Women in TechWorks held its inaugural ‘Engineering Intelligently’ event at Arm’s Cambridge headquarters, drawing about 160 attendees and a waiting list of more than 150.

The turnout highlighted strong demand for women-focused technology leadership events, with registrations exceeding expectations. Attendees included women and allies at different career stages, as well as people in finance, human resources and business roles.

The event featured keynotes, workshops, networking and discussion, with sessions on mentoring, leadership, retention and the impact of artificial intelligence on workplaces and executive decision-making.

Charles Sturman, Chief Executive Officer of TechWorks, linked the initiative to broader skills and leadership gaps in the sector.

“I am proud of what we have achieved here today,” Sturman said.

“The UK has a strong research, innovation and engineering base, but we need more skilled technology and business leaders to help companies scale. This initiative helps address that gap by encouraging more women with the interest and ability to build careers in tech to enter the sector, stay in the sector and progress into leadership, bringing with them valuable diversity of thought, experience and perspective.”

Opening address

The day opened with remarks from Jillian Hughes, founder of Women in TechWorks, who spoke about her career path and the need to ensure women are not excluded during a period of rapid technological change.

“If you told the apprentice version of me that I’d be standing up here 35 years on, opening this event at Arm today, I would have just laughed,” Hughes said.

She also addressed the industry’s wider talent picture.

“We are living through one of the most significant technology transformations of our generation,” Hughes said. “The UK is very good at developing technology. However, developing technology alone is not enough to compete on the global stage. We need the talent and the skills to do so, and women remain underrepresented in the technology sector. To succeed, we need to harness the full spectrum of talent.”

Charlotte Eaton, chief people officer at Arm, delivered the keynote speech. She organised her remarks around five themes: courage, relationship building, range, brand and adaptability, drawing on her career in banking, fast-moving consumer goods and technology.

One example focused on confidence and decision-making early in a career.

“Confidence rarely arrives before the action,” Eaton said. “It normally arrives following it. In that moment I derived a value I have carried with me for more than two decades: I never put anyone above me, and I never put anyone below me in my mindset.”

Eaton, who described herself as a “boomeranger” after returning to Arm, also spoke about the need to unlearn as careers progress.

“A lot of what it takes to progress is knowing what you have to let go along the way,” she said.

She then addressed the gender gap in technology and the pace of change in the sector.

“In times of significant change, including technological shifts, opportunities will arise. When those openings come, are you ready to step forward?” Eaton said.

Her closing remarks returned to the role of people in a field shaped by technical change.

“Undoubtedly technology will continue to evolve. But humanity remains our edge. It is the sparkle of human potential that will continue to be the multiplier for us. Progress has always been a collective effort, and changing the shape of the context for the generations that come will take all of us,” she said.

Skills pipeline

The morning programme also examined how organisations can attract and retain more women in technology roles. Mahdieh Ghoddusi, director of delivery at the UK Electronics Skills Foundation, outlined work aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in electronics through initiatives that start at school age and continue into higher education.

According to figures shared at the event, the foundation’s Girls into Electronics programme has supported 1,500 girls to date. Its scholarship scheme has provided nearly 1,000 students with industry work experience over 15 years.

Survey findings presented during the session showed that almost half of women studying electronics felt the field was not for them. The data underlined the need for support not only at entry level, but throughout education and the early stages of a career.

The afternoon turned to workplace change, with sessions on AI trends and executive leadership in an AI era. Discussion focused on how leaders are navigating rapid technological shifts while building inclusive teams and systems.

For many attendees, one of the most striking aspects of the day was being in a technology setting where women formed the majority. Networking sessions during breaks and lunch were active, with participants exchanging advice, contacts and personal experiences.

Men also attended, and some signed up as mentors during the event. Hughes said several male participants remarked on how unusual it was to see so many women gathered in a technology environment, underscoring the work still to be done across the industry.

At the close of the event, Hughes reflected on both attendance and engagement.

“I have been absolutely overwhelmed, not just by the number of attendees in person and online, but by how many people are interacting with each other who have not met before, the quality of speakers, and the key takeaways. I hope one of the main takeaways is: be bold, be brave, and don’t assume that ambitions are obvious. There’s a buzz about the place, there’s a genuine want for an event like this; people want to be here, and I’ve already been asked about the next one. Arm has been really supportive, and I’m overwhelmed by the sponsors, speakers, partners, attendees and, of course, the TechWorks staff. This event is not about displacing men – we absolutely need men as allies, and I’m delighted to see men here today signed up as mentors already,” she said.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

NETGEAR has launched Insight 10.0, a new version of its cloud network management platform. The release marks its latest push into AI-led network operations for small and medium-sized businesses and managed service providers.

The updated platform is aimed at organisations managing increasingly complex networks as they add cloud services, connected devices, AI applications and staff working across multiple locations. Insight 10.0 is designed to help smaller IT teams handle those demands through greater automation and a single management interface.

Insight 10.0 adds what NETGEAR describes as AI-powered operations, with tools intended to spot issues earlier, surface contextual information, and guide administrators through troubleshooting and routine tasks. NETGEAR is positioning the platform as a step beyond basic monitoring and control, arguing that network management systems increasingly need to identify anomalies and suggest responses rather than simply report status.

That approach reflects a broader shift in the networking market, as suppliers use AI to reduce the manual work required to run distributed infrastructure. For smaller businesses and service providers, the pitch is that this can narrow the gap with larger companies that have dedicated networking teams.

The platform also focuses on unified visibility across network performance, device health, connectivity and user experience. Administrators can manage multiple sites, devices, users and customer environments from one cloud-based system.

Another part of the update is a redesign intended to simplify administration at scale. Insight 10.0 includes revised workflows, streamlined navigation, flexible access controls and simpler subscription management, with the aim of reducing the operational burden on lean IT teams and managed service providers.

Market focus

NETGEAR has framed the launch around the needs of SMEs and MSPs, two segments that often lack the staff and resources available to larger enterprises. As more smaller organisations rely on digital tools across several locations, vendors have increasingly packaged centralised network management into cloud services that are easier to deploy and maintain.

Built on NETGEAR’s cloud architecture, Insight 10.0 is intended to provide centralised management across distributed environments. The company also described the platform as the foundation for its longer-term direction in AI operations and AI-defined networking.

Pramod Badjate, President and GM of NETGEAR Enterprise, set out the company’s view of where the market is heading.

“The future of networking is about giving organizations the intelligence to operate increasingly complex environments with confidence. As AI transforms every business, networks must become more adaptive, more automated, and easier to operate. Insight 10.0 is the foundation for our vision of AIOps and AI-defined networking for the millions of small and medium-sized organizations that have historically been underserved by enterprise networking solutions. We’re bringing enterprise-class intelligence to businesses without enterprise-sized IT teams,” said Pramod Badjate, President and GM, NETGEAR Enterprise.

User feedback

NETGEAR also pointed to input from CTI, which said it had used NETGEAR switches in its own locations and had been involved in testing the platform during its beta phase. That suggests the company sought partner feedback on practical issues such as deployment, troubleshooting and configuration before launch.

“We’ve had NETGEAR switches deployed across our own locations for years, and we’ve been part of the Insight development process since beta. So when we recommend Insight 10.0 to customers, we’re recommending something CTI actually runs on. The 10.0 release reflects the feedback we gave – the interface is sharper, onboarding is faster, and the platform handles the two things that cost integrators the most time: post-deployment troubleshooting and manual network configuration. That’s a meaningful change, and it shows up in how we deliver,” said Kenny Red, CTO at CTI.

Founded in 1996, NETGEAR sells networking products for businesses, homes and service providers. In the business market, its portfolio includes switches, routers, access points, software and AV over IP products, with Insight serving as the cloud management layer across those deployments.

The launch underlines how even suppliers focused on the SME market now treat AI-driven administration as a core part of network management rather than an added feature. NETGEAR said Insight will be the platform through which it delivers the next phase of networking, security, cloud and AI integration for smaller organisations and service providers worldwide.

Lloyds Banking Group has announced that Halifax will be phased out over time, with customers gradually transferred to Lloyds-branded accounts as part of a major overhaul of its retail banking business.

The decision marks the end of one of Britain’s best-known banking names, which has been part of the high street since 1852.

The banking giant says the transition will happen gradually and insists customers will not lose the features they currently use.

What happens to Halifax customers?

Lloyds says existing Halifax customers will eventually become Lloyds customers, but they will keep many of the things they already have during the transition.

That includes:

• The same account number and sort code
• The same banking app design
• Access to the same branch network
• The same familiar staff in branches

Jas Singh, Lloyds’ consumer relations boss, said: “As Halifax changes to Lloyds, our Halifax customers will keep everything they know and love today – the same fantastic app design, the same friendly faces in our branches – even the same sort code and account number.

“But as Lloyds customers, they’ll get the best innovation and experiences we offer.

“Our Lloyds customers are already benefiting from a significant investment into propositions like Club Lloyds, Lloyds Premier, Lloyds Ultra and Lloyds Rewards – and now we’re really excited that Halifax customers can bank on Lloyds for more.”

Why is Lloyds making the change?

The banking group is simplifying its consumer banking business by bringing Halifax customers under the Lloyds brand.

Lloyds says this will allow customers to benefit from newer banking products and services already available through its flagship brand, including Club Lloyds, Lloyds Premier, Lloyds Ultra and Lloyds Rewards.

Will anything change immediately?

No.

The changes will happen over time, meaning customers do not need to do anything straight away.

There is no indication that customers will need to change their debit cards, direct debits or standing orders immediately, with Lloyds saying account details will remain the same throughout the migration.

Branches are already shared across Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, meaning customers can continue banking as they do now while the transition takes place.

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Will Halifax branches close?

Lloyds has not announced any branch closures as part of the rebrand.

The group has previously invested in its Halifax headquarters and says customers will continue to have access to its branch network during the migration.

The decision represents one of the biggest changes to Britain’s banking landscape in recent years, bringing the curtain down on a brand that has served customers for more than 173 years.

What do you think of the changes? Tell us in the comments below.