Israeli WiMAX goes bush with Allegro

QUEENSLAND-based Allegro Networks says it will have Australia’s first business-grade WiMAX broadband network operational within 90 days.

The company said it had selected Nasdaq-listed Israeli WiMAX vendor Alvarion as its technology partner after the completion of months of technical and commercial trials with several vendors.

Alvarion was also the WiMAX technology of choice in the recently announced plans of OPEL, the Optus/Elders joint venture rolling out services in regional and rural Australia.

The Allegro announcement, coupled with the Federal Government’s backing of the OPEL business plan, suddenly makes Australia one of the biggest backers of the WiMAX standard in the world. And it will shortly be one of the biggest users.

Allegro will build the network utilising licensed 3.4 GHz spectrum, in the process achieving market leadership in the business grade WiMAX broadband market, ahead of the likes of Unwired, Austar and Opel.

The high-speed Allegro WiMAX network will provide converged voice and data services to thousands of businesses in the outer metro and growth corridors across south-east Queensland.

Alvarion’s BreezeMAX will be used for the deployment.

“WiMAX has a key role in establishing a robust, affordable, and efficient broadband network in Australia,” said Allegro chairman Ted Pretty.

“In broadband terms, regional Australia starts closer to the city than people think. In Brisbane it is about 10km away from the CBD. These businesses … can’t wait until 2009 or 2013 to receive advanced services,” he said.

“Alvarion was the one company able to meet our deadlines while maintaining the required quality of service (QoS). We chose Alvarion for its proven WiMAX network and the first base stations are to be delivered imminently,” Mr Pretty said.

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Unisys bags global BT service contract

US services provider Unisys has inked a deal with British carrier BT to provide network monitoring and management services as part of outsourcing programs for Unisys clients globally.

The agreement means that BT network montoring and management services are now part of the core Unisys IT outsourcing solution. Unisys intends to implement the BT services as part of its suite of managed network solutions for its global client base.

Unisys and BT also intend to collaborate on innovative business solutions for next-generation communications capabilities – especially in converged local area network/wide area networking (LAN/WAN) which the companies say can substantially enhance enterprises’ market competitiveness and improve productivity.

“Drawing on a long-term relationship between our companies, this agreement with BT strengthens the value Unisys can deliver to our clients around the world,” Unisys Global Outsourcing and Infrastructure Services president Randy Hendricks said.

“Combining BT’s worldwide scale and networking expertise with Unisys comprehensive IT services management experience extends our ability to provide next-generation network support today, and help clients innovate for the future.”

This agreement with BT is the latest milestone in the services relationship between the two companies.

Unisys already provides BT Global Services with managed network products and services as a key element of select Unisys IT outsourcing client engagements where the two companies collaborate. Unisys also delivers fulfillment services such as staging, installation and maintenance of servers and routers, on behalf of BT Global Services in more than 100 countries.

“Unisys and BT have a strong collaborative relationship, capitalszing on complementary strengths in numerous client engagements,” BT Global Services chief executive Francois Barrault said.

“By adding BT network management services to the Unisys outsourcing portfolio, we can expand global operations and build on a relationship that goes from strength to strength,” he said.

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AMD punts on Transmeta energy technology

CHIP-maker AMD has invested US$7.5 million in ailing semiconductor design firm Transmeta in a deal thought to be aimed at securing energy efficiency technology.

Founded in 1995, Transmeta develops and licenses innovative computing, microprocessor and semiconductor technologies and related intellectual property. The company is a specialist in delivering low power, high performance chip technology.

Most recently Transmeta has focused on developing and licensing our advanced power management technologies.

“We are very pleased that AMD has made a strategic investment in the future of Transmeta,” said Transmeta president and chief executive officer, Les Crudele.

“AMD has long been a leader in the development and delivery of energy-efficient, high-performance computing technologies, standards and initiatives,” Mr Crudele said.

“Transmeta has been proud to endorse and contribute to those industry leading activities, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with AMD on technology initiatives in the future,” he said.

AMD president and chief operating officer Dirk Meyer said Transmeta has been a key AMD ally in bring the company’s AMD64 technology to market and had supported the industry adoption of both AMD64 and AMD's HyperTransport technology.

“Our investment will support Transmeta's technology development work and AMD's efforts to leverage Transmeta's innovative energy-efficient technologies to the benefit of AMD's customers,” Mr Meyer said.

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Coonan sets rules for broadband bids

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Helen Coonan has released the terms of reference for the Expert Taskforce appointed three weeks ago to manage the bid process in rolling out a new national broadband network.

Under the Terms, the Taskforce will conduct a public consultation on the draft guidelines, issue final guidelines, conduct the assessment process and provide the Australian Government with recommendations on the broadband proposals received.

The Taskforce is chaired by Department of Communications, IT and the Arts secretary Patricia Scott, and includes Treasury Secretary Ken Henry and the deputy secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Jenny Goddard.

“The assessment process will call for industry proposals to detail price and non-price terms and conditions and identify the regulatory conditions required to facilitate a commercial build,” Senator Coonan said.

“As outlined in the terms of reference, the guidelines for the competitive bids process will be developed by the Expert Taskforce in consultation with industry.

“The Taskforce is also responsible for assessing the proposals as they relate to the Government’s objective of enabling the roll out of a new high speed broadband network.

“The Terms of Reference provide for an open and transparent process that will be run in a timely manner,” Senator Coonan said.
An indicative timeframe for the competitive bids process will be released with the draft guidelines.

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Sharp rise in global malware threat: Sophos

NEW figures compiled by security vendor Sophos’ global network of monitoring stations has found a further sharp rise in web-based virus threats – with 80 per cent of the threats located on hacked legitimate sites.

Sophos uncovered an average of 29,700 new infected web pages every day.

The research for June puts the Iframe malware as by far the most prevalent web-based threat, making up 64 per cent of all threats during the month.

Earlier this month, an Iframe attack on multiple Italian web sites occurred, making headlines around the world. More than 10,000 web pages were infected, most of which were on legitimate but compromised web sites hosted in Italy.

Victim web sites included Italian city councils, employment services and tourism sites. Most of the affected pages appear to be hosted by one of the largest ISPs in Italy.

“The Italian Iframe attack should certainly act as a wake-up call to ISPs across the globe,” said Sophos senior security consultant Carole Theriault.

“Malicious code dumped on these web sites is just waiting to pounce on innocent surfers. Web sites should be as secure as Fort Knox, but at the moment, too many web pages are easy pickings for cybercriminals,” Ms Theriault said.

Nearly 60 per cent of malware-infected web pages in June were hosted in China, while 24 per cent were hosted in the US.

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AMD confirms Quad-Core for August

CHIP giant Advanced Micro Devices has confirmed it will ship its first Quad-Core Opteron “Barcelona” processors in August – scotching rumours that it planned to delay the launch.

There had been industry speculation that AMD would put the launch date back because of unspecified manufacturing problems. The processors are code-named “Barcelona”.

AMD said it would start shipping both standard and low-power versions in August. The company said it was the first time AMD had ever made standard and low power versions of a product available at launch.

With the new processors shipping in volume in August, the company said it expects hardware partners to start shipping system products based on Barcelona in September.

Barcelona is the first x86 processor to integrate four processing cores onto a single piece of silicon. AMD says the development would deliver significant performance and performance-per-watt enhancements over existing architectures.

“More than ever before, customers are expecting energy-efficiency and performance-per-watt leadership as much as absolute performance,” AMD’s Server and Workstation Division corporate vice-president Randy Allen said.

“With this new reality of computing, greater performance at the expense of greater power consumption is no longer an option.”

“AMD has prioritised production of our low power and standard power products because our customers and ecosystem demand it, and we firmly believe that the introduction of our native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor will deliver on the promise of the highest levels of performance-per-watt the industry has ever seen.”

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Google acquires online security specialist

IN a move that bolsters its claim to the enterprise software application market, search giant Google has acquired US-based online security and compliance specialist Postini for US$625 million (A$725 million) in cash.

With more than 35,000 businesses and 10 million users globally, Postini’s services include message security, archiving, encryption and policy enforcement and can be used to protect a company’s email, instant messaging and other web-based communications.

“With this transaction, we're reinforcing our commitment to delivering compelling hosted applications to businesses of all sizes,” Google chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt said.

“With the addition of Postini, our apps are not just simple and appealing to users – they can also streamline the complex information security mandates within these organizations,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Postini will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google and while the agreement is subject to the usual closing conditions, it is expected to close by the end of the third quarter.

The Postini acquisition is all about enterprise customers, and Google continues to spruik its hosted applications as the future of enterprise productivity and communications applications.

Google Apps, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and Personal Start Page, has been adopted by more than 100,000 businesses already, the company says.

Google corporate vice-president and Google Enterprise general manager Dave Girouard – who was a keynote speaker at CeBIT Australia in May – says more than 1,000 small businesses signed up for the Google Apps service every day.

“At the same time, large businesses have been reluctant to move to hosted applications due to issues of security and corporate compliance,” Mr Girouard said.

“By adding Postini products to Google's technology, businesses no longer have to choose – employees get the intuitive products they want, and the company achieves the security and assurance it needs,” he said.

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Optus offers first phone-broadband cap plans

NUMBER Two phone company Optus has set its sights on the fixed-line telecommunications market with the launch of capped monthly plans that bundle voice and broadband services.

For one fixed-price a month, the company's new Optus Fusion Cap gives customers unlimited local and national landline calls, unlimited calls to Optus mobiles, and a broadband connection with no excess download charges.

The capped packages – which range from $69 to $99 – include the cost of line rental.
Optus Fusion will be available to customers on the Optus Direct (Unbundled Local Loop) network and on Optus' cable network.

The Optus Direct service is planned to reach 366 exchanges by the end of the 2008 financial year. When it is completed, 3.9 million Australian homes will be able to take advantage of the new Optus Fusion caps.

The $69 cap plan gives customers the telephony package with 2GB of broadband data, while the $99 cap gives the customer the telephony package, a wireless modem and 20GB of broadband download.

"Optus Fusion is a powerful demonstration that Optus is committed to offering new and existing customers sensational value, while we continue to grow our fixed subscriber base and improve our scale on the Optus network," said Optus' consumer managing director Warren Hardy.

"The fixed line market can now enjoy the type of competition that the mobile market has enjoyed for some years. Caps allow people to use their services more, for a fee that is well below what most people would be paying today," Mr Hardy said.

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NICTA appoints Canberra research chief

FORMER Sydney University senior information technology research academic Dr David Everitt has been appointed to head the Canberra Research Laboratory of National ICT Australia (NICTA).

Dr Everitt has more than two decades of extensive research and research management experience. He most recently held the position of Chair of Internetworking of the School of Information Technologies at Sydney Uni.

Dr Everitt has more than two decades of extensive research and research management experience. He recently held the position of Chair of Internetworking of the School of Information Technologies at the University of Sydney.

He will take up the position of Canberra Research Laboratory Director from 16 July 2007.
Current Canberra Laboratory head, Dr Terry Caelli, stepped down from the position at the end of June 2007. He will continue to work with NICTA in a research leadership role.

The new building the Canberra Laboratory will move into in September will bring together NICTA's three offices in Canberra, housing the current 165 staff and students and allowing expansion by up to 220 people.

The A-grade 4-star environmentally-friendly building on London Circuit, adjacent to the Australian National University (ANU), is set to become the hub of innovative ICT activity in the ACT. It will include a cluster of ICT companies centred on NICTA's research.

"NICTA's new laboratory in West Civic is an important piece of the West City knowledge precinct that is forming around ANU Exchange," NICTA chairman Neville Stevens said.

Mr Stevens said the ACT Government's announcement in its recent Budget to provide an extra $6 million over five years to NICTA to support the organisation's continued development, to build greater innovation capacity in the Territory, and to support Canberra's growing ICT sector, was a welcome sign of support.

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Motorola extends Microsoft ERP partnership

MOTOROLA and Microsoft have extended a relationship that lets joint partners develop Microsoft ERP applications for Motorola mobile computing devices.

The relationship, which was announced as part of a launch of new development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resources planning software, paves the way for the Motorola partners to port their existing enterprise mobility platforms to the Microsoft Dynamics platform.

Because enterprise mobility solutions require both hardware and software applications, the relationship between Motorola and Microsoft presented new opportunities for both vendors' channel partners, the companies said.

As a result of the agreement, Motorola and Microsoft partners will now be able to join the other vendor's partner community following a qualification process. Alternatively, partners will also be able to work collaboratively with each other to create more comprehensive solutions for their customers.

Motorola is encouraging Microsoft resellers to join its highly-regarded enterprise mobility PartnerSelect program.

"We have been working very closely with Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions in the development of our tools and applications for well over a year," Microsoft Dynamics Mobile product unit manager Bjarne Schøn said.

"We are very excited about teaming with Motorola and its mobility solutions partners on a global basis. As a leader in enterprise mobility, Motorola has a strong partner program and the broad coverage needed to support Microsoft Dynamics' efforts to provide mobility solutions to our customers."

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Intel joins One Laptop Per Child initiative

THE world's largest processor manufacturer Intel has joined the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which seeks to bring low-cost computers to third world children as a means of improving education and fighting poverty.

Under the terms of an agreement signed last week, Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content.
Intel will also join the board of OLPC.

OLPC aims to bring learning opportunities to the most remote and poorest children of the world by providing connected, low-cost and rugged laptops to each and every child in their daily lives.
"Intel joins the OLPC board as a world leader in technology, helping reach the world's children. Collaboration with Intel means that the maximum number of laptops will reach children," said One Laptop per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte said.

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) was created to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education.

The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone will generate sufficient power for operation. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection.

"Joining OLPC is a further example of our commitment to education over the last 20 years and our belief in the role of technology in bringing the opportunities of the 21st century to children around the world," Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said.

Intel currently invests more than US$100 million (A$114 million) per year in more than 50 countries to promote education, and has been developing products for the educational marketplace.

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Carriers to in on Net Neutrality: IDC

RESEARCH group IDC predicts that regulation in the US around Net Neutrality will be decided in favour of facilities-based broadband service providers.

But unlike other analysis of the net neutrality issue, IDC says regulatory decisions that favour the carriers initially will ultimately benefit the large scale internet incumbents like Google and eBay – the very companies that have campaigned heavily against net neutrality regulation.

The net neutrality debate in the US has been closely watched by regulators and policy-makers in Australia.

At the heart of the debate, according to IDC, is the issue of control and “monetization” of broadband networks by the facilities-based carriers. The explosion in the use of video over the internet has changed industry dynamics.

IDC forecasts that the consumer-generated IP traffic in the US will be three-times heavier in 2011 than it is today. The magnitude of the growth in traffic signals an “obvious and critical” need for broadband network upgrades.

IDC says aggressive versions of net neutrality regulation would dampen this upgrading effort as facilities-based providers would be prevented from building networks that offer new services requiring higher speeds or quality of service (QoS).

Net neutrality proponents like Google probably already realise quality of service (QoS) is essential to the delivery of new services and may quietly modify their position and join the network prioritisation environment they currently oppose.

“Google will likely maintain a public-facing resistance to network control in the short term, but should be making behind the scenes plans to act quickly when the matter is settled and the opportunity materialises,” said IDC Consumer Multiplay Services program director Matt Davis.

"Being caught flat-footed when a game-changing development occurs makes disruption from smaller, hungrier players willing to deal with facilities-based providers much more likely,” Mr Davis said.
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Pure Hacking sets up management change

PENETRATION testing specialist Pure Hacking has appointed a new chief executive, with founder Rob McAdam moving back to a business development role.

Former Hewlett-Packard Australia-New Zealand security specialist Timothy Dole takes over day to day management of the company.

Mr McAdam said the decision to appoint a CEO was aimed at driving growth and delivering on the existing strategy and vision for the organisation.

“Pure Hacking is a very successful and rapidly growing provider of specialist IT security services,” Mr McAdam said.

“We have achieved significant growth and with Timothy’s appointment the right senior leadership team is in place to achieve even better results in FY08,” he said.

Pure Hacking was founded in 2002 as a vendor-neutral, ethical hacking company.

So far the company has specialised entirely on penetration testing. While Pure Hacking does not name its clients, it says it has done work for some of the biggest companies in Australia, as well as for companies in 14 other countries.

Mr Dole said his big challenge would be to manage growth, to ensure the company is able to expand quickly both locally and overseas, but not at the expense of customer service quality.

He said Pure Hacking would soon announce a series of new specialist services outside of its traditional penetration testing services.

“It’s an exciting time, we have a solid growth strategy, the right management and an enthusiastic team sharing the same vision and passion,” Mr Dole said.


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Google phones a VoIP friend

GOOGLE has signalled its VoIP intentions loud and clear through the acquisition of innovative Californian internet phone provider GrandCentral Communications.

Announced via the Google blog on Tuesday, the acquisition is definitivequisition is definitive, with the service already now branded GrandCentral from Google Beta on its web site.

No price tag was attached to the announcement.

Google product manager Wesley Chan said in the blog posting said the company had been impressed with Grand Central’s technology, particularly that which lets users integrate all their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into a single account.

“We think GrandCentral's technology fits well into Google's efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users,” Mr Chan wrote.

“GrandCentral is an innovative service that lets users integrate all of their existing phone numbers and voice mailboxes into one account, which can be accessed from the web.

“If you have multiple phone numbers (e.g., home, work, cell), you get one phone number that you can set to ring all, some, or none of your phones, based on who's calling. This way, your phone number is tied to you, and not your location or job

Grand Central is based in Fremont and was founded in late 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, who had previously run DialPad, an internet phone company acquired by Yahoo, also in 2005.

GrandCentral operations are being shifted to Google headquarters in Silicon Valley.

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Google turns screws on MS anti-trust complaint

STILL unhappy with the treatment of its search engine by Microsoft , Google has applied to the US Judge overseeing the Microsoft anti-trust case to be allowed to participate as a “friend of the court.”

Google is unhappy about the way Microsoft treats search in its Vista operating system, saying it breaches the consent decree that settled the epic government anti-trust case against Microsoft.

Effectively Google wants better access to Vista desktop real estate. It says Microsoft makes it too hard for its Vista users to shift from Live search to the Google engine.

Last week, US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she would revisit the plaintiffs in the case – that is, the Federal and state attorneys general and Microsoft – rather than Google on whether Vista breached the consent decree.

The judges decision followed a request by Google to extend the consent decree and to clarify agreements reached between Microsoft and the anti-trust plaintiffs over Vista search.

In its latest filing, Google says it can offer the court important insight into Microsoft behaviour.

“As the developer of a major desktop search product and the company that brought the desktop search issue to the attention of the plaintiffs, Google has familiarity with the issues raised and is well positioned to provide information to the Court,” the company said in court documents.

Google is concerned that the changes Microsoft has committed to making to its Vista operating system don’t actually address its concerns. In addition to clarification of how that agreement will work, it wants direct input in the proceedings.

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Google, utterly dominant, still growing

SEARCH giant Google not only completely dominates the global search market – commanding nine out of ten searches – but is still growing its market share, according to online metrics specialist XitiMonitor.

According to XitiMonitor' monthly search barometer, Google accounted for 89.53 per cent of all search-generated visits in June 2007, up from 89.33 per cent (up 0.21 per cent) from May.

And Google's market share had grown by 3.7 per cent compared to the year-ago search barometer in June 2006.

The four other principal search engines have all seen their market share decline.
Number Two search engine has been the biggest loser in the past year, losing 1.25 percentage points to 3.21 per cent of the market.

Microsoft search fell year on year, but is the only other Top Five search engines to grow its market share between May and June. Microsoft commands 2.3 per cent of the market.

Other Top Five search engines were Orange and Free.

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Google loses battle for German Gmail

A DAVID and Goliath story with a technology flavour has played out in a Hamburg court, with search giant Google losing a legal battle to win the right to use the brand "Gmail" for its online mail service in Germany.

A regional court in the northern city of Hamburg upheld a claim by a local businessman who said he had been using the name “G-Mail” for an electronic mail service he had been developing since 2000 – years before Google launched its hugely popular global mail service.

The court said Google may not use the Gmail brand in Germany. Google had sued the entrepreneur in an effort to have him stop using the name.

It is not yet clear whether Google will appeal the decision, which culminated a three year legal battle. The entrepreneur also has suits pending against him in Switzerland, Portugal and Spain.

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G9 greenlights investment plan

THE consortium of nine Telstra competitors known as the G9 group has confirmed it will lodge a bid with the Federal Government to build a national broadband network.

The G9 has given bid plans the go-ahead following Government’s recent announcement that it will conduct an open and competitive bidding process, and legislate to enable a new broadband network for built-up metro and regional areas.

“G9 CEOs have met to consider the Government’s announcement and we were unanimous in our view that the G9 should proceed to prepare a bid to build such a network,” iiNet chief executive Michael Malone said.

“The details of participation by individual G9 members – for example as equity participants, as launch customers, or as supporters – will be determined as the bid is finalised,” Mr Malone said.

“The G9 has consistently argued that Australia needs a new high speed broadband network – and a competitive market structure to protect and nurture the interests of Australian consumers and businesses,” Primus Telecom chief executive Ravi Bhatia said.

“This is the way to ensure the most rapid take up of services, the greatest degree of innovation and the lowest possible pricing.”

The G9 statement makes clear that Telstra is not the only bidder that wants regulatory certainty. The G9 wants to make certain it understands how Telstra’s proposed regulatory changes would work, and how Telstra might leverage its existing infrastructure to gain advantage in the bidding process.

“In the last twelve months the G9 has worked carefully to develop a detailed model which meets both objectives, and we now stand ready to build on our existing work to develop a compelling bid,” Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said.

“As a first step, we look forward to working with the Minister's Expert Taskforce to identify the issues that the Government will need to consider in assessing competing bids, including the regulatory changes sought by bidders, and the extent to which each bid leverages existing fast access infrastructure investments where appropriate,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“We expect that our input will assist the Expert Taskforce in its task of preparing detailed bidding guidelines, which is a necessary first step before parties can finalise their bids.”

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Surging Firefox growth challenges IE

OPEN Source browser Firefox usage has continued to surge globally, jumping more than 17 per cent in Australia/New Zealand, and more than 15 per cent in Europe.

New research from internet monitoring firm XitiMonitor demonstrates Firefox is now entrenched as a mainstream browser, taking a market share of close to 30 per cent in Europe and Oceania, and more than 15 per cent in South America.

XitiMonitor found that Oceania, the region made up of Australia/New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, was Firefox' fastest growing region.

XitiMonitor found Firefox was used by 28.9 per cent of Oceania internet users in the July survey, compared to 24.8 per cent of users its March survey.

Firefox growth in Europe jumped to 27.8 per cent in July from 24.1 per cent in March, while North America continued its strong momentum in Firefox take-up, growing to 18 per cent in July market share from 15.1 per cent in March.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the clear browser market leader, but continues to lose ground to the open source competitor. In Europe, Xiti found IE market share dropped from 73.3 per cent in to 66.5 per cent in the year from July 2006 to July 2007.

The Opera browser, also an open source system, is the third placed browser with 3.5 per cent, far behind second-placed Firefox.

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