news with collaboration...
TRANSCRIPT
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 1
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
boost productivity
with collaboration
technologyUNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS CAN
BENEFIT BUSINESS THROUGH RAPID RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE STAFF
18-24 March 2014 | ComputerWeekly.com
SERG
NV
NS/
FOTO
LIA
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 2
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
THE WEEK IN IT
Government ITParliament suffers IT outagesThe Houses of Parliament have suf-fered a number of IT failures and com-puter crashes after a supplier error. MPs and staff in Westminster were left frustrated by crashing web browsers and video, as well as slow delivery of emails. Investigative website Exaro pub-lished details of an internal email sent to Parliament from director of IT Joan Miller apologising for the disruptions.
Public sector ITGovernment ends e-Borders projectThe government has formally ended the troubled e-Borders programme, four years after it cancelled a £750m contract for the IT project. However, its intended functions have been incorporated into the Border System Programme, an initiative launched in January 2013.
Consulting and business servicesBCS reports £2m losses on commercial activities in the past two yearsThe Chartered Institute for IT (BCS) is haemorrhaging cash reserves while its membership remains virtually static. The BCS’s annual general meeting, attended by fewer than 50 professional members, was presented with accounts that showed losses of over £2m from commercial activities in the past two years. Retiring chief executive David Clarke screened a chart showing cash reserves falling from £16m five years ago to under £8m now.
Mobile technologyNationwide continues IT modernisation with 24-hour Twitter responseNationwide Building Society is continu-ing its digital drive by providing a 24-hour service to address customer questions via Twitter. Twitter users can tweet the company with queries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nationwide COO Tony Prestedge said: “The success of our mobile banking app proves people want to manage their money at any time of day.”
IT securityICO fines charity for data breachThe Information Commissioner’s Office has fined the British Pregnancy Advice Service £200,000 for exposing thousands of personal details to a malicious hacker. It found the charity had not realised its website was storing the personal details of anyone who requested a call back.
Government ITAndy Nelson quits as CIO at DWPAndy Nelson has resigned as CIO at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Since Nelson was appointed in February 2013, the DWP has recruited a new chief technology officer, Jon Ayre, and a direc-tor general of digital transformation, Kevin Cunnington. Nelson has worked in Whitehall since 2009, when he became CIO at the Ministry of Justice, before tak-ing over as government CIO in April 2012.
TIM BERNERS-LEE CALLS FOR GLOBAL ‘BILL OF RIGHTS’ FOR INTERNET USERSWorld Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee has launched a campaign calling for a “free, open and truly global internet” to mark the 25th anniversary of his invention. The Web We Want campaign, set up by his World Wide Web Foundation, calls for the drafting of an “internet users’ bill of rights” for every country.
“As more and more people awaken to the threats against our basic rights online, we must start a debate – everywhere – about the web we want,” said Berners-Lee. “From national regulations to an international convention, we can work together to propose the best legislation to protect our rights.”
access the latest it news via rss feed
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 3
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
THE WEEK IN IT
access the latest it news via rss feed
IT securityUK urged to help lead international fight against cyber crimeThe UK must exploit its position on the world stage to build an international strategy to tackle cyber crime, according to Andy Archibald, head of the National Crime Agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit. The UK’s unique position derives from its involvement with the Five Eyes alliance, the EU and G8 cyber crime work-ing groups, Europol and Interpol, he said.
IT managementBBC starts search for new CTOThe BBC is to advertise for a new chief technology officer (CTO) to replace John Linwood, who was controversially sacked last year. The new CTO will be responsible for driving the BBC’s technology strat-egy and key technology projects, and will report directly to the managing director of operations and finance, Anne Bulford.
Enterprise softwareBritish Gas puts board documents on mobile devices to save time and costBritish Gas is using cloud-based software to give board members and administra-tors access to documents on mobile com-puting devices. More than 70 members of the board and 12 administrators now use Diligent Boardbooks software instead of being sent hundreds of pages of docu-ments by courier. They now have a direct link to the latest information via an iPad, which links directly to servers.
IT careersInfosys seeks business graduates as sales conversation changesInfosys is looking for 200 MBA graduates across the world to help its global sales operation evolve into a solver of customer business challenges through IT, rather than a fixer of IT problems. The Indian IT services giant wants to employ graduates of leading business universities, including Imperial College Business School, Harvard and Mannheim.
Internet technologyUK government more than doubles funds to build internet of thingsThe UK government has more than dou-bled the funding available to companies working on devices that communicate over the internet. Prime Minister David Cameron announced an extra £45m for internet of things (IoT) technology at the 2014 CeBIT technology show in Hanover.
IT recruitmentManpower report reveals rise in telecoms and media employmentHiring in the telecommunications and media sectors is on the rise as infrastruc-ture companies try to keep up with high-speed broadband roll-out after the recent bad weather. According to a report from recruitment firm ManpowerGroup, employment in the telecoms and media sectors rose 4%, up from the last quarter’s 3% increase. n
GLOBAL FORECAST FOR ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
Source: Accenture
The Americas
Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
Asia Pacific
$11.1bn$7.1bn
$4bn
EHR is estimated to reach $22.3bn by the end of 2015 globally
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 4
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
ANALYSIS
Companies may have to update old software licensing agreements that were signed in an age before outsourcing became commonplace, says Cliff Saran
The wider implications of Oracle’s software licence dispute with Rimini
Companies may need to distinguish between software development work on commercial software they do them-
selves and what they pay an outsourcer to do on their behalf.
In a report following a recent legal dispute in the US, analyst Forrester has warned CIOs that if they have outsourced software customisation, maintenance and/or adminis-tration, they may be in breach of their licence agreements.
Duncan Jones, a principal analyst at Forrester, urged CIOs to pay close attention to older contracts that began before out-sourcing became commonplace.
Intellectual propertyJones’s comment follows the partial ruling in the Oracle versus Rimini Street case on 13 February 2014, in which third-party sup-port provider Rimini was found in breach of Oracle intellectual property.
District judge Larry Hicks ruled that Rimini did not have the rights to host its customers’ legal copies of Oracle enterprise software patches on its own servers.
Jones said: “You should go back to your licence agreements to check if you have any dangerous restrictions against modifica-tion of copies, external use and off-premise deployment that you may inadvertently have breached.
“Consult your own lawyers about what this judgement means for how you have deployed and used the software.”
Breach of software licenceThe judge ruled on four disputed Oracle licensees: Giant Cement, Novell, City of Flint and Pittsburgh Public Schools. The judge denied Oracle’s request for a summary judgement on two Rimini customers – Giant Cement and Novell.
Novell’s licence for Siebel – Oracle’s cus-tomer relationship management (CRM) suite – allowed for archival and/or back-up copies of the software on a third-party systems.
The court could not determine whether Rimini’s access to Giant Cement’s JD Edwards development environment was for archival or development purposes.
The court found that City of Flint’s licence agreement with Oracle did not permit Rimini to maintain copies of Oracle’s PeopleSoft software.
The ruling stated: “Upon review of Rimini’s use of the development environments associated with the City of Flint, the court finds that none of the environments were
A judge ruled that Rimini did not have the rights to host its customers’ legal copies of Oracle software patches
IT industry must come
clean on software licensing
Is second-hand
software illegal?
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 5
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
support, because the court would question why it was ignoring the restriction stipulated in the contracts. “Oracle has opened a can of worms here,” he said.
Contracts from other suppliers may also be affected if they impose similar restrictions, according to Jones. “Don’t infer meaning into the words of the contract and assume rights that you do not have,” he said.
Jones warned that systems integrators will
face the same problem as Rimini. “A systems integrator could develop custom code for your Oracle software that would be in breach of your licence agreement,” he said.
Time to revamp licensingJones recommended that organisations recheck their enterprise licences and update any that do not reflect modern IT use.
He said suppliers would be keen to update licences. “The software company will be more than happy to give you a modern con-tract because it is easier to manage,” he said. “It is not that difficult if you buy something new, but money needs to change hands to lubricate the process.”
Companies such as Oracle have old licences that they took on when they acquired other software businesses. These old contracts need to be updated because they impose restrictions which are actually being ignored until they are tested in a legal dispute.
These restrictions, along with the defini-tion of a processor or a user, may be obsolete in today’s IT world, but the wording of the contract may mean users will be in breach of their licensing agreement if they put software in the cloud or virtualise it. n
created for archival, emergency back-up and/or disaster recovery purposes. Rather, the undisputed evidence establishes that these development environments were used to develop and test software updates for the City of Flint.”
Likewise, with Rimini customer Pittsburgh Public Schools, the court ruled in Oracle’s favour with regard to Rimini copying Oracle’s PeopleSoft software.
Heed contract restrictionsRory Canavan, director of IT asset manage-ment (ITAM) services at 1E, said: “Oracle has every right to protect its intellectual property. Rimini Street has every right to offer independent support and mainte-nance. Where the streams should not col-lide is when a client’s requirements defini-tion becomes obsolete and the support and maintenance provider is called upon to develop additional functionality with a base product.”
Independent analyst Frank Scavo stated on his blog: “Sign the vendor’s licence agreement as-is and it is likely that your rights to third-party maintenance will be limited to having the third-party provider only able to work on your own installation of the software.”
Beyond the specific issues surrounding the rights of third-party support providers, the case highlights shortcomings in the physical transfer of licences to outsourcers, according to Forrester’s Jones.
“A lot of software contracts have restric-tions that lawyers have accepted for years, such as stopping you from acting like a ser-vice provider, which effectively forbids you from putting your licences in the cloud,” he
warned.Such con-
tracts were drawn up before tech-nology devel-
opments such as cloud computing. In the past, Oracle may have ignored the restric-tions and thus allowed its customers to put licensed Oracle software in the cloud.
But Jones said Oracle may have to start to enforce these agreements with its custom-ers that do not use Rimini for third-party
› Forrester: Control over your software assets has become a must
› Well-managed software for resilient IT
“Don’t infer meaning into the worDs of the contract anD assume rights that you Do not have”Duncan Jones, forrester
ANALYSIS
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 6
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
ANALYSIS
Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the biggest show in the industry, full of the biggest names in mobile,
networking and telecoms, and bursting at the seams with new technology.
This year’s show did not disappoint, with launches from the likes of Samsung and Nokia, keynotes from major players such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and thousands upon thousands of mobile-hungry attendees touring the halls of Barcelona’s Fira Gran Via.
So what were the big themes on the indus-try’s lips at this year’s show?
Network securityEdward Snowden’s revelations in 2013 sent shockwaves through the mobile and net-working communities, and their effects will be felt for years to come. Unsurprisingly, this meant that network security was a key theme at MWC 2014.
Open-source giant Mozilla announced the Future of Mobile Privacy project to ensure those new to the world of smartphones could secure their data in the easiest way possi-ble, not only on Mozilla’s own web browser, Firefox, but on other platforms too.
Samsung went a step further, offering a new version of its Knox security product for small and medium-sized enterprises. The SME offering allows dual “personalities” to
be set up on a smartphone, allowing one handset to function as two separate devices, keeping the data from each one secure.
Following the security theme, BlackBerry promised new enterprise software, includ-ing an update to its BlackBerry Enterprise Server and a secure version of its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
But Juniper Networks warned that in a world where companies were moving to IP networks, that were “inherently less secure”, security would continue to be an issue.
Each year, Mobile World Congress intro-duces many new companies from across the world to debut their innovations. But MWC also provides a stage for older, more estab-lished firms to prove they are still relevant.
This year, two of the oldest names in the industry were determined to show they were still worth the investment. The first was Nokia, whose falling sales in recent years have seen it slip from the top spot it held for so long, and which was recently sold to fel-low old school tech firm Microsoft.
Nokia came out fighting, keen to show it was not just dedicated to the Windows Phone operating system, but finally embrac-ing the market’s most popular mobile oper-ating system, Android. It announced three new Nokia X handsets using Android’s open source code, but with access to the Nokia
Operators preventing
dual SIM handsets
Zuckerberg: “Government
blew it with the NSA”
Mobile World Congress highlightsJennifer Scott and Clare McDonald report from the big show in Barcelona
FLIC
KR/
PIER
RE M
ETIV
IER
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 7
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
app store rather than Google Play. Now it has to wait for the consumer reaction…
The second old guard member to try to rebuild its reputation was BlackBerry, which has been in dire straits over the past year.
The launch of its BlackBerry 10 operating system and accompanying flagship handset, the Z10, failed to capture the market’s imagi-nation; its former CEO, Thorsten Heins, failed to secure a buyer for the struggling company; and numerous changes in its management structure have left some of the investor com-munity even more nervous.
But current CEO John Chen was keen to use MWC as a platform to prove BlackBerry was not down and out, and was refocusing where it mattered – the enterprise.
He promised a new version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server – BES 12 – by the end of the year, plus an enterprise version of BBM, but the key for those listening was an admission of his company’s past mistakes.
“We spread ourselves too thin and were so preoccupied with launching that phone [the Z10] in that market, that we have done some damage, in my mind, to our enterprise focus,” he told Computer Weekly. “That is not going to be any more. That has been done.”
Emerging marketsRecent research by Gartner revealed that smartphone sales in mature markets have slowed significantly over the past year. Despite this, 2013 saw smartphone sales overtake feature phone sales for the first time, due to an uptake in emerging markets.
This seemed to spark a huge offering of products at MWC designed for emerging markets, as well as smaller businesses.
Nokia released three Android phones – the Nokia X, XL and X+ – all designed and priced to appeal to less developed markets. Lenovo and Mozilla also offered low-cost options.
Samsung announced new features in its Samsung Knox security software, saying the new products are aimed at smaller enter-prises that need extra help to mobilise.
Injong Rhee, senior vice-president of Samsung Mobile Communications, said: “These products are designed to better serve the needs of small and medium-sized busi-nesses that do not necessarily have an IT department or IT manager.”
This move indicates that suppliers under-stand the importance of smaller businesses and market segments in ensuring the future development of mobile technologies.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg spoke of the need to help emerging markets online to allow easier access to knowledge and infor-mation that should be free to everyone.
“Only about a third of people have any access to the internet,” he said. “It’s actually growing way slower than you imagine.”
Wearable technologyIt was generally predicted that wearable technology would be a top theme at MWC, and there were a lot of devices around.
Wearable offerings included smart-watches, heart monitors and fitness bands, and Samsung has even integrated a pulse measuring system into its latest phone, the Samsung Galaxy S5.
Sony’s SmartBand life tracker, which was first announced at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, enables users to record on their phone not only how often they are walking or sleeping, but also how long they spend on particular activities.
Samsung’s smartwatch allows users to take phone calls without taking their phone out of their pocket, as well as track their steps and the number of calories burnt.
Showstoppers also exhibited a number of wearable products, including the Mio Alpha heart rate monitor and the Garmin naviga-tion system for the Sony SmartWatch2.
All these devices have one thing in com-mon: they require a smartphone to work. Ranjit Atwal, analyst for Gartner, said: “It’s difficult to see how something like a wear-able will necessarily replace a smartphone.”
This suggests the ever-growing mobile industry still has a long way to go. n
ANALYSIS
“only about a thirD of people have any access to the internet”mark Zuckerberg, facebook
SERVICE MANAGERSalary: Up to £65k
Ref No: 1206/A/CW
Southwest One is a unique partnership working with Somerset County Council,
Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Constabulary and IBM.
We are looking to recruit an experienced manager with a proven track record in
Service Delivery within complex customer environments. The role is based within
Technology Services and forms part of the Senior Management team.
You will have demonstrable leadership skills and role model appropriate
behaviours, as the department is undergoing a major re-focus on the way it
delivers its’ services to meet the vision, goals and values of our clients and
Southwest One.
You will be responsible for the planning, management and delivery of a range of
high quality services, achievement of performance measures and positive
customer experience, managing operational teams in the delivery of specialist
services.
The role will be predominantly based in Portishead, working for the Avon and
Somerset Constabulary Client (although travel will be required across Southwest
One locations) and will manage the delivery of the technical environment including
infrastructure and systems.
For an informal discussion about the post please contact Paul Gibson on:
07584 408012
This post involves providing a service to Avon and Somerset Constabulary,
therefore a police vetting check is required, as per Avon and Somerset
Constabulary’s vetting procedure
Apply on line at www.somerset.gov.uk/jobs or telephone our recruitment line
01823 356862 (24 hours). Please quote the reference number.
Closing Date: 31 March 2014 at 5.00pm
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 9
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
CASE STUDY
Danish building company Femern replaces its EqualLogic array with DataCore storage virtualisation and cuts its disk costs by 75%. Jim Mortleman reports
Construction firm opts for virtual storage to build immersion tunnel
Large-scale, state-sponsored construc-tion projects often run at a glacial pace, and the high-speed direct road and rail
link between Denmark and Germany – the Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link – is no exception.
A fixed link connecting the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland was first mooted in 2000, but it took another seven years before the two countries agreed to proceed with construction. Originally, it was going to be a 20km suspension bridge, and the plan to proceed with construction was ratified by both parliaments in 2009.
FEMERN
A/S
Storage virtualisation:
An old idea being revived?
Survey: Virtualisation the engine for
key storage projects
But in 2010, it was announced that the link would in fact be built as an immersed tube tunnel. Unlike traditional bored tunnels, immersion tunnel construction involves lowering prefabricated concrete sections of tunnel into a trench dredged across the seabed; and then applying a protective coating several metres thick. At between 17km and 18km in length, the proposed tunnel would measure five times longer than the current longest immersion tunnel, which forms part of the Øresund Link between Denmark and Sweden.
Femern intends to build the 18km tunnel by immersing prefabricated sections to rest on the seabed
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 10
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
The system automatically examines the usage characteristics of any data being stored and migrates it to the most efficient and cost-effective type of storage, (be that spinning disks or flash drives).
Because DataCore is a virtualised, soft-ware-only storage product, Femern can easily create shared storage using commod-ity or legacy arrays.
“Now we can be more flexible in where we get our disks from,” says Olsson. “We can buy cheaper, slower disks or faster storage and make it available to our apps. It’s a seamless way of scaling capacity. So, for example, when our HP arrays reach the end of their life, it will be easy to migrate to something else.”
Time and money savedWhen work finally starts on the tunnel, Femern can now be confident it will not face I/O bottlenecks that slow workers down and rack up additional costs because of lost productivity. And given that the project will undoubtedly face ongoing public, political and media scrutiny, that is critical.
Indeed, the project has already scored a few brownie points with the bean counters. Olsson estimates that Femern’s decision to opt for the DataCore/HP system cost it around £6,000, instead of the £35,000 or so it would have had to pay for a new EqualLogic array. n
Construction was supposed to start this year, but the revised plan still has not cleared all the necessary legal and parliamentary hoops – although these are in their final stages and most observers expect develop-ment will finally begin in 2015.
Storage array bottleneckOnce the start button is pressed, the project needs to run as quickly and smoothly as possible to avoid delays, escalating costs and negative headlines.
To support this, Femern, the Danish state-owned firm leading the project, must ensure that up to 150 engineering staff – and numer-ous contractors and consultants – can access all the necessary blueprints, specifications and workflow systems needed, in a timely and efficient manner.
But there was a problem. The company’s EqualLogic iSCSI storage array, accessed via its VMware-based virtualised environment, was prone to I/O bottlenecks and just wasn’t up to the job.
Tim Olsson, Femern’s IT manager, says: “The EqualLogic array was at the end of its life and coming with an increasingly high price tag. We didn’t want to buy another one because it was too complex for our needs, with features we did not use, and it locked us into only buying disks from EqualLogic.”
Digging into software-based storageAfter consulting with IT partner Comm2IG, Femern decided to implement DataCore’s SANsymphony-V storage virtualisation software with Fusion-io PCIe server-based flash storage to boost performance for its critical applications. The project subse-quently won an honourable mention at the
VMworld Europe User Awards 2013.
The com-pany imple-mented
DataCore SANsymphony-V nodes on two HP DL380 G7 servers. Each server has two CPUs and 96GB of RAM, plus a 320GB Fusion-io PCIe ioDrive2 card.
This gave Femern 50TB of storage capacity based on HP direct-attached storage in SAS and Sata drives.
› Automated storage tiering product comparison› The benefits of storage virtualisation
› Construction firm reconstructs storage set-up
CASE STUDY
The project is due for completion by 2021FEM
ERN A
/S
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 11
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
INTERVIEW
Global CIO Phil Jordan decommissioned systems and datacentres across four continents to consolidate the operator’s infrastructure, writes Angelica Mari
Telefónica embarks on global drive to modernise its business systems
Telefónica global CIO Phil Jordan is leading one of the most complex and challenging IT transformations in the
private sector. Telefónica is the fifth largest mobile network provider in the world, with operations in Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America. The operator is known in the UK for its O2 brand.
Last month, CEO José María Álvarez-Pallete López announced an efficiency drive, to be achieved through cutting costs and simplifying structures – a goal closely aligned with Jordan’s technology strategy.
“As we became more digital and global, the business agenda shifted to an IT agenda – whether driving our business online and creating multi-channel digital experiences; or consolidating across the group to create virtual shared infrastructures,” Jordan says.
“Beyond IT and digital, it’s all about cus-tomer data. Technology has always been important to telecoms companies, but now the IT element is mission-critical. The win-ners will be those with the best digital multi-channel experience and insight to create the best customer propositions.”
Jordan’s team is approaching the end of the first year of a three-year transformation. In Europe this includes virtualising more than 25,000 servers, moving IT operations to a central datacentre. In Latin America, the process will include a consolidation to strategic datacentres in Brazil and the US. But modernisation is less of an issue there, as the infrastructure is less obsolete than in Europe: “That sometimes surprises people,” says Jordan.
Moving to shared servicesAs a business operating in 20 countries, a lot of Telefónica’s global infrastructure and services can be shared and Jordan’s three-pillar IT strategy reflects this.
Jordan: “it’s a tough journey, but once you’ve started you have to keep on moving”
Interview: David Byrne,
Carphone Warehouse
Interview: Brendan
O’Rourke, CIO, Telefónica
Digital
CW500 interview
The first part of the plan is consolidating datacentres. The most important services have already been migrated to the company’s tier three and four datacentres, and a major ongoing refresh across Europe will consoli-date and virtualise mid-range infrastructure in the company’s private cloud.
“We have been around a while, grown very quickly and don’t have as much sharing and virtualisation as we’d like. We had an ageing technical setup across Unix and Windows/Intel, but we are modernising and virtualising that as much as possible,” he says.
The modernisation agenda involved rebuilding much of the company’s core infrastructure with Oracle, HP and VMware: “We are working with best-of-breed hard-ware and software manufacturers in the mid-range,” says Jordan.
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 12
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
Simplifying applicationsThe second pillar of Jordan’s strategy focuses on simplifying Telefónica’s business applications. He has made significant progress, with about 1,300 systems decom-missioned during 2013.
Much of this was made possible by retiring the datacentres. Jordan says this brings Telefónica into a “whole new era of full stack, business-led IT transformations”.
Telefónica’s entire business systems stack is being modernised and replaced in many of the countries where it operates. Six countries are currently undergoing that process.
The third strand of Jordan’s strategy con-cerns innovation. He says this is a much more future-oriented view.
“I’m looking beyond the first two work-streams of the IT strategy now and saying ‘OK, what does IT become in our business?’ Obviously innovation is when you are stand-ardising and commoditising your core needs to focus on how to innovate for your custom-ers. So if ‘I’ is information and if the ‘T’ is more standardised, we’ve got to refocus our entire organisation on data and customer insight and driving a better activity as a result of that,” says Jordan.
“So this third part of the strategy is very much signalling to the business and to the IT community that, beyond this change we are driving at the moment, there’s a future that is very exciting - but different, with different skills, culture and positioning in organisations like ours.”
According to Jordan, it will take about three years to get to the point where the third strand will be fully on-stream. n
“We are moving a business that was below standard in virtualisation to above-industry quality over the next two years. And we are taking the opportunity to move all production and operations organisations into a shared services company.”
The shared services operation is Telefónica Global Technology (TGT) – the company’s IT division – to which the company has moved its office systems from 11 countries. As part of the consolidation exercise, Telefónica closed six datacentres in 2013 and 11 more will be decommissioned this year.
Jordan says driving the shared services agenda has been challenging, with much structural change: “You are disrupting the accountability of most parts of the business as you move operations from one part of the organisation to another. So there is a lot of resistance to change,” he says.
“We had to focus heavily on showing the benefits of standardisation and sharing. It worked in the sense that 2013 was the best ever operational year in IT – when we moved 11 countries to shared services.
“We put a lot of emphasis on proof points and ensuring continuity, proving that it can be a better way of operating. But we haven’t rushed the change – our number one priority are the services we provide every day. The transformation agenda is key, but if you mess up the customer service experience in doing it, you won’t survive.”
To win over the business, Jordan sought to strike a balance between continuity of ser-vice and showing the value of change. But it has not always been a smooth ride.
“Occasionally, we had to use a very top-down mandate to say what we were doing. I believe wholeheartedly that what we’re doing
is on the critical path to Telefónica being a suc-cessful digital
global company – and you must keep remind-ing people that is central to the commercial strategy of the business,” he says.
“It’s not easy by any means, because you disrupt an awful lot of people’s accountability – and, dare I say it, power – and it’s a tough journey, but once you’ve started you have to keep on moving.” This is an edited excerpt. Click here to read the full article
› Telefónica Digital opts for cloud HR platform› Optimising telecoms customers’ experience
› Telefónica UK signs Cognizant for outsourcing
“there’s a future that is very exciting - but with Different skills, culture anD positioning”
INTERVIEW
REGISTRATIONSInformation and registrations: Oisin Walton +44 792 081 3254 - [email protected] - www.itcup.org
AFTER 10 YEARS IN FRANCE, FOOTBALL IS COMING HOME!
AT FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB
25 MAY 2014
IT CUP 2014, THE IT INDUSTRY’S CHARITY FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
PLAY YOUR OWN WORLD CUP IN LONDON
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 14
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
EDITOR’S COMMENT
Labour looks for the devil in the details of digital government
The Labour Party has launched a Digital Government Review, and already it is proving controversial.
There are many people who believe that digital government should not be a political issue – and others who feel just as strongly that it is inherently so.
The review is led by shadow Cabinet Office minister Chi Onwurah, an engineer and former head of telecoms technology at Ofcom, and as such better qualified than most politicians to understand all things digital.
According to Onwurah, Labour’s main criticism of the Coalition’s digital policy is that it is too focused on cutting costs. She said Labour wants digital govern-ment to be more “progressive”, and focused on enabling citizens, rather just cutting costs – although recognising that cutting costs is a good thing too.
She said digital should not be about imposing a way of working on the public sector – Labour is not fond of the “digital by default” mantra used by the Cabinet Office – but about supporting public service delivery.
But there has already been something of a backlash about Labour’s objective to “recognise the good work of the Government Digital Service (GDS) where it is suc-cessful, and suggest changes of direction where it is not”.
GDS was created by the Tories, and as such is instinc-tively distrusted by some on the Labour benches. As a team of civil servants, GDS ultimately focuses on the priorities set by its political masters. But its focus on user needs should be one that transcends political arguments.
In response, Onwurah said: “This is not a review of GDS. It is a review of digital government.” But in White-hall, GDS is digital government. This is an area that will be closely scrutinised.
Observers have also questioned Labour’s apparent closeness to the big IT suppliers that did so well under the Labour government, but have been frozen out since. The review would do well to examine the justified criti-cisms of those large system integrators’ track records.
But controversial or not, it is a very welcome sign that Labour takes digital government seriously. We look forward to all things digital taking a high profile in the months leading up to next year’s general election. n
Bryan GlickEditor in chief
Computer Weekly/ComputerWeekly.com1st Floor, 3-4a Little Portland Street, London
W1W 7JB
GENERAL ENQUIRIES
020 7186 1400
EDITORIAL
Editor in chief: Bryan Glick 020 7186 1424
Managing editor (technology): Cliff Saran 020 7186 1421
Head of premium content: Bill Goodwin 020 7186 1418
Services editor: Karl Flinders 020 7186 1423
Security editor: Warwick Ashford 020 7186 1419
Networking editor: Jennifer Scott020 7186 1404
Special projects editor: Kayleigh Bateman020 7186 1415
Datacentre editor: Archana Venkatraman020 7186 1411
Storage editor: Antony Adshead07779 038528
Business applications editor: Brian McKenna 020 7186 1414
Business editor: Caroline Baldwin 020 7186 1425
Editorial content assistant: Clare McDonald 020 7186 1426
Production editor: Claire Cormack 020 7186 1417
Senior sub-editor: Jason Foster 020 7186 1420
Senior sub-editor: Craig Harris020 7186 1416
DISPLAY ADVERTISING
Sales director: Brent Boswell 07584 311889
Group events manager: Tom Walker 0207 186 1430
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 15
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
Security is, of course, a key issue. There can be a challenge in balancing security with usability for enterprise apps, but some things are non-negotiable, such as a device man-agement solution that provides the ability to remotely wipe data from a lost device.
The testing phase can get overlooked in development schedules, but as mobile users tend to need information on a time-sensitive basis, mobile apps must be more reliable than desktop apps and should be tested not only for usability, but also for performance across different browsers.
Global recognitionFor apps created for international roll-out, graphics must be checked for global rec-ognition, and must be culturally sensitive. Another consideration is how will people be using the applications – online or offline?
With many staff now expecting to use their own devices at work, CIOs have a chal-lenge to manage both apps and devices with access to business networks, or that are used to create business data.
Businesses’ strategies must also look at how to keep apps up to date. Those that don’t have in-house resources to manage their apps can adopt private enterprise appli-cation catalogues, a hosted service.
An app must do more than look good, so planning a strategy for design, build, test-ing and management is the first and most important step for any enterprise. n
OPINION
Planning a strategy for design, build, testing and management must be the first step for any organisation considering an enterprise app, says Nisha Sharma
Don’t create a mobile enterprise application just for the sake of it
Mobility is here to stay as part of enterprise digital transformation, and businesses are realising that
whatever strategy they have in place – if they have one at all – is either not robust enough to survive the next new major device launch, or not holistic enough to allow them to reap all the benefits mobility could bring.
It is the use of enterprise apps that has arguably seen the greatest change through mobility in recent years, ranging from their use as bespoke communication tools to the adaptation of business applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and cus-tomer relationship management (CRM).
However, there are still many businesses out there seeking help to build apps without even knowing why they want one. There is often little consideration for how such an app will be used for real business benefit.
There are many aspects that need to be taken into account when designing mobile applications for business, but there is one simple rule: don’t create an app just for the sake of creating an app.
Relevant questionsUntil a company knows what its application is for, it won’t know how to build it, manage it, or keep it updated and relevant through-out its lifetime. So creating a strategy is essential, and all relevant questions must be asked before any key decisions are made.
Developers must address a number of technical issues when creating an enter-prise app. First, they must consider the most appropriate architecture for mobile apps. The best method for an enterprise is to develop a layered application, with consistent functionality across platforms. Functionality and features also need to be planned for, and a strict policy adopted for the use of components across platforms.
Enterprise mobility
management (EMM)
Winner: Best enterprise
mobility management
product Nisha Sharma is managing director of Accenture Mobility.
This is an edited excerpt. Click here to read the full article online.
Protecting enterprises from the growing risk of cyber threats with solutions from BAE Systems.
THAT’S WHAT WE CALL INSPIRING.
In just one month, our managed security service processed 50 billion client network events, identifying almost 200 of the world’s most advanced cyber threats.
www.baesystems.com/cyber
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 17
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
BUYER’S GUIDE
In February the Environment Agency became a real-time advocate for open data – whether it wanted to or not. During the flooding crisis – the UK battered by storms and many forced out of flooded homes in the south-west – the Environment Agency and government called on developers in Tech City to help. The government organised a
“Flood Hack” event, where developers used newly available government data – including flood sensor readings updated every 15 minutes – to create digital services, which in turn increased demand for data.
In the past, the Environment Agency’s attitude had been to charge a licence fee for access to its data but, during the Flood Hack, the agency freely released datasets for developers to create applications (see panel on page 18). After the event, the Cabinet Office embarked on a project to find the best way to ensure access to information of this type in future.
The Open Data Institute’s technical director, Jeni Tennison, says the Flood Hack event demonstrates the importance of releasing data. She says that, if the data had been released earlier, it may have been possible to create applications to plan for the disaster ahead of time. But, she says, there is “closed-mindedness” in how this flood data could have been used and there has long been a debate about releasing it: “The Environment Agency thinks the only way the data can be used is to put it on a map,” she says, “and they’re doing that anyway, so why would anyone else need it?
“Open data is transformative. It can be used as a tool for any kind of policy purpose. If you have a policy about protecting people from flooding and knowing where to build flood defences and making people prepared, then one of the things for you to do is to release data and information to make sure it’s available.”
THIN
KSTO
CK
UK needs open data
champions, says Martha
Lane Fox
How open data can
mitigate floods in the future
Using public sector open data to benefit local communitiesTech City’s Flood Hack shows how open data can help communities - an aspect attracting interest in Leeds council and other UK cities, writes Caroline Baldwin
BUYER’S GUIDEOpen data part 2 of 3
Startups and residents around Leeds’ Clarence Dock will benefit from the city council’s open data project
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 18
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
BUYER’S GUIDE
Open data and WhitehallGovernment is beginning to understand the importance of making data freely available. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude talks of open data as the next industrial revolution. “Transparency, accountability and citizen choice” has been the government’s mantra for open data since first making public sector datasets available. But there is also hope that, by doing so, it will help boost economic growth, with small businesses in particular taking the data and creating applications.
In a recent Computer Weekly interview Maude said: “In the Cabinet Office, Number 10 and the Treasury, we have been vigorous in promoting open data, but have found it heartening how many other departments are on board. When I urge colleagues and officials to go further, yes we are trail-blazers, but we are often pushing at an open door. The Home Office crime map app has created something which is world-leading.”
But while it has been bigged-up in parliament, the message has failed to trickle down to the civil servants on the front line.
Recently, the government announced a multimillion-pound fund to invest in organisations championing open data. The first £1.5m grant will support projects working on releasing public data as well as those training civil servants in their understanding of open data. The Open Data Institute (ODI) will receive £150,000, part of which will be used to train dozens of Whitehall staff to use and understand open data.
“Government officials need to understand they can use open data as a tool,” says Tennison. She says most think open data is something to be done for the sake of transparency. But there are still a number of civil servants championing open data. There was a lot of demand from civil servants for training in this area but it was impossible until the recent funding announcement, according to Tennison.
Part of the ODI’s Whitehall training is to explain the clear benefits, and to help them think about the ways they can deploy open data as a tool to help achieve policy objectives.
TECH CITY’S APP DEVELOPERS MEET FLOOD CHALLENGE
From the government’s “Flood Hack” event flourished a multitude of apps that monitor data about floods from diverse sources and alert those affected. Aggregation tool Flood Feeder, for example, puts together a feed of flood data from warnings, alerts, mobile phone mast locations and transport routes. Citizen Flood Journalism connects people tweeting from flood-affected areas, who can then contribute photographs and descriptions. Other apps allow users to pre-define alerts for events – such as a power loss, a burst river bank or flooded roads and paths – and receive geographically-specific alerts by app or SMS.
Other platforms use data to provide and co-ordinate assistance. FloodRelief, for example, con-nects volunteers, local authorities and emergency services with those worst affected. Fludbud finds Twitter users who are near flood affected areas – who have retained internet connectivity and know people in need of help – and tweets them information about nearby volunteers and other ways of finding help.
But apps for assistance reach much further than the immediate emergency. FoodTrade con-nects farmers and food businesses to mitigate the consequences of farmers producing reduced arable and livestock yields. It upgrades these connections regularly to provide near-live informa-tion for farmers to find alternative routes to market and retailers to access alternative produc-ers. As the developer points out, the app is just as useful for flood victims in the UK as it is for subsistence farmers in Costa Rica. Looking to the future, the Oxford Flood Network shows how data can mitigate the effects of flooding, with plans to build networked flood sensors under floorboards, bridges and structures around the city, from which to gather real-time data and a better idea of the anatomy of a flooding disaster.
Source: UK Flood Help February 2014
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 19
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
BUYER’S GUIDE
Localisation Attitudes towards open data need to be championed in a more localised fashion, says Emer Coleman, business development director at TransportAPI, a startup developing an open platform for transport data. The greater economic value will come from local data: “The real benefits are at city-level rather than national,” she says. If local authorities share their data, developers could produce innovative applications that, in turn, benefit the council and its citizens. “You never have the same tech experience internally as you have in the market.”
Coleman says freeing the data allows innovation to happen, adding that, were a local authority to keep hold of its data and make its own application, it would “kill the innovation”.
Transport for London (TfL) is an example of innovation with open data for bus and Tube travel in the capital. “TfL doesn’t have its own application, and there are lots of apps made by developers – if TfL had gone out with its own app, there would have been no-one to compete with it,” says Coleman. Making the data freely available prompted developers and companies to come and improve consumer choice and drive competition in the market, she says.
Local authority concernsSome cities – such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham – are forging ahead, but others have not advanced so far down the open data path. Tennison says local authorities are concerned about the costs of publishing and maintaining datasets, and councils face difficul-ties in managing procurement and supplier relationships. Tennison says a number of local authorities outsource website and digital technology from suppliers which can not change their systems rapidly or at a low enough cost to publish datasets.
She also says some councils are facing legal barriers where their procurement contracts may have clauses which state that any data put into the outsourced system belongs to the supplier – who can then choose what to do with that data. While central government is trying to prevent this from happening in any future procurement contracts, by introducing standard transparency clauses, this may be preventing organisations from acting right now.
Leeds Data Mill projectOne local authority set to make good progress is Leeds City Council. The city has just launched its independent Data Mill programme, in which open data files can be uploaded to a data management system and accessed by others.
“it’s going to be impossible to Deliver a full range
of services as before” Dylan roberts, leeDs city council
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 20
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
The council backs Leeds Data Mill and has agreed to upload its datasets, but the platform will also host data from private organisations, including First Direct Arena and the West Yorkshire Metro. These organisations will join art galleries, charities, universities, travel providers and the health sector as the platform progresses. Mark Barrett, open data lead at the Leeds Data Mill, says he set it up because he was “fascinated about data that could change people’s lives – data on a local level, rather than a national level”.
Before the launch of the Leeds Data Mill on 8 March 2014, the city council was already beginning to make data available, but Barrett says there were only 15-20 datasets available. But by the time of its launch, the Leeds Data Mill had 50 datasets in total – 30 of which were brand new – which included five datasets from the private sector.
“In three months that was quite an achievement,” he says. “We’re just getting going, there’s a huge appetite to turn Leeds into an open data city.
“We’ll be able to understand our city better. Often, people have a hunch about what their city is but, until you have the data, you can’t prove anything.”
The future of local government service provisionBarrett says city services often overlap, and it is not until the datasets are made available that patterns begin to emerge. Dylan Roberts, CIO of Leeds City Council, believes data and information is a “key element of success for Leeds as a city, not just the city council”. But while Roberts says Leeds council chief executive Tom Riordan believes in the power of data, other business leaders across the council and the city still need some convincing.
But the effects of austerity drives in recent years require no such leap of faith. Roberts says open data will help the council as it faces ever-increasing budget cuts. “From our point of view as a council, we recognise it’s going to be impossible to deliver a full range of services as before,” he says. “It’s more about delivering outcomes rather than services, and to do that through new models.”
He says that, by empowering the private sector, entrepreneurs and even citizen “bedroom coders” with data, the council will have a full range of stakeholders who will hopefully develop services which may replace what the council had provided previously. Roberts calls this “civic enterprise”, adding: “The private sector becoming a bit more civic and a public sector becoming a bit more commercial.”
Hackathon day for Leeds dataBarrett says the Leeds Data Mill will set challenges and ask the community to answer a data-driven question. The answer could be developed during a weekend hackathon, or participants could be commissioned to investigate a trend in more detail. He hopes startup technology companies will launch from making this data available. Leeds City Council is set to open an innovation centre to encourage people to work on some of the city’s prob-lems through hack days and entrepreneurial opportunities.
A different approach to council procurement is needed, according to Roberts. He says hacking events could result in the council and developer co-producing a solution. “Fundamentally the idea for me is we’re providing the ground for something co-produced,
almost like in-house development,” he says. Off the back of a hack day, the council wouldn’t know what the results are going to be, so prototypes are important to find high-level problems early on, says Roberts.
It’s still early days, but if the Leeds Data Mill manages to gain traction in both the public and private sector, it could prove a
rich bank of information which could benefit the lives of citizens. This and Flood Hack prove the need to liberate data, but there are costs associated with the publication and mainte-nance of datasets. Local government IT directors also need to make sure they can access the data, especially if it is hosted by a supplier, who may not be able to provide the data in an easy and cost effective way. n
› US and Canada follow UK open data initiative› Making data flow freely
› How open data creates opportunities in the UK
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 21
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY
People waste huge amounts of time travelling to and from meet-ings, processing emails and simply trying to track down the right people in their organisations to speak to.
Email in particular can be a great time waster, giving employ-ees a sense of being busy, but without necessarily helping them achieve useful results for the business.
The answer for many companies is unified communications (UC) – a convergence of tech-nologies which promises to help people communicate more effectively. UC can bring rapid returns on investment, while at the same time freeing up workers from the drudgery of email and voicemail.
But IT leaders report that the biggest benefit is better work-life balance for staff. That means happier, more productive workers and a better environment in which to work, leading CIOs told a recent meeting of Computer Weekly’s CW500 Club.
Virgin Media: Taking on the tumbleweedUK cable and telecoms company Virgin Media grew up through a series of acquisitions, leaving it with employees dispersed across 200 sites around the UK. Over time, the com-pany found it was becoming increasingly expensive to manage employee communications.
“We have an ever-increasing travel and entertainment budget because of people travelling to meetings,” Colin Miles, director of IT technical services at Virgin Media, told the audience.
Email was not an effective substitute for travel, he said, as employees found they were spending more of their time dealing with items in their inbox: “Our CEO used to call it ‘stupid busy’. Email is a very linear form of communication. People read it from top to bottom, or from bottom to top, and there is very little business etiquette to prioritise information.”
Conference phone calls were little better. They took up a lot of time and employees often found themselves disengaged on long calls.
OLL
Y/FO
TOLI
A
Where’s the collaboration
in enterprise collaboration
tools?
Enterprise collaboration
tools hindering collaboration?
Business communications: Out with the old, in with the new
Unified communications can offer rapid return on investment and free workers from the drudgery of email and voicemail, keeping
both the business and its staff happy, writes Bill Goodwin
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 22
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY
These problems were the catalyst for Virgin’s move to UC. The company began by installing high-definition video-conferencing suites in its offices. The result was a noticeable improve-ment in the speed of decision-making, but it was far from perfect, said Miles. There was such high demand for video-conferencing that staff often found it difficult to book a slot. Virgin solved the problem by introducing Cisco’s WebEx conferencing service, which allows people to make video-conferencing calls from their laptops and PCs.
Virgin is using the same technology to share videos with its employees, secure in the knowledge that any sensitive information cannot be viewed by the wrong person. “We used to send top-down emails where we would discuss our results or a message from the CEO. That changed to a faceless conference call. Now it’s on video,” said Miles.
But the real benefit of unified communications is helping people communicate across the organisation with new people, rather than people they already know. “We recognised that the real goal is horizontal collaboration. That means real people forming new networks even though they have not met each other before,” he said.
It took some effort to convince employees that using collaborative, social media-type tools at work could help them to work more effectively. Mention Facebook and people protest, ‘Why should I want to know what my friend is doing?’ But in a business context, social media makes sense, said Miles. “Change the word ‘friend’ to ‘colleague’, and why wouldn’t you want to know what your colleague is working on?”
Today, employees at Virgin can type a search term into the company intranet, see a list of documents related to that topic, and identify all the people in the company who have expertise in that area. They can see at a glance whether a person they might need to speak to is in or out of the office, and can fix up a voice or video call at the touch of a button.
As a result of these changes, Virgin’s staff surveys have recorded a 7% increase in employee engagement. “Video-conferencing means employ-ees can spend more time in the office or at home completing their activity. That saves five to 10 hours of travelling time per week,” said Miles. In practice, employees split the time they save. Half goes back into the business and they use half to spend more time with their fami-lies. That is good for the workforce and it’s good for Virgin, said Miles.
City & Guilds: Making the IT infrastructure fit for purposeQualifications awarding body City & Guilds turned to unified communications to help its 8,000 staff, spread across 800 sites around the world, communicate and collaborate more effectively.
Back in 2011, the charity was struggling with an antiquated IT infrastructure and rickety tele-communications. “We had a desktop [estate] that was not fit for purpose, a terrible network and an ageing telephony system. We could not even deploy a screensaver without breaking something,” Ian Turfrey, IT director at City & Guilds (G&G), told the CW500 Club meeting.
The charity’s datacentre was a jungle of wires and servers. For staff working from home in the UK, accessing its virtual private network (VPN) was hit and miss, at best. For people working abroad it was impossible. “That led to some very unhappy customers,” said Turfrey.
It was clear that something needed to be done, and the charity’s board agreed to back a major infrastructure transformation project. “It was not hard for the board to understand the need for change. They were as frustrated as we were,” he told IT leaders. The aim was to allow anyone, anywhere in the world, to access the company’s systems from any device.
G&G invested in Citrix technology to allow people to access their Windows desktops from mobile devices, and upgraded its desktop software to Windows 7 and Office 2010. “This was
“the real goal is horiZontal collaboration – people forming new networks even though they have not met”colin miles, virgin
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 23
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY
a massive success. For the first time we had stability in the estate and our staff could work from home just as productively as they did in the office,” said Turfrey.
At the same time, the IT team began a huge programme to reduce the number of software applications it supported from 8,000 to just 500. This, in turn, helped City & Guilds reduce the number of servers it needed to support its datacentre, and virtualisation technology reduced the numbers still further.
The charity invested in Microsoft Lync 2010, a unified communications software package, to provide its UK staff with instant messaging and the ability to check whether their col-leagues were at their desk before calling them. C&G used the savings generated by slimming down its fixed-line network to fund a replacement corporate intranet. That gave staff in the organisation the ability to share blogs and comments with their colleagues for the first time.
Next on the cards was Wi-Fi for C&G’s UK offices. Turfrey started with a small-scale pilot using cheap routers from PC World to prove the concept. With full-scale Wi-Fi now in place, employees bring their tablets and mobile phones into C&G’s offices and make calls over the Wi-Fi network – saving on 3G phone costs. “Staff productivity and engagement increased by 10%,” said Turfrey.
But the system was far from perfect. Employees working overseas were not able to access the intranet easily, and City & Guilds was struggling to make video-conferencing work. Turfrey solved the problems with video-conferencing when he upgraded to Microsoft Lync 2013. “I can talk to my fellow board members and participate in meetings when I work from home. I now federate with key suppliers,” he said.
Next on the cards is a project to replace Microsoft’s collaboration software – SharePoint 2010, currently hosted internally – with SharePoint 2013 hosted in the cloud. “We’ve done some trials and we had issues with our Indian operation when sharing documents and editing with the UK. But with SharePoint 2013 in the cloud, collaboration works very well and effec-tively,” said Turfrey.
With most of C&G’s infrastructure powered by Microsoft, it makes sense for C&G to issue staff with Windows mobile phones. They will integrate smoothly with C&G’s existing IT systems and can be managed in the cloud, said Turfrey. He expects to make further savings by replacing C&G’s copper wire telephone systems with a cloud-based telephone service. The project will allow people to make and receive calls from “softphones” built into their laptops and PCs, and receive instant messages and video calls.
Unified communications has transformed the way C&G works, said Turfrey. A few years ago, C&G as a business was not ready for unified communications, he said. Now it is demanding it.
BBC: Calling off a phoney warIf there is one thing the BBC is not short of, it’s phones. Steve Shepherd, head of IT and business alignment at the BBC, is the man responsible for rationalising the BBC’s estate of phones. “There were lots of telephones that people did not use, and lots of red lights flashing where we did not know who owned the phone,” he said.
The BBC’s plan was to move to a system where it could give each employee a single phone with a number they would keep for the duration of their career. The corporation chose to install Microsoft’s Lync communications software to provide telephone services, audio and video-conferencing.
But rather than replace its existing IP-based exchanges, the IT team decided to run Lync in parallel. “We installed Lync and the phone system side by side. When you have a really large organisation, you can’t move seamlessly from one system to another,” said Shepherd.
For an organisation as large as the BBC, it’s the technical details that make a project like this succeed or fail, he revealed.
a few years ago, c&g was not reaDy for unifieD communications. now it is DemanDing it
Case study: Barnardo’s
uses Huddle Note for
collaboration & communication
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 24
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY
Overcoming UC challengesOne of the challenges in moving to UC, particularly one that is based in the cloud, is that organisations lose a certain amount of control over communications infrastructure. That can leave them more vulnerable to the performance of their technology suppliers.
C&G’s Turfrey was frank about the risks: “If Microsoft has a bad day, we have a bad day.” But the business benefits more than make up for the loss of control, he said. “For me it’s a very cost-effective proposition. We are not a massive, galactic dotcom. I am happy to lose that control.”
Simon Levene, senior strategy consultant at Jive Software, pointed out that data is often more secure in the cloud than on a company net-work. “There is just one instance of the data in the cloud, rather than multiple instances spread across the organisation, and it is protected by iron bars and wrapped in cotton wool,” he said.
As companies introduce more collaboration tools, employees have much more information at their dis-posal. Managing that information can be difficult, the meeting heard. One answer is to use to use the filters built into today’s collaboration tools to filter out infor-mation that is not relevant to your work. But even then it can be difficult to separate the reliable information from the unreliable. Information and knowledge often gets embedded in company wikis and blogs, said Don Kavanagh, head of business architecture at the Security Industry Authority. Establishing the provenance of that information is difficult: “Instead of one answer, you get 10 answers.”
It’s a problem that Virgin Media admits it has not yet solved. “It is a real challenge,” said Miles. “One of the key problems is misinformation getting around the company. It’s very common.”
One answer is to allow employees to comment and vote on the usefulness of the com-ment, said Jive Software’s Levene. “We found that through collaboration, you can identify the right answer. If 20 of your colleagues who are experienced in the subject think it’s good, the chances are you will think it’s good,” he said.
Proving the value of UC to the business can be difficult, as many of the benefits are soft benefits which are difficult to measure. City & Guilds’ Turfrey recommends starting with a structured pilot, with benefits that can be measured, to prove the concept.
Comparing the same task carried out with and without unified communications is another useful tactic. C&G, for example, found that a team using collaboration tools finished a task much more quickly than a team carrying out a similar task without them.
Levene rolled out Jive collaboration software to 135,000 people in his former role as a director of knowledge management at PricewaterhouseCoopers. “There are three levels of metrics: how many people are using the network; how many people are contributing; and stories about how people are using it,” he said. The take-up of Jive at PwC was so enthusias-tic that after three months Levene had to go back to the board to ask for more money to put more employees on the system.
The software helped to reduce the time taken to develop a business proposal from two weeks to one week and the effort spent on processing documents was reduced by 80%.
But it would be a mistake to think of UC as a tool to squeeze more out of the workforce. Better to think of it as a tool to improve people’s work-life balance, the meeting heard.
“If people save time and go home earlier, that has value to the firm because you have a hap-pier, healthier workforce,” said Levene. n
“if people save time anD go home earlier, that has value to the firm because you have a happier workforce”simon levene,
Jive software
This is an edited excerpt. Click here to read the full article online.
McLaren uses Intralinks collaboration
software to protect IP
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 25
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
MOBILE POLICY
Ayear or two ago, you could have been forgiven for safely assuming that bring your own device (BYOD) would be the champion of all corporate mobile strategies. However, fast-forward to 2014 and there is an undeniable shadow hanging over the proposition.
Gartner predicted recently that one-fifth of all enterprise BYOD projects would fail by 2016. But why has the market watcher painted such a pessimistic outlook? Well, it claims IT departments are adopting heavy-handed approaches to enterprise mobility management.
While employees first seemed exuberant at the prospect of ditching the corporate brick in favour of their own shiny flagship device, they are now wising up to the fact that most mobile device management (MDM) solutions make no distinction between personal and corporate data. Follow this line of thought and it becomes obvious that some BYOD deployments are destined for early retirement.
Don’t ignore BYODStriking a balance between the privacy of the individual and the security of the business can seem such an insurmountable task that an employer may be tempted to abandon BYOD. But the concept cannot simply be swept under the rug.
BYOD was born out of the consumerisation of IT and, try as you might, paradigm shifts cannot be ignored. Doing so will usher in a wave of shadow technology. Any CIO will tell you
THIN
KSTO
CK
More than one billion
BYOD users predicted by
2018
Government approves BYOD
for public sector staff
Create a mobile device policy your employees can trustBring your own device (BYOD) programmes must strike a balance between business data security and the privacy of the individual, writes Sean McGrath
Some mobile device management systems make no distinction between personal and corporate data
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 26
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
MOBILE POLICY
that every employee is an expert at circum-venting corporate policy and will happily do so if they do not have access to the tools they need to carry out their job effectively.
Just as it is unfeasible to keep a lid on BYOD, ignoring the security ramifications is also untenable. The US, the UK, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland and Spain – to name just a few – all have strin-gent data privacy laws in place.
Employers are ultimately responsible for the data that resides or passes through their ecosystem and failure to protect it can result in crippling fines.
From senior management’s perspective, it may well seem a case of damned if you do,
damned if you don’t. So is it possible to balance the needs of the business with those of the employee, while maintaining respect for privacy?
A fresh way of thinkingThe answer is yes, but to get there, it is necessary to challenge some of the assumptions made about BYOD and MDM.
The truth is that the concept of mobile device management is built on a legacy security ethos. This stems from the days when corporate PCs needed to be fully managed in order to maintain a secure network. When the corporate mobile came along, the same strategy was understandably applied. Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) was the ideal solution for busi-nesses, allowing administrators to have unfettered control of the mobile estate.
MDM platforms give IT professionals the ability to maintain the same cast-iron grip on mobile devices to which they had grown accustomed in the eras of the PC and the Blackberry. The fact is that BYOD demands a different way of thinking.
MDM has become a catch-all term for the management of mobile devices in the enter-prise. The problem with condensing all the potential issues and solutions involved into one term is that it is easy to lose focus on what is important.
The correct terminology that decision-makers should be familiarising themselves with is enterprise mobil-ity management (EMM). While this might seem like a semantic argument, by moving away from the notion that devices must be managed, enterprises can adopt a much more dynamic approach to securing their infra-structure and data.
Back to the drawing boardStart by considering what it is that is driving this shift-ing paradigm. Why do employees want to use their own devices for work purposes? When you think about it, the notion is almost counter-intuitive. After all, an employee would hardly volunteer his or her own printer ink or coffee grounds for office use.
So is it possible to balance the needs of the business with the needs of the employee, while maintaining respect for privacy?
The answer lies in the phenomenon that has driven BYOD – the consumerisation of IT (CoIT). CoIT, and BYOD, have nothing to do with where ownership lies – nobody genuinely cares. Employees want to use the same well-designed and elegant tools they have grown
enterprises can aDopt a much more Dynamic approach to securing their infrastructure anD Data
Employers are ultimately responsible for the data that resides in or passes through their IT ecosystem
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 27
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
MOBILE POLICY
accustomed to in the consumer market. With this in mind, it may well be that BYOD is not the most suitable strategy for all enterprises looking to evolve their enterprise mobility policy.
Consider alternative approaches, such as corporate-owned, personally enabled (COPE). This strategy fundamentally changes the dynamic between employer and employee. The IT department is no longer the enemy, but the enabler. Perhaps most importantly, the onus of security is shared between the organisation and the individual.
The high capital expenditure involved with COPE or similar strategies puts off many com-panies. However, the reality is that operating expenditure (Opex) is the principal factor when calculating total cost of ownership (TCO). Businesses that are expecting BYOD to act as a silver bullet when it comes to Opex are chasing a pipedream.
For organisations that choose to embrace BYOD in its purest form, by allowing employee-owned devices into the corporate ecosystem, one question remains: how do you secure corporate data while respecting the privacy of employees?
The answer is actually hidden within the question. The emphasis should be on securing the data, rather than the device itself.
Mobile application management (MAM) and appli-cation virtualisation technologies enable administra-tors to silo the private from the personal. MAM gives administrators access to specific applications, leaving the rest of the phone unaffected.
On paper, both MAM and virtualised environments provide an ideal solution to the quandary enterprises have found themselves in. However, when choosing a vendor or platform, it is worth remembering that CoIT is driving this shift.
It could be argued that a solution that does not mirror the usability found at the consumer end of the market is no solution at all. On the other hand, containing corporate data and applications remains the most effective approach to balancing employee privacy with corpo-rate responsibility in a BYOD environment.
Many MDM vendors have recognised the changing attitude towards mobile security and have started to incorporate MAM or virtualised environments into their offerings.
A mobile policy employees can believe inDon’t listen to the naysayers proclaiming the death of BYOD and MDM; certainly don’t let them influence your plans to modernise your approach to enterprise mobility. Both BYOD and MDM are here to stay, but rather than becoming fixated on device management, take a step back and address the bigger picture.
Entering into BYOD under the pretence that you might save money is a mistake. BYOD is the by-product of a shifting attitude towards IT. Without getting ahead of this shift, employ-ers will be opening the gates to the murky underworld of shadow IT. It is therefore crucial to address the issue head-on.
Instead of focusing on the total lockdown of devices (as with MDM), it is essential to adopt a more holistic mobile-management strategy, whether through containerisation methods, such as mobile application management, virtualised technologies or adopting an alternative approach, such as COPE.
Regardless of which technology is used, the key is to develop a robust enterprise mobility policy that employees can believe in and trust. Gaining staff endorsement is by far the single largest challenge and, by creating a transparent policy that caters to both the individual and the business, the chances of successfully deploying BYOD are infinitely improved. n
containing corporate Data anD applications remains the most effective approach to balancing employee privacy with corporate responsibility
computerweekly.com 18-24 March 2014 28
HOME
NEWS
IMPLICATIONSOF ORACLE’S
RIMINI DISPUTE
MOBILE WORLDCONGRESS 2014
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRM OPTS FOR DATACORE STORAGE
TO BUILD TUNNEL
TELEFÓNICA DRIVES GLOBAL
MODERNISATION
EDITOR’S COMMENT
OPINION
BUYER’S GUIDE TO OPEN DATA
TAPPING BUSINESS BENEFITS OF
COLLABORATION
CREATE A MOBILE DEVICE POLICY
EMPLOYEES TRUST
DOWNTIME
DOWNTIME
The record attempt was due to take place at the Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday 15 March.
Next-generation shiny plastic thing The charity What About The Children is warning about the risks of giving young
children smartphones, the BBC has reported. It’s all down to mothers
ignoring their infants. Here in the busy Downtime
office, there’s always a risk in giving our correspondents
another smartphone to look at. Let me see... shiny box... shiny
slab of plastic and metal with some whiz monkey glass and a
couple of buttons you can’t use without a finger pick. It’s not exactly out of this galaxy, is it?
So why do the smartphone companies ignore me? n
Robot sibling rivalryAn ARM-powered robot will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest solving of a Rubik’s cube.
The robot, named The CubeStormer 3, uses an ARM-powered Samsung Galaxy S4 to analyse the Rubik’s cube and instruct on how to turn the cube next.
Unfortunately, the record is likely to spark a family feud because the previous record of 5.27 seconds is held by the robot’s predecessor, the CubeStormer II.
“We are very confident the robot will break the record,” said Dominic Vergine, head of corporate responsibility at ARM. “The new robot can think three times faster than its older brother.”
SMART BOILER COMES CLEAN ABOUT ITS SKIVING OWNERThe internet of things introduces some interesting possibili-ties. Devices in the home could soon have enough comput-ing power to be used in hacks. Imagine your fridge spying on you. But perhaps the most worrying for some will be the abil-ity of appliances such as a boiler to send messages. Imagine emailing your boss to tell him you are working from home to get the boiler fixed, only for the boiler to email your boss telling him you are a lying skiver: “I should know – he ran himself a deep bath this morning and I am knackered. And after the winter I have had, I wish he would get me fixed.”
Read more on the
Downtime blog
THIN
KSTO
CK
THIN
KSTO
CK
