Tuesday 29 May 2012

The story of ARM – past and future

The designs behind microprocessors in millions of gadgets worldwide come from ARM Holdings – one of the U.K.’s most successful companies. Despite this, in a BBC interview, company president, Tudor Brown, says that the company has no plans to actually make the devices but rely on a system of royalty fees and licenses.  "It's often discussed, but dismissed…fairly quickly…I've always said it's not the technology that's driving this company forward, it's the business model that's put ARM where it is today.” There were initial product design failures in the early nineties on a joint project to develop the world’s first PDA (personal digital assistant). However this led to engineers developing skills in low-power usage design – one of the company’s key design principles. After huge sales linked to the mobile industry, ARM now has its new ‘Flycatcher’ microprocessor design, used to connect a new range of appliances to the internet. Read the full interview here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18054164

Monday 21 May 2012

Is the public sector embracing the cloud?

The opportunities from the government’s CloudStore, announced in March 2011, are not being taken up by public sector staff, as discussed in a recent report from VMWare. The BBC Technology website reports that due to a ‘lack of enthusiasm’, the targets of ‘50% of new government IT spending to move to cloud computing services by 2015’ may not be met. The aim of CloudStore is to ‘make it cheaper and easier for public sector organisations to choose and buy "off the shelf" IT services”. Some departments are already locked into long contracts; others involved in the survey were concerned about security. The article does show a positive user of CloudStore. Liverpool Womens’ and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trusts have saved costs of 10% by replacing four data centres with cloud services. For more on the public sector and the cloud read the article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18103750

Monday 14 May 2012

Internet access for airline customers

Being able to go online while on your flight can be done on some airlines but it may be slow and not always available. Many American passengers can pay for an in-flight Wi-Fi service but it is generally only available overland. Providing the same service over the ocean is the aim of a number of projects discussed in an article on the BBC Technology website. Involvement with satellite technology is generally seen as the way forward with three new satellites from Inmarsat being planned from next year. Their Global Xpress project will provide coverage in a frequency band called Ka. Leo Mondale of Inmarsat explains, “These higher frequencies will enable real broadband communications to and from an airplane, higher speeds and cheaper prices that we think will fit with the expectations of the market." Honeywell is involved in developing the onboard hardware. For more on airline Wi-Fi read the article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18021468

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Can nature provide solutions for the next leap in IT?

With the push for smaller and smaller electronic components, researchers are turning to microbes as inspiration for the future generation of computers. An article on the BBC technology page discusses the work of a team from the University of Leeds and Tokyo’s University of Agricultural and Technology. Their work involved microbes that ingest iron creating tiny magnets similar to those used in hard drives. In their natural environment the microorganisms have been found to follow the Earth’s magnetic field lines. Elsewhere researchers have created ‘nano-scale tubes made from the membrane of cells’ which in effect make ‘tiny electrical wires from living organisms.’ Dr Staniland from the University of Leeds explained “We are quickly reaching the limits of traditional electronic manufacturing…as computer components get smaller... Nature has provided us with the perfect tool to [deal with] this problem” For more on the future of nano-computing and electronics read the full article here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17981157

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Bristol networking event – ‘Smart Buildings’

If you’re based in Bristol or Bath and work in information technology, a local networking science and technology group is inviting you to come along and think ‘smart’ – in particular smart building technology. BEN is the membership organisation of Science City Bristol. Their networking event on May 3rd looks at the latest in ‘smart buildings’ and related industries. For those who can’t attend, the feature on the Science Bristol website looks at recent developments including design competitions and the link to the south west with Bristol’s Smart City programme and the area’s strong micro-electronics sector. A smart building is defined as “one in which the building fabric, space, services and information systems…respond…to the initial and changing demands of…occupier, and the environment". IT areas identified for development and funding include intelligent objects within smart building management systems. For more on the event and the industry read the full article at http://news.sciencecitybristol.com/smart-buildings-the-future-is-here/