Q&A: Kennards Hire on Windows Server 2012
Kennards Hire IT manager Richard Fox-Smith speaks about the company's deployment of Microsoft's new Windows Server 2012 platform and other IT strategic and operational issues.
Macquarie follows Westpac in IT offshoring
The Australian Financial Review late yesterday reported that financial giant Macquarie Group (commonly known as Macquarie Bank, although it has very diverse interests) is following Westpac in laying off Australian IT staff in favour of shifting jobs to India.
Microsoft recalls 285,000 Surface Pro power cords in Australia
Microsoft is recalling 285,000 Surface Pro power cord sets sold in Australia over a fault that can expose live wires and represents a risk to consumers.
Australia gets two Windows Azure datacentres
Microsoft this morning revealed plans to offer its Windows Azure platform as a service from Australian datacentres located in Sydney and Melbourne, in the latest move by a global technology giant to offer cloud computing services from Australian facilities to meet local demand and address concerns around data sovereignty.
NSW ‘ChildStory’ IT project drags heels on deployment
The NSW Department of Family & Community Services’ (FACS) ChildStory project has finally reached the deployment phase, despite being announced as far back as September of last year.
Clothing with Bluetooth safety alerts idea wins mining hackathon
After over two days of non-stop brainstorming, a team composed of university students and scientists has won the 2015 Unearthed Melbourne Hackathon.
Acer wins $70m PC contract with Victorian education department
Acer, which believes it is the largest supplier of computers to the Australian K-12 education market, has won a further $70 million contract from the Victorian Department of Education and Training, continuing its track record of engagement with the Victorian public sector.
Atlassian sends graduates to beach house
Atlassian has stationed 10 of its finest software graduates at the ‘Hack House’, a beach house in Narrabeen up the coat from the company’s Sydney headquarters. The ‘Gradlassians’, as they’ve been nicknamed, will spend a week combining surfing fun and hard work, developing a new product innovation ready for shipment by the end of the week.
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.
NAB starts deploying Windows 7
In 2009 the bank started investigating the next move, to Windows 7, and now that 2013 is almost here, according to iTNews (we recommend you click through to the full article), the bank is actually deploying some Windows 7 machines:
Two good Australian CIO interviews
There have been a couple of good interviews with Australian chief information officers done by various media outlets over the past couple of days -- good enough that we thought them worth highlighting to readers on Delimiter.
AGL to launch $300 million digital transformation
AGL has announced the launch of a three-year, $300-million digital transformation programme aimed to improve customers' experience with the company.
‘It’s not our fault’: IBM blames Govt for payroll disaster
Diversified technology products and services giant IBM has rejected a number of the findings included in the Commission of Audit's inquiry into Queensland Health's botched payroll systems upgrade, blaming the majority of responsibility for the catastrophic consequences of the botched initiatives on the State Government.
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.
Carbon Tax: How will it hit servers?
How much impact will the Federal Government's so-called Carbon Tax have on server hosting costs? According to Aidan Tudehope, the managing director of Macquarie Telecom's hosting division, quite a lot.
A complete picture of NAB’s IT transformation
You may have noticed that National Australia Bank enterprise transformation EGM Adam Bennett gave a speech at a CEDA lunch in Sydney this week. The executive's comments have caused a flurry of articles in the media. A brief overview, for your Friday afternoon reading pleasure, can be found here.
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.
US Court: Microsoft can’t be forced to hand over overseas emails
A US Court has ruled that Microsoft cannot be forced hand over emails stored overseas even for domestic search warrants issued as part of criminal investigations.
Parramatta first to Windows 8.1
Microsoft and Parramatta City Council today announced that the council would be the formally first in Australia to deploy the latest Windows 8.1 version of its flagship desktop and tablet operating system that Redmond is releasing this Friday.
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.
Auditor General: WA Govt should “prioritise online delivery of services”
Western Australian Auditor General Colin Murphy has released a report saying there are "significant savings and benefits" to moving government services online.
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.
IT firm Geek helps Adelaide accountants beat CryptoLocker attack
Australian IT services firm Geek said it has helped an Adelaide accounting firm recover from a CryptoLocker malware attack in "just 15 minutes" using a US security product called Datto.
Where’s My Jetpack? An awesomely epic rant by Australia’s new CTO
If you have even the slightest interest in government IT or technology project management, we recommend you sit down with a cup of tea and your tablet and read this epic rant by Australia's new chief technology officer John Sheridan. It's worth it.
Telstra wins $474m DHS telco contract
Telstra has emerged as the victor from a prolonged tendering process for a comprehensive suite of telecommunications services at the Federal Department of Human Services, announcing today that it had won a deal with the department worth $474 million.
802.11ac to wire up your garage datacentre? Why not?
Fascinating blog post this week from MacTalk founder and all-round geek Anthony Agius, who chronicles his attempts to use two 802.11ac routers to link his new garage-based server farm to his house network.
Questions raised about Post IT transformation
Australia Post has issued a statement staunchly defending the progress of its IT transformation program, Building Future Ready IT, as questions are being raised about some aspects of the project's ability to meet its goals on time and while avoiding significant risks associated with any such corporate technology renewal effort.
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.
Recruiter picks Telstra for cloud, telco services
Recruitment and HR services provider Randstad has signed a three-year deal with Telstra, to provide telecommunication services and transition the company into a cloud-computing model.
Telstra builds four new datacentres
Telstra late yesterday revealed plans to expand its cloud computing business through constructing four new datacentres located around the nation to cater for demand. Now if only the telco could announce some new cloud computing customers.
Spear-phishers targeted Reserve Bank in 2011
The Reserve Bank of Australia has on several occasions been the target of targeted malicious email traffic that sought to help external attackers breach the organisation's IT security systems, it was revealed this morning, although it is believed the bank was able to fend off the attacks before they got access to any sensitive information.
Ansell turns to SAP as Oracle ERP project lags
Australian condom and medical protection giant Ansell this week revealed it had chosen to extend an existing SAP-based business systems platform from its acquisition of French protective equipment company Comasec to other areas of its business, instead of further extending its new Oracle ERP rollout, which has suffered significant problems.
Defence finally starts certifying Android
Those of you with long memories will recall that the Department of Defence’s Defence Signals Directorate division, which is tasked with certifying technology for use in the Australian Government, has long had an aversion to Android. Windows- and BlackBerry-based mobile devices have long found favour with the DSD, and in April 2012 the agency even added (shock!) Apple’s iOS operating system, but for years Android has sat on the outer, leaving those public servants and politicians interested in the Android operating system out in the cold. Well, late yesterday news arrived that Samsung, at least, may be on the verge of getting access to the inner circle.
Has Gov 2.0 in Australia gotten too boring too fast?
So has Gov 2.0 become boring too fast in Australia? Shouldn't we see more conversation, more voices, more blogs, more tweets, more people packing out events seeking the latest information in what is one of the most rapidly changing environments in history - the internet?
OneTable is scaling with Microsoft Azure
Ben Jackson has discussed how his organic food startup OneTable is scaling using Microsoft Azure, after a deliberately lean first year spent building support from the customers and developing the concept.
E*Trade flooded with DDoS before Christmas
ANZ Bank's stockbroking service E*Trade was hit by a distributed denial of service attack in the lead-up to the 2011 Christmas season. After initial denials that the site had been attacked, the company sent its customers a letter informing them about the attack yesterday.
Yet another major Australian bank goes hard with Amazon cloud
It seems like it was only yesterday that Australia’s major financial services organisations were holding their noses and sniffing at the bad smell that they associated with ‘low-grade’ cloud computing services operated by offshore technology giants such as Amazon Web Services. It was only last month that it was revealed that National Australia Bank had switched its entire public-facing website into Amazon’s cloud, and this week Suncorp joined the throng, planning what The Australian describes as a “complete transfer” into the cloud.
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.
Telstra deploys eHealth record solution for St John of God
Telstra Health has announced it has deployed an electronic medical record (EMR) system at St John of God Midland public and private hospitals in Perth.
Survey reveals most organisations use multiple clouds
A new survey by Veritas has revealed that the majority of businesses are moving data to the cloud and utilising both private and public cloud services, creating a fragmented approach that could create IT "blind spots" and increase information-based risks.
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
“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.
Qld kicks off whole of Govt ICT audit
The new Liberal-National Party State Government in Queensland has announced it will conduct a six month whole of government audit into ICT systems used across the state public sector, in a bid to identify potential savings and efficiencies ahead of projected rationalisation of its ICT assets and processes.
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.
It’s nice to see government agencies share with each other
One of the most frustrating and, I think, silliest things I found when working in Australian government agencies was how almost every department, agency and statutory body developed almost all of its own policies, procedures, software and tools.
Retail giant gets wild-and-Woolies with Google Apps
Point-of-sale terminals may seem to be changing on a weekly basis, but it’s not every day that the country’s largest retailer makes a major back-end platform shift. Little surprise, then, that there has been such great interest in a company blog post announcing that Woolworths has decided to shift its 26,000 employees to the cloud-based Google Apps platform.
Atlassian doubles staff, revenues in 18 months
Australian enterprise software group Atlassian overnight revealed it had approximately doubled its headcount and revenues over the past 18 months, as it rapidly expands its operations internationally on the back of the $60 million in venture capital investment it took in mid-2010.
Qld Health’s IT woes just keep coming
An interesting article published here by the Courier-Mail just before Christmas lays out yet another IT-related headache being suffered at the moment by Queensland's favourite technological minefield, Queensland Health.
Amazon extends Sydney datacentre offerings
Cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services has launched several new services through its Sydney datacentre previously only available from international facilities, giving Australian customers access to a low-cost storage service designed for long-term backup, as well as a fast data warehouse service.
Policy innovation: Govt replaces cloud computing panel with … new panel
What’s not precisely clear at this point is how this new panel will differ from the old one, or how the new ‘cloud-first’ policy will differ from the old one.
Fujitsu/SAP project goes off the rails in NT
An IT project go off the rails in Australia? One involving a government department? Off the rails in terms of its project implementation timeframe and its budget? And most of the problem stemmed from its poor project management and governance structures? Who would have thought that this could possibly happen in a million years?
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".
Optus signs $115m contract to manage telecoms for immigration department
Optus Business has announced a three-year deal to supply end-to-end telecommunications and managed IT services for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP).
‘Bring your own app’ revolution hits Australia
Australian organisations are increasingly allowing their staff to use their own software at work, in a trend being dubbed "Bring Your Own Apps" or BYOA, according to a new survey of Australian chief information officers and other senior IT staff.
Spend-less Shoes replaces dated ERP platform
Speaking of ERP platforms, as we were earlier this morning, news arrived last week that local footwear retailer Spend-less Shoes will deploy a new platform. The company has picked Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 for Retail platform, as detailed in a statement issued by Redmond.
Questions & answers: Yammer Australia
Ross Hill is a well-known personality in Australia’s social media and entrepreneur space, having founded the Hive networking event series for entrepreneurs and worked as an innovation analyst at Deloitte Digital. Since January 2011 he’s been an enterprise relationship manager with enterprise 2.0 social networking company Yammer. In this interview, Hill answers our questions about Yammer in Australia.
CIO gives top seven tips for cloud adoption
Excellent blog post here from Altium chief information officer Alan Perkins, who gives his top seven tips for the most important things to consider when moving enterprise IT services into the cloud.
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.
Rackspace confirms dedicated Sydney datacentre
US hosting giant Rackspace has confirmed plans to launch a large datacentre in Sydney later this year, to support growing local demand for its services after entering the Australian and Zealand markets in 2009 using its infrastructure located overseas.
The Good Guys calls in IBM for B2B digital portal launch
The Good Guys, the Australian household appliance retailer, has said it collaborated with IBM on the construction of its new B2B online portal aimed to transform engagement with its business customers.
WA public transport agency downed by hack attempt
It appears that IT staff at Western Australia's Public Transport Authority had a rather different kind of weekend: One in which they descended into the hell of trying to clean out hackers from their IT systems.
BoQ cuts down outsourcing list to four
Those of you who follow the big end of the IT services market in Australia will recall that November last year Bank of Queensland revealed plans to finally chop up its extremely long-running comprehensive IT outsourcing deal with HP, with the effort being led by the bank's chief information officer Julie Bale (pictured). Well, things have been moving along at a rapid clip and the bank has reportedly now cut down its list of prospective partners to four.
Coca-Cola Amatil takes SAP project to Asia
For those wondering where Coca Cola Amatil is at with its comprehensive SAP-based internal enterprise IT applications overhaul project, wonder no more.
SA politicians debate upgrade of 24-year-old IT platform
South Australia's two major sides of politics have engaged in a war of words over the past week over various pledges to upgrading a 24-year-old IT platform underpinning the state's courts system, which its chief justice says is close to collapse and which needs tens of millions of dollars to replace.
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.
Two mid-size Aussie retailers go NetSuite
Cloud business software vendor NetSuite has revealed that two mid-level Australian retailers, Indian handcraft store Tree of Life and veterinary and pet healthcare supplier Vet-n-Pet, have deployed a broad swathe of its e-commerce and business management software in an effort to get their growing operations under control and scale for growth.
Sydneysiders quit Google to fix … Gmail
What is hilarious and very telling about Google's current corporate culture is that three entrepreneurs felt it necessary to resign from their (no doubt high-paying) jobs in the supposedly innovative GooglePlex in order to push the envelope forward on email, an area which Google itself revolutionised almost a decade ago with Gmail.
NEXTDC M1 datacentre launch: Photos
In a ritzy ceremony, NEXTDC this week opened its new M1 datacentre in Melbourne. Attending the event were the company's founder Bevan Slattery, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, new NEXTDC chief executive Craig Scroggie, financial executive Mark Bouris, Conroy's chief of staff Shain Drabsch and others.
Brisbane Airport outsources IT to Data#3
Queensland-headquartered IT services group Data#3 yesterday announced it had won a contract with Brisbane Airport Corporation, as the group continues a drive to transform its technology services delivery model.
Telstra launches Cisco’s Android tablet
The nation's largest telco Telstra late last week confirmed it had started offering Cisco's low-profile Cius Android tablet to customers as a complement to their corporate unified communications platforms.
DTO looking to create Govt cloud marketplace
If you've been following public sector IT for a while, you're probably aware that Australia's Federal Government has not precisely set the world on fire when it comes to its adoption of cloud computing platforms. Most Government CIOs consider the cloud a little risky, both for control reasons, but also because of data sovereignty issues. However, much of that may change, if Malcolm Turnbull's Digital Transformation Office gets its way.
Australia tax reversed: Office 2016 pricing better in Australia
Microsoft has reversed a lengthy trend towards jacking up the pricing on its software for the local market, with analysis showing Australians will actually pay significantly less for its brand new Office 2016 suite released this week than users in the United States.
Regulator forces ANZ off Salesforce.com
Just when you thought Australia’s banks and the banking ecosystem in general were making some headway in their acceptance of cloud computing technologies, international regulators throw a spanner in the works. iTNews reports todaythat the Monetary Authority of Singapore has forced the hand of ANZ Bank when it comes to cloud computing.
CenITex sacks 200: Read the internal email
Victorian IT shared services agency CenITex told its staff that it was planning a round of 200 redundancies. Thanks to a source, we've gotten our hands on the internal document outlining the changes.
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.
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.
Perpetual outsources IT planks to Fujitsu
Financial services giant Perpetual has signed off on a major IT transformation project involving the outsourcing of some key functions to Japanese IT services giant Fujitsu and the modernisation of key aspects of Perpetual's applications and IT infrastructure.
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.
Kmart calls police to investigate IT security breach
National retailer Kmart has called in the Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to investigate an IT security breach which it has confirmed saw customers’ data accessed by unknown parties.
RTFM: How to keep CIOs under control
Chief information officers never seem to understand. It doesn't matter if the servers are up or down -- that's a user problem. The real issue is whether they are configured properly in the first place. The system must be perfect, pristine. Users pollute that nirvana.
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.
HPE may cut 200 Adelaide jobs, just months after hiring binge
Just months after flagging a sizable expansion of its business in South Australia, insiders have revealed Hewlett Packard Enterprise is actually in the throes of cutting several hundred staff from the state.
VMware tightens grip on NSW councils
Virtualisation giant VMware this week revealed it had signed a wide-ranging contract renewal involving some forty three local councils across New South Wales, in a move which the vendor said was expected to result in savings of up to $3 million for the council group as a whole and the further deployment of its technology.
Vic Govt releases motherhood ICT strategy
The Victorian State Government has released the draft of a new whole of government information and communications technology strategy, 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.
Delimiter files FoI request for PCEHR Review
Technology media outlet Delimiter has filed a Freedom of Information request for a report reviewing the Federal Government's troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records project begun under Labor, due to the fact that new Health Minister Peter Dutton has received but not yet released the sensitive document.
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.
Human Services Dept renews $484m contract with IBM
The Department of Human Services (DHS) has renewed a contract with IBM for the delivery of new technology that is aimed to drive new products and services.
Survey warns Australian businesses may be in “digital denial”
A new survey by Progress has found that, while most Australian business leaders recognise the benefits of going digital, over half said their organisations were "in denial" over the urgent need to transform their processes and services.
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.
Corruption allegation hits Sydney Uni IT manager
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will hold a public inquiry commencing on Tuesday 20 March 2012 as part of an investigation it is conducting into corruption allegations concerning a University of Sydney manager's use of a recruitment agency, in which he and his wife had an interest, to recruit contractors and staff to the university.
SA Police invests in facial recognition technology
South Australia Police (SAPOL) has invested $780,000 in facial recognition software to be provided by NEC Australia.
Woods Bagot deploys SharePoint 2013 early
It’s only just been formally released for official use, but Australian architectural design firm Woods Bagot has been using early versions of Microsoft’s SharePoint 2013 software since early this year, a new case study published by Microsoft recently has revealed.
Qld Health dumps GroupWise for Exchange … 2007?
Queensland Health has become the latest Australian organisation to ditch Novell's ageing GroupWise platform in favour of Microsoft Exchange. But why is it migrating to Exchange 2007 and not Exchange 2010?
Govt blocks PCEHR review release
The Federal Department of Health has moved to block the public release of a report reviewing the troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records project, stating that there are not sufficient public interest reasons for the report to be released, despite the fact that Health Minister Peter Dutton has stated the document contains “a comprehensive plan for the future of electronic health records in Australia”.
Pia Waugh takes control of data.gov.au
Long-time IT industry openness advocate Pia Waugh takes control of Government 2.0 initiatives in the Federal Government.
Qld Transport in huge IT infrastructure refresh
Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads has kicked off an extremely wide-ranging refresh of its underlying desktop IT infrastructure which is slated to see legacy products such as Lotus Notes, IBM Sametime, Windows XP and Novell's file, print and application deployment software replaced with more popular and updated equivalents.
CenITex cuts another 60 staff
Troubled Victorian Government IT shared services group CenITex has flagged plans to cut another 60 staff from its roster, as wider plans progress to outsource the infrastructure and services currently being provided by the group to other Victorian Government departments and agencies.
HP completes giant new NSW datacentre
Global technology giant HP has finished building its colossal $119 million new datacentre in Western Sydney and will launch the "world-class" facility next month, with a speech slated to be given by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
Defence desktop overhaul gets green light
The Department of Defence’s long-awaited desktop PC overhaul project has been given the green light to go ahead in a mass deployment, after a successful trial of 700 users conducted by the project’s main technology vendor Thales.
DHS issues show Turnbull’s innovation talk just ‘spam’, says Labor
Labor has criticised the Turnbull government over recent IT and other issues at the Department of Human Services (DHS), saying they reveal that the Prime Minster's talk of Innovation is just "spam".
Telstra migrates email offshore to Windows Live
Australia’s largest telco Telstra has promised its BigPond customers a faster and enhanced email service named BigPond with Windows Live, without the need to change email addresses. The caveat? Their data will now also be stored offshore with Microsoft.
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.
Delays hit NAB’s core banking project
Delays appears to have struck the National Australia Bank's core banking modernisation project, with the bank yesterday revealing it had pushed back the implementation of the foundation of its new Oracle-based platform to 2012, having focused on other aspects of the project this year.
Queensland Police starts body-worn camera rollout
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has announced it is rolling out body-worn cameras (BWCs) for frontline police across the state.
Dental network builds Azure data extraction tool
Microsoft revealed this week that Australian dental network Dental Corporation had built a tool using its Windows Azure platform which allowed it to extract data stored in dental practices around Australia, in what the software giant is billing as a case study of its 'hybrid' cloud computing concept in action.
Atlassian installs Valve-esque portals in offices
Not content with already being one of the best places to work in Australia, local software developer Atlassian has taken its coolness factor one step further by installing videoconferencing gear set up to look like actual portals (you know, from the popular video game ‘Portal’) in several of its offices so that staff in different locations can talk to each other virtually.
St George trials Apple iBeacon in branches
Westpac subsidiary St George Bank has revealed plans to deploy a trial of Apple's iBeacon technology in three Sydney branches, in a move which will see customers' iPhones sent a welcome message and "tailored information" when they enter a branch.
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.
Qld’s new IT Minister has zero IT experience
Following the resignation of Ros Bates last week, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has appointed Ian Walker to replace Bates as the state’s Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. Did we mention that Walker appears to have no experience dealing with information technology, given his extensive background as a 35-year veteran of law firm Norton Rose?
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.
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.
Farce: WA Health can’t manage to find a CIO after six years
Every major organisation in Australia needs a senior executive to hold its top technology role. The minute you abandon that concept, is the minute you invite the kind of IT disasters and cost blow-outs that are already rife within Australia's state-based public sector.
Defence plans major ICT projects for 2012
The Department of Defence said last week that it expects to receive Government approval to go ahead with a number of major ICT projects in the next year, ranging from telecommunications to datacentre reform and its long-anticipated overhaul of its PMKeyS human resources platform.
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.
Qantas signs up for Office 365
Qantas has reportedly revealed plans for a mass deployment of Microsoft's Office 365 suite, in a landmark move which will mark one of the first major Australian rollouts of the software as a service platform in a private sector entity.
Digital Transformation Office adds Sydney digs as formal hiring campaign kicks off
The Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Office has revealed plans to locate a small office on-campus at the University of Technology Sydney, as well as embarking on a rapid hiring campaign in which it will seek the best Australian technologists to help deliver lasting changing in government IT service delivery.
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.
WA Govt puts one foot in the cloud
We're gradually seeing government departments and agencies around Australia deploy bits and pieces from the huge kit-bag collectively known as cloud computing. It's been a slow journey, but it's getting there. News of new steps in the Western Australian Government comes this week from iTNews, which reports on several small cloud-based projects which have recently taken place.
The Suncorp pitch: Core banking overhaul matters
Tier two banking and insurance giant Suncorp has started talking up the benefits of its Oracle-based core banking platform overhaul to the financial markets, following rival the Commonwealth Bank in arguing that its own modernisation and simplification program will bring significant business benefits that will affect its customers and its bottom line.
Hills dumped $18m ERP/CRM rollout for Salesforce.com
According to a blog post published by Salesforce.com today, one of Ted Pretty’s first moves upon taking up managing director role at iconic Australian brand Hills in 2012 was to halt an expensive traditional business software project and call Salesforce.com instead.
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".
TransGrid: Dumping Oracle support for Rimini Street slashed fees by half
Electricity utility TransGrid has said dumping Oracle as the provider of annual maintenance and support for its own database product brought significant savings.
NSW Govt adds to Qld and Victoria’s appalling record on IT disaster recovery planning
The NSW Government’s Auditor-General has severely criticised eight of the state’s agencies for failing to have basic elements relating to disaster recovery planning, in comments that come after the Queensland and Victorian Governments have recently suffered similar criticism.
CommBank standardises in-house fleet on iPhone
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has revealed that it will standardise its mobile phone fleet on Apple’s iPhone platform, as it progresses plans to move away from its
high-profile softphone-based unified communications strategy recently implemented at its flagship Commonwealth Bank Place facility in Sydney.
Nikoletatos swaps Curtin for ANU
High-profile Curtin University chief information officer Peter Nikoletatos has left his role to take up a similar position at the Australian National University.
IT price comparisons not useful, says AIIA
The IT industry's peak lobby group today said it was "not useful" to directly compare prices on technology goods and services between Australia and other countries and that increased Australian prices on such goods reflected different conditions and protections locally compared with other countries.
NEC ‘near completion’ of WA water management platform
Technology giant NEC Australia has announced it is nearing the completion of a new IT system that is aimed at improving the sustainable management of Western Australia’s water resources.
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.
Queensland TAFE suffers security breach, student data accessed
The Queensland Government says is working with security experts to assess a security breach of the TAFE Queensland and Department of Education and Training websites in which students' details have been exposed.
‘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”.
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.
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.
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.
IBM takes Australian Open data onto private cloud
IBM announced yesterday that it is developing a global private cloud computing system for the 2012 Australian Open as part of its technology partnership for the international Grand Slam tennis tournament.
Qld Health outlines $1.2 billion IT modernisation strategy, seeks CIO to lead it
Queensland’s Department of Health has kicked off one of the largest IT modernisation projects in the state’s history, outlining a solid $1.26 billion in planned investment to bring its IT systems into the modern age and advertising for a chief information officer to lead the ’20-year’ strategy.
Qld eHealth agency reportedly stands down CIO after just one month
In mid-December 2015, the Department promoted the fact that it had appointed a new chief executive and chief information officer of eHealth Queensland -- the agency within the Department which is responsible for resolving the state's ongoing eHealth mess. Less than one month later, the executive has reportedly been stood down as part of an internal investigation.
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.
DTO celebrates achievements in first year
The Digital Transformation Office (DTO) has celebrated its first birthday with a blog post penned by CEO Paul Shetler looking back at the "highlights and milestones" of its inaugural year.
iPhone, BlackBerry, Android: A parliamentary headache
If you'd been listening in to the ongoing Senate Estimates hearings in Federal Parliament over the past week, you'd have witnessed an interesting phenomenon which perfectly encapsulates the Bring Your Own Technology headache suffered by many chief information officers at present.
Recipe for disaster: NSW Education Dept turfs 600 techs
If you assume, as I do, that many of these staff spent much of their time 'putting out fires' -- reacting to the latest crisis in terms of their schools' IT infrastructure -- then removing those staff will create chaos across the board.
Hacked? NSW Education in major outage
The NSW Department of Education and Communities has confirmed it has suffered a major event in its IT operation this week that knocked key staff services such as email offline, with an an unverified source claiming it had been hacked and suffered the deletion of thousands of accounts.
DHS hires pinch hitter NAB exec for billion-dollar Centrelink IT revamp
The Department of Human Services today confirmed it had hired senior National Australia Bank executive John Murphy to lead its billion-dollar Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) project, in a move which creates an immediate direct rival to existing DHS CIO Gary Sterrenberg.
Australia Post trials drone deliveries
Australia Post has announced the it will be the "first major parcels and logistics company" in Australia to trial package delivery by remotely piloted aircraft, also called drones.
Lockheed Martin is ASG’s mystery bidder
blog After a few months of speculation, it has emerged that the mystery bidder attempting to buy Perth-headquartered IT services firm ASG is Lockheed...
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.
SAP confirms Australian datacentre
The rumours that German software giant SAP would follow rival Oracle and cloud giants Amazon and Rackspace and start providing software as a service-based services from an Australian datacentre have been flowing around Australia’s technology sector for quite a while now. They surfaced in the pages of the Financial Review in May this year, and gained strength as SAP’s SuccessFactors launched an Australian datacentre that same month. And now they’re reality, according to iTNews.
ASG picks up $35m CIMIC IT services deal
Perth-headquartered IT services group ASG this week revealed it had picked up a deal worth at least $35 million over five years with CIMIC Group — the massive construction and contracting group previously known as Leighton Holdings.
Unisys IT modernisation gives Co-operative Bank a boost
Unisys has released a statement saying that its New Zealand subsidiary has improved the Co-operative Bank’s IT infrastructure using Unisys ClearPath Forward systems.
NSW Govt settles Tcard dispute
New South Wales Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian has announced the settlement of the long-running Tcard legal dispute with Videlli (formerly ERG). The trial had been due to start next Monday in the Supreme Court of NSW. The resolution of the matter will spare taxpayers a potential loss of around $200 million.
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.
Clutch of Aussie manufacturers go NetSuite
Enterprise software company NetSuite this morning revealed that a clutch of Australian manufacturers including Headland, Precision Mechatronics and BA Equipment Group had recently adopted its software as a service platform, as the vendor continues to make headway in the mid-level customer market in Australia.
Russian hacker manipulated Australian stockmarket
Police and the national markets regulator yesterday revealed that a Russian hacker had last year broken into IT systems in major Australian financial institutions and manipulated penny stocks for a profit.
Q+A: Warwick Hutton, Coca Cola Amatil CIO
This interview with Coca-Cola Amatil chief information officer (Australia) Warwick Hutton was conducted by Toby Bowers, Microsoft Australia Server and Tools Business Group Lead, on the sidelines of the Gartner Symposium on the Gold Coast this week.
NSW Govt implements new IT project assurance framework
The New South Wales Government is implementing a new set of procedures as part of its plan to monitor projects more closely and protect departments from issues such as runaway budgets.
IT glitch takes down CityLink tunnels
Bad news this morning for Melbourne commuters, with a mysterious glitch at CityLink taking down the Burnley and Domain tunnels. Traffic apparently slowed to a crawl, to howls of protest.
Questions & answers: Microsoft Australia’s Dynamics chief on CRM
Thomas Gudman is Microsoft Australia's new director of its Dynamics Business. In this interview, Delimiter questions Gudman about Microsoft's Dynamics CRM business in Australia, which competes in the market for enterprise software with fellow industry titans like Oracle and Salesfore.com.
Will Australia meet its April 2014 Open Government commitment?
Will Australia join Russia, becoming the second nation to withdraw? Or will it simply delay membership - one year, two years or more? Perhaps we'll find out with a government announcement in the next month regarding its OGP commitment. Or perhaps all we can expect is ongoing silence.
Yet another disastrous Vic Govt IT project
I often think that things couldn’t possibly get any worse for State Government IT operations in Australia, considering that major audit reports in both Victoria and Queensland have found over the past year that the states are broadly incapable of delivering IT services and major IT projects to their departments and agencies. But every time I think that, things do get worse. Today’s new nightmare is a bungled student management system in Victoria’s TAFE colleges.
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.
NSW Education SAP ERP project turning from bad into Queensland Health-style “complete disaster”
Here at Delimiter we've been tracking the NSW Department of Education and Communities' long-running Learning Management and Business Reform project for quite a few years already. And the project just keeps on going from bad to worse, by all appearances.
ATO wants cloud HR platform
We're starting to see this kind of SaaS/cloud computing deployment in the Federal Government. It's a slow process, but each kind of 'safe' deployment such as this one -- with data and processes which could be considered non-mission-critical -- increases the comfort level of mega-agency chief information officers and secretaries regarding cloud computing. We're getting there.
Former US Govt CIO in Aussie speaking tour
Former US whole of government chief information officer Vivek Kundra will hit Australia over the next several weeks for a speaking tour that will include events for his new employer Salesforce.com, as well as the Australian Information Industry Association.
Commission of Audit backs high-risk shared services schemes
The new Coalition Government’s Commission of Audit (CoA) has recommended the Federal Government investigate the same kind of whole of government shared corporate services scheme which have abjectly failed most Australian State Governments over the past half-decade and resulted in widespread IT service delivery problems.
DTO immigration project passes first test
A new booking service being developed by the Digital Transformation Office (DTO) and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection for people about to take their citizenship test has passed its first assessment.
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.
11,000 iPads in one hit: UWS goes Apple crazy
The University of Western Sydney has revealed that it will deploy some 11,000 iPads to students and staff this year, in one of the largest rollouts of the Apple tablets known in Australia so far and a move that will see every first year student at the institution receiving one of the devices.
TechOne’s software goes into 486 Catholic schools
Queensland-headquartered software company TechnologyOne has inked a landmark $15 million deal with the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) which will see it deliver enterprise software to 486 schools across the state.
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.
Delimiter appeals PCEHR review censorship
Technology media outlet Delimiter has appealed a Federal Department of Healths move to block the public release of a report reviewing the troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) project, as news emerges that the Federal Government appears to have made a decision on how to proceed with the project.
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.
100,000 Coles staff get SharePoint Online
National retailer Coles yesterday revealed it had deployed SharePoint Online, a component of Microsoft’s software as a service-based suite Office 365 to some 100,000 Australian staff, in the latest indication that the cloud platform is gaining traction amongst large Australian enterprises.
VMware introduces new desktop virtualisation platform
Virtualisation giant VMware has unveiled a new platform for delivering secure digital workspaces for flexible working on any device.
Jeff Smith quits Suncorp for IBM
Second-tier Australian bank and financial services group Suncorp today announced that its long-serving top technology executive Jeff Smith would leave to take up a senior role with IBM in the United States, in an announcement which marks the end of an era for the nation’s banking IT sector.
Madness? Holmesglen TAFE upgrades GroupWise
It’s been a while since I’ve seen any Australian organisation of any kind have any words of praise for Novell’s ailing GroupWise collaboration suite. The trend is overwhelmingly that organisations are continually ditching it for alternatives, typically Microsoft’s Outlook/Exchange platform. However, if an article published by ZDNet is to be believed, at least one organisation is sticking with the Novell warhorse.
NSW Govt releases IT anti-corruption guide
Most IT professionals of any seniority are pretty much familiar by now with the sometimes shady tactics used by technology vendors during the procurement process, but just how open is the public discussion around that issue, and what can be done to tighten things up? The answers for many people, until now, have been pretty much “not that open” and “keep a close eye on them”. In an attempt to shine some sunlight on the situation and inject some rigour back into the process, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has this week published a whitepaper on the issue.
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.
Apparently people still buy SPARC servers
According to a media release issued by Oracle Australia this morning, apparently SPARC servers are still in vogue. Who knew?
Uni of Adelaide appoints new CIO
The University of Adelaide has appointed a new chief information officer, Mark Gregory, it announced last week.
Coles rolls out contactless payments
Wesfarmers-owned supermarket chain Coles is set to roll out a contactless card payment service at their stores later this month. Customers will be able to pay for their purchases at Coles with a wave of their wallet over the new Ingenico pinpads, making checkout much faster than with the traditional card swipe-and-sign or PIN method.
Qld Health payroll fix may cost $440m
The Australian newspaper has reported that the cost of fixing Queensland Health's botched payroll systems implementation may rise eventually to $440 million.
A handful of complex Australian Oracle rollouts
Over the past month, Oracle has revealed its involvement in a series of new Australian technology rollout projects, with all of the initiatives using multiple pieces of the US software giant's complex software stack and some additionally using some of the hardware products which it has been pushing following its integration of Sun Microsystems.
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.
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.
Parliament’s IT systems a complete shambles
The department which runs Australia's Federal Parliament has published a damning report acknowledging it has widespread problems with IT service delivery and infrastructure, stemming from the fact that it has "no parliament-wide IT strategic plan" and no mechanism for making strategic IT decisions, despite a decade of reports warning of the situation.
Rackspace hires high-profile cloud CIO Perkins
Hosting and cloud computing giant Rackspace this morning revealed it had hired one of Australia's most cloud-savvy chief information officers, former Altium IT executive Alan Perkins, in a key role to spearhead the adoption and development of the company's solutions in Australia.
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.
Telstra cloud console goes offline for two days
Telstra has confirmed that the management console for its corporate cloud platform went offline for some of its customers for two days last week, in the second demonstration in less than a year that the company's cloud computing environment may not yet be as stable as the company would like customers to believe.
Uniloc fixed software piracy in 1993
Remember Uniloc? That little Aussie battler software company which took on Microsoft on patents and walked away with half a billion dollars? The company’s founder Ric Richardson this week posted a YouTube clip about the company back in 1993. Let’s just say it was a simpler age.
Fujitsu’s history in Australia: A decent eBook
Some of you may be aware that Japanese technology giant Fujitsu recently celebrated the 40-year anniversary of its launch in the Australian market. As part of the festivities, the company hired credible local technology journalist Graeme Philipson to put together an eBook chronicling that period.
NRMA, Coles reveal sizable Oracle deployments
US technology giant Oracle has revealed that two major Australian organisations, Coles and the NRMA, have chosen Oracle as the basis for new IT projects, using technology ranging from Oracle’s customer relationship management platform to its Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Linux.
Defence CTO takes Immigration CIO role
The Department of Defence's widely respected chief technology officer Matt Yannopoulous will replace Tony Kwan as chief information officer at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, it was revealed this week.
Australian Govt re-kindles office file format war
The Federal Government's peak IT strategy group has issued a cautious updated appraisal of currently available office productivity suite file formats, in what appears to be an attempt to more fully explain its thinking about the merits of open standards such as OpenDocument versus more proprietary file formats promulgated by vendors like Microsoft.
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.
Someone’s still trying to buy ASG
Australian tier two IT services outfit ASG has raised a few eyebrows over the past few months through its admissions that it's currently being targeted by a mystery buyer. This morning ASG confirmed it was still being targeted.
IBM Australia to cut 1,000 staff, reports ABC
I’d like to see a little more transparency from IBM with respect to this issue. Of course IBM is entitled to shift around staff and re-balance its headcount. But when we’re talking about redundancies as high as 1,000 workers, large companies such as IBM have a responsibility to their customers, to their staff and to their shareholders to let a little more information out of the kimono. 1,000 staff is not 100. And it would be ethical of IBM to let us know a little more about what’s going on here.
SA Govt under constant cyberattack, claims CIO
South Australia's outgoing whole of government chief information officer Andrew Mills, who this month took up the same role in Queensland, has dramatically revealed the extent to which the state's IT infrastructure is being targeted by online attacks against.
Delimiter files FOI request for Govt ICT Audit
Technology media outlet Delimiter has filed a Freedom of Information request seeking to retrieve the unreleased comprehensive ICT Audit which the Federal Government presented to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in January this year.
Digital Transformation Office announces ambitious work program
The Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Office has announced its work program over the initial period of its operation, listing a number of thorny problems that have been plaguing Australians for some time in terms of their interaction with the Federal Government.
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.
CenITex failure kills govt email for “up to a week”
The problems just keep coming for Victorian IT shared services agency CenITex. Today's damning report into the beleagured organisation comes from The Age, which reports the organisation left thousands of government staffers without email and other IT systems for up to a week.
Why is Microsoft dropping support for Windows 8.1?
In a move certain to raise the ire of users of Microsoft’s Windows operating system the software giant has announced that next month it will cease support for Windows 8.1. But that operating system is barely eight months old and already an upgraded version of the Windows 8 system that failed to impress many users since its release in 2012.
The ATO’s decade-long Mac denial
The reluctance of the Australian Taxation Office to provide a working version of its e-tax lodgement software for the Apple Macintosh has been a long-time bug-bear with Mac users around Australia for a long time. But some of them may not realise just how long angry parliamentarians and others have been harassing the agency about the issue.
NSW Office of Environment and Heritage boosts mobility with shift to Office 365
The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) says it has rolled out Office 365 in order to boost mobility for its many employees.
ASG sues Victorian Govt over cancelled ERP contract
Australian IT services provider ASG is suing the State of Victoria with the aim of recovering its costs arising from a terminated contract.
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.
Victorian agency reports schoolboy to police for informing it of IT security hole
Public Transport Victoria has reportedly reported a 16-year-old Melbourne schoolboy to Victoria Police for merely informing it of substantial security holes in its IT infrastructure.
CommBank reveals Harte’s replacement
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has promoted an internal executive who joined the bank in September after a lengthy career at petroleum giant VP and IT services group Accenture to replace its outgoing chief information officer Michael Harte, who announced in early May that he would leave the bank.
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.
IT’S ON: Govt sets up IT price hike inquiry
Price-hiking technology vendors are set to be hauled before Australia's Parliament to justify their local markups, with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy confirming the Government will hold an official parliamentary inquiry into the issue, following a long-running campaign on the issue by Federal Labor MP Ed Husic.
You can’t actually buy Windows 8 in Australia [Update: Well, kind of]
Windows 8 has launched in Australia. But you can't actually buy fully boxed copies of it locally. No, really.
Victoria follows NSW, Qld into ‘cloud-first’
The Victorian State Government has flagged plans to follow other states such as New South Wales and Queensland and shift to a 'cloud-first' procurement model for IT infrastructure, in a move flagged in the first major update to its detailed whole of government ICT strategy first published in February 2013.
Jetstar appoints CIO with little IT experience
National airline Jetstar this week announced it had appointed an executive with less than three years' worth of experience in a technology role as its new chief information officer, in an unorthodox move for a major Australian corporation.
NAB CIO gets promotion amongst reshuffle
The National Australia Bank appears to have conducted a minor reshuffle of its executive leadership team, including what appears to be a promotion for NAB chief information officer Adam Bennett.
Western Australia announces major cloud push
The Western Australian state government has announced a cloud computing initiative that is aimed to boost services while cutting back on overall spending.
Federal Govt explicitly explores IT offshoring in landmark move
If you have spent any time working in IT in Australia's public sector, you are probably aware that there is something of a taboo in government departments and agencies using offshored IT services such as are provided from countries such as India, as well as increasingly Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries. However, this may be about to change.
Victoria Police takes first step to address IT failures
The Victorian Government has allocated a small investment of $2.5 million to Victoria Police to start addressing the failures of IT systems which the force has said partially lay behind the death of an 11-year-old boy and his father in the state last month.
Another great Aussie IT company to go overseas? CSC makes offer for UXC
I personally feel it would be a real shame to see UXC snapped up by CSC. UXC is a strong Australian business, with its Red Rock, Oxygen, Connect, Telsyte and other brands being very well-known in Australia. Of course, CSC would be likely to keep most of its staff intact. But the Australian IT services market would feel a lot less ... Australian without UXC existing on its own.
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.
Huge Chrome OS success for Fire + Rescue NSW
Those among you with longish memories will recall the slight hullaballoo which emergency services agency Fire and Rescue NSW caused in November 2012 when it revealed it had dumped plans to deploy new traditional PCs throughout its operations in New South Wales, opting instead for a widespread deployment of 400 units of Google's Chromebox cloud-based desktop platform. Well, according to to the group's IT director Richard Host, the rollout has been a huge success.
Immigration Dept creates innovation division to drive digital transformation
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has formed an innovation division to help accelerate the pace of its digital transformation.
Tassie education dept upgrades Symantec security
The Tasmanian Department of Education has zeroed in on the latest version of Symantec’s Endpoint Protection systems to secure the 40,000 personal computers and 700 servers being used by the department’s staff, schools, colleges, libraries and online access centres.
Toll dumps IT outsourcing plan
Logistics giant Toll has revealed plans to dump its plans to outsource key parts of its IT infrastructure, as well as application support and development, in a rapid and unexpected turnaround.
Qld Treasury terminates failed IT overhaul
Queensland's Labor government has been caught on the wrong foot again with another failed IT project, with the Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) revealing it had spent $15 million on dumped finance platforms, recently terminating a $7.5 million contract with supplier Temenos and throwing away an equivalent amount on internal work.
Will a Coalition Govt pump IT outsourcing?
Those of you will long memories will recall that it was the Howard administration which first kicked the Federal Government into gear back in 1997 in terms of the now-common practice of outsourcing key IT services to the private sector. And now there are fears an Abbott administration could push down that road strongly again.
IT in the budget? Move along, not much to see
Curious about what technology-related iniatives came out last night's Federal Budget? So were we, given that the release of the budget had been being hyped for weeks (months?) by much of the mainstream media as part of its continual fixation on the fraught battle between the various sides of politics. However, unlike previous years, this yaer there wasn't much in the 2013 Federal Budget to interest technologists.
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.
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.
Gillard’s PC hack surfaces in Stratfor leaks
A document published by Wikileaks on the public Internet appearing to be an internal briefing document from global intelligence firm Stratfor has mentioned the alleged security breach on Prime Minister Julia Gillard's parliamentary computer and has alleged that similar hack attacks have occurred before.
British Airways workers to rally against Tata outsourcing of IT jobs
British Airways workers are to protest against the outsourcing of IT jobs to foreign workers employed by Tata Consultancy Services at a rally organised by general workers' union, the GMB.
CommBank unveils Square payments rival
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia this morning revealed several devices and an application development platform that together constitute an ecosystem similar to the Square mobile payments system which is becoming popular in the US for transactions at merchants such as retailers, restaurants and cafes.
Victorian Govt continues to suffer major issues with ICT projects
A new report from Victoria's Acting Auditor-General Dr Peter Frost has criticised the state government over failed and badly planned ICT projects that he said were, in some cases, "not acceptable".
Cloud, Windows 8 may sneak into Canberra through Tourism Australia
At least one Federal Government agency, Tourism Australia, may be on the verge of taking the cloud computing plunge on multiple fronts.
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.
Govt IT buyers “struggling” with pace of change
Government departments and agencies are "struggling to keep up" with the pace of change in the technology sector, analyst firm Ovum said in a research note issued this month, with the rapidly evolving technology landscape outpacing the speed of procurement cycles.
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.
Introducing ‘The Cuba Replacement’: The Federal Govt’s newest major ICT project
The Federal Government has lived through half a dozen major ICT projects over the past decade. Customs had its Cargo Management Re-engineering overhaul, Immigration had Systems for People, Tax had the Change Program, and Defence is still wrangling with its desktop virtualisation and PMKeys undertakings. Now we can add one more to the list: The Department of Human Services' ambitious project to revamp the Child Support Agency's key ERP system, previously known as 'Cuba'.
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.
Qantas’ Amazon website cloud move will save it $30m
Over the past several years it has become a very common story to see major organisations shifting IT infrastructure, particularly their public-facing websites, into cloud computing facilities. Major banks have done it. Government departments have done it. And now, as has been outlined in a slew of articles over the past week, has Qantas -- well, at least it's in the throes of the migration.
Great example of how politics can destroy necessary IT projects
To my mind, this situation reflects the perfect example of politics interfering with sensible IT project delivery.
Amazon Appstore challenging Google Play as Australian launch looms
Australian Android users will soon have an alternative source for sourcing paid and free mobile apps, but will they embrace it? Yes, if the first analysis of Amazon Appstore sales figures – which suggests the site is rapidly increasing its appeal to US consumers as a source of paid apps – is any indication.
Treasury to develop next-generation desktop
The Commonwealth Treasury has flagged plans to take a significant new step in the ongoing renewal of its internal IT infrastructure through a project that will focus on the delivery of virtual desktop PCs, virtualised applications, secure corporate data to mobile devices and the creation of a corporate "app store".
VMware out, Hyper-V in at ING Direct
Internet banking brand ING Direct revealed this week that it had upgraded its server infrastructure to the latest version 2012 of Microsoft’s Windows Server operating system and further standardised on the vendor’s Hyper-V solution, as the bank’s enthusiasm for Microsoft’s server stack continues to grow at the cost of virtualisation rival VMware.
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.
Ninefold launches Aussie Box.net rival
Australian public cloud computing company Ninefold has launched a new cloud storage service entitled Business Cloud Drive. This service enables organisations of 100+ users to store, access and share their continually growing amounts of data in a secure, local and easily accessible location.
Investigation finds WA Dept of Health botched Fujitsu core computing contract
Western Australia's Auditor General has released a damning report identifying weakness and inconsistencies in the management of the Centralised Computing Services contract at the Department of Health.
Qld Police trial Segways for crime-fighting
The Queensland Police Service yesterday revealed that it would kick off what it said was the first Australian trial of the Segway personal transportation vehicle in pedestrian areas, to test their suitability for police operations.
NSW Dept of Finance seeks group CIO
The New South Wales Department of Finance, Services & Innovation (DFSI) has advertised for a new group chief information officer, with its longstanding incumbent CIO Malcolm Freame reportedly shifting into a different role inside the state’s public sector.
Microsoft’s war on Google Apps gets nasty
Microsoft Australia produces case study scorching towards Google Apps and Gmail.
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.
Govt finally introduces data breach laws
Those of you who work in the IT security field might want to pay attention to this. If your organisation suffers a major data breach, you're now going to be required to tell affected stakeholders about it.
Yarra Valley Water implements Oracle Exadata
Victorian utility Yarra Valley Water this week disclosed it had implemented several Oracle hardware products as it sought to boost the performance of its IT systems, including the vendor's Exadata Database Machine and its Exalogic Elastic Cloud solution.
Optus to transition Adelaide Festival Centre to Office 365 and Azure
Optus is to transition the existing IT infrastructure platform of the Adelaide Festival Centre to a hybrid cloud platform leveraging Microsoft Azure and Office 365.
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.
Metronode launches NSW Govt datacentre
Those of you who’ve been paying attention to the developing situation with respect to IT inside the NSW Government will be aware that the state is currently attempting to consolidate its far-flung IT infrastructure down to just two datacentres, operated by Leighton subsidiary Metronode. This morning, Metronode tells us in a media release, one of those facilities launched to great pomp and ceremony.
Four years later, Westpac will finally shift core banking to Celeriti
Four years after it first started talking about migrating its core banking platform to Celeriti, the next generation of CSC's Hogan system, and five years after it acquired St George, which already uses Hogan, top-tier bank Westpac has finally confirmed imminent plans to start taking action on the issue.
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.
RIM appoints Ray Gillenwater as ANZ MD
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has appointed Ray Gillenwater Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand. Gillenwater replaces Adele Beachley, who resigned in February.
Optus inks $30m IT services, telco deal with UGL
The business division of Singtel subsidiary Optus today announced that it had signed a five year, $30 million contract for managed ICT and mobility services with Australian engineering and property services group UGL that will affect more than 8,000 UGL staff around Australia and throughout Asia.
IAG creates next-gen IT leadership structure as the IT dept starts to break down
Insurer IAG has created a sophisticated new IT leadership structure reflecting the fact that digital disruption is sweeping through its business and it needs to have multiple divisions focused on different aspects of technology -- from operations to testing out new and innovative ideas.
Two years on, SA Dept wants new social network
South Australia's Department of Premier and Cabinet has started examining new enterprise social networking solutions, just two years after implementing a solution which it has branded as delivering it significant benefits.
CenITex turfs almost all contractors
Those of you with a long-term interest in Victorian Government IT shared services provider CenITex will remember that the agency was several years ago known far and wide for the high rates it was paying its extensive contractor workforce. No more: Most of those contractors are now gone.
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.
The Australian Cloud: Is it delivering on its promises?
Half a decade ago, cloud computing was hyped to the max as a new class of technologies that would deliver radical improvements to the flexibility and agility of both private sector businesses and governments. But a few years down the track, is it delivering on those promises in Australia? We investigate in this extensive feature article.
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.
NSW TAFE to axe troubled LMBR student enrolment system
NSW Technical and Further Education (TAFE) is to replace the Learning Management and Business Reform (LMBR) student enrolment system, which is run by Tribal Group and has been plagued with technical issue since it's launch late in 2014.
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.
As expected, Mailes to lead Vic Govt IT
As has been widely known inside the Victorian Government for a while now, former South Australian whole of government chief information officer Grantly Mailes has been appointed to a permanent role as Victoria's first chief technology advocate -- a new style of role recommended in the state's new ICT strategy which Mailes coordinated.
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.
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.
‘Unacceptable’: Cisco’s Chambers tells Obama re NSA interceptions
Long-time Cisco Systems chief executive John Chambers has written a strongly worded letter to US President Barack Obama stating that the company "simply cannot operate" if the National Security Agency continues intercepting its routers and injecting spyware onto them before they are delivered to customers.
Seeing Machines replaces Salesforce.com, MYOB, Excel and Outlook with NetSuite OneWorld
Seeing Machines, an Australia-based developer of driver fatigue and distraction detection technology, has deployed NetSuite OneWorld across its global operations.
Unisys picks up more Queensland Education work
Queensland's Department of Education, Training and Employment has extended an extremely long-term major IT services contract with supplier Unisys to the value of $29.4 million and simultaneously put a second tranche of IT services work on the market.
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.
Domino’s migrates into Telstra cloud
Pizza chain Domino's has revealed that it has shifted its IT infrastructure out of an in-house datacentre (some where also with a third-party) and onto Telstra's Infrastructure as a Service platform.
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.
Asciano upgrades “entire” IT infrastructure
Port and rail operator Asciano has revealed a wide-ranging plan to upgrade its “entire” IT infrastructure and applications stack, in a move which will see a broad tranche of technology platforms modernised with the assistance of Japanese diversified IT services giant Fujitsu.
Board-level dialogue key to NAB Oracle overhaul
One of Oracle’s most senior executives has labeled board-level engagement between the giant US vendor and local customer National Australia Bank as having been key to the bank’s unusual Oracle-based core banking IT upgrade project, which has seen the vendor develop its software with the direct input of NAB.
PIPE founder, Gordon Bell invest in OrionVM
Australian cloud computing startup OrionVM today revealed it had taken angel investment capital from two high-profile technology sector luminaries: PIPE Networks co-founder Stephen Baxter and US engineer Gordon Bell, of Digital Equipment Corporation fame.
Google Apps defeats Lotus, GroupWise in Australia
Google's popular Apps collaboration suite has knocked IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino and Novell's GroupWise platforms off their perch to become the second most popular office suite in Australian enterprises behind Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, analyst firm Telsyte revealed this week.
Judge sides with IBM in Qld Health payroll lawsuit
This week it appears as though Queensland's actions have blown up in its face again with respect to its botched payroll systems upgrade at Queensland Health.
NSW reforms ICT services contracts
Looks like the New South Wales Government is making good on its promises to reform the way the state purchases technology services, as part of its overall IT strategy. This week we received a media release on the issue from Minister for Finance and Services Greg Pearce.
NSW Govt adopts Android Pay
The New South Wales Government has adopted Android Pay as a payment method at service centres across the state, and said it is the first Australian Government to do so.
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.
“Can do” Queensland starts cutting IT staff
Queensland's new LNP Premier Campbell Newman has started wielding the axe in the state's public service, according to a report by the Courier Mail newspaper published yesterday -- and information technology staff are some of the first in line.
UWS, UTS share datacentre space
Two of Sydney's largest universities have teamed up to source co-location datacentre space from business-focused telecom Macquarie Telecom, in an effort to pool their resources and bettter serve the needs of students and staff.
IBM Australia sacking staff again
It seems as if, when it comes to major Australian technology companies such as Telstra, Optus, HP and IBM, there are always 'moves, adds and changes' going on in these giants' workforces.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
56 IT jobs to stay in Hobart DHS
Federal Human Services Minister Marise Payne has backed away from the Government's plans to shift some 56 IT jobs to the mainland and away from the Hobart office of the Department of Human Services, as the Liberal Party faces an increasingly difficult state election in the Apple Isle.
Fortescue deploys HP server stack
Mining giant Fortescue this week revealed it had deployed a broad swathe of technology products and services from diversified global technology vendor HP as it overhauled much of its basic underlying IT server infrastructure.
“No public interest” in PCEHR review release
The Department of Health has stated it does not believe there is a public interest case for the Federal Government's review of the troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records project to be released publicly, despite the fact that Health Minister Peter Dutton has stated the document contains "a comprehensive plan for the future of electronic health records in Australia".
Talent manager builds on Windows Azure
Talent management firm PageUp People has picked Microsoft's Windows Azure public cloud computing platform to host its CareerPath application, according to a statement issued by Redmond late last week.
PCEHR review recommends NEHTA be ‘dissolved’
Following a protracted Freedom of Information battle, the Federal Government has finally released a report into the the troubled Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) project, with one of the document's main recommendations being that the National e-Health Transition Authority be 'dissolved' due to governance issues.
EPA Victoria deploys SAP CRM
German software giant SAP this morning revealed that version 7.0 of its customer relationship management platform was being deployed at the Victorian Government's Environmental Protection Authority, along with a number of other components of SAP's broader software suite.
IBM, VMware sign strategic cloud partnership
IBM and VMware have agreed a strategic partnership aimed to make it easier for businesses to advantage of the cloud’s speed and economic factors.
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.
Mainframe out; Westpac adopts Exadata, Exalogic
Top-tier bank Westpac has revealed that it will shift some processing resources off existing mainframe infrastructure and onto Oracle’s Exadata and Exalogic platforms, as it attempts to gain higher levels of efficiency in the platforms that underpin its project to achieve a single view of customer information.