Stories by Julian Bajkowski

Defence spends up big on systems

Australia's military will go hell for leather over the next 10 years to network, integrate and make interoperable all of its force systems as part of the $10 billion Defence Capability Plan.

IT heads for talent shortfall

The Australian IT industry needs to stop digging its own grave and take a good hard look at itself to figure out what it wants - and start lobbying, according to Sensis CIO Dr Len Carver.

Viral marketing needs to get a clue

With the onset of yet another sucker punch to the worldwide Windows community, what the popular media refers to as the “doom virus” has again been seized upon by FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) marketeers. It’s a terrible state of affairs this virus business — sometimes it’s hard to know who to trust.

Minister slams proprietary digital standards

Tentative signs of life on technology policy are emerging from the portfolio of Communications IT and the Arts, with Minister Daryl Williams taking a public swipe at proprietary digital media standards.

Tenancy database operators face new rules

Strict regulations and stiff fines will confront operators that sell data on prospective real estate rental clients under new state and federal laws and guidelines. Operators of residential tenancy databases (RTDs) will also be prohibited from charging exorbitant fees.

3Com bets big on VoIP lift

This will be the year that Australian enterprises fully embrace VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in an effort to slash operating costs and integrate customer-facing applications and networks, according to network plumbing heavyweight 3Com.

EDS to face more heat over stolen Customs servers

Outsourced and externally managed IT security's reputation will take the spotlight again at Senate Estimates hearings this month over the theft of two servers from an ostensibly secure Customs intelligence facility managed by EDS last year.

ACS calls for government open source mandate

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) is calling for the federal government and the opposition to put in place policies that support open source software in an effort to boost the creation of local IT jobs in Australia and reduce what it estimates as a $14 billion ICT trade deficit.

Federal IT policy heads for bipartisan paralysis

Information technology policy has sunk into pre-budget and pre-election paralysis at government and opposition levels. Communications and IT Minister Daryl Williams is refusing to guarantee any future funding for the National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE) - at exactly the same time as the opposition revealed plans to abolish NOIE altogether.

Australia sells satellite broadband into Iraq

It may still be the world's most dangerous place, but Iraq will soon be hooked up to a more affordable satellite broadband system than Australia following a $5 million deal between the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Melbourne firm Multiemedia.

PeopleSoft cuts user groups adrift

Anger over PeopleSoft's attempts to freeze out its newly acquired vendor-independent JD Edwards (JDE) user groups across the world has spread to Australia, with PeopleSoft's Australian operation cutting support for the Australia-New Zealand JDE user group conference Quest 2004.

Telco punts $2.5m on interactive-voice XML

AAPT will invest more than $2.5 million on a new, retail-customer interactive voice project that ports directly back into its mainframe billing and transaction systems in an effort to reduce call centre and administration costs.

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