Synergy Extreme United Kingdom

Previously, the Raspberry Pi Foundation had revealed some announcements and one of these are the revelation of its Rev2 board design. While the other is that the company which is based in the United Kingdom declared very interesting on their part the manufacturing for the board which had been moved from China to its Region, the UK, and it made possible because of the deal between Sony and the distributors of the Raspberry Pi, the Premier Farnell.

The founder of Raspberry Pi, Eben and his only full time employee Liz Upton paid an appointment to Sony’s United Kingdom manufacturing plant located in Pencoed, South Wales as last April occurs. Subsequently, the two firms acknowledged the Sony’s team that initiates CEM or the contract electronic manufacture would be suitable for credit card sized single board computer.

The ability of Sony to produce fast and accurate is extraordinary, they have also invested (GBP or British Pound) £50,000 in PoP or Package on Package which is a thing where the Broadcom chip is in the center of the Raspberry Pi is drifted under the RAM chip the hardware and extend the capability for company. Each feature should have to pass with the standard compliance through Sony’s Green Management programme, so they are also capable of taking on the huge responsibility in ensuring the parts used has been managed properly and meet the highest ecological standards.

Raspberry Pi manufacturing has been transferred to South Wales, and approximately six months after as the move is complete, the initial agreement will notice the Pencoed plant creating almost 30,000 Raspberry Pis each month and establish over 30 new jobs. Units allocated by Premier Farnell are transferring production to the United Kingdom, hence units dispersed by the RS Components will remain to be manufactured in China and not all production has been moved to the United Kingdom.

The foundation determined to manufacture the Raspberry Pi in China last year, however it serves to be uneasy decision for them, but it was required as the organization could not find a British manufacturer who will agree on the proposed price per unit. It is based on the numbers with the sales were estimated in the tens of thousands and not the hundreds of thousands that the foundation id currently observing. And side from that there are no manufacturer that anticipates the project would be sufficient to venture line space for just a small device.

Raspberry Pi is powered by a 700MHz ARM chip and has 256MB of RAM, it is sold uncased with an HDMI port, two USB ports, an SD card slot and an Ethernet port, but you need to provide your own monitor and keyboard. Approaching later this year, the Model A will cost for £16 or $25 and the recently available Model B costs £22 or $35. The firm ishoping and making sure to keep their target prices.

REFERENCES:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2204206/raspberry-pi-manufacture-relocates-to-uk-from-china

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19510600

http://www.techmeme.com/120906/p25

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/raspberry-pi-production-moves-to-the-uk-2012096/

http://www.geekosystem.com/raspberry-pi-production-moves-uk-sony/

The Group director of operations and risk at insurance giant RSA, David Weymouth talks to computer weekly about the essence of training the next generation of IT leaders, why a government operation to force an inspection of banks IT systems would not work and government operation to force an inspection of banks.

For five years, David Weymouth has been the director of operation and risk at insurance giant RSA and he has universal experience working in the finance sector that previously held the position of CIO at Barclays. He initiates an IT leadership program with 14 of its brightest global IT heads in conjunction with consultancy CIO Development.

From the acclaimed Boston Leadership Institute, the course incorporates modules however Weymouth says it will be an ongoing education. He said that the insurance industry has not needed to value technology in the same way that the banking was obliged or even retailers because so much of the interaction was asynchronous. It didn’t happened in reality and not that traditionally have that online flavor.

David Weymouth says that having a good people is even more important than having the latest technology and the global nature of the training program also fits in with RSA’s focus on overseas market growth. Base also to him, using technology effectively globally is becoming critical. The company has a varied estate of legacy IT, following a series of international acquisition. Yet Weymouth has taken a pragmatic approach to replacing systems.

It is not about the replacing and the replacing and ripping in most cases this is about a gradual migration from a legacy platform and the core processing systems. In some= cases that is about putting a layer of architecture in front of them and in others its about replacing part of them.

MANAGING IT SPEND

David Weymouth said that one challenge facing the management of IT has been consolidation.The onset of multichannel customer interaction over multiple devices has hit the industry hard. He said that is you had not worked outside the industry that might have been slow in recognizing that because it has hit other industries so hard and so fast. The underlying level of technology architecture has been inadequate and you find that a consistent theme. The insurance sector previously spent around 3% of budget on IT compared with the banking sector which is typically spent around 12%.

One of the part of the core infrastructure is the bits of technology that are hardest to justify in the industry because they don’t show such obvious payback. Doing a communication program, finance system, big human resource system is tougher to justify. It doesn’t mean that you don’t do them however in some industries they are taken as a given such as manufacturing.

REFERENCE:

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240161679/CIO-interview-David-Weymouth-CIO-RSA

The general annual survey of £14bn worth of UK IT services contacts has admitted a continued appetite to outsource, new reasons for doing so and various ways of doing it. The KPMG’s annual UK IT Service Provider Performance study in the sixth year which was previously completed by the EquaTerra before KPGG acquired it, analyzed 630 UK IT outsourcing contracts worth £14bn. There were a total 230 businesses that were interviewed. The findings includes the fact that the 76% of the organizations will continue to outsource IT at the same level. Yet, it is only 19% that will outsource compared with the 25% in the study.

A key factor for the 76% of respondents savings is still cited, however access to financial and skills flexibility are also becoming, nearshore, offshore and in-house options. The survey is subjected bu financial services firms which account for the 30% of the companies interviewed. With the 58% of them likely to outsource more over the next year the year’s analysis revealed that the organizations are the most likely to outsource IT compared with the 44% of all companies surveyed. The survey revealed that evern though 90% of the public sector organizations outsourcing IT. There were 29% provides from the offshore or nearshore location. This compares with the 66% of organizations across all across.

The year’s study also analysis trends in the particular technology outsourcing including the application development and management, network services and infrastructure services. The head of KPMG’s technology shared services and outsourcing advisory, Lee Ayling said that the technology is increasing driving UK businesses and outsourcing is central to this. The suppliers to outsourced IT services must react to new demands from the customers such as the multi-sourced contracts and the new delivery options. The outsourcing looks set to remain a large part of the IT spend in the UK, however suppliers should not take it for granted that clients will remain willing to put their hands in their pockets.

REFERENCE:

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240163409/KPMG-survey-reveals-state-of-IT-outsourcing

According to the Home Office, since 2003 the UK police staff numbers have dropped to their lowest level and previously police forces’ budgets all over the Wales and England have seen forceful cuts. At the end of March 2012, the overall number of full-time equivalent officers was about 134,101, a decrease of 5,009 officers related to a year earlier or 3.6 percent. Police forces specifically depend on the information technology most especially on its capability to store, share and retrieve data with regards to their cases, suspects and criminals that they handle.

According to the report that was released in March from the Metropolitan Police Service that does something to lessen the worries, it affirms that its IT became older as time goes by and because of that the force necessarily need to purchase in the new technology. Several technology that they use to secure the previous Olympic Games was about 20 years older, it was according to the Met.

With a composite annual growth rate of eight percent within 2011 and 2015, a previous report by TechMarketView, a research company concluded that the police will be the fastest-growing subsector in the IT services market and in the United Kingdom public sector software. However, instead of any major new investment in ICT equipment it is down to raise spending on the outsourcing, said by Georgina O’Toole, director of TechMarketView.

The forces can secure IT costs without losing control over outsourcing or threatening their systems by means of underinvestment, stated by Jim Dignan, Ovum analyst. He added that the senseless that they still manage with so many systems is the approximately £1.2 billion IT expenditure within the police forces, shared services was not often happened and it is the major problem but it would take out costs and raise efficiency.

There are two forces that are utilizing shared services instead of outsourcing are Cheshire and Northamptonshire. The two forces are sharing procurement, finance and human resources software managing on a new It system configured and supplied by Capgemini. According to Karen Watkins, the director of corporate services for Cheshire Constabulary that if they outsource they might acquire what looks like a better saving in advance however once it’s gone, they don’t see any additional savings as they go to the private provider.

Her technique was to maintain the support services in-house, purchase of the latest technology and observe at sharing wider functions with other forces, Watkins explains. By around 38 percent, Cheshire and Northamptonshire forces stopped costs of transactional services and that involved the increase in the cost of technology for the two forces.

The forces are seeking for other regions that can join their Multi-force Shared Services framework and share the cost of the staff that executes the back-office work to reduce the costs. He says there is a deficiency of skills to use legacy systems as employees are beginning to retire and if these systems does not work anymore then there is no one to fix them, this is what occurred with RBS’s IT malfunction. Police forces will need to take an extreme approach if they are to luckily navigate this stage of the economy.

REFERENCES:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/2199652/analysis-police-forces-investigate-new-ict-strategies

http://dailymoneyinvesting.com/analysis-police-forces-investigate-new-ict-strategies/

http://ictprocurement.com/government/analysis-police-forces-investigate-new-ict-strategies.html

http://localuknews.co.uk/article/analysis-police-forces-investigate-new-ict-strategies

http://ipotpal.sylverstyle.com/%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB/analysis-police-forces-investigate-new-ict-strategies/

As a promising fourth operator, Sky, the digital TV, radio and broadband provider have eliminated itself in bidding at the 4G auction. It would bid for the spectrum that is being retained by communications regulator Ofcom for an operator except for Everything and Everywhere, Vodafone and O2, the news derives after the BT pointed out. Sky stated that as they pursue to extend their leadership in mobile content, they presently have no plans to provide mobile access over their current public Wi-Fi network.

Sky will combine with Virgin Media that isolated itself from the process by claiming that it was not looking to become a mobile operator and it will not go to bid for a large piece of the spectrum but it did not entirely prevented a bid. Specifically as it already functions as a mobile operator and as Ofcom has particularly referred to the network as part of its 4G auction statement, mobile network Three is extensively reported to be the most popular to guarantee the spectrum.

The assertion has been accepted by Everything Everywhere or EE, Vodafone and O2, they have all said that Ofcom’s final decision is another step forward for the release of 4G services. Everything Everywhere has encouraged Ofcom to declare the outcome of the consultation process where the communications regulator has to determine if EE can utilize its current 1800MHz spectrum to turn out 4G services at the same time.

After it agreed to pressure from competitor networks set up by Ofcom, the consultation process will end on May 8. Along with any of its competitors, they complained EE for looking for an unfair benefit as it would be able to release 4G services. The spokesperson of Everything Everywhere said that they are still expecting for feedback coming from Ofcom about the request to cater 4G using their current 1800MHz spectrum and it is about 7-8 months after they put in the request last year. They hope that Ofcom will make the decision as soon as possible.

On the other side, they have been utilizing on that matter, the public interest needs a lot of observation, it was according to an Ofcom spokesperson and it will be a matter of weeks or a month however there is not a date that they can carry out. Meanwhile the communications regulator also justified that the 4G auction process is working out in parallel separately in the consultation decision.

If Ofcom did conclude to let the network to utilize its 1800MHz spectrum for 4G, before the end of the year the 4G services would at first be turned out on a small scale, EE said. The spokesperson of EE added that there is no timeline and it also plans if and when Ofcom will give them the signal, it would be prior to the end of the year that 4G services will rise. Afterwards they can set everything in place and be more particular with the release date however they are expecting that they will have the approval to turn out 4G services.

REFERENCES:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2194985/sky-rules-itself-out-of-4g-auction-everything-everywhere-wants-4g-decision

http://localuknews.co.uk/article/sky-rules-itself-out-of-4g-auction-everything-everywhere-wants-4g-decision

http://www.newzfor.me/

http://njuice.com/4g-decision-annoys-everything-everywheres-rivals-but-it-will-benefit-consumers

The DOH or the Department of Helath financial presentation to its toxic contracts with commotion NHS supplier CSC has diminish by £100m in just three months. The outsourcer determined that if the NHS were to eliminate its entire £2.9 bn contract with CSC it would cost the government a maximum of £329m in fees as of June 29, 2012. CSC stated that the NHS had eliminate the whole contract as of March 30 2012, the elimination fee would have been exceeded at £430m.

With the organizations directly locked into lengthy contract renegotiations due to be resolve by the end of August, the figures suggest a continued winding down of the contract between DOH and CSC. The exact date for signing the renegotiated inter in sympathy was due to on March 31, however the timetable has so far been twice  extended. The Department of Health was clumsy to comment on the reduction in elimination fees because of the negotiation process underway.

Base on the CSC results, it lost $97m or £62 m in the NHS contract in the first quarter of the year. The comp0any saw total sales fall by 2% to $3.963bn. The CSC had to write off $1.5 bn after its continued failure to meet a 2007 deadline to deliver its Lorenzo patient records software to NHS trusts across two-thirds England.

The director at sourcing broker Burnt-Oak Partners, Robert Morgan stated that it is likely the termination fees will drop further as negotiations continue. He said that the two organization were locked into a tit-for-tat situations. HE also said that the termination fee will continue to reduce as they negotiate the terms and conditions, transfer liabilities and write off the books. The CSC’s main mission will be retain as much of the £329m as possible while at the same time getting out of obligations with the government.

Robert Morgan says that it was unlikely that CSC and the DOH would meet the latest agreement deadline at the end of the month. It was largely complex and controversial with a lot of vested interests involved. It is a war of attrition and they will probably keep extending the deadlines for some time. The CSC has frequently warned shareholders that there can be no assurance that an affiliation the NHS will be concluded by the August deadline or the terms of any such affiliation would be enthusiastic to CSC.

REFERENCE:

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240161204/NHS-sees-100m-reduction-in-exposure-to-CSC-contracts

http://www.scoop.it/t/nhswatch/p/2366264976/nhs-sees-100m-reduction-in-exposure-to-csc-contracts\

http://www.scoop.it/t/nhswatch

From Southwest the somerset country council is making preparation for legal action the shared services joint ventures it formed by IBM in the year 2007. In its 2011 annual accounts this week, the stand-off is the culmination of 18 months of crisis talks over the joint ventures failure to deliver  procurement savings IBM promised at its outset and a financial crisis that saw Southwest One deliver a fourth consecutive loss.

The Chief accountant at Somerset County Council, Jo Nacey stated that the authority has made a contingent liability for a contract claim from Southwest One in its accounts due to be published. However, it had not made a firm provision because it believed that the claim would be groundless.

Jo Nacey said that there is a possible court case regarding their procurement liabilities with the Southwest One. They precisely deny it, they believe that they have a claim of a share of our procurement savings. They are contracted to find the procurement savings. When they reach a certain level, they are entitled to payments. They are in dispute over the amount of savings they have been given. They say that they have delivered more than they think.

The pioneering shared services partnership which they reported an £8.7m operating loss, it had promised to deliver £195m of savings over 10 years, on £585m of revenues from the sale of back-office services and gains made from the consolidating purchases made by the Somerset and its other joint ventures partners, Taunton Deane District Council and Avon and Somerset Police Authority. Base to accounts over the four years to the end of Southwest One’s 2011 fiscal year, the latest accounts showed saving of £13.5m to date on £287m turnover through the contract period.

Chairman of Southwest One, Derek Pretty stated in his annual director’s report that it and Somerset had an ongoing dispute they failed to resolve to resolve after the mediation meetings. He said that there is no settlemant has been reached and accordingly the board will be reviewing which of the remaining options in the contractual procedure should now be pursued.

According to Southwest One, it expected to continue making a loss over the next three years and set aside a £6.2m provision in its accounts. The IBM had promised ongoing support for the venture to underwrite its debts and in February provided a £10m emergency loan at below market rates. Pretty said that Southwest One was through the worst of its troubles but it had still not reached the point where it could deliver its contracted savings. The company is still working on reaching the efficiency levels that are required to fund the savings which have been committed to the joint venture partners through the service improvements, procurement savings and operation costs reductions.

REFERENCE:

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240162547/Somerset-Council-braces-for-lawsuit-from-Southwest-One-shared-service-venture

In a bid to decrease the costs and enhance services, the six London district have approved in implementing the same version of Oracle’s Release 12 ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning software. The involved boroughs have a combined population of 1.6 million, and these are Barking and Dagenham, Croydon, Havering, Brent, Lambert and Lewisham.

The deal arrangement as part of the Project Athena that aims to generate the foundations for an ICT platform for all London public sector organizations by regulating all corporate IT systems that includes all 32 London borough councils. To utilize the ERP suite as part of its transform government or t-Gov service offering, the boroughs have agreed on a four-year deal together with IT services firm Capgemini.

It aims to eliminate all the older IT systems, streamline processes in fields like payroll, HR, procurement and finance, it will also guarantee economies of scale and terminate unnecessary paperwork. It was important for councils to utilize the same system to save money without weakening the standard of services said by the executive director for finance and resources for Lambeth Council, Mike Suarez as he managed the procurement.

They have their own techniques of doing things, as all councils share the same support functions such as procurement, HR and finance, however if they can utilize the same system, they will streamline their processes and save money without reducing the services that they offer. He added that this is also about enhancing how they do business with their suppliers and allow their employees to do things effectively and easily.

It makes real savings for the taxpayer, managers will have the access in budgeting in real time and no need to complete endless paperwork for the plain work. By July 2013, the latest system are set to released and for an initial span of three years it will then be handled by Capgemini. It also outlined to introduce a number of its new associates onto the project, said by the IT services firm.

REFERENCES:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2195721/six-london-boroughs-to-install-oracle-erp-solution

http://www.uk.capgemini.com/news-centre/news/six-london-boroughs-to-install-oracle-erp-solution/

http://www.topix.com/uk/barking-and-dagenham

http://www.techinvestornews.com/Oracle/Latest-Oracle-News/six-london-boroughs-to-install-oracle-erp-solution

http://w.londonthenews.com/news/Computer+Industry/20120731/34144588/Six-London-boroughs-to-install-Oracle-ERP-solution.htm

The 4G auction was expected at the end of the year, and BT has showed its biggest manifestation that it will bid for spectrum in the said auction. It would store a minimum amount of spectrum for an operator apart from Everything Everywhere, Vodafone and O2, as Ofcom declared its plans for the much-awaited 4G auction. The fourth wholesaler of 4G services might be Hutchison Whampoa that trades in the United Kingdom as Three or a latest entrant all in all, they said.

It could be caught in the bidding at the 4G auction, BT answered. On the other hand, the telecoms giant stated that Ofcom’s auction outlines are adequately flexible to enclose their potential interests and at the same time they will continue to recognize thoroughly as in case they will cooperate in the award process. At the time that BT took itself closer to the auction, while Virgin Media detached itself more from the process.

A spokesperson said that they have been persistent in saying that they are not going to bid ample pieces of the spectrum and they are not expecting to become a mobile operator. They have a good partnership with Everything Everywhere and it is in progress hence they set to benefit from 4G services as covered by their partnership. Virgin Media’s goal was focused on wireless and having spectrum is not necessarily needed for that but did not entirely excluded in making a bid for the restrained spectrum, the spokesperson explained.

Meanwhile, it was working by means of the detail of Ofcom’s very significant document to assess what it symbolizes for both customers and competitions in the United Kingdom mobile industry, Three stated. Even though there was a spectrum constrained for a fourth operator, it could not secure that anyone would be able to suit in the requested price, explained by an Ofcom’s spokesman. He added that they are anticipating that there will be and obviously they planned the auction in this manner to lessen the chances of that event, however there is a probability that it won’t.

The spokesman also cleared how the bidding process would work for the fourth operator. If an operator reaches the appropriate criteria and hope to bid for some of the conserve spectrum and it is not included in the big three operators such as the Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone, then it has to bid at the expected price level. They are secured to get the spectrum, if it bids over the competing fourth operators and it is not included the big three. If there was not a fourth operator included in the process, the reserved spectrum would then be available for the big three operators, the spokesman confirmed.

REFERENCES:

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2194668/bt-could-go-to-war-with-three-at-4g-auction

http://localuknews.co.uk/article/bt-could-go-to-war-with-three-at-4g-auction

http://www.wimbledonit.com/the-blog/123-bt-could-go-to-war-with-three-at-4g-auction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/nov/12/4g-auction-could-raise-4bn

London University has drawn up an ambitious outsourcing program in which a swath of services from managing its estates to marketing and finance will be carried out by a private firm. The London Metropolitan University has more than 16,000 undergraduate student that produced a tendering document under which all services except teaching and the vice-chancellor’s office will be outsourced. According to the Exaro News website the contract is valued at £74m over five years.

Three companies Wipro, BT Global Services and Capita are on the university’s current shortlist. The spokesman for London Met stated that it will pay a fee to any company brought in to manage service which will have zero ownership of the university. If London Met decides to set up a subsidiary company, it will be 100% owned by the university. The staff would be working for this wholly-owned subsidiary of London Met.

Malcolm Gillies has argued that the outsourcing model could be used to share services with other universities, Malcolm Gillieos is the vice chancellor of the university. He wrote an article for Times Higher Education about working with external operators, LOndon Met wants to ho further to realize a model of new-era shared services that other institutions may want to adopt or join. He also said that the contract to run services will be awarded in the autumn.

The university spokesman stated that they hope to develop a pioneering approach to improving services by investing in our people, reducing cost and putting the university on a sustainable financial path. They believe that there are opportunities to share services between higher education institutions.

The chancellor, George Osborne broadcast that a VAT exemption for services shared between organizations that are already exemption for services shared between  organizations that are already exempt from tax including universities and charities. The Chief Executive of Universities UK, Nicole Dandridge stated that at the time universities have wanted to develop more cost-effective operating models and more creative collaborations with external partners. However, to date the VAT rules have acted to block. They hope today’s announcement will address the issue.

REFERENCE:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/14/london-metropolitan-university-outsourcing-plan

http://www.onenewspage.co.uk/n/UK/74rdtdd7n/London-Metropolitan-University-to-outsource-most-services-to.htm

http://www.pactumcontractmanagement.com/London-Metropolitan-University-to-outsource-most-services-to-private-firm—The-Guardian/B240.htm

http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/latest-news-and-data/education-news/14317/london-metropolitan-university-to-outsource-most-services-to-private-firm