AppWrap ICT Deals and Dealings - January 2010
iStart’s monthly summary of news and deals affecting New Zealand’s enterprise ICT market, compiled by Simon Hendery - iStart News Editor...
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IDC warns the rough economic ride isn’t over 2010 will be a year of modest recovery for the IT and telecommunications sectors, but recovery will not mean a return to pre-recession conditions, says IDC New Zealand. The industry research firm has released its ‘ICT Top Ten predictions’ for the coming year, saying it believes New Zealand will begin to see deep industry transformation, driven by growth in ultra-fast broadband, a business and consumer shift to online services, new government and regulatory initiatives and an explosion in mobile devices. While 2009 proved a tough year with tightened budgets and a focus on survival, IDC says 2010 will see some of the pressure released, although market volatility will remain a concern.
Fujitsu Wins Five Year Services Deal with Meridian
Microsoft releases Office 2010 beta
IT job market tipped to improve The IT job market will continue to improve this year as it did in the second half of 2009, according to recruitment specialist Randstad. “With the steady increase we’ve seen in the past six months and the positive outlook for the first quarter of 2010, it looks like the worst may be over for IT professionals,” said Malcolm Dunford, operations director of Randstad’s IT division. “Jobs for contract workers, in particular, will gradually increase as companies look to ease the labour pressures being felt this year but the demand isn’t quite as high as our Australian neighbours,” he said. “In Australia we’ve seen a 25 per cent increase in IT contract roles this year but New Zealand may take a little longer to bounce back.”
Unisys predicts a ‘biometrics boom’ in 2010 Slashed budgets and reduced staffing numbers delayed many security initiatives in 2009, but the vulnerabilities didn’t retreat and will only intensify in 2010, Unisys security experts predict. The company say s it expects government and commercial organisations will take a more proactive approach to security this year, implementing new measures to verify identity and protect confidential information. Financial institutions and defence agencies will lead the charge, with ports and other organisations quickly following, Unisys says. Meanwhile, hacking will become a more potent threat over the new decade as criminals evolve illegally accessing computers into an industry, according Imperva. The data security firm is predicting the rise of the “industrialisation” of hacking – with clear definition of roles developing within the hacking community forming a supply chain that starkly resembles that of drug cartels. It says the “weapons of choice” hacking cartels will be automated tools such as malware distributed via botnets.
Microsoft NZ’s Brett Roberts departs Microsoft New Zealand’s national technology officer, Brett Roberts, is leaving the company after spending 12 years in various roles for the business. Roberts said while he had not confirmed his next move “it’s a fairly safe bet it will involve starting a business or two, technology, participation in the NZ start-up community, consulting, IT industry prognostication, PowerPointing and re-learning the guitar”. Technology research and advisory firm Gartner has appointed Karl Sice as regional vice president, sales for Australia and New Zealand. Sice joins Gartner from Sun Microsystems where he was commercial systems director for the company’s volume business in Asia Pacific. Crown Fibre Holdings, the organisation established to manage the Government’s $1.5 billion investment in ultra-fast broadband infrastructure over the next ten years, has appointed Graham Mitchell as CEO. Mitchell joins CFH after five years working with venture capital and private equity clients in the technology sector, having previously held senior roles in AAPT, Telecom and ECNZ. IP communications solutions provider Interactive Intelligence has appointed Adrian Tilley as senior training consultant for Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. Tilley previously worked at Interactive Intelligence’s US headquarters as senior training consultant.
ECN Group partners with Innovit Product information and master data management software solutions provider Innovit has partnered with the ECN Group which has become its agent in New Zealand to re-sell Innovit’s iICE solutions for GS1net and master data management. New Zealand’s grocery, liquor, and hardware industries have recently adopted GS1net as the platform and standard to support the synchronisation of product and price catalogues with their suppliers. Global IT services and outsourcing company Infosys Technologies has established official premises in New Zealand, opening its first office in Wellington. The site of the company’s new New Zealand headquarters was chosen for its proximity to Infosys’ major clients such as Telecom, which has part of its IT operations based out of Wellington. Up to 100 Infosys employees will operate from New Zealand at any one time, spread across client sites and the new office. Microsoft New Zealand has announced a new condensed submission process and expanded categories for the 2010 Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards. The company says the changes align the timing of the New Zealand awards with the larger Microsoft Worldwide Partner Awards, and give local award winners the opportunity to compete in the later worldwide competition. More award categories will provide the opportunity to recognise a greater number of its 3,500 local partners. Contact editor: simonhen@xtra.co.nz |
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