Information management

Lords split over UK government approach to autonomous weapons

During a debate on autonomous weapons systems, Lords expressed mixed opinions towards the UK government’s current position, including its reluctance to adopt a working definition and commit to international legal instruments controlling their use Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How data keeps Britain’s trains on track

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how Network Rail is ensuring train safety in the face of extreme weather thanks to advanced data analytics. Our latest buyer’s guide examines the latest trends in storage technology. And we talk to the Ministry of Defence’s first ever chief data officer. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

NCSC announces PwC’s Richard Horne as CEO

Former PwC and Barclays cyber chief Richard Horne set to join UK’s National Cyber Security Centre as CEO Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Tech companies operating with opacity in Israel-Palestine

Tech firms operating in Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel are falling “woefully short” of their human rights responsibilities amid escalating devastation in Gaza, says Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Continue Reading

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• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

TUC publishes legislative proposal to protect workers from AI

Proposed bill for regulating artificial intelligence in the UK seeks to translate well-meaning principles and values into concrete rights and obligations that protect workers from systems that make ‘high-risk’ decisions about them Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

knowledge management (KM)

Knowledge management is the process an enterprise uses to gather, organize, share and analyze its knowledge in a way that's easily accessible to employees. Continue Reading

By

• Scott Robinson, New Era Technology
• Sarah Amsler, Senior Managing Editor

5 benefits of enterprise search

With a proper enterprise search strategy in place, organizations can improve their employees' efficiency and ensure customers have positive experiences. Continue Reading

By

• Jordan Jones

query

A query is a question or a request for information expressed in a formal manner. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Andrew Zola
• Adam Hughes

CW Innovation Awards: Gleaning data insights with AI

Hong Kong-based Citic Telecom CPC has built a data platform that leverages large language models to generate insights and speed up data retrieval and analysis Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

CW Innovation Awards: Making AI pervasive

DBS Bank’s AI Industrialisation Programme has been instrumental in industrialising the use of data and artificial intelligence across its business, resulting in over S$370m of incremental economic benefits Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Why Salesforce needs a data management platform

There are reports that Salesforce is looking to acquire Informatica, but such a move needs to fit with its AI and GenAI strategy Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Recognising APAC’s trailblazers in digital transformation

DBS Bank and NUS were among the top industry innovators that were lauded for various transformational initiatives at the Computer Weekly Innovation Awards APAC 2024 Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

What is a cloud database? An in-depth cloud DBMS guide

A cloud database is an organized and managed collection of data in an IT system that resides on a public, private or hybrid cloud computing platform. Continue Reading

By

• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor

Traditional CMS vs. headless CMS: What's the difference?

Traditional CMSes let users design websites, yet they lack the flexibility of headless systems. Differences between these tools include purpose, architecture and ease of use. Continue Reading

By

• Tim Murphy

database as a service (DBaaS)

Database as a service (DBaaS) is a cloud computing managed service offering that provides access to a database without requiring the setup of physical hardware, the installation of software or the need to configure the database. Continue Reading

By

• Alexander S. Gillis, Technical Writer and Editor
• Craig S. Mullins, Mullins Consulting

data classification

Data classification is the process of organizing data into categories that make it easy to retrieve, sort and store for future use. Continue Reading

By

• Cameron Hashemi-Pour, Site Editor
• Garry Kranz
• Laura Fitzgibbons

Big tech’s cloud oligopoly risks AI market concentration

The oligopoly that big tech giants have over cloud computing could translate to a similar domination in the AI market, given the financial and compute resources needed to make the technology effective at scale Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Kersley

columnar database

A columnar database (column-oriented) is a database management system (DBMS) that stores data on disk in columns instead of rows. Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Wright

Quickwit claims big advantage in log file search and index

When the logs are the data: Startup Quickwit claims late entrant advantage in log file search and index with bigger datasets and better analytics on reduced infrastructure Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

EU’s AI Act fails to protect the rule of law and civic space

Analysis reveals that the AI Act is ‘riddled with far-reaching exceptions’ and its measures to protect fundamental rights are insufficient Continue Reading

By

• Josh Osman, Computer Weekly

AI tapped for citizen outreach as India goes to the polls

Political parties in this year’s high-stakes elections are leveraging AI for the first time, but measures to curtail misuse must continue to evolve with the rapid developments of the technology Continue Reading

By

• Kavitha Srinivasa

noisy data

Noisy data is a data set that contains extra meaningless data. Almost all data sets will contain a certain amount of unwanted noise. Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Wright

PSNI criticised after ‘utterly vague’ answers on covert surveillance of journalists

The Policing Board of Northern Ireland has asked the Police Service of Northern Ireland to produce a public report on its use of covert surveillance powers against journalists and lawyers after it gave ‘utterly vague’ answers Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Facial recognition to play key role in UK shoplifting crackdown

UK government will fund roll-out of police facial recognition across the country as part of its crackdown on shoplifting and violence against retail staff, but civil society groups say the government is attempting to police its way out of the cost-of-living crisis Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How GenAI use is evolving for Google Cloud customers

With more than one million developers now using Google Cloud’s generative AI systems to power their tools, Google customers have gone beyond experimentation and are now building their own agents Continue Reading

By

• Josh Osman, Computer Weekly

Storage technology explained: AI and data storage

In this guide, we examine the data storage needs of artificial intelligence, the demands it places on data storage, the suitability of cloud and object storage for AI, and key AI storage products Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Software AG IUG 2024: Process mining as GenAI democratisation candidate

The Software AG International User Groups conference in Dublin heard about how generative AI large language models could democratise business process mining and management Continue Reading

By

• Brian McKenna, Senior Analyst, Business Applications

Government dismisses Lords’ concerns over facial recognition

UK government is claiming police forces’ use of live facial recognition is comprehensively covered by existing laws, in response to a Lords investigation that found police lacked a clear legal basis to deploy it Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Google Cloud debuts agent builder to ease GenAI adoption

Vertex AI Agent Builder is touted to enable developers with different levels of expertise to build conversational AI agents grounded in enterprise data Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

schema

In computer programming, a schema (pronounced SKEE-mah) is the organization or structure for a database, while in artificial intelligence (AI), a schema is a formal expression of an inference rule. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Andrew Zola

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service that provides numerous analytical tools for marketing purposes. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Wesley Chai

Cloud database security: Best practices, challenges and threats

If your company is using a cloud database, it's critical to stay on top of security. Review the security features offered by top cloud providers, plus some best practices. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Shackleford, Voodoo Security

Google Cloud embeds Gemini across product portfolio

Google Cloud’s Gemini model will power a slew of AI assistant capabilities across its portfolio to bring the benefits of generative AI to developers and enterprise users Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

spatial data

Spatial data is any type of data that directly or indirectly references a specific geographical area or location. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Andrew Zola
• Mark Fontecchio

Public worried by police and companies sharing biometric data

More than half of the British public do not feel comfortable with police forces sharing biometric data with the private sector, including facial recognition images, to tackle crimes such as shoplifting Continue Reading

By

• Josh Osman, Computer Weekly

Government struggles to upgrade legacy IT systems, says PAC chair

In her annual report, Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier calls legacy IT one of government’s ‘big nasties’ and says money urgently needs to be spent to fix the situation Continue Reading

By

• Lis Evenstad

Top AI infrastructure considerations

Artificial intelligence workloads can put considerable strain on technology infrastructure. Here are some of the key considerations when deploying AI infrastructure to harness its full potential Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Police forces check intelligence and criminal databases after errors discovered in O2 phone data

Criminal Bar Association calls for information about reliability of communications data used in criminal trials to be disclosed Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Greek government fined over AI surveillance in refugee camps

Greece’s Data Protection Authority has issued a €175,000 fine against the country’s migration ministry over its deployment of artificial intelligence-powered security systems in refugee camps after the watchdog’s investigation found ‘serious shortcomings’ with the roll-out Continue Reading

By

• Lydia Emmanouilidou

UN adopts ‘landmark’ resolution on making AI safe and trustworthy

A UN draft resolution promoting the use of artificial intelligence in sustainable development and the protection of human rights was backed by over 120 member states Continue Reading

By

• Josh Osman, Computer Weekly

Five key principles for data insight success

Five key principles for using data to grow your organisation Continue Reading

By

• Ian Bobbett, Crimson, and George Lynch, NashTech, part of Nash Squared

Europol offers law enforcement agencies data on Europe’s most threatening crime networks

Europol has collected and analysed data from over 40 countries to identify 800 most threatening criminal networks operating in Europe in what it describes as a unique dataset for law enforcemnt Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Boomi CEO anticipates rise of the AI agent economy

Boomi CEO talks up the company’s efforts to build up an AI agent architecture, its upcoming AI capabilities set to debut next month, and its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

What is a SharePoint document conversation?

SharePoint's document conversation features have evolved from in-document chats to Viva Engage posts. Learn what a document conversation is and how it can engage employees. Continue Reading

By

• Reda Chouffani, Biz Technology Solutions
• Scott Robinson, New Era Technology

data analytics (DA)

Data analytics (DA) is the process of examining data sets to find trends and draw conclusions about the information they contain. Continue Reading

By

• Kinza Yasar, Technical Writer
• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor

Facial recognition endangers us all without a clear legal basis

Technology researcher Stephanie Hare outlines the growing danger of the UK’s failure to legalise and regulate facial recognition technology Continue Reading

By

• Stephanie Hare

A local government GDS might work - but only on top of standard technology

The old debate about an equivalent of the Government Digital Service for local authorities has swung round again - but it will only ever work if it's founded on common standards and technologies Continue Reading

By

• Mark Thompson, Exeter Business School and DIGITLab

Podcast: What is distributed cloud storage and what are its benefits?

We talk to Enrico Signoretti of Cubbit about how distributed cloud allows customers to control their data in hybrid and multicloud storage and the workloads the company targets Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Ofgem begins consultation on dynamic price caps

Smart meters make it possible to manage the electricity grid in a more flexible way, but millions are facing connectivity issues Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Indian large language models gain momentum

Indian LLMs trained on Indic languages are now being used by businesses and governments to better serve the needs of a diverse multilingual country Continue Reading

By

• Pratima Harigunani

Lord Holmes: UK cannot 'wait and see' to regulate AI

Legislation is needed to seize the benefits of artificial intelligence while minimising its risks, says Lord Holmes - but the government’s ‘wait and see’ approach to regulation will fail on both fronts Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

6 challenges of omnichannel marketing

When marketers use omnichannel strategies to engage customers across touchpoints, they often face challenges with personalization, campaign tracking and brand consistency. Continue Reading

By

• Tim Murphy

Different types of database management systems explained

The various types of database software come with advantages, limitations and optimal uses that prospective buyers should be aware of before choosing a DBMS. Continue Reading

By

• Craig S. Mullins, Mullins Consulting

Alletra MP hardware changes see HPE orient arrays towards AI

HPE doubles controller nodes, boosts capacity with denser drives, cuts caches and builds in 100Gbps links to bring denser, faster storage aimed at all parts of the AI/ML pipeline Continue Reading

By

• Yann Serra, LeMagIT
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

entity relationship diagram (ERD)

An entity relationship diagram (ERD), also known as an 'entity relationship model,' is a graphical representation that depicts relationships among people, objects, places, concepts or events in an information technology (IT) system. Continue Reading

By

• Katie Terrell Hanna
• Jacqueline Biscobing, Senior Managing Editor, News

Open Data Institute launches digital policy manifesto

The Open Data Institute has launched a policy manifesto ahead of the UK general election that outlines policies and issues it believes must be part of the political discussion around digital and data Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

big data management

Big data management is the organization, administration and governance of large volumes of both structured and unstructured data. Continue Reading

By

• Cameron Hashemi-Pour, Site Editor
• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor
• Melanie Luna, TechTarget

big data

Big data is a combination of structured, semi-structured and unstructured data that organizations collect, analyze and mine for information and insights. Continue Reading

By

• Cameron Hashemi-Pour, Site Editor
• Bridget Botelho, Editorial Director, News
• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Oracle Cloud: A discussion about public cloud, dedicated regions and Alloy

We speak to Oracle cloud chief technical architect Pradeep Vincent about cloud deployment scenarios Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Inclusive approaches to AI governance needed to engage public

Technology practitioners and experts gathered at an annual Alan Turing Institute-run conference discussed the need for more inclusive approaches to AI governance that actually engage citizens and workers Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

How Vast Data is simplifying data infrastructure

Vast Data CEO Renen Hallak explains how the company’s unified data platform that combines storage, database and compute capabilities into a single technology stack can improve the efficiency of analytics and artificial intelligence workloads Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Vast targets AI checkpointing write performance with distributed RAID

AI checkpointing operations targeted by Vast Data as it touts QLC-based storage for AI workloads Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

How to stop data from driving government mad

The Institute for Government has recommended reforms to the way Number 10 operates - and a new way of managing and using data in the AI age is central to its proposals Continue Reading

By

• Matthew Juniper

Spring Budget risks funding legally questionable police tech

Open legal questions around how UK police are using facial recognition and cloud technology could undermine the £230m investment committed in the Spring Budget to “time and money-saving technology” for police Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

On-premises vs. cloud data warehouses: Pros and cons

Data warehouses increasingly are being deployed in the cloud. But both on-premises and cloud data warehouses have pluses and minuses to consider, as explained here. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Foot

Deep fake AI services on Telegram pose risk for elections

Deep fake services advertised on Telegram and other platforms pose a risk to upcoming elections in Europe, Asia and the US Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Government needs ‘realistic plan’ for adopting AI, says NAO

Benefits of artificial intelligence in public sector will only be realised if government ensures overall programme for adoption is supported by realistic plan to tackle range of longstanding barriers Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

raw data (source data or atomic data)

Raw data is the data originally generated by a system, device or operation, and has not been processed or changed in any way. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon
• Gavin Wright

Creative workers say livelihoods threatened by generative AI

Computer Weekly speaks with various creative workers about the impact generative artificial intelligence systems are having on their work and livelihoods Continue Reading

By

• Adele Zeynep Walton

Cloud DBA: How cloud changes database administrator's role

Cloud databases change the duties and responsibilities of database administrators. Here's how the job of a cloud DBA differs from what an on-premises one does. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Foot

flat file

A flat file is a collection of data stored in a two-dimensional database in which similar yet discrete strings of information are stored as records in a table. Continue Reading

By

• Gavin Wright
• Rich Castagna
• Adam Hughes

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that supports a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence (BI) and data analytics applications in corporate IT environments. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Adam Hughes
• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor

Questions raised over NHS deletion of thousands of emails during whistleblower tribunal

NHS doctor Chris Day has won the right to challenge a tribunal ruling that found no procedural unfairness when an NHS trust deleted thousands of emails. The case that raises wider questions about the use of electronic evidence Continue Reading

By

• Tommy Greene

big data as a service (BDaaS)

Big data as a service (BDaS) is the delivery of data platforms and tools by a cloud provider to help organizations process, manage and analyze large data sets so they can generate insights to improve business operations and gain a competitive advantage. Continue Reading

By

• Cameron Hashemi-Pour, Site Editor
• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor
• Rachel Lebeaux

Industry partnerships and data key to better public services

Using public-private partnerships and improving the use of data are key to improving public services and the government’s ‘science and technology superpower’ ambitions, says digital secretary Michelle Donelan Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Should you run your database on premises or in the cloud?

Use of cloud databases is surging, but there are still reasons for on-premises ones. Here's a comparison of cloud and local database architectures to help you choose. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Foot

Open source promises advantages for business applications

Open source software may provide a cost-effective approach to building business applications, as well as ensuring transparency, but there are challenges to keep in mind Continue Reading

By

• Peter Ray Allison

AI Singapore, Google to build regional dataset for LLMs

AI Singapore and Google Research Asia-Pacific will build a corpus of open-source training data through Project SEALD to drive the development of LLMs in Southeast Asia Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

data exploration

Data exploration is the first step in data analysis involving the use of data visualization tools and statistical techniques to uncover data set characteristics and initial patterns. Continue Reading

By

• Scott Robinson, New Era Technology
• Katie Terrell Hanna
• Jacqueline Biscobing, Senior Managing Editor, News

Government insists it is acting ‘responsibly’ on military AI

The government has responded to calls from a Lords committee that it must “proceed with caution” when it comes to autonomous weapons and military artificial intelligence, arguing that caution is already embedded throughout its approach Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

HP emphasises AI in partner programme enhancements

Vendor uses partner event to share details of changes coming in May, and its plans to increase support for partners keen to get involved with artificial intelligence Continue Reading

By

• Simon Quicke, Microscope Editor

decision-making process

A decision-making process is a series of steps one or more individuals take to determine the best option or course of action to address a specific problem or situation. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon
• Ed Burns
• Kate Brush

web content management system (WCMS)

A web content management system (WCMS) is a type of content management system (CMS) that provides an organization with a way to manage digital information on a website through creating and maintaining content without prior knowledge of web programming or markup languages. Continue Reading

By

• Scott Robinson, New Era Technology
• Demetra Edwards, TechTarget
• Karolina Kiwak

Chancellor targets £36bn productivity boost with £4.2bn digital transformation plan

In his 2024 spring budget, Jeremy Hunt announced funding to use tech to improve productivity across the public sector, with most of the cash focused on digital initiatives in the NHS Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Singapore refreshes geospatial masterplan

Masterplan aimed at driving mainstream adoption of geospatial applications and grooming geospatial talent, among other goals, will help to position Singapore as a global geospatial hub Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Interview: How a fundraiser became more data-savvy

We speak to a fundraiser in the charity sector about how an apprenticeship in data analytics has given her Excel, PowerBI and Power Query skills Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Generative AI's effect on content management systems

Generative AI's ability to create content can enhance workflow automation within a CMS. Yet, organizations must implement guardrails to ensure data privacy and content quality. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Peledie, 365Knowledge Ltd.

Open Rights Group accuses LiveRamp of ‘unlawful’ data processing

Privacy campaigners at Open Rights Group have submitted formal complaints to UK and French data regulators about allegedly unlawful data processing by online advertising firm LiveRamp Continue Reading

By

• Sebastian Klovig Skelton, Data & ethics editor

Own targets SaaS backup and offers analytics insight

Targeting a growing market – SaaS applications that lack backup – Own offers backup, fine-grained restores and analytics on data stores that can bring business insight Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

How PSA is reducing empty trips for trucking firms

The Singapore port operator has built a platform that leverages Here Technologies’ trip planning and location services to help container trucking firms improve operational efficiency Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

star schema

A star schema is a database organizational structure optimized for use in a data warehouse or business intelligence that uses a single large fact table to store transactional or measured data, and one or more smaller dimensional tables that store attributes about the data. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon

data quality

Data quality is a measure of a data set's condition based on factors such as accuracy, completeness, consistency, reliability and validity. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon
• Craig Stedman, Industry Editor

How ANZ organisations can address challenges in AI adoption

Pure Storage's global CTO Alex McMullan discusses the data and sustainability challenges in artificial intelligence adoption, which can be addressed by centralising datasets and focusing on data quality and management Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

APAC firms bullish on IT spending

More than half of organisations plan to spend more on key areas such as cyber security, generative AI and cloud in a sign of growing optimism across the region Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

UC finetunes tech strategy to support digital masterplan

The University of Canberra is scoping a new project to determine data, integration and multicloud strategies to support its long-term digital roadmap Continue Reading

By

• Stephen Withers

How TeamViewer is charting its growth beyond remote connectivity

TeamViewer CEO Oliver Steil outlines the company’s efforts to build on its remote connectivity and control capabilities to support emerging use cases such as smart factories Continue Reading

By

• Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Executive interview: David Wong, Thomson Reuters

We speak to the chief product officer of Thomson Reuters about working with artificial intelligence and embedding Microsoft Copilot for Word Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Microsoft president commits to Azure open platform for AI

Brad Smith sets out Microsoft’s ambitions to make Azure the best platform to host foundational AI models, and train and run AI applications Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Microsoft’s ‘unfair’ cloud licensing under scrutiny

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine claims that Microsoft’s licensing policies are damaging competition in the cloud. Our latest buyer’s guide asks if hybrid cloud is now CIOs’ end goal, and not just an interim step on the journey. And we look at how the focus on customer experience is impacting the unified communications market. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

data warehouse as a service (DWaaS)

Data warehouse as a service (DWaaS) is an outsourcing model in which a cloud service provider configures and manages the hardware and software resources a data warehouse requires, and the customer provides the data and pays for the managed service. Continue Reading

By

• Cameron Hashemi-Pour, Site Editor
• Craig S. Mullins, Mullins Consulting