Stories by Rebecca Munro

Distributor has high ambitions for printer market

Specialist printer distributor CIE Pacific last week announced its appointment as a Kyocera distributor, the latest in a raft of agreements the Siltek group member has signed over the preceding couple of months.
CIE will offer Kyocera's entire range of products through its existing 10,000- strong reseller channel.
`We have been known for our high-end specialty while Kyocera are more renowned for their low-end offerings. But we wanted to offer complete solutions for printers so we needed to convert our resellers to Kyocera as well,' said Michael Rebiffe, general manager of CIE Pacific.

Coles Myer gets online with RentSmart and HT

Coles Myer has upped its Internet presence with the announcement yesterday of more in-store kiosks provided by WA leasing company RentSmart following on the heels of the establishment of Harris Technology sites in K-Mart stores recently.

ACTU rekindles PC, Internet bundles

The 2.1 million member strong Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) will next week finalise details of a proposal to offer its members cheap Internet and PC bundles.

LibertyOne auction site goes live

Internet company LibertyOne has launched uBid.com in an exclusive licensing arrangement with the US auction company to set up sites in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia- Pacific.
Simultaneously, News Interactive's GoFish went live as the first e-commerce offering from News Limited's Internet division.
Both sites will participate in an online auction market that Forrester Research predicts will be worth $US19 billion by 2003, compared to $US1.8 billion now in the US alone. `Launching this service in Australia has given uBid and LibertyOne first mover advantage in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business online space, and an enormous head start in the lead-up to our Asia-Pacific expansion,' said Chris Hitching, uBid's general manager, Australia and New Zealand.

Linux stands to rescue the channel

Adelaide service provider Interweb Connections has smoothly moved into the Linux world and is recommending its channel brethren follow.

LibertyOne makes a move on China

Internet company LibertyOne is aggressively moving into the Chinese market with the part acquisition of three Hong Kong-based Internet organisations.

Will More Stealth Bugs Come Knocking?

The latest public virus spectacle came last week from Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), one of the more infamous hacker groups, which officially launched its BackOrifice 2000 remote control device at a DefCon gathering in Las Vegas.

SITA and IBM alliance good for channel

The aligning of SITA and IBM to provide systems integration, management and consultative services to airports will create some excellent opportunities for local channel partners to contribute to the complex process.

GST compliance adds to Y2K woes

Advanced Software Engineering (ASE) is warning Australian companies that the limited vision they have of Y2K conversion as being the sole dilemma facing IT departments is unrealistic and dangerous in the face of the upcoming goods and services tax (GST).

3Com launches Y2K survival program

In reaction to the perception that small to medium businesses are unprepared for the onset of the Y2K bug network developer 3Com Australia have initiated a program that aims to ensure that networks are comprehensively safeguarded against the millennium virus.

GE Capital expands systems focus with IBM/Lotus

In an attempt to offer a total hardware, software and services solution GE Capital IT Solutions (GECITS) has partnered with IBM and Lotus to deliver e-business solutions for its corporate and government clients.
GECITS wanted to further the partnership as it allowed it to follow the market trend and to utilise IBM platforms to provide a total solution rather than a partial software only approach.
In order to optimise the skill set of the alliance technical and sales staff of the three organisations are undertaking a training program that involves a process of certification on IBM products.
GECITS is already a premier member of IBM's Best Team Program from which it gains ongoing training and certification

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