Stories by Tom Jowitt

SMBs risk data loss by neglecting backups

Small to medium businesses (SMBs) are risking the loss of valuable corporate data because they are failing to take enough steps to secure their data and are not backing it up.

Dell reveals new servers and storage for SMBs

Dell rounded out a busy year so far with the launch of new servers and storage equipment tailored towards the needs of the small to medium sized businesses.

Study predicts inhouse data centre capacity decline

New research has found that companies are expecting their in-house data centre capacity to decrease going forward, despite most organisations moving their client server-based applications into the cloud.

Start-up set to take on Skype over video

A US company has upgraded its cross-platform videoconferencing service and at the same time launched a new plan designed to broaden its appeal to the small to medium business (SMB) segment.

Google banks on data centre with no chillers

Google has taken a radical new approach when it comes to cooling data centres. The search giant has opened a unique data centre in Belgium that has no backup chillers installed, but instead relies totally upon free air cooling to keep its servers cool.

Yahoo invents 'chicken coop' data centre design

Yahoo is touting a data centre design which it says is based on 'chicken coops'. But data centre operator e-shelter, while welcoming the concept, has queried whether the design would be suitable for the corporate sector.

Complex firewalls cost money says new report

Most organisations are getting a poor return on their investments in firewalls due to the complex issues in managing them. This is despite the fact that enterprises are facing on average 300 network attacks every year.

DiskShred offers mobile disk destruction service

One company is offering to resolve the perennial problem of how companies can securely dispose of old hard drives containing valuable commercial data, after it setup a mobile disk shredding service that will come to a customer's site and destroy old hard disks.

Vizioncore updates virtual backup & recovery tool

Vizioncore has announced a major new version of its flagship backup package for virtual machines that includes support for VMware's new cloud operating system, vSphere 4.

Parallels to offer XP compatibility for Win 7

Parallels is developing a tool that will allow users to run Windows XP applications on machines running Windows 7.

Seagate drives hit by firmware glitch

A UK data recovery specialist has warned that users are still at risk from a firmware update from Seagate, which could leave their organisations with "bricked" hard disk drives (HDDs).

Businesses wary of Windows 7 after Vista flop

A new survey has found that the majority of IT staff don't plan to upgrade to Windows 7 in the next year, after Vista's failure to win hearts and minds. But even more concerning for Microsoft is that half are now considering an operating system from its rivals.

Greenpeace slams HP, Dell and Lenovo for toxic substances

PC makers Dell, HP and Lenovo have been criticised in the latest edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, after the environmental campaigner said they are breaking their promises to phase-out toxic chemicals in 2009.

Compuware puts mainframe tools in one pot

Compuware has unified two of its performance management tools so that customers can monitor the performance of applications running on distributed servers right through to mainframe computers, from one place.

IT managers face 'application anarchy' that eats bandwidth

Almost 40 percent of enterprise network bandwidth is being consumed by recreational or non-business critical applications, according to a recent survey of IT managers.