iPads feature in ACT Health tablet trial
ACT Health this week revealed it's investigating the potential use of tablet devices in Canberra Hospital, an initiative which will involve examining Apple's hyped iPad device and other platforms.
WorldSmart boosts data analysis with Microsoft SQL 2016
Retail technology specialist WorldSmart has deployed Microsoft SQL 2016 to greatly speed up its data analytics and digital marketing solutions.
CUA claims victory in core banking overhaul
Minor banking and financial services group CUA has claimed victory in an overhaul of its core banking platform conducted with the assistance of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Federal Govt tenders $400m desktop deal
The Federal Government has issued a long-awaited $300 million to $400 million whole of government request for tender for desktop and laptop computers.
Education union wins landmark case for teachers over unlawful laptop scheme
More than 40,000 Victorian teachers and principals could receive millions of dollars in back payments following a victory by the Australian Education Union (AEU) in a landmark case against the state government.
Turnbull’s MTM NBN plan “in crisis” says Jason Clare
The Opposition today said the Multi-Technology Mix plan which Malcolm Turnbull imposed on the National Broadband Network project was "in crisis", following revelations published over the weekend that its Fibre to the Node centrepiece was substantially behind projections and suffering a litany of issues.
Australia still hearts Windows Server 2003
Research published by local analyst firm Telsyte and Dell yesterday suggests that one in five Australian businesses are still running Microsoft’s decade-old operating system Windows Server 2003, despite the fact that Redmond is about to stop supporting the dated software for good.
NBN Co shifts 40k premises to fixed wireless to free up satellite capacity
The NBN company today revealed it planned to deploy its fixed wireless network to an additional 40,000 premises previously slated to receive satellite broadband, as part of an effort to free up capacity on the satellite network to meet its aim of a 150GB monthly download quota.
Parallels opens Australian office
Virtualisation specialist Parallels -- best known for its software which lets Mac users run Windows applications on their Apple desktop -- has opened an office in Australia, on the back of strong local interest in its products.
Medibank appoints new tech chief
Private health insurance provider Medibank has announced the hiring of a new head of technology, effective from the end of November.
Kobo eReader lands in Borders stores
Borders stores around Australia have started stocking up on the Kobo eReader as the book retailer prepares for the official launch of the device next week.
Aussie developer Graham Dawson on iPhone 4
Version 4 of Apple's iPhone will launch Down Under in July, delivering local iPhone app developers a bevy of new features. But what do the developers themselves think of Apple's new baby? To find out, we spoke with Australian developer Graham Dawson.
Fifield ignores evidence in angry NBN response
news Mitch Fifield has released a sharply worded response to detailed evidence showing Malcolm Turnbull's version of the NBN has fallen behind on its...
iOS conference One More Thing set for May
The second edition of One More Thing, a conference of iOS developers and designers, has been scheduled for May 25th and 26th in Melbourne, Australia.
Politicos reject NBN referendum idea
A number of politicians and lobby groups have panned the idea that Australia could hold a non-constitutional referendum on whether Labor's National Broadband Network policy should proceed following the next Federal Election, with most stating that such a vote would be unnecessary given existing popular support for the project.
Australia gets black Nintendo Wii, DSi XL
Video game giant Nintendo has unveiled plans to start selling a black-coloured Wii console in Australia from March 11, with its new, larger handheld DSi XL to launch locally from 15 April.
ACCC rubber stamps Optus’ NBN deal
The national competition regulator has approved an $800 million deal which will see number two telco Optus shut down its HFC cable network and migrate its fixed-line broadband and telephony customers onto the National Broadband Network infrastructure as it is rolled out over the next decade.
Scoopon won’t talk Packer pow-wow
A spokesperson for sister websites Scoopon and Catch of the Day has declined to comment on a report that media and gambling tycoon James Packer is negotiating to take a stake in the two companies.
Pirate Party slams Lundy’s ‘censorship lite’
The fledgling Pirate Party has attacked the opt-out amendment being proposed by Labor Senator Kate Lundy (pictured) to the Government's mandatory ISP filtering legislation as "censorship lite", saying it was a "hollow response" to the community's concerns about the project.
Turnbull wants strong ACCC oversight of NBN Co
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned the National Broadband Network Company must not not dodge Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) oversight, echoing concerns by a number of the company's ISP customers early this year.
Telstra strike to hit Melbourne today
Unionised Telstra workers belonging to the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) will hit the streets in Melbourne this morning to make sure their long-running demand for better pay is heard by Telstra's management.
Telstra launches first 4G Windows phone
As expected, Telstra today launched its first smartphone running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system that is capable of 4G speeds, with the model being a 4G version of HTC's Titan phone.
Conroy on the 7PM Project: Video
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy hit television show the 7PM Project tonight. Conroy primarily took questions regarding the Federal Government's controversial internet filtering project, repeating his message that the filter will block sites that host material that is refused classification in Australia.
ABC wants Apple, Android, Windows tablets
I would not be surprised at all if major Australian corporations were eyeing off Windows 8 and its bevy of hardware partners at this point, and wondering if the platform will allow them a much greater degree of control, flexibility and manageability over the tablets that they use than Apple's iPad will.
ACCC green-lights ihail taxi booking app
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given its approval for a new taxi app called ihail, a joint venture between taxi networks and other participants that the industry hopes will allow it to fight back against ride-sharing services like Uber.
Subliminal advertising gets iiNet ad banned
The industry self-regulatory body governing television commercials has withdrawn approval for an iiNet advertisement to be shown on television, following revelations the ad contained subliminal advertising communicating a hidden message to viewers.
Gillard pauses to reflect on NBN victory
Prime Minister Julia Gillard this afternoon invited Australians to reflect on the significance of Labor's National Broadband Network project going ahead, with its potential to deliver equivalent telecommunications pricing for the bush with metropolitan Australia.
Lessons for Australia? UK outlaws IT contracts larger than £100m
The UK Government has taken a startling new stance on major IT contracts, outlawing new deals larger than £100 million (AU$190m) and declaring that it's time the country moved past traditional arrangements with "legacy technology giants", in a move which appears to mirror similar State Government initiatives in Australia.
Vodafone’s Infinite plans now allow tethering
Vodafone today revealed through its company blog that it had modified its Infinite mobile plans to offer tethering to both iPhone and Android 2.2 users.
Developers association investigates Team Bondi
The video game industry's peak global body for professional developers has pledged to investigate Australian studio Team Bondi, in the wake of allegations the company mis-treated staff during the lengthy development process for its flagship L.A. Noire game launched last month.
NBN Co kicks off Brunswick trial this week
NBN Co will this week begin trials at the third mainland Australia National Broadband Network (NBN) site situated in Brunswick, Victoria. The Brunswick trial site will be the third NBN site to come online on the Australian mainland, and the first to be situated outside of New South Wales.
Apple targeted wrong tablet, says Samsung
Korean electronics giant Samsung this afternoon claimed a lawsuit filed by rival Apple last month had succeeded in blocking Australian sales of a variant of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet which it had no intention of selling in Australia anyway; with the real tablet to be released locally "in the near future".
Turnbull appoints Liberal supporter Ergas to NBN panel
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has appointed Henry Ergas, an open Liberal supporter and one of the most strident critics of Labor's National Broadband Network policy, to a panel of experts which will conduct a cost/benefit analysis of broadband review regulation associated with the NBN.
Most Australians now support MTM NBN, claims Morrow
The chief executive of the NBN company last week said that the debate over different technologies for the National Broadband Network was effectively over, with 'most' Australians having now accepted the rationale for the Coalition's technically inferior Multi-Technology Mix model for the network.
Outrage after TPP leak reveals piracy criminalisation
Australian political parties and digital rights lobby groups today erupted in outrage after a Wikileaks leak of the intellectual property rights chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement revealed Australians could be slugged with new draconian measures if caught infringing copyright online.
Short-lived: Six months killed two hyped startups
Two of Australia's most hyped Internet startups have shut their doors just six months after launching or taking investment, in a sign of how quickly events move in the rapidly evolving local technology ecosystem.
NSW education board seeks Chief Digital Officer to drive innovation
The New South Wales Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES) is seeking a Chief Digital Officer to drive innovation across schools in the state.
Borders launches $199 Kobo eReader
As expected, retail chain Borders today started selling the Kobo eReader device in Australia for $199 both through its stores and online, promising that the Kobo platform would allow readers to access their eBooks on other platforms such as the iPhone and iPad.
Ed Husic calls for regulation following banks’ ‘boycott’ of Apple Pay
Ed Husic MP has said that Australian consumers are being denied payment choices over the banks' apparent "boycott" of Apple Pay and called for "technology neutral" regulation to avoid consumers suffering from the possibly "anti-competitive" actions of some financial institutions.
NBN to cost $42.8bn in worst case: Study
Consulting firms McKinsey and KPMG have found that it would cost $42.8 billion in the worst case to build the National Broadband Network --...
Microsoft beats SF.com to another CRM deal
Microsoft announced this week that its Dynamics CRM solution had beaten rival platform Salesforce.com to another Australian deal for CRM delivered through a web browser, with the company picking up work at local conferencing services provider Redback Conferencing.
Telstra still working with Conroy on filter
Telstra is continuing to work with the Federal Government to filter a blacklist of child abuse sites developed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, despite the fact that the telco and rival Optus have already implemented a similar scheme with the cooperation of the Australian Federal Police and international policing agency Interpol.
Telstra to launch MOG music streaming service
Australian telecommunications company Telstra and subscription music service company MOG yesterday announced a partnership to provide Australians with unlimited, on-demand access to an estimated 15 million music tracks that can be streamed to their mobile, tablet, computer or net-connected TV.
Infor gurus to fix Qld Health woes
The Queensland State Government has flown in two highly paid software gurus from Canadian vendor Infor to help fix its ongoing payroll problems at Queensland Health.
Samsung’s Galaxy S II hits Optus early June
Optus today confirmed the mobile phone which giant gadget blog Engadget has rated as possibly the best smartphone bar none will go on sale through its network in "early June", and will be available on a range of plans starting from $63 per month in total on a 24 month contract.
NetSuite in whole of business TurboSmart deal
Business-focused software as a service giant NetSuite has unveiled yet another win with a mid-sized Australian company, revealing a deal with automotive performance products manufacturer Turbosmart that has seen the company deploy a comprehensive suite of NetSuite products across its business.
BT demonstrates 10Gbps on normal fibre
British telco BT has demonstrated that it is possible to deliver broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps over its normal fibre infrastructure extending to some homes and businesses; the same Fibre to the Home infrastructure which is being deployed in Australia as part of the Federal Government’s National Broadband Network project.
AAPT chief backs Queensland facilities
AAPT chief executive Paul Broad has defended the ability of his company’s infrastructure to weather natural disasters, after it appeared to be one of the few telcos to have its actual datacentres under threat this week by Queensland’s rising floodwaters, although many lost key portions of their fixed or wireless telecommunications infrastructure.
“Welcome to the 1940s”: Labor lampoons NBN Co for deploying new copper
The Australian Labor Party has lampooned the NBN company for its willingness to deploy brand new copper cables in some areas to ensure the Government’s Fibre to the Node model will succeed, welcoming the company back to the “1940’s”, when copper cables were regarded as state of the art technology.
“Get a warrant”: Ludlam net privacy bill lands in Senate
Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam has introduced legislation that would see Australian law enforcement agencies blocked from obtaining access to telecommunications records without a warrant; but it is not immediately clear if either of the major parties are prepared to support the bill.
iiNet, Internode double-team Telstra on South Brisbane
National broadband providers iiNet and Internode have joined forces to escalate their ongoing complaints about Telstra's fibre rollout project in South Brisbane, filing a joint submission with the competition regulator demanding that Telstra's wholesale fibre services in the area be subject to regulation as the previous copper services were.
NBN leakers are ‘thieves’, not whistleblowers, says Ziggy
NBN chair Ziggy Switkowski has made an extraordinary intervention into the Federal Election campaign, defending the NBN company's record under the Coalition and claiming insiders who have leaked senstive information of being politically motivated thieves and not whistleblowers.
We’ll filter when the law makes us: Internode
National broadband provider Internode has clarified its position with respect to the limited filtering scheme being implemented by other ISPs, saying it will implement the scheme when it's forced to by law - but not otherwise.
City of Melbourne out to mark new CIO
The City of Melbourne (CoM) has advertised on employment website Seek.com.au for a chief information officer position with a 3 year contract at $216,300 annual package.
First NBN FTTN services switched on in South Australia
Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield has jointly announced that the first NBN fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) services have been switched-on in South Australia.
$1bn deal: TPG to shift all mobile customers to Vodafone, build dark fibre
As speculation increases about a possible merger, Vodafone and TPG this morning announced a $1 billion deal which will see the pair increasingly link their operations together, with TPG to shift its mobile customers to Vodafone’s mobile network and construct an extensive dark fibre network to support its partner’s mobile towers.
Vodafone claims fastest 4G speeds in Sydney and Melbourne
National mobile carrier Vodafone has issued something of a public challenge to rivals Telstra and Optus, claiming that a clutch of recent speed tests had comprehensively shown its fledgling 4G network was the fastest such infrastructure in the major capital cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
Fifield praises “superfast” Fibre to the Node rollout
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has praised the controversial Fibre to the Node technology which the NBN company is launching at the moment as part of the Coalition's Multi-Technology Mix vision, describing FTTN as "superfast", despite the fact that some residents may only get speeds of 50Mbps.
‘We’re making history’: Govt on NBN launch
The Federal Government today claimed it had "made history" this morning after it officially launched live services on its flagship National Broadband Network project on the mainland, in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and a host of other parties associated with the telecommunications sector.
NBN Co replaces respected COO with Turnbull Telstra contact
NBN Co today announced that its chief operating officer Ralph Steffens, one of the company's most qualified and experienced international fibre rollout experts, would be replaced with a Telstra executive who appears to have little direct last mile construction experience but does have a pre-election connection with Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Simon Hackett funds electric race car
Simon Hackett has teamed up with another senior former senior Internode executive and two early executives from electric car pioneer to found a new startup focused on building a new type of electric car specifically designed for high-speed performance racing.
Targeting Turnbull: $15k raised for pro-NBN ads
A crowdfunding campaign has raised $15,000 in a matter of days to place ads supporting an all-fibre National Broadband Network policy in a local newspaper in the electorate of Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as evidence continues to grow of mass popular support for Labor's previous Fibre to the Premises policy.
SEEK loses one of the Bassats
Paul Bassat co-founded online employment site SEEK as a self-admitted “cash-strapped startup” back in 1997. Today the executive announced he would resign his post as joint-SEEK CEO at the end of the 2011 financial year, leaving his brother Andrew and fellow multi-millionaire in charge.
HTC One XL on sale: Compatible with Telstra 4G
Independent mobile retailer Mobicity has started selling a version of HTC's flagship HTC One XL smartphone which will fully function on Telstra's 4G mobile network, ahead of an expected launch by the telco of the device in the next month or so.
Turnbull slams Conroy’s “incompetence”as NBN bills pass
Two key pieces of legislation relating to the National Broadband Network have been approved by both houses of parliament in Canberra, after a week of prolonged debate and negotiation which Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today described as a “spectacle”.
Canva raises $15m after repeated previous capital injections
Australian graphic design software company Canva this week revealed it had raised a further $15 million in venture capital investment, in what appears to be the company’s fourth sizable capital raising in only the past several years.
Has Telstra delayed HTC One XL launch?
Australian specialist Android media outlet Ausdroid has reported that Telstra may have delayed its rumoured launch of a 4G version of HTC's new One smartphone series, further pushing back the date when Australian mobile phone enthusiasts will have access to a top-level smartphone supporting the telco's new 4G network.
MyNetFone says Budget missed chance to fix NBN pricing mess
MNF Group, the Australian provider of hosted voice and data communications services and parent company of MyNetFone, has said it is "disappointed" that Tuesday's Federal Budget did not write off some of the costs of building the NBN network.
Conroy sees “positive outcome” ahead on filter
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has indicated the Government is having discussions with the telecommunications industry about the future of its controversial mandatory Internet filtering project, the future of which is currently hanging in the balance, following the delivery of a review of Australia's classification system.
$4.88bn baby: Apple Australia’s licence to print money
Apple has revealed that its Australian division has experienced incredible levels of revenue growth over the past five years, in new financial documents released this week which paint a graphic picture of the effect that the global resurgence of the iconic technology giant's fortunes have had on its local operation.
Greens back public input in NBN review
The Australian Greens have backed calls for the Government to allow public input into the upcoming strategic review of the future of the National Broadband Network, as pressure intensifies upon Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to support the previous Labor administration’s all-fibre NBN policy.
Conroy fights Internet control in Dubai
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has revealed he is leading a team to a key telecommunications conference being held in Dubai this week at which the International Telecommunications Union is attempting to seek greater control over the operation of the Internet.
Everything about the NBN is bad, says Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has delivered a blistering end of year attack on the Federal Government's flagship National Broadband Network project, detailing an extraordinary range of areas in which he believes the project is failing.
Turnbull’s satellite claims bunk, says Conroy
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has blasted Coalition Senators for not asking a single question in Senates Estimates sessions that would test the claims of Opposition Communications Spokesman Malcolm Turnbull about the adequacy of current satellite capacity to serve Australia’s remote and regional communities.
No internet “kill switch” for Australia, says Conroy
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy this morning said the Australian Government wouldn't take the sort of action its counterpart in Egypt has over the past week, in attempting to block communication between protesters in the country by shutting down all access to the internet.
Qantas Credit Union deploys Infosys Finacle’s ‘core banking as a service’
One of Australia’s largest credit unions, the Qantas Credit Union, has revealed it will deploy a new core banking platform from Infosys’ Finacle division (EdgeVerve Systems(, as well as a host of other related services, in a move that the bank says will see it transition to a ‘core banking as a service’ model.
Federal Govt kicks off cloud purchasing cycle
The Federal Government's centralised IT strategy branch has kicked off a major purchasing initiative which will inform the way it purchases infrastructure-, software- and platform-as-a-service offerings over the next few years.
Turnbull NBN site visit lacks media presence
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has created a promotional video stemming from an official site visit to a NBN rollout zone in the Sydney suburb of Blacktown in what appears to be an attempt to reassure Australians that Labor's National Broadband Network project is proceeding apace, but without inviting the media to pose questions at the event.
Internode had its chance to complain, says Conroy
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has pushed back against strident criticism of NBN Co's proposed pricing model by Internode managing director Simon Hackett, arguing the ISP had its chance to complain to the national competition regulator during its inquiry on the number of points of interconnect last year.
Disastrous patch cripples CommBank
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is currently reeling with internal chaos and some service delivery problems, following what appears to be a disastrous mis-application of an operating system patch to thousands of desktop PCs and hundreds of servers last week.
NBN Co promises business case by May 31
The company in charge of building and operating the National Broadband Network this afternoon promised to deliver "a full business case" to the Government for the project by May 31, in the wake of the release of the NBN Implementation Study earlier today.
NT Police rapidly expanding use of facial recognition technology
news The Northern Territory Police Force has revealed it is rapidly expanding its use of facial recognition technology it has purchased from Japanese vendor...
“Large ISP” got away with refusing filter
Former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has revealed that the Australian Federal Police appears to have given up on pursuing the un-named large Australian ISP which flatly refused to implement the Federal Government's limited mandatory ISP filtering scheme based on a list of offensive sites supplied by Interpol.
Naked DSL subject to water damage: Telstra
The nation’s biggest telco Telstra has opened up another front in its ongoing struggle against being forced to sell naked DSL services to customers and other ISPs, arguing that selling naked DSL would cause a significantly higher number of costly network faults from water damage than other types of broadband services.
Former whole of Qld Govt CIO Grant resigns
High-flying IT executive Peter Grant has left his senior position in the Queensland State Government, a year after the state demoted him from the whole of government chief information officer role he had held for the second time.
Introducing the Delimiter Link Blog
Over the past few months I've been grappling with what I should do about the tricky topic of linking to other people's stories from Delimiter. And I think I've found a solution.
HP firms up multimillion deal with Downer EDI
Technology giant HP has announced a six-year multimillion-dollar infrastructure technology outsourcing services agreement with Downer EDI Limited, an Australian-based engineering and infrastructure management services company.
Groupon buys low-profile Melbourne site
Giant US group buying company Groupon has made what appears to be its first acquisition in Australia, picking up a Melbourne-based deals site named Crowdmass, which was founded just 12 months ago.
Aussie researcher cracks OS X Lion passwords
An Australian security expert respected for his work testing the defences of Apple software has published a method which appears to allow an attacker to break through the password defences of Cupertino's latest Max OS X Lion operating system.
VHA releases iPhone 4 pricing
Mobile telco VHA released its local iPhone 4 pricing this afternoon for its Vodafone and 3 brands, at the end of a day which has been packed full of announcements about how and at what price Apple's latest handset will launch in Australia late on Thursday night.
Video review: the ABC’s iPad app
Australian Apple site MacTalk Australia has posted this video review of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's iPad app.
New Apple iPads support 4G in Australia
Iconic technology giant Apple has confirmed that its new iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad tablets announced overnight will support the 4G mobile networks of Telstra and Optus when they launch in Australia, although the versions supporting mobile broadband will launch several weeks later than the Wi-Fi versions.
NBN media criticism highly politicised, says Budde
Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde has sharply criticised Australia's media for not levelling the same "malice" and "vicious media attacks" at the Coalition's National Broadband Network policy as it has with Labor's NBN vision, despite the fact that the two policies share a great deal of similarity.
Anonymous posts hacked AAPT data
The loose knit group of Internet activists known as 'Anonymous' over the weekend published some 3.5 gigabytes of data sourced from Australian telco AAPT, in protest against a wide-ranging package of surveillance and data retention reforms currently proposed by the Federal Government.
Farce: AG’s Dept deletes FoI PDFs to improve “accessibility”
Representatives of the Federal Attorney-General's Department yesterday claimed the department had removed PDFs previously published on its website as part of its Freedom of Information disclosure log because they did not meet web "accessibility" guidelines and were hurting the website's overall accessibility rating.
ABS to permanently store personal data from Australian census
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has announced that it will retain personal data collected in the 2016 census – a move that goes against the recommendation of a privacy impact assessment report that it commissioned 10 years ago.
Monash web server briefly hacked
Victoria's Monash University has acknowledged that its website was briefly broken into on Saturday and replaced with what appeared to be an Iranian flag encased in a geographical map of the country.
Tasmania’s Scottsdale rejects NBN towers
One of the first communities in Tasmania to receive the National Broadband Network's fibre infrastructure has knocked back two planning applications for NBN wireless towers in the area, continuing a trend seen nationally of concern over the infrastructure.
BigPond chief Justin Milne quits: Report
The long-time leader of Telstra’s BigPond internet service provider division and current fixed line chief, Justin Milne, has reportedly resigned.
Telstra hits 450Mbps speeds in 4G trial
Australia’s largest telco Telstra this week said it had achieved live network speeds of 450Mbps on its Next G mobile broadband network, using the LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation standard across a combination of the 1800MHz and 2600Mhz spectrum bands.
NBN Co will be a retail ISP, warns Coalition
The Opposition yesterday vehemently protested key provisions of legislation associated with the National Broadband Network which it claimed would open the door for NBN Co to become a retail provider of broadband services, going against its 'wholesale-only' mandate.
We’re not shutting down T-Box, says Telstra
The nation's biggest telco Telstra has rejected a report by The Register that it is expected to shut down its T-Box IPTV streaming video platform and shift its 300,000-odd customers using the platform to the Foxtel pay TV company it part owns.
NBN: Australia can’t trust Labor, says Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has issued a scorching statement on Labor's track record in building the National Broadband Network, declaring that the three-year NBN rollout plan delivered last week was "a duplicitous and ham-fisted attempt" to conceal its failure to deliver.
Telstra launches IPv6 to big customers
The nation's largest telco Telstra today took its biggest step so far towards fully adopting version 6 of the Internet Protocol, noting it had started providing its enterprise, government and wholesale customers with IPv6 addresses.
Call to arms: Budde says FTTdp NBN needs our support
Independent telecommunications consultant Paul Budde has called for Australians to do more to ensure the rollout a "future-proof" NBN that includes a full-fibre network (including FTTdp) rather than the fibre and copper mix that is currently being promoted by government.
Westpac sends another 125 tech jobs offshore
Top tier bank Westpac yesterday confirmed it was planning to outsource a further 125 jobs in its technology support division, as part of an ongoing campaign of workforce rationalisation which the bank's main union has claimed has been characterised by "media-type spin" to disguise its actions.
Victorian Government sets up expert panel to boost innovation
The Victorian Government has set up an Innovation Expert Panel aimed to boost the state's position as an innovation and technology hub.
ACCC sues Apple over “misleading” 4G iPad claim
Australia's competition regulator will tomorrow (Wednesday) take iconic technology giant Apple to court for advertising its new iPad tablet as featuring "4G" speeds -- which are not supported on Australian telecommunications networks.
NBN backers question Turnbull’s support
A number of commentators and politicians have questioned a claim by Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the Coalition would not "cancel or roll back" the Government's National Broadband Network project, with one commentator labelling the claim as "disingenuous".
Offshore cloud providers popular in Australia
A study has found that two-thirds of Australian enterprises which utilise cloud computing services, do so from offshore providers whose servers are located outside Australia rather than opting for a local provider.
IoT solution brings a boost to Tasmania’s oyster farms
AgTech business The Yield has developed a new system that uses in-water sensors, cloud computing and machine learning to offer an improved outcome for the bivalve-based businesses.
Pirate Party Australia fails election rego again
For the second time in two years, Australia's division of the Pirate Party has failed key registration requirements determining its elegibility to contest major elections, with the group noting this week that it had fallen short of required numbers for the Australian Capital Territory's upcoming poll.
TPG breaks its silence over Telstra terms
National broadband provider TPG has broken what has appeared to be a long-term policy of not criticising the nation's largest telco Telstra over its supply terms to rivals, slamming the big T's wholesale approach in a new submission filed early this year with the competition regulator.
Delimiter files FOI application for Fifield’s Blue Book briefing
Technology media outlet Delimiter has filed a Freedom of Information request for the 'Blue Book' incoming ministerial briefing provided to new Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, following recent decisions which have seen similar documents released by a number of other Federal Government departments.
Buildcorp deploys 150 Nokia Lumias
Construction firm Buildcorp has deployed some 150 new staff mobile phones in Nokia's Lumia line, the Finnish smartphone vendor announced this afternoon.
Microsoft launches flagship store in Sydney’s Pitt St Mall
Microsoft Australia has launched its first flagship store outside of North America in Pitt Street Mall, Sydney – one of Australia’s most popular and expensive retail sites.
Secret forum typical of Conroy: Ludlam
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has described a protected online forum used by the federal broadband department to discuss the internet filter project with industry as typical of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's approach and again called for the whole project to be scrapped.
Telstra switches on Brisbane fibre
The nation's largest telco Telstra yesterday began switching on the new fibre broadband services it has recently installed in the South Brisbane exchange area, as it continues its project to replace its copper network in the area.
Surface 2 lands in Australia October 22
Technology giant Microsoft has revealed the second versions of its Windows 8-based Surface tablet will land in Australia from October 22, with prices to be similar to the cost of the devices when sold in the US.
BT hikes FTTP on demand prices
UK wholesale telco BT Openreach has substantially increased the prices it is charging customers for extending fibre broadband from local neighbourhood 'nodes' all the way to premises, in a move which calls into question the Coalition Federal Government's plan to use the service in its Coalition Broadband Network plan.
After 43 years, Telstra loses COO Rocca
43-year Telstra veteran and current chief operations officer Michael Rocca has resigned from Telstra, the telco revealed today, and will be replaced with IBM executive and former head of Big Blue's Global Services joint venture in Australia, Brendon Riley.
Vic Govt instantly blows $4.4m on Windows 2003
The Victorian Government has paid Microsoft a whopping $4.4 million for extended support for the now-defunct Windows Server 2003 operating system, in a move which sharply demonstrates the extreme cost of running operating systems which are no longer formally supported by their vendors.
Australia’s Internet freedom being eroded, Greens warn
The Australian Greens have issued a broad statement warning Australians that their Internet freedom is being steadily 'eroded', with a wide swathe of government initiatives in areas ranging from surveillance to data retention, to the freedom of expression and privacy set to affect the nation over the coming years.
Aussie telcos seek iPad talks with Apple
Several of Australia's largest mobile telcos have flagged plans to open talks with Apple about how its tablet product announced this morning will be sold in Australia.
ACS settles with former CEO Denham
The Australian Computer Society has issued a one paragraph statement stating that it has settled the lawsuit filed by its former chief executive Kim...
Telstra integrates Netflix, Stan, Presto into re-badged Roku box
The nation’s largest telco Telstra today revealed it will launch a Telstra-branded version of the popular Roku TV streaming device to Australians, as the telco struggles to ensure its over-the-top services remain relevant in a next-generation viewing world which increasingly appears to be dominated by the likes of US giant Netflix.
Quickflix sacks one third of workforce
Ailing IPTV and online DVD rental business Quickflix has revealed plans to sack one third of its workforce and initiate a plethora of other restructuring moves as it struggles to keep its trouble-plagued business afloat.
Sky News kills NBN topic with Shadow Minister
A host on pay TV channel Sky News last week defended the new Coalition Government's unpopular radical overhaul of Labor's NBN project and subsequently shut down discussion of it during a live interview with Shadow Communications Minister Jason Clare, as controversy continues to swirl about the extent to which mainstream media is censoring coverage of the project.
‘Bold & visionary’: UK MP loves Australia’s NBN
One of the UK Government’s up and coming technology-focused politicians, Chi Onwurah, has declared Australia’s National Broadband Network to be bold and visionary following a visit Down Under and asked her own country’s administration why it doesn’t have similar ambitions in its own, much more limited broadband policy.
Vendors unimpressed by IT price hike inquiry
A number of global technology vendors likely to be hauled before Australia's Parliament to justify their local price markups have grudgingly and briefly signalled their acceptance of the proceedings and willingness to participate, although some have completely refused to comment on the issue.
Australia Post accelerates digital push with Data61 partnership
Australia Post has announced a new partnership with the country's largest data innovation group Data61 that is aimed to drive continued transformation into a digital services company.
Ludlam predicts: Filter bills to await election
Greens communications spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam (pictured) today predicted legislation around the Federal Government’s internet filtering project would have to wait until after the...
Kindle Paperwhite lands at Dick Smith, Big W
Amazon has announced that it will shortly selling the new version of its popular Kindle Paperwhite unit through Australian retailers Dick Smith and Big W.
Greens, Labor, slam Coalition’s NBN “train wreck”
The Greens and the Australian Labor Party have taken a pick axe to the Coalition's plans for the NBN following Senate hearings on the project this week, variously describing the current state of the Coalition's vision as "a dog's breakfast", a "train wreck" and "broadband limbo".
“An absolute national imperative”: Matt Barrie’s epic rant on Australia’s IT investment
Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie has published an impassioned article on his LinkedIn profile strongly heavily criticising the Government for its underinvestment in the technology sector, which he said had led to a situation where Australia is devoid of good IT talent and "missing out" on the ongoing industry revolution.
CommBank talks cloud computing: Video
In this interview with iTnews, Commonwealth Bank of Australia executive general manager of service support Nick Holdsworth talks about the company's cloud computing infrastructure and what it means for the bank.
Roxon conflates cyber-bullies, protests, data retention
Nicola Roxon has publicly linked the religious protests held in Sydney last week over a YouTube video and the issue of cyber-bullying to the Federal Government's wide-ranging packaging of surveillance and data retention measures, in what the Federal Attorney-General stated was "a lot of different trends coming together".
High Court agrees to hear iiTrial
The High Court of Australia has this morning granted film and television studios the right to appeal against the decision made earlier in the year in the case against Australian ISP iiNet.
Govt delays multiple tech FOI requests
Three major Federal Government departments and agencies have delayed the release of sensitive information relating to controversial technology sector issues under Freedom of Information legislation, citing the need to closely examine the documents and consult with third parties before the information is released.
‘It wasn’t us’: AG’s Dept denies massive filter false positive
The Federal Attorney-General's Department has denied any involvement in a controversial event in April which saw some 1,200 websites wrongfully blocked by several of Australia's major Internet service providers, claiming that neither it nor the Australian Federal Police were involved, despite ISPs blaming the Government for the move.
Fault brings month-long outage for PPC-1 international cable
A fault discovered on the 6,900km PPC-1 submarine cable connecting Australia to Guam is likely to take around 30 days to repair, according to TPG Telecom.
Want to run Google Australia? Send in your resume
Google has publicly advertised the job leading its Australian and New Zealand operations, following the imminent promotion of its current local chief Karim Temsamani...
Aussie group buying sector worth $500m in 2011
Online group buying deals are finding favour with more and more Australians, going by sales figures. According to local emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte, the online group buying market generated revenues worth $498 million in 2011.
Spies may have hacked Gillard’s PC, says Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph this morning reported that at least 10 parliamentary computers, including those belonging to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith, were suspected of being hacked, with government sources linking the attacks to foreign spy agencies.
SAP Institute for Digital Government opens in Australia
The SAP Institute for Digital Government officially opened in Canberra last week, marking the occasion with the delivery its first research results.
Optus a closed shop on NBN
The nation's number two telco Optus yesterday again refused to disclose what the outcome of any ongoing discussions with the National Broadband Network Company might be -- or when it might commence a trial of retail services with the company.
Financial regulator issues dire cloud warning
One of Australia's main financial regulators has issued a blunt general warning to the entire financial services sector regarding cloud computing services, warning that the "innocuous" nature of such services could mask hidden concerns about offshoring.
Doubts remain about NBN Gigabit HFC upgrade
Questions have continued to arise about whether nbn’s planned Gigabit upgrade of the HFC cable networks it is acquiring from Telstra and Optus will be able to deliver on its speed promises, with a number of telecommunications industry sources pouring cold water on the long-term capacity of the ageing networks.
Logistics group Mainfreight deploys 1,500 Android devices
Tech vendor Zebra Technologies late last week revealed that global logistics provider Mainfreight would deploy some 1,500 Android-based handheld units across Australia and New Zealand, in one of the largest known corporate deployments of the Google technology down under so far.
amaysim buys fellow mobile telco Vaya
Mobile telco amaysim this morning announced it had bought privately owned Vaya for $70 million, in a move that will add some 140,000 subscribers to amaysim's customer database and further consolidate the already tight mobile market.
Australians massive Internet pirates, says Turnbull research
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this morning released research which shows that about a quarter of Australian Internet users pirated Internet content, in a joint effort with the UK Government aimed at displaying the need for international and industry cooperation to tackle the issue.
Internode wants to resell Telstra HFC, Next G
National broadband provider Internode today revealed it had asked Telstra repeatedly for wholesale access to its Next G mobile and HFC cable networks, requests which the larger telco has consistently turned down.
Quigley clarifies Senate NBN profit ‘misconceptions’
NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has attempted to clarify controversial comments he made during Senate questioning last week about the National Broadband Network's commercial return, saying they didn't tell the full story about the NBN's profitability.
iiNet, Pirate Party slam AFACT political moves
Broadband provider iiNet and the Australian division of the Pirate Party have come out swinging in response to apparent moves by content providers to nudge the Federal Government about potential legislation to stop copyright infringement.
Telstra’s 4G network goes live
The nation's largest telco Telstra today revealed it had officially switched on its fourth-generation (4G) mobile network across Australia following a soft-launch several weeks ago, with the 4G coverage now live across capital city central business districts and more than 30 other centres around the nation.
Australian Govt re-kindles office file format war
The Federal Government's peak IT strategy group has issued a cautious updated appraisal of currently available office productivity suite file formats, in what appears to be an attempt to more fully explain its thinking about the merits of open standards such as OpenDocument versus more proprietary file formats promulgated by vendors like Microsoft.
New FRITZ!Box 7272 hits Australia
Australian distributor PCRange this week revealed it had started distributing a new model in the popular FRITZ!Box range of high-end ADSL routers, with the 7272 model to launch locally this year, replacing the entry level 7270 model and adding two gigabit Ethernet ports into the mix.
Telstra delays NBN vote
The nation’s largest telco Telstra this morning revealed it had been forced to delay a vote to be put to shareholders regarding whether it should go ahead with its $11 billion deal to transfer customers onto the National Broadband Network as the new fibre monopoly rolls out its infrastructure around the nation.
Nokia shutters Aussie development facility
Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia has revealed plans to close an Australian development facility which was one of the main global software groups working on the Qt application development toolkit which Nokia acquired with its 2008 buy of Norwegian company Trolltech.
Turnbull rejects Labor’s NBN subsidy claims
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has strongly denied claims by Labor MPs that the Coalition's rival National Broadband Network policy would see those in rural areas pay more to access NBN infrastructure, stating that the Coalition would maintain the so-called "cross-subsidy".
HP completes giant new NSW datacentre
Global technology giant HP has finished building its colossal $119 million new datacentre in Western Sydney and will launch the "world-class" facility next month, with a speech slated to be given by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
Conroy slams Turnbull’s “hysterical” budget “lies”
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has accused his Opposition counterpart of intentionally spreading "hysterical claims" in comments made this week with respect to budget treatment of National Broadband Network funding, in the latest spat between the two over the high-profile infrastructure project.
iiNet’s NBN costs “similar” to ADSL
National broadband provider iiNet today described the costs of connecting customers to the National Broadband Network as being similar to that of existing ADSL broadband services, breaking ranks with industry rivals who have complained about what they see as NBN Co's extortionate pricing model.
Gizmodo vs the Australian Family Association: R18+ games rating
Kids aren't imbeciles, people -- they know the difference between fantasy and real life. At the moment, it's many adults who are living in a fantasy world with respect to video games -- our youngsters have a great deal more common sense and need less policing than people give them credit for.
Telstra to invest $3bn in network, customer service
Telstra has announced it will spend up to an extra $3 billion over three years on a range of investments aimed to improve its networks and "digitise and simplify" customer service.
Turnbull brings back Australian Broadband Guarantee
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reinstituted a direct consumer subsidy scheme very similar to the Australian Broadband Guarantee program initiated under the Howard administration, in a move which will directly fund some 9,000 premises to access satellite services from commercial providers that are not NBN Co.
DTO plucks teen coding genius from UK
The Federal Government’s fledgling Digital Transformation Office has hired a trio of high-profile digital government service delivery experts, including a 19 year-old hailed as one of the young guns of the UK’s equivalent agency on which the DTO was based, as it rapidly bulks up in the first few months of its existence.
Telstra’s next revolution: “Project New”
The nation’s biggest telco Telstra has outlined plans to drive an extensive internal program of reforms that its chief executive David Thodey believes will...
Prime Minister’s office blocks Gmail, Hotmail
The department which houses Prime Minister Julia Gillard, her staff and the Cabinet yesterday signalled it would bow to a request from the Federal Auditor-General and block access to public web-based email services such as Hotmail and Gmail from 1 July, with the auditor seeing the platforms as an inherent security risk.
Retailer Dick Smith enters administration
Dick Smith Holdings Ltd, the Australian electrical retail group, has entered receivership, according to a statement.
Greens finalise NBN joint committee
The Australian Greens today revealed it had reached an agreement with the Government to create a new parliamentary Joint Committee to oversee the rollout of the National Broadband Network.
Banks team up to deal with Apple Pay
In a move that looks likely aimed at countering the threat from mobile payments apps like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, a group of Australian banks has applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for authorisation to enter joint negotiations with providers of third-party mobile wallets.
Aussie non-profits adopt Office 365 en-masse
Non-profit Australian organisations such as charities are adopting Microsoft's Office 365 Software as a Service platform in large numbers, according to non-profit technology enablement group Infoxchange, which has recently helped 20 such organisations shift into Microsoft's cloud.
Atlassian seeks engineering VP
Fast-growing Australian software development house Atlassian has started looking for a vice president of engineering to lead a 120-strong team of developers in Australia and San Francisco.
Interpol filter causes sharp drop in offensive requests
The implementation of a limited Internet filter at Telstra has caused a dramatic and rapid drop in the numbers of attempts by the telco's customers to access child abuse materials online, statistics released by the Australian Federal Police have shown.
Turnbull slams Twitter’s NBN “craziness”
Malcolm Turnbull has accused users of social networking site Twitter of misrepresenting his position on the Coalition's broadband policy during a stoush with a small business operator unable to get broadband in a rural area, with the Communications Minister claiming the episode could be a case study "of the volatile and sometimes distorting character of social media".
‘Unbalanced’: Turnbull hammers ABC again on NBN
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has again hit out at the reporting of the National Broadband Network debate by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, accusing the broadcaster of “superficial, misleading and unbalanced reporting” of the issue and detailing a litany of complaints about the ABC’s Lateline program specifically.
Vodafone confirms internal restructuring
National mobile telco Vodafone has confirmed a report by News Ltd newspaper The Australian that it's planning to cut members of its executive team, in a wide-ranging restructure that could affect a number of mid-level executives at the company.
LG Optimus 2X hits Harvey Norman
LG today revealed its flagship Optimus 2X smartphone would launch in Australia this month – but without a major telco partner to support it, with the Korean electronics giant to initially sell the handset unlocked through retailer Harvey Norman for the up-front cost of $649.
Telstra releases Galaxy Nexus pricing
After dropping a series of hints about the matter over the past week, Telstra finally confirmed this morning that it would launch Samsung's highly anticipated Galaxy Nexus handset in Australia this week, claiming pole position locally with sales due to start tomorrow (Wednesday morning).
Unlimited 100Mbps for $89.99: TPG equals top NBN plan
TPG has launched a new plan on the National Broadband Network fibre infrastructure which appears to match the existing best option on the market from rival Exetel, with the national broadband provider also now offering an unlimited option at speeds of 100Mbps for just $89.99 per month.
Greens call for public surveillance inquiry
The Greens have called for the Federal Parliament to hold a wide-ranging inquiry into Australia's electronic surveillance efforts, as pressure grows on the nation's intelligence agencies to come clean on their covert activities in a manner similar to which is being seen internationally, and revelations by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden continue to create aftershocks in Australia.
Vodafone replaces Morrow with Romanian exec
Ailing national mobile telco Vodafone today revealed it would bring in Inaki Berroeta, chief executive of Vodafone Romania to replace its outgoing local leader Bill Morrow, who is set to take the reins of the National Broadband Network Company from March.
“A real barrier”: Sports Commission CIO speaks up on new Govt cloud policy
A chief information officer from a minor agency has publicly criticised the Federal Government's new risk management guidelines on storing offshore data, stating that they constitute "a real barrier" to the adoption of public cloud technologies in the public sector.
Coalition NBN policy shifts to fibre to the node
The Coalition appears to have evolved its alternative National Broadband Network policy over the past few weeks to focus squarely on the so-called fibre to the node network rollout style which was rejected by the Federal Government's expert NBN committee in early 2009.
Optus 4G equal to ADSL2+, tests show
A new series of real-world usage tests conducted on Optus' 4G network have shown the brand new next-generation currently performs on par with legacy ADSL2+ broadband in terms of raw download speeds and latency, and offers significantly better upload speeds.
Is Qantas meeting IT cost goals?
The IT-related expenses of Australia's largest airline Qantas remained flat over the last six months of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008.
Turnbull has “grave misgivings” on data retention
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has broken his silence regarding the Fedeal Government's controversial data retention and surveillance package, declaring that he has "grave misgivings" about a project which he feels "seems to be heading in precisely the wrong direction".
Job losses hit iiNet after TransACT, Internode buys
National broadband provider iiNet has reportedly kicked off a round of redundancies, as rumours swirl about a staff rationalisation in the wake of its Internode and TransACT acquisitions.
ACCC still concerned about NBN/Telstra relationship
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has aired concerns over potential competition issues raised by the commercial relationship between Telstra and NBN Co.
TPG is rapidly expanding … NBN or not
TPG’s results briefing package yesterday was, as per its custom, relatively sparse – just a page and a half of management commentary and a brief PowerPoint pack focused on the numbers. But if you delve beneath the surface at the telco, you’ll find a hive of activity.
Consumer advocacy group calls for independent assessment of TPP
Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has called for an independent assessment of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement after the full text was released last week – months after the Australian government already agreed to its terms.
Conroy: NBN RFP was worth doing
Communciations Minister Stephen Conroy has responded to the release of a somewhat critical audit report into the first, terminated National Broadband Network request for proposals process, saying the process was valuable.
Video: Vodafone iPhone 4 Sydney launch
In this video, Vodafone takes us on a tour through its iPhone 4 launch in Sydney last night -- including its party for customers at the famous Ivy bar in the Sydney central business district. There are Vodafone dancing girls, bands and customers get massages and drinks from Vodafone staff!
ADFA hack a national security failure: expert
According to media reports, a single hacker from the Anonymous group, calling himself Darwinare, released online the names, birthdays and passwords of 20,000 staff and students from a university database at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Turnbull to reveal the ‘shocking’ NBN truth
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday said a Coalition Government would, following the election, release a full analysis of what Labor's NBN project would actually take in time and money to complete, an accounting which he said would leave the Australian public "shocked".
NSW will force pawnbrokers to record MAC addresses
The NSW Government is set to alter legislation for secondhand dealers that will give people who have had a wifi-enabled mobile device stolen a better chance of getting it back.
Telstra is essentially giving away new ‘Telstra TV’ Roku box
The nation’s largest telco Telstra has revealed it essentially give away its Telstra TV-branded Roku box to its customers, aiming to drive rapid adoption of the platform’s Internet television streaming capability.
Sysadmin victory: Bulletproof to list on ASX
Sydney-based hosting and cloud computing company Bulletproof Networks has unexpectedly revealed its intention to list on the Australian Stock Exchange through a reverse takeover of a mining firm, in the second example in as many months of a major Australian technology firm going public.
Vodafone implementing Interpol filter
National mobile carrier Vodafone yesterday confirmed it was currently looking at technology solutions which would enable it in 2012 to implement the limited Internet filtering scheme promulgated in Australia by the Australian Federal Police in cooperation with international policing agency Interpol.
ATO brings Linux users in from the cold
The Australian Taxation Office has taken a critical step towards long-awaited support for Linux users of its online services, revealing today it had released a new version of its AUSkey authentication software that supported the minority operating system.
SaaS apps now mainstream in Australia
It was only a few years ago that the term "Software as a Service" was almost anathema in Australia's IT industry, with almost all organisations preferring to deploy applications on an in-house basis. But according to respected analyst house Telsyte, in certain categories the deployment model is now "mainstream".
WA Government to complete delayed school IT upgrades
The Western Australian Government has announced an IT investment at the state's schools that will allow students and teachers to use wireless devices around campuses and bring greater mobility to classrooms.
19-year old Aussie pumps taxi booking app
A 19-year-old Australian developer, Zac Altman has successfully launched an online service for taxi users in Australia focusing on mobile bookings, thrusting himself into an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
NBN Sky Muster broadband will be “world leading”, says Ovum report
Telecoms research firm Ovum has announced that the NBN Sky Muster satellite broadband service will be a "world leader" in its market.
Fibre broadband speeds pointless, claims Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday claimed there was no evidence that there was any benefit to end users from getting access to broadband speeds higher than currently available under existing ADSL2+ technology.
Microsoft’s Dynamics AX for Azure cloud to launch in Australia
Microsoft has announced that Dynamics AX, the latest version of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software product, will soon be available in Australia and hosted in local data centres.
Watch: TPP makes a “farce” of democracy, says Greens Senator
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson has labelled the democratic process around the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty as being a "farce", with the Government having failed to conduct a detailed public interest analysis into the treaty, and Federal Parliament blocked from modifying the agreement at all.
Fixing the hole: Labor pledges FTTP for Tasmanian West Coast
The Opposition today promised to deliver Fibre to the Premises to most of the West Coast of Tasmania if it wins the upcoming Federal Election, in a move squarely aimed at resolving the complaints of residents and businesses in the area over being relegated to satellite broadband access under the Coalition.
Health Dept rejects IBM review allegation
The Federal Department of Health and Ageing has issued a sharp statement rejecting a report that it had kicked off an urgent review of its recent decision to retain long-term partner IBM for a key outsourcing contract, without putting the work out to formal tender.
Budget 2016: StartupAUS says it’s a “disappointment”
StartupAUS, an advocacy group, has cautiously welcomed some announcements made in the Federal Government’s 2016 Budget, but said that overall it was a "disappointment for startups".
NBN commences real-world FTTN, FTTB trials
The National Broadband Network Company today confirmed it would shortly kick off real-world trials in several locations in major Australian cities of the Fibre to the Node and Fibre to the Basement technologies which the Coalition plans to use as key parts of its own Broadband Network project, which is seeing Labor's all-fibre NBN vision heavily modified.
Abbott pledges sleepless NBN vigilance
Tony Abbott has warned Julia Gillard's government-in-waiting that the Opposition will be "hyper-vigilant" in its monitoring of Labor's National Broadband Network project for screw-ups.
FastMail staff buy it back from Opera
Long-time Australian email company FastMail.FM has announced that it has been bought back by its own employees from Opera, just three and a half years after it was sold to Norway-based browser firm.
New Mortal Kombat banned in Australia
Australia's content classification regulator has banned the highly anticipate remake of the classic Mortal Kombat video game series from being sold in Australia, deeming the game's violence outside the boundaries of the highest MA15+ rating which video games can fall under.
ABS staff “angry” at Turnbull following Census outage, union says
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has said staff at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) are "angry" at comments by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull following the failure of the Census web service.
Exetel may offer $54.95 ‘unlimited’ ADSL2+ plan
Cut-rate broadband player Exetel is also considering offering the 'unlimited' plans which have become common for most of its competitors, for low prices starting from $54.95 a month -- slightly cheaper than both TPG and Dodo. As a first step, the customer last week introduced a range of new plans with a higher 500GB quota.
Huawei to double its Australian workforce
At least 200 new ICT jobs will be created by Huawei in Victoria as announced by Victorian Premier John Brumby and Huawei’s Global CEO, Ren Zhengfei, at the Shanghai World Expo during Victoria Week.
Can Australia lead global cloud market?
The Australian Government’s IT industry advisory body has stated in a report that the nation has the scope to become a global leader in cloud computing technology and drive innovation and productivity.
CenITex cuts another 60 staff
Troubled Victorian Government IT shared services group CenITex has flagged plans to cut another 60 staff from its roster, as wider plans progress to outsource the infrastructure and services currently being provided by the group to other Victorian Government departments and agencies.
Telcos “embarrassed” to admit real broadband speeds, says Conroy
Former Communications Minister Minister Stephen Conroy this morning said Australia’s telco sector was “embarrassed” that it didn’t deliver in reality the broadband speeds it promised customers, and that Labor would “absolutely” support a move by the competition regulator to monitor real-world speeds.
GetUp! rejects Roxon’s “partisan spin”
Citizen lobbying organisation GetUp! has published a strongly worded rejection of a YouTube video published by Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon yesterday relating to the Government’s current data retention and surveillance proposal, describing Roxon’s video as “partisan spin” and highlighting what it said were inaccuracies in it.
Will Microsoft ever get its ‘cloud’ ads right?
From Long Zheng's I Started Something blog comes news of more 'To the cloud' television advertisements from Microsoft. The good news? They're better than...
Telstra, NBN Co planning “thousand node trial”
The National Broadband Network Company is working with Telstra on a trial of the Fibre to the Node rollout style which could see a thousand nodes connected to fibre, in a move which would deliver real-life results of the rollout style's performance across a series of diverse use cases.
Optus launches unlimited data broadband bundles
Australia's second-largest telco Optus this morning announced it would bring unlimited downloads to all of its broadband bundle packages, in a move which further ramps up the telco's challenge against cut-price unlimited data challenger TPG.
NBN bitchslap: IT hero schools ignorant radio host
A senior IT professional specialising in regional telecommunications in Victoria yesterday afternoon delivered an extraordinarily erudite and pointed education to a 3AW radio host who had gone on an extended and inaccurate rant live on air, rebutting claims that the National Broadband Network project would cost $233 billion but deliver speeds no different to ADSL broadband.
NBN satellite engineer wins Australia Day honours
One of the key engineers who helped guide the NBN company's first satellite into orders has been awarded Australia Day Honours.
Qld LNP MPs doorknock for FTTN petition
Two Federal Coalition Members of Parliament have flagged their intention to conduct a door-knocking campaign in their Queensland electorates to garner support for a petition which would support faster high-speed broadband being rolled out to their regions; effectively, a petition in support of the Coalition's fibre to the node rival NBN plan.
IT price comparisons not useful, says AIIA
The IT industry's peak lobby group today said it was "not useful" to directly compare prices on technology goods and services between Australia and other countries and that increased Australian prices on such goods reflected different conditions and protections locally compared with other countries.
Video: Domenic Carosa talks web startups, investment
Domenic Carosa is currently one of the most active investors in early stage Australian technology companies — particularly web startups. His Future Capital Development Fund has invested in eight startups and is looking for more. We’ve reported on a few of those investments — CheapHotels, MyGuestList and Imorial and EventArch — and we’re sure there are more to come.
You’re wrong, global satellite authority tells Turnbull
The global adjudicator on satellite positioning appears to have rejected claims by Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the National Broadband Network Company had inappropriately gone ahead with plans to launch two satellites over Australia without securing the necessary orbital slots first.
Telstra NBN prices aren’t final: Conroy
The comparatively expensive National Broadband Network pricing plans released by Telstra this week aren't the telco's final prices, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday, with Telstra to release more packages in the near future.
Conroy slams Libs’ Tassie NBN “scaremongering”
A war of words has erupted between Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Liberal Senator Guy Barnett, with the latter claiming the National Broadband Network rollout in his home state of Tasmania was taking longer than expected.
Amazon’s Android Appstore is US-only
Web services and e-commerce giant Amazon has limited its mobile app store launched overnight to use by United States customers only, and has placed tax restrictions on international developers selling their software through the new platform.
“Alarming” amount of end of life software in Vic Govt: Microsoft + Oracle in...
Victoria’s acting Auditor-General has blasted the state’s departments and agencies for continuing to use IT systems which have reached their end of life state, as well as for ignoring its ongoing recommendation that the state put together a whole of government disaster recovery framework.
Airline CIO legend Stephen Tame quits Jetstar
The long-time chief information officer of Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, Stephen Tame, has resigned from his role, leaving a legacy of innovative IT implementations and practices behind him that will not easily be forgotten in Australia's IT industry.
Amazon claims huge Australian growth as dedicated local support launches
The cloud computing branch of online retailer Amazon late last month claimed it was seeing rapid uptake from the launch of its first Australia-based datacentre; simultaneously announcing the launch of a dedicated support centre based in Australia to serve local customers.
iPad embargo for Aussie corporate orders?
It appears that Apple may have placed a temporary embargo on iPad orders from corporate Australia, with iPad supplies starting to dwindle after the local launch of the hyped tablet device last week.
WA likely to vote again for Senate
Western Australians are likely to be forced to vote again for their Senate representatives in Federal Parliament, in a move which will once again place the seat of Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam in doubt, as the Australian Electoral Commission last week confirmed it would seek a by election in the state.
Vodafone “pleased” with network fix progress
Mobile telco VHA this morning said it was pleased with the progress it had made in resolving customer complaints about its Vodafone brand, in reaction to the publication of a 30 page report by critic website Vodafail.com overnight, which details a raft of customer complaints about the telco.
NAB appoints acting tech chief
National Australia Bank has appointed a new acting Chief Technology and Operations Officer (CTOO), following Bob Melrose's move to the role of Executive General Manager, Retail Banking.
Failing Qld e-health system needs $439 million fix
Queensland Health needs a mammoth $439 million injection of government funding to fix its ailing patient administration system, according to explosive documents tabled in the state's parliament by the Queensland Opposition yesterday.
Turnbull, NBN Co invited to respond to Strategic Review criticism
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NBN Co have been invited to formally respond to specific allegations raised by the Opposition yesterday that evidence shows NBN Co's Strategic Review published last year is based on "flawed and unreliable” premises and was in fact designed by Turnbull to constitute a “pre-ordained political outcome”.
Macquarie Bank planning OpenStack cloud solution with “large vendor”
Macquarie Bank has indicated that it is planning the development of a cloud infrastructure based on OpenStack – an open-source cloud operating system.
Telstra’s Android tablet unveiled: Just $299
It's no Apple iPad. But for the price Telstra will charge for it, it might not have to be. Yesterday Telstra detailed for the first time the complete specifications and pricing of its new T-Touch Tab Android tablet device, which it will start selling in Australia on November 2.
Turnbull links data retention with Conroy’s filter
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has likened the Federal Government’s controversial data retention and surveillance plan to the mandatory Internet filtering project which remains official policy of the Federal Government, despite the fact that Labor’s attempt to introduce it several years ago was met with near-universal political and popular opposition.
AXA Group CEO appointed Telstra CFO
Australia’s largest telco Telstra has announced that Andrew Penn would take over the position of Chief Financial Officer and Group Managing Director, Finance, starting March 1st, 2012. This follows a June announcement that Telstra’s long-time CFO John Stanhope would retire at the end of 2011.
SAP Australia poaches Unisys chief
The Australian division of German software giant SAP today confirmed it had poached Andrew Barkla, the long-serving Asia-Pacific chief of IT services giant Unisys to lead its Australian operations, following the departure of incumbent Tim Ebbeck in January this year.
COO Yuile takes AAPT’s Broad reins
Telecom New Zealand subsidiary AAPT this morning revealed its chief executive Paul Broad had resigned, with his post to be taken up from 1 July by the company’s chief operating officer David Yuile.
AGIMO finalises open source guide
The Federal Government's peak IT strategy branch has published the final version of its second guide to open source software for departments and agencies, in its latest move to help the public sector better understand how to buy and use open source software.
Telstra launches Samsung Galaxy S II 4G
The nation's largest telco will tomorrow start selling a 4G version of one of 2011's most popular smartphones, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S II.
Aussie wife helps draw Ericsson CTO down under
Swedish networking leader Ericsson announced this week that Håkan Eriksson would take over as Head of Ericsson in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji from February 1st, 2012. Eriksson is currently the Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Head of Group Function Technology and Portfolio Management and Head of Ericsson in Silicon Valley.
New Bondi Junction Apple Store: Video tour
Shortly after Apple's opened its new store in Bondi Junction this morning, we were allowed in to video the store and show fans what it looks like. It's honestly not that much different from Apple's other stores, although it does have four large trees at the back, providing validity to the rumours of greenery inside.
Microsoft reinstates Aussie evangelists’ blog
Microsoft has mostly reinstated six years of blog archives belonging to Australian mobile technology evangelist Shane Williamson (pictured) and hosted on its free Windows Live Spaces platform.
Sell off the NBN? Abbott won’t confirm or deny
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has repeatedly refused to confirm or deny whether the Coalition would sell off finished portions of the National Broadband Network infrastructure if it won the next Federal Election, stating only that the Coalition believed the private sector could deliver broadband to Australia better than the Government.
Parliament must subpoena IT giants: Choice
Consumer group Choice has called for the Federal Parliament to use its powers of subpoena to force recalcitrant IT vendors such as Apple, Adobe and Microsoft to give evidence about their price setting practices in Australia, due to the vendors' reluctance to voluntarily appear before a committee into Australian IT price hikes.
AICD’s membership data stolen
Australia's peak organisation for company directors has warned its members to be on the lookout for attempts at identity fraud, after today disclosing that a computer had been stolen from its offices which may have contained data on its many thousands of high-profile members and clients located around the nation.
Whirlpool founder slams internet filter
Whirlpool founder Simon Wright has slammed the Federal Government’s internet filtering plans, in a fiery editorial released simultaneously with the results of the broadband forum’s annual survey of its users.
330Mbps: BT extends fibre from node to premise
British telco BT has revealed plans to modify its 80Mbps national fibre to the node rollout so that customers will be able to choose to have fibre fully extended to their premises, delivering a large speed upgrade to 330Mbps in the process and shifting its rollout model closer to Australia's own National Broadband Network.
Turnbull accuses ABC of NBN “propaganda”
Malcolm Turnbull has accused the national broadcaster of creating “relentless propaganda” to support Labor’s flagship National Broadband Network, in a stance which the Shadow Communications Minister yesterday described as “embarrassing”.
Digital Transformation Office unveils gov.au prototype
The Digital Transformation Office (DTO) has revealed the "Alpha" prototype of gov.au – the new governmental web platform that aims to present information and services based on usability, rather than the structures of government.
Australia woefully unprepared for “digital revolution”, says Westpac CIO
Westpac’s top technologist has issued a sharp warning to the nation’s corporate, educational and political sectors, placing them on notice that Australia is not prepared for the ongoing digital revolution that will see many workplaces completely shaken up and jobs taken by computers.
NBN Co, Telstra help Greg Hunt out with election campaign event
The NBN company join Telstra at an election campaign event to be held by Environment Minister Greg Hunt in his electorate of Flinders in late March, Delimiter can reveal, in a move that further calls into question the NBN company's independence in the pre-election period.
Clare tables NBN petition in Parliament
Shadow Minister for Communications Jason Clare yesterday presented to Federal Parliament the signatures of 272,000 Australians who want the new Coalition Government to build Labor’s all-fibre version of the National Broadband Network instead of the technically inferior version which is currently being proposed.
Lonely Planet dumps SAP, Salesforce.com for NetSuite
Business software giant NetSuite has revealed that Australia-headquartered travel publishing firm Lonely Planet will consolidate its business systems on the vendor's OneWorld platform, ditching existing systems from rivals SAP (R/3 4.7) and Salesforce.com in the process.
Optus signs ICT services deal with QBE
Optus Business has inked a new three-year ICT services deal with QBE Australia to deliver voice, mobile and data network services for the insurance multinational.
Internode launches FetchTV for the NBN
Internode customers using fibre connections on National Broadband Network (NBN) and Opticomm-based FTTH (Fibre to the Home) network ports can now benefit from the full subscription TV channel suite offered by FetchTV.
LNP, Labor, Greens agree: Govt should support video game devs
Australia's three major sides of political have achieved a rare unified agreement that the Federal Government should take a wide range of measures to directly support the growth of Australia's video gaming development industry, in a move which would dovetail with Malcolm Turnbull's innovation agenda.
NEC expands NSW Police network business
Diversified ICT services business NEC this afternoon revealed it had retained and expanded its communications-related work with NSW Police, with the Japanese company to continue providing voice telephony services to the organisation and expand its remit to include maintenance and support of its data network as well.
“No additional payment”: Turnbull believes Telstra will give Govt copper
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday that he believed Telstra would give a Coalition Federal Government its copper network for nothing under its existing contract with NBN Co, casting skepticism on critics of the plan who believe the telco could charge billions for the infrastructure.
Rethink needed on Internet piracy strategies, says Internet Australia
Internet Australia, a non-profit body representing Internet users, has called for a rethink of current strategies used to deal with piracy of online content.
Monash University invests $4.1m in supercomputer project
Monash University has announced it has invested $4.1m in a high-performance computing facility with plans to build a new supercomputer.
Deal may cause Telstra losses: Analyst
Telstra’s $11 billion deal with NBN Co might not be enough to make up for revenue losses it will sustain in its long-term transition away from its tightly integrated structure, local analyst firm Telsyte argued in a research note posted yesterday.
NEXTDC M1 datacentre launch: Photos
In a ritzy ceremony, NEXTDC this week opened its new M1 datacentre in Melbourne. Attending the event were the company's founder Bevan Slattery, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, new NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie, financial executive Mark Bouris, Conroy's chief of staff Shain Drabsch and others.
By 2015, Australians will have 2.4 mobile devices each
Networking giant Cisco has predicted Australians will have 2.4 mobile devices each and a five-fold increased mobile speed connection by 2015.
YOU’RE WRONG AGAIN, Hackett tells Conroy
Simon Hackett has accused Communications Minister Stephen Conroy of again making factually incorrect statements about Internode's approach to the National Broadband Network, claiming Conroy hadn't even read some of Hackett's recent statements on the matter.
Turnbull on Quigley “witch hunt”, says Conroy
Communications Minister Conroy this morning heavily criticised his shadow, Malcolm Turnbull, stating that the Liberal MP’s continued criticism of the management of the National Broadband Network Company constituted “witch hunts” and “personal attacks” which needed to stop.
Gillard: Filter is a “moral question”
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday took the high ground in defending Labor's mandatory internet filtering project, describing the issue of how to ensure Australians didn't get access to the wrong content as a “moral question”.
Reinecke gives Gershon qualified approval
Ian Reinecke has issued the Federal Government what could best be described as a series of 'B' or 'C' grades in his report card on how well it has implemented the recommendations of British efficiency expert Sir Peter Gershon into its use of technology.
What’s the best iPad 2 data plan?
Over at our sister site Delimiter Marketplace, we’ve posted an article examining the options for buying a SIM card (3G mobile broadband access) for your Apple iPad. There are quite a few choices — you can choose between Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin, Amaysim or even iiNet or Internode. Check out the article to find out what we think is the best option.
vividwireless picks RightNow web CRM
US-headquartered cloud software player RightNow Technologies has picked up a contract to provide fledgling wireless player vividwireless with its web-based customer relationship management software.
Telstra proposes to filter Interpol blacklist
The nation's largest telco Telstra today revealed it was close to receiving executive sign-off for its internal proposal guiding the technical details of how it will cooperate with the Federal Government to voluntarily filter a list of sites containing child pornography from being accessed by its internet customers.
DSD approves BlackBerry PlayBook
Research in Motion (RIM) this morning announced its new PlayBook tablet had received certification for use by the Australian Government.
Google Australia: ~$1bn in revenue, $74k in tax
Search giant Google has revealed it expects to pay just $74,000 in corporate income tax for the 2011 calendar year in Australia, off claimed local revenues of $201 million, despite the fact that industry estimates have continually pegged the search giant's Australian income at closer to $1 billion.
CIO Paul Jones flies to Qantas from Mars
Australia's largest airline Qantas today announced it had appointed a new chief information officer, picking Paul Jones -- who was working in the same role for Mars Incorporated.
Telstra to bring Foxtel to T-Box
Telstra chief executive David Thodey tonight revealed that the telco was talking with its joint venture partner Foxtel to bring the payTV service to Telstra's T-Box internet television platform launched last month.
Queensland Health kicks off iPad trial
Queensland Health this week revealed it was running a trial of Apple's hyped iPad tablet, deploying the device within its administrative employees -- although tests with clinical staff have not yet kicked off.
Atlassian files for IPO on the Nasdaq Global Market
Australian enterprise software provider Atlassian has publicly filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol 'TEAM'.
Universities must adapt education models: Conroy
Australian universities need to adapt their education models or face becoming irrelevant, says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
AFACT locked on iiTrial; won’t discuss piracy plan
The principal organisation representing content owners such as film and TV studios in Australia has declined to express an opinion on a plan unveiled last week by the ISP industry to deal with Internet piracy, stating that it was focused on its piracy lawsuit against ISP iiNet due to kick off next week.
Foxtel to launch broadband by late 2014
Pay TV giant Foxtel today announced it would launch broadband internet and fixed-line telephony services bundled with its television product, with a target date of "late 2014" and no pricing yet announced.
Apple iBooks manager could be Sydney-based
Iconic technology giant Apple has advertised for an executive to manage its fledgling iBooks product for the Asia-Pacific and Canada regions, adding the position could be based in Sydney or Toronto.
iiNet to buy Internode
iiNet has revealed it will buy fellow Australian Internet service provider Internode, in a surprise pre-Christmas announcement this afternoon which will dramatically consolidate Australia's broadband sector ahead of the rollout of the National Broadband Network.
Optus to transition Adelaide Festival Centre to Office 365 and Azure
Optus is to transition the existing IT infrastructure platform of the Adelaide Festival Centre to a hybrid cloud platform leveraging Microsoft Azure and Office 365.
Vic doctors want $328m for e-health
After just a few short months in office, Victoria's new State Government has already canned the previous administration's plans to roll out Apple iPads to every public sector doctor in the state and placed Victoria's flagship $360 million e-health project HealthSMART on ice. But not everyone is happy to see e-health investment so dramatically rolled back in the state.
Internet filter scope creep: Govt may censor offshore gambling sites
The Federal Government is considering extending its covert Internet filtering scheme to block offshore gambling websites, in a 'scope creep' move that has the telecommunications industry up in arms about the dangers of secretive Internet censorship.
Fibre optic broadband to last 50 years, says Budde
While technology is generally advancing at a furious pace, fibre optic broadband has nothing that is likely to replace it for as much as 50 years, telecoms expert Paul Budde has said.
Turnbull’s amendments hit furious Conroy
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has revealed the cost of the Coalition's cooperation in getting Labor's wide-ranging telecommunications legislation through the Federal Parliament: A handful of amendments aimed at protecting both Telstra and Australian consumers.
TransGrid reveals mass Win8 tablet rollout
NSW electrity grid operator TransGrid has revealed plans to deploy a sizable fleet of Windows 8-based tablets across its operations, as part of a wider comprehensive revamp of its desktop PC infrastructure that will also see the organisation migrate the majority of its desktops to virtualised instances through thin client technology.
Telstra starts VDSL vectoring FTTN trial
The nation's largest telco Telstra has reportedly kicked off a trial of the Coalition's preferred fibre to the node, VDSL and vectoring technologies in an effort to show what they are capable of on its copper network, as the Coalition's plan to dial down Labor's more ambitious fibre to the premises NBN rollout gets into gear.