Tag: Oxford

Cloud security spending increasing

Posted on June 19, 2020 by - News

Divination experts at analyst outfit Gartner have been observing the flight of birds, taken out the kidneys of live animals as auspices and are predicting that cloud security spending will increase by a third this year.

Information security spending is set to grow 2.4 percent to hit $123.8 billion in 2020, down from the 8.7 percent growth Gartner projected in its December 2019 forecast update.

Firewalls and network security devices  are expected to endure spending declines this year, the mass shift to remote working and cloud will drive gains elsewhere.

Explosive Learning Solutions scores Oxford University deal

Posted on December 19, 2017 by - News

oxford-robesThe IT Department at Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science has hired Explosive Learning Solutions (ELS), to provide its LEAN IT training and consultancy.

From June to October this year, ELS ran two courses for the Department, each with 11 students, as well as three follow-on workshops. The two courses followed the APMG LITA (Lean IT Association) syllabus, with one workshop designed for leadership and management, while the other two workshops focused on how to compile an A3 planning and problem-solving sheet.

According to ELS’s Head of Operations, Cath Convery, the head of the IT Department needed to continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its provision of IT services to the university’s Department of Engineering Science. This involved bringing the department together to work more as a team to deliver an improved service to its customers.

“Being familiar with the concept of ‘Lean’, the Department head felt that this would be the most effective vehicle to use to achieve his aims”, Cath added.

ELS opted to deliver APMG LITA courses to the members of the department.

APMG International is a global accreditation and examination institute, which accredits organisations to deliver training courses and consultancy services for a broad range of professional certification schemes. Its certification schemes, examination and accreditation services support the goal of enabling organisations and professionals to maximise their effectiveness through use of the latest methodologies and core competencies.

According to Cath, the APMG LITA courses not only gave the department a standard and widely recognised performance capability but also provided proof of continuing professional development (CPD) for the department’s members by means of a formal qualification. Cath added this this approach also confirmed, for the learners, that their employer was investing in them as employees.

In addition to the courses, the follow-on workshops were designed to help embed Lean thinking and promote a sense of teamworking into the department culture.

“The courses and workshops were well received by all who were involved”, said Cath. “Indeed, the head of the IT Department has stated, ‘…the team found the training to be both interesting and engaging.

‘Throughout our experience working with ELS we have found them to be flexible, responsive and helpful. Administratively, ELS are reliable and straightforward to deal with and we consider the training and consultancy services offered to be of a high standard.’”

Google hires Oxford boffins to provide AI

Posted on October 24, 2014 by - News

oxford-robesGoogle is finding itself a little short on intelligence and has been seen snuffling around near the Oxford headquarters of TechEye.

When cornered, near one of the wheelie bins at the back of public house the Kite, a Google staffer explained that the search engine was expanding its artificial intelligence initiative. Apparently, they are hiring more than half a dozen leading academics and experts in the field and announcing a partnership with Oxford University to “accelerate” its efforts.

Apparently, Google will make a “substantial contribution” to establish a research partnership with Oxford’s computer science and engineering departments, and Oxford will return the favour by holding one of its famous dinners.

Google did not provide any financial details about the partnership, saying only in a post on its blog that it will include a program of student internships and a series of joint lectures and workshops “to share knowledge and expertise.”

Google is building up its artificial intelligence capabilities as it strives to maintain its dominance in the Internet search market and to develop new products such as robotics and self-driving cars. In January Google acquired artificial intelligence company Deep Mind for $400 million according to media reports.

The Oxford boffins will be joining Google’s Deep Mind team, including three artificial intelligence experts whose work has focused on improving computer visual recognition systems. Among that team is Oxford Professor Andrew Zisserman, a three-time winner of the Marr Prize for computer vision.

The four founders of Dark Blue Labs will also be joining Google where they will be will be leading efforts to help machines “better understand what users are saying to them.”

Google said that three of the professors will hold joint appointments at Oxford, continuing to work part time at the university.

 

Sony kills ebook reader

Posted on August 5, 2014 by - News

additional-oxford-dodo-bookSony has confirmed that it will not make any more eBook readers, not even in Japan where it can still sell them.

There will never be such a gizmo with the catchy title PRS-T4 and the Sony Reader PRS-T3 will be sold until it runs out. Since that was launched last autumn and only in the EU, Sony could not have have many left.

Sony pioneered the idea of an E-ink ereader in 2004 when it launched the Sony Librie in 2004.

The company worked with E-ink and Toppan Printing Co of Japan for several years to develop the first generation of the 6″ screen which was used in the Librie, and later the Sony Reader, Kindle, Nook, and other ereaders.

Sony released the first 6″ screen, it also followed it up with several cutting edge devices. It was also the first to adopt Epub, and to combine an E-ink screen with a touchscreen and a frontlight.

But Sony was largely aced by the Nook-Kindle price war in June 2010 and lost out in the price drop that followed.

 

Russia insists that data is kept at home

Posted on July 7, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeThe Russian government has enacted a law which means that all cloud data must be kept within the confines of the country.

The move will mean that if US cloud operators want to work in Mother Russia they cannot send the data to their main warehouses in the US or EU.

Bill number 553424-6  specifies that “when collecting personal data, including information and telecommunications network, the Internet, the operator must ensure that record, systematisation, accumulation, storage, updated, modified, removing the personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation, in databases, of information located in the territory of the Russian Federation.”

On the face of it, it looks like the Russians are protecting their citizens from being spied on by the evil US spooks, but it also makes it easier for the government to spy on its own citizens.

Russia Today said the law could provide businesses with some major headaches.  Airlines, for example, rely on hosted software and software-as-a-service providers are not going to be keen to have to build new data centres.

The law comes into force on September 1st, 2016, giving Russian companies plenty of time to set something up.  It could be a boom time for local hosting companies.

Free wi-fi in Taipei explained

Posted on May 31, 2013 by - News

Taipei free wi-fiThe public wi-fi system that is available throughout Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is a brilliant idea that should be emulated in the Smoke (London), in the City of Screaming Squires (Oxford), and, well, more or less anywhere. We’re here in Olde Taipei for Computex 2013.

It is a disgrace that wi-fi, which has really become a public utility, is still charged for in many a place – especially hotels in the UK at exorbitant rates.

We had a chance to sample Taipei wi-fi the other night, taking a snap and uploading it without any problem at all. It hasn’t worked since, so I set out to find out why.

Basically, the reason it hasn’t worked for me since is that I a Brit, and the wi-fi, which does work for aliens from different countries, requires a special protocol to be present, as you can see on this TPE Wi-Fi page.  Currently only 20 countries use the International mobile SMS authentication that the Taipei government accepts.

There is an alternative – you can go to one of six physical locations and get yourself registered – but of course you have to know where these places are, which might be tricky unless you know your way around the city.

One local told us that he used to use TPE Free all the time, but recently it asks that you log-in every time you connect which he finds a nuisance. That’s apparently been implemented because of security concerns.

Nevertheless, the existence of TPE Free has meant that here in Old Taipei, you’ll find many places which offer free wi-fi.  The swanky hotels that don’t really ought to be ashamed of themselves.

* For a great way to understand Taipei and Computex 2013, if you’re a first time visitor, we recommend We View Taiwan video log.