The Coles takeover triggered an unprecedented public discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of its IT capabilities

The US is badly lagging the rest of the world on privacy legislation and apparently doesn't care

A fifth of America's smallest not for profit outfits spend not a brass razoo on information technology. Most not for profits say they are starved of IT support. IT staff at these organizations are paid less than their peers in corporations and governments.

When he describes the security function's goals at Starbucks Coffee, Francis D'Addario shares a 13-syllable mantra: Protect people. Secure assets. Enable mission.

The Executive Vice-president of procurement in Amsterdam for the major international finance company put it bluntly. "Whenever an employee comes to me and says he's saved $10 million," he told Michael Swanson, president of US-based software asset optimization firm ISAM (Information Systems Asset Management), "I interpret that to mean he wasn't doing a good job before, if he had that much waste out there."

TriWest Healthcare Alliance counts on John Pontrelli to work effectively with his technology colleagues to provide health care to 2.8 million members of the US military and their families in 21 states. As VP and CSO, Pontrelli's responsibilities cover both physical security and information security, and he has found it imperative to form a tight working relationship with his CIO, Rick Green. Pontrelli, a corporate security expert at Microsoft and WL Gore before joining TriWest three years ago, spoke with Michael Goldberg, about the partnership he has formed with his CIO.

It's the hot technology for most large companies, but business, technical and cultural issues must be addressed for a successful SOA implementation.

In all the world's religious cultures, particularly the most extreme, every adherent knows exactly what constitutes acceptable behaviour. There is usually a rigid hierarchy, and everyone shares a language, set of ideas and beliefs, customs, taboos, codes, rituals and ceremonies. Typically, the culture was defined so long ago that no living person has any real idea how the habits and practices now considered the norm evolved. And typically, that does not matter one whit, because everyone knows what they need to know: if they move beyond those norms they will be ostracized.

A fierce and prominent opponent of the Hawke government's 1987 plans to introduce a national identity card says nothing has changed technologically in the intervening years that would make a smart card today any more secure than the Australia Card proposed then.

Author, investor and industry analyst Geoffrey Moore says organizations need to fight off inertia and continually reinvent themselves to keep from being marginalized. And he says IT can play a vital role in the success of any business by helping the company re-establish differentiation

The costly build-to-order approach of typical IT infrastructures may soon be a thing of the past. It's time to get ready for the new industrial revolution.