Leased line delivery dates to be binding across the EU

The European Commission has recommended that member states should introduce binding delivery times for the installation of leased lines. Although one might think this is an elementary contract requirement, apparently the EC has found this is not so. It discovered that delivery times for a 2Mbit line in the slowest member state are five times longer than the fastest. ...more

Price Check: DVD burners

We were quite impressed when we last looked at DVD burner prices back in September that they had broken through the ?100 barrier. Six months later.. ...more

Security breaches turn customers away, says survey

Security breaches lose businesses business, according to a survey of UK companies by Energis. The study found that businesses suffering a security breach found the rate of customers leaving rose 47 per cent following an incident, while new customers dropped 75 per cent. Malcolm Seagrave, security expert at Energis, said: 'The way many UK businesses handle IT security is the equivalent of leaving a brand new Ferrari unlocked with the keys in the ignition. ...more

Intel unveils dual-core Itanium 2

Intel has taken the covers off 'Montecito', a dual-core version of its Itanium 2 server processor. Aimed at heavy-weight computing needs, such as business analytics and large data warehousing, Intel claims the new 9000-series chips double the performance and have lower energy requirements compared to the existing single-core versions, there's also a tripling of cache. It is the most significant development of the server chip since the launch of Itanium 2 in the summer of 2002. ...more

Microsoft announces record full year financials, Wall Street unmoved

Microsoft is in the black. No surprise there, for the software giant's fourth quarter financial results, but a 37 per cent increase in profit will have pleased company accountants. Wall Street, however, wasn't over enthused with results that broadly met expectations for sales, but not quite the expectations for profit. ...more