IBM re-uses scrap silicon for solar panels

COMPUTING giant IBM has unveiled a new semiconductor reclamation process pioneered at one of its US silicon fabrication facilities that lets the company re-use waste silicon wafers to manufacture solar panels.

The company says it has created a “specialised pattern removal technique” to erase the etchings on a silicon wafer in such a way that the wafer can be used to then manufacture silicon-based solar panels.

The semiconductor wafers are thin discs silicon material used to imprint patterns that ultimately become semiconductor chips for computers, mobile phones, video games and other consumer electronics.

The new process has already been awarded the 2007 Most Valuable Pollution Prevention Award from The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR).

Previously, waste silicon wafers would be crushed and disposed of as landfill material.

IBM said it intends to provide details of the new process to the broader semiconductor manufacturing industry. The process is currently in use the Burlington Vermont facility and in the process of being implemented at IBM's East Fishkill semiconductor fabrication plant in New York.

“One of the challenges facing the solar industry is a severe shortage of silicon, which threatens to stall its rapid growth,” said Charles Bai, chief financial officer of ReneSola, one of China's fastest growing solar energy companies.

“This is why we have turned to reclaimed silicon materials sourced primarily from the semiconductor industry to supply the raw material our company needs to manufacture solar panels,” Mr Bai said.

IBM says that Semiconductor Industry Association research put the number of silicon wafers started every day worldwide at 250,000. Of these, about 3.3 per cent are scrapped – meaning that over a year about three million wafers are simply discarded.

Because the wafers contain intellectual property, most of these cannot be sent to outside vendors to reclaim, and are instead crushed and send to landfills, or melted down and resold.

"IBM’s commitment to environmental conservation spans its business, from the re-purposing of materials used in semiconductor manufacturing to enabling customers to manage, measure, and run the most power efficient datacenters on the planet,” IBM Semiconductor Solutions general manager Mike Cadigan said.

“The engineering ingenuity that IBM has demonstrated in pioneering the wafer-to-solar panel program has generated countless other conservation initiatives in our manufacturing operations,” Mr Cadigan said.

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IBM boosts security investment

GLOBAL tech conglomerate IBM says it will spend a record US$1.5 billion (A$1.64 billion) next year developing and marketing products specifically for the security market.

The company last week introduced a swag of new security services, products and research breakthrough aimed at helping businesses more effectively manage operational and IT risk.

IBM said the IT security market was being transformed by the growth in more collaborative business models, by more sophisticated criminal attacks, and by increasingly complex infrastructure.

IBM says today’s wide array of security technologies, implemented tactically in silos, are not sufficient to deal with the new risk reality. IBM's approach is to strategically manage risk end-to end across all five domains of information technology security - Information Security; Threat and Vulnerability; Application Security; Identity and Access Management and Physical Security.

“For many enterprises, security is broken,” said IBM Internet Security Systems general manager Tom Noonan.

“The nature of evolving threats is such that installing point solutions to 'keep the bad guys out' is no longer a viable way to secure a business,” Mr Noonan said.

“We advocate new approaches to reduce complexities, adapt to new business imperatives and enable business value versus just threat protection. The path to a more secure world begins with a risk management strategy that limits the impact of threats, improves business resilience and creates an enterprise free of fear.”

IBM's Internet Security Systems (ISS) unit, acquired just over a year ago, is helping lead the way, teaming with IBM Research and integrating with IBM's Software and Systems businesses to deliver the world's most advanced risk management capabilities.

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News, NBC sends Hulu video to beta

MEDIA giants News Corporation and NBC have begun beta-testing a digital video delivery platform called Hulu.com that aims to distribute television programming online.

The new company will use News Corp – owners of the Fox network – and NBC television shows as its core content, but has also signed licensing deals with Sony Pictures Television and MGM.

Hulu.com said the service would let people access popular TV shows on-demand, anywhere and anytime via the internet. The service will be ad-supported and free to users, the company said.

“Consumers are clearly interested in easily accessing a broad spectrum of programming,” News Corporation's president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin said.

Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said the service would deliver full episodes and clips of popular shows like The Simpsons, House and The Office.

“You'll also find a large number of classic television series, including Arrested Development, Miami Vice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The A-Team,” Mr Kilar said on the Hulu.com blog.

“We're also going into beta with an initial selection of feature films that includes Conan the Barbarian, Sideways and The Blues Brothers,” he said.

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AEEMA joins Aus Industry Group

MEMBERS of Australia’s peak IT manufacturing organisation AEEMA have voted to formalise a plan to merge with the nation’s largest and most powerful industry lobby, the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group).

A resolution at the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (AEEMA) annual general meeting was passed by “an overwhelming majority” of members to join with Ai Group. The motion was first put by the AEEMA board in June.

“This is an historic chapter in AEEMA’s long and proud history, with the consolidated association positioned to address the needs and challenges of our members both today and in the future,” said AEEMA Chief Executive, Angus Robinson.

He said the consolidation would provide enhanced membership packages and more powerful advocacy through “the strength of the Ai Group branding and high standing with governments throughout Australia.”

Ai Group’s Chief Executive, Heather Ridout, welcomed the decision, and said AEEMA would quickly see benefits from the merge beyond a more influential voice.

“From 1 January 2008, AEEMA members will gain access to Ai Group’s comprehensive business services and specialised technical programs, such as training, advice and assistance on human resources, workplace relations, procurement, energy and environment services, economic analysis, export development, occupational health and safety and legal issues,” Mrs Ridout said.

Bringing the organisations together will provide a boost to AEEMA’s advocacy effort on core policy issues such as delivering fast, reliable broadband, addressing the challenges of a global market, supporting innovation across the whole value chain, and developing cleaner, greener and smarter manufacturing Mrs Ridout said.

“Perhaps one of the most important opportunities for AEEMA members is Ai Group’s environmental and energy support services,” she said.

“Ai Group is already an important player across a whole range of environmental issues, including climate change and carbon trading. AEEMA’s long-standing position on a wide range of ‘cleaner, greener and smarter’ manufacturing issues and its close linkages with key government agencies will fit neatly with Ai Group’s objectives.

Microsoft buys Thai e-Health specialist

MICROSOFT has continued its focus on the e-health care sector, announcing it will acquire a Thai-based health information system provider specialising in enterprise-class solutions.

The company said it would acquire software, intellectual property and other assets from Global Care Solutions (GCS) – a privately held company based in Bangkok – that develops enterprise-class health information systems.

GCS employees will join Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, which will manage product development and delivery. Financial terms were not disclosed. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Global Care Solution system is a fully integrated suite of 50 clinical and back-office application modules designed and optimised to run all hospital clinical and administrative operations on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

It is implemented and in use in seven hospitals around the Asia-Pacific region.

“We have been developing this product passionately for several years and are thrilled to see a company with the resources of Microsoft poised to bring it to a bigger world stage,” Global Care Solutions chief executive Pat Downing said.

Global Care Solutions designed and developed its end-to-end system in collaboration with Bumrungrad, an internationally accredited hospital in Bangkok.

“We were impressed by Global Care Solutions’ state-of-the-art health information system, which has enabled a hugely complex facility like Bumrungrad International hospital to achieve amazing outcomes related to improved workflow and patient safety,” said Microsoft Health Solutions Group corporate vice president Peter Neupert.

“The international, fully integrated nature of the GCS technology, and the fact that it is built from the ground up on scalable Microsoft technology, makes this a great addition to our portfolio of health enterprise products as we look to power developing and emerging hospital systems around the globe.”

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Google-DoubleClick deal sweet: ACCC

THE Australian competition watchdog says Google’s planned US$3.1 billion (A$3.4 billion) acquisition of online advertising specialist DoubleClick will not have an adverse impact on the market.

After a months-long investigation, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said he would not intervene in the proposed acquisition.

“A key focus of the ACCC's investigation was whether the combination of Google's network of website publishers and DoubleClick's ad serving capabilities would enable the merged entity to increase the cost of ad serving to website publishers and advertisers,” Mr Samuel said.

“In reaching its decision, the ACCC noted that Google and DoubleClick are not close competitors in the provision of ad serving. In addition, the ACCC also took into account the presence of other competitors in this market that would be likely to constrain the merged entity post-merger,” he said.

“In this context, the ACCC considered that the merger was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in an Australian market.”

The Google-DoubleClick deal is being closely scrutinised by regulators in the US. Competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo say the acquisition will give Google too much power in the advertising market and will have an adverse affect on consumers.

The ACCC is continuing a separate investigation of Google’s AdWords product amid concerns the company contravenes the Trade Practices Act.

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Labor hints at tax break for games

GAME developers in Australia reckon they will be better off under a Rudd Labor Government after detailing a positive meeting with shadow communications and IT Minister Stephen Conroy.

The Game Developers Association of Australia did not come away from the meeting with anything written in stone.

But GDAA executive director Greg Bondar said the signals were good – and that the industry faired a lot better than it did with Government, which scotched its calls for a 40 per cent tax concession for games investments to attract greater investment in the industry.

The GDAA has been trying to convince Government that it should extend the 40 per cent tax rebate offered to the local film industry in the last budget to games developers, saying the potential export earnings were much greater.

Communications and IT Minister scotched the idea in June, and has not been able to meet the industry since.

Labor’s Senator Conroy assured the group that it should “have a seat at the table” when the 40 per cent rebate given to the film industry is reviewed.

“It is time we start to recognise the contribution of the games industry to the Australian cultural landscape, and the economy as a whole,” Senator Conroy said in a statement after the meeting.

He pointed to the break out success of Halo 3 game as an example of how lucrative gaming can be. Halo 3 earned more than US$300 million (A$327 million) in its first week – including US$170 million on its first day.

GDAA’s Mr Bondar said the current government did not seem to understand the size of games market, or its continued strong growth.

GDAA said the games industry currently employs about 8,500 in Australia. The introduction of the 40 per cent rebate would quickly boost that number to 18,000 by 2010 as it attracted more than $25 million in additional investment.

“The electronic games industry is already a significant contributor to the Australian economy. It’s also part of a larger global entertainment industry, which is now bigger than the film industry and is a major area of export for the Australian economy,” Mr Bondar said.

“Unfortunately, the future growth of the industry is dependent on government support. A government rebate will enable our industry to grow, compete on a global scale, employ more Australian talent and make a bigger contribution to our economy.”