News

Google takes YouTube to the enterprise

2 September 2008

Google has extended the functionality of Google Apps with a new video collaboration service for the enterprise.

Google Video for Business is available at no extra cost to Google Apps Premier Edition customers.

The offering allows users to share videos between individual, groups or the entire organisation, according to Dave Armstrong, European head of marketing at Google Enterprise.

"A log of organisations wanted this next level of communication, but costs were prohibitive," he said. "But the technology is now ready to offer the service with the security and sharing requirements of business."

Google Video for Business could be used to disseminate training videos, corporate communications from senior management or product demos, and allows users to comment on videos.  Ovum analyst David Mitchell described the service as highly useable and secure.  WIt is built on the Google Apps platform, with the whole Google infrastructure beneath it, which has been pretty reliable so far," he said.  "It is an interesting next stpe for Google Apps, bringing another type of material people can collaborate and share.  It will incrementally find its way into the enterprise."

Each Google Apps Premier Edition domain gets 3GB of video storage per user account, and existing Premier Edition customers can enable the service immediately from the Google Apps control panel.

 

BSF schools to spend £1.29 bn on IT by 2012

28 August 08

IT spending in schools is forecast to hit £1.29bn per year by 2012 as the government's £45bn schools revamp gathers pace, raising the profile of IT in education.

Schools will spend £1.05bn on IT in 2008-09, but the £4.5bn earmarked for IT under Building Schools for the Future (BSF) will help drive annual growth of 5.3 per cent over three years, according to research by Kable.

The part IT plays in the schools transformation programme is actually greater than its share of the budget, according to Steve Moss, strategic director for IT at Partnerships for Schools (PfS), the public body responsible for BSF.

"Because 10 per cent of BSF is IT money and the programme has been running for a few years now, a lot more money is being spent on IT in education than before it started," he said.

"IT punches above its weight in terms of its transformational impact, and it is the innovation IT environments and equipment that are almost as likely as the buildings to have that impact."

BSF provides IT funding equivalent to £1,675 per pupil place in each new or remodelled school to cover network infrastructure and equipment, hardware, software and managed services.

PfS expects 35 schools to open between 2008 and 2009, followed by 115 in 2009-2010, 165 in 2010-2011 and 200 for each subsequent year of the programme, which could run for up to 20 years.

"Schools develop an output specificiation and the ICT partner proposes solutions that match the school's strategy for change," said Anne Casey, education IT adviser at PfS.

"They have a shared learning platform that supports the Every Child Matters agenda and are looking at how adaptive and enabling technologies can support all learners.

The BSF process means that there is a wide variety of solutions matched to need.  Each local authority will have certain unique and distinct features and the ICT will reflect this."

 

Siemens completes SAP rollout

28 August 08

Engineering conglomerate Siemens has completed an eight-year global IT harmonisation project that will see 60,000 users served under a single integrated IT system.

Codenamed Spiridon, the project was an attempt to cut IT costs by up to 60 per cent by streamlining more than 250 SAP R/3 systems in more than 60 countries.

"Across 12 operating groups this global implementation endeavour achieved 90 per cent standardisation at the regional level and resulted in up to 50 per cent reduction in SAP-related IT costs," the company said in a statement.

The project was partly overseen by recently appointed UK chief information officer Alan Feeley, who was global shared services director at the firm with responsibility for Spiridon across North-West Europe.  Feeley initiated IT and process standardisation activities across Siemens worldwide.

"All Siemens' UK businesses are on SAP R/3 under the Spiridon project," said a spokeswoman.

The local Siemens operating companies share not only an IT platform, but standardised business processes, master data and organisational elements."  The system is operated through eight applications management datacentres worldwide, which use ITIL management processes to provide a uniform service.

Spiridon comprises 12 SAP modules including sales and distribution, financial management and customer service, and interfaces with more than 40 systems to deliver consistent data coverage for business processes.

The project started with the design and building of a global template on which regional templates could be based before localised systems were rolled out.  Though said to be completed, Siemens said total IT standardisation will be realised across all regional companies after an upgrade to SAP's ECC 6.0 veresion, schedule to complete in 2010.

Objectives included minimising the SAP implementation costs by reusing regional and global components and applying a proven rollout methodology.

 

PwC reorganises organisation network

22 August 08

PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to reorganise its international network of member firms, forming three geographical clusters let by the Senior Partner of the largest national firm in each cluster.  The East Cluster will be led by Silas Yang, Senior Partner of PwC China, the Central Cluster by Ian Powell, Senior Partner of PwC UK and the West Cluster by Dennis Nally, Senior Partner of PwC US.

PwC said one of the key benefits of the new cluster structure is that it will enable PwC to increase further its focus on emerging markets, which it believes will be the engine of much of its future growth - allowinig greater flexibility and speed when making both investment and acquisition decisions.

As part of its new organisational structure, PwC will change the leadership model of the PwC global Network; extend the standards each PwC member firm is obliged to follow; and institute a number of key organisational processes.

The PwC Network will be led by a new Network Leadership Team comprising Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr., PwC's Global CEO, plus the Senior Partners of PwC's UK, US and China firms.  Hans Wagener, Senior Partner of PwC Germany will also join the leadership team.

The standards that all PwC member firms are obliged to follow are also being revised to increase the responsibility of PwC member firms to meet globally consistent standards across a wide range of areas, reflecting the increasingly global nature of the services offered to PwC's clients.

"PwC has for many years led the profession in developing a highly regionalised and integrated global network of firms, focused on deliverying high quailty services to an increasingly complex marketplace," said Samuel DiPiazza Jr, Global CEO, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited.

"These new proposal build on 10 years of highly successful client service and revenue growth and reflect the connected global world in which our clients operate.  Agility and speed are cruicial to the future success of our clients and PwC itself.  These adjustments to our organisational structure will improve the integrated service wew offer and align our strategy more closely around the world."

Paul Brasher, Chairman of PwC's Global Board added: "Since its formation the PwC Network has secured its position as the market leader with double-digit revenue growth year on year.  These changes, which are the result of a long and thoughtful consultation with our clients, people and partners, are the optimum way of offering our clients the best possible service, our people the best career opportunities and preserving our important partnership culture."

Before they can be implemented, the proposed changes must be approved by a vote of the member first of the PwC Network.  They will be discussed with PwC's member firms and their partners around the world during August and Septembere and upon approval will be implemented beginning 1 October.  Voting by member firms is expected to be completed by late September.

 

Logica reports solid first-half

18 August 08

Britain's Logica plc reported a rise in both revenue and operating profits due to solid performances across all its markets but restructuring and amortisation costs lowered its profit.

Revenue for the six months ending June 30 gained 6 percent to 1.8 billion pounds ($3.4 billion). The company returned to growth in the UK in the first half of 2008, with revenue up 6%. Growth in the UK Public Sector (which continued to account for over half of UK revenue), was 7%. Logica's major continental European geographies also performed well, with growth above the market in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics.

Net income fell to just 5 million pounds ($9 million) from 150 million pounds in the same period a year earlier, due to the cost of a 110-million-pound ($206 million) restructuring plan the company announced in April - 46 million pounds ($86 million) of which it paid in the first-half of the year. The other cost was a 43-million-pound ($80 million) amortization of goodwill charges from the company's recent acquisitions.

Adjusted operating profit was up 16 percent to 118 million pounds ($221 million), slightly beating expectations. An 18 million pounds increase in adjusted operating profit in the UK more than offset a net decrease of 2 million pounds in other geographies. Adjusted operating margin was 6.7%, with UK improvements the largest contributor to a year on year increase.

Logica currently expects 2008 revenue growth to be closer to 4% than its previous guidance of around 3%. Margin guidance remains unchanged at around the level of the 2007 underlying margin of 7.6%.

 

Deloitte in the UK reports strong performance for the year

18 August 08

The strong performance from Deloitte underlines its position as the second biggest of the UK's Big Four firms in terms of revenue, behind PricewaterhouseCoopers but ahead of KPMG and Ernst & Young.

Gross revenues for the year ended 31 May, 2008 grew by 11.5% to reach £2,010m, just exceeding the £2 billion target set two years earlier. Net revenue grew by 11.8% with "good growth" in each division.

Profit before tax grew by 16.0% to £654m and total profit available for distribution to partners and retired partners increased by 19.4% to £683m.

The average profit per partner increased to £970,000 (2007: £877,000). John Connolly, Deloitte Global Chairman and UK Firm Senior Partner and Chief Executive, saw his salary increase to £5,696,000, from £4,656,000 in the previous year. The share of profit allocated to the partners who were members of the Executive Group, which includes the Senior Partner, totalled £44m (2007: £34m).

Deloitte has appointed 60 new partners in the year and 1,400 new graduates will join the firm in the next few months.

Consulting net revenue grew by 13.2%, with particularly strong performance in enterprise applications, the business systems planning and implementation unit. The highest growth was achieved in the financial services and the technology, media and telecommunications practices.
The Audit practice achieved net revenue growth of 11.1% with particularly strong performances from the security, risk and regulatory teams, combined with a continuing flow of new clients in the core audit division. New clients this year included Barratt Development, Corus, Gallaher and Taylor Wimpey. Deloitte is now the co-leader in share of FTSE 250 audits.

Net revenue growth for the Tax practice was 10.6% fuelled by the opportunities offered by a tax environment that remains uncertain with continuing legislative change leading to a demand for compliance, reporting and accounting services. The accelerated interest in the UK from emerging markets has led to a healthy demand for the services of the international tax team.

The Corporate Finance division achieved net revenue growth of 13.1% notwithstanding a significantly reduced rate of growth in the last quarter. Whilst boom time M&A work has tailed off, growth was buoyed by debt, forensic and restructuring work.
 

Eurostar pins hopes on IT revamp

August 08

Jean-Pierre Gilbert's big challenge as the chief information officer (CIO) at Eurostar is to use technology to maintain market leadership as the firm prepares to face fierce competition.

From January 2010, EU regulations will allow any train operator to use the tracks on which Eurostar runs the first high-speed service connecting the UK and mainland Europe bringing unique IT challenges.

After revamping its entire IT portfolio for the move of the service from London Waterloo to St Pancras, Gilbert has embarked on the second stage of the transformation project, which is centred on improving customer-focused systems.

“Now that we have a new infrastructure in place, our main goal is understanding what our customer wants and to prepare to fend off competition,” said Gilbert.

“We will look at decreasing costs in IT and use the savings to introduce more services to our customers.”

A business review and a strategic plan are also being devised to establish priorities and decide which IT projects will be implemented first. The train operator expects to have a clear picture of its technology priorities for 2009 by the end of this year.

Even though the company’s IT expertise may provide a competitive advantage, Gilbert is approaching plans for the future with fair degree of caution.

“It will take time for competitors to catch up with us in terms of technology needed to run services like ours, but we must not underestimate our peers,” he said.

“That is why thorough planning is essential, so that we are ready when other companies come up with comparable structures; we will be ready to hit the ground running from day one.”

Improving ticketing services with the introduction of mobile and print-at-home facilities, as well as making Eurostar’s web site more intuitive, are part of the current IT project list.

Ongoing improvements are also being made to the company’s, distribution and reservation systems. The latter is provided through Eurostar’s parent company, French rail operator SNCF, where Gilbert spent most of his career in several senior IT posts.

“Managing the IT of a business like Eurostar is a never-ending process, you can work round the clock and the job is never finished. There are always improvements to be made as customer requirements are constantly changing,” said Gilbert.

Apart from dealing with moving goalposts, another challenge faced by Gilbert during his tenure is dealing with the unexpected. “One thing I have come to realise in over 35 years in the IT industry is that you may know what you have to do, but you can never tell what will happen before you do it,” he said.

 

Web 2.0 needs time to grow

14 August 08

Adoption of the latest technologies such as green IT, cloud computing and Web 2.0 applications including social computing platforms for business transformation, are two years from having a major impact on business.

Two separate sets of research this week revealed that adoption of the latest technologies has some way to go.

Analyst Gartner highlighted 27 technologies in its 2008 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies while McKinsey’s Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise examined the adoption of tools such as wikis, blogs, social networks and mash-ups.

According to McKinsey’s research, businesses are finding that effective use of Web 2.0 tools such as social networking, wikis and blogs can be short lived, and some are abandoning them altogether.

Despite an increase in take-up since 2007, 22 per cent of executives at global companies are dissatisfied with Web 2.0 tools and only 21 per cent are happy, the survey found.

And while just a quarter of respondents said nothing was holding back their Web 2.0 initiatives, 28 per cent cited a lack of understanding about the potential financial benefits as a key barrier, and 37 per cent said their company culture or leadership team did not encourage Web 2.0 use.

Other problems included a lack of sufficient incentives and skills to implement technologies, and the view that potential legal and HR risks would outweigh the benefits.

Web 2.0 use for internal purposes has increased by one per cent between 2007 and 2008, but interfacing with customers dropped four per cent and connecting with partners and suppliers fell eight per cent ­ see The growth of Web 2.0, below.

Knowledge management was the most common use for Web 2.0 for internal purposes, cited by 83 per cent of respondents, and 78 per cent said the tools supported collaboration across the company.

When used to interface with customers, 73 per cent said customer service was improved and 71 per cent said Web 2.0 helped them acquire new customers in existing markets.

Gartner’s annual Hype Cycle research said that following the phenomenal success of consumer-oriented social networking sites, companies are examing the role that enterprise sites using networking elements will play. Key areas for development will include the notion of social platforms for developers to build on basic social networking applications.

“Although Web 2.0 is entering the trough of disillusionment, it will emerge within two years to have transformational impact, as companies steadily gain more experience and success with both the technologies and the cultural implications,” said Jackie Fenn, Gartner vice president.

“Later, in between two and five years, cloud computing and service-oriented architecture will deliver transformation by driving deep changes in the role and capabilities of IT.”

Cloud computing is drawing interest, but, said Gartner: “Many types of technology providers are aligning themselves with this trend, with the result that confusion and hype will continue for at least another year before distinct submarkets and market leaders emerge.”

Gartner believes that the next two to five years will also see video telepresence and microblogging begin to affect the day-to-day corporate world. Currently the high cost of entry is stopping mass adoption of video telepresence.

“Other technologies that have begun to be interesting to business include 3D printing, surface computing, augmented reality and mobile robots,” said Fenn.
“We expect early adopters to start applying these in novel ways and driving new classes of applications.”

How analysts view the growth of Web 2.0

Although Gartner’s Hype Cycle places Web 2.0 as now entering the trough of disillusionment, it says that it will emerge within two years as having a transformational impact as companies gain more experience using the technology.

What McKinsey’s research says about how Web 2.0 tools are being used both internally and externally:

Internally Web 2.0 tools are being used to managed knowledge, foster collaboration across the company, enhance company culture and for training.

Externally they are used for improving customer service, finding new customers in existing markets, engaging customers in product development, and letting customers interact with each other.

For managing partners and suppliers, Web 2.0 is being used to achieve better integration, tapping networks of experts, lowering purchasing costs and getting supplier participation.

 

Mixed reactions to open source plan for schools

14 August 08

Education procurement agency Becta has invited 21 suppliers to tender for £80m of proprietary and open source software supply for schools, as it seeks to replace its software licensing framework agreements.

But there are doubts as to whether the official sanctioning of open source in education will make a difference to the most technologically advanced schools.

Certain schools are already working outside the Becta framework, and even those involved with Building Schools for the Future (BSF) could continue to use software such as Moodle, according to Ian Lynch, a member of the Open Schools Alliance.

“Those already using open source are probably the most technologically self-sufficient. They’re not going to pay to give up their autonomy,” he said.

“Why would I go to a firm to buy what I can get off the web free, without the associated overhead of dealing with a large organisation? Possibly because there is support, quality assurance and training provided by the Becta framework supplier, for example.

“In practice, even the implementation of BSF varies, so there is probably scope to use open source outside the BSF offer.”

OGCbuying solutions, the purchasing agency of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), said the open source solutions will include operating systems, network software, security and maintenance and enterprise resource software. Completion of the procurement is scheduled for October and OGC expects to sign framework agreements with up to 10 suppliers.

“If schools want open source at the moment, they must go outside the framework,” said Mark Taylor, chief executive of Sirius, rumoured to be among the bidders.

“It’s good to see official recognition of the market reality, which is that there’s a lot of open source software already in the sector and more demand for it. This clarifies that it is OK to procure it. It’s a welcome step, as one of the things holding back open source in schools is the lack of clarity around where to start.”

 

Co-op group banks on new IT

14 August 08

Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) is set to start a complete revamp of its hardware and software infrastructure as part of a group-wide business transformation project.

Spending for the programme, which will last for about three to four years, will exceed £150m.

The project will see new vendor partnerships providing services for a complete replacement of legacy kit.  "At CFS we have a very old set of core banking technologies that were developed in the 1960s," said Gerry Pennell, executive director for CFS' business transformation and shared services division.

“Those systems are becoming very expensive to support, slow to get new products out to market on and cost us quite a lot of money when it comes to meeting regulatory requirements,” Pennell told Computing in an exclusive interview.

“We want to offer an integrated, complete full service and to do that we need a more modern core platform,” he said.

CFS’ banking system interfaces with internal and external software such as payment networks, general ledgers, client-facing websites and BACS systems. So the move to a new central platform is expected to be tough.

“The way the business will manage the migration will be one of the most challenging aspects of this programme. But risks will be mitigated by very detailed planning, testing and having fallbacks at every stage,” said Pennell.

“We will be very careful before doing a cutover to the new technology to be certain that we do not lose any data in the process," he said.

"The key is to integrate the software into the environment and then migrate the business onto it," said Pennell. “And if anything goes wrong, we have an existing system that is stable to back us up.”

Apart from the upgrade of its banking platform, the IT transformation at CFS will also cover systems underpinning the group’s disaster recovery and datacentre, as the current set-up is “not robust enough to support the business’ future needs”, said Pennell.

A detailed set of requirements has been issued to prospective suppliers, thought to include IBM and BT, which are now working on initial proposals for how the transformation can be developed.

“This work will review all areas of infrastructure, but the exact scope, potential solutions and possible people implications have not been fully defined or explored and nothing is, as yet, a done deal,” said Pennell.

 

Arthur D. Little strengthens Middle East consultancy with Affinitiv integration

11 August 08

ADL welcomes the expertise and regional experience of Affinitiv's Consultants to the consultancy's Middle East practice.

Arthur D. Little said that its Middle East office is integrating with the staff of Affinitiv, a strategic telecommunications and CRM consultancy with a strong presence in the region.  Affinitiv's founcer and CEO, Zoran Vasiljev, and his leadership team and employees will join Arthur D. Little's Middle East practice, with Vasiljev serving as a company Director.

Affinitiv celebrated its fourth year in operation in 2008, and has experienced greater-than-expected year-on-year growth since its inception. Bringing with them particular expertise in telecommunications and technology consultancy in emerging markets, the integration with Arthur D. Little will allow Affinitiv's consultants to bring new resources to their current client work and develop plans for continued growth within the region.

Michael Tram, Global CEO of Arthur D. Little, said: "Along with a shared focus on strategy, innovation and technology, Affinitiv's consultants share with ADL the capabilities, expertise and drive to cement our position in the growing Middle East marketplace."

Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Director of Arthur D. Little Middle East, added: "I am delighted to begin work with Zoran and his team to respond to the rapidly growing demand from clients for experienced consultancy services in the region. Access to a global network combined with local expertise is what has made ADL Middle East the company's fastest-growing business unit. We look forward to working with the Affinitiv team to continue this success and support ADL through this period of significant growth." Speaking in Dubai, Vasiljev concluded: "Joining forces with ADL Middle East will provide a whole host of new opportunities for our clients and consultants. ADL is a major global player in strategic management consultancy, and with a growing brand in the Middle East market, this integration is well positioned to promise continued growth."

It is anticipated that all Affinitiv staff will have joined Arthur D. Little Middle East by September 1, 2008.

 

CSC reports record Q1 revenue and operating income

9 August 08

Solid gains recorded in all three lines of business with balanced performance across all verticals and geographies.

CSC reported revenues of $4.44 billion for the fiscal 2009 first quarter, up 15.6% year over year and earnings per share for the quarter of 70 cents (diluted), an increase of 29.5% year over year.

Net income for the first quarter was $120.6 million, or 79 cents per share (diluted), compared to last year's first quarter earnings per share of 61 cents. Last year's earnings per share included special items of approximately 19 cents related to restructuring and an executive retirement agreement. All revenues, costs and operating income reflect the impact of acquisitions, currency and the fact that fiscal 2009 is a 53-week year with the extra week included in the first quarter.

CSC's 15.6% (approximately 12% in constant currency) quarterly revenue gain was led by Business Solutions and Services (BS&S), which grew in excess of 39% (31% in constant currency) and recorded $1.18 billion in revenues compared to $848.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Global Outsourcing Services (GOS) posted a solid first quarter revenue total of $1.79 billion, up 12.3% (approximately 8% in constant currency) compared with $1.59 billion last year.

For the first quarter, North American Public Sector (NPS) revenue increased 5.1% to $1.49 billion from $1.42 billion for last year's first quarter. Revenue derived from DoD-related business was $1.02 billion, up 8.1% from last year's $943.4 million. Civil agency activities generated revenue of $426.0 million, down from $440.5 million last year. NPS other segment revenue was $46.4 million, compared to $36.1 million in last year's first quarter. The pipeline of qualified projects continues to grow and now stands at $43 billion, of which nearly $20 billion is scheduled for award during the remainder of fiscal 2009.

The company's revenue by industry group also demonstrated solid growth performance. Five of the six vertical industries reported double-digit revenue gains compared with the year-ago quarter, including Financial Services; Manufacturing; Technology and Consumer; Healthcare; and Chemical, Energy and Natural Resources. Four of the industry groups delivered quarterly revenue of over $500 million.

From a geographic perspective, all four primary regions served by CSC demonstrated double-digit revenue growth. The Americas reported revenue of $2.72 billion, up 14.1%; EMEA delivered revenue of $1.28 billion, up 16.8%; Australia's revenue was $273 million, up 23.1%; and Asia reported revenue of $164 million, up 27.8%.

Announced new business awards and orders for the first quarter were approximately $5.4 billion. These awards and orders were comprised of $2.9 billion from GOS, $1.2 billion from NPS and $1.2 billion for BS&S.

For the second quarter, ending Oct. 3, 2008, CSC anticipates revenue to be in the range of $4.25 billion to $4.35 billion, an increase of 6% to 8% year over year. Earnings per share for the second quarter are expected to be in the range of 70 cents to 80 cents.

For the full fiscal year 2009, CSC continues to expect revenue growth, excluding any fiscal year 2009 acquisitions, to be in the 6% to 8% range and earnings per share to be in the $4.20 to $4.40 range, an increase of 9% to 15% year over year. Free cash flow for fiscal year 2009 is expected to be approximately 80% to 90% of net income.

 

Management Consultancies Association appoints new CEO

August 08

Alan Leaman has started work as the new CEO of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), the trade association for UK-based consulting firms.  MCA members are estimated to represent 70% of the UK consulting industry based on fee income, employ around 30,000 consultants and work with most of the FTSE 100 and all government departments.

Leaman has been the director of corporate affairs at the Association of British Insurers (ABI) for the past seven years, where he established it in the national media as Britain's leading trade association.  While at the ABI, Leaman also drove a communications campaign that won additional funding from government for flood defences, and was a frequent commentator and spokesperson on both radio and TV.

Leaman will focus on developing the MCA's voice on key issues through the media, and directly to government and private sector trade associations; and communicating the value that consultants deliver to the public and private sectors and strengthening the Association's position on professionalism and integrity.

Leaman commented: "I am delighted to be joining the MCA at an interesting and challenging time for British business and the consulting industry.  Over the last 50 years, management consulting has been at the forefront of business change - advising clients in good times and in bad.

"Whilst business may already be reacting to tougher times in the UK economy by tightening their belts, consultants continue to provide valuable advice on areas such as cost reduction and restructuring.

During a downturn, those businesses which execute consultants' advice will ultimately create more value and more jobs."

Prior to his role at the ABI, Leaman was senior associate director at Hill and Knowlton (UK), holding responsibility for public affairs programmes, stakeholder relations, research and policy communications on behalf of high-profile clients.   From 1988-93 Leaman was head of office for the Rt Hon Paddy Ashdown MP, responsibile for media relations, policy advice and acting as chief speech writer.  He ws awarded an OBE in 1999 for public and political services.

 

Virtualisation hems in costs

7 August 08

Online fashion business Asos has opted for server virtualisation to keep down the cost of a major IT upgrade to improve site functionality and availability.

Asos has purchased 10 HP blade servers and VMware software, but said that without virtualisation the total bill would have been "substantially more".  The hardwarde spend on standalone servers alone would have been an estimated £600,000, according to Asos enterprise architect Simon Hamblin.

Other drivers for the decision included the company’s plans to introduce new features to its web site ­ which will include a catwalk for men’s clothes and 360-degree viewing of shoes and bags ­ and the need for a highly scalable and flexible infrastructure.

“Scalability is absolutely crucial for us,” said Hamblin. “If we double or treble our development team, we need a suitable solution, and the virtualised servers are easier to manage, upgrade and support when compared with standalone machines,” he said.

The company uses the Scrum project management development methodology for many of its projects, including regular upgrades to its electronic point-of-sale systems.

Asos said it faced difficulties related to completing projects on time under the previous setup. But the company hopes that the new virtualised structure will help ensure efficiency and eliminate risks.

“With the servers, the development team can get on with delivering new features to the web without risking any interruption to the live e-commerce site,” said Hamblin.

Service levels and cost-per-unit performance were boosted through the rollout of a new warehouse management system, which contributed to a “substantial” reduction in average costs, said Asos.

The clothes retailer also stuck with HP for storage, buying an HP EVA 6100 storage array and storage area network fabric.

On its most recent financial results, it emerged that Asos decided not to pay a dividend to its shareholders but chose to invest in improving warehouse and back-office systems.

 

All systems go for Beijing Olympics

7 August 08

As the Beijing Olympic Games kick off tomorrow, the 4,000 strong IT team will be working to communicate competition results to the rest of the world within 0.3 seconds.

Atos Origin, worldwide IT partner of the Olympic Games, has announced that the team is now fully operational, following four years of design, building and testing in Beijing.

All systems across the 75 Olympic venues will be monitored 24/7 from the Technology Operations Centre.

Results will be communicated to participants, spectators, the global media, 21,600 visiting journalists and four billion TV viewers through the information diffusion system, one of the two main systems at the heart of the infrastructure.

Atos Origin has introduced an intelligent processing system, as the security teams expect 9.9 million filtered events for every day of the Olympics ­ 10 times the number logged at the Torino Olympic Winter Games in 2006.

The system focuses on security architecture, risk management and security operations, enabling effective response to any potential threat from outside the network or within.

The systems are already starting to run at operational capacity, said Patrick Adiba, executive vice president for the Olympics at Atos Origin:

"We are now on the final countdown. We are fully operational and in fact the games management systems, which among other things handle accreditation and staffing schedules, are already working at peak usage.

"For the Olympic Games, we are faced with an absolute unmovable deadline that gives us only one chance to get it right."

The first members of our team arrived in November 2004 and since then we have been working with the Beijing Organising Committee, the International Organising Committee and our technology partners to design, build, test and test again the IT infrastructure that will relay the relay the results in a timely, accurate, and secure way to the billions of viewers around the world."

 

Grid awaits secrets of universe

7 August 08

The world's largest IT grid is due to start work in earnest tomorrow, as the $15bn (£7.6bn) Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the Cern nuclear research facility near Geneva begins hurling protons and capturing, storing and sharing data on conditions at the birth of the universe.

To provide the computing power needed to sort and store this information, Cern's IT department has created the LHC Computing Grid) LCG, which comprises 200,0000 processors in 11 academic institutions aroudn the world connected by optical fibre links.

Approximately 30,000 processors are located at the Cern centre itself, along with at least five million gigabytes of disk storage and 16 million gigabytes of tape storage capacity.

The Cern IT department is focused on handling the startup of the LHC by "improving the reliability and scalability of the LCG critical grid services".  It said the main challenge is to "focus on LCG-relevant work and provide better services with fewer resources.

Once fully operational, the LCG will handle between 12 and 14 petabytes of data each year.  In an average day, the LHC is expected to produce more than 40,000GB of usable information.

“We get data from the accelerator, which is stored to tape here at Cern and simultaneously a second copy is distributed to the 11 tier-one academic institutions around the world at 1.6Gbit/s. This is done via specially installed 10Gbit/s links,” said LCG project leader Dr Ian Bird.

“The tier-one institutions process it, join the dots and provide a representation of the raw data to tier-two academic institutions over the academic internet. This is the information most scientists accessing the data will use.”

Wolfgang von Rüden, head of the Physics Data Processing Group in Cern’s IT division, said highly reliable and stable IT services are needed throughout the grid.

Part of the final preparations was to co-ordinate large-scale “dress rehearsals” known as the Common Computing Readiness Challenge. In his report to staff earlier in the year, von Rüden said: “Problems are inevitable, we must focus on finding solutions as rapidly and smoothly as possible.”

The key to IT success at Cern is to support LHC “data taking”, which involves:

- distributed data management and analysis support;
- experiment integrations and “gridification” support;
- dashboards, monitoring, logging and reporting.

The IT department also provided all the support and hardware involved in the construction of the LHC. This involved handling 180,000 calls a year, 5,200 audio conferences and managing 18,000 mailboxes and 7,500 web sites.

Another huge job for the department is maintaining security ­ a challenge when the network is so dispersed. But there were no major outages due to computer security incidents in 2007 and the team reduced the number of compromised computers from 162 to 95.

Once the LHC is operational, the IT team will concentrate mainly on storing, processing and exporting the data, making sure information is stored as efficiently as possible and providing support to the various different sites.

 

Capgemini grows H1 profit by 37.5%

4 August 08

While revenues increased by 5.3% at constant rates and perimeter compared to the first half of 2007, profit for the period grew by 37.5%, reaching €231 million.

At constant rates and perimieter, revenue growth for the first half of 2008 came in at 5.3% versus the first half of 2007 (and 7.0% for the second quarter alone) which was in line with the company's forecast.

Total bookings recorded during the first six months of the year reached €4,327 million, up by 3.9% compared to the first half of 2007 (at constant rates), and the "book-to-bill" ratio for Consulting, Technology and Local Professaional Services was 115% on avereage.

Operating margin (7.6%) came in above that achieved for the whole of 2007 (7.4%) and up by 1.5 points compared to the first half of 2007 (6.1%).

Operating profit (€288 million) was up by €59 million (+25.8%) compared to the first half of 2007.

Taking into account net finance expense of €15 million and income tax expense of €42 million, profit for the period came in at  €231 million, up by 37.5% compared to the first half of 2007.  Earnings per share increased from €1.16 to €1.61.

Capgemini is now anticipating like-for-like revenue growth of between 4% and 5% for full-year 2008, and reaffirms its target operating margin of 8.5% in 2008 (versus 7.4% in 2007).

Capgemini attributed its North American revenue increase of 4.5% to "very good performance" by its Local Professional Services and the dynamism" of its Outsourcing lines.

With the exception of the United Kingdom (which had to compensate for the programmed drop in revenues generated with the British tax authorities, HMRC), all regions posted growth.  Benelux, driven by a strong performance from Outsourcing, registered growth of 10.8%; France (which has again become the company's main region) advance by 7.0%, and the rest of Europe was up by 10.5%, thanks in particular to an excellent performance by the Nordic countries and Southern Europe.  Similarly, all regions made profitability gains: operating margin in France returned to a respectable level (5.0%), and the United Kingdom and Ireland advanced by 1.5 points, while Benelux continued to deliver the company's best performance (14.4%) ahead of the rest of Europe (10.6%).

Local Professional Services (Sogeti) achieved the strongest growth for this half (+11.4%) and maintained a particularly sustained pace in North America, Benelux, Germand and the Nordic countries.

Consulting Services recorded growth of 7.6%, reaping the benefits of the introduction of a dedicated unit in North America, and strong performances in the United Kingdom, Benelux and countries in Southern Europe.  This business ahiceved the best profitability for this half year (13.3%) and made the biggest advance compared to the first half of 2007 (+5.2 points).

Technology Services grew more modestly by 4.1% but actual growth was more than two points higher when the volume of business improved by nearly 1.5 points to 9.2%, and progress was made in nearly all regions.

Outsourcing grew by 3.2%.  The lower contribution from the HMRC contract was more than offset for by new bookings recorded across the company's regions, including the United Kingdom.  Operating margin improved slowly but steadily, reaching 4.7% of revenues.

 

The Structure Group reports record annual growth

30 July 2008

In the last year the company has seen growth in turnover of more than 40 per cent across all service areas, the successful launch and expansion of its financial services practice, and increased headcount.

The Structure Group, the management consultancy specialising in the energy, financial services and utility sectors, has completed another successful financial year on June 30th 2008, despite a difficult economic environment.  In the last year the company has seen growth in turnover of more than 40 per cent across all service areas, the successful launch and expansion of its financial services practice, and increased headcount.  It also improved its position in the Financial Times/Great Places to Work Awards from 13th to 2nd - behind only Google.

These developments have been supported by further investment in the infrastructure of the company - with a major focus on initiatives including in-house training, knowledge management, career development, and recruiting processes.  The external benchmark given by the Great Places to Work award reflects the market-leading position that Structure has attained in this regard.

Mohamed Mansour, managing director at The Structure Group, says: "This year we have delivered more change, with a more expansive reach and greater business value for our clients than ever before.  We have enabled clients in the energy sector to address a number of cutting edge business challenges, including the impact of smart metering on existing operating models, the opportunity presented by market volatility and prices to optimise and trade physical assets, and the need to leverage new technologies across trading and risk management operations.

The new financial services practice has also enjoyed a successful first year, building a strong presence across the Retail Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance and Asset Management sectors, working to help clients deliver complex regulartory change programmes, define target operating models, transform their finance capabilities and develop their future state payments platforms."

Looking forward to FY2009, The Structure Group believes that the challenging climate will lead to clients placing a greater focus on value and expertise.  This aligns closely to its business model of offering a domain-centric consulting service that focuses on partnership with clients.

 

Capgemini buys Getronics PinkRoccade IT services unit

29 July 2008

Through the acquisition of Getronics PinkRoccade Business Application Services BV, a leading player in the Dutch IT services market for the public sector, Capgemini extends its outsourcing activities in the Netherlands.

Capgemini said it will pay EUR255 million for Business Application Services BV (BAS BV), a unit of Royal KPN NV's (KKPNY) Getronics PinkRoccade (GPR) subsidiary, enhancing its position in the Dutch public sector.

BAS BV had a turnover of close to EUR300 million in 2007 and employs 2,200 professionals working on more than 600 projects.  Specialising in applications services, BAS BV is one of the leading players in the Dutch public sector IT services market, with 40% of its revenues in this segment.

Among its main clients, BAS BV counts some major names in the Dutch public sector such as planning organisations large State administrations and social security bodies as well as major players in the insurance and banking world.

"The strong synergies which exist between BAS BV and Capgemini open up some great windows on a longstanding market which is also one of the Group's most profitable," underlines Paul Hermelin, CEO of Capgemini.

With a twenty-year presence in the Netherlands, Capgemini and its subsidiary Sogeti have nearly 7,800 employees and their revenues in the Benelux region reach EUR1.2 billion in 2007.

The transaction should be finalised by the end of the year, subject to the approval of the European Commission and to the consultation of the relevant Workers Council.

Dutch telecoms group KPN bought Getronics for EUR1.2 billion, including debt, in October.  It has said it would keep Getronics' businesses in the Netherlands, Britain, Belgium and North America and sell non-core units.

 

Deloitte achieves 6th year of double-digit revenue growth

28 July 2008

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (Deloitte) said that fiscal year 2008 aggregate member firm revenue increased by 18.6% in US dollars, and 13% in local currencies, to US$27.4 billion.  This marks Deloitte's sixth consecutive year of US dollar doublt-digit revenue growth from continuing operations.  Every service line and every geographic region delivered strong growth.  Deloitte aggregate revenues were US$23.1 billion in FY2007.

In the past year, Deloitte grew by approximately 15,000 people with considerable growth in the emerging markets.  Deloitte's firms in Brazil, Russia, India, and China have experienced 90 percent growth in the number of professionals in the past three years.  Globally Deloitte now has approximately 165,000 people operating in approximately 140 countries.  The firm announced plans last year to grow its work force to 200,000 by the end of 2011.

Financial Advisory services grew at 26.6% to US$2.4 billion, with every Asia Pacific member firm delivering double-digit revenue growth.  Europe, the Middle East, and Africa increased revenues by 22.6% to US$11.3 billion, with CIS growing at 40.8%.  The Americas improved revenues by 12.9% to US$13.0 billion, with Latin America and the Caribbean leading the region, with 22.4% revenue growth.

 

Atos Origin posts solid H1 results, raises 2008 revenue goal

30 July 2008

Atos Origin raised its 2008 revenue growth goal after it reported higher first-half operating profit and revenue.

Operating profit rose to 123.1 million euros ($193.9 million) from 110.6 million euros in the year-ago period, as revenue rose to 2.745 billion euros from 2.651 billion euros.

After organic growth of 5.9% in H2 2007, H1 2008 organic growth on total revenue reached 6.4%, helped by the performance of both Systems Integration and Managed Operations.

Systems Integration continued to improve quarter after quarter and recorded a solid 7.5% organic growth in H1 2008.  This performance was led by the United Kingdom (11%), Germany (23%) and rest of EMEA (16%).

Managed operations achieved a 7.4% organic growth benefiting from a robust 9.8% organic growth for Atos Worldline compared to 5% organic growth full year 2007, and from 6.6% for the rest of the Managed Operations activities.  This performance was led by France (8%), the United Kingdom (19%), Asia Pacific (46%) and rest of EMEA (13%).  The Netherlands and Germany had stable revenue in the first half compared to the same period last year.

Consulting continued to show a recover trend.  The organic decrease was 1.6% in H1 2008 and was flat in Q2 2008 after a 3.3% drop in Q1 2008, -6.3% in Q4 2007 and -16.2% in Q3 2007.  Consulting in France reached 13% organic growth in H1 2008, while the United Kingdom and The Netherlands were still decreasing.

In H1 2008 the operating margin reached EUR 123 million at 4.5 per cent of revenue compared to EUR 111 million in H1 2007 (EUR 107 million at constant exchange rates in H1 2007.

The improvement mainly came from the United Kingdom achieving 6.2% operating margin compared to 2.2% in H1 2007 and from Atos Worldine increasing its operating margin by 2 points.

The total order entry reached EUR 2.694 billion during the first half of 2008, a 14% growth compared to the first half 2007 (17% at constant exchange rates) with 11% in Q1 and 17% growth in Q2.

 

BAE Systems to acquire Detica Group for £531 million

30 July 2008

Europe's biggest defence contractor, said it is buying British data security company Detica Group PLC in a deal worth £531 million (US$1.05billion).

Detica's board has accepted the 440 pence (US$8.76) per share offer.  The deal comes just over a week after the companies confirmed that they had entered talks to dscuss a potential offer.

Detica specialises in data protection work for government bodies and the private sector.  Its software and data handling capability is used by Britain's defence ministry, London police and customs officials on anti-terrorism projects.  Anti-fraud products are used by several British government departments and banks including HSBC and HBOS PLC.

Work for government in Britain and America accounts for just over 60% of Detica's revenues.  Under the ownership of BAE, it will expand further into the US.

Detica's value was enhanced earlier this year when it was include din the Trusted Borders consortium, led by Raytheon Systems, the US defence group, which won the contract for the next phase of the UK government's e-borders programme.

Detica Chief Executive Tom Black, who owns 4.79% of the company, is one of seven directors to collect a cash windfall from the takeover.  His shares are valued at £24.5 million under the deal.  He will stay on at Detica when it is folded into BAE.  It is not yet clear how many of the other directors will remain.

The deal is subject to approval by Detica shareholders, but the transaction is expected to be completed later this year.