ACS Week in Review: 19 October 2012
Reports out this week
- Measuring the information society, International Telecommunications Union
- Top 10 predictions: IDC predictions 2012: Competing for 2012, IDC
ACS in the news
- WIICTA award nominations open, ARN
- Gender discrimination prevalent in ICT sector, Adelaide Advertiser
- ACS bosses elected to lead SEARCC, ARN
- BRM Holdich recruits security expert, The Australian
ICT in the Media
- Digital Economy: $2 billion digital strategy to save Australia Post
- Patents and Copyright: Why hacktivist group Anonymous is playing a 'whole different ballgame'
- Security: Sex offenders to be listed online in WA
- ICT jobs market and skills: NSW Govt commences IT workforce review
Digital Economy
- New South Wales will invest $291,000 in four digital media projects, using funding from Screen NSW’s $3 million Interactive Media Fund. The funded projects will create “dozens of highly skilled jobs in this exciting new industry and put our state at the forefront of innovation both nationally and internationally,” said New South Wales deputy premier, Andrew Stoner.
- A roving salesperson scribbling orders with a pen and paper sounds like an anomaly in today's digital economy but it still happens in many fields where sales reps must visit clients regularly to secure on-going business.
- Almost every start-up needs a logo, signage and business cards. So how do you get great design work for these things without paying a fortune? Increasingly, businesses are turning to crowdsourcing sites such as 99designs, where briefs for work are posted online for designers to compete over.
Skills & Training
- Senior ICT executives want potential employers that are financially stable, offer flexible workplace practices as well as learning and development opportunities, a hiring expert says.
- The NSW Government has kicked off a review of its ICT staff and contract jobs in a bid to align the workforce with its three-year ICT strategy.
- NSW’s State Water Corporation is looking to virtualise and upgrade its data centres in Ultimo and Dubbo ahead of a broader business transformation program, to take place over the next three years. The state-owned corporation last week issued tender documents calling for software, hardware, training, maintenance and professional services for a major data centre technology refresh.
Cyber Security
- Australian companies run data centres that are less complex than their overseas counterparts, according to study by cyber security firm Symantec. The study - which surveyed just under 2500 IT professionals in 36 countries – ranked Australia and New Zealand below the international average for data centre complexity. The ANZ region scored 6.2 out of 10, in contrast to the international average of 6.7 out of 10.
- While there is nothing new about countries or companies wanting to protect intellectual property for commercial reasons, it has seldom been considered a national security problem.
Telecommunications
- Over the next two years, Telstra will invest $500 million in developing its 4G network and adding another 1000 sites to its portfolio by June next year, growing the network as more 4G compatible handsets are released. The upgrade to 4G has already been a major contributor of the telco’s $3.6 billion spend in fiscal-year 2012.
- The federal government is talking with emergency services organisations to address community concern that current back-to-base alarm systems won't work with the National Broadband Network.
- The federal government says that it won't require internet providers to record web addresses visited by customers under its controversial data retention plans.
Government announcements
- More NBN jobs for Queensland as Roma chosen for satellite ground station Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and Labor Senator for Queensland, John Hogg, today announced that Roma in Queensland will be one of the ten towns across Australia that will host a National Broadband Network (NBN) satellite ground station.
- Construction commenced for another 165,000 premises as NBN rollout ramps up Minister for Broadband, Communications, and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, today said that the rollout of the National Broadband Network is forging ahead with construction commencing for approximately 165,800 homes and businesses around the country.
- Only six months left before Perth switches to Digital TV The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, today announced that it is only six months before people in Perth switchover to digital television.
- More NBN jobs for Queensland as Roma chosen for satellite ground station Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and Labor Senator for Queensland, John Hogg, today announced that Roma in Queensland will be one of the ten towns across Australia that will host a National Broadband Network (NBN) satellite ground station.
Opposition announcements
- CSIRO admits workplaces breaches After at least a dozen allegations of endemic failure within their ranks, CSIRO have finally admitted, after a year of denials, their failure to adopt and follow effective workplace policies and procedures.