Data centre

Deciding where and how to build and operate a datacentre is one of the most important decisions your organisation will make. This section covers how to build a solid datacentre infrastructure, including selecting the right location to build your new facility, best practices for designing a new datacentre, and cooling and air flow techniques. Learn about green IT, data management systems, servers and operating systems.

Feature 09 Feb 2024
The rising prominence of hybrid cloud in the Nordics

Many Nordic organisations have opted for hybrid cloud environments, subscribing to the newest services without giving up what they already have. Best practices are beginning to emerge for managing the heterogenous environment Continue Reading
News 08 Feb 2024
Swedish CIO contributes best practices for ethical use of artificial intelligence

IT leaders are scrambling to keep up with AI technology, but many are losing sight of its ethical impact – and what CIOs need to do to ensure responsible use Continue Reading

News 16 Mar 2023

Developing countries risk being left behind by green tech revolution, warns UN development body

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development urges action from governments and developed countries to ensure the developing world does not miss out on the opportunity to benefit economically from the green tech revolution Continue Reading
Podcast 16 Mar 2023

Observability: A Computer Weekly Downtime Upload podcast

William Hill’s Stephen Wild discusses how the betting website reduces the revenue impact of IT glitches Continue Reading
Opinion 16 Mar 2023

IT Sustainability Think Tank: How IT leaders can address the sustainability gap

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that enterprises are struggling to ensure their statements of intent on sustainability are matching their actions, so what steps can they take to bridge the gap? Continue Reading
News 15 Mar 2023

UK government commits £2.5bn to boost quantum

Decade of funding aims to fast-track quantum computing engineers to the UK and drive business adoption of this emerging technology Continue Reading
News 14 Mar 2023

UK mini-datacentre startup hails energy savings of heat reuse deployment at leisure centre

UK startup Deep Green has saved Exmouth Leisure Centre thousands in energy costs through deployment of mini-datacentres Continue Reading
Opinion 14 Mar 2023

IT Sustainability Think Tank: Closing the sustainability gap takes patience and persistence

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that enterprises are struggling to ensure their statements of intent on sustainability are matching their actions, so what steps can they take to bridge the gap? Continue Reading
News 14 Mar 2023

How William Hill’s IT copes with big sporting events

The Grand National is one of those events that pushes online betting sites beyond their limits. Understanding where there are bottlenecks is key Continue Reading
Definition 14 Mar 2023

green computing

Green computing, also known as green technology, is the use of computers and other computing devices and equipment in energy-efficient and eco-friendly ways. Continue Reading
News 14 Mar 2023

BT helps Channel 4 and ITV take Freeview content to the cloud

Multiplex broadcast consortium Digital 3&4 has ditched its legacy hardware for a software-defined networking setup that will revamp how it delivers Freeview content to viewers Continue Reading
News 13 Mar 2023

Liverpool Football Club signs Wasabi in on-premise-to-cloud storage transition

Liverpool Football Club has transitioned from lead-footed on-premise infrastructure to Wasabi cloud storage that’s well-suited to its video production and distribution requirements Continue Reading
News 13 Mar 2023

SolarWinds doubles down on APAC business

SolarWinds teams up with key systems integrators in the APAC region to develop joint offerings as it bolsters its capabilities in observability and autonomous operations Continue Reading
Opinion 13 Mar 2023

IT Sustainability Think Tank: Ensuring intent matches actions to close the sustainability gap

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that enterprises are struggling to ensure their statements of intent on sustainability are matching their actions, so what steps can they take to bridge the gap? Continue Reading
Feature 13 Mar 2023

Gartner: Use digital to achieve sustainability goals

Sustainability guides decision-making by incorporating economic, social and environmental impacts. Gartner looks at digital technology’s role Continue Reading
News 10 Mar 2023

Government Future of Compute Review calls for nationally coordinated IT infrastructure strategy

The government’s Future of Compute Review makes 10 recommendations geared towards helping the UK become a technology superpower Continue Reading
Podcast 10 Mar 2023

Podcast: Why DBaaS and what problems does it solve?

We talk to Tobias Ternström of Nutanix about how the enterprise landscape has seen thousands of databases from multiple vendors mushroom and how database as a service can help manage that complexity Continue Reading
News 10 Mar 2023

Emerging markets lead growth in cloud spend in Asia

Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are expected to lead the rest of Asia in growing their cloud spending in 2023, study finds Continue Reading
Definition 09 Mar 2023

IBM Roadrunner

Roadrunner was a supercomputer developed by IBM at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Continue Reading
News 09 Mar 2023

Velero wants to become the Kubernetes backup standard

Open source Velero offers modular data protection and disaster recovery functionality via API for Kubernetes container clusters in an effort to become the standard in the field Continue Reading
Opinion 09 Mar 2023

IT Sustainability Think Tank: The importance of measurement in closing the sustainability gap

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that enterprises are struggling to ensure their statements of intent on sustainability are matching their actions, so what steps can they take to bridge the gap? Continue Reading
Opinion 09 Mar 2023

IT Sustainability Think Tank: Helping enterprises close the sustainability gap

There is mounting anecdotal evidence that enterprises are struggling to ensure their statements of intent on sustainability are matching their actions, so what steps can they take to bridge the gap? Continue Reading
Blog Post 09 Mar 2023

Where did it all go wrong for the UK’s home-grown tech suppliers?

In this guest post, Karsten Smet, CEO at distribution company ACI Group, examines the parallels between the demise of the UK's home-grown cloud providers and the challenges facing the country's ... Continue Reading
News 08 Mar 2023

How ForgeRock is tackling identity management

ForgeRock CEO Fran Rosch has set the identity and access management software supplier on a path to deliver a frictionless identity experience without compromising security or privacy Continue Reading
News 07 Mar 2023

Mobile operator Three cuts datacentre cooling energy usage through EkkoSense deployment

Mobile operator Three enlisted the help of EkkoSense to reduce the amount of energy used to cool four of its legacy datacentres as part of a cost- and carbon-cutting initiative Continue Reading
E-Zine 07 Mar 2023

Can the UK keep its fintech crown?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, two years after the Kalifa report laid out a roadmap for continued fintech sector growth, UK entrepreneurs and startups are worried about the lack of progress. We look at the top tech trends in retail and find out which companies are leading the way. And we examine six ways to slash IT emissions. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 07 Mar 2023

APAC IT leaders bullish on tech spending

Over half of respondents in this year’s IT Priorities study have bigger IT budgets as they continue to make strategic investments in cyber security, cloud and automation, among other areas Continue Reading
News 06 Mar 2023

How to get mainframe modernisation right

Around a third of mainframe modernisation efforts fail, but that doesn’t need to be the case if organisations can harness the best of mainframe and distributed architectures, according to Rocket Software Continue Reading
Feature 06 Mar 2023

The race to net zero: Six ways to slash IT infrastructure emissions

Strategies aimed at successfully cutting climate risk can appear to be stymieing business sustainability. How can the industry remain productive? Continue Reading
Definition 03 Mar 2023

computer system

A computer system consists of hardware components that have been carefully chosen so that they work well together and software components or programs that run in the computer. Continue Reading
News 02 Mar 2023

AWS to open cloud region in Malaysia

Along with a new infrastructure region, AWS plans to invest $6bn in Malaysia by 2037 as it continues to expand its footprint across the Asia-Pacific region Continue Reading
Feature 01 Mar 2023

Backup testing: The why, what, when and how

We look at backup testing – why you should do it, what you should do, when you should do it, and how, with a view to the ways in which it will be made easier by forthcoming developments in backup software Continue Reading
News 28 Feb 2023

LastPass attack saw employee’s home computer hacked

The ongoing investigation into a series of linked security incidents at LastPass has found that the attacker was successfully able to compromise a developer’s home PC using a vulnerability in a media software package Continue Reading
News 28 Feb 2023

Colt DCS starts build-out of renewably powered West London datacentre campus

Hyperscale-focused colocation firm Colt DCS claims project will bring hundreds of jobs to West London Continue Reading
Opinion 28 Feb 2023

Software for environmental, social, and corporate governance

In the last few years there has been an explosion in software to track and report on ESG data in financial services. What are the main features to look out for? Continue Reading
E-Zine 28 Feb 2023

The race to net zero

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the role of green technology in helping businesses contribute to the government’s 2050 net-zero targets. We talk to Spotify about the importance of open source technologies in the music streaming service. And we look at the way hybrid working is evolving as the post-pandemic workplace continues to change. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
27 Feb 2023

The race to net zero

The UK government is targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but it will need the private sector’s help and its appetite for investing in green technologies to meet its goal. Continue Reading
Feature 27 Feb 2023

Unstructured data and the storage it needs

We look at unstructured and semi-structured data and find increasing amounts of production workloads that have their own storage hardware – file and object – needs, including flash Continue Reading
News 27 Feb 2023

How Dell is future-proofing its business

Dell Technologies is building a more resilient supply chain, investing in growth areas like edge and multicloud, and responding to shifts in consumption models to position itself for long-term growth Continue Reading
Feature 27 Feb 2023

Green tech and the private sector: How the UK government will hit its 2050 net-zero emissions goal

The UK government is targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but it will need the private sector’s help and its appetite for investing in green technologies to meet its goal Continue Reading
News 24 Feb 2023

Amazon denies claims hiring freeze is slowing AWS sustainability work

Amazon’s cloud arm has seen several high-profile departures leave its sustainability teams, but the company denies its hiring freeze is stalling efforts to help AWS customers bring their carbon emissions down Continue Reading
News 23 Feb 2023

ANZ CIOs flag priorities amid inflation concerns

CIOs in Australia and New Zealand are concerned about inflation and plan to adjust their technology priorities to optimise resources and combat cyber threats Continue Reading
Blog Post 23 Feb 2023

How consolidating into the cloud can help enterprises achieve their green goals

In this guest post, Matt Watts, chief technology evangelist at data storage manufacturer NetApp, sets out the role that cloud can play in cutting enterprise energy bills If data is an ... Continue Reading
Definition 22 Feb 2023

ampere per meter (A/m)

The ampere per meter (A/m) is the measure for magnetic field strength, as defined by the International System of Units (SI). Continue Reading
News 22 Feb 2023

Tony Blair and William Hague call for a remade strategic state to stoke UK innovation

Former Labour prime minister and former Conservative Party leader argue for a remaking of the British state to capitalise on artificial intelligence, biotech and climate tech, and reverse the country’s decline Continue Reading
Blog Post 22 Feb 2023

The capabilities of cloud computing in 2023

In this guest post, Helen Kelisky, managing director for Google Cloud in the UK and Ireland, sets out several key trends in the world of cloud that she predicts will play out in 2023 Throughout ... Continue Reading
22 Feb 2023

Engaging talent, deterring pests

Rentokil Initial has consolidated 77 datacentres globally to just three, but its acquisitive culture means there’s still plenty to do, as its group director of IT shared services explains. Continue Reading
E-Zine 22 Feb 2023

Innovation not infestation – digitising pest control

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how Rentokil Initial is using the latest in digital innovation to improve the age-old task of pest control. The leading experts offer a 15-point plan to improve diversity and inclusion in IT. And with all the excitement around ChatGPT, we ask whether business is ready to use the AI chatbot. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Definition 21 Feb 2023

perpetual software license

A perpetual software license is a type of software license that authorizes an individual to use a program indefinitely. Continue Reading
Blog Post 21 Feb 2023

Data that doesn’t cost the earth: A decade of progress

In this guest post, Chris Pennington, director of energy and sustainability at Iron Mountain Data Centers, on the great strides the server farm industry has taken to “green up” its act over the ... Continue Reading
News 20 Feb 2023

Veeam bundles backup products into Veeam Data Platform

Backup and data protection specialist Veeam upgrades and rebrands, with a focus on the challenges of ransomware and rapid recovery, and a claimed 500 new functions Continue Reading
News 20 Feb 2023

Why CIOs need to revisit desktop virtualisation

Cloud computing is the next revolution in infrastructure, but desktop IT is still very much on-premise Continue Reading
News 20 Feb 2023

How Syniti is honing its chops in data management

A move to shed its back office image and a laser focus on data migration has been fuelling Syniti’s growth in data management Continue Reading
News 17 Feb 2023

Singapore’s IHiS taps Google Cloud for API management

Integrated Health Information Systems is using Google’s Apigee API management platform to provide access to data and applications across Singapore’s public healthcare system Continue Reading
Opinion 16 Feb 2023

Data protection for SaaS-based apps is a work in progress

Organizations with SaaS-based applications are still relying on the providers for data protection, even though the vendors are rarely responsible for SaaS data backups. Continue Reading
Blog Post 16 Feb 2023

The importance of the circular economy in the tech sector

In this co-written guest post by EY's Praveen Shankar, who is the firm's UK and Ireland technology, media and telecommunications market leader, and Greg Sumner, who is its TMT sector director for ... Continue Reading
Feature 16 Feb 2023

Schneider Electric on why datacentre operators need to close the ‘sustainability gap’

Datacentre operators sometimes have a hard time ensuring their actions match their words and pledges on sustainability matters, which could put the industry at risk of greenwashing accusations, Schneider Electric warns Continue Reading
Definition 14 Feb 2023

heartbeat (computing)

In computing, a heartbeat is a program that runs specialized scripts automatically whenever a system is initialized or rebooted. Continue Reading
Blog Post 14 Feb 2023

Overcoming the energy crisis: Why it’s time to invest in light - not lightbulbs

In this guest post, Carmen Ene, CEO of IT asset disposal experts 3StepIT, sets out why there is more to running a sustainable business than simply embracing the use of renewable energy The term ... Continue Reading
News 14 Feb 2023

Uber signs seven-year cloud deal with Oracle

Ride-hailing service Uber is teaming up with Oracle to migrate more of its workloads to the cloud in support of its growth goals Continue Reading
Definition 14 Feb 2023

crontab

Crontab is a Unix command that creates a table or list of commands, each of which is to be executed by the operating system (OS) at a specified time and on a regular schedule. Continue Reading
News 14 Feb 2023

OSC&R framework to stop supply chain attacks in the wild

The backers of a new MITRE ATT&CK style framework called OSC&R hope to help organisations get to grips with threats to their software supply chains Continue Reading
News 14 Feb 2023

Government’s revised net-zero strategy could put public sector under more pressure to move to cloud

With the UK government due to publish its revised net-zero strategy in the coming weeks, the public sector is being warned it could see itself under more pressure to move to cloud Continue Reading
News 14 Feb 2023

Akamai eyes cloud market with Connected Cloud

Akamai marks foray into cloud computing with a distributed cloud computing platform that is touted to make it easier for enterprises to get applications and data closer to their customers Continue Reading
Definition 13 Feb 2023

cache server

A cache server is a dedicated network server or service acting as a server that saves webpages or other internet content locally. Continue Reading
Blog Post 10 Feb 2023

Why we can no longer afford to overlook the environmental impact of the cloud

In this guest post, Amy Czuba, account director at digital product design agency Nexer Digital, sets out why the environmental impact of using cloud and internet-based services needs to be talked ... Continue Reading
News 09 Feb 2023

Deutsche Bӧrse signs decade-long deal with Google Cloud

German financial exchange firm Deutsche Bӧrse is expanding its long-standing partnership with Google Cloud as part of a push to ‘economise and concentrate’ its cloud strategy Continue Reading
News 09 Feb 2023

Twitter CEO Elon Musk pauses datacentre downsizing push in wake of outage

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has called a temporary halt to the company’s push to cut costs by downsizing its infrastructure expenditure after an outage left users around the world unable to post tweets Continue Reading
Opinion 09 Feb 2023

Improve business outcomes by developing employees' skills

Cloud experts, cybersecurity professionals and data scientists are among the most sought after vacancies. Building up skills internally can help Continue Reading
News 08 Feb 2023

Is business ready for ChatGPT?

Generative AI models like ChatGPT promise to revolutionise the way people gather data and make informed decisions Continue Reading
News 08 Feb 2023

MoD issues revised cloud strategy as it prepares to move top-secret data off-premise by 2025

The Ministry of Defence has updated its cloud strategy, as it prepares to move more of its highly classified data and workloads off-premise in the years to come Continue Reading
News 08 Feb 2023

Rakuten targets big edge deployments with Symworld Cloud

Japanese giant Rakuten bought Kubernetes management platform Robin.io and put it in 50,000-plus telco antennas. Now it aims Symworld Cloud at enterprise edge deployments Continue Reading
Feature 07 Feb 2023

Container storage platforms: Big six approach starts to align

Container storage is a complex but vital task. We survey the big six storage makers and see methods are starting to align around management platforms Continue Reading
Definition 07 Feb 2023

Wien's constant

Wien's constant is a physical constant that is used in defining the relationship between the thermodynamic temperature of a black body (an object that radiates electromagnetic energy perfectly) and the wavelength at which the intensity of the radiation is the greatest. Continue Reading
News 07 Feb 2023

NetApp adds QLC C-series, new A-series and subscription upgrades

NetApp C-series QLC-based array family offers flash speed with capacity, while Advance adds subscription upgrades to owned hardware, as well as a new entry-level A-series array Continue Reading
News 07 Feb 2023

Research: Server farm size influences how concerned UK firms are with datacentre energy efficiency

ASUS research highlights differing attitudes towards datacentre energy efficiency by UK firms depending on how big their server farm estate is Continue Reading
Blog Post 07 Feb 2023

Running Out Of Energy...

Ironic, at a time when energy and oil companies are announcing record profits, the issue of energy – or a lack of it – is, or should be, a major concern for IT professionals, but seemngly isn't. ... Continue Reading
News 06 Feb 2023

Ransomware operator turns their fire on two-year-old VMware bug

A vulnerability in VMware ESXi servers that users should have patched in 2021 is now being exploited to spread ransomware Continue Reading
News 03 Feb 2023

AWS talks up 'healthy and robust' customer pipeline as revenue growth continues to slow

Amazon is the latest tech giant to report a downbeat set of financial results, as enterprises continue to scale back their cloud spending Continue Reading
News 03 Feb 2023

BDx to open fourth datacentre in Hong Kong

Big Data Exchange’s upcoming HKG8 facility will provide hyperscale and enterprise customers with fail-safe resiliency and connectivity in one of the region’s fastest-growing datacentre markets Continue Reading
News 01 Feb 2023

Cisco fixes two bugs that could have led to supply chain attacks on users

Two vulnerabilities uncovered in Cisco hardware could have opened the door to serious supply chain cyber attacks, according to the Trellix researchers who found them Continue Reading
News 01 Feb 2023

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust warned in 2018 about datacentre cooling issues, outage report shows

A review has been published regarding the circumstances that led to two datacentres, hosting healthcare systems for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, overheating during the 2022 summer heatwave Continue Reading
News 01 Feb 2023

NASA works with IBM on foundational data model for Earth science

Using IBM’s foundational model for artificial intelligence, NASA plans to offer researchers a way to access the vast troves of data it collects about Earth Continue Reading
News 01 Feb 2023

Reaping green dividends with data management

Getting data management right has been pivotal for Singapore IoT startup SensorFlow to optimise energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions for its hotelier clients Continue Reading
News 31 Jan 2023

Zurich Insurance Group plots multiyear move to AWS public cloud

Multiline insurance firm Zurich is plotting a move to the AWS public cloud to help revamp its customer offerings Continue Reading
News 31 Jan 2023

Private equity investors continued to shape datacentre market M&A activity in 2022

As deal sizes increase in the face of growing demand for cloud and internet-based services, datacentre operators are increasingly finding themselves on the receiving end of private equity investment Continue Reading
News 31 Jan 2023

ATO renews major Macquarie deal

The contract renewal will enable the Australian Tax Office to tap Macquarie’s security operations centre, among other services, to secure its IT environment and protect sensitive data Continue Reading
31 Jan 2023

Reverse cloud migrations: shifting IT back on-premise

With a steady trickle of customer organisations returning on-premise, a need to plan better may not be the whole story. Continue Reading
News 30 Jan 2023

Tiger’s hybrid cloud storage targets medical imaging

Tiger Bridge targets vertical sectors that find it hard to migrate to the cloud by allowing data storage in the cloud while using files locally as if stored on-premise Continue Reading
News 27 Jan 2023

Enterprise on-premise infrastructure spending experiences ‘post-pandemic’ bounce-back

Latest data from Synergy Research Group reveals uptick in enterprise on-premise IT infrastructure spending Continue Reading
News 27 Jan 2023

Deci claims breakthrough inference performance on Intel Sapphire Rapids

Israeli startup Deci claims GPU-like performance in running computer vision and natural language processing models on Intel’s fourth-generation Xeon processors Continue Reading
News 26 Jan 2023

CEF selects HPE Greenlake to build out digitisation strategy

The electrical wholesaler plans to migrate to Equinix datacentres and use Greenlake to run IT services in the cloud Continue Reading
News 25 Jan 2023

Leeds Building Society uses AIops in Dynatrace to improve observability

Automation and AI is improving how the service delivery team assesses the business impact of an IT service degradation Continue Reading
Blog Post 25 Jan 2023

The rise of the green software developer

In this guest post, Donna Lyndsay, head of innovation at the national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, on the role software developers and data scientists must play in the creation of sustainable ... Continue Reading
News 25 Jan 2023

State of DevOps: Success happens through platform engineering

The annual State of DevOps report has focused on a phenomenon known as platform engineering Continue Reading
Feature 25 Jan 2023

Green storage: Savings to be made but tricky to achieve

Storage upgrades can bring energy savings. New hardware, the cloud and as-a-service procurement models all cut costs, but can need careful tweaking to get right Continue Reading
News 25 Jan 2023

Microsoft 365 outage affecting Teams, Outlook and Azure users blamed on ‘networking fault’

Microsoft 365 is in the midst of an outage that has left users across the UK and beyond unable to access Teams, Outlook and Exchange Online Continue Reading
News 24 Jan 2023

AWS opens Melbourne region, to invest $4.5bn by 2037

Amazon Web Services’ new Melbourne cloud region will better serve Australian customers such as ANZ Bank and is expected to benefit over 2,500 full-time jobs in the country Continue Reading
Definition 24 Jan 2023

Bohr radius

The Bohr radius is a physical constant that represents the most probable distance between the electron and nucleus of a hydrogen atom at its ground state (lowest energy level). Continue Reading
Feature 24 Jan 2023

IT’s shift to the cloud: Veeam’s data protection report in detail

With half of servers in the cloud, most backup and nearly all disaster recovery cloud-centric, the shift to the cloud is significant – but container backup is one area that is yet to settle down Continue Reading
E-Zine 24 Jan 2023

BBC under scrutiny over its digital strategy

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the BBC faces in-depth scrutiny over its digital plans – we take a look at progress. Do you need to keep data forever? We examine the technologies behind infinite storage. And we find out about the digital transformation challenges in vehicle dealerships. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 23 Jan 2023

CIO interview: Ed Higgs, group director of IT shared services, Rentokil Initial

The pest control provider has consolidated 77 datacentres globally to just three – but with a corporate culture of acquisitions, there’s still a lot more to do Continue Reading