Government Technology Magazine 10.06

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk | VOLUME 10.6

PUBLIC SERVICES NETWORK

VIRTUALISATION

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

CLOUD COMPUTING Is a lack of understanding preventing take-up?

RECRUITMENT – the challenges for government caused by the IT skills gap

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE www.governmenttechnology.co.uk | VOLUME 10.6

PUBLIC SERVICES NETWORK

VIRTUALISATION

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

CLOUD COMPUTING Is a lack of understanding preventing take-up?

RECRUITMENT – the challenges for government caused by the IT skills gap

Comment

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

DEAR READER A recent report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has shown that the demand for IT workers is growing faster than almost all other parts of the economy since the end of the recession. However there is a continuing critical shortage of new skilled IT candidates. One reason for this, the REC says, could be the failure to entice young people into an IT career.

The BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, has recognised this problem and has been campaigning for computer science to be included on the curriculum for a number of years. The Institute has already developed a model curriculum that describes what computing principles, techniques and concepts children should master by age 16 in order to get IT skills embedded from an early age.

On page 20, the REC highlights the challenges that the IT skills gap is causing for the government - a sector that relies on IT to deliver the efficiencies it has been targeted with.

A round-up of upcoming IT events has also been included within the issue, giving you plenty to do in the coming months.

Angela Pisanu

P ONLINE P IN PRINT P MOBILE P FACE TO FACE

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk PUBLISHED BY PUBLIC SECTOR INFORMATION LIMITED

226 High Rd, Loughton, Essex IG10 1ET. Tel: 020 8532 0055 Fax: 020 8532 0066 Web: www.psi-media.co.uk EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Danny Wright ASSISTANT EDITOR Angela Pisanu PRODUCTION EDITOR Karl O’Sullivan PRODUCTION DESIGN Jacqueline Grist PRODUCTION CONTROLLER Reiss Malone ADVERTISEMENT SALES Justine James, Kylie Glover, Triston Seymour PUBLISHER John O’Leary SALES ADMINISTRATION Jackie Carnochan, Martine Carnochan ADMINISTRATION Victoria Leftwich, Alicia Oates GROUP PUBLISHER Barry Doyle REPRODUCTION & PRINT Argent Media

© 2011 Public Sector Information Limited. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any other means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the editorial content the publisher cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. ISSN 1362 - 2541

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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CONTENTS 07 NEWS 13 CGA 2011 REVIEW A look at this year’s winning projects from the Good Communication Awards that have demonstrated communication excellence

17 VIRTUALISATION Virtualisation can help those IT departments expected to deliver significant savings without impacting on front line services

20 RECRUITMENT Andrew Tomlinson, REC’s policy advisor for the IT sector highlights the challenges for government caused by the IT skills gap

25 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE Stuart Mackintosh explains why the government is considering the transition from predominantly proprietary software to Open Source alternatives

29 CLOUD COMPUTING

the depth and breadth of IT

Is a lack of understanding preventing government departments from adopting cloud computing?

This year’s FAST Annual Conference will look at the growing dependence on IT and the need for more cooperation between business and IT departments

31 PUBLIC SERVICES NETWORK We answer some key questions about the Public Services Network (PSN)

33 EVENTS Green IT Expo provides a forum for public sector organisations to learn how sustainable computing will help them to cut costs, increase efficiency and reduce CO2 DatacenterDynamics will discuss the transformation of the data centre on 30 November to 1 December IP EXPO will allow visitors to explore the entire technology stack, from virtualisation to security

Contents

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Online Information Exhibition and Conference explores the opportunities and challenges of being an information professional today itSMF UK Conference offers a unique opportunity to share service management experience and discuss the latest tools and techniques that support the ITSM industry xSolutions is the event for professionals who have responsibility for the dayto-day running of audio and video communication technologies A review of IA11, the government’s flagship Information Assurance event

Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo will feature hundreds of sessions spanning

Government Technology

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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News

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

WAN INFRASTRUCTURE

Voice and data deal to save Lambeth NEWS IN BRIEF DoH ‘Information Revolution’ Council £2m over the next six years put back until next year Lambeth council has entered into a contract worth £20m for converged voice and data network services.

The six year contract, called Project Signal, will be delivered by Virgin Media Business and its partner in the deal, Vodafone.

The new WAN infrastructure will involve implementing data lines that connect 180 council buildings together, as well as the internet links that connect with the outside world. Vodafone will provide the telephone service, for both mobile and fixed phones.

The solution will also include a public access Wi-Fi network in key council buildings.

Lambeth said that it hopes the project will save at least £2m over the next six years through reductions in infrastructure, costs and call charges. The spokesman said the main aim

of the deal is to provide better integrated, lower cost, voice and data services for council staff.

He added there is scope within the deal to extend the services offered to partner and mutual organisations across the borough as part of Lambeth’s ‘co-operative council’ ambitions.

Ed Garcez, chief information officer and divisional director of ICT services at Lambeth council said: “Project Signal has already achieved a number of quick wins for users within the council, and more importantly for citizens across the borough.

Working in partnership with Virgin Media Business and Vodafone will deliver many additional advantages to Lambeth, and potentially more widely across London.”

The deal has the option to extended by up to four years.

IT ENTREPRENEURS

McCluggage takes a trip to Bristol on Open Source Business The Cabinet Office is stepping up its efforts to move more public sector users to Open Source, symbolised by a visit by senior government ICT leaders to a project in the South West.

A team headed by Bill McCluggage, director of ICT Strategy and Policy and the Government’s Deputy CIO visited Bristol City Council to assess progress with the city’s Open Source strategy. The meeting, set up by the Cabinet Office and which involved other central and local government officials, is believed to be the first arranged specifically to assist in speeding up the adoption of Open Source.

Bristol had plans to become an open source hub as part of a Digital City Campaign to use IT to spur economic activity in the area.

However, the project met some challenges after the councillor sponsoring the project was voted out of office and the company commissioned to do the groundwork on the ICT strategy shelved plans to establish an office in the city after it lost confidence in the council’s commitment to the plans.

Representatives attended the meeting from the Cabinet Office, Bristol City Council, GCHQ, and suppliers LinuxIT, Delib and Nameless, to try and find a way forward out of the problem.

“We are firmly of the view that the future is Open,” said Peter Dawes-Huish, chairman and chief executive of LinuxIT. “This project will see Bristol City Council in the forefront of Open Source adoption and the benefits that will flow from it for staff, customers and in reducing the council’s overall technology budget.”

The government’s strategy for an information revolution in health and social care will not appear until next year. Giles Wilmore, head of the policy team and director of quality framework in the Department of Health, revealed: “We’ve still got some fundamental decisions to make about the direction of travel. We can expect the daffodills to be in bloom when it is published.”

The strategy follows a consultation on the Information Revolution document. Publication was originally set for June but then slipped to autumn. Wilmore listed six areas in which policies remain to be set including patient control of records and ways to encourage take-up with GPs.

Have your say on open data The Cabinet Office is reminding the public that its online consultation on open data, entitled ‘How should Public Services become even more open?’ will be ending on 27 October. The consultation calls for anyone with an interest in open data to inform future policy on data transparency and government information, amongst other things. Please feed in your views through at www.data.gov.uk/opendataconsultation

OUTSOURCING

Gloucester city council outsources revenue and benefits services

Gloucester city council has signed a contract to outsource the delivery of its revenues, benefits and welfare rights services which it predicts will cut its costs by about £200,000 a year. The seven-year agreement between the council and Civica will see the partnership maintain and improve service delivery to local citizens while achieving financial savings. No staff have been made redundant as a result of the contract. Instead a team of 67 people have transferred to Civica under Tupe conditions.

The deal is also the first step in the creation of a centre of excellence in the city for local government revenues and benefits administration that will provide outsourced business process services to other local authorities around the UK.

TO READ MORE PLEASE VISIT... www.governmenttechnology.co.uk/n/013

Socitm latest speakers confirmed Socitm’s annual conference, taking place on 29 November to 1 December, has confirmed keynote speakers including Mike Bracken, the government’s executive director of digital, Liam Maxwell, advisor to the Cabinet Office Efficiency & Reform Group and Martin Reeves, chief executive of Coventry City Council.

Liam Maxwell has described the Labour government’s IT programme as ‘profligate, rudderless, underperforming and ultimately unfair’. The former lead member for policy and performance for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM), a pioneer community for the Big Society, has suggested that 40 per cent could be cut from the government IT budget. While at RBWM, Maxwell was a leading advocate of the release of open data.

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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News

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SECURITY

Simulated cyber attacks for 2012 Olympic computers The computers running London’s 2012 Olympic Games are to be subject to simulated cyber attacks.

The BBC have reported that a series of worstcase scenarios are to be played out in March and May next year, including a massive denial of service attack on the official website, and a virus getting onto organisers’ computers.

A control centre, where operations will be co-ordinated from, has been opened in Canary Wharf. Its permanent staff of 180 workers are already doing dry runs of sporting events, as they try to identify and fix problems.

But one of the biggest fears around the Olympics is a deliberate attack by cyber criminals. During the period of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China was subject to about 12 million online attacks per day.

Security testing on the system will be carried out in a specially isolated version of the Olympic network, using an in-house team of pretend hackers.

The computers running London’s 2012 Olympic Games are to be subject to simulated cyber attacks.

The BBC have reported that a series of worst-case scenarios are to be played out in March and May next year, including a massive denial of service attack on the official website, and a virus getting onto organisers’ computers. A control centre, where operations will be co-ordinated from, has been opened in Canary Wharf. Its permanent staff of 180 workers are already doing dry runs of sporting events, as they try to identify and fix problems.

But one of the biggest fears around the Olympics is a deliberate attack by cyber criminals. During the period of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China was subject to about 12 million online attacks per day. Security testing on the system will be carried out in a specially isolated version of the Olympic network, using an in-house team of pretend hackers.

TO READ MORE... www.governmenttechnology.co.uk/n/014 SURVEILLANCE

CCTV code of practice restricted to public sector A Joint Committee on Human Rights report has found that the crackdown on the spread of CCTV cameras has not been properly explained. It also noted that the impact of this crackdown will be restricted as it will only apply to the public sector.

The report was published as the Protection of Freedoms Bill returns to the Commons for its remaining stages. The bill will set up a surveillance code of practice, covering the deployment of both CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and the protection of data.

The Human Rights Committee welcomed the decision to toughen up scrutiny of cameras, part of the coalition government’s determination to roll back Labour’s ‘surveillance state’.

But it concluded: “Whether the code will help strike a proportionate balance between the rights of

individuals to respect for their private lives and the wider interest in the prevention and detection of crime is difficult to assess without seeing a final draft of its proposed content.

“We note that by limiting the application of the code to the public sector, its impact may be restricted.” Ministers announced earlier this year that adoption of the code will be a “matter of self regulation’’ for the likes of shopping centre and car park owners.

TO READ MORE PLEASE VISIT...

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk/n/015

INTERNET

Whitehall down to its last 444 websites

Efforts to cut the number of websites run by central government are beginning to pay off, according to the Cabinet Office. The first edition of a promised annual report of website closures reveals that on 1 July 2011 Whitehall maintained 444 websites, down from 1,526 at the peak under the last government.

According to the report the government is getting a grip on the use of the .gov.uk domain.

The only new sites that have been approved are those made necessary by a machinery of government change (education. gov.uk), a change of name (for Children’s Commissioner) and

a temporary development site (the Cabinet Office’s alpha. gov.uk). However the report reveals the existence of a new domain, independent.gov. uk, to signal independence of particular inquiries, commissions, committees and public bodies.

Users include the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Of the 444 open websites, departments have committed to closing 243. Of the rest 134 have been given approval to be retained ‘pending decisions on a single domain for government.’

The report estimates that total cost of central government’s web estate at £150m a year.

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

OLYMPIC GAMES

OLYMPIC DATA LAUNCHED ON INTERESTMAP

Landmark Information Group announces that information on all Olympic sites and venues through-out the country has now been added to InterestMap Points of Interest data set As London prepares for the 2012 Olympics and excitement grows around Britain, it is not surprising that there have been requests by the Pan-Government Agreement (PGA) for data to be included on all Olympic sites and venues through-out the country. Landmark Information Group is pleased to announce that this functionality has now been added to InterestMap Points of Interest data set.

All permanent Olympic sites and their associated features such as transport hubs have been identified on the maps. New ventures such as the Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, Velopark and supporting infrastructure such as Olympic Village and rail and tube stations are included in the data. Also, existing sporting venues that will host events for the 2012 Olympics are identified using the new Qualifier field such as football stadiums and sailing venues.

FUNCTIONALITY Richmond Crowhurst, senior public sector manager at Landmark Information Group, said: “As the whole of Great Britain gets ready to celebrate and enjoy the 2012 Olympics we are delighted to be able to provide up to date information on the event through InterestMap. Those working in the public sector are already using this additional functionality on security, accessibility, facility and resource planning for the games. It will also enable the general public to see where their favourite events are taking place and the closest public transport option for each venue.”

InterestMap is a ready to use product derived from the PointX Points of Interest database jointly developed by Landmark and Ordnance Survey. Landmark, in partnership with Dotted Eyes, have been supplying the product to PGA members since April 2009 and PGA member feedback has driven considerable enhancements.

The database covers Great Britain (excluding the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Eire and the Channel Islands) and provides an unparalleled depth of detail – including phone numbers and web links wherever possible.

APPLICATIONS The InterestMap product consists of a vector layer of points indexed on record name for use with the ‘Find’ command in a GIS. It highlights location and function information (classified into over 600 individual classifications from more than 150 different suppliers), and

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

includes a postal address for all postally addressable points. InterestMap can be utilised for a number of different applications which prove beneficial to the public sector such as location planning and land-use evaluation – keeping costs at a minimum and ultimately allocating resources effectively and efficiently.

FEATURES Over four million features are categorised at three levels; Level 1, made up of nine groups, Level 2 consisting of 52 categories and Level 3, which includes more than 300 classes. These levels make it possible to use the data in conjunction with other products

base data is always undergoing enhancements.

There are a number of on-going improvements such as the inclusion of Local Data Company (LDC) data. This is primarily a business dataset sourced by either walking streets in towns or by contacting chain businesses to find all their locations. By using a wide variety of verifiable sources of data the Points of Interest database on which InterestMap is founded can truly provide best of breed information.

“One of the most important aspects of InterestMap is that it is constantly evolving, as new Points of Interest or major events become apparent it is possible to update the data, ensuring that information will always

“As the whole of Great Britain gets ready to celebrate and enjoy the 2012 Olympics we are delighted to be able to provide up to date information on the event through InterestMap. Those working in the public sector are already using this additional functionality on security, accessibility, facility and resource planning for the games” – Richmond Crowhurst, Landmark Information Group. such as MasterMap Topography layer.

InterestMap is constantly evolving and improving as a product, in the last 12 months alone the database has been enhanced to include routing information by linking each feature to Ordnance Survey’s Integrated Transport Network (ITN) and adding a Qualifier field.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION Qualifiers give additional supporting information about a feature. So for Bus Stops the Qualifier provided is text information on routes and timetables, for Cash Machines it is Public Accessibility and for Places of Worship this is the denomination of the Religion. Currently InterestMap reports approximately 49,000 Places of Worship across Great Britain and the aim is to assign each record to one of 29 Religion Qualifier denominations. Government departments are already using the data for diversity planning and accessibility for worship.

Whilst major changes are driven by users, the

be timely and relevant to our customers.

The London Olympics, and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games that follow in 2014, are examples where the currency of the data is paramount and it is important that InterestMap reflects this,” said Richmond.

LANDMARK Landmark is the UK’s leading provider of digital mapping and land data intelligence. With one of Europe’s largest database of land, property and environmental information, Landmark delivers comprehensive data and reports electronically to professionals in government, environment, property and conveyancing. L FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information and the services offered by Landmark Information Group visit www.landmark.co.uk e-mail mailbox@landmark. co.uk or call 01392 441700

DON’T LET YOUR PRIVATE DATA GO PUBLIC. The BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution is the only mobile data solution that’s approved by CESG to handle RESTRICTED data*.

It not only gives central government employees access to emails, but also to the core back-office systems at the point of need – ultimately allowing them to provide more help to more members of the public. All in the knowledge that any data they view or send is secure*.

To find out more about how BlackBerry® could achieve efficiencies and improve services to the public, email publicsector@rim.com or visit blackberry.co.uk/govtsecurity

The only mobile data solution approved by CESG *Approved versions only, when configured and used in accordance with CESG Security Procedures. Security assured to IL3. Contact enquiries@cesg.gsi.gov.uk or visit cesg.gov.uk for further information. ©2011 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research in Motion® and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

EVENT REVIEW

GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION EXCELLENCE

Strong and innovative communication between the public sector, its citizens and its workforce was recognised at the 2011 Good Communication Awards at Emirates Stadium, London The Good Communication Awards took place on 14 July at the Emirates Stadium and recognised the public sector’s efforts towards effective and diverse communication with its citizens and workforce.

Former newspaper editor Eve Pollard presented the awards after a champagne drinks reception and four course dinner.

The Government Communicator of the Year Award, which recognises an individual who has demonstrated outstanding communications skills, went to Tina Chawner from HMRC. Dealing with controversial and sensitive campaigns, she driven the dep[artment to a more open culture.

MULTIPLE SUCCESS FOR DERBYSHIRE Derbyshire County Council celebrated triple success, scooping the Local Authority Of The Year Award, sponsored by 2e2, Council Publication Of The Year, sponsored by Big Green Book, and Contact Centre of the Year Award, sponsored by Genesys.

The council’s Call Derbyshire service won the Contact Centre of the Year Award.

It deals with over 300 council services and is now the first point of contact for all new social care referrals. In 2010 the centre responded to 563,000 phone calls and 36,000 e-mails, texts and contact forms. Despite periods of severe weather which led to an increase in call volume, the centre maintained business continuity thanks to staff working longer hours. Call Derbyshire, an established 24/7 service, is playing a major role in how it provides residents with a central point of contact and integrated service for the vulnerable.

DOUBLE SUCCESS FOR DWP The Department for Work and Pensions’ Personal Data Campaign scooped the Internal Communications Award and the Strategic Communications Campaign, sponsored by Callcredit Information Group.

Following high profile data losses across government, DWP developed a successful character driven campaign to build staff awareness and essentially change their data security behaviours.

Campaign branded messages featured

across a mix of channels including a takeover of the DWP intranet homepage.

DWP created a visually engaging ‘I’ graphic character, personifying individual responsibility with its ‘I will do my bit’ tagline. A series of 90-second videos illustrated real-life scenarios, with volunteers selected through a ‘Have you got the i-factor?’ competition.

Staff inclusion ensured the films remained credible, and significantly reduced costs.

The campaign exceeded all expectations reporting 96 per cent staff awareness of information security.

Alice Gledhill, internal comms manager for Campaigns and Products at DWP

Good Communication Awards

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

The Contact Centre Technology Award, sponsored by Clement Clarke Communications, went to South Staffordshire Council.

The dilemma for South Staffordshire Council was how to improve the service by using technology whilst not increasing cost. The decision was made to develop an in-house customer queuing and handling system. Whilst the council does not employ any developers, existing internal, home grown skills were utilised. A technical assistant whose main responsibilities are hardware and systems support used his self developed skills to write a software system to support customer queuing and handling. The assistant went through the entire software development lifecycle. Not only did the system improve upon the previous software that was running but it also saved the council a considerable amount of money in licensing and maintenance costs.

“To win the first award was a great achievement but when our work was awarded the Strategic Communications award too it was an amazing feeling” - Alice Gledhill, Internal Comms Manager, DWP Internal Communications, said: “To win the first award was a great achievement but when our work was awarded the Strategic Communications award too it was an amazing feeling. To have our hard work and successful campaign recognised by your peers is a fantastic feeling.”

TELECOMS AWARDS The Mobile Technology Award, sponsored

by Box Technologies, was taken home by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council for its SARAH Mobile working initiative.

SARAH was developed in an inclusive manner led by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in partnership with CACI and in consultation with home carers, unions and IT staff to design a product that would allow the removal of paper timesheets. The homecare management software solution is deployed on smartphones allowing carers to download their specific service user schedules whilst also providing them with contextual information and prompts for each visit. As changes occur, these can be relayed immediately to the carer and vice versa.

Surrey County Council was awarded the Contact Centre Training Award. In 2010 Surrey County Council developed its ‘Delivering the Customer Promise’ training, which is in the process of being rolled out across the organisation. So far 209 have attended the course and delegates have rated the course highly. The training is interactive and focuses on the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills of customer service – managing customer expectations, how to design and deliver customer-driven rather than governance-driven processes, and how to empower and encourage teams to deliver excellent customer service.

Raising awareness on how slicker, bureaucracy free processes can enhance customer service has resulted in savings of over £500,000 across the organisation. There has been a significant reduction in ‘chaser’ calls and cost per contact has reduced to 79p to 49p.

The Telecoms Innovation Award, sponsored

by MLL Telecom, went to Kent County Council for its use of audio conferencing.

Innovation and digital technology plays a key role in the way the Kent County E

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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Good Communication Awards

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Lincolnshire County Council explains how they won the Award for Government Website of the year Lincolnshire County Council won the Award for Government Website of the year at this year’s Good Communications Awards in London.

How did they do it? We spoke to Gemma Fairless from Lincolnshire County Council to find out: How did the Council respond to user demand? “The changes we made to the site were in direct response to user demand. The constant changes in user needs mean adaptation is not only desirable but is necessary in order to keep up with customer requirements.

“Many of the main changes to the site were in direct response to feedback from residents and staff consultations.”

How did the Council maintain a quality website? “We use Siteimprove’s SiteCheck service because it automatically locates spelling errors and broken links, presenting these back to us with clarity within their easy to use interface. It also enables us to check that our compliance is up to quality standards. The consistency and accuracy of our content has improved a great deal thanks to the help of SiteCheck.

“SiteCheck has been instrumental in helping us to ensure we comply to web standards, therefore improving usability greatly.”

Fairless concludes: “Winning the Award for

Government Website of the Year is a great honour for us. We have worked hard on the new site but tools such as Siteimprove have made our job much easier and ensure the customer gets the best service possible.”

The web is the most efficient channel from an internal cost perspective, there are many figures quoted; on average a web transaction will cost an organisation £0.32, a phone call around £2.90 and face-to-face contact £7.40. By making your website more accessible and user friendly you can avoid users reverting to the more expensive

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

channels of phone and face-to-face.

Siteimprove tools highlight errors and problems on the website that may prevent a user from getting the information needed.

The problems may be broken links, or it may be navigation that is not usable for disabled visitors. This consequently makes the website inaccessible to these users. By ensuring an efficient high quality website you are saving money and increasing user satisfaction.

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EVENT REVIEW

E Council delivers services and in supporting its people to work more flexibly. In order to reduce travel-related costs and lower its carbon emissions, it recently implemented BT MeetMe, a hosted audio conferencing service that only requires a fixed or mobile phone for access, enabling virtual meetings with up to 40 participants. No prior booking is required and conferences can be established in the time it takes to dial the local access number.

IT AND E-GOVERNMENT AWARDS The IT Partnership Award, sponsored

by EfficientIP, was taken home by the Department for Education for its Employee Authentication Service (EAS).

The EAS was created to provide a sectorwide solution to enable employees to securely access multiple children’s services and educational information sharing systems using a single token. It provides a strong authentication solution for central and local government employees to enable them to securely access multiple government applications and systems by using a single token. EAS was designed as a shared service to be used across government wherever secure authentication was needed with the capacity to handle two million concurrent users. Currently three major government led services are engaged in trialling and rolling out the service with a combined user base of between 75,000-100,000 users in addition to a number of smaller scale services already using the service. The project was developed as a strategic partnership between DfE, DWP and DCLG, in collaboration with local authorities and other partners.

Wycombe District Council scooped the Website Accessibility Award, sponsored by DSPG. The council’s website was designed to maximise the opportunity for members of the public to self-serve their differing needs through an accessible channel. Wycombe

Good Communication Awards

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

The Employee Authentication Service was created to access multiple children’s services and information sharing systems using a single token. and site developers VLI have been working with the Digital Accessibility Centre to ensure the website works for everyone. The Digital Accessibility Centre accreditation means that the site has been tested by people with a wide range of disabilities and found to be accessible.

The Government Website Of The Year, sponsored by Eduserv, was taken home

by Lincolnshire County Council. New web features include tabs and mega drop downs to show the main elements of the site without having to navigate away from the homepage, resulting in improved usability.

Other features include enhanced map based tools make finding services in Lincolnshire easier than ever before. This project has

also made it possible for the council to share its CMS with district councils.

The IT Project Innovation Award, sponsored

by Info Exchange, was won by the London Borough of Redbridge. YouChoose is an online budget simulator developed by Redbridge that encourages members of the public to consider where council budget cuts should fall, where efficiencies might be made and where income might be generated. The tool helps councils to engage their citizens in decisions about how they spend their revenue budgets, and some of the tough choices they face. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www. gcawards.co.uk

Smarter ways to deliver public service solutions We are experts in consumer information and insight, and we believe that the old distinctions between the public and private sectors are no longer relevant. Consumers operate in one economy and it’s incumbent on public and private sector clients to make the most of all available consumer information and insight. That’s why we work in strong partnership with all of our public sector clients to deliver you a comprehensive return on investment.

We have assembled a specialist public sector solutions team to listen to your concerns, and to help you manage your data effectively.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact our specialist team on 0113 3884300 to find out more. public@callcreditgroup.com www.callcredit.co.uk/ publicsectorsolutions

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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NEW!

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

The Comprehensive Spending Review impacted the public sector and the government’s £16bn annual technology budget. But practical solutions are available for those IT departments expected to deliver significant savings without impacting front line services Today, public sector IT departments – from local councils to the largest government departments – have the difficult task of delivering improved efficiency without affecting their service performance levels.

VMware works with many public sector organisations to help them achieve such efficiencies and drive business transformation in the sector. We have therefore been working closely with polling and research consultancy ComRes to monitor the developments prior, during and since the publication of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) – speaking to senior finance officers in the public sector to discover their opinions, approaches and strategies to meet their CSR cost-cutting targets.

PUBLIC SECTOR CUTS We’ve so far run two sets of research – an initial phase before the CSR was announced in October 2010, and a second phase six months on. In both phases of our research, we questioned 250 CFOs in the sector and found that many organisations are both fearful of the cuts and have yet to instigate action to start trimming back on their budgets.

Given the gravity of the situation and with less than three years to reach their target savings, it was surprising to find that as of March, public sector finance bosses had achieved less than nine per cent of the desired IT savings four months on from the CSR, leaving a total of £2.6 billion of savings still to be found, while nearly a quarter said they still did not have their final plans in place.

While I have seen a number of public sector organisations making fantastic strides in innovating and cutting IT costs, there has been a substantial delay by many others for implementing a cohesive savings strategy. With this in mind, it is even more worrying that three in five finance officers state that the cuts are already impacting the delivery of front-line services.

THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY We believe huge savings can be made within public sector IT without having to impact on front line services. Moreover, immediate savings could be made by simply deploying the right technology platform.

This will not only help to make the

savings, but will ultimately improve services at the same time.

A striking element of our study has been the belief in the strategic importance and value of IT that is spreading beyond technology departments. The vast majority (73 per cent) of senior finance officers believe that IT is integral to delivering cost-cutting projects across their organisation. Despite public sector IT often being associated with wellpublicised IT failures, senior finance bosses also share the view that technology delivers organisational value and can transform the way in which organisations can operate.

However, the benefits which can be found through IT, depend not only on the technology, but also on how it is implemented.

Here I have outlined three ways in which public sector organisations can drive transformation through every level.

SERVER VIRTUALISATION One of the simplest ways – and one singled out by the government as a recommended strategy for cost savings – is through straightforward server virtualisation.

This is where IT infrastructure, primarily servers and data centres, are optimised so that applications require 90 per cent fewer physical machines to run. This method can cut capital

investment in new hardware and a new data centre facility, it turned to virtualising its server infrastructure, and saved an estimated £600,000 – a quarter of this on power alone. The council is also currently working towards the goal of reducing its IT budget by 25 per cent by 2014, and virtualisation is playing a crucial part in helping deliver this.

Some of the most advanced public sector organisations are virtualisation to revolutionise server estates by creating local cloud computing facilities, which can be accessed and rented out across local institutions effectively as an outsourced service. Not only does this help drive revenues for the cloud host organisation, but it also helps reduce IT costs for the organisations consuming the cloud shared service.

Written by Andy Tait, head of public sector strategy, VMware

TURNING CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY

Virtualisation

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

APPLICATIONS IN THE CLOUD As infrastructure is ultimately there to support applications, it is important for companies to consider the way they approach applications, as this can affect both operational expenditure and capital expenditure. With many organisations looking to the cloud era as an opportunity to modernise many existing applications and enhance their capabilities to provide more value to the business, they need to be able to develop and roll out applications much more quickly.

Therefore, public sector organisations have to start considering cloud services which will enable their applications to be ready for a hybrid cloud world, and to take advantage of the new applications that are

Finance bosses had achieved less than nine per cent of the desired IT savings four months on from the CSR, [with] £2.6 billion of savings still to be found, while nearly a quarter said they still did not have their final plans in place. and operational expenditure through lower hardware, maintenance and energy costs.

Organisations that have virtualised their server estates have seen costs reduced by up to 70 per cent, and benefitted from the ability to deploy and manage servers much more rapidly.

While many public sector organisations will already have virtualised some parts of their infrastructure, not all take full advantage of what the technology can offer. One organisation that certainly does is Camden Council. When it needed to reduce ongoing

emerging in the consumer world – such as social networks or online collaboration.

Cloud application layers, and technologies can speed up application development by 50 per cent and enable organisations to deploy to a runtime environment that is ideally suited for virtual infrastructures and appropriate for the needs of modern applications.

SIMPLIFYING END-USER COMPUTING The way users interact with tools and technology has a big impact on the way they E

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

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As each company is unique, all our solutions are tailored to your specific requirements; this approach allows us to deliver exactly what you require, when you require it. Innov8 has gone through rigorous accreditation programmes to become both a Microsoft Gold Partner and VMware Enterprise Partner which guarantees that we will implement any solution to the highest industry standards associated with these organisations.

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disaster recovery. With our highly experienced technical team you can consider IT done, but don’t just take our word for it: “Innov8 Technology has been excellent in implementing a virtual solution through VMware for our business. The company’s experience and knowledge of IT Infrastructure and technology meant that we could move to a virtual environment quickly and easily,” said Hayley Jones partner, TBD Associates Ltd FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0161 975 1652 info@innov8.co.uk www.disasterrecoveryonline.co.uk

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  

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and ruggedised PCs. The solution is unique because it enables true online/offline working, is designed with the end user in mind and can easily integrate with almost any back office system. TotalMobile is highly adaptable and can be used by any type of remote worker, allowing you to implement one solution enterprise wide.

Customers using Consilium’s efficiency improving systems have benefited from improved services, greater customer satisfaction and financial savings of up to £1.5 million per annum.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 02894 480000 info@ctechs.co.uk www.ctechs.co.uk Tweet: @ConsiliumTechs

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BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION

Virtualisation

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

If public sector organisations were to virtualise their IT estates, then they can enable their workers to access their desktop through any device – no matter where they are.

E carry out their work. At the moment, enduser computing within the public sector is complex, costly and not meeting requirements.

Organisations might be regularly refreshing their hardware and software, but they aren’t making changes significant enough to make their workers more productive.

With the consumerisation of IT, users are now more sophisticated and have better devices at home than those they are given to use at work and, in fact, if an organisation gives an employee an older piece of equipment to work on, it’s likely that they’ll find a way to use their newer, better device instead, regardless of whether or not it’s set up to comply with the company’s security measures.

Of course, if public sector organisations were to virtualise their IT estates, then they can enable their workers to access their desktop through any device – no matter where they are. Organisations can therefore let employees collaborate across applications and data from any device, safe in the knowledge that the environment is fully managed, safe and secure.

DON’T FEAR INNOVATION The potential scale of public sector ICT transformation is clearly an enormous undertaking. Cost reduction is key, but in addition, the highly virtualised and automated infrastructure platforms of the future will deliver agility in application provision, to enable IT to respond to global incidents and the fiscal benefits of a cost model based on operational expenditure.

There are, however, some challenges to overcome on the journey to the cloud.

Competing commercial models, concerns over information assurance and general cultural resistance all need to be addressed. Yet, as we have seen in the examples above and in the successes of the many other public sector organisations which have already started on this journey, these challenges are being faced, attacked and ultimately resolved, allowing for easier and more widespread adoption of the cloud approach in the future. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.vmware.com

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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Recruitment Written by Andrew Tomlinson REC’s policy advisor for the IT sector

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

SKILLS SHORTAGES

HOW RECRUITERS CAN HELP BRIDGE THE IT SKILLS GAP

Finding the right person for a job in IT is getting harder. Although the recession masked shortages for long-term structural IT skills, these are now rapidly re-emerging, writes Andrew Tomlinson IT is crucial to almost every aspect of the economy – it has been estimated that over 70 per cent of jobs in Britain involve use of a computer in some way, whilst high-level computing is becoming ever-more central to the advanced industries upon which the government is relying for the future of the economy.

Just as a skills gap becomes apparent, the public sector faces further challenges all of its own. Budgets have been squeezed hard, and look likely to remain tight for years to come. At the same time, the government is looking to open public procurement up to more small businesses, including in IT, which will need careful management.

GROWING COMPETITION What does all this mean for public sector IT recruitment? As growth returns and demand intensifies, the market for IT skills will once again become candidate-led.

Competition for the brightest will become fierce, allowing those with the strongest skills to dictate terms to employers and making it harder for local and central government bodies to offer pay remotely comparable to that available from private businesses.

The REC’s Report on Jobs has shown demand for IT workers growing faster than almost all other parts of the economy since the end of the recession. The skills shortage is already beginning to take effect.

THE CHANGING NATURE OF IT DEMAND There are two seemingly conflicting demands being placed on public sector IT managers.The Coalition Government has demanded that duplication be eradicated, and that common systems be developed and shared across the public sector. Yet it has also demanded that the reliance on large, single contracts be dropped and a more diverse range of smaller companies be allowed to compete to deliver projects.

The recent decision to cancel once and for all the national NHS IT programme that was initiated by the previous government highlights the tensions such an approach brings. Allowing individual health trusts around the country to procure their own IT

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

will allow greater flexibility and likely save money, whilst also potentially helping more SMEs win contracts. However it also risks duplication of work across the country and a failure to create systems which can share patient data between regions, one of the promised benefits of the national approach.

If, as the NHS decision suggests, the desire for smaller, more localised projects is winning out, the public sector will need to draw on a larger, more diverse IT workforce than it has sought before, just as these skills become harder than ever before to source.

LONG-TERM SKILLS SHORTAGE The REC’s Technology sector group, comprised of recruiters working in the IT and communications field, has recently commissioned research, due to be launched during October, into the failure to entice young people into a career in IT and the long-term effects this will have.

The statistics show a worrying drop in the number of young people looking to enter IT as a career, at all stages of the education system.

The number of students taking a GCSE in IT fell by 17 per cent in 2010 alone, whilst the number of Computing A-Levels taken has fallen by 60 per cent since 2003.

Perhaps most worryingly for employers, including the public sector, the number of applications for degrees in computing has fallen by 33 per cent since 2002, at a time when applications for STEM subjects as a whole has increased by 23 per cent.

Strikingly, of this falling number of qualified candidates, only 42 per cent of computing graduates go on to enter the UK IT industry.

There is clearly major long-term action that needs to be taken by government, industry, the education system and public sector employers to make young people realise that IT can be an interesting, fulfilling career path. A perception has been allowed to develop that IT is boring, nerdy and uncool, which has to be challenged.

However, this is a long-term solution, when the problem is clearly already here.

The pool of new, highly-skilled IT candidates is shrinking, just as competition from the private sector is growing again.

NEED FOR LEADERS Some skills are of course more in demand than others and the public sector is likely to find it particularly difficult to compete with the private sector for these. The following positions are already being reported as taking much longer to fill: systems auditors, systems developers, business analysts, project managers, senior test analysts and development team leaders.

It is clearly managerial, leadership roles that are showing the first effects of the squeeze on supply. Project managers, development team leaders, business analysts and other high-level positions are crucial to the success of an organisation.

Worryingly, these are precisely the skills that the public sector is going to need in abundance if the government’s desire for a more diverse, localised landscape of IT projects is to be fulfilled. If the public sector cannot find leaders to recognise IT needs and sculpt plans to deliver these, it will struggle to deliver any improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.

RECRUITERS CAN HELP If this article has been pushing you to despair, however, there is no need to lose hope!

In a world of shrinking supply and growing demand, finding the right candidate (or indeed any candidate) will take more time and effort than many public organisations will be able to spare, particularly as budgets remain tight.

What then can be done? Recruitment agencies can provide the solution. They allow an organisation to focus on its true goals, whilst bringing their professional expertise to finding the right candidate in a more cost-effective way. They provide access to a wider pool of talent than an organisation can search by itself, and can use their insight and experience to pick out those few most suited to the role.

WHY CHOOSE AN REC MEMBER? The economic and time benefits of using a recruiter are clear and well established.

However, we recognise that there is still uncertainty about using them in some quarters. Organisations rightfully feel that having the right staff is absolutely central to success, and are wary of allowing other people to influence who they hire.

This is why the REC places absolute priority on ensuring the highest standards amongst our members. We have a rigorous Code of Professional Conduct to which all our members must adhere. Our Code demands respect for honesty, transparency, diversity, safety, confidentiality and the law in all our members’ interactions with clients. It is a promise of professionalism and ethics in recruitment.

Our code is backed up by a three-part system of redress, ensuring that you can have confidence in any dealing with an REC member. A core requirement of our code is that all members have in place a rigorous complaints procedure, for any instance in E

Recruitment

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

The number of students taking a GCSE in IT fell by 17 per cent in 2010, whilst the number taking A-level computing has fallen by 60 per cent since 2003. Perhaps most worryingly for employers, including the public sector, the number of applications for degrees in computing has fallen by 33 per cent since 2002 E which a client or candidate feel they have been let down. However, if they feel that this has not given a satisfactory result, they can turn to the REC’s own Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure. If a complaint is of a serious enough manner, it can then be referred to the Professional Standards Committee.

The Professional Standards Committee is comprised of senior members of the recruitment industry, as well as representatives from the CBI and the TUC. It has the power to issue compliance orders, demand inspections, reprimand members, and even expel them from the REC. With nearly 4,000 members, sharing over 75 per cent of the recruitment industry’s turnover between them, the REC is the voice of recruitment in the UK. Our relentless focus on professionalism and high standards is why you should always make sure to choose an REC member when looking for professional help recruiting, so you can have confidence in the outcome.

conflicting demands from Ministers and longterm fears over the strength of IT education, all combine to create some dark, foreboding clouds.

The efficient use of time and resources will be absolutely vital in the face of this, as will clear strategy and thoughtful planning.

Recruiters can not only play a vital role in taking the burden of search and selection from organisations, they can also be a crucial asset when it comes to workforce planning.

Experienced recruiters have spent years learning how to understand the real needs of an organisation. They will take the time to help you align your staffing needs to your strategic goals several years in advance, and work through with you how to meet these needs as cost-effectively as possible.

Finding the best IT staff is already hard, and looks sure to get harder in the next few years. But, by enlisting the help of a professional recruiter, you can give yourself the best chance of finding the right person to take your team to the next level. L

PLAN AHEAD As we have seen, the immediate future for public sector IT provision does not look as bright as it could. Shrinking budgets, falling supply (and so rising costs) of the skills needed,

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 020 7009 2100 Fax: 020 7935 4112 E-mail: info@rec.uk.com Web: www.rec.uk.com

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Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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Recruitment

www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

ONLINE RECRUITMENT

USING ONLINE JOB BOARDS FOR RECRUITMENT

Online job boards provide an easier, quicker and cheaper alternative to advertising in a trade magazine, local or national newspaper or using a recruitment agency to fill a vacancy Market research shows that 70 per cent of the UK’s job seekers are using the internet to source their next role. Online job boards are a popular source for organisations requiring good quality candidates. This is because they provide an easier, quicker and cheaper alternative to advertising in a trade magazine, local or national newspaper or using a recruitment agency to fill a vacancy.

They are also very useful in targeting a specialist audience within niche areas such as IT, offer corporate branding opportunities and are a great way to build an applicant pool for future use. Considerations when devising your online recruitment strategy include choosing the relevant job board, advert content and management of responses. In this article we will advise you on how to go about hiring quality candidates through job board advertising.

WHICH JOB BOARD SHOULD YOU CHOOSE? There are currently over 1,000 job boards in the UK. So how do you know which is the best to fill your role? Traffic sites like NORAS publish statistics on visitors to job boards but that does not prove that the right applicants will apply for your job. Your budget will need to be taken into consideration and prices vary – with the niche sites tending to be more expensive than the more generalist sites. Price reductions are usually available if you make a long term commitment – but what about the months when your recruitment needs are lighter than others?

Online recruitment consultancies such as ClearChoice Careers eliminate the guesswork

as they use over 50 job boards, search engines and social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.) throughout the UK and Europe in order to provide you with a wide applicant pool. Job board choices are determined by analysing statistics kept since 1998 on which job boards make placements rather than just assessing visitor traffic. Furthermore, using the services of ClearChoice Careers avoids lengthy and costly contract commitments with job boards.

By providing a fixed fee service ClearChoice Careers can guarantee you success with filling your vacancy or your money back.

ONLINE FRIENDLY ADVERTISEMENT COPY Figures released from the National Office of Statistics in August 2011 show that 77 per cent of UK households have Internet access and 45 per cent of the internet is being accessed by mobile phones. This trend for smartphone use is especially true for job seekers and needs to be taken into account when writing your advertisement. Being concise, using words that applicants are likely to search for within the body of your advertisement and not falling into the trap of replicating your entire job/person specification or using internal jargon are critical factors of a successful advertisement.

As well as posting vacancies to multiple job boards, ClearChoice Careers’ copywriters have a wealth of experience in drafting online user friendly advertisements for all their clients. Adverts are optimised for smartphone users and incorporate the top keywords used by jobseekers ensuring you attract the right applicants.

APPLICANT SCREENING & MANAGEMENT Although advertising on more than one job board will ensure you can shortlist the most talented candidates available for your role, one of the major downsides of a multi job board strategy is keeping track of the applicants from each job board. Using different job boards individually rapidly creates an administrative nightmare that becomes hard to manage and does not allow for integration into any existing system you may have.

Applicant Management systems exist to enable you to centralise your job posting and applicant responses. When choosing such a system, one must ensure it has the flexibility to deliver and integrate applicants into an inhouse system – delivering CVs by e-mail can quickly clog up your inbox. Consider outsourcing this activity – ClearChoice Careers coordinates your job postings from one single interface, providing applicant screening, psychometric testing, tailoring automated replies to all applicants either on your behalf or with your own company branding, as well as keeping track of which Job boards are attracting the best applicants. The service provided doesn’t stop there: if you do not have your own system of recording applicant requests for interviews, offers etc, then the ClearChoice Careers client backoffice could also be a valuable tool.

However specific the skill-set, quality applicants can be found through online job board advertising. In addition, combined with online CV database searching, this will provide you with a large talent pool of potential future employees. Shirley Brzeski, founder of ClearChoice Careers, comments that companies should outsource these activities as not only will recruitment costs be reduced by as much as 90 per cent, time-consuming tasks will be carried out off site and results will be guaranteed.

As long as your skill requirements match the salary you are offering, a wellwritten advertisement should enable you to fill 98 per cent of roles published via online recruitment systems. L FOR MORE INFORMATION Shirley@clearchoicecareers.com

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SOFTWARE INNOVATION

DRIVING THE TRANSITION TO OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Open Source Software

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Stuart Mackintosh explains the key components of Open Source software and why the government is considering the transition from predominantly proprietary software to Open Source alternatives You will all recognise the names Microsoft, Apple and IBM as the world’s largest proprietary software vendors. Yet Open Source software has been gaining supporters and momentum as news of its benefits spread. This year, strong guidance on how to procure Open Source software and assess its suitability, plus a catalogue of OSS applications, is expected to be pushed through internal government, finally confirming its position in the mainstream arena.

WHAT IS OPEN SOURCE? The ‘free software movement’ was launched in 1983, which was then renamed in 1998 as Open Source software (OSS) – a term that was less ambiguous than its predecessor and fit more comfortably in the corporate world.

In its simplest terms, OSS is software that has been developed in a public and collaborative manner. Unlike proprietary software, it has non-restrictive licenses and is generally free to use, giving consumers the freedom to choose solutions that can be built, tailored and adapted to their specific needs, without the fear of prohibitive licenses and vendor lock-in.

Its key benefits include robustness, simple implementation and low maintenance.

Open Source software does not directly attract renewal costs or fees and due to its flexible nature, lends itself well to skunkworks and agile projects.

These advantages are key when it comes to the public sector’s current standpoint – it is keen to find ways to reduce costs, whilst providing an increasingly efficient service, with changes in procurement now focused on gaining better value from every purchase made.

WHAT ABOUT OPEN STANDARDS? An Open Standard is a standard where methods are publicly disclosed and available, enabling competing suppliers to build solutions to deliver the same outcome, thereby creating choice for the user. Open Source supports Open Standards as the code can always be viewed and inspected, preventing a single supplier from forcing a bespoke standard and locking the user in to a particular vendor.

Ponder this question – what if language was not an Open Standard? If we were unable to learn how to translate, it would be virtually impossible to communicate with

other countries. This lack of communication between software is the current position of many proprietary applications.

WHY MAKE THE TRANSITION? The annual spend on ICT is not perceived to be delivering good value and in many cases, has also de-skilled many government departments as knowledge has been outsourced. Open Source alternatives could be applied to approximately 50 per cent of this spend, which will have a direct saving where license costs make up the figures.

The indirect benefit is that Open Source counterparts would enable greater reuse of hardware assets and better reuse of systems and applications across departments.

The OSS approach also creates greater

recommends the best approach to Open Source and how it should be assessed.

The US Military has developed its own secure Linux system, which is recommended for use in online banking activities, secure remote access and other sensitive transactions.

The turn to Linux was in response to the rising data leaks and unauthorised access attempts experienced on popular desktop systems. The latest version of LPS V1.2.5 was released on September 23, 2011.

The Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON) took place in Washington DC in August, with confirmation that the federal IT community was committed to saving taxpayer dollars through OSS. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPB) recently made an iQuery tool and shared the code, in the hope

ICT spend is not perceived to be delivering good value and, in many cases, has de-skilled many government departments as knowledge has been outsourced. Open Source alternatives could be applied to approximately 50 per cent of this spend, which will have a direct saving where license costs make up the figures. opportunities within the SME market, as a piece of work can be split up reliably, with separate companies working to the same standards. Measurements can be based much more on results and value delivered than they are currently. Innovation is also encouraged as smaller organisations will compete to deliver the most suitable solution for the requirements. Revenues will be driven by wrap-around services provided, instead of licence fees.

WHAT IS HAPPENING ELSEWHERE? There are multiple OSS initiatives currently being implemented across the globe, including a requirement in Sweden for bidders to demonstrate Open Source competence after a call for Free Software and Services, which led to the creation of an OSS framework agreement.

In June 2011, Australia released version two of ‘A Guide to OSS for Australian Government Agencies’, which

that the Open Source community would help keep the software up to date. Matthew Burton, a former CIA technologist who now works at CFPB, stated that this approach is targeted at the ‘instant legacy’ issue within government ICT – currently, once government contractors develop code, they’re done.

“A collaborative Open Source approach can help mitigate that finality,” explained Burton. “If you’re developing software with the public’s dollars, that code should be shared with the public.”

UK GOVERNMENT PROGRESS The UK is behind many other countries in the adoption of Open Source. This may be attributed in part to the fact that approximately 80 per cent of the £20bn ICT spend is spread over just five System Integrator companies. However, progress is being made; during 2009, Open Source was placed on the agenda with the Open Source, Open Standards E

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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Create opportunities for tomorrow by being

better connected A shared communications infrastructure can provide a platform for both innovation and flexible working and save on your ICT costs.

Find out ‘How to make a shared infrastructure a reality’ by reading Kcom’s Regional Public Sector Networks white paper, available now on kcom.com Kcom. Time to create tomorrow.

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SOFTWARE INNOVATION About the author

Open Source Software

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Stuart Mackintosh is MD of open source software (OSS) specialist OpusVL. He is a member of the OFE UK Public Sector Group, which governs and monitors the effective adoption and use of OSS technologies through central and local government and develops initiatives to achieve the vision, mission and objectives of an open and competitive UK ICT market.

E and Reuse Government action plan, which was further strengthened by the Coalition Government’s vocal commitment to OSS. This year, the LSE was commissioned to produce a study of the costs of Open Source in comparison to proprietary software, and the Systems Integrators Forum was set up to ensure that the SI’s are aware of their Open Source obligations. CESG has formally stated its position on OSS, which is a positive step towards supporting Open Source from a security perspective.

Full details are within GPC-38.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Over the coming weeks, the ICT Action Plan is expected to be released, which will detail Open Source activities and the methods employed to measure their success. Supported by toolkits, surgeries and online evaluation tools, this plan will remove objections and provide channels to increase take-up of Open Source.

With increased pressure on the systems integrators and delivery against the plan, we should see clear evidence of change by spring 2012, with the UK government finally catching up with global trends and

benefiting from the added security, economic advantages and innovation from SME engagement that OSS brings to the table.

Finally making waves in the corporate and political worlds, Open Source’s philosophy, methodology, flexibility in its usage and obvious cost benefits simply cannot be ignored. The tide has turned and OSS has become a major player in the future of IT and the UK Government. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.opusvl.com

OpusVL – simple solutions to complex challenges Founded in 1999 by Stuart Mackintosh, OpusVL has become one of the UK’s leading names in Open Source Software (OSS).

OpusVL brings a fresh, innovative and flexible approach to software solutions, utilising best of breed Open Source and communication technologies, thereby reducing the task of writing software by re-using and assembling modules carefully selected from cutting edge operating software platforms and a library of proven software components. OpusVL can customise a unique solution that will address and resolve a multitude of challenges, such as increasing efficiency, reducing the bottom line and streamlining productivity.

One size certainly does not fit all; OpusVL will engage with the client in order to

gain a deep understanding of the business processes and challenges involved, before designing a solution that meets the client’s specific business objectives.

OpusVL’s technology is used by a variety of international organisations, such as JP Morgan, RBS and MAN Group, as well as the retail, corporate and government sectors. In addition, MD, Stuart Mackintosh is a member of Cabinet

Office’s OSS implementation steering group, which will govern and monitor the effective adoption and use of Open Source technologies through government departments.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01788 298450 Fax: 01788 298113 sales@opusvl.com www.opusvl.com

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Government cloud apps that will save you money – inform, consult and collaborate with INOVEM Efficiency, cost reduction and rapid deployment are all key drivers behind the UK Government’s G-Cloud strategy. The 2011 ICT strategy also identifies the role cloud technologies can play in improving collaborative working and ensuring policy formation and service design are developed in consultation with the public.

INOVEM has been providing cost-effective cloud-based collaboration and consultation software to the public sector for over eight years. Our software is used by government departments, local authorities, health trusts, community safety partnerships, consulting firms and membership associations. All these share a common business requirement: to improve the way they inform, consult and collaborate with their internal and external stakeholders.

INOVEM Collaborate provides a secure environment in which you can share, discuss and manage documents, deliverables, tasks, meetings, ideas, risks, issues and other information. The software is extremely quick to deploy and simple for project managers and team members to access, manage and work with. Its ease of use means there is very little, if any, training required and as a cloud application, there is no burden on your IT department. Compatible with all common web browsers and email clients, INOVEM Collaborate will help team members from

inside and outside your organisation to swiftly and efficiently collaborate and communicate with each other, anytime and anywhere.

INOVEM Consult allows you to carry out public or private consultations easily and quickly. It supports the full consultation lifecycle, from document creation through to response collection, analysis and reporting.

The software provides a wide range of feedback mechanisms including interactive questionnaires, discussion forums and paragraph-level document commenting.

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

INOVEM’s software can be styled to seamlessly match your existing website and is WAI-AA compliant, so accessibility is never an issue.

As a cloud application our software is easy to configure, administer and use.

However, should you need support we are always there to provide help – just ask any of our many public sector clients.

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Your equipment and data are under constant threat from environmental factors like heat, flood, power failure and intrusion.

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Eight years of listening to our customers has led Openxtra to believe that the monitoring of your server room environment needs to be accessible, affordable, simple and convenient. We provide devices that are a no-brainer to install and that you can trust to warn you before any

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FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01943 465918 Fax: 01943 466003 sales@openxtra.co.uk www.openxtra.co.uk

REMOTE COMPUTING

Written by Bindi Bhullar, director, HCL Technologies

DEMYSTIFYING THE G-CLOUD

Research suggests that many government departments are unclear about how cloud computing can add value. So what needs to change to achieve understanding of this emerging technology?

Does every cloud really have a silver lining? The answer, at least for many government departments, seems to be fairly inconclusive – with many clearly conflicted when it comes to the subject of how cloud computing can add value. So what are the benefits it can provide? Is the cloud still the future for the government?

When John Suffolk, the former government CIO first announced the G-Cloud, the aim was to help realise the Treasury’s Operational Efficiency Programme target of cutting £3.2bn from the public sector’s annual £16bn IT spend. However, this was met with a great deal of scepticism, with some arguing that it would require an unworkable change in the way government departments operated.

Since then, we’ve seen the project take on a number of different guises, with some speculating that the government was ready to can the idea completely after the minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, neglected to mention the G-Cloud in his Government IT strategy outlined in March.

ON THE GOVERNMENT AGENDA Nevertheless, it’s clear from the ICT Strategy’s insistence that the government should publish a cloud strategy by September 2011, that the adoption of cloud technology by the government is still very much on the agenda. This is something government departments would be well advised to pay close attention to.

With this in mind, HCL recently conducted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request into the views of government departments towards the technology. It revealed that the prevailing attitude to the cloud is one of confusion, and suggests that many within government question its effectiveness. Indeed, the FOI request found that only the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions have adopted any kind of cloud computing to date. Instead, many departments admitted that they either had no plans to adopt cloud computing over the next few years, or stated they will instead adhere to government ICT strategy and guidelines, reviewing use of the technology on a case-by-case basis.

Either way, it’s clear that we need to see widespread demystification of the cloud taking place if this reluctance and confusion is to be addressed. Indeed, if this country’s government is to avoid losing out on the

opportunity to become a world leader in public sector IT, there has never been a greater need for education as to the benefits cloud computing can provide.

SEPARATING HYPE AND REALITY While certainly not a panacea for all of the government’s IT challenges, cloud computing should continue to be seen as an integral part of the public sector’s strategy. There needs to be an accurate evaluation of the benefits these systems can bring to them and the UK population, before it can simply be dismissed as a ’risky’ solution. Perhaps it would benefit IT decision makers in the public sector if there was a clear separation of the hype from reality, so that they can understand the benefits cloud computing can deliver?

Another potential solution is to provide government departments with a simple dashboard for building, managing and integrating cloud systems, applications, and services from a variety of providers in order to lessen confusion and alleviate the IT burden.

Of course, that’s not to say that concerns attributed to the cloud – such as security, reliability, governance and compliance, are not valid. It’s clear that, if implemented correctly and effectively, benefits such as significant economic savings, greater departmental integration and fewer technical burdens, will well outweigh the negatives and justify the move during this difficult economic time.

DEFINING THE CLOUD It is also fair to say that a unified definition of cloud computing would go a long way to helping the UK government demystify this trend and encourage wide spread adoption.

Until this is agreed, it will be a big ask for government departments to fully accept such a fundamental shift in the nature of computing. Furthermore, any conscious decision not to plan or test the cloud in the short term, could significantly affect public sector performance in a decade’s time.

Cloud Computing

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

MOVING FORWARDS In summary, we need to see the government adopting a cloud-first policy in order to justify and encourage the shift to cloud computing that will inevitably improve government IT resources, creating impressive economic savings as a result. What needs to happen now is for the central UK government to lead the way in placing the cloud at the centre of IT strategy. Only then will adoption of cloud-based services filter down across the regions and various different departments.

This transformation could take years, as education of IT departments needs to become a stronger government priority.

Again, this is another key barrier to realising the benefits of the G-Cloud initiative. It goes without saying that if people are ignorant of the scale of the advantages, they will not push for cloud adoption.

Clarity, a unified definition, policies and increased education are also required if we are to see a large-scale adoption of cloud in government departments over the next few years. This of course requires central government guidelines on best practices and advisories on the adoption and maintenance of cloud computing systems.

Clearly, cloud computing is one of the most powerful emerging trends that will change the way entire countries are run today and into the years ahead. The question is whether or not the government will take the time to see the silver lining it could provide. L

There has never been a greater need for education as to the benefits cloud computing can provide.

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A COMMON INFRASTRUCTURE

What is the Public Services Network (PSN) and when will it be up and running? Government Technology answers some key questions about the secure ‘network of networks’

The Public Services Network (PSN) is a secure network of networks, built to common standards, that enables the delivery of public services from any place by any provider. It will significantly reduce the cost of telecommunications services and enable new ways of delivering public services.

PSN is a fundamental building block of the government ICT strategy and the public service reform agenda. It creates the foundations for a common infrastructure that enables the delivery of change through ICT. PSN is expected to enable significant savings through the removal of duplicate network connections, simpler procurements and greater competition. It will enhance the ability for collaborative working between organisations, make mobile working easier and provide opportunities to exploit shared services.

WHEN WILL PSN BE UP AND RUNNING? There is committed leadership from the top. PSN is fully endorsed by the Minister for Cabinet Office, the CIO Council and the Local Government CIO Council amongst many others. All of central government is mandated to move to PSN. PSN is happening now. The first PSN services have been deployed in Kent and Hampshire.

Several other services are expected to gain PSN compliance in the near future.

The focus of the PSN programme is on driving the adoption of PSN services across

HOW DO SUPPLIERS ACHIEVE PSN COMPLIANCE? A PSN-compliant service is one that adheres to the PSN obligations specified in a PSN Code. Those obligations cover governance, technical interoperability, service management, commercial approach and information assurance.

To request compliance, the supplier submits a completed PSN Code to the PSN Authority. Their adherence to the obligations is verified by the PSN Authority or by third party independent assurance and testing bodies as appointed by or approved by the PSN Authority. The PSN Authority will then issue a PSN Compliance Certificate.

Public Services Network

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

WHICH SERVICES HAVE ALREADY BEEN GRANTED PSN COMPLIANCE? The Cabinet Office has issued PSN Compliance Certificates for four network services. These are the UK’s first PSN-compliant services.

The services were delivered as part of an ‘early adoption’ project that involved Hampshire County Council, Kent County Council, Global Crossing, Virgin Media Business and the PSN team. Its aim was to establish the first PSN services and refine the processes necessary for the public sector to share services and applications via the PSN. The four services comprise: a GCN service and a Direct Network Service provided by Global Crossing; and a GCN service and a Direct Network Service provided by Virgin Media Business.

The Direct Network Services connect the two regional networks of Hampshire and Kent to the GCN. Business services such as IP telephony and video conferencing can now be delivered between Hampshire County Council and Kent County Council, across PSN-compliant services provided by two different suppliers.

the public sector. This entails developing plans for transition to PSN and putting in place the commercial arrangements to make it easy for public sector organisations to procure PSN services. Procurement routes for PSN services now exist through convergence framework contracts let by the Government Procurement Service. The full PSN framework contracts for connectivity services will be awarded early in 2012.

WHAT IS THE NETWORK MODEL? Key to the PSN vision is a common set of standards which will ensure the interoperability of all telecommunications services in the public sector. These have been specified by the PSN team in collaboration with public and private sector organisations.

The Government Conveyance Network (GCN) is the central component of the PSN that interconnects networks from multiple suppliers. PSN Services delivered to the customer may connect directly to the GCN (these are termed Direct Network Services) or indirectly through a Direct Network Service.

WILL PSN INVOLVE INVESTMENT FROM CENTRAL OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT? It is expected that public sector organisations will transition to PSN as their existing contractual agreements with service providers expire, or at set change points within existing long term contracts. This will incur the normal costs associated with a change in contract or supplier. There will be a net benefit to customers as they reduce their telecommunications costs and make more efficient use of their business services.

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ resource-library/public-services-network

It is expected that public sector organisations will transition to PSN as their existing contractual agreements with service providers expire, or at set change points within existing long term contracts.

Volume 10.6 | GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

Certero provides powerful products designed to help you transform the way you manage your IT assets NHS Direct recently partnered with an IT services organisation to channel shift services online resulting in more than £10 million savings. With budget cuts driving changes in the public sector, organisations are looking at developing more sophisticated channels of providing their services using today’s technology – partnering and using the right technology is just one way of doing this.

One way to address the challenge is to deploy a Software Asset Management (SAM) solution. Recent SAM solutions such as AssetStudio® and Certero SoftwareMetering For Decision Makers® provide all the functionality required to enable an auditable licence compatibility process, and enforces access policies to ensure licensing rules, a function that is also valuable for PCs. For organisations such as NHS Wiltshire, with an IT estate comprising 5,000 computers across more than 200 sites, Certero’s SAM solution will enable them to detect and end duplicate and unnecessary licenses. With organisations across all sectors facing a wide range of challenges centred around controlling costs and diminishing budgets – particularly in IT departments – solutions with a low cost set up that are powerful yet simple to use can help play a role in driving new efficiencies. The NHS Shared Business

Services Model, which in 2011 paid the NHS back £1 million, promises trusts 30 per cent costs savings. So you can see its attraction for budget restricted healthcare providers.

Local government organisation Xentrall Shared Services – a partnership between Stockton on Tees and Darlington Borough Council – demonstrates the ability of a shared services model to reign in and control expenditure with respect to streamlining back end systems.

The group was quick to consolidate its two incumbent IT asset management solutions to provide a single comprehensive hardware and software inventory of their client computers; not surprisingly, as cost reduction is the top reason for investing in SAM and IT Asset Management activities, according to surveys conducted by the International Business Software Managers Association

(IBSMA) from 2005 to 2009. Kelvin McIvor, business analyst at Xentrall Shared Services is adamant that the single IT asset management approach has delivered on expectations: “We now have the information we need to free up and transfer existing licences to new users as we grow and expand.”

Public sector organisations accept that they will have to show where they have made cost savings, and the value of the initiatives they have implemented to lower costs and improve service. Certero SAM solution has already proven on its ability to optimise software usages and provide evidence of compliance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION info@certero.co.uk www.certero.co.uk

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Identify and remove unused software and release licences on PC’s and Servers

Software policy enforcement: Prevent unauthorised software from being used, removing the need for unnecessary licences

www.certero.co.uk

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

GREEN IT EXPO

Events

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

THE LATEST THINKING ON IT FOR SUSTAINABILITY

Following its successful move to central London last year, Green IT Expo is back in Westminster on Tuesday November 2011, presenting all the latest thinking on IT for sustainability with leading speakers from government and experts from around the world This major annual event presents a free programme of incisive keynotes, briefings on the latest innovations and real-life case studies – all into a single informationpacked day. Hence, Green IT Expo provides a highly time-effective forum for public sector organisations to learn how sustainable computing will help them to cut costs, increase efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint across all areas of their activities.

Best of all, attendance at the event is still free-of-charge for practitioners and influencers in this important area, including executives working in IT, procurement, finance and other key management roles.

MAJOR PROGRESS ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY Recent research from Ovum indicated that almost three-quarters of chief information officers have now implemented green IT initiatives within their organisation, with almost a third of the remainder planning to do so by the end of 2012.

The study showed that the number of organisations using green IT was approximately two-thirds in the first half of 2010 but grew to 73 per cent in the second six months, as constrained budgets and a flat economy forced decision-makers to scrutinise IT spending and finally wake up to the potential cost savings achievable through more sustainable computing.

“This growth in green IT penetration reflects a change of attitude by CIOs and other IT decision-makers. Previously, they considered green IT optional because they defined its value primarily in terms of

corporate image, rather than the bottom line,” explained Rhonda Ascierto, Ovum analyst and author of the report.

Ovum surveyed CIOs about five different aspects of green IT: datacentre virtualisation, datacentre power consumption and cooling technologies, desktop virtualisation, printing & paper usage, and power management tools for PCs and monitors.

Of these five categories, data centre virtualisation currently has the greatest penetration, with just over half of respondents saying their organisations are now using it. This proportion is forecast to increase two-thirds over the next couple of years.

In the UK, a number of government agencies have been leading the way in many of these areas, making strong progress on implementing green IT initiatives through coordinated efforts by the Cabinet Office’s CIO Council, Defra and The Environment Agency.

GEARING UP FOR THE NEXT PHASE Following the widescale adoption of energy-saving techniques for datacentres, workstations and peripherals, the next challenge will be the application of IT to accelerate the broader sustainable business agenda.

Sustainability and its individual components are all about business value. They are rapidly becoming key competencies and a represent a major ‘sea change’ that organisations simply have to take on board. As the world emerges from the recession financially weakened and more risk-averse, the importance of sustainability will increase rapidly, as countries start to prepare for growth and E

Speaker line-up Key speakers for November include a wide range of experienced analysts and end-users, including: Simon Mingay, research VP, Gartner Group William Ehmcke, CEO, Connection Research Bob Crooks, Green ICT Development Unit (GDU), Cabinet Office/Defra Peter Charville-Mort, sustainable business analyst, Verdantix Paul Colbran, head of ICT, Brighton & Hove City Council Peter Hofman, shared services & integration director, EDF Energy Farooq Dastgir, head of transformation, Monmouthshire County Council/SRS Chris Bullock, CEO, S3 Consulting/ Climate Savers Computing Andy Lawrence, research director, the 451 Group There will also be valuable contributions from the Environment Agency, BCS the Chartered Institute of IT, ADISA, Climate Savers Computing and innovative technology suppliers such as 1E Computing, Kyocera, @UK, ICEX, Global Crossing, and many more.

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GREEN IT EXPO E transition to a lower-carbon economy.

Developing an integrated and informationenabled sustainability strategy will protect your organisation from current and future regulatory requirements, consolidate your reputation and ‘brand values’ and unlock significant cost savings through technology-enabled efficiencies and operational transformation.

GREEN IT REVIEW To ensure that green IT fulfils its longterm potential, organisations need to adopt a more holistic approach that integrates three complimentary aspects: Firstly, IT operations need to significantly reduce their level of energy consumption – to minimise their own contribution to the problem of CO2 emissions and deliver essential efficiency gains for increasingly complex systems in the future.

Secondly, organisations need to explore the potential of IT and other new technologies to facilitate greener processes across the rest of the enterprise, eg. through mobile/home working and teleconferencing or replacing paper-based systems with electronic documents.

Finally, new IT applications and industry standards need to be developed to effectively measure, monitor and control the

environmental impact of every organisational activity, including IT itself – in order to provide reliable information for decisionmaking, modelling different scenarios and validating the actual outcomes.

The ’Virtuous Triangle’ concept illustrates the evolution of Green IT from a series of simple cost and energy saving measures to a key enabler for sustainable business as a whole. In particular, IT’s powerful reporting capabilities offer a much-needed antidote to the ‘vicious circle’ of knock-on and side effects that commonly derail carbon reduction initiatives, when it becomes apparent that improvements in one area have had a counteractive impact elsewhere in the organisation or further down the supply chain.

FREE ADVICE AT GREEN IT EXPO 2011 Green IT Expo is the UK’s leading forum for sustainable computing, taking place on Tuesday 1st November 2011 at Central Hall, opposite Westminster in London.

Through a combination of inspirational keynotes, breakout sessions, supplier briefings and experience-sharing opportunities, this acclaimed educational event will help you to: • Understand the key challenges for IT departments and the industry as a whole • Keep up-to-speed with significant developments at a local & international level

• Ensure compliance with the latest legislation and government directives • Review a wide range of environmentallyfriendly IT products and services • Implement green initiatives that improve efficiency and reduce costs • Harness IT to facilitate more responsible business practices • Formulate sustainable IT strategies for the short, medium and long-terms • Contribute directly to your organisation’s wider sustainability objectives • Develop a more holistic view of Green IT and its full potential Places at Green IT Expo 2011 are offered free-of-charge to IT and operational decisionmakers who are developing sustainable computing and business strategies.

Due to venue constraints and the one-day format of the event, places are strictly limited so please register now to reserve your free place and receive the full programme as soon as it is finalised. L FOR MORE INFORMATION For further information regarding exhibitor or speaker opportunites, please contact Sara Clark on 01892 820934 or e-mail sara@revolution-events.com www.greenitexpo.com

Verismic puts energy saving in the public sector spotlight

Kyocera Mita UK Ltd to showcase its products at Green IT Expo

Public sector IT managers and CFOs looking to increase their energy and carbon savings by taking control of the power used by their desktop and notebook PC assets are welcome to visit Verismic Software at the Green IT Expo. Verismic Power Manager – software that can be deployed locally or accessed as a managed service – saves around £60 per PC per annum on energy costs by managing the power consumption of computing.

Verismic Power Manager is used by hospitals, schools, police forces and local government to control the energy consumed by employee use of desktop and notebook PCs, whether static or outside the office environment.

Standard machine settings for power use can be streamlined for greater savings, by instigating individual or group waking up or powering down. This enables upgrades and patches to take place smoothly and at optimum

Kyocera Mita is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of printers, copiers and multifunction products.

Nineteen years ago Kyocera introduced ECOSYS, the first – and only environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional cartridge-based printer.

By designing a drum and developer which were durable enough to last the whole life of the printer – and guaranteed to do so – we removed the need to replace them every time the toner runs out.

This not only produces significantly less waste material during the life of the device, it also substantially reduces running costs, so this sustainable approach also benefits the bottom line.

Printing and copying

energy saving opportunities.

The reporting dashboard, which can be available to managers or on an individual user level, shows group and individual savings to demonstrate effectiveness and support power management policies.

Join the team on stand 7 for a demonstration to calculate how much your company could save using Verismic Power Manager.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01256 338470 Fax: 01256 338471 info@verismic.com www.verismic.com

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represent up to four per cent of business operating costs, yet independent research indicates that on average 30 per cent of printing is unnecessary.

Talk to us at Kyocera to find out what tools and techniques are available to deliver cost reduction, reduce consumption of paper and energy, and help you reach your sustainability goals.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0)1189 311 500

kyoceramita@kyoceramita.co.uk

www.kyoceramita.co.uk

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Data Centre Services >>> Manged Hosting

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DatacentreDynamics

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DRIVING EFFICIENT DATA CENTRE STRATEGIES DatacenterDynamics Converged on 30 November to 1 December will feature an expanded conference programme, which combines over 70 technical presentations, case studies, and expert panel discussions over two packed days at the ICC Capital Suite, ExCel The transformation of the data centre continues; IT, the physical layer and the plant supporting it are becoming increasingly integrated. The ways in which computing power can be procured through owned, outsourced or cloud models makes data centre decision making more complex. This has never been truer for the public sector.

With a premium on peer-led knowledge exchange and networking, DatacenterDynamics Converged will feature an expanded conference programme which combines over 70 technical presentations, case studies, and expert panel discussions in five halls from the 30 November to 1 December. The programme is designed to meet the needs of decision makers and influencers involved in all strategic and practical issues surrounding the delivery of enterprise IT. The programme includes dedicated halls for each of three tracks – Design Build Operate, Outsourcing

Decisions, and IT Optimisation.

With over 80 exhibitors and in excess of 2,000 delegates, DatacenterDynamics Converged is positioned as the largest and most comprehensive conference of its kind anywhere in the world. In a world first, 30,000 square feet at London’s ExCeL will be available to showcase more sizeable modular and containerised solutions in the innovative new DCD Technology Park.

KEEPING THE DATA CENTRE SANE WITH RATIONAL MANAGEMENT The following excerpt was first published in the August/September 2011 issue of DatacenterDynamics Focus: ‘The Data Center Infrastructure Management market is being compared to the Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP] market of the early to mid 1990s. This should be a warning to all, says Ambrose McNevin.’

ERP – two decades ago these three

little letters launched a thousand failed projects and a thousand more consultancies to rescue them.

Enterprise Resource Planning became synonymous with large complex software implementations, inflated promises and dubious returns. The shorthand figure was that for every $2 spent on ERP software, $8 was spent on consultancy to make it work.

An interesting twist on the 80/20 rule.

ERP meant corporate disruption on an unprecedented scale as business attempted a giant leap from several hundred years of paper-based processes into the digital age. Its ambition caused many failures but those that took the pain will today happily espouse the journey as the best they have ever taken and a destination worth the effort.

Are data centers about to undertake similar disruption? The consensus is that data centres are in desperate need of management. Server virtualisation, power over-provisioning, E

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

DatacentreDynamics E processor under utilisation, compliance and regulation, dynamic loads, high density and pure old ‘good governance’ demand that data centre operators adopt better management practices.

While Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) is analogous to ERP, there are key differences. The DCIM market, for example, has no single dominant player, whereas SAP came out of Germany and invented an entire ERP software industry.

With DCIM there is not one but two very large energy management companies, namely Schneider Electric and Emerson Network Power, already doing some very public proselytising. These companies have developed their own approach to DCIM, though both say they can manage everything from the building to the server.

The developments of Trellis and Struxureware, the respective Emerson and Schneider Electric offerings, have, in many ways, validated the market for DCIM. Alongside these behemoths, and with other giants such as IBM, HP and CA Technologies also staking a claim to this market, there is a growing list of software, monitoring, infrastructure and IT companies throwing their hats into a crowded ring.

WARNINGS AND GUIDANCE Dick Philips is technical director of CANS, a Dutch software company in the DCIM space. He has some warnings and guidance for those who think that software or tools will deliver simple DCIM: “DCIM only makes sense if you are ready to do it as a whole. A data centre has many resources to manage – power connections, cooling

companies is incomplete but they still want to adopt DCIM,” Philips says. “These customers will fail in delivery.” “They are not asking the right questions about what objectives they are trying to achieve. Often the objectives are very broad. They want insight into everything. But you must have a team in place to maintain the data, not just one or two people managing a huge data set.”

Companies need to set their priorities, says Phillips: “If your primary interest is space and cooling then do that. If you want to go up the stack to management and commissioning of servers you need the tool as well as the people.” Philips says companies need to understand what their resource availability is, what processes are required and what the right tools are to help them achieve their goals. “Tools suppliers will continue to put tools on the market. You must decide if you have the people to use them,” Philips says.

REORGANISATION The best way to implement DCIM is layer by layer, in a converged way. It does not matter if it is one platform or best-of-breed solutions.

This is the approach to take for success.

Start with space, power to rack and the production of heat. Move onto the commissioning of the servers and data connectivity, not forgetting the physical copper and fibre cables. The size of your environment, your current way of working and the long-term achievements you hope to get out of DCIM will drive the implementation of the project.

Philips recalls the 1980s, before the advent of ERP: “[Companies] had paper but they were very well organised. The system worked

With a premium on peer-led knowledge exchange and networking, DatacenterDynamics Converged will feature an expanded conference programme which combines over 70 technical presentations, case studies, and expert panel discussions in five halls over two packed days. and space. People in the data center tend to buy expensive tools without knowing when and how to use them. They fail to take the holistic overview. People must avoid buying DCIM as a tool which they think will manage their complete data center. It won’t.

Without the holistic view you will end up with separate management teams in the data center,” Philips says.

CANs has named the management ethos behind this as CPIM (Converged Physical Infrastructure Management).

Philips says that implementing DCIM with a CPIM strategy requires a mixed knowledge of technology and processes.

“The issue is that the data provided by

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but firms wanted to put it in a toolset. They were already in control but they couldn’t monitor what was happening,” he said.

“ERP caused a great deal of disruption before finally delivering benefits. There is the challenge of implementing the tools and the challenge of the reorganisation.”

It provides food for throught for DCIM deployments. Similar to the situation with ERP, companies will need the right resource planning to make a success of DCIM. L FOR MORE INFORMATION Call Chris Lambert on 020 74267834 or e-mail chris.lambert@datacenterdynamics.com

GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

www.datacenterdynamics.com/ conferences/2011/london

Speaker line-up

Rationalisation and Virtualisation: Defining and Delivering Public Sector Cloud Strategy Michael Truran, customer service delivery director, Department for Work and Pensions Data Centre Consolidation.

Implementing a Security Strategy to Realise Enterprise Cloud Solutions Nick Coleman, global cloud security leader, IBM & board member, ENISA. Modular Data Centre Case Study: eBay Project Mercury, Arizona Mike Lewis, director, mission critical engineering, eBay Inc. Google’s New Hamina, Finland Energy Efficient Data Centre Joe Kava, senior director, data centres, Google

Delivering IT Infrastructure and Data Centre Capacity for London 2012 Neil Crockett, managing director London 2012, Cisco Defining a New Class of Data Centre and Cloud Infrastructure Solutions Mario Müller, vice president IT Infrastructure, BMW, & board member, Open Data Center Alliance

Barclays’ Project Dart – The UK’s First LEED Platinum Data Centre: Drivers for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Les Ingram, global head of engineering, Barclays Bank plc The Cloud and New Technologies – Changing Service Interactions with Customers Stephen Nunn, global practice leader, Data Centre Technology & Operations, Accenture

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

DATA CENTRES

CRC: A CASH WINDFALL Michael Cook of USystems looks at how to meet your CRC Energy Efficiency requirements with cutting edge technology heart of the government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme.

Financial directors can earn a cash windfall or, quite possibly, an income stream by utilising energy-saving data centre design options – the energy saving can be turned into carbon credits and sold on the worldwide carbon trading system.

Data centres are potentially in a lose-lose situation as ever more data is stored from greater use of computers around the world. In keeping up with this growth, and the consequent rise in energy consumption, their owners will also be faced with a carbon tax as governments implement national green strategies.

By measuring the environmental impact of your data centre in order to establish its energy consumption and, by deduction, its carbon emissions, you can create a win-win situation for your data centre.

PUE (power usage effectiveness) has been widely adopted to measure the ratio of the total power consumed by a data centre to the specific power consumed by the computing equipment populating the facility. This evaluates how efficiently the energy is used and shows how much the power consumed by support functions, e.g. cooling and power distribution, is wasted.

The ideal PUE is 1.0, where 100 per cent of the power consumed by a data centre is for applications and zero per cent is for lighting and cooling. Most data centres are running with a PUE of over 2.0, indicating that for every watt of IT power, an additional watt is consumed for ancillary stuff – largely for running the cooling system.

This is an obvious waste of energy and therefore, carbon emissions, which are at the

THE COLDLOGIK CONNECTION Whether it be a new build or legacy site, there is one simple fact about data centres – traditional CRAC cooling and containment cooling is expensive to run and outdated: its place can be taken by stateof-the-art UK designed and manufactured ColdLogik technology, which gives a PUE as close to 1.0 as is practical, with the twin benefits of far lower energy costs and CO2 emissions, plus other savings.

In addition, this cutting edge technology addresses all the key drivers that data centre communication rooms measure: energy consumption, carbon footprint, modularity, packaging densities, capital cost and redundancy – factors applying to any cluster, whether low or high density.

ENERGY CONSUMPTION Take a traditionally designed data centre, perhaps deploying a conventional hotaisle/cold-aisle configuration on a raised floor. It will typically use 40 kW of cooling for every 100 kW of data power – even aisle containment will only reduce this power ratio by a small percentage.

In comparison, ColdLogik will use less than 4 kW of power for the same 100 kW load – achieving in excess of a staggering 90 per cent year on year energy saving and, therefore, a reduction in carbon emissions.

An ability to grow a data centre and communications room in a logical and cost effective manner makes obvious business sense – only deploying what is needed for today while being prepared for rapid future expansion. ColdLogik is modular and will allow you to upgrade with masses of flexibility and future proofing.

Over time as data centre and comms rooms expand or sometimes contract and where third party racks might have to be accommodated, the cooling solution has to meet these ever changing demands. Again, the ColdLogik system, with its retrofit capability to any populated OEM rack, comes into its own.

PACKAGING DENSITY Despite improvements made by the majority of manufacturers to the efficiency of their hardware and the promise of more to come, the fact remains that electronic packaging densities will continue to rise.

Hot spots in data centres and comms rooms

are commonplace and when considering that 55 per cent of electronic failure is due to temperature, it’s no surprise that a lot of effort has been deployed in this area to resolve these issues.

By design, the ColdLogik solution eliminates individual rack and localised hot spots, maintaining a constant, roomambient temperature. In fact, the enhanced efficiency of the ColdLogik system allows up to an unrivalled 45kW to be removed from an industry standard 600mm wide rack, thus enabling electronic packaging densities to increase substantially.

Such an increase in rack density enables a reduction in the number of racks required within a single room, negating the need for additional expensive floor space.

Despite all of the benefits that a ColdLogik system brings, it doesn’t follow that this high-tech solution costs more than existing, outdated, cooling designs.

Not having to deploy a raised floor or a ceiling plenum are considerable savings in themselves – but the combination of modularity of design and increased packaging density means that the ColdLogik system will actually cost less, not more, than the standard enclosed aisle/in-row cooling design.

REDUNDANCY In spite of the critical nature of what data centres and communication rooms provide, it is crucial that there is affordable redundancy built in – even in its basic form, the ColdLogik solution incorporates high levels of redundancy.

I have briefly, but specifically, covered the major benefits of the USystems ColdLogik system, which is potentially set to become the new standard by which state-of-the-art efficient datacentre design is measured.

To many, it is possible that the ColdLogik system is relatively new technology – it is, though, a tried and tested system, not just in the UK but all over Europe, USA, India and Africa.

Want to find out more? A white paper recently written by a consultant about a ColdLogik project, details the capital cost savings when compared to CRAC cooling and in-row containment cooling; it also highlights the energy savings from the commensurate reduction in CO2 outputs from the local power station. It is available from www.usystems.co.uk/coldlogik/whitepaper. L FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 01767 652817 Fax: 01767 651983 sales@usystems.co.uk www.usystems.co.uk

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IP EXPO

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

FITTING TOGETHER THE ENTERPRISE IT PUZZLE Get ahead of the game at IP EXPO and see how the entire technology stack of cloud computing, storage, wireless, networking, virtualisation and security works together The past several years have witnessed momentous changes in IT infrastructure as organisations and governmental bodies have manoeuvred to make their environments more integrated, cost-and energy-efficient and secure against internal and external threats. As take-up of new and evolving technologies such as cloud computing and virtualisation increases, the protection of business-critical data is now more important than ever. Governance and risk management have also risen in significance as the IT ‘puzzle’ becomes more complex. Amid these exciting developments, IT professionals all over the world are racing to keep up with the threats posed by the internet, e-mail, phishing, data loss and leakage, and even insider espionage and intellectual property theft.

What they are finding is that it is no longer appropriate to isolate security from other decisions they are making about their IT infrastructures. All aspects of IT must work together as a united whole.

All smart infrastructure choices must be tempered by a consideration for security.

At IP EXPO 2011 the leading architects of this changing IT landscape will share their future vision and address the pivotal IT question for 2011 – how best to build, buy, develop and secure the IT infrastructure of tomorrow?

10 reasons to attend Stay ahead of industry developments See emerging products and services in action Hear keynote speeches from key business technology figures Gain valuable insights from a wide range of free seminars

ALL EYES ON IT SECURITY This year IP EXPO has added a new dedicated focus, SECURITY 11, which covers IT security in a wider computing context. The climate E

At IP EXPO 2011 the leading architects of this changing IT landscape will share their future vision and address the pivotal IT question for 2011 – how best to build, buy, develop and secure the IT infrastructure of tomorrow?

Meet industry experts and learn from their advice Find new suppliers Follow up on business leads in the many available meeting spaces Learn about specific technologies or the entire stack Gain Inspiration/New ideas from the wide range of Technology on show Network with IT professionals and share knowledge

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Secure and resilient hosting and network solutions from Heywood Heywood is the new hosting division of leading Isle of Man service provider Wi-Manx.

Our new multi-million pound state-of-the-art Heywood House data centre is the most modern hosting facility of its type in the Isle of Man and we offer a comprehensive range of network and hosting solutions.

The public sector has an ever-increasing demand to cater for the growing need for storage, computing power, availability and service value.

Heywood is the ideal hosting partner. We pride ourselves on understanding our customers’ needs, offering unmatched flexibility and focusing on high performance and value-added solutions, designed to address the challenges facing our customers.

Our infrastructure is well positioned to address the requirements of any IT department, whether that is for hosting, disaster recovery, archiving and

backup, or high performance cloud computing. Our portfolio of hosting solutions can be tailored to address your individual requirements and reduce technical burden, while ensuring agility, availability and – most of all – costs are not compromised.

So whether you’re looking for high availability hosting, disaster recovery or an offshore cloud platform solution, visit our website and entrust your data to our safekeeping.

We are exhibiting at this year’s IP Expo event on stand F16 at Earls Court 2 on the 19-20 October.

Secure and resilient hosting and network solutions Managed services • Security • Load balancing • DDoS protection • Storage solutions • High performance network solutions

heywoodhost.com

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Veeam Software, an elite VMware technology alliance partner, develops innovative software to totally manage a VMware vSphere® environment and protect Hyper-V environments.

Veeam vPower™ provides advanced VirtualisationPowered Data Protection™ and is the underlying technology in Veeam Backup & Replication™, the number one virtualisation backup solution.

Veeam nworks extend enterprise monitoring to VMware management in Microsoft System Center and the nworks Smart Plug-in™ for VMware management in

HP Operations Manager.

Veeam ONE™ provides a single solution to optimise the performance, configuration and utilisation of VMware environments. It includes Veeam Monitor™ for easy-to-deploy VMware monitoring; Veeam Reporter™ for VMware capacity planning, change management, and reporting and chargeback; and Veeam Business View™ for VMware business service management and categorisation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Learn more about Veeam Software by visiting www.veeam.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: +44 (0) 1624 641188 info@heywoodhost.com www.heywoodhost.com

YOU NEED RELIABLE HOSTING TO ENSURE YOUR DATA IS AVAILABLE WHEN YOUR COMMUNITY NEEDS IT

Network and hosting • Cloud hosting • Dedicated servers • Colocation • Voice services • Managed hosting

Innovative management software from Veeam

GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

Working together to deliver IBM’s latest Smarter Cities

Delivering blended virtualisation solutions for over 10 years, Cetus have built scalable, responsive and highly resilient server and desktop infrastructures.

Transform your business and reduce costs, whilst delivering: • Fully agile desktop and application delivery to any device • Holistic business continuity solutions • Reduced carbon emissions • Simplified infrastructure management • Rich end user experience

Contact us on

or email

0161 848 4315 virtualisation@cetus-solutions.com www.cetus-solutions.com

IP EXPO E is ripe for this new spotlight; according to research conducted by IP EXPO, security is intrinsically linked to other decisions delegates are making about their IT infrastructures.

Nearly half of this year’s pre-registered attendees have highlighted that security is one of their key interests and a highly important reason for attending IP EXPO. They will not be disappointed. When IP EXPO 2011 opens its doors at Earls Court in London on 19 October, the latest innovations will be showcased from more than 250 exhibitors from the worlds of security, cloud, storage, wireless, virtualisation, data centres and IP. Attendees can explore the impact security has on developing IT infrastructure and discuss the latest tools and procedures being developed to meet the challenges posed by these disparate, yet interconnected, technology areas.

KEY ISSUES IP EXPO’s Security and Governance Theatre will be dedicated to the topics of governance and risk management. As usual at IP EXPO, the industry leaders will address the key issues of the day. For example, Chris Brown, director of NetWitness EMEA Operations, RSA, the security division of EMC, will discuss how to detect hacking threats before they become declared incidents. But there are 12 seminar theatres at this year’s IP EXPO, and the Security and Governance Theatre is not the only one that will have a focus on security. Over in the cloud seminars, for example, Julian Lloyd, VP Cloud Advisory Services at Virtustream, will be presenting ‘Security in the Cloud or Pie in the Sky?’ Lloyd’s seminar is only one of the many that will explore IT security in the light of other technology areas such as cloud, virtualisation, storage and wireless.

HOW TECHNOLOGY WORKS TOGETHER IP EXPO isn’t just about security. The UK’s only end-to-end infrastructure show brings together all the major players (such as Cisco,

EMC, HP, Microsoft, VMware, Vodafone) and emerging start-ups from all aspects of IT in a two-day event encompassing an exhibition, seminars, workshops, technology labs and panel discussions. Highlights include the VMware Partner Zone, Citrix Partner Village, the Microsoft Partner Village and Cisco Partner Zone. Visitors can get a hands-on view of new technologies in interactive lab sessions and save valuable time by conducting months worth of desk research in just one or two days.

This year IP EXPO has extended its popular programme of seminars, workshops and panel sessions, adding greater interactivity, more space and easier access to refreshments between seminars. Visitors can interact with over 250 vendors on the show floor and in 12 seminar theatres, four hands-on labs and a keynote theatre. This year’s keynote will include one of the most famous names in IT – a true legend of the IT world. Combined, IP EXPO delivers a huge programme of over 240 seminar sessions, all available for free.

There will be plenty to see, with more than 250 suppliers preparing to display new and existing systems at the show. More importantly, there will also be plenty to do, with a comprehensive schedule of practical lab sessions on networking, virtualisation and cloud, and expert demonstrations of how real systems can be deployed in real-time. Altogether, IP EXPO is an essential element of benchmarking the industry.

Its schedule of more than 240 seminars in 12 theatres promises to deliver this year’s most comprehensive programme of quality-controlled and educational IT events. It is an un-missable event for the UK’s chief technology officers, IT architects, and all who work with them. L FOR MORE INFORMATION Registration is now open for IP EXPO, 19–20 October, London’s Earls Court 2. Register for your free place now at www.ipexpo.co.uk/gt

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IP EXPO launches smart phone app To enhance its customer experience programme, IP EXPO has launched a mobile phone application called MY VISIT. The application, which supports all major smart phone operating systems (including Android, BlackBerry and iPhone), is a practical tool and a social sharing platform all wrapped into one.

The app helps visitors plan their time at the event and helps speakers and exhibitors stay in touch with visitors and gather feedback. It includes features such as: • A complete event guide including details on all 240+ seminar sessions • A personalised scheduling facility • Maps of the exhibition floor and venue • A built-in QR code reader • Sharing tools for users to share content including speaker profiles and links to their seminar sessions • A feedback tool – app users can vote on their favourite seminar sessions • A MY VISIT tool that enables users to bookmark and quickly access sessions, notes, exhibitors and other information Download the application today at www.ipexpo.co.uk/mobile

MDNX is working towards the Public Services Networks (PSN) MDNX has been working closely with the Cabinet Office to become a Direct Network Service Provider (DNSP) and is taking every relevant step to ensure its compliance to PSN, meaning that it is rigorously checked and approved against the government’s due-diligence criteria for providing managed network services and cloud computing infrastructure solutions.

MDNX runs some of the most technically challenging, rapidly changing and demanding data networks in the UK and focuses on adding value to businesses and government through its independence, operational transparency and Real Support programme.

The difference between MDNX and other providers is that MDNX is an independent carrier integrator not a network operator,

which means it designs networks by integrating all of the major carrier infrastructure and technology solutions available in the UK into its Core Integration Facility.

So, unlike its competitors, MDNX is able to create more commercially compelling network designs and technically rich solutions using a mix of infrastructure and technologies from all of the carriers, not just one, providing much more flexibility and choice.

MDNX has extensive experience with designing and delivering solutions for the private and public sector. It has a

number of large multi-million pound contracts already in existence and is heavily engaged with customers in defining their PSN strategic roll-out.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Tel: 0800 107 700 enquiries@mdnx.com www.mdnx.com

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Ex HI BI IN TI T O ER N N AN AT d IO CO NA NF L ER EN

CE

Follow @OnlineInfo_expo #online11

ONLINE INFORMATION 2011 Join thousands of visitors from around the world and take the opportunity to discover new suppliers; discuss and negotiate new deals with existing providers and find out about the new products and services they are launching.

Join us in our new venue, the National Hall, Olympia for: n More than 150 international exhibitors displaying

a wide range of cutting edge products, services and technologies n A free educational seminar programme which

includes sessions on Content Management, Enterprise Search, Business and Legal Information, STM Information, ePublishing & eBooks, Library Management and Social Media Marketing plus information masterclasses, career development talks and independent case-studies

Online Information 2011 covers

n The Online Information Conference runs alongside

the exhibition. Learn from our expert speakers on the hot topics of the day including opening keynotes from Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist and Rachel Botsman, Author of ‘What’s Mine is Yours – The Rise of Collaborative Consumption’

For full information or to register for FREE exhibition entry visit www.online-information.co.uk OFFIcIal ShOw PublIcatIOnS

SuPPORtEd by

GlObal buSInESS InFORmatIOn FORum SPOnSOR

EuROPEan lIbRaRIanS thEatRE PaRtnER

Xml PavIlIOn SPOnSOR

lEGal InFORmatIOn SPOnSOR

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GARTNER SYMPOSIUM/ITXPO

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CIOS AND SENIOR IT STAFF GATHER AT GARTNER EVENTS

With Gartner’s Symposium/ITxpo season now underway, hundreds of CIOs, IT executives and senior analysts are gathering at locations across the world. The programme will culminate this November with over 500 major technology vendors exhibiting their latest solutions at the Barcelona showcase Gartner Symposium/ITxpo season has started.

The global IT consultant’s initiative has already visited Cape Town (August 23-25), and will follow with events taking place in Tokyo (October 3-5), Orlando (October 1620), Sao Paulo (25-27 October), Barcelona (November 7-10), the Gold Coast (November 14-17) and Mumbai (November 21-23).

Collectively, Gartner says the events are ‘the most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT Executives’ and feature keynotes from leading CEOs and innovators, hundreds of sessions spanning the depth and breadth of IT, and the opportunity to consult with analysts. Additionally, the symposium and ITxpo also provide invaluable networking opportunities with leading IT solutions providers and industry peers.

Hundreds of Gartner analysts worldwide will be presenting their latest insight and advice on the current and future state of the IT industry.

More than 500 major technology vendors will be exhibiting their latest solutions on the ITxpo show floor. And 20,000 CIOs and senior IT executives are en route to one of seven venues around the globe.

“There is no other similar annual CIO gathering in the world that offers so many sessions, analysts and CIOs in one setting,” said Debra Logan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, and the event’s chair.

Gartner Symposium/ITxpo offers independent, unbiased and proprietary insight from Gartner analysts. Its Executive Program (EXP) also offers the largest CIO community in the world with 4,400 CIOs. Gartner has an unprecedented access to CIOs all over the world, and access to so many and so regularly is unparalleled.

“It is truly a must-attend event for CIOs and senior IT executives,” Logan said.

RE-IMAGINE IT: LEADING FROM THE FRONT This year’s theme at Symposium/ITxpo is ‘Reimagine IT.’ “In 2010, we focused on making the successful transition from recovery to growth. Twelve months later the challenges for IT leadership are even greater,” said Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president at Gartner, and global head of Gartner Research.

“It is about how CIOs and IT executives exploit technologies for growth opportunity,

and how they re-imagine IT as a capability for their organisation to accelerate that growth.

“It is also about how they capture the attention and interest of customers through IT, the citizens, the employees and how they deal with competitors in the economic environment they are in. Therefore CIOs and IT executives should be very focused on the opportunities that technology drives.”

CIO PROGRAMME There will also be a special programme for CIOs. The CIO Programme at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is designed based on feedback from more than 1,500 CIOs and includes analyst presentations, problemsolving workshops and meaningful exchange within the CIO community. In a format specifically requested by CIOs, the agenda offers a rare opportunity to share real-world experiences with their peers while experiencing the proven value of Gartner advice and insight.

In addition to the IT role agendas and the CIO Programme there are also industryfocused tracks, which include a wide variety of sessions aligned to the particular challenges and opportunities faced by vertical industries, with real-life examples from the following sectors: energy and utilities, financial services and banking, government and public sector, healthcare, higher education, insurance and manufacturing.

For the government/public sector-focused track, the agenda will feature more than 40 sessions from workshops, roundtables and plenary sessions. These will include guidance focusing on how to exploit social media across and within the public sector; how to select the most appropriate sourcing alternatives; how to significantly reduce IT infrastructure and operations costs, and how to explore mobile collaboration.

In addition, the programme has integrated big trends causing a profound shift for the future of information technology, mobile, social, cloud and context.

“On the topic of cloud,” Sondergaard said, “we will discuss where customers take cloud, how do they deal with the challenges from the technology perspective, and how do they deal with the aspects that are both legal and legislative. We will also explore social computing, how it will impact the way we do business, how it supports the growth of

business, and how we deploy it inside the IT organisation going forward. They will also talk about mobile technologies, the frontier of IT, and how it is turning IT upside down.”

MASTERMIND INTERVIEW KEYNOTES Gartner analysts will be joined on stage by high-profile keynote guests and undisputed leaders in their field. Three CIO lunch keynotes will also take place. These will be delivered by Phil Pavitt, CIO and director general of change, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Jonathan Zittrain, professor of Law at Harvard Law School and cofounder of the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, and Brian Wong, founder of FollowFormation and CEO at www.kiip.me The conference will also include The Gartner analyst opening keynote which will explore what it means to re-imagine IT and leadership to drive business success.

The keynote will identify a changed world where advanced technology lies in the hands of every individual – customers, employees and competitors. It will say that we stand at a critical point – a time to reinvent IT leadership.

In IT’s postmodern role, users are creators as well as consumers. Business leads technology strategy and customers drive product plans. Innovation occurs not just in closed environments, but openly. Organisations will gain a competitive advantage if they seek the signals and take action.

ITXPO SHOW FLOOR Gartner says the ITxpo show floor offers exclusive access to some of the world’s leading technology and service providers.

With more than 85 IT exhibitors expected at Barcelona Symposium/ITxpo 2011, it provides a unique opportunity for attendees to assess the vendor landscape and engage face to face with exhibitors while away from the distractions of the office. Many come with future projects in mind to have meaningful discussions and identify technology providers for follow-up.

ITxpo takes place between November 7-10, 2011, CCIB (Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona), Spain. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.gartner.com/eu/symposium

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ICT Leadership

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

COST-EFFECTIVE WORKING

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IT

Over the past year, O2 has engaged local government IT departments in a consultation exercise that could help to shape the future of IT service provision against a backdrop of financial constraint Nowadays, ICT is the lifeblood of any organisation. In local government, a balance needs to be struck between a successful ICT transformation programme and fulfilling the political agenda at a local level. In the main, ICT departments are being asked to do more for less, but they appear ready to rise to the challenge.

Between July 2010 and May 2011, the O2 Local Government Futures Forum took part in over 14 senior board level sessions, and generated a wealth of individual insight from 150 local government executives. When complete, the extensive, four-stage programme

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aims to help the participating authorities create a vision for making better use of their current ICT infrastructure, resources and skills against a financially challenging background.

The first phase of the research involved each forum bringing IT service staff and representatives of the IT department’s internal customers together with a small team of O2 facilitators. The issues raised have a wide significance across the whole of local government ICT. Information gathered from the forums shows that local government is full of ideas about how to deliver more cost-effective E

ICT Leadership

IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

CASE STUDY – Harrogate Borough Council

Neil Prior

E ways of working, and wants to move from a reactive position to becoming proactive in the deployment of new technologies.

The exercise revealed the critical importance of leadership and the need to invest in modern infrastructure, but also that the challenge of less resource can lead to more innovative ways of providing services. Indeed, utilising and getting the best out of technologies currently available echoes a constructive approach to the difficulties facing many local authorities, and will lead to the smarter use of new technologies as they emerge.

Neil Prior, Head of O2’s Local Government Futures Forum, stated: “During our insight gathering phase of the programme, what became apparent is that there is a real desire to drive innovation and transformation in local government using IT. We met passionate and innovative people who want to lead this change and see many collaborative benefits of being part of the Forum.”

PERCEPTIONS OF ICT A report into the exercise by Kable suggests that ICT department’s skills are often overlooked, or in some cases not understood by the wider local authority, and that a higher level of understanding is required to help drive organisational change. Many participants expressed concern about the potential role of ICT being undervalued, when clearly they believe that ICT can do more to help local authorities achieve efficiencies, support flexible working and further engage with citizens.

It suggests a fundamental need to develop active partnerships with external stakeholders in order to address doubts and issues in relation to the perception of the ICT service.

Another priority is to strengthen internal relationships with local authority leaders and the wider public sector. The local authorities involved in the exchange conveyed the encouraging message that ICT departments are willing to rise to the challenges presented by the financial situation. The reports are full of positive suggestions that would help their authorities to run more efficiently, deliver services with fewer resources, and engage more positively with citizens.

Mark Adams-Wright, CIO at Suffolk County

Harrogate Borough Council is one of the largest shire districts in England, forming an integral part of the Leeds City Region. Under its ‘New Ways of Working’ programme, the authority needed to explore how flexible working could save money and improve working practices.

A pilot scheme to identify the business benefits of flexible working across the authority was carried out using O2 technology. Mike Kenworthy, Director of ICT at Harrogate, said: “We’re satisfied with the O2 mobile service we have, and we knew they were interested in working more closely with local authorities. It was a natural fit because O2 were prepared to be flexible and learn with us.”

Using its experienced consultants, O2 recommended the parameters of the trial.

During the six-week pilot, 30 staff were provided with a range of devices and applications and were asked to provide feedback on their suitability for the activities they perform. It identified numerous areas where flexible working would reduce both costs and staff time, and the authority, according to Kenworthy, is already implementing some of the findings: “The pilot gave our team a clear understanding as to what’s available and suitable.”

For example, local authority appointed arboreal teams can quickly identify

diseases by sending images to an expert in the office. In practical terms, this means that days of work can be completed in a few hours, reducing the need to close off roads and disrupt traffic.

Kenworthy estimates that the capital cost of the devices is covered in about two months. He says: “Cost is important, but it’s more important that your suppliers understand where you’re going.”

Flexible working can help to improve customer service considerably, principally by enabling local authority workers to assist customers with other services at any point of contact. Kenworthy explains: “Someone out and about with a mobile device could order services not necessarily related to what they do, for example an Environmental Health Officer at someone’s house could also arrange a large item collection, which is another department. It all adds up to great service.”

HBC is committed to taking advantage of technology to ensure that it is as efficient as possible, in a way that works in practical terms for its employees and citizens alike.

Mike Kenworthy concludes: “There is a whole area where we can see savings but actually the key for us is improving the service. Working with O2 has built our awareness of the enormous potential of moving to more mobile delivery.”

“The facilitated LGFF workshop at Reading Borough Council really helped the Corporate Management team focus on what the role of ICT should be within an ambitious, modernising Council” Mark Ibbitson, IT Director, Reading Council Council, commented: “During difficult financial times, the O2 LGFF initiative has given us a framework for the introspective assessment of the present and future that we really needed to help shape our vision and strategy. The O2 approach has brought true partnership to life and the joint sharing of the Suffolk County Council journey makes the LGFF a key foundation for the realisation of a truly flexible working approach for us.”

Mike Ibbitson, IT Director at Reading Borough Council, said the Forum helped to provide vision and direction. He stated: “The facilitated LGFF workshop at Reading Borough Council really helped the Corporate Management team focus on what the role of ICT should be within an ambitious, modernising Council and where we have strengths and weaknesses. It also gave a vision and direction for the ICT professionals

aiming to step up to the challenges of future work. The work has been informative and immensely useful in providing a focus on the technology and business relationships which are going to be essential to transforming our services over the next 3 to 5 years.”

Neil Prior concluded: “As O2 launches Joined Up Business, this has real relevance to local government in its most challenging phase in modern British history. We believe that the Local Government Futures Forum, coupled with O2’s leadership in the evolution of the industry, offers real benefits to local government as it searches for the answers to today’s challenges” L FOR MORE INFORMATION Web: www.o2.co.uk/enterprise E-mail: neil.prior@o2.com Twitter: @neilprior_o2uk

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Twickenham Rugby Stadium on the 21st November IT Compliance and SAM Conference

The Complete SAM & Licence Compliance Package • Software & Tools • Help, Advice & Support • Training Courses & Seminars • Professional Services

FAST ANNUAL CONFERENCE

WORKING WITH THE IT CROWD

The growing dependence on IT and the need for more cooperation between IT departments and the rest of the business will be central themes at this year’s FAST Annual Conference This year’s FAST Annual Conference will take place at the impressive Twickenham Stadium on 21 November. Specifically targeted towards directors and CEOs as well as IT professionals, key topics will include the need for more cooperation between business and the IT department through collaboration and teamwork.

Looking at the relevance of the growing dependence on IT and its central role within organisations, the conference will also focus on security and costs being high level issues. Software Asset Management (SAM) and IT Compliance will also figure highly in the discussions.

Delegates will also have access to an exhibition area separate from the conference programme, with products and demonstrations from industry experts on hand to advise and inform participants about the trends and latest offerings in the marketplace.

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS As well as interesting keynote presentations, registered attendees will be able to attend two separate streams – either on finance and business, or technology and soft skills – both hosted by experienced industry speakers.

The opening keynote will be taken by Ross

to The Accountant, Cook will be talking about how the internet has fundamentally changed the way consumers and business use information. In financial services, decisions made seconds ahead of others can mean saving or gaining millions. Cook looks at the digital paradigm for banking sectors.

CLOUD COMPUTING Doug Clark, head of Cloud Computing at IBM UK will cover an overview of Cloud, its disruptive significance as a gamechanger for business and IT leaders alike.

What are the different types of cloud, their suitability and role in your business?

What strategic opportunities and benefits can cloud bring? How secure is cloud and how to implement cloud? Clark will answer these questions and more.

Chris Rawson, former CIO and managing director of Exvine will looking at the challenges of a CIO. Exvine is a social business software company focused on providing collaboration tools to the Insurance market. Prior to this role, Rawson was CIO for a number of household insurance companies, and during his presentation he will be providing us with

Jackson explores the lessons refereeing can provide business people, from handling disgruntled coaches to post-match drinking etiquette.

Wilson, Chairman IOD, Berkshire. Nothing beats being part of a great team. It has been said that true teamwork is the rarest, most exhilarating and most productive human activity possible. Among other things, Wilson will share with us his views on the importance and value of teamwork, of managing change in an ever challenging and changing business environment and of communication. In the process he will touch on some of the ‘nuggets’ that he has discovered over the years in his own pursuit of excellence in business.

Andy Cook, group editor of VRL Financial News will take the second session. VRL Financial News is the leading market intelligence provider for the financial services industry and as group editor overseeing 10 key financial titles from Retail Banker International

an insight of what it’s like to be a CIO for large FTSE global companies, including the struggles and challenges CIOs face in today’s fast paced and demanding business world.

SOCIAL MEDIA Frank Joshi from Mvine will be speaking about putting people back into business – creating online environments that reflect and enhance real-world business relationships.

He will also discuss the development of social media, the need to control your message while it is out in the cloud, and security – identity management, compliance, data protection and extending information sharing beyond the company firewall.

In the afternoon, Kirstin Furber, HR Director for BBC Worldwide will discuss gender roles

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in the workplace. In the UK, women are expected to own 60 per cent of all personal wealth by 2025 and a recent McKinsey study found that feminine leadership behaviours’ enhance corporate performance. How, as managers of the future do you seize this commercial opportunity? How do you exploit the unique skills both women and men bring to the boardroom? This session will not only make you laugh but it will leave you with some practical tips of how these two genders can work together.

IDENTITY MANAGEMENT Chris Hurst, head of security services, global banking and financial markets, IdM and Federation for BT plc will take a session on identity management. Hurst is a specialist in security and identity management and he will be discussing the importance of identity management in collaborative environments and how best for organisations to manage the identity of individuals within particular groups.

Hurst was responsible for setting up a safe and secure 40,000 strong interactive diversity network for British Telecom (BT) known as its herecomeseveryone.net service.

Following this, Mark Jackson, PR professional and rugby referee will discuss people management. What has running around after 30 well-above-average sized men got to do with business? Mark Jackson explores the lessons refereeing can provide business people, from handling disgruntled coaches to post-match drinking etiquette.

Peter Hubbard, senior IT service management consultant for Pink Elephant will discuss SAM and best practice. Hubbard was so well received at last year’s conference that we have invited him back to complete this stream and talk to us about SAM and best practice. Hubbard boasts many years’ experience as a senior IT service management consultant and will be able to talk to us in detail about the latest trends impacting the ITSM industry, the recent update to ITIL 2011 edition and many other topics in this area.

The closing keynote will be taken by Ben Hunt-Davis, Olympic gold medal winner. HuntDavis went from an Olympic Athlete who just could not get the results he wanted, to a gold medal winner at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

He is now an experienced personal development coach and business entrepreneur and he will be talking about how his early experiences have shaped his business career.

As well as informative presentations, delegates can access the exhibition fair during break times to network with fellow delegates and see those companies exhibiting who will be showcasing their products with demonstrations, and converse with industry experts who will be on hand to advise and inform participants about the trends and latest offerings in the marketplace. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.fast-compliance.co.uk

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Is your organisation copying illegally?

CLA licenses organisations to copy legally from millions of books, magazines, journals, periodicals and digital publications.

If your organisation does not hold a CLA licence you and your employees will have to obtain permission from the copyright owner (the relevant author, artist or publisher) for any copying, scanning or digital re-use of any published information protected by copyright (books, journals, magazines etc.), beyond statutory exceptions unless a direction permission from the copyright owner is in place.

To apply for a licence please contact Andrew Greenan: e-mail andrew.greenan@cla.co.uk or call 020 7400 3137

ONLINE INFORMATION

ONLINE OFFERINGS

Online Information Exhibition and Conference takes place 29 November to 1 December at Olympia, London and brings together thought leaders from around the world to face the opportunities and challenges of being an information professional The exhibition attracts thousands of people from all over the globe while boasting more than 150 international exhibitors. An extensive free educational seminar programme will be situated within the exhibition in a new hall at Olympia – The National Hall, along with a variety of inspiring and stimulating show floor features designed to centre on key sectors. All promise to be popular visitor attractions within this year’s event including; the XML Pavilion sponsored

by Mark Logic, the ePublishing Zone, the Library Management Zone and the European Librarian’s Theatre supported by EBSCO. The Global Business Forum sponsored by Bureau Van DIJK and the legal Information seminar stream is sponsored by LexisNexis.

EVENT FEATURE FOCUS The XML Pavilion brings together a range of technologies and will have expert exhibitors on hand to explain the different aspects of creating and publishing XML for ebooks, print or web. Following the success of the Library

Management Zone 2010, this area of the exhibition will once again host exhibitors displaying Library Systems, Library Security and RFID Solutions. There will also be a seminar programme covering topics of interest to the librarian, information professional, content manager and IT manager.

CONTENT FOCUS Content Management and Enterprise 2.0 are an integral part of the Online Information event, with visitors consistently placing enterprise and web content management at the top of their corporate agenda. IT

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professionals interested in enterprise or web content management, classification and taxonomies, content publishing, digital asset management, and intranets, will find up to the minute information on all the latest technological advances and latest systems.

Exhibitors providing content management solutions include: AcumenMobile, Antenna House, Inc., Aries Systems Corporation, ASLIB, Atex, Datamatics Global Services Ltd, Eduserv, Emerald Group Publishing, European Union - Publications Office, Infotrieve GmbH, ITS: Info Technology Supply Ltd, LibroCS Ltd, MarkLogic, Mekon, Netsight, Planman Technologies, ProQuest, Sourcesense, Squiz, SydneyPLUS, TEMIS, TERMINALFOUR, and Thomson Reuters.

Search solutions also feature strongly within the exhibition. This area of the show looks at the latest developments in enterprise search including solutions for text mining, competitive intelligence, taxonomy/ontology management, Bayesian search and the semantic web. E

Digital engagement is about changing the mentality of government so that we are driven by citizen’s needs. Information professionals know that information doesn’t equal power; rather, information sharing amplifies power.

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Minimise the risk of copyright infringement

E-mail hell to e-mail heaven in 60 minutes

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) licenses organisations to copy legally from millions of books, magazines, journals, periodicals and digital publications.

CLA licences provide a costeffective way to minimise the risk associated with using and reproducing copyright materials.

If your organisation does not hold a CLA licence, you and your employees will have to obtain permission from the copyright owner (the relevant author, artist or publisher) for any copying, scanning or digital re-use of any published information protected by copyright (books, journals, magazines etc.),

Research shows the average person wastes an entire month every year on unnecessary e-mails – time they should actually be spending on their real work.

We have developed a revolutionary process that takes just 60 minutes to produce remarkable and consistent results. This process is not only guaranteed and proven to give you back wasted time, but also cut e-mail traffic, reduce e-mail stress and get people talking again.

This has already been implemented by hundreds of organisations across the country with a return on investment that starts in under three days.

beyond statutory exceptions unless direct permission from the copyright owner is in place.

The CLA is a non-profit organisation so all the money they collect in licence fees is distributed to the copyright owners after their costs have been deducted. In the last financial year (2010-11), CLA distributed £20.3m to authors, £35.3m to publishers and £4.8m to visual artists.

FOR MORE INFORMATION To apply for a licence please contact Andrew Greenan at andrew.greenan@cla.co.uk or call 020 7400 3143.

Our case studies show how we have transformed the use of email in every organisation we have worked with, starting to put an end to e-mail hell.

In 60 minutes you can have all the benefits of time management, stress management, effective communication – and learn to regain control.

FOR MORE INFORMATION To receive a free case-study and seven key tips from the e-mail experts, call Bob Hallewell on 020 76330050, e-mail revolution@expertmessaging.com or visit www.expert-messaging.com

Maximise the return on your digital investment Matraxis delivers digital marketing solutions based on an integrated analytics framework across all digital channels including website, social media, e-mail and live chat. This enables you to maximise the return on your digital investment by acquiring more visitors, increasing the number of conversions and securing visitor retention.

Organisations are continually expanding their web presence beyond the website to many digital channels across millions of blogs, video-sharing sites and other social media venues.

Through understanding how visitors are interacting with your digital assets across these unified platforms, future marketing strategies are accurately shaped and executed.

With a history in business intelligence, management information and data warehousing, Matraxis has a wealth of experience providing product advice and

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GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | Volume 10.6

implementation services across many organisations. In particular, Matraxis understands the public sector, having delivered solutions to many organisations including government departments, agencies and local authorities.

We work in carefully planned programmes to support our clients in the shaping and execution of their analytics solutions, to support key business decisions with accurate, clear and timely information.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit www.matraxis.co.uk/ gtech.htm to register to visit us at the Online Information Show, Olympia [Stand 326], from 29 November to 1 December.

ONLINE INFORMATION E EXHIBITION SEMINAR PROGRAMME The free educational exhibition seminar programme offers visitors the chance to hear from some of the best in the industry.

There is a wide range of seminars to choose from covering Global Business Information, Legal Information, STM Information and ePublishing Solutions. Also covered are Library Management, Content Management, Enterprise Search and Social Media Marketing.

Information masterclasses and career development talks will also be staged as part of the programme. In Theatre 1, on Tuesday 29 November, a seminar on ‘The legal services act and its impact on information professionals’ will be presented by Amanda McKenzie, head of information services, Olswang. Also on the 29 November is the seminar entitled ‘Effectively using mobile apps for learning in large organisations’ by Naomi Norman, director of learning and Marcus Boyes, head of mobile learning, Epic. On 30 November a session entitled ‘Gamification for e-learning 2.0 – lessons from the criminal justice system’ will be taken by Jonathan Bishop, Chartered IT Professional Fellow, Jonathan Bishop Ltd. On 1 December Peter Griffiths, independent information specialist, will present a seminar entitled ‘What are you worth in cost-conscious times? Demonstrating the value of information services and information professionals’.

On the 30 November in Theatre 2 check out ‘Ten top tips for using the web to support competitive intelligence primary research’, by Arthur Weiss, managing director, Aware and ‘How to optimise your online market research strategy’ presented by Clare Eggar, corporate research specialist, and Shadi Noujaim, academic research specialist, ReportLinker.

Must attend sessions in Theatre 3 on the 29 November include ‘How to manage your online reputation’ by Luke BrynleyJones, Founder and CEO, Our Social Times.

A session on ‘EURES Online Job Days – how social media can contribute to connecting employers and jobseekers all over Europe in an open and cost-efficient way’ will be presented by Henric Stjernquist and Pascale Woodruff, European Commission.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS The Online Information Conference will run alongside the exhibition in the Olympia Conference Centre. The theme of this year’s conference is Information and Collaboration: Meeting the challenges of a mobile generation. 2011 will bring some interesting keynote speakers including Craig Newmark of Craigslist and Rachel Botsman, Author, ‘What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption’. The conference features ‘mix and match’ seminar tracks each day so that delegates can customise the programme to suit their individual priorities and interests, the headline options are: • Going mobile: Information and Knowledge on the move • Social Media: Exploiting

knowledge in networks • Building a framework for the future of the information profession • New frontiers in information management SEARCH AND INFORMATION DISCOVERY Sessions within this framework are many and varied. Here we have selected just some of what promises to be a fascinating insight into issues faced by information professionals day in and day out: A highlight of Day One is: Track 2, Social Media: Exploiting knowledge in networks with the session, ‘The Evolution Of Social Media- Where To Next?’ This section features a presentation called ‘The Knowledge Hub - A Single Window Into Improvement And Innovation’ by Stephen

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University, Wales, Peter Griffiths, Writer and Consultant, UK, Ceri Hughes, Director, Global Knowledge Business Leader, KPMG, UK, Kate Mason, Head of Information Services, Skills Funding Agency, UK and Gwenda Sippings, Head of Information, Linklaters, UK. Day Two Track 1 will feature ‘Mobile Apps For Community Engagement’ presented by Ake Nygren, Project Manager, Stockholm Public Library and Mace Ojala, Project Designer, Turku City Library, Finland.

Track 2 will see John Sheridan, Head of Legislation Services, The National Archives present ‘Social Media Protocols, Policies And Legislation Who Says? Legislation And Provenance On The Web’ Day Three Track 3 will feature ‘In The Thick Of It: Why Information Professionals Should

The XML Pavilion brings together a range of technologies and will have expert exhibitors on hand to explain the different aspects of creating and publishing XML for ebooks, print or web Dale, this year’s Conference Chairman.

Also within Track 2 on the afternoon of Day One is the session ‘Winning Social Media Strategies’ during which Tony Lockett, head of Web Communication, DG for Regional Policy, European Commission, Belgium will speak on The European Union’s Regional Policy, Social Media and on-line Collaboration.

This will be followed by Alexis Castillo-Soto, programme director, Department for Education who will cover ‘Creating A Collaborative Community – Delivering Transformation At The Department For Education’.

Imogen Levy, online editor, Westminster Abbey, also joins the Winning social media strategies line up with ‘How Westminster Abbey Created World-Wide Audience Engagement Around The Royal Wedding With Online And Social Media’.

THE VALUE OF INFORMATION During Track 3 on Day One ‘Building A Framework For The Information Profession Of Tomorrow’ the ‘Interactive Session: The Essential Competence – Demonstrating Value’ will provide insights into practical approaches for demonstrating the value of information and knowledge services in a number of sectors, including health, law, government, academia and the business sector. Audience participation before, during and after the session will help capitalise on the wider learning of others.

The Session Moderators are Sandra Ward, Beaworthy Consulting, UK and Ian Wooler, Director, IDW, UK. The Panel comprises: Pauline Blagdon, Library Services Manager, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, Rebecca Davies, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Head, Information Services, Aberystwyth

Be At The Heart Of Government Digital Engagement Activity’, fronted by Lesley Thomson, Knowledge Manager, Scottish Government. Lesley has been a civil servant longer than she has been a librarian, which probably makes her unique in the government information profession. Her current focus is digital engagement, particularly the skills that are required of civil servants in order for them to fully participate. She herself was an early adopter of social media and has been helping to develop a digital engagement ‘toolkit’ for Scottish Government staff.

Lesley says: “Digital engagement is about changing the mentality of government so that we are driven by citizen’s needs.

Information professionals know that information doesn’t equal power; rather, information sharing amplifies power.”

Lesley also explains why she is looking forward to this year’s event: “There’s a lot I’m looking forward to at Online 2011. I’m sure both keynotes will be interesting and thought provoking. But the Wednesday afternoon session on ‘community management’ will be a particular highlight, as it’s something I’m passionate about. I’m really looking forward to hearing more about Digitalkoot in particular.”

In addition to giving delegates the opportunity to learn from internationally renowned speakers and keep up to date with the latest innovations and developments the conference also provides a unique opportunity to develop new skills in the training workshops and make lasting connections quickly in our speed networking sessions and Knowledge Cafe. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.online-information.co.uk/conference

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e of ry ag or nt ect py ve co li e: va s De uid Ad blic ta e o ge vic ’s g int /pu To Ser ger ty om e na si .c th Ma ver bill Ad orn g in . h rn ww Tu t w si vi

Your service desk needs you The power to transform service delivery is in your hands.

In the quest to deliver improved customer satisfaction, while continuing to deliver cost savings, every public sector organisation needs leaders with exceptional qualities.

If you are looking at the opportunities and challenges around: – Shared IT services and consolidated service desks – Service desk cost reduction and enhanced efficiencies – Cloud and SaaS – Doing more with less Hornbill can help you. To find out how visit www.hornbill.com/publicsector to get a copy of the Service Delivery Manager’s guide: Turning Adversity into Advantage Strategies to deliver the optimised service desk.

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itSMF CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

COUNTDOWN TO LONDON 2011

Top reasons to attend itSMF UK Conference 2011 Best practice guidance

Now in its 20th year, itSMF UK Conference and Exhibition is the annual event for IT Service Management professionals, offering education, networking and an awards dinner all under one roof itSMF UK’s 2011 Annual Conference and Exhibition will be returning to the Novotel London West in Hammersmith on 7-8 November. “Moving the conference to London last year was a very positive step,” commented itSMF UK chief executive Ben Clacy. “The venue was welcomed not just by our UK delegates by also by the large number of overseas attendees, for whom the venue is a short hop along the M4 from Heathrow.”

Once again the programme of 40-plus educational sessions will be divided into topics to help delegates find the most appropriate content for their needs. Alongside the more practical experience-based sessions in the Lessons Learned, Softer Skills and Tips and Techniques streams, there’s a range of specially selected topics as well as interactive workshops and sponsor-led presentations.

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Learning from industry leaders Inspirational keynotes Best value consultancy

CASE STUDIES As always, some of the most valuable content in the agenda comes from members’ case-studies.

Brian Crighton from Tesco Bank talks about his experience in building up an ITIL V3-based service management capability from a team of one in 2009 to a 50-strong department delivering a service capability with the right people tools and processes in place. E

New solutions to familiar problems Gain hands-on experience Catch up with industry developments Be part of an international community Recognise industry achievements

It’s the delegates that really make the conference.

And whether they are newcomers or regulars catching up with old friends, we can offer them a very warm welcome at the itSMF UK Conference.

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itSMF CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION E Clare Hubbard from the Met Office discusses the global MyOceans project which led to her receiving itSMF UK’s Service Management Champion award last year.

Deepak Sekhri from Deutsche Bank (another 2010 award winner) discusses the provision of service continuity and the organisation’s three-pronged strategy to assure operational excellence, enhance the resilience of the bank’s applications and encompass high availability.

Meanwhile, Andrew Binnian and Dave Caldwell reveal their tips for prioritising and driving ITSM transformation to support business change and improve effectiveness at Heineken UK, and Martin Neville of the Audit Commission explains how effective supplier management can make a real difference to service delivery.

These user stories are complemented by a variety of sessions from ITSM luminaries such as Ivor Macfarlane of IBM who covers a session asking ‘can IT people be service managers?; Vawns Guest and Peter Hubbard from Pink Elephant, who will discuss change versus release management; and Karen Brusch from CGI, who leads an interactive session about setting up a service catalogue. There are sessions on Green ITSM, planning network support for the London 2012 Olympics, and implementing ITIL processes in 15 countries, as well as updates on ITIL 2011 Edition, ITIL Masters qualification, the ISO/IEC 20000 standard, and the new priSM credentialing scheme. There’s even a session intriguingly titled, ‘Is your information secure? Are you sure? How bad would it be if you were wrong?’ from the masters of information security at GCHQ. All in all, there’s definitely something for everyone in this year’s schedule.

INSPIRATIONAL KEYNOTES Topping and tailing the event, the conference includes keynote presentations from two truly inspirational figures. The opening plenary is given by Baroness Tanni GreyThompson, Britain’s greatest Paralympic athlete with eleven gold medals and six wheelchair marathons under her belt. A

CIOs, Mark is an IT Service Management professional by trade and has been actively involved with ITIL and itSMF since the early 1990s, having been a former chairman of itSMF UK and a BCS examiner. Mark’s highly topical closing plenary is entitled ‘IT Service Management in times of austerity’, and focuses on the issues facing the public sector in times of unprecedented cutbacks, and the likely impact that they will have on service management.

tireless campaigner for social development through sport, Tanni was recently elevated to the cross benches of the House of Lords as a ‘people’s peer’ with special interest in youth, health, sport and disability. Tanni’s strong motivational presentation style will be getting the conference off to a flying start.

The closing presentation will be given by Mark Hall, deputy chief information officer for HM Revenue & Customs. Unusually for

INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENT

THOUGHT PROVOKING TOPICS The conference agenda addresses thoughtprovoking topics to challenge and inform the audience, including subjects such as cloud computing, green service management, and implementing ITIL processes across 15 countries. Similarly, visitors can explore the latest thinking on established processes – change versus release management, incident and problem management, SLM, service catalogue, continual service improvement and service continuity. Whatever issues you are facing, the conference has a session to address your needs. And this year we’re providing an online session picker where you can create your own personalised agenda.

However, not all the sessions at the conference are formal presentations. Visitors can join one of the experiential learning or simulation workshops, essentially a ‘game environment’ for learning about new approaches to IT Service Management in a way that you will remember.

EXHIBITION A quick escalator trip from the conference rooms brings delegates to the exhibition floor, where the ITSM industry’s leading vendors, consultants and trainers are available to discuss the latest tools, techniques and trends.

The exhibition showcases the latest products and services from around 50 service management software, training and consultancy organisations, offers an unparalleled opportunity to network with the conference sponsors and

The opening plenary is given by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain’s greatest Paralympic athlete with eleven gold medals and six wheelchair marathons under her belt. exhibitors, and the opportunity to find out what’s new in the industry.

“We’re very grateful to our sponsors and exhibitors,” commented Clacy, “without whom our conference just wouldn’t be possible in its current form.”

“In the end, it’s the delegates that really make the conference. And whether they are newcomers or regulars catching up with old friends, we can

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As always, the focus of the Conference is the annual ITSM awards dinner, and this year the host will be popular entertainer Lenny Henry. “This is a great opportunity to celebrate commitment, dedication and innovation in service management,” said Ben Clacy, with awards presented for:

Student of the year (ITIL and ISO/IEC 20000) Trainer of the year Project of the year Service Innovation of the year Service Champion of the year Submission of the year The Paul Rappaport Award for Outstanding Contribution to Service Management.

offer them a very warm welcome at the itSMF UK Conference,” he said.

As always, the highlight of the conference is the prestigious annual awards dinner, where the greatest achievements in IT Service Management are highlighted and rewarded.

This year the awards will be presented by popular entertainer Lenny Henry, who will lead the proceedings in his unique style.

As itSMF UK chairman Barry Corless recently commented: “Every year I walk away from our awards ceremony thinking we can’t top that next year. I continue to be proved wrong.”

In today’s economic climate, most people find it hard to free up the time and resources to attend events, but it’s more important than ever before to keep up to speed with industry developments. itSMF UK Conference offers the best possible use of your time, combining the best education and training with the leading ITSM Exhibition and excellent networking, all under one roof. L FOR MORE INFORMATION www.itsmf.co.uk

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COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION Video conferencing, collaboration and communication tools have the potential to make your organisation more efficient, productive and effective. InAVate’s Anna Mitchell asks who is going to take responsibility to make this happen?

The importance of audio visual (AV) technologies is steadily growing for building managers as the implementation of video conferencing (VC) and room booking systems gathers pace. Furthermore the growing inclusion of AV assets as part of a building network is placing these components firmly in the domain of anyone who has responsibility for managing building systems.

There are huge advantages to be gained for facilities managers willing to take responsibility for these systems and incorporate them into overall building management. But in a lot of cases, AV falls into a responsibility gap between IT and facilities management.

Darren Pitt, head of business services of the Southern Region of Saville Audio Visual, believes VC and communications technologies in particular sit well within the responsibilities facilities managers are already familiar with.

“Facilities managers are generally responsible for travel and reducing travel.

They’re generally responsible for an organisation being green. They’re responsible for the catering and the services around a meeting room space and how the rooms are booked and managed. They’re also normally client facing,” he says.

“Obviously AV is becoming a commodity solution that is end-user orientated.

Anyone should be able to use the technology, it shouldn’t rely on an IT level of support. In the world of meeting rooms you want a facilities manager to advise and interface with the users.”

IT MANAGERS It does makes sense for VC and telepresence systems to fall into the domain of an IT department. After all they operate over a network, have huge demands on bandwidth and often interact directly with desktop solutions on PCs and tablet devices. But, there can be a massive conflict of interest here.

Bob Romano, of telepresence and VC vendor Radvision, who are an event partner at the forthcoming xSolutions exhibition says: “You would think the IT manager would be integral [to implementation of VC]. But, in actual fact they tend to think ‘I don’t want anything to with this’. They have a list of applications that they need to support already and there’s security and a whole host of other challenges. The last thing they E

“Obviously AV is becoming a commodity solution that is end-user orientated. Anyone should be able to use the technology, it shouldn’t rely on an IT level of support. In the world of meeting rooms you want a facilities manager to advise and interface with the users.” – Darren Pitt, Saville Audio Visual.

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AUDIO VISUAL E want to do is put another application up and have to support it, particularly an application that takes as much bandwidth as video.”

It’s important to have a management team that has its sights on the massive travel saving, productivity boosting and collaboration enhancing benefits these technologies can bring. An IT department will undoubtedly need to accommodate the solution on a network, or even provide a dedicated network. But the instruction to implement the solution and oversee its deployment or use must come from a department that is already managing meeting room use, productivity, travel and employee wellbeing.

Electrosonic, a global AV integration company with primary UK offices in Dartford, provides ongoing AV services to many large corporations within the UK. Paul Brown, general manager of service at Electrosonic, believes AV is becoming increasingly important in how companies work.

“AV used to be thought of as a projector in a meeting room,” he says. “Now we’re talking a lot more about how companies are utilising communication for results so VC and

for EMEA at Electrosonic, says remote monitoring is gaining prevalence but warns: “It’s not just as easy as monitoring a room.

“An FM company can remote monitor through an IP address and check systems but when there’s a problem in a room how do they react? If your VC system is not connecting or there’s an issue with a product they won’t have that technical knowledge to fault-find and repair. Furthermore the whole point of remote monitoring is to be proactive and act before products fail. Take a projector for example, you can monitor temperature and lamp life and ensure they won’t fail.”

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Resource management software and the products they are talking to are becoming more sophisticated and the information that can be gathered is increasingly in-depth. But, if you don’t understand or know what to do with that information it’s essentially useless.

Owen Ellis, vice president of multimedia at Morgan Stanley, heads up the AV User Group – a forum for AV and VC managers to discuss technology issues, exchange ideas and

But when AV isn’t considered, or falls into that responsibility gap, room aesthetics are often thought of before anything else. And when implementing video conferencing this can be disastrous and will completely waste any investment that is made in the technology. telepresence are becoming very important.

But, the set up of a room needs to be taken into account to provide a quality experience.”

WASTE OF INVESTMENT When AV isn’t considered, or falls into that responsibility gap, room aesthetics are often thought of before anything else.

And when implementing VC this can be disastrous and will completely waste any investment that is made in the technology.

“With an ill-thought out set-up you can’t carry out a good video conference,” illustrates Brown. “You’re only seeing half the room, the microphones are in the wrong place – it’s not effective.”

Installation of AV is only one part of the story. AV assets need to be managed, maintained and replaced. The growth of complete building management systems coupled with an awareness from AV vendors that their products need to sit on and talk to these systems means AV components are increasingly controlled and monitored as part of a complete system that includes HVAC, lighting and security. But problems will arise if AV components are not given the specialist attention they deserve.

Rob Learmouth, service delivery manager

provide support to the AV support industry.

Morgan Stanley’s AV needs are well covered with its dedicated multimedia team that comes under the umbrella of IT. Ellis’ department remains distinct from facilities management but coordinates with the company’s corporate services division, largely through the use of online room booking and scheduling systems. Ellis does see a future where AV technologies become more tightly integrated into building management systems and, in doing so, become increasingly important for facilities managers.

“Facilities managers have been operating building management systems for years; looking at power, lighting, security and alarms etc,” he says. “I think that a lot of corporate companies don’t necessarily want to invest in an independent AV team of their own and they will look to facilities management companies to take on that role.”

Manufacturers such as AMX and Crestron have seen these trends emerging and are providing resource management tools that enable that complete building overview. The challenge now is for facilities managers to use them effectively.

The argument for AV to be considered as a serious and distinct part of building

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management is strong and it’s going to get stronger as utilisation of VC and collaboration tools grows throughout all sizes of business.

And it’s vital to plug that responsibility gap that all too often these systems fall into.

There is a growing awareness among facilities managers that taking ownership these systems and technologies can provide a better and more productive working environment for employees. Of course every corporation is different and, as expected, there are massive variations in the level of expertise that different managers have.

So there are contrasting approaches.

“70 per cent of out work comes from facilities managers. They are predominantly looking after AV equipment within companies,” says Pitt. “And, I think there is room for them to learn more about the technology. Some customers rely on external help to support them on deciding on AV technology but they don’t necessarily have the right skill set to understand what they’re trying to achieve.”

Electrosonic’s Learmouth says he wants to be able to work more closely with facilities management companies: “We know that end clients rely on facilities managers to provide their mechanical engineering, their reception and basically all of their services. AV should be seen by the facilities companies as another string to their bow.

“But sometimes it’s really difficult to find someone within a facilities company that understands AV or can head up and take ownership of it.”

Brown agrees: “AV doesn’t seem to have a home. Facilities managers don’t know about it, a lot of IT departments don’t want to touch it. If you do try and access the network to get into the system a lot of IT departments don’t like it.

“There’s no ownership but there’s an opportunity here for facilities managers to draft in the right people and work with the right people to help them understand AV more. This will undoubtedly provide a better service for their end client.”

REAL BUSINESS BENEFITS The way in which we communicate, collaborate, share information and do business is changing. xSolutions 2011 is the opportunity for you to be inspired, be engaged, be informed and experience powerful communications solutions that translate into real business benefits.

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CHALLENGING THE CYBER THREAT

Steps being taken to counter the threat of cybercrime were examined at the government’s Information Assurance event IA11, which took place in June and featured the first speech on the subject by the government’s new ‘cyberman’ Francis Maude With some two billion internet users and over five billion mobile phone connections, the threat to national security posed by cyber crime is very real, and is growing.

The Rt Hon Francis Maude, Minister for the cabinet Office, identified cyber crime as the greatest threats to the safety of internet users and their assets, highlighting recent attacks on the CIA, the IMF, Citigroup, Sony, Google and Lockheed Martin among others.

“It’s not clear whether these cases signal a new crime wave, or simply that companies are now more confident in admitting data losses,” he said. “But either way they are only the tip of the iceberg.”

Art Gilliland, senior vice president at information security organisation Symantec, provided a video of media reports covering recent cyber attacks in order to demonstrate their scale and sophistication. He said: “We are facing some of the biggest challenges ever seen in the history of Information Assurance. Responding to this challenge is key to the delivery of effective and efficient public sector services.”

NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY PROGRAMME Francis Maude, who had responsibility for cyber security and information assurance added to his ministerial portfolio this summer, reported that strong progress is being achieved by the National Cyber Security Programme.

This has now gone live, with £650 million of new funding over the next four years.

“The UK’s dynamic Information Assurance (IA) community is helping make the country one of the safest places in the world to conduct business online,” said Neil Thompson, director of the Office for Cyber Security and IA at the Cabinet Office.

He told delegates that the IA community had made it easier to start what he described as ‘a long and challenging journey’ towards secure cyber operations in the UK. CONFIDENCE The keynote speakers identified key themes.

Francis Maude spoke of the importance of confidence in realising the potential of ICT systems. He stated: “ICT on its own isn’t enough. To use it, people must have confidence in it, both inside and outside government. Confidence that

it works, confidence that it’s resilient and confidence that it’s secure. Nobody wants a system that they can’t trust.”

He also highlighted the need to allay public’s fear that the Government is using technology to create a ‘Big Brother’ state.

Maude was joined by Iain Lobban, director, GCHQ, who highlighted how prosperity will ‘arise from efficiency savings achieved through solutions that are re-used widely’ and from international recognition that the UK cyber environment is a safe place to do business.

PARTNERSHIP The importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors became a key focus at the event. Jonathan Hoyle, IA11 chairman and director general for information security and assurance at GCHQ, highlighted that the over-arching theme of IA11 was that ‘we are all in this together.’

Iain Lobban also spoke about the critical partnership with industry that would provide the scale and resources to protect the nation’s ICT systems and infrastructure. “The single most important factor in achieving this will be the development of effective, world-beating partnerships between government and the private sector,” he said.

“Bringing together the most senior players from the entire IA community, this event plays a significant role in promoting the exchange of information and understanding between government and industry.”

There was a call from Francis Maude to industry to respond to the threat from Cyber attacks. He urged that Cyber Security must be ‘as much the concern of the board-room as the Cabinet Room’.

Victor Chavez, Chief Executive, Thales UK, picked up the call for collaboration: “Both Government and industry have a role to play in keeping the UK’s secrets secret,” he said.

“Without a new era of collaboration between

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the key players, the disruptive and fast moving Cyber threats will strip companies and nations of their information assets, intellectual property, data (including personal data) and critically the trust of their customers.”

A series of Stream sessions then reinforced the messages from keynote speakers.

STREAM ONE – ENABLING NEW WAYS OF WORKING Public sector purchasers of IT services were urged to ignore sales pitch ‘buzzwords’ in a session on the impact of the Government’s ICT Strategy on IA and Cyber Security.

The phrase ‘cloud computing’ came in for special attention by Darron Stronge, Principal IA Policy Consultant, CESG, who told his audience to ‘strip out the word cloud’ and treat it as just another ICT service.

Outlining the business benefits of the ‘Cloud’, he identified flexibility and elasticity of service and payment on demand, low or nil initial investment, pace of delivery and access to a scale of service otherwise unavailable.

“You then have to decide if this is appropriate for your business,” he added.

Also to be considered were IA issues such as effective governance, control and operational decision making, whereabouts of data and other operational factors.

Technical Director at CESG, Ian McCormack, pinpointed new developments in ‘cloud computing’ and in posing the question ‘What still needs to be done?’ added: “The real challenge is how we do all this, given the pace, scale – massive scale – and complexity of what is on offer.”

Darron identified another set of challenges for the IA community – understanding what is ‘new’ and how to keep senior managers informed, sticking to the mantra – ‘do it once and do it well’ and building common IA standards.

“It’s all about capitalising on opportunities and benefits,” he said. “We need to learn how to use available services – not how to build bespoke services.”

STREAM TWO – NURTURING THE SKILLS TO HELP IMPROVE IA The human aspects of managing information risk in a Cyber world were put under the microscope in Stream Two with a close look at the challenges of ensuring professional standards and qualifications in a fastmoving and demanding environment.

The stream had the stated objective of acting as the launch pad for a new E

The human aspects of managing information risk in a Cyber world were put under the microscope in Stream Two with a close look at the challenges of ensuring professional standards and qualifications in a fast-moving and demanding environment.

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E certification programme for IA with a focus on professionalisation and progress towards creating much-needed experienced and qualified IA professionals.

The vision was for a single national organisation implementing a programme which was recognised across government, with academia and industry playing key roles in developing it.

Chris Ensor, CESG Technical Director & Head of Profession for IA, said it was critical to have the right skills, knowledge and experience to reduce risk and harm from the threats in cyberspace. Therefore, enhancing the level of IA professionalism was key.

A priority action from IA10 had been to develop a strategy that ensured departments have access to the right IA skills. That had not just been addressed but exceeded, he said, with CESG’s professionalisation project developing standards that could be used to develop and assess IA professionals.

The final session in this stream tackled the insider threat, with Bill Windle of PA Consulting Group suggesting that the subject was wrongly seen as just a technology issue within organisations.

It should be treated as an HR issue as well, he said, with mentoring and governance as part of an internal communications strategy.

Clear rules and guidance were essential in an era when employees can easily post sensitive information on social networks.

STREAM THREE – TAKING ACTION TO DELIVER CYBER SECURITY It’s vital for businesses and individuals to understand the threats posed by Cyber attacks before action can be taken to bring the national Cyber Security Strategy to life.

This message came across strongly in Stream

Bringing together the most senior players from the entire IA community, this event plays a significant role in promoting the exchange of information and understanding between government and industry Three where speakers looked at how the rapidly-changing Cyber landscape and the risks attached are exposing some real issues.

The Head of Cyber at the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure summed up what he saw as a rather negative view from industry – although Cyber crime is hitting the bottom line of many businesses.

“I’ve worked with some companies whose data has been compromised, who even believe it’s a price worth paying. They don’t want the media to find out and their share price to suffer.” He said the issue needed to come out of the IT department and into the boardroom.

The Head of the Government’s Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), said Cyber crime was hitting all sections of the economy but often traded on the vulnerable. She said that it was often reported in an abstract way, as if it did not affect real people. Businesses often did not know where their information was stored, making them vulnerable to attack.

The second session in this stream looked at taking a strategic approach to Cyber Security and the introduction later this year of the National Cyber Security Strategy.

Contributors included Matt Erikson, Head of Strategy, OCSIA, and Owen Pengelly, Deputy Director, OCSIA, who said the aim was to build capability to detect and defend against an attack and protect the UK critical infrastructure in the face of major challenges such as the complexity and escalation of

the threat. It was critical that the private sector partnered with the Government in delivering the strategy as the delivery of public services is intertwined with industry.

STREAM FOUR – IA AND CYBER SECURITY IN ACTION It’s not just athletes who are training hard for the London Olympics next year. Delegates heard how the Olympic Cyber Coordinating Team is already rehearsing its response to likely threats.

Robert Raine, Director of Olympics Safety and Security, Home Office, revealed it was the largest peacetime security operation ever undertaken in the UK and the threat level was ‘severe’. A principal part of the assurance process is extreme testing and exercising to ensure that we are as pitch-perfect as we can be. Since an audit of Cyber security

by Baroness Neville-Jones, there had been an improved focus on the range of Cyber threats, including ticketing fraud. He added: “London 2012 is at the leading edge of Cyber Security practice in the UK and beyond.”

The Head of CSOC, which plays a key coordinating role within the Cyber Security partnership surrounding the Games, pointed out that there had been 29 serious Cyber Security incidents at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “We are expecting more for the 2012 Games and cyber crime is at the top of the list,” she said. L

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IT AND COMPUTING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR – www.governmenttechnology.co.uk

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Where no news is... just dull • • • • •

Welcome visitors and clients Communicate with members of staff Promote your services Publicise initiatives and events Celebrate your achievements and successes

Our clients include: The Houses Of Parliament • Portcullis House GLA Headquarters • Corporation Of London • London Metropolitan Archive ...as well as many schools and colleges

To find out more about iMERGE and Digital Posters contact MRG today:

01453 751 871 or email us at sales@mrgsystems.co.uk MRG Systems Limited Willow Court, Beeches Green Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 4BJ

T +44 (0)1453 751871 F +44 (0)1453 753125

E sales@mrgsystems.co.uk W www.mrgsystems.co.uk

ADVERTISERS INDEX

The publishers accept no responsibility for errors or omissions in this free service Abtech

24

Innov8

18

Apica

28

Inovem

28

Assured Resourcing

21

IP Expo

62

Blackberry

11

KCom

26

Blue Chip

36

Kyocera

35

BT Business Direct

IFC

Landmark Information Group

10

Call Credit

12

Matraxis

52

Certero

32

MDNX

40

Cetus Solutions

42

OKI

Cherwell Software

OBC

Online Information 2011

44

CLA

50

Openxtra

28

Clear Choice Careers

22

Opus VL

27

Consilium

18

Polar Audio

58

Radvision

60

Content Guru

8

Expert Messaging

52

Senetas

30

FAST Ltd

48

Siteimprove

14

Green IT Expo

34

Telefonica UK

Heywood

42

Twinhead International Corporation

Hornbill

54

U Systems

39

Huawei

4

Veeam

16

56

Verismic

35

iCore

66

6

GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE Volume | 10.6

46 IBC

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