This week’s Computer Weekly examines research that suggests CEOs want to invest in IT more than ever, but still see CIOs as technical experts and not business people. We review SQL Server 2012 and ask if Microsoft's database software is catching its competitors as well as concluding our Buyer's Guide to data security. 

Design teams across the world collaborate to create and develop prod­ucts. Unfortunately, IT organizations face serious challenges when collaborative teams share large files. This white paper will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the four technologies most commonly used to enhance file sharing for distributed teams. 

The majority of user authentication schemes today still use userid and password. The burden to users of managing large numbers of userids and passwords has led to proposals for Federated Identity systems, where a single set of credentials can be used to authenticate with several organisations, which have agreed to work together as a federation. 

This paper is the second in a two-part series exploring the innovation barrier – the point at which testing can no longer keep pace with development in the equipment manufacturing industry. It examines the innovation barrier’s symptoms – from slowdowns in development to mounting quality issues – and the potential impact on equipment manufacturers. 

This week’s Computer Weekly examines the growing threat from smartphones being targeted by hackers and viruses as the devices are increasingly used for work. Hospitality giant Mitchells & Butlers talks about its migration to the cloud and the CIO of Airbus discusses his IT priorities and how he spends €500m a year on IT. 

Service providers and network equipment manufacturers are adding automation to their pre-production testing process for a combination of reasons. This Market Snapshot will focus on the need for test automation of networks and connected devices, identify a path to automation adoption and provide an overview of the market. 

Whatever the type of business, it’s rare to find one that doesn’t have a computer at its heart. Able to manage everything from accounts to stock control and customer communications, a company computer is a critical purchase which should be chosen taking the specific needs of the  business in mind. 

Barcoding, also known as Automatic Identification (Auto ID), is a method of encoding information into a machine-readable pattern of predefined bar and space patterns that can be quickly and accurately read by a scanner and a computer. Read this white paper to learn how to incorporate barcoding into your everyday. 

To get leaner and more cost-efficient, many automotive and industrial manufacturers are working to improve their systems and processes. 

Read this paper to uncover five perks of selecting a software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. 

This week’s Computer Weekly contains an exclusive interview with JP Morgan COO India Gary-Martin about juggling multiple legacy IT systems while keeping the merchant bank compliant. We also look at how near-field communications technology promises to revolutionise consumer spending and we ask whether 2012 could be the year that APM becomes vital? 

<p>Read this white paper to learn how medical manufacturers are using enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to reduce the costs of their operations as well as justify current prices to insurers based on success rates and patient value.</p>