Virgin Media Business: Business Blogen-GBEPiServer CMS1791http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Wising-up-to-working-from-home/Remote Working With National Work From Home Day just around the corner, Virgin Media Business caught up with David Lennan, Chairman of WorkWise UK on how working from home can benefit employers and create a 21 st Century workforce in the UK. In the past decade, a whole range of smarter flexible working arrangements have become increasingly widespread. A number of key drivers are responsible for this including...Wed, 16 May 2012 09:23:00 +01002012-05-16T11:23:12+01:001786http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Big-data-shouldnt-be-a-big-headache/IT TrendsBig data is a topic that’s growing in importance all the time. It’s undoubtedly high on the boardroom agenda in terms of exploiting it for competitive advantage, but this has left CIOs with quite a challenge. As more business information is produced every minute of every day, CIOs are having to identify ways to store, access and process this data, without breaking the bank or, perhaps more...Wed, 02 May 2012 10:10:00 +01002012-05-02T10:21:47+01:001783http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Mobile-data-demand-continues-to-surge/Mobile DataA 250 per cent rise in demand for mobile data in the last two years means it’s little wonder that network operators are looking at ways to improve their mobile backhaul networks. When 4G arrives in the UK, demand for data is likely to go through the roof. With that in mind, it’s vital mobile operators are ready for the future. By the end of the year, 50 per cent of the British population are...Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:05:00 +01002012-04-30T15:24:51+01:001782http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Customer-self-service/Customer ServicesThe digital world never sleeps and customers increasingly want to be able to contact companies at all hours of the day. While it may not be possible to have a member of staff available round the clock, more and more companies are investing in making their websites customer friendly, so they can find that key information even in the middle of the night. A recent survey we carried out showed that...Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:35:00 +01002012-04-27T12:49:32+01:001777http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Timeline-an-innovation-nation-through-the-ages/Industry Events AwardsEducationIn the spirit of Innovation Nation we’ve taken a look back at some of the great British technology inventions of the past. Our country’s pioneers have revolutionised industries with their innovative designs. They’ve recognised the opportunities and have sculpted ideas that have shaped the modern world. In the last 200 years, technology has been put to good use to make things possible that were...Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:42:00 +01002012-04-18T14:09:34+01:001771http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/QA-with-Lee-Hull/Public Sector ITWhat does your role at Virgin Media Business involve? I’m in charge of overseeing all of our work in the public sector. This ranges from the government's Public Services Network (PSN) initiative to our work with central and local government, higher and further education institutions, healthcare providers and the emergency services. During the last 12 months, what achievement are you most proud...Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:00 +01002012-04-04T11:29:16+01:001757http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Left-to-our-own-devices-/IT TrendsThis month Mobile World Congress 2012, welcomed the next generation of smart phone apps and gadgets to the market. As the lines between consumer and business technology continue to blur, these gadgets are likely to be as much at home in the office as in our personal lives. Not only this but smartphones and tablets, like the upcoming iPad 3, are now seen as “must have” fashion accessories for wo...Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-03-22T10:54:43Z1750http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Cloud-demand-lifted-by-employees/Cloud ComputingWhile cloud has been hyped up as being hot on the agenda of boardrooms across the country, it seems that in actual fact it’s the frontline staff that are driving demand for cloud services. In fact, recent research has shown that boardrooms are playing catch-up to employee aspirations.  We’ve recently spoken to 5,000 companies and 62% of their workers told us they want to be using the cloud more...Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-03-12T16:44:54Z1749http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Innovation-Nation-/AwardsInnovation is part of the fabric of the UK. We have long put new technology to good use and achieved things that have shaped the modern world. This country’s pioneers have revolutionised things like science, transport, information technology and communications by implementing and creating services that have utterly changed what society previously understood or was capable of.  But innovation is...Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-03-12T12:04:55Z1746http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/forget-the-abacus/With employment such a hot topic at the moment, we spoke to thousands of businesses to see what exactly it is they are looking for from prospective employees . In such a competitive market, how can they uncover the hidden gems? Well, as you might expect, there isn’t just one thing that ticks all the boxes. Instead, employers told us they seek a blend of skills. Top of the list is having a can-d...Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:39:00 Z2012-03-08T09:50:58Z1739http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Virgin-Media-Business-VPDC-nominated-for-cloud-computing-award/It seems like only yesterday I was writing on this blog about our entry into the cloud computing market with the launch of our Virtual Private Data Centre (VPDC) service . Yet that was just over two months ago. Since then, we’ve had a lot of interest in our cloud offering from organisations that don’t want to be constrained by their IT systems or baffled by jargon and hype.  As well as great...Fri, 24 Feb 2012 09:53:00 Z2012-02-24T09:57:56Z1730http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Andy-Burton-Chairman-Cloud-Industry-Forum/Guest postsAt the end of last month, more than 4,500 people descended on the Olympia National Hall in London to attend Cloud Expo Europe. One of those people was Andy Burton, chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum. This is the industry body that champions and advocates the adoption and use of cloud-based services by businesses and individuals. I wanted to find out more about what Andy is doing, so I got in...Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-02-17T09:49:49Z1726http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Mobile-data--perennial-pain-or-potential-gain-for-network-operators-/Mobile DataAs interest in the 4G license auction grows, it’s easy to forget how much demand for mobile data has increased in the last few years. With smartphone sales going through the roof , the introduction of the tablet as a whole new platform, and not to mention widespread use of 3G dongles– it all adds up to a huge rise in people consuming content on the move. According to Ofcom , there has been a...Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:30:00 Z2012-02-10T14:38:54Z1725http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/The-New-Faces/MiscellaneousYou might have noticed that the look and feel of the blog has changed recently to help you navigate and find what you’re looking for. And today I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you all to a few new bloggers from the team here at Virgin Media Business. Without further ado, here are the new faces that you will start to see appearing as you read through the blog: Tony Grace is our Chi...Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-02-10T14:31:02Z1724http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Sunny-outlook-thanks-to-the-cloud/Public Sector ITMany of you will have heard about the G-Cloud project. It’s the Government’s programme aimed at getting more cloud-based services into the public sector. Already it’s been met with a huge amount of interest from companies looking to develop services for it. The G-Cloud aims to be agile, efficient and open to companies of all sizes to compete for Government contracts. Simply come up with a good...Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:46:00 Z2012-02-02T10:53:48Z1700http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/Finance-and-technology-pivotal-to-business-success/Although the world’s gaze will be focused firmly on the UK throughout much of 2012, we’ve found that many businesses are unsure what to expect this year. We talked to 5,000 business leaders from across the country and found that one in two are anxious about how their company will fare over the next 12 months. This is on a par with what our survey found this time last year, suggesting that...Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-01-18T16:23:33Z1685http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2012/2011-in-review/2011 was a very busy year for us at Virgin Media Business. With some of our biggest deals and product launches ever all taking place there has rarely been a quiet moment! Before 2012 is fully underway, I thought I’d take a quick look at some of the exciting stuff we’ve been up to in 2011. Investing in the future of education At the start of the year we started working with London Grid for...Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:00:00 Z2012-01-04T15:38:53Z1589http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Millions-to-benefit-from-telemedicine-initiative/Last week, the Prime Minister announced that the Department of Health plans to offer telehealth technology to three million people with long term health conditions over the next five years. Forming a key part of the government’s £180m Life Sciences Strategy, the UK-wide initiative will radically improve the care that Britons receive while helping to reduce costs. The government’s initiative wil...Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:47:00 Z2011-12-19T13:53:12Z1569http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Big-Red-VPN/Parents and CIOs have something in common – they can both get annoyed by rapid growth. While parents might be frustrated by children outgrowing their clothes and shoes every few months, CIOs are pulling their hair out as they try to keep pace with rocketing data growth. Fortunately, most children will only grow a couple of inches per year, whereas enterprise data is increasing by around 60 per...Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:40:00 Z2011-12-14T18:21:32Z1531http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Londons-Tech-City/IT TrendsMany of Europe’s technology pioneers recently descended on London for Internet Week Europe – a five-day festival of events to celebrate the continent’s thriving internet community. Nearly 150 events were hosted across the capital - ranging from parties and meet-ups to executive breakfasts and conferences. Speaking on the first day of the festival, Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications...Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:30:00 Z2011-12-05T12:16:26Z1521http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Planning-for-a-merry-christmas/RetailIt may only be early November, but many shoppers have already started their Christmas shopping with gusto in a bid to beat the last minute rush come December. With online sales making up a significant chunk of all retail revenue in the UK, it’s no surprise that one in seven people plan to do all of their Christmas shopping online this year, according to HSBC. As some shoppers are moving away fr...Tue, 08 Nov 2011 13:30:00 Z2011-12-01T14:22:29Z1519http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/eChristmas-on-Oxford-iStreet/RetailWhether it’s great deals online or eye catching window displays, retailers are pulling out all the stops to try and entice shoppers this Christmas. This is particularly apparent on London’s world famous Oxford Street, where many of the flagship stores are using technology to deliver a greater shopping experience to their customers. Several initiatives to improve the customer experience caught o...Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:30:00 Z2011-12-01T14:05:28Z1562http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Technology-paves-the-Way/The use of technology in business is always changing, allowing innovative companies to take advantage of new developments and steal a march on the competition. One technology that’s getting a lot of interest from forward-thinking companies is cloud computing. By moving to the cloud many businesses are finding that they can reduce their IT expenditure, whilst improving services. However investin...Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:52:00 +01002011-12-13T17:19:10Z715http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/IT-education/EducationThere’s been a lot of debate over the last few weeks regarding the UK’s education system, following comments made by Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt. Schmidt argued that schools in the UK are getting IT wrong by teaching children how to use software - rather than make it. It’s an interesting point. With a greater understanding of IT, the workers of tomorrow will be in a much better position to...Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:26:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z729http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/MEF-celebrates-ten-years/MiscellaneousThe Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) may have just celebrated its tenth anniversary, but that’s not all we’re celebrating here at Virgin Media Business. Our very own Chris Everitt, Steve Ferguson and Matt Preston have become some of the first people in the world to pass MEF’s Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional (MEF-CECP) examination. Virgin Media Business is one of a select band of service...Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:12:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z785http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/What-is-cloud-computing/Cloud ComputingThe cloud has been described as efficient, effective, resilient and scalable, but what does this actually mean? Well it means that it does what it says quickly, securely and you can get more or less of it when you want to. Cloud computing has been wrapped up in jargon for too long now, causing confusion and barriers to adoption. But it shouldn’t be that tough. A good cloud computing service...Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:11:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:14Z811http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/The-workplace-of-tomorrow/IT TrendsWe held a seminar with Cisco in the West Midlands recently, looking at how the workplace is changing and what companies should do to prepare for the arrival of digitally-minded Generation Y employees. Some interesting discussions were had and following the event we thought we’d take the opportunity to survey the business leaders who attended. We asked them for their thoughts on social media,...Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:44:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:18Z714http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Benefits-of-video-conferencing/IT TrendsCarly Chynoweth at The Sunday Times wrote an interesting article recently looking at how advances in technology have made it easier for businesses to conduct meetings virtually. With many workers now able to take part in video conferences at their desk, Carly reports that more and more companies are swapping business class flights for meetings via video link. With some international flights...Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:36:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z793http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Cutting-through-the-cloud-hype/Cloud ComputingIf you type ‘what is cloud computing’ into Google around 85 million different results will show up, all offering slightly different definitions of what the cloud is. With so much confusing and conflicting information out there it’s not surprising that just one in ten firms have moved to the cloud so far. What the industry needs is someone to come in and explain what all the fuss is about in pla...Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:17:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z779http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/BA-iPad-trial-takes-off/IT TrendsIn a bid to reduce paper consumption and improve customer services, British Airways recently announced that it’s going to trial replacing paper flight manifests with iPads. It’s a move that could replace reams and reams of paper on flights, whilst revolutionising customer service in the skies. With iPads in hand, cabin crew could potentially access all sorts of customer information, such as...Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:23:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z778http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Project-Pathway/Public Sector ITAs you may have seen in the press or read on the blog, Virgin Media Business has been playing a leading role in the national Public Services Network (PSN) programme, working with the Government’s central PSN team to deliver enhanced voice and data services, cost effectively, to the public sector. As part of the PSN programme, we’ve been collaborating with Hampshire County Council, Kent County...Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:31:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z781http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Social-media-boredom/Social MediaAn international study by IT analyst firm, Gartner, has suggested that some of the early adopters of social media are beginning to lose interest in social networking sites, with 31 per cent saying that they are getting bored with their favourite social networks. For businesses that have embraced online networks for customer services, sales and marketing the research could appear to be a cause f...Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:18:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z745http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Telemedicine-helps-diagnosis/Healthcare ServicesAs Mark blogged about recently , calls for telemedicine have been growing over the last few months, with predictions that the market will grow by 19 per cent annually over the next three years. At the same time, Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the NHS has been urging more doctors to start holding virtual consultations with patients over the next 12 months. With some medical experts...Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:39:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:09Z744http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Laying-foundations-for-UK-4G/Mobile DataWith mobile data traffic set to increase by a staggering 3,000 per cent by 2015, according to the Yankee Group, mobile networks are starting to struggle, especially at busy periods and when large crowds of mobile users gather together at music festivals and other outdoor events. The advent of smartphones and Tablet PCs means that we’re all permanently connected. We now use mobile devices to mak...Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:40:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:09Z812http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/10-questions-with-Phil-Stewart/Guest postsSince launching this blog we’ve interviewed a whole host of different people from MPs to company directors and even a couple of eco evangelists. We’ve offered our thoughts on a wide range of topics from the cloud to mobile data, as well as a bit of social media for good measure, yet until now, we haven’t really given you an insight into who we are and what we do at Virgin Media Business. To...Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:56:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:18Z813http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Huge-increase-in-mobile-data/Mobile DataEarlier this month, communications regulator Ofcom released its latest market report examining technology usage across the UK. The annual report revealed some very interesting stats. According to Ofcom, 76 per cent of homes are now connected to the internet, 60 per cent of teens believe they’re addicted to their smartphone, and one in five adults has used their phone in the bathroom! But the st...Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:59:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:18Z792http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Digital-diagnosis/Healthcare ServicesSpeaking to a doctor via a webcam might sound like something out of The Jetsons, but it could be a reality sooner than you think. Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of the NHS, has called for doctors to offer remote consultations to patients via video link within the next year. But is this a service people want from their family doctor? In order to find out more, YouGov polled over 2,000...Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:48:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z790http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Pick-your-own-PC/IT TrendsDuring the last few months I’ve been seeing a very interesting trend emerge. Reacting to workers bringing in their own gadgets and consumer IT entering the workplace, some companies are starting to give staff the opportunity to make their own decisions about what IT they wish to use at work. ‘Pick your own PC’ initiatives, as they’ve been dubbed, give workers the option to choose what computer...Fri, 12 Aug 2011 01:22:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:15Z788http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/How-are-PCs-changing/IT TrendsCharles Arthur posed a very interesting question on The Guardian’s Technology Blog recently. He asked his readers to predict what computers will look in five years' time. It’s a really tricky one to answer, considering how much has changed since 2006. Rightly or wrongly, here are some thoughts on what computers will look like in 2016: Judging by demand for iPads in the business world, I expect...Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:32:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:15Z791http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Redstone-QA/Guest postsIt’s been just over a year since we launched our Business Partner Programme. The programme was set up to help partners take advantage of growth opportunities from the explosion in business data and has been hugely popular. In the first six weeks alone we signed up more than 100 partners! We’re very proud of the programme and the progress we’ve made in supporting our partners in the fast growing...Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:33:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:15Z789http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Twitter-as-a-business-tool/Social MediaIn July 2006, Michael Arrington at TechCrunch reported on the launch of a new ‘group SMS application’ by the name of Twttr. Whilst he might have described the site as a ‘total snoozer’, Twitter, as it is now known, has become immensely popular during the last five years, attracting around 200 million users worldwide. Yet despite its success some businesses remain unconvinced about what the soci...Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:15Z787http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Embrace-the-cloud/Cloud ComputingAlthough analyst house, Gartner, has predicted that by 2016 all Global 2000 companies will be using public cloud services, migration to the cloud is proving to be slower than expected. In a poll of 5,000 businesses we recently carried out, just one in ten firms said that they had embraced cloud services. This suggests many companies still have hesitations about placing applications and data in...Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:44:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:15Z743http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Office-of-the-Future/IT TrendsYou may not believe it, but this month marked the tenth anniversary of TV series ‘The Office’, which first aired on 9 July 2001. Since David Brent hit our screens, the UK’s workforce has gone through some massive changes thanks to innovations such as smartphones, tablet PCs and cloud computing. To try and get a better idea of how the workplace is evolving, we carried out a survey of 1,000 offic...Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:16:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:09Z786http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Partner-of-the-Year-Awards/AwardsEarlier this year, we celebrated a number of awards including being named UK Public Sector Partner of the Year by Cisco, Best Business ITSP (Large Enterprise) by The Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association and Re-brand/Re-launch of the Year at the 2011 Drum Marketing Awards, in addition to some great individual wins at BESMA. We now have another award to put in our cabinet! At Cisco’...Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:40:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:14Z742http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Marketing-Manchester/Guest postsWe held a competition recently to celebrate Green Office Week. We asked you to tell us how you’re trying to make your business more environmentally friendly. The response was amazing with many of you tweeting and posting comments on the blog throughout the week. There was one person that really impressed us with their eco efforts - Lucy Clifford of Marketing Manchester. We wanted to find out mo...Tue, 05 Jul 2011 09:54:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z780http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/LSE-Research/Guest postsLast month, Dr Alexandra Beauregard at the London School of Economics and Political Science issued a report examining working conditions in the public sector. The study of 224 local government employees in the south of England found that flexible working can boost productivity and reduce employee stress levels, but only if staff feel comfortable when asking for permission to work from home or...Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:53:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z783http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Social-Studies/Social MediaWith tuition fees rising and a fall in the number of applicants anticipated, universities in the UK are faced with a greater challenge than ever before when attracting the most talented students. Not only must universities convince students that it’s worth investing in a degree, they must also show prospective students that they’re best placed to deliver a quality education, an enjoyable...Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:37:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:14Z806http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/InformationAssurance/Public Sector ITIn a speech earlier this month, Francis Maude, the newly appointed minister for cyber security, praised the government for its work in making more services available online, but said more needs to be done to instil confidence in the users of those services. To encourage people to interact with the public sector confidently Maude said that the government must show consumers and business users th...Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:25:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:18Z741http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/World-IPv6-Day/IT TrendsAs you may have read, today is World IPv6 Day. It’s an initiative launched by the Internet Society that will see major web companies, including Facebook and Google, test out the new version of Internet Protocol for 24 hours. The goal of World IPv6 Day is to encourage organisations to prepare their services, to ensure that the transition from IPv4 is successful. Since its invention the internet...Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:28:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z800http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Big-wins-at-BESMA-awards/AwardsWe seem to be on something of a lucky streak with awards. In the last few weeks we’ve been named Public Sector Partner of the Year by Cisco, Best Business ITSP (Large Enterprise) by The Internet Telephony Services Provider's Association, and Rebrand of the Year in the 2011 Drum Marketing Awards. We can now add three more awards to that list thanks to this year’s British Excellence in Sales and...Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z804http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Ash-Cloud/Business Continuity In just a matter of hours, hundreds of flights across Scotland and Northern England were cancelled or delayed last week as ash plumes from the Icelandic Grímsvötn volcano made their way into the UK’s airspace. Thankfully, the ash cloud didn’t cause as many problems as last year’s eruption, but it still meant that countless business meetings had to be postponed or cancelled completely. Unforesee...Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:30:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z805http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/QandA-with-Gregg-Corbett/Guest postsI was interested to see Mark Heraghty blogging about Green Office Week recently, so I thought I’d get in touch with the organisers to find out a little more about the awareness week, which is now in its third year. I put a few questions to Gregg Corbett at Avery Dennison, founders of Green Office Week. Here’s what he had to say: What is Green Office Week? Why should businesses take part? Green...Fri, 27 May 2011 10:37:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z802http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Has-mobile-working-come-of-age/Remote Working When I’m talking to business owners one of the things that I’m asked quite regularly is: has mobile working come of age? It’s a question that I’ve found tricky to answer in the past, as it’s a bit of a yes and no answer. On the one hand, lots of office workers now have smartphones and tablet PCs so that they can access email whilst on the go, yet on the other, many don’t and even those that do...Tue, 24 May 2011 11:09:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z803http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Colocation,-Colocation,-Coloca/Cloud ComputingWith enterprise data estimated to be growing at 40 to 60 per cent each year, it’s easy to see why businesses are increasingly turning to third-party data centres for the management and backup of business data. Not only does it make the IT manager’s life a little easier, it can also generate significant cost savings and allow the company to make better use of office space by swapping server rack...Thu, 19 May 2011 10:37:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z801http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Apps-driving-mobile-data-traff/Mobile DataSince Apple launched its App Store in 2008, interest in mobile apps has rocketed, with the average smartphone owner spending 667 minutes a month using apps such as Angry Birds, Facebook and WhatsApp. But what many mobile users don’t realise is that apps can consume huge amounts of data - eating up their allowance, and putting pressure on the UK’s mobile networks. As Virgin Media Business suppor...Wed, 18 May 2011 10:18:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:17Z817http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Green-Office-Week/Green IssuesAs you may have heard, we’re currently in the midst of Green Office Week, an initiative that aims to raise awareness of green issues in the workplace and encourage office workers to help the environment by making a few small changes. Each day of the week has a specific focus, ranging from lowering energy consumption to minimising waste creation, and reducing unnecessary business travel. Compani...Wed, 11 May 2011 05:12:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:19Z815http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/AlphaGov/Public Sector ITThe government is launching a prototype version of Alpha Gov this week; Martha Lane Fox's 'revolutionary' project to consolidate all government websites into a single site. The super-site would enable the public to access all core services, such as paying taxes or booking a driving test. Bringing all services under one roof would allow the government to close around 75 per cent of its current 7...Mon, 09 May 2011 11:46:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:19Z822http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/April-2011-news-review/Tech News and ViewsLast month, the news was full of stats about how the economy had fared during Q1, with the Office for National Statistics reporting that the total number of unemployed people fell by 17,000, and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealing that business confidence amongst SMEs is starting to grow. Whilst the economy still keeps our attention, it's good to see these positive indicators....Wed, 04 May 2011 09:48:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:20Z832http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Royal-Wedding/Mobile DataOn Friday more than one million people are expected to arrive in London for the Royal Wedding, bringing with them hundreds of thousands of smartphones so that they can text and tweet about what's going on, and share pictures and video footage with friends. For fans of Will and Kate the day should be great fun, but for mobile operators it could turn into a right royal nightmare as data floods...Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:15:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:21Z814http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/e-voting/Public Sector ITOn 5 May the nation will head to the polls, to vote on the future of the country's electoral system. For weeks now, MPs and political campaigners have been debating whether the alternative vote could increase the power of each public vote or help extremist political parties win more seats. It's obviously a decision that will require all of us to have a good long think. But perhaps the voting...Thu, 21 Apr 2011 05:27:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:19Z821http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Can-do-attitude/Business ViewsWith many final year students now submitting CVs to prospective employers, we thought it'd be interesting to see what businesses are looking for when interviewing potential recruits. We polled 5,000 of them and discovered that there's a significant shift going on in the UK job market. It seems that gaining a first class degree from university is no longer enough to bag a top job. Just 27 per ce...Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:12:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:20Z831http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Running-a-lean-business/Business ViewsSharif Sakr at the BBC posted a really interesting video the other day, looking at how firms are using technology to keep costs down. Whilst attending a networking event for tech start-ups he found that entrepreneurs are increasingly using social networks to save on marketing, mobile applications to keep tabs on expenses, and cloud computing to eradicate the costs associated with running a...Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:56:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:21Z782http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/QandA-with-Jack-Cutts/Guest postsLast year we announced that we're working with Nottingham Building Society to help the organisation improve customer service levels by making it easier and faster for employees to access data from all branch and office locations. By implementing a high-speed Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) , we were able to give the building society the bandwidth it needs to ensure that...Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:55:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:14Z816http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/March-news-review/Tech News and ViewsMarch seemed to be quite the month for social media news; Twitter celebrated its fifth anniversary, LinkedIn lured in its 100 millionth member and a report revealed that social media is now the UK's most popular online activity. But it wasn't just the social web that was getting the press excited in March. George Osborne gave his Budget speech, pledging to create 21 new enterprise zones, and...Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:08:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:19Z829http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Legacy-of-Enterprise-Zones/Public Sector ITAs a new member of the blogging team, I wanted to give you a brief introduction before going full steam ahead with my thoughts on the government's plan to introduce 21 enterprise zones across the UK. As you might have guessed from the topic of this post, I'm director of public sector here at Virgin Media Business. As part of my role I oversee all of our work in the public sector . This ranges...Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:38:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:21Z740http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/DAFT-Investigation/MiscellaneousAs you may have read, the Department of Authentic and Fair Trading (DAFT) has launched an investigation today (1 April 2011) into Virgin Media Business following reports that we're being uncompetitive by providing firms with services that are "too fast". The organisation has claimed that we're giving businesses an unfair advantage over competitors. Naturally, we're not too happy about this. We'...Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:32:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z830http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Tablet-PCs/IT TrendsFiona Graham at the BBC posted a really interesting video earlier this week, looking at how companies are increasingly using tablet PCs in the workplace. She revealed that although just seven per cent of IT managers have currently bought tablet PCs for use by staff, it's thought that by next year a quarter of all tablet PCs sold will be for use by businesses. Tablet PCs offer businesses many...Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:20:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:21Z828http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Twitter's-5th-anniversary/Social MediaFive years ago today Jack Dorsey posted the first ever tweet. Whilst his message may have only been two words long – "inviting coworkers" – it marked a landmark moment in the internet's history, changing the way that many of us communicate online. The site, originally named twttr, now has more than 190 millions users, who collectively tweet around 140 million times a day. This time last year, 5...Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:11:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:21Z827http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/UK's-digital-divide/Social MediaFor many years, concerns have been raised about a growing digital divide in the UK. But research we released earlier this week suggests that thanks to social networking sites, it may no longer exist. We polled 5,000 firms from all over the UK and found that 35 per cent are using social networks to communicate, provide customer service, hire staff and advertise. At least 32 per cent of...Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:15:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:20Z820http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/QandA-with-Jennifer-Scott/Guest postsIn the latest installment in our series of interviews with people in the telecoms industry, I recently caught up with Jennifer Scott, news editor at IT PRO ( http://www.itpro.co.uk/ ) – one of the UK's leading business IT publications. Read on to find out her views on the number one priority for IT decision makers at the moment, what's putting business off from moving to the cloud, and why she...Thu, 17 Mar 2011 03:00:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:19Z826http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Cost-of-commuting/Remote Working If you're one of the 10 million people in Britain who drive to work each day, chances are you've noticed the price at the petrol pump going up recently. It now costs 129p for a litre of petrol in the UK – an all-time high. With the average worker making a 19 mile commute, the daily journey to work, combined with parking fees, now costs around £3,782 a year, according to a study that we conducte...Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:10:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:20Z818http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/ITSPA-Award/AwardsAnother week, another award win! The Internet Telephony Services Provider's Association ( ITSPA ) presented us with the award for Best Business ITSP (Large Enterprise) in its annual awards on Tuesday. This is the second time in a row that we've won the award, so we're doubly proud to be given the accolade by the ITSPA. The award is in recognition of our fully managed IP Multimedia service , whi...Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:55:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:19Z825http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/A-look-back-at-February's-news/Tech News and ViewsDebate about IP addresses dominated the technology press in February, with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority allocating the final block of IPv4 addresses, and Google and Facebook announcing that they're going to give IPv6 a test drive on World IPv6 Day in June. But as interesting as the future of the internet is, it wasn't the only thing getting talked about in February. Ovum published a...Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:07:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:20Z824http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Award-from-Cisco/AwardsWhen we launched Virgin Media Business we announced that we'd be focusing on helping the public sector achieve significant efficiency savings through innovative technology. One year on and Cisco has just named us as its Public Sector Partner of the Year. Not a bad start! The accolade is in recognition of the excellent work that we've helped Cisco to achieve in the public sector during the last ...Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:15:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:20Z823http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Olympic-Customer-Service/Customer ServicesThere's just over 500 days left until the Olympics kick off in London, so it's no surprise that the Games are getting more media attention. Whilst much of this is focused on preparations in the Capital and speculation about who will be on Team GB, attention is also turning towards the UK's customer service skills, as we gear up for an influx of game-goers from around the world. With nearly one...Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:15:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:20Z784http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/QandA-with-Brendan-Lynch/Guest postsI thought it would be quite interesting to put a few questions about our Business Partner Programme to my colleague, Brendan Lynch , who heads up Wholesale Markets here at Virgin Media Business. Here's what he had to say: Can you give us a bit of insight into our Business Partner Programme We launched our Business Partner Programme in June last year to help our partners benefit from new...Wed, 23 Feb 2011 10:37:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:14Z810http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Fostering-innovation/IT TrendsIf there's one thing that the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour can all agree on, it's that innovation is integral to the success of private sector organisations. During the last few months MPs from all of the main parties have regularly touted innovation as a key ingredient that businesses looking to propel themselves forward need to have. But being innovative has always been a big challenge...Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:09:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:18Z819http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/What-is-IPv6/IT TrendsDuring the last few weeks there has been a lot of talk about how the internet is running out of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, with some warning that the ‘IPcalypse’ is coming. This scaremongering has led to concerns that the internet is under capacity and may topple over. This simply isn't the case. The internet is just entering a new stage of evolution that will allow more of us to benefit...Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:20:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:19Z809http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Virgin-Media-Business-Birthday/MiscellaneousA year ago today we launched Virgin Media Business with bold plans to shake up the business telecoms market here in the UK. It was a big statement to come out with, but it’s one that I hope you'll agree we're living up to. Over the last 12 months, we've announced some really exciting stuff, which genuinely has changed the face of the business telecoms space. From revolutionising how dedicated...Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:08:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:18Z773http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Email-limitations/IT TrendsFor millions of people, email is a vital part of the day job. It's great for keeping in touch with colleagues, customers and suppliers. But it's not perfect. All too often messages sent by email don't reach the intended recipient because restrictions on their account are too tight. In fact, we recently carried out a study of mailbox limitations in the public sector that found that 69 per cent o...Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:06:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z808http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/A-look-back-at-January's-news/Tech News and ViewsMuch of last month's technology news came from Las Vegas, where the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took place. As always, there were some very nifty looking gadgets on show which, judging by our research, most people can’t wait to get their hands on. We recently surveyed 5,000 UK office workers and found that three-quarters of people would use a personal gadget for work purposes, giving...Fri, 04 Feb 2011 02:53:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:18Z770http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Data-centres/Connectivity ServicesAs you might have heard, we launched our data centre proposition today. Our new offering will give data centres access to carrier grade connectivity, helping them to dramatically reduce power and space consumption. As we all know, businesses have changed a lot over the last twenty years. Companies now need to process, store and access more data than ever before. New tools and technologies are...Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:51:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z769http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/QandA-with-LGfL-CEO/Guest postsYesterday, together with London Grid for Learning (LGfL) we officially launched our new capital-wide public sector network . The LondonPSN will be at the heart of how public sector organisations in London procure and use the latest technology over the coming years. The first phase of this will revolutionise the way education services are delivered within the capital and allow pupils to use...Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:02:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z794http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/UK-plc-unsure-for-2011/Business ViewsAlthough the FTSE 100 index recently closed above 6,000 points for the first time since 2008, many firms are still cautiously optimistic about what the New Year will bring. 53 per cent of the 5,000 business leaders we polled recently told us that they're not sure what to expect. We found that companies in Yorkshire are most upbeat, with 54 per cent of business leaders in the region saying that...Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:51:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:16Z772http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Q-and-A-with-Facewatch-founder/Guest postsLast month I blogged about a new initiative called Facewatch, which has been started by a group of retailers in London in a bid to combat crime. The Facewatch website allows retailers to upload CCTV images of thieves and share them with the police and other businesses in the area as soon as a crime is committed. I wanted to find out a bit more about the scheme so I got in touch with Facewatch's...Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:10:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z807http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/Christmas-gadgets/IT TrendsIt'll come as no surprise that iPads, smartphones, and netbooks were some of the most popular Christmas presents this year. Tens of thousands of people across the country were lucky enough to find a shiny new gadget in their stocking. But what you may find surprising is that many of them are planning to use their new devices at work. We polled 5,000 office workers from all over the UK and...Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:19:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:18Z768http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2011/A-look-back-at-December's-news/Tech News and ViewsDecember wasn’t all about the snow and icy conditions that blighted most of the UK. A number of other stories managed to dominate the press. Top of the news agenda was the never ending drama surrounding whistle blowing website Wikileaks. From the anonymous group of ‘hacktivists’ targeting corporate websites through to gossip about Assange’s private life, there hasn’t been a day in December...Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:01:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z771http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Will-it-be-a-Happy-Christmas/Customer ServicesThe run up to Christmas is always a busy time for retailers. And with thousands of shoppers calling up to place or change orders, ask for help and get advice, it's a busy period for the call centre too. But thanks to the wintry weather, this year looks set to be one of the busiest ever. The heavy snowfall earlier this month meant that a lot of shoppers were unable to get to the shops to start...Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:38:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z767http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Celtic-Manor-Resort/Connectivity ServicesAt this time of year I always like to look back at what I and the company have achieved. There are lots of things I'm proud of, from the big rebrand to the launch of “Big Red Internet”, but one of the things that I'm most pleased about is our work with the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales. We helped the venue to prepare for the arrival of more than 1,000 journalists in October when Wales host...Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:55:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:12Z766http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/A-look-back-at-November's-news/Tech News and ViewsFrom Facewatch to Facebook, there was a lot of talk last month about the innovative ways that firms are using technology to communicate, collaborate, and care for their customers, employees and property. I'm not surprised that there has been so much interest in this. A poll we conducted recently showed that UK businesses are incredibly interested in how technology can drive innovation and enhan...Mon, 13 Dec 2010 09:44:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z763http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Vision-of-new-normal-economy/Guest postsToday's blog is a guest post from Nick Scallan, Head of Design, who attended the Oxford Economics debate about Digital Megatrends a few days ago. Nick was in good company as he debated the emerging trends and repercussions of the new 'normal economy' with Tim Weber, BBC business and technology editor, Emer Coleman, director of digital projects for Greater London Authority and Dave Coplin,...Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:46:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z764http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Cardboard-Policeman/Surveillance SystemsThere was an interesting article in the Manchester Evening News recently, reporting that a life-size cardboard cut-out of a police officer had helped to significantly reduce the number of drive-offs at a petrol station in Swinton. Whilst it might sound like quite a strange initiative, it's not the first time that life-size cut-outs have been employed by the police. More than a dozen UK police...Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:30:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z765http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/How-to-avoid-snow-disruption/Business Continuity Last week's heavy snowfall may be the stuff of dreams for schoolchildren across the country, but for some business owners it is quite the opposite. The wintry weather means that many workers are unable to make it to the office or attend meetings, significantly impacting productivity. With further snowfall expected, it's likely that more firms will be affected before the end of this year. Of...Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:01:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z758http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/QandA-with-Chris-Marling/Guest postsWith 2010 drawing to a close, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's starting  to wonder what the new year will bring. Of course, I've got my thoughts on where the market is headed, and what businesses want, but I wanted to get an opinion from someone outside of the company. I caught up with broadband blogger, Chris Marling, who writes for Broadband Genie – one of the longest running broadband...Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:23:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z761http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Businesses-must-be-flexible/Remote Working In just a few months, all UK workers with a child under the age of 18 will be given the right to ask their employer for flexible work arrangements. It's a government initiative that's designed to help more employees achieve a greater work/life balance. Yet despite the benefits that flexible working offers both employees and employers, we recently discovered that just 16 per cent of SMEs in the ...Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:30:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z762http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Can-your-customers-get-satisfa/Customer ServicesThere's been a lot of talk over the last few years about how social media is transforming the customer service industry. Gone are the days when customers were happy to call a helpline and wait patiently for the next available agent. Customers want answers instantly. And who can blame them? So it's not surprising that customers are demanding service through other channels, such as email, instant...Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:15:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z760http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Gartners-top-ten-technologies/IT TrendsGartner recently revealed the top ten trends and technologies that it thinks could change the way that businesses operate during the next three years. Some of the technologies, such as cloud computing, are starting to become quite mainstream, but others, such as context aware computing, are still in their infancy. Here's a roundup of some of Gartner's most interesting predictions. Context Aware...Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:57:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z757http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Super-council-saving-stlg100m/Public Sector ITThere's been a lot of talk recently about plans to create the UK's first 'super-council' in London. Three London boroughs - Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham - hope to save almost £100m by sharing essential services, ranging from education to rubbish collection and ICT. It's a very interesting idea, and one that could potentially inspire other councils across the count...Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:53:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z759http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/A-look-back-at-October's-news/Tech News and ViewsWith the government's spending review announced last month, much of October's news focused on what sort of impact it might have on both the private and public sector. With the UK's deficit set to top £1trillion next year, the spending review was never going to be easy listening. Whilst the spending review dominated the media it wasn't the only story that grabbed my attention last month. I was...Wed, 03 Nov 2010 01:59:00 Z2011-11-07T17:25:11Z756http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Connecting-to-the-cloud/Cloud ComputingCloud Computing has been a really hot topic for the last two years. Almost every day I've come across an article telling me that it's going to revolutionise the business world. Moving to the cloud is a really exciting proposition, so I can't envisage that interest dying down any time soon. Especially since Gartner recently named cloud computing as one of the top 10 strategic technologies that i...Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:28:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z755http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Remote-working/Remote Working Call Centre Helper posted a really interesting article the other day, which revealed that nearly two-thirds of contact centres in the UK have implemented or are currently in the process of implementing a remote working strategy. I'm not at all surprised. The ability to work remotely has proven to be really useful for all kinds of businesses. In fact, analyst house IDC has predicted that one...Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:23:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z776http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Mary-Portas-takes-customer/Customer ServicesMary Portas has made quite a name for herself since she started presenting her Queen of Shops television show in 2007. She's become well known for her critique of high street stores and ability to instantly identify the issues that are crippling a business and provide creative and practical ways of remedying them. After four series, Mary is now turning her attention to revolutionising the UK's...Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:14:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z775http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Lord-Browne-publishes/EducationLord Browne’s hotly anticipated review of higher education funding was released last week. The main element that stole the headlines was that the cap on tuition fees is to be lifted, which means that fees could rise to £14,000 a year. Despite a deterrent in the form of a levy being put in place, many commentators were concerned that the move will mean that over time a university education becom...Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:52:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:12Z739http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/QandA-with-Brad-Burton/Guest postsI've been seeing Brad Burton's name quite a lot in the business press recently. Brad is the founder and managing director of 4Networking , the UK's biggest networking group, and author of one of 2009's best selling business books. I wanted to find out more about 4Networking, so I got in touch with Brad and asked him for his thoughts on networking, social media as a business tool, and his advice...Tue, 12 Oct 2010 03:11:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z738http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/look-back-at-September's-news/Tech News and ViewsAnother tube strike caused major disruption to London businesses this week; once again highlighting the need for companies to employ contingency plans such as remote working to minimise disruption and continue with business as usual. In other stories this month, the government announced plans to privatise Royal Mail. As businesses become increasingly reliant on mobile phones and email to stay i...Thu, 07 Oct 2010 04:38:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z737http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Are-you-celebrating-National/Customer ServicesToday kick starts the National Customer Service Week, a popular initiative organised by the Institute of Customer Service to highlight the importance of customer service. As regular readers will know, this is a topic close to my heart. But I’m not alone – the week is supported by more than 1,400 organisations, many of which take it as an opportunity to assess and improve the quality of service...Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:30:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z735http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/QandA-with-Jo-Causon,-CEO/Guest postsNext week will see the return of National Customer Service Week. The awareness week is run by The Institute of Customer Service to highlight the importance of customer service within organisations. As Virgin Media Business' customer service director, I wanted to find out more, so I caught-up with Jo Causon, the Institute's chief exec, and asked her about the initiative. Here's what she had to...Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:24:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z736http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Get-ready-for-Big-Red-Internet/Connectivity ServicesWe're announcing our first major, business proposition as a Virgin company today. And as you'd expect, it's a real game changer. Big Red Internet is the first business internet service that gives firms access to as much bandwidth as they need, without restrictions or extra charges. It's a simple idea, but the best ideas often are. Internet access is the lifeblood of modern business. Arguably,...Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:27:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:08Z732http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Is-your-business-battling/Connectivity ServicesDuring this year's World Cup, a lot of companies were concerned about the impact that it might have on their networks, with many workers attempting to watch the football online. While the global tournament might only happen once every four years, it highlighted an issue that businesses deal with much more frequently; a lack of bandwidth at busy periods. The amount of data being produced and...Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z799http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Healthcare-of-the-future/Healthcare ServicesSpeaking to your GP through your laptop might sound like something out of Doctor Who, but remote services such as this could be offered sooner than you think. According to a poll of 2,172 people that we conducted recently, 29 per cent of people in the UK hope to have consultations with their GP via webcam by 2020. And that's not all the public wants. Our research shows that the overwhelming...Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:26:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z777http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Save-Our-Students/Customer ServicesThe kids may have gone back to school, but unfortunately for some youngsters there will be no return to education this autumn. Tens of thousands of A-level students were left without a university place this summer, including 3,500 with straight A's. With many universities more than capable of providing tuition online, it's hard to understand why more institutions aren't offering distance learni...Wed, 22 Sep 2010 03:13:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:13Z731http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/A-look-back-at-August's-news/Tech News and ViewsThe scramble for university places dominated the headlines in August, as a record number of applications were made by students in the UK. Despite working hard, thousands of A-level students were left without a university place, including more than 3,000 students with straight A's. This year's set of A-level results also caused a stir in the IT community, as business leaders voiced concerns over...Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z730http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Cost-cutting-councils/Public Sector ITThere was a great article in The Daily Telegraph last week about how much money local authorities have saved by using technology creatively. According to the Local Government Association , investment in IT saved the tax payer £230 million last year, and could save councils around £370 million a year by 2015. Successful initiatives have included an iPhone application that displays hygiene rating...Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:34:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z734http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Tube-strike-highlights-need-fo/Remote Working There are two words that strike fear into every Londoner's heart: tube strike. Unfortunately for commuters working in the capital, they're two words that they'll be hearing quite a bit over the next few weeks as a series of four 24-hour strikes looks set to cause problems. The first strike kicked off yesterday afternoon, causing great problems for many office workers who were forced to find...Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:14:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z733http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Graduates-and-flexible-working/Remote Working When I was working towards my degree I was in full time employment and studying with distance learning through the Open University Business School. It was a really busy time, with no hours in the day. What motivated me to keep on going was the opportunity to gain a more challenging, higher earning, full time role. So I was interested to see a new study of 1,000 university graduates in IT Pro...Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:43:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:07Z728http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Surfing-in-the-skies/IT TrendsJust a few weeks ago a friend of mine told me that he'd tried out in-flight broadband for the first time and thought it was absolutely fantastic. It's not something that I've experienced on my travels before. But if the analysts at In-Flight are right, it could become quite a familiar sight in the next few years. The market research firm recently predicted that investment in in-flight broadband...Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:49:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z727http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Check-out-Foursquare/Social MediaJust a few weeks ago I signed up to Foursquare, the location-based social networking website. It's quite an interesting mobile application that lets you share your location with friends and acquaintances and earn points by 'checking in' to locations that you have visited. However that's not all that the app allows you to do. It gives users the chance to submit reviews for places that they've...Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:11:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z726http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Banks-and-customer-service/Customer ServicesWe recently carried out a study of some of the UK's biggest high street banks to find out how well their customer service teams are doing. To my surprise the results were pretty positive. We found that banks were answering most calls in around one minute and 14 seconds. And the fastest bank answered customer calls in just 34 seconds. Whilst the banks' call centres may be pretty speedy, we found...Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:58:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z725http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/QandA-with-Norman-Baker/Guest postsThere's been a lot written about the government's spending cuts and how they might impact the UK's road and rail networks lately. For many companies, they're the lifeblood of their business. Poor transport links can make it very tricky for businesses to transport goods, travel to meetings, and even commute. But with the advent of the internet, much of this travel can be avoided, as workers can...Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:30:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z754http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/The-customer-knows-best/Customer ServicesThe best way to find out what customers think about the service you deliver is to ask them. I'll admit it’s hardly a groundbreaking piece of business advice, but it works.  Sadly it's a piece of advice that some businesses don't take. Too many firms pass up on this opportunity to gain feedback, because they're afraid of knowing what their customers might have to say. But in my experience, I've...Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:46:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z753http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Reducing-business-travel/Remote Working If you're reading this in the office, chances are you got there by road or rail. You'll probably make the journey home in the same way too. Transport Minister Norman Baker wants to change all of this. He's launched a new flexible working initiative that he hopes will reduce the need for business travel. And in doing so, help cut transport congestion. Baker has urged companies to allow staff to...Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:07:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z796http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Cloud-computing-driving-demand/Cloud ComputingCloud Computing has got to be one of the most talked about technologies of recent years. Barely a day's gone by in the last six months when I haven't come across an article advising me how migrating to the cloud will change everything for my business. And I believe they’re right. We're starting to see more and more companies tell us that they're thinking about moving some of their business...Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:35:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z724http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Customer-service/Customer ServicesWhile flicking through the pages of a magazine at the weekend I came across a fascinating interview with Des McDonald. Des is the CEO of Caprice Holdings, which owns several high-end restaurants including Scott's, Daphne's and The Ivy. He talked about some of the ways that he tries to make sure that diners in his restaurants have a fantastic experience. Des explained that all customer facing...Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:04:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z723http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Entering-the-Dragons'-Den/MiscellaneousI've been a huge fan of Dragon's Den since the programme first appeared in 2005. So when I heard that we'd be running a similar initiative at work I was really excited to see what the result would be. We invited people from across the company to suggest innovative ideas that Virgin Media Business could put into action. We were astonished by the response that we had. Scores of people from across...Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:18:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z751http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/A-look-back-at-June's-news/Tech News and ViewsIt’s no surprise that the World Cup in South Africa dominated the news last month. Before the tournament kicked off there was much debate over the technology used to stream matches live over the internet. One disallowed goal in the England v. Germany match, however, and this all changed. Instead fans called en-masse for goal-line technology to be introduced. But it wasn’t all football this June...Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z752http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Facebook-set-to-hit-500m/Social MediaThe news that Facebook is expected to sign up its 500 millionth user this month should come as no surprise. During the last six years the social networking site has revolutionised the way that we stay in touch. Many of us are now using the site on a daily basis to chat with friends, share photos with family and organise social events. However it’s not just consumers that are using Facebook. The...Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:30:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z750http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Our-Business-Partner-Programme/MiscellaneousThere's been a lot of buzz about the launch of our new Business Partner Programme in the press this week. You may have even read an article or two about it! But just in case you haven't, here's a little more detail. We've launched our Business Partner Programme to help resellers benefit from the explosion in the amount of data businesses create. By the end of this year, 1.2 zettabytes of data...Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:30:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z774http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Lib-Dems-ahead-on-Twitter/Public Sector ITIf like me, you're an active Twitter user, you'll have been disappointed by the lack of interaction by politicians during the general election a few weeks ago. To find out why so few MPs used the site to engage with voters, we've been taking a look at the politicians that are signed up to Twitter and rating how well they're doing it. You’d expect David Cameron or Gordon Brown to be 'Top of the...Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:19:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:12Z798http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Europe's-networkers-in-Monaco/Industry Events More than 400 networking experts from across Europe have headed to Monaco this week for the annual WDM and Next Generation Optical Networking event. Some of the team have been at the four-day conference to discuss the latest developments in next generation optical networking. David Green, Senior Product Manager for High Capacity Services at Virgin Media Business took to the floor on Wednesday t...Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:35:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z797http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/BESMA/AwardsIt gives me great pleasure to announce that my colleague John Maund, has won the ‘Sales Manager of the Year’ category at the British Excellence in Sales and Marketing Awards (BESMA). John manages sales across the South of the UK and has been doing a fantastic job during the last year. The award recognises his achievements and the excellent results that he has generated for Virgin Media Business...Wed, 16 Jun 2010 01:22:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z721http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Tech-drives-Tescos-Growth/IT TrendsSo, after 14 years, Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's legendary CEO, has decided to retire. It's come as quite a shock to the business community, knocking share prices by 2.4 per cent. But what's less surprising, if you consider how much technology has helped the supermarket to grow, is the fact that he'll be replaced with Tesco's head of group IT, Philip Clarke. It's going to be a hard act for Philip t...Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:55:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z795http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/An-interview-with-an-IT-Hero/Guest postsEarlier this year we launched a search to find the nation's number one IT Hero. We received hundreds of nominations for people who are transforming businesses across the UK. Even though the standard of entries was extremely high, one person really stood out - Garry Renshall at VoiteQ. The judges were really impressed by the work that Garry has been doing at VoiteQ to develop and improve the...Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:41:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:16Z718http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Remote-workers/Remote Working In the last few years, demand for remote working has soared. Initial concerns that staff would be sat at home watching TV with their feet up, have been washed away. Many employers have now become remote working advocates, having realised that is can help to significantly improve productivity whilst helping workers to achieve a greater work/life balance. However, not all businesses are getting t...Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:56:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z720http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/A-look-back-at-May's-news/Tech News and ViewsWith the Con-Dem coalition government now in power, much of last month's news was about the policies being drawn up and the battle to become Prime Minister. But for the real tech fans, the biggest story didn't break until the very end of the month, when Apple's iPad finally when on sale in the UK! Here's a quick look at a few other technology news stories that grabbed my attention in May. Polli...Tue, 01 Jun 2010 04:23:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z722http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Eruption-disruption/Business Continuity The news that the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajakull, had finally stopped spouting out ash last week, must have been music to the ears of holiday makers and business travellers across the UK. Not to mention the airlines, which have been particularly hard hit by the no-fly zones that were imposed by the National Air Traffic Services. While the dust may have settled for now, businesses shouldn't...Fri, 28 May 2010 01:54:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:06Z717http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Can-mobile-cope/Mobile DataVodafone has announced record revenues as the result of its data plans, further cementing the view that operators are facing a data tsunami. Smartphones along with other mobile data devices have completely transformed how we access data. Many of us, myself included, now use mobile applications on a daily basis, to keep in touch on social networks, stream videos, access Google maps on the go and...Wed, 26 May 2010 11:09:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z749http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Whats-next-in-mobile/Mobile DataMobile and network transport experts from around the world descended on London this week for the twelfth annual Transport Networks for Mobile Operators event. Some of the team have been at the three-day conference to talk about the latest developments in Next Generation mobile network architectures and technologies. Marcus Hill, Head of SI Channel at Virgin Media Business, gave a presentation a...Fri, 21 May 2010 03:15:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z719http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/The-consumerisation-of-IT/IT TrendsThe popularity of tablet PCs and netbooks just keeps growing. Intel attributed its better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2009, in part, to sales of notebooks to both the consumer and business markets. And, of course, there’s the iPad. I know it’s just a larger version of the iPhone, and there’s no camera but, in its defense, this is the first iteration of what will...Mon, 17 May 2010 10:20:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z716http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Social-media-policy/Social MediaEarlier this week, Doncaster Magistrates Court fined a man almost £1,000 for posting a tweet to say that he wanted to blow up Robin Hood Airport after his flight had been cancelled.  Although the 111-character tweet was intended as a joke, concerned employees at the airport didnt find it all that funny. While this social media slip-up might be a little extreme, it serves as a good reminder to...Fri, 14 May 2010 01:39:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:05Z748http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Last-month's-news-review/Tech News and ViewsWith the general election looming I had expected there to be lots of noise in the tech press last month about what policies the three main political parties were   drawing up for public sector IT spending, but instead a volcano erupted and threw remote working back into the limelight! Here's a quick look at five tech news stories that grabbed my attention in April. Apple's iPad goes on sale for...Tue, 11 May 2010 12:12:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z713http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/evoting/Public Sector ITThe year's General Election has been different to any other. The three main party leaders have taken part in live televised debates for the first time, MPs have been tweeting day-and-night and X-Factor contestants have even appeared on campaign posters. Yet all this is nothing compared to the chaos that took place at polling stations last night. Hundreds of voters across the country were turned...Fri, 07 May 2010 01:31:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z709http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Cloud-computing/Cloud ComputingCloud computing is big right now. Not everyone can agree on a single definition of what the term means, but what we can say with some confidence is that it means using technology services which are managed by a third party and require a reliable internet connection to access them. In fact you’ve probably been using cloud-type services for some time. In your personal life, services like Hotmail...Thu, 06 May 2010 03:56:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z708http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Whats-hot-right-now/IT Trends‘Hot’ new technologies are tricky to determine – not least because businesses come in all shapes and sizes.  That said, the following are topping the shopping list of businesses I'm chatting with: Social media tools The great thing about social media is that most of the tools are largely free AND offer a quick route to engaging with customers. As an example, on Twitter, 20% of all ‘Tweets’...Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:46:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z747http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/How-do-you-view-YouTube/Social MediaA video of a man standing in a zoo might not sound groundbreaking, but when Jawed Karim uploaded it to YouTube five years ago today he made internet history. The 19 second video was the very first clip to be added to the video sharing site. Since that day, millions of videos have been uploaded, including some of mine! In total this adds up to more than 1,700 years of video content, so it's not...Fri, 23 Apr 2010 02:28:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:10Z711http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Business-Network-of-the-Future/IT TrendsSpeed and reliability: two words that almost always come up when you ask an IT manager about what they need most from their network. This craving for super fast connectivity and security is down to the fact that UK businesses are becoming increasingly data heavy. They need information, and even services, to reach their destination safely and immediately to keep the business agile. In a bid to...Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:13:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z712http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/The-Petrol-Price-effect/Remote Working If like me, you're a keen motorist, you'll have spotted that petrol prices have been rising in the last few weeks. In fact it's reported that the UK's average petrol price hit £1.20 per litre over the weekend, thanks to the extra 1.2p fuel duty and rocketing fuel prices. No matter what the chancellor's reasons are for the hike in fuel duty, I doubt there will be many people who welcome this ext...Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:23:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z833http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Are-you-tempted-to-tweet/Social MediaIt's been a couple of years since I started to tweet and in that time I've built up a fairly decent follower base of staff, customers, suppliers and friends. Since I signed up in June 2008, Twitter has most definitely become a mainstream communications tool. Millions have signed up to share their thoughts and actions with the world. From what they ate for lunch to their political views and...Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:16:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:21Z834http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Spotlight-on-Ethernet/Industry Events The tenth annual Ethernet Europe kicked off this week, attracting industry experts from across the globe. Some of the team have been at the two-day conference to talk about the hot topics in carrier Ethernet and explore what's next for next-generation networks. David Green, who is the senior product manager for high capacity services here at Virgin Media Business, took part in a roundtable to...Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:29:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:21Z710http://www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/News-and-events/Business-blog/2010/Welcome-to-our-blog/Hello and welcome to our brand new blog. At Virgin Media Business, we're keen to hear what UK businesses really want from telecoms providers, so we've launched this blog to give you an opportunity to share your views and opinions with us. We'll be blogging about everything telecoms, from what's hot in cloud computing to interviews with some of our customers and even our thoughts on the upcoming...Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:57:00 +01002011-11-07T17:25:04Z