Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Thursday 2 September 2010 at 17:27:00 Royal Bank of Scotland has announced it will cut 3,500 jobs, 1,000 of which are in IT support The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to axe 3,500 UK jobs from its technical and back-office division. The roles comprise 1,000 jobs in IT support and 2,500 in support services to its other businesses. Around 1,500 of the job cuts are related to RBS’s sale of 318 bank branches to Spanish bank Santander, as ordered by the European Commission. The other job losses will be caused by...Read More »

Nicola Brittain, Computing, Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 16:23:00 BSG will provide network services and software support The UK’s nursing and midwifery regulator the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has signed a five-year contract with computer software company Business Systems Group (BSG) to provide network services. The contract is worth up to £5.2m and will see the company managing and hosting NMC’s core IT infrastructure across two datacentres. The company will manage and host the NMC’s servers and networks, disaster recovery, systems monitoring, technical design and ongoing consultation. Read More »

Dave Bailey, Computing, Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 15:35:00 Analyst says companies cannot delay upgrading PCs much longer Analyst Gartner says that firms cannot delay replacing their PCs for much longer, since the average age of the business PC is at an all-time high. Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said businesses that delay replacing their PCs risk alienating employees, increasing support costs and facing higher migration costs when they move to Windows 7. Ageing PCs inevitably lead to higher breakdown rates, and Atwal said: "The bottom line is that the majority of businesses will start to...Read More »

Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Friday 27 August 2010 at 16:47:00 As the deadline for moving to Windows 7 approaches, businesses will have to dig deep to keep their operating systems up-to-date Demand for qualified Windows 7 migration IT staff is expected to far exceed supply in 2011 and 2012, as companies move from Windows XP and Windows 2000 to Windows 7. This excess in demand will lead to personnel charging higher service rates, according to analyst firm Gartner. Microsoft will stop supporting the XP and 2000 operating systems (OS) in 2013. Other vendors will stop supporting them...Read More »

Rachel Fielding, Computing, Thursday 26 August 2010 at 10:08:00 Positions form part of company's strategy to boost uptake of cloud-based services in the UK Hitachi Data Systems has created two new high-level technology roles as it looks to boost uptake of its cloud-based services in the UK. The senior-level reorganisation has resulted in the creation of the roles of chief technology director and chief technology officer, as well as the appointment of a new global solutions services director for the UK, as part of what the company describes as a “three-pronged customer focus.” Former solutions consultant...Read More »

Rachel Fielding, Computing, Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 15:28:00 Experts argue that employers will recoup their money within six months Widespread reluctance to follow traditional academic routes into IT careers could signal a warming to IT apprenticeships as an alternative way to get a foot in the door, the National Apprenticeship Service believes. With both employer and student dissatisfaction with IT education at an all-time high, vocational routes into IT jobs are gaining momentum, as business looks for a more cost-effective way to plug its IT gaps, experts are warning. This...Read More »

Rachel Fielding, Computing, Wednesday 25 August 2010 at 15:14:00 Socitm chief argues that it is essential for local government to cut costs IT self-service is a great concept but even the best systems struggle to solve more than one eighth of IT problems, a report from Gartner warns. The analyst says that in theory as many as 40 per cent of all service desk queries could be solved through IT self-service but the reality is that most companies resolve only five per cent of IT helpdesk queries in this...Read More »

Stuart Sumner, Computing, Tuesday 24 August 2010 at 16:40:00 Former Intel chip designer takes lead technology role at rival company AMD Chip manufacturer AMD has announced the appointment of former Intel engineer Don Newell as its chief technology officer (CTO) for its server microprocessors. This position has been vacant since the launch of the "Istanbul" six-core Opteron chip last year. Prior to taking the position at AMD, Newell was a senior principal engineer at Intel, responsible for datacentre networking and system-on-a-chip projects. He holds more than...Read More »

Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Tuesday 24 August 2010 at 15:29:00 Number of students taking ICT drops by a further 17 per cent Results of GCSEs published today have shown that the number of students taking ICT has fallen by a further 17 per cent. Last year 73,519 students took a GCSE in ICT and this year the figure fell to 61,022. Symantec has echoed the Royal Society’s concerns about the standard of ICT education in schools, and said the current syllabus “too boring”. "Students today...Read More »

Stuart Sumner, Computing, Tuesday 24 August 2010 at 12:51:00 Crash affected online, telephone banking and ATMs on Saturday A system crash at Barclays bank on Saturday left customers unable to access their bank accounts, withdraw funds or check their balances. The outage affected online and telephone banking, and ATM services. A frustrated customer who did not wish to be named said: "I tried five different ATMs and couldn't get any cash, or even check my balance." A spokesperson for the bank said: "The issue lasted for around 20 minutes before systems were...Read More »