Thunderbird 2.0 roars out of Mozilla

THE popular open source development community Mozilla has released its Thunderbird 2.0 free and open email client, adding new features that include email tagging.

The organization says the free email client has better features – a main one being email tagging – improved security and better privacy provisions. From its first day of release, it is available in 30 different languages.

Mozilla chief executive Mitchell Baker, who is a keynote speaker at the CeBIT Keynote Series on May 1 at the Darling Harbour convention and exhibition centre in Sydney, says the new Mozilla Thunderbird is “personalisable” and customisable than the previous version.

“Thunderbird 2 has powerful new features and proven security, delivering an improved email experience to users worldwide,” said Thunderbird’s lead engineer at Mozilla Scott MacGregor.

“In Thunderbird 2, we incorporated the proven benefits of tagging to email. Tagging initially gained popularity on blogs, photo and link-sharing sites as an intuitive way to organize online information so users could easily find desired content, MacGregor says in a statement about the release.

The software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux clients.

Mozilla said the messaging tagging feature would make it much easier for users to track and search email. The user can create their own tag (like From Mum, or This Weekend) or use default tags like Important, or To Do.

Another strong new features is the message history navigation that is similar to the web browsing history. Users can move backwards or forwards through their messages and easily browse through their message history.

For more Open CeBIT news, click here.

IT boom continues as PC market surges

WORDWIDE shipments of personal computers grew by about 10 per cent in the three months to the end of March according to two new research reports, signaling the underlying strength in the ICT sector.

A Gartner report found global PC sales surged 8.9 per cent to total 67 million units in the fourth quarter. IDC put growth at 10.9 per cent to 58.9 million units, far exceeding its forecast of 8.5 per cent.

As a bell-weather, the industry has traditionally looked to the PC shipment reports to understand the underlying health pf the ICT sector, as well as a reliable indicator of the strength or otherwise of economic investment.’

IDC said it expected strong growth would continue for the next two years.

IDC found growth was stronger in the portable PC market than the desktop commercial PC space.

“The strong first quarter is a good indicator of the health of the industry,” said IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker director Loren Loverde.

“The United States and Japan didn't grow much in the first quarter, but solid gains elsewhere and a boost from Vista brought us back to double-digit growth,” she said.

“The key market drivers – portable adoption and consumer demand – continue at a healthy clip, and commercial replacements should contribute more in coming quarters.

“Growth is likely to stay in double-digits over the next two years although it will be concentrated in portables and international markets.”

Gartner said the Asia Pacific region overtook the US in total shipment volumes for the first time in the first quarter.

HP capitalised on the strong growth in the consumer and portables market, boosting its own unit shipments by 28 per cent for the quarter and growing its market share to 19.1 per cent.

Dell has continued to struggle with a slow US market and a current internal restructure. Overall shipments for the year declined 6.9 per cent, though it did manage to boost non-US sales.

Both research groups said the launch of Microsoft Vista operating system in January would have had very small impact on the growth of global PC shipments.

For more Office Automation news, click here.

NICTA spin-off leaves Australia

THE first tech start-up to be spun our of the federally funded research agency NICTA has been a mixed success for the organisation – the company has good technology that attracted customers, but it has also left Australia for good.

Open Kernel Labs was established as a commercial entity in Australia just nine months ago, the result of research work at NICTA’s Embedded, Real-Time and Operating Systems Research Program.

OK Labs (as it is called) has now moved on, establishing its corporate offices – including business development and field application engineering functions in the US as it headquarters.

The company said research and development functions would remain in Australia.

OK Lab’s product, OKL4 is an advanced microkernel and “supports a structured approach to building trusted and secure systems, and is being successfully deployed in a number of commercial consumer mobile devices,” the company said.

In a statement, NICTA chief executive Dr David Skellern did not express disappointment at the company’s operations heading offshore.

“With the incorporation of OK, NICTA can claim another success of its program to commercialize technology developed at its resource-rich development labs,” Dr Skellern said.

“OK is the first spin-out of NICTA to be incorporated in the United States and the company begins its commercial life with a revenue stream as well as strong interest from large global companies.”

Secure, reliable and trustworthy embedded systems software for mobile and consumer electronics requires strong, hardware-enforced protection boundaries around system components, enforced by a trustworthy microkernel.

OKL4 was initially developed under the direction of Dr Gernot Heiser, the chief technology officer and co-founder of OK. Dr Heiser is also professor of operating systems at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a program leader at NICTA

With additional input from early customers, the open source community and PhD candidates at UNSW, this team has produced the highest performing microkernel operating system available today, he said.

For more Export Alley news, click here.

Hacker cracks Mac OS security

A HACKER has won a US$10,000 (A$12,000) prize at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver after managing to break into a Macintosh computer running OS X.

Conference organisers said they had set up the contest to highlight potential risks of the Mac systems.

The competition had originally been planned as a challenge just for CanSecWest attendees through its onsite wireless network. But when 3Com subsidiary TippingPoint stumped up the cash prize they decided to put the two target machines online and open the context to everyone.

Few details of the hack have been released, and the hacker/prize-winner has not been named, although it is understood they are not at the conference.

“One OSX box has been owned! At this point all we can say is there is an exploitable flaw in Safari which can be triggered within a malicious web page,” according to the CanSecWest web site.

“Of course all of the latest security patches have been applied. Technical details will be forthcoming as the winner works out the release. There is still one more Mac to go (the same flaw cannot be used again, but other Safari bugs are allowed),” it said.

“Just to review the rules, the first box required a flaw that allows the attacker to get a shell with user level privileges. The second box, still up for grabs, requires the same, plus the attacker needs to get root.”

Apple released a security patch late last Thursday (soon after the conference began) or 25 vulnerabilities which attendees thought might be more than a coincidence.

For more IT Security news, click here.

DoubleClick-Google draws privacy groups fire

THREE high-profile privacy and civil liberty groups in the US have lodged a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in a big to halt the Google acquisition of DoubleClick, citing deep concerns about its consumer impact.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy, and the US Public Interest Research Group joined forces to file a complaint, lodge an injunction against the acquisition and to request an FTC investigation.

“Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world,” the complaint reads.

“Moreover, Google will operate with virtually no legal obligation to ensure the privacy, security and accuracy of the personal data that it collects.”

The groups say the proposed acquisition ill “create unique risks to privacy and will violate previously agreed standards for the conduct of online advertising.”

Further, the groups say that even as separate entities, neither Google nor DoubleClick have taken adequate steps to safeguard the personal information they already collect.

Google and DoubleClick announced last week the companies had reached agreement – subject to approval – for the US$3.1 billion (A$3.7 billion) acquisition.

The deal has already attracted criticism from competitors Microsoft and Yahoo! Microsoft released a statement soon after the deal was announced saying a single Google/DoubleClick entity would control too much of the online advertising market and called on regulators to investigate the deal.

But it is the public interest groups that may present the biggest barriers to the two online advertising giants.

EPIC has already tangled with DoubleClick, having complained to the FTC in 2000 about DoubleClick’s planned practice of merging names and personal details with anonymous web surfing activity – and selling the result to national database marketing company.

The three groups say Google has already expressed an intention to merge data from Google and DoubleClick databases to profile and target internet users. They say this will have a direct impact on 233 million internet users in North America, 314 million users in Europe and more than 1.1 billion users worldwide.

The complaint says Google has a history of non-compliance with Federal privacy guidelines, and has been reluctant to tell users precisely what it does with their private information – in particular its tracking of web visits in connection with their IP address.

Google currently stores uts users’ search activity in connection with their IP address indefinitely, something the company does not disclose on its Privacy Policy Highlights (and something 89 per cent of its users are completely unaware of, according to a 2006 survey).

For more Digital Content news, click here.

BlackBerry outage highlights mobile dependence

THE 24-hour outage at Research In Motion (RIM) in the US, the company that runs the BlackBerry email service, has highlighted just how dependent business users are on the mobile data.

For many users, the outage represented a nightmare: It’s not for nothing that the Blackberry is known by its most ardent fans as the ‘CrackBerry’. For email addicts, the mobile device means uninterrupted, on-the-go email 24/7.

And there were some lessons in crisis management for RIM. The service went don for 24 hours last week, and it took the company two days to respond publicly to the outage in any way. Its customers, meanwhile, were left to climb the walls and tear their hair out as email anxiety set in.

RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie says the company is now working to make sure the outage never happens again. He said the company took a while to respond publicly because it was focused on remedying the problem.

Ultimately, the company announced the outage had been caused by the addition of a new storage feature to the service that had not been adequately tested.

Mr Balsillie said the outage like the one experienced at RIM were “very rare” these daya in the context of modern software platforms and said it was extremely unlikely to happen again.

“It wasn't a capacity issue, it wasn't a security issue. It was an outage overnight when there was an upgrade,” he said.

“I think it's pretty likely that the systems are in place that this kind of thing, as incredibly unlikely as it is to happen, is all the more unlikely to happen again,” he said.

There are about 8 million subscribers to the mobile email service in the US, with one million users added in the first quarter. The company expects to add more than million additional users in the three months to he start of June.

BlackBerry-based mobile email is marketed in Australia by Telstra Mobile, which was not affected by the outage.

For more Wireless news, click here.

Google moves to sort YouTube copyright mess

GOOGLE has announced it is working on a tool that will let big content owners like television networks and movie studios more quickly remove their copyrighted material from the YouTube website.

Development of the “Claim Your Content” tool has taken on greater sense of urgency since media giant Viacom sued Google’s YouTube ubsidiary.

Claim You Content would appear as a tool button on web pages alongside video material uploaded by users to let content owners lodge complaints to get copyrighted material removed from YouTube faster.

Google chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt said the tool would let the content owners automate the take-down process.
“It is not a filtering system and doesn't block downloads; it makes it much quicker for us to remove copyrighted content,” Mr Schmidt said.
It is not clear whether the measures outlined by Google will be enough to placate Viacom, which earlier this month launched a US$1 billion (A$1.2 billion) lawsuit against YouTube for breaches of copyright.

Google acquired YouTube in a stock-swap deal for US$1.6 billion last year.

Viacom has complained YouTube leaves the onus for copyright protection on the content owners, rather than YouTube as publisher.

YouTube communications chief Julie Supan said the new tool does not itself identify copyright material, because it can’t identify what copyright material the content owners want on YouTube, and the material it doesn’t.

Rather, the company is testing identification technology that helps content owners more identify and locate their content on YouTube, and then give them the ability to either request the material be removed or to leave it up for promotional and marketing purposes, she said.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

Google tightens search ad grip, profit soars

INTERNET search giant Google boosted profits in first quarter by nearly 70 per cent, continuing its domination of the paid search segment.

While Yahoo! this month announced a profit slide – despite a still health share of search users – Google posted net income for the quarter of US$1 billion (A$1.2 billion), compared to US$595 million for the year ago quarter.

Revenue jumped to US$3.7 billion compared to US$2.3 billion for the first quarter last year.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said the strong revenue and profit result reflected the strength of the company’s core search and ad sales business, and the fact that it had successfully built on its partnership program in the past year.

“We continued to expand our worldwide footprint, adding important new partners and growing our platform to increase our ability to deliver targeted and measurable ads” Mr Schmidt said.

“The ongoing expansion of our network allows us to improve the user experience through new opportunities and programs.”

Revenues from outside of the United States totaled US$1.71 billion, representing 47 per cent of total revenues in the first quarter of 2007, compared to 42 per cent in the first quarter of 2006 and 44 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Google’s Golden Goose remains its search advertising revenue. According to research group eMarketer, Google owns about 75 per cent of the total search ad market in the US, compared to Yahoo’s 16 per cent.

The company is now seeking to diversify its revenue spread by applying its search expertise into other advertising areas. In the past month the company has signed agreements with satellite television and networked local radio stations to place advertising using more targeted advertising techniques.

Google has also announced a plan to buy online display advertising specialist DoubleClick for US$3.1 billion, though the deal is facing some opposition from competitors and privacy groups saying it gives the company too much market power.

For more e-Marketing news, click here.

G9 lodges FTTN proposal with competition regulator

THE G9 consortium of phone companies has lodged draft access proposals for its planned national Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) broadband network with the competition regulator.

The consortium said the so-called Special Access Undertaking lodged with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) was the next concrete step toward building a competitive broadband fibre network in Australia.

The G9 members are AAPT, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Optus, PowerTel, Primus, Soul and TransAct. It said the proposal would deliver consumers greater choice and better prices than what is currently available, and what would be available from a Telstra FTTN network.

The proposal outlines access costs for establishing a Fibre Access Network Operating Company (FANOC), and sets out the wholesale pricing model for network access.

The network would initially reach about four million households and businesses and then be progressively rolled-out to densely populated regional centres like Newcastle and Townsville.

Those regional areas not currently served by exchange infrastructure would then be served as priorities allowed.

The G9 proposal is for an average price for access seekers of between $21 and $24. This reflects the cost structure of a range of products from basic access at $15.00 to high speed broadband access at $45.00.

The proposal does not rely on a taxpayer contribution from the Federal Government and would instead be financed through domestic and international equity and debt markets.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said the companies had been working with financial services giant Investec and had confirmed “building a high speed broadband network is an attractive and viable commercial opportunity in its own right.”

“Taxpayers funds are not required to support this commercially viable broadband network,” Mr Hackett said.

“Our focus has always been on a high speed broadband network plan that will bring broadband competition and choice to Australians,” Mr Hackett said.

“This proposal is in stark contrast to Telstra’s plans,” Optus chief executive Paul O’Sullivan said.

“Our proposal offers Australia fair and reasonable pricing and promotes competition which will drive greater broadband choices for consumers, Mr O’Sullivan said.

For more Telecommunications news, click here.

Microsoft in China research joint venture

The world’s largest software company, Microsoft, has linked with Chinese PC maker Lenovo to set up research facility in Beijing, the first time the company has entered an R-D-based joint venture.

The investment, which is though to be worth several million US dollars annually to both companies, will involve about 40 engineering staff from Lenovo, with an expected similar number from Microsoft providing technical training and support.

The 50-50 joint-venture partners will share any intellectual property produced by the organizations.

It is thought the venture will focus on new consumer device technology, particularly in the mobile device market.

The companies will share a facility on the Lenovo campus in Beijing.

Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie said the two companies would target opportunities in the consumer and mobile markets like digital photography, digital media and the internet.

Unsurprisingly, the development will also centre on products that build on top of Microsoft platforms.

“Today's announcement signifies another step in Microsoft's continuing efforts to build stronger collaborations with local partners, and foster a flourishing innovation ecosystem in China,” Mr Mundie said.

The announcement comes on the eve of a Microsoft-hosted Government Leaders Forum in Beijing, which was due to start last Thursday and Friday.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will address the leaders forum, along with Mr Mundie and senior vice-president for emerging segments market development Orlando Ayala.

For more Future Parc news, click here.

Dell lets users keep buying Windows XP

PC maker Dell Computer is to let customers in the US decide between Microsoft’s pre-loaded Windows Vista and its predecessor Windows XP when they purchase new machines.

When Vista was launched in January, Dell started shipping all home PCs with the new operating system. But customer demand for the older operating system has changed the company’s mind.

Dell digital media manager Lionel Menchaca said the idea to continue shipping XP had been raised on its IdeaStorm customer website.

The company had previously said it would continue offering XP to small business customers, and when home users’ responded with demand for the older operating system, Dell changed its plans, Mr Menchaca said on the official Dell blog.

But so far the new plan only applies to US customers. Mr Menchaca said the company had yet to decide whether to extend the plan to overseas markets.

The decision to allow shipment of XP-based machines comes just weeks after Dell announced plans to ship systems pre-loaded with the open source Linux operating system.

For more Office Automation news, click here.

CA accuses founder Charles Wang of fraud

BUSINESS software maker CA has accused its founder Charles Wang of corporate fraud and will pursue the former chief executive through the courts for damages.

A special litigation committee of the CA board of directors has recommended that the claims against Mr Wang be “vigorously pursued by CA using outside counsel”.

The claims relate to accounting irregularities over many years that ultimately led the company – then known as Computer Associates – to a US$2.2 billion restatement of its financials. Criminal charges were then laid against senior executive management.

The special committee litigation committee was formed in early 2005 by the CA board as a response to on-going criminal and civil suits related to the financial restatement.

The committee says in its report that it had investigated “a massive accounting fraud perpetrated by the company’s senior-most executives from as far back as the late 1980s through 2001, and their cover-up of that fraud, which lasted through 2004.”

At the core of the investigation was an accounting practice called the “35-day month” that the company used to inflate its revenue numbers for any given reporting period.

The special litigation committee also recommended that it use the courts to have “special releases” – or immunities from prosecution – that had been granted to Mr Wang in 2000 and 2003 be set aside.

The also committee said it had reached a binding agreement with former chairman and chief executive Sanjay Kumar under which he will pay CA US$15.25 million (A$18.3 million). This is in addition to the US$52 million that Mr. Kumar will repay to CA’s shareholders as part of his criminal restitution proceedings.

Kumar was late last year sentenced to 12 years jail for his role in the fraud. In announcing the further US$15.25 million settlement, the CA committee said that following Kumar’s restitution agreements with government, he has no material assets left.

The litigation committee makes a series of other recommendations to sue other senior executives, most notably former chief financial officer Peter Schwartz.

Mr Wang has said he would defend himself, laying the blame for the financial fraud at the feet of Kumar.

“I find it hard to understand how the Special Litigation Committee could believe the information they were given was credible, when their sources are those who perpetrated the crimes at issue and then lied about them to both internal company investigators and the government," Mr Wang said in a prepared statement reported by Reuters.

Mr Wang had stepped down as CEO in 2000 and retired as chairman of the CA board in 2002.

The special litigation committee recommended that all claims against its current executive vice-president of products Russell Artzt, saying it had uncovered no evidence that he had directed or participated in the “35-day month” scheme.

It reached an agreement, however, under which Mr Artzt is to pay the company US$9 million, being the value of executed share options.

For more Business Software news, click here.

Export experts tout the global IT opportunity

INFORMATION technology was an ideal platform to serve as an “additional strong engine” for growing the Australian economy, according to global commercialisation expert Isaac Shariv.

With a strong and innovative development community in Australia, low set-up costs for tech start-ups, and relatively short time-to-market for IT products and services, developing global technologies should be a national priority, Dr Shariv said.

“It would be good for Australia if the economy was a lot more diversified.”

Having joined the Sydney University’s Business Liaison Office as director last year, Dr Shariv is an expert in taking innovative products to market and extracting maximum commercial value from developments – something Australian researchers have sometimes struggled to do successful.

Before joining Sydney University Dr Shariv was chief executive of Yeda Research and Development Company, the commercial arm of the Weisman Institute of Science in Israel. He

“More than any other filed, IT has the potential to generate hundreds of new companies that will grow and take over global markets from their Aussie headquarters, and bring wealth back home,” he said.

Dr Shariv, who holds a PhD in Physics, will discuss commercialisation strategies for the Australian market as a speaker at the Cebit Connect Keynote series at the CeBIT Australia conference and exhibition at Darling Harbour from May 1-3.

He said the presentation would include case studies of how companies that started as nothing more than novel concepts could be taken by passionate entrepreneurs – and some small amount of seed investment – to become global IT companies.

Despite Australia’s seeming poor track record in commercialising new technologies, Dr Shariv is upbeat about what can be achieved in this country.

Meanwhile, the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) has committed its biggest presence ever at CeBIT Australia, conducting 20 seminars on various aspects of overseas opportunities over the three-day event.

The seminar series is one of three strands to the Austrade presence at the show. In addition to Export Alley – which is a special stand to give small, innovative Australia companies a low cost option to get to CeBIT and get in front of potential buyers – Austrade will also host an “International Business Lounge.”

The International Business Lounge is an area where Austrade officials will provide business matching services, to ensure that local companies and overseas visitors get a chance to meet.

Twelve business development managers from 12 different Austrade missions around the world will attend CeBIT, with eight bringing delegations from the country missions.

Business development managers will attend from Austrade offices in Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, Auckland, Santiago, Jakarta, Port Moresby, London, Prague, Dubai, Cairo, Osaka and New York.

For more Export Alley news, click here.

Google applications target the enterprise

SOFTWARE as a Service has emerged as one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the IT industry, and it is search giant Google that is most aggressively going after the market.

Google used its search prowess as its entry service into enterprises – and small and medium-sized businesses – but stretched this primary platform into a much broader range of applications.

Search has been a focal point of the Google battle with Microsoft. But it is Google’s launch into office productivity software services that will be an even more brutal stoush.

CeBIT Australia will feature a presentation by Google Enterprise vice-president and general manager Dave Girouard at its CeBIT Connect Keynote Series who will outline how Google has already positioned itself in the enterprise market and map its future plans.

Girouard is responsible for all aspects of Google’s enterprise business, including sales marketing, product development and customer support.

Google Enterprise has an already large and growing business in providing enterprise search solutions – hardware and software combinations that companies use within content management systems to keep track of documents and other data.

The Google Enterprise products leverage the company’s core strength in search, supercharges it with specialist hardware, and puts it inside the enterprise firewall.

But Google Enterprise is now well down the path of launching its productivity software applications for the enterprise market. These began with web-based email and calendaring, and have moved to word processing and spreadsheets (the heartland of the Microsoft Office franchise.

The company this week also announced it would launch a web based application similar to Microsoft’s PowerPoint program. The company said it would offer two versions of the software in the coming months – including a US$50 per user per year version.

The new presentation software will be a part of Google Docs and Spreadsheets offering which the company has been rolling out in parts over the past year.

Girouard will provide a broad ‘world view’ of the way Google Enterprise products are being presented to market, outlining some of the areas where the company thinks there is an opportunity to innovate.

For more Web Applications news, click here.

IP bingle as senior Chinese delegation heads to CeBIT

FEDERAL Trade Minister Warren Truss has threatened to complain to the WTO about intellectual property protection in China less than two weeks before a senior Chinese information technology delegation arrives in Australia.

Deputy Minister Lou Qinjian from the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will lead a group of eight senior ministry officials, joining a second group of senior executives from Chinese firms in a delegation from the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce (CECC) to the CeBIT Australia conference and exhibition at Darling Harbour in Sydney from May 1-3.

Minister Lou and the MII delegates will conduct high-level meetings with the officials from the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts, and the NSW government.

Both MII delegates and the CECC will also conduct closed-door meetings with members of the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (AEEMA).

But the Chinese arrive in Australia just as Trade Minister Warren Truss said government is considering joining the United States in lodging complaints with the World Trade Organisation over the intellectual property protection issues in China.

Mr Truss told the ABC last week the US was clearly becoming more aggressive in its trading relationship with China and that Australia may join the US in its complaint to the WTO.

The Minister is in Beijing this week and will meet with China’s Commerce Minister Bo Xilai. He will also co-chair the High-level Economic Cooperation Dialogue (HECD) with the chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.

Mr Truss will also attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference and participate in a panel on Accelerating Asian Growth: Evolution of the Asian Economic Community.\

Styled as an Asian Davos, the BFA is a forum for senior government, business and academic representatives to debate major economic, social and environmental issues facing Asia.

Intellectual property in China is a hot topic right now, and the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) is organising a series of seminars to be held in Australian capital cities in May.

Austrade has partnered with IP Australia to present the ' View in 2007: Intellectual property and new markets in China' seminars in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth starting on May 7.

For more e-Government news, click here.

Second US state bans RFID chipping

A SECOND state in US has passed laws specifically banning the use of radio frequency ID (RFID) implanted in humans, such is the concern that if it’s not outlawed, someone might actually propose doing.

North Dakota Governor John Hoeven last week signed into law a two sentence bill that effectively forbids anyone from compelling someone else to have an RFID chip implanted under the skin. Wisconsin passed a similar law in 22006.

California currently has a bill before its state house that would outlaw the practice. The issue hasn’t gained much profile in Australia.

The law in North Dakota does not prohibit people getting a chip implant voluntarily. There remain applications like in the military, where soldiers can get chipped so they can be more easily tracked – and possibly so emergency medical records can be stored in-body.

The law has already attracted critics as not going far enough. Reports from the US say the law is took vague and could easily side-stepped. For example, some say the law only addresses RFID being injected under the skin, even though RFID tags can be attached in a variety of ways including swallowing.

The law doesn’t define what constitutes a person being forced to have an implant, critics say. For example, would it be considered force if a person was denied access to a government service if they didn’t get an implant? Or if they were given financial inducements.

For more RFID news click here.

Sun opens storage software to developers

SUN Microsystems is to donate a brace of storage hardware and software technologies to the open source community in a move it says signals the commoditisation of the storage

The storage technologies will be available for access to storage developers within the OpenSolaris community – allowing the community to combine OpenSolaris with hardware from any source to create compelling storage solutions at a fraction of the price of traditional proprietary storage vendors.

Sun’s chief open source officer Simon Phipps is expected to offer details of the plan when he presents at the Open CeBIT conference on May 3 at the Darling Harbour in Sydney. Mr Phipps’ presentation is titled “The Zen of Free.

Sun said it was seeking to take the lead in creating a community-driven software development platform through OpenSolaris.org to speed-up time to market for storage application development for improving customer datamanagement and archiving needs.

“Just as free and open source code has changed the way server and desktop operating systems are developed, evaluated and deployed, today marks a big step in repeating this model for storage software technology,” Sun executive vice-president for software Rich Green said.

“Sun is taking the lead in changing the market by enabling the creation of compelling low-cost storage solutions via the free and open availability of open source software, including Solaris, on commodity hardware from a wide-range of vendors including HP, Dell, IBM, and Sun,” Mr Green said.

Sun also announced the previously Sun-only flexible administration features of Solaris ZFS will be donated to OpenSolaris.

ZFS is a dynamic file system which simplifies management and adds functionality.

For more Data Storage news click here.

Google tightens grip on online ad market

GOOGLE continues to shift away from its search origins, tightening its grip on the electronic advertising market through the acquisition of DoubleClick for US$3.1 billion (A$3.7 billion).

Google walked away as the winner from a fierce three-way bidding war for DoubleClick between Google and its rivals Microsoft and Yahoo.

The US$3.1 billion cash deal nearly triples the US$1.1 billion DoubleClick commanded when it was taken private in 2005 by San Francisco-based private equity firm Hellman and Friedman.

Google enterprise vice-president and general manager Dave Girouard is a keynote speaker at the CeBIT Connect Keynote series on May 1.

Google was already the largest internet advertising company in the world, with the DoubleClick deal further cementing that role as an advertising giant.

In addition to leveraging the DoubleClick corporate rolodex of ad advertisers, advertising agencies and advertising buyers and publishers, the company will use DoubleClick technology to expand beyond simple text ads into multimedia formats.

Google immediately moved to reassure users that the acquisition would not change the company’s policy of ensuring a clear distinction between sponsored links, advertising and search results.

In a statement posted to the company’s corporate blog, Google product management vice-president Susan Wojcicki told users the company had “tirelessly pursued, the idea that serving relevant unintrusive ads would best serve our advertisers in the long term” and that goal would not change.

“Sponsored information served by Google has always been, and will always be, clearly distinguished from objective content available via our search results and across our partner network,” Ms Wojcicki said.

“We want you to find the information that you are looking for—be it in an ad or elsewhere—quickly and without hassle. We know that our collaboration with DoubleClick will serve and advance this goal,” she said.

Google co-founder and technology president Sergey Brin said in a statement that it remained the company’s intention “to make Internet advertising better – less intrusive, more effective, and more useful.”

“Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said “DoubleClick's technology is widely adopted by leading advertisers, publishers and agencies, and the combination of the two companies will accelerate the adoption of Google's innovative advances in display advertising.”

For more e-Marketing news click here.

Europe takes off as internet destination

NEWLY-installed Human Services Minister Chris Ellison has moved quickly to soothe Access Cards opponents as government prepares for a second shot at getting the smartcard proposal through the Senate.

After failing to get its original enabling Access Card legislation through the Senate in March, Government has committed to redrafting the bill to take into account concerns from both sides of the chamber.

Senators rejected the first bill, saying it lacked detail, particularly around the specific privacy and data security measures that would be put in place to ensure protection of citizens’ private information.

Government has promised a better consultative process with both the public and parliamentarians.

Senator Ellison was appointed to the Human Services portfolio in early March, taking over from Ian Campbell, who had resigned after getting caught in by political crossfire over his having once met with disgraced former Western Australian Premier Brian Burke.

Having had a month to get acclimatised to the portfolio, Senator Ellison last week again started the process of selling the Access Card.

Talking to ABC Radio in Brisbane, Senator Ellison did not stray from the familiar message the Government has pushed for the past year. But he acknowledged there remained public nervousness about the smartcard project, with the Access Card being simply an ID card in the eyes of critics.

“It's not an Australia Card, and I want to make that very clear; we've said that in the legislation,” the Minister said. “This can only be required for accessing Government services.”

“I think it's a great initiative. It will crackdown on welfare fraud. It will make it easier to deal with the Commonwealth Government in accessing benefits. And it will provide greater security for the individuals' identity and to guard against identity theft.”

Senator Ellison said the privacy protections on the card were adequate. “In relation to the privacy aspect, we have the technology to quarantine the areas of information such as Medicare information being kept separately and apart from Centrelink information, which will be kept apart from Veterans Affairs information (etc).”

Once the Access Card was passed by the parliament, Government would embark on a “very significant” communications campaign to make sure the public understands how the implementation of the card will be carried out, Senator Ellison said.

For more Smart Card news click here.

Infosys still riding the crest of outsourcing wave

INDIA-based IT services giant Infosys Technology has reported a full year profit boost, riding out in front of the ongoing global outsourcing boom.

The company said it was enjoying the strong growth created by continued global demand among developed economies for lower cost offshore technology services.

“Our revenues grew by around US$1 billion (A$1.2 billion) this year,” said Infosys chief executive and manging director Nandan Nilekani.

“The global IT services industry continues to show strong growth with exciting opportunities and Infosys is well positioned to take advantage of this,” he said.

The company reported revenues of US$863 million for the quarter to the end of March, up 45.5 per cent compared to the year-ago quarter.

Infosys’ per share earnings on its ADRs (American Depository Receipts) jumped 64 per cent to 46cents, while net income for the quarter climbed 70 per cent.

The company said its full-year revenues were up 44 per cent to US$3.1 billion.

Infosys expects revenues to increase by about 30 per cent in the 2008 financial year to just over US$4 billion.

The company increased employee numbers by nearly 3,000 during the quarter to the end of March, and now employs 72,200 staff world wide.

IN a planned succession move, Infosys said Mr Nilekani would resign as chief executive effective from July22 to become co-chairman. He will be replaced by the company’s current president and chief executive officer, S. Gopalakrishnan.

For more IT Service news click here.

Real-time 3D medical imaging a reality

A breakthrough collaboration with the renowned Mayo Clinic and IBM say it has exploited parallel computing architecture and memory bandwidth to dramatically speed up the processing of 3D medical images.

The research partners said the use of parallel architectures and exploits allowed highly technical image processing at fifty times faster than using a standard processor configuration.

The advance significantly improves image registration – the computer-enhanced process of aligning two medical images obtained on different days or by using different imaging devices – in three-dimensional space.

With the images properly aligned over one another, the process lets a radiologist more easily detect structural changes, such as the growth or shrinkage of tumours.

The results were presented in a joint presentation by the Mayo Clinic and IBM at the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging in Washington over the weekend.

“This alignment of images both improves the accuracy of interpretation and improves radiologist efficiency, particularly for diseases like cancer,” Mayo radiology researcher Dr Bradley Erickson said.

Through porting and optimisation of Mayo Clinic's Image Registration Application on the IBM BladeCenter QS20 'Cell Blade,' the application produced image results fifty times faster than the application running on a traditional processor configuration.

By running the application faster, physicians will be able to make quicker diagnoses and begin appropriate treatments for patients more promptly.

“This is all about taking technology innovation, collaborating with our customers, and applying it to help them directly benefit their patients,” said, IBM Next Generation Computing’s Shahrokh Daijavad.

“This improvement with the application running on Cell, will achieve two things – allow for Mayo's doctors and radiologists to achieve in seconds what used to take hours, which in turn will significantly decrease the wait time and anxiety for a patient waiting on news from the doctor,” Daijavad said.



For more e-Health news click here.

Truss talks tough on China’s IP record

JUST as Australian Trade Minister Warren Truss stepped into a growing fight between the US and China over intellectual property, Austrade has announced a series of seminars for Australian companies on protecting IP rights in China.

Mr Truss said last week that Australia was considering joining the US in lodging complaints against China with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over IP infringements.

Mr Truss will travel to China this week to co-chair a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Dialogue, and to meet with China’s Commerce Minister.

Austrade said last week that it had teamed with IP Australia to host ‘View in 2007: Intellectual Property and new markets in China’, a seminar series that will provide exporters with updated perspectives on IP from experts direct from the coalface in China.

The day-long seminars will be held through May at various locations around the country, including Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Speakers will include Mr Truss, as well as Australia’s senior Trade Commissioner to China Peter Osborne, Rouse and Co International manager Anna Booy, and Day Consultants founder Mark Day.

Exporters will also be able to network with speakers and get their questions answered by representatives from Austrade, IP Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Attorney General's Department as well as Australian exporters with current in-market experience.

Meanwhile, one of the nation’s most powerful business lobbies, the Australian Industry Group has backed Mr Truss statement on joining the US in complaining about China to the WTO.

“A lack of enforcement arrangements against IP infringement in China is a critical issue faced by Australian companies in their dealings in China,” Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said.

“As a member of the multilateral trading structure, China must meet its WTO commitments on IP and this issue, along with China's undervalued currency, has been central to all the discussions with China over recent years.”

“(The Australian Industry) Group has also suggested to the Australian Government that a consultative mechanism be established now so that IP infringement matters can also be addressed at senior administrative government levels in the context of the Australia-China FTA negotiations,” she said.


For more Export Alley news click here.

GLOBAL satellite provider IntelSat to stop unauthorized use of platform

GLOBAL satellite provider IntelSat says it is working with the Sri Lankan Government on ways to stop the unauthorized use of one of its satellite platforms by the Tamil Tigers secessionists.

Agence France Presse last week revealed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organization, had illegally used an IntelSat platform to broadcast radio and television news overseas.

Intelsat officials, including technical experts, had met with the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States Bernard Goonetilleke to discuss the steps the company was taking to halt the unauthorised use of its satellite.


“Intelsat does not tolerate terrorists or others operating illegally on its satellites,” the company’s general counsel Phillip Spector said.

“Since we first learned of the LTTE's signal piracy, we have been actively pursuing a number of technical alternatives to halt the transmissions,” Mr Spector said.

“We are clear in our resolve to ending this terrorist organisation's unauthorised use of our satellite.”

Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the northest of Sri Lanka and have been listed as a terrorist group by the US since 1997.

IntelSat and the Sri Lankan Embassy said the transmissions by the LTTE were a violation of both US and Sri Lankan law.

Following the discussion, Ambassador Goonetilleke said, “I am satisfied that Intelsat is taking these unauthorized transmissions very seriously, and believe it would do all that it can to stop the terrorist transmissions. I am confident that Intelsat will continue to cooperate with Sri Lankan authorities in this matter.”

For more Satellite and Boradcasting news click here.

Software AG buys webMethods for growth

GERMAN systems software and Service Oriented Architecture specialist Software AG has acquired webMethods, one of the surviving darlings of the original dotcom boom.

The acquisition, worth US$546 million (A$655 million) in cash, makes the combined entity one of the largest providers of business process management and SOA software.

Buying webMethods was a major step in Software AG’s recently announced strategic goal to more than double its revenues to Euro1 billion (A$1.6 billion).

The companies said the deal brings together complementary industry strengths and minimal customer overlap. The companies would give eachother immediate and mutual access to additional customer segments, particularly in financial services, manufacturing and the public sector.

Software AG and webMethods have a combined customer base of more than 4,000 organisartions and 100 partners in complementary geographies around the world.

Specifically, the acquisition will double Software AG’s customer base in the critical North American market.

“Combining our product portfolio and sales team with those of webMethods gives us a major foothold in the critical North American market,” Software AG chief executive Karl-Heinz Streibich said.

“WebMethods’ Fabric product family combined with Software AG’s Crossvision SOA suite will provide an end-to-end SOA solution that allows our combined client base to more effectively create, manage and govern their business processes,” Mr Streibich said.

For more Office Automation news click here.

Spending grows as telco’s look to IPTV

WIRED communications infrastructure spending will rise in 2007 to its highest level since 2002, with most of the additional global spend attributable to new IPTV investment.

California-based research group iSuppli says telecommunications companies will spend nearly US$41 billion on equipment this year, a modest rise of 1.6 per cent.

The growth in total equipment spending is small, and represents a slowdown compared to the 10.7 per cent increase in 2006 and 8.3 per cent in 2005.

But with telco revenue growth expected to increase on ly marginally this year, iSuppli says spending increases have been directed at new revenue opportunities.

“The major reason for the slowdown is focused spending and a ‘pay-as-you–grow’ strategy among telcos,” according to iSuppli’s principal analyst for IPTV, broadband and digital home, Steve Rago.

“The marginal increase in 2007 spending is being driven largely by telcos’ purchases of equipment to deploy Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services. iSuppli estimates $9 billion will be spent on IPTV-related communications equipment in 2007.”

The major motivation for companies to invest in IPTV infratstructure is the flagging fortunes of the their core voice communications businesses, Mr Rago said.

The telecommunications companies have been losing an average of 4 per cent annually from their subscriber base, and more than 4 per cent per year from voice revenue, he said.

The phenomenon is universal, with no region and no telecommunications company unaffected.

“The telcos hope their massive investments in IP broadband networks and IPTV will pay dividends in terms of a new source of revenue from providing video and other multimedia services to consumers,” Mr Rago said.

Global IPTV subscribers will soar to 105.8 million in 2011, rising at a stunning 98 per cent compound annual growth rate from 3.4 million in 2006, iSuppli predicts. To serve this huge base, the telcos’ IPTV budget will have to grow to account for 20 per cent of their total capital spending by 2011, including networking equipment, software and customer premises equipment.

For more IPTV news click here.

Kathmandu cranks supply chain with Pronto

ADVENTURE equipment retailer Kathmandu has bought ERP software from Australian supply chain specialist Pronto Software as part of a major national and international expansion plan.

With more than 50 retail outlets throughout Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Kathmandu has aggressive plans under new shareholders Goldman Sachs JB Were and Quadrant to grow the company’s retail network to more than 80 stores in the next three years.

After a lengthy evaluation and review process, the company selected the Pronto-Xi to overhaul its point of sale and back office retail functions.

Kathmandu group information systems manager Bryan Moore said the company had outgrown its existing system, making it difficult to use the system to grow the company further.

“There were shortfalls in our CRM and promotions management, and combined with an overall lack of integration, it was time to consider an improved solution,” Moore said.

The new system, its real-time POS and inventory transaction processing would help the company to improve customer service while keeping alid on costs.

Moore said Pronto’s newly-added Alert Intelligence tools would be especially useful in managing costs.

“As we grow we’re adopting a ‘management by exception’ style, where we can be alerted to and manage specific business situations across the company in a timely manner,” Mr Moore said. “Alert Intelligence will definitely support this change.”

“For example, if there is a stock outage, we can be alerted to it straight away via an email with a hyperlink to the stock details. Alert Intelligence can also instantly notify staff as they serve a ‘Summit Club’ member whose next purchase qualifies them for a reward – which is the type of business and customer advantage that PRONTO-Xi can deliver,” he said.

For more Supply Chain news click here.

NZ payments firm pushes mobile payment market

THE global trend toward customers using their mobile phone to make purchase payments will continue to see strong growth, according to New Zealand mobile payment specialist GFG Group.

Newly-appointed GFG Group chief executive Grant Halverson, a former regional director for financial services giant Citibank, says the global payments market was still growing rapidly, although it had become more fragmented.

Halverson said GFG Group was well positioned to take a big chunk of the mobile payments sector, one of the fastest growing areas of the payments market.

GFG's software lets payments be made securely from mobile phone in the same way as a credit card or or EFTPOS card. The software was originally developed for a mobile phone company in the Philippines – Smart Communications – and is now being sold into other country markets.

Vodafone New Zealand acquired the software for its first entre into electronic mobile payments. The Vodafone Hotlink service lets its customers use their phone to top up prepaid or account balances directly from a their bank account.

The company has more recently made a multi-million dollar sale to a consortium of North American telecommunications companies, and it is in the process of negotiating sales with telco’s in the Middle East, India and other parts of Asia.

What makes the GFG Group software interesting is the way it has converged its breakthrough mobile technology with its established cards-based payment management software. The combination of the two in effect creates a virtual bank account operated by mobile phone.

The technology has created huge interest in the retail sector and among telco’s. And in the developing economies with not much of a fixed line phone network and low use of bank accounts, the system gives people access to the bank-level payments capabilities through thee phone.

“Having a Java-based Card product is critical because that means speed to market for new products,” Halverson said. “Likewise a proven mobile payments product is critical, because mobile payments is probably the largest single new growth opportunity in the global payments market – particularly outside the developed countries.”

“The paradox is that it’s really only a smaller player such as GFG which can be sufficiently fast moving and innovative and can be in the right place at the right time with the right products. And that’s key to why GFG is such an exciting opportunity,” he said.

For more Retail IT News click here.

Myth busted! Male online dominance a nonsense

THE myth that the internet is a male dominated arena where women fear to tread has been debunked, with new US research showing more women than men on the internet, and that women do more while they are online.

Market research firm eMarketer estimates there are currently about 97.2 million female internet users, making up 51.7 per cent of the online population. About 90.9 million men are active online in the US – 48.3 per cent of the internet population.

By 2011, the eMarketer projects 109.7 million US females will be active online, amounting to a steading 51.9 per cent of the total.

The company says internet usage by females has probably surpassed that of males for some time, and points to other research that have also concluded there are more women online than men (Edison Media Research, comScore Media Metrix.

The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School Centre for the Digital Future reported in 2006 that for first time in the six years the school had measured internet usage, females had surpassed males.

It found 78.4 per cent of females aged 12 or above go online, compared to 76.7 per cent of males – while female usage since 2000 had jumped 12.4 per cent, compared to just 3.2 per cent for blokes.

eMarketer warned that researchers that only measure the adult population were still finding that a greater percentage of men go online than women. But the overwhelming trend among younger girls, having grown up with the internet, is to feel as at home online as the young males.

eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson thinks that current trends will shape future internet demographics and usage.

“For girls who have grown up with technology there is no significant gender gap in internet usage, and the rise of activities that are particularly appealing to young females, such as social networking, will result in even greater usage,” Ms Williamson said.

For more e-Commerce & e-Finance news, click here.

Microsoft delays Windows Server virtualisation

MICROSOFT has pushed back the release of the first public beta of its Windows Server virtualisation software – a project code-named Viridium – citing problem meeting internal targets for performance and scalability.

The company had previously said the virtualisation software beta would be released in the first half of the year. The schedule has now slipped six months and will be released in the second half.

Microsoft virtualisation strategy general manager Mike Neil made the announcement via the Windows Server Division blog. He also announced a delay in shipping the Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1, which will now ship in Q2 having missed its Q1 schedule.

The announcement would have no impact on shipping dates for the long-awaited ‘Longhorn’ Windows release.

“Up front, it’s important to know that Windows Server “Longhorn” remains on schedule for beta 3 will be this half and RTM in the second half,” Mr Neil wrote in the blog.

The primary drivers (for delaying release of the beta of Windows Server virtualization) are around meeting our internal goals for performance and scalability,” Mr Neil wrote.

“In an IT environment of ever-growing multi-core processor systems, Windows Server virtualization is being designed to scale across a much broader range of systems than the competition.”

He said Windows Server virtualisation will be able to support up to 64 processors, more than any other product on the market.

“We still have some work to do to have the beta meet the “scale up” bar we have set,” Mr Neil wrote. “Also, we’re tuning Windows Server virtualization to run demanding enterprise IT workloads, even I/O intensive workloads, so performance is very important and we still have some work to do here.”

For more Business Software, click here.

Salesforce adds content management system

HOSTED application specialist Salesforce.com has added a content management service as part of a dramatic expansion of its platform for managing and sharing business information.

The new Apex Content is a major extension of the Salesforce platform and is based on technology developed at San Francisco-based collaboration developer Koral, which Salesforce acquired in March.

Salesforce ContentExchange is the first service that lets customers manage documents and other unstructured data on demand as easily as they manage their structured data within the existing Salesforce CRM applications.

“Salesforce Content represents a decisive step towards our vision of managing all information on demand,” Salesforce.com chairman and chief executive Marc Benioff said.

“With Salesforce Content, we not only manage a company’s traditional structured information, but their unstructured information as well,” he said.

Benioff said the company revolutionised the sales force automation (SFA) market in 1999 by removing the cost and complexity associated with client/server software like Siebel. It now wanted to the same in the content management sector by extending the on demand software model and Web 2.0 innovations throughout the enterprise.

The Saleforce Content would compete with platforms like EMC Documentum and Microsoft SharePoint platforms, he said.

Salesforce ContentExchange will help companies store, share, find and manage the business information that currently lives in documents, emails and HTML – while keeping all users and content in sync.

Salesforce ContentExchange will take the best concepts of Web 2.0 applications such as community participation, tagging, recommendations, subscriptions, and an AJAX user interface and apply them to enterprise content management.

For more CRM news, click here.

GS1 Australia offers free support services

PRODUCT numbering authority GS1 Australia is to offer a series of free support services to companies who are migrating to the new GS1net system which will be available from the end of August.

GS1 Australia says it is also making GS1 Professional Services consultants available at reduced fees to the hundreds of Coles and Metcash suppliers who synchronise their data today on EANnet.

Others in the EANnet community are examining resources and timelines to ensure they are fully GS1net operational before EANnet shuts down for good in March next year.

GS1 Australia will offer free support through their Client Services unit. This includes access for up to two supplier representatives to a GS1net group training session, a documented impact statement, gap analysis and data porting from EANnet to GS1net, a data validation service and a GS1net Ready Steps guide.

However, for current EANnet users who require additional and more focussed support, GS1 Australia has said that for a limited time and at a special price GS1 Professional Services consultants would fully execute the migration process for moving from EANnet to GS1net.

The GS1 Professional Services team has the system experience and the product-specific conversion tools to help everyone in the EANnet user community to migrate from EANnet to GS1net, with significant business benefits in terms of a speedier migration, cost avoidance and cost reduction.

GS1net contains many improvements and new features. GS1net users will find it faster and easier to manage than previous versions, both reducing the cost of ownership and maximising return on investment.

The most significant difference between the old EANnet and new GS1net is the seamless integration between it and the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN). This allows accurate data to be securely shared around the world between suppliers, wholesalers, logistics operators, retailers and other data recipients.

The new GS1net platform is also considerably easier to manage as it uses globally compliant standards that now bring Australian suppliers into global alignment.

GS1 Australia is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing local businesses with assistance and support to implement global GS1 standards for supply chain efficiency.

The organisation will exhibit at CeBIT Australia at the Darling Harbour Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 1 to May 3, providing demonstrations of the new GS1net technology and advice on how to migrate from the present EANnet data synchronisation service.

GS1 Australia is one of more than one hundred GS1 organisation located in countries around the world. In November 2005, GS1 Australia joined the GDSN and put into place a migration plan for alignment to this global standard.

The next phase was for GS1 Australia to deploy a new platform, known as GS1net. This development work ensures that GS1net not only meets the requirements for participation in the GDSN, but also delivers all the item and pricing functionality that the Australian and New Zealand communities depend on today.

For more Point of Sale news, click here.

Coonan moves to reassure angry ISPs

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Helen Coonan has moved to bolster government’s Broadband Guarantee scheme to make sure smaller, regional ISPs don’t miss out on subsidies.

The changes follow complaints by South Australian regional ISPs that had complained that they had already invested in regional infrastructure but would have been denied access to funding under the new scheme.

“These arrangements will give broadband providers clarity regarding the new program and should speed up the rollout of further high speed broadband to consumers to complement the upcoming $600 million Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program,” Senator Coonan said.

Under new guideline announced by the Minister last week, providers that had built broadband infrastructure under the Broadband Connect program but had not claimed subsidies for connecting customers under that program will be able to apply to register that infrastructure under both the transitional period – up until July 2007 – and the full Australian Broadband Guarantee program to mid June 2008.

This change creates an incentive for providers in these circumstances to immediately participate in the Australian Broadband Guarantee rather than waiting for the full program, Senator Coonan announced.

This should mean that consumers in these areas will receive a wider choice of broadband services sooner. It will also allow further time for providers to recoup their investment on new networks.

The incentive payment for non-ADSL broadband services will be increased from $1100 to $2750 for Providers who build new infrastructure in areas that will not be covered by projects funded under the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program.
Further details of the arrangements are included in the attached industry fact sheet. Full details will be made available in the coming weeks with the release of the full Australian Broadband Guarantee Guidelines and amendments to the transitional period Guidelines.

“These new provisions ensure that consumers are not disadvantaged as a result of new broadband networks being caught between the two phases of the Australian Broadband Guarantee,” Senator Coonan said.

“We particularly wanted to ensure that a number of important projects in South Australia were properly accommodated under the program,” she said.

The changes announced this week follow a complaint by South Australian science and IT Minister Paul Caica, who met with Senator Coonan in a bid to save eight state-funded wireless projects that had been put at risk by changes federal funding.

Senator Coonan confirmed that projects in the Coorong Region, the Yorke Peninsula and the Barossa & Light Region would be eligible to apply for funding under the Australian Broadband Guarantee.

Other regional projects in areas that will not be covered by the Broadband Connect Infrastructure Program are likely to benefit from the higher subsidies for wireless broadband.

Guidelines for the full Broadband Guarantee program are expected to be announced by the end of the month.

For more Networking news, click here.

Bellon IP video intercom wins export success

AN elegant voice and video over IP-based intercom solution for in-building security develop by Sydney innovator Beltronics Longreach has won export support in the Middle East and US markets.

The Bellon system uses Internet Protocol (IP) and works over structured cabling, which is a standard feature in all new development projects like the condominiums, apartment blocks and gated communities that for part of the target market for the product.

Beltronics founder and sales director Brian Rodrigues said the Bellon system, which is to be showcased at the CeBIT Australia exhibition and conference at Sydney’s Darling Harbour from May 1-3, is the first of its kind in the world.

Mr Rodrigues said Bellon was the first video intercom system that uses the standard Ethernet wiring platform combined with the Power-Over-Ethernet 802.3af standard.

By using TCP/IP protocols for all communications, the Bellon system is able to operate on the same network infrastructure and alongside other network devices, like IP-based access control and CCTV systems.

One of the major advantages Ethernet, and using the power over Ethernet feature is that it is known for its stability, he said.

“All current door entry intercom systems utilise proprietary cabling systems that can make the electronics sensitive to voltage fluctuations, especially during electrical storms,” Mr Rodrigues said.

“Our system is significantly more reliable because it operates on the Ethernet, which has been proved to be a very reliable and robust network platform.”

The Bellon system was first launched one year ago, and the company will unveil new stainless steel device at CeBIT.

Beltronics Longreach has already appointed Adelaide-based Clipsal as its Middle East distributing, and the system is being trialled in a number of building projects there. Trials are also underway at Greenfield sites in the US.

Thought the company has targeted new developments as its primary market, it has also enjoyed success in Australia with institutions like hospitals and public sector utilities like railways that have bought the system to use for secure building access over existing network infrastructure.

The Bellon products and Beltronics Longreach are members of the Australian Technology Showcase, a national initiative of state governments and the Commonwealth that aims to foster and highlight innovative technology companies.

For more VoIP & IP Comms news, click here.

Viacom snubs Google, hugs Yahoo

MEDIA giant Viacom has signed an exclusive multi-year partnership with Yahoo! Under which the search company will provide sponsored search and contextual ad services to 33 Viacom broadband sites.

The ads for Viacom sites including MTV.com, VH1.com. Nickelodeon.com and Comedycentral.com will be powered by Yahoo’s newly launched search marketing system known as Panama.

The companies said the partnership may later extend to all 140-odd Viacom sites.

It seems likely that Viacom’s present dispute with Google – the company is suing Google’s YouTube unit for US$1 billion for copyright infringements – may have pressed the company closer to Yahoo.

Certainly Yahoo seems to think so. Even in the official announcement, Yahoo chairman and chief executive Terry Semel couldn’t resist taking a slightly veiled shot at Google’s copyright troubles.

“Viacom is a global leader in entertainment that shares Yahoo!’s commitment to connecting users to the content, products and services for which they are looking while respecting copyrights and other intellectual property rights at the same time,” Mr Semel said.

“Aligning Viacom’s popular brands, leading content and large audience with Yahoo!’s more targeted, relevant advertising, marks the beginning of a powerful and engaging partnership between our two companies.”

Viacom chief executive Philippe Dauman said Yahoo had made “impressive strides” with its new search marketing system and that the relationship with Yahoo could be expected to grow over time.

Viacom is understood to have held talks with both Google and Microsoft before deciding to partner with Yahoo.

Yahoo provides search marketing services to advertisers in 22 countries. Its new search marketing system – currently only available in the US – is designed to deliver even more relevant sponsored search and contextual ad results.

Viacom is the number-one online entertainment destination and the 11th most-popular overall destination on the Web.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

For more e-Marketing news, click here.

Gloves come off in FTTN campaign

A GROUP of 11 telecommunications and internet companies have joined forces to counter what they say is an orchestrated Telstra campaign of misinformation on broadband, competition and regulation in Australia.

The companies – AAPT, Austar, iiNet, Internode, Macquarie Telecom, Powertel, Primus Telecom, Telarus, TransACT, WestNet and Unwired – have sent a letter of complaint to the consumer watchdog asking it to investigate whether the Telstra campaign represents misleading and deceptive conduct.

The complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission details a series of instances, including a media release, a teleconference and an email to customers where it says Telstra “has simply not told the whole truth.”

“Telstra is pushing the false impression that Australia’s regulatory regime somehow ignores its costs and legitimate business interests,” the group said in a statement.

“This is not the case, and if past performance is any indicator, Telstra is on a rampage to force both sides of politics to weaken the Trade Practices Act so it can increase prices.”

Calling themselves T4, the group has launched an education campaign called Tell the Truth Telstra that targets MPs, regulators and the public with what it call “the facts behind the state of broadband and telecommunications regulation in Australia.”

The T4 group has launched a web site at tellthetruthtelstra.com.au to counter some of the claims coming out of Telstra’s own campaign web site, nowwearetalking.com.au.

“As the nation debates the future of broadband, it is time to set the record straight about communications services in this country and the central role of competition in satisfying consumer demand.

“With an election looming, Telstra has turned up the volume and strayed a long way from the facts,” said the T4 group.

The group says that since government introduced competition in Australia, competitors had pioneered innovations like internet access for home and business, capped plans for mobile, and fast broadband using ADSL2+ and 3G services.

It says that “time and again” Telstra has only introduced new services and lower prices when it was forced to match the competition.

“Now Telstra is acting as though it can hold the country to ransom – positioning itself as the only company that can deliver Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN) and demanding to be allowed to increase prices before it will do so.

“The regulator has told a Senate hearing that Telstra had ‘walked away from upgrading its network to a FTTN because it could not get a green light to artificially inflate the price for existing broadband services in order to be able to justify charging higher prices for access to the new network’.

“Pretty much everyone but Telstra is united in the desire to create better broadband through effective competition rather than watered-down regulation,” the group spokesman said.

For more Telecommunications news, click here.

Microsoft patches ‘critical’ Windows security flaws

MICROSOFT has issued five software patches for security problems found in it Windows operating system, including a “critical” flaw in its new Windows Vista operating system.

The company also released a patch for another critical security flaw identified in its Microsoft Content Server platform, warning that the problem could allow hackers remote control of the system.

Five of the six bugs reported in the routine monthly Microsoft Security Bulletin for April were rated as critical, recommending that users update their software immediately.

The bulletin also rated the security hole identified in a Windows Vista messaging function as critical. The problem could lead to hackers taking over a machine, and users should be patched immediately.

“Critical” is the most serious of Microsoft’s four-level security rating system and is defined by the company as “a vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.”

Though the security patches were published part of Microsoft’s regular monthly release of fixes, the company last week broke the routine to issue an emergency fix for a problem found in Windows cursor animation files that was being widely exploited by hackers.

Microsoft has also reported that the cursor animation fix, which applied to all current Windows, including Vista, caused problems with some third-party software programs, in particular those related to audio files.

For more IT Security news, click here.

Palm to launch Linux smartphone

AFTER broadening its product line to include a Windows-based Treo smart phone last year, mobile specialist Palm says it will also release a device based on the Linux platform.

Speaking to analysts in New York this week, Palm chief executive Ed Colligan said the company had been developing the new Linux platform in the background for several years.

Mr Colligan said the Linux OS would be released later this year, and would run existing Palm applications.

Analysts reacted positively to the announcement saying the company had been hamstrung in recent years because it did not control the PalmOS operating system.

Palm spun off its OS operations as a separate company and recently paid US$44 million for a permanent license to use the software. PalmOS is now called Garnet.

The new Linux platform held the promise of allowing the company to get new product to market faster while lowering costs.

Mr Colligan told the analysts the mobile computing market was about to experience the next wave of growth as it moved into the mass market and that its new platforms – including Linux – positioned Palm to capitalise on that growth.

It is not clear how the announcement affects the immediate takeover rumours that have persisted about Palm. Wall Street has been buzzing in recent weeks with talk that Palm may be acquired, either by a device company or a private equity firm.

For more Wireless news, click here.

HP cranks inkjet print speeds

HEWLETT-Packard has unveiled a swag of hardware and software printing products, including two colour inkjet-based multifunction office devices it says can print up to 70 pages per minute.

The company said its HP CM8060/CM8050 Colour MFPs are the first to use the HPs new EdgeLine technology, which the company said brings to market a powerful new engine to based on its $1.4 billion (A$1.7 billion) investment in scalable printing technology.

HP says the new multifunction devices gives enterprise and SME tools to improve productivity and cut costs through high-speed performance, reliability, excellent output and intuitive useability.

HP Imaging and Printing Group executive vice-president Vyomesh Joshi said the Edgeline technology would transform the industry, “providing customers a multifunction printing solution with unprecedented ease of use that can improve productivity and lower colour operating costs by up to 30 per cent.”

The company also unveiled Web Jetadmin 10, a major upgrade to HP’s printing fleet management software solution, as well as a new HP Universal Print Driver 4.0 for Windows, which is compatible with Windows Vista.

HP said it was aiming to capture a significant portion of the US$147 billion enterprise printing market which it has pursued with renewed vigour since October last year when it first announced the Edgeline technology.

The company claims the total market opportunity for Edgeline Technology is expected to be more than US$30 billion by 2009. The CM8060 and CM8050 Colour MFPs announced yesterday are designed for the customers who print in high-volume and offer the combined benefits of ink and laser in a single device.

For more Office Printing news, click here.

Google to hold international developer event

GOOGLE offices in ten countries will host a global developer conference on May 31, with proceedings starting off at 9am in Sydney and finishing 27 hours later at Google headquarters in California.

The company said Google Developer Day would feature workshops, keynotes and breakout discussions on Google APIs and developer tools.

Titled “Building Blocks for Better Web Applications,” the event aims to explore new innovative uses of Google developer products to create and improve applications, and to integrate with Google services.

Presentation during the day will be made from Sao Paulo, Madrid, London, Paris, Hamburg, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney and Mountain View.

“We're very excited to hold this first-ever worldwide Google developer gathering,” Google vice-president Marissa Mayer said.

“Developers are using Google's APIs and tools to build innovative web applications that we never dreamed of, and Google Developer Day is an opportunity for them to connect with one another, learn the latest techniques and have their questions answered by Google's developer product teams,” she said.

“It's also a chance for us to get feedback from the community and find ways to make our developer offerings even better.”

Confirmed speakers include Guido Van Rossum, Google software engineer and creator of the Python programming language who will present from Beijing; Chris DiBona the Google open source programs manager from London; Mark Stahl, Google data APIs tech lead from Madrid and Bruce Johnson and Joel Webber, co-creators of the Google Web Toolkit from the company’s Mountain View headquarters.

Google Maps senior engineer Lars Rasmussen will make a presentation from the company’s Sydney offices, while Greg Stein, a Google engineering manager and chairman of the Apache Software Foundation will present from Tokyo.

To reach developers everywhere, Google will offer live streaming web casts from its Mountain View office and provide a YouTube channel with videos of Google Developer Day sessions around the world.

Google will stream live web casts of the event from its Mountain View office and provide a YouTube channel with videos of Google Developer Day sessions around the world.

For more Web Applications news, click here.

Uber Sick sensors take on DARPA car challenge

GERMANY laser sensor specialist Ibeo Automobile Sensor has unveiled its modified driverless Volkswagen Passat that will compete against other robot vehicles in the DARPA urban challenge later this year.

The company, a subsidiary of factory automation intelligent sensor firm Sick AG, will compete in the third annual US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge over a 60 mile course.

The team will compete against teams from all over the world for a first prize of US$1 million (A$1.2 million). Second prize is worth US$500,000, while third receives US$250,000.

Ibeo’s Team-LUX entry uses two super-sophisticated eye-like sensors in the front of the car and one in the rear to “see” road conditions, obstacles, pedestrians and other vehicles, feeding the information into the computer built into the car.

The sensors can judge road conditions up to a range of up to 200 metres, while the onboard computer makes driving decisions based on a robotics software developed by Ibeo.

The Darpa Urban Challenge course tests the vehicle’s ability to operate safely and effectively with other vehicles in and around an urban environment.

The course will be nominally 60 miles in total distance, with a time objective of 6 hours. The road surface will range in quality from new pavement to potholes and broken pavement. Sections of dirt roads with low berms may also be encountered.

To complete the Urban Challenge, a vehicle must negotiate all hazards, re-planning for alternate routes, and avoid static and dynamic obstacles while completing a complex, multi-part mission at speeds of up to 30 mph, resulting in an average speed of at least 10 mph.

Testifying before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee last month, DARPA director Dr Tony Tether said the previous Grand Challenge events had been in important step in developing autonomous ground vehicles that could navigate and drive across open and difficult terrain from city to city.

“But the next big leap will be an autonomous vehicle that can navigate and operate in traffic, a far more complex challenge for a 'robotic' driver. So this November we are very excited to be moving from the desert to the city with our Urban Challenge,” Dr Tether said.

Entered in the Urban Challenge under the name Team-LUX, the Ibeo vehicle was placed on display in London yesterday. The challenge is set to be conducted somewhere in the US in November.

DARPA is a US Defense department agency responsible for the development of new technology. It has been responsible for funding development of many technologies that have had a major impact on the world, including computer networking – starting with the ARPANET, which eventually grew into the internet.

For more Navigation & Telematics news, click here.

Google maps crisis in Sudan

GOOGLE has joined an unusual collaboration with the Holocaust Memorial Museum in the US to turn the focus of its Google Earth mapping service onto the unfolding crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The company says the collaboration would give internet uses access to tools to visualise and better understand the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur.

The Holocaust Museum has assembled photographs, data and eyewitness testimony that has been brought together in Google Earth. The information would appear as a Global Awareness layer in Google Earth, the company said.

The ‘Crisis in Darfur’ project is part of the Museum’s Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative that will over time include information on potential genocides allowing citizens, governments and institutions to access information on atrocities in their nascent stages and respond.

“Educating today’s generation about the atrocities of the past and present can be enhanced by technologies such as Google Earth,” Museum director Sara Bloomfield said.

“When it comes to responding to genocide, the world’s record is terrible. We hope this important initiative with Google will make it that much harder for the world to ignore those who need us the most.”

Google said its part in the project was based on the company’s belief that “technology can be a catalyst for education and action.”

“Crisis in Darfur will enable Google Earth users to visualize and learn about the destruction in Darfur as never before,” Google Earth vice-president Elliot Schrage said.

‘Crisis in Darfur’ content comes from a range of sources – the US State Department, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations, individual photographers, and the Museum. Google Earth lets users zoom into the region to view more than 1,600 damaged and destroyed villages, providing visual, compelling evidence of the scope of destruction.

With this release, the Museum also announced the creation of a similar mapping project on Holocaust history available on the Museum’s website.

To find ‘Crisis in Darfur’, users must download the Google Earth application at no cost from the Google site. Once downloaded, users will find Crisis in Darfur by flying over Africa. Information on the Museum’s Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative and the Holocaust mapping layer can be accessed from the Museum's Web site at www.ushmm.org/googleearth.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

IBM’s chip-stacking breakthrough

IBM researchers say they have found a way to extend Moore’s Law – which was just starting to look like it might run out of puff – beyond expected limitations by moving it into the third dimension.

The company has announced a new chip-stacking technology in a manufacturing environment that paves the way for three dimensional chips.

IBM says the new technology will have far reaching implications, particularly for mobile devices, by allowing processors and memory that are smaller, faster, and consume less power.

Called ‘through-silicon vias’ technology, the breakthrough enables the move from horizontal two-dimensional chip layouts to 3-D chip stacking, taking chips and memory devices that traditionally sit side by side on a silicon wafer and stacks them on top of one another.

The result is a compact sandwich of components that reduces the size of the chip package, boosting the speed at which data flows among the functions on the chip.

“This breakthrough is a result of more than a decade of pioneering research at IBM,” IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Centre vice-president Lisa Su said. “This allows us to move 3-D chips from the 'lab to the fab' across a range of applications.”

The new IBM method eliminates the need for long-metal wires that connect today’s 2-D chips together, instead relying on through-silicon vias, which are essentially vertical connections etched through the silicon wafer and filled with metal. These vias allow multiple chips to be stacked together, allowing greater amounts of information to be passed between the chips.

The technique shortens the distance information on a chip needs to travel by 1000 times, and allows for the addition of up to 100 times more channels, or pathways, for that information to flow compared to 2-D chips.

IBM is already running chips using the through-silicon via technology in its manufacturing line and will begin making sample chips using this method available to customers in the second half of 2007, with production in 2008.

The first application of this through-silicon via technology will be in wireless communications chips that will go into power amplifiers for wireless LAN and cellular applications. 3-D technology will also be applied to a wide range of chips, including those running now in IBM’s high-performance servers and supercomputers.

In particular, IBM is applying the new through-silicon-via technique in wireless communications chips, Power processors, Blue Gene supercomputer chips, and in high-bandwidth memory applications.

This is the fifth major chip breakthrough in five months from IBM, as it leads the industry in its quest for new materials and architectures to extend Moore’s Law.

For more Future Parc news, click here.

Intel extends Centrino processor technology

CHIP-maker Intel has launched a new brand called Centrino Pro processor technology, extending the Intel vPro processor technology used in business desktops into the next high performance laptop offering.

The new technology will let IT departments reliably manage both desktops and notebooks and deal with what plagues them most – security threats, cost of ownership, resource allocation, and asset management, and perform that management over WiFi connectivity.

“Intel Centrino Pro processor technology brings the best of our offering with Intel vPro processor technology and adds it right into our highly successful Intel Centrino brand for laptops,” Intel Mobile Products Group vice-president Mooly Eden said.

“This is an ideal time for this product as we continue to see notebook penetration rates increasing in business,” Mooly said.

The Centrino Pro technology would let administrators manage both wired notebooks and desktop PCs regardless of their power state or the health of the PC.

The company says the result is better protected PCs, increased IT department compliance, more accurate PC inventories, fewer desk-side visits and less interruption to business.

At the heart of the new Centrino Pro chips is the Intel Core 2 Duo processor engine. These latest versions offer higher performance while also delivering better energy efficiency and battery life.

The company said a new wireless component, with support for the draft 802.11n specification would deliver up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range.

Intel Centrino Pro processor technology will be available in the second quarter this year as part of the company's planned introduction of the next generation Centrino processor technology code-named 'Santa Rosa.'

For more Mobile Computing news, click here.

Apache Foundation goes to war with Sun

A DISPUTE over licensing conditions imposed by Sun Microsystems for the Java technology compatibility kit needed for an Apache project has intensified, and spilled into the public.

The Apache Software Foundation has accused Sun of breaking promises to the free and open software community over IP licensing condition it has applied to the JCK needed for the Apache Harmony project.

IN an open letter to Sun published on the ASF website, the foundation’s Java community process vice-president Geir Magnusson said the IP rights restrictions being put forward by Sun were “totally unacceptable”.

Harmony is the Apache open source implementation of Java Standard Edition 5.

“The JCK license Sun is offering imposes IP rights restrictions through limits on the ‘field of use’ available to users of our software,” Mr Magnusson said in the letter.

“These restrictions are contrary to the terms of the Java Specification Participation Agreement (JSPA) – the governing rules of the JCP – to which Sun is contractually bound to comply as a signatory,” he said.

The ASF says Sun’s JCK license protects parts of Sun’s commercial Java business at the expense of ASF’s open software by preventing its users from using Apache software in certain fields of use.

“Such implicit or explicit threats of IP-based aggression give one actor overwhelming commercial advantages over the other participants in the ecosystem,” Mr Magnusson said.

Besides holding back Harmony development, Mr Magnusson said the Sun licensing restrictions threatened to harm the reputation of Java as an open technology, and to harm the “cooperative nature” of the relationship between the Apache foundation and Sun.

“The situation we are facing is grossly in conflict with the basic IP philosophy of the JCP, the concept of Java as an open standards-based ecosystem, Sun's public promises to the free and open source communities, and Sun's contractual obligations as a specification lead under the JSPA,” he said.

The open letter calls on Sun to offer an acceptable and JSPA-compliant license within 30 days.

Sun responded to the letter in a blog saying the company was “working with as many communities as possible to create an open source implementation of the Java platform under the GPL (GNU General Public License) v2 that mainstream open source communities can work with - this includes TCKs.”

“As you'll note from Apache's letter, this is a dispute over specific terms, not over Sun providing a TCK,” Sun said.

“Java technology has many stakeholders, and we recognise that we will not be able to please everyone as we move through this process.”

For more Open CeBIT news, click here.

Vonage lives to fight another day, just

ONE of the most closely watched David and Goliath patent battles underway in the international voice of IP (VoIP) market – between Vonage and Verizon – has taken another turn.

VoIP service provider Vonage has been accused by telco giant Verizon Communications of patent infringement, and has been fighting for its survival after a court last month found against Vonage and ordered it to pay Verizon US$58 million (A$71.12 million) in damages.

The ruling also ordered Vonage to pay Verizon 5.5 per cent of all its future sales in payment for use of its patents.

A later ruling also barred Vonage from signing up new customers from April 12, putting the company’s very survival at risk.

But hours before the Easter Break, Vonage said it had secured a temporary stay from the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC.

“The stay enables Vonage to continue to sign up new customers until the appellate court can hear Vonage's request for a permanent stay,” the company said in a statement.

“The Court's ruling allows Vonage to continue to provide phone service to existing customers,” the company said.

However, Vonage is still in a fight for its life, in an action that sends a note of caution to the burgeoning value-added VoIP services market all over the world.

Verizon said there were no surprises in the court ruling for Vonage, saying it was just the logical procedural next-step in what is an on-going fight.

Vonage is one of the pioneering VoIP providers in the US, with more than 2.2 million subscriber lines. The company says its technology lets anyone make phone calls with a touch tone telephone from almost anywhere a broadband internet connection is available.

For more VoIP & IP Comms news, click here.

Oracle Suite release adds supply chain functions

ENTERPRISE software giant Oracle has unveiled new capabilities aimed at manufacturers within its E-Business Suite 12 that it says gives users better control and lower operating costs.

Among a series of advances, Oracle said the latest E-Business Suite release delivered capability that simplified compliance processes, increased performance for leaner, global operations.

“Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 offers many, new process-industry capabilities enabling our manufacturing customers to lower operating costs, increase efficiencies and effectively compete in today's global economy,” Oracle process manufacturing industries vice-president Doug Souza said.

It includes new collaboration-style functions to better develop and execute enterprise-wide plans, and to improve product innovation. The new release functions are especially aimed at process manufacturers, the company said.

Process manufacturers are challenged with supply chain complexities including shelf life limitations, product customisations and regulatory surveillance.

The release includes improvements to Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning software, including sequence-dependent setups, shelf life, and support for complex process routings.

A new distribution planning capability in Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning software includes support for fair share allocation, multiple inventory policies, circular sourcing, global forecasting with local allocation of supply and ship method.

Customers can use out-of-the-box integration between Oracle Process Manufacturing and Oracle Production Scheduling to pre-empt supply chain disruptions and maximise shop-floor efficiency while minimising cost, the company said.

For more Supply Chain news, click here.

Smartcard framework unveiled as ID card flounders

THE Commonwealth’s peak ICT standards-setting body, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) has released the final two components in its long-awaited Smartcard framework.

Special Minister of State Gary Nairn, who oversees AGIMO and Federal eGovernment initiatives said the “Standards and Model Specifications” and “Implementation Guide” for the Australian Government Smartcard Framework were now available for public comment.

The documents tackle the issue of how to ensure that government smartcard implementations are, where appropriate, interoperable and they provide guidance to agencies looking to take advantage of smartcard technology.

“The Smartcard Framework is a key part of the e-Government Strategy and is part of our blueprint for connected government. I encourage all interested parties to review the documents and provide (AGIMO) with comments,” Mr Nairn said.

The documents and further information on the consultation process, including the due date for comments, are available through AGIMO.

Mr Nairn said The federal government was working closely with the States to ensure systems were interoperable between jurisdictions where it was appropriate, and to avoid future problems of incompatible systems.

Mr Nairn also “reaffirmed” the Federal Government’s commitment to its own e-Government strategy – Responsive Government: A New Service Agenda – which was announced a year ago.

The strategy outlined plans through to 2010 and beyond of the new ways in which Government will interact with citizens.

Speaking last week at the Australian Government Solicitor’s Forum on changes and developments in Commonwealth media and communications law, Mr Nairn said the advent of new technologies is driving the evolution of e Government and he called for a whole of government approach to tackling new challenges to service delivery.

“These challenges must be dealt with through cooperation and sharing, based on the e Government Strategy that aims to realise the potential of e Government,” Mr Nairn said.

While AGIMO has had limited success in guiding standards among federal departments, it is difficult to discern real progress toward the Responsive Government ideals, with a series of large projects underway in Immigration, Tax, Centrelink and Human Services that are taking an autonomous road to meet their own needs.

For more Smart Card news, click here.

Capex spend points to rosy chip outlook

WORLDWIDE capital spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment jumped nearly 23 per cent last year to US$42 billion (A$51.5 billion) pointing to strong expected demand for memory product.

New Gartner research found that continued memory investment expansion again dominated the global spending picture.

Partially fuelled by the need for new capacity, and partially fuelled by competitive positioning, memory spending rose 36 per cent, Gartner said, significantly outpacing the overall semiconductor market.

“The 2006 market was marked by a reacceleration of capacity buys and strong memory spending, combined with new equipment for the ramp up of 65-nanometer (nm) processing and first 45 nm purchases,” said Gartner semiconductor manufacturing research group managing vice-president Klaus Rinnen.

“The wafer fab equipment (WFE) segment grew 25.7 per cent in 2006, while back-end equipment (BEE) showed a 14.1 per cent increase, having entered into a slowing trend during the year,” the report said.

“As fab utilisation rates rose, new fab activity increased and so did the capacity buying component. Memory-capacity-related equipment sales continued to dominate the mix. The packaging and assembly equipment (PAE) segment grew 18.2 percent, and the automated test equipment (ATE) segment expanded 9.3 percent.”

Meanwhile, in a separate report Gartner said Intel remained at the top of the rankings for largest semiconductor company in the world despite a difficult year in which its revenues slipped 12 per cent.

Gartner found global semiconductor revenues grew US$262.7 billion in 2006, a healthy 10.2 per cent increase over 2005.
The report found that until the fourth quarter of 2006, Intel lost share with its processors (CPUs) in the server and consumer segments to arch-rivals AMD.

AMD executed with impressive gains in market share, including the mobile, desktop, and server product families in Dell. Revenues were further eroded by an across-the-board price war which impacted Intel the most.

However, late 2006 marked a turnaround for Intel, with the release of its Core 2 Duo and Xeon 5100 series products. Gartner analysts expect Intel to re-capture losses in market share in 2007 with their new product offerings.

For more Components & Peripherals news, click here.

Lawmakers seek RFID privacy protections

LEGISLATORS in California are expected to vote within two weeks on bills that seek to regulate the way RFID (radio frequency IDs) can be used in government documents.

Like Australia, the debate in California has been about how privacy protections can be built into RFID-enabled identity systems.

In Australia that debate has focused on the Federal Government’s proposed Access Card, while lawmakers in California are seeking to put protections in place to cover a range of IDs, from student ID at schools to state driver’s licences.

It has been a testy debate in the Sacramento legislature. Legislation that was approved by lawmakers last year – and similar to what is now being proposed – was torpedoed by a Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger veto last October.

This time around, the provisions seeking to regulate RFID-enabled documents have been split into five separate bills, giving more moderate measures a better chance of making it into law.

Two of the bills seek to put a three-year moratorium on the use of RFID chips in either driver’s licences or school ID cards. Others create stop-gap privacy protections for RFID-based cards already used by Government, and make it a crime for unauthorised skimming of personal data from the card.

The last bill makes it illegal for companies to try to take the extreme measure of having employees implanted with an RFID chip.

It is not yet clear what attitude Governor Schwarzenegger will take to the bills, or whether he intends vetoing any or all of them – although it is thought he wants to keep open State options for using RFID chips in government IDs.

In Australia, Federal legislators have not sought to pass laws governing all possible government RFID-enabled documents.

The enabling legislation for the $1 billion Access Card project did not adequately provide protections for citizens and has been withdrawn for a re-write by Government.

The Australian Privacy Foundation has already rejected as inadequate the industry code of practice self-regulation proposals put forward by the product ID organisation GS1.

For more RFID news, click here.

Radio Shack lives a cautionary security tale

ONE of the world’s largest consumer electronic retailers Radio Shack has found itself living a corporate cautionary tale after falling foul of the law over its privacy and data security policies.

The company has found itself in court for exposing its customers to potential identity theft by dumping hard copy and computer media containing data that included addresses and credit card details into a dumpster behind one of its outlets.

The Texas Attorney General’s department was not impressed, accusing RadioShack of violating a new state law – called the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act – that makes it a legal requirement to both protect and properly dispose of customer information.

The latest lawsuit highlights the potential risk to retailers of legal sanction if they fail to adequately protect customer information.

Last week the US retailer conglomerate TJX reported that more than 40 million credit card numbers and customer details had been stolen by hackers over an 18 month period, exposing the company to regulatory action and lawsuits.

The AG’s complaint against RadioShack in Texas states the company had “failed to safeguard the information by shredding, erasing or other means, to make it unreadable or undecipherable before disposing of its business records.”

It says that thousands of customer records containing names, addresses, telephone numbers and other details had been found in rubbish outside one of RadioShack’s stores in the Texas city of Portland in March this year.

“Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.

“Texans expect their personal information to be protected. The Office of the Attorney General will take all necessary steps to ensure that consumers are protected from identity thieves,” he said.

The company has left itself open to a US$50,000 (A$61,333) fine for each violation – running its total potential penalty into the many millions.

For more Retail IT news, click here.

Radio Shack racks up Teradata systems

ONE of the world’s largest consumer electronics retailers Radio Shack is seeking to get a better idea of what its customers want, installing a series of enterprise data warehousing solutions from NCR unit Teradata.

The company combined its new data warehouse systems with business analytics software from Hyperion, while Teradata has also provided the company with professional services covering installation and on-going maintenance and consulting.

Radio Shack said last week the first implementation phase had been completed in just nine weeks in the fourth quarter last year.

“We are deploying Teradata and Hyperion technologies to enable RadioShack to quickly access and respond to changing demands in the marketplace,” RadioShack senior vice-president for information technologies Cara Kinzey said.

“Providing detailed information to our business partners will allow RadioShack to more effectively compete in the very aggressive consumer electronics business.”

The platform for the new system is Teradata's 5450 server, which features a boost of 18 per cent in the price/performance ratio over previous models and more powerful utilisation of Teradata's market-leading analytical software.

Teradata Americas sales vice-president Rocky Blanton said RadioShack had been attracted to the combined solution with Hyperion because the companies demonstrated they could deliver improved visibility, reduced business risk and better decision-making across the enterprise.”

For more CRM news, click here.

Mozilla Labs looks to add social networking

OPEN source driver Mozilla Labs has started a project that seeks to add social networking functions to the Firefox browser.

Mozilla said the new project, called The Coop, aimed to build a browser that let people more easily share web content and web links among friends and colleagues.

The Mozilla Labs web site says the only surprising thing about the burgeoning market for Web 2.0 style social networking sites has been that little of the functionality is built into the browser.

“The result is that when people think of tools for social interaction, email and instant messenger are at the top of their list, not web browsers,” the Mozilla Labs website says.

The Coop is a Firefox addon in development that will let users keep track of what their friends are doing online, and share new and interesting content with one or more of those friends. It will integrate with popular web services, using their existing data feeds as a transport mechanism.

“Enter The Coop, a Mozilla Labs project to experiment with adding social tools to the web browser. We want to create a fun and easy way to share links with your friends, and to browse the set of links that friends have shared with you,” it said.

“We also want to make it easy to ‘subscribe’ to a friend in order to make it easy to keep track of the pictures, movies, blog posts and status information that they might be posting on a variety of services.”

An early working prototype of The Coop is available for download through Mozilla Labs.

Mozilla believes that people sharing news and files was the killer application at the birth of the web and remains the killer application today – and that while different services had been introduced to allow that sharing to occur more easily, it make sense to build the functions into the browser.

For more Open CeBIT news, click here.

Global IPTV equipment sales top US$1 billion

GLOBAL IPTV (internet protocol television) manufacturer’s revenue rose 150 per cent in 2006 to pass the US$1 billion (A$1.22 billion) mark, new research has found.

US-based analyst firm Infonetics Research found IPTV equipment sales, service revenues and service providers’ capital expenditure all posted phenomenal growth in 2006.

While the IPTV equipment market is expected to grow at a more moderate pace in coming years, all categories but one tracked by Infonetics are forecast to at least double or triple between 2006 and 2010.

The company found that total IPTV subscribers worldwide had jumped 166 per cent in 2006 – hitting 7.2 million – with a similar growth outlook forecast until 2010.

IPTV service provider revenue jumped 178 per cent in 2006 to US$2.8 billion worldwide, with growth expected to continue in the double to triple digits every year worldwide

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is the leading region for IPTV service revenue, accounting for 49 per cent of the worldwide total in 2006, followed by Asia Pacific with 35 per cent.

“IPTV subscribers and service revenue continue to grow around the world, as incumbent telcos have joined their upstart competitors in EMEA and Asia Pacific in rolling out high quality IPTV services,” Infonetics directing analyst Jeff Heynen said.

“As is typical with early technologies, the geographic disparities in terms of subscriber uptake will be significant – look no further than France, with its high penetration of IPTV, and Germany, which is just getting underway. The evolving regulatory landscape adds another variable to overall IPTV growth rates,” he said.

For more IPTV news, click here.

Wireless convenience that ties workers down

WORKERS at the front line of the wireless office revolution have begun reporting the downside; that smart mobile devices are blurring the line between their work life and their home life.

The Yahoo Hotjobs job search service has released the results of research into the lives of mobile professionals.

And while most say that wireless office tools are generally positive, presenting workers with more flexibility and a better shot at a healthy work-life balance, it also presents challenges.

Some 75 per cent of respondents to the Yahoo Hotjobs survey said they use their wireless device equally for both work and personal purposes. Only eight per cent said they are completely offline when they’re not at the office, and 27 per cent admitted they were so attached to their devices that they only leave it alone when they’re sleeping.

The report’s major findings were positive: 61 per cent of respondents agreed that their wireless devices made them feel like they had more freedom while 65 per cent said the device gave them greater work flexibility.

Some 70 per cent said their wireless tools made them more productive.

But the news isn’t all good. 26 per cent of respondents said the wireless device kept them on a “corporate leash,” and 23 per cent said they were easily distracted by work-related email during personal time.

And a full third of respondents said they found it more difficult to get their point across through electronic communications than with a live conversation.

Yahoo! HotJobs marketing vice-president Susan Vobejda said wireless devices had an undeniable impact on the workplace and on the lives of office workers – extending the physical parameters of the workplace and extending the work day.

But there is a definite cost to the notion of anywhere, anytime, and workers needed to understand their boundaries. And without care, the end result could be burnout.

“Wireless devices have become a professional reality, so it's important for people to set limits on when and how to disengage in order to maintain work-life balance,” Ms Vobejda said.

“With 67 percent of respondents admitting to having used a wireless device to connect with work while on vacation, signs indicate that the American workforce may be facing burnout.”

Data for the survey was collected from more than 900 office professionals who use wireless devices via an online survey questionnaire across the Yahoo! network. Sixty-five percent of respondents were male and thirty-five percent were female.

For more Office Automation news, click here.

eHealth adopts HL7 electronic messaging standards

THE not-for-profit company set up by Federal, State and Territory governments to coordinate new electronic health systems has confirmed it will follow the international HL7 standard for electronic messaging.

The National E-Health Transition Authority said the so-called Health Level 7 would be the national standard for the electronic messaging of health information across Australia.

NEHTA said across the Australian healthcare sector there were many different types of software and systems used in the exchange of information, and that these systems were currently forced to use a variety of different exchange formats to send and receive in formation.

To ensure that all systems across Australia have the ability to reliably and safely communicate with each other, a standard exchange format is required, the authority said in a statement.

“This decision (to use the HL7 standard) provides a clear national direction,” NEHTA chief executive Ian Reinecke said.

“Those who develop these systems now have certainty about what the Australian customers of their systems will require,” he said.

“Without all systems in the healthcare sector using common standards such as this, the promise of electronic health communication can’t be fulfilled on a national scale.”

Mr Reinecke said it was critical that the nation adopt a single standard to both reduce health care complexity and cost, and to endure the integrity of the health information in Australian healthcare system.

Most observers had assumed the move to HL7 was inevitable, as the standard had already been widely adopted in the United States, Canada and Britain.

It was felt that Australia was too small to risk adopting a separate standard, which would have made access to overseas software develops more difficult and expensive.

NEHTA will now focus on developing Web services specifications based on work undertaken by the HL7 Services Specification Project (HSSP), and content specifications based on the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture – Release 2 (CDA R2) for areas such as referral, discharge, prescribing, dispensing and pathology.

“NEHTA will work closely with HL7 Australia and Standards Australia in this development work,” Dr Reinecke said.

“In addition, NEHTA is closely liaising with its international counterparts to ensure that the specifications developed in Australia are consistent with international efforts,” he said.

For more e-Health news, click here.

Industry realigns to ‘hidden’ export priority

RELAXED trade restrictions and new information technology has led to the rapid development of global supply chains – and like it or not, Australian industry has been forced to realigned itself to get on board.

And the global changes to supply chains has meant economies need to look at different ways of measuring export performance, according to the Australian Trade Commission’s (Austrade) chief economist, Tim Harcourt.

“The rise of modern globalisation means that international business activity is now not just about exporting and importing,” Mr Harcourt says in an Austrade web article.

Many small and medium sized companies in Australia were now joining global supply chains. According to Austrade/Sensis research, about 8 per cent of all Australian SMEs were now a part of a global supply chain, and that this is their key strategy for moving their products internationally.

Mr Harcourt points to the car industry as an example of the way smaller manufacturing companies have enjoyed export success as suppliers of car parts to the big four auto outfits in this country.

“These companies are known as ‘hidden exporters’, as they are not counted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as ‘official’ exporters themselves but they do provide components to larger multinational companies that do,” Mr Harcourt said.

“In fact, according to Austrade research, there are around 200 companies in the automotive supply chain alone, servicing four Australian vehicle producers,” he said.

The ICT industry in Australia has not been export focused, despite considerable prowess as an innovator. In 2005, Australian exports of products and services measured about $5.3 billion, compared with $20 billion in imports.

But the sector has not been without success. Multinationals have used Australia as a development and service base in niche software areas. IBM Australia in particular has enjoyed success as an exporter of IT software services to customers both inside and outside of the corporation.

Multinationals have long been used as a channel to overseas markets by Australian solution providers.

Cebit Australia’s Export Alley is a joint initiative between Cebit and the Australian Trade Commission and brings together the latest solutions and the brightest minds in the international IT industry, aalong with a special Austrade Seminar series.

For more Export Alley news, click here.

Microsoft beefs up storage management

MICROSOFT has cosied up to Boston-based storage systems leader EMC, announcing a network management licensing agreement and flagging broad technology development collaborations for the future.

Unveiled at the Microsoft Management Summit in San Diego last week, the companies say the alliance will combine technologies for network and systems to deliver network-aware service management software.

At the heart of the announcement is Microsoft’s licensing of EMC Smarts network discovery and health monitoring software to be included in a future version of Microsoft System Centre Operations Manager, the company’s enterprise network management platform.

EMC has already announced an EMC Smarts connector for Operations Manager 2007 as the first deliverable under the alliance. The two-way connector lets Smarts share network discovery, topology and root-cause events with Operations Manager, and for Operations Manager to synchronize alert status and resolution back to EMC Smarts technology.

“System Centre Operations Manager gives customers an integrated, end-to-end service management solution that helps increase efficiency and allows for greater control of the IT environment," Microsoft’s server and tools business senior vice-president Bob Muglia said.

“By integrating EMC's market-leading network management technology into Operations Manager and collaborating with EMC to develop a new cross-domain behavioural model … we are able to give customers a true network-aware service management solution,” Mr Muglia said.

Taking the alliance one step further, EMC and Microsoft said they would collaborate on co-development of a cross-domain behavioural model for Operations Manager to improve information management across disparate devices and systems.

For more Office Automation news, click here.

Acer notebook sales leapfrog Toshiba

GLOBAL Acer notebook computer sales surged more than 45 per cent in the fourth quarter last year, making it the third largest notebook supplier ahead of Japanese giant Toshiba, iSuppli research has found.

Acer sold 3.4 million mobile PCs in Q4 2006, compared with 2.3 million in Q3, making it the fastest growing Top 5 supplier. Acer’s growth was nearly three times the overall industry growth for the quarter of 15.5 per cent.

The iSuppli research also found number one notebook supply Hewlett-Packard also experienced strong growth of 36 per cent in Q4, shipping just over five million units.

Dell, the second largest supplier, sold 3.5 million mobile PCs in Q4, 15 per cent fewer than the previous year. Toshiba sales contracted 1 per cent putting it in fourth position, while Chinese supplier Lenovo grew nine per cent to round out the Top five.

“Acer came, Acer saw and Acer conquered in the fourth quarter,” iSuppli computer platforms principal analyst Matthew Wilkins said.

“The company has been very public about its intention to capture the Number three spot in the mobile-PC market and the fourth quarter ranking shows the company is putting its money where its mouth is,” he said.

Wilkins said Acer’s success was due to aggressive pricing strategies, which resulted in very impressive sales gains, particularly in Europe.

Dell posted the weakest performance of the Top-5 mobile-PC OEMs in the fourth quarter, with its shipments declining to 3.52 million units, down 1.5 percent from 3.57 million in the third quarter.

Dell’s troubles in mobile PCs were due mainly to the increasingly competitive situation with Hewlett-Packard, and a generally tougher battle with other OEMs in the wider mobile-PC market, Mr Wilkins said.

For more Mobile Computing news, click here.

Without peer: Apple sells 100 millionth iPod

IT IS more than five years and 100 million iPod sales after Apple virtually created the portable digital music player market and the company still has no credible competitor in the market.

And it is not like the company is going to let anyone forget it. Apple wheeled out a truckload of celebrity spokespeople to celebrate its 100 millionth iPod sale – from hip hop chick Mary J. Blige to pushbike rider Lance Armstrong.

Apple has released 10 new models since the first iPod was launched in November 2001, including five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle.

Since 2004, the market has been flooded with other music players, all competitors to the iPod. But none of those competitors has looked like presenting a challenge to Apple’s dominance of the space.

The iPod has also sparked an ecosystem of more than 4,000 accessories made specifically for the iPod, ranging from fashionable cases to speaker systems. More than 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles currently offer iPod connectivity.

The iPod companion, the iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over five million songs and 350 TV shows. The iTunes online store has sold more than 2.5 billion songs.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs called the 100 milionth iPod sale an “historic milestone” and claimed the music player had helped rekindle a love of music in millions.

“It’s hard to remember what I did before the iPod,” said Mary J. Blige.

For more Components & Peripherals news, click here.

Xerox acquires print channel giant

OFFICE equipment icon Xerox is to acquire Global Imaging Systems – a key sales channel to the US small to medium-sized business market – in for US$1.5 billion (A$1.85 billion).

The acquisition gives Xerox access to 200,000 SME customers across the US “and adds more than 1,400 'feet on the street' selling Xerox systems,” Xerox chief Anne Mulcahy said.

Global Imaging Systems generates about US$1 billion in annual sales. The company sells and services document management systems like printers, copiers and multifunction devices, as well as providing network integration services.

The beauty of the acquisition is that Global Imaging currently sells office products from a variety of different vendors – but so far has sold no Xerox product.

As soon as the acquisition is completed next month, the company will be selling and supporting Xerox systems and services.

Through the acquisition, Xerox will benefit not only from increased equipment sales but also from the strong annuity stream that comes from the service and supplies supporting the product sales, Ms Mulcahy said.

“Xerox already has the industry's largest portfolio of document systems and services and the broadest US distribution network,” she said.

“With Global's localised expertise, experienced employees, and deep customer relationships, we'll increase our distribution to SMB customers by more than 50 per cent at a time when our portfolio is at its strongest, earning an even greater share of the US$16 billion SMB document market in the US.”

For more Office Printing news, click here.

Web services security standard launched

THE room full of engineers known as the Web Services Interoperability Organisation (aka WS-I) has published its long-awaited WS-I Basic Security Profile 1.0 material for public access.

WS-I is the global, open industry organisation whose members promote Web services interoperability across different vendor’s platform, operating systems and programming languages.

It’s a pointy-headed collective that makes sure the world’s computer systems are built so they can talk to each other. Its members are battle-hardened engineers who understand precisely how bloody fights between corporations over standards can get.

And ultimately the agreements made within the rooms of WS-I save corporate and government users countless millions globally, and allow coherent and workable new services and conveniences to be delivered to end-users. Statues should be built.

“Publishing the WS-I Basic Security Profile 1.0 is a major step toward achieving WS I’s objective of advancing interoperability for secure Web services,” WS-I chairman and president Michael Bechauf said in a statement.

“I congratulate the many WS-I members who have worked to make BSP 1.0 a reality,” Mr Bechauf said.

The WS-I BSP 1.0 is an essential guide for ensuring secure, interoperable Web services.

The WS-I Board approved BSP 1.0 after receiving confirmation that five members – IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and SAP – demonstrated interoperability. Following Board approval, the document was submitted to WSI's membership, who voted to approve BSP 1.0.

“Security is a concern to any organisation operating in the Web services sphere,” said the BSP Working Group chairman, Paul Cotton.

“The WS-I Basic Security Profile 1.0 provides a strong foundation for the development of secure, yet interoperable Web services. We in the Working Group are now working on BSP 1.1, which builds upon that strong foundation.”

The WS-I Basic Security Profile addresses transport security, SOAP messaging security and other security considerations for WS-I Basic Profile 1.1, Simple SOAP Binding Profile 1.0 and Attachments Profile 1.0.

Specifically, the BSP1.0 focuses on the interoperability characteristics of two technologies: HTTP over TLS and Web Services Security: SOAP Message Security.

For more Web Applications news, click here.

IBM gives next-gen translators to war effort

IBM is to donate next-generation Arabic-English translation software and systems believed to be worth US$45 million (A$55.2 million) to the US military to support the Iraq war.

But the donation – which IBM officially announced as a “humanitarian donation” – is so strange it is not yet clear whether the military is allowed to accept it.

Government lawyers are studying the offer to see whether it would be legal to accept it. The offer was made directly by IBM’s top officer, chairman and chief executive Sam Palmisano, to US President George W. Bush.

The donation of 1,000 two-way, automatic translation devices and 10,0000 copies of the software for future use, is intended by IBM to “help augment human translators” to improve the safety of US and coalition troops.

“IBM employees returning from service with the US military in Iraq have consistently emphasized two points: the importance of communicating with the Iraqi people and the operational challenges posed by the need to do so,” Mr Palmisano said.

“Although in many instances human translators are essential, we also believe that there are technological solutions to help mitigate the problem.” he said.

The IBM systems are advanced, two-way "speech-to-speech" translators – code-named MASTOR (for Multilingual Automatic Speech Translator) – that improve communication between English and Iraqi Arabic speakers.

Development of MASTOR technology began in 2001 at IBM's TJ Watson Research Centre and gained development support as part of the spooky Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA’s) Spoken Language Communication and Translation System for Tactical Use (TRANSTAC) program.

The technology is said to let users to converse naturally, producing audible and text translations of the spoken words. It can run on a variety of devices, like PDAs, tablet PC or notebook computers.

But there are hurdles yet to jump. Reports in the US quote a spokesman for US vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying the donation is greatly appreciated was “under evaluation right now”, but that did “not constitute acceptance.

The issue is IBM’s existing business with the military. The company is a huge defence contractor, selling about US$3 billion worth of goods and services into the military annually.

The issue muddied by the fact that MASTOR technology being donated by IBM is currently undergoing testing – along with rival technology – by the Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command.

A podcast conversation with IBM researcher and chief translation technologist David Nahamoo regarding the donation and the future of translation can be found here.

For more Future Parc news, click here.

Spam: the cost leaves a bad taste

SPAM costs more than you think. New US research has found despite the advent of more sophisticated filtering systems, unsolicited emails costs every office workers US$712 (A$876) annually in lost productivity.

That puts the cost of spam to the US economy at a staggering US$70 billion.

IT market researchers Nucleus Research and KnowledgeStorm say users spend a little over one per cent of their time every day dealing with the spam in their inboxes.

A market survey of 850 workers carried out by the companies found users averaged 21 spam messages per day, and that two out of three email messages were spam, despite 60 per cent of companies having already deployed enterprise-wide filters.

Nucleus says its study is the most comprehensive research ever conducted on Spam. And despite the large numbers of spam messages getting through corporate filtering systems, it found the situation is better than it was three years ago.

In calculating the lost productivity of spam in 2004, Nucleus found the average user lost 3.1 per cent of their time to spam – that number has now reduced to 1.2 per cent of time.

The number of spam messages has fallen from 29 to 21, and enterprise spam policies like auto delete and quarantining has meant the average amount of time a user spends on each spam message has reduced from 30 seconds to 16 seconds since 2004.

“We calculated the cost of spam to corporations based on an average fully loaded cost of $30 per hour with a 2080-hour year. This brings the annual cost of spam to $712 per user per year, down from $1,934 in 2004,” the report found.

The research also attempted a rough guess at how annoying spam is for users.

And it found that users pretty annoyed … 18 per cent of those surveyed said spammers should be sent to jail, with a third of those saying the sentences should be three years or longer.

For more Business Software news, click here.

Internet ads will overtake radio in 2008

MORE money will be spent globally on online advertising than on radio in 2008, with the internet overtaking radio a year earlier than previously forecast, new research from ZenithOptimedia.

The company said the internet advertising spend would grow six times faster than traditional media between 2006 and the end of 2009 and increase its share of the advertising market from 5.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent.

Online advertising is expected to account for more than 10 per cent of total advertising spending on all media in Australia in 2009.

Global adspend on all media will grow 5.2 per cent in 2007, matching long term trends, though it will grow faster in 2008 as a result of the Olympics and elections.

ZenithOptimedia predicts that internet adspend will grow 28.2 per cent in 2007, while the rest of the market will grow at 3.7 per cent.

While the internet would account for about 9 per cent of global adspend in 2009, it would reach double digits early next decade.

“The internet already attracts more than 10 per cent of adspend in three markets – Norway, Sweden and the UK – and by 2009 we expect it to do so in eleven markets (including Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and the United States),” the ZenithOptimedia report said.

The UK leads the world in online advertising, where 16.6 per cent of total advertising spend is now on the internet.

The report downgrades its previous forecasts for newspapers and magazines as publishers – eyeing the growth rates of internet advertising – have decided to invest more in their online products and less in print.

“Ad expenditure is still growing in (newspaper and magazines), in nominal terms at least, but after adjusting for inflation newspaper expenditure is essentially stagnant, as readers and advertisers migrate to the internet,” the report said.

Ad expenditure in Asia Pacific is accelerating in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when growth should reach 7.7 per cent. We then expect growth to slip to 4.9 per cent in 2009 when the one-off Olympics activity drops out.

For more e-Marketing news, click here.

Patch offered for Windows cursor bug

MICROSOFT is expected to issue a patch outside of its routine monthly security update following the hacker activity focused on an exploit that targets the cursor animation files used in Windows.

The company issued a statement saying its monitoring of attacks found that customer impact had been “limited”, but said it would make a patch available outside of its usual security routines.

Microsoft said it had completed testing on the patch earlier than expected.

The Windows Animated Cursor Handling vulnerability – also known as the ANI exploit – was identified late last week.

“In order for the attack to be carried out, the user must either visit a Web site that contains a web page that is used to exploit the vulnerability, or view a specially-craft email message or email attachment sent to them by the attacker,” Microsoft said in a statement.

Tech security specialist F-Secure said the majority of the attacks could be traced back to different Chinese hacker groups.

“We’ve seen a lot of activity relating to the ANI exploit during the weekend,” F-Secure’s chief research officer Mikko Hypponen said.

“This vulnerability is really tempting for the bad guys. It's easy to modify the exploit, and it can be launched via web or email fairly easily. We hope to see Microsoft release a patch for this exploit very soon.”

Most of the activity around the ANI exploit has been via dozens of malicious websites that attack the user if they visit the page with the most common versions of Internet Explorer. However, on Sunday the first worm using the ANI exploit to spread was found.

For more IT Security news, click here.

Telstra signs $85m rail network deal

TELSTRA will build 77 new Next G base stations in regional Australia as part of an $85 million deal to provide communications services to the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Under the agreement, Telstra’s Next G network will be used by the ARTC to replace nine separate communications systems across 10,000 kilometres of track.

It will be used to replace a series of older technologies, like two-way radio and CDMA devices. It will also provide mobile coverage for the company – and for travellers – for the interstate rail network, from Brisbane to Perth (via Melbourne and Broken Hill) and in the Hunter Valley.

The agreement improves coverage in tunnels and across the Nullarbor, and will see the introduction of new communications equipment for more than 700 locomotives, backed up with satellite if necessary.

ARTC chief executive David Marchant, said once completed, all trains and train controllers would be able to use the one system to communicate with each other across the entire national rail network.

“A single national communication system will greatly improve operational efficiency and reduce costs associated with managing multiple platforms,” Mr Marchant said.

“This national rail network communications backbone will be the envy of the North American and European rail networks. ARTC’s approach is to contract our communications delivery, which in itself is a major shift for the rail industry.

“ARTC has chosen Telstra because its Next G™ network provides depth and breadth of high speed coverage coupled with reliable performance – a framework for continuous updating and improvement,” Mr Marchant said.

Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo said the ARTC decision was a strong endorsement of the Next G technology.

“Not only does today's agreement provide the best possible communications system for ARTC's national rail network, it also provides Next G mobile coverage for the first time in some remote and regional towns such as Rawlinna (in WA), Cook and Nackara (SA), and Loadstone and Telegraph Point (NSW)."

For more Wireless news, click here.

Spam virus activity spikes in first quarter

DESPITE slowing marginally furing March, Spam levels increased more than 75 per cent during the first quarter to the highest levels in two years, according to managed security service provider MessageLabs.

MessageLabs Intelligence Report for March also found that it is small and medium sized businesses that are copping the worst of the spam problem, with SMBs receiving more than double the volume of spam compared to enterprise organisations.

Quarter on quarter, virus and botnet activity also increased, also with SMB wearing more than larger, better resourced organisations.

MessageLabs said SMBs were not targeted by spammers any more than large organisations, but were less likely to have defences in place to deal with the problem.

For small businesses, spam can very quickly become a silent killer, overwhelming the resources of the mail system before any effective countermeasures can be enforced, the report said.

“Today, spam is considered a side effect of email,” MessageLabs chief security analyst Mark Sunner said.

“The majority of small businesses view spam as an ongoing irritation rather than a real threat and have given up on dealing with the issue only to find that bad guys target them even more aggressively.

“If the first quarter data tells us anything, it’s that malicious activity in the form of spam will only continue on an upward trend,” Mr Sunner said.

Also in Q1 2007, MessageLabs saw virus and trojan traffic levels steadily decline from last year with rates of 1 in 126.1 emails. While the overall levels decreased, MessageLabs believes that virus and Trojan activity is actually on the rise with spammers delivering them disguised as spam.

Phishing activity accounted for 70.8 per cent of the malware threats this quarter, an increase of 8.6 per cent on the previous quarter.

For more Managed Service news, click here.

Bundled services a must for ISP survival

INTERNET service providers risk dealing themselves out of business if they fail to broaden their relationship with small business customers to include a value bundles of managed services.

European research outfit Analysys says the total spend by small and medium sized enterprises – companies with 10 to 500 employees – was nearing its peak among developed economies.

In a study of economies in Western Europe found that after 2009, the number of new SME broadband customers would be small, with broadband penetration of businesses exceeding 90 per cent in most countries.

“Growth in demand for broadband managed services in the SME market is creating a new potential source of revenue for suppliers of broadband access services,” the Analysys report said.

“Billions of (dollars) in additional annual revenue are ready to be shared among suppliers that can provide SMEs with the right service packages to complement basic Internet access,” it said.

Analysys said that in the developed economies of Western Europe, demand for among SME’s broadband managed services would grow at a compound annual rate of more than 11 per cent – representing a huge opportunity for ISPs to extend their customer relationships.
Broadband providers are in a position to exploit this growth if they can find cost-effective ways to deliver a wide range of managed services, such as VoIP, managed IT services, hosted data and software as a service, the report said.
In the Australian market, local consultant Paul Budde from BuddeCom has long argued that ISP’s that want to survive should be looking to sell value-added services.

“It was (and is) my argument that access and basic services are commodity products that will always be under pressure, and very vulnerable to the whims of the network provider,” Mr Budde says in in his latest BuddeBlog newsletter.

“On several occasions Telstra has changed the rules, with the stroke of a pen, sending many telcos and ISPs to the wall as a result,” he said.

For more Managed Service news, click here.

Now India’s turn for skills shortage pain

FOR years Indian IT services companies have attracted customers to the sub-continent by undercutting global rivals because of their access to a seemingly limitless supply of high-skilled tech workers.

Now Indian firms are facing some of the skill shortage pain their developed economy customers have suffered for years.

Financial services firm Dun & Bradstreet has issued a report profiling 184 of India’s top technology companies, finding their biggest challenge to continued growth will be the availability of skilled human resources.

Wages growth is expected to become a major challenge for the industry in India, just as it is already a challenge in developed economies.

The Indian IT industry last year generated about US$47.8 billion (A$58.6 billion) in revenue and is expected to grow to US$90 billion (A$110.5 billion) by 2010.

The D&B report, titled “India’s Top IT Companies 2007” found most Indian tech firms reported employee costs of between 35 per cent and 45 per cent of revenues.

Because employee costs represented such a large portion of revenue, any significant rise in those costs would put strong pressure on margins, the report found.

A growing gap between skills supply and demand, high attrition and turnover rates and the fast increasing participation of global companies in the Indian domestic market were all factors affecting IT skills costs.

“Under these circumstances, managing the employee cost will remain a key challenge for Indian IT industry. It is believed that Indian IT firms will continue to face an average wage inflation of 10-20 per cent annually at various levels,” the report says.

The Indian tech industry’s contribution to the country’s GDP had grown from 1.2 per cent in 1999-2000 to 4.8 per cent in the 2006 financial year, and would break through five per cent this year, Dun & Bradstreet India chief executive Manoj Vaish said.

“The Indian IT Industry has emerged as the flagship of Brand India across the world, and continues to grow at a rapid pace,” Mr Vaish said.

For more IT Service news, click here.

We won’t hang out the red light: ICANN

THE international body responsible for co-ordinating internet addresses has rejected a push to set up .xxx as a new top-level domain to act as an online red light district for porn content companies.

The decision by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) will be a relief for Communications Minister Helen Coonan who has long rejected the idea of a separate area for adult content.

Senator Coonan has previously said the .xxx domain would do nothing to curb adult content, and could even make it worse as adult content companies registered .xxx domains while retaining their existing .com sites.

Australian representatives at the ICANN meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, had been instructed to vote against the proposed scheme.

ICANN ultimately decided the .xxx proposal would not resolve issues on how to protect vulnerable members of the community.

“This decision was the result of very careful scrutiny and consideration of all the arguments,” said ICANN chairman Dr Vint Cerf. “That consideration has led a majority of the Board to believe that the proposal should be rejected,” he said.

The Lisbon meeting was the 28th public meeting of ICANN, which uses the meetings co-ordinate internet traffic issues, and to let user issues bubble to the surface.

ICANN administered the address names that govern internet traffic, like common address suffixes like .com and .org, or less common addresses like .museum. It also administers country code addresses like .au.

The next ICANN public meeting will be held in Puerto Rico in June.

For more e-Government news, click here.

Google trials TV ad booking service

SEARCH giant Google is looking to leverage its broad statistical technology to muscle into the TV advertising market, signing agreement with two subscription TV companies to run a trial.

The company uses a bizarre logic to explain why it wants to get into the TV ad market, saying the move will improve its ability to “improve (computer) user experience.”

It seems more likely the company is looking to leverage existing technology and market power to create a new revenue stream, though Google has long seemed squeamish about talking frankly about its business.

“At Google, we are constantly looking for ways to improve user experience and bring value to advertisers, publishers and partners,” the company says in a statement.

“Users spend a lot of time watching TV so improving the relevance of advertising information on that medium is important. That's why today we are excited to announce our trial to deliver Google TV ads.”

Google said it was running a trial with partners EchoStar and Astound Cable using existing Google technology to sift set-top box information to deliver more relevant ads to viewers, and deliver more effective and cheaper ads for the broadcasters and advertisers.

“With Google TV ads, the entire process is automated – from planning the campaign to uploading and serving the ad to reporting on its effectiveness,” the company said.

“Like our AdWords advertising program, Google TV ads are bought using an auction model and through a single online interface that is already familiar to agencies and advertisers.”

“Advertisers can target by demographic, day part and channel and pay only for actual impressions delivered.”

For more Satellite & Broadcast news, click here.

EMI spells no-more-DRM

RECORD label EMI has broken from the rest of the industry and announced plans to start selling music free of software copy-protection measures through Apple’s iTunes music download service.

Analysts are already calling the announcement the beginning of the end for current copy-protection measures. Called Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, copy-protection is seen by many as an unnecessary inconvenience to consumers.

Others say DRM is anti-competitive. The DRM used on Apple’s iTunes does not work with other services, and does not work with devices other than the Apple iPod – locking customers into the iPod hardware platform.

The EMI/Apple announcement comes as European Union competition regulators said they were broadening an investigation of the iTunes service to determine whether its rights management policies were anti-competitive.

The EMI-Apple service will let customers pay a premium US.30 cents (A.37 cents) more for a copy of songs without copy-protection.

The deal, announced this week by EMI chief executive Eric Nicoli and Apple chief Steve Jobs would cover the entire EMI catalogue – except The Beatles. The Beatles back-catalogue has yet to be released to download sites in any form, although Mr Nicoli said the company was “working on it.”

But while The Beatles’ tracks won’t be on offer in the new format, all other EMI artists – from Coldplay, the Rolling Stones and Norah Jones – will be.

Mr Jobs had recently called on the record industry to change its policies on copy protection. He has said it did not make sense for the industry to sell music through CDs (which accounts for 90 per cent of global sales) without copy-protection, and then to add DRM to the sales online.

Apple said the DRM-free tracks from EMI would be offered at higher quality 256kbps AAC encoding. The current versions available today use 128kbps encoding.

IN addition to the greater convenience of the DRM-free versions, the companies said they believed customers would be prepared to pay a 30 cent premium for better quality downloads.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

Microsoft lands DeepFish mobile browser

MICROSOFT has released an early version of a new mobile web browser technology that it says makes browsing the internet on mobile devices faster and more intuitive.

Called DeepFish, the new technology is the product of the company’s Microsoft Live Labs unit and is available for download to a limited number of users on a first come, first served basis.

The preview was unveiled at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology (eTech) Conference in San Diego last week.

Microsoft Live Labs founder and director Dr Gary William Flake said the preview released last week was still very much a prototype and should not be considered a beta. He said the company had not formalised any plan for commercial launch.

While most web browsers for mobile phones worked best with specially designed, cut-down versions web sites, DeepFish provides users with a full ‘as-designed’ view of virtually any web site on their mobile device.

“The interface lets users zoom in and out on the parts of a Web page that interest them in an intuitive way, making it easy to use these large-screen formatted pages on a mobile device,” Dr Flake said.

“On current mobile browsers, it can typically take up to a minute or more for a web page to render, however the Deepfish architecture only loads the user-specified portion of the page, providing much quicker page-load times, as detailed information is only retrieved as needed or in the background,” he said.

Dr Flake said Microsoft was providing access to DeepFish at such an early stage because customer feedback was an important way to improve the company’s technology – so that users who download the preview are encouraged to provide feedback.

“The goal of Live Labs is to improve and accelerate the evolution of Microsoft’s internet products and services through applied research, and providing these early prototypes for public testing and feedback is an important part of that ongoing pursuit,” Dr Flake said.

For more Telecommunications news, click here.

Cisco takes aim at small business

AFTER years focused on almost exclusively on big business and big government sites, networking giant Cisco Systems has turned its attention to the fast growing small and medium sized business market.

At its annual channel conference in Las Vegas this week the company launched a suite of new products targeting SMBs, and revamped its channel program to allow for a new entry level certification for channel partners with a primary focus on small business.

At the heart of the launch is the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, a simple, complete and highly secure platform for enabling anytime anywhere access to information.

“Cisco's success is built on listening to customers and partners to capitalize on market transitions. Three years ago they asked us to transform our SMB strategy in order to better address their specialised needs,” Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers said.

“Today we are the network leader in the SMB market. As we continue to raise the bar in terms of our investments in and offerings to SMBs, we believe we are uniquely positioned to deliver the total communications experience they require,” he said.

The system employs new hardware products, integrated unified communications applications and system-management tools designed to complement each other and provide communication building blocks for small businesses, the company said.

The new products include the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series, a platform that includes IP telephony software features for VoIP, internet conmnectivity with firewall protection, virtual private networks (VPNs) and wireless LAN access.

In addition to announcing it first new certification in more than 10 years, Cisco also unveiled its first market segment specialisation – SMB Specialisation. These program enhancements will help accelerate growth and foster differentiation in the channel, by providing the tools, training and incentives that meet the needs of today's SMB-focused partners.

The Cisco Smart Business Communications System will be available through worldwide channels in June 2007. The US list price for the system will start at US$699 (A$860) per seat, which includes the network with complete Cisco Unified Communications system capabilities and a Cisco Unified IP Phone.

For more Networking news, click here.

IBM taps India for fresh autonomic research

IBM has tapped the software talent in India to open a new Autonomic Computing Technology Centre in Bangalore to develop self-managing software platforms for the next generation of corporate computing.

The new facility is an extension of an existing India Software Laboratory in Bangalore and aims to reduce overall computing complexity by automating technology processes and building self-healing features into IT systems.

The company said the centre was created to address growing demand from India-based business partners and customers for technology and platforms that are self-managing.

The centre will employ about 35 developers and engineers who are responsible for creating new autonomic software, testing and supporting services, and for providing enablement services for customers.

The group will work closely with IBM existing autonomic computing researchers based at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and in Toronto Canada. The IBM India Research Laboratory, which has campuses in both New Delhi and Bangalore and is also engaged on autonomic projects will also work with the new group.

“Self-managing autonomic technologies are needed by clients in many industries across the globe but it's particularly relevant for Indian, ASEAN and Asia Pacific companies that are experiencing rapid growth,” said India Software Laboratory vice-president Harish Grama.

“The new Autonomic Computing centre in Bangalore further expands IBM's research and development presence in India and improves our ability to meet local customer and partner needs,” he said.

India is one of IBM’s biggest software development hubs worldwide, with its IBM India Software Lab employing 3,200 people across five cities. The India lab develops software products across all five brands of IBM Software Group's portfolio, namely WebSphere, Information Management, Lotus, Tivoli and Rational.

The labs also house product development teams in operating systems such as AIX, Linux, z/OS and Storage Systems.

For more Future Parc news, click here.

Anti-competitive: EU attacks iTunes

APPLE and the world’s five major record labels have been formally accused by European regulators of anti-competitive behaviour stemming from distribution practices of the iTunes music download service.

The European Commission confirmed yesterday it had sent a statement of objection to the companies over agreements between the record companies and Apple that restricts where and how users can access the iTunes site.

The EC says the companies are artificially restricting users from one European country from accessing the iTunes service in another, restricting cross-border transactions.

It says the record labels – Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music – were forcing Apple to restrict users to only accessing the iTunes site in their own country, thus restricting choice and forcing prices up.

The Commission says the agreements between Apple and the record companies violates EC Treaty rules prohibiting restrictive business practices.

“The Statement of Objections alleges that distribution agreements between Apple and major record companies contain territorial sales restrictions which violate Article 81 of the EC Treaty,” the EC said in a statement.

“iTunes verifies consumers' country of residence through their credit card details. For example, in order to buy a music download from the iTunes' Belgian on-line store a consumer must use a credit card issued by a bank with an address in Belgium.”

The iTunes services charges different amounts for songs in different European countries.

The Statement of Objections does not allege that Apple is in a dominant market position and is not about Apple's use of its proprietary Digital Rights Management (DRM) to control usage rights for downloads from the iTunes on-line store.

Apple to support flagging album format

NEWS of the death of the album may well be greatly exaggerated, but the format has certainly been sick.

But Apple last week threw its weight behind efforts to protect the record industry’s profitable album format, launching a service that lets users buy complete albums online without having to pay for the songs they already own.

Internet download sites and new digital formats have played havoc with albums. CD sales have been on the slump for years and users had become used to downloading individual songs rather than complete albums.

Apple has announced its Complete My Album service through iTunes, in which customers are allowed to turn their individual tracks into a complete album at a reduced price by giving them a US99 cents (A$1.21) credit for every track they had previously purchased from that album.

Complete My Album also gives customers up to 180 days after purchasing an individual track to buy the whole album at a reduced price.

“Music fans can now round out their music collections by upgrading their singles into complete albums with just one click, and get full credit for those songs they have previously purchased from iTunes,” said Apple’s iTunes vice-president Eddy Cue.

For more Digital Content news, click here.

Google buys GapMinder world health tool

SEARCH giant Google has bought a tiny, not-for-profit demographic software company that is changing the way the world visualises global health problems.

Google executives were so deeply persuaded by renowned Swedish demographer Hans Rosling’s presentation on world health at last year’s Technology Education Design (TED2006) conference in California that they bought the software tool that had brought his statistics to life.

Dr Rosling, who will speak at the CeBIT Connect Keynote Series at Darling Harbour in Sydney on May 1, is considered one of the most entertaining speakers on real-world applications for IT, even as he addresses his deeply serious areas of expertise in addressing world health issues.

Dr Rosling’s presentation maps global health trends using Trendalyzer, the GapMinder software that lets researchers more easily create powerful, moving graphical images from raw statistical data that caught the attention of Google.

Stockholm-based GapMinder Foundation was set up in 2005 by Dr Rosling, his son Ola Rosling and daughter-in-law Anna Rosling to develop and provide free software to “visualise human development”.

Its Trendalizer software takes decades of raw United Nations data – like country-by-country data on infant mortality, or doctors per capita – and turns it into a visual that makes identifying trends easier.

At Cebit Connect, Dr Rosling is expected to detail some of the advantages he expects will emerging from having the Trendalyzer team – including his son and daughter-in-law – move to the US to join the Google team.

In acquiring the software, Google has committed to “improving and expanding Trendalyzer and making it freely available to any and all users capable of thinking outside the X and Y axes,” the company’s vice-president for search products and user experience Marissa Mayer said.

The company promises the Google acquisition won’t have any impact on Trendalyzer’s free availability – and said the platform would benefit from the broader exposure of Google channels and its R&D resources and expertise.

What makes Dr Rosling so fascinating is that he presents IT as only being a good as its real world application. And though a demographer – formally trained as a statistician – Dr Rosling is first and foremost a doctor and medical researcher.

He has been since 1997 professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, has been an adviser to the World Health Organisations, UNICEF and several other aid groups, and was founder of the Swedish chapter of Medicines Sans Frontiers.

While he has collaborated with universities from Asia to Africa to South Amerca on health issues, Dr Rosling’s experience is not academic-based. He has worked on the frontline early in his career in the early seventies as a public health worker in Bangalore, and later as a District Medical Officer in Mozambique where he earned his PhD in 1986 as part of work in identifying konzo as a new disease.

But where Dr Rosling’s research becomes remarkable – and led to the development of the Trendalyzer software – has been in the links between economic development, agriculture, poverty and health in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The links themselves are startling. But then the ability to visually overlay the economic development and health links of different countries over time is fascinating – and enormously revealing to those looking to improve the human condition.

Blogger who saw Dr Rosling at TED2007 say his presentations are “humourous, yet deadly serious”. He is persuasive, meeting Bill Gates briefly at Davos in January to tell him about new text book on Global Health that Karolinska had produced. Mr Gates later bought 200 copies, one each for each staff member at the Bill and Melinda Gates Fountation.

Google’s Ms Mayer says its acquisition of Trendalyzer software would help the company in its own mission to better organise mass volumes of information.

“Building flexibility into search, email, and other Google products is critically important as we seek to organize the world's information,” Ms Mayer said.

“Trendalyzer generates moving graphics and other novel effects in the display of facts, figures, and statistics in presentations. In its nimble hands, Trendalyzer views development data – such as regional income distribution or trends in global health – as literally a world of opportunity,” Google said in a statement.

“Like Google, Gapminder strives to make information more useful, and Trendalyzer will improve any function or application in which data might be better visualised,” the company said.

CeBIT Connect is a day-long, top level briefing aimed at the most senior levels of management to provide a snap-shop of the global technology issues that are shaping businesses now. Speakers include Mitchell Baker, chief executive at open source phenomena Mozilla; Dave Girouard, enterprise senior vice-president at Google; and Jim Steele, hosted software giant SaleForce.com’s worldwide president. Tickets for this event are still available for $250, including a high powered executive luncheon. Call +612 9280 3400 or visit www.cebit.com.au for more details.

For more Business Software news, click here.

HP to cut global energy use 20 per cent

COMPUTER and printing giant Hewlett-Packard says it will reduce corporate energy consumption worldwide by 20 per cent from its 2005 levels by 2010.

The company also said it would cut energy use of some of its printers by 30 per servers, and servers by up to 50 per cent.

The goal is part of HP’s global environment strategy that addresses three levels of its business – products, internal operations and supply chain management.

It said it would deliver on the promise by delivering more energy efficient products and services, and by instituting more energy efficient operating practices in facilities world-wide.

Measures it has already taken includes the redesign of print cartridge packaging for North America that it says will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 37 million pounds this year.

It also includes the introduction of HPs energy management system for data centres – called Dynamic Smart Cooling – which is designed to deliver 20 per cent to 45 per cent savings in cooling energy costs.

For its supply chain, HP introduced two supplier training programs, one targeting Central and Eastern Europe and another in China, to ensure adherence to the company’s stringent social and environmental responsibility standards.

The company has engaged with more than 600 suppliers in its social and environmental responsibility program since 2003.

“Energy efficiency is an integral part of the environmental program HP has had in place for decades and is a key component in making HP a leader in sustainability,” said corporate, social and environmental responsibility vice-president Pat Tiernan.

“Sustainability should span the entire business, from product reuse and recycling, a socially and environmentally responsible supply chain, to energy efficiency in products and internal operations – it’s the whole package.”

For more Office Printing and Future Parc news, click here.

GPL3 released, war on Novell declared

THE Free Software Foundation has released version 3 of its GNU General Public Licence (GPLv3) – the most commonly used open source licensing model – and picked a fight with SuSE Linux vendor Novell at the same time.

The GPLv3 draft is the first released since Novell signed its controversial agreement with Microsoft last November that involved patent sharing and marketing between the companies platforms.

The Novell-Microsoft tie-up left large sections of the open source community horrified.

The GPLv3 includes new patent requirements that were added to prevent distributors from colluding with patent holders to provide discriminatory protection from patents – measures that take a swipe at the Novell-Microsoft deal.

In launching the draft, FSF president and GNU GPL’s principal author Richard Stallman opened up with both barrels.

“The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms which define free software,” Mr Stallman said. “These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbour, and release your improvements to the public.”

“The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.”

Novell responded by saying there was nothing in the new draft that would force it to change the way it does business.

“Nothing in this new draft of GPL3 inhibits Novell’s ability to include GPL3 technologies in SUSE Linux Enterprise, openSUSE, and other Novell open source offerings, now and in the future,” Novell executive Bruce Lowry posted on the company’s blog.

“This is good news for our customers.”

“We are firmly committed to continuing the partnership with Microsoft and, as we always have, fully complying with the terms of the licenses for the software that we ship, including software licensed under GPL3,” Mr Lowry said.

FSF said the GPLv3 draft incorporated feedback from the public, from official discussion committees, and from two international conferences held in India and Japan.

The draft will be open for discussion for sixty days.

For more Open CeBIT and Business Software news, click here.

Dell to ship pre-installed Linux

PC-maker Dell has promised to start selling notebooks and desktops preloaded with Linux and other open source software products after being inundated with customer requests for the platforms.

Dell announced yesterday that more than 100,000 people had responded in the past two weeks to an online survey about pre-loaded Linux.

“Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line,” the company announced through a corporate blog yesterday.

“Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer … and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available.”

“The countdown begins today.”

The decision has enormous implications for the PC software industry. Other PC-makers would be expected to follow Dell down the Linux path, and HP is known to already be considering such a plan.

The company issued the survey as part of its IdeaStorm customer consultation process that began in February. Dell launched IdeaStorm to seek direct input – ideas – from its customers.

Overwhelmingly, the biggest IdeaStorm talking point was open source software. Dell then posted the online survey to descover more precisely the open source preferences of its customers.

In announcing the Linux plan, Dell also released some of the broad findings of its survey, including that 70 per cent of its respondents said they would use a Dell system with Linux for both home and office use.

Survey respondents said they wanted to be able to choose Linux on a variety of different Dell notebook and desktop products. They also said existing, community-based support forums would meet their technical support needs for a tested and validated Linux OS.

They also said that improved hardware support for Linux is just as important as which Linux distributions are offered.

For more Office Automation and Open CeBIT news, click here.

Hackers swipe credit card details from retailer

HACKERS have swiped personal credit card details from more than 47 million customers of one of the US’ largest retail outfits in on of the biggest data heists in history.

The TJX Companies inc, which operates Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Bob’s Stores, confirmed this week that it illegal intruders to its computer systems had stolen data over the course of several years.

The company reported it had become aware of a breach in December last year and had been cooperating with law enforcement authorities since that time.

It said the security breaches may date as far back as 2003.

The company said the breach occurred in a system that handles credit card, debit card and cheque transactions in the US and Puerto Rico, but may have affected its operations as far away as the UK.

TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement on the company’s web site that it was now working with security consultants to investigate the problem and to enhance its computer security.

“Given the nature of the breach, the size and international scope of our operations and the complexity of the way credit card transactions are processed, the evaluation is, by necessity, taking time,” Ms Meyrowitz said.

“Since we learned of the probability of a breach in mid-December 2006, we have cooperated with law enforcement as well as with the banks and credit card companies that process our customer transactions,” she said.

In addition to the credit card and debit card details, the company said hackers had also stolen drivers licence numbers as well as the personal address details of an unspecified number of customers.

It is thought to be the worst case of credit data theft in history.

For more Retail IT news, click below.

Chrysler to launch lounge room on wheels

IN A breakthrough to rival the introduction of gigantic cupholders, car-maker Chrysler is to launch its first model that features three channels of satellite television programming.

Is it just me, or is the American automobile industry modelling car interiors these days on the standard family lounge room? I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it does make me wonder how long it will be before someone puts a Laz-E-Boy up-front (because that’s the day I’ll be looking to buy a Dodge Grand Caravan).

Chrysler announced it had joined with Sirius Satellite Radio to provide Sirius BackSeat TV for its 2008 Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans, as well as some Jeep models.

Programming is a little limited and aimed squarely at stopping kids from asking “Are we there yet?” Three channels of ‘family’ entertainment from Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network will be available later this year.

“Chrysler Group is committed to offering innovative technologies that are right for our customers,” Chrysler group’s executive vice-president for product development Frank Klegon said.

It’s possible that more channels will be added to the back seat TV service later – and maybe even a full satellite service – but bandwidth limitations meant the companies was presently restricted to three.

The Sirius Backseat TV system operates via an in-vehicle satellite video receiver and two small roof-mounted antennas. Programming is displayed on the vehicle's second- and/or third-row video screens, and channel name, program title and rating will be broadcast and displayed on the screen.

The front seat can listen to radio programming while those in the back watch TV or DVD. Each seat can watch different programming, so it’s actually better than you standard family lounge room.

For more Satellite+Broadcast news, click below.

eHealth records could save US $100b: Clinton

AS the privacy debate over eHealth heats up in the US, Bill Clinton has told a conference that moving to electronic medical records would save the country a staggering US$100 billion annually.

As a keynote speaker at the CTIA Wireless conference in Florida, the former president said information technology could deliver vast savings for America’s overburdened healthcare system.

Quoting McKinsey & Company research, Mr Clinton said Americans spend $800 billion on healthcare each year, and could save US$100 billion (A$124 billion) by introducing electronic medical records (EMR).

Like the Australian experience, the EMR issue has been a difficult one in the US because of concerns about patient privacy and whether technology and legislative measures can adequately protect people’s personal information.

Mr Clinton’s wife Senator Hillary Clinton had sponsored a bi-partisan EMR Bill seeking the introduction of EMR, but had stalled in spite of three years lobbying, he said.

“That's the number-one thing that can be done right now to make the American health-care system more efficient and cut costs,” Mr Clinton said.

Better use of IT in the health system is a hot issue in the US right now.

Retail giant WalMart this week announced it had joined with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield to create a new research centre aimed at improving the delivery of health care services through IT.

Meanwhile, 82-year-old former President George Bush snr – who addressed the CTIA alongside Mr Clinton – has confessed to being an addict, claiming he is addicted to his Blackberry.

For more e-Health news, click below.

DHL tempers overheated RFID plan

GLOBAL couriers DHL has scaled back its ambitions for radio frequency ID in its supply chain system, citing cost as a major issue.

The company has previously said it planned to put an RFID tag on every parcel it shipped globally by 2015 as part of a worldwide technology upgrade. It said the RFID technology would improve controls over shipments by giving it better tracking information, and cut costs.

But speaking at an RFID conference in the US this week, DHL’s senior program manager Bob Berg for RFID told InformationWeek magazine it had scaled back the plan.

Mr Berg told the conference that DHL still had huge implementation plans for supply chain systems using RFID technologies, but that it no longer was tying its goals to a date.

“If we went gung-ho [on an RFID deployment] it would cost over $1 billion,” Mr Berg told the conference.

“It's not going to be done on a lark. It's going to be carefully thought out. There has to be ROI.”

Mr Berg said DHL wanted to provide more “slap and ship” services in the US to customers but had not seen much demand for it. In Europe the company provides a slap and ship service to retail giant Metro which has one of the only RFID powered supply chains in the world.

Despite the interest from WalMart in RFID in the US, even WalMart suppliers had not shown much interest in the service.

Mr Berg said DHL would not be rolling out global RFID infrastructure simply to improve its own internal efficiencies at this stage.

For more Supply Chain news, click below.

Aussie bands get an internet break: Austrade

INTERNET tools like the MySpace and YouTube services represented a “seismic shift” in the way the music industry operates and had given local bands huge opportunities in the US, according to Austrade.

The new technology let bands overcome the “tyranny of distance” and had brought a massive influx of Australian artists into the highly competitive US market, said Tony George, Austrade’s Australian Music Office in Los Angeles.

Mr George will be conducting a series of seminars across Australia highlighting how Australian talent can break into the US market and how new net technologies can help.

He said the new technology meant power was no longer centred on the major labels groups and artists were truly in charge of their own destiny.

“Seismic shifts in the music business landscape have given more power than ever to artists looking to crack the US market making it even more important that artists understand the landscape before committing to the market,” Mr George said.

“The digital age is allowing Australian artists to build a story about themselves and get their music out there before they arrive in the US boosting their profile and helping them to develop vital relationships with the industry and fans.

“Aussie artists avoid a myopic view of thinking the music industry means selling records, and realizing that a career in music these days is multi-faceted and includes a number of distinct revenue streams,” he said.

The seminars are being held in Perth on April 3, Sydney on April 5, and Melbourne on April 12.

For more Export Alley news, click below.

Nissan pilots intelligent transport system

DRIVERS who get easily frustrated sitting at red traffic lights when there are no other cars around will be happy with research being conducted at Nissan.

The auto-maker has moved to the next stage of its ambitious intelligent transport system (ITS) project that employs vehicle-to-infrastructure communications that allows synchronised communications between vehicles and traffic signals.

The company has started deploying intelligent traffic lights at its Nissan Technical Centre in Kanawaga Prefecture in Japan to collect real-world data from several hundred employee cars participating in the project.

The new traffic system aims to help reduce accidents as well as ease traffic congestion – specifically at traffic light intersections – leading to improved on-the-road fuel consumption.

Two intersecting main roads within the company’s research centre, each with multiple intersections and crosswalks, provide the basic parameters for the ITS experiment.

Nissan has installed standard traffic lights and roadside optical beacons along these test-roads. For specific data to support the development of the navigation program being tested, hundreds of employees’ cars will be equipped with the specially designed vehicle information and communications system units.

Based on traffic volumes, the system will calculate to optimise the timing lapse between crossing pedestrians and the change in traffic-signal.

Under the Nissan Green Program 2010, announced in December 2006,
Nissan is working to develop the new technologies to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and the ITS project in Kanagawa contributes by reducing traffic congestion.

For more Telematics news, click below.

SugarCRM integrates project management

OPEN source customer relationship management software vendor SugarCRM has launched a project management application integrated into its Sugar Professional and Sugar Enterprise products.

The company is also reported to be readying its Sugar 5.0 beta software for launch in April. The company’s last major release was its Sugar 4.5 version in August last year.

SugarCRM co-founder and chief technology officer Jacob Taylor is a keynote speaker at the Open Cebit event that is part of the Cebit Australia conference and exhibition held in Sydney from May 3 – 7.

“As companies become more service-based, managing customer and internal projects becomes even more critical,” SugarCRM chief executive John Roberts said.

“Project Management delivers a best-in-class project management application fully integrated with SugarCRM.”

The company quoted a Nucleus Research paper that found while 32 per cent of on-demand customers were currently using on-demand CRM, only 23 per cent were using on-demand project management.

“Managing customers and projects is the next step after acquiring them, making integrated project management a key factor in driving greater value from CRM,” said Nucleus Research vice-president Rebecca Wetteman said.

“Current SugarCRM customers have an opportunity to gain even greater return on investment by using Sugar Projects; others looking for a CRM solution with tight project management integration should investigate the Sugar offering.”

Sugar’s Project Management delivers a full project management solution combined with the sales management, marketing automation and customer support used by employees to manage customer-centric activities.

These new capabilities allow users to deploy projects across all customer-facing tasks, including campaigns, opportunities, accounts, and customer cases.

Because Project Management is integrated with Sugar’s customer information, users no longer need to be concerned with redundant or inaccurate information, lost customer data, poor information sharing, or lack of user adoption.

For more CRM news, click below.

Visa eyes mobile payments market

VISA US chief executive John Philip Coghlan has announced a series of strategic partnerships with wireless technology companies, saying the mobile payments market was about to come of age.

Visa research had found that phone users were increasingly interested in the idea that their mobile device could be used for making payment transactions, Mr Coghlan said.

“Given the striking similarities in the paths our two industries have traveled, it is only natural we have arrived at a moment of convergence,” Mr Coghlan told the Cellular Telephone & Internet Association conference in Orlando.

“In fact, the convergence of payments and mobile communications is not just logical - it is inevitable.”

Visa recently announced its own mobile platform, a set of mobile services and enabling technologies that serve as flexible building blocks for the development of mobile payment solutions.

Mr Coghlan announced a strategic investment in dotMobi, a consortium of industry players pioneering the .mobi domain and is working on ways to enable mobile commerce into phones.

The company also announced an alliance and investment in Ecrio, which develops software for mobile phones on 3G networks. The company has software that lets barcode-enabled coupons and tickets be redeemed from mobile phones using existing point of sales equipment.

Mr Coghlan also said that VeriSign had announced it support the Visa mobile platform. Visa is also working with Qualcomm and Kyocera Wireless on integrating the Visa mobile platform in handsets.

Mr Coghlan said Visa research had found that four out of five consumers would prefer mobile purchases to pass through a credit or debit card network and appear on their card statement instead of appearing on their wireless bill.

Fifty-seven percent of consumers surveyed expressed interest in getting a phone with a payment application when shown what a payment-enabled phone might look like, and nearly 90 per cent of those who were interested in mobile payment said they would pay extra for a phone with this feature.

For more e-Finance and POS news, click below.

Austereo slashes print costs through Upstream

NATIONAL radio broadcasting group Austereo has reported saving 30 per cent in document output costs after engaging Upstream Print Solutions to audit and better integrate its printing and office automation needs.

Upstream said that like a lot of companies that experience rapid growth covering multiple geographic markets, Austereo was showing a lot of symptoms common in companies with unmanaged output fleets.

Of Austereo’s 200 devices nationwide, a small percentage were over-utilised, thus increasing maintenance costs and reducing the lifespan of the equipment, Upstream said.

A greater number of the devices were under-utilised, dramatically increasing running costs.

The Austereo fleet also featured more than 60 different types of printers, copiers, fax machines and other output equipment, increasing support and supplies costs, we well as adding to end-user confusion.

Most of its printers were at the end of their lifespan, so were often slow and unreliable.

Austereo is a majority-owned unit of Village Roadshow, which had previously engaged the print specialist Upstream to reduce costs within its own print environment. One the recommendation of Village, Austereo also engaged Upstream.

Upstream is Australia’s largest independent print solutions company. The company, which has annual revenues in excess of $90 million, provides integrated print, copy, fax and scanning solutions that help businesses reduce the cost, hassle and volume of document output.

Upstream's fleet management solution has saved Austereo 28 per cent over its previous annual output spend. The results included a 15 per cent reduction in output-related help desk calls and 5 per cent reduction in print volume.

While some of the Austereo radio stations had been initially successful with either managed print services or consolidated IT purchasing, overall there was little coordination. For example, each market negotiated separate lease agreements for copier equipment, so that service levels and costs varied widely throughout the group.

Another factor in Austereo's high document costs was an unusually high volume of colour printing. As a highly sales-focused organisation, Austereo makes heavy use of colour sales presentations, driving the company's cost per page above average.

Upstream devised a fleet management plan that would give Austereo increased cost control and transparency. The company was able to retire end-of-life output equipment, gain a complete hardware refresh, and still lower its cost structure.

Consolidating Austereo's device profile by 61 per cent, Upstream significantly reduced the number of consumable types and user interfaces Austereo staff had to contend with.

The new fleet was rolled out in conjunction with a planned shift in the Austereo’s office culture, from an environment of “departments” and private offices to a more efficient and communal emphasis on “teams” and open plan space design. Even the CEO now works in an open plan area; the new approach is being deployed across Austereo’s business in phases.

Upstream also conducted training to ensure that Austereo staff were comfortable using the new equipment and able to take advantage of labour- and paper-saving features such as electronic faxing and scanning functions that had been available previously in many cases, but not widely understood or used. For example, the new system can scan a paper document and automatically route it to the user's email address.

Upstream also helped Austereo implement a reasonable colour policy to ensure that colour was used for maximum sales impact, and not just as a default.

For more Office Printing news, click below.

Telecom NZ offloads Yellow Pages

TAKING a starkly different strategic route to trans-Tasman rival Telstra, Telecom NZ has announced the NZ$2.24 billion (A$1.97 billion) sale of its Yellow Pages directory business.

Telecom Corporation of New Zealand confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell its wholly-owned Yellow Pages Group unit to a Canadian-led private equity consortium consisting of CCMP Capital and Teachers Private Capital.

The total value of the deal represents NZ$2.16 billion in cash plus about NZ$75 million of Yellow Pages Group debtors retained by Telecom.

The deal has now been referred to the government Overseas Investment Office and Telecom NZ hopes to have been given approval and have the transaction completed by the end of April.

Telecom NZ announced late last year that it planned to offload the YPG group, saying it was in the best long term interests of shareholders.

The sale is starkly different from Telstra’s approach to its directory businesses. Telstra has consistently maintained its Sensis unit – which operates its YellowPages and WhitePages businesses, among other directory-style operations – is central to its long term business plans.

Telecom NZ chairman Wayne Boyd said the company hoped to maintain a close relationship with the YPG business.

“This transaction represents a significant outcome for Telecom shareholders,” Mr Boyd said.

“The Board is satisfied that the transaction fairly reflects the underlying value of the YPG business.”

For more Web Application and Telecom news, click below.

Telecom NZ offloads Yellow Pages

TAKING a starkly different strategic route to trans-Tasman rival Telstra, Telecom NZ has announced the NZ$2.24 billion (A$1.97 billion) sale of its Yellow Pages directory business.

Telecom Corporation of New Zealand confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell its wholly-owned Yellow Pages Group unit to a Canadian-led private equity consortium consisting of CCMP Capital and Teachers Private Capital.

The total value of the deal represents NZ$2.16 billion in cash plus about NZ$75 million of Yellow Pages Group debtors retained by Telecom.

The deal has now been referred to the government Overseas Investment Office and Telecom NZ hopes to have been given approval and have the transaction completed by the end of April.

Telecom NZ announced late last year that it planned to offload the YPG group, saying it was in the best long term interests of shareholders.

The sale is starkly different from Telstra’s approach to its directory businesses. Telstra has consistently maintained its Sensis unit – which operates its YellowPages and WhitePages businesses, among other directory-style operations – is central to its long term business plans.

Telecom NZ chairman Wayne Boyd said the company hoped to maintain a close relationship with the YPG business.

“This transaction represents a significant outcome for Telecom shareholders,” Mr Boyd said.

“The Board is satisfied that the transaction fairly reflects the underlying value of the YPG business.”

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SOA spend soars as users seek flexibility

THE service oriented architecture (SOA) market will grow 40 per cent in the Asia-Pacific over the next two years as organisations seek more flexible business processes from the enterprise integration programs.

Research group Frost & Sullivan said SOA technologies had matured, with all major software vendors had been altering and creating software to suit the needs of an SOA framework, making the architecture a viable goal.

“The Asia-Pacific SOA market is poised for healthy growth as large enterprises across all verticals are adopting SOA-based solutions for their business related issues,” Frost & Sullivan research analyst Harikrishna Subramanian said.

“SOA offers solutions that optimize current business processes and efficiently plan future software adoptions of enterprises that are looking for continuous process improvement with clear visibility of the processes,” Mr Subramanian said.

Frost & Sullivan says large enterprises want to build more coherent IT infrastructure, driving demand for SOA. The potential for problems with enterprise IT projects tended to increase depending on the length of time since the organisation’s first IOT deployment, the number of software modules and size off the enterprise.

The increased complexity of software modules had increased the cost of implementing enterprise IT, the Frost report says, with SOA offering companies a way to reduce cost.

The report says the much greater penetration of Web services among enterprises in the Asia Pacific was also encouraging SOA deployment.

However, Frost & Sullivan says the low awareness of SOA and its potential benefits for an organisation had hampered market growth.

“Enterprises are shying away from implementing full-fledged SOA-based solutions mainly due to limited IT budget and time constraints. Vendors must focus on educating clients about the benefits of SOA and showcase best practices in order to draw up an efficient roadmap for SOA implementation,” the report said.

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SA regional broadband now “guaranteed”: Coonan

FEDERAL Communications Minister Helen Coonan has rejected South Australian Labor claims that regional areas in the state would be left without access to broadband under a new Commonwealth scheme.

Newly appointed South Australian Minister for Science and Information Economy Paul Caica had told The Advertiser newspaper in Adelaide that federal policy changes meant that broadband projects set for the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Yorke Peninsula would not proceed.

He said the “cessation of the (Federal) Broadband Connect subsidy has had an immediate and unwelcome effect on several South Australian projects”.

But Senator Coonan dismissed the concerns, saying the issues had been dealt with by a series of national initiatives announced in the past two weeks, accusing Mr Caica of playing politics.

“The new South Australian Minister is obviously looking to boost his profile with a local scare campaign and I want to assure all South Australians that their access to broadband is now actually guaranteed under the new program, the $162.5 million Australian Broadband Guarantee announced by the Prime Minister two weeks ago,” Senator Coonan said.

“Australia is now one of only a handful of countries to guarantee broadband access to all citizens, regardless of where they live,” she said.

Senator Coonan said the Broadband Connect had been a successful program, but was never seen as a long term proposition, and that registered providers under the scheme were told of the finite nature of the funds.

Government announced its intention last September to end the scheme, and said in the event that money available under the scheme dried up before the end of the financial year, she said providers were assured “transitional arrangements” would be put in place.

“This is what I have done (announce transitional arrangements) with the release of draft guidelines last Friday for the Australian Broadband Guarantee,” Senator Coonan said.

“However, rather than provide broadband users with information about the new Australian Broadband Guarantee or indeed the transitional arrangements, the South Australian Labor Government is predictably playing politics,” she said.

The transitional arrangements will allow registered providers to recoup the costs of infrastructure that was recently installed under the Broadband Connect incentive program.

The Australian Broadband Guarantee will commence on 2 April and providers will be able to claim incentive payments for connecting customers to newly installed infrastructure as soon as they have signed a funding agreement with the Australian Government.

Senator Coonan also said today that if providers are able to demonstrate there has been no reasonable opportunity to connect their planned number of customers to recently installed infrastructure, then it will be considered for inclusion under the Australian Broadband Guarantee on a case by case basis.

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Microsoft claims 20m Vista sales in a month

MICROSOFT sold more than 20 million copies of its Vista operating system in February, twice as many as Windows XP, its nearest competitor, the company said.

The 20 million copies shipped represent Vista licenses sold to PC manufacturers, copies of upgrades and the full packaged product sold to retailers and upgrades ordered online from January 30 to February 28.

Windows Business Group corporate vice-president Bill Veghte said the company was encouraged by the response and although early in the product life-cycle, it seemed Vista would become the fastest adopted version of Windows ever.

The company said sales of Vista after a month exceeded sales of its predecessor Windows XP over two months when it was first introduced. The company announced in January 2002 Windows XP licences of about 17 million in two months.

But reports from the US analyst community say it is too early to tell what is happening with Vista, and not much can be learned from the Microsoft data.

For example, one analyst said in 2002 there were 51 million PCs sold worldwide, while about 96 million PC were expected to be sold this year – suggesting Vista has not overwhelmed the market.

Another analyst said shipments of Vista to retailers in the US in February was 56 per cent lower than Windows XP’s first month of shipments to retailers.

About 80 per cent of Windows revenues is derived from PC manufacturers, who preload the software on machines sold at retail.

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Small ISPs get squeezed in SME market

INTERNET service providers will need to look to provide value-added broadband managed services if they are to sustain small and medium-sized customer spend, research consultants Analysys said.

The company reports that while the SME spend on simple broadband access is expected to peak in about 2009, the market for managed services is set for a period of strong growth through to the end of 2011.

The Analysys European research is based on a survey of 184 SME’s, but its finding can be broadly applied as trends in the Australian market.

The report found that broadband managed services – that is, services enabled by or delivered over a broadband connection – were already in string demand.

Among SMEs, 65 per cent of companies preferred to buy their telecom services from a single supplier. This means that broadband providers with the right portfolio of bundled and non-bundled services have the opportunity to increase the average revenue per (SME) user.

“In order to sustain revenue growth, providers targeting the SME sector must introduce complementary services, and provision of broadband managed services is a key area for exploitation,” the report’s author Simon Sherrington said.

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Coonan rejects new .XXX domain bid

THE Australian government has rejected a renewed push from parts of the internet community for a restricted, made-for-porn .XXX top-level domain.

Federal Communications and IT Minister Helen Coonan has rejected a proposal to set up the .xxx domain as an internet “red-light district” for porn companies.

A vote on the proposal is expected to take place this week in Lisbon, Portugal, at a meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international governing body for Web names and addresses.

Senator Coonan wrote to ICANN chief executive Paul Twomey last month to reaffirm the Australian Government’s opposition to the .xxx top-level domain.

It is understood Senator Coonan has also instructed the Department of Communications IT and the Arts (DCITA) representative at the meeting to lobby against the proposal.

The issue of creating a ‘virtual’ red-light district has been a confusing one, and for this ICANN meeting has created some strange lobbyist bedfellows.

Reports from the US say groups representing adult content companies have joined forces with religious groups to oppose the creation of a .xxx domain.

Online porn companies oppose the plan because although registering with the .xxx domain would be voluntary for adult content companies, it would become easy for governments to later mandate the use of .xxx – and fear that the plan would “ghetto-ise” sexual information generally.

Religious groups have opposed the domain because they say .xxx will “legitimise” explicit sexual content – and would increase the number of sex sites on the net.

They say existing XXX sites would retain their .com web addresses, and register for .xxx addresses as well – doubling the number of porn sites out there.

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Yahoo revs mobile search engine

YAHOO has unveiled expanded its search service targeting mobile phone users that delivers locally relevant results to search inquiries direct to the handset.

Yahoo said its new oneSearch service for mobile effectively reinvents search. Instead of delivering a page of Web links as the search result, the oneSearch service delivers deeper information at a local level.

The service is currently accessible to about 85 per cent of mobile phones in the US through the mobile Web. Yahoo said the service would be rolled out to international markets and different language versions in the next several months.

“Yahoo! oneSearch has already started to change the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers' access and use the Internet on their mobile phones," Yahoo senior vice-president Marco Boerries said.

“We are delivering the results consumers want with just one search, not a list of Web links,” he said.

Localised search is expected to become the next big money earner for the search community. The oneSearch system is set up to deliver deeper information based on the location of the mobile phone user.

For example, if a consumer wants to go to a movie this weekend, they just need to type the name of the movie into the search box. The search results would first list the movie, including a user rating, local theatres where the movie is playing, and news headlines related to the movie and more.

To dig more deeply into the results, the phone user would click on any item or category. For example, to see all the movies playing at a specific listed theatre, they would just click on the theatre name.

The company said the oneSearch mobile web site will have sponsored search results and display advertisements built into the service – extending the reach of Yahoo's advertising services to the mobile environment.

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SmartGate wins Labor support, sort of

FEDERAL Labor has agreed to support legislative amendments that will extend the roll-out of the SmartGate border security technology project – but expressed little faith in Customs to stick to its budget.

Shadow immigration spokesman Tony Burke said Labor supported the use of biometrics in border control applications, and would continue to support SmartGate – which will use facial recognition software to process passengers faster and automatically assess risk threats.

But Mr Burke said there remained unresolved technical issues hampering the project.

And pointing to Customs’ disastrous 2005 cargo management reengineering project – which was monstrously over-budget and did not work, causing container log jams at Australian ports – said there was reason to be sceptical about SmartGate’s implementation.

Pointing to Customs’ 05-06 Annual Report, Mr Burke said the department had identified technical problems during the initial phases of the project, they would be all ironed-out by the time SmartGate was fully operational.

“The Howard government is asking us to take the Customs assurances of successful IT contract management on faith and on face value,” Mr Burke said. “The problem is that we have just had the release of an audit report into Customs’ last IT project, which was the Customs cargo management system.”

“That project was approved without a financial management plan, costed on the basis of a stab in the dark, and delivered years late and approximately $200 million over budget.

“Labor has good reason to question the government’s ability to manage the implementation of systems technology in this area.”

He said the Australian public would have been horrified to learn that when the cargo management systems were introduced in 2005, government ordered Customs to “turn off” critical risk threat system that checked Sea and Air cargo – including anti-terrorism threats – because of problems with the project.

“The government is spending considerable money on immigration and customs related IT systems,” Mr Burke said. “However, based on the IT systems contract management we have seen to date, it is simply not up to scratch.”

“Simply spending money does not address a problem or an issue. It must be targeted, robust and effective, he said.”

“While Labor supports the move to biometric authentication systems, we do have concerns with the government’s approach to go it alone internationally and to iron out identified problems with the SmartGate system during its introduction,” Mr Burke said.

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