Critical Infrastructure
Essentials for the functioning of a society and economy:
* electricity generation, transmission and distribution;
* gas production, transport and distribution;
* oil and oil products production, transport and distribution;
* telecommunication;
* water supply (drinking water, waste water/sewage, stemming of surface water (e.g. dikes and sluices));
* agriculture, food production and distribution;
* heating (e.g. natural gas, fuel oil, district heating);
* public health (hospitals, ambulances);
* transportation systems (fuel supply, railway network, airports, harbours, inland shipping);
* financial services (banking, clearing);
* security services (police, military).
See: Wikipedia: Critical Infrastructure
By John Walker on December 1, 2011
UK scientists and businesses will have access to the most sophisticated technology keeping them at the cutting edge of research and development, as details of the Government’s multi-million pound e-infrastructure investment were announced today by David Willetts.
The investment includes £43 million for ARCHER, a new national supercomputer to support advanced research, such as complex chemistry [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Business Software, Chemical and Petroleum Products Manufacturing, Critical Infrastructure, Deals and Agreements, Electronic Equipment and Computer Manufacturing, Film Production and Distribution, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, IT and Telecommunications Services, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Market Research, Monetary Policy, Product Research and Development, Production, Public Spending and State Aid, Reporting, Technology, Tendering and Procurement Alerts, Transport and Distribution, UK, Vehicle Manufacturing | Tagged ARCHER, astronomy, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, climate change, collaborative university projects, Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, David Willetts, DNA sequencing, e-infrastructure, food security, genome analysis, Higher Education Funding Council for England, HPC, JANET, Met Office, MONSooN, particle physics, Professor Rick Rylance, Research Councils, supercomputer, The Genome Analysis Centre, UK Space Agency, weather forecasting |
By John Walker on November 29, 2011
The Chancellor has today delivered his autumn statement to Parliament, alongside the publication of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s updated forecasts for growth and borrowing. He announced permanent reductions in spending to ensure that the UK meets its fiscal targets, using some of those savings in the short term to fund infrastructure investment to generate [...]
Posted in Accounts, Business Banking, Business Continuity Planning, Commercial Property Services, Cost Management, Critical Infrastructure, Distribution Channels, Down sizing / Retraction, E-commerce, Economic Cycles, Employment Levels, Financial Capital, Forecasts, Fundability, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, Industrial Relations, Inflation, Insurance, Lending and Borrowing, Loans and Finance, Monetary Policy, Morale, Organized Labour / Unions, Outsourcing, People and Players, Political and Economic Philosophies, Politics & Legislation, Procurement, Product Research and Development, Public Sector, Public Spending and State Aid, Recruitment, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions, Skills and Training, Staff, Startups, Taxation, Technology, Telecommunications, UK, UK Budget, Utilities | Tagged Air Passenger Duty (APD), Apprenticeship, Association of British Insurers, Autumn Statement, bank levy, Bank of England, Business Finance Partnership, Chancellor, Child Tax Credit, deficit reduction, enterprise, Enterprise Zones, free education, Free Schools, fuel duty increase, Infrastructure Investors Forum, infrastructure spending, Jobcentre Plus, Jobseeker’s allowance, Local Authorities, measures, mid-sized businesses, National Infrastructure Plan, National Loan Guarantee Scheme, OBR, Office for Budget Responsibility, Official Development Assistance, pension funds, Sector Based Work Academy, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), small firms, smaller businesses, Spending Review period, State Pension age, super-connected cities, tax relief, Work Experience, young apprentices, Youth Contract |
By Robert Steadman on October 14, 2011
Hot water and central heating costs are unavoidable and becoming increasingly expensive but they can easily be managed keeping the size of your bills to the bare minimum. There are many ways to achieve lower fuel bills ranging from changing your fuel supplier to the installation of cavity wall and loft insulation. But, [...]
Posted in Cost Management, Critical Infrastructure, Environmental Issues, Equipment & Operational Resources, Ideas and Innovation, Intellectual Property, Mining, Energy and Utilities, Natural Resources, Product Launches, Product Research and Development, Technology, The Work Place, UK, Utilities, Waste Management | Tagged diesel, electricity, electricity bills, gas, lower fuel bills, save money, utility bills |
By John Walker on September 23, 2011
If you’ve seen the news this week, you may have seen that the last of the ‘big six’ energy suppliers has put their domestic energy prices up by 15%. This price rise may sound severe and it’ll certainly worry domestic energy consumers. But in reality, business energy consumers face significantly higher price rises on a [...]
Posted in Business Services, Products and Solutions, Critical Infrastructure, Equipment & Operational Resources, Outsourcing, Procurement, UK |
By John Walker on January 19, 2011
Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX), the world leader in the hosting and cloud computing industry, today announced the launch of its cloud infrastructure to provide customers with a European based infrastructure for their cloud-based data footprint.
“Our US-based Rackspace cloud has already been hugely successful, with over 100,000 customers globally now taking advantage of our hosted cloud [...]
Posted in Business Software, Critical Infrastructure, E-commerce, Europe, Expansion, Fashion, Trends and Memes, IT and Telecommunications Services, Ideas and Innovation, Information Security, Information Technology, Procurement, Product Launches, Technology, UK | Tagged Cloud Computing, Rackspace |
By John Walker on December 3, 2010
Responding to the implications of the heavy recent snowfalls, Barclays Business is offering a financial support package to all of its affected business banking customers.
Travers Clarke-Walker, Director of Product and Marketing, Barclays Business, said: “Snow is impacting across the UK, making it impossible for some businesses to operate. We can take some of the worry [...]
Posted in Business Banking, Business Continuity Planning, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Financial Resources, Scotland, UK |
By John Walker on November 15, 2010
Incident and vulnerability research points to anticipated information security trends
Imperva, the global leader in data security, announced today its predictions for the top ten information security trends expected in 2011. The report, compiled by Imperva’s Application Defense Center (ADC), led by CTO Amichai Shulman, is based on analysis of incident and vulnerability data from the [...]
Posted in Business Continuity Planning, Business Software, Critical Infrastructure, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Forecasts, IT and Telecommunications Services, Industry Reports, Information Security, Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Regulatory Compliance, Technology, UK, Worldwide | Tagged Advanced Persistent Threat, Amichai Shulman, CISOs, Cloud Computing, cyber security, data breaches, data theft, Hacker Intelligence Initiative, Imperva, Information Security, malware, Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) Attacks, Open Source, social networks, Stuxnet worm |
By John Walker on October 22, 2010
Commenting on the recent Comprehensive Spending Review, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said;
“The cuts announced in the Government’s spending review are a retrograde step and will have a devastating impact on vital public services, including education.
“The Government may talk about protecting schools, but schools are not [...]
Posted in Construction, Critical Infrastructure, Education, Employment Levels, Human Resources, Industrial Relations, Organized Labour / Unions, Public Sector, Public Spending and State Aid, Recruitment, UK | Tagged Building Schools for the Future, Christine Blower, Comprehensive Spending Review, cuts, National Union of Teachers, NUT, public services, public spending cuts, Sure Start |
By John Walker on October 19, 2010
The Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 will deliver the biggest budget cuts since the Second World War, according to leading economists. In anticipation of the Treasury’s announcement on 20 October, Advanced Computer Software Group plc (the leading supplier of software and IT services to the public, not-for-profit and commercial sectors) is urging the public sector to [...]
Posted in Business Software, Critical Infrastructure, Education, Equipment & Operational Resources, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, Health and Social Care Services, Human Resources, IT and Telecommunications Services, Information Technology, Intangible Resources, Not-For-Profit Sector, Outsourcing, Political and Economic Philosophies, Politics & Legislation, Public Sector, Public Spending and State Aid, Technology, UK | Tagged Advanced Computer Software Group, Cost Cutting, ICT, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Outsourcing |
By John Walker on July 1, 2010
Some interesting results from a survey by Insurantz.com showing Small businesses are still not catching on to social networking.
Just 16% of UK SMEs embrace sites like Facebook or Twitter as essential tools for business
56% of businesses put off by lack of understanding
65% have yet to see any benefit from social networking
Leisure and tourism industry most [...]
Posted in Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Distribution Channels, Equipment & Operational Resources, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Internet Services, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Product Research and Development, Recruitment, Reputation, Sales, Surveys, Technology, Telecommunications Services, UK |
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