• Senior Flash Developer / ...
• SAS Analyst
• Head of Business Intelligence -...
• Project Analyst
• Business Analyst - MIS & Reporting

IT News Review - Week ending September 22, 2000

IDG staff, Information Age

22/09/2000 17:10:57

Web Publisher: Banners Have Proved a DisasterAdvertising on the Internet has been "an absolute, complete, unmitigated failure," said Jason McCabe Calacanis, Editor and CEO of Silicon Alley Reporter. He addressed a crowd largely composed of e-commerce executives, at the Komm conference held in Dusseldorf as part of the Internet Commerce Expo (ICE). Calacanis placed the blame for the failure of Web sites to generate steady advertising revenue squarely on the banner ad which has "trained our consumers to believe that content is free," he said.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/B7479E4E313D08334A256961007D2270!OpenDocumentZ-Tek directors in the slammerThree former directors of Melbourne-based Z-Tek Computers have been booked in for a six-month stay at the big house following their sentencing last week for defrauding the Commonwealth out of more than $650,000 in sales tax.

The two Zhous were sentenced by Judge Morrow of the Melbourne County Court to 12 months jail, with six months to serve immediately. They also face a $1,000, six-month good behaviour bond upon release.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/2FAA03DF364F9D424A256961000F9366Australia to Host $160m Telco CentreAustralia made its mark as the IT capital of the Asia Pacific today with news that Sydney will host a $160 million centre to house and manage computer and fibre optic cable equipment to meet the growing demands of local Internet, e-business and telecommunications companies. Co-location centre provider Global Switch said this investment will escalate into "billions of dollars" in the next few years as the Internet revolution has led to hyper demand for this type of facility.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/4294A924ECA408DD4A256960007B81FF!OpenDocumentNetwork Associates Upgrades Intrusion SoftwareNetwork Associates this week introduced a revamped version of its intrusion detection software suite, including the company's first tool designed to watch network traffic for what might be hacker activity. The network agent, which initially runs on Windows NT and will later be ported to Solaris, complements the CyberCop Intrusion Protection Suite 5.0's agents for monitoring desktops and servers as well as the suite's management console.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/994440783AA663114A256960007EA4F3!OpenDocumentAustralia to Get Custom IP Network Next MonthAustralia's first purpose-built national IP (Internet protocol) network will begin operations in October following the raising of $175 million in development funds, according to the network's developer Comindico Holdings. The network will be fully complete with 66 POPs (points of presence) around the country early next year, Comindico said in a statement Tuesday.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/A3611C18ED9B4D744A256960007F1353!OpenDocumentPanel: Security, Flexibility Key to WAP BusinessA group of WAP (wireless application protocol) experts tackled the thorny question of how businesses can make mobile services profitable at the Internet Commerce Expo in Dusseldorf, Germany. "If we had the holy Grail, the business model (that can earn money via WAP applications), we wouldn't be sitting here, we'd be somewhere else," said Holger Reck, a technical consultant at Hewlett-Packard GmbH, the German subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Co.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/29772401836A9C904A25695F0078AF2E!OpenDocumentSun Announces Java for WirelessSun Microsystems Tuesday, in conjunction with several partners, announced that it has Java technology ready to ship for wireless devices. Sun says its Mobile Information Device (MID) profile will enhance Internet surfing on wireless devices by allowing better graphics and more interactive features. The open-source, standards-based protocol will work for any device, without programming changes.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/58A34E4185E6FA554A25695F00787E82!OpenDocumentIBM, Ariba, i2 B2B Alliance Completes First PhaseThe first phase in the electronic-marketplace alliance formed by IBM, i2 Technologies and Ariba is now complete, with the vendors working on making their products interoperate with the aim of creating a business-to-business (B2B) platform. The three companies also are working on B2B standards as part of the alliance, formed in March of this year. The three announced the end of phase one in a statement Tuesday and also offered a progress report and roadmap during a presentation at an Ariba conference in Miami.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/63EEC1C463CB14DF4A25695F0078800E!OpenDocumentOpen-Source Collaborative Website UnveiledA new Web site will debut on Oct. 2 that enables developers to work with a variety of platforms to which they normally would not have easy access. DevelopOnline.com Corp. is a collaborative development center for programmers and engineers to design new products or improve existing products via the Web, with the aim of resulting in faster time to market.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/998AE5A0E05320654A25695F002356FB!OpenDocumentOlympics.com nets goldThe official Olympics web site, www.olympics.com, has become the most visited site by Australian internet users, pushing ninemsn off the number one spot.

Ninemsn.com.au has held the top position for more than two months, according to internet measuring company Hitwise.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/1F4BF971E58DB62C4A25695F0015C78C!OpenDocumentInternet Taking Over IT Recruitment in NZRecruitment agencies searching for increasingly rare IT and telecommunications workers are likely to be fuelling the rapid growth in Internet-based job vacancies. While newspaper job advertisements rose only 0.4 percent in August nationally to 29,695, online jobs jumped 14.3 percent to 12,899 across the six Internet job sites ANZ Banking Group Ltd. monitors in its monthly survey.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/C5F8F8965FF61D234A25695E0026383D!OpenDocumentIntel Rolls Out LAN Access Security CardsIntel this week will roll out three secure LAN adapter security cards that promise to help customers simply and inexpensively provide data security across their networks. The Pro/100 S family of security cards can also help boost performance on desktops, laptops and servers because they have a coprocessor that handles all encryption- and decryption-related functions. These functions would otherwise be handled by the computer's main processor if it were using a software-based encryption technology.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/26FCC81793AB2E774A25695E008364F3!OpenDocumentNational Semiconductor Puts 'System on a Chip'Hoping to take advantage of what analysts say will be a booming market for Internet appliances over the next several years, National Semiconductor on Monday unveiled a family of new "system-on-a-chip" silicon solutions aimed at three specific markets. National's new Geode lineup offers Internet appliance manufacturers a CPU, memory controller, video processor, and system cache all on a single chip, according to Mike He, a spokesman at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/FD803D128FA17E754A25695E00831D32!OpenDocumentMicro-switch causes micro-problemThe stalling of the Olympic cauldron on its way to the top of the Olympic Stadium at the Opening Ceremony was due to a small micro-switch problem. The switch in question failed to "light up" to signal that the cauldron had connected with the water path, a requirement for the next stage to be set in motion.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/FD9B7B98CD64CB5F4A25695E002034E4!OpenDocumentIT staff anger over outsourcingBetween 120 and 150 of Westpac's IT staff marched to the Industrial Relations Commission to protest the management of Westpac's proposed outsourcing strategy. The IT staff were showing support for their elected representatives that are currently debating severance payments with the bank, and seeking reassurance that working conditions offered to any of the existing IT staff by the successful outsourcing tender will remain as is under Westpac.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/C52504B368B14C6A4A25695E00041637100,000 developers in the PalmWhile users are still not convinced there is a ubiquitous future for handheld Internet access, developers have no such trepidation about the role of personal digital assistants (PDAs). Last week, PDA vendor Palm announced it had signed its 100,000th registered developer - Arachnid Web Design in Pennsylvania (USA) - a company which is integrating Palm PDAs into a corporate, fleet application.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://arn.idg.com.au/arndb.nsf/tibco_stories/5DA0CF75D44CD4594A25695E00035091US Users Perturbed by Oracle PricesA new pricing scheme that Oracle hoped would make its database pricing simpler and more predictable is costing some customers more money and causing at least a few to look to competitors such as IBM and Microsoft. In interviews with Computerworld, more than a half-dozen users and potential users of the Oracle8i database complained about the capacity-based pricing, which was announced last year and went into effect across the board in the last quarter.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/87AFEA0459094E604A25695D00802E37!OpenDocumentAltaVista Cuts Jobs, Drops Media BusinessIn an effort to move into the black, Web portal AltaVista slashed 25 per cent or 225 people from its workforce of 900 employees. The company, which is owned by CMGI, will also leave the Internet media portal business, refocusing its efforts into its search engine operations, AltaVista said in a statement. Its competitors include Yahoo's Google and Walt Disney's Go.com. AltaVista will consolidate its operations in California into its Palo Alto headquarters, the company said. With the layoffs and the restructuring, AltaVista said its North American operations will be profitable by January 31, 2001.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://computerworld.com.au/cwt1997.NSF/cwtoday/DE8D0655DB474A4D4A25695D00801147!OpenDocument