ASD has open access to Indonesian telcos
I'm sure you've been wondering (as many people have) just how Australia's premiere electronic surveillance agency Australian Signals Directorate was able to gain access to the telephone data of high-ranking Indonesian officials in that country's government. Well, wonder no more. According to The Guardian, the agency has a massive level of access to Indonesia's telco networks.
Telstra to offshore another 1,000, says AFR
Thought Telstra was finished with its wide-ranging outsourcing and offshoring initiatives? Not by half, if a report in the Financial Review newspaper this morning is to be believed.
Wanted: Delimiter 2.0 columnists
I am currently seeking regular columnists for Delimiter 2.0. You'll need to be able to write opinion/analysis pieces of a minimum of 1,500 words, on hot topics in Australia's technology scene. You'll need to use references to argue your case and have a broad understanding of the current dynamics of the industry.
Five months later, Defence seeks new CTO
It’s clear that things move very slowly within the Federal Government. But taking five months to post an advertisement seeking a replacement for an executive who has publicly announced their departure seems like a little long. As first reported by iTNews, the Department of Defence has finally advertised the position of chief technology officer.
Victorian Govt cuts NICTA funding
Australia's peak ICT research body National ICT Australia will be forced to make substantial job cuts to its Victorian operations, ZDNet reports today, as the result of funding cuts by the Victorian State Government.
Australia’s IT industry just isn’t sexy enough
Those of you who've been following Delimiter over the past several days might have noticed that I've gotten a little bit on my high horse over the issue of industry subsidies. I was a little shocked by the massive national ruckus created by the request by fruit processor SPC Ardmona for millions of dollars worth of government assistance for its plant in Shepparton, Victoria, when larger issues in the nation's technology sector are almost completely ignored. Today I've published a further view on the issue on the ABC's The Drum site, arguing that it's because the IT industry just isn't sexy enough.
Great debate on the lack of diversity in IT startups
Clune's right: Australia's IT startup scene is predominantly composed of white, middle class males, a physical form which venture capitalists usually identify with. But Liubinskas is also right: Things are more complicated than that in real life, and opportunities do abound for the passionate or determined, regardless of who they are. Perhaps the passion and diversity in this debate do much to illustrate the sector as a whole.
NT gives every police officer an iPad
The Northern Territory has reportedly confirmed plans to deploy Apple iPads to all of its frontline officers, in the latest local wide-scale deployment of tablet technology in a police force.
Google Glass has not yet launched … but Westpac is trialling an app
Google's augmented reality and heads-up display headset Google Glass hasn't yet formally launched, but that hasn't stopped some of Australia's major corporations from developing an app for the latest hot platform.
Four months later, Govt cloud, IT audit stall
The new Coalition Government appears to have made little progress so far on enacting core elements of its centralised IT policy.
Could industrial pipe cleaning speed up the CBN?
A technique for more rapidly cleaning up Telstra's clogged pits and pipes infrastructure reportedly could offer the National Broadband Network Company a significantly faster deployment mechanism with respect to the fibre components of its network rollout.
Lenovo’s IBM server + Motorola buys will raise new security questions
Remember when the Financial Review reported in August that devices manufactured by Chinese vendor Lenovo (including its extremely popular ThinkPad line) had been banned from use in the “secret” and “top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, because of similar espionage concerns as have been leveled at Chinese networking vendor Huawei? Well, Australian government agencies just got a whole new kettle of fish to worry about, with two key acquisitions by Lenovo which have taken place over the past week or so.
Voda Win: Vodafone’s back, baby
You might have noticed that there's a decidedly positive tenor to the announcements which ailing mobile telco Vodafone Australia has been making recently. The company's leadership in 4G mobile broadband speeds, its appointment of a qualified executive from Europe to replace outgoing leader Bill Morrow, and this morning, the news that it has a million customers on its 4G network.
Toshiba Chromebooks hit Australia
Japanese electronics giant Toshiba has announced its Chromebook laptops are available in Australia. Announced at CES 2014 in Las Vegas earlier this month, the devices ship with a 13.3" display and run Google's Chrome OS operating system. Australian recommended retail price will be $399.
Is NBN Co’s FTTP ramp-up “pure fantasy”?
We've been hearing the same mantra from NBN Co for some years now with regards to its Fibre to the Premises network rollout. Initially moving, as Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull likes to describe it, "at the pace of an arthritic snail", NBN Co executives have long been fond of claiming that the company's rollout would speed up as time went on, in a "ramp-up" phenomenon. However, over at iTNews, journalist Ry Crozier has crunched the numbers and determined that the claim is just that -- a claim -- with no actual evidence of such a ramp-up in sight.
MacTalk founder’s Love Letter to the Mac
As you might have noticed, Apple is currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of the birth of the Macintosh. Anthony Agius, the founder of Australian Apple forum MacTalk and long-time Mac lover, has posted what he bills as "a love letter for the Mac" on his blog.
99designs co-founder directly siphoning Aussie IT talent to Silicon Valley
Heard the term "Australian brain-drain"? You're probably not going to see a more blatant attempt at it than this.
NBN Strategic Review misrepresents HFC adoption
Those of you who’ve actually read the National Broadband Network Company’s Strategic Review document will be aware that, as I wrote in late December (Delimiter 2.0 link), it’s actually surprisingly favourable to use cases involving ubiquitous fibre broadband being deployed around Australia. Although it’s the Coalition’s preferred HFC/Fibre to the Node-focused ‘Multi-Technology Mix’ approach which has gotten all the airplay, in actual fact the document itself is quite positive to the use of Fibre itself. Telco commentator David Braue reminds us of this fact in a well-written piece for ZDNet.
TPG’s PIPE Networks anti-competitive? Who would have thought?
If you didn’t laugh, you’d have to cry. Your writer has watched with great amusement over the past week as Megaport chief executive Bevan Slattery has been bitterly complaining about the fact that TPG Telecom has blocked certain types of third-party access to PIPE Networks’ datacentres. You can find Slattery’s problems outlined here on the blog of Megaport, which aims to build an interconnection fabric between various carriers and cloud computing providers.
Does the MTM CBN model place “wholesale-only” at risk?
Australian telecommunications analyst Paul Budde has penned an extensive blog post discussing the need for the Coalition's Broadband Network (CBN) to remain on a 'wholesale-only' basis, despite the fact that the network's architecture is set to radically change due to the 'Multi-Technology Mix' model proposed by NBN Co.
Qld loses IT renewal chief after just nine months
The Queensland Government appears to have suffered a substantial blow to its attempts to reform its technology infrastructure, with the news reported late last week that the executive in charge of that renewal program, Glenn Walker, had resigned for a position in the private sector.
Mirvac dumps BlackBerry for iPhone; and a few thoughts about the model
The nation's number two telco Optus and its subsidiary Alphawest has revealed that they recently helped shopping centre giant Mirvac ditch its fleet of BlackBerry mobile phones for an Apple iPhone replacement.
‘Champagne gold’ HTC One hits Telstra
If you're an Android user but also a fan of the new gold option on Apple's iPhone 5S, you may be interested to know that Taiwanese vendor HTC has just announced a 'champagne' gold version of its flagship One handset through Telstra.
Victorian agency reports schoolboy to police for informing it of IT security hole
Public Transport Victoria has reportedly reported a 16-year-old Melbourne schoolboy to Victoria Police for merely informing it of substantial security holes in its IT infrastructure.
Video games are art: And this awesome Kickstarter project will prove it
The debate over whether video games can be classified as art has been a long and bitterly fought one. To explore this issue in greater depth and champion the idea that games can have artistic merit, Australian gaming journalist Matt Sainsbury has started a Kickstarter project to fund the development of an in-depth, 200 page, premium quality hardcover book which will tie in conversations with some of the gaming industry's artistic titans.
SA Govt under constant cyberattack, claims CIO
South Australia's outgoing whole of government chief information officer Andrew Mills, who this month took up the same role in Queensland, has dramatically revealed the extent to which the state's IT infrastructure is being targeted by online attacks against.
Could Telstra buy Telecom NZ?
Speculation has started floating around Australia's blogosphere from senior sources that the nation's number one telco could find it opportunistic to be positioning itself for a buyout of New Zealand's incumbent telco Telecom New Zealand.
Atlassian shifts to the UK, on paper
Australian software firm Atlassian has revealed it will shift its headquarters to the United Kingdom on paper, to aid with its plans to eventually list in the United States.
2014 will be a great year for the NBN … pity it’s the last
By all accounts, 2014 is shaping up as a pretty good year for the actual National Broadband Network rollout. As I write on Delimiter 2.0 today (paywalled), the project has a solid amount of Fibre to the Premises construction work set to deliver this year, and there are other reasons to be optimistic about how the next 12 months will pan out. But from 2015, it's all downhill.
Merry Christmas to all readers!
This is just a quick message to all readers to let you know that Delimiter is now officially on holidays, and to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
NBN Strategic Review shows FTTP still very viable
If you believe NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the NBN Strategic Review released last week is all about re-using HFC cable, implementing Fibre to the Node and minimising the use of Fibre to the Premises. However, a close reading of the document shows that it also finds that Labor’s original FTTP vision can still be delivered very affordably and in a timely manner.
Qantas can’t afford to replace 26-year-old IT system
So, it turns out the Queensland and New South Wales Governments are not the only major Australian organisations running short of much-needed cash when it comes to critical IT upgrades. According to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, national carrier Qantas also can’t afford to keep its IT up to spec.
Turnbull’s first 100 days have been a disaster
I think it's safe to say at this point that Turnbull has not gotten his first 100 days in power right; in fact, he's gotten them disastrously wrong, making little or even backwards progress on a range of fronts. It will be interesting to see if he can rectify his political and functioning mistakes in the next 100 days.
Fascinating case study about open source cloud
Most of the cloud computing stories we hear about involve major vendors. You know the ones we're talking about: VMware, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Amazon and so on. These are household names. But what you may not realise is that there are other options out there for building cloud computing stacks. And some of them are not based on proprietary technologies and vendor lock-in at all.
Please accept my apologies: I was wrong about Malcolm Turnbull
I am here today to formally apologise. I was wrong to have faith in Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition on this issue. You were all right. Turnbull does indeed appear to be attempting to "demolish" the NBN.
Vodafone’s Morrow new NBN Co CEO: AFR
Wondering who the new National Broadband Network chief executive will be? So are we, and reportedly we're going to find out very shortly.
Ingogo picks up another $3.4m funding
What this investment, as well as the planned ASX listing and its past healthy fundraising efforts, shows is that ingogo is pulling in substantial revenues.
Telstra 4G trials hit 300Mbps
Just how fast can 4G mobile broadband go? Very fast, according to Telstra, which has been conducting trials of LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation technology.
NBN Co still has 1Gbps on way
It’s now been three and a half years since then-Communications Minister Stephen Conroy promised Australians that NBN Co would eventually deliver 1Gbps broadband speeds through the Labor’s all-singing, all-dancing, all-fibre National Broadband Network, and eight months since NBN Co promised it would be here by the end of 2013. Well, the rollout of the NBN may have made very little progress in that time, but the 1Gbps speeds are still coming.
Screwed: Australian PS4, Xbox One lack basic functionality
Are you one of those Australians who lined up at midnight to buy some of the first next-generation video game consoles to go on sale? Have you spent some time exploring your new PlayStation 4 or Xbox One? Then you would be aware that when it comes to Australian support for their new consoles, both Sony and Microsoft appear to have screwed Australians pretty badly.
Nexus 7 draw: The winner revealed
You may remember that in October Delimiter kicked off a reader giveaway. Today, we’re happy to announce the winner! A new Nexus 7 is currently on its way to Pella, a web publisher based in Sydney.
Payroll disaster: Queensland sues IBM
The Queensland Government has been threatening to sue technology giant IBM over the Queensland Health payroll systems debacle for years, and who could blame it? Well, the only problem is that the former Labor Government actually already settled with IBM over the issue due several years ago to the need to get the system up and running. Despite this, the LNP administration in Queensland confirmed overnight that it had taken IBM to court.
Defence finally allows staff iPhones, iPads
iOS is generally considered a very secure and modern mobile platform — certainly more secure than Android and a heap more modern and functional than BlackBerry’s various offerings. Yet it has taken five years for the Department of Defence to allow its staff to procure iOS devices.
Coles is yet another complex cloud case study
We’ve been seeing some very interesting moves from retail giant Coles over the past several years with respect to cloud computing and software as a service adoption. Nothing revolutionary, but solid moves nonetheless.
Slow day ahead! Your mileage may vary
Apologies, but you're not going to see a lot of stories from Delimiter today. I'll be spending the rest of the day thinking and planning, with a view to making Delimiter better in future. In fact, there's been a fair bit of this going on this week in general.
Super funds botch major technology project
Sometimes it appears as though Australia's Federal and State Governments are the only ones botching major IT projects. And that makes sense, given the frequency of IT project failure in the public sector, and the public nature of the audit reports which examine them. But the private sector also has its failures, as the Financial Review chronicles this week with respect to a number of major superannuation funds.
CommBank CIO rich enough to buy own island
Just how rich is Commonwealth Bank chief information officer Michael Harte? Rich enough to buy his own mediterranean island, according to Ninemsn, which today detailed the executive's attempt to buy the island of Budelli off the coast of Italy.
“Maddening, dispiriting, radically unbalanced”: A full legal analysis of the TPP leaks
In Australian intellectual property circles, there are few names which are more respected than that of Kimberlee Weatherall. That’s why we were personally thrilled to learn that Weatherall has recently published a mammoth blow by blow analysis of the enforcement provisions contained in the recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership IP chapter.
Nokia 1520 lands in Australia
If you are looking to buy a new Nokia, you'd probably be interested to know that the company announced this morning that it would have one more stab at a major local launch, with its new model, the Lumia 1520. The selling point of the 1520 is that it features a 6" full HD 1080p screen, placing it in Galaxy Note range.
Rumours of Aussie Netflix launch
Despite a successful launch in other major first-world nations such as the UK, as well as throughout Latin America, US IPTV giant Netflix has constantly signalled over the past few years its lack of interest in launching its service in Australia. However, all that may be about to change.
Xbox One goes off with a bang … but will the PS4 launch eclipse...
Which console launch are you most excited about, and why? Am I right that the PlayStation 4 has most of the momentum at this point? Or is underdog Microsoft making a comeback with the Xbox One?
AFP monitoring phone data of MPs
When Greens Communications spokesperson Scott Ludlam said in January 2012 that he suspected law enforcement agencies of bugging his mobile phone, we criticised the Senator for making the claim without providing evidence of the claimed nefarious activity. But according to the ABC, the Australian Federal Police admitted in a Senate Estimates session this week that it had monitored various MPs’ communications.
Qld Govt hacked Brisbane’s traffic systems
You would hope, you would really hope, that a major city such as Brisbane, which is about to host the G20 group of twenty global finance ministers and central bank governors, would be in the practice of ensuring that the traffic management systems which govern the operation of systems such as stoplights would be secure from attack. But not so.
Worst CIO job in Australia?
Spare a thought for Eija Seittenranta, who was appointed Department of Parliamentary Services chief information officer in January this year. Not only did Seittenranta find the department’s IT operations to be an absolute shambles when she arrived, but the poor IT executive has to contend with feisty parliamentarians such as Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, who took Seittenranta to task in this extraordinary Senate Estimates hearing (we recommend you watch the video) about the fact that the US National Security Agency may have a back door into the Microsoft software used at Parliament House.
Turnbull reportedly hires Henry Ergas for NBN cost/benefit analysis
If you were seeking to hire independent experts to conduct a cost/benefit analysis on an important piece of national infrastructure, you would probably seek to hire, well, experts who were independent, right? Experts who hadn't previously formed a fixed view on what would be the best way to deploy that infrastructure? Wrong, at least if you're Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Finally! ABC to re-launch iView with Android app
Regular readers of Delimiter will be aware that we’ve long had a beef with the ABC over the public broadcaster’s lack of an iView app for the popular (some would say dominant) Android platform. Well, the ABC looks set to finally rectify that issue, making several announcements relating to Android and the iView more platform generally.
HTC One Max lands, exclusive to Telstra
Are you a fan of HTC's flagship smartphone, the One, but not quite satisfied with the device's already large 4.7" screen? Then you're in luck, because HTC has just launched virtually the same model, but with a much larger 5.9" screen, in Australia exclusively through Telstra.
Tasmanians have copper cut off before NBN connected
You would think ... you would really think, that there would be no possible way that NBN Co, Telstra and retail ISPs like Eftel could so badly coordinate the changeover process from Telstra's copper network to NBN Co's fibre network that any resident could be left without telecommunications access. You would think.
It’s not just Freelancer: Aussie tech IPOs are back in general
Freelancer chief executive Matt Barrie shocked a few in Australia’s tech sector with his mid-September rejection of a $400 million offer from a Japanese HR and recruitment giant to buy his company. The executive’s decision to list his company on the Australian Stock Exchange instead was similarly controversial. However, as I write in Delimiter 2.0 today (subscriber content), Freelancer’s not alone. There’s half a dozen other technology industry companies seeking to list on the ASX late this year or early next.
Yet another major Australian bank goes hard with Amazon cloud
It seems like it was only yesterday that Australia’s major financial services organisations were holding their noses and sniffing at the bad smell that they associated with ‘low-grade’ cloud computing services operated by offshore technology giants such as Amazon Web Services. It was only last month that it was revealed that National Australia Bank had switched its entire public-facing website into Amazon’s cloud, and this week Suncorp joined the throng, planning what The Australian describes as a “complete transfer” into the cloud.
Is Kogan violating the GPL?
There’s a wide-ranging number of largely unanswered allegations that Kogan has breached the terms of the GNU General Public Licence in using open source software in its own-manufactured gadgets.
24 hour GPS tracking: Insurers’ eye on Aussies’ cars
On Reckoner, Anthony Agius catalogues how insurer QBE has recently launched a product in Australia that directly tracks everything you do with you car, and the rather obvious privacy challenges that are already evident.
BoQ, AMP open up major IT outsourcing deals
Wow. It's been a huge week or so in Australia's financial services IT scene, with revelations that two massive, long-running IT outsourcing deals which have been in place for a decade or more may be finally opened up to rivals.
Another view of Greg Adcock’s appointment
If you were reading Delimiter and Delimiter 2.0 yesterday, you may have seen that we took a fairly strong view on the departure of NBN Co chief operating officer Ralph Steffens and the appointment of Telstra’s NBN lead executive Greg Adcock in his place. However, in the interest of balance, and with particular reference to our new formal Code of Ethics published last night, we believe it’s worth alerting readers to another side of this story.
Great FAQ on Australia’s IT startup scene
Are you a Sydney-based technologist interested in getting out of Australia's corporate IT sector and into a hot IT startup? Or perhaps a budding entrepreneur looking to start one? Well, local tech startup consultancy and incubator Pollenizer's got your back. The company's Ben Ma has published an extensive overview of Sydney's tech startup scene.
Bedevilled by politicians: Tasmania’s 12-year FTTP failure
You may not realise it unless you’re a Taswegian, but Labor’s National Broadband Network policy is not the first time residents of the state have been promised a Fibre to the Premises rollout by politicians. Nor is it the second time. In fact, the current NBN promises with regard to Tasmania are the end result of at least 12 years of political pledges made to residents in businesses in the state that they would get better broadband.
NSW Trade + Investment pinged SAP on ByDesign roadmap
Those of you who watch such things closely may recall several weeks ago that a sudden decision by German software giant SAP to end active development of its ailing Business ByDesign online software suite left the New South Wales Government’s premier cloud computing business systems pilot stranded without a future roadmap. Well, it appears that the NSW Department of Trade & Investment didn’t take SAP’s move sitting down.
Federal education dept in major AWS cloud pilot
It's not often you see examples of cloud computing deployments in major Federal Government departments. With the exception, it turns out, of the Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, which went a little cloud-crazy before it was split in two after the Federal Election.
Huawei: Did the Coalition just play us all?
Is it really believable that Tony Abbott's formerly highly disciplined front bench spontaneously started debating the Huawei issue through the media, despite the fact that the Prime Minister has notoriously drawn all the strings of the media close to his chest? Or is there something more at work here -- a coordinated effort, designed to meet multiple, complex aims simultaneously?
An inside investigation into the Teoh family
Ever wondered who actually runs top-tier Australian telco TPG? So have we. Your writer has been reporting on Australia's telecommunications industry for almost a decade now and I've never met or spoken to reclusive TPG chief executive David Teoh, despite the fact that the executive runs one of Australia's largest telcos and has a habit of buying others.
Did Russia give Bob Carr a bugged USB key?
According to massive Italian newspaper Corrierre della Sera, through the Daily Telegraph in Australia (we recommend you click here for the Daily Telegraph’s version, as it’s not in Italian), at the recent G20 Summit in Russia, the country gave G20 leaders, including then-Foreign Minister Bob Carr, USB keys which included bugging functionality
Corruption raises its ugly head in Australia’s technology sector
The newspaper alleged, and Leighton has substantially verified, the fact that staff from Visionstream were suspected of aiding Silcar staff in stealing Visionstream tender files relating to a $240 million contract to deploy Optus’s 4G network, which the two contractors were competing to bid. I’ll have a separate article on that situation shortly.
What you may not realise is that this not an isolated incident.
IBM Australia to cut 1,000 staff, reports ABC
I’d like to see a little more transparency from IBM with respect to this issue. Of course IBM is entitled to shift around staff and re-balance its headcount. But when we’re talking about redundancies as high as 1,000 workers, large companies such as IBM have a responsibility to their customers, to their staff and to their shareholders to let a little more information out of the kimono. 1,000 staff is not 100. And it would be ethical of IBM to let us know a little more about what’s going on here.
Exposing whistleblowers: AFP logs phone calls of MPs + journos
Are you a journalist or a politician? Do you use your telephone to have private conversations about sensitive information? You do? That seems logical, given the position that you're in. Well, you may want to have a re-think about just how private that avenue of communication is, given that the Australian Federal Police recently revealed it occasionally examines the call logs of MPs and journalists (without their knowledge) in an attempt to track down whistleblowers or leakers within the Government.
A few tips for Labor’s new Comms Ministers
So you’re a new Labor Shadow Minister in the Communications Portfolio, and you’re considering how best to push Labor’s all-fibre NBN policy and stick it to Liberal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Or perhaps you’re a techno-savvy Labor backbencher who wants to get in on the action. What angle should you be taking to take on the Viscount of Vaucluse?
CenITex turfs almost all contractors
Those of you with a long-term interest in Victorian Government IT shared services provider CenITex will remember that the agency was several years ago known far and wide for the high rates it was paying its extensive contractor workforce. No more: Most of those contractors are now gone.
Conflict of interest: Milne’s $1.5m in Telstra shares
If you had spent a decade in a high-profile role at Telstra that netted you $1.5 million worth of shares in the telco, would you consider it a good idea to sell those shares before taking a similarly high-profile role at NBN Co, which is engaged in billion-dollar negotiations with Telstra that could significantly affect Telstra's share price?
AAPT is up for sale … yet again
The Financial Review reports today that Telecom New Zealand is once again trying to offload its AAPT asset (when is it not?)
Turnbull stacks NBN Review with Telstra cronies
You can find my thoughts on Justin Milne and other recent NBN appointments under the new Coalition Federal Government in a piece published on Delimiter 2.0 this morning that I titled 'Stacking the deck: NBN Review filled with Turnbull cronies'.
Michelle Rowland vs “Minister for dial-up” Turnbull: The Grudge Match continues
It's all well and good that cool head Jason Clare has been appointed Shadow Minister for Communications, but we think the real story is the appointment of Member for Greenway Michelle Rowland as his assistant Minister. Rowland has had a habit over the past several years of taking down Malcolm Turnbull in the portfolio, or, as the MP has liked to describe Turnbull, "the Shadow Minister for dial-up".
Reversal: Telstra no longer keen on Windows Live
It seems like only yesterday that Telstra first confirmed it was interested in dumping the email, blogging, photos and online storage platforms used by customers of its BigPond division and migrating customers to Microsoft’s Windows Live platform. However, it hasn't precisely been an easy transition for the two companies.
Delivery drones: Approach with caution
As many people will be aware, yesterday an Australian startup named Flirtey announced that it in March next year, it would launch a commercial drone package delivery service, using "fully automated drones" to deliver packages in inner Sydney through short flights. But can this claim be believed?
Your problem: Rich-Phillips hands CenITex to Mailes
Those of you who’ve been around for a while will know that we’re not the greatest fans at Delimiter of Victorian IT shared services agency CenITex. From unethical procurement practices to a basic inability to deliver some of the services it promised, the agency has a penchant for getting itself in hot water with the media, politicians and even the internal Victorian Government agencies it’s seeking to serve. Which is why the State Government sacked its board and is now hot in the process of outsourcing its core functions. The next step, according to a media release issued by the Victorian Government this morning, is to start refreshing the agency’s board.
Telstra now has 10,000 offshore staff
Wondering how many staff the nation’s biggest telco Telstra has located overseas, following its decision over the past several years to end its previous moratorium on offshore support? Wonder no more, for, through the magic of journalism, the Sydney Morning Herald has discovered the full extent of the big T’s offshoring efforts.
iTunes Radio to hit Australia early 2014
According to Bloomberg, iTunes Radio is to launch in Australia in early 2014.
Why NBN Co should finish Tassie FTTP rollout
If you've been reading Australia's technology media recently, you will not have been able to escape the fact that quite a few people in Tasmania are more than a little bit unhappy about the fact that they may not get the Fibre to the Premises-based National Broadband Network they were promised. Well, as I argue on Delimiter 2.0 this afternoon, the FTTP-based NBN rollout should proceed as planned, due to the specific situation in the state.
Um … what? No open tender for Qld’s cloud email
Queensland IT Minister Ian Walker has been vocal about wanting to adopt a whole of government email platform based on cloud computing, rather than the internally-deployed approach that failed Queensland last time around. The only problem is, according to iTNews, now that the state has decided to progress with a cloud-based email platform, it's not doing so via open tender.
Palantir exposed: Crikey reveals surveillance giant’s Aussie operations
According to a wide-ranging expose on Palantir Technologies published by Crikey, it has become clear that the firm is rapidly growing its operations down under.
Optus wins $60m deal with Virgin
Based on the amount of activity we're seeing from Optus at the moment, it looks as though the telco is really taking it to big brother Telstra. And that, as anyone who is in favour of strong competition in Australia's telecommunications sector will agree, is a fantastic thing. Nice one.
NBN Board: Turnbull not taking his own advice
If you've been following the ongoing speculation around who, precisely, new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is planning to appoint to his refreshed NBN Co board, you will be aware that the Member for Wentworth has been beating a constant drum about NBN Co's board needing more talent with direct experience rolling out telecommunications networks. The only problem is, Turnbull doesn't appear to be taking his own advice.
Qld IT agencies downsize by 600 staff
We’ve known for a while that the new Campbell Newman-led LNP administration in Queensland has been slashing and burning when it comes to IT jobs inside departments. But we haven’t quite been able to get full visibility on just how drastically some of the state’s key IT-focused agencies have been shrinking until now.
Delimiter featured in new media book
An insider’s look at Delimiter and how it works is contained in a new book, What’s Next in Journalism?, published by established journalism academic Margaret Simons.
Rip-off: Telstra wants $20 a month to share data between devices
Telstra attempts customer rip-off with data sharing plans which will cost at least an extra $480 over a two-year mobile phone plan.
Intel buys Barrie’s Sensory Networks
Those of you who’ve been following the exploits of Freelancer.com chief executive and all-round celebrity Australian technologist Matt Barrie will no doubt be interested in the news that one of the other companies Barrie helped found, high-performance networking outfit Sensory Networks, has been bought by giant chipmaker Intel for about $20m.
NAB moves website into Amazon cloud
In an article in The Australian newspaper this morning, it was revealed that NAB had switched its entire public-facing website into Amazon’s cloud (excluding, of course, sensitive areas such as Internet banking).
This is what happens with vertically integrated monopolies
If you were under any illusions about Telstra's nature as a vertically integrated telecommunications monopoly being wholly intact in Australia, just case your eye over what's happening with the ongoing attempts by Foxtel to launch its own broadband service in Australia.
Defence knocks HP out of datacentre deal
The Department of Defence's Centralised Processing contract has been out to market for a year, with IBM, HP and Lockheed Martin the players in contention. However, this week Defence knocked HP out of the running.
Telstra cuts 1,100 ops jobs
Is Telstra ever not cutting jobs in one division or another? The company seems to go through a purge every few six months or so, at least in my decade-long tenure as a technology journalist. The latest cuts were announced this week.
Why Simon Hackett should be on the NBN board
There's no doubt about it: Internode founder Simon Hackett is a perfect candidate to sit on NBN Co's board, and what's more, he has the time these days to make a solid contribution.
NSW, SA lose Health CIOs
From Intermedium this morning comes news that health departments in both South Australia and New South Wales are looking for new chief information officers, with their long-time incumbents departing and making way for new public servants in their roles.
Dutton kicks off e-health review
New Health Minister Peter Dutton is moving ahead with a review of Labor's troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record Scheme.
Following CenITex: NSW may outsource ServiceFirst functions
The NSW Government has finally confirmed it is looking to follow Victoria with CenITex and may outsource key chunks of the IT shared services work being done by ServiceFirst and Businesslink.
NAB starts getting real about BYOD
It's only been six months or so since the National Australia Bank admitted that it had cautiously -- ever so cautiously -- dipped its toe into the turbulent waters of implementing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme in its operations. However, NAB appears to have already become a convert of the philosophy.
iPad minis replace Windows Mobile at Arnott’s
From iTNews earlier this month comes a rather interesting story about how food giant Campbell Arnott’s has deployed a fleet of several hundred iPad mini tablets to replace legacy Windows Mobile devices being used by its field staff.
A deep investigation into Telstra’s copper
Over at the ABC, technology + games editor Nick Ross (he of the 11,000 word articles on the subject and of the Media Watch coverage) has continued his deep investigation into the dynamics of the National Broadband Network under the Coalition, with a pair of articles published this week into the question of whether Telstra’s copper network can actually be used for fibre to the node, as the Coalition is planning to use it.
Australia’s second dot com boom is here
If you've been paying attention to Australia's technology startup sector recently, you might have noticed that it's absolutely booming. Tens of millions of dollars are being ploughed into new startups, incubators and co-working spaces are popping up all over the place, and successful startups like Freelancer.com are considering massive stock market listings.
Taxi app goCatch picks up $3m investment; Uber offers ‘free’ week in Sydney
Uber this week announced a somewhat-free week in Sydney, allowing users up to $60 worth of credit on its service. Meanwhile the service which is emerging as its main local competitor, goCatch, just pulled in a cool $3 million in venture capital.
Optus extends TD-LTE network to other cities
Optus last week revealed that it had switched on its TD-LTE '4G Plus' mobile broadband in a further four capital cities: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.
$530m telco deal: ANZ Bank re-signs Optus
Those of you with long memories will recall that one of Optus’s most significant corporate telecommunications deals in Australia was signed back in May 2009 with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. Well, it looks as though ANZ must be at least a little happy with Optus, as yesterday morning the bank issued a joint media release with the telco noting it had resigned the deal for another five years, in a contract worth $530 million.
How NBN spite has damaged the Turnbull brand: Get a free Delimiter 2.0 article
It’s been several months now since we launched Delimiter 2.0 with a subscription model. Since it’s been a while, we thought it might be a good time to give those who have yet to subscribe a taste of what they’re missing. This morning we disabled the paywall on one specific article, entitled: Conduct unbecoming: How NBN spite has damaged the Turnbull brand.
People power: NBN dissent raises its head
With the election over, there is a growing body of evidence that more mainstream dissent against the Coalition's inferior fibre to the node-based policy is growing fast. There's suddenly a new public enemy #1, when it comes to broadband. And his name is Malcolm Turnbull.
HP’s Caspari quits after just one year
It's been reportedly extremely widely in Australia's technology media over the past 24 hours that HP South Pacific Managing Director David Caspari has resigned his post and will leave the company.
Why Ziggy Switkowski shouldn’t be appointed to run NBN Co
Over the past several days there’s been a plethora of articles speculating that Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is about to appoint former Telstra and Optus chief executive Ziggy Switkowski to run NBN Co as the company’s executive chairman. However, as I write on Delimiter 2.0 this morning, this would be a terrible idea and an incredible hypocritical move for Turnbull.
Kogan puts company up for sale
Depending on what you choose to believe, a report published by the Financial Review this morning suggests that either Ruslan Kogan may have run out of energy and is looking to take a break or is looking to take his business to the next stage with a decent slab of capital injection.
Telstra trialling 450Mbps 4G, says AFR
It’s only been a couple of months since mobile carrier Vodafone started claiming it’s got Australia’s fastest mobile broadband network, and although our tests show it has some basis to the claim, it appears it’s not a claim Telstra is going to take sitting down. The Financial Review newspaper reports this morning that the big T is testing mobile broadband speeds up to 450Mbps.
Australian agencies have NSA encryption access
Remember how international media outlets The Guardian, The New York Times and ProPublica revealed last week that the US National Security Agency had developed the ability to break some commonly used forms of Internet encryption? Scary, huh? Well, what you may not have realised is that Australia’s own intelligence agencies reportedly have access to the technology.
Japanese firm makes $400m offer for Freelancer.com
Thought Australian outsourcing marketplace Freelancer.com was going to grow up into a strong, Australia-based company that would conquer the world? Well, it appears that you may be wrong. According to US technology blog TechCrunch, Japanese HR and recruitment giant Recruit Co. has made a $400 million offer to buy Matt Barrie’s bouncing baby boy.
No core IT overhaul in Westpac’s future
Westpac has stepped away from its core banking IT upgrade plans for now, according to the Financial Review.
ispONE sold … without Kogan Mobile
Those who’ve been following the Kogan Mobile saga will be interested to know that the wholesale company at the heart of all the controversy, ispONE, has been sold. However, Kogan has still not been able to negotiate arrangements for its affected customers.
NSW cloud policy inadequate, says consultant
Marten Hauville, a technical business consultant at local firm buildpartner, has examined the NSW Government's new cloud computing policy in detail, and found it extremely lacking.
FTTP NBN no big loss, claims Gizmodo
According to Gizmodo, the loss of Labor's fibre to the premises National Broadband Network policy is no cause for Australian technologists to "mourn".
Does Yammer still have momentum in Australia?
I’m not sure where corporate social networking is at the moment in Australia, but I think it’s fair to say, at a minimum, that Yammer appears to have lost a little of its momentum in the area. Perhaps the first rollout we’ve seen in a while comes in news from iTNews today with regard to Adelaide City Council.
Bugcrowd picks up $1.6m funding
There might not be enough capital floating around in Australia’s IT startup ecosystem for it to expand at the rate some would like, but some startups, at least, are not finding much difficulty with raising capital. Crowdsourced security startup Bugcrowd today revealed it had picked up $1.6 million in funding from Australian and US investors.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Note 10.1, Gear coming to Australia “soon”
Samsung has announced several products at IFA overnight which will be of deep interest to Australian consumers, including the third edition of its popular Galaxy Note smartphones, a new 10" Android tablet, and its long-expected smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear. The good news is that all of the new Samsung hotness will be coming to Australia "soon".
Santos reveals Win8 tablet rollout
From the sidelines of Microsoft's TechEd conference on the Gold Coast this week, Computerworld reports that oil and gas giant Santos has confirmed plans to deploy Windows 8 tablets throughout its business.
Delimiter endorses Greens based on tech policy
In an article on Delimiter 2.0 today (subscriber content), I argue that the Greens are the best option for technologists in the Federal Election, winning out over the Pirate Party by a nose.
Microsoft goes Windows Azure crazy: Aussie deployments ahoy as TechEd kicks off
Redmond has just published three extensive case studies of how Australian customers and partners are using its Windows Azure platform (which encompasses infrastructure as a service, storage as a service, and even platform as a service, to name a few of its aspects).
Australia’s IT startups need more capital
According to Phil Morle, the co-founder of startup incubator and consultancy Pollenizer, the situation still isn’t where it needs to be in terms of IT startup funding in Australia.
Microsoft bans Stilgherrian from TechEd
Opinionated Australian technology writer Stilgherrian has been banned from Microsoft's TechEd conference this year, after a bunch of caustic tweets caught the attention of the company during last year's event.
Getting beyond the cloud hype: A great interview with DFAT’s CIO
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade CIO Tuan Dao talks about his belief for cloud computing technologies, while also noting that he doesn't buy into the hype around the new paradigm.
NBN? No big deal, says Armidale
According to Business Insider, most residents of the rural NSW city of Armidale couldn't care less that the NBN's fibre has come to their region.
NAB loses CIO Denis McGee
As reported by half a dozen media outlets over the past 24 hours, long-time National Australia Bank senior IT executive Denis McGee, who has most recently held the post of chief information officer, has resigned.
What would Turnbull need to do in his first 100 days as Communications Minister?
Turnbull has made a very strident argument over the past several years that Labor needs to drastically rework its National Broadband Network policy. Well, it looks like the Viscount of Vaucluse is about to get his chance to make that argument reality. Will Turnbull fold or fly in his first 100 days in office, if the Coalition takes power next week?
New Nexus 7 launches in Australia
Google has launched the new version of its Nexus 7 tablet in Australia.
Govt spying through undersea cables
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, new revelations coming out of US whistleblower Edwards Snowden have revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate habitually taps undersea fibre-optic cables from Australia.
Fujitsu/SAP project goes off the rails in NT
An IT project go off the rails in Australia? One involving a government department? Off the rails in terms of its project implementation timeframe and its budget? And most of the problem stemmed from its poor project management and governance structures? Who would have thought that this could possibly happen in a million years?
Govt CTO Sheridan on open source, cloud
Federal Government chief technology officer John Sheridan gives his views on cloud computing and open source use in the Federal Government, in a wide-ranging speech to Forrester's Summit for chief information officers in Sydney.
‘Red’: Vodafone overhauls plan structure
Bit by bit, cell tower by cell tower upgrade, customer by customer, Vodafone is attempting to bring its ailing operations in Australia back into the black. Today's new initiative from the big V is a new mobile plan structure which will see three price points established with "infinite standard calls" and "infinite texts".
NBN politics stems from missed targets
It is the delays with Labor's National Broadband Network project which has opened the door for the Coalition to attack the project.
HP brings SAP’s hosted HANA on-shore
SAP and HP announced this morning that they would be provided HANA as a service, and (for once), Australia is the first location globally to be able to access it.
Alert: Slow week ahead + site upgrade
Just a quick notice to let you all know about some scheduling for this week with respect to Delimiter. This week we're going to be taking a 'slow week', which means we'll post 2-3 limited stories a day, a bit less than the normal 5-6. Delimiter 2.0 will likely have one major story published. This is primarily to give your humble editor a bit of a break after a very busy period, while still keeping an eye on the important stories ;)
WA Govt puts one foot in the cloud
We're gradually seeing government departments and agencies around Australia deploy bits and pieces from the huge kit-bag collectively known as cloud computing. It's been a slow journey, but it's getting there. News of new steps in the Western Australian Government comes this week from iTNews, which reports on several small cloud-based projects which have recently taken place.
Qld Heath payroll: Senior bureaucrats sacked
The fallout from the payroll systems disaster at Queensland Health is continuing, as hard as that may be to believe. This morning Queensland Premier Campbell Newman took the unusual step of sacking a number of senior state government bureaucrats who had been involved in the debacle.
Falling from the sky: How hubris brought down Kogan Mobile
Whose fault is the failure of Kogan Mobile, just nine months after it launched? Who should take responsibility for the fact that 120,000 Australians are about to have their prepaid mobile plans chopped off at the leg? Kogan itself? Its upstream partner ispONE? Telstra? Or should Kogan’s customers have expected all along that the offer the company took to the market was too good to be true? In this (subscriber only) piece for Delimiter 2.0, I argue every party to the process contributed to the fiasco.
WikiLeaks Party implodes, candidates quit
WikiLeaks Senate candidate Leslie Cannold quits the party, alleging impropriety in its internal processes.
NSW Govt releases IT anti-corruption guide
Most IT professionals of any seniority are pretty much familiar by now with the sometimes shady tactics used by technology vendors during the procurement process, but just how open is the public discussion around that issue, and what can be done to tighten things up? The answers for many people, until now, have been pretty much “not that open” and “keep a close eye on them”. In an attempt to shine some sunlight on the situation and inject some rigour back into the process, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has this week published a whitepaper on the issue.
The NBN alone does not guarantee a strong “digital economy”
If you listen to the rhetoric emanating from Australia’s political sector, especially the Australian Labor Party, you’d no doubt believe that the construction of the NBN alone was enough to guarantee that Australia will develop a strong local technology startup culture, similar to that found in Silicon Valley in the US, or in other locations internationally such as Tel Aviv in Israel. However, as one of Australia’s most experienced startup mentors and commentators, Sandy Plunkett, writes, this simply isn’t true.
No matter who wins the election, here’s why Telstra should build the NBN
The issue of how the National Broadband Network should be rolled out is an extremely fraught and highly debated one. But one thing has become very clear over the past several years: The rollout has not progressed as fast as Labor said it would; in fact, far from it. One reason for this may be that the organisation with the most expertise in rolling out telco networks hasn’t participated in the construction effort, unlike in virtually every other country in the world. If we want this rollout to happen, it is definitely time to turn back to Telstra to get this thing done.
Bankwest in massive Windows 8 rollout
Large Windows 8 rollouts have been thin on the ground in Australia since Microsoft released its newest operating system last year, but there have been a handful exposed -- and more are apparently coming. This morning iTNews adds Commonwealth Bank subsidiary Bankwest to the list.
ispONE implodes, cancels Telstra contracts
Well, it looks like those rumours that mobile wholesale player ispONE (which supplies services to both ALDIMobile and Kogan Mobile) was going bankrupt were true. The company's Federal Court action against Telstra to stop the telco from cancelling its service to ispONE appears to have been railroaded by ispONE's sudden move to go into administration.
CommBank’s Kaching app: A perfect IT/business alignment case study
The collossal success of the Commonwealth Banks's Kaching mobile, social and NFC payments system demonstrates starkly what Australian chief information officers can achieve when they put their mind to it and how rapidly Australians will take up good technology and is a perfect case study for how IT can align with the business to achieve real business outcomes.
Great startup insight from 99designs
Often I've found, in my field of online publishing, that the solution you're looking to with regard to a problem you're experiencing has already been worked out by someone else -- someone you can easily talk to about it. Startups thrive when they interface with each other and share lessons.
NBN Co’s constant network launches: Breaching the Caretaker Conventions?
Over the past week, the National Broadband Network Company has held no less than five launch events to mark the switch-on of its fibre network infrastructure in Queensland and Western Sydney, locations which will be critical to the Australian Labor Party if it is to retain power in the upcoming Federal Election. All of the events have been dominated by the attendance of Labor politicians, and have been broadly interpreted by the media as being election campaign events. NBN Co claims the events are just business as usual, but even if that's true, Labor is still using them to gain a massive election boost.
Conroy is a massive Dr Who fan
Former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy used his ministerial powers to keep Dr Who on the air, the ABC has revealed.
Cloud, Windows 8 may sneak into Canberra through Tourism Australia
At least one Federal Government agency, Tourism Australia, may be on the verge of taking the cloud computing plunge on multiple fronts.
Coalition to spend $100m on mobile blackspots
Did you know there were other telecommunications-related issues being discussed in the Federal Election campaign than the National Broadband Network? No? Neither did I. But there apparently are.
NBN proof is in the pudding, not in the promises
Watching last night's Lateline debate about the National Broadband Network, I have to say, I was really impressed with both sides. However, what concerns me at the moment is not what's being promised, but what may end up being delivered.
Telstra may terminate 280k mobile services
Wholesale telco ispONE this morning issued a media release stating that it had filed an application with the Federal Court seeking to stop its own upstream provider, Telstra, from terminating the supply of prepaid mobile services to ispONE. Why is this an issue? Because if Telstra moves ahead with the move, it will result in some 280,000 customers losing their mobile access.
Metronode launches NSW Govt datacentre
Those of you who’ve been paying attention to the developing situation with respect to IT inside the NSW Government will be aware that the state is currently attempting to consolidate its far-flung IT infrastructure down to just two datacentres, operated by Leighton subsidiary Metronode. This morning, Metronode tells us in a media release, one of those facilities launched to great pomp and ceremony.
No Android ABC iView? “Outrageous”, says Huawei
Chinese device manufacturer Huawei severely criticises the ABC for not developing an Android version of its popular iView iOS app.
Dual-mode LG G2 heading to Optus
Optus reveals it will be bringing a dual-mode FDD-LTE/TD-LTE version of LG's new G2 announced this week to Australia.
Screwing the pooch: How IBM’s Qld Health disaster will change IT project governance
The remarkable thing about the Commission of Inquiry report is that it stays lays out IBM's culpability in a way which previous audits conducted by the Queensland Auditor-General and consulting firm KPMG did not.
Crystal ball gazing? Politics? AFR claims NBN Co will miss 2014 targets
Just how far out ahead is NBN Co able to predict the progress of its network rollout? Quite far, according to the Financial Review newspaper, which this morning published a front page article claiming it had seen internal projections that already stated NBN Co would miss its June 2014 rollout targets.
Abbott, Turnbull: No NBN talks with Murdoch
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull both deny they've held discussions with News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch over the National Broadband Network.
Why the NBN probably won’t kill Foxtel
The theory that the National Broadband Network is a threat to Foxtel's pay TV business doesn't really hold water.
NBN Press Club debate: It’s on
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese and Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have agreed to debate the National Broadband Network, likely at the National Press Club.
Reality check: Murdoch doesn’t want to kill the NBN
Over the past day or so, quite a few readers have made me aware of this controversial article published by long-time Paul Sheehan at The Age. In it, Sheehan makes the somewhat controversial claim that the constant string of negative articles which we’ve come to expect from News Corporation newspapers such as The Australian and the Daily Telegraph have had the aim of destroying the NBN to shore up the future of News Corp stablemate Foxtel. My response was published on Delimiter 2.0 yesterday.
IT startups pan ‘narrow’ tax changes
Those of you who were watching closely would have noticed that the Federal Government finally last week released a discussion paper looking at new rules for Australian technology startups (see the media release here), which would make it much easier for IT startups with 10 staff or less to launch share programs for employees without having those programs attract massive taxation headaches. But do the rules go far enough?
Federal Govt releases big data strategy
The Federal Government has this afternoon released the formal version of its whole of government big data strategy, which whole of government chief information officer Glenn Archer and others in the Canberra public sector have been working on for some time.
So is G.Fast a thing or not?
Those who were closely observing Malcolm Turnbull’s debate with Business Spectator public Alan Kohler yesterday will have noted Turnbull’s reference to an emerging standard known as G.Fast. Turnbull made the somewhat controversial claim, according to ZDNet that G.Fast could eventually spur 1Gbps speeds over FTTN networks. But is G.Fast a reality, or another broadband pipe dream?
No Moto X news for Australia
So you probably caught the news overnight that Google subsidiary Motorola has finally unveiled its new superphone, the Moto X, and you're likely pretty excited about this. But calm down a little -- initially there are no plans to bring the device to Australia.
Kogan denies “bait & switch” mobile scam
Sometimes we amuse ourselves with thinking about what would make the perfect story on a mainstream media site like News.com.au. Well, this story published on News.com.au this morning involving Kogan Mobile really takes the cake.
Miner Barrick picks cloud financials
Listed IT services firm Empired has teamed up with fellow IT services firm Oakton to win a contract to provide resources company Barrick Gold with a range of cloud-based IT services.
Brisbane City Council loses CIO Brant
Brisbane City Council chief information officer Nicholas Brant is to leave the organisation, right as Brisbane, the largest council organisation in Australia is in the middle of several major technology initiatives, including offshoring a substantial number of IT roles, shifting some work into the cloud and spending $353 million on a comprehensive, SAP-based businesses administration system.
Optus launches dual TD/FDD-LTE handsets: Samsung Galaxy S4 + mini
Optus revealed today that it will sell dual-mode 4G handsets from Samsung to support its new 2300Mhz TD-LTE infrastructure which has already launched in Canberra and is slated to reach around the rest of Australia.
Yes, the AFR’s Lenovo story is still accurate
Right now, without saying where we have obtained our information, it seems clear that the Financial Review's report on this issue is broadly accurate. In short, although the specifics of the ban are unclear, the newspaper is correct that Lenovo machines are not used in certain areas of Defence.
BT rollout shows what Australia could have had
I've been closely observing the rollout of BT's fibre to the node network in the UK, and while I don't think Australia should go down the same path now, I do think the BT example gives Australia a clear reminder of what could have been ... if we hadn't screwed it all up over the past decade.
$5 per day flat rate: Vodafone revamps global roaming options
Ever been hit with a massive global roaming bill? Vodafone's got your back. The telco this morning announced that it would be implementing a flat $5 per day fee for customers using their mobiles in popular international destinations such as the UK, US and New Zealand.
Telstra ready for NBN asbestos work again
It seems like Telstra went from a situation where asbestos contamination was randomly occurring around Australia at NBN worksites, to a situation two months later where Telstra appears to believe that everything is under control. But does this really represent the situation on the ground, or is it all just Telstra PR guff?
New Nexus 7 may hit Australia in Sept
We don’t have any inside information to share, but according to Ausdroid, the new Nexus 7 may hit Australia as early as September. Niiiice.
Google starts demoing Glass in Australia
Google has shipped a couple of Glass units to Australia and has started demonstrating them with local media.
Wollongong club group ditches email
Matt O’Hara, a club owner in Wollongong, has largely gotten rid of email for good, and is reportedly happier for it.
Chinese spy concerns: Key Australian defence agencies ban Lenovo
According to the Financial Review, PCs made by Lenovo have been banned from the “secret” and ‘‘top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, due to similar spying concerns as have been published about Chinese networking vendor Huawei.
Parliament opens up to non-BlackBerry smartphones
The Federal Parliament allows a selection of politicans and staff access to smartphones from Apple, Samsung and Nokia, in addition to existing BlackBerry options.
New charging options for Delimiter 2.0
New yearly subscription and once-off individual article pricing launch for Delimiter 2.0.
Nokia’s supersized Lumia 625 hits Oz; But does it even matter?
We can’t help but wonder at this point whether anyone will truly care, given the existing proliferation of Nokia Lumia models in Australia, but seeing as it’s our job to do so, we thought we’d inform you all of the availability of a new model in the Lumia line down under. Nokia tells us this morning that the company’s Lumia 625 is shortly to land on Australian shores.
Qld Govt planning to cut 430 IT staff
The Queensland Government flags plans to cut some 430 ICT staff, as the state's ongoing problems with its ICT service delivery structure continue to bite.
China’s Aussie ambassador denies Huawei spying
If someone has some direct evidence that Huawei has been spying for the Chinese Government, then let them come forward with that evidence. So far all we have is hearsay and innuendo. And that is not enough, as Huawei and China’s Ambassador to Australia have clearly stated, when we’re talking about billion dollar contracts and the reputation of one of the world’s largest technology vendors. As Huawei has said, on this issue, “put up, or shut up”.
Can agency-led innovation help transcend failing Whole of Government ICT strategies?
According to Ovum research director Steve Hodgkinson, there are lessons to be learnt from the poor outcomes of whole of government ICT strategies in Australia; revolving around the need for innovation to be pushed through individual departments.
The plot thickens: Going deeper into NBN Co’s spat with Turnbull
For those who've been watching the developing situation between Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the board of NBN Co, particularly its chair, Siobhan McKenna (pictured above), there are two new pieces of content this morning which you may be interested in.
iPad mini giveaway: The winner revealed
You may remember that in March Delimiter kicked off a reader giveaway. To enter to get a chance to win an Apple iPad mini tablet, you had to sign up to our new weekly newsletter before the beginning of May. Today, we’re happy to announce the winner! An iPad mini is currently on its way to Alan Heydon, a project manager in Western Australia. Congrats Alan! Enjoy your new iPad mini :)
Telstra may sue Voda over 4G speed claims
Telstra threatens legal action against Vodafone over the claimed speeds of its 4G network.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 range hits Australia
Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung this morning launched its latest range of Android tablets at a breakfast event in Sydney. There are three models in the new Galaxy Tab 3 line, in three different sizes: 7″, 8″ and 10.1″, which will be selling for pretty great prices — $249, $349 and $399 respectively.
Microsoft cuts Surface RT price by $170
File this in the category of predictable price cuts for poorly performing products. Microsoft, it was revealed overnight, has cut the price of its Surface RT tablet, which runs a cut-down version of Windows 8.
Govt ICT apprenticeships open
Spoiling for a career in IT in the public sector? You're in luck. The Federal Government has just opened its ICT apprenticeship and cadetship program again.
Massive ERP overhaul for NSW Transport
To my mind, this is the perfect project to be set up for failure. It has all the 'danger' flags: A major consolidation of business systems, a huge budget, projected savings and so on. We've seen precisely this kind of project go haywire in multiple states over the past half-decade.
AFP blocks FoI access to social media info
Some five months ago, Pirate Party Australia founder Rodney Serkowski made what many would consider to be a fairly standard Freedom of Information request with the Australian Federal Police, relating to data collected through social media channels. The request has been denied in its entirety.
It’s on: Husic takes the NBN fight to Turnbull
To those of you who have been spoiling to see a head-on debate between charismatic Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and young gun Labor MP Ed Husic, following the latter's appointment under Kevin Rudd as Parliamentary Secretary for Broadband, you need wait no longer.
Classification Board allows State of Decay through
According to Gizmodo, quoting the Classification Board, drug references have been removed from the Australian version of openworld zombie survival game State of Decay, allowing it to be classified under the new R18+ rating.
Govt fails Gershon contractor targets
Remember how then-Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner commissioned British efficiency expert Sir Peter Gershon back in 2008 to undertake a review of the Federal Government’s use of ICT? Remember how one of the conclusions of Gershon’s review was that departments and agencies were asked to drastically reduce their use of external contractors? Well, according to iTNews, the Government has broadly failed to meet those targets.
Watch this space
Over the next two days (today and Thursday), Delimiter will be on a publishing hiatus, while we work on a substantial other project behind the scenes, entitled Delimiter 2.0. If really important news breaks, then we will cover it, but for this two day period most of our energies will be going towards a separate project.
Will a Coalition Govt pump IT outsourcing?
Those of you will long memories will recall that it was the Howard administration which first kicked the Federal Government into gear back in 1997 in terms of the now-common practice of outsourcing key IT services to the private sector. And now there are fears an Abbott administration could push down that road strongly again.
Informa analyst slams NBN ‘political sideshow’
We can’t help but agree with wise comments by seasoned Informa telecommunications analyst Tony Brown. In an opinionated article, Brown broadly argues that the NBN is pretty much a normal infrastructure project — but that the political debate swirling around it has obscured the actual project and outcomes.
Govt cloud use to require Ministers’ approval
A policy which stipulates that only one individual in the whole Federal Government can approve the use of IT assets in a certain manner is, by definition, asinine and irrational.
Lumia 925 hits Australia this month
Nokia's Lumia 925 is a similar model to its previous top of the range smartphone, the Lumia 920, but with a thinner and lighter casing and some other minor improvements. Can it move the needle for Nokia?
Huawei confirms Ascend P6 for 15 July
We've been getting gradually more impressed with the smartphones launched in Australia by Chinese vendor Huawei over the past several years, although they haven't quite measured up to the best that top of the line vendors like Apple, Samsung and HTC have been able to deliver. The newest cab off Huawei's rank is the Ascend P6.
iiNet threatens to ditch NBN altogether
In one of the more outlandish statements we've seen regarding the at-times fraught relationship between NBN Co and its bevy of retail ISPs (RSPs), the nation's number three fixed line telco iiNet has publicly threatened to walk away from its relationship with NBN Co, in a move which would mean NBN services would no longer be available through the telco.
Symantec dumps Aussie support staff
According to iTNews, security vendor Symantec has dumped what little Australian technical support presence it had, offshoring the jobs overseas.
When academics perpetuate NBN ignorance
Professor Zumbo, we humbly submit that it might be wise for you take another look at the fundamental premises contained in your NBN article in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning. We humbly suggest that the degree of academic rigour contained within is sadly ... inferior.
UNSW publishes detailed cloud/data sovereignty toolkit
The University of New South Wales's widely respected Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre has published what I would consider to be a very useful whitepaper investigating data sovereignty issues related to cloud computing in the Australian context.
Apparently people still buy SPARC servers
According to a media release issued by Oracle Australia this morning, apparently SPARC servers are still in vogue. Who knew?
Fujitsu’s history in Australia: A decent eBook
Some of you may be aware that Japanese technology giant Fujitsu recently celebrated the 40-year anniversary of its launch in the Australian market. As part of the festivities, the company hired credible local technology journalist Graeme Philipson to put together an eBook chronicling that period.
ASG picks up WA IT services work
Nice work if you can get it. Perth-headquartered IT services outfit has revealed several major new tranches of IT services work over the past several weeks that is putting it in good stead with the Western Australian State Government.
After a decade, ATO finally launches Mac e-tax
Long-time Australian users of Apple's flagship Macintosh line will be rapt with the news that the Australian Taxation Office has finally launched a version of its e-tax electronic tax return lodgement software which works on Mac OS X.
NBN chair seeks Quigley replacement?
Indications continue to firm up that NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley is not long for the position, despite the pivotal role he has played in getting the NBN -- Australia's largest-ever infrastructure project -- off the ground.
IBM Australia jobs going across the Tasman? Great, says New Zealand
We can’t help but be amused by this article in New Zealand’s premiere business newspaper, the National Business Review. In it, veteran technology reporter Chris Keall lampoons an email received by subscribers of the Australian Financial Review, in which the paper’s editor in chief Michael Stutchbury laments IBM Australia’s decision to send jobs offshore, including to New Zealand.
Turnbull “virtually invented the Internet in Australia”, claims Tony Abbott
Oh dear. Sometimes you just have to laugh — because if you didn’t laugh then you would cry. Tony Abbott is talking about Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull massively as the man who “virtually invented the Internet in Australia." Riiight.
WA Govt still has terrible IT security
Those of you who have been reading Delimiter for some time will know that for much of the past half-decade, Western Australia's Auditor-General has been warning that the State Government's IT security is pretty abysmal.
Shock: Qld Govt succeeds in IT project
Police Minister Jack Dempsey announced yesterday that the Queensland Police Service had successfully delivered a new Online Crime Statistics Crime Portal that allows residents to access crime statistics for any area in the state, all through an interactive web portal.
Team Conroy clocks off … Dalek and all
At least we now know where Conroy has drawn his 'take no prisoners' approach from. "EXTERMINATE!" might just be the right attitude to take into Australian politics these days.
Double R18+ fail: State of Decay banned
It's times like these that we have to wonder what the point of Australia enacting an R18+ rating for video games is, when the Classification Board seems intent on banning popular games regardless.
Telstra pumps $18m into US startup Kony
Telstra has been talking up its investment arm for a while now, and it's good to see the company start to make some strategic investments. It's just a pity that it's not focusing more on Australia.
Yet another disastrous Vic Govt IT project
I often think that things couldn’t possibly get any worse for State Government IT operations in Australia, considering that major audit reports in both Victoria and Queensland have found over the past year that the states are broadly incapable of delivering IT services and major IT projects to their departments and agencies. But every time I think that, things do get worse. Today’s new nightmare is a bungled student management system in Victoria’s TAFE colleges.
More on those IBM redundancies
Another day, another swathe of details emerge about the ongoing job cuts happening within the ranks of IBM Australia. This morning's morsel comes from The AustralianIT, which reports the latest figure as being around 1,400 Australian staff, amid the involvement of the controversial 457 visa program.
Vodafone gets HD voice
Straight from the Vodafone catch-up files comes the news that the telco has finally gotten a service to market which the nation's biggest telco Telstra launched back in June 2011.
City of Sydney deploys Windows 7
A Microsoft case study published last month tells us that the City of Sydney, which has some 1,800 total staff, recently upgraded to Windows 7 from the long-lived Windows XP.
Copper network in shocking state: Union
Telstra's main union says its copper network is full of plastic bags to keep water out, amid other 'band-aid' solutions.
Help crowdsource an NBN implementation study
The Register has posted an entry on local crowdsourcing site Pozible inviting Australians to help it fund a detailed implementation study into the NBN, sourcing quotes for such a study from veteran analyst houses IBRS and Market Clarity.
Copper good for 100 years, says Thodey
According to Telstra chief executive David Thodey, Telstra's copper network could last 100 years more.
Was 7:30’s TCS takedown fair?
Was 7:30's attack on the 457 Visa practices of Indian IT services giant TCS last night fair? Or did it lack context?
Future IT project fail? NSW Police gets COPS replacement funding
If you've been following state government IT in Australia for as long as I have, it starts to get easier and easier to see major IT project failures before they even happen. And NSW Police just popped up a doozy.
Is IBM retrenching 1,500 Aussie staff?
If reports are to be believed, and they’re flooding in from both mainstream media outlets with claimed staff sources, as well as online staff message boards, the company could be in the process of making some 1,500 Australian staff redundant, which would probably be about 10 percent of its local workforce.
BlackBerry Q10 hits Australia July 1
BlackBerry reveals that its hardware keyboard smartphone model, the Q10, will land in Australia from 1 July. But will anyone care?
HP admits: We deceived consumers
HP has admitted to avoiding meeting its Australian obligations in the area of warranties.
Huawei’s new P6 superphone lands in July
Huawei's new superphone, the P6, is slated to launch in Australia before July, the company announced
Pointless? Google to trial net balloons in Oz
Is there a point to launching balloon-based broadband Internet in Australia?
A quick note regarding today’s stories
Just a quick note to let you all know that Delimiter will be on hiatus today. The plan is that story posting will resume as per normal from tomorrow (Tuesday).
Attanasio takes NSW RMS CIO role
Former Customs CIO Joe Attanasio takes up the equivalent role at NSW Roads and Maritime Services.
First Vodafone 4G tests: It’s fast, but patchy
Due to its spectrum supremacy and the fact that there aren't many people using the network yet, Vodafone's 4G infrastructure does offer speeds that can in places be faster than those offered by Telstra or Optus. However, the telco is still lagging behind when it comes to the breadth of its network coverage.
Australia gets “deluge” of data from PRISM, claims Fairfax
For those of you wondering just how much access the Australian Government has access to from the US Government's controversial PRISM spying program? Wonder no more. According to The Age, it's bucketloads -- enough that the Government has had to build a new datacentre to contain it.
Qld Govt depts home to botnets
Anew audit report coming out of Queensland has sharply criticised a number of major Queensland Government departments (including the IT Minister’s own Department of Science, Information Technology Innovation and the Arts, the Department of Transport and Main roads and the Treasury, as well as the Brisbane City Council) for having zero plans to deal with IT security issues. Surprise!
2,000 Qld IT staff to be outsourced, says union
Some 2,000 Queensland Government IT staff are set to be outsourced in the wake of the state's disastrous ICT Audit, according to one of the Government's main unions.
Double surprise! Sony hikes Aussie PS4 prices
Following on from the news this morning that Microsoft would deliver a modest price increase on its Xbox One console to Australians, Sony this afternoon confirmed the local pricing on its PlayStation 4 console.
Rejected: No iTunes Radio for Australia
If you were following the many announcements made by iconic technology giant Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference in the US overnight, you would have likely been well-pleased by the news that Cupertino is finally launching an Internet streaming music service (ad-supported) to compete with the likes of Spotify, Rdio and the like. But what you may not realise is that iTunes Radio won’t immediately be available in Australia.
How to get around Australian geo-blocking
Frustrated that you can't watch Netflix because you've got an Australian IP address? Can't log into Hulu? It's a common problem, and one that many Australians find frustrating. However, due to the magic goodness of the Internet, there are ways around these kinds of headaches.
Unisys wins DIAC again in open tender
Those of you with long memories will recall that the Federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship has contracted IT services giant Unisys to provide desktop support services to the department since 2007. Unisys this morning announced that it had won an open tender to retain the work through to at last mid-2018, at a value of $104.1 million.
Surprise! Microsoft hikes Xbox One Aussie price
From the department of completely expected price hikes comes the news that Microsoft has opted to charge Australians substantially more to buy its upcoming Xbox One gaming console when it launches in November this year.
Quickflix lets users buy TV shows, including Game of Thrones
One of the disadvantages of an online IPTV service such as Quickflix is that up until now, you haven't been able to buy distinct television shows through the service to own permanently; users have only been able to get access to the shows they want if they're paying a monthly subscription. However, all this is set to change, according to a media release issued by Quickflix today.
Why Australia should tax Apple + Google less
Writing on the ABC's The Drum site, Institute of Public Affairs senior fellow Julie Novak argues that globally, countries are competing to be centres of taxation, and that Australia should start playing the game better, as low-taxing countries such as Ireland have.
Defence has 200 Australian ‘datacentres’
A new revelation by the Department of Defence this week, as it gets ready to changeover its massive centralised processing contract, shows that some departments just have more legacy than others.
Optus launches 4G TD-LTE in Canberra
Good news for residents of our nation's fair capital: That TD-LTE 4G mobile broadband network at 2300MHz which Optus has been planning for a while has finally hit Canberra, and Optus has released plan details for it this morning.
Qld Health payroll gets another $384 million
Those of you who thought that the Queensland Health payroll debacle had gone away, think again. The LNP State Government landed its annual budget this week, and included in it is a massive dollop of change for the ailing project, which continues to bedevil the department and the State Government at large, as well as the politicians and partners involved.
NBN Co’s wireless rollout also behind
Bad news upon bad news is continuing to pile on for the Federal Government's National Broadband Network project. Hot upon the heels of the asbestos scandal which continues to plague Telstra as it remediates its pits and pipes for the NBN infrastructure, the Financial Review has reported this morning that the wireless component of the NBN rollout is also significantly behind.
Bulletproof poaches Rackspace MD
Australian hosting company Bulletproof poaches the local country manager of international hosting giant Rackspace.
Qld Education Dept buys 14k Win8 tablets
If you were the chief information officer of a major education department and wanted to deploy a mass tablet rollout to thousands of students, would you pick Apple’s dominant iPad platform, which owns the majority of the tablet market? Or perhaps you’d go with the fastest-growing competitor and pick Android? That’s probably what we’d do. However, Queensland’s Department of Education has ignored both these options and gone for a Windows 8 model from Acer.
Pay protest: NBN contractor rips out new pipes
According to The Australian newspaper, a sub-contractor for NBN construction firm Syntheo has taken a rather unusual step after Syntheo didn't come through with his annointed pay packet.
Buyer beware: No Aussie 4G support for HTC, Samsung ‘Nexus’ units
Unfortunately neither the HTC One nor Samsung Galaxy S4 models with stock Android appear to support Australia's 4G networks just yet; consequently, we can't recommend that Australians buy them when they launch.
Tragic accident reported in NBN Kiama build
NBN Co has been advised of a reported fatality at Kiama that occurred just before noon today. The Ambulance Service responded and Police are in attendance.
NBN: Isn’t Siobhan McKenna just doing her job?
One can't help but be amused by the ruckus which the Financial Review newspaper has raised (and which the Opposition is echoing with vitriolic fervour) around the renewed attention which NBN Co's board has reportedly been paying towards the stewardship of the National Broadband Network Company.
New Govt cloud computing strategy: Foggy, or healthy cumulus?
One could be forgiven for thinking that the word “cloud computing” is in vogue in Australian Governments at the moment.
Tax heat intensifies on Apple Australia
Given that Australia's Parliament is currently in the process of introducing laws that would force more taxation transparency on companies like Apple, and that governments in the US, UK and Australia are all now angrily demanding answers from companies such as Apple and Google on this issue, I suspect that we'll see some resolution of the tax situation with respect to these giant technology multinationals soon.
Where’s our Arrested Development? Choice Australia asks Netflix
At this point, most Australians who watch Arrested Development have probably resigned themselves to (ahem) obtaining the new season through Channel BitTorrent. But there is one organisation still maintaining the rage: Consumer advocacy group Choice, which has written to Netflix demanding to know what the hell is going on.
Govt finally introduces data breach laws
Those of you who work in the IT security field might want to pay attention to this. If your organisation suffers a major data breach, you're now going to be required to tell affected stakeholders about it.
Keane peels ‘Chinese cybersecurity attack’ apart
Crikey columnist Bernard Keane has developed a nasty habit for pouring cold water all over ‘cybersecurity’ experts and government spin-doctors, who have constantly hyped-up perceived IT security dangers and Internet attacks into the kind of “cyberwar scenario that IT security vendors have wet dreams over. We’re sure ASIO, the Defence Signals Directorate and a bunch of other G-Men in black will be over shortly to arrange Keane’s compulsory education campaign.
Defence finally starts certifying Android
Those of you with long memories will recall that the Department of Defence’s Defence Signals Directorate division, which is tasked with certifying technology for use in the Australian Government, has long had an aversion to Android. Windows- and BlackBerry-based mobile devices have long found favour with the DSD, and in April 2012 the agency even added (shock!) Apple’s iOS operating system, but for years Android has sat on the outer, leaving those public servants and politicians interested in the Android operating system out in the cold. Well, late yesterday news arrived that Samsung, at least, may be on the verge of getting access to the inner circle.
IBM Australia sacking staff again
It seems as if, when it comes to major Australian technology companies such as Telstra, Optus, HP and IBM, there are always 'moves, adds and changes' going on in these giants' workforces.
ASIO blueprints hacked, claims Four Corners
To the extent that you still trust Four Corners' reporting on the IT security scene, the program last night made a somewhat audacious claim: That international interests had successfully stolen the blueprints for the new Canberra headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
NBN Co to beat June target, says iTNews
According to an analysis done by iTNews, NBN Co may actually be back on track to meet its target for the end of June.
Govt updates on ICT strategy progress
This morning AGIMO’s Andrew McGalliard, from the agency’s governance and policy branch, published an update on the Government’s progress on delivering on the strategy, and contrary to my initial expectations, it appears as though there are in fact quite a few initiatives getting under way.
Gillard watches Game of Thrones legally
This day had to come. Ladies and gentlemen, the science fiction and fantasy worlds so beloved by IT geeks the world around have now gone mainstream. The Guardian's Australian edition reports this morning that Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a huge fan of Game of Thrones, the popular TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's excellent A Song of Ice and Fire epic series. And what's even more interesting is that the Prime Minister is watching Game of Thrones completely legally.
NEC keeps parliamentary IT services work
Remember how a damning report was published in October 2012 noting that the IT systems running Australia’s Federal Parliament were a complete shambles? Remember the litany of complaints which politicians and their staff filed with the Department of Parliamentary Services over the issue? Well, things might be gradually improving at the Parliament courtesy of its new chief information officer, but at least one thing is going to remain the same: The IT services firm servicing the politicians’ electorate offices.
Kindle Fire HD finally lands in Australia
Amazon has gradually been opening up its Kindle range to Australians, culminating in the news overnight that the Kindle Fire HD models are now available.
3G ASUS 7″ Fonepad lands Down Under
ASUS announces that its 3G, 7" Fonepad has landed in Australia, at prices starting from $329.
HP forces MicroServer fan page offline?
Some of you may be aware that local IT professional Joel Dickins has for some time been running a rather useful Facebook page dedicated to the HP MicroServer, an excellent HP line which are used by many geeks in their households for varied duties from media serving to NAS functionality and so on. The only problem? HP has had the page taken offline.
Surprise! Xbox One neutered for Australia
Look, I don’t know what y’all were expecting at this point. But if you’ve been reading Delimiter for a while, you may be aware that global technology giants do not always launch the same products in Australia that they launch internationally, they don’t always launch them at the same time, and they almost never launch them at the same price point. That’s why we’re not entirely surprised to find that some of the key features hyped this week as part of Microsoft’s Xbox One reveal won’t be available in Australia, at least initially.
Perpetual dumps CIO after Fujitsu outsourcing
It appears that the outsourcing arrangement between Perpetual and Fujitsu has gone well — so well, it appears, that Perpetual no longer believes it needs its chief information officer, Jenny Levy.
Ministerial request: Conroy wants Section 313 transparency options
According to Computerworld, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has asked his department what can be done to provide more transparency around the government use of Section 313 notices under the Telecommunications Act (you know, the ones which financial regulator ASIC recently used to unilaterally block a cluster of websites).
Telstra set for massive internal restructure
Telstra tends to go through at least one to two major or minor restructuring rounds per year, and the cuts that the telco has announced internally appear to help align Telstra's costs to the more profitable and growing areas of its business, while taking resources away from areas where its losses are accelerating.
‘Gross abuse of power’: IPA columnist condemns ASIC filtering
It seems that the move by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to unilaterally decide to start blocking websites it deems to have illegal material has outraged basically everyone with any interest in the Internet in Australia. Perhaps one of the most outraged is Chris Berg, a research fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs, a long-time advocate for free speech, and, dare we say it, a thorn in the side of powerful government authorities exceeding their mandate.
Australia’s universities hacked on a regular basis
Not all of the hype around IT security can be believed at the moment — several times when your writer has investigated so-called ‘hacking’ attacks in recent months, we’ve found only low-level script-kiddie-type of behaviour at the bottom of the situation. However, there definitely are some serious break-ins around, as chronicled in this somewhat disturbing article published in late April by citizen journalism site The Citizen.
Optus launches TD-LTE 4G trial in Canberra
The nation's number two telco Optus has made a series of major announcements this morning regarding its 4G network, which now extends through five capital cities as well major regional centres such as the Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay.
Retail POS startup Kounta kicks off investment
We're seeing a great deal of investment in Australian technology startups at the moment. After years in the wilderness after the dot com crash, the local funding scene appears to be running hot. The latest cab off the rank is point of sale startup Kounta, which last week announced it had kicked off its first venture round, with Reckon founder greg Wilkinson kicking in an unspecified amount and joining Kounta's board.
Is FTTN vectoring just a pipe dream?
If you believe Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a technology known as 'vectoring' has the potential to dramatically enhance the speed of a fibre to the node network such as the Coalition is planning to construct under its rival NBN policy. However, significant doubts have recently been raised as to the extent to which vectoring can be implemented in Australia -- and at what cost.
32 years later, CGU replaces insurance IT platform
Think core banking platforms last a long time? Check out the gray hairs and wrinkles on the positively ancient insurance IT system which CGU is still running. This thing is so old it should be code-named 'Methuselah'.
‘The filter is back’: Blocked site tells its story
In a lengthy piece on the ABC’s The Drum website this afternoon, the convenors of the Melbourne Free University site tell their story and argue that the situation with Australian Government website blocking is just not good enough.
Telstra suffers another data breach
It hasn’t been a good few years for the nation’s biggest telco Telstra when it comes to data breaches. It almost seems like every three to four months, there’s a new chunk of Telstra’s customer data leaked onto the public Internet, and the company has to make yet another apology to those affected, as well as kicking off another ‘review’ of its systems.
Google’s new Aussie MD: Zero tech/media experience
This morning search advertising and technology giant Google appointed a new managing director for its Australia and New Zealand division. While Maile Carnegie is a very seasoned executive with a few decades at consumer goods company Proctor & Gamble (P&G), we'd have to question her fitness to provide vision for Google's local operations ... given that the executive appears to have zero experience in either the technology or media industries, which is kind of where Google specialises.
Kogan loses licence in high-speed police chase
We know we’ve pinned Ruslan Kogan for a certain degree of … arrogance, previously, but we really didn’t expect the maverick online retail and consumer electronics guru to go quite this far in proving our point.
Alleged LulzSec hacker charged with trivial offence
Remember how the Australian Federal Police’s high-tech crime unit held a high-profile national press conference in late April to announce that they had charged a 24-year-old Australian man with hacking offences? Well, it was revealed today that the AFP has basically charged the man with … almost nothing.
IT in the budget? Move along, not much to see
Curious about what technology-related iniatives came out last night's Federal Budget? So were we, given that the release of the budget had been being hyped for weeks (months?) by much of the mainstream media as part of its continual fixation on the fraught battle between the various sides of politics. However, unlike previous years, this yaer there wasn't much in the 2013 Federal Budget to interest technologists.
Ludlam to do Reddit AMA this Wednesday night
Just a very brief message to let y'all know that Greens Senator, Communications Spokesperson and William Gibson fan Scott Ludlam is planning to open up his world to all and sundry this Wednesday night -- 15 May, from 7:30 to 9PM, for a Reddit AMA ('Ask Me Anything') session.
News Ltd builds classifieds site on Google cloud
It's not often you see Google's App Engine mentioned in Australia in the context of cloud computing. However, at least one decently-sized implementation has surfaced, courtesy of Google Australia's blog this week.
Tapestry.net picks up $400k investment
Not every Web 2.0 startup is for sexy young things who are devoted to sharing every instant of their “social universe” online. Some startups aim at different categories. A good example is Tapestry.net, which just picked up a cool $400k in investment from government group Commercialisation Australia.
Sony Xperia Z tablet hits Australia
Sony’s last clutch of Android tablets, as with the offerings from virtually every other manufacturer, failed to make much of a dent on the Apple-dominated tablet market. However, Google’s recently had a series of hits with its Nexus line-up, and Samsung has also recently stepped up to the plate with its ‘Note’ series of tablets. Can Sony be the third party to succeed in breaking through in the hyper-competitive Android tablet market?
They just keep on quitting: NBN Co loses wireless exec
NBN Co has lost the executive in charge of its wireless rollout, according to the Financial Review.
The undiscovered country: When a Microsoft fan goes Apple
Microsoft Office 365 MVP Loryan Strant reveals he's taking a walk on the wild side with Mac OS X and iOS.
Finally, a local Windows 8 tablet trial
News arrived last week courtesy of iTNews that the Tasmanian Police force is about to kick off a trial of Windows 8 tablets.
Did Conroy’s AFP filter wrongly block 1,200 sites?
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, it appears that the limited ISP-based filter which several of Australia’s major ISPs (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone so far) have implemented with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police may have suffered a massive false positive event in early April and wrongly blocked some 1,200 websites, including community group the Melbourne Free University.
The perfect demonstration of an NBN false dichotomy
We couldn't help but be amused by the brouhaha caused when smart cookie, self-confessed Liberal voter and Redditor James Brotchie created the very Web 2.0-ish site How Fast is the NBN, which attempts to graphically demonstrate the difference between the rival National Broadband Network policies of the two major sides of politics.
Huston calls for active FTTP NBN
There are actually few Australians who your writer considers to be actual, verifiable experts on the current class of broadband technologies being debated as part of the National Broadband Network discussion. However, Geoff Huston is one of them.