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Doing Your Sums on . . . Build, Buy or Rent 05/11/2007 13:32:30
You’re trying to build a world-class IT team, but everyone’s going after the same talent pool. What mix works best? Should you grow your own, draft your players or barter your way to the line-up you want to field?CIOs should never forget that while new technologies have a maturity cycle, the maturity cycle for human beings in IT is even longer - +
Beyond Vista 22/01/2007 12:19:24
Inside Microsoft's plan to dominate the Web 2.0 enterpriseEvery decade or so, a new platform emerges that reduces the cost of running an IT department to such an extent that vendors have no choice but to embrace it or die. In the 1990s, PCs with powerful operating systems spelled the end of mainframe development and ushered in the client/server era. Today, cheap servers and high-speed Internet connections are triggering a move away from traditional desktop PC software and to software as a service, hosted by a third party and delivered over the Internet. - +
Scent of a Merger 07/05/2007 15:04:48
Most mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver the expected business value. But Coty’s acquisition of Unilever’s cosmetics and fragrance subsidiary has been a success. The secret formula was a new approach to integrationOn December 14 and 15, 2005, Coty, one of the world's largest cosmetic and fragrance makers, held an all-hands-on-deck executive meeting at the company's headquarters in New York City. Five months earlier, Coty had acquired Unilever Cosmetics International (UCI), a subsidiary of the eponymous conglomerate, and Coty's IT team was just finishing moving UCI employees off Unilever's infrastructure and onto Coty's - +
It Is Easy Being Green 03/09/2007 11:28:04
In last month’s issue we looked at why CIOs should be at the fore of an organization’s sustainability effortsWhen it comes to cleaning up their act, many CIOs are recognizing data centres as among the lowest hanging fruit. IDC estimates companies spent $US26.1 billion to power and cool servers worldwide in 2005, with a monstrous $14 billion of that being spent in the US alone. In fact, data centres account for between 1.5 and 3 percent of all electricity consumed in the US. Should current trends persist, the research organization projects, that bill will soar to $US50 billion by the end of the decade - +
Reconcilable Differences 06/08/2007 13:03:30
Companies that ignore IT during a merger or acquisition do so at their own peril. Without a carefully considered and well-managed road map, IT risks an imperfect integration, loss of key staff, business disruption, and an unnecessarily complex environmentThe health-care company had been planning to install a state-of-the-art system, which would have been all but guaranteed to slash operational costs. It had completed the preliminary research, selected a system and begun the implementation process
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Brisbane-based software provider Mincom has announced another acquisition to strengthen its position in the utility market, which now accounts for 25 per cent of the company's overall revenue.
Mincom has purchased the customer management and billing systems backbone from Conversant, a developer of software for the utility industry market.
According to Mincom CEO, Richard Matthews, utilities has been the second largest industry vertical for Mincom, in terms of revenue, for the last two fiscal years.
Matthews said the utilities vertical posted 25 per cent of total revenues for Mincom for fiscal 2006, up from 15 per cent in fiscal 2005.
He said this is a 37 per cent performance increase over the 2005 fiscal year.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the company confirmed that Conversant management and employees will operate as a single business unit inside Mincom focusing solely on utility customer care and billing systems.
Conversant's Java-based customer information system, CustomerWatch, will be the backbone of the new billing service provided by Mincom.
Vice president of the new business unit, which has been dubbed Utility Solutions, will be headed up by Conversant's current CEO Stan Royal.
Matthews said the company is seeking out utilities that are looking for a single vendor solution to replace legacy systems.
Late last year Mincon inked a deal with one of Queensland's largest power generators, the Stanwell Corporation to implement Mincom's EnergyPoint solution.
Stanwell is an active trader in the national electricity market with Full Retail Contestability (FRC) coming into effect in Queensland on July 1, 2007.
FRC will open the market to competition allowing customers to select the retailer of their choice.
EnergyPoint, which is a energy trading and risk management system, is already in use at Snowy Hydro and TRUenergy.
In addition to upgrading the Australian defence logistics system, Mincom has traditionally been a strong player in the mining sector.
In 2006 Mincom acquired Australian company, Comlabs, which provides mining software systems for BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and the Anglo Group.
During that year Mincom's Eurasia division inked contracts worth $AU15 million in the mining sector. Russia was the biggest growth market in Eurasia with plans to expand its presence in countries such as Kazakhstan.
With Sandra Rossi
Computerworld Member Login
Beyond Virtualisation - The Roadmap to 2012
CIO Breakfast Briefing
8:30am - 10:30am
Brisbane | 22 July | Sofitel Brisbane
Sydney | 23 July | Four Seasons Hotel
Canberra | 24 July | The Hyatt
Attend and discover:
- What happens after virtualisation
- The benefits automation drives
- When automated infrastructures will emerge
- What the roadmap to 2012 looks like
- How to deliver an automated architecture
- How to maximise your investment in virtualisation
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Computerworld Live Podcast #96: Security at the Edge 11/06/2008 09:22:22
CW Live speaks with Amol Mitra, HP ProCurve Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific and Japan. Today's topic: how enterprises are starting to shift away from simply controlling security via server logins, firewalls and moving to more adaptive security frameworks. - +
Data Management Edition #10: Multi-Petascale Systems 02/05/2008 09:12:33
This week we look at sustainability and the development of multicore technologies to build multi-petascale systems. - +
IT Security Edition #11: How to poison the Storm botnet 01/05/2008 08:51:55
This week CW Live presents a case study on how to poison the notorious Storm botnet . Plus we take a look at Cisco's plans for Ironport. - +
IT Security Edition #10: Cyber-battles fought and won 24/04/2008 11:09:47
Vendors bow to end user pressure to improve product security, and we take a look at the latest concepts shaping the cyber-battlefield of the future. - +
Data Management Edition #9: Data centre makeover 24/04/2008 07:43:06
This week CW Live looks at the death of the old style data centre which is undergoing its first makeover in more than 30 years.
Ballarat Grammar Improves Student Access to Computer Based Learning with HP ProCurve 2008-07-04 16:49:00+10
Media release: 40 Per Cent of Australian Businesses Do Not Validate Their Data 2008-07-04 10:29:00+10
Kaseya helps turbo charge BlueFire’s service delivery model 2008-07-03 17:23:00+10
Computershare Selects Symantec for Data Loss Prevention Globally 2008-07-03 14:52:00+10
DST International moves to new Shanghai office 2008-07-03 13:21:00+10
An EMC Perspective on Data De-Duplication for Backup
Explore the factors that are driving the need for de-duplication and the benefits of data de-duplication as a feature of an organizations backup strategy.
