AppWrap July 2008

iStart’s monthly summary of news and deals affecting Australia’s enterprise ICT market...

Firms in the dark over IT assets

Organisations across Australia have little or no idea of the true value of their IT assets and the contribution those assets make to the business, according to a study commissioned by enterprise application management and modernisation solution provider Micro Focus. The Recognising the True Value of Software Assets report revealed almost two thirds (62 percent) of respondents never try to quantify the financial value of their IT assets, while 70 percent do not measure the contribution IT makes to the business. Keith Mante, country head, Australia, Micro Focus, warns this lack of knowledge is leaving CIOs exposed, ensuring IT continues to be seen as an expense that can be minimised, rather than an asset to be harnessed.

The Business Software Alliance is urging Western Australian companies to take a “proactive approach to managing their software assets” after it observed a dramatic rise in the use of illegal software among WA companies struggling to keep up with the pace of expansion due to the booming resources sector. “A well thought out SAM (software asset management ) approach not only protects organisations and individuals from the prospect of legal action, it also results in an IT network better protected from external threats such as viruses and malware,” BSA Australia vice chair Clare Wharrier said.

Dimension Data on Royal Women’s Hospital

Dimension Data has completed a $2.4 million project with Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne deploying a new converged network infrastructure, based on Cisco 10 gigabit network and unified communications solutions.

The Tasmanian Government has signed a $1.2 million contract with VMware and its Hobart-based reseller, AlphaWest to deploy virtualisation solutions across all of the state government’s agencies.

Sydney’s Holroyd City Council has awarded local government software supplier Civica a contract to implement its Authority local government management solution and to act as prime contractor integrating with software from three other vendors.

Skywest, West Australia’s largest regional airline, has implemented a business-wide IP communications solution from Mitel to handle ticket sales and customer service operations.

Melbourne-based TaguchiMail, a provider of optimised broadcast email technology, has standardised its email service offerings on StrongMail's email delivery and management platform.

MotoSport – an Oregon-based motorcyclists’ and recreational vehicle riders’ online source for aftermarket equipment, spare parts, and riding gear – has deployed a business rule solution within its logistics and shipping systems from Australian-headquartered software solutions provider Haley.

Mars Snackfood Ballarat, a subsidiary of global food giant Mars Inc, has awarded ISS Group a contract for the provision of a real-time integrated plant reporting solution utilising ISS’s BabelFish solution and associated modules.

Victoria’s Hobsons Bay City Council has selected enterprise content management specialist Objective Corporation to implement an EDRMS solution consolidating information and data dispersed across a number of databases.

New Sage Accpac ERP arrives

Business software vendor Sage has announced the local availability of Sage Accpac ERP version 5.5. The new version of the solution comes bundled with Sage CRM v6.1 and Sage is also now offering customers both ‘a la carte’ and ‘per user’ pricing options.

Telstra is launching a software-as-a-service platform called T-Suite, supplying on-demand business applications. The telco said T-Suite’s aim was to improve business productivity and help innovative Australian software designers take their applications to a global market. The platform is schedules for general launch early next year.

Telstra and AvanTEC have announced a new in-vehicle broadband and mobile computer solution. Designed for businesses with vehicle based employees, the solution incorporates the General Dynamics Itronix GoBook VR-2 and high-speed wireless broadband using Telstra's Next G network.

Auction scams top cyber crime

A study by security vendor AVG has found auction scams and fraudulent emails are the most common forms of cyber crime experienced by Australians. The study, which canvassed 1,000 users each in Australia, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Brazil and the Czech Republic, found that over 39 percent of Australians had been the victim of cyber crime compared to 32 per cent in Italy, 28 per cent of Americans and just 14 per cent in Sweden and Spain.

According to the same study, the most common forms of cyber theft experienced by Australians were: not receiving goods paid for at an online auction (16 per cent), fraudulent emails that resulted in financial damage (14 per cent), phishing (10 per cent), not receiving goods ordered online (eight per cent), credit card fraud (five per cent) and unauthorised bank transfers (three per cent).

New regional leader at Oracle

Oracle’s Asia-Pacific senior vice-president Brian Mitchell had left the company, replaced by Steve Au-Yeung who joined the company as a result of its recent acquisition of BEA.

Technology research and advisory firm Gartner has appointed Brisbane-based Warren Anderson as group vice president for sales in Asia Pacific. He replaces Alwyn Dawkins who has been promoted to head up Gartner’s worldwide events business. Meanwhile Gartner’s Sydney-based regional manager for its field sales organisation in Australia and New Zealand, Nick Smith, has been promoted to regional vice president for sales across ANZ.

Enterprise systems management vendor Quest Software has appointed Lalita Ari as enterprise account manager. Ari, who was previously with IBM Software Group, will predominantly work on increasing Quest’s focus on federal government customers.

Nasdaq-listed enterprise content management specialist Open Text is ramping up its Asia Pacific operations with two new Sydney-based appointments. Delicia Cordeaux has been appointed technical director for Asia Pacific and Leonie Cusack becomes senior manager, field marketing Asia Pacific.

IPL Communications teams with New Media Software

Telecommunications distributor IPL Communications has signed an exclusive distribution deal with New Media Software for its Adaptive software suite of communications management tools for contact centres.