Industry news

IT companies including HP, Telefonica, Nokia, Cisco, ARM and SAP have entered into a deal with the European Commission to fill IT 700,000 jobs within Europe.

The companies will offer free training and start-up funding in a bid to fill the vacancies. The scheme is designed to stimulate the European IT industry, a key element to stimulating EU growth.

"The digital skills gap is growing, like our unemployment queues. We need joint action between governments and companies to bridge that gap" said EC vice president Neelie Kroes.

A report from Oracle and Quocirca has shown that data is being increasingly being moved back in-house at enterprise level.

A survey of 952 organisations showed that internal data centre infrastructure were being increasingly invested in, with 65 percent in respondents to report by Index Cycle only using in-house data centres, up from 45 percent from a year ago.

Those with external and internal centres fell from 56 percent to 34 percent. The reversal of the trend to outsource data storage comes as enterprises increase IT infrastructure and seek to invest in internal development.

The construction of a high speed rail network between Manchester and Leeds has been welcomed by businesses for stimulating the creation of 100,000 jobs.

The £33 billion HS2 project which also includes a link between Euston and the West Midlands is designed to significant reduce transport times and the current oversubscription of train services.

The project, expected to be operational by 2033, has met opposition over the effect of the construction on greenbelt land and the destruction of houses to make way for the proposed route.

David Cameron, said: "Linking communities and businesses across the country and shrinking the distances between our greatest cities, high-speed rail is an engine for growth that will help to drive regional regeneration and invigorate our regional economies."

A research study by Horses for Sources and KPMG showed that, despite outsourcing’s vilification in 2012, its prospects for 2013 are still very good. “State of Outsourcing 2013” considered the views of 399 large buy side companies, re: their intentions for 2013. Just 5% are looking to reduce their outsourcing scope: the rest are looking to increase it.

More than half are looking to increase outsourcing of application services, 40% their finance and accounting, and a third their HR. The key drivers are the classics cost, standardization and global delivery.

More announcements are expected from what is billed as the biggest ever study of its kind, which considers the opinions of 1355 stakeholders of buyers, suppliers and consultants.

UK government has signed up to a World Economic Forum (WEF) initiative to fight cyber-crime and aid the growth of e-commerce.

Over 70 companies and governments, spanning 25 countries have now joined the Cyber Resilience initiative. It plans to “promote awareness, understanding and action” to combat cyber risk across the globe.

Foreign secretary William Hague, who inked the treaty on behalf of the coalition government, said: “Cyberspace must be secure and reliable so that it is trusted as a medium for doing business but at the same time free and open to evolve and innovate naturally. Governments should support the key role of the private sector in creating a trusted and open place to do business both at home and abroad.”

Councils including Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea are being led by Westminster City Council in deploying a borough wide ICT procurement framework.

The contract up for tender is for a complete ICT service including an integrated service desk solution and data centre services. Westminster has placed a service delivery deadline for November 2014 with later dates set by the other councils.

The procurement process is expected to begin in April with the service framework divided into three parts. The contract cost has yet to be announced.

Transport for Greater Manchester has placed tender for a £15 million contract to create an intelligent transport system.

The system will provide real-time updates on road conditions including travel hotspots and will provide management systems and a control platform.

The system will also be able to integrate data from a variety of separate sources in order to provide a open-source detailed real-time information.

French based IT giant Capgemini will recruit 100 IT apprentices with permanent positions on offer to those who complete the placements.

The scheme which includes an 18 month programme for GCSE equivalent level students and a five-year A-level equivalent sponsored degree are part of a Governmental scheme to increase apprenticeships within the IT sector.

The new batch comes after 44 apprentices were hired in 2012. Brian Sinclair, head of fresher recruitment at Capgemini UK, said: “Last year's apprentice intake has been a huge success with our clients and our managers".

Sinclair said: "This year, we want more of the hardworking students from Britain's industrial heartland for roles based in the West Midlands”.

The ICO has fined Sony £250,000 for failing to prevent a significant data breach of its PlayStation Network Platform in April 2011.

Information of millions of users including payment details, names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and account passwords were compromised.

Sony responded to the breach by rebuilding the whole PlayStation network infrastructure.

The ICO found that a failure to keep the network up-to-date resulted in an avoidable data breach. David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection, ICO, said: ““If you are responsible for so many payment card details and log-in details, then keeping that personal data secure has to be your priority”.

Glasgow has won £24 million in funding in the form of a government grant to create smart cities.

The grant was awarded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), set up in 2007 to develop and promote innovation led by technology.

The grant will be used to develop better services including application of advanced real time analytics and bid data, allowing for the gathering of information relating to events from traffic incidents and CCTV footage to missing bin collections.

Scott Cain, the TSB's project leader for Future Cities, said: “Glasgow has some quite extreme challenges - it has the lowest life expectancy of any city in the UK for instance - and the hope is that if we bring together energy, transport, public safety and health it will make it more efficient and a better place to live".

Other smart cities are to include Birmingham, Sunderland and London.