Technology and planned obsolescence
Very insightful blog post here by Longhaus managing director Peter Carr, who has made a sophisticated argument regarding planned obsolescence with respect to implementing technology in organisations.
18 months later … WA Health finally advertises for CIO
18 months after a state parliamentary committee ordered it to, Western Australia’s Department of Health has finally advertised for a permanent chief information officer to end years of bungled major IT projects.
KONE staff pick Lumia over iPhone, Samsung, HTC
More than 70 percent of staff at the local division of elevator manufacturing company KONE picked a model from Nokia's Lumia handset line over other options from Apple, HTC and Samsung, when given the choice, the Finnish manufacturer claimed in a statement issued yesterday.
Federal Govt kicks off cloud purchasing cycle
The Federal Government's centralised IT strategy branch has kicked off a major purchasing initiative which will inform the way it purchases infrastructure-, software- and platform-as-a-service offerings over the next few years.
Now Toll dumps Google Apps rollout, reconsiders SAP plan
Toll has reportedly stopped the rollout of a Google Apps deployment to its staff and is developing a new plan for its proposed SAP-based finance transformation.
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.
Virgin to launch in-flight Wi-Fi next year
Virgin Australia has announced it will introduce inflight Wi-Fi on its domestic and international fleet from next year.
SAP’s SuccessFactors deploys Aussie datacentre
SAP subsidiary SuccessFactors has opened a datacentre located in Australia from which it will sell its software as a service-based human resource management and business execution software to local customers, in one of the first known deployments of such dedicated Australian infrastructure by a global SaaS vendor.
Qld dumps whole of government email project
Queensland's new LNP State Government late last week revealed plans to dump the troubled colossal whole of government email project begun under the previous Bligh Labor administration, with IT Minister Ros Bates highlighting the possibility to shift to a "cloud-based solution" instead.
Salesforce a winner as NSW’s ChildStory project announces vendors
The NSW Department of Family & Community Services' ChildStory project has announced the winning vendors for a $100-million IT platform that is aimed to boost child safety in the state.
“Morons”: Freelancer CEO wants ACS disbanded
The outspoken chief executive of crowdsourcing company Freelancer.com has posted an extensive diatribe online calling for the Australian Computer Society to be disbanded, describing the professional body as a "joke" and being run by "f*cking morons".
University of Newcastle to roll out Windows 10 to 10,000 devices
The University of Newcastle (UON) this week said it would roll out Microsoft Windows 10 to around 10,000 devices across its campuses by the end of 2016.
Govt knee-deep in IPv6 transition
The Federal Government's top IT strategy branch has revealed it is knee-deep in the midst of a government-wide transition to version 6 of the Internet Protocol, as global availability of addresses in the current version 4 standard continues to run low.
IT price hike inquiry may subpoena rebel vendors
Labor MP Ed Husic has publicly raised the prospect of forcing recalcitrant technology vendors to appear before a parliamentary committee on IT price hikes in Australia, alleging that some suppliers are "treating the Parliament with contempt".
Movie effects firm Animal Logic deploys Brocade network switches
Digital animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic has announced it will deploy network switches from Brocade in order to cope with the data demands of the next generation of 3D movies.
ACT moves shared services staff to Gungahlin
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has announced that it will be moving its shared services staff to the Canberra suburb of Gungahlin in the year 2014-15.
Defence wants special ops tablet, smartphone
The Australian Defence Force has gone to market for a solution which will allow it to provide highly secure smartphones and tablets to certain soldiers with the purpose of accessing command systems in the field.
Windows 8 sales disappointing in Australia
It won't come as a surprise to many, given its drastically altered user interface and mixed reviews, but the news is already bad for Microsoft's new flagship operating system Windows 8 in Australia.
Tableau beds down Telstra Super
US business intelligence vendor Tableau Software has claimed Telstra's superannuation fund Telstra Super as a major Australian client, with the company deploying Tableau's solution to gain additional insight into its membership and transactional data.
Government to retain ownership of Canberra’s ICON network
The Federal Government has announced it will not sell off the Intra Government Communications Network (ICON) – a fibre network connecting public service buildings throughout Canberra.
Govt CTO Sheridan on open source, cloud
Federal Government chief technology officer John Sheridan gives his views on cloud computing and open source use in the Federal Government, in a wide-ranging speech to Forrester's Summit for chief information officers in Sydney.
Vendors unimpressed by IT price hike inquiry
A number of global technology vendors likely to be hauled before Australia's Parliament to justify their local price markups have grudgingly and briefly signalled their acceptance of the proceedings and willingness to participate, although some have completely refused to comment on the issue.
Treasury switches to virtual desktop platform from Nutanix
The Commonwealth Treasury has deployed a virtual desktop platform from Nutanix with the aim of facilitating the delivery of Australia’s economic framework, the Federal Budget.
Suncorp picks Oracle to replace core
Tier two banking and insurance giant Suncorp has picked Oracle's next-generation banking platform to replace its aging Hogan core banking system, as the momentum around core banking replacement projects accelerates in Australia.
Westpac CIO Whincup to lead Woolworths’ IT
Westpac chief information officer Clive Whincup is set to leave his position just weeks after it was revealed the bank had dramatically shaken up its senior IT executive team, with retail giant Woolworths having reportedly confirmed the executive as its new CIO to replace outgoing IT chief Daniel Beecham.
IBM to revamp HCF’s core IT systems
Australian health insurer HCF today revealed it had inked a major multi-million dollar contract with IBM which will see Big Blue "continue" to transform HCF's IT systems, using IBM's iLog and Lombardi software to do so.
Heartbleed, internal outages: CBA’s horror 24 hours
The Commonwealth Bank's IT division has suffered something of a nightmare 24 hours, with a catastrophic internal IT outage taking down multiple systems and resulting in physical branches being offline, and the bank separately suffering public opprobrium stemming from contradictory statements it made with respect to potential vulnerabilities stemming from the Heartbleed OpenSSL bug.
Microsoft beats SAP to Hastings ERP deal
Microsoft this week revealed that it had beaten fellow technology behemoth SAP to a major enterprise resource planning deal with Australian industrial dealership Hastings Deering, in a move which will see Redmond’s Dynamics AX 2012 software entrenched at the company.
DTO reveals progress on digital transformation projects
The Digital Transformation Office has revealed the state of progress on a number of Digital Delivery Hubs that were set up in October 2015.
Bridgestone picks Lumias for smartphone fleet
The Australian division of tyre manufacturer Bridgestone has picked Nokia's Windows Phone7-based Lumia 800 smartphone as its platform of choice for its corporate smartphone fleet, with the Finnish company beating rival offerings from the likes of Research in Motion, Apple and Google to the work.
Tyreright chooses Rackspace for cloud and hosting services
Automotive e-commerce site Tyreright has moved to Rackspace for its cloud and hosting services.
NSW Health unleashes mammoth email consolidation
If you follow technology news relating to Australian governments, you can't help but laugh sometimes; because if you didn't, you'd cry at the irony of it all.
Unisys wins DIAC again in open tender
Those of you with long memories will recall that the Federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship has contracted IT services giant Unisys to provide desktop support services to the department since 2007. Unisys this morning announced that it had won an open tender to retain the work through to at last mid-2018, at a value of $104.1 million.
SA Govt forgets to pay phone bill
Think the Queensland and Western Australian State Governments have got problems with their technology shared services divisions? Well, they have. But at least they (we assume) pay their telephone bills on time. That isn’t precisely the case in South Australia, where the state’s Finance Minister yesterday revealed it couldn’t even get that right.
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.
ATO hires its former Accenture account manager as CIO
The Australian Taxation Office appears to have taken the unorthodox step of appointing one of the key figures in its relationship with IT services partner Accenture, a 29-year veteran of the firm, as its new chief information officer.
Microsoft bans Stilgherrian from TechEd
Opinionated Australian technology writer Stilgherrian has been banned from Microsoft's TechEd conference this year, after a bunch of caustic tweets caught the attention of the company during last year's event.
More criticism of the ACS
Well-known IT industry figure Tony Healy adds to Freelancer.com chief executive Matt Barrie's criticism of the Australian Computer Society.
Pact Group makes strategic IT shift into Microsoft’s cloud
Regional packaging manufacturer Pact Group has said it is making strategic investment in Microsoft cloud technologies aimed to boost growth and assist its push towards integrated automated manufacturing.
New Govt cloud computing strategy: Foggy, or healthy cumulus?
One could be forgiven for thinking that the word “cloud computing” is in vogue in Australian Governments at the moment.
Brisbane reveals $353 million IT overhaul
Australia's largest council administration, Brisbane City Council, has revealed an ambitious plan to spend $353 million on a comprehensive new SAP-based business administration platform which will see some 62 legacy systems shut down and replaced with the aid of IT services firm Accenture.
Finally some action on Windows Azure in Australia
Remember when software giant Microsoft made a big deal back in May 2013 about how it was going to launch two new Australian datacentres for its Windows Azure cloud computing service? At the time it seemed as though the company’s plans were quite advanced and that we’d be seeing Australia-based Azure in short order. Well, almost a year has come and gone since that time and Microsoft has so far failed to deliver. The latest blip of news on the cloud front from the company comes in an article published by The Australian newspaper this morning.
Manly Council CIO on board with Microsoft Internet of Things
Microsoft has revealed that Sydney’s Manly Council is using its ‘Internet of Things’ software to significantly enhance its capabilities for operating infrastructure such as the council’s parking metres and CCTV cameras, in one of the first known deployments of this kind of environment for Microsoft in Australia.
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.
Yes, the AFR’s Lenovo story is still accurate
Right now, without saying where we have obtained our information, it seems clear that the Financial Review's report on this issue is broadly accurate. In short, although the specifics of the ban are unclear, the newspaper is correct that Lenovo machines are not used in certain areas of Defence.
CBA’s Kaching app raises privacy concerns
One of Australia's leading privacy advocates has raised concerns about the Commonwealth Bank's new mobile, social and near field communications payments application, highlighting the fact that it has the potential to eliminate much of the anonymity offered by paying for goods and services through cash.
Woolworths deploys iPads to all store managers
It's raining iPads at retail giant Woolworths, according to an article this morning by The Australian newspaper, which details the company's plans to deploy the Apple tablets to some 890 store managers nationwide.
Macquarie opens kimono on IT operations
One of Australia's largest but most secretive IT end user organisations has this week given industry observers a tantalising glimpse of its broad IT strategy, including staff restructuring across the board, back-office systems integrations and offshoring moves.
Cyber breach at the Bureau of Meteorology: The who, what and how, of the...
If the hackers were state-sponsored Chinese hackers such as the People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398, then the target of the hack would have been wide-ranging but possibly focused on information related to Australian defence and security services and capabilities.
Australia to get IBM public cloud in Q4
Global IT giant IBM today confirmed plans to deploy its enterprise-class public cloud computing infrastructure in Australia, in a move which will give large organisations and government departments with data sovereignty concerns another option for utilising public cloud facilities based in Australia, as opposed to offshore.
Fire + Rescue NSW deploys real-time SAP
NSW emergency services agency Fire and Rescue NSW this month revealed it has implemented SAP's Business Suite and HANA products, in an effort to support a move towards real-time reporting and access to information across its entire emergency services network.
Brocade delivers LAN with New IP for secondary college
Networking solutions firm Brocade has announced that it has rolled out a comprehensive campus LAN upgrade, including a New IP networking solution, for Mazenod College in Lesmurdie, Western Australia.
Health seeks new ICT outsourcing advice
The Federal Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has gone to market for an advisor to develop a strategy for its future information and communications technology needs, in a move which is likely to see it examine a key IT outsourcing contract with IBM which has not been formally tested in a tender process since it was signed in 1999.
WA utility deploys Azure, business intelligence to track grid
Microsoft revealed this week that state-owned electricity distributor Western Power had deployed Microsoft’s cloud computing Azure platform coupled with its Power BI product to automatically collate, analyse and visualise the data from millions of electricity meters deployed around Western Australia.
Australian Electoral Commission moves website to Amazon Web Services
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has switched to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the hosting of digital services across all its public-facing websites.
Lenovo’s IBM server + Motorola buys will raise new security questions
Remember when the Financial Review reported in August that devices manufactured by Chinese vendor Lenovo (including its extremely popular ThinkPad line) had been banned from use in the “secret” and “top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, because of similar espionage concerns as have been leveled at Chinese networking vendor Huawei? Well, Australian government agencies just got a whole new kettle of fish to worry about, with two key acquisitions by Lenovo which have taken place over the past week or so.
CIO McKinnon steps back from Westpac top role
A new organisation structure at Westpac means Bob McKinnon, who directed the rebuilding of technology capability as its IT chief, is stepping back from a major role in the bank.
SBS is a huge fan of BMC Footprints
Business service management software vendor BMC has revealed that broadcaster SBS is expanding its use of the company's Footprints platform into departments beyond its IT support helpdesk, following a successful deployment of the system some three years ago.
Keane peels ‘Chinese cybersecurity attack’ apart
Crikey columnist Bernard Keane has developed a nasty habit for pouring cold water all over ‘cybersecurity’ experts and government spin-doctors, who have constantly hyped-up perceived IT security dangers and Internet attacks into the kind of “cyberwar scenario that IT security vendors have wet dreams over. We’re sure ASIO, the Defence Signals Directorate and a bunch of other G-Men in black will be over shortly to arrange Keane’s compulsory education campaign.
Gen-i Australia sacks most of its staff
The Australian division of IT services company Gen-i Australia this morning revealed it would cut its staff numbers from 180 to 60 and stop competing for most contracts on the market as it focuses only on Trans-Tasman contracts as per the instructions of its parent Telecom New Zealand.
Govt updates on ICT strategy progress
This morning AGIMO’s Andrew McGalliard, from the agency’s governance and policy branch, published an update on the Government’s progress on delivering on the strategy, and contrary to my initial expectations, it appears as though there are in fact quite a few initiatives getting under way.
IBM says it “successfully delivered” Qld Health payroll
Global technology giant IBM has written to the new LNP Queensland Government claiming it “successfully delivered” against milestones agreed with the previous Labor administration with respect to the disastrous payroll systems overhaul at Queensland Health, which has already cost the state $417 million and will need another $837 million to fix over the next five years.
WA audit finds schools “struggling” with ICT management
Western Australia's schools are struggling to keep on top of ICT management and students could be adversely affected if the situation is not remedied, according to the state's Auditor General.
NT gives every police officer an iPad
The Northern Territory has reportedly confirmed plans to deploy Apple iPads to all of its frontline officers, in the latest local wide-scale deployment of tablet technology in a police force.
Microsoft to offer Win10 as a service for businesses
Microsoft has announced that it will soon be offering Windows 10 as a service for enterprises through its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) channel.
Ninemsn shifts hosting to … Amazon?
We knew Amazon Web Services had robust infrastructure — after all, the Commonwealth Bank hosts some of its services with the cloud computing giant — but we didn’t know that it was quite this robust. The AustralianIT reports today (we recommend you click here for the full article) that one of Australia’s largest web sites, Ninemsn, is actually hosted with Amazon:
HP’s behind the Boral IT outsourcing
HP has revealed it is the key partner supporting the extensive IT outsourcing plan with diversified materials company Boral revealed in mid-January, with the global technology giant to supply a complete set of products and services as part of the program.
NSW Education’s HR/finance overhaul goes south
New South Wales's state government auditor-general revealed yesterday that a massive SAP-based project to replace finance, HR, payroll and student administration systems across the public education sector had gone off the rails.
Get em young: Windows 8 indoctrination
Many young Australians head off to school these days with a collection of Apple paraphenalia; iPhones, iPods and now iPads are common items to see in the schoolbags of students heading off to both high school and primary school. However, for at least one young man, there won't be any Apple in his forseeable future.
The Inside Track: What we learned from the Sydney AWS outage
The Sydney Amazon Web Services outage could end up being a long-term positive, if it heightens the stability of major IT infrastructure. However, if IT professionals don't heed its lessons, then the opposite will be true. Where one outage can occur, others can follow. And the damage may not quite be as limited the next time around.
Chinese spy concerns: Key Australian defence agencies ban Lenovo
According to the Financial Review, PCs made by Lenovo have been banned from the “secret” and ‘‘top secret” networks of the intelligence and defence services of Australia, the US, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand, due to similar spying concerns as have been published about Chinese networking vendor Huawei.
Your problem: Rich-Phillips hands CenITex to Mailes
Those of you who’ve been around for a while will know that we’re not the greatest fans at Delimiter of Victorian IT shared services agency CenITex. From unethical procurement practices to a basic inability to deliver some of the services it promised, the agency has a penchant for getting itself in hot water with the media, politicians and even the internal Victorian Government agencies it’s seeking to serve. Which is why the State Government sacked its board and is now hot in the process of outsourcing its core functions. The next step, according to a media release issued by the Victorian Government this morning, is to start refreshing the agency’s board.
A roundup of Australian Windows 8 trials
Now that Windows 8 has launched in Australia, what do we know about enterprise trial deployments of the technology? Surprisingly, quite a lot. A lot of people might believe that Windows 8 is the new Windows Vista, but when you look around on the actual ground, it appears as though major Australian organisations are at least dabbling with Microsoft's new operating system opus.
Agile, user-focused IT development getting results at NSW FaCs
The Federal Government's Digital Transformation Office has been talking a lot recently about the need for more rapid technology development cycles in the public sector, but its' not the only home of innovation in government around Australia.
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.
Farce: Minister has PCEHR report … but Dept can’t find a copy
The Department of Health has rejected a Freedom of Information request for a report reviewing the Federal Government’s troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records project, claiming that it does not have a copy of the document, despite the fact that Health Minister Peter Dutton announced in December that he had received it.
Qld Police buys 1,250 more iPads, iPhones
The Queensland Police Service has committed to buying another 1,250 Apple iPads and iPhones to better deliver information to front-line police officers, following a successful trial of the devices from mid-2013 and the recent announcement that live CCTV footage would be piped to officers using the technology.
Qld Police buys 400 Apple iPad minis
The Queensland Police Service has revealed it is set to follow similar initiatives in Tasmania and in the Australian Federal Police and deploy the new breed of tablets such as iPads to officers to assist with their duties on the road, in a move that represents a step on the road to replacing bulkier and less mobile devices such as in-car laptops.
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.
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.
Qantas deploys 2,200 iPads to pilots
Pilots on the nation’s biggest airline Qantas will shortly starting using iPads to access the wide range of operational information they need to do their job instead of printed paper, under a partnership announced today between the airline and telco partner Telstra.
Defence brings massive IT services deal back to the market
The tender was put on ice some two years ago, as it was undertaking several other major IT purchasing efforts at the same time. However, iTnews reported today that the contract had been brought back.
Investigation reveals significant problems in Defence’s Telstra deal
In April 2013, the Department of Defence signed a massive new contract with Telstra. With a value of $1.1 billion, the deal was one of the largest telecommunications services contracts signed by any customer organisation in Australia. However, as iTnews reports today, the deal is suffering significant problems.
TechOne saves 20-30 percent in Gmail switch
Australian software vendor Technology One deploys Google's Gmail email platform.
Qld Health payroll gets another $384 million
Those of you who thought that the Queensland Health payroll debacle had gone away, think again. The LNP State Government landed its annual budget this week, and included in it is a massive dollop of change for the ailing project, which continues to bedevil the department and the State Government at large, as well as the politicians and partners involved.
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.
Servcorp deploys Dropbox Business for cloud storage
Following a consultation with staff members, Servcorp has moved to Dropbox Business to better fulfil its cloud storage requirements.
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.
Red Cloud to build $40m next-gen datacentre in Hobart
Red Cloud Ltd, a data centre services provider, has announced it will build a $40-million, resilient, Tier-3 data centre in Hobart using proven state-of-the-art modular technology.
At least two web browsers for every Australian desktop: It should be mandatory
In mid-2008, a government staffer at an employee town hall meeting being held by the US State Department got up to ask Secretary of State Hilary Clinton what appeared to be a rather unusual question for the venue. "Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox?" asked public affairs officer Jim Finkle.
Western Sydney Uni deploys 5,000 Microsoft Surface tablets
Western Sydney University is to deploy 5,000 Microsoft Surface 3 devices in order to boost flexible learning within its courses.
Brisbane Airport extends IT services deal with Data#3
Australian IT solutions firm Data#3 has announced the signing of a new deal that will see it continue to provide infrastructure support for Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) for a further two years.
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.
$752m: NSW Education Dept’s SAP-based LMBR system doubles in cost
Those of us who've been around the traps for a while know that it's extremely common for major IT projects to go over budget. 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent ... these are all normal amounts for a project's costs to blow out by, and of course delays to projects' delivery schedule are also common. However, what would you think of a project which doubled in cost over its lifetime?
Fascinating case study about open source cloud
Most of the cloud computing stories we hear about involve major vendors. You know the ones we're talking about: VMware, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Amazon and so on. These are household names. But what you may not realise is that there are other options out there for building cloud computing stacks. And some of them are not based on proprietary technologies and vendor lock-in at all.
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.
ASD releases Windows 8 hardening guide
The Australian Signals Directorate appears to have released a guide to hardening Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, three years after the software was released for use by corporate customers, and as Microsoft is slated to release its next upgrade, Windows 10.
Victorian school may deploy 3,500 iPads
Independent Melbourne school Haileybury has already rolled out 1,000 iPads to staff members and students throughout its three campuses in the Victorian capital and may roll out several thousand more as it attempts to take advantage of the Apple technology in education.
Reversal: Australian Govt picks ODF doc standard
In a move which appears to reverse its previous approach based on Microsoft's file formats, the Australian Government's central IT decision-making agency appears to have decided that it will standardise its office documents on the Open Document Format going forward.
Watch out, CIOs — CMOs are stealing chunks of your IT spend
Chief marketing officers are increasingly making technology decisions for their organisations, according to a new study published today by technology analyst firm Telsyte.
“Obstruction, avoidance and evasion”: IT giants stonewall price inquiry
Members of Parliament from both major sides of politics have very publicly blasted global technology giants such as Apple, Adobe and Microsoft and even representative group the Australian Information Industry Association, for what they described as “deep reluctance and resistance” to give evidence before a parliamentary committee investigating local IT price hikes.
Archer quits as whole of government CIO
Seasoned public servant Glenn Archer has resigned from his role as whole of government chief information officer and from the Federal Government, just a year after taking it up as part of the split of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO).
SAP Australia wins ‘biggest cloud deal ever’
German software giant SAP has won a substantial deal with the NSW Government’s Trade & Investment agency which it yesterday described as its biggest deployment of its Business ByDesign software as a service suite globally, and its first cloud platform win in the local public sector.
Does IT matter … in Australian supermarkets?
But leading with technology doesn’t mean throwing technology at the problem. You need to do something different with it. That’s the challenge for Woolworths.
Trojan takes down entire WA Parliament IT, phone system
Bad news for the Western Australian Parliament, which, it appears, didn't have the most hardened IT security systems on earth. The ABC is reporting today that a "trojan virus" has knocked the Parliament's IT and telephone systems offline.
Qld loses IT renewal chief after just nine months
The Queensland Government appears to have suffered a substantial blow to its attempts to reform its technology infrastructure, with the news reported late last week that the executive in charge of that renewal program, Glenn Walker, had resigned for a position in the private sector.
‘Daring yet awful’: An epic Windows 8 rant
We hate Windows 8 on the desktop just as much as the next man, but we haven’t tested it as extensively as Taswegian and technologist Simon Reidy, who penned this epic rant on Google Plus this week detailing why Microsoft’s new opus is the company’s “most interesting, daring, different, ridiculous, contradictory, frustrating, and awful Windows yet”.
Lotus position: ABS a “happy Notes camper”
We couldn't help but laugh when we read this excellent interview with Australian Bureau of Statistics chief information officer Patrick Hadley, describing the agency's ongoing commitment to IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino platform as part of its recently released and wide-ranging ICT strategy.
Defence dumps IBM from datacentre deal
Those of you who keep an eye on the extremely large IT purchasing habits of the Department of Defence will recall that the Department has had a long-running tendering initiative going for what it calls “Centralised Processing” services. The contract has been out to market for some time, with IBM, HP and Lockheed Martin previously being the players in contention. In September that list shrunk down to two, with Defence knocking HP out of the running at that point, and last week the list shrunk again, with Big Blue losing out and Lockheed Martin winning preferred tendered status.
Macquarie Uni gets deep into virtual desktops
Following on from the news last week that recruitment firm Hudson (and a number of others over the past year or so) is rolling out an extensive desktop virtualisation project internally, comes further detail about a similar (and quite innovative) program at Macquarie University.
Video: Amazing Microsoft Sydney office lightshow
In the video above, Microsoft Australia appears to have taken over several office towers in Sydney's Darling Harbour for the launch of its LightSwitch software (apparently an add-in to the company's Visual Studio development environment. We know we've been pretty hard on Microsoft recently ... but this is amazing. Kudos!
NAB fills CIO role as rejigged exec team stares down 2016 migration target
onths after it kicked off a major reshuffle of its IT executives, the National Australia Bank has finally firmed up the technology management team that will lead the institution through a massive Oracle systems upgrade that’s expected to be completed by 2016.
Fiona Stanley Hospital IT gets $40m more
The Western Australian Government has allocated a further $40 million in funding to the troubled IT systems of the state's flagship Fiona Stanley Hospital, in a state budget which comes ahead of the similar, $187 million deployment of similar new IT systems at the upcoming Perth Children's Hospital.
Big “Legacy” ERP being ripped apart and is almost dead, says Gartner
Enterprise IT analyst firm Gartner has warned that large, monolithic and heavily customised in-house enterprise resource planning systems will be relegated to the status of "legacy ERP" over the next several years, as smaller, nimbler and often cloud computing-based alternatives eat the lunch of this old mainstay of the IT application portfolio.
Woodside connects 200k IoT sensors to Amazon
There are some fascinating case studies coming out of Amazon Web Service's Summit in Sydney this week. One of the ones that we found the most interesting was a story regarding resources giant Woodside, which has conducted one of the largest Internet of Things projects we've seen yet in Australia.
Defence appoints new CIO: Peter Lawrence
The Department of Defence has appointed high-flying global IT executive Peter Lawrence, currently group manager of IT, Energy Markets for utility Origin Energy, to replace its outgoing chief information officer Greg Farr.
Wells quits Avaya for SaaS firm Workday
Australian IT industry stalwart Rob Wells has quit his post as the managing director of Avaya's Australian operations and will instead establish the local division of Software as a Service business software group Workday.
Qld Labor Govt feared IBM payroll backlash
New cabinet documents released by the Queensland Labor Party pertaining to the payroll systems disaster at Queensland Health have revealed the then-Labor administration in 2010 feared that IBM would pursue its own lawsuit if the State Government terminated its contract over the botched IT systems overhaul.
Uni of Adelaide appoints new CIO
The University of Adelaide has appointed a new chief information officer, Mark Gregory, it announced last week.
Australia Post accelerates digital push with Data61 partnership
Australia Post has announced a new partnership with the country's largest data innovation group Data61 that is aimed to drive continued transformation into a digital services company.
Cartridges retailer dumps Microsoft, Salesforce, Magento for NetSuite whole-of-business ecommerce platform
Australian online printer cartridge retailer CartridgesDirect will shortly replace its existing Magenta-based web platform with a whole of business ecommerce solution from NetSuite, as the US software as a service firm continued to pick up mid-sized customer wins in Australia.
Microsoft finally launches Surface Pro in Australia
Almost 12 months after it first announced the device, Microsoft has finally confirmed that it will launch its Surface Pro family of Windows 8-based tablets in Australia later this month.
Macquarie Telecom suffers major outage
Last month was a good one for local enterprise telco and hosting company Macquarie Telecom. The company hosted Julia Gillard for a ritzy launch of its new datacentre, drank champagne and toasted its success. But the past two days haven't been quite as rosy for the firm.
Victoria to replace hacked Myki cards — or not
Victoria’s troubled Myki public transport smartcard project has suffered another high profile setback, with the state to replace over a million of the cards following revelations they can be hacked for free transport.
Medibank Private dumps seven other telcos, keeps Telstra and … Skype?
I've got a number of questions about this deal ... namely: How the hell was Medibank Private -- a huge corporation -- even using eight different telecommunications suppliers in 2015 to start with? Why has it taken the company so long to consolidate the numbers of suppliers down? And since when, as Telstra detailed in its media release, has Telstra been selling Skype for Business services (owned by Microsoft) as part of its service offering?
HP opens giant NSW datacentre (photos)
Global technology giant HP yesterday opened its colossal $119 million new datacentre in Western Sydney, revealing that it had dubbed the new facility "Aurora".
ICAC finds Sydney University IT manager corrupt
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found that University of Sydney information technology (IT) manager Atilla "Todd" Demiralay engaged in corrupt conduct by using Succuro Recruitment, a business that employed his wife and later operated through a company in which he and his wife had a financial interest, to recruit contractors and staff for the university, without disclosing his financial interest in the business.
WA appoints first whole of government CIO
Western Australia has appointed its first permanent whole of government chief information officer, with acting CIO Giles Nunis taking on the role on an ongoing basis to help the state cut its costs, develop an overarching IT strategy and build the capacity of WA’s growing ICT sector.
Offshore cloud an adoption barrier, finds KPMG
A research study partially funded by major offshore cloud computing vendors Salesforce.com, Microsoft, and Google has found that one of the major barriers stopping Australian organisations from migrating to cloud computing platforms is the lack of cloud infrastructure based in Australia, with legislation such as the US Patriot Act cited as key concerns with offshore hosting.
Closed Govt: Coalition may walk away from transparency
The Coalition Federal Government has reportedly signalled it is reconsidering the previous Labor administration's commitment to join the multilateral Open Government Partnership aimed at increasing citizen engagement and government transparency, in a move which would place Australia alongside just one other nation to withdraw: Russia.
Purge: Qld Govt cuts 384 IT contractors
The new LNP Queensland State Government today revealed that it had terminated the contracts of some 384 technology contractors in total over the past few months, as it ramps up its drive to slash technology-related spending while simultaneously remediating dated IT systems left to languish by the previous Labor administration.
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.
Brickworks details ERP integration project
In a case study published by Microsoft this week, Brickworks details how it has integrated various accounts payable and invoicing systems together using a combination of SharePoint, software from smart processing company Kofax and Microsoft partner Efficiency Leaders.
New Qld Govt CIO a chance for ‘industry unity’
There is the chance for a fresh start in Queensland at the moment. And if the various CIOs, politicians and industry players can get behind that, perhaps the state can avoid having virtually every major whole of government technology project, and many others, savaged by its auditor-general in a few years' time when the next round of audits comes up.
Microsoft’s Dynamics AX for Azure cloud to launch in Australia
Microsoft has announced that Dynamics AX, the latest version of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software product, will soon be available in Australia and hosted in local data centres.
ANZ CEO announces head of digital role in raft of executive changes
Along with a number of significant changes to the executive team at ANZ, the bank's new CEO Shayne Elliott has announced plans to create a role for a new head of digital banking.
New IT system causes chaos at Cairns Hospital
There is absolutely no doubt that electronic health records system implementations have an extremely chequered history in Australia. Now a new catastrophe along these lines has appeared in Far North Queensland.
The ABC didn’t sack Bitcoin miner
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation didn't fire an un-named IT worker who attempted to use the broadcaster's vast server infrastructure to make himself a fortune through the Bitcoin virtual currency system, it has emerged, with the employee merely being disciplined and having their access to certain IT systems restricted.
Review brands ATO’s Change Program a success
An extensive review of the Australian Taxation Office's colossal $814 million Change Program IT platform overhaul has found the program broadly to be a success, with the initiative delivering on most of its objectives and making a return on its investment in just four years, despite a history which at times seemed close to going off the rails.
Coalition slams computers for schools delays
The Coalition has heavily criticised the Federal Labor Government's Computers in Schools program, claiming the project is behind schedule to the tune of hundreds of thousands of machines.
Too late? WA wants central Fiona Stanley PMO
The Western Australian Government has gone to market for a provider to establish a project management office (PMO) to will coordinate development activities between its problematic Fiona Stanley Hospital build and its wider health department, just weeks after it admitted that the IT systems associated with the hospital had blown out in cost by an amount expected to be between $25 million and $50 million.
Victoria Police … plastering over underlying IT disasters with sexy gear?
The boys in blue are in line, apparently, for hot new gadgets such as body worn cameras, tablets and more, in an effort to modernise the force. Not mentioned, of course, are the significant problems which Victoria Police faces with fundamental IT service delivery.
GovCMS adoption ‘doubled expectations’ in first year
The government's web content management system GovCMS has reportedly seen more than twice the number of agencies and institutions adopting the service than initially estimated.
Government Departments lost in digital transformation
Less than 30 percent of Australian public sector officials are confident in their organisations’ ability to respond to digital trends, according to a Deloitte global survey published last week.
Tasmania’s huge payroll overhaul may go cloud
The Tasmanian Government has flagged plans to overhaul its dated whole of government human resources and payroll systems, in a move which will affect some 28,000 employees and may see the state shift its systems into a cloud computing/software as a service model.
Has Fortescue dumped BlackBerry for Nokia?
Australian iron ore group Fortescue metals has declined to comment on an unverified rumour that the company has recently deployed over 600 new staff smartphones, allegedly swapping out its existing BlackBerry fleet in the latest corporate switch to Microsoft's rival Windows Phone 7 ecosystem.
NEC keeps parliamentary IT services work
Remember how a damning report was published in October 2012 noting that the IT systems running Australia’s Federal Parliament were a complete shambles? Remember the litany of complaints which politicians and their staff filed with the Department of Parliamentary Services over the issue? Well, things might be gradually improving at the Parliament courtesy of its new chief information officer, but at least one thing is going to remain the same: The IT services firm servicing the politicians’ electorate offices.
Tasmania to build on-island cloud for community and government services
The Tasmanian Government has announced it will build an on-island cloud service that will host most government data and services in the near future.
Labor claims DHS telephone and IT systems ‘collapsing’
Labor has released a statement over what it calls a "collapse" in the standards of telecoms and IT services at Centrelink and Medicare.
Whole of Govt CIO role abolished
The Federal Government this morning revealed it had abolished its whole of government chief information officer role in the wake of the departure of the last public servant to hold the position, Glenn Archer, with the position's responsibilities to devolve to a much lower profile role in the Department of Finance.
Minister worried about AGIMO’s ability to deliver
Documents released under Freedom of Information laws have appeared to show that the minister overseeing the Federal Government's peak IT decision-making agency is concerned about its ability to deliver on a whole of government technology strategy, with yet another review being commissioned into its performance.
Federal Government spends $5bn on ICT annually
Special Minister of State Gary Gray has released a report summarising expenditure by government departments in 2008–09 and 2009–10, which states that the Australian Government is a major consumer and producer of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products and solutions, with an annual expenditure of $5 billion.
Greens claim NSW LMBR project turning into a disaster
The NSW Greens late last week claimed to have obtained documents showing that 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, was deployed before it was ready, with "appalling consequences for administrative staff, principals, teachers and students".
HP, SA Govt, UniSA to create 430 Adelaide IT jobs
Global technology giant Hewlett Packard yesterday announced it would significantly expand its presence in Adelaide, creating about 430 high-end technology jobs over the next four years with the assistance of the University of South Australia and the South Australian State Government.
TAFE Queensland is rolling out TechOne’s education solution
Australian enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) provider TechOne has inked a deal to provide Student Management solution to TAFE Queensland, the vocational education and training organisation.
NAB loses CIO Denis McGee
As reported by half a dozen media outlets over the past 24 hours, long-time National Australia Bank senior IT executive Denis McGee, who has most recently held the post of chief information officer, has resigned.
IT strategy to lead NSW from “the dark ages”
New South Wales' Coalition State Government late last week revealed a new and wide-ranging strategy which it said was slated to make it "the leader in ICT" when it came to public sector service delivery and the development of the state's technology sector as a whole.
QBE appoints new CIO amid restructure
Insurer QBE has unexpectedly appointed a new chief information officer, with its incumbent executive holding the position shifting to another position within the group.
Super funds botch major technology project
Sometimes it appears as though Australia's Federal and State Governments are the only ones botching major IT projects. And that makes sense, given the frequency of IT project failure in the public sector, and the public nature of the audit reports which examine them. But the private sector also has its failures, as the Financial Review chronicles this week with respect to a number of major superannuation funds.
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.
330k users: Google Apps hits Catholic schools
Search giant Google has revealed its Google Apps software as a service platform has been deployed to some 330,000 students, teachers and administrative staff at Catholic schools across Australia, in one of the largest local known rollouts of the platform so far.
Qantas Credit Union deploys Infosys Finacle’s ‘core banking as a service’
One of Australia’s largest credit unions, the Qantas Credit Union, has revealed it will deploy a new core banking platform from Infosys’ Finacle division (EdgeVerve Systems(, as well as a host of other related services, in a move that the bank says will see it transition to a ‘core banking as a service’ model.
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.
Adecco dumps handsets for softphones with Optus, Cisco
news Human resources group Adecco yesterday revealed it had undertaken a substantial refresh of its internal telephony and Internet platform with the primary assistance...
There is a cold war going on between Govt CMS platforms
The new kids on the block may do well to remember that the DTO has only been around for a very short period of time, and could easily be deleted again by a hostile Federal Cabinet during tough budget times. The folks who set up GovCMS paved the way for an agency like the DTO to do great things.
Comcare goes cloud for DR
Cloud computing projects in the Federal Government are a little thin on the water these days, despite the fact that the previous Labor administration tried to push for further adoption in the public sector, and despite the fact that cloud is all the rage in state governments at the moment. That's why we're particularly interested in this little gem posted by Australian Government chief technology officer John Sheridan on his blog today.
HP layoffs likely to hit Australia
Technology giant HP this morning said it expected its massive global job cuts -- which are expected to see some 27,000 employees exit the company -- to affect all of its regions across the world, with the implication that Australia will not be left off the list of locations to receive retrenchment targets.
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".
SP AusNet insources IT services
Listed Victorian energy utility SP AusNet has signalled plans to insource its IT services needs, following a decision to terminate a wider management deal under which a variety of corporate services were being provided by a subsidiary of its part-owner Singapore Power.
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.
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.
Uni of Sydney deploys ThinkPad Tablet 2 studios
The University of Sydney has successfully completed a trial of Windows 8-based Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 devices in dedicated student spaces on several of its campuses and is seeking to deploy the devices more widely to assist in generating better learning outcomes.
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.
Qld Health CIO reportedly poached by IBM
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Queensland Health CIO Colin McCririck has reportedly resigned for a job with IBM in the US.
Australia still hearts Windows Server 2003
Research published by local analyst firm Telsyte and Dell yesterday suggests that one in five Australian businesses are still running Microsoft’s decade-old operating system Windows Server 2003, despite the fact that Redmond is about to stop supporting the dated software for good.
Govt creates new digital agency to fix e-health issues
The government is seeking a CEO to head the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) – a newly created body set up to revamp the underachieving My Health Record initiative.
NSW may sack 610 IT support staffers
We're not happy to hear from The Register that the NSW Department of Education and Department may be about to sack some 610 technical support officers.
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.
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.
Microsoft’s giant Aussie Office 365 migration has started
Software and services giant Microsoft last week revealed it had started migrating the data of its Australian customers onto datacentres based locally, in a move that will affect customers in Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.
ABC wants Apple, Android, Windows tablets
I would not be surprised at all if major Australian corporations were eyeing off Windows 8 and its bevy of hardware partners at this point, and wondering if the platform will allow them a much greater degree of control, flexibility and manageability over the tablets that they use than Apple's iPad will.
NSW moves closer to ‘cloud-first’ strategy
The New South Wales Government has given further signs that it is moving to adopt the kind of ‘cloud-first’ IT procurement strategy which jurisdictions such as the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand have pursued over the past several years, in a move which could fundamentally change the way the state buys and uses technology.
Weather bureau gets $80m Cray supercomputer
The Bureau of Meteorology this week revealed it had signed a US$59 million (AU$80 million) contract with US supercomputer specialist Cray for a beefy machine that will deliver the agency about 16 times its current computing capacity and allow it to predict the weather that much better.
Aussie firms deploy corporate social network tibbr
Software giant Tibco has revealed that two sizable Australian companies, accounting group HLB Mann Judd and real estate agency Compton Green, have deployed its internal corporate social networking platform tibbr to streamline their internal communications.
Govt splits AGIMO, appointing CIO, CTO
The Federal Government has announced it will split its troubled IT strategy division the Australian Government Information Management Office in two, promoting internal staffers into two new chief information and technology officer roles in line with the recommendations of the Reinecke review regarding the agency’s future.
Executives carry more tech devices than ever
Corporate executives are increasingly carrying around multiple devices at work, new research from the University of Sydney has revealed.
Westpac still running IE6
iTNews has published an excellent article today detailing how almost all of Westpac's staff are still running Internet Explorer 6, and, presumably, Windows XP).
Deakin Uni first in Australia to get Cisco’s new SDN gear
I'm attending Cisco Live in Melbourne this week, and I have to say that while there is a lot of marketing hype out there about software-defined networking and the kinds of complex network/app/processing integration that Cisco is hyping up, there is also a lot of real-world activity building out there with respect to this new paradigm.
Medibank IT glitch delays tax statements
Australia's largest health insurance provider Medibank has announced that it is experiencing a technical issue which is "likely" to prevent it from providing annual tax statements to "a majority of customers" before its 15 July deadline.
ANZ Bank CIO Weatherston quits
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group announced late last week that its chief information officer Anne Weatherston would "step down", with the executive's responsibilities to be assumed by the bank's chief operating officer while a global search is undertaken for her replacement.
NSW Police wants huge internal social network
The New South Wales Police Force has flagged plans to deploy a sizable internal social networking platform, as it moves ahead with plans to better serve the information needs of its 17,000 police officers and 4,000 civilian administration staff.
CIO promoted as Boral outsources IT
Diversified materials company Boral this morning revealed it would embark on a wide-ranging IT outsourcing program which would see an undisclosed number of jobs go and its chief information officer promoted.
HP starts cutting Aussie staff; Caspari ascends
Well, that didn't take long. Just a couple of weeks after global technology giant HP revealed it would be cutting some 27,000 employees globally, the company's local cuts have started to surface.
Data#3 flags job cuts: Read the internal email
There was one little fact which Data#3 didn't disclose to investors during its financial results briefing session this week: Job cuts
Mills slams ‘failed re-run’ Qld CIO appointment
Bruce Mills' Outsourcing Council Asia Pacific (OCAP) has severely criticised the Queensland State Government’s appointment last week of Peter Grant as the new whole-of-government Chief Information Officer.
Westpac renews Telstra, Optus contracts
Top-tier bank Westpac has renewed long-running contracts with both Telstra and, reportedly, Optus, as the bank continues to source services from both of Australia's two largest telcos.
WA Govt can’t fund school IT upgrades
In news from The Department of Disturbing Facts, iTNews revealed late last week that Western Australia's Department of Education has run out of money halfway through the deployment of new fundamental IT infrastructure to the state's schools.
Budget 2016: Govt establishes joint taskforce to fix myGov
The Government has established a joint taskforce to remediate its troubled myGov digital identity and verification platform, bringing in experts from a number of government departments and throwing $50.5 million at the project.
Most Qld Govt cloud data is going straight offshore
Queensland's Auditor-General has revealed that the State Government's 'cloud-first' policy has resulted in three quarters of the government data placed into cloud computing platforms going offshore, despite the availability of Australia-based cloud computing solutions.
Beleaguered Qld IT Minister quits
Beleaguered Queensland Minister for Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts Ros Bates today revealed she would quit her position effective immediately, following a string of controversies and health problems which have dogged the politician since the state's LNP administration took power in March 2012.
Google leaves Australia off cloud expansion list
Google has announced two new regions for its Cloud Platform network of datacentres, with more on the way, but it is still unclear if Australia will eventually be included in the list.
CommBank’s Kaching app: A perfect IT/business alignment case study
The collossal success of the Commonwealth Banks's Kaching mobile, social and NFC payments system demonstrates starkly what Australian chief information officers can achieve when they put their mind to it and how rapidly Australians will take up good technology and is a perfect case study for how IT can align with the business to achieve real business outcomes.
Optus inks $19.5m satellite deal with Defence
SingTel subsidiary Optus this morning revealed it had inked a $19.5 million contract with the Department of Defence, extending its current relationship in delivering managed professional satellite services to the Department for four years until mid-2018.
ASG clouds Tax Practitioners Board
IT services outfit ASG has revealed it has been chosen by the Tax Practitioners Board to deliver an “all cloud solution” for its enterprise IT needs.
Victoria releases concrete, detailed ICT strategy
The Victorian State Government has released the final version of a new whole of government information and communications technology strategy containing hard deadlines for goals, with which it aims to start addressing extensive IT project and service delivery issues which have resulted in more than a billion dollars in budget overruns and a string of failed IT projects over the past half-decade.
The end is nigh for Windows XP: Are you ready?
Almost 13 years after its release in October 2001 to a world still in shock after the 9/11 terror attacks, the sun is finally setting on Microsoft’s Windows XP. The operating system has been the software in many home and work PCs but for die-hard users who continue to use XP, danger that way lies.
Two Sydney universities get hacked
It hasn't been a good few weeks for university IT security in Australia, with the Universities of Western Sydney and New South Wales both being broken into.
Future IT project fail? NSW Police gets COPS replacement funding
If you've been following state government IT in Australia for as long as I have, it starts to get easier and easier to see major IT project failures before they even happen. And NSW Police just popped up a doozy.
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.
BlackBerry rises to knees with several local wins
Ailing smartphone and mobile device management company BlackBerry has announced several minor smartphone and software wins in the Australian market, as it continues its push to maintain relevance in the face of the continued onslaught of rival platforms such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Introducing a new Friday profile: Delimiter’s Friday CIO
When I think about the people that I personally most admire in Australia's technology sector, my thoughts usually go first to those working in chief information officer, IT director and IT manager positions. It's for these reasons that I'm planning to start a new regular profile for Delimiter.
ANZ trials IBM’s Watson in customer service
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has revealed it will be one of the first companies globally to trial using IBM's Watson expert data retrieval platform to attempt to enhance the quality of data available to the bank's customer service team, in a move that could eventually lead to Watson taking questions from customers themselves.
Australian Govt has “cloud last” policy, says Ovum
The Federal Government has taken a "cloud-last" position on the adoption of the new generation of cloud computing technologies, analyst firm Ovum said today, as it lacked a clear vision of the benefits of the cloud computing model, but was very clear about its risks.
NSW Health seeks CIOs in restructure
NSW Health has advertised two high-profile chief information officer roles, as the State Government's plan to ramp up improvements in healthcare through the use of technology impacts the organisation and it's eHealth NSW sub-division.
Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog targets Ultranet schools IT project
Victoria's Department of Education and Training’s $180 million Ultranet IT project is to be the focus of public hearings held by the state's anti-corruption commission next year.
Five months later, Defence seeks new CTO
It’s clear that things move very slowly within the Federal Government. But taking five months to post an advertisement seeking a replacement for an executive who has publicly announced their departure seems like a little long. As first reported by iTNews, the Department of Defence has finally advertised the position of chief technology officer.
Microsoft confirms shrunken TechEd Australia
Microsoft has confirmed it will radically overhaul its giant TechEd conference in Australia in a way that will essentially spell the end of the iconic conference in its traditional mega-format, with the company confirming it will hold smaller TechEd conferences in Sydney and Melbourne in October and additional dates and cities in planning for early 2015.
Tribunal backs ANZ Bank’s IT outsourcing
Industrial regulator Fair Work Australia has issued a ruling supporting ANZ Bank's decision to shift some 260 Australian and Indian staff IT testing staff to employment with outsourcer Capgemini, rejecting union demands that the bank must negotiate with staff over the move.
NSW Govt “excited” about ICT progress
The two most senior ministers responsible for delivering technology projects in the NSW State Government have both declared they are “excited”, Big Kev-style, about the progress which the state has made over the past six months on implementing the state’s new whole of government ICT strategy, designed to lead it out of “the dark ages” of ICT service delivery.
Victoria Police gives up trying to replace 25-year-old IT system
I strongly urge the Victorian Government to address this issue as a matter of urgency. It will require not only a substantial funding increase for this area to Victoria Police, but also a number of senior appointments and strong Ministerial support to get this project moving and delivered.
NAB moves website into Amazon cloud
In an article in The Australian newspaper this morning, it was revealed that NAB had switched its entire public-facing website into Amazon’s cloud (excluding, of course, sensitive areas such as Internet banking).
Telstra bets on Windows 10 solution to boost retail engagement
Telstra is rolling out Microsoft Windows 10 on Surface devices at its retail outlets in a move aimed to blur the line between in-store and online sales.
ICT Audit largely clears Federal Govt of problems
A comprehensive ICT audit of the Federal Government's ICT operations has largely found they are sound and performing to required standards, with expenditure within appropriate levels and only a small proportion of major ICT projects at risk.
NSW Police deploys on-body Fujitsu camera solution
The NSW Police Force last week revealed it would start deploying an on-body camera solution from Japanese vendor Fujitsu to frontline police, as part of a global trend which is seeing the technology increasingly adopted by law enforcement authorities around the world.
Symantec dumps Aussie support staff
According to iTNews, security vendor Symantec has dumped what little Australian technical support presence it had, offshoring the jobs overseas.
Westpac appoints McKinnon lieutenant Whincup CIO
Top tier bank Westpac has appointed one of Bob McKinnon's top lieutenants, UK import Clive Whincup, to succeed him as chief information officer.
Insurer IAG hires Deloitte exec as digital ‘disrupter’
Multinational insurance company IAG has appointed Deloitte's Peter Bonney to a newly established 'Disruptive Technology and Architecture' role within its IAG Labs division.
Dick Smith deploys Google Apps
The latest Australian company to deploy Google Apps as its document management and collaboration suite appears to be electronics retailer Dick Smith, at least according to a post on Google's Australian blog today.
IBM suffers “catastrophic failure” at health dept
The Federal Department of Health and Aging has accused technology giant IBM of causing a “catastrophic failure” in its IT systems stemming from an update to its storage environment that took down a number of services for a period of time this week.
ERP disaster costs Ansell millions
Australian condom and medical protection giant Ansell this week revealed a botched implementation of Oracle's ERP platform which went live last year had caused US$13 million to US$15 million worth of lost sales.
Aussie CIOs back Surface tablet
When it comes to tablets in the enterprise, Apple's iPad is currently the market leader. But, according to some early indications, Microsoft may be in with a winner with its new Surface tablet.
Fairfax to let MS Office ‘wither away’
Remember how publishing giant Fairfax announced plans several years ago to dump Microsoft’s Office and Exchange platforms for most of its 11,000 staff and switch to Google Apps? Well, this week the company’s chief information officer Andrew Lam Po-Tang gave the CeBIT conference a detailed look at what that process actually looks like inside the company. It turns out the demise of Microsoft Office is not so much a bang but a whimper for the publisher.
Developers prefer Android, says survey
Google’s Android operating system has replaced Apple’s iOS in terms of importance to developers in the Asia-Pacific region in the last 12 months, according to a new survey by independent technology analysts Ovum. However, both still form the core of developer support and almost all developers support both platforms. The survey also reveals that there is increasing interest from developers in Blackberry OS and Microsoft’s Windows phone.
Turnbull’s Department seeks replacement CIO
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is looking for a new Chief Information Officer following the departure of Radi Kovacevic to the DTO.
Last chance: Microsoft plans huge Win8 price hike
Microsoft Australia has confirmed that Australians have only several more days to buy its new Windows 8 operating system at promotional prices before it hikes its prices on the software massively as at the 1st of February.
NSW releases draft ICT strategy to lead tech sector
The NSW State Government has released a draft ICT strategic framework, which it hopes will help it become a leader in technology across Australia.
Datacom completes mammoth Health ICT takeover
New Zealand-headquartered IT services group Datacom this week announced it has successfully taken over the ICT infrastructure of the Federal Department of Health, in a long-awaited move which has seen the department remove large tranches of work from the hands of long-term outsourcer IBM.
DTO mandates APIs for Federal agencies
The DTO is looking to make it mandatory for government agencies to create APIs for all new services, and to consume their own APIs when delivering those services.
Five years later, Salesforce is still promising an Australian datacentre
Salesforce has been promising Australian customers for many years that it would start delivering some of its popular cloud offerings from a local datacentre for many years. So where is it?
Microsoft jacks up Aussie Azure cloud prices by 26 percent
Personally, I'd suggest that 10 percent is a figure chief financial officers can understand in this context. But 26 percent is likely enough to raise more than a few eyebrows.
Fairfax wants to dump Office, Exchange for Google
Media giant Fairfax has announced plans to will ditch Microsoft's Office and Exchange platforms for most of its 11,000-odd staff, with the company to become one of the largest known Australian organisations to shift onto Google's Apps platform for both email and office productivity software.
Finally, Amazon launches Sydney datacentre
After six months of rumours and the launch of several ancillary services down under, US cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has finally announced the availability of locally-hosted cloud computing services from an Australian datacentre; with prices comparable to those seen overseas.
Red Cross last upgraded its IT in 2002
The Australian Red Cross last upgraded its IT infrastructure ten years ago, it has been reported in the wake of news that the organisation will receive a $10 million grant from Microsoft to modernise its infrastructure.
NSW Parliament turfs “aged” Novell platforms
The New South Wales State Parliament will replace a broad swathe of Novell platforms it described as "end of life", "aged" and "legacy", replacing them primarily with new Microsoft software in areas such as email, identity management and file and print services that will bring its desktop IT infrastructure up to the "industry standard".
ADFA hack a national security failure: expert
According to media reports, a single hacker from the Anonymous group, calling himself Darwinare, released online the names, birthdays and passwords of 20,000 staff and students from a university database at the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Accenture parlays CBA skills into Child Support win
The Federal Department of Human Services today announced a deal with IT services giant Accenture that will see the company help replace the ageing Child Support payments system, using the SAP technology which Accenture developed extensive skills with during the Commonwealth Bank's core banking placement project.
Shocker: Qld Health payroll tender was rushed
From Computerworld this week comes the incredible, unbelievable, amazing news that the tendering process for Queensland Health’s colossally botched payroll systems upgrade may have been just a teensy bit rushed, and that the Government may not have allocated sufficient funding for the project.
Google Australia: ~$1bn in revenue, $74k in tax
Search giant Google has revealed it expects to pay just $74,000 in corporate income tax for the 2011 calendar year in Australia, off claimed local revenues of $201 million, despite the fact that industry estimates have continually pegged the search giant's Australian income at closer to $1 billion.
Small business missing the mobile, social, cloud revolution
Most companies that live and breathe the online revolution are not tech startups, but smart smaller firms that use online tools to run their core business better: to cut costs, reach customers and suppliers, innovate and get more control. Many others, however, are falling behind, according to a new Grattan Institute discussion paper.
Google Glass has not yet launched … but Westpac is trialling an app
Google's augmented reality and heads-up display headset Google Glass hasn't yet formally launched, but that hasn't stopped some of Australia's major corporations from developing an app for the latest hot platform.
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.
NSW Govt may scrap IT shared services units
The New South Wales Government has indicated it may follow in the footsteps of fellow states Queensland and Western Australia and drastically re-work its IT shared services strategy, in the wake of questionable benefits having flowed from the scheme.
Defence knocks HP out of datacentre deal
The Department of Defence's Centralised Processing contract has been out to market for a year, with IBM, HP and Lockheed Martin the players in contention. However, this week Defence knocked HP out of the running.
Parliament trials Windows 8 tablets
ZDNet publishes an interview with Federal Parliament chief information officer Eija Seittenranta, detailing the fact that the Parliament is conducting a trial of Windows 8 tablets.
TransGrid reveals mass Win8 tablet rollout
NSW electrity grid operator TransGrid has revealed plans to deploy a sizable fleet of Windows 8-based tablets across its operations, as part of a wider comprehensive revamp of its desktop PC infrastructure that will also see the organisation migrate the majority of its desktops to virtualised instances through thin client technology.
Melbourne IT may sell off divisions
Diversified Australian hosting and digital services group Melbourne IT today revealed it would conduct a review into the future of its various divisions which may result in selling some of them off, in the wake of disappointing flat revenue growth over the past six months.
Victoria starts airing its IT dirty laundry
The Victorian State Government has over the past month started holding hearings which touch in depth on the wide-ranging IT project delivery issues which have resulted in the state’s departments and agencies broadly failing to deliver ten major IT projects over the past half-decade.
Cross-platform tools luring mobile app developers back from HTML5
Many performance and functionality-minded application developers, who are shifting back to proprietary mobile apps after growing disillusioned with the limitations of HTML5, will find solace in today’s launch of a cross-platform development tool that allows Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android and Windows RT apps to be written using the popular C++ and Delphi development languages.
ATO in huge Windows 7 rollout
The Australian Taxation Office joined the throng of Australian organisations confirming plans to finally ditch Microsoft's legacy Windows XP operating system and adopt Windows 7, in a move that will also see the agency's employees finally freed from decade-old web browser Internet Explorer 6.
CommBank’s deep innovation is redefining our notion of what a bank is
The remarkable wave of technological innovation emanating from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is forcing Australians to redefine their fundamental concept of what a bank is, and reimagine what their basic relationship to such an institution should be.
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.
Homeless Sydney dev “will code for latte”
I don't know whether to feel slightly dubious about her story or merely sorry for Adelle Hartley, a Sydney C#/SQL developer who says she is homeless and has featured in an extensive article published by ninemsn this week.
Now Qld Health bungles e-health program
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given the ongoing disaster that is Queensland Health's payroll systems overhaul, but news has emerged that the department is also suffering problems with its electronic health program, with the first two tranches of the initiative being at least two years late.
NSW Govt to appoint yet another whole of government CIO
I'll be the first to admit if -- and I'll be happy about it -- I am proven wrong. But all the evidence from the past shows that this appointment will ultimately amount to little.
Vic Govt opens IT offshoring door
The Victorian Department of Human Services has reportedly investigated handing the re-development of its troubled client and case management system to an offshore provider in the popular IT outsourcing country of India, in one of the first signals that the state recognises the unsustainable nature of its current onshored resources.
The Australian government must take cyber security more seriously
Most of us can relate to the government’s plan to build 12 new submarines for A$50 billion, at least in principle. But you might be alarmed to hear the government is investing only a fraction of that amount on protecting us from cyberattacks.
40%: Australian enterprise prefers the iPhone
40 percent of Australian enterprises now see the iPhone as their preferred staff smartphone model, new research has revealed, in a remarkable demonstration of just how dramatically Apple's flagship handset has shaken up the nation's corporate mobile fleets over the past four years.
Qld sets royal commission into Health payroll
It's time. One of Australia's greatest ever IT disasters is now going to have the *ahem* privilege of having a royal commission conducted into how precisely it went wrong.
First State rewards security tip with legal threat
Whoah. It looks like Australian superannuation fund First State Super has had a massive, corporate-style over-reaction to a security analyst, Patrick Webster who politely let it know about an obvious, glaring security hole in its online platform.
IBM’s Watson is reportedly expanding into Woodside’s desktops
For most of the time that IBM's Watson artificial intelligence (for want of a better word) system has been around, I suspect many technology journalists such as myself have viewed the platform as something of a toy -- a pet project which Big Blue can use to demonstrate its deep technology research credentials and wow live quiz shows on television. But if this article by iTnews is any indication, Watson is moving past that into something rather more functional.
Domino’s Pizza to launch drone deliveries with new tech partner
Domino’s Pizza has announced a new partnership with US-based drone delivery specialist Flirtey to launch what it claims will be the "first commercial drone delivery service in the world".
Microsoft beating Google in cloud email race, says Gartner
A study by analyst firm Gartner has found that 8.5% of global public companies use cloud email from Microsoft's Office 365 service, with just 4.7% using Google Apps for Work.
Qld Health payroll: The lawsuit may be back on
The new LNP Queensland Government is reportedly attempting to source legal advice created for the previous Bligh Labor Government with respect to whether it would be feasible to sue vendors involved in the disastrous Queensland Health payroll systems implementation.
Govt seeks private/public big data proposals
Interested in working with the Federal Government's massive datasets? Got a knack for making meaningful information out of huge piles of numbers and letters? I've got some good news for you. The Australian Government Information Management Office is looking for proposals for joint projects between the public and private sector that will leverage big data technologies.
Back on track: Suncorp commits to 2016 core revamp
Second-tier bank and insurance company Suncorp has reaffirmed its plans to replace its legacy Hogan core banking platform with a more modern Oracle-based alternative in 2016, with the bank finally putting a date on an overhaul that has been on-again, off-again for several years.
NSW Police under fire again for pirating software
The long-running battle between enterprise IT vendor Micro Focus and NSW Police over the force's allegedly illegitimate use of millions of dollars worth of software hit headlines again this week, with the broadcast of a significant investigation into the matter by the 7:30 Report.
Amazon wins more Aussie financial services work
Cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has been relatively quiet about the numbers of Australian customers signing up to use its elastic infrastructure since it launched a dedicated datacentre in Australia in mid-November last year. At the moment the situation is unclear: Are Australian customers signing up to use the facility in droves, are they ignoring it, or are things somewhere in between?
Specsavers deploys Google Apps, loves cloud
Optometry chain Specsavers has deployed Google Apps to its Australian staff and hopes to continue moving almost everything else into the fluffy happy land of cloud computing, the company's Asia-Pacific IT director Simon Baxter has told iTNews on the sidelines of the CIO Strategy Summit the week before last.
Defence kicks off mammoth ERP transformation program
Those of you who got too deep, too early into the silly season around Christmas time may have missed the fact that the Department of Defence has taken a strong step forward in the mammoth ERP consolidation program known as "Defence Insight".
Aussie IT depts lost on how to handle BYO apps
Australian IT departments are "ill-prepared" to handle the massive influx of employee-sourced applications such as Dropbox, Skype and Evernote that are "storming" into their operations and being used by staff to improve their personal productivity, according to a new report produced by analyst firm Telsyte.
Sky TV deploys Citrix to manage network demands during Olympic broadcasts
New Zealand pay television provider Sky TV has deployed a Citrix networking solution to manage "unpredictable" network connectivity and high bandwidth demands during Rio 2016 Olympics broadcasts.
Questions & answers: Oracle Australia MD Ian White
Long-serving Oracle Australia managing director Ian White is one of the most senior figures in Australia's technology industry, leading the local operations of a company which has been involved at some level in virtually every major Australian IT Project. In this interview, we asked White a series of questions about the company's local operations, the industry, and his time with the company.
MyNetFone supplies VoIP to Tassie Govt
IP telephony and broadband company MyNetFone this week revealed it had been selected by the Tasmanian Government to supply Voice over IP telephony services to the state, in a three-year deal expected to be worth some $20 million over the period.
iPad minis replace Windows Mobile at Arnott’s
From iTNews earlier this month comes a rather interesting story about how food giant Campbell Arnott’s has deployed a fleet of several hundred iPad mini tablets to replace legacy Windows Mobile devices being used by its field staff.
Royal Melbourne Hospital still has not fixed its Windows XP virus problem
As it turns out, two weeks on, the hospital still has not quite got control of the IT infection
NSW finalises colossal datacentre consolidation
The New South Wales State Government this week announced the Leighton subsidiary Metronode as the winner of its long-running and wide-ranging datacentre overhaul project, with the company to construct two new substantial facilities which will allow the state to consolidate its IT operations drastically.
NAB starts getting real about BYOD
It's only been six months or so since the National Australia Bank admitted that it had cautiously -- ever so cautiously -- dipped its toe into the turbulent waters of implementing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme in its operations. However, NAB appears to have already become a convert of the philosophy.
Unita dumps MYOB, Excel spreadsheets for NetSuite
Interior-construction company Unita has replaced a number of instances of MYOB, Accentus and Excel spreadsheets with a single instance of NetSuite OneWorld to manage its core business processes.
Turnbull’s credit card details exposed in Stratfor hack
By now many of you know that a number of Australian organisations have had their credit card numbers compromised by a major hack of the US security intelligence firm Stratfor, with Australian victims including ANZ Bank, BHP, HSBC, Westpac, Woodside and so on. But did you know that Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull's security has also been compromised?
IT sector abusing 457 visa program, says Gillard
Julia Gillard this morning stated that the nation's IT sector was taking jobs away from Australians by importing foreign workers en-masse under the 457 visa program, a situation which the Prime Minister said was "just not acceptable".
Microsoft reveals roadmap for new Windows 10 business features
Microsoft has published details of its roadmap for new Windows 10 business features that are likely to make their way to users' machines in the near future, with security seeming a high priority.
Barden Produce deploys VMware’s vCloud Air
Australian veg wholesaler Barden Produce has announced a move to VMware's vCloud Air to bring about a more flexible and agile business model.
Govt admits staff lost IT equipment valued at over $100k
Government employees have cost the taxpayer may thousands of dollars-worth in lost or stolen IT equipment, it has been revealed.
Unis trial Box cloud computing with AARNet
Education sector telco AARNet today announced that it would provide Box’s cloud content and collaboration management platform to Australian universities and other AARNet customers, in a move which has already spurred trials at half a dozen educational institutions located around Australia.
TechOne’s CRM package a hit
Australian software vendor TechnologyOne this week revealed it had landed five major local deals in the last quarter for its customer relationship management (CRM) software. The vendor's solution is set to replace a rival Microsoft platform at one of these sites, and believes its CRM solution be in use by over 10,000 people in the near future.
It’s not just HP: Boral picked Oracle too
Oracle takes a chunk of Boral, alongside HP.
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.
NEXTDC inks leaseback deal for Brisbane DC
The directors of datacentre company NEXTDC have announced that the company has entered into a sale-and-leaseback agreement for its Brisbane datacentre property. During 2011, NEXTDC had announced a capital recycling program intended to unlock the increasing worth of its property assets and to re-invest the income in higher yielding datacentre infrastructure assets through sale-and-leaseback arrangements.
Cloud burst: Oracle reveals second Australian datacentre
Oracle co-president Mark Hurd has used a visit to Australia over the past week to officially launch the company’s second local datacentre, which the US enterprise IT giant will use to expand the variety of cloud computing and hosted services it provides locally to Australian customers.
“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.