​Welcome to issue 22 of IT Pro 20/20, a digital magazine from our sister site that distils the most important themes of the previous month into a simple, easy-to-read package.

For this month’s issue, we take a look at some of the technologies causing a stir across both the technology industry and the wider public. Whether it’s tried and tested technology like the internet, or emerging disruptors like blockchain, conversions are still being had about how best to utilise these building blocks.

Our lead feature looks at UK net neutrality, and whether an upcoming Ofcom review may lead to a fundamental change in how internet traffic is managed.

Elsewhere, we ask whether a company can truly embrace blockchain without sacrificing its green credentials, and whether a recent surge in productivity has put businesses on the road to digital transformation burnout.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 29 October – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

​Welcome to issue 21 of IT Pro 20/20, a digital magazine from our sister title IT Pro that distils the most important themes of the previous month into a simple, easy-to-read package.

This month we look at the newest innovations and projects helping to shape how we interact with the world around us.

Whether that be new approaches to tackling climate change, quirky ideas on what the office should look like post-pandemic, or ambitious plans to build a world-leading smart city, each story celebrates technology that’s helping to turn age-old into cutting-edge.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 29 October – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Welcome to issue 20 of IT Pro 20/20, the digital magazine from our sister title that distils the most important themes of the previous month into a quick, easy-to-read package.

With the pandemic almost behind us, companies are now having to grapple with the thorny issue of returning to office work. For many, that involves choosing how much flexibility to give employees. However some organisations, across both the public and private spheres, are questioning the validity of paying all employees equally.

Recent policy announcements from major tech players like Google to cut the pay of remote workers has sparked an industry-wide conversation about the nature of flexible work, which many believe could result in a new era of discriminatory workplace policies.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 30 September – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Welcome to issue 19 of IT Pro 20/20, our sister title’s digital magazine that distils the most important themes of the previous month into an easy-to-read package.

Maintaining robust cyber security is a difficult task for anyone, but smaller companies are increasingly finding themselves on the front line. At a time when almost a third of cyber attacks now involve a small business, we consider the dangers that this weak link could pose to the wider technology industry, and what steps SMBs and startups need to take to plug the gap.

Keeping with the theme of SMBs and startups, we also look at the tech startups that have thrived during lockdown, using their agility and flexibility to reshape business models and exploit unprecedented demand for services – something that every business can learn from.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 31 August – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Welcome to issue 18 of IT Pro 20/20, distilling the most important themes of the previous month into an easy-to-read package – courtesy of our sister title IT Pro.

In this cyber-security-themed issue, we highlight some of the most pressing challenges facing the industry. Our lead feature looks at the role of white hat hackers across the industry, the challenges they have faced in proving their value to companies, and whether media depictions of the traditional ‘hacker’ are creating unhelpful stereotypes.

We also look at the evolution of the security threat landscape from the 1990s until now, as well as consider whether the sudden appearance of social conscience among hackers may spell the end of the ransomware industry as we know it.

Also in this issue, you’ll find an overview of the most exciting features coming with Windows 11, as well as a look at the motivations fuelling the war against end-to-end encryption.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 30 July – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

​Welcome to issue 17 of IT Pro 20/20, our sister title’s digital magazine that distills the most important themes of the previous month into an easy-to-read package.

In this issue, we once again look at how regulations are shaping the development of technology. Our lead story is a deep-dive into the EU’s recent attempts to create a GDPR-like framework for AI, and what this might mean for businesses across the bloc.

Keeping with that theme, we also explain how altcoins work and how they fit into a market likely to face tough new rules in the coming years, and also examine the ways in which businesses can walk that fine line between privacy and personalisation.

Also in this issue, you’ll find an in-depth analysis of IBM’s recent pivot to the cloud, and a look at why Formula 1 teams are so enamoured with big tech.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 30 June – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Welcome to issue 16 of IT Pro 20/20.

This time we look at our strained, confusing, and often contentious relationship with artificial intelligence, and how that is shaping development.

We’ve addressed some of the more concerning issues surrounding the eager rollout of the technology, including whether AI has the potential to make us lazy, and whether it will make spying on employees a simple matter of flicking a switch.

It’s not all artificial intelligence, though. As a special bonus, we’ve also spoken to some of the leading figures behind Lithuania’s campaign to become Europe’s fintech capital – ousting the UK in the process.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 31 May – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

For this issue of 20/20, we wanted to address a problem that most businesses will face in 2021 – the return to the office.

You’ve likely seen that a handful of companies have taken the bold decision to close their offices for good and extend the remote working policies that have worked so well during lockdown. The jury is still out on whether this will lead to long-term success, but to better understand the thought process behind such a drastic approach, we’ve spoken to those companies taking the plunge.

Elsewhere we look at the best ways to measure success in a cloud-first business, what green cloud might mean for the industry, and the pros and cons of using Slack and Microsoft Teams for inter-company communication.

We hope you enjoy reading this month’s issue. For more insight and advice, head to www.itpro.co.uk.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 30 April – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Microsoft has announced a new platform designed to make it easy to build and operate artificial intelligence-powered technology for use in low-power edge devices, such as cameras and audio equipment.

The Azure Percept Development Kit (DK), which is available in public preview from today, promises to provide a single, end-to-end system that enables customers without coding knowledge to develop an AI product from the ground up.

The hope is that this new platform will help create a Microsoft-powered ecosystem of edge devices designed for low-power implementations, in essence replicating its success with the Windows operating system in the PC market.

The platform, announced at Microsoft Ignite, will run alongside Azure Percept Vision and Azure Percept Audio, two bolt-on services that can connect to Azure cloud services such as Azure AI, Azure Machine Learning, Azure Live Video Analytics, and Microsoft’s various IoT services.

Early concepts suggest the platform is initially aimed at use-cases involving retail and warehousing, where customers can take advantage of services like object detection, shelf analytics, anomaly detection and keyword spotting, among others.

Microsoft explained that the DK “significantly” lowers the bar for what is required to build edge technology, particularly as most implementations require some degree of engineering and data science expertise to make them a success.

“With Azure Percept, we broke that barrier,” said Moe Tanabian, Microsoft vice president and general manager of the Azure edge and devices group. “For many use cases, we significantly lowered the technical bar needed to develop edge AI-based solutions, and citizen developers can build these without needing deep embedded engineering or data science skills.”

Customers signing up to the platform will also be provided with a range of edge-enabled hardware that allows for processes like speech and image recognition to take place without requiring a connection to the cloud. Initially, this will be built by Microsoft, however, the company also confirmed that third-party manufacturers will be able to build equipment that’s certified to run on the Azure Percept platform.

“We’ve started with the two most common AI workloads, vision and voice, sight and sound, and we’ve given out that blueprint so that manufacturers can take the basics of what we’ve started,” said Roanne Sones, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s edge and platform group. “But they can envision it in any kind of responsible form factor to cover a pattern of the world.”

Microsoft’s own hardware also uses the industry-standard 80/20 T-slot framing architecture, which it claims will make it easier for customers to run pilots of their ideas with existing edge housing and infrastructure.

Elevators that are able to respond to custom voice commands, cameras that notify managers when shelves have low stock, and video streams that monitor for availability in car parks are just a few examples of how the technology could be deployed, Microsoft explained.

Azure Percept Studio, another bolt-on service, will provide step by step guides taking customers through the entire lifecycle of an edge tool, from design to implementation. Perhaps most importantly, customers using Percept Studio will also have access to AI models created by the open source community.

Welcome to the 14th issue of IT Pro 20/20, our sister title’s digital magazine.

Now that we have a better idea about when the lockdown will finally end, many of us will naturally be thinking about our return to the office. It’s likely that, having grown accustomed to remote working, for most of us this return will be phased and, depending on your role, you may find yourself able to negotiate how often you make the commute in. Some will be desperate to get moving again, while others will have taken cues from the past year to take advantage of new-found flexibility.

However, before the conversation shifts towards life after lockdown, we’ve taken the opportunity to highlight areas of our industry that have played crucial, yet often overlooked roles in this great remote working experiment.

In this issue, we look at how data centres have coped with immense pressure from customers, the benefits and pitfalls of onboarding new staff remotely, how smart cities will underpin life post-pandemic, and much more.

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 31 March – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.