Datacentre systems management

Read about datacentre systems management, including configuration and change management, performance monitoring, capacity planning, ITIL and IT governance, and clustering for high availability (HA) and high-performance computing (HPC).

Opinion 04 Jun 2024
Security Think Tank: The cloud just got more complicated

This month, the Computer Weekly Security Think Tank considers how CISOs and security practitioners should ensure that the business can make use of public cloud services safely and securely and avoid accidental or deliberate data leakage. Continue Reading
News 26 May 2024
Nutanix beefs up AHV hypervisor, doubles down on AI

Nutanix takes aim at VMware with enhancements to its AHV hypervisor along with tighter integrations with Nvidia and Hugging Face to simplify AI deployments Continue Reading

E-Zine 17 Nov 2014

Cloud providers are coming to Europe

In this week’s Computer Weekly, cloud providers like IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.com are building datacentres in Europe in response to data protection concerns – we examine how the cloud is moving to Europe. Microsoft is embracing the cloud and mobile and decoupling Office from Windows – we look at the implications for corporate IT. And even PCs are moving into the cloud - we analyse the rise of desktop as a service. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 14 Nov 2014

Johnson & Johnson turns to AWS for hybrid cloud and borderless datacentre

Johnson & Johnson adopted Amazon Web Services to develop its hybrid IT strategy, its CTO told the AWS re:Invent 2014 conference Continue Reading
News 31 Oct 2014

Ipswich hospital improves healthcare service with Esri data visualisation

Health pilots location-based technology that delivers data visualisation Continue Reading
News 30 Oct 2014

UK lags behind US and Australia in DevOps adoption

The UK is significantly behind other markets in terms of DevOps adoption Continue Reading
News 28 Oct 2014

British fashion retailer AllSaints picks Google tools for innovation

Fashion brand AllSaints has refreshed its technology strategy with Google technologies to improve collaboration Continue Reading
News 23 Oct 2014

European enterprises can halve colo expenses by moving north, says Gartner

Favourable environmental conditions in Northern Europe mean enterprises can save on their datacentre expenses Continue Reading
News 22 Oct 2014

EMC buys out Cisco’s stakes in VCE as year-on-year revenue jumps 9%

Storage giant EMC has reported a 9% increase year on year for the third quarter of 2014, thanks to revenue rises across its divisions Continue Reading
News 21 Oct 2014

Why Shell, BP and PwC teamed up to launch platform-neutral IT4IT Forum

Lack of IT integration and workload interoperability is pushing enterprises such as Royal Dutch Shell to collaborate with IT providers to develop standards Continue Reading
News 20 Oct 2014

IBM operating income falls by 18% as it offloads semiconductor unit

IBM reported lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of 2014, with revenue down by 4% year-on-year Continue Reading
Feature 15 Oct 2014

Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure

The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model Continue Reading
News 10 Oct 2014

Starbucks uses cloud to manage innovation and disruptive technologies

Starbucks coffee chain innovates IT strategies to hone its competitive edge using cloud services, says IT director Robert Teagle Continue Reading
News 29 Sep 2014

ARM enters mainstream datacentre with HP’s ProLiant Moonshot servers

ARM chips have entered mainstream enterprise datacentre with HP's production-ready ARM-powered Moonshot servers Continue Reading
News 24 Sep 2014

Accommodation booking site picks Dell cloud to fix downtime issues

Eviivo, a UK-based online accommodation booking website, has placed its business-critical systems on a Dell cloud platform Continue Reading
News 23 Sep 2014

Google to build giant '40-football pitch' datacentre in the Netherlands

Google will invest €600m to build a giant, 120-megawatt datacentre in the Netherlands Continue Reading
Feature 23 Sep 2014

Demystifying Kubernetes: the tool to manage Google-scale workloads in the cloud

We are witnessing a new technology wave in the form of immutable infrastructure and micro-services Continue Reading
E-Zine 15 Sep 2014

The IT challenges facing an independent Scotland

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Scotland goes to the polls to vote on independence, we assess the IT challenges the country would face. We look at the products available in the fast-growing market for object storage. And we ask if it will be worth migrating to future version of Windows given the rise in mobile usage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
E-Zine 08 Sep 2014

How cloud is saving lives

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at how the power of public cloud is helping scientists to tackle diseases such as cancer and malaria. Big banks are turning to tech startups for innovation – we ask why. And our latest buyer’s guide examines micro-datacentre technologies. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 05 Sep 2014

King's College, UCL and LSE back £900,000 national datacentre project

A consortium of universities, including LSE, UCL and King's College, is backing a national datacentre for academics Continue Reading
News 05 Sep 2014

EasyJet sheds 'scrum' image with hybrid IT

EasyJet’s reservation system could not provision for allocated seating, so the airline added a feature on Azure Continue Reading
News 02 Sep 2014

Why bare metal cloud is in vogue

Bare metal services have been around since 2009 but cloud is witnessing renewed interest in it thanks to new offerings Continue Reading
News 29 Aug 2014

Windows Server 2003 EOL: HP seeks to cash in as IBM-Lenovo deal yet to close

As enterprises look to refresh their infrastructure, HP is playing the stability card to win deals as IBM and Dell are mired by uncertainties Continue Reading
News 15 Aug 2014

Nike builds datacentre cloud and network infrastructure

Nike is creating a scalable next-generation datacentre cloud and retail network infrastructure using Juniper's MetaFabric architecture Continue Reading
News 12 Aug 2014

Intel unveils first 14nm processor aimed at mobile computing devices

Chipmaker's first processor based on 14nm micro-architecture will be thinner, cooler and aimed at tablet PCs Continue Reading
News 11 Aug 2014

Intel watches ARM as low-powered computing thrives

As the PC market continues to decline, ARM is proving that non-x86 chips have a long and prosperous future Continue Reading
News 31 Jul 2014

Bitcoin mining firm CoinTerra signs multi-megawatt datacentre deal

CoinTerra, the firm that provides the hardware and software that power the bitcoin blockchain ecosystem, signs a multi-megawatt datacentre deal Continue Reading
News 31 Jul 2014

£700m government hosting deal limits bidders to North-East England datacentre

Want to win the £700m Crown Hosting Service contract? You'll need a major datacentre near Newcastle to stand any chance Continue Reading
News 24 Jul 2014

Crew Clothing fashions cloud-based marketing to engage buyers

British luxury casualwear brand Crew Clothing chose cloud marketing to move from batch email marketing to a more timely and personal approach Continue Reading
News 24 Jul 2014

Citrix SaaS revenue rises 12% while overall revenue grows 7% YoY

Citrix has reported a 7% revenue increase in its second quarter of fiscal year 2014 . But it reported double-digit revenue growth in SaaS Continue Reading
News 18 Jul 2014

BT’s secure link to Microsoft Azure goes live in Europe

BT’s new, secure, high-performance connectivity to Azure public cloud has gone live in Europe three months after BT teamed up with Microsoft Continue Reading
News 08 Jul 2014

Huddle eases collaborative critical path for engineering firm WSP

Engineering consultancy WSP chooses Huddle to allow its engineers and architects to share project data securely and collaborate, regardless of location Continue Reading
News 08 Jul 2014

Airbus deploys modular datacentre strategy to boost HPC capacity

The aircraft manufacturer has deployed HP's performance optimised datacentres (PODs) to increase its high performance compute capabilities for its engineers Continue Reading
News 03 Jul 2014

Microsoft and Google propose 25Gbps and 50Gbps Ethernet networks for cloud datacentres

Technology giants including Microsoft and Google form a consortium to fire up datacentre networks’ performance for cloud-scale infrastructure. Continue Reading
News 18 Jun 2014

Case study: How eBay uses its own OpenStack private cloud

eBay runs one of its most crucial workloads – its website – on an OpenStack private cloud platform developed by itself Continue Reading
Feature 13 Jun 2014

Micro-datacentre: What IT problems it solves and what workload systems suit it

A micro-datacentre is a smaller containerised datacentre system designed to solve different problems or to handle different workloads Continue Reading
News 10 Jun 2014

Facebook shares lessons learnt from deploying Raid in HDFS clusters

Facebook deployed Raid in large HDFS clusters to increase capacity and reduce data replication, but it faced many challenges Continue Reading
News 09 Jun 2014

Home Secretary Theresa May unveils datacentre in Maidenhead

Home Secretary Theresa May has opened a multi-million-pound extended datacentre, owned by UK cloud firm iomart Continue Reading
Feature 09 Jun 2014

Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?

Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it? Continue Reading
E-Zine 09 Jun 2014

The case for a European cloud market

In this week’s Computer Weekly, the European Commission wants to create a digital single market in Europe based on industry standard clouds – but is the plan realistic? Network encryption promises to solve many IT security threats – we examine the benefits. And our latest buyer’s guide looks at business process management. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 06 Jun 2014

Cloud impact can be as big as the advent of computing itself: EIU report

Cloud is not just a replacement for older computing platforms, but a change as revolutionary as the advent of computing itself, says EIU report Continue Reading
News 03 Jun 2014

High availability strategy key to saving costs, says Sungard AS

The cost of IT downtime is extremely high for businesses – but must all systems and applications be highly available all the time? Continue Reading
E-Zine 02 Jun 2014

How big data brings big donations for charities

In this week’s Computer Weekly, hear how big data is helping charities to improve their fundraising by better targeting potential donors. We find out how the UK’s biggest newspaper publisher is moving its IT to the cloud. And we examine the options for datacentre cooling technologies to cut your energy costs. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 29 May 2014

BSkyB retunes IT to ready-for-anything datacentre quad

British broadcaster BSkyB has based its IT on four core datacentres that are resilient, interconnected, energy-efficient and cloud-ready Continue Reading
Feature 29 May 2014

Future of in-house datacentres in the cloud era

It is predicted that companies will spend three times more on the cloud by 2017. But as cloud goes mainstream, are in-house datacentres really dying? Continue Reading
News 23 May 2014

HP job cuts head towards the 50,000 mark as company tackles cost

A further 16000 jobs are set to go as HP continues to slash its workforce through a restructuring initiative which began in 2012 Continue Reading
News 19 May 2014

SAP certifies core business apps to run on Microsoft Azure

From June, users of SAP Business Suite software, Business All-In-One solution, SAP Mobile Platform, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise and Hana platform will be able to run them on Azure Continue Reading
News 09 May 2014

Facebook debuts ‘Rapid Deployment Data Centre’ design in Swedish facility

Facebook is expanding its Luleå datacentre in Sweden by deploying Rapid Deployment Data Centre (RDDC) design developed in collaboration with Emerson Power Network Continue Reading
News 01 May 2014

Case study: How the BBC uses cloud to process media for iPlayer

The BBC has taken its iPlayer video-on-demand service to the cloud and cut media processing time from 9-10 hours to 20-30 minutes Continue Reading
News 28 Apr 2014

US judge orders Microsoft to hand over email data held in Dublin

A US Judge has ordered Microsoft to give the District Court access to the contents of one of its customer’s emails stored on a server located in Dublin Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

Six Degrees datacentre suffers outage for more than 12 hours

Customers using Six Degrees’s datacentre and hosting services faced downtime as the hosting and managed services provider suffered an outage for over 12 hours Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

HP firmware bricks ProLiant server models

HP has released a server patch which it has admitted will kill 100 of its server models and 14 network adapters. Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

Optimising the data warehouse

Analysts Clive Longbottom and Rob Bamforth discuss approaches to optimising data warehouses for big data. Continue Reading
News 17 Apr 2014

Datacentre lessons learnt from Heartbleed bug

The Heartbleed bug, an OpenSSL flaw affecting millions of websites, has some lessons for datacentre providers and operators Continue Reading
News 15 Apr 2014

Greenpeace singles out datacentre firms for lack of energy efficiency

Greenpeace's new report on datacentre energy efficiency lauds efforts of some tech giants while singles out others for their lack of commitment to green energy Continue Reading
News 15 Apr 2014

EU data privacy authorities approve Microsoft Azure, Office 365 cloud services

The European Union's data privacy authorities have given approval to Microsoft's cloud services including Windows Azure and Office 365 Continue Reading
News 10 Apr 2014

BT and Microsoft to offer secure fast lane to Azure cloud

Microsoft’s UK cloud chief hails service as critical step in supporting CEO Satya Nadella’s ambitious plans for global cloud dominance Continue Reading
News 07 Apr 2014

CIO interview: Leandro Balbinot, global CIO, HJ Heinz

Food giant HJ Heinz is gearing up to expand its international presence with a technology modernisation programme encompassing 23 countries Continue Reading
Feature 25 Mar 2014

Understanding the real value of IT and proving it to the business

At a time when costs are being continually squeezed, there is more pressure than ever to demonstrate the business value of technology Continue Reading
News 20 Mar 2014

Mine machine data to boost business value

Businesses risk losing their competitive edge if they are unable to drill down into the information captured by machine-generated data Continue Reading
Feature 19 Mar 2014

Case study: How John Lewis conquered the web

An in-depth look at the inside story of John Lewis' £40m e-commerce strategy. Continue Reading
News 18 Mar 2014

Global taskforce agrees on green datacentre metric

DCeP hopes to win widespread support as a useful and meaningful standard for measuring datacentre efficiency Continue Reading
News 14 Mar 2014

Amazon Web Services reaches its 8th birthday

On March 14 2006 Amazon expanded from its retail heritage and launched its IT services business with the birth of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Continue Reading
News 07 Mar 2014

CIOs hold fire over datacentre decisions

When it comes to devising datacentre strategies, are CIOs paralysed like rabbits in the headlights, or playing a calculated game of wait and see? Continue Reading
News 24 Feb 2014

Case study: Virtualised storage adds value to Denmark's tunnel vision

State construction firm Femern selects DataCore system to help speed up Fehmarnbelt undersea odyssey and keep the sharks at bay Continue Reading
Feature 18 Feb 2014

The UK’s problem with power

Datacentre power buyers say Britain’s deregulated energy market is as complex as trading in derivatives Continue Reading
E-Zine 17 Feb 2014

Swapping notepads for iPads – creating a digital police force

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the new digital strategy at the Metropolitan Police, as the UK’s largest police force puts technology at the heart of crime fighting. IBM is spending $1.2bn developing cloud datacentres – we assess the plans and ask if the IT giant can catch up the cloud market leaders. And we find out from experts how Edwards Snowden’s NSA web surveillance revelations are affecting corporate IT security strategies. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 11 Feb 2014

Schneider accreditation aims to boost green datacentre skills

Datacentre supplier offers free vendor-neutral courses and certification through its online Energy University Continue Reading
Feature 11 Feb 2014

Troubleshooting datacentre management issues

Gaining better control of the datacentre has to be a high priority to ensure high levels of performance and availability Continue Reading
News 07 Feb 2014

Amazon nets lion’s share of $10bn public cloud market

AWS continues its unassailable domination of the sector, despite recent moves by Google, IBM and Microsoft Continue Reading
E-Zine 03 Feb 2014

Rural broadband roll-out row

In this week’s Computer Weekly, a small Lancashire village is at the centre of a row over rural broadband – we examine the complex arguments on both sides of an issue that goes to the heart of criticisms of the UK’s roll-out plan. The move to cloud and hosting is changing the market for datacentre technologies – we look at the implications for IT managers. Have you heard of Sepa? We explain why you need to know about the upcoming financial regulation. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 31 Jan 2014

WIll open source save the datacentre industry?

IT rivals stand cheek-by-jowl to praise Facebook’s Open Compute Project, but is the love-in a Damascene conversion or just damage limitation? Continue Reading
News 29 Jan 2014

Microsoft joins Open Compute Project

Redmond giant makes server specs public in bid to influence future datacentre design Continue Reading
News 20 Jan 2014

IBM to open London datacentre as part of $1.2bn global cloud push

New facility first in UK to be based on IBM SoftLayer cloud architecture Continue Reading
News 14 Jan 2014

Big Data and Content Analytics: measuring the ROI

There is a high expectation for the potential value of big data analytics early adopters are achieving good results that are helping to drive decision making in the business, this survey of 340 technology professionals reveals. Continue Reading
E-Zine 06 Jan 2014

IT giants go north for cool datacentres

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at why IT giants like Microsoft and Google are building datacentres in the Nordic region, and what benefits a similar move could bring to corporate CIOs. Windows XP support ends in just three months’ time – our buyer’s guide examines what you need to do if you’re still using the operating system. And the CIO of Ikea talks about the challenges of international multichannel retail. Read the issue now Continue Reading
E-Zine 09 Dec 2013

The most influential people in UK IT

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we reveal our annual list of the 50 most influential people in UK IT – the real movers and shakers driving the digital economy - and also select 10 rising stars to look out for in 2014. We look back at the big changes in the datacentre environment this year and assess what the future holds. And we examine the growing popularity of agile development and hear from experts on the latest best practices. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 03 Dec 2013

Microsoft invests in Ireland datacentre

Microsoft is expanding its Dublin datacentre with a €170m investment Continue Reading
News 26 Nov 2013

How web giants are making datacentres lean and green

Facebook and eBay infrastructure chiefs outline their efficiency strategies at DatacenterDynamics Converged conference in London Continue Reading
News 13 Nov 2013

AWS re: Invent 2013 kicks off in Las Vegas

Amazon Web Services' annual conference opens with product announcements to the 8,000 strong crowd during the keynote Continue Reading
News 05 Nov 2013

Business-defined storage will help reconnect businesses with IT, says Forrester

Business-defined storage and datacentres will make IT more business-centric, according to Forrester Continue Reading
News 29 Oct 2013

Study finds cloud computing the most valued enterprise IT skill

Cloud computing overtakes virtualisation, security, BI, database and project management as the most valued enterprise IT skill Continue Reading
News 28 Oct 2013

Six tips to help you negotiate the best deal with your datacentre provider

Your willingness to negotiate can make a big difference to the deal you get, says Anthony Day, associate at law firm DLA Piper Continue Reading
News 22 Oct 2013

Interview: Professor Ian Bitterlin, the Green Grid

Green Grid's Chair Ian Bitterlin discusses datacentre energy efficiency, role of DCIM tools and whether UK and EU CIOs are doing enough for datacentre efficiency Continue Reading
Photo Story 22 Oct 2013

Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners

The Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners have been revealed. View pictures of the awards ceremony at VMworld Europe in Barcelona. Continue Reading
Photo Story 18 Oct 2013

Microsoft Server 2012 R2: the OS for the hybrid cloud

Microsoft has released Windows Server 2012 R2, along with an R2 update to System Center 2012. Tim Anderson takes the new OS on a test drive. Continue Reading
News 16 Oct 2013

Case study: Richard Branson's Virgin Management moves to IaaS platform

Virgin Management, a subsidiary of Virgin Group, has migrated its IT to a cloud-based IaaS platform for BYOD capabilities and savings Continue Reading
Feature 08 Oct 2013

Make a high-performance computing and high-availability datacentre

High performance computing and high availability systems are no longer limited to engineers and scientists. But is your datacentre ready? Continue Reading
News 07 Oct 2013

Driving Standards Agency updates WAN with MDNX

The government agency has revamped its WAN solution to link its datacentre through the PSN network to its driving test centres across the UK Continue Reading
News 30 Sep 2013

Cloud computing drives infrastructure upgrade at service provider

IT services company Ardenta has implemented F5 network security to upgrade its infrastructure and offer cloud services Continue Reading
Feature 24 Sep 2013

How Capgemini keeps its Merlin datacentre green and energy-efficient

Capgemini's Swindon-based Merlin datacentre is one of the most energy-efficient in the world. But what makes it green? Continue Reading
E-Zine 23 Sep 2013

Where next for Dell?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, industry experts share their thoughts on Dell’s future after founder and CEO Michael Dell spends $25bn to buy his company back. We hear from early adopters of bring your own device (BYOD) schemes to learn about their experiences and best practices. And the CIO of the UN’s world food programme talks about technology’s role in tackling global hunger. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 18 Sep 2013

BMW gears up IT resilience with private cloud infrastructure

After testing and validating its own private cloud services, BMW's IT team is ready to use it in production Continue Reading
News 13 Sep 2013

After virtualising IT estate, Jaguar Land Rover now eyes cloud computing

Jaguar Land Rover's IT team takes its newly virtualised infrastructure to the next stage of IT evolution by adopting cloud-based services Continue Reading
News 10 Sep 2013

Key legal and commercial issues with data centre services

This briefing from law-firm DLA Piper looks at the main types of data centre services that are available on the market, common pitfalls and key legal and commercial issues to consider. Continue Reading
News 28 Aug 2013

Bet365 improves latency and peering by updating network infrastructure

Online gambling site Bet365 upgraded its network and improved its latency to deliver a fast, smooth and reliable experience to its customers Continue Reading
News 27 Aug 2013

Navigating your Future within an SOA information manufacturing system

As the IT industry reaches maturity, IT departments should think of themselves not as data centres but as manufacturing centres for information. Terry Keene argues in this short e-book. Continue Reading
News 09 Aug 2013

Enterprises spend more on third-party datacentres than in-house ones: Uptime survey

Uptime Institute’s annual datacentre industry survey reveals shift in IT spend away from enterprise-owned datacentres to outsourced options Continue Reading
News 06 Aug 2013

Datacentres are a key focus for government’s Green ICT Delivery Unit

With the growing use of online services for government transactions, datacentres are a key focus of the government’s green IT strategy Continue Reading
Feature 05 Aug 2013

How to plan and manage datacentre redundancy

Provisioning of a datacentre to survive a range of failure scenarios has become critical for many businesses. Here's a datacentre redundancy plan Continue Reading
News 29 Jul 2013

Google datacentres awarded ISO 50001 certification

Google has obtained ISO 50001 certification for its energy management systems in six datacentre facilities across the US Continue Reading
News 29 Jul 2013

Dutch banking regulator approves use of AWS public cloud in the financial sector

Dutch banking watchdog approves use of AWS cloud in websites, mobile apps, retail banking platforms, HPC and credit risk analysis Continue Reading