Reading

By

• Arash Ghazanfari

B2B tech skills as the Cinderella of public policy

When government ministers or their policy wonks think of technology and the economy, you can virtually guarantee they are thinking of consumer tech companies, mostly from the west coast of the US. ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Companies propose scanning content pre-encryption to fight CSAM

Firms working on the UK government’s Safety Tech Challenge have suggested that scanning content before encryption will help prevent the spread of child sexual abuse material – but privacy concerns remain Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How Pepsi is taking digital to the max

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to PepsiCo’s digital director about delivering innovation in customer experience. Our first buyer’s guide of 2022 examines hybrid cloud storage. And we find out how Arkwright and Granville from the BBC sitcom Open All Hours are inspiring retailers 40 years on. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Oracle’s Steve Miranda: supply chain analytics changing in response to faster business change

Covid has shaken the global economy over the past two years in ways it is hard, if not impossible, to grasp – at least while we are still in the thick of it. Adam Tooze’s book Shutdown: how Covid ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

How to make AI greener and more efficient

Artificial intelligence promises both to combat the ill effects of climate change and to make the emergency worse with excessive energy use. How can AI be made greener? Continue Reading

By

• SA Mathieson

How to create a sustainable continuous learning culture

How can organisations create a continuous learning culture that will militate against the so-called great resignation? We explore, using Vodafone and Deutsche Bank as cases in point Continue Reading

By

• Cath Everett

University of Edinburgh extends IoT data science to south-east Scottish pupils

The University of Edinburgh is part of a 15-year mission to educate the data scientists of tomorrow among school pupils in its south-east Scotland sphere Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

What lies beyond the data warehouse?

 Continue Reading

Modern data-driven businesses need to rely on the power of three

This is a guest blogpost by James Petter, VP International at Pure Storage. How many of us have grown up learning the fable about the three little pigs? Or before then, the three wise men? The ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Fuzzy logic: The challenge of building data science teams

In the face of a dearth of data science talent, and a crippling lack of diversity in the pool as it is, what are companies doing to build, manage and keep data science teams together? We find out Continue Reading

By

• Marc Ambasna-Jones

SMEs step up e-commerce ventures under shadow of Covid

A raft of smaller retailers have stepped up their e-commerce businesses during the pandemic, ranging from books to candles, rugs to togs Continue Reading

By

• Madeline Bennett, Mowser Media

How far has Saudi Arabia come with open data?

While clearly on the right path, Saudi Arabia still has a lot to do before it reaps the full benefits of open data Continue Reading

By

• Pat Brans, Pat Brans Associates/Grenoble Ecole de Management

Top 10 Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcasts of 2021

The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast team began the year discussing the online fallout from the storming of the White House and finished it discussing IT and climate change, touching on bees and datacentres along the way Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications
• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK
• Clare McDonald, Business Editor

The role of artificial intelligence in the future of content

AI will play a key role in the future of content, as it can simplify tasks, create new business apps and improve file storage. But these changes won't happen overnight. Continue Reading

By

• Geoffrey Bock, Bock & Company

Top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2021

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 technology and ethics stories of 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Top 10 information management stories of 2021

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 information management stories of 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Top 10 business applications stories of 2021

2021 saw enterprise software suppliers and users envisaging a nimbler future, beyond the Covid pandemic, with more loosely coupled ERP systems, more flexible business processes, and a renewed digital-first focus on customers Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Marks & Spencer upskills internal talent with data science education

Retailer is building up a data science capability that includes a Master’s degree-level apprenticeship as well as making data literacy a common currency up and down the organisation Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

BPEL (Business Process Execution Language)

BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) is an XML-based language that allows web services, APIs and human processes in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to interconnect and share data in a business workflow. Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Wright

Oracle buys Cerner for nearly $30bn in major push into healthcare

Oracle has bought healthcare IT provider Cerner for $28.3bn, in a major push into healthcare. It is its largest acquisition since NetSuite for $9.3bn in 2016 Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

What is Log4Shell - and why the panic?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we assess the risks from Log4Shell, a new web software vulnerability described as “catastrophic”. We look at SASE – secure access service edge – which is set to be one of the networking priorities for 2022. And some victims of the Post Office IT scandal are still waiting for proper compensation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

CW APAC: Expert guide to cloud migration

Organisations are increasingly moving their workloads to public cloud. In this handbook, focused on cloud migration in the Asia-Pacific region, Computer Weekly looks at the key strategies to follow, how HPE has transitioned into an as-a-service company, the adoption of cloud in Australia and why VMWare’s chief technology officer endorses a cross-cloud approach Continue Reading

Finnish government launches digital economy transformation projects

The Finnish government launches two transformation projects as part of the country’s mission to pioneer a digital economy Continue Reading

By

• Gerard O'Dwyer

CDEI research pinpoints barriers to trustworthy AI exploitation

Survey of UK business by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has disclosed the patchiness of artificial intelligence and data-driven technology adoption across different economic sectors Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Tips and tools for remote content collaboration, deployment

Organizations need remote content collaboration to ensure sensitive files and documents are secure, easily shareable among users and accessible as employees work remotely. Continue Reading

By

• Christine Campbell, The Alpha Content Company

Gig economy algorithmic management tools ‘unfair and opaque’

Report published by Worker Info Exchange warns of algorithmically enabled rights abuses in the gig economy, noting the insufficient transparency of employers and the lacklustre nature of legal redress Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Asda follows EG Group sibling in selection of Rise with SAP

Retailer is looking to improve the agility of its operations in the cloud with a move to Rise with SAP on Microsoft Azure, and to streamline its procurement with SAP Ariba Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Digital Ethics Summit: Innovation needs regulation to be ethical

Experts attending the 2021 Digital Ethics Summit spoke out against the idea that regulation will stifle technological innovation, arguing that setting clear rules will produce more ethical innovation Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

The rules for a safer internet

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the government publishes the Online Safety Bill, we look at what the laws mean for internet services. A ransomware victim shares the insider story of the trauma of losing their corporate IT systems. And we ask, what happens when quantum computers get too powerful to verify their output? Read the issue now. Continue Reading

How to scale up your AI initiatives

Executive sponsorship, a strong data foundation and having ‘analytics artists’ are among ways to scale up AI initiatives beyond the pilot stage Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Someone's calling about AI. Graph technology is ready to answer

This is a guest blogpost by Emil Eifrem, co-founder and CEO at Neo4j. He writes on why he thinks graph technology is emerging as a powerful way to make AI a reality for the enterprise. According to ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

CW Europe: Norway embraces internet of things

Norway is becoming a centre of IoT innovation as tech developers tackle some of the country’s unique challenges, in areas such as fish farming, power distribution and monitoring of boats. Also in this issue, find out why Utrecht University media scientist José van Dijck has won an award, and read about Estonia’s country-as-a-service scheme. Continue Reading

Pure adds flagship FlashArray//XL with doubled throughput

High-end enterprise-targeted FlashArray//XL leverages latest Intel Ice Lake CPU, PCIe 4.0 and distributes SLC flash across drive modules to double throughput over existing arrays Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

IT Priorities 2022: ERP gets back on the horse

Automation and going cloud-first have gained significant interest for enterprise software and data management investment in the UK, according to the annual TechTarget/Computer Weekly IT Priorities 2022 survey Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Australia’s NSW to build A$40m digital twin

The spatial digital twin brings together government data sources to provide insights for urban planners and residents to support decision-making and see into the future Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Serious violence duty in PCSC Bill would gut UK data rights

Proposed data gathering powers for UK police could override existing data protection rules, damage citizens’ trust in essential public services and further entrench discriminatory policing practices Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Pandora Papers: How journalists mined terabytes of offshore data to expose the world’s elites

Six hundred journalists spent over a year mining 2.94 terabytes of data that revealed offshore companies and the politicians, world leaders and celebrities who secretly owned them Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Unesco member states adopt AI ethics recommendation

The non-binding recommendation seeks to define a common set of values and principles to guide the development of ethical AI globally Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

MI6 will ‘open up’ to tech firms to innovate faster than adversaries, says chief Richard Moore

MI6 will use investment fund to back tech companies to develop long-term technologies that will help it to keep pace with China and Russia Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Over 100 civil society groups call for changes to EU AI Act

Civil, human and digital rights organisations sign open letter calling on European policymakers to put fundamental rights at the heart of the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How Maxim’s Group is using Oracle Cloud

The Hong Kong-based F&B operator is using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to run its VMware workloads and datawarehouse to improve resilience and productivity Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

UKISUG 2021: S/4 Hana skills deficit and legacy custom code hamper migration

On the opening day of its 2021 conference, the UK and Ireland SAP User Group unveils member research showing concerns that an S/4 Hana skills deficit and a surfeit of legacy customisation is retarding migration to the Hana-based ERP Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

NetSuite CEO Goldberg: Growth companies nimble for post-Covid normality

Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, reflects on the post-Covid-19 pandemic economy through the prism of the Oracle-owned SaaS company Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Harness data to make better business conversations

Productive business conversations require a data culture underpinned by data literacy and balanced by humanistic values Continue Reading

By

• Ivo Vlaev

CW Nordics: Could Iceland be the best place in the world for HPC?

Most of Iceland’s cheap, sustainable energy is used by aluminium smelters, but the country's Landsvirkjun power company is now promoting other uses for it, including high-performance computing. Also read in this issue how IoT collaboration in Norway is reaching beyond industries such as mining and shipping to include fish farming. Continue Reading

One in three Norwegian unicorns created in 2021 alone

Norway’s tech sector has undergone rapid growth in the past year, consolidating the Nordic country’s position as an emerging European tech hub Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

tree structure

A tree data structure is an algorithm for placing and locating files (called records or keys) in a database. Continue Reading

By

• TechTarget Contributor

Who are the current generation of Chief Data Officers?

This is a guest blogpost by Peter Jackson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Exasol. The growing mainstream appreciation for quality data and its resulting insights has made the Chief Data ... Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Societe Generale accelerates data and artificial intelligence strategy

French investment banking giant increases its focus on data and artificial intelligence as digital transformation matures Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Police tech introduced with little scrutiny or training

A Lords inquiry into the adoption of advanced algorithmic technologies by police in England and Wales has been told that new tools are being introduced without proper training and with little scrutiny of their impacts Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Lessons from Lisbon: Reflections on a week at Web Summit

Russ Shaw, founder and CEO of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, assesses the key takeaways of Web Summit 2021 Continue Reading

By

• Russ Shaw, Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates

Inside Informatica’s cloud journey

Informatica’s chief product officer talks up the company’s journey back to the public market and where Asia-Pacific fits in its growth strategy Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Unit4 research finds divergence between decision-makers and employees in SMEs

Sponsored research among mid-sized enterprises finds decision-makers and employees to be radically at odds in reading what makes a successful organisation Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Blueprint for future high street shows tech’s role in creating thriving communities

Technology will play an important role in creating thriving communities after Covid-19 lockdowns renew interest in local high streets Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA