Melbourne IT and Ericsson Australia have agreed to form a 50:50 joint venture company to develop mobile e-commerce applications for world markets. The venture builds on the Advanced Services Application Centre the two companies have operated for more than five years, and which was appointed a Ericsson Global Design Centre in 1996. ASAC now has a staff of 70 software engineers but its staff is expected to expand to more than 200 by 2003 under the new agreement.
"The further development of WAP-enabled technologies and secure e-commerce products provides the joint venture with an outstanding opportunity to position Australian technology on a global scale," noted Professor Peter Gerrand, CEO of Melbourne IT. "The joint venture will give us equity participation in many new secure mobile e-commerce applications that can be sold via Ericsson's and Melbourne IT's respective distribution networks."
Tom Dangnath, formerly technical director of Melbourne IT, has been designated CEO of the joint venture, while Greg Crew has been appointed independent chairman. Crew is vice chairman of the Internet governing body ICANN, is a director of ERG, and is chairman of the Australian Telecommunications Education Centre in South Australia.
IBM rings Pacific with Linux centres
IBM has floated a bold $US200 million plan to boost its Linux-related activities in the Asia/Pacific region, which will lead to the establishment of a Linux centre in Sydney along with similar centres in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, and Bangalore. In addition the funds will be used to finance the creation of Linux competency centres, business alliances, and R&D. Big Blue also expects to deploy in quick time more than 300 specialised Linux consultants, hardware and software specialists, researchers, product developers and services professionals.
"The Asia/Pacific region will see growth in the Linux area as our customers, business partners and government organisations recognise the growing importance of Linux as a key e-business operating system," explained Kakutaro Kitashiro, president of IBM Asia/Pacific.
"There is tremendous interest today in Linux as the platform of choice for e-business because it provides an affordable solution that can be tailored to meet regional and customer demands."
Kitashiro added that essential components of the Linux initiative are the development of Japanese and Chinese versions of the DeveloperWorks online resource for developers. In addition, the Linux centres will be open to all software vendors, he added.
Davnet goes roaming with NTT
Davnet telecommunications - a company that is 51 per cent owned by listed company Davnet Ltd and 49 per cent by NTT Australia -- has joined forces with Japanese carrier NTT PC Communications to launch the InfoDesic Global Roaming service, which offers global Internet reach for business travellers. The service uses the NTT IP backbone and its links to Verio, which is a strategic partner of NTT.
"This provides our customers with significant cost savings, reliability and multilingual customer service in cities where there is a point of presence," explained Jason Ashton, CEO of Davnet.
Data Advantage ventures into credit servicesData Advantage has created a joint venture with US credit bureau Trans Union International to provide credit bureau services in the Asia/Pacific region. The business will combine the portable bureau service of Trans Union with the scoring capabilities of Credit Advantage, the core operating subsidiary of Data Advantage.
The venture is expected to become fully operational in November 2000, and software deployment is scheduled to begin within six months in two countries within the Asia/Pacific region, a spokesman explained.
"Deploying this software enables us to fast track into credit bureau revenue streams that would otherwise be denied to us," explained David Grafton, CEO of Data Advantage. "The Trans Union bureau software is unique, having been designed and built as a portable and scalable application."
The joint venture will be headquartered in Sydney, but is expected to appoint local partners in other cites and countries throughout the region. Data Advantage was formed following the demutualisation of the Credit Reference Association of Australia and listed on the ASX in 1998.
Uni alliances all the go
University alliances seem to be all the rage for up-and-coming companies, if you are to judge by this week's headlines. Two caught the eye:
Maxis Corporation, the regional communications and IT company backed by Tim Fischer and Charles Blunt, has established a $A1.5 million R&D partnership with the Centre for Telecommunications Information Networking at the University of Adelaide. The program will include a demand estimation study and assessment of the most efficient way to deliver services for enhanced modes of working, such as teleworking, telecentres, and business services. Maxis, previously known as Capital Energy, relisted on the ASX this week.
Access1 has forged an alliance with University of Wollongong through which it will deliver its multimedia services to the university's network. In return, Access1 will start to develop an educational channel capable of distribution throughout all networks to which Access1 is connected. The new channel will be used to deliver distance education to interstate students, as well as for specialised corporate training and continuing education programs.
Business briefs
Telstra has streamlined its contract management processes by awarding tenders to eight companies for the design, maintenance and upgrading of the Customer Access Network. The carrier previously managed more than 1000 individual contractors. The winning companies are ABB Industry; ALSTOM Australia; ERG Connect; Lucas Downer Joint Venture; Siemens/Thiess Contractors Joint Venture; Skilled Engineering; Transfield; and Visionstream Australia.
Telstra has also signed up Baltimore Technologies to secure a government-to-government and business-to-business e-commerce system. A spokesman said the agreement signals Telstra's entry into the commercial Certificate Authority market using Baltimore's UniCERT certificate management system and consulting service. Baltimore will host the Telstra infrastructure via Baltimore Certificates Australia, which is the first private certificate Authority service to be awarded accreditation under the Commonwealth Government's PKI strategy - Gatekeeper.
Telco Australia has agreed to buy from Net Telephone Marketing technology that enables users to make and receive calls over a standard single-line telephone while connected to the Internet. The black box technology is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world.
Data#3 has been appointed a national solution centre for enterprise business software from Navision Software. At the same time, Data#3 has bought the Sydney solution centre, Maggs Business Advisory.
Smart Communications Group has bought a 3.4 per cent stake in private Melbourne company Future Fibre Technologies, which has developed highly sensitive sensing and monitoring technologies based on fibre optics.
WorldGroup Consulting has been appointed exclusive Australian implementation partner for business solutions from European developer Alon, which produces applications for life insurance, investment and superannuation companies.
IBA Technologies and Infosentials have formed a joint venture to buy and market Infosentials' Kwik-ERM desktop technology. A spokesman said that ERM stands for Electronic Relationship Management and the product facilitates intelligent desktops that drive content and applications to the desktop. The system will initially be marketed to doctors.
Corporate quarters
Computershare lifted revenue 35 per cent from $A302.8 million to $A408.9 million while net profit rose 160 per cent from $A14.7 million to $A38.2 million in the year to June30. A large part of the growth was attributed to the company's UK registry business, and managing director Chris Morris noted that more than 50 per cent of Computershare's profit is now generated outside Australia, compared with just 25 per cent 12 months ago.
Macquarie Corporate Telecommunications lifted sales revenue 65 per cent from $A117.1 million to $A193.8 million in the year to June 30. Net profit after tax climbed from $A900,000 to $A9.0 million, which was ahead of the September 1999 prospectus forecast of $A8.0 million. A spokesman said the growth was built on three drivers: voice margin growth through deregulation, data carrier network growth, and the rollout of a range of new infrastructure and network management projects.
Comet Satellite and Cable lifted operating revenue 86 per cent from $A27.8 million to $A51.8 million in the 1999/2000 financial year. EBIT rose from $A2.6 million in the previous year to $A3.8 million. The company listed on the ASX on November 15, 1999.
Telecommunications infrastructure provider PowerTel lost $A26.7 million after tax and abnormals in the six months to June 30. A year earlier it lost $A15.1 million, and in the six months to December 31 it lost $A23.3 million. While the sale of the company's mobile business brought a gain of $A2.4 million, that was partly offset by a $A1.3 million write-off of infrastructure. During the half sales revenue slipped from $A25.6 million to $A18.7 million.
Recently listed POS software developer PEG Technology has lifted revenue in its 1999/2000 financial year from $A2.01 million to $A4.21 million and converted a loss of $A148,000 a year ago into a net profit of $A456,000. Both revenue and profit were ahead of prospectus forecasts.
In the US, National Semiconductor lifted revenue from $US481.8 million to $US640.8 million in its first quarter. Net profit rose from $US47.1 million a year ago to $US149.4 million. The company claimed the strong performance stemmed from NatSemi's decision to move to higher-margin products, improved manufacturing efficiency, partnerships to provide integrated technologies, and focus on growing markets.