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Articles by Byron Connolly
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Fuji Xerox sells its stake in Digital Post Australia
Fuji Xerox Document Management Solutions has sold its 40 per cent stake in electronic postbox service Digital Post Australia (DPA) to Computershare.rn
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Laser prototype improves bomb detection
Scientists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have developed a prototype laser device capable of detecting tiny traces of explosive vapour, an invention that has the potential to put bomb sniffer dogs out of a job.
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Health services go mobile
A new website and smartphone application enables users to find their nearest doctor, after-hours pharmacy, hospital and emergency department in towns and cities across Australia, federal health minister Tanya Pilbersek announced yesterday.
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Robotic ocean vehicle completes historic journey
It survived a shark attack, battled gale force storms and surfed the East Australian Current during its journey across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to the East Coast of Australia, all in the name of science.rn
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Perth CBD gets free Wi-Fi
Thousands of people in Perth’s CBD have access to free Wi-Fi connectivity indoors and outdoors following aCure Technology’s decision to provide unrestricted access to its metromesh wireless network.
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UPDATED: CSIRO job cuts “baffling”, says union boss
CSIRO Staff Association president Dr Michael Borgas described the scientific agency’s decision to cut jobs within its wireless and network technology program as “baffling” and has urged management to rethink its position.rn
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NextDC preps site for WA data centre
NextDC is gearing up to begin building its fifth Australian data centre, a 9600 square metre facility in Malaga, Western Australia dubbed “P1”, which will come online in the fourth quarter of 2013.rn
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Defence seeks IT support for 2500 staff
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has issued a tender for a help desk contractor to support around 2500 researchers spread over seven sites across Australia.rn
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Profile: Tim Parsons, chief innovation and operating officer, Quickflix
It’s quite plausible that Tim Parsons is the only Australian technology specialist who can lay claim to being part of a research team that has helped improve safety for spacecraft re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.rn
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Department of Defence embarks on massive software refresh
The Department of Defence will dump around 3000 complex legacy applications and replace them with new database and middleware products under a four-year, $63 million contract with software giant Oracle.rn
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Digital Post Australia switches on electronic postbox
Digital Post Australia (DPA) has fired the latest salvo in its battle with Australia Post to attract consumers and business to electronic postal services.rn
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Cloud creates more work: Study
Investing in cloud infrastructure may be a top priority for many companies but it comes at a cost for IT pros who say the popular computing model makes their jobs more complex, according to new research.rn
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More ICT jobs as industry grows 11 per cent
Around 12,300 new ICT jobs are expected to be available in the year to February 2013 with further growth anticipated to 2015 unless Australia enters a minimum two year recession, according to data from the Australian Computer Society.
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Lifehouse to spend $4 million on core network
The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse at RPA will spend $4 million on a Cisco network to initially support around 300 hospital staff and their patients at the new cancer treatment and research facility, set to open in September 2013.
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WA Insurance Commission slashes IT costs with modernisation project
The inevitability of having to modernise legacy systems is front of mind for many government organisations and the Insurance Commission of Western Australia (ICWA) is no exception.rn
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Defence gears up to deploy 90,000 thin clients following successful pilot
The Department of Defence has received government approval to roll out secure thin clients to 90,000 Defence personnel across Australia following a successful pilot.
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We want people who understand business: ING Direct CIO
ING Direct’s technology boss, Andrew Henderson expects to hire more staff with commerce and arts degrees than strictly science-based qualifications as the $64 billion lender and savings bank invests heavily in private cloud infrastructure.
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Our bosses are digitally illiterate: Aussie CIOs
Many Australian CIOs believe their bosses are digital illiterates, according to research commissioned by CA Technologies.
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Water treatment giant bridges language divide
Global water treatment organisation, MWH is planning to deploy an extension to its Microsoft Lync deployment that translates instant messages between staff across 180 offices in 35 countries.rn
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NBN Co appoints new CIO
NBN Co has appointed John McInerney as its new CIO, filling a hole left by Claire Rawlins, who quit the position in late August after three years in the role.rn
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Henley Properties Group solves document control woes
When Jeremy Bree arrived at Henley Properties Group as CIO in 2010, one of his first tasks was to bring some order and control to clunky methods of managing millions of documents.
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Vodafone to cut 500 jobs
Vodafone Australia has confirmed that it will cut around 500 jobs, about 10 per cent of its workforce, as part of a restructure announced today by CEO Bill Morrow.
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IBM unveils local enterprise cloud service
IBM has launched a new local enterprise cloud computing service – hosted at its data centre in Baulkham Hills in Sydney – suitable for organisations wanting to deploy hybrid cloud models.
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Australian Red Cross gets $3M IT boost
Australian Red Cross will deploy new enterprise software as part of an initiative to consolidate its business systems and improve its retail and fundraising services under a $3 million contract.
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CIO Summit: Lawyer navigates BYOD software minefield
Organisations implementing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives often forget to consider if their software licence agreements are broad enough to cover devices under their programs, according to a technology lawyer.rn
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Australia Post trademark appeal a “tempest in a teapot”
Australia Post’s appeal last month over the Federal Court’s decision that competitor Digital Post Australia has infringed on its trademark is a “tempest in a teapot”, said Digital Post’s CEO Randy Dean.rn
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AARNet helps students and staff cut the cable in Qld hospitals
Australia’s Academic Research Network (AARNet) has expanded its “eduroam” high speed wireless network in several hospitals across Queensland.rn
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ANZ Bank grappling with system issues
ANZ Bank experienced core system issues this afternoon, which impacted its online, goMoney mobile banking and ATM and EFTPOS services across the country, a bank spokesperson has confirmed.
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Telstra talks up expanded 4G coverage
Telstra will spend $1.2 billion in fiscal 2013 to extend 4G mobile network coverage to two-thirds of the Australian population, as the telco looks to add to an existing base of more than 500,000 4G customers.rn
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Telstra reports 26 per cent drop in customer complaints
Telstra experienced a 26 per cent reduction in customer complaints in fiscal 2012 and 30 per cent of its interactions with customers are now online, Telstra CEO David Thodey told shareholders this morning at the company’s AGM.rn
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Tasmanian health agency gives external contractors the flick
Tasmania’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by using technology to upgrade its enterprise software in-house rather than spend vital funds engaging costly external IT consultants.
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Australia Post’s digital mailbox investment ‘speculative’: Analyst
Australia Post is being “attacked by the forces of disruptive innovation” and its investment in a new digital mailbox service – a response to online competition – is quite speculative, according to a Gartner analyst.
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Defence confirms new CIO
The Department of Defence has appointed Dr Peter Lawrence as its new CIO, a Defence spokesperson confirmed this morning.rn
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Defence head spruiks IT careers
The Department of Defence’s head ICTO operations, Major General Michael Milford told young IT professionals there was tremendous scope to pursue a career in the armed forces, which continued to grapple with several technology issues.
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Cost and frequency of cybercrime on the rise: Study
Cybercrime is costing Australian organisations as much as $10.9 million annually with some falling victim to 40 successful cyberattacks each week, according to a new study.rn
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Skills shortage driving offshoring: Westpac CIO
Westpac Banking Group’s CIO Clive Whincup today claimed the bank looks offshore for IT labour because there “simply aren’t enough people” in Australia with the right skills for certain roles.
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Popular tablets have worrying security flaws
Serious security flaws in the Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet device make it difficult to recommend for use in the enterprise, raising concerns for organisations looking to introduce bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, according to a new study.rn
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Australian National University to switch on largest supercomputer next week
The Australian National University (ANU) will begin performance testing of the country’s most powerful supercomputer on October 10 following a system build that began in mid-August.rn
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New supercomputer for South Australia
Scientific researchers across South Australia now have access to the massive processing power of a new supercomputer following eResearch SA’s launch yesterday of a high-performance machine, which can calculate 34 trillion transactions per second.rn
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Enterprises and governments struggle with archiving: lawyer
Some enterprises and governments in Australia are wasting time, resources and money searching for data for compliance, litigation or internal investigations because they don’t have the right archiving and e-discovery tools, according to a US-based lawyer.
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DCP spends $10 million on child protection
The Department for Child Protection (DCP) in Western Australia has outsourced support for its core customer relationship management system, used by around 2000 field and social workers who provide care for children and young people at risk.rn
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Australian researchers create world’s first working quantum bit
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have created the world’s first working quantum bit based on a single atom in silicon, which they claim will lead to the development of ultra-powerful computers in the future.rn
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Medibank Health Solutions to deploy video access to medical specialists
Medibank Health Solutions is gearing up to extend its online consultation service – Anywhere Healthcare – to enable patients in regional Queensland to connect with selected medical specialists over a video link provided at their GP’s office.rn
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Hudson shrinks IT department with move to cloud
Large recruitment firm Hudson has reduced its IT staff numbers by more than one-third across Australia and New Zealand over the past three years due partly to a gradual move towards cloud computing.rn
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ICT salaries increase by 3.9 per cent
Salaries for ICT workers grew by 3.9 per cent overall for the 12 months to May 2012, marginally down from 4 per cent a year earlier, according to the annual survey of Australian Computer Society (ACS) members.
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Schools clueless about IT security, reveals study
Almost one in two Australian secondary and tertiary schools do not have an IT security awareness program in place and alarmingly, 53 per cent didn’t know what information was taken during a data breach, according to a study commissioned by Symantec.cloud.rn
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College group to slash printing costs by $800,000 over two years
College and online education operator Think: Education Group has used virtual private cloud services as a catalyst to cut printing costs by $300,000 by the end of this financial year and a further $500,000 annually from FY14.
Interview
Q&A: Allianz Global Assistance CIO Luc Derix
Perhaps one of Luc Derix’s greatest strengths is his ability to clearly explain to non-IT staff at Allianz Global Assistance exactly how IT can help contribute to the organisation’s growth.
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