IT News Review - Week Ending Monday 24/5/1999

ASIC launches online registration systemThe Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) yesterday launched the Electronic Company Registration (ECR) service which enables new companies to be registered online within a few minutes. The system allows new companies to be registered online by using smart cards and public key encryption to generate and authenticate digitalsignatures, with access to an electronic payments facility.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DA52NSW govt plans smart card transport ticketingThe NSW State Government plans to introduce smart card ticketing for all public transport services in Sydney. The State department of transport issued a call for proposals for an integrated ticketing system earlier this week.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DA46Russians skip NATO IT exerciseIn a show of protest against NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, the Russian government last week pulled out of a major US-led NATO computer and communications exercise that is intended to help allies develop communications systems capable of sharing information on the battlefield. Navy Captain Arthur T. Cooper, deputy J-6 for the US European Command, said the details of the negotiations are highly classified, but he added that the Russian decision not to participate in the exercise, Combined Endeavour '99, came "at the last minute".

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/mailout/NT0000624ANew Zealand vote counting to go onlineA new electronic vote-counting system for this year's general election in New Zealand will see returning officers in 67 electorates entering totals directly into a Web browser interface, and news media and Internet users being served with real-time results from the same system. Chief Electoral Officer Phil Whelan offered the first look at the system at a briefing last week in Wellington.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/mailout/NT00006256Government e-trade framework creates level playing fieldAustralian businesses will be given a level e-commerce playing field to compete on for government contracts and business-to-business trade, according to a new framework announced by the Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC).

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/arndb.NSF/Current/NT0000C66EScuttled GST could provide IT opportunities: ACSThe apparent scuttling of the federal government's GST plans could prove to be a boon for Australia's "ignored" IT&T industry, according to the Australian Computer Society (ACS). The ACS has issued a press release mercilessly attacking the budget the federal government handed down last week, saying it "completely ignored" the industry and is too focused on "short term issues like the GST".

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DA6ETelstra's more than just phones: SwitkowskiTelstra chief executive officer, Ziggy Switkowski is firmly behind the privatisation of the billion-dollar telecommunications organisation. Speaking at Now99, the Australian Telecommunications User Group annual conference in Sydney, Switkowski said it would be in the best interests of the customers, communications industry and country to fully privatise Telstra.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DA5AAsia connects virtual communities for e-commerceSingapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong last week began a project to integrate online services and communities in the five countries into a single virtual network called Community Connection. Community Connection will be an important launch pad for electronic commerce, according to the Online Technologies Consortium (OTC), which isco-ordinating the project.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/mailout/NT0000626AAus tax system prohibitive: GartnerGartner's e-commerce '99 conference started yesterday morning with a keynote address that attacked the federal government's taxation structure. Jo Sweeney, Gartner's Asia-Pacific research director, said Australia had a "spotty track record in innovation". Australia had lost innovative businesses overseas because the cost and complexity of operating in our market was prohibitive, he said.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DA86GartnerGroup announces e-commerce findingsAccording to research analysts GartnerGroup, Australia faces a difficult future in the growth and adoption of e-commerce in the next five years.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/arndb.NSF/Current/NT0000C68ASun makes bold Y2K warranty moveWith year-2000 legal ramifications flying left, right and centre, Sun Microsystems earlier this month made the bold move to provide its Australian resellers with a Y2K warranty for a host of Sun products.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/arndb.NSF/Current/NT0000C6CEDeregulation hits harderAustralia's thriving telecommunications industry with 28 licensed carriers and numerous service providers is likely to drop back to only four full-service providers in the future, according to predictions in a Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report.

Released yesterday at the Australian Telecommunications User Group (Atug) Now99 conference, the report surveyed telecommunications executives on issues affecting the industry two years on from deregulation.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/nwwdb.NSF/mailout/NT000062CEGovt sets strategy to attract IT&T fundingThe federal government has announced the latest stage of its strategy to lure some much-needed funds into the local IT&T industry. The Information Industries Investment Strategy (IIIS), which the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, launched, aims to increase overseas awareness of local IT&Tventures and the financial opportunities they provide.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DAF2Despite fraud, comfort with e-commerce risesA study released last week by the National Consumers League in the US revealed that six million e-commerce customers believe they have been victims of online fraud or misuse of credit card information. Despite their concerns, though, respondents said they still support expanded electronic banking and plan to increase their purchasing on the Internet.

Click on the link below for the full storyhttp://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DAEEY2K glitches on the riseOn the surface, the figures are startling -- 72 per cent of 152 large companies have already experienced some sort of Y2K-related glitch, according to newly released results in an ongoing survey by Cap Gemini America and Rubin Systems.

To date, most of the problems have been minor, with a negligible impact on the bottom line, observers said.

Click on the link below for the full story http://www2.idg.com.au/CWT1997.nsf/CWTCurrent/NT0000DAFE

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