InformationWeek Stories by Gary Flood

InformationWeek Stories by Gary Floodhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-06-18T14:25:00ZBritain: The New 'Silicon Island'?The U.K.'s recently launched Information Economy Strategy could take off, but it will require a skilled workforce and a strong infrastructure.http://www.informationweek.com/government/information-management/britain-the-new-silicon-island/240156881?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityMore details have emerged about the U.K.'s recently launched national <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/britain-launches-national-information-ec/240156722">Information Economy strategy</a>. According to Westminster, the plan, which sets a vision for a thriving U.K. information economy that enhances national competitiveness, can succeed only if the country can develop both a highly skilled digital workforce and an adequate digital infrastructure to support long-term tech growth, innovation and excellence. Westminster emphasizes the need for digital technologies and information to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/203959/bis-13-779-information-economy-strategy-call-for-evidence-summary-of-responses.pdf">drive productivity and create new growth opportunities</a> across the whole economy. Stakeholders in the strategy are confident about it, describing the U.K. business environment as "generally conducive to the information economy" and citing U.K. citizens' keenness to adopt new technologies along with the plethora of high-tech global companies located here. One respondent went so far as to encourage the U.K. to brand itself as 'Silicon Island.' [ For more on the U.K.'s information economy plan, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/britain-launches-national-information-ec/240156722?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Britain Launches National 'Information Economy' Strategy</a>. ] Any real-world initiatives drawing on these lofty visions will likely be coordinated by the <a href="http://www.intellectuk.org/information-economy">Information Economy Council</a>, an organization set up by government and industry to drive the plan forward. The Council includes representatives of Amazon, Google, HP Labs, IBM and Cisco, as well as U.K. governmental and academic voices and British entrepreneurs such as <a href=" http://www.linkedin.com/in/coutu">Sherry Coutu</a>, voted by the U.K. version of Wired magazine as one the <a href=" http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-wired-100/the-wired-100-29-11">Top 25 Most Influential Digiterati in 2011</a>. The <a href=" https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills">Department for Business, Innovation and Skills</a>, which first initiated the strategy, has released more data on the <a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisgovuk/9067548458/">current state of the U.K.'s information economy</a>. It reports that the information sector contributed no less than £58 billion ($91 billion) of gross added value to the British national pocketbook in 2011 alone and that 1.5 million Brits worked in either information economy or IT jobs in 2011. Meanwhile, there are signs of increasing U.K. interest in <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/training/uk-eyes-apprenticeships-to-grow-it-talen/240154175>apprenticeships as a route into a well-paid tech career</a>. The government reports a 35% hike in information and communication technology apprenticeships in 2010 and 2011. Our 2013 IT Spending Priorities Survey shows IT pros are playing catch-up after a period of underfunding. Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/050613?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Vicious Circle</a> issue of InformationWeek: Twitter's security boost might be too little, too late. (Free registration required.)2013-06-17T14:46:00ZMicrosoft, Virgin Media Back U.K. 'Digital Maker' InitiativeMicrosoft links Kudo site to U.K. IT initiative Make Things Do Stuff; meanwhile Virgin Media helps create online sessions to challenge young developers.http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/microsoft-virgin-media-back-uk-digital-m/240156820?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<a href=" http://www.makethingsdostuff.co.uk/">Make Things Do Stuff</a>, a recently launched <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/website-aims-to-inspire-digital-makers/240155837"> campaign to foster interest in digital creativity</a> among British teens, just got some major business endorsements. Virgin Media, now part of <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/services/data/vodafone-ponders-major-german-cable-mark/240156520">Liberty Global</a>, coffee chain <a href="http://www.caffenero.com/default.aspx">Caffè Nero</a> and Microsoft have announced plans to help support the initiative. Virgin Media and Caffè Nero, in partnership with digital skills company <a href=" http://www.freeformers.com/">Freeformers</a>, are working with the site to deliver a program of "TechJam Clubs" -- free, volunteer-led, weekly sessions where young people across Britain will tackle digital missions ranging from remixing videos to creating websites to building apps and more. The aim is to provide young learners with fun ways to develop practical digital skills. [ For more on the U.K.'s new Make Things Do Stuff website, see <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/education/online-learning/website-aims-to-inspire-digital-makers/240155837/?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Website Aims To Inspire Digital Makers</a>. ] Meanwhile, Microsoft U.K. has linked its <a href=" http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/">kids' gamer programming project Kodu</a> to Make Things Do Stuff, with plans to engage at least 30,000 British children in coding and game creation in the next 12 months. "We want British people behind those success stories," said Microsoft's U.K. VP Michel van der Bel. "If the U.K. is to continue to remain economically competitive, it's essential that we get our young people excited about computer science from the earliest age possible." He added, "We are seeing almost weekly how a good knowledge of coding can take a bedroom project into the realms of a multimillion download app overnight." High-profile British business leader Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin multinational, agrees. "I believe the digital world is a force for good," he said, "and we can 'make things do stuff.'" Speaking at the U.K. government's G8 <a href=" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/open-for-growth-trade-tax-and-transparency-event--2">Open for Growth event</a> last week, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uzWX-fLlAM">Mozilla "digital maker" Paula Le Dieu</a> added, "Ensuring that young people the world over have the digital confidence necessary to shine in their cultural lives, thrive in their economic lives and have a meaningful voice in their civic lives is at the heart of Mozilla's mission to create a generation of Web makers." The Make Things Do Stuff program is a partnership between U.K. educational charity Nesta, IT charity Nominet Trust and open source maven Mozilla. Its mission is to "inspire a generation of digital makers." The free website offers activities and digital tutorials for young people to get involved in digital creation, from designing apps, animation and games to creating remixes and websites and more.2013-06-17T13:47:00ZZombie IT Contract Refuses To DieIn Britain, terminating a multi-billion NHS project in 2011 hasn't stopped more money from being poured into the ill-fated program, say critics.http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/electronic-medical-records/zombie-it-contract-refuses-to-die/240156793?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityIn systems programming, you can have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_process">"zombie" processes</a>. In Japan, they had zombie banks, financial institutions that continued to operate despite lack of funds. Perhaps the U.K.'s Department of Health has invented something else again: zombie IT contracts. At hearings last week in front of <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/uc294-i/uc29401.htm">hostile members of Parliament</a>, managers of the National Health Service (NHS) program tried to defend their on-going commitment to suppliers such as CSC for software still being paid for as part of a program cancelled almost two years ago. The National Program for IT (NPfIT) was a £9.8 billion ($15.4 billion) initiative kicked off in 2002. It was stopped in 2011, five years after its deadline to transform the NHS using ultra-modern technology systems. [ What do other nations think about Prism? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/nsa-prism-snowden-is-wrong-says-british/240156386?itc=edit_in_body_cross">NSA Prism: Snowden Is Wrong, Says British Government</a>. ] Though some systems did get deployed, such as an NHS broadband email system, the initiative failed to complete its biggest goal, a rollout of a national electronic patient record. At the time of cancellation by the cost-conscious Coalition government three years ago, almost no NHS sites had turned on their Lorenzo, Cerner Millennium or iSoft RiO EHRs, sold to them by CSC and other software companies. So unhappy was the NHS about the state of relations with CSC, the government insisted on a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/it-agreement-to-save-the-taxpayer-over-1-billion">major revision of the contract</a> to save money. Still, at least £500 million ($786 million) is still going to be given to CSC for Lorenzo implementations in 22 NHS organizations, senior civil servants told Parliament last week, plus another £500 million for other NPfIT software, a revelation that prompted Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge to accuse the September 2011 NPfIT cancellation of being a smokescreen. "All you changed were the deckchairs on the Titanic; all the existing programs continued," she said. "It was a PR exercise to say you had closed it." Indeed, for a cancelled project the NPfIT has continued to rack up remarkable costs. CSC was paid £100 million ($157 million) simply to agree to renegotiate the original contract, even though both sides agreed it had missed objectives and failed to implement systems as agreed, plus £2.9 million ($4.6 million) for legal fees. The supplier stands to reap a £100 million ($157 million) "bonus" if it delivers the newly-agreed deliverables. Due to the renegotiation the CSC ultimately will receive from its NPfIT work £2.2 billion ($3.5 billion) instead of the £3.8 billion ($6 billion) agreed upon. The news that money is still being ear-marked for a broken project now make cost projections the Department of Health released a few weeks back more understandable. The Department said that taxpayers won't start to benefit from the NPfIT program until 2016 or, in some instances, 2024; in other words, 22 years after the EHRs were originally commissioned. Taking the long view, the Department said that over the full lifetime of all NPfIT contracts the public will see a "profit" -- an improved NHS -- equivalent to £900,000 ($1.4 million). The drawn-out timeline, according to a National Audit Office <a href="http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/10171-001_NPfiT_Review.pdf">critique</a> of the report, means that in some cases 98% of the estimated benefits are yet to be realized. It also means that 26%, or £2.5 billion ($3.9 billion) of total NPfIT cost is not yet spent. Hence the £500 million more to go on EHRs -- for just one supplier who has not yet delivered -- and counting.2013-06-17T13:15:00ZGoogle Launches Attack On Online Child PornographyGoogle pledges millions to charities and software developers to help it eliminate online material that endangers children.http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/google-launches-attack-on-online-child-p/240156795?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityGoogle announced several programs to make it more difficult to use its algorithms to access child pornography. The news comes on the heels of what some U.K. commentators claim is the U.S. search giant's indifference to the problem, which has been linked to child abductions and attacks in the U.K. The issue has gotten so far up the national debate that <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2342807/David-Camerons-fear-children-internet-porn-I-worry-theyll-online-filth-says.html">Prime Minister David Cameron said</a> over the weekend that he fears such content could "harm" his own children, and that he worries when any of his three children "grab hold of the iPad" because they risk seeing obscene images. [ Google criticism runs deep. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/british-mps-attack-google-on-taxes/240155127?itc=edit_in_body_cross">British MPs Attack Google On Taxes</a>. ] In what cynics say is mere PR, but others see as genuine moves to make access to extreme content more difficult, Google claims it has set up several initiatives to help address the problem. The company will make available a £1.27 million ($2 million) Child Protection Technology Fund to help ISVs and software developers produce new tools to help fight the problem of child pornography on the Web. Google also said it's building a new database that will let concerned agencies better share information about online child pornography. The announcements come on top of a separate, four-year, £1 million ($1.6 million) donation the vendor made last week to the <a href="http://www.iwf.org.uk/about-iwf/news/post/358-1million-donation-for-child-sexual-abuse-charity">Internet Watch Foundation</a>, a nonprofit organization that works to stop child pornography on the Internet. The donation was welcomed by the charity as demonstrating Google's "moral leadership in the field." Google director of communications and public affairs Scott Rubin said: "This grant is part of a broader package of measures we are putting in place with other international agencies to help tackle this problem at a global scale." Jacquelline Fuller, director of <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-continued-commitment-to-combating.html">Google Giving, blogged</a> Saturday that, "We're in the business of making information widely available, but there's certain 'information' that should never be created or found. We can do a lot to ensure it's not available online -- and that when people try to share this disgusting content they are caught and prosecuted." Fuller also noted that since 2008 Google has been tagging known child sexual abuse images, which makes it easier to identify similar or duplicate images. She said that her company is now extending that approach to support more accurate tracking of outlawed images across the Internet. This will enable companies, law enforcement and charities to better collaborate on detecting and removing child abuse images, said Google.2013-06-14T12:33:00ZBritain Launches National 'Information Economy' StrategyWorking with industry and academia, the plan sets out objectives designed to nurture small enterprises and prepare students for IT careers.http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/britain-launches-national-information-ec/240156722?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/inside-eight-game-changing-moocs/240152508"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/976/MOOC_canvas_01_tn.jpg" alt=" 8 MOOCs Transforming Education" title="8 MOOCs Transforming Education" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">8 MOOCs Transforming Education</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>The British government on Friday announced a sweeping set of initiatives designed to promote the success of the U.K. information economy. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-economy-strategy">Information Economy Strategy</a> was put together by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills">Department for Business, Innovation & Skills</a>, which says the proposals will a build a "strong, innovative information economy sector exporting U.K. excellence to the world," as well ensuring the country's citizens benefit from the digital age. Among the goals set out by the plan is one to improve Britain's digital skills base, "from ensuring everyone can make the most of digital technology" to "training the next generation of innovators." For instance, although young people increasingly use digital devices, there has been a decline in the number of students studying information and communication technology subjects in school over the last 10 years. According to the plan, the government currently is working with industry and others to develop a new computing curriculum due to start in September 2014. Goals include encouraging young people, especially girls, to pursue careers in technology, and seizing opportunities presented by massive open online courses (MOOCs). The government also wants to make it easier for people to develop and upgrade their knowledge and skills through vocational conversion courses, one-year masters degrees and technical diplomas. [ Small to medium enterprises find the cloud safe and reliable, according to Microsoft survey. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/microsoft-smb-cloud-security-worries-eas/240156402?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Microsoft: SMB Cloud Security Worries Easing</a>. ] Another plan goal is to help small-to-medium enterprises make better use of technology. "The U.K. has the most advanced online market in Europe, but recent studies show that fewer than a third of U.K. SMEs transact online," says the document. "Industry, in partnership with government, will launch a program this autumn to get more SMEs trading effectively online. Our intention is to reach 1.6 million businesses over the next five years." To further help SMEs, the plan states, the government will lower barriers to new contracts. "Central Government spends £7 billion a year on IT. Most of the major contracts that make up this spend will come to an end in 2014-15," says the document. These long-term contracts will not be renewed, says the plan, and the government will increase the amount of money spent with SMEs to 25% on central government procurement, and 50% on new government IT. All in all, a broad range of initiatives will be launched under the strategy, focused on improving the economic efficiency and productivity of British businesses, as well as enhancing the delivery of healthcare, education, retail and communications to people in the U.K. Security training and improving the country's broadband are also included. In the document's foreword two Ministers warn, "The information economy brings massive opportunities -- but only if government, industry and academia work together to make it happen." That's a warning echoed by the IT industry, with Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales U.K. and president of Intellect, the trade group that represents the UK technology sector, who states, "The dynamism of the U.K.'s information economy is one of our true strategic advantages, but it must be constantly strengthened to keep ahead of the global competition." The plan was welcomed Friday by British business, with Rhian Kelly, director for business environment for the employers' group <a href="http://www.cbi.org.uk/">CBI</a>, noting, "The Information Economy is vital to U.K. growth and the way we do business. Technologies such as cloud computing and 5G help keep all businesses a step ahead in the global race, he added, so it is right for the government to "get behind our hi-tech firms" as part of a coherent industrial strategy for the U.K. But, he added, "Success will depend upon the U.K. developing world-leading digital infrastructure and government departments working together to drive the strategy forward."2013-06-13T12:46:00ZWill IT Departments Disappear By 2020?Forrester Research predicts IT will be embedded in various customer-facing teams.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/trends/will-it-departments-disappear-by-2020/240156635?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-apps-to-microsoft-office-365-10-l/240154989"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/993/GoogleApps_Office365_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" title="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>IT as we know it could disappear by the end of the decade, killed off by the relentless consumerization of technology. If it does disappear, that will be a problem, because it's the chief information officer who is best placed to use technology to change business and break down internal organizational barriers. These and other thought-provoking ideas about the future of IT came from Forrester Research at its <a href="http://www.forrester.com/Forresters+Forum+For+CIOs+EMEA/-/E-EVE5139">CIO Forum</a> held in London this week. "CIOs are in a unique and potentially powerful position for business transformation," VP and principal analyst Marc Cecere told European IT leaders. "After the strategy phase, 80% of the work and activity falls under the role of the CIO, so a strong role for a CIO is a given." [ When IT gets in the way: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_private_platforms/5-ways-it-can-stall-social/240006958?itc=edit_in_body_cross">5 Ways IT Can Stall Social</a>. ] But, he cautioned, the CIO needs to "to understand their base of power." By that, Cecere seemed to mean that CIOs need to know how they are perceived by their company -- as an order-taker (a "soldier") or as a more dynamic transformation agent -- and act accordingly. By the same token, companies need to recognize their CIOs as valuable resources. As an example of what can go wrong if the business dives into IT without some form of internal reality-checker, Cecere shared a war story about a company that got into trouble with a SAP project by not getting enough advice from its own CIO. (The issues, he clarified, were with scaling and security, not the product itself.) Problems that the CIO would have planned for were not considered, leading to major challenges later. Forrester identified several trends that could profoundly change the way business IT works, including commoditization and consumerization. "There are significant elements of enterprise technology that are commoditizing, or have already commoditized," warned one of the group's research directors, Christopher Mines. Before too long, commoditization could overtake even heartland data center features such as core infrastructure, servers and most enterprise applications, he said. At the same time, new forms of technology are coming to the fore that are anything but commodity – apps aimed at boosting customer engagement. This is where software becomes the whole organization's "brand," said Mines, key to the company "retaining its differentiating value and visibility among customers and employees." The collision of the two trends – back-end commoditization accompanied by a rise in IT's value as a way to stand out in the digital landscape -- will mean there still will have to be a CIO, said Mines. This person will "play the role of orchestrator and integrator of external services and service providers" instead of internally building and owning such applications directly, while at the same time directing more front-end, customer-facing work. As a result, IT pros should expect a future in which they might well end up embedded in the marketing, sales, customer service and manufacturing teams of their organizations. "The skillsets are still there and used to orchestrate those external service providers, but there will be no identifiable or central IT organization," he said. "Our call is that [a central IT department] will be a thing of the past by 2020." 2013-06-13T12:10:00ZScotland Maps Rural Farms With Open Source, CloudScotland turned to small businesses and new technologies to improve access to data about its croft network of tiny agricultural holdings.http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/scotland-maps-rural-farms-with-open-sour/240156631?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe way Scotland registers its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croft_(land)">crofts</a> -- its ancient network of tiny agricultural settlements -- has been brought into the 21st century via a cloud and open source mash-up built by small tech companies. <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Rural/crofting-policy">Crofting</a>, a cherished aspect of Scotland's land tenure history, has been subject to special legal arrangements since the Victorian era. There are 17,725 crofts in Scotland, mainly in the Highlands and Islands, and around 33,000 people currently live in crofting households. The legislation governing crofts was updated in 2010 by the Holyrood-based Scottish Parliament, requiring better information for crofters and their descendants to provide certainty on boundaries, ownership and occupancy. The <a href="http://www.ros.gov.uk/">Registers of Scotland</a>, the arm of the Scottish government responsible for compiling and maintaining registers relating to property and other legal documents, has unveiled a new free-to-search <a href="http://www.crofts.ros.gov.uk/register/search">online public register of crofts</a> and common grazings. To comply with the legislation, Registers of Scotland had to provide easy access to data about some 18,000 crofts and 900 areas of common land across more than three quarters of a million hectares. Users also had to be able to search and explore locations through an intuitive interface that would offer a highly interactive way to negotiate its Crofting Register. Not only did the end result have to be cost-effective, robust and easy for people to use, it also had to adhere to the guidelines of Scotland's <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/10/6741/7">Choose Digital First</a> program, a coordinated attempt to promote Internet use by both individuals and businesses. [ Want to know about other technology coming into the rural Scottish Highlands and Islands? See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/infrastructure/ethernet/uk-bt-push-broadband-to-rural-scotland/240151847?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K., BT Push Broadband To Rural Scotland</a>. ] The Registers contracted with a consortium of small tech firms led by U.K. IT consultancy <a href="http://www.informed.com/">Informed Solutions</a>, which acted as prime contractor for systems integration and solution architecture, together with <a href="http://www.emapsite.com/mapshop/">Emapsite</a>, a provider of hosted map services. The suppliers said the work was based on a combination of cloud and open source technologies that would offer all relevant <a href="http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/public-sector/scotland/index.html">map data</a> interlinked with property-based "<a href="http://www.onescotlandgazetteer.org.uk/">gazetteer</a>" address location data. Some proprietary geographical information systems (GIS) software was also used, notably the ArcGIS platform from U.S. GIS supplier <a href="http://www.esri.com/">ESRI</a>. The result seems to have delivered what the Registers team envisioned. "The imaginative use of spatial technology has delivered a new register that provides information on crofting to the public in a clear and readily accessible format," said the organization's registration director, John King. People now have a highly intuitive and interactive mapping and gazetteer facility that enables them to search and understand croft applications, he said. Among the search criteria are croft names and registration numbers, postcodes, parishes and organizations. Crofts can also be registered on a definitive map-based system for the first time, something the team said will be a great help in the management and reporting of the thousands of crofting applications submitted each year. Plus, said King, as the solution behind the register has been designed around an "open and flexible architecture," it will easily and cost-effectively accommodate future changes in scale and scope. This also provides the organization with the building block for other registers, as it looks to progressively transform its enterprise-wide technology estate. For Justin Hassall, director of programs at Informed Solutions, "the Crofting Register is a prime example of the outstanding results that can be achieved by an agile group of [small and midsize businesses] collaborating with a government department that wishes to achieve transformation, innovation and value through new ways of working."2013-06-12T12:11:00ZVodafone Ponders Major German Cable Market ExpansionAs Liberty Global completes its purchase of Virgin Media, London-based Vodafone considers swoop on Germany's biggest cable provider.http://www.informationweek.com/services/data/vodafone-ponders-major-german-cable-mark/240156520?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityAs the European communications market prepares for John Malone's Liberty Global, which is in the process of absorbing Britain's <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/malone-makes-uk-bid-for-virgin-territory/240147915">Virgin Media</a>, U.K.-headquartered <a href="http://www.vodafone.co.uk">Vodafone</a> is exploring an expansion into the German market. Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 404 million customers worldwide, confirmed Wednesday that it has approached <a href="http://www.kabeldeutschland.de/">Kabel Deutschland</a>, Germany's biggest cable provider, regarding a possible buyout offer, although <a href=" http://www.kabeldeutschland.com/static-com/tx_kdgnews/130612_KD_Holding_Vodafone_Statement_engl.pdf">both companies stated</a>, "There is no certainty that any offer will ultimately be made nor as to the terms on which any such offer might be made." Kabel Deutschland offers high-definition (HD) digital and analog TV, pay TV and DVR, video-on-demand, broadband Internet and fixed-line phone services via cable, as well as mobile services in cooperation with an industry partner, in the majority of German states. It reported sales of €1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) in the year ending in March 2012. [ Is BT taking advantage of U.K. taxpayers to fund its rural broadband project? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-architecture/uk-auditors-slam-bt-rural-broadband-proj/240156437?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Auditors Slam BT Rural Broadband Project</a>. ] The two firms made the announcement in response to a story in <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6e9d1974-d331-11e2-b3ff-00144feab7de.html ">Wednesday's Financial Times</a> that reports a purchase price for Kabel Deutschland of €7 billion ($9 billion) is already on the table. Other sources, including <a href=" http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/uk-vodafone-kabel-deutschland-idUKBRE95B06620130612">Reuters</a>, suggest the asking price may be closer to €10 billion ($13 billion). In any case, the two companies had already been in talks in February and most commentators expect some deal to be struck. Vodafone's leaders recently set a clear directive that the company needs to move beyond wireless and mobile to a more complete TV, landline and broadband proposition (a la Virgin in the U.K., of course) -- a path that implies acquisition of suitable candidate service providers such as Kabel. Meanwhile, earlier this month <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/vodafone-preps-uk-lte-debut/240156029">Vodafone announced</a> that it would double its investment in its U.K. LTE/4G strategy to £900 million ($1.3 billion). It is possible that Malone's Liberty Global team might also put in a bid now that Kabel is openly in play, although it may be busy consolidating its most recent European expansion. Having completed its $24 billion stock and cash <a href=" http://www.libertyglobal.com/pdf/press-release/Liberty-Global-Completes-Acquisition-of-Virgin-Media-Final-Release.pdf ">acquisition of Virgin</a> last week; Liberty Global now provides more than 47 million video, voice and broadband services to 25 million customers in 12 European countries. "With superior network capacity, the fastest broadband speeds and innovative digital TV platforms, we've never been more excited about the growth potential and strategic direction of our business," said Liberty Global president and CEO Mike Fries in that announcement.2013-06-12T10:50:00ZNSA Prism Fallout Delays EU Airline Database VoteAccusations of "paranoia" and discrimination against non-U.S. citizens aired in Brussels this week -- though working with America on security was also a theme.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/nsa-prism-fallout-delays-eu-airline-data/240156510?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThough British political leaders on Tuesday expressed a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/nsa-prism-snowden-is-wrong-says-british/240156386">relaxed attitude</a> about the safety of citizen data in their country, other European lawmakers seem to be a lot less happy, as the aftershocks from last week's U.S. NSA <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/nsa-prism-patriot-act-author-questions-s/240156451">Prism program revelations</a> continue. In a sometimes-heated <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20130611STO11522/html/Prism-MEPs-hit-out-at-US-surveillance-of-people's-personal-data">session in the European Parliament</a>, members of that body not only expressed deep concerns about possible loss of privacy by their constituents, but also agreed to delay a vote about possible sharing of airline passenger data. Specifically, according to the Parliamentary timetable, there should have been a vote Tuesday on plans to let law enforcement agencies access stored European Union (EU) airline passenger name register (PNR) data in cases where travelers are being investigated for possible criminal or terrorist activities. The idea is to build a PNR database on flights within Europe; a program already exists that shares such data between the U.S., Australia and the EU. [ What do we know about Edward J. Snowden, the NSA contractor who leaked details on Prism? <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/9-facts-about-nsa-prism-whistleblower/240156431?itc=edit_in_body_cross">9 Facts About NSA Prism Whistleblower</a>. ] However, British member <a href="http://www.kirkhope.org.uk/">Tim Kirkhope</a> succeeded in referring the issue back to Brussels' civil liberties and justice committee, <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/libe/home.html">LIBE</a>. The plans had been somewhat controversial before Prism made worldwide headlines, but Kirkhope's move is seen as the best way to eventually get them passed, as the current mood is deeply against anything perceived as so invasive. Kirkhope wrote in April that he feels <a href="http://www.kirkhope.org.uk/press_and_photo_gallery/PNR_Apr2013">objections to the proposals are "hypocritical</a>." "The failed vote means that up to 16 EU countries will still collect passenger data, but with completely different rules and procedures in place for handling and storing it, and no ability to share it when tackling cross-border offenders. Not only could this hamper cross-border criminal detection, it could also put at risk the security of passengers' data," Kirkhope wrote. But airline passenger data is far from the only online privacy and security issue, as far as European Parliament speakers from across the political spectrum were concerned. Most speakers condemned Prism as they understand it, finding the fact that only non-Americans were targeted to be a particular problem. German member <a href="http://www.eppgroup.eu/mep/18759">Manfred Weber</a>, declared: "It is completely unacceptable that the U.S .has different rules [for its] citizens and citizens of other countries." Another lawmaker, Britain's <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/4519/CLAUDE_MORAES_home.html">Claude Moraes</a>, characterized the Prism affair as denoting "a major breach of trust" between the two nations. The most colorful expression of this feeling, though, was probably from Dutch representative <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28266/SOPHIA_IN+%27T+VELD_home.html">Sophie in 't Veld</a>, who said, "Obama said to his citizens: 'Don't worry, we are not spying on you, we are only spying on foreigners.' But this is us [i.e., Europeans]. What kind of special relationship is that?" For Slovakia's <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/96654/JAROSLAV_PASKA_home.html">Jaroslav Paska</a>, "The paranoid behavior of our American partners is regrettable." However, Parliament also agreed that the value for Europe of maintaining tight security links with Washington remains as high as ever. Thus for Weber, even though the U.S. approach is "not our approach," we still "work together as partners." The <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/index_en.htm">European Commission</a>, the body that represents Europe as a whole, also said it will raise the Prism issue at the upcoming EU-U.S. joint ministerial meeting set for in Dublin on Friday.2013-06-11T12:32:00ZU.K. Auditors Slam BT Rural Broadband ProjectBT is taking advantage of taxpayers, charging a high premium for the £530 million project to bring high-speed networks to rural areas, claims leaked report.http://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-architecture/uk-auditors-slam-bt-rural-broadband-proj/240156437?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityBroadband Delivery U.K., the U.K. government's £530 million ($824 million) plan <a href="https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk">to make high-speed broadband available</a>, even in less commercially attractive areas like the countryside, appears to be the focus of sharp criticism by the nation's public spending watchdog, the <a href="http://www.nao.org.uk/">National Audit Office</a> (NAO). <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/10111607/Governments-1bn-rural-broadband-plan-a-train-crash-waiting-to-happen.html">Leaks appeared in the Telegraph</a> Tuesday about a claimed NAO report, due for publication in July, about the program. And it doesn't make good reading -- for either ministers or dominant British telco BT, which seems to have made itself the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/bt-ceo-slams-uk-fiber-monopoly-critics/240152460">only option for building out such a network</a>. According to the leaked report, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-culture-media-sport">Department of Culture, Media and Sport</a> (DCMS), which is leading the project, has poorly handled the contract, allowing BT to charge it an 80% premium over what it would normally charge. The NAO is also expected to criticize the U.K.'s reliance on a single, big supplier as risky and less sure of delivering value to the taxpayer, compared to <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/france-unveils-27-billion-broadband-plan/240149359">alternative rural broadband plans in Europe</a>, which are set up to involve more suppliers and less exposure to the taxpayer. [ Want to learn about another troubled British IT project? See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/uk-ministry-of-justice-postpones-major-i/240156345?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Ministry Of Justice Postpones Major IT Contract</a>. ] According to the Telegraph's report, insiders who have seen the study say the DCMS has a "naive" approach to working with the vendor that lacks "transparency or competition." If this is true, it would negate all <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/transforming-uk-broadband">government claims</a> that it had figured out a way to "stimulate," not underwrite, broadband infrastructure creation. Another insider is rather dramatically quoted as worrying that the program is now nothing less than "a train crash waiting to happen. ... We will either end up with some sort of meltdown in the next year or so, or there will be significant cost in the next Parliament to unpick it." Both BT and DCMS responded to the allegations, with both reiterating their conviction that the process is not flawed. DCMS told the Telegraph that the program will "deliver projects that are real value for money and result in a transformation of broadband in the U.K. by 2015." The leak came as more details were aired in Parliament about another British public sector IT initiative that spectacularly crashed and burned last month: the botched £100 million ($155 million) <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/roi/bbc-suspends-cto-over-failed-it-project/240155635">BBC IT project</a>. In testimony before a committee of MPs Monday, the plan -- to create a special advanced in-house fully digital production platform -- was described by one stakeholder, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/who_we_are/trustees/anthony_fry.html">Anthony Fry</a>, a member of the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, as "the most seriously embarrassing thing I've ever seen" and a "complete catastrophe." (The MPs are investigating a pricey <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/bbc-salford-visit">relocation of BBC facilities</a> out of London this week.) Fry implied that the root of the disaster may have been in BBC arrogance: "On the back of the successful delivery of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio">iPlayer</a>, and on the back of what the BBC was hoping to achieve and did achieve successfully in terms of the delivery of the Olympics, I think there was a sort of feeling that the BBC could walk on water." However, "there was not enough technological expertise" available for it to "actually go ahead on something of this scale and complexity," Fry told the committee. PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been retained by the BBC Trust to produce a separate, in-depth report for taxpayers, with that study expected to be completed in the fall.2013-06-11T12:00:00ZNSA Prism: Snowden Is Wrong, Says British GovernmentForeign Secretary denies that British government used Prism program to access communications of private citizens, but questions remain.http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/nsa-prism-snowden-is-wrong-says-british/240156386?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe British government has been forced to clarify the position of its own intelligence agencies in light of the unfolding <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/security/privacy/nsa-prism-inside-the-modern-surveillance/240156341">Prism scandal</a>. Foreign Secretary <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/first-secretary-of-state">William Hague</a> on Monday <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/07/uk-gathering-secret-intelligence-nsa-prism">rejected suggestions</a> that British spymasters at its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/government-communications- headquarters"> GCHQ communications center</a> had been taking advantage of Prism to gain back-door access to citizens' communications. If that is true, it would counter what most subjects of the Queen see as legitimate use of surveillance powers as well as the allegations of whistleblower Edward Snowden, which were revealed last week in his <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/nsa-spying-scandal-what-we-have-learned">interview with The Guardian</a>. While claiming he wasn't being "drawn into confirming or denying any aspect of leaked information," Hague suggested that Snowden's claims are "baseless." He also stated that British laws simply "do not provide for indiscriminate trawling for information through the contents of people's communications." [ For more on the Prism scandal, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/obama-defends-nsa-prism-google-denies-ba/240156275?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Obama Defends NSA Prism, Google Denies Back Door</a>. ] However, Hague also confirmed there are strong links between GCHQ and U.S. intelligence services, links that center on the regular sharing of information between the two countries. This, he said, had been particularly marked during the London Olympics. "The House will not be surprised that our activity to counter terrorism intensified and rose to a peak in the summer of last year," he stated. Nonetheless, the British government stands by its assertion that it possesses a strong set of legal safeguards that protect citizens. "Any data obtained by us from the United States involving U.K. nationals is subject to proper [British] statutory controls and safeguards," Hague said. In his remarks to the House on Monday, Hague also pointed out that British intelligence sharing with the U.S. is subject to "ministerial and independent oversight and to scrutiny by the Intelligence and Security Committee." For example, of the hundreds of requests to carry out covert operations his office receives every year, each one is reviewed by lawyers to make sure it meets legal requirements. Even as he attempted to close the debate on the status of electronic communications access, however, Hague may have reopened another. This one concerns the Data Communications Bill, controversial legislation that proposed expanded access to data by law enforcement via the so-called <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/security/privacy/will-britain-revive-its-snoopers-charter/240155723?queryText=Snooper's%20Charter">"Snooper's Charter."</a> That legislation was taken off the books last month by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who said his party, the junior one in the current Coalition government, rejected the measure's possible encroachment on civil liberty protection. However, in the wake of a recent attack on an unarmed British soldier by Islamist extremists, some commentators are pushing for a return of the legislation, even in revised form, to beef up security. Following Hague's Monday address, an MP suggested that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/surveillance-and-counter-terrorism">current traffic monitoring legislation</a> known as RIPA has not kept up with modern technological trends since its 2000 introduction. "The case for a Communications Data Bill rests on its own merits," Hague responded, adding that Her Majesty's Government will "bring forward proposals in the near future on this subject," which suggests that the "Snooper's Charter" may be far from dead. The Foreign Secretary isn't the only senior political figure who has attempted this week to defuse worries raised by the Snowden leaks. Former Home Secretary, Labor peer John Reid, claimed that "within the legal framework," British security services, operating and sharing relevant data with allies led by the U.S., have saved "literally thousands of lives in this country in the past 15 years."2013-06-10T15:34:00ZBritish Unemployed Offered Low-Cost Net AccessUltra-low-cost broadband and refurbished desktops and laptops is digital access nonprofit's latest bid to get underprivileged online.http://www.informationweek.com/services/data/british-unemployed-offered-low-cost-net/240156338?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1002/Pick-a-tablet_01_tn.png" alt="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" title="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) <div class="storyImageTitle">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</div></div>The U.K.'s official digital champion <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/leadership/e-commerce-pioneer-martha-lane-fox-becom/240149582">Martha Lane Fox</a> has unveiled the next step in her mission to boost Internet access: offer computers and broadband at drastically reduced prices to the underprivileged. An estimated <a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/learning/learningoverview/bbcmedialiteracy_26072012.pdf">10.8 million Brits age 15 and older have no access to the Internet</a>, according to the BBC. Fox, a former dot-com startup leader whose advice has had a profound effect on the government's <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/policy/british-governments-digital-by-default-p/240151646">"digital by default"</a> effort, says that with her proposed discounts, a household currently without Internet access could change that for under £60 ($93) a year. [ Read about Britain's latest outsourcing kerfuffle. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/outsourcing/o2-call-center-layoff-details-leaked/240155810?itc=edit_in_body_cross">O2 Call Center Layoff Details Leaked</a>. ] Lane's digital access non-profit, <a href="http://www.getonlineathome.org/">Get Online@Home</a>, already offers heavily reduced prices for computer equipment, such as refurbished desktops for under £100 ($155) and laptops for £150 ($233). The new program goes even further by offering desktops for as little as £24 ($37) bundled with broadband for £2.99 ($4.64) a month if the applicant is on welfare. Recycling organization <a href="http://www.partnersit.co.uk/">Partners IT</a> is among the groups helping to supply the hardware. Applicants can choose from among broadband deals provided through <a href="http://www.simplifydigital.co.uk/">Simplifydigital</a>. Fox, recently made an honorary member of the House of Lords, said in a statement, "With the cost of Internet access cited as a key reason for not being online, this is an incredible savings and will transform the lives of everyone who hasn't been able to get online before." Get Online@Home has supplied over 23,000 computers to the underprivileged since its 2011 launch. The new program's refurbished PCs and laptops are designed to support basic home IT. Both desktops and laptops, for instance, have at minimum a 2-GHz processor, a 60-GB hard drive and the Windows 7 Pro operating system with Microsoft Office Basic productivity software installed. Laptops have a 14-inch screen.2013-06-10T15:32:00ZU.K. Ministry Of Justice Postpones Major IT ContractWhitehall unexpectedly puts £300m IT contract covering extensive user network on hold. Some speculators say it's because too few SMBs were in the running.http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/uk-ministry-of-justice-postpones-major-i/240156345?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityA £300 million ($466 million) <a href="http://www.justice.gov.uk/">Ministry of Justice</a> (MoJ) desktop and laptop support contract has been postponed, reportedly after the four most serious contenders had already spent millions bidding. The End User Computing and Common Services contract was designed to change the way ICT services are delivered across the Ministry, going from a line of business to a new cross-functional approach. In May 2012 the MoJ announced that the five-year contract would cover 2,300 sites nationally, comprising an extensive network of prisons, courts, tribunals, probation services centers and other locations. The contract involved the supply, management and maintenance of the entire end computer environment, comprising desktops, laptops, workplace productivity applications, including email and word processing, peripherals and storage. The end-user contract was intended to be just one component of the MoJ's <a href=" http://www.government-online.net/future-it-sourcing-programme-ministry-of-justice/">Future IT Sourcing plan</a>, which also included service integration, networks, hosting, application maintenance and development. However, suppliers have now been told the contract has been suspended, with no set date for when the Ministry will return to the market. According to <a href="http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn-uk/news/2273292/bidders-fume-as-gbp300m-moj-contract-halted">U.K. news site CRN</a>, which broke the story, a representative from the Ministry said it will be "retendering for revised contracts for the service at a later date" but offered neither a specific timeframe nor an explanation for why the contract was suspended, saying only that the MoJ's requirements have changed. [ IT belt-tightening pays off for British government. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/whitehall-spending-hawks-tout-it-savings/240155979?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Whitehall Spending Hawks Tout IT Savings</a>. ] Atos Origin, HP, Computacenter and Fujitsu were all said to be in the final round of negotiations for the contract. An anonymous source noted that the last four bidders"must be frustrated, given the investment they have made into this process." Some observers speculate that insufficient numbers of small and midsize tech firms were involved in the last stages of contract negotiations. While SMB suppliers are less likely to be primary partners for major government departments, the current Coalition government prefers to <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/smb/services/uk-pushes-govt-it-to-use-smb-suppliers/240149701">see them included</a> in the supply chain of larger system integrator bids. Last week, for example, Prime Minister David Cameron <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-speech-at-the-small-business-reception">told small business owners</a>, "If we are going to compete and succeed and win in that global race, it is small businesses that are going to enable us to do that." Cameron also pointed to the U.K.'s ongoing ambitions to boost its GDP via technology and startups. "A decade ago a cloud was something in the sky, Twitter was something you might hear on a nice summer's day sitting out in your garden and Skype was a typo," he said. "The world has changed so fast and some of the biggest and most successful companies in our world were barely even thought of a decade ago, but they have gone from nothing to being massive generators of wealth, of employment and of growth." Yesterday's innovative data center may be today’s money pit. Is it time for a new plan? Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/061013?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Data Center Decision Time</a> issue of InformationWeek: Data center consolidation is tough, as the government's experience shows. (Free registration required.)2013-06-07T12:24:00ZGlasgow City Council Fined For Security LapsesStolen laptops and repeated cases of unencrypted data top the list of the City of Glasgow's security failings.http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/glasgow-city-council-fined-for-security/240156192?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe organization that safeguards data privacy in the U.K., the <a href=" http://www.ico.org.uk/">Information Commissioner's Office</a> (ICO) has slapped a £150,000 ($232,000) fine on the <a href="http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/">Glasgow City Council</a> for failing to adequately protect citizens' data. The ICO has levied the penalty on Scotland's second city using its powers of enforcement under the 1998 Data Protection Act. The judgment centers on the May 2012 theft of two unencrypted laptops from some of the council's offices, which were in the process of being refurbished. The security breach occurred when an employee placed a key to a safe area into the drawer of a colleague, leaving both devices unprotected long enough to be purloined. One of the devices contained the names, addresses, and in some cases, bank account data, for more than 20,000 individuals. [ Could the U.K.'s recently vetoed communications monitoring law help prevent crime? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/will-britain-revive-its-snoopers-charter/240155723?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Will Britain Revive Its 'Snooper's Charter'?</a> ] This data was unencrypted due to problems with Glasgow's security software, but the ICO maintains that the city should not have allowed its IT supplier to hand out unencrypted laptops to employees. It also points out that staff had asked for -- but not been given -- better-protected laptops, and that managers were aware of a series of recent thefts in the offices. (In fact, an astonishing 74 laptops had gone missing in addition to the one containing sensitive data.) Finally, the ICO's judgment cites the distress suffered by individuals whose personal information was exposed. The ICO has now served Glasgow with an enforcement notice requiring it to carry out a full audit of all IT assets used to process personal data. It must also arrange for all of its managers to receive appropriate asset management training, and carry out a full check of all of its devices each year and maintain a complete, up-to-date asset register. "How an organization can fail to notice that 74 unencrypted laptops have gone missing beggars belief," remarked Ken Macdonald, the ICO's assistant commissioner for Scotland. "The fact that these laptops have never been recovered and no record was made of the information stored on them means we will probably never know the true extent of this breach, or how many people's details have been compromised." According to the ICO, Glasgow has had a history of security problems. In 2010, it was issued with an enforcement notice after an unencrypted memory stick was lost. Macdonald said, "To find out that these poor practices have returned some two years later shows a flagrant disregard for the law and the people of Glasgow." "The council should be held to account," he added. "The penalty goes some way to achieving that."2013-06-06T14:50:00ZG-Cloud's Challenge: Few Understand ItU.K. plan to encourage public sector to purchase cheaper IT via the cloud won't work unless government explains it better, says new research.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/g-clouds-challenge-few-understand-it/240156179?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe U.K.'s plan to encourage public sector workers to purchase cheaper IT <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/infrastructure/uk-government-mandates-cloud-first-it-pr/240154377">via the cloud</a> is not happening quickly enough. That program, known as <a href=" http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/">G-Cloud</a>, centers on a procurement framework for approved cloud product and services firms and an online buying tool called the <a href="http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/cloudstore/">CloudStore</a>. A team of <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/british-government-it-projects-running-l/240155773">internal governmental project monitors</a> recently identified the program as "at risk of failure." In what some observers see as a direct response to that critique, the head of the G-Cloud, Denise McDonagh, has been transferred to another job in central government IT. Meanwhile, the G-Cloud team has been folded into the <a href="http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/category/gds/">Government Delivery Service (GDS)</a>, a team that's working on bringing a digital flavor to all British government services. [ G-Cloud isn't the only government project that's behind schedule. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/british-government-it-projects-running-l/240155773?itc=edit_in_body_cross">British Government IT Projects Running Late</a>. ] In a <a href="http://gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/2013/06/04/g-cloud-goodbye-and-thank-you/">blog post</a>, McDonagh claimed the re-org had always been part of the plan. "It has always been the intention to move the program into 'business as usual' and now is the natural time for this to happen," she wrote. "I'm confident that GDS will continue to improve G-Cloud, building on our success and providing strong leadership and support for departments as they move towards ever wider adoption of cloud solutions." But moving G-Cloud into GDS might not be enough. An audit on the project's progress noted that a primary challenge is the difficulty of achieving real culture in terms of approach to ICT (information and communications technology), as old ways of doing things are so deeply engrained among public sector IT buyers. The scale of the challenges G-Cloud and the CloudStore buying portal face was made clearer this week, when non-profit British cloud firm <a href=" http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/uk-government-nonprofit-agencies-tiptoe/240150026">Eduserv</a> released data showing that 72% of civil servants aren't confident about how to use the technology. And while 47% of 529 senior public servant respondents said they understand what the CloudStore can offer, they don't seem to know what to do next. Meanwhile, 71% of respondents said they were unsure whether G-Cloud would create more work for them or less. The survey's respondents were largely at senior civil service ranks, such as high executive or senior executive officers level, and worked in key areas like operation delivery (22%), IT (12%) or program and project management (10%). "Education on new technology and solutions is important. Otherwise, it is impossible to make the most of them," said Andrew Hawkins, business development director at Eduserv. "I would have liked to have seen more being done to ensure civil servants are confident about what [G-Cloud] can do and how it can be implemented." Still, for the departing McDonagh, the mold has been broken. "What we've done is truly groundbreaking," she said. "G-Cloud is generating interest from around the world, with many now following our lead. I believe that it is one of the most disruptive changes for good that I've seen in my entire career in government IT, and I believe this will forever change the way we commission and use IT in the public sector."2013-06-06T12:28:00ZBYOD Resistance Is 'Futile'Stop trying to make the wave roll back, cautions analyst group, and instead focus on securing your employees' BYOD smartphones and tablets.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/byod-resistance-is-futile/240156173?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1002/Pick-a-tablet_01_tn.png" alt="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" title="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) <div class="storyImageTitle">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</div></div>If you're still determined to stem the tide of employee-owned devices, forget about it, says London-based analyst Ovum. Give up. That battle is over, and the users won. Tablets especially are on the rise in the office, according to the results of Ovum's 2013 BYOX – Bring Your Own Anything -- employee attitude survey, released Wednesday at the <a href="http://byox.ovumevents.com/">BYOX World Forum</a> in London. "Trying to stand in the path of consumerized mobility is likely to be a damaging and futile exercise," warned Richard Absalom, Ovum consumer impact technology analyst, in a statement. "We believe businesses are better served exploiting this behavior to increase employee engagement and productivity and promote the benefits of enterprise mobility." Focus instead on looking to work with your internal customers to help them find safe and appropriate products to use, he said. [ Here's how Windows 8 might succeed in the enterprise. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/windows8/windows-8s-best-chance-depends-on-byod/240155033?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Windows 8's Best Chance Depends On BYOD?</a> ] Survey results suggest that BYOD is the new normal, with BYOD activity by full-time employees remaining steady at just under 60% over the past two years. Of that number, nearly 70% of smartphone or tablet-owing employees say they use their device to access corporate data. Personal tablet ownership by staff is rising, from 28.4% to 44.5% over the last 12 month, according to the survey, suggesting businesses will see more of these devices on their networks. Most employees who own smartphones (67.8%) bring them to work, with 15.4% of that number doing so without the IT department's knowledge -- and 20.9% doing so in defiance of company anti-BYOD rules. The survey also asked employees about the software they use on their mobile devices. Email and calendar are the most commonly used applications whether the device was personally or company owned. However, other applications are on the rise, and are increasingly being found and installed by employees, not IT. Those include enterprise social networks (25.6%), file syncing and sharing services (22.1%), and instant messaging and VoIP (30.7%). "IT is not keeping up with the changing demands and behavior patterns of the new mobilized, consumerized workforce," said Absalom. "Nowhere is this clearer than in the BYOA [bring your own app] data. If employees are sourcing their own applications to do their job, then IT is not delivering the right tools or a good enough user experience for its employees." Adrian Drury, an analyst in the Ovum consumer impact group, told delegates at the London conference that BYOX is a trend no company can afford to ignore. "You should assume there is a lot of BYOD activity in your business that you simply do not know about. And if you take a 'King Canute'-type of approach, you will drive it underground and lose control," he said, referring to the Norwegian king who set his throne by the sea and commanded the tide to recede. At the event, Ovum gave BYOD <a href="http://ovum.com/press_releases/ovum-announces-winners-of-inaugural-byox-strategy-awards/">achievement awards</a> to University College London Hospital, SAP and legal firm <a href="http://www.irell.com/">Irell & Manella</a> for the internal BYOD programs they've developed. The Ovum survey queried 4,371 workers in 19 countries employed at companies with a minimum of 50 people.2013-06-05T14:00:00ZCIOs Need To Improve Budget Practices, Says StudyTo keep up with the fast pace of business, CIOs must shift their budget strategy to bolster employee productivity.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/trends/cios-need-to-improve-budget-practices-sa/240156154?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityCIOs need to be more strategic about budgeting if they want to use technology to better deal with the rapid pace of business change. That's the advice of experts at <a href="http://www.executiveboard.com/">CEB</a>, formerly the Corporate Executive Board, a global member-led advisory group that has just published a new study on the trends that will shape corporate IT in the next four years. The study, <a href="http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd/information-technology/future-of-it/index.page">The Future Of IT</a>, is a follow-up to a report published three years ago, the group's managing director of research Andrew Horne told Information Week. In its previous study, CEB identified four major changes in the role of IT in business. In the current report, the group suggests five ways CIOs can drive productivity and growth in what it calls "the new work environment." [ Belt-tightening in government spending has saved £10 billion in the last three years. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/whitehall-spending-hawks-tout-it-savings/240155979?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Whitehall Spending Hawks Tout IT Savings</a>. ] First, the four workplace changes that impact IT: -- Greater interdependence between individuals in the modern workplace, which IT needs to better support. -- Frequent organizational change, which shortens business partner time horizons and puts a premium on responsive IT planning and budgeting. -- Greater knowledge intensity, which means more money spent on analytics and collaboration and less on process automation. -- More technology choice: "After BYOD comes BYOI, BYON, and BYOA: bring your own information, networks, and applications." How should the CIO respond to these changes? The current report offers five tactics: -- Use technology to increase employee productivity. -- Give employees not only tools, but also competencies. -- Split off flexible interfaces from foundational data. -- Shift engagement focus from managers back to employees. -- Shift IT from a reactive approach to business demands to a proactive one -- i.e., go from "respond" to "anticipate." One problem, according to CEB, is that IT's operating model and skill sets are often ill-prepared for the new work environment, which could lead to clashes with impatient CEOs. The study points out that even as business leaders aim to increase productivity, failure to adjust to the new work environment will result a productivity decline. That's where budget comes into play. "The way in which IT gets money from the business just has to change," Horne said. "The whole multi-year or annual, long-term process just doesn't work in a time of such rapid technological change; the organization needs to be a lot more flexible in terms of IT strategy, able to make quicker decisions and react better." Another challenge, according to the report, is that CFOs often see IT as a cost center and are unwilling to work on anything other than big-picture budget cycles, especially in larger enterprises. Horne explained that this is partly because many CFOs distrust IT due to what they consider irresponsible spending -- but the recent focus on cost control and commodity procurement now needs to change. "If you are dealing with a very rigid, risk-averse, fiscally conservative budgeting process," Horne said, "you're just not in the best place for any sort of innovation." Horne suggests that IT leaders ask their business colleagues to rank their upcoming priorities and use that as a basis for a series of "weightings" on projects. "If [your colleagues] say that keeping customers happy is higher than streamlining the supply chain at the moment, use that to build a case for greater investment in that area of activity," he said. "In any case, you should end up with a set of priorities that will give IT a clear vision of priorities that you can use to push for appropriate action." What if your CFO objects? You may need to go higher. "A good CEO will be happy if they see their managers looking to properly organize around the real objectives of the company," said Horne, "even if this goes beyond doing things as cheaply as possible."2013-06-04T12:45:00ZNetwork Rail Streamlines Supplier NetworkBritish state-owned rail infrastructure manager Network Rail aims to improve efficiency, cut costs by culling unwieldy list of 270 IT vendors to only five.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/outsourcing/network-rail-streamlines-supplier-networ/240156037?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/office-2013-10-questions-to-ask/240150037"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/959/01_Intro_175.jpg" alt="Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask" title="Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Office 2013: 10 Questions To Ask</div> (click image for slideshow) </div><a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/">Network Rail</a>, the organization that manages Britain's extensive railway infrastructure and assets, is moving to simplify a messy IT procurement process by working with a smaller set of key suppliers. The organization, which manages bridges and viaducts along with 17 key stations, says its current roster includes more than 270 separate IT partners. That means it's had to maintain numerous systems of varying complexity, including some that were designed as far back as the 1970s, when they were in state ownership as part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail">old British Rail</a>. "We run one of the busiest railway networks in the world and rely heavily on IT to keep everything moving," said chief information officer <a href="http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Gallery/Susan-Cooklin-chief-information-officer-CIO-Network-Rail-1902.aspx ">Susan Cooklin</a>. "By creating this framework we will be able to scale more flexibly our resources to meet demand, while retaining our vital assurance role." Cooklin says the move will allow her team to improve efficiency while continuing to get 24,000 trains a day onto the British rail networks. More people travel by rail in the U.K. now than at any point since the 1920s, when the network was around <a href=" http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/122.aspx ">twice its current size</a>. No fewer than 1.3 billion journeys are made annually on the U.K.'s now-privatized train routes. Network Rail also handles the back end of 100 million tons of the U.K.'s annual freight transportation. [ The U.K. is losing the broadband race to its European neighbors. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/business/uk-fiber-failures-hinder-economic-growth/240155883?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Fiber Failures Hinder Economic Growth</a>. ] In March 2009, Network Rail committed to a £24 billion ($37 billion) investment in the network by 2015. The organization currently runs one of Europe's largest implementations of the <a href=http://www.csc.com/uk/success_stories/98041-network_rail_s_erp_system_is_fit_for_the_future>Oracle E-Business Suite</a>, which it uses to manage £5.5 billion ($8.4 billion) in annual payments to suppliers, £2.5 billion ($3.8 billion) of track access payments from train and freight operating companies, £1 billion ($1.5 billion) in payroll, and £3.5 billion ($5.4 billion) in project financing. Network Rail plans to cull its 270-member supplier list to only five, mostly big systems integrators: Accenture, BAE Systems Detica, Cognizant, CSC and India's TCS. The five companies will deliver IT goods and services to the organization via a set of IT Solutions and System Integrator framework agreements, which will allow them to take more ownership of designing, building and implementing IT solutions to support Network Rail. The framework is "zero value," which means the suppliers don't get paid for winning it; rather, they accrue value from supplying through it. Network Rail selected the final five suppliers after a bidding process run under EU competition rules.2013-06-04T10:52:00ZVodafone Preps U.K. LTE DebutTelecom will double its infrastructure spending to £900 million over the fiscal year to expand its 4G footprint.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/vodafone-preps-uk-lte-debut/240156029?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe race to get U.K. cell and mobile broadband users excited about <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/3g/uk-mobile-brand-ee-makes-lte-land-grab/240152592">LTE</a>, or 4G as it is known in the U.K., seems to be heating up with the announcement that service provider Vodafone plans to double its infrastructure spending for what now seems to be an end of summer LTE debut. The firm said Monday that it will <a href="http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/contentdocuments/vftst041720.pdf">spend £900 million</a> ($1.4 billion) in its current fiscal year on 4G. It reported <a href="http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/media/group_press_releases/2013/prelim_31march2013.html">revenue of £44 billion</a> ($57 billion) for its most recent fiscal year, which ended March 31. Vodafone had already spent some £790 million ($1.2 billion), in what has come to be seen as a low-key <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/uk-consumers-underwhelmed-by-lte-spectru/240146882">British LTE spectrum auction</a> in February, to secure <a href="http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/contentdocuments/vftst038987.pdf">20 years'</a> hold on two 10-MHz regions in the 800-MHz band and the same number at the 20-MHz frequency in the 2.6-GHz band, plus an additional 25 MHz of unpaired spectrum in the 2.6-GHz band, to launch a 4G service. [ Wonder what Verizon has on tap in Europe? <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/quickview/verizon-chief-talks-europe-ma-strategy/3542?wc=4?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Verizon Chief Talks Europe, M&A Strategy</a>. ] The news was framed by the company's U.K. chief executive Guy Laurence as "great news" for both British consumer and business customers of the operation's combined fixed-line and mobile network. "It is also great news for the country," he claimed, as it indicates how his firm is "investing in vital national infrastructure" that can help play "an important role in supporting growth in the wider economy." Vodafone may draw on its experience as the first 4G provider in Spain; it launched the service in seven Spain cities in late May. What's particularly interesting to British LTE watchers is that the extra high-speed connectivity is available to existing Spain subscribers as part of their regular service and to other customers for just of €9 ($12) extra -- which if repeated in the U.K. would offer sharp competition to the existing 4G incumbent, EE, which is offering <a href="http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-tariffs/pay-monthly/">4G-only packages</a> starting at £31 ($47). Vodafone may have deep enough pockets to launch an aggressive pricing war and grab British 4G market share if it indeed <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2013/04/29/verizon-deal-with-vodafone-could-be-worth-more-than-130b-would-create-largest-u-s-carrier/">sells its stake in Verizon Wireless</a>, reportedly worth a potential $130 billion to Vodafone. Vodafone has already launched 4G in other European markets including Italy, Greece, Romania and Portugal, as well as South Africa and New Zealand.2013-06-03T15:05:00ZAmazon Plans New Central London PresenceCompany may hire up to 1,600 to staff new site, which will serve as base for new business ventures in areas including TV production and book publishing.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/recruiting/amazon-plans-new-central-london-presence/240155983?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityAmazon plans to expand its U.K. operations into central London, opening a new 12-story, 120,000 square-foot site at 60 Holborn Viaduct. The new facility will serve as a base for new business ventures in book publishing and TV content production. The first phase of the building's development is due for completion in the fall, with Amazon planning to move several hundred existing employees to the new office by the end of 2013. The move will also boost Amazon's U.K. headcount from its current 6,000 to more like 7,600, according to the firm's U.K. managing director, Christopher North. "This new office location will provide the space we require for hundreds of our existing employees as well as many more that we will hire in the future," he said. Last September, Amazon opened <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=251199&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1772697&highlight=">a global digital media development center</a> in another part of central London, The Barbican. In January the company reported that it had hired 100 new team members, with an additional 100 slated to be recruited this year. [ Will Amazon's plan to expand its facilities and headcount help appease grumbling over taxes? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/policy/debate-grows-over-big-tech-taxes/240155289?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Debate Grows Over Big Tech Taxes</a>. ] London's colorful Tory major, Boris Johnson, touted the new facility as "excellent news for London's continued growth as a leading global hub for tech talent," a clear reference to his own determination to make the ancient city a true <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/government/leadership/london-aims-to-be-worlds-smartest-city/240150158?queryText=Tech%20City">21st-century digital contender</a>. "Whether a giant or an exciting new start-up, London is proving time and time again that we have the right places and people to support this vibrant sector," Johnson added. Amazon's North said, "We look forward to drawing from the capital's strong pool of talent as we continue to innovate and enhance our service for the benefit of all our customers." 	 Amazon reported that its sales in the U.K., including its Lovefilm digital content DVD rental and streaming service and other non-retail activities, totaled £4.1 billion ($6.3 billion) in 2012. Our survey finds that most companies will launch mobile commerce within a year. What's your holdup? Also in the new, all-digital <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/gogreen/052013s?k=axxe&cid=article_axxt_os">Mobile Commerce Takes Off</a> special issue of InformationWeek: Companies that take PCI responsibilities seriously will find that using a cloud provider and staying compliant can be a major project. (Free registration required.)2013-06-03T14:54:00ZWhitehall Spending Hawks Tout IT SavingsTighter procurement rules have saved the British government £10 billion in the last 3 years through savvy IT purchasing.http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/whitehall-spending-hawks-tout-it-savings/240155979?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityThe British taxpayer is £10 billion ($15 billion) better off due to cost-saving initiatives, including changes to the way information and communications technology (ICT) is procured, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-saves-10-billion-for-taxpayers">reported</a> the U.K. government Monday. The figure refers to what tightened rules have shaved off Whitehall's operating expenses by the cost-focused Coalition government since it came to power in May 2010. The figure is also £2 billion ($3.1 billion) above the £8 billion savings target the Coalition set when it came into office. To put the reduction in context, U.K. central government spends around £63 billion ($97 billion) on goods and services every year. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, whose team has led the war on waste, said that the government is on target toward managing its finances "like the best-run <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTSE_100_Index">FTSE 100 businesses</a>." As an example, <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4951577/8bn-Whitehall-waste.html">he told The Sun</a> this weekend about a government department that was paying £4 million ($6 million) for a service contract, until he found a firm that would do the same job for £60,000 ($92,000). Maude also said his own Cabinet Office planned to spend £57 ($87) on a £20 ($31) computer cable until he stepped in. A political colleague claimed cutting waste like this means taxpayers' money can be focused on "building a stronger economy in a fairer society" instead. More is to come; the Coalition said it is now pushing to save £20 billion ($31 billion) a year by 2015 versus 2009-10 spending levels. [ Want to know more about U.K. government IT? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/cloud-saas/british-government-it-projects-running-l/240155773?itc=edit_in_body_cross">British Government IT Projects Running Late</a>. ] Specifically the government said <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/204603/FINAL_12_13_ERG_annual_report.pdf">in its annual report</a> that it has cut £800 million ($1.3 billion) from its running expenses by better coordinated, central buying of common goods and services, including ICT. This refers to a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61014/sirphilipgreenreview.pdf">review by British retail entrepreneur Sir Philip Green</a> that found suppliers were able to reap big profits out of selling the same services to different parts of government at different prices -- like 78% worth of difference in printer cartridge costs, for instance. Working as a single customer across government enables public sector leaders to better identify efficiencies and maximize their collective buying power, said the Cabinet Office. One telecom contract renegotiation contributed £126 million ($193 million) alone, for example. The Cabinet Office also said savings came from a clampdown on the use of external consultants by civil servants, a firm hand on recruitment and non-IT cost-cutting measures, such as selling property. And, it said £500 million ($767 million) was saved through "IT spend controls and moving government services and transactions onto digital platforms," and £42 million ($64 million) by simply creating one single government website, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/">GOV.UK</a>, for citizens and ceasing to run multiple Whitehall online identities. To clarify the impact of the savings, Maude's team has posted a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabinetoffice/8921502803/">graphical representation</a> of key data.2013-06-03T09:06:00ZDemand For IT Apprenticeships Outpaces Opportunities In U.K.With 17 applicants for every available IT apprenticeship position in the U.K., government leaders encourage employers to add more opportunities.http://www.informationweek.com/education/leadership/demand-for-it-apprenticeships-outpaces-o/240155889?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityBritain needs to figure out a way to get more young people into the workforce. <a href="http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/m/sfr31-2012.pdf">Government stats</a> show almost a million -- 893,000 -- of the Queen's subjects aged 16 to 24 were neither employed nor in school during the last three months of 2012. An idea that's been getting a lot of attention lately is apprenticeships, which would enable young people (ideally even <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/participation/neet/a0064101/16--to-18-year-olds-not-in-education,-employment-or-training">NEETs</a>, or those who are Not In Education, Employment or Training) to get practical help and a salary while learning a skill or trade that could help them transition smoothly into a real job. Another benefit: the program could address what is seen as an endemic skills crisis by creating <a href=" http://www.informationweek.co.uk/global-cio/training/uk-eyes-apprenticeships-to-grow-it-talen/240154175?queryText=apprentice">apprenticeships in IT</a>. Problem is, there are not enough such opportunities. According to the latest figures from the <a href="http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/About-Us/National-Apprenticeship-Service.aspx">National Apprenticeship Service (NAS)</a>, while advertised ICT (Information and Communication Technology) apprenticeship vacancies jumped by 15% to 1,494 between February and April 2013, the number of applicants increased by 27.6%, to 25,750. (Overall, almost 370,000 apprenticeship applications were submitted online between February and April 2013, a 32% hike over the same period in 2012.) [ Nesta-sponsored website offers digital creation tools for teens. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/education/online-learning/website-aims-to-inspire-digital-makers/240155837?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Website Aims To Inspire Digital Makers</a>. ] The NAS reports that ICT, along with Arts and Media, was one of the most sought-after sectors by apprenticeship seekers, with more than 17 applications for every posted vacancy. That said, ICT was fourth in the top five of apprenticeship applications, trailing Business and Administration, Children & Young People's Workforce (Child care) and Customer Services and ahead of Vehicle Maintenance & Repair. The government would like to see more activity developing apprenticeships. "Apprenticeships are fast becoming the norm for young people who want to achieve their career goals through an alternative route to university," said <a href="http://www.matthewhancock.co.uk/about-me">skills minister Matthew Hancock</a>. "We want more employers to take advantage of the advice and support available from [NAS] and consider how hiring an apprentice could benefit their business." Hancock's team has produced <a href=" http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/News-Media/Latest-News/~/link.aspx?_id=110D559FDEA542EA9C1C8A5DF7E70EF9&_z=z">new online guides</a> designed to encourage employers, especially SBMs, take on more apprentices. "For smaller businesses, apprentices help improve productivity while reducing costs," said U.K. business leader Jason Holt, who wrote <a href=" https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34731/12-891-making-apprenticeships-more-accessible-to-smes-holt-review.pdf">a study</a> to help bolster apprenticeship programs. British company owners, including tech firms, are also being offered a state subsidy of £1,500 ($2,300) to help recruitment efforts.2013-06-01T09:06:00ZGoogle, Facebook Told U.K.: We Won't Be SnoopsMajor U.S. tech firms including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Yahoo! had rejected now-canned U.K. plan to make them archive user traffic.http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/google-facebook-told-uk-we-wont-be-snoop/240155888?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/the-syrian-electronic-army-9-things-we-k/240155028"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/994/Syrian-Electronic-Army-Tank_01_tn.jpg" alt="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" title="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view) <div class="storyImageTitle">The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know</div></div>The debate over how best to equip the British police security services to stop more terrorist atrocities like the Woolwich slaying of a soldier last week has taken yet another turn -- with U.S. Web giants including Google revealed as saying they don't want any part in a possible revival of a "snooper's charter." The term is shorthand for Britain's hobbled <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/security/privacy/will-britain-revive-its-snoopers-charter/240155723">Data Communications Bill</a> which supporters say would have helped law enforcement monitor email, Web and SMS traffic and perhaps cracked extremist chatter and online plotting leading to the attack. The American-based companies told Britain in April that they agreed with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's halting of the bill's progress through Parliament. According to a letter apparently written to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/may/30/snoopers-charter-web-five-letter">leaked to the British press</a>, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter all warned the British government they were unwilling to store data on U.K. users of their services for up to 12 months, as the draft legislation would have required of them. [ What tops companies' security concerns? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/uk-public-sectors-top-security-worries/240149063?itc=edit_in_body_cross">U.K. Public Sector's Top Security Worries</a>. ] They had instead pushed for a new bilateral agreement between the U.K. and U.S Internet firms that would have sped up the process of sharing user information to track terrorism, if needed. The companies also seem to have balked at the possible cost to them of maintaining such big databases, estimated to be as much as £1.8 billion ($2.7 billion). "We do not want there to be any doubt about the strength of our concerns in respect of the idea that the U.K. government would seek to impose an order on a company in respect of services which are offered by service providers outside [the country]," said the private message, now in the hands of The Guardian. It goes on to say that, as the Internet is still a "relatively young technology" that is a great economic and social force, "there are risks in legislating too early in this fast-moving area that can be as significant as the risks of legislating too late." The implication is that the U.K., which the document says has "rightly positioned itself as a leading digital nation," risks harming this status if it passed the bill. The issue of how best to prevent attacks like the Woolrich incident is not settled yet. A Home Office statement issued earlier this week said that Her Majesty's Government is "continuing to look at ways of addressing this issue with communication service providers" and that "this may involve legislation."2013-05-31T13:55:00ZU.K. Fiber Failures Hinder Economic GrowthU.K. should follow France's model of public-private investment in broadband infrastructure to bolster its economy, telecom consultants say.http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/business/uk-fiber-failures-hinder-economic-growth/240155883?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_securityA major consulting firm has warned that Britain risks falling seriously behind its European neighbors in terms of serious uptake of fiber broadband technology. "The U.K. is one of the least-penetrated economies in Europe," Karim Taga, managing partner and global practice leader of Arthur D. Little's <a href="http://www.adlittle.com/time.html">TIME</a> (telecommunications, information, media and electronics) practice told InformationWeek. As a result, the country may need a "tremendous amount of investment" if it wants to catch up, he added -- and may need to copy the lead of France, which has gone back to the drawing board in terms of trying to implement a <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/france-unveils-27-billion-broadband-plan/240149359">national fiber network</a>. Taga's warning comes as part of a new study he and his team have produced on the <a href="http://www.adlittle.com/Fibre">state of fiber network markets in Europe</a>. In its view, "failures" in local telecom policy and regulation could hamper overall European economic growth. [ Some big U.K. projects might bring unexpected benefits. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/why-build-a-new-uk-railway-better-broadb/240146806?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Why Build A New U.K. Railway? Better Broadband!</a> ] The group said Europe's telecom industry, governments and regulators need to move "decisively" to fiber to support future economic growth, pointing to economic benefits for improving broadband infrastructure such as job creation and national GDP. The problem: It's no longer possible to modernize and upgrade the copper-based network, it claimed, so whole fiber or mainly fiber networks are now needed not only for the fastest fixed access services but also to underpin the micro-layer of the latest mobile backhaul networks. But to get there, someone has to write some very big checks: rewiring European consumer and business networks will cost hundreds of billions of euros. "The challenge of how to attain the clear national economic benefits of the latest fiber infrastructure while managing the considerable investment required is still unclear in many markets," commented Andrea Faggiano, principal in Arthur D. Little's TIME practice. What is bedeviling Europe, as opposed to North America and Asia, the team suggested, is a market liberalization that has introduced strong price pressure in the EU -- but left most markets either with too much infrastructure or scarce resources to sustain real infrastructure competition (as opposed to the United States). In the U.K.'s case, for instance, Taga said that cable is really the only option for any sort of high-speed broadband in the 50 to 100 Mbps range, effectively granting firms like Virgin a near <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/telecom/business/bt-increases-profits-broadband-market-sh/240154654">monopoly at the higher end</a>. The best way forward for Europe, said the study, is for national policy makers to go back to the drawing board and rethink their infrastructure strategies to catch up with global best practice examples. The most promising fiber strategy models, said the advisory firm, may involve things like hybrid approaches, such as a combination of free-market competition, government coordination and geographically targeted public investment open to competitive bid. Taga said the U.K.'s best bet may be to follow France's approach and look for a much more imaginative mix of state backing and partial financial support, or private telcos like BT won't make the level of financial commitment that may be needed to create the range of fiber-based options users deserve. Not only deserve -- will soon be demanding, he warned. "Hulu traffic already consumes 30% of Internet bandwidth in the U.S. every night. And Hulu is coming to Britain. Very soon, on-demand video services will be drawing on bandwidth capacity that copper and ADSL simply cannot cope with," he said.2013-05-30T15:03:00ZO2 Call Center Layoff Details LeakedBritish telco O2 plans deep worker cuts driven by a "contact deflection" plan to force customers to use online help, says newspaper.http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/outsourcing/o2-call-center-layoff-details-leaked/240155810?cid=SBX_iwk_related_mostpopular_Attacks/breaches_security<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternatives/240155490"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/997/siri_alternatives_composite_image_01_tn.jpg" alt="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" title="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">7 Slick Siri Alternatives</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow) </div>More details have emerged about British mobile company <a href="http://www.o2.co.uk/">O2</a>'s plans to cut call center staff, and it's not pretty. The company's announcement last week of a 10-year, £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) outsourcing contract with <a href="http://www.capita.co.uk/">Capita</a> that threatened job losses <a href="http://www.informationweek.co.uk/global-cio/outsourcing/o2s-outsourcing-plans-spark-anger/240155636">sparked widespread anger</a>, especially in high-unemployment regions of the country where possibly affected call centers are located. Now British newspaper The Daily Telegraph says it has seen "documents" that provide <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/10087909/Capita-plans-to-close-O2-call-centres-and-cut-thousands-of- jobs.html">hard layoff numbers</a>. The newspaper says O2 has reduced the number of employees it promised to offer Capita positions from 3,700 to only 1,700, 2,000 less than originally forecast. Now it says that a minimum of 500 will be offered other roles inside the new employer. [ Do you need to rethink employee monitoring? Read <a href="hhttp://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/monitoring-vs-spying-are-employers-going/240151017?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Monitoring Vs. Spying: Are Employers Going Too Far?</a> ] Three O2 call centers – in Bury and Greater Manchester in England, and Glasgow in Scotland – will be shut down completely, with cuts to staff in two other O2 facilities. Plus, in a move certain to ignite an offshoring row, a small Cape Town call center that takes calls from British customers will be expanded. Finally, a Capita call center in India offering support via Web chat "will also be expanded as part of plans to discourage customer calls, known as 'contact deflection'," according to the Telegraph. The article goes on to say that contact deflection will be a big contributor to the overall plan, called "Project Vincent," to save O2 almost a billion pounds over the life of the Capita contract. A union spokeswoman told the paper, "If this is true, we're shocked by the duplicity of O2 and Capita… This information will be a bombshell to O2 employees. Instead of building careers at a positive brand, they will be thrown away while their work leaves U.K. shores. What a shocking, secretive business plan." On its own site Thursday, the <a href="http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/more-speculation-about-o2-job-security.html">union said it is writing to O2 and Capita</a> to seek "clarity." When it first announced the layoffs, O2 said it was driven to close call centers because of customers' increased use of smartphones and preference for online help.