update: The Australian Customs Service has dished out the first slice of work resulting from the lapsing of a giant AU$550 million outsourcing deal with EDS, awarding a AU$160 million mainframe processing contract to IBM.
Observers predict that Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of global outsourcer EDS for US$13.9 billion this week will bring a boost to the Australian integrated services market, but also warn the new Australian entity that its rivals will try to take advantage of the transition here.
Unwieldy IT procurement has led to widespread duplication, according to the new finance minister, Lindsay Tanner. However questions remain over whether greater centralisation will lead to actual savings on the AU$6 billion the government spends on IT each year.
Australian Customs' CIO, Murray Harrison, says service level agreements (SLAs) don't work in outsourcing arrangements and when vendors use the term "innovation", their suggestions generally works against the interests of the customer.
Government continues to shun colossal outsourcing contracts in favour of selective sourcing, while businesses display growing confidence in software-as-a-service -- however sustained skills shortages have plagued deployments, sparking interest in offshore options.
Many CIOs talk of the "'closeness" of their relationship with their key strategic vendors. Every so often though we get an insight into which IT departments are truly valued by the big boys.
Most people agree that IBM's Lotus Notes product is one of the most advanced and popular collaboration suites out there.
Last week I had the chance to hear HP give their world view on why you should join them and Intel on Itanium for your next generation of servers.
It wasn't too long ago that vendors still made a lot of their money through equipment markups. Telcos were the same, with comfortable profit on ISDN, STD calls, calls to mobiles and other heavily used services padding out financial reports.
Just how much money is there in storage? That was the question I had to ask myself as I ventured around EMC's well-attended customer conference in Sydney this week.
Australian Customs CIO Murray Harrison dislikes SLAs and runs away if a vendor talks to him about innovation. In this interview, he also explains why getting excited about gadgets can be dangerous and talks about how Customs' outsourcing strategy has evolved.
Colonel John Hayes, chief information officer of the US Air Force Reserve command talks about tapping into the technology expertise of its recruits for the development of innovative ideas, like the military's new 'Emergency Notification' system.
The idea of getting a robust, scalable operating system for free hasn't clicked with many enterprises -- until now.
The South Australian government is looking at a software overhaul that could see Apple or Red Hat taking over from Microsoft on the state's PCs. Analysts warn, however, skills costs could still lead to a software environment dominated by a single platform.
Security software vendors may soon side with US government authorities and intentionally fail to report "certain spyware" to customers if ordered by a court to remain quiet, according to a survey of leading firms.
Despite the small number of IBM workers involved in the upcoming strike, their walking off work could have a dire effect on many of IBM's customers, including Westpac, Qantas, Customs and Centrelink, according to the Australian Services Union.
In version 8 of IBM/Lotus's upcoming collaboration suite, the client (Notes) moves to a new Java framework while the server (Domino) gets a number of overdue enhancements.
This is a good choice for compute-intensive applications, but the System x3455's restricted storage and availability options limit its use when it comes to general hosting duties.
Upgrading to latest version of McAfee VirusScan Enterprise can lock Lotus Notes users out of their e-mail. McAfee is investigating.
The premium you pay is worth it: the ThinkPad T60 delivers a sturdy design, a complete range of network connectivity, top-shelf performance, long battery life, and just enough ports for the typical business user.
The market for collaborative applications has grown significantly with the introduction of Web-based solutions for gathering and sharing information within organisations. In this review, we look at two of the most popular commercial collaborative platforms.
Visa CIO touts new transaction technologies
Michael Dreyer, CIO of Visa, expresses what innovation means to him in different areas, such as their PayWave … Watch it now
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Australian Govt funds IT start-ups
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