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IT News Review - Week ending October 13, 2000

IDG staff, Information Age

13/10/2000 17:11:06

Government consolidates IT offices

The National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) has been announced as an executive agency, giving the office a direct link to Government decision-making. NOIE will also absorb the Office for the Government Online (OGO) in the process.

By becoming an executive agency within the DCITA (Department of Communications Information Technology and the Arts), the chief executive officer of NOIE will now be appointed by and report directly to the Minister, in this case, Richard Alston, rather than reporting indirectly through various members of Government bureaucracy.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/C805EB4C86D6796D4A2569750083150DCPA feeds demand for accounting-savvy IT consultantsIncreasing demand for e-business solutions has inspired the addition of an IT accreditation to the Certified Practicing Accountants Australia (CPA) program.

With thousands of CPA members specifying their primary or key role in IT rather than accounting David Edwards, CEO of CPA Australia, says the accreditation is designed for CPA members who spend most of their week working in IT related fields or IT resellers who have extensive accounting expertise.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/18DCF10A205AB08E4A25697500349DDEWang on the brink of bankruptcyJohnson Wang, founder of failed ISP eisa and hardware distributor Edge has been denied the right to give evidence via video link from Hong Kong at his bankruptcy hearing.

Justice Donald Hill rejected claims, that business obligations in Hong Kong would prevent Wang from attending the Sydney Federal Court hearing, as "vague".

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/4F15FC0A40D9B50E4A25697500350809Integrated-Circuit Inventor Shares Nobel PrizeJack Kilby, an inventor at Texas Instruments who developed the first integrated circuit in 1958, was jointly awarded this year's Nobel Prize in physics along with two other scientists who also were cited for work that "laid the foundations of modern information technology."

Sharing the award with Kilby are Herbert Kroemer, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Zhores I. Alferov, who is the director of a research institute in Russia. Kilby was given half the $US915,300 prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, while Kroemer and Alferov will share the other half for their separate development of semiconductor technology used in transistors.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/29D0A74D023225BB4A2569750080BD2A!OpenDocumentIBM Announces Expansion of Chip BusinessTaking its biggest step ever into the chip-making business, IBM has announced that it will build a $US2.5 billion chip plant in East Fishkill, New York, part of a $US5 billion worldwide investment in its semiconductor business. Silicon Valley took the back burner to Hudson Valley -- at least momentarily -- with the semiconductor plant announcement.

"It will be the most advanced semiconductor facility in the world," said Lou Gerstner, IBM chairman and chief executive officer, during a news conference. "We are chasing supply today to deal with all the demand internally and externally. We only see this demand continuing to grow."

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/D886BCAD066A1B184A256974007C8775!OpenDocumentTenders Called for Untimed Local Calls for OutbackEnhanced service provision, improved Internet access speeds, lower prices and additional services are the expected results for remote Australia, from the winner of a government tender to provide untimed local calls.

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston has invited seven companies: AAPT, Australian Business Technologies (Heartland), Datafast Telecommunications, Optus Networks, Pacific Telco Australia, Telstra Corporation and Vodafone Pacific to submit tenders, with applications also available to approved applicants.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/3F2AD3E1E44347DD4A256974007A6F95!OpenDocumentDeleting E-mail Illegal Warns Archive DirectorFederal government agencies have been warned that, for them, deleting e-mail is illegal. E-mail should be treated the same as paper records under the Archives Act of 1983. At least one federal IT boss is surprised. Con Gatsios, IT manager for the Melbourne Office of Federal Public Prosecutions, said deleting and maintaining e-mails was each individual's responsibility.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/CC33C85C94CF73304A2569730083777E!OpenDocument"Show Offs" Cop Mate HateIT workers in Australia are either a group of "slackers" or especially prone to peer pressure at work.

According to a survey by recruitment specialist Morgan & Banks, almost one third of information technology (IT) workers face coercion by colleagues to slack off at the office.

So next time you see a fellow IT worker staring into space, instead of thinking he's just having a 'little holiday', maybe you should be thinking about ways to counsel your poor workmate who may be suffering from peer pressure.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/00F89988F8FE1B364A25697400000401!OpenDocumentNew Encryption Standard Won't Blow the Budget: PwCExisting data encryption standards have been officially superseded at US government level, but it won't mean another multimillion-dollar software payout for businesses.

After a three-year worldwide competition, the US Commerce Department announced the Rijndael encryption algorithm from Belgium has been selected as the USA's new Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Rijndael was developed by Belgian cryptographers Joan Daemen of Proton World International and Vincent Rijmen of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Algorithms were evaluated for the strength of their security as well as for their speed and versatility across a variety of computer platforms.

Commenting locally PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Bruce Humphries said the cost of additional software and hardware to accommodate the new standard will be relatively low in the short term.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/8E259BC1D0C197644A256973008309C6!OpenDocumentMicrosoft to Launch New ExchangeMicrosoft this week will finally ship Exchange Server 2000 and its companion Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server as it attempts to make collaboration technologies a core feature of its messaging platform.

To highlight the point, this year's annual conference has been renamed Microsoft Exchange and Collaboration Solutions 2000. It will take place this week in Dallas.

At the event, Microsoft will announce the general availability of Exchange 2000. The server, which requires Windows 2000 and Active Directory, was released to manufacturing almost a month ago. The centerpiece is the Web Storage System, a distributed repository for unstructured data that can be accessed through a variety of interfaces and protocols. Observers say it finally makes Exchange a platform for building collaborative applications much like Lotus Domino.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/C5470732C225A6E84A256972007FB77A!OpenDocumentHacking Rises in US Despite Increased Security SpendingSpending more for computer security alone won't protect your network from hackers and cybersaboteurs, according to a recent survey published in Information Security magazine. While the money U.S. companies are spending for security products and services is up 188 per cent over the last two years, so are cyberattacks: eight out of 10 companies have been hit this year in the U.S., the survey said.

The number of companies spending more than $US1 million a year on computer security has nearly doubled in 2000, compared with 1999, yet internal and external security breaches continue to rise, because of employee carelessness and increased hacker activity.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/4CBBFED3B4972BF44A256970003B335F!OpenDocumentTorvalds: More Delays for LinuxThe much-anticipated 2.4 Version of the Linux kernel will take at least another two months to complete, Linus Torvalds, creator of the open source operating system, said Friday.

"It's been a slower process than many people would like," he said, remarking that developers are no longer adding new features, only fixing bugs. "With luck, we'll see it in early December, and with not so good luck, I still hope that we can do it this side of the year." Torvalds answered questions as part of a roundtable of experts, entitled "Quo Vadis Linux?" at the Linux World Conference and Expo.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/0C468A328DD0EA2C4A256972007FAB16!OpenDocument