silicon.com : Public Sector

Cheat Sheet: the Police Central e-crime Unit

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:23:01 +0100

So, PCeU.

Bless you, that's not swine flu is it? Not a sniff of it - PCeU stands for the Police Central e-crime Unit.

Photos: Underwater robots compete to make the biggest splash

editorial@silicon.com (Tim Ferguson) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:23:02 +0100

Meet Nessie, Edinburgh Heriot-Watt University's autonomous underwater robot.

Nessie recently won the Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge - Europe (SAUC-E), organised by the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), scooping a £3,000 prize in the process.

Naked CIO: We need an offshoring tax

editorial@silicon.com (Naked CIO) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:19:01 +0100

Offshoring is here to stay - but the government could help make sure it doesn't destroy British tech. The Naked CIO explains how.

In in last week's article I provided rhetoric as to the state of UK employment and prospects due to the ongoing offshoring trend. It was passionate and opinionated - and I stand by the views I expressed - but did not offer an alternative.

Peter Cochrane's Blog: Open info for all?

editorial@silicon.com (Peter Cochrane) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

Compiled on TG409 flying Bangkok to Singapore and dispatched to silicon.com via a hotel wi-fi connection four days later

Governments and ministers seem to find it very hard to decide what information should be in the public domain and what should not.

£24.4m written off on government IT project

editorial@silicon.com (Natasha Lomas) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:28:02 +0100

The government has written off millions of pounds on the second part of a collaborative working system.

The £24.4m write-off on the Scope programme - a secure electronic comms network aimed at improving information sharing across 10 government departments and security and intelligence agencies - was approved by the Treasury after phase two of the rollout was terminated in July last year.

BT lands £99m comms deal with Ministry of Defence

editorial@silicon.com (Matthew Broersma) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:30:02 +0100

BT on Thursday announced a five-year, £99m contract with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to manage voice and data networks across 197 military bases.

The deal broadens the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) agreement, under which BT is building and managing a co-ordinated communicated infrastructure for the Army, Royal Navy and RAF.

Soca's cybercrime cops score 21 convictions

editorial@silicon.com (Steve Ranger) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:20:01 +0100

The UK's cybercrime unit has helped achieve more than 20 criminal convictions since its creation three years ago, government figures have revealed.

In response to a written parliamentary question this week, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said from April 2006 until March 2009 the e-crime unit of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) was involved in 22 prosecutions and 21 convictions.

Cheat Sheet: BT's £1.5bn fibre plans

editorial@silicon.com (Jo Best) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:54:01 +0100

Fibre. It's the new copper, I hear.Yes indeed - it's the next generation of broadband technology, where connectivity is delivered over fibre optic cable rather than copper. With fibre, Britain could be looking at downstream broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps.

And BT is all over it like a rash?It is now - having announced a £1.5bn fibre deployment last year. Under the planned rollout, 10 million homes are expected to get fibre connectivity by 2012.

Virtualisation and cloud: The new weapons in the outsourcing arms race

editorial@silicon.com (Steve Ranger) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:31:01 +0100

As IT outsourcing becomes a top priority for many cash-strapped organisations, giant suppliers are reaping the benefits, potentially forcing smaller providers to offer services such as cloud and virtualisation in order to survive.

With many firms under pressure to cut their IT costs in light of the downturn, a number are turning to outsourcing. As the recession continues to drive prices down and encourages suppliers to offer more flexible terms, outsourcing is becoming more attractive to customers who had previously shunned it.

Badge of honour for WWII Bletchley codebreakers

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:40:01 +0100

The government is to give Bletchley Park WWII codebreakers a badge to commemorate their efforts during the war.

The commemorative scheme, which will be open to all military and civilian personnel who served at Bletchley Park and its outstations, will be launched in a ceremony on Thursday.

£24m: The cost of tracking your emails and phone calls

editorial@silicon.com (Jo Best) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:28:01 +0100

The Home Office has revealed the multimillion-pound cost of monitoring the UK's communications.

Home Office policing and security minister, David Hanson, told Parliament last week that millions are now being spent to fund ISPs', telcos' and mobile operators' retention of communications data under the European Data Retention Directive and Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA) code of practice on data retention.

IBM inks ID cards biometrics contract despite Tory scrap pledge

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:24:02 +0100

IBM's contract to supply technology for ID cards will last seven years, despite the possibility that a change in government could scupper the scheme.

The company and the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) announced the contract term on Friday. In April, IBM was awarded the contract to administer the National Biometric Identity Service (NBIS) database, which will hold identifying information such as facial images and fingerprints. The NBIS is used for biometric passports and for the National Identity Register (NIR), which will be used in issuing ID cards under the government scheme.

Nortel dropped from Olympic role - and Cisco steps up

editorial@silicon.com (David Meyer) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:09:01 +0100

Nortel has been dropped as the official communications supplier for the 2012 London Olympics, and has been replaced by Cisco.

In a statement on Friday, the London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) said it has ended its contract with the bankrupt infrastructure supplier "on good terms". In January, Nortel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States and sent its UK operation into administration. The company is currently selling off its various divisions as separate businesses.

Voice, video, data: £1bn gov't telecoms contract up for grabs

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:42:01 +0100

A £1bn contract to provide telecoms equipment across the public sector has been put out to tender.

Central and local government departments, NHS organisations and other public bodies will be provided with telecoms goods, services and client side support under the framework agreement put out by Buying Solutions, the trading arm of the government's procurement body, the Office of Government Commerce said this week.

Home Office CIO on taming tech and why ID cards are good news

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:48:00 +0100

The Home Office CIO speaks to silicon.com's Nick Heath on ID cards, protecting data, and how tech can make a difference

Home Office CIO Annette Vernon is steeling herself for a challenge that will require steady nerves and painstaking precision to avoid getting burned.

'Europe needs its own clouds to fight US domination'

editorial@silicon.com (David Meyer) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:38:02 +0100

European clouds should be set up within the next five years to encourage small business take-up of on-demand IT services, the European commissioner for telecoms and media has said.

Viviane Reding, speaking at the unveiling of the Commission's Digital Europe strategy on Thursday, said 99 per cent of EU firms are small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but only nine per cent of them use electronic invoices and only 11 per cent have IT-based human resource management.

Photos: How touchscreen tech helps a hospital keep tabs on patients

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:31:01 +0100

Walsall Manor Hospital is helping its doctors and nursing staff save time, thanks to a new system that tracks patients and beds.

The hospital has installed a Horizon Enterprise Visibility system, which pulls information from different hospital systems to show medical staff when beds are free, who is waiting to be discharged and when imaging and lab results and prescriptions are ready, and has already helped the hospital speed up the bed allocation process for planned admissions by up to three hours.

'Post Office workers can't spot ID card fraudsters'

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:48:02 +0100

Plans to cut £1bn from the cost of the ID cards project by making people enrol on the high street could be unworkable, after a government report warned the process could be vulnerable to fraud.

The Home Office had hoped biometric enrolment for cards would take place in Post Offices, but this could be thrown into doubt by a report by the Business and Enterprise Committee that found "many or even most identity services may well be too sophisticated to provide across the [post office] network".

Microsoft wants to be teacher's pet with new software deal

editorial@silicon.com (Tim Ferguson) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:53:01 +0100

Some UK schools may now be able to get a better deal on Microsoft software following the introduction of a new licensing pilot.

Up until now schools buying Microsoft software on a subscription basis had to do so under the Schools Agreement. The agreement requires educational institutions to pay licence fees for all computers that can technically run Microsoft software - their "eligible ICT estate" - whether they actually do so or not. As a result, some schools ended up paying licences for software they didn't use or need.

Labour politician joins calls to scrap ID cards

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:37:01 +0100

The government has defended itself against fresh calls to drop its troubled ID cards scheme, this time from within the Labour party.

In an extensive parliamentary debate yesterday, Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay added his voice to those calling for the £5bn scheme to be scrapped.

NHS records, Google and Microsoft: Where do you want your data?

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:07:01 +0100

Seven years into the project and the Conservatives want to put it under the knife. But, asks Nick Heath, are the Tories right to bail on the NPfIT?

The Conservatives have come up with a new vision of how to fix the problems plaguing Labour's £12.7bn revamp of NHS IT - put it under the private sector knife.

NHS network: Time to get secure

editorial@silicon.com (Alan Hunt) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:00:00 +0100

While the NHS has made some attempts to secure its networks, the onus now falls on health trusts to make sure patient data is safe, says Alan Hunt.

Now that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is promising to get tough on NHS security breaches, it's time for health trusts to secure their networks for transferring patient data. The last thing anyone wants is another data-loss scandal.

Conservatives: 'Ofcom as we know it will cease to exist'

editorial@silicon.com (David Meyer) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:51:01 +0100

If elected, the Conservative Party would take away Ofcom's policy-making functions, David Cameron said on Monday.

The Tory leader was making a speech attacking quangos - of which the telecoms regulator is one of the most prominent. He acknowledged it was "clear that [Ofcom] has an important technical function", specifically in spectrum licensing and keeping an eye on BT, and in ruling on breaches of the broadcasting code, but said other responsibilities should be taken away from Ofcom.

Inbox: ID cards U-turn: The end is nigh?

editorial@silicon.com (silicon.com) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:18:01 +0100

The weekly Inbox column collects the best and most thought-provoking of the reader comments silicon.com receives each week. The government's U-turn on ID cards this week caused readers to reach for their keyboards in force. Readers also weighed in on telcos being rather too well-represented in the list of worst companies for customer service and the question of whether Whitehall IT may be off to pastures new.

Don't forget to post your own response below to any of these stories or comments.

MoD inks £231m deal to boost comms

editorial@silicon.com (Natasha Lomas) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:34:02 +0100

The Ministry of Defence has awarded two comms contracts worth a total of £231m to General Dynamics UK.

The deals cover upgrading the UK Armed Forces' Bowman digital radios comms system and improving interoperability with other UK and Allied systems.

50p broadband tax 'will leave 20 pc of UK without fibre'

editorial@silicon.com (Natasha Lomas) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:33:02 +0100

BT reckons a government plan to put a 50p tax on copper lines in order to fund fibre broadband to the country's hard to get to places can only go so far - and will probably never reach the last fifth of the UK.

The plan, unveiled last month in the government's Digital Britain report, is aimed at ensuring superfast broadband is rolled out to areas likely to be ignored by the market.

Apple bonanza, crime breathalysers and broadband tax

editorial@silicon.com (Tim Ferguson) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:50:01 +0100

June was a month full of Apple-related news with the launch of the latest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 3G S, coming at the Mac maker's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC).

O2 wasted no time in sharing details of the iPhone's UK pricing - revealing the new version would be offered at a higher price than its predecessor was when it launched a year ago.

ID cards: 'A project nobody wants and the nation can't afford'

editorial@silicon.com (Tim Ferguson) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:41:01 +0100

The government has been slammed over its decision to press ahead with the national ID card scheme following Home Secretary Alan Johnson's announcement that carrying an ID card will never be compulsory for British citizens.

Plans to make ID cards compulsory for airside workers and pilots have also been dropped this week by the Home Office with trials planned for Manchester and London City airports both scrapped.

IT security training now the 'substantial' task of GCHQ

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:25:01 +0100

The government is turning co-ordination of its IT security training over to the information assurance arm of British intelligence agency GCHQ.

In the past, all government IT security training has been the charge of the Cabinet Office, through the office of the Central Sponsor for Information Assurance (CSIA). However, GCHQ said on Tuesday that its National Technical Authority for Information Assurance arm, known as CESG, will take on the role of co-ordinating the training effort.

How realistic is Digital Britain's broadband plan?

editorial@silicon.com (David Meyer) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:01:02 +0100

A parliamentary select committee is to check whether the recommendations proposed in the Digital Britain report are realistic, particularly those regarding broadband speed.

The Business and Enterprise Committee inquiry was announced on Monday. Many of the government's recommendations in Lord Carter's Digital Britain report, published earlier this month, require new legislation if they are to be put into practice.

ID cards U-turn: No compulsory cards for pilots

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:30:02 +0100

The government has announced it will drop plans to make ID cards compulsory for airside workers.

Pilots and other airside workers will not be forced to apply for or carry the cards, the Home Office said in a statement on Tuesday. As a result, a pilot scheme to issue workers with compulsory cards, which was planned for two airports, Manchester and London City, will not take place.

£1bn cash for UK's tech start-ups

editorial@silicon.com (Jo Best) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:06:02 +0100

The government has announced a venture capital fund for tech start-ups that it hopes one day will top £1bn.

The UK Innovation Investment Fund will gain funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department of Health who will each match private sector contributions of up to £150m.

CIO Job Report: June's job moves and CIOs wanted

editorial@silicon.com (Jo Best) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:52:01 +0100

Let silicon.com keep you up to date with all the latest CIO job moves and changes with our regular CIO Job Report.

CIO moves

PayPal techies hit fraudsters where it hurts

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:31:02 +0100

Levels of fraud have fallen at online payment provider PayPal thanks to cybercrime detection and prevention technologies.

Fraudulent transactions accounted for 0.28 per cent of the value of all payments using PayPal in 2008, down from 0.3 per cent in 2007, according to Garreth Griffith, head of risk management for PayPal UK.

Help shape the future of silicon.com

editorial@silicon.com (silicon.com) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:28:01 +0100

Do you want to help shape the future of silicon.com? Want to help make the UK's best business and technology publication even better?

silicon.com is currently setting up an exclusive Advisory Panel which will help guide how we develop the publication further. We want to understand more about the silicon.com audience in order to make sure we are delivering exactly what you want.

Parliamentary tech boss backs call for £1bn IT fund

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:01:01 +0100

The leader of Parliament's IT committee has backed a consortium calling for a £1bn fund to stimulate investment in green tech and shared services.

MP Andrew Miller, chairman of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (Pitcom), supported calls for the government to establish the fund, which would be used to loan money to central and local government organisations.

SMEs on target list for UK cyber attack group

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:04:02 +0100

The UK's new cyber security strategy will make a particular effort to engage small and medium-sized enterprises, according to a government-funded security group involved in introducing the initiative.

The large organisations that make up the critical national infrastructure already have good flows of security information between them, Tony Dyhouse, director of the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network, said on Friday. Now smaller UK businesses need to be taking part in the knowledge transfer, he said.

'Get the raw data out there ASAP': Berners-Lee

editorial@silicon.com (Tom Espiner) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:24:02 +0100

World wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has published advice as to how more government data can be made available online.

In a paper on Thursday, Berners-Lee said the government should "start with low-hanging fruit", by publishing raw data.

Next stop HMRC: How TfL CIO will shake up the taxman

editorial@silicon.com (Nick Heath) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:53:01 +0100

From TfL to HMRC, CIO Phil Pavitt talks to silicon.com about the nerves surrounding his new role, cleaning up outsourcing deals, and why he wants to make IT boring

In a matter of months, there will be a new man in charge of taming the tangle of fragmented systems that power the British taxman.

Glastonbury: A festival of iPhone blogging and wireless webcams

editorial@silicon.com (Tim Ferguson) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:06:02 +0100

The BBC is using the latest online technology to boost its coverage of this weekend's Glastonbury music festival, which starts today.

The BBC Glastonbury website received more than 600,000 visitors in the week around Glastonbury in 2008 - a figure the Beeb hopes to beat this year.