SA Govt appoints Premier’s insider as CIO
The South Australian State Government has appointed the long-term executive director of the Department of Premier and Cabinet as its new whole of government chief information officer, to replace outgoing CIO Andrew Mills, who this month commenced the same role in Queensland.
Telstra cloud console goes offline for two days
Telstra has confirmed that the management console for its corporate cloud platform went offline for some of its customers for two days last week, in the second demonstration in less than a year that the company's cloud computing environment may not yet be as stable as the company would like customers to believe.
Telstra sells most of Sensis to private equity
The nation's biggest telco Telstra this morning revealed it would sell 70 percent of its ailing directories and advertising business Sensis to US-based private equity firm Platinum Equity, with the sale to net the telco $454 million.
Defence dumps distributed computing plans
The Department of Defence has taken the unusual step of abandoning plans to go to market for one of the three major tranches of IT outsourcing programs it has been evaluating over the past several years, opting instead to renew a contract in the area with Unisys, despite the fact that it will shortly be forced to re-examine the deal anyway.
Westpac demotes CIO, makes CTO redundant
Westpac Banking Group has dramatically shaken up its senior IT executive team, slicing some responsibilities away from previous top IT dog Clive Whincup and reportedly making its chief technology officer Jeff Jacobs redundant.
WA Govt exposes dodgy IT deals
An investigation by Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission investigation has found that more than $1.2 million of IT software was purchased by a former council CEO without going to tender or getting quotes -- over a period in which they received gifts and benefits from the supplier.
Turnbull’s broadband brochureware falls short of election promise
The new Coalition Government has failed to successfully deliver what it had promised before the election would be a key report on the overall status of broadband infrastructure in Australia, instead releasing just before Christmas an extremely brief report of only several pages which does little to illuminate the situation.
iiNet made CTO Lindsay redundant
iiNet made its outgoing Adelaide-based chief technology officer John Lindsay redundant, it has emerged, as the company appears to be increasingly centralising the technical management of its infrastructure to its head office in Perth.
Internode CTO quits iiNet after two years
Long-time Internode chief technology officer John Lindsay has resigned from a similar position at the company's owner iiNet, just two years after iiNet bought the South Australian ISP.
Delimiter files FoI request for PCEHR Review
Technology media outlet Delimiter has filed a Freedom of Information request for a report reviewing the Federal Government's troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records project begun under Labor, due to the fact that new Health Minister Peter Dutton has received but not yet released the sensitive document.
CSC picks up cloud contract with Fred Hollows
Technology services giant CSC this morning revealed it had signed an extensive agreement to provide cloud computing services (Infrastructure as a Service) to charity the Fred Hollows Foundation.
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".
HFC the “steam train” of broadband, says Budde
Australian telecommunications analyst Paul Budde has published a strongly worded blog post arguing that the HFC cable networks focused on by the Coalition in its rival NBN policy are akin to steam trains in the 1930's through the 1960's -- they'll still around for decades, but don't represent the future of their industry.
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.
NSW Govt seeks storage as a service
The New South Wales State Government has gone to market for storage as a service capabilities to replace its existing in-house storage solutions, in a move that will add to the rapid ramp-up of the state's adoption of cloud computing services.
“Simply wrong”: Hackett attacks NBN HFC critics
Internode founder and NBN Co board director Simon Hackett has strongly defended the company's proposal to cancel the rollout of fibre broadband to around a third of Australian premises and re-use existing HFC cable networks owned by Telstra and Optus instead, stating that some of those criticising the plan have gotten it "simply wrong".
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".
Brisbane Airport outsources IT to Data#3
Queensland-headquartered IT services group Data#3 yesterday announced it had won a contract with Brisbane Airport Corporation, as the group continues a drive to transform its technology services delivery model.
Greens get their surveillance inquiry
Following several unsuccessful attempts, the Greens have successfully moved a motion in the Senate to establish a formal inquiry into Internet surveillance, through a review that will take place into the controversial Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act.
NBN Co cancels FTTN rollout for HFC areas
NBN Co's Strategic Review has found that it will not be possible to deliver the Coalition's stated policy goal of delivering broadband speeds of 25Mbps to all Australians by the end of 2016 or at the projected cost, and has recommended that up to a third of Australian premises theoretically already covered by HFC cable networks effectively receive no upgrade at all under a drastically revised deployment scheme.
Delimiter Christmas publishing schedule
I've gotten a few enquiries as to Delimiter's Christmas and New Year publishing schedule so I thought I'd publish a brief story explaining what we'll be up to.
“Diabolical mess”, “Scandal of epic proportions”: NT ICT Minister damns Fujitsu to hell in...
Those of you who’ve been with us for a while will recall that the Northern Territory Government is more than a little annoyed at technology giant Fujitsu for what it sees as the company’s botched implementation of a new asset management system using software from German giant SAP. But what you may not have realised is just how annoyed the Territorians are. Well, to get the full feeling, you need to read this extraordinary statement made by NT Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Corporate and Information Services David Tollner in Parliament last week.
Turnbull requests Labor’s secret NBN docs
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has written to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten requesting the Labor leader release cabinet documents from the previous Labor administration relating to the National Broadband Network, despite the fact that Turnbull himself is holding back similar material from the Coalition's period in power.
No plans for specific ASD intelligence inquiry, says Inspector-General
Australia's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has stated they have no plans to initiate a specific inquiry to examine allegations the Australian Signals Directorate had offered to share data about Australian citizens with foreign intelligence agencies, stating they believe current oversight of the ASD to be "sufficient".
Labor forces NBN Co back to Senate
The Opposition has forced senior executives from the National Broadband Network back to take questions from a Senate committee for the third time in a month, as debate grows about whether and to what extent such constant hearings represent obstruction of the company's work.
Qld confirms plans to sell CITEC
The Queensland State Government this week confirmed plans to sell its ICT shared services division CITEC, as well as its information brokerage arm, adopting recommendations stemming from the Commission of Audit into the state's operations led by former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.
Telstra ‘not logging’ customers’ web, email history
The nation's largest telco Telstra has flatly rejected allegations that it is routinely logging all of its customers' web browsing data and email history on behalf of national security and intelligence agencies, stating that it does not "routinely" collect or store its customers' telecommunications data unless required to do so.
Labor, Coalition reject Intelligence committee reformation
Both Labor and the Coalition have voted down a motion put by the Greens in the Senate which would have called on the Parliament to re-establish the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security, a key oversight mechanism of Australia's intelligence agencies which has lain dormant since the election.
David Boyle appointed NAB CIO
The National Australia Bank has poached Ernst & Young Partner and long-time Accenture executive David Boyle to be its new chief information officer, following the departure of incumbent Denis McGee earlier this year.
“Captain of the Titanic”: Turnbull mocks Quigley’s NBN tenure
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has mocked the tenure of outgoing NBN Co chief Mike Quigley in leading the National Broadband Network Company, comparing the respected executive to the "Captain of the Titanic" in what Turnbull claimed was an inability to get the job done with respect to the NBN.
Telstra shares millions with Box
The nation's largest telco Telstra has added to a recent splurge of funding on smaller companies, ploughing a reported $10 million into US-based corporate cloud file-sharing company and Dropbox competitor Box.
Qld payroll lawsuit ‘rewriting history’, says IBM
Technology giant IBM has accused the Queensland State Government of trying to "rewrite history" through filing a new lawsuit against IBM over the botched Queensland Health payroll systems upgrade, despite the fact that the two parties had already come to a legal agreement on the issue.
Delimiter appeals Turnbull Blue Book censorship
Delimiter has appealed a move by the Department of Communications to block the release of new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘Blue Book’ incoming ministerial briefing under Freedom of Information laws.
Censored: Appeal for AG’s Blue Book fails
The Attorney-General's Department has rejected an appeal for a Freedom of Information request which would have seen the incoming ministerial briefing (known as the ‘Blue Book’) provided to new Attorney-General George Brandis, censoring the release of the entire document.
Final closure: TPG buys AAPT for $450m
In a move which will finally put paid to Telecom New Zealand's lengthy and frustrated failed adventure into Australia, second-tier telco TPG this morning revealed it would buy its ailing Australian division AAPT for $450 million.
Harbour City Ferries goes Microsoft across the board
Sydney Ferries operator Harbour City Ferries has recently undertaken a "significant" technology refresh project which has seen it deploy a slew of next-generation Microsoft products, from Windows 8 on PCs and tablets, to Windows Phone 8, Office 365 and more.
NBN FTTN analysis “devastating” for Coalition
A "devastating" leaked internal NBN analysis partially published over the past week "pulls apart" the Coalition's Fibre to the Node plan for the National Broadband, the Opposition said this week, as pressure grows on Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the issue.
Senate to force TPP publication
The Greens and Labor teamed up in the Senate yesterday to successfully move a motion which would force the Coalition Government to table the text of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement before Australia signs the treaty.
End of an era: Oracle Australia’s ‘safe hands’ leaves
Long-term Oracle Australia and New Zealand managing director Ian White has resigned from his post and will leave the company, ending an eight and half year tenure successfully leading the local operations of one of the globe's largest technology giants.
Qld launches whole of government IaaS panel
The Queensland State Government has gone to market to set up a whole of government cloud computing panel which would allow its many departments and agencies to purchase IT infrastructure services in this category from a set list of suppliers.
NSW Govt refreshes ICT Advisory Panel
NSW Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance this week announced the State Government was taking nominations for the refreshed version of its ICT Advisory Panel, as well as the Industry Advisory Group of its Procurement Board.
NBN Co internal FTTN analysis: Turnbull refuses to retract inaccurate claim
Malcolm Turnbull has flatly ignored a request to retract a highly inaccurate claim the Communications Minister made on national television last week in an attempt to discredit an important internal NBN Co analysis casting doubt on viability of the Coalition's NBN policy.
Global privacy group files formal ASD complaint
Global privacy organisation Privacy International has filed a formal complaint with Australia's Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security over a report that the Australian Signals Directorate had offered to hand over data on Australian citizens to foreign intelligence agencies.
Defying the Senate: Turnbull to release NBN Review by end of 2013
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled he will defy a Senate order to publish by next Monday the full Strategic Review which will guide the future of the NBN project, stating instead that he expects the document to be released by the end of 2013.
Labor open to surveillance discussion
The Australian Labor Party has given the first tentative sign that it may be open to working with the Greens on the terms of a wide-reaching parliamentary inquiry into electronic surveillance practices in Australia.
Senate to force Turnbull to publish NBN Review
Labor and the Greens are likely to team up in the Senate today to force Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to publish next Monday the full Strategic Review which will guide the future of the National Broadband Network project.
Get on with FTTN job, Quigley tells NBN Co
NBN Co founding chief executive Mike Quigley has advised the company's new management to get on with the job of fulfilling the Coalition's Fibre to the Node vision for the project and not to politicise it further, in his first public appearance since retiring several months ago.
Snowden an “American traitor”, says Australia’s Attorney-General
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has reacted to the revelation of what a Queen's Counsel lawyer has stated are borderline illegal surveillance tactics by the Australian Signals Directorate by supporting the agency and accusing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden of being an "American traitor".
ASD goes rogue with Aussie metadata
Australia's peak electronic intelligence agency offered to share detailed information collected about ordinary Australian citizens with its major intelligence partners, the Guardian reported this morning, in moves that at least one high-profile lawyer says may have breached Australian law.
CenITex has no disaster recovery capacity
An audit of departments and agencies within the Victorian Government has found many don't have sufficient business continuity/disaster recovery facilities to keep them operating in the event of a major disaster, with the situation exacerbated by the lack of capability found at IT shared services agency CenITex.
Vic Govt abjectly fails IT security tests
An audit of the Victorian Government's IT security defences and ability to respond to major cyber-attacks has found it woefully unprepared, with its IT systems suffering over 100 "serious breaches" and the state unprepared for any serious online attack.
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.
Labor demands Turnbull release NBN Strategic Review
The Opposition has demanded the Federal Government release the Strategic Review report which NBN Co has conducted into its operations and possible future plans. However, the report has not yet been delivered to the Government, even in draft form.
Much ado about nothing: SMH FTTN ‘revelations’ spur NBN circus
The Sydney Morning Herald has published internal NBN Co information purporting to heavily criticise the Coalition's rival FTTN model for the National Broadband Network. However, the information may not reflect the current state of play with the network or the Coalition's plans.
NSW Govt super group can’t afford to upgrade its IT systems
The New South Wales Government has announced that it may sell off state-owned superannuation services company Pillar instead of spending the estimated $30 million the fund needs to update its IT systems and deal with other internal matters.
A decade later, third time lucky, NSW LifeLink IT project finishes
The NSW Government has revealed that it is finally close to completing its extremely troubled LifeLink IT project to replace the key administration platform used by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, some 11 years after the project was first begun.
Shorten won’t release Lazard NBN report
The Opposition has confirmed it will not consent to key Labor cabinet documents related to the National Broadband Network being publicly released, in comments which let Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull off the hook from doing the same.
Dept can’t find piracy meeting invitations
The Federal Attorney-General's Department has stated that neither it nor Attorney-General George Brandis has recently sent Australian telcos letters inviting them to reboot long-running talks between the telecommunications and content industries over Internet piracy, contradicting a report in The Australian newspaper.
NSW Education ERP upgrade only a little late, over budget
A comprehensive audit of the NSW Department of Education and Communities' wide-ranging Learning Management and Business Reform program, which involves a number of rolling upgrades of business administration software, is late across a number of areas and over budget, although not to the degree seen in similar projects around Australia.
Allianz deploys Oracle Database Appliance
Technology giant Oracle has revealed that the specialist insurance arm of local financial services giant Allianz has deployed the vendor's Oracle Database Appliance X3-2 to replace legacy hardware that was reaching the end of its useful life.
iiNet “in safe hands” without Malone, says Hackett
Departing board director Simon Hackett and other iiNet senior figures have rubbished the idea that the temporary loss of long-time chief executive officer and other senior figures such as Hackett himself from the ISP could lead to innovation dying at the ISP.
Pro-NBN National Day of Action is tomorrow
Supporters of Labor's all-fibre vision for the National Broadband Network project have organised a national day of action for Tuesday 26 November, which will see thousands of Australians physically present Members of Parliament with copies of a 270,000-strong petition on the issue.
Agency to refresh desktops with Surface Pro 2
Minor Federal Government agency the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has revealed plans to refresh its staff PC fleet not with laptops, not with desktop PCs, but with Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablet, in one of the first known deployments of its kind in Australia.
‘No apology, no explanation’: Residents want FTTP back, says Labor
The Opposition today claimed it was being inundated by "countless" complaints by Australians alarmed after the new Coalition Government 'wiped them off the NBN rollout map' with "no apology and no real explanation".
‘I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours’: Turnbull to open Blue Book...
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has stated that he will seek to publicly release his 'Blue Book' incoming ministerial briefing if the Opposition will consent to release a number of NBN-related documents which were considered as part of the previous Labor administration's cabinet.
iiNet’s Malone takes 3-6 month sabbatical
iiNet chief executive Michael Malone has signalled plans to take a break of between three to six months from the business he founded in his garage some 20 years ago, with iiNet's chief financial officer David Buckingham to step in as acting chief executive in his absense.
No need for 100Mbps NBN, Switkowski tells Senate
New NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski has questioned the need for ordinary households in Australia to have access to 100Mbps broadband speeds, telling a Senate Estimates session this week that a "whole lot of assumptions" needed to be pushed to their limits to demonstrate how such speeds would be used.
IBM, Accenture are risk factors for IT disasters, claims TechnologyOne
Australian technology vendor Technology One has claimed that using major third-party systems integrators such as IBM and Accenture on major technology projects can add to the risk of "implementation disasters" such as the billion-dollar catastrophe with Queensland Health's payroll systems overhaul.
Law firm deploys desktop virtualisation
Virtualisation and remote access vendor Citrix has revealed that a sizable deployment of its desktop and application virtualisation solutions has aided local law firm Duncan Cotterill in setting up a completely mobile working environment for its staff that will assist it with productivity as well as with dealing with natural disasters affecting its operations, such as the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
NT Govt still buying new IBM mainframes
IBM this month announced that the Northern Territory Government would deploy another new unit from its flagship zEnterprise mainframe system, in a rollout that marks the second time the territorial government has deployed one of the mainframe units over the past 18 months.
NBN Co invites ISPs to retail FTTB trial
The National Broadband Network Company has invited retail ISPs to participate in a trial of the Fibre to the Basement network infrastructure model, as the Coalition’s plan to reshape Labor’s previously Fibre to the Premises-based NBN vision kicks into gear.
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.
Tom Quinn appointed News Corp Australia CTO
Publishing giant News Corp Australia has appointed internal candidate Tom Quinn as its new chief technology officer, following the retirement of long-serving chief information officer John Pittard this month.
iiNet stops selling NBN satellite plans
National broadband provider iiNet has withdrawn its National Broadband Network satellite plans from sale, as the rapid up-take of customers on the service has resulted in a lack of available network capacity for new sign-ups.
Incredible rip off: LG/Telstra almost double Nexus 5 retail price
Korean electronics manufacturer LG and local telco Telstra have announced they will mark up Google's Nexus 5 smartphone by $300 when customers buying the flagship model pay for it outright, in a move which will see the unit's overall price increase by around 75 percent compared with its existing price through Google's Play Store.
Google Nexus 7 (2013 model): Review
The new version of Google's flagship seven inch tablet, the Nexus 7, has landed in Australia. The first edition of the Nexus 7 proved a hit locally and helped Android finally succeed in challenging Apple's dominance in the tablet sector. But does its successor represent a worthy upgrade or only a minor improvement? Read on to find out.
Fact check: 500k houses were not cut from NBN
Fact-checking website PolitiFact Australia has flatly rejected a claim by the Australian Labor Party that the Coalition has "cut" some 500,000 houses from the National Broadband Network project, finding that the Coalition had only changed the metrics by which the rollout was measured, not the rollout itself.
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.
Delimiter to appeal Turnbull Blue Book censorship
Technology media outlet Delimiter today confirmed it would appeal a move by the Department of Communications to block the release of new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull's 'Blue Book' incoming ministerial briefing under Freedom of Information laws.
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.
Political brawl erupts over NBN sub-committee
Federal Parliament hasn't even been back in session for a week, but a political brawl has already erupted between the largest three parties over whether and how new parliamentary sub-committees will be established to provide oversight of the National Broadband Network project, in yet another sign that the initiative has become increasingly politicised.
Turnbull YouTube promo backfires: Minister faces NBN ‘fraudband’ bile
A video attempt by Malcolm Turnbull to reassure the public that the Coalition is proceeding apace with Labor's National Broadband Network project has backfired, with most viewers giving the promo the 'thumbs down' and others filling the Communications Minister's YouTube channel with bile accusing him of destroying Labor's vision wholesale.
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).
Amazon puts Aussie face on global Kindle store
Online retailer Amazon this morning revealed it had formally launched an Australian version of its popular online bookstore, putting a formal face on a service which millions of Australians have already been accessing for years and further supporting Australian authors to sell their books online locally.
Qld poaches SA whole of govt CIO
The Queensland Government has poached South Australia's whole of government chief information officer Andrew Mills to be its own central CIO, six months after it removed two-time incumbent Peter Grant from the position.
‘It’s complicated’, but Vodafone losses are still accelerating
The rate of customer losses being suffered by Vodafone Australia has accelerated again over the three months to the end of September this year, with the company reporting overnight that it lost some 584,000 Australian customers that quarter. However, the troubled company's situation is a little more complex than it looks from the outside.
Milne will sell shares, Hackett won’t
NBN Co's three new non-executive directors all have potential conflicts of interest between their financial investments in prior employers or their current responsibilities and their new posts on NBN Co's board. But a significant gulf has emerged between the way the different executives are tackling the issue.
DesignCrowd picks up another $3m
Australian web startup DesignCrowd announced overnight that it had picked up a further $3 million in funding from Melbourne-based venture capital firm Starfish Ventures, which it will use to continue to scale up its operations and take advantage of the growing trend towards crowdsourcing tasks online.
Labor decries more NBN “jobs for the boys”
The Opposition has accused Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull of unethical behaviour in the appointment of another former Telstra executive of his personal acquaintance to help guide the National Broadband Network Company, with the news today that former BigPond and OzEmail chief Justin Milne would join NBN Co's board.
Turnbull appoints Simon Hackett, others to NBN board
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today announced that he had appointed three senior executives, including Simon Hackett, Internode founder and doyen of Australia's broadband industry, to be non-executive directors sitting on the board of the National Broadband Network Company.
Victoria Police appoints CIO without IT background
Victoria Police, which has one of the most troubled IT departments in Australia's public sector, has appointed as its new chief information officer a senior police officer with a distinguished career but who appears to have no specific experience with IT operations, in an effort to pull itself out of the deep mire which has swallowed its technology capability in recent years.
When depts disagree: AG ‘Blue Book’ censored
The Attorney-General's Department has declined to release under Freedom of Information laws the incoming ministerial briefing (known as the 'Blue Book') provided to new Attorney-General George Brandis, censoring the release of the entire document in a decision which appears to run directly contrary to a similar decision by the Department of Communications.
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.
Beattie “ashamed” of Australia’s Internet piracy
Former Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie has published a strongly worded article stating that he is "ashamed" of Australia's record on Internet piracy, in the latest sign that the two major sides of politics may be in agreement about the need to tackle the issue through new legislation.
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.
Dept agrees: ‘Public interest’ in Turnbull Blue Book
Malcolm Turnbull's Department of Communications has halved its processing charges for releasing the new Minister's 'Blue Book' incoming briefing under Freedom of Information laws, citing the fact that release of the document would be consistent with the objects of the FoI Act and would resonate strongly with the public, although the final fate of the FoI request is not yet clear.
EFA board explodes with internal tensions
Four members of the board of Electronic Frontiers Australia have resigned in protest against what they described in a letter published this morning as "inaccuracies and irregularities" in the governance and financial affairs of the digital rights lobby group.
Disaster ahead? NSW Govt unveils massive SaaS ERP consolidation
The New South Wales State Government has unveiled plans for a massive technology-led project to consolidate a number of different enterprise resource planning systems onto just two new platforms, in a style of project which has historically led to cost blow-outs and extended project delays for similar initiatives accross Australian State Governments.
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.
SA Police buys drone fleet
The South Australian police force has gone to market to buy a fleet of aerial drones to assist it with surveillance operations, as controversy continues to swirl around the use of the technology in Australia's skies and whether it endangers residents and/or invades their privacy.
Back to the drawing board: Tasmania re-heats eight-year-old tasCOLT plans
The Tasmanian State Government has dusted off plans up to eight year old to string optical fibre cables over power poles in a bid to speed up the deployment of National Broadband Network infrastructure in the state.
Gigabit for 3.5m residents: Los Angeles wants FTTP
The City of Los Angeles has reportedly revealed plans to embark on a massive Fibre to the Premises city-wide deployment of fibre broadband, in a model that may deliver gigabit broadband speeds to the city's 3.5 million residents and all businesses and vault it into the next-generation of technology enablement.
Cheap, legal options wouldn’t stop Australians pirating
An extensive survey conducted by respected analysis house Essential Research has found that a huge proportion of Australians would continue to pirate content such as TV shows and movies online, even if such content was made available everywhere globally at the same time for a low price.
Four years later, Westpac will finally shift core banking to Celeriti
Four years after it first started talking about migrating its core banking platform to Celeriti, the next generation of CSC's Hogan system, and five years after it acquired St George, which already uses Hogan, top-tier bank Westpac has finally confirmed imminent plans to start taking action on the issue.
Turnbull’s Dept seeks slab of new consultants
Malcolm Turnbull's Department of Communications has gone to market seeking a huge tranche of new consulting advice, on issues ranging from NBN Co's renewed deal with Telstra to the composition and future of Australia's ICT industry at large and for assistance regarding every technology category the department has any involvement in.
Brandis refuses to answer piracy questions
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis has flatly refused to comment on a report that the new Coalition Government has signalled plans to restart long-running talks between the telecommunications and content industries to deal with the issue of Internet piracy, with the Liberal Senator declining to answer any question on the issue.
Optus launches $135, 100Mbps unlimited NBN
Australia's number two telco Optus has launched a range of new broadband and telephone packages across its ADSL, HFC and NBN networks that offer customers unlimited data download and mostly unlimited telephone calls, including a top of the line package that offers NBN customers unlimited quota at 100Mbps speeds for $135 a month.
Visionstream the problem in Tasmania, says Turnbull
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has published a statement implying that much of the problems with the National Broadband Network rollout in Tasmania could be pegged to NBN contractor Visionstream, stating that the company has done little work in the state since July and is asking for its rates to be substantially enlarged to complete the work.
Coalition kicks off promised PCEHR review
As promised during the Federal Election, the new Coalition Government has kicked off a formal review into Labor's extremely troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record initiative, with Health Minister Peter Dutton claiming the previous administration had wasted "over a billion dollars" on the project.
Ludlam holds Senate seat in recount; But possible by-election looms
Greens Communications Spokesman Scott Ludlam has held his Senate seat in Western Australia following a controversial recount of the state's Senate vote in September's Federal Election, but the result is likely to be formally challenged by the rival Palmer United Party and may head to a by election because of the loss of 1,375 crucial votes.
Nexus 5 hits Australia from $399
US technology giant Google has finally taken the wraps of its latest high-end smartphone, the Nexus 5, and there's good news for Australians: The hotly anticipated device will launch at a very competitive price -- starting from $399 -- in Australia next week, the same time as it will launch internationally.
Turnbull approves 150k more FTTP premises
The National Broadband Network Company has confirmed that Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has approved a further 150,000 premises to receive a full Fibre to the Premises network deployment, on top of the 300,000 premises where construction firms have already received deployment instructions.
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.
1,375 votes lost in Western Australia: Ludlam recount stalled in bureaucracy
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has revealed it lost 1,375 votes during the recent Federal Election and will need to investigate the situation further before it can advise whether Greens Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam will keep his Senate seat or be replaced by the Palmer United Party.
Clare bemoans Coalition’s 500k NBN “victims”
Shadow Communications Minister Jason Clare has issued a statement claiming that half a million homes and businesses have become the first “victims” of the Coalition’s revised NBN policy and that the new Coalition Government is not sticking to its promise of honouring existing NBN fibre contracts.
“Misinformation”: Turnbull slams Digital Tasmania
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has launched a broadside directly against Tasmanian technology activist group Digital Tasmania, accusing the group of instigating a “misinformation campaign” regarding the rollout of the NBN’s infrastructure in the state.
The farce gets deeper: Now Telstra sues NBN Co
Telstra has commenced legal action against NBN Co due to a disagreement between the two telcos over when consumer price index adjustments should kick in that will affect NBN Co’s payments to Telstra under the pair’s $11 billion deal to cooperate on transferring customers to the NBN infrastructure and giving NBN Co access to Telstra’s ducts.
Lessons from HealthSMART: The era of big health IT projects in Victoria is over
The Victorian Government has published a landmark review into the use of technology in the state’s health ecosystem, finding that its landmark HealthSMART program launched in 2004 had had its benefits, but that the state should devolve most decisions about IT back to individual health units such as hospitals.
DFAT blocks media from public TPP briefing
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has taken the extraordinary step of rescinding confirmations of attendance for journalists who had registered to attend a public briefing on the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in Sydney today, stating that the meeting is “off-the-record”, and that journalists are not welcome.”
Govt maintains Huawei ban for now
Attorney-General George Brandis and Huawei have issued statements stating that no decision has been made by the new Coalition Government with relation to the Chinese vendor’s ability to tender for National Broadband Network contracts, contradicting a report by the Financial Review newspaper on the issue.
FTTP NBN “wacko”, claims Mad Monk PM
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the previous Labor Federal Government’s attempt to extend fibre broadband to most Australian homes and businesses as “wacko”, despite the fact that Labor’s Fibre to the Premises model is seen as the long-term future of most fixed telecommunications networks globally.
Bushfires: Regulator warns drone operators of collision danger
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has issued a strongly worded statement warning the operators of small remotely piloted drones which have produced amazing footage of bushfires in the Blue Mountains that they are putting fire fighting operations at risk and should be aware of appropriate regulations.
Regulator clears Alan Jones of NBN falsehoods
Australia’s broadcast media regulator has cleared Alan Jones of any wrongdoing in a controversial broadcast in October 2012 in which the radio shockjock claimed the National Broadband Network was a “white elephant” and a “disaster” and that the future of telecommunications was “clearly wireless”, with the regulator giving Jones a pass because his statements were classified as "opinion" and not as "fact".
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.
Ludlam recount finds “hundreds” of misplaced votes
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam has revealed the ongoing recount of the Senate vote for the Federal Election in Western Australia has found “hundreds” of misplaced votes, in a move which the tech-savvy Senator said validated his request for a recount that could see him hold onto his seat in the state.
Primus, Dodo owner M2 sacks 100
M2 Group has revealed plans to make about 100 staff redundant as it finishes digesting recent major Internet service provider acquisitions such as Dodo, Primus and Eftel, stating that the positions are not necessary in the newly merged business.
NBN Co awash with review consultants
The National Broadband Network Company revealed late last week that it would appoint three consulting firms to assist with its Strategic Review process, despite the fact that Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had stipulated it was his intention that the review be conducted by NBN Co itself.
Surprise! Coalition re-kindles anti-piracy talks
The new Coalition Federal Government has reportedly signalled plans to restart long-running talks between the telecommunications and content industries to deal with the issue of Internet piracy, despite the fact that a previous round of talks between the two sides under the previous Labor administration proved pointless.
Doctor supergroup calls for PCEHR overhaul
A super-group composed of six of Australia’s major medical and doctors’ associations has called for the new Coalition Federal Government to listen to significant concerns raised by general practitioner doctors about the previous Labor administration’s troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system.
Bureau of Meteorology switches to managed email
The Federal Bureau of Meteorology has revealed plans to migrate its corporate email platform off an ageing Exchange 2007 platform and onto a managed services environment based on Exchange 2013, in a move congruent with a wider shift within major Australian organisations towards hosted or ‘cloud’-based email platforms.
Deloitte Australia to deploy internal private cloud
One of Australia’s largest corporate consultancies, the local branch of international firm Deloitte, has revealed it will join the widespread migration towards internal private cloud solutions, standardising heavily on the vCloud Suite developed by virtualisation leader VMware.
Locking Apple, Microsoft out: Electoral commissions want 6,000 Android tablets
Apple and Microsoft might be kicking goals when it comes to corporate tablet deployments, but one group of Australian state government agencies has baldly stated they prefer neither: Instead going to market for almost 6,000 tablets specifically using Google’s Android operating system.
Vodafone claims 3G network as fast as Telstra
Vodafone Australia chief executive Bill Morrow claimed this week that the telco’s 3G mobile network was as fast as that of Telstra and significantly faster than that of Optus, in yet another sign of the company’s confidence that its technical capabilities are catching up with that of its competitors.
NBN Co kicks off FTTB, FTTN trials
The National Broadband Network Company has revealed plans to commence trials of the Fibre to the Basement and Fibre to the Node network infrastructure models, including use of the vectoring standard, as the Coalition’s plan to reshape Labor’s previously Fibre to the Premises-based NBN vision kicks into gear.
NSW Health reveals huge Oracle platform rollout
The shared services division of NSW Health this week revealed it had deployed a massive implementation of Oracle’s hardware and software systems in an effort to support its human resources and payroll functions, with the agency using Oracle products from its E-Business suite to hardware systems such as the vendor’s Exalogic and Exadata systems.
Price gouging: Apple hikes Aussie Mac Pro prices
Iconic technology giant Apple has applied a substantial markup on the Australian price of its new Mac Pro professional workstation computer compared with the machine’s US prices, with Australians to pay hundreds of dollars more for exactly the same product when the unit goes on sale in December.
‘Malcolm, you’re not listening’: Pro-fibre NBN ad unveiled
The group of pro-fibre National Broadband Network activists planning to publish advertisements in the local newspaper of Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have revealed the creative they will use to target the Liberal MP, headlining their ads with the admonition: “Malcolm, perhaps you haven’t heard us clearly.”
Switkowski makes ex-Labor NBN exec redundant
Ziggy Switkowski has made the position of a senior NBN Co executive with a Labor political history redundant and allocated his responsibilities to a former Telstra executive with close links to Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in one of the NBN Co executive chairman’s first moves since taking the company’s reins.
Telstra nabs startup star for incubator
The nation's largest telco Telstra has poached Pollenizer co-founder Mick Liubinskas to help it get its new startup incubator Muru Digital (muru-d), in a move that marks the end of an era for startup incubator Pollenizer and one of the most famous partnerships in Australia's technology startup ecosystem.
Turnbull clams up on NBN ‘jobs for the boys’
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday actively avoided taking questions from the media about whether it was unethical to appoint several ex-Telstra executives with personal connections to the Liberal MP but little experience with network infrastructure rollouts to help NBN Co undertake the Strategic Review into its future broadband model.
New SAP strategy strands NSW cloud pilot
A sudden decision by German software giant SAP to end active development of its ailing Business ByDesign online software suite has left the New South Wales Government's premier cloud computing business systems pilot stranded without a future roadmap.
Surprise! SA Govt, too, has problems with IT shared services and project delivery
The South Australian Government's Auditor-General has delivered a harsh dose of reality to the state's Labor administration over its contentious shared services project, pointing out that the project is not delivering the savings promised, despite more than half a decade of sustained effort on the initiative.
Jason Clare appointed Shadow Comms Minister; Michelle Rowland to assist
Former Home Affairs and Justice Minister Jason Clare, a politician with no previous known history in the Communications portfolio, has been appointed Shadow Communications Minister, with experienced former telco lawyer Michelle Rowland to assist him in opposing sitting Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
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.
Strong NFC push by CommBank, Coles
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has unveiled a new unified smartphone app that will operate on iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 platforms and provide NFC payments functionality, as well as a 'stick-on' NFC chip for smartphones (also launched by Coles) that don't have near-field functionality embedded in their own hardware.
Strategic Review: NBN Co needs consultant help
The National Broadband Network Company this morning issued a request for proposals for consultancy services from the private sector to support its Strategic Review into the future of the NBN under the new Coalition Government.
Coalition NBN plans lack detail, says iiNet
National broadband provider iiNet has published an extensive list of questions it still has regarding the Coalition's plans to alter Labor's National Broadband Network strategy, noting that details ranging from points of interconnect to who would build the network are still unknown, a month after the Federal Election.
SA Police latest to join tablet epidemic
The South Australian Government announced this week that it will kick off a $1.7 million trial which will see police in the state deployed with some 350 tablets over the next year, in a move which will see the state follow similar initiatives in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and at the Australian Federal Police.
Rumours place Rowland as Turnbull’s Shadow
Rumours flying around the telecommunications industry have named second-term MP and former corporate lawyer Michelle Rowland as having picked up the role of Shadow Communications Minister in Bill Shorten's new Labor Shadow Cabinet, leaving more high-profile candidates such as Kate Lundy and Ed Husic out of the running.
Dodo offers off-peak ‘unlimited’ 100Mbps NBN plans
National broadband provider Dodo has finally entered the race to connect customers to the Federal Government's National Broadband Network infrastructure, launching a host of new NBN plans today at four speed tiers and with the option to add unlimited off-peak data for just $15 extra per month.
Parramatta first to Windows 8.1
Microsoft and Parramatta City Council today announced that the council would be the formally first in Australia to deploy the latest Windows 8.1 version of its flagship desktop and tablet operating system that Redmond is releasing this Friday.
Reader giveaway: A new Nexus 7!
Today we're kicking off a new competition to give away one of Google's new Nexus 7 tablets: Just sign up for our weekly "Best of the Week" email newsletter before November 15 to enter.
NBN construction model failed, says Conroy
Ex-Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has acknowledged that the private contractor model which NBN Co attempted to use in its national fibre rollout has failed due to the inability of the company's partners to deliver on their commitments, in an admission which again raises the possibility of Telstra being brought back in to assist with the rollout.
Talent forgotten: Lundy, Husic left off front bench
The Federal Labor Party has left two of its most qualified and experienced candidates for the post of Shadow Communications Minister off the front bench representing its Shadow Cabinet team, as speculation firms that former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy may return to the portfolio in Opposition.
Latest figures show terminally slow NBN rollout
NBN Co's latest set of quarterly rollout figures show the company's rollout progress remains extremely slow across Australia in general and has actually gone backward slightly in the state of Tasmania, as evidence continues to pile up that the company is not capable of delivering on Labor's Fibre to the Premises-based NBN vision in a timely manner.
After 16 years, Microsoft finally exits ninemsn
Sixteen years after the founding of the company during the first dot-com boom, global technology giant Microsoft has finally revealed plans to sell its 50 percent stake in online venture ninemsn, with television partner Nine to take full control of the joint venture.
Oops: Pro-NBN ad campaign raises $40k
A crowdfunding campaign which aimed to raise $15,000 to place pro-FTTP NBN ads Malcolm Turnbull’s local newspaper has massively blown its original target in a matter of days, with almost $40,000 being pledged to the cause so far.
100Mbps FTTN viable for most, finds study
A highly respected Australian telecommunications consulting firm has reportedly claimed that most Australians would be able to get the full 100Mbps speeds possible under the Coalition’s alternative fibre to the node vision, due to the fact that most premises will be a suitable distance from local neighbourhood ‘nodes’.
Hope for Ludlam as WA recount confirmed
The electoral fate of Greens Senator and Communications Spokesperson Scott Ludlam is likely to hang in the balance for some time yet, following confirmation yesterday by the Australian Electoral Commission that it would conduct a partial recount of the Western Australian Senate vote in the Federal Election.
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.
UK retail chain poaches Woolworths CIO
UK retail chain Morrisons has poached long-term Woolworths chief information officer Dan Beecham, in a move aimed at applying the executive's substantial skills in retail IT transformation to IT systems Morrisons itself has admitted are severely aged.
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.
Amazon extends Sydney datacentre offerings
Cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has launched several new services through its Sydney datacentre previously only available from international facilities, giving Australian customers access to a low-cost storage service designed for long-term backup, as well as a fast data warehouse service.
Microsoft breaks Telstra Office 365 monopoly
Technology giant Microsoft has revealed plans to break the monopoly which its partner Telstra has on selling its Office 365 software as a service productivity suite in Australia, in a move which will widen the software's ecosystem substantially.
Beverage giant picks Win8 tablet over iPads
Microsoft has revealed that the Australian division of specialist beverage company Campari has deployed a number of Windows 8-based tablet devices from HP, as well as having plans to deploy Windows 8 more generally in the business's desktop and laptop fleet.
Tassie NBN rollout “dead in the water”: Turnbull
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the National Broadband Network rollout in Tasmania as being "dead in the water", with no progress in the state having been made "for month", in the context of calls from activists in the state for the Fibre to the Premises rollout promised under Labor to be completed.
Attorney-General briefed on PRISM months before Snowden leaks
Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws have shown that then-Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus received a secret briefing on the US National Security Agency's controversial PRISM surveillance program several months before the program was outed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
800 pound gorilla: Telstra throws its 4G weight around
The nation's largest telco Telstra this morning revealed it had more than 3.2 million devices operating on its 4G mobile network and that its 4G coverage was slated to reach 85 percent of the population by Christmas, in a move which will further solidify the company's 4G lead over its rivals.
SAMSUNG ONLY: SBS limits Android IPTV app
Publicly funded broadcaster SBS today launched a highly anticipated Android version of its on-demand Internet TV viewing platform, but limited the launch to those Australians with Samsung devices, in a move stimulated by a co-development effort with the Korean manufacturer.
Ziggy has no rollout experience, says Albo
Shadow Communications Minister Anthony Albanese has criticised the Government's appointment of former Telstra and Optus chief executive Ziggy Switkowski to lead NBN Co, pointing out that the executive has not led major network construction work and that his tenure at both telcos was controversial.
Kicking Telstra out: Optus wins mobile deal with NSW Govt
The NSW Government today revealed it had picked Optus as its new provider of managed mobility services for a centralised contract with its Department of Finance and Services, in a move which will see the SingTel subsidiary take over a sizable body of work previously provided by Telstra.
Full text: Quigley’s farewell email to NBN staff
Retiring NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley sent the following email to all NBN Co staff this afternoon, following the appointment of Ziggy Switkowski as NBN Co's executive chairman.
Ziggy Switkowski appointed NBN Co exec chair
As expected, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this afternoon confirmed former Telstra and Optus chief executive Ziggy Switkowski had been appointed as executive chairman of NBN Co, with most of the company's board departing and NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley to leave the company.
NEXTDC opens Sydney datacentre: Photos
Listed datacentre operator NEXTDC this week opened its new ('S1') datacentre in the Sydney suburb of Macquarie Park, at an event attended by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull as well as customers, partners and the media.
Turnbull’s Blue Book FoI funded: Thank you and next steps
The attempt to crowdfund a Freedom of Information campaign for the massive, 545 page 'Blue Book' departmental briefing received by new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last month is now fully funded and going ahead. This article is to thank readers for their support and to outline the next steps for the project.
Petition: Get Simon Hackett onto NBN Co’s board
Want to see Simon Hackett appointed to the board of the National Broadband Network Company? So do we. That's why we encourage you to sign a new petition setup to encourage Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to consider the Internode founder and all-round broadband guru as a candidate.
Greens’ Ludlam loses WA Senate seat
Technology-focused Greens politician Scott Ludlam has formally lost his Senate seat in Western Australia, the Australian Electoral Commission confirmed today, in a move which will be interpreted as a substantial blow to the digital rights movement in Australia.
Three and a half key evolutions for Delimiter 2.0
Today we're cutting the per-article pricing on Delimiter from $4.95 down to 99c, we're committing to more regular content on the site, and we're ditching the 'publish on Fridays' model. Plus, the comments system is going to improve.
Turnbull’s Blue Book: Help us crowdfund the new Minister’s briefing
Want to read the massive, 545 page departmental briefing document which Malcolm Turnbull received when he was sworn in as Communications Minister several weeks ago? We do too, but we'll need your help; so we've launched a $2,000 Pozible campaign to crowdfund access to it under Freedom of Information laws.
DFAT lifts lid on huge IT infrastructure upgrade
The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has kicked off a huge outsourcing initiative which is slated to see several hundred million dollars ploughed into a substantial upgrade of the department's far-flung global fundamental IT infrastructure, including both telecommunications and desktop platforms.
Australia extends global Internet piracy lead
Australia has dramatically extended its lead over other countries when it comes to the levels of Australians pirating popular US television shows, according to new statistics released overnight by TorrentFreak, with the limited availability of such content in Australia believed to be driving the trend.
Tassie NBN rollout “in limbo”, claim activists
The Digital Tasmania lobby group has accused the Federal Government of leaving the Tasmanian rollout of the National Broadband Network "in limbo" by refusing to confirm whether the state would receive a predominantly fibre to the premises-based NBN deployment in last week's new NBN rollout orders.
National incompetence: UK broadband massively improves while Australia dithers
UK telco regulator Ofcom has released a report showing that the country's average fixed-line broadband speed has dramatically improved by 11Mbps over the past five years, a period in which Australians have seen virtually no improvement due to a failure of the nation's politicians and telcos to agree on a unified upgrade path.
Rethinking the NBN: Hackett’s just getting started
Internode founder Simon Hackett has declared that the innovative ideas he has put forward over the past several years with respect to reforming the NBN are "just the tip of the iceberg" in terms of potential improvements and cost reductions to the project, as debate continues about its future under the new Coalition Government.
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.
Telstra/AFL launch Google Glass app
The Australian Football League, its partner Telstra, and local developer Seventh Beam have teamed up to deliver an app running on Google's next-generation Glass augmented reality headset that will allow AFL fans to get live information associated with AFL matches -- all through their headset.
Leak shows Coalition’s NBN costings are wrong
A leaked draft copy of NBN Co's latest corporate plan has provided further confirmation debunking the Coalition's claim that Labor's all-fibre version of the NBN could cost as much as $94 billion, as evidence continues to stack up that deploying fibre to the premises is not as expensive in Australia as previously thought.
VMware tightens grip on NSW councils
Virtualisation giant VMware this week revealed it had signed a wide-ranging contract renewal involving some forty three local councils across New South Wales, in a move which the vendor said was expected to result in savings of up to $3 million for the council group as a whole and the further deployment of its technology.
EFA wants public input in NBN review
Australia's premiere digital rights lobbying group Electronic Frontiers Australia has called 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.
Credibility blown: NBN Co wildly revises targets again
The National Broadband Network Company has revised its fibre to the premises rollout forecasts dramatically down for the third time in six months, with the company now projecting that only 729,000 premises will be passed by its fibre by the end of June 2014, a little over half of what it was projecting in August 2012.
Policy reversal: Turnbull now ‘thoroughly’ open to FTTP
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull appears to have drastically modified the Coalition's policy stance on the National Broadband Network just weeks after the Federal Election, declaring the Coalition was not wedded to its fibre to the node model and was "thoroughly open-minded" about the technology to be used in the network.
‘Presto’: Foxtel launches movies on demand
National pay TV giant Foxtel has launched a new online service dubbed 'Presto', which will see consumers charged $24.99 per month to access "a regularly updating collection of great films", all streamed through the Internet, as opposed to its existing pay TV platform.
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.
Qld to deploy whole of govt search
The Queensland Government has flagged plans to deploy a whole of government search package which will allow Internet users to search its hundreds of websites and other online resources through a single, centralised portal.
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.
NBN Co’s whole board resigns: Report
The entire board of Labor's ill-fated National Broadband Network has reportedly resigned, a victim of the poisoned relationship which had sprung up over the past year between the project's management and new Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Victorian Govt poor at managing telco spend
An audit of three of the Victorian Government's largest agencies has found that none can be confident that they are effectively managing their spend on telecommunications services.
You’re wrong, critics tell Turnbull: Australia voted for NBN
An analysis of Senate voting patterns put together by supporters of Labor's all-fibre NBN policy has shown parties supporting the fibre to the premises model received more support in the Federal Election than the Coalition's alternative, calling into question Malcolm Turnbull's claim to have a mandate to change the NBN rollout to fibre to the node.
UWS, UTS share datacentre space
Two of Sydney's largest universities have teamed up to source co-location datacentre space from business-focused telecom Macquarie Telecom, in an effort to pool their resources and bettter serve the needs of students and staff.
‘Keeping the company in Australia’: Freelancer.com turns down $400m buyout to list on ASX
Outspoken Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie today noted that the company would turn down the offers it had received to sell to a larger group or take investment, instead flagging plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange later this year and continue the drive to develop Australia's home grown technology industry.
Govt kicks off long-term ERP strategy
The Department of Finance and Deregulation has kicked off a major effort to examine the Federal Government's use of enterprise resource planning systems, with a view to optimising how the public service uses such platforms in the long-term.
Screw the NBN, says TPG: We’ll do our own FTTB
National broadband company TPG has flagged plans to deploy so-called fibre to the basement infrastructure to some 500,000 apartments in major Australian capital cities, in a move which will compete directly with the new Coalition Government's plans to conduct similar rollouts under the National Broadband Network scheme.
Fletcher to assist Turnbull with NBN
As expected, Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has named Malcolm Turnbull as incoming Communications Minister in his new cabinet, additionally appointing Liberal MP and former Optus executive Paul Fletcher as a parliamentary secretary to assist the Member for Wentworth in dealing with the communications portfolio.
Qld Health preps huge IT outsourcing deals
The Queensland State Government has revealed plans to engage in a comprehensive IT outsourcing exercise involving its statewide health department, in the newest plank in its strategy to overhaul Queensland Health's extremely troubled IT support systems and processes.
NSW Police trials iPad minis for tickets
New South Wales' police force has revealed plans to undertake a four-week field trial of a mobile app for officers to issue traffic infringement notices, which will be deployed in the field on locked-down versions of Apple's iPad mini tablets.
‘You’re a disgrace’: Turnbull slams lecturer’s accurate NBN analysis
Communications Minister-elect Malcolm Turnbull has savagely attacked a University of Queensland lecturer for a seemingly innocuous article analysing rising online dissent towards the Coalition's NBN policy, inaccurately labelling the academic's article as "false" and "misleading", and claiming that it was "a disgrace".
Back off, Turnbull tells FTTP petitioners: You’ve had your “democracy”
Malcolm Turnbull has sternly rejected an online petition which has so far garnered more than 200,000 signatures calling for the Coalition to support Labor's all-fibre NBN policy, with the Communications Minister-elect claiming it wouldn't be "democracy" for the new Coalition Government to reverse the rival NBN policy it took to the election.
Vic Govt kicks off CenITex outsourcing
Just several months after the plans leaked to the media, the Victorian Government has gone to market for IT outsourcing partners to replace large chunks of the service delivery functionality currently provided by its extremely troubled IT shared serices agency CenITex.
NBN should be top Abbott priority: Poll
An online poll taken by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation this week has shown Australians overwhelmingly believe focusing on the National Broadband Network should be Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott's highest priority in his first 100 days in office, eclipsing issues such as education, the carbon tax, border protection and the environment.
Telstra P2P throttling “unacceptable”: Pirate Party
Pirate Party Australia has labelled as "unacceptable" Telstra's plans to trial a system whereby certain Internet services, such as BitTorrent file downloading, would be de-prioritised on its network, stating that the implementation of 'net neutrality" was "essential" for the future of Australian broadband.
Surprise? Qld Police stuck in IT dark ages
A review of Queensland's police and law enforcement resources has found the Queensland Police Service's (QPS) technology capability is "significantly behind" that of comparable police forces in other jurisdictions, with archaic stand-alone IT systems lacking interconnection and modern technology not available to support officers in the field.
iPhone 5S and 5C hit Australia 20 Sept
Iconic technology giant Apple this morning announced that its new iPhone 5S and 5C models would be available in Australia from the company's own stores and through every major mobile carrier from Friday 20 September, the same date they will be available in other major countries such as the US and UK.
The shape of things to come: FTTN criticism will not die
The creation of a fast-growing petition and the publication of a landmark article by the ABC on the issue are among growing signs that a powerful level of dissent about the Coalition's unpopular fibre to the node-based National Broadband Network policy will come to dog the incoming Abbott government on an ongoing basis.
Telstra kicks off P2P throttling trial
Six months after it notified customers of its plans, the nation's largest telco Telstra has finally kicked off a limited and completely voluntary trial of advanced traffic management techniques on its network that will see peer to peer traffic through platforms such as BitTorrent throttled.
IT disaster waiting to happen: Qld Health to replace 22-year-old admin system
Queensland Health's beleaguered IT operation has turned its focus to a sizable IT replacement project slated to cost the state up to $438 million and see a 22-year-old patient administration program replaced, as the fallout from its billion-dollar botched payroll system upgrade continues to be felt in the state's public sector.
Telstra wants “quick” NBN negotiations
Telstra chief executive David Thodey has congratulated the Coalition on its Federal Election weekend over the weekend and noted that the telco wanted to finalise negotiations over planned changes to its agreements with NBN Co "quickly" with a view to minimising "uncertainty".
Conroy staffer + Telstra PR enters Parliament
Stephen Conroy might no longer be Communications Minister, and his party might no longer be in power, but the Victorian Labor Senator has just gained a new ally in Parliament, courtesy of the election of his former policy advisor and current Telstra regulatory affairs manager Tim Watts to Nicola Roxon's seat of Gellibrand.
The FTTP dream is over: Coalition victory kills Labor’s NBN
The long-held vision dreamt up by senior Labor politicians Stephen Conroy and Kevin Rudd in 2009 of a universal fibre broadband network covering Australia is officially dead, with a solid election victory set to sweep the Coalition into power and a technically inferior fibre to the node plan into Australia’s streets.
Coalition implodes in Internet filter fail
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been forced to issue an embarassing retraction regarding the publication of a new online child safety policy late yesterday afternoon, which had initially stated that the Coalition was planning to resurrect Labor's failed mandatory Internet filtering scheme.
Coalition dumps Lundy’s $42m NICTA boost
The Coalition has revealed an extra $42 million in funding to support peak ICT research group National ICT Australia (NICTA) unveiled several weeks ago by Labor Digital Economy Minister Kate Lundy will be a victim of its election drive to cut costs.
Coalition NBN policy “bulletproof”, says Abbott
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has reportedly described the Coalition's National Broadband Network policy as "absolutely bulletproof", despite the fact that the Coalition has refused to formally cost the plan, and despite it containing a number of controversial assumptions which have been significantly questioned.
NSW formalises ‘cloud-first’ with new policy
The New South Wales State Government has formalised its already extremely proactive and positive approach towards the adoption of the new class of cloud computing services within its operations, issuing a new cloud computing policy this week which forces departments and agencies to consider the cloud when undertaking ICT procurements.
Sydney MDU VDSL rollout delivers 100Mbps
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull this afternoon said a rollout of VDSL technology in a housing estate in Sydney and already delivering 100Mbps download and 40Mbps upload speeds demonstrated the strengths of the Coalition's rival NBN policy, which will use a similar rollout style.
Telstra to build $457m Qld Govt wireless network
The Queensland State Government announced yesterday that the nation's largest telco Telstra would design, build, operate and maintain a new statewide wireless network to be used by public safety agencies such as Queensland Police, at a total cost of $457.3 million over the next 15 years.
Qld Police trial Segways for crime-fighting
The Queensland Police Service yesterday revealed that it would kick off what it said was the first Australian trial of the Segway personal transportation vehicle in pedestrian areas, to test their suitability for police operations.
Coalition IT policy: Quite similar to Labor’s
The Coalition has released a wide-ranging policy on how it would develop Australia's digital economy and government use of IT, in a move which broadly appears to place it on an even footing with the current Labor Federal Government and commit it to many of the same existing initiatives.
FTTP “superceded” by FTTN, claims Turnbull
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week made the controversial claim that the fibre to the premises technology used in Labor's National Broadband Network had been "largely superceded" by the Coalition's preferred fibre to the node model, and that there wasn't significant evidence to show that the higher capacity of FTTP was "necessary" or "valuable".
Defence CTO takes Immigration CIO role
The Department of Defence's widely respected chief technology officer Matt Yannopoulous will replace Tony Kwan as chief information officer at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, it was revealed this week.
Qld Govt launches ICT action plan, IT dashboard
The Queensland State Government this morning launched an ICT Action Plan containing dozens of measures designed to transform its extremely troubled ICT project and service delivery capabilities, as well as switching on its US-style ICT dashboard designed to give onlookers direct information about the state of its ICT projects.
“Stopping surveillance overreach”: Greens unveil digital privacy policy
The Australian Greens has unveiled a broad digital rights and privacy policy aimed at stopping what the party this week week described as "surveillance overreach" by Australian and international law enforcement initiatives, as both Labor and the Coalition continue to ignore the area, refusing to release policies to deal with digital rights.
Fibre on demand could cost $50k, claims Albo
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese has controversially claimed that the Coalition's fibre on demand service could cost end customers as much as $50,000, as the debate escalates about which major side of politics is presenting a more accurate picture of National Broadband Network finances going into the Federal Election.
“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.
Telstra buys comms integrator NSC
The nation's largest telco Telstra has substantially boosted its enterprise telephony business and thrown down the gauntlet to Optus through the acquisition of one of Australia's largest communications and network integrators, NSC Group.
Open deception: Albanese continually misleading public on Coalition NBN policy
Communications Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is continuing to regularly make misstatements about the Coalition's National Broadband Network policy in speeches and media releases around Australia, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to deceive the public about the policy.
15-year-old IT system helped Victoria lose $886m
The Victorian Ombudsman has found that the poor-performing nature of a 15-year-old IT system operated by the State Government has been one of the main contributors to the state losing more than $1.2 billion of revenue from millions of uncollected legal infringement fines. A project to replace the system kicked off in 2007 has not yet delivered on its aims.
“Misinformation”: Kogan enters open war with Telstra on disconnections
The troubled mobile division of consumer electronics giant Kogan has accused Telstra of misleading the public about the telco's willingness to continue to support Kogan's mobile customers abandoned by the failure of wholesale ispONE, in a furious statement alleging commercial impropriety by Telstra on a range of fronts.
Defying the Federal Police: iiNet refuses to implement Interpol filter
National broadband player iiNet today revealed it had not implemented the Federal Government’s limited mandatory ISP filtering scheme based on a list of offensive sites supplied by Interpol and had no immediate plans to do so, in a move which appears to represent a total reversal of the ISP's position on the matter and defiance of the Australian Federal Police's wishes.
Two mid-size Aussie retailers go NetSuite
Cloud business software vendor NetSuite has revealed that two mid-level Australian retailers, Indian handcraft store Tree of Life and veterinary and pet healthcare supplier Vet-n-Pet, have deployed a broad swathe of its e-commerce and business management software in an effort to get their growing operations under control and scale for growth.
Avoiding future ICT disasters: Qld outlines next steps
The Queensland Government today stated that it would accept all four major recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Health payroll disaster, with the state's LNP administration already taking action to stop other projects going off the rails in a similarly catastrophic manner.
“On time and on budget”: NSW claims early victory in cloud ERP rollout
The NSW State Government has claimed initial success in its high-profile deployment of a cloud-based ERP consolidation project at the NSW agency of Trade and Investment, claiming that so far the project has been delivered "on time and on budget", but with a large chunk of the work still to go.
“Half true”: Politifact partially backs Turnbull’s $94bn NBN figure
Fact-checking media outlet Politifact has rated the controversial claim by the Coalition that Labor’s National Broadband Network could cost as much as $94 billion as “half-true”, as debate continues to swirl around the veracity of the Coalition’s own figures.
‘Too busy’: Attorney-General refuses election interview on online rights issues
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has flatly refused to take part in a live election interview on key technology issues in his portfolio, such as copyright reform, data retention, telecommunications surveillance and Internet piracy, stipulating instead that all questions on the issues must be submitted in writing.
Coalition slams Labor’s “$1bn e-health debacle”
Shadow Health Minister Peter Dutton has taken a pickaxe to the Federal Government's Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) scheme, claiming the costly project was "more about spin than about outcomes for patients".
“Jiva”: iiNet’s new $79 unlimited quota plan
National broadband player iiNet has revealed it will challenge cut-rate ISPs TPG and Dodo with a new $79 broadband and telephone package offering "unlimited" broadband quota and to be marketed under a new brand dubbed "Jiva".
$5bn NBN blowout? “Wrong”, says Quigley
NBN Co chief executive has flatly rejected as "wrong" a report by the Financial Review newspaper last week which claimed that the company was facing a $5 billion blowout in its construction costs, stating that he expected the NBN project to deliver within its existing cost structure.
Turnbull avoids Treasury costing question
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has avoided directly answering the question of whether the Coalition will submit its alternative National Broadband Network policy to the Treasury or any other organisation for costing purposes, instead accusing the Labor Government of not being transparent about its own numbers.
Treasury should cost Coalition NBN policy: Labor
Communications Minister and Deputy PM Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Penny Wong have called for the Coalition to submit its alternative NBN policy to the Treasury and the Department of Finance and Deregulation for costing, in the wake of news that the Parliamentary Budget Office found the policy too complex to cost.
Coalition NBN policy goes uncosted
The Parliamentary Budget Office has decided the Coalition's National Broadband Network policy is too complex to formally cost without significant and expensive outside assistance, leaving the veracity of the policy unclear, in the absence of government or private sector examination of it.
Uni of Queensland to deploy private cloud
The University of Queensland has revealed plans to deploy a significant swathe of private cloud infrastructure, as it ramps up plans to provide its individual faculties and divisions with a centralised pool of computing resources that can easily provision hundreds of virtual servers.
Rudd misleads the public on mobile blackspots
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today made what appeared to be an extremely inaccurate statement claiming the Federal Government was taking steps to address mobile blackspots around Australia, when in fact Labor has not taken any steps on the issue in the six years it has been in power.
Albo refuses National Press Club NBN debate
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese has rebuffed an open invitation to debate his opposite Malcolm Turnbull in a formal televised election debate at the National Press Club on the topic of the National Broadband Network, stating that he would prefer instead to debate Nationals Leader Warren Truss in the Infrastructure and Transport portfolio.
Snowden, Manning ‘not whistleblowers’, claims Australia’s Attorney-General
Australia's Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has made an extraordinary public statement that former CIA and NSA operative Edward Snowden and accused WikiLeaks collaborator Bradley Manning are not technically "whistleblowers", claiming that the information they had released publicly related to no wrongdoing by government agencies.
Uni of New England opens Lync to 23,000
Microsoft has revealed that Armidale's University of New England has licensed its Lync unified communications platform for the use of 23,000 students and staff, in a deployment which appears to set a new record for the use of the technology in Australian educational institutions and which opens UNE's remote learning doors further.
$20,000 for 1Gbps: Turnbull’s Lateline lie
Malcolm Turnbull appears to have made a deliberate attempt to mislead the public about the cost of connecting to the National Broadband Network's upcoming 1Gbps fibre service, claiming on national television last night that such connections would cost "at least $20,000" a month, despite the fact that the Shadow Communications Minister is aware the cost is likely to be much less.
Dick Smith moves into David Jones
Consumer electronics retailer Dick Smith has revealed it will take over the electronics retail operations of some 30 David Jons stores around Australia from October, as the troubled company's new private equity owners continue to push to rehabilitate its operations.
Sydney Water IT faces audit
The NSW State Government has announced it will conduct an audit of the IT and marketing budget of utility Sydney Water, in the wake of revelations the company spent some $7.1 million on the development of a new website, which went live in March this year.
FTTN or FTTH? We’re “agnostic”, says Telstra
The nation's largest telco Telstra has declared itself "agnostic" as to whether Labor or the Coalition has the best method of deploying faster broadband under the National Broadband Network project, stating that it is "very happy" to work with either major side of politics.
Albanese lies about Coalition NBN coverage
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese appears to have issued a media release deliberately misleading Newcastle residents about how the Coalition's rival NBN policy would affect the area, with the Labor MP falsely stating that the NSW city would "miss out" on upgraded broadband entirely under the Coalition's plan.
BANNED: Qld Govt outlaws new IBM contracts
The Queensland Government has explicitly banned its departments and agencies from entering into any new contracts with diversified IT products and services company IBM until the company demonstrates that it has improved its governance and contracting practices, in an extraordinary move taking place in the wake of the Queensland Health payroll disaster which IBM held a key role in.
‘It’s not our fault’: IBM blames Govt for payroll disaster
Diversified technology products and services giant IBM has rejected a number of the findings included in the Commission of Audit's inquiry into Queensland Health's botched payroll systems upgrade, blaming the majority of responsibility for the catastrophic consequences of the botched initiatives on the State Government.
Anatomy of Qld Health IT disaster: IBM should never have been appointed
The Queensland Government's formal inquiry into the payroll systems upgrade debacle at Queensland Health has found damning allegations of procurement impropriety in the appointment of IBM as prime contractor for the initiative, and has concluded that Big Blue should never have won the contract in the first place.
“Get fucked”: Turnbull staffer turns on blogger
One of Malcolm Turnbull's senior staffers has sent a popular Australian technology blogger a caustic email telling him to "get fucked" and informing him that "nobody takes your psychotic rantings seriously", as the relationship between Turnbull and sections of Australia's technology community continues to sour.
“Shocking”: Turnbull accuses Rudd of NBN “lies”
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has publicly accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of telling "shocking lies" about the National Broadband Network and the Coalition's rival NBN policy, as election tensions continue to grow between the two major sides of politics over the issue of who's telling the truth about the key project.
Telstra NBN remediation work on again
The nation's largest telco Telstra has announced that it will restart remediation work on its pits and pipe infrastructure, as controls on asbestos handling have been put in place to deal with the hazardous material. The remediation work is necessary for the National Broadband Network rollout to go ahead, using Telstra's infrastructure.
Syntheo quits NBN rollout; Lend Lease + Downer EDI step up
Embattled construction firm Syntheo has walked away from the construction of the National Broadband Network project after a series of issues that have resulted in a material financial loss for the company, with Lend Lease to pick up its existing contracts and Downer EDI also coming on board with the NBN in other areas.
Tablet + pen computing takes off: Aussie schools in mass Windows 8 rollouts
Microsoft has revealed that a number of major Australian schools have deployed its new Windows 8 operating system in both tablet + pen and traditional laptop form factors, as evidence continues to grow that adoption of Windows 8 in the local education sector is starting to challenge Apple's dominant iPad platform.
Nintendo Australia finances fall off a cliff
The Australian division of Japanese video gaming giant Nintendo has taken another staggering hit to its finances for the second year in a row, losing a further 36 percent of its overall revenue over the past year as its flagship Wii U console has flopped with consumers due to what is perceived to be a lack of quality games.
iiBorg assimilates Adam Internet
Highly acquisitive Internet service provider iiNet has revealed plans to buy Adelaide-based ISP Adam Internet, swooping in quickly on the company following the collapse of a controversial deal that would have seen it bought by Australia's incumbent telco Telstra.
“Malcolm in a muddle”: Husic accuses Turnbull of FTTP “porkies”
One of Labor's newest recruits to the broadband portfolio has accused Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull of "telling porkies" and "complete fabrications" with respect to the Liberal MP's statement that businesses in key areas such as CBDs would not need to pay extra to have fibre connected to their premises under the Coalition's rival NBN policy.
Govt takes no action on website blocking
The Federal Government has admitted it has as of yet taken no action to improve the transparency and accountability of the unilateral use by individual departments and agencies of an obscure section of the Telecommunications Act to force telcos and ISPs to block websites suspected of conducting illegal activities.
Cloud central to Oxfam IT overhaul
The Australian division of relief and development organisation Oxfam has revealed plans to conduct a substantial fundamental IT infrastructure refresh project which will see a number of traditional in-house IT services replaced with new cloud computing technologies.
“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.
Finally, Foxtel launches full IPTV service
Pay TV giant Foxtel has launched an Internet streaming version of its service that will allow those with certain smart TVs, gaming consoles or generic personal computers connected to their TVs to access a large chunk of the company's content through the public Internet, without the normal requirement to have a Foxtel cable or satellite connection.
Albo slams Turnbull FTTP on demand “lottery”
New Communications Minister Anthony Albanese has issued a statement damning the controversial fibre on demand proposal contained in the Coalition's rival National Broadband Network policy, stating that Australians shouldn't have to take part in a financial and technical "lottery" to obtain the same fibre service which they would get for free under Labor.
Drastic govt measures needed: IT price hike report pulls no punches
The Federal Parliament committee examining IT price hikes in Australia has published an extensive report recommending a raft of drastic measures to deal with current practices in the area, which, the report says, are seeing Australians unfairly slugged with price increases of up to 50 percent on key technology goods and services.
Tassie NBN “will take 80 years”, claims Abbott
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has inaccurately claimed that the rollout of Labor's National Broadband Network in Tasmania will take "80 years" to complete, in what Labor's Regional Communications Minister Sharon Bird immediately labelled a deliberate attempt to deceive residents and businesses in the state.
Bigcommerce pulls in mega US$40M round
Australian e-commerce software as a service firm Bigcommerce revealed overnight that it had picked up a further US$40 million in funding, taking its total investment from the US venture capital scene to some $75 million and further illustrating the rapid growth of Australia's startup scene.
BT’s FTTN has passed 16m since 2009
British incumbent telco BT revealed overnight that its fibre to the node network has passed more than 16 million premises since the network rollout was commenced in 2009, with more than 1.7 million customers having signed up for active connections to the infrastructure.
Clutch of Aussie manufacturers go NetSuite
Enterprise software company NetSuite this morning revealed that a clutch of Australian manufacturers including Headland, Precision Mechatronics and BA Equipment Group had recently adopted its software as a service platform, as the vendor continues to make headway in the mid-level customer market in Australia.
Turnbull “copper” NBN plan “bizarre”, says Albo
Communications Minister and Deputy PM Anthony Albanese has taken a pick axe to the Coalition's rival NBN policy, describing its reuse of portions of Telstra's copper network as "bizarre" and "neanderthal", despite the fact that its so-called 'fibre to the node' rollout scheme has been used successfully by British telco BT and other telcos across Europe and the US to upgrade broadband speeds to millions of premises.
Experts agree: Labor’s NBN ads are false
A trio of Australia's most prominent telecommunications analysts have reportedly backed complaints by the Coalition that much of Labor's election campaign material about the National Broadband Network contains outright lies or otherwise misleading material.
Finally, Scobleizer comes Down Under
Giant US tech blogger Robert Scoble comes to Australia for the first time.
Two years later, NTT sacking Frontline staff
Just two years after Japanese technology consortium NTT revealed it would purchase the majority of Australian IT services firm Frontline Systems (which also owns hosting company Harbour MSP), the trio have revealed plans to make a substantial number of Australian staff redundant as part of a reorganisation.
Telstra abandons Adam Internet buyout
The nation's largest telco Telstra has abandoned its plans to buy South Australian Internet service provider Adam Internet, with delays caused by the competition regulator's concerns about the deal having caused its timeframe to have blown out.
WikiLeaks Party demands investigation into Telstra’s secret FBI deal
The WikiLeaks Party has written to Australia’s Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim formally complaining about the recently revealed news that the telco signed a secret agreement a decade ago with US Government agencies such as the FBI and the Department of Justice that provided American law enforcement with access to all of the telco’s traffic passing in and out of the US.
“Pattern of secrecy”: Govt ‘buries’ data retention evidence
The Federal Attorney-General's Department has refused to release any documents relating to the development of controversial data retention legislation, in a move that follows a pattern of behaviour from the department that has led some onlookers to allege "a pattern of secrecy" at the organisation.
Massive customer outage increasing: Vodafone loses 8.4% in six months
Vodafone Australia has it lost a further 551,000 customers in the first half of this year, in further evidence that the turnaround plan put in place for the telco by its new chief executive Bill Morrow is having little effect upon the company's fortunes; in fact, the numbers of customers leaving the troubled telco are actually accelerating.
Albanese incorrectly claims Bespoke is ‘PR agency’
Communications Minister Anthony Albanese this morning claimed a firm hired by a law firm acting for NBN Co's board of directors was a "public relations company", despite the fact that the firm concerned, Bespoke Approach, is listed on the Federal Government's register of lobbyists and employs former senior politicians for the purposes of providing political management services.
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.
Huge 4G expansion: Telstra to double coverage
The nation's largest telco Telstra has responded to the threat of expanded 4G networks from Optus and Vodafone by pledging to almost double its number of mobile towers with 4G support by the end of the year, as the race to cover the country with the latest mobile broadband infrastructure steps up a notch.
Tabcorp continues Telstra love affair
Wagering giant Tabcorp revealed this week that it had signed a new comprehensive telecommunications services deal with Telstra, in the latest contract the pair have inked in an extensive relationship dating back at least half a decade and covering a wide range of technology services.
Qld hires E&Y to evaluate CITEC sale
The Queensland Government has engaged consulting firm EY (formerly Ernst & Young) to conduct a strategic review of its CITEC IT shared services business, in a sign that it is considering following the recommendations of the Costello Commission of Audit report and selling the business to the private sector.
Poison words: Turnbull + NBN board go to war
The fraught relationship between the board of the National Broadband Network Company and Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has spilled into the public, with a series of sharply antagonistic letters between the two parties being published that highlight the depth of the antagonism felt on each side.
Quigley thanks Whirlpool for NBN contribution
Outgoing NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has posted a comment on broadband forum Whirlpool thanking the site's community for its support of him personally and for informing commentary on the subject of broadband in Australia, in a move which further demonstrates the influence the site wields in the nation's telco sector.
Labor ad agency tried to bribe journos to slag Turnbull’s NBN plan
The Sydney Morning Herald reports this morning that Labor ad agency Naked Communications offered exclusive interviews with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in response for editorial coverage favourable to Labor -- including on the NBN.
Locked down: Foxtel blocks non-Samsung Android, jailbroken Apple devices
Pay TV giant Foxtel this week blocked those Australians using non-Samsung Android and jailbroken Apple iOS devices from accessing its flagship mobile IPTV streaming app Go, in moves that seem destined to reinforce the company's reputation for setting strong restrictions on how customers can access its content.
NSW Govt trials Gmail, MS cloud email
The New South Wales State Government has revealed that it will trial both Google- and Microsoft-based cloud email platforms, as its interest in the new cloud computing paradigm continues to develop.
Turnbull demands NBN audit
Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for the Federal Government to "immediately" commit to auditing the National Broadband Network rollout following reports that NBN contractors have stopped work in Ballarat, in news that represents the latest blow to the project's already delayed rollout schedule.
Introducing Delimiter 2.0
This morning Delimiter gets a sister site, Delimiter 2.0. It'll feature longer, in-depth articles, but no advertising, and be monetised through a monthly subscription. Let us know what you think!
Exposed: Telstra’s secret FBI spy deal
Telstra signed a secret agreement a decade ago with US Government agencies such as the FBI and the Department of Justice that provided American law enforcement and national security organisations with an extremely broad level of access to all of the telco's telecommunications passing in and out of the US, it was revealed late last week.