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 The Best (and Worst)
Countries for Cloud Computing
10 Countries with World's
Fastest Internet
Global Information
Technology Report 2013
Global Mobile
Subscriptions Reach 6.3 Billion in 2012
Asia's Mobile Revolution
Is Changing the Way You Do Business
An Information-Communication
Revolution in the Pacific
AFRICA: Rwanda - Public
Officials Need ICT Training, Not Just Sensitization
2013 Europe Digital
Future in Focus
EU's IT Agency's Sets Up
in Estonia
Top 5 Technology
Transfers from E-estonia
NORTH AMERICA: Canada -
Open Data Is a '21st Century Natural Resource'
U.S.: Ranking the Top 10
Cloud Startups
The Real Data Center
Revolution
The Internet of
Everything Emerges
Industry Perspective -
Cloud and the Smart City
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CHINA: Mobile Fair May
Boost Chinese Handsets
Technology Faces Up to a
Question of Identity
Sophisticated 3-D
Becoming More Affordable
JAPAN: Communications
Seeks Help in Interconnection Dispute
SOUTH KOREA: Tackling
Big Data in Weather Forecasting
Gov’t to Bolster Robot
Industry
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MYANMAR: To Improve
Competitiveness with ICT
PHILIPPINES: Signing ICT
Agreement with Spain
SINGAPORE: Driving
Innovation with Open Source
THAILAND: Smart City
Steps Up Network Progress
Thailand Optimises
Investigations with Big Data Analytics
VIETNAM: City Needs More
Human Resources in IT Sector
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INDIA: Andhra to Have
National Institute of Electronics & IT
NIIT Technologies
Launches CCTNS Project in Odisha
ICT to Promote
Eco-Friendly Tools in Agriculture
Strengthening the
Cooperative Movement Through ICT
Land Record Software
Developed by Goa Government Wins International Award
Dialog Sri Lanka Mobile
Broadband Base Grows 44-Pct
NEPAL: ICT Expo from
April 9
PAKISTAN: Computers
& IT Playing Key Role in Every Field
Mobile Phone Users Make
Over 192.9bn Minutes Voice Calls Per Year
Mobile Phone Penetration
Showing 10.3pc Healthy Growth
80pc of Mobile
Subscribers Will Be in Developing Countries by 2017
Inauguration of IT
Center for Hujjaj on May 13
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AZERBAIJAN:
Broadband Access Rate Up Over 20 Percent
Azerbaijan Aimed at
Serious Development ICT Sector
ICT Sector’s Share in
Azerbaijan’s GDP Hits 1.8 Pct
Minister: ICT Sector’s
Revenues to Grow to $8-8.5 Billion in Azerbaijan by 2020
Azerbaijan Expects ICT
Export Growth
Azerbaijan Sees
Virtualization Technology Boom: Expert
State ICT Fund to
Finance Start-Ups Soon
Number of Broadband
Internet Connections in Baku to Hit 400,000 by Year-End
SOFAZ: Azerbaijan to
Carry Out Reforms on Broadband Internet Development
KAZAKHSTAN: Entering Top
50 Countries in Network Readiness and Cellular Communication Rates Index
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AUSTRALIA:
Beat Most of the World in Preparation for Cloud Adoption
Feds Award $300m Less in
ICT Product Contracts
Shrinking Performance
Gap Between Australian Mobile Networks
NEW ZEALAND: Losing
Ground in Global Tech Rankings
Growing Funding Network
Gives Support to Tech Start-Ups
New Zealand's Demand for
Mobile Data Doubles for Second Year in a Row
TOP↑
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Civic
Engagement in the Digital Age
Social networking sites have grown more important in recent
years as a venue for political involvement, learning, and debate. Overall,
39% of all American adults took part in some sort of political activity on a
social networking site during the 2012 campaign. This means that more
Americans are now politically active on social networking sites (SNS) than
used them at all as recently as the 2008 election campaign. At that point,
26% of the population used a social networking site of any kind. The growth
in several specific behaviors between 2008 and 2012 illustrates the
increasing importance of SNS as places where citizens can connect with
political causes and issues:
•In 2012, 17% of all adults posted links to political stories
or articles on social networking sites, and 19% posted other types of
political content. That is a six-fold increase from the 3% of adults who
posted political stories or links on these sites in 2008.
•In 2012, 12% of all adults followed or friended a political
candidate or other political figure on a social networking site, and 12%
belonged to a group on a social networking site involved in advancing a
political or social issue. That is a four-fold increase from the 3% of adults
who took part in these behaviors in 2008. Read or download the full report: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Civic-Engagement.aspx
From
http://www.i-policy.org/ 04/29/2013
TOP↑
Cybersecurity
Challenges in 2013
Network World (US)Tweet The security
issues affecting businesses are similar around the world. Most involve
employees innocently bringing an infected personal mobile device into the
corporate network, or clicking on a social media link that looks harmless but
hides a Trojan or worm that will secretly steal data and money and,
potentially, remain undetected with severe impact on security of the infected
device. The security issues affecting businesses are similar around the
world. Most involve employees innocently bringing an infected personal mobile
device into the corporate network, or clicking on a social media link that
looks harmless but hides a Trojan or worm that will secretly steal data and
money and, potentially, remain undetected with severe impact on security of
the infected device. And while this this year will see more of that, we will
also see major cybersecurity challenges to businesses coming from an increase
in exploit kits, an increase in mobile device cybersecurity threats, and more
sophisticated threats in general. Let's dive deeper: - Increase in exploit
kits: Exploit kits represent the dark but massively profitable side of
cybersecurity attacks. Exploit kits comprise malicious programs. They quickly
identify and then attack cyber vulnerabilities and spread malware.
Exploit kits are created, sold and rented on the black market.
We predict they will be increasingly used because of their ease of deployment
(rental model) and ease and speed of infection they deliver. The impact of
these attacks will be felt in loss of data, IP, identify theft, financial
fraud and theft, as well as in diminished business productivity and
continuity. We expect to see exploit kits targeting Windows 8, Mac OS X and
mobile devices, particularly Android-based, in 2013 as these three targets
represent fast-growing segments used by corporates and consumers alike to
transact communications, business and commerce. The growth of malware will
continue at an explosive pace. In 2012, Dell SonicWALL identified nearly 16
million unique malware samples through its GRID (Global Response Intelligent
Defense system) compared to 13.5 million in year 2011. Already, there are
around 44,000 new malware samples every day. - Increase in mobile
cybersecurity vulnerability: The adoption of near field communication
technology for mobile payment systems makes mobile platforms an attractive
target for financially motivated cybercrimes. And the increased use of
personal devices in businesses -- thanks to trends like BYOD (bring your own
device) -- creates entirely new cybersecurity issues, from loss of company
data and IP, to financial threat and non-compliance issues, to name a few. As
social media continues to be adopted universally for personal and business
purposes alike, malware will increase dramatically across Facebook, Twitter
and Skype in 2013. This triple threat threatens targeted mobile devices at
the point of commerce, through their access to corporate networks and through
their access to social media channels. It will be particularly dangerous and
become more advanced and prevalent. [Also see: "Who owns that Twitter
account?"]
- Increase in sophistication of cyberattacks: Last year we saw
cybercriminals abandon older scareware methods such as fake antivirus scams
and move over to ransomware scams. We expect to see this continue and become
more global and multilingual, which also represents a growing threat to Latin
Ameria. Ransomware attacks lock down a computer, device or service and holds
the data hostage, or even threatens court action if the user does not pay.
These are very devious attacks that are embedded deep into the computer or
device and it is nearly impossible for an average user to regain control over
his own system and data. The sophistication and
ability to attack and paralyze websites will continue to grow at dramatic
pace. For example in 2011, there were 1,596,905 DDoS (distributed
denial-of-service) attacks compared to 120,321,372 in 2012. As businesses of all
sizes continue to move services and infrastructure to the cloud, the issue of
DDoS will be high on many agendas at it has the potential to quickly cripple
entire cloud infrastructures. Viruses, trojans, worms and ransomware do not
differentiate between a large or small business. They represent the same
risk, no matter if you have a lot or only very little budget to invest in
network security. Irrespective of the size of your business, these threats
can mean loss of profitability and productivity, loss of data and financial
assets, and potentially catastrophic loss of business continuity. It is
likely that small businesses are more likely to fall pretty to these attacks,
because they do not have the budget, IT infrastructure or support that a
large business can afford. On the other hand, the more people a business
employs, the greater the vulnerability of its network.
Steps to take
The most important steps for a business of any size to protect
itself from cyberattacks is to be aware of the most obvious and dangerous
variants. Second, it is key to educate employees how
to recognize and avoid accidentally bringing a virus/malware/trojan into the
corporate network. A recent survey by Dell SonicWALL customers shows that 68%
of all businesses reported that employees cannot identify fraudulent attacks
on the corporate network. It is the dirty little secret of the beautiful
world of social networks and mobile device interconnectedness that they are a
breeding ground for malware and Internet criminals. Many businesses believe
their existing firewalls will protect them from an attack. The reality,
however, is that old firewalls pose a serious security risk to organizations
today. First-generation firewalls technology has become obsolete as it fails
to inspect the data payload of network packets circulated by today's Internet
criminals. To prepare and protect from the massive growth in social media,
applications, BYOD and multi-media files flowing through a corporate network,
entirely new technology is needed. It is today's next-generation firewalls
that include advanced technology such as application intelligence and
control, intrusion prevention, malware protection and SSL inspection at
multi-gigabit speeds, scalable to support the highest-performance networks
and protect them effectively from the modern threats every user of email or
the Internet encounters on a daily basis. If an organization does business
anywhere on the Internet, it is likely not a question of if, but when it will
be targeted by cybercriminals. While no protection is ever perfect, there is
much that business can do to minimize and deflect the impact of these
potential threats. Especially, the IT organization should closely collaborate
with the company leadership to identify vulnerabilities lie, prepare with
appropriate countermeasures including advanced high-performance,
high-redundancy network security components, and educate employees for the
best possible defense and protection of business assets.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/08/2013
TOP↑
AFRICA: Kenya
- Launching National ICT Master Plan
Kenya mid
February launched the National ICT Master Plan, a strategy document that will
guide the country's ICT direction in the next five years. Dr. Bitange Ndemo,
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication says
that the country aims to be a Knowledge Economy by 2017. He was speaking at
the Kenya ICT Board(KICTB) organised function at the
Sarova Stanley in Nairobi.
The function was attended by a cross section of ICT stakeholders. Notably
present was Micah Cheserem, the chair of the Commision on Revenue Allocation,
Mr. Francis W. Wangusi, CCK Director General and John Sergon, ICT
Director-Directorate of e-Government, ICT is expected to contribute greatly
to Kenya's gross domestic product. "This master plan will take Kenya to Canaan,"
commented Ndemo. At the core of the master plan are three strategic pillars;
Enhancing public value through service delivery and access to public
services, strengthening ICT as a driver of the industry by establishing an
ecosystem for ICT adoption and the development of ICT businesses that head an
understanding of emerging markets' needs.
The master plan was prepared by lead consultants Harry Hare,
who is also the publisher of CIO East Africa, Wadzanai Chiota-Madziva and
edited by Joseph McOluoch with support from the National Communication
Secretariat, IBM Corporate Service Corps, Creative Industry Task Force,
Connected Health Task Force, Fidaly Kezar and Dorothy Nzeki from HP and Sally
Kimeu and Tim Hirsch from Cisco. Ndemo says that the master plan is already
under implementation. Paul Kukubo, KICTB CEO says the master plan has been in
circulation for months with the aim of accepting input from the industry, but
not much input had been received. The master plan will continue receiving
"substantial input" for the next few weeks, before being finalised.
The document replaces the 2006 master plan, which was seven pages long and
focused on infrastructure. Ndemo says that he faced a lot of challenges when
he proposed the establishment of the East African Marine System (TEAMS) to
bring 3 Terabits Per second of connectivity to the country, with sceptics
questioning who would use the capacity seeing the country was then on a 1.5
Gigabit per second satellite link (1000 Gbps = 1 Tbps). Since then, Kenya
has had four undersea cables and a fifth cable is currently in its initial
stages, with two more undersea cables planned to bring the total to seven.
Not much detail has been given on the last three cables.
The overall goals of themaster plan include connecting every
Kenyan to the Internet. "Guaranteeing every Kenyan 1 Mbps of
connectivity is not a dream," the PS said. Recent whitespace trials by
Microsoft and Indigo Telecom had seen residents in rural Kenya receiving up to 8 megabits
per second though their TV aerials. The country is also on the verge of a
joint roll out a 4G-LTE
network by a consortium of telecommunication firms and government. The PS
says that the government stands to make lots of savings from automating
various agencies, such as procurement. He said the digital automation of the
lands registry had increased collection of the registry from KSh. 800 million
to KSh. 9 billion. John Sergon, ICT Director-Directorate of e-Government
stated that 19 counties were now connected via telepresence units. Cheserem
said that Kenya
loses KSh. 300 billion to corruption annually, and automation would go a long
way on stemming this.
However, Professor Tim Waema from the University
of Nairobi's School of Computing
and Informatics cautions that in the contrary, IT has been emerging as the
new face of corruption in the country, where various scams now involve the
use of ICT. Some of the highlights of the master plan's implementation
include the January 23rd launch of the Konza Technology city. The PS says
that Konza has received a lot of interest, way more than he had imagined it
would. This he says include expression of interest to set up in Konza by two
device manufacturing companies which Ndemo says will help bring much needed
and absent manufacturing to Kenya.
He says that the University
of Nairobi had
developed a prototype digital set top box, but was unable to raise any funding for mass manufacture of the same. The
university has also worked on a prototype tablet and is now looking for funds
to manufacture the same. The master plan however faces many challenges.
Kukubo says that Kenya
spends only 0.3 percent of its annual budget on ICT, compared with other
governments that spend about 5 percent. In a panel discussing the master
plan, Harry Mwangi, KICTB Public Sector and Shared Services project manager
says that he hopes the next government will rationalise the ICT sector in a
bid to avoid duplication of strategies within ministries. In addition, a
number of ministries faced ICT implementation challenges as such projects
fell under non -ICT managers. At the event, Dr. Kamal Bhttacharya, Director
IBM Research -Africa said the firm would establish a supercomputer in Nairobi. He however did
not give specifics.
From
http://allafrica.com/ 03/21/2013
TOP↑
ASIA: China
Mulls Online Shopping Legislation
With China's e-commerce market expanding at full speed, the
country is for the first time considering amending its consumer rights law to
protect online shoppers' rights and interests.The widespread of information
technology has allowed the Internet, TV and telephone-based commerce to
surge, said Li Shishi, director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of
the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top
legislature.While briefing national lawmakers during a three-day bimonthly
legislative session that opened on Tuesday, Li said new shopping forms such
as e-shopping differed from conventional consumption, as online shoppers
cannot identify the goods' authenticity and are susceptible to deceptive
advertisement."Consumers select commodities merely through pictures and
text descriptions," he said.The consumer rights law, which was enacted
in 1993, does not have stipulations on the protection of consumer rights in
online shopping."Consumption patterns, structure and concepts in China
have undergone great changes over the past two decades," Li said, adding
that amending the law aims to adapt to the new situation in protecting
consumer rights.To deal with inadequate commodities or service information in
online shopping, the draft amendments stress the protection of consumers'
right to knowledge, saying sellers should provide authentic and necessary
details of their products or services to e-shoppers.
The draft also ensures e-shoppers' right of choice and grants
them the right to unilaterally terminate contracts. "Consumers have the
right to return goods within seven days and get a refund," according to
the proposal."The cooling off period of seven days" allows e-shoppers
to change their minds, which is in line with international conventions, said
Hu Gang, an expert from the Internet Society of China."Online shoppers
can ask for compensation from the e-trade platform where transactions took
place if the seller has stopped using the platform," the draft said,
adding the platform can claim compensation from the seller after offering
compensation to e-shoppers.The move is "significant" as it
increases the responsibility of online platforms, which further protects
online shoppers' rights, Hu said.China's booming online commerce industry is
expected to reap more than 1.1 trillion yuan (about 175 billion U.S. dollars)
in revenue in 2012, statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show.The
industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with its total revenue
expanding from 25.8 billion yuan in 2006 to 780 billion in 2011 in China. The growth
dwarfed that of many western countries.
Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) portal similar to eBay, features nearly one
billion products and has nearly 500 million registered users. It sells 48,000
products each minute and its maximum daily turnover reached 4.38 billion
yuan, according to taobao.com.It's parent company, Alibaba, on track to
become the world's largest e-commerce firm, also owns Tmall, a Chinese
popular business-to-consumer (B2C)
portal like Amazon.Although the draft's Internet shopping stipulations are
"detailed and feasible," it mainly covered B2C trade, Hu said, adding currently about
70 percent of online transactions in China are C2C, which needs further regulations to protect
e-shoppers' rights.Complaints about online shopping are on the rise in China,
with the number surpassing half of all service-related complaints in the
capital last year, according to the Beijing Administration for Industry and
Commerce and the city's consumers' association.
Cell phones and accessories, garments, domestic appliances and
food are the categories that have been complained about most, said Huang
Xiaowen, deputy director of the Beijing Administration for Industry and
Commerce.Online shoppers complained that online business runners did not
fulfill discount promises or arbitrarily cancel orders. They also complained
about late delivery and substandard products, according to Huang.According to
a MasterCard Worldwide survey issued last week, the Chinese mainland leads
the Asia-Pacific region as the market with the most propensity to shop
online, ahead of New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.The
survey, conducted between November and December 2012, included interviews
with 7,011 respondents from 14 markets who were asked questions about their
online shopping habits. China's score has increased by four index points from
last year's index.Driving these shifts in China are increased confidence in
shopping as "people felt more secure while shopping online,"
according to MasterCard. There is also an emerging view that shopping online
is "easy" among 89.5 percent of the Chinese respondents, up from
80.8 percent in 2011.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/23/2013
TOP↑
Singapore Tops International E-Government Rankings
The Waseda University Institute of e-Government in Japan
released its ninth annual international e-government rankings of 55 countries
last week. Retaining its position from 2012, Singapore
topped the rankings this year, followed by Finland
and USA.
Factors such as Singapore’s new e-citizen portal, along with the high
coverage of fibre-based broadband, upgrades to mobile government, and
OneInbox (a secured platform allowing citizens to receive government letters
electronically) led to Singapore’s high rank. Asian nations constitute 40 per
cent of the top ten countries this year. Taiwan
is ranked eighth, up from tenth in 2012, and Japan has moved from rank eight
to rank six. South Korea
remains in the top ten at rank four, down from its third position last year. Australia,
however, moved from its seventh position in 2012 to 11th this year.
The 55 nations included in the study are assessed on seven
criteria: national portal, presence and mandate of the government CIO,
e-services provided to citizens (such as e-voting and e-tax), promotion of
e-government, network infrastructure, digital inclusion, and use of ICT for
improving internal processes of the government. The 2013 study identified
open data and national ID card programmes as new trends this year. Trends
identified in 2012, including cloud computing, mobile technology, social
media, and cybersecurity, remained popular amongst governments. These annual
rankings by Waseda
University are led by
Dr Toshio Obi, Director of Institute of e-Government, in collaboration with
the International Academy of CIO. Organisations such as the United Nations,
International Telecommunication Union (ITU – the UN’s ICT agency) and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) contributed to
the assessment.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/02/2013
TOP↑
Thailand’s Smart City
Steps Up Network Progress
Under Thailand’s
first Smart City Project, Nakhon Nayok province has recently signed a MOU to
cover the entire province with broadband infrastructure and enhance the
connection among local agencies with high speed internet via optical fibre.
Presiding over the signing ceremony, Nakhon Nayok Governor Dr Surachai
Sirisaracam said that as the first Smart
City, Nakhon Nayok
would leverage ICT to strengthen the community’s competitiveness, and prepare
the province for the Asean Economic Community in 2015. In partnership with
True Corp, a broadband infrastructure will be built to cover four districts
and 408 villages by end of the year. “The province will receive a 2014 fiscal
budget of THB 625 million (US$ 21.07 million) for the smart city project,” he
revealed. After the new infrastructure has been established, the use of ICT
will be promoted to increase competitiveness among citizens in the community,
according to him. Latest communication technology will also be provided to
increase efficiency of local government agencies, improving the government’s
network with wireless internet and cloud computing to accommodate multiple
devices, he said. True Corp will further expand its 3G Plus Truemove H network, which currently covers
90 per cent of the province’s total 250,000 people. It will also expand the
fibre network to connect 21 local agencies with high speed internet. Apart
from enjoying convenient internet access, citizens of Nakhon Nayok will
benefit from a new e-commerce platform by True Corp that will modernise the
market channel to promote local products.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/14/2013
TOP↑
India Launching National Cloud Initiative
New Delhi: The
Government of India has launched a national cloud initiative —GI Cloud—to
help the government leverage cloud computing for effective delivery of
e-services. The project by the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) has
beeninitiated to support the implementation of the National e-Governance Plan
of India
(NeGP) and aims to create a private cloud environment for the use of
government departments and agencies at the centre and state levels. According
to DeitY, the adoption of cloud computing will accelerate the delivery of
e-services to citizens, and support other objectives such as increasing
standardisation, interoperability and integration, pooling of scarce and
underused resources, and the spread of best practices. Cloud computing
provides tremendous scope of speeding up the development and roll out of
e-governance applications while increasing government ICT efficiency.
A roadmap to GI Cloud was released by DeitY last week,
assessing the ICT infrastructure currently in place in India and defining an
implementation plan for GI Cloud. The roadmap declares that cloud computing
environments will be established at the national and state levels, starting
with one National Cloud, using new and existing data centres. The National
Cloud will provide services such as computing, storage and network
infrastructure, backup and recovery, and application development, supported
by the State Clouds. A GI Cloud Services Directory will be created to help public
sector organisations find and subscribe to relevant services. The
government’s AppStore will host both cloud and non-cloud enabled applications
which can easily be customised to meet the needs of different organisations.
The first step defined for the implementation of GI Cloud is the
establishment of an ‘Empowered Committee’ to provide strategic and regulatory
guidance to DeitY and other stakeholders. DeitY will publish guidelines and
standards for the security, application development, service delivery,
contract management, and pricing and procurement for GI Cloud. The roadmap
specifies that detailed studies of the existing infrastructure capacity at
the government data centres and the requirement for infrastructure and
applications need to be conducted for effective implementation of GI Cloud.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 02/27/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Sees Virtualization Technology Boom: Expert
A boom in the development of virtualization technology is
being observed in Azerbaijan,
Russian Naumen company's executive Andrey Milovanov told the press in Baku on Thursday.
Virtualization technology creates a virtual version of hardware platforms,
operating systems, storage devices, or network resources. According to
Milovanov, today virtualization technology is new not only for the
Azerbaijani ICT market, but also for the markets of the CIS countries
overall. The process of the development of virtualization technologies is
becoming increasingly popular. Milovanov said the development of this segment
of the ICT market may be underway with some delay due to certain reasons.
"At present, virtualization technology is acquiring more popularity in Azerbaijan.
I believe the development of infrastructure management technology will mark
the next step. This sphere is an innovation both for Azerbaijan and other CIS
countries," Milovanov said.
Azerbaijan's market,
according to him, will inevitably go through the stages of development,
although with some delay. For example, if one compares it with the Russian
market, where the boom of virtualization technologies has subsided, Azerbaijan
is observing the peak of its development. "The Azerbaijani market of
information technologies has great potential and growth prospects. Azerbaijan
is a priority country for us, amongst the CIS countries, as can be seen from
frequent visits of our specialists to the country. We are working at the
level of large institutions, one of which is the International Bank of Azerbaijan.
There are also other companies we are negotiating with," Milovanov said.
The company's future plans for the Azerbaijani market include
expanding the partner network, and negotiations are being held with local ICT
companies to that end. There is also a possibility of opening Naumen's
offices in Azerbaijan.
This issue, according to Milovanov, will gain relevance in 2014. In this
regard, the company has engaged the necessary resources for the study and
analysis of the ICT market of Azerbaijan.
Naumen is the leading Russian software solution developer for business and
state bodies. Naumen renders services on developing, implementation and
support of the software projects based on its own solutions. The company
cooperates with Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh and Uzbek ICT
companies.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/12/2013
TOP↑
Australia: Public-Private Partnership a Challenge for
Cybercrime Centers
Cybercrime
centers are too focused on protecting government systems, and within it,
public-private collaboration pose challenges when it comes to the fear of
information leakage during the sharing of data and the private sector's
worries that the government may penalize them. According to Ngair Teow-Hin,
CEO of SecureAge, many cybercrime centers are structured to focus on
protecting government systems and critical infrastructure. As such, they tend
to leave out the private sector, and subsequently, they cannot benefit from
such government efforts and their computer systems remain vulnerable to
cyberattacks, he explained. Both public and private sectors also face issues
with information sharing. His comments follow reports last month that 95
percent of Australia's Cyber Security Center's
staff will be from the country's Defense Department. The move has drawn
criticism the center will duplicate functions of the country's Department of
Defense's own Cybersecurity
Center and did not give
the private sector a say.
Paul
Black, managing principal for Verizon's Risk Team agreed, adding another key
challenge is the information sharing between public and private organization.
The public sector is hindered by regulatory factors and bureaucracy, while
the private sector holds back sharing because of competition and intellectual
property (IP), Black explained. Both sides are also worried that information
shared outside their respective organizations may be disclosed to
unauthorized parties, he added. Similarly, Japan's National Police Agency
(NPA) too, admitted last month it faced difficulties working with private
sector employees to leverage their skills for cybercrime investigations, over
concerns that classified information may be leaked. Additionally, private
sectors are also hesitant to collaborate with public sector organizations as
there is a fear that opening up to the government may open an opportunity for
them to find ways to penalize the private sector's activities or policies,
Black added. Cybersecurity is not a responsibility limited to either the
public or private sector but a shared responsibility that has a significant
impact on national IT systems and private organizations, the Verizon
executive noted.
"Both
sides must recognize safeguarding national systems, critical infrastructure,
IP can be significantly improved only when both parties combine their
resources and intelligence together," he said. Cybercrime centers need
to include people who truly understand cybercrime activities and technologies
used in such a center, Ngair advised. Many security professionals may be good
in traditional methods of protections but cannot keep up with the latest
threats and do not understand how cybercriminals' evolving tactics, he
pointed out. Such professionals may be able to prevent a "garden variety
of threats" but not advanced ones, Ngair warned. This is why a
cybercrime center needs capable cybersecurity professionals, especially
people who understand the intrinsic weaknesses in computer systems, the
SecureAge CEO said. Black added staff of a cybercrime center should have a
diverse range of skills, ranging from technical intelligence, research,
attorneys, developers, software engineers, data analytics professionals,
legal compliance officers and criminal investigators.
A
transparent and collaborative approach toward information sharing, with right
policies should be established to enhance collaboration within a cybercrime
center, he added. Proper legal frameworks and work flows need to be
established to protect both parties, he explained. Governments can set up a
separate group of experts who do not deal with classified systems so that the
group can share the information and knowledge freely with the private
industry, Ngair suggested. "This way, the private industry can benefit
from the shared information and wisdoms to protect themselves against
cybercriminals," he said.
From http://www.zdnet.com 03/08/2013
TOP↑
NORTH
AMERICA: U.S.
- How to Improve Government-to-Citizen Communication
The guiding principle of “Create once, publish everywhere”
holds true for publishing online content, and its relevance is increasing in
government-to-citizen digital communication. Public-sector alert
notifications company GovDelivery CEO Scott Burns echoed this sentiment
during the Digital Communications Tour: Northern California held on
Wednesday, April 3 in Oakland, Calif.
During the conference, Burns spoke to government employees involved with
citizen outreach and emphasized key strategies to improve citizen engagement
using constituent notifications. According to Burns, before reaching out to
citizens with notifications such as emergency alerts and traffic updates, for
example, agencies must first build a strong database of contacts. By
consolidating existing email contact lists using automated and integrated
solutions, governments can more efficiently add new contacts, and reach their
constituents. Not surprisingly, Burns said governments should continue to
think about the impact of cellphones, since more and more citizens are
accessing email and messages on their phones. Steve Ressler, founder and CEO
of public-sector knowledge network GovLoop, said mobile use is definitely on
the rise and that there are many ways government departments can communicate
with citizens via their cellphones.
“We’re seeing mobile change how we do citizen engagement, so
you’re at a BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] station and you can text out when
the latest train is coming,” Ressler said. COPE [create once, publish
everywhere] is an effective strategy to get updates and notifications to the
public, eliminating redundancies while still getting the message out to the
people who need it. Sending one message in multiple forms (press release,
social media, text message) can be effective as long
as the information being sent out is worth distributing through multiple
channels. “It’s not a new concept, but government communication is very
complicated. You have lots of different topics of information being managed
in many different agencies,” Burns said. “It is a trend, it’s not a cure-all,
but it is an important trend because [governments] have to do more with
constrained resources.” But some government employees feel departments have a
long way to go before government-to-citizen communication is a fine-tuned
instrument. Nicole Neditch, Oakland's
online engagement manager, said there’s still room for improvement. “I think
governments are really far behind as far as the way in which people interact
with websites,” Neditch said. “It has been a one-way communication for a long
time and now people are starting to dive into a two-way conversation on the
Web. I think we’re going to see a lot more services being offered online in
the government sector.”
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 04/05/2013
TOP↑
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Unesco Adopts Open
Access Policy
Starting
July 2013, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) will make hundreds of digital publications available to
millions of people free-of-charge, thanks to its recent implementation of an
Open Access Policy. “Advancements in education, science and culture are made
possible through broad and unfettered access to research and knowledge,
enabling policymakers, researchers, practitioners and the general public to
use and build upon this knowledge. As an intergovernmental organization,
UNESCO has a fundamental interest in ensuring that the outputs created by the
Organisation, including publications, data and resources, are available to
the widest possible audience,” the agency said. Apart from maximum freedom
use of the agency’s publications, the policy will also address the spiraling
costs of the scientific literature, which is essential to researchers.
According to an official statement, resources published through UNESCO will
be assigned a license that allows anyone to use any content for as long as
the original author and UNESCO are given credit for the original creation. In
this aspect, UNESCO will make the publications available online through a
multilingual Repository which will be launched in the coming weeks.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/16/2013
TOP↑
ANZ: ICT Strategies
Take Centre Stage
Federal
and state governments – in Australia
and New Zealand
– are refining their ICT strategies. These road-maps clarify just how the ICT
dollar will be spent this decade – while delivering faster, cost-effective
and improved services to citizens. Broadly, the focus is on corporate
governance, modernising technology infrastructure, boosting service delivery,
and engaging with the industry at the outset. More recently, South Australia
unveiled its ICT strategy, with its ‘South Australia Connected – Ready for
the Future’. South Australia
is not immune from pressures worldwide to do more with less with the spending
dollar, this strategy notes. The focus is to stay “connected,” and policy
planners must innovate to address the needs of information-savvy citizens.
In New South Wales,
The NSW
Government’s ‘ICT Strategy 2012’
seeks to bring NSW out of the “dark ages and into the 21st century.” This
strategy cautions there are no “easy or quick fixes” to how the ICT dollar is
spent. This state aims to use its annual AU$2 billion ICT spending programme
more effectively. The goal is to increase competition, manage time and
resources, and tackle the costs and risks of embracing new platforms.
In Victoria,
The
Victorian government’s ‘ICT Strategy 2013’ observes that portfolio management is one
panacea to helping agencies avoid unnecessary investment, while freeing up
resources. Where practical, agencies may reuse and share ICT systems and
contracts rather than develop new solutions. Plans are under-way to establish
a single common register of ICT business systems. This register identifies
sharing opportunities as an alternative to developing new systems. Victoria is exploring
a mix of in-house, managed and outsourced service delivery. Planners are
focusing on staying cost-effective, responding to changing needs, and
leveraging available market expertise and opportunities. The Queensland
Government’s ‘ICT Strategy 2012’
seeks to work more closely with the ICT industry. This collaboration
reinforces partnering with the private sector, while identifying new ways to
do business. This engagement involves teaming up with solutions providers to
support government initiatives.
At the
federal level
The
Australian Government’s ‘ICT Strategy 2012-2015’ offers a comprehensive roadmap for reform.
This strategy aims to use ICT to simplify and integrate government services,
while keeping communications private and secure, especially for citizen data.
The focus is on innovation and a strategic use of ICT, while harnessing the
full potential of a digital economy and new technologies, including cloud
services. The federal government wants to engage more openly with citizens
and the industry. It aims to create, generate, share, manage, and efficiently
use information resources.
Other more
broad-based strategies include
The
Tasmanian Government’s ‘ICT Strategy 2012’ The states of Western Australian, Tasmania,
and Northern Territory have ICT strategies as well — however, not as detailed
as the Eastern seaboard states. Across the Tasman, in New Zealand, the government has
its own version of a strategy, ‘Government ICT Directions and Priorities’.
The New Zealand
strategy is currently under scrutiny. Plans are under-way to refine this
roadmap further — while building on what the administration has delivered to
date. Cloud computing is under closer investigation — including cost-savings
this platform delivers.
Adding to
these strategies, the Australian and New Zealand governments have also
appointed government chief information officers (GCIOs). These GCIOs add
gravitas to how strategies are implemented, while ensuring that
technologies-of-choice match agency-wide needs, are cost-effective, and
deliver the biggest bang for the buck. States with GCIOs (or equivalent)
include Queensland, NSW, South
Australia, and a more recent addition in Victoria. The Federal government, on the
other hand, has split the role of GCIO into two under the auspices of the
peak agency AGIMO. These roles incorporate the Australian Government Chief
Technology Officer, and GCIO — with a sharing of responsibilities.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 04/16/2013
TOP↑
African
Union Commission Makes ICT Priority Project
The African Union Commission (AUC) says it has, for the first
time, made information and communications one of its priority areas, urging
the media in Africa to collaborate with it in the promotion of Africa's image. Mrs. Habiba Mejri-Cheikh, Director of
Information and Communications at the African Union (AU), stressed the need
for journalists to influence public opinion by creating awareness on the
socio-economic and political development of the continent. She said: “Our
role as African media practitioners is to promote the true image of Africa in
all development areas so that Africa can
occupy its rightful position in the world arena.' “Africa’s position in
socio-political and economic matters in the world should be clearly
publicized to wipe off the negative image foreign media continue to paint
about Africa,” Mejri-Cheikh said Wednesday in an address delivered on her
behalf by Esther Azaa Tankou, senior editorial officer at the AUC, at a pre-conference
media workshop in Abidjan. Journalists are meeting ahead of the annual
meeting of African Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Economic
Commission of Africa (ECA), scheduled to take place 21-26 March. Mejri-Cheikh
said the media had the responsibility to report on all issues concerning Africa in a balanced manner – the good and the bad --
as well as to hold states accountable on the issues they agree to and those
that bind them by virtue of being part of the continental body. According to
Mejri-Cheikh, so many activities have been undertaken by the Directorate of
Information and Communication of the AUC to enhance the media landscape in Africa and contribute to build capacity of Panafrican
journalists. African Finance and Economy Ministers as well as Govenors of
Central Banks will be meeting in Abidjan under
the theme “Industrialization for an Emerging Africa” to dialogue on issues
pertinent to the development agenda of Africa.
From
http://www.afriquejet.com/ 03/22/2013
TOP↑
African
Countries Implement Child Online Protection Initiative
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has
partnered with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to complete
the implementation of the Child Online Protection initiative in six African
countries before it is rolled out more broadly throughout the continent. The
COP initiative will be rolled out in Cameroon,
The Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius, Nigeria
and Sierra Leone, as a
result of plans finalized during the CTO's third Commonwealth Cybersecurity
Forum, which ended in Cameroon
Friday. COP was established as an international collaborative network for
action to promote the online protection of children worldwide in conjunction
with U.N. agencies and partners. It was launched in the wake of the ITU's
Global Cybersecurity Agenda, which seeks to ensure safety and security in
online environments to afford children the opportunity to benefit fully from
the ICT revolution. With little or no monitoring mechanisms in place in African
countries, COP is expected to tackle cybersecurity by addressing legal,
technical, organizational and procedural issues as well as capacity building
and international cooperation. It was launched in Mauritius
in October last year, and after it is rolled out to the initial set of six
countries, it will be implemented across Africa
by April 2014.
Some of the key topics discussed this week at the forum
include how a global approach to cybersecurity can assure the safety,
security and resilience of cyberspace; the implications of Critical
Information Infrastructure Protection for developing countries as facilitated
by Microsoft and the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST);
and the impact of Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) on cybersecurity
in Africa. At a special briefing session jointly organized by the
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the CTO on Wednesday, Commonwealth
parliamentarians examined international and regional best practices on key
legal aspects of electronic commerce with a view to understand how to deliver
their mandate effectively. They recommended improved cooperation between
Commonwealth organizations such as the CTO and CPA with other relevant
organizations such as UNCTAD, ITU and Interpol, leading to transborder
cooperation on cybersecurity based on international treaties.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 04/26/2013
TOP↑
KENYA: Launching National ICT Master Plan
Kenya mid
February launched the National ICT Master Plan, a strategy document that will
guide the country's ICT direction in the next five years. Dr. Bitange Ndemo,
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication says
that the country aims to be a Knowledge Economy by 2017. He was speaking at
the Kenya ICT Board(KICTB) organised function at the
Sarova Stanley in Nairobi.
The function was attended by a cross section of ICT stakeholders. Notably
present was Micah Cheserem, the chair of the Commision on Revenue Allocation,
Mr. Francis W. Wangusi, CCK Director General and John Sergon, ICT
Director-Directorate of e-Government, ICT is expected to contribute greatly
to Kenya's gross domestic product. "This master plan will take Kenya to Canaan,"
commented Ndemo. At the core of the master plan are three strategic pillars;
Enhancing public value through service delivery and access to public
services, strengthening ICT as a driver of the industry by establishing an
ecosystem for ICT adoption and the development of ICT businesses that head an
understanding of emerging markets' needs.
The master plan was prepared by lead consultants Harry Hare,
who is also the publisher of CIO East Africa, Wadzanai Chiota-Madziva and
edited by Joseph McOluoch with support from the National Communication
Secretariat, IBM Corporate Service Corps, Creative Industry Task Force,
Connected Health Task Force, Fidaly Kezar and Dorothy Nzeki from HP and Sally
Kimeu and Tim Hirsch from Cisco. Ndemo says that the master plan is already
under implementation. Paul Kukubo, KICTB CEO says the master plan has been in
circulation for months with the aim of accepting input from the industry, but
not much input had been received. The master plan will continue receiving
"substantial input" for the next few weeks, before being finalised.
The document replaces the 2006 master plan, which was seven pages long and
focused on infrastructure. Ndemo says that he faced a lot of challenges when
he proposed the establishment of the East African Marine System (TEAMS) to
bring 3 Terabits Per second of connectivity to the country, with sceptics
questioning who would use the capacity seeing the country was then on a 1.5
Gigabit per second satellite link (1000 Gbps = 1 Tbps). Since then, Kenya
has had four undersea cables and a fifth cable is currently in its initial
stages, with two more undersea cables planned to bring the total to seven.
Not much detail has been given on the last three cables.
The overall goals of themaster plan include connecting every
Kenyan to the Internet. "Guaranteeing every Kenyan 1 Mbps of
connectivity is not a dream," the PS said. Recent whitespace trials by
Microsoft and Indigo Telecom had seen residents in rural Kenya receiving up to 8 megabits
per second though their TV aerials. The country is also on the verge of a
joint roll out a 4G-LTE
network by a consortium of telecommunication firms and government. The PS
says that the government stands to make lots of savings from automating
various agencies, such as procurement. He said the digital automation of the
lands registry had increased collection of the registry from KSh. 800 million
to KSh. 9 billion. John Sergon, ICT Director-Directorate of e-Government
stated that 19 counties were now connected via telepresence units. Cheserem
said that Kenya
loses KSh. 300 billion to corruption annually, and automation would go a long
way on stemming this.
However, Professor Tim Waema from the University
of Nairobi's School of Computing
and Informatics cautions that in the contrary, IT has been emerging as the
new face of corruption in the country, where various scams now involve the
use of ICT. Some of the highlights of the master plan's implementation
include the January 23rd launch of the Konza Technology city. The PS says
that Konza has received a lot of interest, way more than he had imagined it
would. This he says include expression of interest to set up in Konza by two
device manufacturing companies which Ndemo says will help bring much needed
and absent manufacturing to Kenya.
He says that the University
of Nairobi had
developed a prototype digital set top box, but was unable to raise any funding for mass manufacture of the same. The
university has also worked on a prototype tablet and is now looking for funds
to manufacture the same. The master plan however faces many challenges.
Kukubo says that Kenya
spends only 0.3 percent of its annual budget on ICT, compared with other
governments that spend about 5 percent. In a panel discussing the master plan,
Harry Mwangi, KICTB Public Sector and Shared Services project manager says
that he hopes the next government will rationalise the ICT sector in a bid to
avoid duplication of strategies within ministries. In addition, a number of
ministries faced ICT implementation challenges as such projects fell under
non -ICT managers. At the event, Dr. Kamal Bhttacharya, Director IBM Research
-Africa said the firm would establish a supercomputer in Nairobi. He however did not give specifics.
From
http://allafrica.com/ 03/21/2013
TOP↑
TANZANIA: To Draft New ICT Laws
As technology allows more users to conduct business and
transact online, Tanzania
has recognized the need to formulate better ICT laws to protect users against
with the growth of cybercrime and other computer-related offences. “We are in
the consultation process with various experts and we hope by the end of the
year we will be through, and forward the matter to relevant processes and
eventually we will have laws in place,” said Director of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) at the Ministry of Communications, Science
and Technology, Dr Zaipuna Yonah. Yonah conceded that while a vast number of
online transaction are made on a daily basis, Tanzania does not have the right
laws in place to protect all users. “So many people are now using mobile
phones, almost half of the country’s population, and so many transactions are
being made online and yet our legal control is much limited,” he added.
According to Tanzania Daily News, “he added that with the country’s national
ICT backbone well spread out, so many challenges related to cyber were
inevitable and the legal systems need to be strengthened. He called on
business operators and investors to ensure that their companies are being run
responsibly.” Yonah stressed that Kenya does have cyber laws, but
it lacks the focus on security, which in important to online users. “We want
to ensure secure businesses, investments and make sure that our people stay
safe in this technological world. In Kenya
they have ICT law but it is not focused on cyber security, I am glad that Tanzania
is leading the way and other countries will follow. We are helping
participants to put in place systems that works and we have technologies that
can help prevent some of the crimes especially those involving stealing money
from ATM machines.”
From
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/ 04/27/2013
TOP↑
EU: Brussels Under Pressure
to Soften Data Protection Rules
The European Commission is coming under pressure from
countries that include the UK
and the US
to ease the data protection rules proposed for European countries, instead
aligning European data protection laws with international legislation. The EC
is looking to create a unified set of data protection rules for the EU’s 27
countries, while in the process doing some streamlining (dropping the
requirement for companies to have a named data protection officer) and
beefing up privacy protection. The rules are meant to be voted on in June,
but the proposal as written is drawing a raft of criticism. The Financial
Times reports that a memo drafted by the Irish presidency, representing EU
countries, notes that "several member states have voiced their
disagreement with the level of prescriptiveness of a number of the proposed
obligations in the draft regulation." The UK
and the US
have submitted their own notes on the matter, the FT said.
The issues, which European Parliament is expected to debate
beginning this week, are far-ranging. For instance, when it comes to privacy,
the rules would require explicit consent from individuals in order for
companies to use their data—something that companies say would add an extra layer
of complexity and oversight to its administrative processes that would be
overly onerous. The rules would also require businesses to notify of personal
data breaches within 24 hours—again, a stringent requirement that not all
enterprises would be able to ability to easily comply with. Some however,
point out the level of risk involved. “We support the need to facilitate the
data economy in Europe because free
exchange, storage and analysis of personal data is
essential to a healthy digital economy and society,” said Gary Clark, vice
president of EMEA at SafeNet, in an email to Infosecurity. “However, we
shouldn’t underestimate the impact that lack of consumer confidence will have
on the economy if an organization receives a data breach and peoples’ personal
data is taken without consequence.”
Another item in the proposal gives online users the “right to
be forgotten,” so that individuals can essentially ask a Google or Facebook
to delete every mention of them anywhere in their records. Proponents say the
option will save teens from living with poor decision-making in terms of
online sharing for the rest of their lives; opponents (i.e., Google) say the
proposal would irrevocably harm its business value. One amendment that Brussels is expected to
debate is the idea of taking a "risk-based" approach, so that
individual countries or businesses would be subject to the interpretation the
law as appropriate. "If you have a butcher whose data processing only
affects 20 local people, you need to be able to treat an infringement there
differently from a company with private health records," said a
spokesperson for the UK's Information Commissioner's Office told the
Guardian.
"Regulations are key so long as they are enforceable and
don’t have unintended consequences like inhibiting the economic development
that European citizens desperately need to see," said Clark.
"But, any relaxation of red tape and harsh penalties needs to be
mirrored by commercial and public sector bodies taking more ambitious,
unilateral steps to strengthen data protection themselves. Greater
reassurance and protection will be achievable when organizations that
exchange and hold vast volumes of personal data re-build their data
protection strategies around a secure breach approach that extends strong
data encryption to all personal data."
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
03/07/2013
TOP↑
Europe's
Broken Telecom Policy
The European telecommunications sector is facing unprecedented
challenges. Total revenue in the sector shrank 8% between 2007 and 2011, a
period in which other regions, most notably East Asia and North
America, saw sustained growth. At the same time, European
telecommunications companies need to invest in upgrading network
infrastructure to allow much faster Internet-access speeds than are generally
available in Europe today. The European
Digital Agenda targets download rates of 30 megabits per second for all EU
citizens by 2020, and speeds above 100 mbps for at least 50% of broadband
subscribers in the EU. According to the European Commission, only 12% of
fixed broadband lines are at least 30 mbps, and just 2.5% are 100 mbps or
more. Europe's telcos can contribute to the
general economic recovery that the Continent so badly needs. But as matters
stand, the telecom industry is heavily regulated and unduly fragmented. The
European Council has declared that strengthening the Digital Single Market is
a major policy priority. The European Commission's new strategy, which will
be presented later this year, needs to focus on how best to streamline
regulation and remove obstacles to further market consolidation.
Once a global leader in telecom infrastructure and innovation,
Europe today faces some key disadvantages
compared with the rest of the world. While allowing for market liberalization
at the national level, EU policy has focused on keeping wholesale and retail
prices low to promote accessibility of telecom services. Overly intrusive
regulation of wholesale access to operators' networks has led in many cases
to an inefficient market structure. The result is a degree of market
fragmentation across Europe unseen anywhere
else in the world. In the EU there are more than 1,200 fixed telecom operators,
100 mobile network operators, 200 mobile virtual network operators and 1,500
cable operators. In the U.S.,
by contrast, there are six major operators; in China there are only three. In
the U.S.,
four operators control 86% of the market, which has around 330 million
subscribers. In Europe, which has a total of
645 million subscribers, it takes the top 15 operators to reach the same
combined market share.
This highly fragmented market structure has led to declining
revenue across the sector, which in turn has substantially diminished firms'
investment capacity. A cycle of declining value and decreasing investment is
detrimental both to EU citizens, who will see far less innovation as a
result, and for the entire European economy. That's why Europe's
entire market-structure and regulatory strategy needs to be rethought. The
sector must be placed on a more sustainable, market-based footing before it
can provide a vibrant communications network. Consolidation, both
domestically and across national borders, is vitally needed. Allowing
operators to achieve larger economies of scale is crucial to the development
of next-generation broadband infrastructures across Europe.
Finally, with the tremendous increase in mobile network usage,
spectrum is becoming an increasingly essential resource both for telecom
operators and for the public at large. A thorough review of EU spectrum
policy, one that takes into account the negative effect of high auction costs
and fragmented national licensing regimes, must be undertaken to allow
operators to recoup investment within a shorter time frame. Keeping prices
low in national markets, rather than fostering competition across the Single
Market, was a good strategy early on, while the sector was still growing. But
in today's market, such policy is no longer reasonable, credible or
effective. In a digitally interconnected world, the most relevant geographic
marketplace is global. It is this overarching fact that European competition
and industrial policies must now boldly address.
From
http://www.i-policy.org/ 04/26/2013
TOP↑
European
Commission Plans Guide Through Global Internet Policy Labyrinth
The Commission today unveiled plans for the Global Internet
Policy Observatory (GIPO), an online platform to improve knowledge of and
participation of all stakeholders across the world in debates and decisions
on Internet policies. GIPO will be developed by the Commission and a core
alliance of countries and Non Governmental Organisations involved in Internet
governance. Brazil, the African Union, Switzerland, the Association for
Progressive Communication, Diplo Foundation and the Internet Society have
agreed to cooperate or have expressed their interest to be involved in the
project. The Global Internet Policy Observatory will act as a clearinghouse
for monitoring Internet policy, regulatory and technological developments
across the world.
It will:
•automatically monitor Internet-related policy developments at
the global level, making full use of "big data" technologies;
•identify links between different fora and discussions, with
the objective to overcome "policy silos";
•help contextualise information, for example by collecting
existing academic information on a specific topic, highlighting the
historical and current position of the main actors on a particular issue,
identifying the interests of different actors in various policy fields;
•identify policy trends, via quantitative and qualitative
methods such as semantic and sentiment analysis;
•provide easy-to-use briefings and reports by incorporating
modern visualisation techniques;
The objective of GIPO is to increase expertise and
understanding among all actors, including countries, NGOs and interest groups
which may have so far been marginalised in Internet debates and decisions.
The Commission fears that the vast range of policy areas impacted by the
Internet, combined with a highly complex institutional framework, may cause
disengagement from these discussions, which must be truly inclusive in order
to ensure a globally legitimate and sustainable governance framework for the
Internet.
GIPO will not replace existing mechanisms and fora where
global Internet governance is discussed, such as the Internet Governance
Forum. To the contrary, its objective is to be a tool-box for stakeholders
and an instrument to strengthen existing Internet policy-making processes,
making full use of modern technology. The European Commission is 100%
committed to supporting the open internet. It hopes to safeguard the open
nature of global internet governance, including a model which is more inclusive
of the needs and priorities of all actors, including those from the
developing world. (see SPEECH/13/167). In the coming
months, the Commission will carry out a feasibility study into GIPO, and
pending those results, the development of the online platform could commence
in 2014.
From
http://ec.europa.eu/ 05/15/2013
TOP↑
FINLAND: An IT Nation Plans for the Future,
Somewhere Between Openness and Privacy
Entrepreneur Matias Lindroos holds up his iPhone as he
explains his business venture in a busy cafe in central Helsinki. "If you don't have coins on
you, all you need is this and you can park on the street." A blue dot on
a map represents a person's current location, and a message above it says
"3 euros per hour." When the car's registration number is inputted,
the parking fee is automatically charged to that individual's credit card.
This is a smartphone application called Parkman, launched by Lindroos, 26, in
2010. As parking charges in Helsinki
vary from place to place, the software downloads and presents information on
various municipally-owned lots across the city. "Local governments could
keep the data to themselves, but then this kind of software could never be
made. The more it is made available, the more entrepreneurs can come up with
all sorts of ideas," says Lindroos.
The concept of "open data" is gaining ground in
Europe and the United
States. It means that citizens and
businesses accessing data held by governments and local authorities can
create better services. In Finland,
the open data concept is being implemented across the country. The Ministry
of Transport and Communications is leading the charge in examining what data
can be made available, and a tentative proposal will be presented around
March. Since the 1990s, the growth of leading international cellphone
manufacturer Nokia has given Finland
the impetus to position information technology at the center of its national
strategy. It has also made broadband Internet access a legal right for all
citizens. However, as Nokia's fortunes have waned, the open data movement has
taken on greater significance as a means for industrial development.
"Granting access to government data will create new
business opportunities," says Minister of Housing and Communications
Krista Kiuru, 38, who is in charge of formulating the country's IT strategy.
According to one organization involved in the open data industry, detailed
maps that even display the locations of trees and rocks, and information on
the real-time locations of fixed-route buses have already been made
available. Information technology is crucial to efficient national management
in Finland,
which has a large government and an extensive and costly welfare system. The
introduction of social security numbers--an issue that met with great
opposition in Japan--took
effect in the 1960s. The scope of information held by the government is
wide-ranging; for example, it knows the religious affiliation of each
citizen. "The Finnish people, who have access to generous welfare
benefits, mostly place a great deal of trust in the government," says
Katya Valaskivi, a University
of Tampere senior media
research scholar and associate professor. "They have attached greater
importance to the benefits of the services they can receive, rather than
concerns regarding the misuse of information by the government."
Finland has also
striven to improve transparency, which have put it atop Reporters Without
Borders' World Press Freedom Index. The websites of various ministries and
agencies feature staff photos, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses, even for
those in charge. Most make themselves available for interviews, as was the
case with Kiuru, the minister of housing and communications, who responded
openly to questions at a cafe in Helsinki.
State Secretary Olli-Pekka Heinonen, 48, the equivalent of Japan's chief Cabinet secretary,
explained the government's shift to open data. "One of the negative
sides of IT is that society becomes more complex and interconnected. The most
vulnerable societies are centrally led and homogeneous ones," he said.
"Society is better if people are more agile on an individual level of
society with good access to information. It also makes society less
vulnerable because information is not only in the hands of a few but in the
hands of everybody to react to different shocks our societies will
face."
Finland has also
made efforts to utilize information technology in health and nursing care.
Trials are continuing to make all personal information available via various
platforms. The city of Espoo is located west
of Helsinki,
on the other side of a bay. Inside a high-ceilinged, low-rise building is a
showroom measuring around 50 square meters that is operated by Active Life Village,
a venture business that develops IT services aimed at elderly people. Its
floors and furniture contain various sensors that collect data on the
location of residents, their breathing, their medicine intake and other
information for use in their nursing care. Managing director Juha Lipiainen,
55, has also invested in an Internet service called "Taltioni,"
which means "my record" in Finnish. It started in January of this
year as a national project, backed with government funding.
Taltioni can be used to access electronic health records
managed by doctors, and future coordination with information collected by Active Life Village
is under consideration. "It's a unique approach that emerged from the
idea of keeping track of your own medical information yourself," says
Lipiainen. He displayed a screen of his own data, which included a record of
the dental treatment he had received recently. Other companies are free to
come up with their own applications, and there is already one in development
that lets users calculate their remaining lifespan based on their health
condition. The service's principal objective is the sharing of information
with doctors and other relevant parties. The inland city of Oulu lies around 200 kilometers from the
north pole, but free wifi Internet hotspots abound within its environs.
"I think we will ultimately have the ability to record our entire
lives," says Petri Pulli, 55, a professor at the University of Oulu
who is researching the use of IT in supporting the elderly. He believes that
a development of this kind would be of great assistance to dementia
sufferers.
For example, a video camera attached to a pair of spectacles
would capture footage of scenery and people that would be stored via the
Internet along with location information and other details. This data could
be searched using a face recognition function, and if a match is found with a
person in the user's line of sight, their name and data would be displayed.
Data on the user's relationship with that person would also be added. However,
Pulli has some reservations about such technology. "Privacy represents a
major obstacle to this project. Would it truly be possible to control all of
your online personal information yourself? I don't know the answer to that
yet."
PRIVACY AND CONTROL
University of Oulu professor Petri
Pulli writes pairs of contrasting words on a drawing pad.
"Individual" on the left, and "society" on the right.
"Privacy" on the left, and "control" on the right. The
question at hand is whether an emphasis should be placed on individual
privacy, or regulating society as a whole, even at the risk of sacrificing
privacy. "Compared with nations like the United
States where greater importance is attached to the
individual, Finland
is closer to the words I wrote on the right. In a country like this, it is
possible that experiments to record our memories via the Internet will gain
acceptance," Pulli said.
KENYA: AFRICA'S IT LEADER
On the eve of a general election on March 4th, the Kenyan
capital of Nairobi
is abuzz with anticipation. "This will be the first election in Kenya
supported by the Internet," says Juliana Rotich, 35, on the balcony of a
building bathed in harsh equatorial sunlight. "Problems might occur, but
I'm proud to be part of a new challenge." She is moving ahead with
preparations for the launch of a website where users will be able to post
information about the election on a map. The site is named
"Uchaguzi." It means "choice" in Swahili, and its main
purpose is to keep an eye on riots and other occurrences. Rotich works in
collaboration with NGOs, and has created a system through which posts made
via cellphone text messages, e-mail, Facebook, and other networking sites can
be verified for accuracy and passed on to the police for quick response. This
new initiative utilizes the technology of "Ushahidi," a Kenyan-born
map information platform. Ushahidi is Swahili for "witness."
It played an important role in aggregating damage reports
immediately after the Haiti
earthquake in 2010, as well as the temblors that hit Christchurch,
New Zealand and northeast Japan
the following year. Rotich is one of Ushahidi's four founders. It originated
following the previous general election in 2007. Citizens displeased with the
result went on a rampage that caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people.
Rotich and her collaborators created a makeshift site with the help of IT
experts around the world via the Internet, with the aim of displaying
up-to-date information on riots in different areas on a map. It can be used
for free by anyone, and is currently being utilized in more than 30 languages
for various purposes, such as monitoring air pollution in China and mapping the poorest segment of the
population in Paraguay.
"Other people are coming up with a stream of ideas that we never
envisioned," says Rotich. "This is where the openness of the
Internet truly comes into play."
Journalists who will report on the election have also been
developing a new platform of their own. The number of
journalists are few for a country as vast as Kenya. This is where a website
launched by Dickens Olewe, 31, digital manager for the country's third
largest newspaper, The Star, can come into play. It allows readers to upload
photos from the election taken with their cellphones. There are also plans for
an aerial photography project that will utilize unmanned drone aircraft. It
could also be used when disastrous flooding occurs, or in war zones where it
is difficult for journalists to enter. In sub-Saharan Africa,
the gross national income per capita is only around $1,200. However,
according to the World Bank, the number of cellphone subscriptions per 100
people has risen rapidly from 12 in
2005 to 45 in 2010.
Despite this, Kenya
has become one of Africa's IT leaders with
accomplishments that include M-Pesa, a service that enables money to be
transferred using cellphone text messages. It is also the home of iHub, an
incubation zone for IT companies in Nairobi
where the offices of Rotich and her Ushahidi colleagues are based. "This
is Nairobi's Silicon Valley,"
says iHub manager Jimmy Gitonga, 44, proudly. Around 50 new ventures have
taken off from this facility, which was created with financial support from
IT companies.
In mid-January, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt traveled to Nairobi soon after visiting North Korea. He toured five
African nations in total, including newly independent South Sudan and
economically burgeoning Rwanda,
and later made the following statement on his personal blog: "Nairobi has emerged as a
serious tech hub and may become the African leader." This year, Google
established a website that gathered information on candidates in the Kenyan
general election. It also worked in cooperation with the government body that
conducted the election, and supported the creation of a voter registration
system for cellphone users. The company also intends to provide funding for
The Star's drone project. "Google has a strong interest in Ushahidi and
its mapping technology," says Macharia Gaitho, managing editor of Kenya's
largest newspaper, Daily Nation. "They've come here to do business, not
operate a charity scheme."
From
http://ajw.asahi.com/ 03/31/2013
TOP↑
RUSSIA: Ratifying Personal Data Protection
“Convention 108”
The Russian
Federation today strengthened its
commitment to the protection of personal data by ratifying the Convention for
the protection of individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal
Data, also known as “Convention 108”.
Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland received Russia´s
instrument of accession from the Permanent Representative and Ambassador of
the Russian Federation
to the Council of Europe Alexander Alekseev. The Convention is today the only
legally binding international instrument in its field. Open to any country,
it has the potential to become a global standard, providing legal certainty
and predictability in international relations. “Convention 108” grants
individuals the right to the protection of their personal data, aiming
also to prevent any abuses which may accompany the processing of these data.
The treaty will enter into force in respect of the Russian Federation on 1 September
2013. Russia
is the 46th state to become a party to the convention.
Created in 1981, “Convention 108” has become the backbone of personal data
protection legislation in Europe and beyond.
It was drafted in a technologically neutral style, which enables its provisions
to be fully valid today, regardless of technological developments. The text
is currently being updated to ensure that its data protection principles are
still valid for new tools and practices. The convention establishes a number
of principles for states to transpose into their domestic legislation to
ensure that data is processed fairly and through procedures established by
law, for a specific purpose, that it is stored for no longer than is required
for this purpose, and that individuals have a right to have access, rectify
or erase their data. An additional protocol requires each party to establish
an independent authority to ensure compliance with data protection principles
and lays down rules on trans-border data flows.
From
http://www.i-policy.org/ 05/15/2013
TOP↑
UK: National Cyber Crime Unit in October;
Communications Data Bill Confirmed
James Brokenshire, the UK’s
minister for security, yesterday outlined his view of the cyber threat, and
the steps that the UK
government is taking to counter it, in a speech at the Chartered Institute
for IT. Much of the speech would have been of little interest to his direct
IT audience, but was used, as happens in all such political speeches, to talk
to the wider population. He outlined the threat in broad terms and highlighted
some of law enforcement’s recent successes against cyber crime. Three items
of particular relevance emerged. The first is that the planned new National
Cyber Crime Unit, born from an amalgamation of the Met’s Police Central
e-Crime Unit and the Serious Organised Crime Unit (SOCA) is on course for an
official launch in October. “At the heart of our vision for how we can tackle
cyber crime more effectively,” said Brokenshire, “is the National Cyber Crime
Unit.” He said that it has been operational in ‘shadow’ form since the
beginning of March, and that co-operation between the PCeU and SOCA is
already having effect.
“This joint working,” he explained, “has already led to
arrests against those involved in a phishing scam against the UK banking system and its customers, and a
criminal network, linked to established UK organised crime groups, concentrated on
high value fraud on both UK
and international corporate victims.” A second feature was an apparent
about-turn in government thinking on an international cyber crime treaty.
Last year the Foreign Secretary William Hague called for just that.
Brokenshire’s thinking is that the existing Budapest Convention is as good as
we’re likely to get. “We do not believe that any new treaty would be any more
effective,” he announced. It is also noticeable that the threats outlined by
Brokenshire are almost entirely ‘criminal’ rather than state-sponsored –
there was no Chinese-threat rhetoric like that currently in the US.
In fact, neither ‘China’
nor ‘Chinese’ appear in the speech at all; and the direct terrorist threat is
downplayed: “To date, terrorists have not seen cyber-attack as an important
means of conducting their actions,” but he pointedly added, “we and other
governments are very mindful of the fact that this could change.”
This provided the perfect introduction to the third feature:
the Communications Data Bill. This proposed bill has been roundly criticized
by civil rights activists – and many members of parliament. It has been
dubbed a ‘Snoopers’ Charter’; so Brokenshire prepared his ground with, “we
must ensure that improved security and tackling terrorist threats does not
come at the expense of human rights. Our threshold is therefore high,
ensuring that freedom of expression and speech are not compromised.” But the
Communications Data Bill will proceed. “We remain committed to introducing
the Bill at the earliest possible opportunity.” He explained that it is
“about who was communicating, when, from where, how and with whom; it is the
context but not the content of a communication;” and that it “is a vital
tool” that “enables the police to build a picture of the activities, contacts
and whereabouts of a person who is under investigation.”
It is unlikely that activists will be convinced. Last month,
based on the information that the Communications Data Bill will provide to
law enforcement, “it was revealed Parliamentarians have been visiting an
‘adulterous affairs’ website more times in a single month than the official
websites for the Treasury, Ministry of Justice and Department for Education.
That’s 52,000 hits in seven months for ‘Out of Town Affairs’,” reported Big
Brother Watch. This is used to highlight the problems with the Communications
Data Bill – the IP address doesn’t specify which parliamentarians are
‘guilty’, so implicates all; but at the same time the communications data
specifies the content: “it’s still pretty obvious what you’ve been doing!”
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
03/15/2013
TOP↑
LATIN
AMERICA: Cuba
Approves Internet Domain Rules
The Cuban government has approved a set of guidelines on
internet domain names, according to a decree published Thursday. The
guidelines establish a system for the distribution and registration of domain
names for all government bodies and other agencies, the decree said. The
rules were aimed at ensuring the internet domain name system is a
"distributed, hierarchical, and scalable service with a decentralized
control," it said. The approval of the guidelines indicates Cuba's internet capacity is bound to expand,
as the government said an underwater fiber-optic network, set up with Venezuela
in 2011 as an alternative to satellite internet service, is currently
undergoing "traffic tests." Once in full operation, the network is
expected to greatly expand the internet capacity of the island country, which
has been forced to access internet through a much slower and more expensive
satellite connection because of the U.S.-led embargo against it.
From
http://english.news.cn 04/12/2013
TOP↑
NORTH
AMERICA: Canada
9th in Cloud Regulations - Industry Group
The country still has to fix its cybercrime law to make cloud
computing more attractive for organizations, says The Software Alliance. Canada
ranks ninth among 24 nations whose laws and regulations encourage cloud
computing, according to an association of some of the biggest names in
information technology. And while ninth doesn’t make it a leader, the country
has moved up three places since the BSA-The Software Alliance compiled its first
scorecard a year ago. “I don’t think (Canada’s) cybercrime laws are
fully aligned with the Budapest Convention, and they’re not as far reaching
as some countries,” said Chris Hopfensperger, technology policy counsel for
the alliance. “We would like to see a little more comprehensive coverage in
those areas.” On the other hand the alliance recognizes that “significant law
reform in intellectual property,” took place here.
Alliance members
include Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., Adobe, IBM Corp., Autodesk and Intel
Corp. It promotes the software industry, lobbying for protection of
intellectual property including anti-piracy laws, data security and opening
markets to barrier-free trade. Just before the alliance’s report was
published the Harper government introduced Bill C-56 to amend the Copyright
Act. Canada
is a signatory to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which came into
force in 2004. However, the Web site of the Council of Europe’s treaty office
indicates Canada hasn’t ratified the document yet.The alliance argues that
organizations and individuals won’t fully accept cloud computing until they
are confident private information stored in the cloud won’t be used or
disclosed by a service provider “unexpected ways.”
In particular the alliance says government laws and
regulations should be predictable, transparent and should impose restrictions
such as registration requirements for data controllers and cross-border data
transfers. Some European Union countries have these requirements, the report noted.
It also credited Canada
among the countries that score well in having privacy rules that don’t
include “onerous registration requirements.” According to a number of
industry experts Canadian organizations are cautious about using cloud
providers if there’s any chance of personal data being stored outside the
country. This is in part because of fears that American officials could
access data through the U.S. Patriot Act.
From
http://www.itworldcanada.com/
03/11/2013
TOP↑
U.S.: Coming in March - Biggest Fed IT
Acquisition Overhaul Plan Since 1996
House Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., plans to
introduce legislation to overhaul the way the government buys information
technology by the time Congress breaks for its spring recess in late March,
he said during a hearing Wednesday. Issa first floated the proposed IT reboot
in September and has been gathering input from industry and government IT and
acquisition workers since then. The Federal IT Reform Act would give agency
chief information officers full budget authority including the ability to
shift funds from one project to another based on particular needs. It would
also gather experts in certain acquisition fields into centers of excellence
where they could advise their peers and do more IT purchasing on a
governmentwide basis. The government’s $80 billion in annual IT purchases has
been plagued by cost overruns and missed deadlines. IT officials including
federal Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel have focused on chopping
IT projects up into more manageable pieces so technology doesn’t outpace a
project by the time it’s completed.
Issa, VanRoekel and others have touted technology’s ability to
lower the overall cost of government by making operations more efficient and
reducing the need for travel. “Ultimately IT is the toll we pay to better
spend $3.5 trillion,” Issa said. “It’s not about the $80 billion we spend on
IT.” Issa’s reform proposal received cautious praise from industry
representatives during Wednesday’s hearing and from Daniel Gordon, associate
dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington
University and former
administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The
bill also won praise from Oversight’s ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings,
D-Md., and the ranking Democrat on its Government Operations Subcommittee
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. Connolly’s district includes major government IT
contractors. Gordon said he’d like to see more focus on training acquisition
staffs in the final version of the bill and questioned whether legislation
was too blunt an instrument for large scale management reforms. Many
acquisition inefficiencies are also caused by budget uncertainty emanating
from Congress, he said.
The final bill should also spell out precisely which types of
“commodity IT” services could be managed centrally, said Stan Soloway,
president of the Professional Services Council, an industry group. Homeland
Security Department CIO Richard Spires did not endorse the proposal but said
the government would benefit from sharing procurement best practices more
widely. Spires also did not endorse the
proposal for CIO budget authority but said it was “one model to look at.”
VanRoekel said he did not think additional legislation was necessary to
reform the IT procurement process during a January hearing that touched on
Issa’s proposed bill. Issa said his bill also will call for the title CIO to
be reserved for just one person at each agency. There are 243 CIOs across
government now, including 35 at the Transportation Department alone, he said.
The excessive use of the title diminishes its authority, he said.
“This is a single point of accountability with the title of
chief -- someone who can say ‘I’ve got $6 billion and I’ll be darned if I’ll
waste it,’” he said. Wednesday’s hearing regularly turned to the plight of
federal acquisition workers who may face furloughs on Friday if Congress and
the White House don’t reach a deal to avoid a slate of automatic spending
cuts known as sequestration. Gordon charged that federal employees are too
often scapegoated for acquisition failures, which makes them wary of taking
risks to make smarter purchasing decisions. “They’re scared of getting in
trouble for getting something that’s better even though it costs more money,”
he said. “We need to change the atmosphere of fear where people don’t feel
empowered, they don’t feel trusted.”
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 02/27/2013
TOP↑
Digital
Government Strategy – Mobile Device Management
Last May, we released the Digital Government Strategy as part
of the President’s directive to build a 21st Century Government that delivers
better services to the American people. A key objective of the strategy is to
enable an increasingly mobile workforce to access services anywhere, anytime,
on any device. As we adjust to this new digital world, we need to seize the
opportunity to procure and manage devices, applications, and data in smart, secure
and affordable ways. We are making great progress on that front and thanks to
the hard work of the General Services Administration (GSA) we are a step
closer to establishing a government-wide mobile device management (MDM)
program. The program’s goal is to identify existing solutions and contract
vehicles that will enable agencies to provision and secure devices,
authenticate users, deploy apps and access data. The development of MDM
solutions, and their adoption in agencies, is still in the early stages. This
gives the government a small window of opportunity to avoid fragmented buying
across Federal agencies and programs, and help shape this emerging space to
meet the broadest needs. To that end, GSA has worked with agency
representatives across government and industry partners to identify the
Government’s current and potential MDM requirements. GSA recently released a
Request for Technical Capabilities on FedBizOpps (see Figure 1 below) that
aims to identify existing solutions that meet the greatest governmental need.
The output of this exercise will be an objective review of vendors’
capabilities and insights to help agencies with market research so that they
buy capabilities that match their strategy on mobile platforms. Responses are
due on March 8th, and we look forward to see a robust response from the
vendor community as we continue to shape our approach to mobility management.
As always, I thank you for your commitment to delivering for the American
people.
From
https://cio.gov/ 02/27/2013
TOP↑
CIO
Council Harnessing Growing List of 'World Class' IT Programs
The Federal Chief Information Officers Council is collecting
information on dozens of examples where agencies have "world-class"
IT management practices. It's part of an effort to more broadly share good
ideas and case studies throughout the government through a Best Practices
database. The CIO Council launched this effort in 2012. The council soon will
be adding 25 more examples of federal programs that not only succeeded, but
beat expectations in serving citizens or saving money or proving what's
possible. ACT-IAC awarded five programs winners in the 12th annual
Excellence.gov awards, and all 25 finalists soon will be a part of that
critical mass the council is creating. "We are trying to take the good
work you've done and figure out how do we bring that back so it's more than
just a nice day, with a nice set of awards that are given to the winners, but
that we are using that knowledge base and infusing that back in to how we
better ourselves across the federal government," said Richard Spires,
the CIO at the Homeland Security Department and vice chairman of the council,
during a speech Tuesday at the awards ceremony in Washington. "Through
the management best practices committee of the Federal CIO Council, we're
pushing hard. I view it as a pockets-of-excellence issue. We've got pockets
of excellence throughout the federal government. We are world class. Anything
you pick, you can find it in the federal government. It's just too bad that
the world class is just in these pockets. We have to figure out how we can
leverage these pockets in a more meaningful way."
USDA joins the database
Spires said the
management best practices committee wants to highlight these 25 projects so
others can take advantage of the work. "We're hoping, working with
ACT-IAC, that we can harvest these projects," he said. "So the good
work you are doing hopefully has a legacy well beyond your agency, well
beyond your particular project, but something that could even influence even
all of federal government IT. That is certainly where we are trying to go
with this." One such project is the Agriculture Department's Center for
Nutrition Policy and Promotion's SuperTracker online tool. It received the
top award in the Excellence in Enhancing the Customer Experience category.
SuperTracker is a free Web application that provides users with diet and
activity tracking based on USDA's dietary guidelines. Robert Post, the
associate executive director of CNPP, said in just over a year, SuperTracker
has more than 2 million users, including dieticians, school teachers and
parents. "We had an experience at USDA in building resources and online
tools, and we knew from getting consumers engaged in the work we do, the
kinds of things that would really attract them, hold their attention and be
helpful," Post said after the Excellence.gov awards event. "Through
that experience, we built a multi-tiered engagement approach that you can get
on. You can tool around. You can learn about foods, their nutrient contents.
You can get reports about what foods are made of in terms of their sodium
level, their sugars and where you are getting your vitamins and minerals for
the day. And you can get even deeper in the features and capabilities of the tool."
Government, industry collaboration
USDA learned over the years that giving citizens the ability
to compare foods in a straightforward way, and then go deeper into what they
eat and how healthy they are were among the most important lessons applied to
SuperTracker. Post said CNPP surveyed and talked to health professionals,
dieticians and other stakeholders about how the tool should work and what
capabilities it should include. "It's all built on providing information
around the healthy eating patterns in the dietary guidelines for
Americans," he said. "Our challenge was putting all that
information in an intuitive way. Personalization, being interactive, we
needed to build the capabilities in there." The bureau also has enhanced
the tool over the past year with new features such as letting users put in
the calorie levels they want to achieve and personalize the food they eat so
if they eat the same breakfast every day, it's easy to put that information
in. CNPP worked internally and with a vendor to create the online tool.
"The knowledge base and content is derived from the fantastic folks,
what we call our SuperTracker team, at the center where we've got these
nutritionists who have a good foundation for IT to really bring nutrition
into a really interactive, personalized approach," Post said.
From
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/
03/06/2013
TOP↑
4 U.S.
Internet Laws You Should Know
If you company has facilities in the United States or is doing
business in the country, your organization could be impacted by these four
American laws that deal with digital information and the Internet. In a recent
article, online technology publication Networkworld.com listed four laws that
are either being actively debated or expected to come up for consideration by
U.S. lawmakers: Electronic Communication Privacy Act (ECPA) – Passed in 1986,
this lawful access legislation sets the standards on how the government can
access digital information of citizens. ECPA empowers the government to
obtain access, with only a subpoena and not a warrant, to digital
communication such as email, Facebook messages, data in public cloud
databases and other digital files that are 180 days old. A part of the law
also states that the government has access to cell phones using GPS tracking.
There are moves to update the law. Last year the Senate
Judicary Committee passed an update to ECPA but that proposed act failed to
reach a vote on the Senate floor. The House of Representatives filed an
update to ECPA last month and that is expected to be debated soon. Cyber
Intelligence Sharing Protection Act (CISPA) – The proposed CISPA dictates how
companies shares with the government data concerning cyber threats. The
information turned over the companies goes to the National Security
Administration which is a military division of the government. Opponents of
the law are concerned that there is little transparency on what the NSA does
and so they are worried CISPA does not provide adequate privacy protection.
CISPA has gained bipartisan support. It is to be debated in by legislators
within the next few months.
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) – The CFAA makes it a
crime to access and share protected information. For years, organizations
like the Electronic Frontier Foundation have called for CFAA reforms to
reduce penalties for CFAA violations and create clearer definitions of what a
CFAA breach is. Aaron Swartz, co-founder of Reddit was facing prosecution for
a CFAA violation when he committed suicide this year. Trans
Pacific-Partnership Agreement (TPP) – The TPP deals with digital copyright
laws. The agreement involves the U.S. Peru, Chile,
Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore,
Brunei, and New Zealand.
Canada and Japan
are expected to be part of the agreement soon. The TPP could see U.S.
intellectual property standards reinforced and extended to other countries.
Digital rights groups are worried the TPP will result in restrictions to
so-called “fair use” of copyrighted content. They are also concerned that
much of the TPP discussions and held in secret.
From
http://www.itworldcanada.com/
03/12/2013
TOP↑
California
Technology Agency to Release IT Procurement Strategy
A new state strategy on the way California conducts IT procurements will
be out soon, California Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos, pictured
above, said in an interview that aired on Thursday. “We’ve developed a report
with some recommendations on actual improvements, and that report should be
forthcoming relatively soon, in which we are going to report to the
Legislature, here’s the administration’s plan on how to improve
procurements,” said Ramos, who also noted that the Department of General
Services has been working on its own effort to improve contract model terms
and conditions. Last summer after Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1498 (Buchanan),
which called for a plan to migrate the authority to purchase IT goods and
services to the California Technology Agency, the administration convened a
working group of state employees with backgrounds in technology, project
management and state contracting to “figure a new model on how to do
procurements going forward,” Ramos told Techwire’s Michelle Kennedy.
The administration also reached out to the vendor community
and other stakeholder groups, according to Ramos,who
said common complaints about the state procurement process are that it’s
complex, expensive and time-consuming, limiting vendor competition.
Meanwhile, the California Technology Agency today released its strategic plan
for 2013 which includes goal number one as “expanding online services,
increasing access from mobile devices, creating innovative business systems
and bridging the digital divide by increasing digital literacy and access to
broadband connectivity.” Also today, members of the Budget Subcommittee No. 4
On State Administration questioned the State Controller’s Office about the
21st Century Project which made headlines recently when the agency cancelled
a $90 million contract with Pennsylvania-based SAP because of errors and
ongoing problems in a pilot of the new the system.
“Can you reassure me that we didn’t just throw away $262
million,” said Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), who wanted to know
if the state can leverage what the project has developed thus far. “I believe
that is what our assessment will show, we are going to bring in somebody to
look at what SAP has built to make sure that it’s actually scalable for the
population of California,” responded Jim Lombard, SCO’s chief administrative
officer. Lombard said his office is working
closely with the Technology Agency and the Department of Finance, along with
representatives of other agencies on a steering committee in charge of
governing the project, which is currently paused pending
independent reviews to assess the what went wrong.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 03/20/2013
TOP↑
Oversight
Committee Passes IT Reform Act, Giving CIOs Budget Authority
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
unanimously passed legislation on Wednesday that would mark the most
significant reform in more than a decade to the way the government purchases
information technology. The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform
Act would make agency chief information officers presidential appointees. It
would also grant them authority to shift funding between technology projects,
a power now only granted to the Veterans Affairs Department CIO. The
legislation was jointly sponsored by Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa,
R-Calif., and by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking
member of the committee's government operations panel. It’s now on its way to
the full House for consideration. Complementary legislation has not yet been
introduced in the Senate. The IT Reform Act could save 10 times the $80
billion the government spends on IT annually by reducing government’s
reliance on outdated IT systems, by helping agencies make smarter decisions
about new purchases and by raising the government’s use of bulk purchasing
and interoperable systems, Issa said during Wednesday’s committee business
meeting.
The bill also would require that only one person in each
agency holds the title CIO and that that CIO has a direct line to the agency
secretary on important matters. Having a single agency CIO will make that
official more accountable, Issa and Connolly both said, noting that some
agencies now have more than a dozen CIOs which dilutes
that title’s power. Connolly called the IT Reform Act “some of the most
groundbreaking legislation of the past 20 years” related to government
acquisition Wednesday and praised Issa for developing the legislation in a
bipartisan fashion. Issa floated an earlier version of the IT reform Act in
September 2012, which he and Connolly revised significantly after collecting
feedback from government and industry officials. Industry groups, including
TechAmerica, refused to support the initial bill draft, claiming it created
unnecessary bureaucracy and privileged open source software over competing
proprietary software. Those groups offered softer criticism of the bill draft
that passed the oversight committee Tuesday, saying some sections of the bill
are redundant and other sections haven’t been sufficiently reviewed by
industry.
In testimony before the oversight committee in January,
federal CIO Steven VanRoekel said he does not believe new legislation is
necessary to improve federal IT performance. Issa plans to continue gathering
public feedback on the legislation before it reaches the House floor, he
said, specifically leaving the door open to revising the language regarding
open source software. Nextgov, in cooperation with committee staff, has
created a Web page where users can comment on the bill. He noted that it’s
important that the final bill encourages agencies to consider open source as
an option, he said, but open source should not receive a competitive
advantage. “The window for feedback is not shut,” he said, “but it is time to
advance to the next stage.”
The reform act also would:
■Create a collection of agency-based Assisted Acquisition
Centers of Excellence that other agencies may consult regarding particular
categories of IT purchases.
■Build a Federal Infrastructure and Common Application
Collaboration Center
based inside the Office of Management and Budget that would serve as a “tiger
team” to assist agencies with tricky acquisitions.
■Promote broader use of “bid to price” contracts in which an
agency states the price it plans to pay for a good or service and then
invites vendors to compete based on quality.
■Broaden the government’s cadre of IT and acquisition experts,
partly by mandating new plans from OMB to make those jobs attractive to
people outside government and to demonstrate a clear career path in the
fields.
■Give agency chief information officers
flexibility to establish working capital funds to help pay for the transition
to cloud-based computing services.
■Require agencies to report more fully on the cost savings
achieved by consolidating federal data centers.
■Mandate that roughly 80 percent of federal IT investments are
tracked on the Federal IT Dashboard, compared with about 50 percent that are
tracked on the dashboard currently.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 03/20/2013
TOP↑
Alabama
Gov. Signs Legislation to Streamline
State IT
On March 21, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed several pieces
of legislation intended to increase efficiency across government agencies --
one of which, SB 117, was focused on streamlining state IT. SB 117
establishes the position of Secretary of Information Technology, responsible
for identifying ways to save money and improve coordination among the state’s
IT networks. The Secretary of IT will also develop and implement a responsible
plan to coordinate the purchasing, management and use of IT across state
agencies, according to a press release from the state. “Our Secretary of
Information Technology will help us organize IT to make it more efficient, to
save taxpayer dollars and to make it more secure,” said Bentley, pictured at
left. “By improving coordination, we can make sure we’re spending money
wisely and saving money where we can." Currently, there is little
coordination of state-level IT policy, which has resulted in incompatible IT
systems. In addition, the state has been unable to realize cost-savings
benefits that come from buying in bulk across state agencies. Bentley will
appoint the Secretary of Information Technology in the near future, according
to the state, and a legislative oversight committee will review the
appointee's performance. Sen. Phil Williams, who sponsored the legislation,
underscored the importance of the state having someone to make sure IT is
operating as efficiently as possible. “The signing of this bill marks a
positive step toward significant cost savings for state IT functions,"
Williams said.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 03/22/2013
TOP↑
US Senate
Passes Internet Sales Tax Proposal
The U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding
proposal to allow states to collect sales tax on Internet sellers that have
no presence within their borders. The proposal was an amendment to a 2014 budget
bill that the Senate debated Friday. It was pushed by Senators Mike Enzi, a
Wyoming Republican, and Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and was designed
to give backers a sense of whether they had enough votes to push forward with
final legislation to impose an Internet sales tax. The vote showed they have
plenty of backing to overcome any filibuster seeking to block a final sales
tax bill. Sixty votes are needed to overcome a filibuster, and senators voted
75-24 for the nonbinding resolution. The Enzi and Durbin amendment would
allow the Senate Budget Committee to include the sales tax in the budget,
providing it does not increase the federal deficit. The budget amendment is
an initial step toward allowing state and local governments to collect sales taxes
from out-of-state retailers who sell more than US$1 million worth of products
in a year over the Internet. Enzi and Durbin are the lead sponsors of the
Marketplace Fairness Act, which would still have to pass through Congress
before a tax is imposed.
Forty-six U.S.
states now have sales taxes, but a 1992 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court
prohibited states from collecting sales tax from catalog sellers because of
the burden it would place on the sellers. The court, however, left it up to
Congress to allow states to collect sales taxes on remote sales if the states
created a streamlined tax collection system.All states with sales taxes
require Internet shoppers to report on their Internet purchases and pay
taxes, but the rules are not well-known and few shoppers comply. Supporters
of the amendment said the current tax system isn't fair to brick-and-mortar
businesses, which have to collect sales taxes from their local shoppers.
Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, argued against the amendment, saying it
would encourage U.S. Internet sellers to move overseas, where it's tougher
for states to collect sales taxes. "The Internet is now the shipping
lane of the 21st century, and foreign retailers are going to get an
advantage," he said. But past arguments against the sales tax suggesting
e-commerce was in its infancy and needed to be protected are no longer true,
Durbin said. "You're asking for a safe haven here, an advantage over a
lot of good small businesses in my state," he said.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/23/2013
TOP↑
US Congress Panel Approves Internet Freedom
Bill
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee has voted to
approve a bill that would make it official U.S. policy to promote an
Internet "free from government control," with promises that the
Republican majority would work with critics of the bill's wording. The House
Energy and Commerce Committee's communications subcommittee approved the
Internet freedom bill, an attempt to discourage other countries from
advocating for control of the Internet by the United Nations' International
Telecommunication Union and other international agencies. Some trade groups
and subcommittee Democrats had raised concerns that the bill would allow
telecom carriers to mount new challenges to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
and prevent law enforcement agencies from prosecuting cybercriminals. But
Representative Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican and subcommittee chairman,
said he didn't intend for the bill to address domestic Internet policy.
Although Walden is opposed to the FCC's net neutrality rules, he said a
congressional policy statement cannot force an agency to change its rules.
"This legislation neither requires nor authorizes the FCC to take any
action," said Walden, sponsor of the bill.
Nevertheless, Walden promised subcommittee Democrats that he
would entertain new language before the bill heads to the full Energy and
Commerce Committee for a vote. The bill, similar to a sense-of-Congress
resolution that passed last year before the ITU's World Conference on
International Telecommunications (WCIT), would make it official U.S.
government policy to "promote a global Internet free from government
control and to preserve and advance the successful multistakeholder model
that governs the Internet." After WCIT, countries will continue to push
for control of the Internet by international agencies, Walden predicted. It's
important for Congress to take a strong stand against that effort, he said.
Representative Anna Eshoo, a California Democrat, welcomed Walden's offer of
compromise. It's important for the committee to speak with one voice against
international governmental control of the Internet, she said. A bipartisan
agreement "will strengthen the hands of our diplomats in their
negotiations," she said.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 04/11/2013
TOP↑
House
Approves FISMA Modernization Bill, Two Other Cyber Bills
The House passed three cybersecurity bills Tuesday, including
the much-needed update to the Federal Information Security Management Act.
But the one House bill many believe would be most worthwhile, the
Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), is stuck in the
same debate whirlpool as last session and faces a possible veto by President
Barack Obama. The main sticking point in CISPA for the administration and
privacy and civil liberties groups is around how the bill would require the
private sector to protect information when shared with the government.
"We have long said that information sharing improvements are essential
to effective legislation, but they must include proper privacy and civil
liberties protections, reinforce the appropriate roles of civilian and
intelligence agencies, and include targeted liability protections," said
Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, in
an emailed statement. "Under the leadership of the chairman and ranking
member, the [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] adopted
several amendments to H.R. 624 (CISPA) in a good faith effort to incorporate
some of the administration's important substantive concerns. However, CISPA
as reported still does not address these fundamental priorities
adequately."
The White House's Statement of Administration Policy said the
bill falls short because it "does not require private entities to take
reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information when sending
cybersecurity data to the government or other private sector entities.
Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable —
and not granted immunity — for failing to safeguard personal information
adequately." The House Rules Committee today decided how to move forward
with amendments, but the full chamber didn't debate or vote on the bill. The
lower chamber, however, did debate and vote on three other cyber bills. The
FISMA Modernization Act passed easily 416-0. This was the second session in a
row the full body passed the update. Last year, the Senate included FISMA
updates as part of the comprehensive cybersecurity bill that died under its
own weight. "H.R. 1163 has many authors … but it also has [the support
of] every committee chairman and every ranking member in the House,"
said Rep. Darrell Issa (R- Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government
Reform Committee, and one of the main sponsors of the bill, during the floor
discussion. "This bipartisan legislation will address the shortcomings
of FISMA by incorporating recent technological innovations, and enhance and
strengthen the current framework that protects federal information technology
systems."
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), another major co-sponsor of the
bill, said with the ever-increasing number of cyber attacks against federal
systems, 48,562 in
fiscal 2012, which marks a 782 percent increase over a six-year period, shows
the need for the bill. "This legislation is desperately needed to
address a looming and critical threat to our nation's economic and national
security," he said. The House also passed H.R. 756, the Cybersecurity
Enhancement Act of 2013, and H.R. 967, the Advancing America's Networking and
Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013, with little
debate or challenge. Monday night, the House also debated and approved
several other federal management related bills, including the Government
Accountability Office Improvement Act and H.R. 882, the Contracting and Tax
Accountability Act of 2013. But H.R. 249, the Federal Employee Tax
Accountability Act of 2013, which would have required agencies to fire
federal employees who were "seriously delinquent" in paying their
taxes, did not get the necessary two-thirds majority needed to pass under the
rules of the House for this particular vote, though it passed by total number
of votes 250-159. The National Treasury Employees Union praised the House for
not passing the employee tax accountability bill. Colleen Kelley, NTEU's
president, said in a statement that while NTEU strongly supports the idea
that everyone should meet his or her tax obligation, the existing processes
provide for disciplinary actions by federal agencies ranging from counseling
to removal for failing to satisfy federal, state or local tax obligations.
Additionally, the IRS also could levy up to 15 percent of certain federal
payments, including federal salaries, for tax debts.
From
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/
04/17/2013
TOP↑
Many CIOs
Support IT Reform Legislation
Many government chief information officers think a proposed
congressional overhaul that would give them broader authority over how their
agencies buy information technology is a “step in the right direction,”
according to TechAmerica’s CIO Insights survey released Thursday. CIOs aren’t
all of one mind, though, about provisions of the Federal Information
Technology Acquisition Reform Act that would give them authority to shift IT
budget priorities and to cut funding to over budget or underperforming
projects, Grant Thornton Principal George DelPrete said. Grant Thornton
sponsored the survey with TechAmerica. In congressional testimony, CIOs have
typically avoided saying whether such budget authority would be helpful.
Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel has said authority over IT spending is less
important than CIOs having “a seat at the table” during agency mission
discussions with other high ranking officials.
“In some departments, the amount of IT spending [CIOs] control
is as low as 1 percent,” DelPrete said, “so it’s hard to make them
accountable for that. [But] not all of the folks we interviewed felt you
could give complete control to a departmental CIO so the one-size-fits-all
model is not going to work. CIOs need a mix of budget visibility,
accountability and responsibility.” One suggestion, DelPrete added, “was
perhaps departmental CIOs could be responsible for the infrastructure,
commodity enterprise applications and software, and program CIOs could
control mission applications.” The survey was based on in-person interviews
with government CIOs, information resources management officials, and
relevant congressional staffers. All answers were anonymous in the final
report.
The survey also found:
■Despite years of attempts to shift more IT spending to new
initiatives, 76 percent of spending still goes to the operation and
maintenance of existing systems.
■CIOs praised PortfolioStat, a top-to-bottom review of
spending on commodity IT such as phone and Internet service, for
rationalizing their technology portfolios. Several CIOs said it’s too early
to tell whether the program will result in lower IT spending in the long
term.
■The 25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal IT
Management, introduced by former federal CIO Vivek Kundra in 2010, is no
longer driving agency IT priorities, CIOs said. They praised the plan,
though, for its emphasis on consolidating federal data centers and moving
government computing to the cloud, both of which remain major priorities. In
the survey, 94 percent of respondents said their agency had adopted or will
adopt cloud services.
■CIOs consider themselves unprepared to manage a new crop of
analysis tools focused on culling meaning from unstructured data such as
video and sensor information. On a scale of 1 to 5, 78 percent of respondents
rated their maturity with analytics at 3 or less, the survey said.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
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CHINA: New National Legislature Sees More
Diversity
More migrant workers and women, as well as younger people,
have been elected to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's
national legislature, while fewer government and Party officials have won
places. The 11th NPC Standing Committee on Wednesday confirmed the
credentials of all 2,987 elected deputies. Xi Jinping, general secretary of
the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and the other six
members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central
Committee - Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang
Qishan and Zhang Gaoli - were elected as new NPC deputies. The number of
farmers-turned migrant workers elected to the 12th NPC has notably increased,
according to the NPC Standing Committee. A total of 401 workers and farmers
have been elected deputies. They comprise 13.42 percent of the total, up 5.18
percentage points from the 11th NPC, the Standing Committee announced. The
younger generation has also entered the national legislature, with two
deputies born after 1990 and 74 born after 1980. Chen Ruolin, the youngest
deputy, was born in December 1992. She won a gold medal in the women's
synchronized 10-meter platform diving competition at the London Olympic Games
in 2012. Tie Feiyan, also born in 1992, is a road toll collector in southwest
China's Yunnan Province.
Chinese netizens hailed her as "the most beautiful girl
born after 1990," as she once rescued people from drowning and
has adopted an abandoned infant. The number of female deputies has risen to
699, accounting for 23.4 percent of the total. The proportion rose 2.07
percentage points from a year earlier.
Moreover, 1,042, or 34.88 percent of the 12th NPC deputies,
are government officials and leading Party cadres, down 6.93 percentage
points from the 11th NPC. Such a decrease will help to "improve the
representation of the people, motivate political participation at grass-roots
levels, nurture more practical government decisions and better reflect the
people's will, wishes and interests," said Xue Qingchao, researcher with
the Party History Research Center of the Communist Party of China Central
Committee. All the deputies were elected from 35 election units representing
34 Chinese regions and the People's Liberation Army in December and January.
The biggest difference between this election and previous elections is that
deputies were elected this year using the same population ratio for both
rural and urban areas, said Wang Wanbin, deputy secretary general of the NPC
Standing Committee. Each rural NPC deputy used to represent a population
eight times that of an urban deputy between the 1950s and the 1990s, when the
country had a dominating rural population. Thanks to fast urbanization, the
representation ratio reduced to four times after the Electoral Law was
revised in 1995 and remained the same under the 2010 amendment.
This change helps to spread the notion of upholding equality
during elections, according to Han Dayuan, dean of the Law School of Renmin
University of China.
"It will contribute to the country's rural-urban integration, greatly
encourage farmers' political participation and speed up the development of
democracy. It may also help push forward reform in the household registration
system," Han added. This election has also stressed equality among
different ethnic groups. According to the 11th NPC Standing Committee, 409,
or 13.69 percent of the newly elected deputies, are from the country's 55
ethnic minority groups, with each of these groups represented. Among the
elected deputies, there are 36 from the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (SAR) and 12 are from the Macao SAR. All these
deputies are patriotic and committed to local communities, upholding the
Constitution and the Basic Laws of Hong Kong and Macao and supporting the
practice of "one country, two systems," according to the 11th NPC
Standing Committee. Thirteen deputies have been elected to represent Taiwan
in the 12th NPC. They were born on the mainland and are second-generation
Taiwanese, who "support the country's reunification, push forward
exchanges across the Taiwan Strait and oppose 'Taiwan independence.'" The
11th NPC Standing Committee held its last bi-monthly session from Monday to
Wednesday to prepare for the upcoming first annual session of the 12th NPC,
which is scheduled to start on March 5.
The session adopted in principle a report on the work of the
NPC Standing Committee, which will be submitted to the upcoming session of
the 12th NPC for deliberation, said Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing
Committee, who presided over the session. A draft schedule for the first
annual session of the 12th NPC, as well as a draft list of names for the
presidium and secretary general, were also adopted. The preparation for the
annual session has been smooth and is nearly completed, Wu said. Looking back
on the last five years of legislation, Wu said that the 11th NPC and its
Standing Committee have exercised their powers in conformity with the law. A
socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has taken shape as
scheduled, and it keeps improving, he noted. The 11th NPC and the Standing
Committee have supported and supervised the central government, Supreme
People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate to ensure lawful
administration and judicial justice, Wu said. The 11th NPC and the Standing
Committee have fulfilled its missions granted by the Party and the people, Wu
added.
From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 02/27/2013
TOP↑
Plan to
Grow Broadband Users
CHINA will
boost the number of broadband family users by 30 percent, or 60 million, this
year under a "Broadband China" project and also add over 100
million 3G phone
users in 2013. China
will raise the high-speed FTTH (fiber-to-the-home) users by 35 million in
2013 from 94 million by the end of last year. It will also boost the normal
home broadband user base by 25 million to 200 million by the end of this
year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday. The
increase is part of the "Broadband China" project which seeks to
propel China's
average broadband bandwidth capacity in urban regions to 20 megabytes per
second by 2015, five to 10 times faster than the current level, the ministry
said. The project was unveiled in response to several consumer complaints
about the low speed and high prices of previous family broadband services. In
2012, the average bandwidth cost dropped 30 percent annually, it said. China,
the world's No. 1 telecommunications market, will also add 100 million new 3G phone users this year from 232.8 million
3G users by the end of last
year, the ministry said. By 2015, the ministry envisages China to have 450 million 3G users. US-based Nielsen said by the end
of last year the 66 percent penetration rate of smartphones in China has surpassed 53 percent of the United States and the UK's 51 percent but slightly behind South Korea's
67 percent.
From http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
02/27/2013
TOP↑
Online
Info Rules Help Promote Social Harmony
China's top
legislator said Friday that the rules on strengthening online information
protection, which were approved by the National People's Congress (NPC)
Standing Committee last year, help promote social
harmony and stability. "This decision of the Standing Committee is of
great significance for promoting social harmony, safeguarding national
security and political stability, and ensuring enduring peace and stability
of the country," Wu said, when reviewing the work of the 11th NPC
Standing Committee over the past five years. The 12-article decision on
strengthening online information protection, which has the same legal effect
as a law, was adopted by lawmakers at a session of the NPC Standing Committee
last December. Wu said the rules aim to ensure the law-based and orderly
operation of Internet and protect the security of the electronic information
of citizens and corporations. In recent years, although playing an important
part in boosting economic and social development, Internet technologies have
caused serious problems, said Wu. "There were extensive and loud calls
in society for stronger social management of the Internet and crackdown on
cyber crime," he said. "NPC deputies also put forth many bills and
proposals, and demanded that a law on cyber security be enacted as soon as
possible." The NPC Standing Committee thoroughly reviewed practical
experience in developing and managing Internet, analyzed other countries'
legislation concerning the Internet, and solicited opinions from all sectors,
and on this basis used statutory means to protect the security of the
electronic information of citizens and legal persons and established the
online ID management system, he said.
From
http://china.org.cn/
03/08/2013
TOP↑
Nation Set
to Expand Smart Cities Project
China may add
another 50 pilot cities to the nation's smart cities project over the next
three months, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Qiu Baoxing, vice-minister
of Housing and Urban-Rual Development. In January, the ministry announced the
first batch of 90 pilot cities for the project. Most of them were second- and
third-tier cities. The project is aimed at advancing the nation's
urbanization and industries such as telecommunications and infrastructure. It
will drive about 2 trillion yuan ($322 billion) in investment by 2015,
according to research from the State
Information Center.
From
http://china.org.cn/ 03/19/2013
TOP↑
Draft Rule
on Protecting Personal Data Gets Push
Experts are calling on legislators to draw up a personal
information protection law as soon as possible to provide a safe online
environment under a real-name system.Under a proposed regulation published on
the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website last week,
people who apply for fixed-line phone service or buy wireless Internet cards
would have to present their identity cards.The move follows the adoption of a
real-name registration system for cellphone users about three years ago.The
proposal, on which public opinion has been on since April 10 and will
continue through May 15, aroused discussion among experts on how to protect
privacy in an era of big data.Zhou Hanhua, a researcher at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences' law institute, said it is important that China
creates a law to protect personal information or the invasion of privacy on
the Internet will get more serious.
Although the top legislature published a decision on improving
the protection of personal information at the end of 2012, "it is far
from enough". Zhou said.The legislative document is not a special law in
particular to deal with problems of privacy protection in cyberspace, he
said."We just have a legal framework and some basic principles, but all
of them are difficult to enforce and cannot threaten enterprises," Zhou
said.Telecom companies that do not register and protect users' personal
information would be fined up to 30,000 yuan ($4,848) under to the ministry's
draft proposal.Only if the personal information protection proposal becomes
law will the problem of privacy disclosure be addressed, Zhou said.He told
China Daily that some people's online information on certain websites, such
as those of medical centers, banks and media companies, have had serious
leaks, and what the public knows about the problem might be only the tip of
the iceberg.
"Collecting users' data and selling the information to
others is of great interest to enterprises, which is why many online
operators and Internet company employees are still ‘stealing'
information," he said.So it is a "must" to establish the law,
making clear what personal information is and outlining punishments for
online industries that reveal it, he added.Li Yuxiao, a professor at Beijing
University of Posts and Telecommunications, echoed Zhou's sentiments, saying
the first priority is to define "personal information".Currently,
many netizens provide lots of information online when registering an account
and shopping on the Internet, but they do not know whether the information is
necessary and how it is being used, he said."We need a rule that can not
only help netizens understand what kind of information should be presented,
but also supervise Web enterprises to legally use what they get from
users," he said.
Both experts participated in the United States-China Internet Industry
Forum in Beijing last week and expressed their concerns over the country's
Internet privacy leaks.They said cooperation with the US on personal
information protection should be done carefully.The US prefers
self-regulation in the online industry, "but that is not suitable for
our country", Zhou said, adding that China needs a strict legal
provision instead.In addition, the two countries have a different
understanding of personal information, "so reaching an agreement on the
definition of privacy is vital to establish cooperation", Li added.Zhang
Yaoming, deputy director with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State
Council, said protecting netizens' personal information in a real-identity
environment is difficult, and China has not found a good way to do
so."We cannot deny the real-name system brought benefits for us, such as
the ability to crack down on online crimes, but the development of the system
has a long way to go," he added.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 04/16/2013
TOP↑
China Mulls Online Shopping Legislation
With China's e-commerce market expanding at full speed, the
country is for the first time considering amending its consumer rights law to
protect online shoppers' rights and interests.The widespread of information
technology has allowed the Internet, TV and telephone-based commerce to
surge, said Li Shishi, director of the Commission for Legislative Affairs of
the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top
legislature.While briefing national lawmakers during a three-day bimonthly
legislative session that opened on Tuesday, Li said new shopping forms such
as e-shopping differed from conventional consumption, as online shoppers
cannot identify the goods' authenticity and are susceptible to deceptive
advertisement."Consumers select commodities merely through pictures and
text descriptions," he said.The consumer rights law, which was enacted
in 1993, does not have stipulations on the protection of consumer rights in
online shopping."Consumption patterns, structure and concepts in China
have undergone great changes over the past two decades," Li said, adding
that amending the law aims to adapt to the new situation in protecting
consumer rights.To deal with inadequate commodities or service information in
online shopping, the draft amendments stress the protection of consumers'
right to knowledge, saying sellers should provide authentic and necessary
details of their products or services to e-shoppers.
The draft also ensures e-shoppers' right of choice and grants
them the right to unilaterally terminate contracts. "Consumers have the
right to return goods within seven days and get a refund," according to
the proposal."The cooling off period of seven days" allows
e-shoppers to change their minds, which is in line with international
conventions, said Hu Gang, an expert from the Internet Society of
China."Online shoppers can ask for compensation from the e-trade
platform where transactions took place if the seller has stopped using the
platform," the draft said, adding the platform can claim compensation
from the seller after offering compensation to e-shoppers.The move is
"significant" as it increases the responsibility of online
platforms, which further protects online shoppers' rights, Hu said.China's
booming online commerce industry is expected to reap more than 1.1 trillion
yuan (about 175 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2012, statistics from the
Ministry of Commerce show.The industry has experienced rapid growth in recent
years, with its total revenue expanding from 25.8 billion yuan in 2006 to 780
billion in 2011 in
China. The growth dwarfed that of many western countries.
Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) portal similar to eBay, features nearly one
billion products and has nearly 500 million registered users. It sells 48,000
products each minute and its maximum daily turnover reached 4.38 billion
yuan, according to taobao.com.It's parent company, Alibaba, on track to
become the world's largest e-commerce firm, also owns Tmall, a Chinese popular
business-to-consumer (B2C)
portal like Amazon.Although the draft's Internet shopping stipulations are
"detailed and feasible," it mainly covered B2C trade, Hu said, adding currently about
70 percent of online transactions in China are C2C, which needs further regulations to protect
e-shoppers' rights.Complaints about online shopping are on the rise in China,
with the number surpassing half of all service-related complaints in the
capital last year, according to the Beijing Administration for Industry and
Commerce and the city's consumers' association.
Cell phones and accessories, garments, domestic appliances and
food are the categories that have been complained about most, said Huang
Xiaowen, deputy director of the Beijing Administration for Industry and
Commerce.Online shoppers complained that online business runners did not
fulfill discount promises or arbitrarily cancel orders. They also complained
about late delivery and substandard products, according to Huang.According to
a MasterCard Worldwide survey issued last week, the Chinese mainland leads
the Asia-Pacific region as the market with the most propensity to shop
online, ahead of New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.The
survey, conducted between November and December 2012, included interviews
with 7,011 respondents from 14 markets who were asked questions about their
online shopping habits. China's score has increased by four index points from
last year's index.Driving these shifts in China are increased confidence in
shopping as "people felt more secure while shopping online,"
according to MasterCard. There is also an emerging view that shopping online
is "easy" among 89.5 percent of the Chinese respondents, up from
80.8 percent in 2011.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/23/2013
TOP↑
China Clarifies Law to Crackdown on Blackmail
Chinese authorities on Friday unveiled a judicial explanation
to clarify the seriousness of blackmail cases in order to crackdown on the
crime.The nine-article explanation, issued by the Supreme People's Court and
the Supreme People's Procuratorate, outlines the amounts of money or property
considered "relatively large," "huge," and
"extremely huge," which will determine the length of sentence for
criminals. Suspects extorting public or private money or property worth
between 2,000 yuan (324.4 U.S. dollars) and 5,000 yuan by blackmail, an
amount considered "relatively large," will be sentenced to imprisonment
of no more than three years, according to the explanation. The threshold
range from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan depends on an area's economic and social
conditions. For those who have committed blackmail or committed the crime
against minors, disabled or seniors, the threshold will be reduced to 1,000
yuan. Extorted money or property worth between 30,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan
is considered "huge" and the suspects will receive jail terms
ranging from three to 10 years. Those blackmailing more than 300,000 yuan and
up to 500,000 yuan will be sentenced to more than 10 years in jail as the
amount is "extremely huge," according to the explanation. Officials
with the supreme court said the explanation aims to strengthen the crackdown
on blackmail, which has become increasingly frequent and widespread in recent
years. Some gangs use blackmail to bully and oppress members of the public,
officials said. The explanation will take effect from Saturday.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 04/27/2013
TOP↑
JAPAN: Govt Considers Bill to Protect Natl
Secrets
The government is considering legislation aimed at safeguarding confidential
information linked to diplomacy and national security, a senior official has said.
The legislation will stipulate severe penalties for offenders, sources
familiar with the matter said. The government is likely to submit the bill to
the Diet after the House of Councillors election this summer, a source said
Friday. The plan for the legislation was unveiled by Yosuke Isozaki, special
adviser to the prime minister, at a meeting of experts held to discuss a
proposal for creating the Japanese version of the U.S. National Security
Council. The previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan
considered a similar national security bill, but failed to submit it to the
Diet before the party was ousted from power in national elections last
December. The bill reviewed by the DPJ-led government proposed penalties
harsher than the prison term of up to one year stipulated in the National
Civil Service Law for offenders who leak certain confidential information.
From
http://the-japan-news.com
03/31/2013
TOP↑
Diet Enacts Bill Allowing Online Campaigning
in Elections
The Diet on Friday passed a bill allowing online campaigning
for future elections. The bill, which is an amendment to the 1950 public
offices election law, proposed that online campaigning and online voting
start with this summer’s House of Councillors (upper house) election. It was
passed by the lower house last week. The bill enables election campaigns to
use any form of SNS, such as Facebook, Twitter and home pages. The use of
email will be restricted to parties and registered candidates only. The
bill was one of the first issues Prime Minister Shinzo Abe mentioned after he
was elected last December. He said that removing the ban on election
campaigning over the Internet would lead to higher voter turnout. That
election saw voter turnout fall to a record low 59.3%. Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday that he hoped the new bill would get
young people interested in politics. To date, electoral laws that predate the
Internet era treat anything appearing on a screen as akin to a leaflet, which
means it falls under restrictions on how many fliers any nominee can produce.
Candidates and their supporters have not been permitted to Tweet, use
Facebook, update their websites or even send emails during the official
campaign period. They spend two frenetic weeks driving and walking around
their districts doing little more than shouting out their names.
From
http://www.japantoday.com
04/20/2013
TOP↑
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INDONESIA: Govt Urged to Uphold Human Rights in
Regulating Internet
A coalition of Indonesian civil society groups wants the
government to focus on human rights at an international conference on
Internet governance in Bali
Island in October. Indonesia
has been slated to host the 8th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from October
21 to 25. The IGF is a series of policy dialogues on Internet governance,
bringing together stakeholders, governments, the private sector and NGOs. A
representative of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam),
which is a member group of the Indonesian CSO Network for Internet Governance
(ID-Config), raised concerns on an increasing number of incidents of illegal
filtering and content blocking on the Internet that have hampered the freedom
of expression in Indonesia. Elsam
executive director Indriaswati D. Saptaningrum said that the public must
ensure that the IGF considered human rights when managing the Internet,
adding that she hoped that the forum would help the government to better
shape its Internet policies.
“There are targets for both the government and the private
sector to accelerate the increase in the number of Internet users in Indonesia,”
Indriaswati said. “But if regulations are not considered seriously, the
impact will be dangerous for our rights.” Indriaswati cited the case of the
so-called Minang Atheist, Alexander Aan, who was sentence to
two-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment years for blasphemy after he declared
himself an atheist on Facebook and the case of Prita Mulyasari, a housewife
sued by a hospital for libel after she sent private emails to several friends
complaining about the service she received there. Indriaswati said that Elsam
agreed that not all Internet users in Indonesia understood the
potential of the Internet or its risks. “However, public participation in the
cyberspace should be given enough space. What we need is the protection of
the Internet users, not user restrictions by tapping or limiting content.”
Moreover, Indonesia
had no clear regulations on content filtering, she said. “So much content is
blocked. The government argues the content is related to porn, violence or
even possesses threat to security.” In its “2012 Freedom on the Net” report,
US-based Freedom House gave Indonesia
a rating of 42 out of 100, an increase from 46 points in 2011. A lower score
means more Internet freedom. The report evaluated conditions in 47 nations
based on barriers to access, limits on content and violations of user rights.
Indriaswati also raised the issue of selling personal data on the Internet.
“There are so many SMS for product promotions, although we never give them
our numbers.” According to Elsam, the only one article in the 2008
Information and Electronic Transaction Law covered personal data management,
albeit inadequately.
Meanwhile, Ashwin Sasongko of the Communications and
Information Ministry, rebuffed criticism that the ministry had failed to
promulgate the existing 2008 Law. “Cyber-ethics are supposed to be in line
with the ones in real world. If people cannot curse people in the real world,
they should not do it in cyberspace. We all have to stick to such norms,” he
said. Wahyudi Djafar of Elsam said that if Ashwin was correct, human rights
protections must also cover the Internet, as stated in a UN Human Rights
Council resolution. In mid-2012, the council released a resolution that
stated that “the rights people have offline must also be protected online, in
particular freedom of expression, in accordance with articles 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights”.
From
http://www.asianewsnet.net/ 04/03/2013
TOP↑
PHILIPPINES: City Improves Land Use Plan with GIS
The city government of Butuan is working together with Caraga State University
to update the city’s current Comprehensive Land Use Plan by using GIS. Butuan
is a highly urbanised city located at the north-eastern part of Agusan Valley
in Mindanao island. It is subdivided into 86
districts and has a population of 309,709 as per the 2010 Census. According
to Vice Mayor Lawrence Fortun, the partnership is vital for the city’s path
towards sustainable development as it would help local authorities better
improve its urban planning decisions. In addition, it would also help the
city government arrive at more accurate projections when quantifying damages
and loss during natural calamities, allowing the city government to achieve
an effective priority-setting of resources in mitigating risks during such
situations. Furthermore, once the new land use plan is made available, it
will help in the preparation of the city’s disaster risk reduction plan and
climate change adaptation programme.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/01/2013
TOP↑
RFID to Be
Used in ‘Smarter Philippines’
Programme
The ICT-Office of the Department of Science and Technology
(DOST) will be using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology to
support initiatives aligned with the ‘Smarter Philippines’ programme, a
flagship programme which aims to leverage ICT in several core industries to
boost the country’s economy.
‘Smarter Philippines’
consists of the following components: Smarter Governance, Smarter People,
Smarter High-Tech Industry, Smarter Computing, Smarter SMEs, Smarter
Agriculture World Development, Smarter Environmental Healthcare, Energy and
Transport, Smarter Disaster and Mitigation, Public Safety and Smarter Cities. RFID refers to an electronic
device that uses radio waves to speed up the transmission of communication
data for the purpose of identifying, locating and sensing the conditions of
objects, whether animate and inanimate. “We believe that the RFID technology
can complement the DOST’s Smarter Philippines programme, the essence of which
is the effective generation, gathering, and analysis of data to enable timely
and effective decision making and planning,” said Louis Casambre, Executive
Director, ICT-Office.
At present, RFIDs are being used in DOST’s project NOAH or
Nationwide Operation on Assessment of Hazards. Project NOAH aims to provide
reliable and authoritative information about weather conditions in the
country. It is designed to be a disaster preparedness system to reduce loss
of lives, and damages to properties due to rain-triggered natural hazards. It
transmits real-time data on the amount of rainfall, temperature, pressure,
humidity and wind speed, direction, and velocity to help decision makers
during times of natural calamities. According to Casamabre, RFIDs are crucial
for NOAH’s micro-mapping project that uses Light Detection and Ranging
(LiDAR), an equipment designed to survey the entire topography of the Philippines
at very high resolution. He explained that smart sensors similar to those
being developed by DOST to monitor weather and geological conditions,
vehicular traffic flow, soil and water quality, and others will all be RFID
devices. “RFID is one of the most ubiquitous technologies in the world today,
aside from being an essential component of the global supply chain,” he said.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/19/2013
TOP↑
The Philippines
Beefs Up E-Budgeting System
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), the Philippines
is pushing ahead the digitisation of budget processes to be done by 2014 as
part of supporting the public financial management reforms. DBM Secretary
Florencio S Abad addressed this message during the 1st Quarterly Membership
Meeting and Seminar of the Philippin Association for Government Budget
Administration (PAGBA) held at the Sarabia Manor Hotel. Abad said that budget submissions will
be done electronically starting from 2014, and there will no longer be
manual. This digitisation process will help save seven working days for the
DBM. “We are currently installing a government integrated financial
management information system to enable real-time information on financial
transactions,” said Abad. At the
same event, he added that the DBM is also expanding its government e-procurement
system towards online bidding.
“Next year, we will issue agencies vouchers so that all
procurement of common-used supplies can be traced in the government
procurement system,” Abad said. The DBM has recently launched an e-payment
facility early this year, which has marked the first time in the history of
this archipelago country to have this online payment solution for the
government. “This will allow us to pay online when we procure supplies
through the Landbank of the Philippines,”
Abad added. The online payment in the government e-procurement is expected to
be the starting point for other services that the government will provide
including birth certificates, passports, licenses, among others, according to
him.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/04/2013
TOP↑
The Philippines
Seeks IT-Based Proposals to Solve Transport Woes
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and
the Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board (LTFRB) are
inviting technology firms and other stakeholders to submit IT-based proposals
to help them address issues caused by illegal operations of buses and other
public utility vehicles, or what is locally known as “colorum”. In its
website, the agency expressed interest in exploring the potential of Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID), Global Positioning System (GPS), and Smart
Cards to solve this problem. According to an official statement, the primary
purposes for this effort are to monitor the movements of both registered and
unregistered or unauthorised public utility vehicles, to apprehend
illegally-operating vehicles real-time, and to maintain a database containing
relevant information on traffic violations, among others. “The colorum
problem has many implications – from simple traffic congestion, to commuter
safety, environmental pollution, and quality of life. What we’re looking for
is an integrated system which makes the best use of progressive
technology-based solutions to curb these problem areas,” said DOTC
spokesperson Migs Sagcal. One-on-one meetings to discuss project concepts
will be held at the DOTC offices on 28 May and 4 June 2013.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/16/2013
TOP↑
SINGAPORE: Plan to Double Speed of Free WIFI
The Singapore Government is planning to improve the wireless
infrastructure of the country by expanding and enhancing Singapore’s free wireless
broadband programme, Wireless@SG.
Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information, said that
given the popularity of Wireless@SG and its importance for individuals and
businesses to enable services such as cashless payments, the six year old
system needs to be updated. He stated that the Infocomm Development Authority
of Singapore (IDA) will expand the capacity and speed of Wireless@SG,
doubling the speed from 1 MBPS to 2 MBPS. Another update announced was the
simplification of the login process for Wireless@SG. Currently, users must
register and use a unique ID and password to login every time they wish to
use Wireless@SG. The improved Wireless@SG, however, will be able to recognise
registered users through their unique SIM cards in smartphones and log in
automatically. Ibrahim stated that this will allow users to switch seamlessly
from 3G or 4G to Wireless@SG.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/12/2013
TOP↑
ICT
Enabled Work-from-home Pilot Launched in Singapore
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is
leading a year-long pilot project on home-based work encouraging enterprises
to use ICT solutions to create flexible working conditions for employees. The
pilot aims to help the 258,000 economically inactive residents between the
age of 25 and 54 rejoin the workforce and contribute to Singapore’s economy. IDA has selected two private sector
consortiums to be part of the pilot. The first consortium, covering job
functions such as sales, consulting and interior design, will use solutions
primarily developed by SingTel. The adoption patterns of home-based workers
will be studied, and the packaging of existing products changed to better
cater for them. Online storage, collaboration and project management
applications will allow the virtual employees to easily share documents and
graphic files with the office, and collaborate on projects. Home-based sales
executives will use cloud-based call centre technologies to handle enquiries
from home. In addition,
Rainforest e-Learning, an SME providing education services, is developing a
learning management system to help home-based teachers deliver lessons to
students through video conferencing and e-learning using connected devices.
According to IDA, the widespread use of broadband and the
enhancement of ICT infrastructure in Singapore have made flexible work
arrangements more viable than before. IDA’s Next Generation Nationwide
Broadband Network, a fibre-based ultra-high-speed network, is a major factor
enabling this project. SMEs will also have access to SingTel’s myBusiness
portal, which aggregates jobs, tenders and requests for proposals from
government agencies, helping SMEs get information and come together to bid
for jobs or purchase services and products in bulk. The platform is being
modified to create a community of home based workers. The user organisations
will also be supported by HR consultancies, which will help them perform
cost-benefit analysis, amend their policies, redesign jobs and business
processes, and monitor performance of employees. In the second consortium,
Business Gateway Asia (BGA) is providing ICT solutions to Rasa Sayang
Healthcare, an SME providing home-nursing care. Home-based staff will have
remote access to workflow systems and will be able to retrieve assignment and
patient information and report on patient progress. IDA is co-funding the
investment required for the pilot, partially covering the development costs
of the ICT solutions, as well as the costs of manpower, training and
professional services.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/14/2013
TOP↑
Master
Plan to Develop Singapore
into Global IP Hub
SINGAPORE: A new
10- year master plan aimed at developing Singapore into a global
Intellectual Property (IP) hub was unveiled Monday. The master plan, which
was formulated by an IP Steering Committee, was revealed by the Ministry of
Law after the government accepted the committee’s recommendations. The
committee, which is led by MediaCorp chairman Mr Teo Ming Kian, was formed in
May 2012 after the government identified IP as a key driver of global economic
growth. Among the recommendations outlined in the master plan includes a call
for Singapore
to be an international hub for IP transactions and management. The committee
also recommended boosting the quality of IP filings as well as IP dispute
resolution in Singapore.
To achieve these outcomes, the committee said that Singapore
should develop skilled manpower resources networked to the region and beyond,
as well as create an environment suitable for IP activities to strengthen Singapore
as a vibrant IP hub.
There is also an increasing need to have ideas and knowledge
to move up the value-added chain in the economy, said Mr Teo. "We have
gone through the phases of the labour intensive, skill intensive, capital
intensive sorts of economic development. To get to the next level, you really
need knowledge, you really need to exploit ideas.
And this is where I think the committee feels that Singapore has a role to
play," he added. He also said that Singapore’s strong legal and
financial system was an advantage. "We are well trusted because we have
rule of law. We have (the) consistency of policies to protect properties,
tangible or otherwise. We are a very effective and efficient business and
financial centre... I don't think there are many other countries who can lay
claim to (having this combination of factors)."
From
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/
04/01/2013
TOP↑
Singapore Government's Open Data Enable App
Development
Six teams of developers won awards for innovative apps that
use open government data yesterday, at the inaugural PlugFest International
Programming Competition (IPC). The IPC was organised by the Google Developer
Group Singapore and the IEEE (Institute
of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers) Computer Society Singapore,
and supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and
the Institute for Infocomm Research. The competition was open to tertiary
students and individuals, who had to create web or mobile applications that
use publicly available datasets from the government’s open data portal. An
app called ‘The Great Singapore Rat Race’ won the Most Innovative Award as
well as the first prize in the individual category. The web and mobile app,
created by developer Seah Ru Hong, provides a visualisation of labour and
income data from Singapore,
using datasets released by the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Education,
and the Department of Statistics.
The app shows users trends in average household income and
income by industry and education, as well as starting salaries and employment
rates of fresh graduates. Seah said that the app will help students make
decisions regarding their course of study, and help workers chart their
career path by analysing income trends. The app will also give researchers a
macroeconomic overview of the country. Another app called ‘Last Order’, which
aims to reduce wastage of food in restaurants, was named the Most Socially
Impactful App. Using location information from the Hotel Licensing Board, the
app allows restaurants to send notifications on promotions and discounts to
customers in the vicinity just before closing time. “The concept is based on
proximity and real time”, explained Javier Tamashiro, one of the creators of
the app. Users can set a maximum distance that the restaurant must be within
to receive notifications. Promotions will be sent in real-time to avoid food
spoilage. The app can be expanded to include promotions from events such as
concerts, or even supermarkets.
Josephine Teo, Minister of State for Finance and Transport,
attended the awards ceremony, and spoke about the use of government data by
private developers. “To improve the way we deliver public services, we hope
to harness the power of our people by facilitating co-creation”, she stated.
“The release of datasets for mash-ups or data analytics is a good example of
how co-creation can give us insights into consumer behaviour or create new
services to improve the lives of citizens”. The minister also announced the
launch of Apps4SG, the government’s own app development competition using
open data.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/04/2013
TOP↑
Singapore Outlines Govt ICT Spending Priorities
G-Cloud, Big Data, Analytics, Information Security, and a more
pervasive use of sensors to position Singapore as a ‘smart city’ - these were
the key areas of focus for ICT spending over the course of the next financial
year, announced at an industry briefing organised by the Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (IDA) this morning. Government ICT spending is set to
remain unchanged for the year ahead at S$1.2 billion (US$947 million), but
the Deputy Chief Executive of the Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore, James Kang, heralded a major shift in the way the government will
procure ICT.
Smaller, but more frequent, projects
Explaining that the world of ICT was becoming more complex,
and the needs of users were changing at a faster rate, Kang set out a vision
of ‘agile software development’ where agencies would break down larger ICT
projects into their constituent elements with a view to delivering services
faster, and with less risk. “We can no longer wait nine months or more for
delivery, the world is moving too fast,” explained Kang. “And there has been
a tendency for agencies to list their maximal requirements, including things
they did not need. This can lead to very complex programmes where the risk
and magnitude of failure increases.” “So what we want to move towards is a
more disciplined approach, where the most important functions are prioritised
and the emphasis is on going live as quickly as possible,” he continued.
G-Cloud: open for business
The next phase in the development of the Singapore government’s ‘G-Cloud’
received particular attention, as Kang signalled a switch from
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). “Many
agencies have been encouraged to take advantage of public cloud services for
non-confidential systems, and the take up rate has been good. So we are now
trying to extend the same benefits for systems which are dealing with
confidential information, and that is the function of the G-Cloud,” he
explained. Inviting solutions providers to work with IDA to make their
cloud-based applications available from the G-Cloud, a private cloud
infrastructure that has been built up over the past year, Singapore’s GCIO revealed that
“close to 100 systems are already making their way to the G-Cloud”. ICT
companies were encouraged to adapt to this new provisioning model as
individual agencies sought to tap “the agility, scalability and utility
pricing model of the cloud while maintaining the governance and security of
confidential systems and data”.
Information Security
In response to a question from FutureGov Asia Pacific
magazine, Kang revealed that the one continuous strand linking this industry
briefing with previous years was the enduring importance of information
security. “If anything it continues to grow in importance every year - you
would be surprised to see our own statistics on what is happening. We
literally receive billions of attacks a year from automated crawlers and
viruses. So this year we are going to enhance our ‘Cyber-Watch Centre’ (CWC)
so that we can have constant monitoring throughout the day, and where there
is real time detection of suspicious activity so that we can take remedial
action - as opposed to being attacked and not knowing about it.” The CWC was
set up by IDA in 2007 to provide alerts on cyber attacks for government
agencies. It currently runs a round-the-clock Security Operations Centre
staffed with security professionals. In the coming year it will develop new
capabilities in the areas of web site security, detection of data loss, and
better detection of malware. These enhancements are expected to be
implemented by April 2014.
Big Data = Smarter Cities
The large volumes of data being
automatically created by an ever-growing array of sensors was another
area that Kang drew attention to during the briefing. Referring to the
city-as-a-system, and the internet-of-things, Kang backed the Singapore
government’s efforts to break new ground in the field of ‘smart cities’: “I
think we are doing things that you won’t see anywhere else, and if you look
at our procurement plans you will see a lot of money being spent on cameras
and other passive sensors.” Citing the danger posed by high tides coinciding
with sudden downpours of rain that can lead to road flooding within 30
minutes, Kang said that real time decision would make the city more liveable
and improve the quality of life for residents. “Data analytics will help the Singapore
government to analyse all this multimedia data coming in, as well as a lot of
unstructured data, and help improve the delivery of services, analyse
feedback, optimise our operations, and improve safety and awareness,” he
explained. “We are moving towards a data-driven, actionable intelligence
mindset. And we are looking for more innovative applications through mash ups
with private sector data in order to co-create initiatives that leverage all
this government data.”
Thinking differently
During the morning session Kang was at pains to stress that
the government was seeking to work more collegiately with industry, and that
he acknowledged that government departments needed to step out of their
comfort zone to make this work. “I think the government is now a
collaborative government. Not ‘government to you’ - but ‘government with
you’. We are looking to become a government that co-creates with the private
sector,” he concluded. “The mindset of government must change. You have to
have partnership thinking. I just think that this approach is more
appropriate for the complex environment in which we find ourselves.”
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/23/2013
TOP↑
THAILAND: Digital Radio Mulled for 2013
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission's
broadcasting committee might allocate a spectrum for digital radio next year.
Natee Sukonrat, vice chairman of the NBTC and chairman of the broadcasting
committee, said that this year the committee would test-launch digital radio
once every six months. Next year it might allocate an unused VHF spectrum for
digital radio. The allocation might be for the major provinces first. Like
the digital TV licences, operation licences for digital radio will be
categorised into those for network operators, broadcasting facility operators,
and broadcasting service providers. Those wanting to become commercial
broadcasting service providers will be required to bid for frequencies of the
spectrum. A digital radio system would solve the frequency jam by community
radio channels. The auto industry might be the first to adopt such a system
as many major carmakers are keen to install digital radio systems in their
vehicles.
Natee said the launch of digital radio in Thailand would provide choices to
consumers as it would be available in parallel with the existing analog
system. There will be no shutdown of the analog system. The NBTC's interest
in digital radio coincides with its plan to switch Thailand's terrestrial television
system from analog to digital. The broadcasting committee is expected to
auction licences for commercial digital TV service this year. The NBTC, the
International Telecommunication Union and WorldDMB, a global forum for
digital-radio professionals, yesterday kicked off a three-day technology
workshop and demonstration of the digital radio broadcasting system. The ITU will also deploy its expertise
to help the NBTC draw up a digital-radio road map. The ITU is the leading
United Nations agency for information and communication technology. WorldDMB
was also invited to conduct a workshop and demonstration for senior engineers
and industry stakeholders wanting to learn more about what is involved in the
establishment of digital radio. The workshop will also include a one-day live
field test of digital radio broadcasting today in Bangkok, and a transmission demonstration
will be conducted at MCOT.
From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
03/02/2013
TOP↑
Thailand to Set Up New Mapping Database
Deputy Premier Plodprasop Suraswadi revealed plans to set up a
THB140-billion (USD 4.7 billion) mapping database using a 1:4,000 scale in a
bid to centralise the use standardised maps in government agencies. According
to Suraswadi, the system will support key projects such as the THB
350-billion (US11.7 billion) Water Management scheme and the THB2.2 trillion
(USD 73 billion) large-scale infrastructure project.
In addition, the system will also improve efforts on improving precision
farming and forest and land management. The move stemmed from a need to
standardise map usage in government agencies. At present, government agencies
have used a variety of maps with different scales to plan for development
projects. This has proved to be problematic especially when data is shared to
other organisations. For instance, a 1:250,000 ratio
is used to designate areas as national parks, while the Land Department uses
a 1:40,000 scale for land management, this causes confusion over several
issues as both agencies have to work together closely. Once the system is in
place, government agencies will be equipped with a mapping database which
enables them to leverage aerial photographs and high resolution satellite
images to efficiently and effectively plan long-term development projects.
“On farmland zoning for example, enhanced images could show which plots are
being used to grow crops. The system would also allow high-resolution
photographs that would help the government work out exactly what areas were
damaged by flooding and who needs to be compensated,” Suraswadi said.
Furthermore, the government will be investing THB 420 Billion (USD 14
billion) for the project and will also entail the creation of a new agency to
lead its development.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/12/2013
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VIETNAM: City to Launch Smart Transport Management
System
The Transport Department of Hanoi city will be rolling out the
pilot trial of its smart transport management system in Thang Long Highway in
a bid to improve road safety and traffic management. Thang Long Highway is
currently the longest highway in Vietnam, with a distance of 28
kilometres. Part of the project is the implementation of CCTV cameras and
computer networks that aims to help the transport department manage traffic
activities along the highway. In addition, it also aims to help local
authorities respond better to vehicular and roadside accidents by sharing
real-time information of the incident to concerned offices. Once the pilot
trial is deemed successful, the transport department will then fully
implement the system in other expressways in Hanoi. It is expected that the system will
help local authorities improve the efficiency of managing traffic congestion
along major expressways. To better transport conditions, the city is building
34 bridges over rivers and 15 overpasses while trying to complete the
construction of some key belt roads and highways.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/05/2013
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Vietnam Local Government Highlights Importance of
IT Standards
Truong Minh Thuan, Director of the Department of Information
and Communications of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang,
highlighted the importance of implementing a common set of IT and
interoperability standards as soon as possible to support the local and
central government’s ambitious ICT plans. Having a set of common IT and
interoperability standards enables organisations to achieve better
management, integration and coordination of its various internal IT systems.
It helps decision makers address technical problems such as incompatible
computers and computer programs, disjointed administrative processes and the
lack of institutional protocols for data sharing between agencies. “There are
several State entities using different software products on information
systems. This has made it difficult to connect and exchange documents among
State agencies resulting in inefficient and redundant pan-agency processes
and workflows,” he said. Adding that failing to connect information systems
among state agencies will be a hindrance to the goals of the e-government
roadmap.
Meanwhile, according to Chu Tien Dung, chairman of the Ho Chi
Minh Computer Association, the absence of IT and interoperability standards
has resulted in unsynchronised or even conflicting IT applications. Because
of this, many State agencies at all levels are making IT investments
separately and inconsistently. In this aspect, Thuan urged the Ministry of
Information and Communications to undertake efforts needed to set up
standards that will dictate protocols and uniform practices to help agencies
develop suitable IT systems. “Software solutions must be able to get linked
with one another to pave the way for local management authorities to exchange
documents and handle administrative tasks in a consistent way,” he said.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/21/2013
TOP↑
Vietnam to Modernise Population Management Systems
The Government unveiled plans to modernise administrative
procedures related to population management as part of its efforts to improve
its capacity to collect, process and disseminate population information and
data. The draft version of the plan was unveiled during a high-level meeting
last 26th April. The Ministry of Justice said it will be collecting feedback
from concerned stakeholders before submitting the finalised plans to the
National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government for continued
consideration. According to an official statement, the project will be
implemented in two phases and will start by the end of 2013. The first phase
of the project essentially involves a review and needs assessment of the
current IT infrastructure and administrative procedures. Results from the
review will enable the steering committee to draft an IT roadmap needed to
modernise and improve the efficiency in procedures related to population
management. Meanwhile, the second phase involves the building of the
technical infrastructure needed for the national population database which is
scheduled to be implemented on June 2013.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/29/2013
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INDIA: Launching National Cloud Initiative
New Delhi: The
Government of India has launched a national cloud initiative —GI Cloud—to help
the government leverage cloud computing for effective delivery of e-services.
The project by the Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) has beeninitiated
to support the implementation of the National e-Governance Plan of India
(NeGP) and aims to create a private cloud environment for the use of
government departments and agencies at the centre and state levels. According
to DeitY, the adoption of cloud computing will accelerate the delivery of
e-services to citizens, and support other objectives such as increasing
standardisation, interoperability and integration, pooling of scarce and
underused resources, and the spread of best practices. Cloud computing
provides tremendous scope of speeding up the development and roll out of
e-governance applications while increasing government ICT efficiency.
A roadmap to GI Cloud was released by DeitY last week,
assessing the ICT infrastructure currently in place in India and defining an
implementation plan for GI Cloud. The roadmap declares that cloud computing
environments will be established at the national and state levels, starting
with one National Cloud, using new and existing data centres. The National
Cloud will provide services such as computing, storage and network
infrastructure, backup and recovery, and application development, supported
by the State Clouds. A GI Cloud Services Directory will be created to help
public sector organisations find and subscribe to relevant services. The
government’s AppStore will host both cloud and non-cloud enabled applications
which can easily be customised to meet the needs of different organisations.
The first step defined for the implementation of GI Cloud is the
establishment of an ‘Empowered Committee’ to provide strategic and regulatory
guidance to DeitY and other stakeholders. DeitY will publish guidelines and
standards for the security, application development, service delivery,
contract management, and pricing and procurement for GI Cloud. The roadmap
specifies that detailed studies of the existing infrastructure capacity at
the government data centres and the requirement for infrastructure and
applications need to be conducted for effective implementation of GI Cloud.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 02/27/2013
TOP↑
BSNL
Launches Project to Connect NE
BSNL has launched an ambitious programme to improve
connectivity in rural and tribal areas of the northeast with the Centre
planning to reach out to the rural population for effective governance through
Common Service Centres (CSCs). About 1300 CSCs are to be established in the
region and work for connectivity to these, informed Chief General Manager
Telecom (CGMT), NE-1 Circle,
DP Singh. The NE-1 Circle,
comprising Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, is “always striving hard” to
improve the telecom scenario in the region, Singh said. He added that while
meeting sales target set by BSNL, growth in many new thrust areas have also
been achieved. “During 2012-13, about 1.7 lakh GSM mobile connections were provided
and 57 towers installed and commissioned, which has enhanced the capacity of
1 lakh lines and improved coverage to cater to the needs of the public in
rural and remote areas,” the CGM said. “Phase-VII project for augmenting
mobile capacity by 3 lakh with 468 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) tentatively
is planned to be rolled out in the financial year 2013-14. There is
considerable progress in rolling out wireless broadband, WiMAX services,” he
said.
Arrangements are being made to provide 9312 broadband
connections for which 81 new broadband equipment are
under various stages of commissioning, he said. He added that 45 internet
broadband-enabled kiosks have also been provided. Singh said 103.36 km of optical fibre
cable (OFC) route has been laid for connectivity to all the three states
together. The CGM said a telecom plan for the N-E region has been worked out,
which would involve Rs 10,000 crore in the first phase of implementation.
Singh said a project has been launched to provide broadband connectivity to
all government schools in Meghalaya. “The project is being monitored by the
Union human resource development ministry,” he said. The CGM further said
that NE-1 Circle
has shown that profits can be made even in these “grave economic times”. He
added that the overall revenue for NE-1 for the last financial year 2011-12
stood at Rs 204.85 crore and this year the revenue has increased to Rs 213.96
crore and expenditure has come down for 2012-13 by Rs 2.9 crore.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/01/2013
TOP↑
MALDIVES: Govt Decides to Compile a SIM Card User
Policy
Government has decided to compile a SIM card user policy for
SIM cards issued by Maldivian telecommunication companies, due to the
frequent misuse of unregistered SIM cards that threaten national security,
Acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim said Wednesday. The decision was made
following deliberations on a paper presented by the Transport and
Communication Ministry at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting. It was also decided
that this policy would require every SIM card to be properly registered.
Minister said the SIM cards that have already been issued would have to be
registered under the new regulation. Nazim said such a policy would
facilitate the Police in conducting investigations and avert threats to
national security.
From
http://www.haveeru.com.mv 04/10/2013
TOP↑
NEPAL: Govt Forms Committee to Recommend Online
Media Regulations
The Ministry of Information and Communications has formed a
five-member committee to recommend the government on introducing new
regulations to govern online media. Ministry Joint-secretary Narayan Prasad
Sanjel has been appointed chief of the committee, which comprises editors of
various Nepali language-based online news portals and a representative from
Federation of Nepali Journalists, RSS reported. The report said that the
committee is holding consultations to include online media under the ambit of
the Broadcasting Act.
From
http://www.nepalnews.com 05/11/2013
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AZERBAIJAN: Communications Ministry to Support
'Electronic Village' Project
The Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information
Technologies will support the 'Electronic village' project, lawyer of the
non-profit organisation IREX Alasgar Mammadli told Trend. According to
Mammadli, starting July, the project will be fully subordinated to the
Ministry. Within the project, Internet kiosks were installed in 30 regions of
Azerbaijan,
26 of which are connected via fibre-optic lines. "These kiosks are used
by a fairly wide range of groups. Implementation of the electronic Azerbaijan
state programme has led to creation of the State Agency for Services to
Citizens and Social Innovations (ASAN-Xidm t) and increase in number of
electronic services provided by government agencies. Accordingly, a parallel
development of infrastructure is required for bringing electronic services to
the masses," Mammadli said. Installation of electronic kiosks is
conducted within the IREX-initiated 'Electronic Village
project '. The cost is estimated at $100,000. The main purpose of installing
Internet kiosks in the regions of the country is to provide the population
with access to information for the citizens to have the opportunity to carry
out online payments, apply in an electronic form to public agencies and to
complain about existing problems.
From
http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/
02/27/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Approves ICT Action Plan
President Ilham Aliyev approved the Action Plan on the Year of
Information and Communication Technologies in Azerbaijan last week. 2013 was
declared the year of information and communication technologies in Azerbaijan
in accordance with a presidential decree on January 16. Under the
presidential order, the Communications and Information Technologies Ministry
is the coordinator of relevant activities. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
is assigned to provide realization of the activities related to the
development and use of information and communication technologies in the
territory of the autonomous republic and implementation of the measures to
form e-government. Azerbaijan's
Cabinet of Ministers is charged to work out the issues pertaining to the
action plan.
Outlined goals
According to the action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT
strategy, improve the registration procedure of the national domain.az, and
significantly reduce fees for telecommunication services and internet access.
The action plan will be implemented in four main areas: implementation of
organizational measures, improvement of the legal basis and management,
strengthening the capacity of the ICT sector and development of information
society and human resources. The plan provides organization of the
functioning of the State Fund for ICT Development, the High Technologies
Park, Information Security Center, Virtual Qarabag ICT center, IT University,
as well as an increase of the number of provided e-services and the range of
users, improvement of the quality of broadband services, transition to
digital broadcasting, and introduction of phone number portability.
The action plan also includes measures on increasing the number
of e-kiosks in the Azerbaijani regions in order to increase the range of
e-service users, measures on copyright protection on the Internet,
development of distance education, introduction of an electronic queue and
distribution of apartments. Creation of Wi-Fi zones in public areas,
protection of children from harmful content online, improvement of the
personnel potential in the ICT sector, conduct of national and international
ICT forums, conferences and workshops are also envisioned by the plan. Creating
and operating a website on the ICT Year as well as conducting a first
nationwide research and practical conference on cyber security is expected in April or May. According to the ICT
Ministry, in 2012, ICT revenues exceeded $1.7 billion, which is 18 percent
more than in 2011. This rate in previous years was 25-30 percent and the main
task is to maintain the figure at 20 percent. If this pace is maintained,
earnings from the sector will reach $8-9 billion by 2020.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/01/2013
TOP↑
IT-Projects’
Concessional Financing Conditions Defined in Azerbaijan
In order to support promising 'start-ups' in the scientific
and technical industries, the State Fund for IT Development will give them
direct financial support, Ministry of Communications and Information
Technologies of Azerbaijan told Trend on Wednesday. According to the
ministry, in the Regulations on the State Fund, the head of state specifies
issues of stimulating activity in the IT area in Azerbaijan, as well as provide
concessional allocation of financial resources to issue loans and grants to
IT companies. The main tasks of the fund will be the implementation of the
state policy on development and support of small enterprises in the
scientific and technical fields, providing them with direct financial
assistance and personnel training which in turn will help create new job
places. According to the ministry, the Regulations on the State IT
Development Fund provide opportunities for attracting internal and external
capital to the fund's projects. Potential financing sources of the fund are
the following: the public budget, the fund's own revenue, dividends from the
securities acquired by the fund, voluntary donations of domestic and foreign
legal entities and individuals and grants and credits from foreign countries
and international organisations. The maximum grant available may reach
300,000 manats, for a period of 36 months. Small grants are stipulated amounting
to between 10, 000 and 100,000 manat, medium grants could be from 100-200,000
manat and large ones from 200 -300,000 manat. In order to ensure the
transparency of financial transactions, the State Fund will be audited every
year. As the ministry told Trend previously, the initial 15 million funding
amount of the State Fund is provided by the state budget for 2013. The
official exchange rate for 3 April is 0.7846 AZN / USD.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 04/03/2013
TOP↑
ICT
Financing Rules Approved in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan's state
IT development fund will provide financial support for promising 'start-ups'
in the domestic scientific and technical industries. President Ilham Aliyev
signed a decree to approve the regulations on the State Fund for IT
Development under Azerbaijan's
Communications and Information Technologies Ministry. The decree defines
rules on the use of the fund's resources. The ministry said Wednesday that
the regulations specify issues of stimulating activity in the ICT sector of Azerbaijan,
as well as allocation of concessional funding to issue loans and grants to
ICT companies. The main tasks of the Fund will be the implementation of the
state policy on development and support of small enterprises in the
scientific and technical fields, providing them with direct financial
assistance and personnel training, which in turn will help to create new
jobs.
According to the ministry, these regulations provide
opportunities for attracting internal and external capital to the Fund's
projects. Potential financing sources of the fund are the state budget, the
fund's revenues, dividends from securities acquired by the fund, donations of
domestic and foreign legal entities and individuals, as well as grants and
credits received from foreign countries and international organizations. Each
Azerbaijani citizen may avail of the advantages of the fund. Financial aid to
enterprises will be arranged through contests. Businesses can borrow small,
medium and large loans. The amount of small credits ranges from 10,000 to
50,000 manats (up to over $63,000) for a three-year term, while medium
credits are worth 50,000 to 500,000 manats and provided for a period of up to
five years; large loans are allocated in the amount from 500,000 to 1 million
manats for ten years. The annual interest rate should not exceed 5 percent.
The maximum grant available is up to 300,000 manats, provided for a period of
36 months. The amount of small grants is designated at 10,000 to 100,000 manats,
while medium grants could be from 100,000 to 200,000 manats and large ones --
from 200,000 to 300,000 manats. The state fund will be audited every year in
order to ensure the transparency of financial transactions.
Earlier the communications ministry said that initial funding
of the state fund envisioned in the 2013 state budget amounts to 15 million
manats. 2013 was declared the year of information and communication
technologies in Azerbaijan
in accordance with a presidential decree on January 16. The Azerbaijani
president also approved the Action Plan on the Year of Information and
Communication Technologies in Azerbaijan
last week. According to the action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT
strategy, improve the registration procedure of the national domain .az, and
significantly reduce fees for telecommunication services and internet access.
According to the ICT Ministry, in 2012, ICT revenues exceeded $1.7 billion,
which is 18 percent more than in 2011. This rate in previous years was 25-30
percent and the main task is to keep the figure at 20 percent. If this pace
is maintained, earnings from the sector will reach $8-9 billion by 2020.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/04/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Extends Broadband Internet Project Until
2017
The project on the development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan
will be implemented in the period 2013-2017, Communications and Information
Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov said on Thursday. The project has been
extended for two years as it was previously expected to be completed by 2015.
According to Abbasov, Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund
allocated 103 million manats ($131 million) for the project this year.
Funding will also be provided in the coming years. All regions of Azerbaijan
will be provided with high-speed access to the Internet by 2017. Regarding
digital content in Azerbaijan,
Abbasov said the increase in the number of electronic signature users
contributes to its development. According to the minister, the number of
electronic signatures issued by the certification center has now reached
12,000. This is a low figure given the country's population of over 9
million.
The use of digital signatures will spur the development of
electronic services and in particular e-commerce, as well as simplify the
procedure for issuance of official documents, he said. Abbasov noted that by
the end of the year, the ministry intends to continue the implementation of
the e-government project in the country, commission a new ground satellite
station to monitor the earth's surface and complete the full transition to
digital broadcasting. According to Aztelekom Production Association, the
number of broadband internet users in the network of the association
increased by 19 percent since the beginning of the year and currently is over
136,000 connections. In April, the number of households with access to
broadband Internet reached 250,000 in
Azerbaijan's capital Baku, with the figure
expected to reach 400,000 by the end of 2013.
The introduction of broadband internet is being implemented
under the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) project. The project is aimed at building
a fiber network for providing high-speed broadband internet services to the
population. The traffic speed in FTTH technology will vary between 10 and 100
Mbit/s, while with ADSL the private user can enjoy only 2 to 8 Mbit/s speed
depending on the telephone line's condition and distance from the telephone
exchange. The project is to be implemented in three phases. The main goal of
the project is to provide remote regions of the country with broadband
Internet with a speed of 10 to 100 Mbit/s and expand
the number of users to 85 percent. Azerbaijan has maintained its
leading position among the CIS countries in terms of broadband Internet
penetration over the past three years. Internet penetration rates increased
from 65 to 70 percent in 2012.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
Draft
E-Gov Program for 2013-2015 Developed in Azerbaijan
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of
Azerbaijan has developed a draft State program for the development of
"e-government" 2013-2015, Isfandiyar Aliyev, head of strategic
development at the Communications and IT Ministry said on Monday. According
to Aliyev, the project was submitted to the government, and works on the
implementation of all activities envisaged by it will begin upon its
approval. "The program is expected to be approved in June 2013,"
Aliyev said. The new program is continuation of the state program on
developing the ICT sector in Azerbaijan
in 2010-2012. The program is aimed to create the e-government, develop the
methods of management by means of implementing modern information and
communication technologies in state bodies, providing e-services, as well as
taking comprehensive measures to provide simplified and free access of
citizens and organizations to such services.
The e-government project, which mostly covers the government
sector, is an integral part of the broad "electronic Azerbaijan" idea. The
establishment and development of the e-government in Azerbaijan will encourage
fruitful work of the state bodies, guarantee its transparency and reduce
bureaucracy. The e-government targets to reduce poverty,
provide suitable conditions for the population's prosperity and address the
issues reflected in the state program on poverty reduction and sustainable
development in 2008-2015. Gabala city, some 225 km from Baku,
hosted the fifth anniversary International Scientific Conference on
"E-government: innovations in customs" on May 6-7. Some 102
representatives from 55 world countries attended it. The conference was held
to discuss the global practice in developing and using the e-government,
modern forms of cooperation between public organizations in the field of
e-governance, using the information and communication technologies in the
field of customs and other areas of the economy, as well as examining the
current situation on innovative methods of governance and exchanging the
experience in this area.
Chairman of the State Customs Committee, lieutenant-general of
the customs service Aydin Aliyev, Deputy Minister of Communications and
Information Technologies Elmir Velizade, UN Resident Coordinator in
Azerbaijan, Resident Representative of the UN Development Program Antonius
Broek, head of the European Regional Office for Capacity Building of the
World Customs Organization Vitali Mikeladze attended the opening ceremony of
the conference. 2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan and the ICT University
was established under a presidential order on February 2. President Ilham
Aliyev also approved the regulations on the State Fund for IT Development and
the Action Plan on the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. According to the
action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT strategy, improve the
registration procedure of the national domain .az, and significantly reduce
fees for telecommunication services and internet access.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/07/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijani
Government Drafting New ICT Bill
Azerbaijan's
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies jointly with ASAN
Service, which ensures unified and coordinated provision of services by
government agencies, is drafting a bill "On state information systems
and resources". Isfandiyar Aliyev, head of strategic development at the
Communications and IT Ministry, said that the draft law will cover the
creation and management of information systems, regulations on their use,
technical issues, and information security. "Work on the new bill will
be completed by June, after which the procedures of
its review and approval will begin," Aliyev said. "The document is
intended to provide support for building electronic government and expanding
the scope of its activity, as well as solving a number of existing problems
in this area," he said. The preparation of this bill is part of the
action plan of the communications ministry for the current year due to the
announcement of 2013 as the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. Earlier Aliyev said
the ICT ministry had developed a draft state program for the development of
"e-government" covering the period 2013-2015.
The new program follows up on the state program on ICT
development in 2010-2012 and is aimed to create the e-government, develop
methods of management by means of implementing modern information and
communication technologies in state bodies, providing e-services, as well as
taking comprehensive measures to provide simplified and free access of citizens
and organizations to such services. The e-government project, which mostly
covers the government sector, is an integral part of the broad
"electronic Azerbaijan"
idea. The establishment and development of the e-government in Azerbaijan
will encourage fruitful work of the state bodies, guarantee its transparency
and reduce bureaucracy. The e-government targets to reduce poverty,
provide suitable conditions for the population's prosperity and address the
issues reflected in the state program on poverty reduction and sustainable
development in 2008-2015.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/13/2013
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AUSTRALIA: New Standards Impose Rigorous Process for
E-Waste Disposal
New
standards designed to help divert e-waste from landfill by imposing a
rigorous process for its collection, storage, and recycling have been set by Standards Australia. The new, joint
Australian and New Zealand Standard, ‘AS/NZS 5377:2013 Collection, storage,
transport and treatment of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment’,
outlines minimum requirements for the safe and environmentally sound handling
of e-waste. Colin Blair, Chief Executive Officer, Standards Australia, said
the standard sets out principles and minimum requirements for end-of-life
electrical equipment in order to maximise re-use, reduce the amount of waste
going to landfill, safeguard worker health, and minimise environmental harm.
“The standard states that a lack of full scientific certainty should not be
used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation
or adverse health and safety effects. The standard sends a strong message
regarding the environmental concerns of e-waste.”
According
to Blair, the standard recognises that there are laws in place regulating how
to comply with occupational health and safety requirements and environmental
performance, and that Australia
and New Zealand
are signatories to international agreements on environmentally sound
management of hazardous wastes and pollutants. “The standard enhances
existing environmental protections and international obligations, while
establishing the processes required to reduce the
amount of waste going to landfill.” Senator Don Farrell, Federal
Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water welcomed the new
standard, which he said aligned with the Australian Government’s goal of
ensuring that e-waste is managed in a manner that protects human health and
the environment. “The new standard will complement the Australian Government’s
National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme under which recycling
services for televisions and computers are being rolled out to communities
across Australia.”
Senator
Farrell said that householders and businesses could drop off unwanted e-waste
products “confident that the valuable materials they contain will be
recovered, and that any hazardous materials will not enter the environment.”
He said the standard also provided environmentally-effective guidelines for
industry and would help ensure that, from 1 July 2014, at least 90 per cent
of all materials in e-waste collected under the National Television and
Computer Recycling Scheme were recovered for use in new products.”
From http://www.itwire.com 02/18/2013
TOP↑
Queensland Government Sheds Light on ICT Priorities
Following
the success of FutureGov Forum Queensland in 2012, where the state’s key IT
decision makers highlighted key development priorities, Queensland’s newly
appointed Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the
Arts,the Hon Ian Walker, shares some of the key challenges and opportunities
facing the State. Among these are plans to consult widely with the industry
and drive future ICT reforms. Addressing Queensland’s
Government ICT executives and the ICT industry, Minister Walker underlined
his intention to meet with every member of Queensland’s ICT industry and agencies.
These consultations will drive ICT reforms in Queensland. These widespread consultations
foreshadow the much-anticipated results of the Queensland ICT Audit Report.
This report was commissioned by former Minister Ros Bates. This ICT audit is
still under development.
“Queensland
Government commissioned the ICT Forensic Audit for our ICT system and it was
bigger than that we originally thought,” Minister Walker said. “In
understanding its complexity and taking time to get it right, let me assure
you that we are addressing these complexities, and we understand the
importance of developing a clear ICT strategy.” Minister Walker said. “In the
48 hours that I have been a Minister, I have been briefed on the ICT Audit
and we are working rigorously to ensure it is done appropriately. And to have
a forward-looking strategy as soon as possible.” He said the audit
highlighted that the government owns and manages over 1730 applications and
most of these were custom-built. “The audit brought to our attention that the
average age system is 10 years old with 90 per cent of the systems needing to
be replaced within five years. A number of critical systems will reach the
past due dates within the next two years.” Duplications are a huge problem.
Currently, there are 108 case management systems and 80 record management
systems. Sixty per cent of the ICT staff is working to maintain these
systems, and diverting their attention from focusing on innovation.
Minister
Walker said his department will lead the development plan for ICT. “This will
be developed in consultation with Professor Peter Grant, Queensland Government
CIO, as well as government agencies and the ICT Industry by end of June”.
Changing the way Queensland Government ICT system is managed will take time.
“We want to ensure that the next steps are correct, we need to set up our IT
systems for success. We are serious about gating our projects to ensure that
funding stages are done correctly,” the Minister concluded.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia 02/25/2013
TOP↑
Australia Joins Convention on Cybercrime Treaty
Last year,
Australia
passed the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 as part of the
prerequisites to become a party to the Council of Europe Convention on
Cybercrime. While extending the scope of Commonwealth-related computer
offences, it also, controversially, required internet service providers
(ISPs) to store customer data on persons deemed under suspicion by
law-enforcement agencies. This information is stored without warrant, but
only handed over once law enforcement obtains one. At the time, it was
generally supported by the Labor and Coalition governments, but the Greens
held some reservations about the new legislation. One of the concerns raised
by Greens spokesperson Scott Ludlam was that if information was sent
overseas, nothing would prevent it from coming back under weaker privacy
laws. This would theoretically open a loophole for anyone wanting to
circumvent the local Privacy Act.
The
Greens' concerns were ultimately voted against in parliament. Debate over the
issue has been significant, with some stating that the legislation is a step
backward, and that it opens the door to a complete data-retention scheme. The
latter is now being debated in a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence
and Security. Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said that in addition to
enabling local law enforcement to access and share information with
international counterparts, Australians' privacy protections would be
maintained. "A warrant is always required to access the content of a
communication, whether the information is in Australia, or accessed from
overseas under the Cybercrime Convention," he said in a statement.
"The Cybercrime Act and the Cybercrime Convention do not impact in any
way on the need to have a warrant to access content from a telephone call,
SMS, or email."
From http://www.zdnet.com 03/04/2013
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South Australia Unveils New ICT Roadmap
South
Australian Premier Jay Weatherill is leading the charge on ICT reforms for
the state – with a new strategy canvassing “across-government” innovation –
but with a closer scrutiny of spending programmes. Doing more with less is
the mantra for the state’s “South Australia Connected – Ready for the Future”
position paper. This paper, being circulated across communities and industry,
crystallises core policy reforms for 2013-2014. While short on detail about
technologies-of-choice, this paper seeks community and industry feedback. It
one of one several documents refining South
Australia’s reforms for ICT innovation and service
delivery. Details can be found at SA Plan. During an ICT Strategy launch,
Premier Weatherill said that technology contributes significantly to the
state’s economy. In South Australia,
there are more than 22,000 ICT workers – comparable in employment terms with
the hospitality and financial services industry. The state government hires
nearly 8 per cent of these ICT workers. The annual spend on ICT goods and
services is more than US$500 million (AU$$500 million).
This
annual spending is a significant outlay, noted Premier Weatherill. It
requires a more astute, cost-effective and innovative approach to the way
money is being spent. The government’s strategy document cautions against big
bang ICT spending projects. Premier Weatherill said that being “ICT-savvy” is
part of developing good policy, better services, greater efficiency, and more
prosperity. Between 2013-2014, the South Australian
government is rolling out several new projects – building on previous
initiatives. Among these, a real‑time Adelaide Metro information service is
being offered across Adelaide
City. Metro commuters,
using desktop browsers or smartphone apps, will be able to track bus, tram or
train timetables across designated stops. An ambulance Mobile Connect SA
service is being enhanced. This service uses high‑speed connections to
state-wide ambulances. This offering is supported by real‑time access to
incident details and critical patient data. The project, when fully
operational, improves inter‑agency mobilisation and communication during
emergencies.
Moreover,
CareConnect – SA Health’s strategy, previously called CareConnect, is
streamlining state‑wide electronic health record management programmes. This
initiative helps integrate citizen health records across public hospitals,
health professionals and health services. Previous projects have included a
multi‑award winning internet portal to access government services and
information. Additionally, an on-line registration EzyReg service is enabling
customers to renew motor vehicle registration. EzyReg users can access a
secure, on‑line payment system through a desktop or smartphone. During
2011-12, almost 300 000 renewals were processed on‑line, offering nearly
US$550,000 (AU$550 000) in staff savings. Insights about South
Australia’s ICT reforms come under the spotlight at the Annual
FutureGov Forum being held Tuesday 28th May (Wellington). Chris Dalton, currently with
the Department of Premier and Cabinet, is a panellist at the May forum. He
shares insights about citizen engagement and participation for South Australia, together with Australian, US, and New Zealand
officials.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 03/28/2013
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NEW ZEALAND: To Deploy Cloud Computing Services
The
Department of Internal Affairs of New Zealand has launched a tender for an
all-of-government Desktop-as-a-Service contract. Desktop-as-a-Service, the
outsourcing of desktop infrastructure to an external cloud provider, will
make government workplaces more flexible by allowing employees to access
their own desktop and applications from different locations and on different
devices, instead of being tied to a single machine. “It improves security by
storing data centrally rather than on individual devices, and will enable
standardised services across government”, said Chris Tremain, Internal
Affairs Minister. “Desktop as a Service is a cloud-based service and part of
the Government’s wider cloud computing programme.” The minister stated that
cloud technology is revolutionising the way the government thinks about ICT,
and improving collaboration, efficiency and cost savings. “Four government
agencies have indicated they want to use the service as soon as it becomes
available, and a further nine intend to implement it over the next two
years”, Tremain continued. He did not specify which agencies have agreed to
use this service.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 03/14/2013
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New Zealand
Launches New Version of Budget App
The New
Zealand Treasury will launch an update of its “NZ Budget app” on Thursday to
include a new user interface and interactive features, as part of the
Government’s continuing efforts to interact with citizens online. The update
provides easy access to Budget-related videos, Ministers’ media statements,
the Minister of Finance’s Budget Speech, the Executive Summary, the Fiscal
Strategy Report 2013, the Treasury’s forecasts in the Budget Economic and
Fiscal Update 2013, and the latest Key Facts for Taxpayers. Its new
interactive features also allow users to drill down into the Budget spending,
and to enter their annual income details to see how much tax they pay and where
it is spent on their behalf. Furthermore, it features interactive pie charts,
which covers government expenditure and revenue, to help users better understand the New Zealand Government’s finances. “This is
a refresh of the Budget app which was successfully launched last year and is
part of the Government’s continuing focus on delivering innovative and
better-value public services,” Finance Minister Bill English said, adding
that the budget can reach more people when its
digital and accessible. The NZ Budget app is available to download free from
Apple and the Google play store.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/14/2013
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The Open
E-Government Strategy for Cities
Open City Portal is an open-source platform developed by a
network of several development institutions and universities to help even
small cities in developing countries to be able to install their own
customised citizen-centric city portals, through which the cities can achieve
most of the e-Government goals: two-way communication with citizens and
creating a single window for every city service categories. Using its
knowledge sharing function, the Open City Portal supports various
participatory urban and regional initiatives, such as sustainable cities, and
Digital Local Agenda.
From
http://ictpost.com/ 03/16/2013
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Civic
Engagement in the Digital Age
Social networking sites have grown more important in recent
years as a venue for political involvement, learning, and debate. Overall,
39% of all American adults took part in some sort of political activity on a social
networking site during the 2012 campaign. This means that more Americans are
now politically active on social networking sites (SNS) than used them at all
as recently as the 2008 election campaign. At that point, 26% of the
population used a social networking site of any kind. The growth in several
specific behaviors between 2008 and 2012 illustrates the increasing
importance of SNS as places where citizens can connect with political causes
and issues:
•In 2012, 17% of all adults posted links to political stories
or articles on social networking sites, and 19% posted other types of
political content. That is a six-fold increase from the 3% of adults who
posted political stories or links on these sites in 2008.
•In 2012, 12% of all adults followed or friended a political
candidate or other political figure on a social networking site, and 12%
belonged to a group on a social networking site involved in advancing a
political or social issue. That is a four-fold increase from the 3% of adults
who took part in these behaviors in 2008. Read or download the full report: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Civic-Engagement.aspx
From
http://www.i-policy.org/ 04/29/2013
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AFRICA: E-Government - Is EA Ready for E-Govt
Infrastructure?
E-govt infrastructure East
Africa - Despite several reforms aimed at easing access to
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the continent, many
African countries remain at the tail end of the digital divide, an
expert has said. A report prepared by the UN shows that of the top ten users
of e-Government in the continent, the only East African nation that appears
is Kenya,
occupying the seventh position. Seychelles,
Mauritius and Mauritius
lead the continent's users. Out of the 190 countries ranked by UN in terms of
e-Government usage, no East African country appears in the top 100. Kenya is ranked 119, Tanzania 138, Rwanda
139, and Uganda 143 while Burundi
sits in a distant 173 position. The issue that comes to the fore is whether
the governments are committed to delivering an effective e-Government
solution to the citizens, businesses and other government institutions.
Mr. Vincenzo Aquaro, the Chief of the e-Government Branch at
the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) says
that this is mainly attributed to infrastructure challenges on the continent.
'Four cables have for instance landed in Kenya and a fifth one is also
almost landing. But the challenge lies in implementing the last mile strategy
that would benefit the public,' he said. He was speaking during the 7th
Annual E-Government Conference of the Commonwealth Telecommunications
Organization (CTO) held at the Speke Resort in Munyonyo, Kampala last week. However, Ms. Elida Reci,
the Africa Coordinator, Public Administration and Development Management at
UNDESA while presenting a Paper titled 'The role of Institutional Frameworks
and Leadership in e-Government Readiness in Africa at the Conference stated
that alignment with institutional architecture and capabilities was one of
the major setbacks for the continent in pursuit of a 'Smart One government.'
'Most of the infrastructure in place seems to be geared
towards maximizing usage amongst institutions. But in as far as taking the
services down to the public is concerned, the infrastructure is almost
nonexistent. So additional funding needs to go into addressing these key
issues,' she said. Reci added that institutional frameworks for e-Government
in the 21st Century also need to be politically empowered, financially
enabled; technically rich and the Human capabilities need to be further
developed. Dr. Jabiri Bakari, the CEO of Tanzania's e-Government Agency, said
during the conference that the existence of a perception gap between the
decision makers and the technical staff on ICT security creates delays in
decision making. He added, ' If we are to address security, it means we have
to take into account the entire process. ' Bakari
said that the absence of ICT policies, standards and guidelines both at the
national and organization level was to blame for the problems.
'Where there are such policies, they do not resonate with what
is actually happening on the ground because they are mainly copy and paste
policies,' he said. Mr. James Saaka, the Executive Director of the National
Information Technology Authority, Uganda (NITA-U), while seating on
a panel and presenting the Ugandan experience at the conference, said that
the country conducted an e-Government Readiness survey in 2012 and thereby
developed an e-Government Master plan with the help of the South Korean
government. This should have therefore kick-started the process of
effectively creating a smart one government.
In reality though, this is not the case on the ground. 'We
have an isolated IT system in government with agencies that don't speak to
each other. We need to improve government online administration services and
ensure that at least 80% of government agencies talk to each other,' he said.
'The e-Tax at the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) along with the Integrated
Personnel and Payroll System at the Ministry of Public Service as well as the
Case Management System in Judiciary are success stories but we need to ensure
that information can be shared amongst the institutions,' he said. Dr.
Francis Tusubira, the Chairman of NITA-U however says that the major
challenge to the adoption and successful implementation of the e-Government
Platform in Uganda
using a whole government approach is one that involves ceding of powers to an
autonomous agency.
From
http://www.afriquejet.com/ 04/06/2013
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GHANA: IT Agency Collaborates with Microsoft on
E-Government
Ghana's National
Information Technology Agency (NITA) has entered into a collaboration deal
with Microsoft to develop the government's capacity to use ICT to deliver
services to the public. Director General of NITA William Tevie told the Ghana
News Agency (GNA) after holding discussions with Ali Famwawi, Vice President
of Microsoft, that NITA is adopting an open software policy in addition to
the procurement of volume product licences for government agencies from
Microsoft. He said provision would also be made for ministries, departments
and agencies (MDAs) which are using other open source software on the
network. He said the second phase of the expansion of the government network
is under way to bring on board 60 new base stations to add to the 30 existing
ones. Famwawi said Microsoft is going to collaborate with NITA to train
government officials, build the technical capacity of NITA to support
government ICT and to help Parliament with ICT services and training. He said
Microsoft is working on delivering unique identifiers and assisting NITA to
deploy MS SharePoint collaboration tools to enhance productivity within the
MDAs. Other areas being considered are skilled support for government
business.
From
http://www.i-policy.org/ 05/13/2013
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ZIMBABWE: E-Government
Way to Improve Service Delivery
E-Government - In an election season, many politicians seek to
be in tune with the people's aspirations and for those that have been in the
game before and not succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of the people,
it is important to point out that it does not take complex concepts to win
the electorate over. We know that many politicians conveniently swear to
serve the electorate when seeking votes and then translate that into an oath
of convenience for themselves as they help themselves. What the electorate
needs is improved service in all sectors and it also borrows three Ps from
marketing's four Ps in that the people need a product, at a place near or
convenient to them and at a price that they can afford. A villager from some
remote part of the country might not make much sense of vociferous debates
over decentralisation and e-Government, but they certainly have lived a
bitter experience of having to queue for identity documents overnight far
away from home, seeking public service vehicle permits hundreds of kilometres
away and investing more on a journey than expected returns as they seek to
travel to the capital to acquire a liquor licence to sell their opaque beer,
produced a stone's throw away.
Last week, we reported that the acquisition of liquor licences
would be decentralised starting this month, with beer outlet operators able
to make applications for licences online. 'We are introducing e-Government so
that people can apply for the licence using this facility. 'A person in Binga
needs not come to Harare to get a licence to sell three or four crates of
scuds a day when he might probably be getting a profit of 50 cents. By March,
we must be online,' Secretary for Local Government, Rural and Rural
Development Mr Killian Mpingo told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee. While
we are fully in support of e-Government, it is quite imperative for
Government to raise awareness on such a development so that it is utilised by
those for whom it was meant. Also, having leap-frogged from filling in forms
and bringing them to Harare for processing to sitting before a computer and
performing the same task online, it might be necessary to ensure those that
cannot use the facility are given an opportunity to submit their applications
through their nearest local Government office.
We say this since it is not everyone with access to a computer
and the Internet. We have seen the Registrar-General's office introducing the
online application route for passports though the impact of that innovation
is yet to show since the office is still characterised by long queues. We
believe there are more Government services that could be added to the
e-Government project list to do away with the bubbling anger of thousands of
people that queue at various offices. Members of Parliament and different
ministries should be seized with ensuring accessibility of public services to
the people and the Government should award the best ministry in terms of
service delivery to usher a competitive spirit that puts people first. In the
business world, the cellphone has introduced much convenience ranging from
voice communication to money transfer and internet connectivity. It is either
you innovate or your business dies. Government has a monopoly in the services
it provides and the consumers of the services make their evaluation and pass
their verdict through the ballot box. It is better to decentralise and ensure
efficient and prompt service delivered right where the people are than risk
their wrath. Government should ensure that it has a deliberate programme of
gradually computerising operations and must have no room for ministers and
senior staff who are not computer literate since there is no way they can
lead us to the promised land in this era where Information Communications
Technology is the way globally.
From
http://www.afriquejet.com/ 03/05/2013
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Zimbabwe: Local Authorities Urged to Embrace ICT,
E-Government
MUTARE — Local Government secretary Killian Mupingo has urged
local authorities to embrace e-governance to improve their management systems
and service delivery.
OBEY MANAYITI
Mupingo made the remarks last Friday at a workshop organised
for city fathers from Manicaland and Mashonaland East provinces. “It’s high
time that we in the local government sector get appropriately equipped in
terms of e-government so that we have strategic approaches to this subject,”
he said. “The e-government programme is no longer an optional programme
anymore. “It’s a mandatory paradigm shift, which we should follow to remain
relevant.” Mupingo added that Zimbabwe’s
local authorities should move with time like other councils in several
countries both in Africa, which managed to
utilise e-governance to improve service delivery. Speaking at the same
workshop, the principal director in the Modernisation Department in the
Office of the President and Cabinet Solomon Mhlanga described the use of
technology by local and central government as positive rebranding. “The
e-government is an enabler that facilitates the overall implementation of the
results-based management programme through the use of information
communication technologies (ICT) to improve service delivery,” he said. “Any local
authority that chooses to ignore the ICT revolution may do so at its own
peril since its environment demands it to be ICT complaint. “It is therefore,
within this context that the government has embarked on the immediate
implementation of e-government in order to bring the government closer to its
people, to reduce corruption, bureaucratic red tape and business costs
associated with traditional public administration and out-dated methods of
service delivery.”
From
http://www.newsday.co.zw/ 03/12/2013
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EUROPE:
Bulgaria
Launches Brand New E-Government Ministry
A new Ministry in charge of the implementation of an
electronic government has been established in Bulgaria. The news was revealed
as President Rosen Plevneliev unveiled the country's new caretaker Cabinet.
Roman Vasilev has been announced as the country's Electronic Government
Minister. Roman Vasilev is a former Director of Johnson Controls Electronics
Bulgaria EOOD.
From
http://www.novinite.com/ 03/12/2013
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Bulgaria:
Major Egovernment Project Makes Significant Progress
On 16 February
2013, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications
Ivaylo Moskovski stated that in less than a year a project has created the
basis of several eGovernment services. During a press conference held in
Borovets (a mountain resort close to the country’s capital), the Minister
presented the activities of the project entitled 'Improving administrative
customer service by building central eGovernment systems’. The project is
worth about BGN 12 million (approx. �6 million) and it is funded by the
European Union’s Operational Programme for the ‘Administrative Capacity’
(OPAC). He said that "from now on municipalities and ministries should
make more efforts to offer electronic services." He also added that the
direct effects of these services are time and money savings, and the indirect
ones are that the management can deal with corruption and falsification of
documents. "In the next programming period significant funding
opportunities for eGovernment in sectors such as health, education and
justice are expected to be announced," said Mr Moskovski.
The Deputy
Minister, Mr Valeri Borisov said that the project has created one of the most
important systems to start the eGovernance action. Among the most important
uses of electronic services are electronic identity and online public
consultation. Among the project results that are expected to bring
significant developments are those relating to the work of public administration
and systems for secure storage. In this regard, Mr Borisov gave an example of
each public administration having an ID card that contains a PIN. Some users
make use of the electronic signature online. However, Mr Borisov noted that
the electronic identity should not contain any personal data and that only
the issuing authority should have them. He added that this way the card is
very secure as the code information is kept only by the public institution
that issues the card, and only the owner of the card knows the PIN. Another
important result of the project is the online referendum, which is part of
the government eServices portal. It allows everyone's voice to be heard and
influence the decision-making process. Through this system, citizens, businesses,
non-governmental organisations as well as experts in public institutions may
actually cooperate in formulating and developing policies and laws.
From http://www.epractice.eu/
03/15/2013
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BELARUS:
E-Government to Be Launched
The possibility
of creating the new system will be discussed by Belarusian and Korean experts
in March. It was stated today by Ambassador of Korea in Belarus Kan Von Sik.
During the spring visit the Korean Expert Group will explore development of
Belarusian IT technologies. The high information level of development of the
country guarantees success in creation of the e-Government. It is referred to
information on the state policy and laws, feedback link, online-payments and
electronic services. (Kan Von Sik,
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic
of Korea in Belarus) The e-Government
simplifies administrative procedures in state agencies and other departments.
By the way, a uniform portal of electronic services will be launched in Belarus
soon. By 2015 the resource will render at least two tens of basic electronic
services and develop new ones in the long term.
From http://www.tvr.by/
03/04/2013
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GERMANY:
The National Govdata Portal Now Online
On 19 February
2013, the prototype of GovData - the national data portal - went online,
providing citizens and businesses with easier access to and reuse of
administrative data. Nowadays, tablets and smartphones, based on open
government data, offer numerous applications facilitating the everyday life.
Regarding the GovData portal, data from the federal, state and local
governments are used under standardised technical and legal conditions. Thus
the portal constitutes an important contribution to the implementation of the
government programme ‘Networked and transparent administration’ and the
National eGovernment strategy. In this regard, Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, the
Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology and the State
Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior explains: "The new
online GovData portal is an important step towards more transparency. Besides
the simple access to administrative data, GovData facilitates the reuse of
these data that are provided in a standardised format and with clear terms of
use. Through the use of open government data citizens, businesses and civil
society actors can create innovative applications to make everyday life
easier, developing new business models and identify new contexts of meaning.”
The beta version
of the portal is currently online. The portal will be continuously evaluated
through testing. The decision about whether the portal is going to continue
will be made in 2014 after consultation with the federal states. Initially,
it will offer environmental, geographical and statistic data as well as data
from the existing national open data portals. Gradually, new data will be
made available. In this context, the state’s system representative and Head
of the Department of the Ministry of Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Dr
Herbert O. Zinell explains: "Many states and municipalities are
increasingly giving access to their data. I am delighted that federal and
state governments have managed to develop common standards which we are now
testing in the prototype GovData portal." The portal has been developed
by FOKUS, the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems on behalf
of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, in coordination with the federal
state ‘Open Government’ working group. The countries and the municipal
associations were involved in the management of the IT Planning Council
project ‘Promotion of open government’ on the development of the prototype.
Civil society actors were able to participate in various workshops.
From http://www.epractice.eu/
03/15/2013
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ESTONIA:
Leading Way
with E-Government
The strength of
the Saskatchewan
economy is exhilarating. The province provides a plentiful supply of minerals
and agricultural products that are needed worldwide and fuel the economy. In
the face of a reoccurring recession in Europe and the slow recovery in the U.S.,
some argue that the province should take advantage of its situation and
implement innovative measures to maintain long-term prosperity. One such
measure is a world-class e-government. E-government uses the Internet to
deliver services for citizens more conveniently and efficiently. We choose to
use e-services because they take only minutes to complete and save us a trip
to a government office. Among the "popular" ones is online payment for
parking tickets. Saskatchewanians can also apply online for business
registration, PST filing, health card, some
operational permits, renew a driver’s licence, file a car insurance claim,
and book a camp site.
Although it seems
like a good start, we are in fact falling behind. According to the 2012
survey by the Stratford Institute for Digital Media, Saskatchewan placed 10th
within Canada for the
quality of e-government, outperforming only Newfoundland
and Labrador, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In comparison
to countries that are leaders in e-government, the gap is even more apparent.
The main drawbacks of Saskatchewan’s
e-government are the small number of e-services and the minimal integration
of the collected information. E-services are often dispersed across many
websites, each with its own login requirements. It can be challenging to
remember usernames and passwords for your work and personal emails, Facebook,
LinkedIn, amazon.com, and on top of that one for each of the government
e-services. What is more, why do we have to provide the government the same
information over and over? The digital age must have a solution to this.
Fortunately, we do not need to re-invent the wheel. Saskatchewan
can learn from other countries such as Estonia — a pioneer and leader of
so called One-Stop-Shop Model of e-government.
A country of only
1.3 million inhabitants, Estonia
has more in common with Saskatchewan
than similar population size. It operates long term with budgetary surpluses.
It is practically debt-free (six per cent of GDP) and maintains strong
economic growth within recession-stricken Europe
(3.2 per cent forecast for 2012). Estonia is a popular media
example of a successful e-government. The success of its technological
solutions has spilled over to create many well-known private companies.
Sometimes dubbed "E-stonia" or "Start-up Nation", it is
the birthplace of Skype, PayPal and Kazza. Estonia’s e-government rests on
three equally important pillars. First is a network that connects more than
100 municipal and national databases. Its main benefit is that users do not
have to repeatedly provide the same information. Information is re-purposed
to complete future requests. Second, a country-wide electronic ID enables
easy access to all e-services. Finally, Estonia’s e-government enables
citizens and businesses to access hundreds of e-services from one website,
bringing a new level of convenience to all users.
Estonia’s One-Stop-Shop e-government saves
everyone’s time and reduces costs. An equally important benefit is that it
allowed for new services such as online elections (first used in the world by
Estonia
in 2005) to appear. Citizens obtained new pathways to influence the political
process via dedicated e-solutions. The country holds world records in the speed
with which one can establish a business or file taxes. It created solutions
to connect hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, and emergency personnel to improve
health care. Teachers, students, and parents take advantage of electronic
school features. As a result of these and hundreds of other e-services,
public participation in the system is among the highest in the world.
Some other
benefits of e-government are improved accountability, transparency,
predictability and participation. As indicators of good governance, they play
a decisive role in investment promotion. Modern e-government will bring
technological expertise to Saskatchewan,
which can help start new industries. Success will increase media exposure and
will help market Saskatchewan
worldwide. Finally, e-government provides just the tool to keep the
government lean as the population grows, while reaching all corners of our
sparsely populated province. Saskatchewan
can tailor e-government to its needs and make it a one-stop destination that
everybody knows about, talks about, and mainly that everybody uses.
Applications that are functional, user-friendly and available on our phones
can make government interactions brief and enjoyable, a trend that is already
experienced by many in other countries. Estonia provides the proof that
it is not the size of the country but the size of the ideas that matters.
From http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
03/28/2013
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The Government of the Republic of Moldova
Has Won the International Prize BEST Mgovernment
The trophy
"Best mGovernment" - the best performance of a government in mobile
communication - has been bestowed to the Chisinau Executive by the GSMA, the
world organization representing the interests of the mobile communications
industry, for the "Mobile Signature" project. This electronic
service, developed within a public-private partnership between the Government
of the Republic of Moldova, the Electronic Governance Center, the center for
Special Telecommunications and the mobile telephony operators Moldcell and
Orange, has been launched on 14 September 2012. The prize "Best
mGovernment" has been accepted by the Executive Director of the Electronic Governance
Center, Stela Mocan, at the global
congress of mobile telephony operators, which is held on 26 February in Barcelona. The
"Mobile Signature" is an identity card of the citizen in the
virtual world and the access key to all public services in electronic format.
With the "Electronic Signature" citizens are authenticated in the
virtual space and can remotely sign papers, reports, requests and
declarations for institutions. The "Mobile Signature" can be
requested from the mobile telephony operators Moldcell and Orange. The citizen shall have ready only
the identity card. The "Mobile Signature" service is also available
to citizens abroad. Through it, they can access services which they would
traditionally request only back home, in the Republic of Moldova.
Until March 31th 2013 the "Digital Signature" is free of charge. In
the future, the price of the service will be accessible to all categories of
citizens. The Republic
of Moldova is amongst
the first seven countries in the world which use the mobile signature. This
is the second international prize in the area of Electronic Governance for
the Government of the Republic
of Moldova. The
"Cloud Computing-MCloud" solution, implemented by the Executive of
the Republic of
Moldova, has won the
international prize "Best Cloud Project in Central & Eastern
Europe".
From http://egov.md/
03/07/2013
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POLAND:
Post Seeks Central Role in E-Government Services
Polish Post is
pushing to take a wider role in connecting citizens with government agencies
in Poland,
through post offices and digital platforms. The state-owned company currently
navigating its way through a newly-liberalised domestic postal market, says it is already providing electronic
communication services for businesses, but is now looking to take a role in
improving communications in the public sector. The company said in just five
years, it believes around half of all official documents issued by public
sector organisations like land registrars and the national courts will be
picked up by citizens at their nearest post office. Paper documentation is
also increasingly moving to electronic means with 60% of Polish households
now accessing the Internet, it said. Polish Post has already launched a new
hybrid mail service and electronic postcard service, and is in the process of
expanding an electronic money order service. Later this year, the company
will launch more electronic services including an e-letter service, eList,
and an online postage service, eZnaczek.
In the field of e-government
services, Polish Post believes it can facilitate the sending of millions of
official documents to people, particularly those in rural areas where access
to government services can be difficult. Poland’s Tax Office alone
currently issues 10m certificates
a year, while the National Court Register and the National Criminal Register
issue about 4m official
documents a year, offering “significant” potential for Polish Post, the
company said. Janusz Wojtas, the Polish Post board member responsible for
sales and marketing, said: “We operate the biggest retail network in Poland.
We can say that we are everywhere. Because of this network, we can bring the
state administration closer to the Polish people. “We want to become an
integral part of the e-government project.” Wojtas said the government in the
Czech Republic was already providing
services through post offices, in a project that was demonstrating clear cost
savings of EUR 4-5 per transaction. Polish Post said expanding into
e-government services would have the added benefit of diversifying its
revenue stream to provided added support for Poland’s universal postal
service.
From http://postandparcel.info/
03/13/2013
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UKRAINE:
A Decade on, E-Government Is Still on Paper
The 10th
anniversary of the idea of e-governance in Ukraine came and went on Feb. 24.
The go-ahead for development of online democracy was given under the
chairmanship of the then-Prime Minister and current President Viktor
Yanukovych. The government decided to create a single electronic system of
interaction with citizens and transfer the key administrative services to the
Internet. This is where the process halted. E-government has long been a
reality not only in distant countries like Singapore,
the US or Sweden, but also in former Soviet countries,
such as Georgia, Moldova or Estonia.
From http://www.i-policy.org/
03/07/2013
TOP↑
UK
Signs E-Government Pact with Estonia
The UK
government will share expertise and knowledge with the former Soviet country,
a noted pioneer in e-government. The governments of the UK and Estonia have signed a Memorandum
of Understanding, agreeing that they will collaborate on digital government
initiatives in future. Estonia
is recognised as a world leader in e-government. Nine out of ten tax returns
in the country are filled out online, as were a quarter of votes in its 2011
elections. Under the new
agreement, the two countries will promote contact and exchange between public
officials, will share knowledge "in design, architecture and security of
public information systems" and will collaborate to develop their
respective capabilities. It was signed by UK
government CTO Liam Maxwell and director of Estonia's Information Systems
Authority Jaan Priisalu.
"As the
first fruits of this new agreement, we are also announcing today the launch
of three initiatives to consider open standards, identity verification and
open data," said Maxwell. "These will be initially set up
bilaterally between the UK
and Estonia,
but we welcome participation from other countries in future.” Priisalu said
that Estonia stands to
gain from the UK's
experience of deploying online public services in a large economy. There is
one significant difference in they way in which the current UK and Estonian governments
approach e-government. Speaking at the London Conference on Cyberspace in
2011, Estonian president Toomas Ilves said that pivotal to the country's
success in e-government has been its universal ID card scheme, which is
carried by 90% of the population.
"If you want safe and secure e-government, you can’t do it
without an ID card,” Ilves said at the conference. One of the first acts of
the current UK
government was to scrap plans for a universal ID card. Instead, it is
developing a federated ID system, allowing citizens to reuse commercial
identity authentication methods to access public services.
From http://www.information-age.com/ 02/27/2013
TOP↑
NORTH AMERICA: Canada - Federal Budget Cuts
Undermining Access-to-Information System - Watchdog
OTTAWA - The federal budget axe may be chopping away at citizens'
right to information about government, a parliamentary watchdog warns.
Suzanne Legault, information commissioner of Canada, says her office has seen
a sharp rise in complaints about departments that take too long to answer
requests under the Access to Information Act. The increase in such complaints
over the last six months is likely linked to budget cuts that will remove
19,200 public servants from the federal workforce by 2015, Legault says in a
new report. "If this trend continues, it could seriously stretch our investigative
team," says the document. "We suspect ... that budget cuts may be a
factor, since a jump in administrative complaints suggests that institutions
are struggling to meet their basic obligations under the Act."
Legault's office
is itself caught in the same budget squeeze, with funding reduced by five per
cent as the number of complaints coming through the door rises, to 1,596 in 2012-2013, up by
eight per cent from the previous year. Legault will tell MPs at a House of
Commons committee later this month that she needs more staff to deal with the
burgeoning workload. "Any meaningful solution could only come in the
form of an infusion of resources so we could increase our staff
complement," she says in a report tabled in Parliament. The budget squeeze
is apparently having an effect similar to 1995, when the Chretien government's so-called program review, also intended to
slay the deficit, ground down the access-to-information system because of
staff cuts. Departments lost institutional memory with the departure of
senior officials, former information commissioner John Reid reported to MPs,
and document-filing systems suffered with the loss of clerical staff.
The latest round
of cuts, begun in 2011 but accelerating in the 2012 budget,
seem to have reversed a modest improvement in the timeliness of responses
under the access-to-information system. "We're now back
to an all-time low in timeliness," Legault said in an interview, citing
statistics released in December by Tony Clement, president of the Treasury
Board, which is responsible for the access-to-information system. The
percentage of requests answered within the basic 30-day time frame specified
by the Act hit 55 per cent in 2011-2012, the lowest ever and down almost five
points from when the Tories first formed government in early 2006. A decade
ago, 66 per cent were answered within 30 days. Departments also violated
legislated deadlines for responses in one of every seven requests in 2011-2012, with most saying they lacked the staff necessary to
process them.
"This is
disquieting," said Legault. "There is a
number of institutions where it's clearly having to do with the level of
resourcing." But a spokeswoman for Clement says the government's
cost-cutting has deliberately spared the access-to-information system. Access
to information "has not been part of that," Andrea Mandel-Campbell
said in an interview. She also noted there has been a 50 per cent increase in
the number of requests arriving annually since 2006, currently more than 43,000 a year, many of them
more complex than in the past. Given the extra workload, the government has
done well in maintaining a "pretty steady state" for timeliness,
she said. "We are keeping up." Mandel-Campbell also said the
government is investing in new digital technology to make the
access-to-information system more efficient and effective.
On Tuesday,
Clement will appear in a how-to video on the Treasury Board website to launch
a pilot project that will allow requesters to file and monitor requests
online, and pay their fees electronically, all from a single portal.
Currently, many departments require a completed paper form and cheque,
usually sent by mail. There is currently no central clearing house for
requests. The six-to-12-month pilot will include just three departments —
Citizenship and Immigration, Treasury Board and Shared Services Canada — but
is to be expanded eventually to all departments and agencies. Also in the
works for later in 2013-2014 is an online tool to allow searches — by
keyword, date or institution — of summaries of completed
access-to-information requests government-wide. Departments and agencies
currently are required to post such summaries monthly to their individual
websites, but there is no central registry. An earlier registry known as the
CAIRS system was killed by the Conservative government in early 2008.
The Access to
Information Act came into force in 1983, when Canada was considered a global
leader in government transparency. But the legislation, born in the
pre-Internet era, has never been overhauled for the digital age, and of late Canada
has been called an international laggard in freedom of information by
human-rights groups and academics. The Act allows anyone resident in Canada
to request government-controlled information for a $5 application fee, plus
any additional fees for processing and photocopies. The law requires a
response within 30 days, but permits departments to take sometimes lengthy
extensions, and to black out broad categories of information, such as advice
or security-related material. Aggrieved requesters can complain to the
information commissioner without charge, though Legault's office lacks
order-making power.
From http://www.thecanadianpress.com/
04/08/2013
TOP↑
How Large IT Departments Waste Time and
Effort
A lack of
self-awareness is OK for children and reality stars, but in the corporate
world, the way others perceive you can you can mean the difference between
getting an initiative funded and not. It can also affect your job security.
To those outside the IT department, it may not be immediately evident as to
what goes into keeping all forms of electronic communication running
smoothly, ensuring your servers are maintained, and upgrading software. You have
to ask yourselves, are you really being efficient or are there instances
where your department wastes time? Here are some ways that IT really does
waste time.
IT poison
John Wyss, the
Director of Product Management at Intuit, believes that the problem is in
micromanagement. He says that, in an IT department: “Work items and progress
is managed down to the most microscopic level. Cost estimates are compiled,
prioritization and cuts are rendered, and workload is distributed carefully
down to each productive resource.” Most might consider this to be an example
of best practice, tracking the progress of a project right down to the last
detail. However, as Wyss goes on to say: “If you are building a bridge, a
skyscraper or an aircraft, this is essential, because predictable progress
and proper sequencing is more important than maximizing results. If you are
trying to build software against a strong set of constraints, it’s poison.”
The devil’s in
the details
Wyss’ point is
that the constraints that tend to feature most heavily are the ones set by
the budget and his belief is that too much of the budget can be spent on
“process, tracking, trading of this work item for that, and the worst - lots
of people debating whether to fix this bug or that - rather than just getting
on with the work.” If the devil is in the details, it seems he’s nowhere more
present than in the minutiae of software programming. But surely this is the
result of bad project management?
Put the right
people in charge
The real problem
lies not in the strategies, but in removing the power to make decisions from
those who are doing the work. By putting the IT engineers in charge of what
they’re doing, you’re ensuring that they’re working within the parameters of
what they know, rather than within the confines of a template that, no matter
how well-informed, simply doesn’t cover all the variables. Templates tend to
be inflexible, which is why IT specialists can waste an awful lot of time
trying to make their work fit your ideas. In short, it might be better to let
them get on with the job and report back later. As long as the results are
what you wanted, surely the details of how they got there are almost
irrelevant? In giving over the reins to those who know how to get the job
done, you also communicate your faith in their abilities, which translates
into better results. In addition, the shadow of accountability falls over
that department, encouraging them to work together to ensure that your IT
systems are the best they could be, without incurring time wastage.
From http://www.techrepublic.com/ 04/22/2013
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JAMAICA:
E-Government Initiative Moving Ahead
The Government is
moving ahead with its E-Government (E-Gov) initiative, aimed at using
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to improve service delivery
within the public sector. Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining,
Hon. Phillip Paulwell, said the transition to E-Government is now underway in
earnest and at the end of next month, the Government
will complete the winding up of the Central Information Technology Office
(CITO). The agency was originally tasked with co-ordinating the Government’s
ICT activities. “We will also complete the re-positioning of Fiscal Services
Limited, the body previously responsible for the digital revenue functions of
the Government,” Mr. Paulwell said. He was making his contribution to the
2013/14 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on April 24. The
Minister said that CITO will become a policy unit within the Ministry, while
Fiscal Services Limited will be rebranded as E-Government Jamaica Limited,
empowered to provide general ICT services to the entire public sector.
There will also
be a Chief Information Officer contracted to the Ministry, with
responsibility for providing overarching technology vision and leadership in
the development and implementation of Government’s ICT strategies and
corporate programmes. “Perhaps the most critical project the new entity will
be charged with implementing, is the creation of
the common Government Wide Area Network (GovNet),” the Minister said. He
noted that at the moment, there are vast gaps in technology capacity
throughout the Government, with some ministries, agencies and departments
(MDAs) suffering from major deficiencies, and others being quite the
opposite. GovNet will allow the seamless transfer of information between
Government MDAs and other stakeholders. It will facilitate the harmonization
of ICT infrastructure and systems across the public sector and strengthen the
capacity of public institutions to deliver efficient and effective public goods
and services.
Over time the
mechanism will provide a suite of on-line services to the public, increasing
the ease of doing business with Government. “The creation of E-Gov and GovNet
will be the single most transformative policy shift for our civil service
since Independence,”
Mr. Paulwell said. He added that E-Gov will allow a farmer in St. Elizabeth
who wants to export carrots, to complete all the applications for permits and
licences online, pay all the requisite fees online, and even receive his documents
online, without having to leave his farm or his community. “It will allow our
police officers to target and track crime more effectively; it will allow our
citizens to pay their taxes on time, and will generally allow for a more
efficient interaction between Government and the people we serve,” Mr.
Paulwell explained.
From http://www.jis.gov.jm/
05/01/2013
TOP↑
U.S.:
New York
Launches Open Data Portal
On Monday, March
11, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a new open data website --
Open.ny.gov -- in an effort to open up data across the federal, state and
local levels of government. The new portal contains data focusing on economic
development, health, recreation and public services to name a few, according
to the New York
state Executive Chamber. “This new website will dramatically increase public
access to one of our most valuable assets – data,” Cuomo said in a statement.
“As it expands and evolves over time, Open.ny.gov will spark innovation,
improve efficiency, promote accountability, and bring the people back into
government.” The launch of the new open data website came on the same day a
new executive order was issued by Cuomo mandating that state agencies review
and catalog data collected and, from there, take the proper steps to make
public data accessible on the new portal. The data posted to the portal must
be done so in accordance with guidelines to be developed by the state Office
of Information Technology Services (ITS). Under the new executive order, the ITS will consult with New York agencies and receive input as the
guidelines are finalized. Currently more than 30 state agencies and
authorities have already begun to open up their data for the website.
From http://www.govtech.com/
03/11/2013
TOP↑
How to Improve Government-to-Citizen
Communication
The guiding
principle of “Create once, publish everywhere” holds true for publishing
online content, and its relevance is increasing in government-to-citizen
digital communication. Public-sector alert notifications company GovDelivery
CEO Scott Burns echoed this sentiment during the Digital Communications Tour:
Northern California held on Wednesday, April 3 in Oakland,
Calif. During the conference,
Burns spoke to government employees involved with citizen outreach and
emphasized key strategies to improve citizen engagement using constituent
notifications. According to Burns, before reaching out to citizens with
notifications such as emergency alerts and traffic updates, for example,
agencies must first build a strong database of contacts. By consolidating
existing email contact lists using automated and integrated solutions,
governments can more efficiently add new contacts, and reach their
constituents. Not surprisingly, Burns said governments should continue to
think about the impact of cellphones, since more and more citizens are
accessing email and messages on their phones. Steve Ressler, founder and CEO
of public-sector knowledge network GovLoop, said mobile use is definitely on
the rise and that there are many ways government departments can communicate
with citizens via their cellphones.
“We’re seeing
mobile change how we do citizen engagement, so you’re at a BART [Bay Area
Rapid Transit] station and you can text out when the latest train is coming,”
Ressler said. COPE [create once, publish everywhere] is an effective strategy
to get updates and notifications to the public, eliminating redundancies
while still getting the message out to the people who need it. Sending one
message in multiple forms (press release, social media, text
message) can be effective as long as the information being sent out is worth
distributing through multiple channels. “It’s not a new concept, but
government communication is very complicated. You have lots of different
topics of information being managed in many different agencies,” Burns said.
“It is a trend, it’s not a cure-all, but it is an important trend because
[governments] have to do more with constrained resources.” But some
government employees feel departments have a long way to go before
government-to-citizen communication is a fine-tuned instrument. Nicole
Neditch, Oakland's
online engagement manager, said there’s still room for improvement. “I think
governments are really far behind as far as the way in which people interact
with websites,” Neditch said. “It has been a one-way communication for a long
time and now people are starting to dive into a two-way conversation on the
Web. I think we’re going to see a lot more services being offered online in
the government sector.”
From http://www.govtech.com/
04/05/2013
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CHINA:
Has Over 170,000 Government Microblogs
China had more
than 170,000 government microblogs by the end of last year, according to a
report issued on Wednesday.The annual report by the E-Government Research
Center under the China Academy of Governance stated that the country has
176,714 government microblog accounts as of Dec. 20, 2012, an increase of
almost 2.5 times from the previous year.Some 113,382 of these accounts are
run by Communist Party of China committees, legislatures, governments, political
advisors, Party disciplinary watchdogs as well as judicial and prosecutorial
agencies and government-sponsored institutions.The remaining 63,332 are kept
by officials and staff members of such agencies, the report said.It added
that a great number of these accounts are run by agencies and individuals
associated with the public security and police system, with the proportions
respectively accounting for 37 percent of authorities' microblogs and 39
percent of the individual accounts.The report is based on research of
microblog accounts with weibo.com, t.qq.com, t.home.news.cn and
t.people.com.cn, four major Chinese microblogging service providers.The
identities of operators of the targeted accounts are all verified by the
service providers.Among all the accounts run by individual officials, about
66 percent were opened by officials at grass-roots levels and only 1 percent
are maintained by provincial or ministerial-level leaders.The report said
government microblogs have developed from simple outlets for disclosing
information to become more integrated platforms for the government to
communicate with the public and provide services.It also suggested that
authorities and officials should further improve the quality of these
microblogs.
From http://china.org.cn/
03/27/2013
TOP↑
JAPAN:
To Launch National Open Data Portal
The Japanese
Government will be launching its National Open Data Portal as part of its
commitment to create an environment where data is used by citizens to promote
innovation, creative industries and knowledge-based services. Hiroichi
Kawashima, former CIO of the Government of Saga Prefecture and
currently one of the key committee members working on the project, says the
Government is hoping to create a portal similar to that of the USGovernment’s data.gov. “At
present, we are trying to settle technical issues concerning data format and
standardisation so that we can make the data available in machine readable
format. In addition, the committee is also studying legal aspects of sharing
data to the public,” says Kawashima.
In the previous
year, the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) launched a test version of
an Open Data portal called ‘Open Data METI’ which enables users to access
information related to economic and trade affairs. According to Kawashima,
user feedback on the portal will help them in identifying what data should be
made available to the public and how it should be shared. While
Kawashima cannot reveal a tentative date on when the portal will be launched,
he says much effort is being placed on addressing legal issues. “We
cannot simply upload government data on the web because Japan has ‘delicate’ copyright
and national asset laws that we have to sort out before we begin sharing data
to the public and the private sector,” he says.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
03/01/2013
TOP↑
Science & ICT Ministry Strives to
Create Jobs, New Industries
The Ministry of
Science, ICT and Future Planning has placed the focus of its policy direction
for 2013 on creation of jobs, new industries and new demands. Choi Moon-ki,
who tapped to head the science & information, communication and
technology (ICT) ministry, said that the government will create an
environment where everybody can suggest fresh ideas and establish venture
companies. At the same time, the ministry plans to cement the foundation of
science technology and ICT by intensively fostering basic science and
software (SW) fields. In a recent briefing on the 2013 policy goals to
President Park Geun-hye, he said that the ministry will create more jobs by
fostering a climate for business start-ups and bringing the country's
scientific research close to a world-class level.
Along with this,
the minister said that the ministry will make doubled efforts to create
communication and Internet environment, which will be helpful to the people's
daily life, by pulling down communication fees and expelling Active X from
major websites. "The ministry will also launch a government-wide
project, under which social issues such as food safety and environmental
accidents could be resolved through scientific technology," said Choi,
the first minister of the newly established ministry.The ministry was created
under the government's reorganization plan, and is the icon of the Park
administration's "creative economy," where scientific technology
and information technology play key roles in the country's economic growth.
Earlier in the year, President
Park said that the
ministry will be a main government agency responsible for the nation's future
economic growth and job creation. She has repeatedly stressed that ICT is a
future growth engine for the country.
Noting that the
ministry will extend support and strengthen policy coordination with related
agencies in a bid to create an environment for business start-ups, he said,
"It will begin a project to create 10 new industries by 2017 through
combination of science, ICT and culture." It aims at creating a total of
408,000 new jobs by 2017, about 90,000 of which are to come from business
start-ups. Related to this, the ministry projects to help universities
provide training programs to students who want to be involved in business
start-ups. Choi said the ministry will work to boost scientific research and
development with sales of state-funded institutes rising to 500 billion won
in 2017 from 107 billion won in 2012. Stressing that the ministry will
nurture scientific minds and groom the knowledge industry, he said it plans
to boost output of the country's software industry to 100 trillion won in
2017 from 31.2 trillion won in 2012.
"We will
also exert all-out efforts to let the country boast the world's fastest
wireless and wired network in 2017 with the number of public Wi-Fi zones
saoring to 10,000 in
2017 from 2,000 in
2012, and gigabit speed Internet connections available in most parts of the
country as well," said Choi. The ministry is also moving to encourage
local mobile operators to phase out subscription fees by 2015. The fee
currently ranges from 24,000 won to 39,000 won. The ministry expects the
abolition of a mobile subscription fee to cut mobile charge by around 500
billion won annually. "In particular, we will actively push ahead with
building a data base (DB) of information useful for the private sector,
including culture and medical service," he said. He added that the
ministry will make a strong push for the national informatization project,
which grafts ICT, the vitamin of the creative economy, onto a variety of
fields, including traditional markets, agriculture and small- and
medium-sized enterprises.
From http://www.koreaittimes.com/ 04/22/2013
TOP↑
IT Educational Council to Be Set Up in Japan
A consortium of
about 30 computer, telecommunications and textbook companies in Japan
are forming a council to promote the use of IT in schools, reports the
Nikkei. About ten firms will become founding members, including Microsoft Japan,
NTT Docomo, NEC, Fujitsu, Intel, Uchida Yoko, Tokyo Shoseki and Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone East. An additional twenty companies or so, including
device makers and textbook publishers, will also take part in the move. The
move is intended to provide consultation services for schools and municipal
governments, and to propose IT systems for education, to be developed by
members of the group. This comes at a time when the government plans to
provide primary and secondary school students with tablet computers by 2020.
Member companies will offer funds, devices, and training personnel, aiming to
set up IT seminars for teachers and to conduct demonstrations at schools
around the country.
From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 05/09/2013
TOP↑
S. KOREA: Gov’t to Open Big Data Center
The Ministry of
Science, ICT and Future Planning has announced a plan to establish an
information center on big data. The ministry said that with the
state-run National Information Society Agency, it will establish the big data
center where anyone can analyze and utilize big data. The center will also
boost the introduction of big data services nationwide. The ministry
will select someone to build the center through competitive bidding by next
month and open it on a trial basis in September. Big data refers to a
huge and extensive collection of data sets created by IT devices in everyday
life, such as cell phone signals and records, messages on social media sites,
digital pictures and videos, and online and mobile purchase
transactions. The use of big data can generate added value if it is
analyzed and applied to businesses.
From http://world.kbs.co.kr/
05/10/2013
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INDONESIA: Jakarta
to Roll Out E-Application System for Building Permits
The Jakarta
Construction Supervision and Regulation Agency (P2B), Indonesia will launch an
electronic system to enable an online application of building permits. The
initiative is in a bid to curb the epidemic of building permit violations
that have spread across the city’s five municipalities, said P2B Head I Putu
Ngurah Indiana.
Developers and building owners have the tendency to avoid applying for a
building permit properly due to its difficult and slow process they have to
go through, he said. According to him, the complication of the process has
resulted in violations ranging from the lack a permit entirely of to
misappropriation of permits, and applies to all kinds of buildings from
offices to houses. “Many householders violate permits by changing the
function of their homes into restaurants, boutiques, private schools and etc,
while owners of office buildings violate permits by adding more floors than
permitted,” Indiana
said. “With the online system, citizens only have to upload all the required
documents and agency staff will verify them. We will issue them a permit if
they are eligible,” he said. The system is due to come online later this
year. The system is expected to be launched by end of this year.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/15/2013
TOP↑
Indonesia’s President Joins Twitter,
Attracts 1 Mil Followers
Twitter yesterday
welcomed Indonesia’s
President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or more popularly known as SBY, on to
the popular microblogging site and thanked him for his initiative to engage
citizens online. Since its launch, the President has gained over 1 million
followers, making him the third most popular South East Asian Leader on
Twitter, just behind Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and Malaysian
Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. According to
Julian Aldrin Pasha, the presidential spokesperson, the President will put
his own initials at the end of the tweets to let people know the tweets are
from him. However, there will also be a team who will help the President
manage the account from time to time. "He is aware of the critics in the
social media. The consequences have been thought thoroughly. He is willing to
respond to the dynamics in Twitter that sometimes there is information not
based on the real facts,” he said.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/18/2013
TOP↑
Indonesian City Police Urged to Use Twitter and Facebook
Indonesia’s Tangerang Metro Police required all
police subprecincts and their officers to create Twitter and Facebook
accounts in a bid to improve citizen engagement and services to the public.
Tangerang Metro Police Chief Sr Comr Wahyu Widada said on April 17 that
social media have potential to help police share and receive information
directly with citizens. “Technology continues to develop and many of our
community’s members use social networking sites to communicate and share
information with one another. So why don’t we? The police should also use
these sites for similar purposes,” he said. Engaging with residents closely
would help on-duty officers or those on standby to be ready for immediate
follow up on any incidents or information can be sent to them by locals
instantly, he added. “Community members can inform officers via Facebook or
Twitter about traffic congestion, accidents or even crimes, which would allow
officers to follow up the information on the spot,” Widada said.
He believed that
social media like Twitter and Facebook would help the development of
interactive communication between the police and civil society as community
members could deliver the latest updated information. “We will mobilise all
our officers to open accounts on popular social media sites so that they can
feel closer to the community. Residents who need information from the police
can also ask directly and get a quick response,” he said. The Tangerang Metro
Police may follow the step taken by Jakarta Police’s Traffic Management
Center (TMC), whose Twitter account @TMCPoldaMetro and Instagram’s
Tmcpoldametro are considered the most reliable sources of moment-to-moment
information on the state of traffic in the capital. Tangerang is a city
located in Banten Province — 25 kilometres west of Jakarta. It is considered an industrial and
manufacturing zone on the Java island and home to over 1,000 factoris. It has
population of about 1.8 million.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/19/2013
TOP↑
E-Voting Simulations Conducted in
Indonesian Elections
The General
Election Commission of Bantaeng Regency in Indonesia conducted simulations
of e-voting in the elections held on 17 April. Out of the 361 polling
stations set up in the regency, 42 participated in the e-voting simulation.
The votes cast under this project were not counted or publicised, but used
for research purposes to test the viability of electronic voting in Indonesia,
and make a recommendation to the House of Representatives about the election
bill currently being drafted. The pilot project received positive responses
from participants who tested it out. Muhammad Alhamid, Chairman of the
Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu), said that e-voting would reduce the
amount of money the government spends on organising local elections, and
eliminate potential violations during ballot counting. Indonesia intends to introduce
electronic voting for the presidential elections in 2014. In the past,
problems that emerged with e-voting included technological illiteracy, lack
of voter confidence in the electronic system, and cost and efficiency of
e-voting equipment and system maintenance.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/30/2013
TOP↑
MALAYSIA:
Expanding E-Procurement Service
The Government of
Malaysia is expanding its flagship e-procurement system called e-Perolehan
(eP) by opening more eP centres nationwide to improve efficiency and
transparency in government spending. The e-Perolehan initiative is a project
under the Multimedia Super Corridor initiative. The system transforms the
manual procurement practice into an electronic, internet-based practice.
Through the system, suppliers and contractors can receive, manage and process
orders or payments from Government agencies through transactions done
electronically on the Internet. Likewise, it enables Government agencies
nationwide to procure goods and services from their suppliers electronically.
Since its launch in 2000, the system has transformed the
government-to-business procurement landscape by leveraging on ICT to allow
the Government to achieve greater productivity, cost efficiencies and
transparency.
Dato’ Mohd Shafiq
Bin Abdullah, Project Director of the e-Procurement unit at the Ministry of
Finance, told FutureGov that as of 2012, the total amount that has been
transacted through the eP system is RM15.485 billion (USD 4.9 billion), while
savings for Government procurement through eBidding is RM26 million (USD 8.3 million).
At present, apart from the three eP centres at the Procurement Division of
the Ministry of Finance in Putrajaya, Sabah, and Sarawak,
the public may now visit 16 eP centres in other states. The eP centres have
been expanded to provide advice and assistance to suppliers in all aspects of
the Ministry of Finance licence registration, as well as acquisition
transactions with the government. The centres provide free trainings and
learning programmes to suppliers so they can familiarise themselves with the
e-Perolehan system. To view a complete directory of eP centres, please refer
to this link.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/22/2013
TOP↑
PHILIPPINES:
To Standardise Template of Government Websites
162 webmasters
from different government agencies are set to undergo intensive training on
how they can develop and manage their respective government websites, based
on a template specially designed to give the web portals a standard “look”
and “feel”. The Website Template Project is a response to an Executive Order
mandating all government websites to have a standard “look” and “feel”. In
addition, it also supports the Department of Science and Technology’s goal to
improve accessibility and security of government websites by providing a
central web hosting facility. According to an official statement, the
training series will instruct the webmasters on how they can integrate the
Government Website Template, including its policies and standards, using
Joomla, Drupal and WordPress as content management systems (CMS).
“Through the
standardised websites, Local Government Units, National Government Agencies
and State Universities and Colleges will
experience ease in navigation and use of digital assets,” said Antonette
Torres, iGovPhil Project Manager. “More than that, content, news updates,
public documents and other services will be easily accessible to the
citizens.” The Government Website Template is an initiative under the
Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) project led by the Advanced
Science and Technology Institute and Information and Communications
Technology Office (ICTO) and in collaboration with the Presidential
Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO). The
iGovPhil project aims to enhance government efficiency and effectiveness by
using and putting relevant mechanisms to implement interactive,
interconnected and interoperable government applications. Its components
include: a Government Email system, Public Key Infrastructure to enhance the
security of transactions and communications, the National Records Management
Information System (NARMIS), a secure payment gateway, secure data centers
and integrated fiber optic network to interconnect the various agencies of
government.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
03/25/2013
TOP↑
The Philippines to Enhance
E-Procurement System
The Department of
Budget and Management (DBM), Philippines,
will implement new membership types for its Electronic Procurement System
(PhilGEPS), allowing users to access additional features. "The Aquino
administration remains committed to improving openness and transparency in
governance through our digitization efforts," said the DBM Secretary
Florencio Abad. . Registered suppliers will be subjected to additional fees,
which will allow them to access additional user features such as electronic
bidding and electronic payment, he added. Two new membership schemes will be
introduced. They are Blue Membership and Platinum Membership. For the Blue Membership, suppliers
will be charged PHP 3,000 (US$ 73) per annum for access to extra features.
The Blue members will be able to download PhilGEPS documents and print their
own PhilGEPS registration certificate as well as one additional contact user
for the organisation. Users of
the system have long requested for this feature to ease the transaction
process, usually done personally at the PhilGEPS office or through postal service.
For Platinum
Members, PHP 5,000 (US$ 121.87) will be charged annually and exclusive
PhilGEPS features will be enabled. These include the uploading of eligibility
documents and their products catalogue in the system, direct access to a list
of consultants, and online bid submission. Other features that will soon be
available to them include e-payment, bid documents, and registration fees.
The e-payment will help facilitate electronic and cashless payments for
purchases at the virtual store.
"By allowing government agencies to conduct all phases of the
procurement process online, we can ensure that public spending is more
efficient and, at the same time, open to scrutiny. These efforts to further
digitise procurement processes, in the spirit of transparency and
accountability, would allow us to avert corruption, collusion and other
transaction irregularities," Abad added.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
03/28/2013
TOP↑
Philippine Agriculture Department Boosts
Transparency with Open Data Portal
As support to
President Aquino’s call for transparency, the Department of Agriculture
launched its open data portal called DAAN (Department of Agriculture
Accountability Network) website which aims to promote public awareness of its
community-focused projects and activities nationwide. The portal provides a
library of the agency’s on-going and completed projects nationwide. It also
details their fund allocations and cumulative disbursements, completion
period, percentage of accomplishment and other relevant data, including
regularly updated photos, which were provided by the attached agencies,
corporations and regional field units of the Department of Agriculture. In
addition, as part of its efforts to enhance the portal, the agency has also
started mapping the projects through GPS. Mapped projects include farm to
market roads, irrigation, post-harvest facilities, production support
facilities, market related infrastructure, post-harvest equipment and
machines as well as other major projects nationwide. Furthermore, users are
encouraged to post their comments on the projects so as to help the agency
improve its project management activities.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/19/2013
TOP↑
Philippine Province Introduces Electronic
Filing and Payment System
The Bureau of
Internal Revenue will be introducing a new electronic filing and payment
system of taxes (eFPS) in the national government offices of the province of Laguna, as part of its efforts to give
citizens a more convenient tax filing experience. The Province of Laguna
is located in the southeast of Metro Manila and has a total population of
2,669,847, according to 2010 statistics. eFPS is a
system developed and maintained by the BIR for electronically filing tax
returns, including attachments, if any, and paying taxes due through the
internet. Payments are made electronically through the internet banking
facilities of authorised agent banks. The system gives users a more
convenient and interactive option to file and pay their taxes. In addition,
it minimises errors because all of the information supplied by the tax payer
is validated by the system before final submission.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
05/03/2013
TOP↑
SINGAPORE:
Tops International E-Government Rankings
The Waseda
University Institute of e-Government in Japan released its ninth annual
international e-government rankings of 55 countries last week. Retaining its
position from 2012, Singapore
topped the rankings this year, followed by Finland
and USA.
Factors such as Singapore’s new e-citizen portal, along with the high
coverage of fibre-based broadband, upgrades to mobile government, and
OneInbox (a secured platform allowing citizens to receive government letters
electronically) led to Singapore’s high rank. Asian nations constitute 40 per
cent of the top ten countries this year. Taiwan
is ranked eighth, up from tenth in 2012, and Japan has moved from rank eight
to rank six. South Korea
remains in the top ten at rank four, down from its third position last year. Australia,
however, moved from its seventh position in 2012 to 11th this year.
The 55 nations
included in the study are assessed on seven criteria: national portal,
presence and mandate of the government CIO, e-services provided to citizens
(such as e-voting and e-tax), promotion of e-government, network
infrastructure, digital inclusion, and use of ICT for improving internal
processes of the government. The 2013 study identified open data and national
ID card programmes as new trends this year. Trends identified in 2012,
including cloud computing, mobile technology, social media, and
cybersecurity, remained popular amongst governments. These annual rankings by
Waseda University are led by Dr Toshio Obi,
Director of Institute of e-Government, in collaboration with the
International Academy of CIO. Organisations such as the United Nations,
International Telecommunication Union (ITU – the UN’s ICT agency) and the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) contributed to
the assessment.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
04/02/2013
TOP↑
Mobile Mental Health Outreach Team to Be
Set Up in July
SINGAPORE: A new mobile team will be set up in
July to help those who may be affected by mental conditions. The Mobile
Mental Health Outreach Team will take calls from members of the community and
send case workers to follow up. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Teo
Chee Hean at a Singapore Association for Mental Health's (SAMH) charity
dinner on Friday evening. SAMH aims to promote mental wellness and empower
people with mental illnesses to rebuild their lives. The association is
hoping to raise S$500,000 for its cause.
From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
Singapore's
ICT Authority Changes Leadership
Starting 10 June
2013, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will be welcoming
Steven Leonard and Jacqueline Poh as new members of its executive leadership
team. Steven Leonard, an industry veteran with more than 28 years of
international experience working in global technology firms, will have
executive leadership responsibility for IDA as the new Deputy Chairman. He
will focus primarily on industry promotion and development. This includes
strategic planning and development of manpower for the infocomm sector,
infrastructure development, spearheading the transformation of innovative
start-ups and local enterprises, and overseeing various national
cross-sectoral programmes. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Poh, former Divisional
Director of the Workplace Policy and Strategy Division at Ministry of
Manpower (MOM), will be taking the lead as IDA’s Managing Director. She will
be leading IDA’s policy and regulatory functions, which include developing
infocomm policy, telecoms regulation and information security, as well as
guide the strategic Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO) function.
On the new
management appointments, IDA Chairman, Yong Ying-I said, “Infocomm technology
is now pervasive, transforming how societies function, how government engages
with citizens, and how business is done. The possibilities and the challenges
have increased. The appointments of an executive Deputy Chairman and a
Managing Director at IDA, who bring strong private sector and public sector
experiences with them, will enable IDA to more strongly drive impactful
transformation across a broad range of sectors and issues affecting our
economy, society and government.”
The current IDA CEO, Mr Ronnie Tay, will return to the Administrative
Service from 10 June 2013 for another posting. Mr Tay has helmed IDA since November
2007 and under his leadership, Singapore has successfully
deployed the Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network to 95 per cent of homes as
well as businesses, with more than 250,000 fibre broadband subscribers. For
the infocomm industry, the S$46 million Infocomm Industry Productivity
Roadmap was launched in 2011 to push for productivity in the ICT sector,
benefitting more than 70 companies and 6,700 infocomm professionals to date.
Similarly, through the Infocomm@SME programme, more than 5,000 SMEs have
benefitted from the iSprint grant scheme to use infocomm to enhance business
productivity. In addition, various sectoral transformation programmes for
education, healthcare, finance, logistics and transport were implemented, and
the eGov2015 masterplan was launched in 2011.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
05/08/2013
TOP↑
THAILAND: To Launch Mobile
App for Income Tax Submission
The Revenue
Department (RD), Thailand
will launch a mobile app for the submission of personal income tax by mid of
March as the latest e-service for smart phone users. RD Director-General
Satit Rungkasiri said that the department has been piloted the app and is now
confident that the new mobile service is user-friendly, fast, and convenient
for users. “Moreover, the app can facilitate high-security financial
transactions with banks via mobile phones.” Rungkasiri believed the new app
will provide a more convenient mean for taxpayers and encourage them to adopt
this channel to submit their tax information. “Next year, we may see higher
numbers of taxpayers using mobile phone to submit and pay taxes more than
doing it via internet next year,” he added. The project started at the mid of
2012, and will now only be available for half a month before the deadline of
the personal income tax submission at the end of March, according to him. “It
is a good step as we can test the system,” he said and added that the app
will be developed further to be more user-friendly, more casual looking and
interesting interface. “Mobile service will replace the existing systems
because almost all taxpayers are now using smartphone,” he added.
From http://www.futuregov.asia/
03/01/2013
TOP↑
VIETNAM: HCM City
Funds Updates for Government IT Infrastructure
The municipal
administration plans to spend VND300 billion (US$14.3 million) this year on
furtherm developing E-governance in HCM City. This is three times the investment
made in 2012, the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper said in a
report on Saturday. This huge investment from the State budget for
application of information technology in 2013 offers a "golden
opportunity" for the city's efforts to build and develop its E-Government,
the report cited Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of HCM City Department of
Information and Communications, as saying. In the 2005-2012 period, the city
authority has carried out 1,012 IT projects with a total investment of VND665
billion ($32.7 million), meaning an average invesment of VND83 billion per
year to develop E-governance. Tuan said these investments were used to
develop IT infrastructure including hardware and software, data bases and to
train staff in 64 State departments and agencies.
The IT projects
have helped created email addresses for nearly 11,000 Government officials
and 80 websites for Government agencies in the city. They have helped the
city win official recognition as the State agency at the city/province as
well as the district levels to have applied IT most effectively. However, the
investments in IT applications of previous years were inadequate, Tuan said,
adding that machinery and equipment at several agencies have become outdated
and had to be updated. With the new investment outlay for this year, the
Department of Information and Communications plans to replace outdated
machinery and equipment, creating the most favourable conditions for people
and businesses to contact State agencies and district authorities. In
particular, it plans to pay greater attention to network security. The city
authorities will mobilise medium and small IT enterprises to take part in
these projects, instead of inviting big companies as it has done in previous
years. Tuan also said that a conference to review IT application at State
agencies and district administrations will be held in mid-April.
From http://vietnamnews.vn/
04/08/2013
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INDIA:
Kerala to Complete E-Gov Projects by March CM
Kochi: Kerala had
lagged in making use of the IT wave and failed to capitalise on the
advantages of information technology but it would complete the e-Governance
projects by the end of next month, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said.
He was speaking at a function to declare Ernakulum district as e-District here. With
this six districts in the state have now become e-Districts. He said the
Centre had given 30 days time to complete the e-Governance project. This
would enable the citizens to obtain certificates online from various
departments from a network of taluk offices, 124 village offices and 165
Akshaya centres. Various certificates including caste, identity,
relationship, nativity, succession and liability would be available through
Akshaya centres.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 02/27/2013
TOP↑
Goa
Police Decide to Install CCTNS
The Goa police have decided to implement the crime and
criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS), worried about the crime
detection rate and the efficiency and effectiveness of the police department.
It will enhance outcomes in crime investigation, tracking of criminals and
enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of police departments. Through
CCTNS, the police will create and maintain databases on crime and criminals
in digital form for sharing by all stakeholders in the system, in order to
effectively meet the challenges of crime control and the maintenance of
public order. Atmaram Deshpande, superintendent of police, said the first
phase of this project would be completed in October, and the second phase would
be completed by March, 2014. This system can be accessed by citizens through
multiple, transparent, and easily accessible channels (portal, mobile, call
centre, etc.) in a citizen-friendly manner. Citizens can also file their
complaint sitting at home, and can keep track of their application and
complaints.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 03/06/2013
TOP↑
Integrated Systems for Better E-Gov
Experts
To make
e-governance work in India
there is a need to develop integrated systems in place of the existing
independent modules, according to experts. While highlighting different
aspects of the subject during a one-day workshop on “e- governance and
National E- Governance Plan” organised by the Computer Centre, Panjab
University, experts stressed that while the young and urban population has
become extremely demanding, there is still a resistance among the rural
population towards the e-governance platforms. While speaking on the e-
governance facilities available in the education sector, Professor Renu Vij
from the University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET) said: “The
students have become extremely tech-savvy these days and it has become a
challenging task for the faculty to meet their expectations. Although there
are many e- governance platforms available, there is a need for integrated
systems rather than the existing independent modules so as to make the
concept successful. ” Sonal Chawla, Assistant Professor in the Department of
Computer Science, PU informed: “E- governance has made a marginal impact on
the level of corruption due to lack of motivation among the top level
officials to root out the menace. Moreover, the e-governance facilities have
been introduced in parts in the country and there is a need for a holistic
approach so that even the rural can relate with the concept. ”
From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 03/13/2013
TOP↑
Kerala Integrates E-Payment with
E-Procurement
Kerala IT
department has integrated an e-payment mechanism to its existing
e-procurement system wherein bidders can make online payment towards tender
document fees and EMD. Moreover Government can make online refunds of EMD
amount to the unsuccessful bidder’s bank account in a time bound manner. This
move is aimed at further enhancing transparency and for ensuring complete
confidentiality and anonymity in the Government tendering process. The
integration of e-payment system will replace the present, conventional system
of payment of tender document fees and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) through
Demand Drafts. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will formally launch e-payment
system in government procurements on April 17, 2013.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/17/2013
TOP↑
Jammu
and Kashmir Gets SDC for Supporting
E-Governance Initiatives
Jammu and Kashmir has got a State Data Centre (SDC) for
supporting e-Governance initiatives in the state. “We have setup a SDC for
supporting e-Governance initiatives in Jammu
and Kashmir. The centre has been setup by the IT
department under the National e-Governance plan (NeGP),” said Feroz Ahmed
Khan, Minister of state for Information Technology The data centre has been
developed as a secure infrastructure for hosting and managing e-Governance
application of different departments, Khan said adding, it is the first IT
infrastructure project commissioned in the state. The SDC will provide
facilities like central repository of the state, secure data storage,
disaster recovery and data set of the National Population Register (NPR).
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/01/2013
TOP↑
E-Voting Should Be Regular Practice
There are
different stakeholders and different components of an election. Voters are
one of the stakeholders. The most important component of the elections is the
privacy of the voters. Voters list is another component. A lot of people
complain that their information published in the voters’ list is incorrect.
Third component is polling centers. Every year there is addition to the
population, so new polling centers have to be created for this addition in
the population and the voters have to be correctly informed about their
polling centers. Political parties are other stakeholders. Many times we
receive complaints from the parties that the votes casted for one party go to
the account of another party. To address this problem we have upgraded our
Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with new security features. For
parliamentary and assembly elections, we use the voter list shared by the
Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra under
the Government of India supervision. The State Election Commission conducts
the elections of the Municipal Corporations, Zilla Parishads and Gram
Panchayat across the state. So we have to break this list down according to
wards with keeping in mind that the voters would not face any difficulty in
terms of location of the polling booths and other related factors. The State
Election Commission has to take care of these issues while preparing for
elections to ensure that the elections are a happy and pleasant experience
where voters would want to step out of the house and go for polls. While
deciding about the polling centers, we have to think of trivial yet important
issues to ensure comfort of the voters. To avoid long queues outside the
polling booths, we have increased the number of booths. Earlier the voters
allotted to per booth were 1000-1200, we have reduced this number now to 800
so that voters would not need to stand in the queue for a long time. We also prefer
keeping the polling booths on ground floors to avoid inconvenience to
elderly, ill and disabled voters. In certain unavoidable situations, where
polling booths are kept on upper floors, we make arrangements for Palakis.
Besides, we also have to make provisions for basic necessities like drinking
water and toilets.
To make voters easier
to find directions to their polling centers, we have displayed maps on our
website. We also have deployed a call centre and a helpline on which voters
contact to find out related information. Through such initiatives, we ensure
that the elections are a comfortable experience. We are also making efforts
to bring in e-voting; however because of security issue we have not yet
introduced it. I would like e-voting to be a regular practice in Maharashtra. My vision was to minimize corruption and
unwanted practices in the elections. I want to present a more comfortable and
pleasant experience to the voters. The laws are implemented as per the
election rule book. We wanted everything to be voter-centric. Digitalization
has increased accessibility to voters and reduced the possibility of
wrong-doing. For example, we have published on our website the affidavits
filed by the candidates at the time of elections. Anybody can see it and
learn about the candidates. We also have published newspaper coverage of
election so that voters can stay updated about the elections and their
candidates.
In addition to
our website, we are using SMS service to mobilize voters on the day of poll.
We tell them it is poll day and your vote is very precious to us, please come
out and vote. This service is available in both Marathi and English. This has
proved to be a good success as a lakhs of people come to vote. In the initial
stages, we are trying to introduce e-voting for the officials on the election
duty. This will include the polling centre officials, police, guards and
government officers. Officials on election duty, most often, cannot cast
their vote as they cannot be physically present at the polling booth allotted
to them. I want to begin with these personnel to implement e-voting in the
state. First, we will register all the voters opted for e-voting. Once a
voter chooses to cast his/her vote through e-voting, they will be removed from
the list of the voters casting their votes at the polling booth. A mobile van
equipped with a highly secured computer and connectivity will reach the
polling centers where the staff on election duty can cast their vote.
Security is the most challenging part of e-voting. Considering the
sensitivity of the vote, it must not leak or misused either by lure or by
intimidation.
Election
mechanism of each country has its own advantages and disadvantages; it has
its own political set up. We have designed a system that suits our
environment. Election system in India has its own challenges.
This is why we have to go by our condition and accordingly design an e-voting
pattern. I want the elections to be fair and free. I will be happy if
e-voting is introduced on village level as well. I am sure that voters will
find it comfortable to go to nearby kiosks to their home and vote. In 2012
elections we did another experiment of setting up polling booths in large
residential complexes. We had set up polling booths at societies with more
than 1,000 voters. We received a very positive response from the voters. We
are planning to expand on this idea.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com
05/11/2013
TOP↑
Setting New Milestones in E-Governance
While executing
projects for the government,we are mainly focused on
two areas – systems integration (SI) projects and citizen centric projects.
In fact, e-Governance has led to expanding opportunities for Vakrangee. We
are executing number of projects such as CSC and BCA in about 50000 locations
in our last mile Touch-Point business, wherein we, as the interface between
Government and Citizen,deliver the government
services to the citizens using state-of-art technology. We have ventured into
the CSC business in the pursuit of expansion of our Touch-Point Business. Now,
our centres at the gram panchayat level in Rajasthan and Punjab
are delivering numerous G2C
and B2C services
such as Land Record, Election I-Card, NREGS Card, Cast/Domicile/Birth/Income
Certificate etc. at the doorstep of the citizen. We take pride in the fact
that our systems are making it possible for citizens to access various
government service without having to visit any
government office. As far as the System Integration Projects are concerned, I
would like to mention the IGRS Maharashtra project. As we have successfully
implemented it. Then we are also doing an end to end smart card based PDS
project for the government of Harayana. We are also providing the point of
sale terminals at 9,000 fair price shops. After doing UIDAI enrolment, we are
actually providing smart card based ration cards. In this, all 55 lakh
households in Harayana will finally have biometric ration cards.
The biometrics
being captured are the same as what is being done
under Aadhaar. In fact, it is an Aadhaar based project. First AADHAR
enrolment is done and then the biometric ration card gets processed. This
project is already rolled out in the four blocks of Harayana.As of now we
have covered more than one lakh fifty thousand families. This is the largest
automated PDS project in the country.We are also part of the NPR data
digitisation project execution. Through this the data of all the citizens is
being digitized. We have done a major share of that project. Our focus is
brining excellence in execution. We bring tremendous amount of efficiency
into the projects that we execute, when it comes to delivering results we are
far ahead of all our competitors. We started the CSCs project in Rajasthan;
we got the project awarded in the month of June last year and the State
Government had given us one year of time to execute it. I am glad to say that
we have managed to complete the rollout of the project in just first four
months. All the
projects are now running successfully. We devote so much of
time to make sure that the projects rollout on time and as per the client
determined SLAs. Take the example of UIDAI project, on paper it seems to be a
mere enrolment drive, but in spirit the UIDAI initiative is great scope. It
is about ensuring that every citizen in the country has access to benefits
from the government, it is about ensuring that student scholarships and
senior citizen pensions get directly delivered to them in their villages
through their AADHAR linked bank accounts. We have done more than 3.5 crore
enrolments for UIDAI in the country.In Maharashtra
we have done close to 60 lakh enrolments. For last four months we have been
the number one in the country when it comes to Aadhaar enrolments and
generation.
To facilitate
faster AADHAR enrolment of beneficiaries of 26 schemes under Direct Benefit
Transfer we have also done some innovations like mega centres. This
innovation has been done in close coordination with the Departmentof
Information Technology in Maharashtra.Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, IT
Secretary,Maharashtra, is an inspiration behind this project.Under mega
centres we setup large number of kits at a single location. 10 to 20 kits are
there to ensure that people do not have to waste their entire day for
standing in queues. We have done this project in Mumbai and Thane. Now we have
been asked to launch similar centres in Pune and Nagpur also. In Mega Centres 2000 to 3000
enrolments can be done in a single day. We have also come up with mobile
enrolment van for senior citizens and differently-abled people. In financial
inclusion we have been awarded Common BCA contract for 2 clusters covering 3
states for launching initiatives related to setting up ultra small branches
of all the public sector banks through BCA model (Banking) in every
panchayat. Maharashtra is one cluster and Rajasthan and Delhi combined comprise the second cluster.
We will be providing doorstep banking and direct benefits transfer. Apart
from banking services, we are also adding other services like payment of LIC
premiums, Rail ticket booking, and services related to passport, UIDAI
enrolment and others.
In Rajasthan, our
CSCs are doing very good business. Our strategy is to aggregate more and more
G2C ,
B2C and banking services into
CSC network. We have recently received the RBI mandate of deploying at least
15000 White Label ATMs. White Label ATM means an automatedteller machine that
does not linked to a single bank.These ATMs will provide services for large
number of banks. We see lot of potential in this areaAlong with the rural
Banking business. First of all, we must have a serious intent for delivering
results. Lot of challenges need to be
addressed. At times companies face challenges as certain companies are unable
to imbibe the spirit of the project. They just intend to finish the work as
soon as possible so that their job gets over soon without bothering about the
intended outcome for citizens benefits. They fail to understand that every
project is also about transforming the model of service delivery. Yes, we do
have challenges when some of the SLAs are very impractical to meet, but we
always try to satisfy our clients. But our focus is always on delivering good
results on the ground. The satisfaction of clients is our first objective. We
say what we believe and we deliver what we say! The Indian market is really
huge. There is no dearth of market opportunity. Size and scalability,which is available in India, is nowhere else. However
we are always on the lookout for lucrative business opportunities
abroad.Recently we have completed Land Records digitisation project in Philippines.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com
05/11/2013
TOP↑
Online Mechanism for Single Window
Clearance to Be Set Up Soon
The Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting will be working on a roadmap to ensure that the
technological parameters for creating the platform for the single window
clearance for shooting of films in India. This was stated by
Secretary (I&B), Uday Kumar Varma at the India Pavilion at the Cannes
International Film Festival. Elaborating further, Varma said that the online
mechanism would be worked out on priority so as to ensure early clearance of
proposals for shooting of films in India. Regarding the timelines,
Secretary (I&B) said that it was possible to establish the process within
three months. Regarding the details of the process, Secretary mentioned that
the overall time-frame for total clearances would be between 6-8 weeks from
the time of the application. He specifically mentioned that the processes
involved would take the given time in view of parameters involved for
providing the clearances. As far as the Ministry of I&B was concerned,
Varma mentioned that the approvals of the script would be undertaken by the
Ministry as done in the past.
Responding to
queries at the meeting of the French Film Commission, Secretary, I&B
provided an overview of the policy initiatives undertaken by the ministry in
the domain of films. He highlighted the measures undertaken to promote the co
production initiatives with different countries and the pro active efforts
taken to mainstream the single window clearance process with both the Central
Government agencies and the State Governments. In a related development, the
Vice President of Cairo International Film festival, Soheir Abd El Kader,
called upon Secretary, I&B to discuss India’s participation as a
partner country in the forthcoming edition of Cairo International Film
Festival in November, 2013. Kader requested that India send a special package of
Indian films for the upcoming festival. She also requested that delegation of
acclaimed film makers and members of the cast of films in the special package
be sent to the festival. Kader added that they were hoping for greater
participation by Indian film makers in the Egyptian market. She assured that Cairo film festival
would facilitate an interaction between the Indian film makers and their
Egyptian counterparts during the festival.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com
05/21/2013
TOP↑
PAKISTAN:
IT Ministry to Acquire Google Services
KARACHI: Ministry of Information Technology Sindh is to sign
memorandum of understanding with Google Pakistan to acquire Google
applications and to improve IT skills of the Sindh government employees’
skills and efficiency. In a meeting with Sindh Minister for I.T. Mian Zahid
Hussain, the Country Consultant Google Pakistan, Badar Khushnood on
Saturday has given a presentation of Google’s services to the minister and
Secretary IT Muhammad Yousuf. Additional Secretary, Ali Nawaz Chachar and
other senior officers of the ministry were also present on the occasion.
Badar in his presentation demonstrated a number of Google facilities and
advised the ministry to acquire Google’s various facilities and services for
improvement of Sindh government’s efficiency and put the Sindh government to
the track of high technology and automation. He said that Google’s
educational services are free for everyone while nominal fee is charged for
exclusive and customized services.
The Minister on
this occasion asked the Google’s country chief to provide Google apps free of
charge for three years to the Sindh government’s employees while the rest of
the services on highly discounted rates, says a release here Monday. Badar
assured the minister to send the request to the headquarters and hopefully
will get the positive response. Ministry of IT has shown interest in
acquiring Google services in Google drive, Google Apps, Google Cloud (Virtual
services through mobile phones) and Gmail. Badar said that Google is doing a
lot for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and has given $1 million for
the flood victims and setting up a PASHA Fund. Regarding blocking of YouTube
he said that all the anti-Islam content could only be banned by the YouTube
when the YouTube Pakistan would be launched, for which he said government of Pakistan
would have to formulate laws. The Minister has shown keen interest in
acquiring the Google services for the improvement of Sindh government’s
functionaries and appreciated the gesture of Google Pakistan.
From http://www.brecorder.com
04/15/2013
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AZERBAIJAN:
Developing New E-Government Program
Azerbaijan's Communications and Information
Technologies Ministry is developing a draft state program on the development
of e-government for 2013-2015. The draft program will be presumably submitted
to the Presidential Administration by the end of April, the ministry said.
The new program is continuation of the state program on developing the ICT
sector in Azerbaijan
in 2010-2012. The program is aimed to create the e-government, develop the
methods of management by means of implementing modern information and
communication technologies in state bodies, providing e-services, as well as
taking comprehensive measures to provide simplified and free access of
citizens and organizations to such services. The e-government project, which
mostly covers the government sector, is an integral part of the broad
"electronic Azerbaijan"
idea. The establishment and development of the e-government in Azerbaijan
will encourage fruitful work of the state bodies, guarantee its transparency
and reduce bureaucracy. The goal of the e-government is to reduce poverty,
provide suitable conditions for the population's prosperity and address the
issues reflected in the state program on poverty reduction and sustainable
development in 2008-2015. 2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan and the ICT University
was established under a presidential order on February 2. President Ilham
Aliyev also approved the regulations on the State Fund for IT Development and
the Action Plan on the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. According to the
action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT strategy, improve the
registration procedure of the national domain .az, and significantly reduce
fees for telecommunication services and internet access.
From http://www.azernews.az/
04/17/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan’s
Communication Ministry Signs Grant Agreement in E-Government Project
On Thursday the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan signed
a grant agreement worth $3.7 million with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Korea on the creation of training centres under the
e-government project in Azerbaijan.
The project includes the creation of 15 training centres in the regions.
These will be established in Ganja, Nakhchivan, Sumgait, Mingachevir, Barda, Lankaran,
Gazakh, Zagatala, Imishli, Gabala, Goychay, Shirvan, Shamakhi, Guba and
Sheki. They will be equipped by South Korean experts. Training will be
conducted for civil servants. Long distance education is also planned to be
launched. The E-government project is a part of a larger Electronic
Azerbaijan project. The establishment and development of electronic
government in Azerbaijan
will lead to the enhancement of fruitful activities of public bodies and
ensure their transparency and reduce bureaucracy. Creation of electronic
government is aimed at reducing poverty in the country, creating appropriate
conditions for the well-being of all citizens and implementation of the State
Programme on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development in Azerbaijan
in 2008-2015.
From http://en.trend.az/
04/18/2013
TOP↑
Taxes Ministry to Simplify Submission of
E-Declarations
Azerbaijan plans to simplify the procedures of submitting electronic
declarations and invoices in Azerbaijan
until 2016 under the State program of development of "e-government"
for 2013-2015, the Taxes Ministry reported on Thursday. Azerbaijan's Communications and Information
Technologies Ministry is developing a draft state program on the development
of e-government for 2013-2015, which is a continuation of the state program
on developing the ICT sector in Azerbaijan in 2010-2012. Among
other priorities for the Ministry within the program are
the increase of transparency of tax control and inspections, provision
of taxpayers with all necessary information as well as education activities.
It is also planned to implement additional acitivities to harmonize the
activity of tax authorities in accordance with international standards, to
accelerate work on the transition to electronic payments as well as
strengthening information security. The state program, which mostly covers
the government sector, and is an integral part of the broad "electronic
Azerbaijan" idea, is aimed to create the e-government, develop the
methods of management by means of implementing modern information and communication
technologies in state bodies, providing e-services, as well as taking
comprehensive measures to provide simplified and free access of citizens and
organizations to such services. The establishment and development of the
e-government in Azerbaijan
will encourage fruitful work of the state bodies, guarantee its transparency
and reduce bureaucracy. 2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan and the ICT University
was established under a presidential order on February 2.
From http://www.azernews.az/
04/26/2013
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Azerbaijan
Shifting from Electronic to Mobile
Government
Azerbaijan is launching the transition from the
electronic to a mobile government and has set up a new center to accomplish
this goal. "In order to prevent current and future challenges in the
implementation of e-services, a center for electronic signature certification
closely integrated with the automated tax information system has been
established under the Ministry of Taxes," Minister of Taxes Fazil
Mammadov said on Thursday at a conference titled "ASAN-signature as a
key to mobile government". The center was established in accordance with
European standards, which will allow mutual recognition of electronic signatures
in Azerbaijan and Europe. This, according to the minister, will allow the
citizens of Azerbaijan
to set up joint ventures with citizens of other countries and sign contracts
over the Internet. "As the [new] center is integrated with the mobile
signature center, access to e-signatures will be possible through any device.
This, in turn, will give an impetus to the development of the Internet and
mobile banking in the country and the expansion of non-cash payments,"
Minister Mammadov said.
According to him,
the launch of the center and its integration with the mobile signature center
should be regarded as a transition from the e-government to a mobile
government. "Continued development of information technologies and
mobile services in Azerbaijan
increases the demand for the use of e-services among the population as well
as the need to use an e-signature," the minister said. According to
Mammadov, the Ministry of Taxes plans to increase the number of e-services
and expand the use of e-signatures as well as the provision of services using
mobile devices. The conference is organized by the Ministry of Taxes, the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies and ASAN-Xidmet of
the State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations under the
President of Azerbaijan. Head of the legal affairs department of the Ministry
of Taxes Samira Musayeva said that the Ministry jointly with ASAN-Xidmet has
announced the launch of services of mobile digital signature. According to
her, people can obtain mobile digital signatures by applying to the
ASAN-Xidmet centers and the Ministry of Taxes.
"The new
platform of the mobile signature center is integrated with the platforms of
all three mobile operators of Azerbaijan.
To use the mobile digital signature it is necessary to change the Sim-card.
The installation of the application and the activation of the mobile digital
signature will be carried out both in the center for electronic signature
certification under the Ministry of Taxes and ASAN-Xidmet centers,"
Musayeva said. The mobile digital signature "ASAN-imza"
("ASAN-signature"), she says, fully complies with European Union
guidelines, which will facilitate its recognition by European countries. The
presentation of the new center took place in Baku on Thursday. Specialists from the
Ministry of Taxes demonstrated the work of the software required for
operations with the use of the digital signature. In the future, it is
planned to install this application in new identity cards, whose issuance is
scheduled for 2014. According to Musayeva, the mobile digital signature will
be used on personal, portable computers and tablet PCs as well.
The subscriber's
mobile number will be applied for the use of mobile digital signatures on
mobile and personal computers. In this case, two versions of Pin-codes will
be required. The first one is needed for the confirmation of authentication
and the second one for signing of the document. After the conclusion of the
operation, a notification confirming that the operation had been completed
will be received by the subscriber's mobile number. The State Agency for
Public Services and Social Innovations and ASAN Service Center No.1 were
opened by President Ilham Aliyev on December 29. The agency and the service
were created in accordance with the presidential decrees issued on July 13
and September 5. The state agency was established to increase transparency in
state bodies' activity, render more high quality, convenient services to
citizens by using new methods and innovations, improve services and accelerate
the transition to electronic services. ASAN Service Center No.1 covers three
districts of the capital Baku
-- Nasimi, Narimanov, and Binagadi, and is located on Heydar Aliyev St. 36. The first ASAN
service center renders access to 23 services that are provided by nine state
entities without extra expenses and loss of time. The center is open from
10:00 AM until 20:00 PM and until 17:00 PM on Sundays. ASAN Service Center
No.2 and No.3 will open in May in Khatai district and in July in Yasamal district.
A regional ASAN center will also open in Ganja, Azerbaijan's
second largest city. More than 35,000 people applied to ASAN in the first
quarter of 2013.
From http://www.azernews.az/
05/02/2013
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Azerbaijan
Hosts Int'l Conference on E-Government in Customs Sector
Gabala hosted the
fifth anniversary International Scientific Conference on "E-government:
innovations in customs" on Monday. Some 102 representatives from 55
countries attended it. The conference was held to discuss the global practice
in developing and using the e-government, modern forms of cooperation between
public organizations in the field of e-governance, using the information and
communication technologies in the field of customs and other areas of the
economy, as well as examining the current situation on innovative methods of
governance and exchanging the experience in this area. The conference
participants visited the monument to national leader Heydar Aliyev erected in
the center of Gabala. Chairman of the State Customs Committee,
lieutenant-general of the customs service Aydin Aliyev, Deputy Minister of
Communications and Information Technologies Elmir Velizade, UN Resident
Coordinator in Azerbaijan, Resident Representative of the UN Development
Program Antonius Broek and head of the European Regional Office for Capacity
Building of the World Customs Organization Vitali Mikeladze attended the
opening ceremony. Chairman of the State Customs Committee Aliyev informed the
participants about the improvement of the information system in customs
bodies and new projects in this area. Azerbaijani Deputy Communication and IT
Minister Velizade recalled that 2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan.
He stressed the importance of holding such events in the country.
From http://www.azernews.az/
05/06/2013
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AUSTRALIA:
Government Flags Further IT Cuts
The Australian government has said that
it will look for more efficiencies in IT before
cutting public service jobs. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said on Tuesday
that while the public service was contracting by 3,300 positions in the last
budget, the government wasn't intending to bring in razor gangs to slash the
public sector workforce. "The Gillard government understands the
importance of efficiently and cost-effectively delivering services to the
Australian community, and that this requires maintaining a well-resourced,
highly skilled public service capable of meeting complex demands and
challenges," he said. "We don't believe in the wholesale slashing
of public sector jobs like we've seen in Queensland, which rob the community of
vital services, and which Tony Abbott would do if elected." Dreyfus
highlighted that since 2007, the government had made AU$13 billion in savings
from the public sector, including AU$2 billion in IT savings,
and more is planned. "The Gillard government is focused on finding
government efficiencies in ... IT, hospitality, recruitment, not by slashing
jobs, which directly impact on the community and the important services they
rely on," he said.
The savings in IT came as a result of the
Gershon Report, delivered by then Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner. The report
was conducted by Sir Peter Gershon and released in 2008, setting off a
massive overhaul of the use of government IT. The report estimated a saving
of AU$1.5 billion over five years. Half of this money was originally supposed
to go back to the agencies, but prior to the 2010 federal election, Prime
Minister Julia Gillard announced that AU$447.5 million of the saved amount
would not be quarantined for IT projects, and agencies would instead have to
bid for IT funding. The total number of people employed in the Federal
government public sector is estimated to be at 258,000 in this financial year, according to the
last federal budget. When Labor came into power in 2007, staffing levels
stood at an estimated 243,000. Should Opposition Leader Tony Abbott win the
September federal election, it is widely expected that the Coalition would
make cuts to the public service. No policy has been announced yet, however,
in the party's "Real Solutions" document, it promises to deliver
"a more effective and responsive public service".
From http://www.zdnet.com
04/02/2013
TOP↑
AEC Seeks E-Voting System
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)
has gone to tender for an electronic voting system to be used for commercial
elections, but not for political elections. The request for tender, issued
late last week, states that the AEC is facing growing demand from its
commercial clients to have online ballots. The AEC said this was especially
strong when it came to voting for enterprise agreements. "For the AEC to
remain competitive with other election service providers, new methods of
voting, such as electronic voting, need to be implemented to meet the
changing client expectations," the AEC said in its statement of
requirements. The system will need to be able to manage yes/no ballots in
multiple formats with up to 100 questions, allow secure and anonymous online
votes, allow users to log in to vote with an approved identifier, generate
emails to voters, be able to compare postal and electronic votes to prevent
duplicate votes, prevent the ability to cast an informal vote, count the
votes, archive votes and logins, and keep a backup.
The system must be compatible with the
AEC's internal systems, and must work on Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox,
Chrome, and Opera. The sytem will use the AEC's infrastructure, and the
security standards must comply with Defence Signals Directorate requirements.
The commission has said that the system will need to be in place by the end
of 2013. The AEC specifically stated that the system will not include
functionality for parliamentary elections, elections to office, or polling
place electronic voting machines. There have been a number of trials of
electronic voting for parliamentary elections, notably in the 2007 federal
election and the 2011 New South
Wales state election, and the ACT has used electronic
voting extensively for its elections. Following the 2007 federal election,
where electronic voting was tested with both the Australian Defence Force and
for a number of vision-impaired voters, the AEC found that the trials were a
success, but the combined cost of both trials was AU$4 million, with a
per-voter cost of AU$2,597, compared to the AU$8.36 cost per voter in the
2007 election, generally.
Due to the high cost, a parliamentary
committee looking into electronic voting, recommended that trials should not
be continued for future federal elections, but according to a Parliamentary
Library background note published in October last year (PDF), the AEC is
still looking at developing assisted telephone voting methods for blind and
low-vision voters.
From http://www.zdnet.com
04/04/2013
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Australian Budget 2013: IT System Tweaks,
Expansions, and New Centres
The federal Budget handed down on Tuesday
contained a number of key investments in IT systems across several
portfolios, including the departments of defence, innovation, attorney-general,
and finance. The Labor federal government had hoped to deliver a slim surplus
this financial year ahead of the election in September, but due to a tax
revenue writedown of AU$17 billion in the 2012-13 financial year, the
government abandoned its surplus goal. It will instead report a deficit of
AU$18 billion in 2013-14. Treasurer Wayne Swan said in his speech delivered
in parliament on Tuesday evening that although there would be AU$43 billion
in savings over the forward estimates, the government does not want to head
down the path of austerity. "To those who would take us down the
European road of savage austerity, I say the social destruction that comes
from cutting too much, too hard, too fast is not the Australian way," he
said. The savings will be achieved, among other methods, by closing loopholes
to ensure that multinationals are not being given an unfair advantage, Swan
said.
While the Budget belt has been tightened,
and IT investments were smaller than in previous years, a number of agencies
were able to get their investments through. The government's Telepresence
scheme will be expanded, with AU$19.3 million provided over the next five
years. The program, which has widely been viewed as a great success within
the government in reducing travel costs through the use of Cisco video
conferencing equipment, will be significantly increased to allow more
meetings to be held across more locations. The Australian Transaction Reports
and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) will receive AU$16.1 million over the next four
years to build a new datacentre. The datacentre will be home to all of
AUSTRAC's IT systems and records, but the existing datacentre will be
maintained for testing and development, and will be used as a disaster
recovery facility. The Australian Research Council will get AU$14.2 million
over the next four years to replace its IT system that will look to automate
more functions, integrate several systems, and have a new electronic document
records management system. "The new ICT system will deliver to the
research sector a modern and efficient application process, supporting the
full lifecycle of grant applications, management, and reporting," the
Budget document stated.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's
(ABC's) iview — its TV online replay service — is set to get better, with the
broadcaster getting AU$30 million over three years to improve online
services. This will include a pilot of live-streamed ABC radio and TV
content, and an increase in the quality of iview streaming. The quality of
the iview stream has been criticised in the past, as the content is currently
only able to be streamed in standard definition. The ABC was one of the big
winners in the Budget, scoring AU$89.4 million over three years. As part of a
push against organised crime and gang violence, there will be AU$9.1 million
invested over four years for a new Australian Ballistics Identification
Network for ballistics analysis of firearms. CrimTrac will set up a network
to allow police across Australia
to access a database of collected ballistics information from weapons used in
crime. As part of an AU$30.2 million investment in a new National Border
Targeting Centre to oversee incoming passengers and cargo into Australia,
funding will be provided to upgrade IT equipment to analyse data that will be
shared amongst border protection agencies. To get businesses using AUSkey,
the secure credential for accessing online services of the Australian
Business Register, and to improve the upfront checks in issuing Australian
Business Numbers, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Department of
Finance will be given AU$80.2 million in funding over the forward estimates.
The Australian Securities and Investments
Commission (ASIC) will get AU$7.8 million for the establishment of the online
National Business Names registration system. The Department of Defence has
outlined that through re-profiling of funding, it will be able to invest
AU$91 million in additional funding for IT. It isn't all spending for IT,
however. The shift to online tendering, the use of whole-of-government
panels, and multi-use lists are expected to reduce the cost of supplying
services to the government. It has been estimated that there will be AU$68.4
million in savings over four years through these improvements. The Australian
Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) will have slightly less
expenses in the 2013-14 financial year, going from AU$28.3 million down to
AU$26.6 million. The government funded the Digital Education Revolution
program in the last financial year with AU$200 million, and has now supplied
over 967,000 computers to year 9 to year 12 students across Australia. The agreement with the
states over the funding of this program ends on June 30, 2013, and no new
agreement has yet been signed. AU$4 million has been set aside in this year's
Budget to fund Digital Education Revolution-related projects.
From http://www.zdnet.com
05/14/2013
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NEW
ZEALAND: Kiwis Choose Online Option for Census
2013
New Zealanders have taken on board
official encouragement to fill out their Census returns online today, with
one million forms completed soon after 1pm. Census staff say their online
computer system - which can be found here - is handling the high traffic
volume well and don't expect any major problems ahead of the peak period
tonight between 7pm and 10pm as the country records its statistical snapshot
of its people in 2013. Last held in 2006 and conducted every five years since
1851, the Census has been delayed only three times - due to the Depression in
1931, World War II in 1941 and the deadly Christchurch earthquake in 2011. This
year's survey is estimated to cost $72 million, slightly less than the $90
million budget for the 2011 Census because much of the preparation is already
done. About 7000 temporary staff will spend around 550,000 hours handing out
and collecting 6.4 million Census forms - 1.8 million dwelling forms and 4.6
million individual forms for a population estimated at 4.46 million plus
visitors, who must also fill in the forms.
Census spokeswoman Vikki Carter says the
day has gone like clockwork so far, going over the milestone one million mark
just after 1pm. Area managers are reporting positive feedback from members of
the public as they deliver forms to cruise ships, hospitals and airports. But
with five million forms still to go, the online system could still get bogged
down. "We're expecting around two million to be done online. The system
will be completely fine for up to 200,000 forms per hour and if it gets
busier than that it will slow slightly, but still should be fine," Ms
Carter said. Filling in the form should take a single person around 5-10
minutes, she said. For a family with children, the time will vary depending
on the age of the children. If it's done online, once the age is entered,
questions that don't apply will be greyed out and can be "really super
quick".General Manager 2013 Census Carol Slappendel says the process is
the largest one-off activity being held in New Zealand this year. She
reminded people that being in New
Zealand on Census night means they are
required by law to fill in a census form. "There are no
exceptions," she said. "From the tip of the North Island, to
Stewart Island and the Chatham Islands,
people will be filling in their census forms online or on paper, in English
or Maori. Even people working at Scott Base in Antarctica, considered New Zealand
soil, are counted during the census. "The census is all about numbers.
How many of us are there? How many of different ages? How many in different
types of jobs and so on." Collection starts tomorrow, and will take at
least a fortnight.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz
03/05/2013
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New
Zealand Fast-Tracks Citizen Engagement Reforms
New Zealand’s Minister for Internal Affairs Chris
Tremain is fast-tracking the government’s digital engagement strategy under a
new initiative that brings together core agencies at the front-line of public
services. These agencies are banding together under the auspices of a
recently-established “Digital Service Council.” Minister Tremain, also a
keynote speaker at the Annual FutureGov Forum New Zealand being held Tuesday
28th May in Wellington,
says this new project enables New Zealanders to interact more readily with
government in an on-line environment. “The aim of the funding is to increase
the efficiencies of agencies working together to allow more New Zealanders to
interact with the Government online,” he says. “Our target is for 70 per cent
of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with government to occur online
by 2017.”
New Zealand’s peak agency, the Department of
Internal Affairs (DIA) is managing this programme, in partnership with the
Digital Service Council. Council membership and contributions from lead
agencies encompass the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the
Department of Conservation, New Zealand Customs Service, Inland Revenue, New
Zealand Police, Ministry of Social
Development, New Zealand Transport Agency, and the DIA. These agencies are
pooling NZ$2.9 million to fund the project – while sharing innovative ideas
and common goals to engage with citizens. The government’s commitment to
citizen engagement also comes under the spotlight at the Annual FutureGov
Forum New Zealand. A dedicated panel
discussion, “Gov 3.0; Engaging Citizens” weighs the benefits and challenges
of connecting with citizens in an on-line environment. This panel features
speakers from New Zealand’s
DIA, as well as the Office of Economic Development Board (South
Australia), Land Information New Zealand, Australian Maritime
Safety Authority, and the Department of Local Government (Western Australia).
From http://www.futuregov.asia
05/16/2013
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World Spent $3.6 TREEELLION on ICT in
2012 - Analyst
International
Data Corporation (IDC) said that the figure included what businesses had
spent on telecoms services and that total expenditure on hardware, software
and IT services alone had topped $2 trillion on its own. The latter figure
represented a 5.9 per cent increase from the total IT expenditure in 2011 and
was recorded despite tough economic conditions, in Europe and Asia especially, it said. IDC said, though, that some
areas of the market had seen reductions in expenditure from the previous
year, with sales of PCs down 2 per cent increase on the 2011 figure. Further
spending declines were witnessed in the market for services, PC monitors and
"feature phones", it said. The analysts said that spending on
smartphones and tablets continued to grow and that, for the first time
smartphone sales – which were almost $300bn – exceeded those for PCs.
"Cannibalisation is happening across the industry," Stephen Minton,
vice president of IDC’s global technology and industry research body, said in
a statement. "Smartphones have taken over from feature phones, tablet adoption is impacting PC spending, and the
Cloud is affecting the traditional software, services and infrastructure
markets. IT spending is still growing organically, but not at the same pace
as prior to the financial crisis."
"Businesses
are adopting IT solutions such as virtualisation, automation and SaaS as a
means to reduce the annual increases in their overall IT spending at a time
when economic uncertainty remains high," he added. IDC said that it
expects that IT expenditure will grow by 2 per cent increase in Europe this year, with that growth figure amounting to
less than 1 per cent increase when the sales of mobile device are not included.
The US
will see a 5.5 per cent increase increase in IT spending in 2013, but there
will be no growth in the Japanese market, it said. "This will be another
tough year for mature economies," Minton said. "Weakness in Europe, as governments continue to impose austerity
measures with a direct and indirect impact on IT spending, has also damaged
the export-dependent Japanese economy. The US
should perform better, as long as politicians continue to reach 11th-hour
deals to avert an economic crisis, and the PC market in the US will at least stabilise after
two successive years of major declines." IDC added that it expects to
see "improving IT spending trends" in Brazil,
Russia, India and China.
From http://www.theregister.co.uk/ 03/05/2013
TOP↑
IT Outsourcing Market Slumps to 10-year
Low
Last year was the
worst for the IT services contract market since 2002, according to research
from analyst Ovum. Last year was the worst for the IT services contract
market since 2002, according to research from analyst Ovum. Activity in the
last three months of the year, said Ovum, fell well below the levels seen in
the same period of 2011, ensuring that annual IT services contract activity
fell to its lowest level for 10 years, both in terms of total contract value
and deal volumes. Ovum said total contract values in the fourth quarter of
2012 added up to $20.8 billion (￡13.75 billion), down 34 percent on the same period of the
previous year. The number of deals fell 17 percent in the same period and
there was a notable lack of "megadeals" (contracts valued at $1
billion or more). While the level of activity in the fourth quarter
represented a slight improvement on the previous three months of the year -
with total contract value (TCV) up 10 percent from the third quarter of 2012
- annual TCV was down on the previous 12 months across both the public and
private sector, with the private sector enduring its worst year since 1998 in TCV terms. "The
ongoing economic uncertainty afflicting key markets for IT services such as
the US and Europe was a major factor behind the weak performance
of the industry in 2012," said Ovum analyst Ed Thomas.
Thomas added:
"Our research suggests that many enterprises remain wary of committing
to major projects, with issues such as the Eurozone crisis having a
particularly significant impact. In addition, public sector activity has
reduced as many governments come under pressure to cut public spending in the
face of high debt levels, leading to a general reluctance to get involved in
large-scale IT services deals." The sharpest fall in activity came in
the services sector, where the number of deals announced fell by 50 percent.
In healthcare and financial services contract volumes were down 39 percent
and 18 percent respectively. The only industries in which contract activity
was up on the previous year were telecommunications and technology. Regionally,
Europe was the leading market for private
sector contract activity in 2012, with 45 percent of annual TCV. However, TCV
generated by European enterprises actually declined sharply during the year,
falling 31 percent to $16.7 billion (￡11 billion). Private sector TCV in North America, having
slumped dramatically in 2011, rebounded in 2012, finishing the year up 48
percent at $10.5 billion (￡6.9 billion).
From http://news.idg.no/
03/19/2013
TOP↑
Asia Pacific Telecom Transiting from
Voice to Mobile Internet-Access Services
Asia Pacific
Telecom, the only CDMA 2000 mobile telecom carrier in Taiwan, has been focusing on the
transition from voice communications to data communications since it launched
1x EV-DO services in October 2012, according to the company. Mainly because
of the transition, Asia Pacific saw January-February revenues drop 17-18% on
year, the company noted. Asia Pacific said it aims to increase its number of
subscribers from 2.8 million currently to three million by the end of 2013,
with mobile Internet-access subscribers from 400,000 to 800,000. Asia Pacific
plans to procure 0.8-1.0 million handsets for contract-bundled sale in 2013,
60-70% of which will be smartphones, the company indicated. Asia Pacific said
it will file an application for listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange at the
end of March.
From http://www.digitimes.com/
03/20/2013
TOP↑
APEC-Wide Deal on E-Commerce Tax
Avoidance Proposed
A new kind of international pact to
ensure taxes and customs duties are collected on goods bought online is
proposed in new research by Victoria
University's New
Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation. Commissioned
by Booksellers New Zealand, which has been battling falling local sales of
books because of the onslaught of imported books which are ordered online and
escape the 15 per cent rate of goods and services tax, the paper suggests the
APEC trade grouping is a logical place to start working for such an
agreement. The paper is attracting political and official interest because of
the growing threat to the tax base caused by the global growth of online
retailing. While it was "conceptually attractive" to get credit
companies and banks to collect taxes and duties on goods crossing borders, it
would be costly and impractical, the ISCR paper says. "We believe the
most promising long-term solution is the establishment of a multi-lateral
agreement through APEC or other international organisations designed to
encourage, rather than force, online firms to collect and remit sales taxes
to the respective nations."
The proposal got its first public airing
at a seminar in Wellington
yesterday. "We believe the establishment of such a system is feasible,
given the worldwide nature of the problem," says ISCR, although it says
the World Trade Organisation would be too large a body to try for such a
deal, because of the difficulty of agreement from a very large number of
nations. APEC is a 21-member association of Pacific Rim economies, including
the US, Japan, China
and Australia.
While the institute concedes that leaves Europe and the UK out of the arrangement, it may
be possible to involve the European Union as a bolt-on to such an initiative.
The alternative is to let retailers suffer the inequity, in New Zealand, of overseas, online
suppliers maintaining a 15 per cent price advantage over domestic retailers.
The report cites research showing New Zealanders bought about $3.2 billion
online last year, with growth of 14.3 per cent and an annual total of perhaps
$5.4 billion by 2016. However, it also concedes the proposal would not
capture sales of non-physical products and services online, such e-books,
downloaded music, or software downloads from offshore. That would have to be
a second leg of such a multi-lateral push, ISCR suggests.
However, it says it's time for
governments to act, since "consumers are increasingly purchasing goods
offshore for the primary reason of avoiding GST." If that loophole were
removed, according to research cited by ISCR, there could be a drop in
offshore, online sales of between 45 per cent and 60 per cent, offset by an
estimated sales increase of 27 per cent for local, online retailers, who
would automatically be accounting for GST. "Not only would government
revenue rise, but domestic retailers would be revitalised, resulting in
increased employment and higher company and higher PAYE tax revenues,"
the report says. Such a multi-lateral approach would also see a significant
streamlining in border control procedures, freeing up postal and customs
agents from working out whether duty is payable on imported goods to
detecting illegal or unwanted imports. The study suggests global online
retailers would join the scheme because they would benefit from faster, lower
cost deliveries. "The most promising method for attracting voluntary
compliance is fast-tracked processing of goods coming through the
border." However, there would need to be checks on retailers
fraudulently charging customers for GST and not paying it. "We do not
have an easy solution." The paper is also critical of current customs
and GST thresholds, which are difficult to apply in practice. At present,
goods attracting duties and tax of less than $60 are exempt from paying such
taxes. However, because some goods have duties and others are duty-free, this
means the threshold can range from $226 and $399. "We strongly recommend
changing to a minimum value threshold," ISCR says.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz
03/21/2013
TOP↑
Asia
Pacific IT Spending to Reach US$740bil
KUALA LUMPUR: IT spending in Asia Pacific is expected to reach US$740bil
in 2013, an 8.2% increase over 2012 spending of $684bil, according to the
latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. “Worldwide IT spending is projected to total
$3.8 trillion in 2013, a 4.1 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6
trillion,” said Gartner in a statement on Friday. "Although the United
States did avoid the fiscal cliff, the subsequent sequestration, compounded
by the rise of Cyprus' debt burden, seems to have netted out any benefit, and
the fragile business and consumer sentiment throughout much of the world
continues," said Gartner managing vice president Richard Gordon. The
Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major
technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom
markets. Despite flat spending on PCs and a modest decline in spending on
printers, it said a short-term boost to spending on premium mobile phones has
driven an upward revision in the devices sector growth for 2013 from
Gartner's previous forecast of 6.3%.
From http://biz.thestar.com.my/
03/29/2013
TOP↑
Asia
Pacific Leads Worldwide Mobile
Phone Sales Growth in 1Q13, Says Gartner
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled nearly 426
million units in the first quarter of 2013, a slight increase of 0.7% from
the same period in 2012, according to Gartner. Worldwide smartphone sales
totaled 210 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 42.9% from the
first quarter of 2012. The Asia Pacific region was the only region to show
growth in mobile phone sales for the quarter, with a 6.4% increase on year.
"More than 226 million mobile phones were sold to end users in Asia
Pacific in the first quarter of 2013, which helped the region increase its
share of global mobile phones to 53.1%," said Anshul Gupta, principal
research analyst at Gartner. "In addition, China saw its mobile phone sales
increase 7.5% in the first quarter of 2013, and its sales represented 25.7%
of global mobile phone sales, up nearly 2pp on year. "China-based
and local manufacturers have been exemplary at addressing demands of buyers
by offering affordable devices with optimum features such as 2.5G (EDGE) instead of 3G in a smartphone. In the smartphone
market, local and China-based manufacturers are making faster inroads as they
account for 29% in the first quarter of 2013, up from 13.2% a year ago."
In the first quarter of 2013, sales of mobile phones in the EMEA region
declined 3.6%. The North America and Latin America's mobile phone market fell
9.5% and 3.8%, respectively, while Japan saw its mobile phone sales
drop 7.3%.
Samsung remained in the No. 1 position, growing 13% in the
first quarter of 2013. Its share of smartphones reached 30.8%, up 3.2pp from
the first quarter of 2012. "We expect the new Galaxy S4 to be very
popular despite being more of an evolution than a truly revolutionary device
compared to the S3," said Gupta. Nokia's mobile phone share dropped
4.9pp in the first quarter of 2013 mainly due to a steep decline in feature
phone sales. Although Nokia's Windows Phone sales have sequentially improved
reaching a volume of 5.1 million units, Nokia is yet to see high growth in
the smartphone segment. Nokia's position in the smartphone market dropped to
No. 10 in the
first quarter of 2013, from No. 8 in
the fourth quarter of 2012. Apple's sales to end users reached 38.3 million
units in the first quarter of 2013 as Apple was able to burn some of the
inventory built at the end of 2012, as iPhone 5 was rolling out in more
markets, and as the company prepared for Lunar New Year. China is a key
contributor to overall sales for Apple, and Gartner analysts saw evidence of
this in the first quarter of 2013, when sales reached close to seven million
units in China alone thanks to the lower price of the iPhone 4. "Apple
is faced with the challenge of being increasingly dependent on the
replacement market as its addressable market is capped. The next two quarters
will also be challenging, as there are no new products are expected to be
coming before the third quarter of 2013," said Gupta. LG electronics
moved in front of ZTE in the first quarter of 2013 for the No. 4 position.
ZTE had a weak performance, failing to grow its smartphone sales, selling 7.9
million smartphones in the first quarter of 2013, a 5.1% decline from the
fourth quarter of 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013, smartphones accounted for 49.3%
of sales of mobile phones worldwide. This is up from 34.8% in the first
quarter of 2012, and 44% in the fourth quarter of 2012. On the other hand,
sales of feature phones contracted 21.8% in the first quarter of 2013.
"Feature phones users across the world are either finding their existing
phones good enough or are waiting for smartphones prices to drop further,
either way the prospect of longer replacement cycles is certainly not a good
news for both vendors and carriers looking to move users forward," said
Gupta
|
Gartner:
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users by vendor, 1Q13 (k units)
|
|
Company
|
1Q13 units
|
1Q13 market share(%)
|
1Q12 units
|
1Q12 market share(%)
|
|
Samsung
|
100,657.7
|
23.6
|
89,284.6
|
21.1
|
|
Nokia
|
63,215.2
|
14.8
|
83,162.5
|
19.7
|
|
Apple
|
38,331.8
|
9.0
|
33,120.5
|
7.8
|
|
LG
Electronics
|
15,615.8
|
3.7
|
14,720.4
|
3.5
|
|
ZTE
|
14,606.6
|
3.4
|
17,379.7
|
4.1
|
|
Huawei
Technologies
|
11,114.8
|
2.6
|
10,796.1
|
2.6
|
|
TCL
Communication
|
8,515.9
|
2.0
|
7,396.6
|
1.7
|
|
Sony Mobile Communications
|
7,955.5
|
1.9
|
7,898.4
|
1.9
|
|
Lenovo
|
7,778.9
|
1.8
|
5,820.6
|
1.4
|
|
Yulong
|
7,478.8
|
1.8
|
3,146.6
|
0.7
|
|
Others
|
150,550.6
|
35.4
|
150,229.40
|
35.5
|
|
Total
|
425,821.6
|
100.0
|
422,955.4
|
100.0
|
Source: Gartner, compiled by Digitimes, May 2013
|
Gartner:
Worldwide smartphone sales to end users by vendor, 1Q13 (k units)
|
|
Company
|
1Q13 units
|
1Q13 market share
(%)
|
1Q12 units
|
1Q12 market share
(%)
|
|
Samsung
|
64,740.0
|
30.8
|
40,612.8
|
27.6
|
|
Apple
|
38,331.8
|
18.2
|
33,120.5
|
22.5
|
|
LG
Electronics
|
10,080.4
|
4.8
|
4,961.4
|
3.4
|
|
Huawei
Technologies
|
9,334.2
|
4.4
|
5,269.6
|
3.6
|
|
ZTE
|
7,883.3
|
3.8
|
4,518.9
|
3.1
|
|
Others
|
79,676.4
|
37.9
|
58,537.0
|
39.8
|
|
Total
|
210,046.1
|
100.0
|
147,020.2
|
100.0
|
Source: Gartner, compiled by Digitimes, May 2013
From
http://www.digitimes.com/ 05/16/2013
TOP↑
AFRICA:
Nigeria
Invests $1 Billion in New ICT Incubation Centres
VENTURES AFRICA – The
Nigerian government has made available $1 billion for the construction of
incubation centres throughout the country to stimulate growth in local
software content. Late on Monday, Business Day Nigeria reported that two of
the centres at Yaba in Lagos
and Tinapa in Calabar will be unveiled this week. Nigeria’s multi-billion software
industry, mostly controlled by external companies, is likely to see growth in
home content. This could be in the next 12 months when the centres come into
operation. Business Day Nigeria quoted Omobola Johnson, the minister of
communications technology, as saying the over-arching objective of these
incubation centres would be to create 25 successful information communication
technology (ICT) firms by 2015. “The focus of the ministry between now and
2015 is to drive local content and skills development to create employment
and sustain the industry,” Johnson told Business Day in Lagos at an industry conference.
“We also want to increase the contributions of the ICT
industry to Nigeria’s
gross domestic product (GDP). To achieve this objective, we would focus on
software, mobile apps development, ICT entrepreneurship, and innovation.”
Analysts said software and mobile applications growth had developed into an
attention zone for the Nigerian government. This is because of Nigeria’s
earnest pursuit for another revenue stream to oil and gas. Statistics have
revealed that the value of India’s
software exports outstrips $50 billion per year. The Nigerian government is
poised to repeat the same feat in Nigeria. Nigeria has more than 170 million
people, which means it has abundant human capital. Business Day Nigeria
reported that industry observers have all expressed interest in these
centres. They will help nurture and develop software entrepreneurs who will
in turn build successful businesses, according to Business Day.
From
http://www.ventures-africa.com/
04/17/2013
TOP↑
EUROPE:
Czech Republic - Highest Internet Retail
Sales in 26 Months
In January, sales in retail trade including the automotive
segment after seasonal adjustment increased by 0.4% at constant prices,
month-on-month, and working days adjusted dropped by 0.5%, y-o-y, the same as
non-adjusted sales. The y-o-y drop of sales was influenced mainly by the
development of sale in the automotive segment. After seasonal adjustment
sales in retail trade including sale and repair of motor vehicles increased
in January by 0.4% at constant prices, m-o-m. Working days adjusted sales
decreased by 0.5%, year-on-year; the same drop was recorded by non-adjusted
sales. The year-on-year drop at the same number of working days in January
2012 and January 2013 was influenced by a lower sale in the automotive
segment; on the contrary, growth in retail trade contributed to slackening of
the seasonally adjusted sales for sale and repair of motor vehicles stagnated
at constant prices, m-o-m, and sales adjusted for working days as well as
non-adjusted decreased by 3.5%, y-o-y. Non-adjusted sales for sale of motor
vehicles (including spare parts) decreased by 4.1%, y-o-y, and for the repair
of motor vehicles by 1.1%, y-o-y.
In retail sale including sale of automotive fuel seasonally
adjusted sales at constant prices increased by 0.4%, m-o-m, and sales
adjusted for working days by 0.7%, y-o-y, the same as non-adjusted. Growth
was reported for sale of non-food goods by 1.9% as well as food by 0.1%,
while sale of automotive fuel dropped by 2.2%. The most dynamic growth of
sales was in retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet (+23.7%). The
overall growth was also contributed to by higher sale of information and
communication equipment (+4.6%), sale of dispensing chemist, medical and
orthopaedic goods, cosmetic and toilet articles in specialised stores
(+4.5%), and sale of clothing and footwear in specialised stores (+1.4%).
Retail sale in non-specialised stores with food predominating, in which big
chain stores have the biggest influence, increased by 0.3% (sales in
enterprises with 100+ employees in that group increased by 0.7%). On the
contrary, in specialised stores with food sales decreased by 2.5%; also
cultural and recreation goods in specialised stores recorded lower interest
of consumers (-2.7%) as well as retail sale of other household equipment in
specialised stores (-1.2%). The price deflator related to the corresponding
period of the previous year (VAT excluded) was 99.8%. In comparison to
December 2012 it increased by 0.3 p.p. y-o-y increase of prices was recorded
for food and dispensing chemist, medical and orthopaedic goods, cosmetic and
toilet articles, while in most of non-food goods decreasing of prices
continued, which was the most marked in the assortment of information and
communication equipment.
From
https://www.friedlnews.com/ 03/16/2013
TOP↑
New
UK
Ecommerce Report Helps Retailers Optimise Order Acceptance
Best-in-class retailers should focus on optimising order
acceptance in 2013 according to the ninth annual UK eCommerce Fraud
Management Report from CyberSource, a Visa company (NYSE: V). The survey of
200 UK merchants revealed clear opportunities for businesses to identify and
convert valid orders faster, whilst further streamlining their manual review
processes. According to the report, retailers reject a significant proportion
of eCommerce orders, some of which may be valid. Furthermore, merchants
reported that, on average, they manually review a quarter of eCommerce
orders; however they ultimately accept over two thirds of these transactions.
"In 2013, businesses should take an holistic view of fraud management
and focus on acceptance; identifying good customers sooner and then optimising
their entire payment experience, irrespective of the device or channel
used," said Simon Stokes, Managing Director EMEA at CyberSource.
The eCommerce opportunity The UK eCommerce industry is a world
leader in terms of its maturity and scale; worth £78bn in 2012 according to
the IMRG. The report found that the US, Germany,
France and Ireland
generate the most cross-border eCommerce revenue for UK merchants. Italy, Spain
and China
are the top countries planned for market entry in 2013. New territories and
digital channels bring significant opportunity to merchants, as well as
potential complexity. "As businesses look to reach more customers and
source new revenue opportunities, it's important to find the right balance
when defining risk strategies," said the report's co-author Dr Akif
Khan, Director, Strategic Initiatives, CyberSource.
"Optimising profits means focusing on the end-to-end eCommerce journey,
and doing so efficiently. By automating acceptance and minimising the need
for manual review, fraud managers can positively impact conversion rates,
profit margins and the overall customer experience."
Optimising acceptance CyberSource's Managed Risk Services team
has introduced a five point plan to help businesses streamline order
acceptance. Much more detailed insight is offered in the full report,
accessed here: http://www.cybersource.com/ukfraudreport
1.Assess the Opportunity: Compare your key fraud management metrics
to those in the report, including the order reject rate, and consider where
there is room for improvement.
2.Examine Review Outcomes:
Look at the proportion of manually reviewed orders that you ultimately
accept. If this is too high, the criteria used to sort orders into a review
queue may need tightening; automate as much as you can upfront to increase
valid order acceptance.
3.Optimise Rules: Constantly
analyse reviewed orders, and create new rules to improve the customer
journey. Ensure rules are refined to reflect each market and payment method,
as well as seasonal, or even daily, buying behaviours.
4.Consolidate Channels: Using one
platform helps you take a single view of the customer across web, mobile and
call centre channels, as well as markets. Track transactions from multiple
sources using cross-channel velocity checks.
5.Keep Testing: Constantly
test and tune new rules to understand how changes could improve your
performance and conversion rates. Find the right balance: profit is the
objective, not necessarily the lowest chargeback rate.
From
http://www.heraldonline.com/ 03/07/2013
TOP↑
Room
for Improvement in the e-Commerce Fraud Detection Process
The UK is
an eCommerce world leader in terms of maturity and scale, but the ninth
annual UK
eCommerce Fraud Management Report demonstrates that there is room for
improvement in the handling of fraud detection. The key to increasing
profitability for eCommerce merchants is in better transaction analysis,
suggests CyberSource’s new survey. The standard anti-fraud approach is to use
rule-based software to highlight potentially fraudulent transactions, and
then employ manual investigation before either accepting or rejecting the
purchase. The problem is in the ratio between potential frauds and actually
rejected transactions. On average, merchants manually review about a quarter
of all transactions, but still end up accepting more than two-thirds (71%) of
them. Review teams are the single biggest cost in the transaction process.
Because of this there is a tendency for larger companies to manually review a
smaller number of transactions – simply because of the scalability factor.
That review process can take one business day in large companies, but less
than 2 hours for smaller merchants. After the review process an average of 4%
of orders are rejected on suspicion of fraud (ranging between 2.5% in the
service industry and 6% for physical goods).
There is clearly scope for improvement in the eCommerce
process by reducing the gap between the large number of transactions delayed
by costly manual intervention, and the very small number that is actually
rejected. "Businesses should take an holistic view of fraud management
and focus on acceptance; identifying good customers sooner and then
optimizing their entire payment experience, irrespective of the device or
channel used," said Simon Stokes, managing director EMEA at CyberSource.
Manual investigation is expensive to the merchant, and annoying to the
customer who has come to expect immediacy in internet purchases. It follows
that since the majority of investigated transactions are still accepted, concentrating
on reducing the need for manual investigation will increase merchant
profitability and customer satisfaction without increasing fraud. “Optimizing
profits means focusing on the end-to-end eCommerce journey, and doing so
efficiently,” explains Dr Akif Khan, director of strategic initiatives at
CyberSource and one of the report’s authors. "By automating acceptance
and minimizing the need for manual review, fraud managers can positively
impact conversion rates, profit margins and the overall customer
experience."
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
03/07/2013
TOP↑
UNCTAD Latin America Workshop on ICT in Enterprises Survey
Module
Governments that do not have adequate information on how
information and communication technologies (ICTs) are used in their
productive sectors are at a comparative disadvantage when designing policies.
The gap in access to reliable ICT data can be seen as another illustration of
the “digital divide”. This workshop on information economy statistics is a
follow-up to an expert meeting held in June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, where UNCTAD provided
advisory services. During that meeting, the working group reviewed and agreed
on a model module on ICT use by enterprises that Latin American countries
could include in business surveys and produce relevant data on the
information economy. The workshop will introduce the module to 18 Latin
American countries and train them on the statistical issues related to its
implementation. The aim is to produce comparable data and indicators on the
information economy for the region, in order to support regional and national
ICT policies. The data will ultimately be disseminated through UNCTAD and the
Observatory for the Information Society in Latin America
and the Caribbean (OSILAC), hosted by UN ECLAC. The workshop is financed by
UNCTAD, with the support of Sweden,
represented by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). It will
be hosted by the Panama
national statistical office (INEC), which is part of the Contraloría General
de la República. The national statistical office of the Dominican Republic collaborated in the
organization, as coordinators of the ICT measurement working group of the
Statistical Conference of the Americas.
From
http://unctad.org/ 03/22/2013
TOP↑
BRAZIL: E-Commerce Grosses More Than $11 Billion
in 2012
SAO PAULO: Online
commerce in Brazil
last year grossed 22.5 billion reais (around $11.5 billion), up 20 per cent
over the previous year, the market research firm e-bit said Wednesday.
According to a study e-bit conducted with the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic
Commerce, Brazil
added 10.3 new million electronic consumers, bringing to 42.2 million the
number of people who made at least one online purchase last year. This year,
e-bit anticipates a 25 per cent increase in revenue from online sales, thanks
in part to the soccer Confederations Cup in June and next year's World Cup,
which will boost sales of big-screen television sets. Pedro Guasti, e-bit's
director general, said Brazil
already has "more than 50 million Internet consumers." Main sectors
which attracted Brazilian e-commerce in 2012 were electronic appliances,
fashion, health, beauty care, computers and home products. Most of the
purchases were made with credit cards.
In financial volume, Brazil
accounts for 59.1 per cent of e-commerce in Latin America, followed by Mexico (14.2 per cent), Argentina (6.2 per cent) and Chile (3.5 per cent), according
to data based on a study conducted by the Visa global payment technology
company. With a population of 194 million, Brazil is one of the world
leaders in Internet use. A recent study by the IBOPE polling company said Brazil
has the world's sixth largest economy has 52.5 million active Internet users,
putting it in third place worldwide. Brazil e-commerce grosses more
than $11 billion in 2012. SAO PAULO, March 20,
2013 (AFP) - Online commerce in Brazil last year grossed 22.5
billion reais (around $11.5 billion), up 20 per cent over the previous year,
the market research firm e-bit said Wednesday. According to a study e-bit
conducted with the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Commerce, Brazil
added 10.3 new million electronic consumers, bringing to 42.2 million the
number of people who made at least one online purchase last year.
This year, e-bit anticipates a 25 per cent increase in revenue
from online sales, thanks in part to the soccer Confederations Cup in June
and next year's World Cup, which will boost sales of big-screen television
sets. Pedro Guasti, e-bit's director general, said Brazil already has "more
than 50 million Internet consumers." Main sectors which attracted
Brazilian e-commerce in 2012 were electronic appliances, fashion, health,
beauty care, computers and home products. Most of the purchases were made
with credit cards. In financial volume, Brazil
accounts for 59.1 per cent of e-commerce in Latin America, followed by Mexico (14.2 per cent ),
Argentina (6.2 per cent )
and Chile
(3.5 per cent ), according to data based on a study conducted by the Visa
global payment technology company. With a population of 194 million, Brazil
is one of the world leaders in Internet use. A recent study by the IBOPE
polling company said Brazil
has the world's sixth largest economy has 52.5 million active Internet users,
putting it in third place worldwide.
From
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
03/21/2013
TOP↑
NORTH AMERICA:
Ecommerce Sales to Rise in US
NEW YORK: Online
retail sales in the US
are set to record double-digit growth during the next five years, taking the
market to a value of $370bn, a forecast has suggested. Forrester, the
insights group, predicted that US ecommerce sales, excluding
auctions, are set to hit $262bn this year, a 13% improvement on an annual
basis. More specifically, it stated that three sectors will take more than a
third of returns. Apparel and accessories should be the most valuable, on
$40bn, followed by consumer electronics and computer hardware. While the web
yields just 8% of US
retail sales today, this total is "weighed down" by the fact online
purchases of grocery goods like food and beverages, one of the biggest retail
categories, remain modest. If excluding grocery from the analysis, the
internet's share rises to 11%, according to
Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester analyst. This figure may well increase going
forward, as ecommerce is set to enjoy average annual growth of 9% per year
from 2012-17, thus reaching $370bn by the end of this period.
Mulpuru said: "This growth will be abetted by traditional
stores' investments in web businesses to support a multichannel strategy, the
blistering pace of mobile device adoption, and the fact that consumers are
more comfortable with purchasing online." She also estimated that
200,000 people work in salaried web retail roles at present, not including
fulfilment and call centre staff. This equates to over 25% of the 750,000 specialist
retail executives. Turning to Europe,
Forrester stated that internet retail would be worth �191bn by 2017, measured
against �112bn in 2012, equivalent to a compound annual growth rate of 11%.
Southern markets like Italy
and Spain
are likely to be the main drivers of this expansion, not least because it can
offer convenience, value and choice to increasingly cash-strapped shoppers.
In Northern Europe, by contrast, the ecommerce segment is already more
mature, meaning the pace of growth will be lower in nations like Germany and the UK. Martin Gill, another
Forrester analyst, said vendors must "become more aggressive in
developing strategies to secure growth, identifying new sources of
competitive advantage and differentiation as they optimize their businesses
to serve increasingly web-savvy shoppers in a very crowded market."
From
http://www.warc.com/ 03/15/2013
TOP↑
The
Fastest Growing Industries in America
Are Ecommerce and Environmental Consulting
The folks at Staff.com have put together an infographic
highlighting start up survival rates, the types of businesses most likely to
fail and the best industries for starting a business in the next five years.
While the inclusion of eCommerce, online publishing and Internet games under
the latter is hardly a surprise, the fact that residential construction,
environmental consulting and logistics are considered booming sectors comes
with a little trepidation. If the growth estimates are correct, however, this
could mean big things for certain stocks. Let's take a look at sectors where
Staff.com expects to see growth: eCommerce Looking at eCommerce, there's
established players like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN )
and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY ), which will continue to thrive, but niche firms like
Vistaprint (NASDAQ: VPRT ), 1-800-Flowers (NASDAQ: FLWS ) and Nutrisystem
(NASDAQ: NTRI ) definitely stand to gain as well. Expect new niche sellers to
burst onto the scene as well. Internet Publishing Within the realm of
Internet publishing, the prospects of print-dominated outlets like Gannett
(NYSE: GCI ) and the McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI )
don't look very good.
Their losses could be offset by gains with firms with some
skin in the online publishing game, notably Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO
), News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS ), and the Washington Post Company (NYSE:
WPO ). Mobile Games As the popularity of online gaming grows, look for Zynga
(NASDAQ: ZNGA ) to capitalize, especially with their
Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) integration. Despite its recent woes, Electronic Arts
(NASDAQ: EA ) has delved into online gaming, a move
that could pay dividends. Look for the stock of Chinese gaming companies like
Giant Interactive Group (NYSE: GA ), Changyou.com
(NASDAQ: CYOU ) and Perfect World (NASDAQ: PWRD ) to blossom in a growing
market. These companies may not be American, but they're influence will
certainly be felt across the globe. Residential Construction Benzinga
identified the top four small-cap stocks in residential construction with the
highest EPS back in March. Other big-names in the sector include NVR (NYSE: NVR ) , M/I Homes (NYSE: MHO ) and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI
).
Environmental Consulting There aren't many publicly-traded
companies in the environmental consulting sector, though that could change.
The largest company is URS Corp. (NYSE: URS ). Other
big players who could pursue an IPO in the next few years are Omaha,
Nebraska-based HDR, Atlanta's AMEC Earth &
Environmental and CH2M
Hill, based out of Englewood,
Colorado. IT Consulting Seeking
Alpha has written about rising stars in the IT Consulting sphere, including
Navigant Consulting (NYSE: NCI ), FTI Consulting
(NYSE: FCN ) and Huron Consulting (NASDAQ: HURN ). Two of the biggest names
in the industry are Accenture (NYSE: ACN ) and
I.B.M. (NYSE: IBM ). Transport and Logistics Expect the top firms in the
transport and logistics circle to thrive in the next few years. These stocks
include Echo Global (NASDAQ: ECHO ), FedEx (NYSE:
FDX ), Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD ) and Hub Group (NASDAQ: HUBG ).
From
http://www.nasdaq.com/ 04/13/2013
TOP↑
Most Data
Isn’t 'Big,' and Businesses Are Wasting Money Pretending It Is
Big data! If you don’t have it, you better get yourself some.
Your competition has it, after all. Bottom line: If your data is little, your
rivals are going to kick sand in your face and steal your girlfriend. There
are many problems with the assumptions behind the “big data” narrative
(above, in a reductive form) being pushed, primarily, by consultants and IT
firmsthat want to sell businesses the next big thing. Fortunately, honest
practitioners of big data—aka data scientists—are by nature highly skeptical,
and they’ve provided us with a litany of reasons to be weary of many of the
claims made for this field. Here they are: Even web giants like Facebook and
Yahoo generally aren’t dealing with big data, and
the application of Google-style tools is inappropriate. Facebook and Yahoo
run their own giant, in-house “clusters”—collections of powerful servers—for
crunching data. The necessity of these clusters is one of the hallmarks of
big data. After all, data isn’t all that “big” if you could chew through it
on your PC at home. The necessity of breaking problems into many small parts,
and processing each on a large array of computers, characterizes classic big
data problems like Google’s need to compute the rank of every single web page
on the planet.
But it appears that for both Facebook and Yahoo, those same
clusters are unnecessary for many of the tasks which they’re handed. In the
case of Facebook, most of the jobs engineers ask their clusters to perform
are in the “megabyte to gigabyte” range (pdf), which means they could easily
be handled on a single computer—even a laptop. The story is similar at Yahoo,
where it appears the median task size handed to Yahoo’s cluster is 12.5
gigabytes. (pdf) That’s bigger than what the average desktop PC could handle,
but it’s no problem for a single powerful server. All of this is outlined in
a paper from Microsoft Research, aptly titled “Nobody ever got fired for
buying a cluster,” which points out that a lot of the problems solved by
engineers at even the most data-hungry firms don’t need to be run on
clusters. And why is that an issue? Because there are vast classes of
problems for which clusters are a relatively inefficient—or even totally
inappropriate—solution.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 05/07/2013
TOP↑
|
|
|
|
|
|
China, South Korea
Lead World Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce is playing an increasingly significant role
across Asia-Pacific according to a new report. The study found that 55
per cent of internet users in China made a purchase via a mobile phone in the
fourth quarter 2012, making China the country with the world’s highest mobile
shopping penetration rate. For an idea of just how dominant the mobile
purchase channel is in Asia, consider the case of North
America. There, just 19 per cent of US internet users and 13 per
cent of internet users in Canada
made a mobile purchase in the fourth quarter. In other words, China’s mobile purchase penetration rate is
nearly triple that of the US.
eMarketer estimates that 270.9 million internet
users in China
will make an online purchase this year - counting purchases made through
mobile devices. By 2016, eMarketer projects that number to rise to 423.4
million, and mobile will clearly play a significant role in that transition.
A similar dynamic is playing out across Asia.
In South Korea, where 37
per cent of internet users made a mobile purchase in the fourth quarter, the
rate of mobile purchase adoption was nearly double the rate in the US.
Internet users in India, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Thailand and Japan
were all more likely than those in the US to rely on mobile purchasing.
A separate study of smartphone users worldwide, conducted by Nielsen,
confirmed that higher percentages of internet users in Asia-Pacific countries
are buying via mobile devices relative to their counterparts around the
world. From mobile shopping to mobile banking to mobile wallets, Nielsen
found that smartphone users in China
and South Korea
were significantly more likely to engage in a variety of m-commerce
activities than smartphone users in any other country it studied in 2012.
From
http://www.insideretail.asia
03/22/2013
TOP↑
China’s Online Sales Surge in 2012
China's online
retail sales boomed last year, as more consumers have gravitated toward
online shopping for its convenience and personalized services. Online retail
sales reached 1.32 trillion yuan (210.39 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012, a
jump of 64.7 percent from the previous year, according to data issued by the
Internet Society of China on Thursday. The sales accounted for 6.3 percent of
total retail sales last year, Lu Wei, secretary-general of the society, said
at a press conference. Lu attributed the increase to the fast development of
e-commerce in the country's industrial, agricultural, transportation and
financial sectors. The number of medium- and small-sized enterprises using
third-party e-commerce platforms for marketing had exceeded 17 million by the
end of 2012, Lu said.
From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 03/28/2013
TOP↑
China's 1st Online Land Auction Nets 159 Mln Yuan
China's first online judicial auction of land use rights
netted 159 million yuan on Saturday.The auction items included a
117,000-square-meter plot, a 62,000-square-meter plant building and the
attached facilities of a bankrupt state-owned enterprise in the city of
Haining in east China's Zhejiang Province.The land auctioned belonged to a
leather enterprise based in Haining, which was forced to file for bankruptcy
last May due to unpaid debts.After four rounds of bidding between two buyers,
the land was sold for 4 million yuan higher than the starting price.The
online auction for land use rights has triggered a controversy over whether
land can be purchased online.But Mao Yidong, leader of the discipline
inspection group at the Haining People's Court, said China's law allows the
people's court to dispose assets and conduct judicial
auctions."According to the No. 224 clause in the Civil Procedure Law, if
the party subjected to execution can't fulfill his obligations, which has
been recorded on legal documents, the People's Court is entitled to seize,
detain, freeze, auction or sell off its part of the relevant
properties."In China,
land use rights usually include 70 years for residential use and 50 years for
industrial use.
From http://www.china.org.cn/
03/31/2013
TOP↑
E-commerce
Takes a Big Toll
China's
fast-growing e-tailing market could help unleash private consumption and
drive the next stage of economic development, with more opportunities lying
in less-developed areas where physical stores are expanding too slowly to
meet demand. Millions of consumers can now log on and purchase goods they
could only dream of acquiring just a few years ago. With $190 billion to $210
billion in sales, China came very close to equaling the United States as the
world's largest e-tailing market in 2012.As the size of China's big-spending
class continues to expand, the country's e-tailing market may reach $420
billion to $650 billion in sales by 2020, equaling the size of today's United
States, Japanese, UK, German and French markets combined, according to a
report by McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of global management
consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
"By then, China's e-tailing market will rise to 15 to 20
percent of the country's total retail sales of social consumer goods, up from
the currently level of 5 to 6 percent," said Chen Yougang, an MGI
partner and one of the authors of the report. The report found the e-tailing
market, which encompasses online sales to consumers by merchants of all
sizes, is already having an incremental effect on private
purchasing."Online shopping has a clear incremental effect on overall
consumption and could raise private consumption by an extra 4 to 7 percent by
2020," Chen said. Cyber space is not just a replacement channel for
purchases that would otherwise take place offline. Nearly half of every
dollar spent online represents incremental consumption, based on an analysis
of data covering 266 cities in China. This effect is even more
profound in China's
small and medium-sized urban areas, which generally lack compelling
brick-and-mortar retailers, according to the report.
At the moment, cities with relatively high online shopper
penetration include Changsha, Guilin and Jiujiang,
which are inland cities tending to have relatively lower per capita
consumption. The yearly spending of each online shopper was 6,819 yuan
($1,098) in first-tier cities, accounting for 18 percent of total disposable
income. Although only 4,467 yuan is directed to e-tailing in fourth-tier
cities, it accounts for 27 percent of income."E-tailing is only one of
many drivers that will contribute to China's
new model for economic growth, but it is fast becoming an area in which China
could lead the world in innovation rather than relying on its historical
labor cost advantage," said Richard Dobbs, one of the report's authors
and a director of MGI. China
has the world's largest online population, with 129 million residential
broadband accounts, dwarfing the 81 million accounts in the United States in 2011.
But broadband penetration remains at only 30 percent,
indicating enormous room for further growth in the e-tailing
market."Realizing the full potential of e-tailing in China will require investment in
large-scale expansion of broadband and 3G+ coverage, data analysis capabilities and
logistics infrastructure," said Chen. Labor productivity in China's retail sector is only two-thirds of
the US level today, but if
China's e-tailers catch up
with their counterparts in other major markets, the overall sector's
performance could rise by 14 percent by 2020, McKinsey estimated, adding that
productivity improvement is also an imperative for China's e-tailers to address the
shortage of high-skill labor. E-tailing is also a young and wide-open market
that allows small, innovative businesses to gain traction very quickly. While
large business-to-consumer sites are the clear leaders in other countries,
nearly 90 percent of China's
e-tailing industry operates on marketplace sites that host a wide universe of
small and medium-sized enterprises and microbusinesses, providing them with
the tools to set up online storefronts, list items and collect payment.
In comparison, only 24 percent of the e-tailing market is
market-based in the US.
Taobao, one of China's
largest online marketplaces, alone had more than 6 million registered sellers
as of the last count. This model offers Chinese entrepreneurs the ability to
launch new ideas with minimal start-up costs and access to huge aggregated
traffic."Chinese retail is still largely regional, reflecting the
difficulties of scaling up traditional store networks across such a large and
diverse developing country," Chen said. The emergence of large national
chains has been a milestone in the retail development of most countries, but
Chinese retail is coming of age during an era of profound digital disruption
- and that raises distinct possibilities for its future evolution.
"China
could develop a balanced mixture of physical and digital retail, with
national brick-and-mortar chains eventually dominating some product
categories and online channels capturing others," said Chen. But the
extraordinary growth of e-tailing could lead to an alternative scenario in
which China
forgoes the national expansion of physical stores commonly seen in Western
markets, instead moving directly to a more digital retail environment. Such a
shift could have broad implications for China's urban
development."E-tailing has the potential to create a profound 'leapfrog'
effect on China's
broader retail industry," said Chen. As e-tailing matures, it could lift
the efficiency of the entire retail sector and reduce the need to build out
extensive networks of physical stores."
From
http://www.news.cn/
04/08/2013
TOP↑
Firms
Map Out Voice Navigation Services
China's biggest digital map provider AutoNavi and Nuance
Communications will cooperate in voice-enabled navigation services, the firms
said in Beijing Tuesday.The cooperation will bring voice-enabled navigation
to auto makers, navigation device providers and over 100 million users of
AutoNavi map on mobile phones, according to Beijing-based AutoNavi. The
company also provides default map services for Apple's iPhone and iPad in the
Chinese mainland, which has more than 1 billion mobile phone users and where
20 million cars are sold annually, industry insiders said.AutoNavi's upgraded
map services featuring voice-enabled navigation functions based on Nuance's
technology and Chinese language support will be available to global
automotive and navigation device makers in the second quarter.AutoNavi will
rely on Nuance's technologies, which combine speech recognition with advanced
natural language processing, to provide more accurate voice recognition and
text-to-speech, like the Siri feature on iPhones."Nuance's automotive
voice expertise and technologies will enable us to quickly innovate
voice-enabled navigation services for a safer, smarter in-car experience in China,"
Yang Yongqi, AutoNavi's executive vice president of automotive business, said
in a statement. Nuance said its collaboration with AutoNavi will help Chinese
drivers keep their "eyes on the road and hands on the
wheel."AutoNavi now provides navigation data to over 100 models from
SAIC Motor, Changan, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.Last week, Intel Corp also
unveiled a cooperation deal with Nuance on similar voice technology on
smartphones equipped with Intel's chips.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/17/2013
TOP↑
Web
China: Draft Amendment Sparks Debate Over
Online Shoppers' Rights
A draft amendment to the consumer rights law has ignited
debate regarding its fairness, as it calls for a seven-day "cooling-off"
period that would allow shoppers to return merchandise for a full refund.The
draft ensures e-shoppers' right of choice and grants them the right to
unilaterally terminate contracts."Consumers have the right to return
goods within seven days and get a refund," according to the proposal.The
draft amendment has won overwhelming support among online shoppers.A poll
conducted by the Nanfang Metropolis Daily showed that more than 30 percent of
respondents voted in favor of the proposal. About 40 percent said they
believe the cooling-off period specified in the amendment has already been
adopted by some online vendors."Online shoppers can only see photos,
which are often dissimilar to the products that are actually received. The
rule could dispel refund worries and give shoppers more assurance,"
wrote one netizen on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.Online
shopping is booming in China.
However, the current consumer rights law, which was enacted in 1993, does not
address e-commerce at all.Consumers do not have as many advantages as vendors
and the cooling-off period will play a helpful role in protecting consumers'
interests, said Jiang Zhuangde, a deputy to the National People's Congress,
China's top legislature.However, other lawmakers do not believe that the
amendment will truly strike a balance between the rights of consumers and
vendors."Customers have the right of choice, as well as the liability of
selection. Unconditional returns may result in illicit competition among
sellers, which could disturb market order," said legislator Xu
Weigang.The online commerce industry has experienced rapid growth in China.
The trade value of e-commerce in the first quarter of 2013
topped 2.4 trillion yuan (about 389.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 45 percent
year on year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology.Some lawmakers also voiced concerns about the
potential harm that the regulation could bring to online store owners.The
unconditional right to return goods within seven days may damage online
businesses, many of which are small in size, said legislator Wu Xiaoling,
adding that sellers should clarify the conditions under which customers can
get a refund."It's unfair to us," said Zhang Xiaoli, an online
vendor who sells cosmetics on Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) website similar to eBay, adding that
the cooling-off period may prompt a surge in refunds and increase sellers'
operation costs."On many occasions, consumers ask for a refund not
because of the poor quality of the products, but the subjective excuse of not
having made up their mind," Zhao said.Legislator Gu Shengzu said the
cooling-off period specified in the draft amendment needs to be further
studied.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/29/2013
TOP↑
China Focus: Ten-year-old Taobao Shaping Chinese
Lifestyles
While waiting for the subway, Beijing citizen Lin Jun fishes
out his mobile phone and places an order for 50 face masks via Taobao, a
consumer-to-consumer (C2C)
portal similar to eBay, with only a few clicks.The masks, which he uses
almost every day now in the sandy spring, are expected to be brought to his
home by a delivery man the following day.Lin bought masks around the same
time 10 years ago, when the city was shrouded in panic over the SARS
epidemic. But buying such commodities was never as easy as it is now.On
Friday, taobao.com, the country's largest online shopping site, will
celebrate its 10th anniversary since its establishment in the eastern city of
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.Over the decade, e-commerce spearheaded by Taobao
as well as other sites like dangdang.com and 360buy.com has gained a strong
foothold in the Chinese market, ushering in a new mode of shopping,
particularly among tech-savvy youngsters.
"I can not separate myself from Taobao now. It is
becoming a lifestyle, or it is life itself," said Mei Xiao, a civil
servant in Wuhan, Hubei Province.According to statistics from the Ministry of
Commerce, it is estimated that China's online commerce industry raked in more
than 1.1 trillion yuan (about 175 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2012,
up from 25.8 billion yuan in 2006.Taobao alone features nearly one billion
products and has nearly 500 million registered users. It sells 48,000
products each minute and its maximum daily turnover reached 4.38 billion
yuan, according to taobao.com.Taobao's parent company, Alibaba Group, also
owns Tmall, a popular business-to-consumer (B2C) portal like Amazon.Alibaba founder Jack Ma
announced early this year that he would step down from the CEO post, and his
successor is scheduled to be named on Friday. But he will continue to serve
as chairman, responsible for making strategic decisions for the board of
directors.
MORE THAN JUST BUYING
As the country's largest online shopping platform, Taobao
brings not only a new lifestyle for shoppers but also tremendous work
opportunities for the country's huge number of job seekers.It has more than 8
million online vendors who create jobs for over 10 million, most of whom are
self-employed.The platform has also benefited more than 30,000 disabled, who
would otherwise have more difficulty in finding a job.Gu Linglei, a blind
young man in Hangzhou, has to resort to software that reads screen content to
communicate with his online customers.Nevertheless, Gu has so far clinched
more than 4,000 deals, mostly digital products and phone cards.Booming
e-commerce also boosted the fast growth of China's delivery business, with
the number of delivery men in the country expected to reach 1 million by the
year 2015.Taobao delivers 20 million parcels every day, accounting for 70
percent of the country's total.Jack Ma is considering building up an even
bigger logistics network that will be capable of delivering 200 million
parcels daily with sales revenue up to 30 billion yuan.
"No matter where you are, the goods will be delivered to
your home within 24 hours after you place an order. This is what we are
trying to achieve," he said.Taobao never stops exploring new business
opportunities.Last month, parent company Alibaba invested 586 million dollars
to purchase an 18-percent share of Weibo Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Sina Corp., the country's leading online media company. The Twitter-like
Weibo is China's most influential social media outlet.The two companies will
cooperate in various areas such as user account connectivity, data exchange,
online payment and online marketing, according to company sources.They will
also explore new business models for social commerce based on the
interactions of users on Weibo and on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms, the
sources said.
From
http://china.org.cn/
05/09/2013
TOP↑
China's Internet Giants in Acquisition Spree
China's Internet giants have gone on a new acquisition spree
in recent months as they ramp up efforts to diversify businesses amid the
industry's constantly changing dynamics.Alibaba, China's leading e-commerce
firm, announced last week that it will pay 294 million U.S. dollars for a
28-percent stake in digital mapping company AutoNavi Holdings Ltd..The move,
following Alibaba's previous deal to take an 18-percent share in Sina Corp's
microblogging service Weibo, is the giant's latest attempt to map out a
strategy in the key mobile Internet market, in which major companies have
been vying for presence.Li Zhi, an analyst with Internet service provider
Analysys, noted that rather than developing new products on their own, the
Internet giants have preferred to make up for their weak areas through
mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to consolidate their positions.Earlier
this month, China's online search leader Baidu Inc. announced its plan to buy
the online video business of PPS, to rival industry leader Youku Tudou, which
was created last year through the merger of the country's two major video
giants, Youku and Tudou.
The purchase is Baidu's latest step to diversify beyond its
core search sector.The string of M&A deals has highlighted the heated
competition among Internet giants to secure dominance of the mobile Internet
market as an increasing number of Chinese are going online through mobile
devices.Currently, Tencent, which has so far attracted 300 million users to
its popular voice messaging platform Wechat, is widely regarded as having
secured a dominant seat in the mobile Internet market.But Ma Huateng,
Tencent's chairman and CEO, took a cautious view about the company's
position."No matter how well-placed we are now in the mobile market, a
slight oversight may cause a shipwreck," he said at an Internet
conference earlier this month.According to data from the China Internet
Networks Information Center, China had 420 million mobile Internet users as
of the end of 2012.With the market potential yet to be tapped, the Internet
giants' M&A activity will likely to go on for a while, according to Li.
From
http://china.org.cn/
05/14/2013
TOP↑
E-commerce
Giants Brace for Fierce Competition
Chinese e-commerce giants are getting ready for a new round of
cutthroat competition after business-to-customer website Dangdang Inc
launched a promotional campaign offering discounts as high as 90 percent in
some clothing items.Industry insiders said that Dangdang's move is an attempt
to reduce the high inventory levels in the garment industry.For instance, Li
Ning Co Ltd's T-shirts are being sold at 19 yuan ($3.09) each, around 80
percent off, according to the website.Before Dangdang's move, Guangzhou-based
Vipshop Holdings Ltd was the dominant player in China's discount shopping
sector. But now other websites, including Tmall, Vancl and JD, are also
preparing to follow Dangdang and launch similar online promotional
campaigns."The websites are willing to try out different promotional
models to boost turnover," said Zhang Jing, an analyst with iResearch
Consulting.However, reducing prices is not the companies' only
strategy."E-commerce companies are also shifting their focus from price
wars to other areas in a bid to lift product quality and lure more high-end
buyers," Zhang added.The annual turnover of China's online shopping
industry could hit 1.85 trillion yuan this year, an increase of about 40
percent year-on-year, iResearch data showed."
The whirlwind romance of apparel companies and e-commerce
websites is a good idea for decreasing inventory, due to the relatively lower
costs and larger sales volumes of online businesses," said Peking Tan,
R&D director for Greater China with MillwardBrown, a major research
agency. "But large-discount campaigns will also damage brand images that
the companies may have cultivated for years."Li Ning and other Chinese
sportswear companies have recently been hit by cash shortages and high stock
levels.During the first quarter of the year, Peak Sport Products Co Ltd
closed 125 stores to save costs and bring down inventories, while in the
fourth quarter of 2012, 361 Degrees International Ltd closed 96 retail
branches.Last December, Li Ning warned of a substantial loss of $228 million
due to a plan to buy back inventory from its distributors.The inventories of
Chinese clothing companies were worth 256.97 billion yuan in the first three
quarters of 2012, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.HSBC
Holdings PLC estimates that Li Ning has excess inventory worth about 1.65
billion yuan that could take 11 months to clear, while Anta Sports Products
Ltd's inventory is worth about 3.12 billion yuan, which is expected to take
about 10 months to clear.Experts attribute the high inventory levels to the
industry's over-expansion since the 2008 Beijing Olympics."Inflated
stock levels are the thorniest problem faced by local sportswear
players," said Tan.He added that the shrinking business is due to the
decreasing number of young consumers in China, the industry's main
target.
"The number of Chinese people aged from 15 to 25 will
drop around 30 percent in the next 10 years, which will be a catastrophe to
the sportswear industry, including local and foreign companies," Tan
said.Other industry insiders also hold a gloomy view."Although the
domestic apparel industry is showing some good signs of decreasing stock
levels since last year, the situation is still grim, as the market and the
industry are both suffering from a slowdown after the previous high-speed
expansion period," said Wang Zhuo, secretary-general of the China
National Garment Association.
From
http://china.org.cn/
05/15/2013
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JAPAN: E-Commerce Growth Continues
While the number of Internet users in Japan is increasing only
marginally, Japan's B2C
e-commerce sales are forecast to grow in the low double digits annually
between now and 2016. In its latest "Japan B2C E-Commerce Report 2013", Hamburg-based
secondary market research company yStats.com says B2C e-commerce is growing much faster than the number
of Internet users. Higher average spending and increased purchasing online
will boost the sector, the report says. Clothing and food are among the
most popular product categories in Japanese B2C e-commerce. According to the report, in
2012, m-commerce in Japan
accounted for almost one quarter of all online revenues. This figure includes
mobile payment methods frequently used in over-the-counter retail. Online
market place Rakuten was the most successful player in Japanese B2C e-commerce, followed by Amazon Japan
and online fashion shop Nissen. In 2012, more than three quarters of all
Internet users in Japan
had a user account with Rakuten. In October 2012, Amazon Japan launched a pick-up option
for orders from FamilyMart stores for its customers. US retailers Gap
and Ralph Lauren also seek to participate in the successful Japanese B2C e-commerce market and launched their
first online shops there in October 2012.
From
http://www.insideretail.asia
03/13/2013
TOP↑
App
to Help Visually Impaired with Currency to Be Launched in Japan
The Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Japan are
together working on a smartphone application to help the visually impaired
identify and differentiate between banknotes. The app will use a
smartphone’s camera to scan each banknote and provide the user with audio
feedback on the note’s denomination. The value of the note will also be
displayed on the screen in large print for users with limited
visual ability. The app will help people with poor vision pay the right
amount in their commercial transactions, and remove the need to carry
additional devices to identify their cash. The app will work on regular commercial
smartphones, including both iOS and Android devices. The app is planned
for release towards the end of this year.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/
05/02/2013
TOP↑
New
Digital Divide Threatens Economic Growth
Information and communications technology (ICT) — a term
used for anything from high-speed broadband cables to the latest app — has
revolutionized the way the economy works. Business models have been redefined,
supply chains have gone global, the workplace has been redesigned, small
start-ups have grown into multibillion dollar behemoths, and profound changes
have rippled through health care and education. As well as helping to make
companies and services more efficient, ICT has huge potential to increase
innovation, boost economic growth and create much-needed high quality jobs.
With the developed world striving to improve competitiveness and the
developing world focused on maintaining growth rates, no country can afford
to ignore these opportunities. However, as the World Economic Forum’s Global
Information Technology Report 2013 shows, a new kind of digital divide is
hampering this progress.
While some countries have continued to consolidate their leadership
in the digital landscape, others still trail significantly behind, with
little or no sign of significant progress. The Nordic countries, the Asian
Tigers and several advanced economies in North America and Western Europe,
such as the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom,
continue to lead in providing high connectivity rates, resulting in high
innovation rates that help boost their competitiveness. In these countries,
some 90 percent of households have a computer and an Internet connection. As
a result, Internet usage among business and consumers is high. This knocks on
to the wider economy, for example patent applications, while just defining
one dimension of the multifaceted nature of innovation, are very high,
reaching more than 100 ICT patents per million population in most of these
countries. In sharp contrast, several developing countries — notably in
Africa, but also in Latin America and Southeast Asia
— continue to show low values of connectivity with yet low level of Internet
usage and limited development of e-commerce. Their struggle to upgrade
digital connectivity means they are losing out on all the social and economic
rewards that go along with better ICT infrastructure.
The picture is not clear cut. Several developing economies in
sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia, including Rwanda, Kenya,
Brazil, El Salvador, India
and Bangladesh,
have experienced remarkable improvements in digital telephony take-up.
Meanwhile, applications such as M-Pesa, so popular in eastern Africa, have brought wide social, not to mention
economic, benefits. Nevertheless, other ICT infrastructure investments, such
as broadband bandwidth or the number of Internet users and broadband
subscriptions, have remained low. Moreover and perhaps more importantly, in
order to fulfil the full potential of ICT, improvements in infrastructure,
technologies and skills all need to work together in a coordinated way.
Innovations often come about when a skillful labor force gets to experiment
with the latest technologies and new materials. It is precisely in this area
where one of the biggest difficulties lies for several developing economies —
creating the right environment for innovation is costly and takes time to
yield minimum results.
As the Global Information Technology Report shows, the
relationship between developing a highly skilled workforce and quality ICT
infrastructure on one hand, and achieving positive economic and social
impacts on the other, is far from perfect or linear. The results suggest that
there may exist a minimum investment threshold in
ICT and skill development that any country may need to undertake to obtain
any meaningful results. But once this threshold is achieved, the return on
such investment in ICT skills and infrastructure becomes disproportionately
higher as the economy transitions to higher value-added activities. Countries
should be encouraged to adopt the right policies and investment decisions to
develop their ICTs, while bearing in mind that they may take time to bear
fruit. A coherent framework of policies is needed to nurture the kind of
innovations that could help us move beyond the economic slump.
From
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ 05/13/2013
TOP↑
S. KOREA: E-Commerce Sales Hit All-Time High in 2012
South
Korea's e-commerce sales
jumped to an all-time high in 2012, driven by expanded transactions in
cyberspace between businesses, a government report showed Wednesday. Online
sales totaled about 1,144.69 trillion won (US$1.05 trillion) last year, up
14.5 percent from the 999.58 trillion won tallied in the previous year,
according to the report by Statistics Korea.
From
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr
02/27/2013
TOP↑
KDB's
'Techno Banking' Draws Interest from SMEs
KDB Bank is helping companies trade intellectual properties and get help from
colleges and institutes through its unique service called Techno Banking. The
bank held a road show at Incheon Technopark, Friday, for CEOs of small- and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and researchers in Incheon to promote the
service. It was the first road show since the bank launched the service last
September. KDB plans to visit other parts of the country to help more firms
use the service. Techno Banking is designed to facilitate trades of
high-quality technologies between firms, so that they can get funding easily
and boost technology exchanges. Under the program, the bank links colleges,
research institutes and companies having promising technologies with
companies that want to buy such technologies to expand business or develop
new products. For companies having technology but needing funds, the bank not
only helps them sell the intellectual properties to other firms but also
offers loans with the properties as collateral. For firms wanting to buy
technology but not having money, it also provides loans. KDB also invests in
firms holding intellectual properties as well as develops financial products
with such properties.
In January, the bank established the so-called intellectual property fund
valued at 100 billion won. For the next seven years, the fund will invest in
intellectual properties held by SMEs in various ways, including purchasing
the properties and receiving rental fees from companies that need such
technologies. KDB Financial Group Chairman Kang Man-soo said, The digital era
is a networking era — firms need to take advantage of others abilities and
technologies. Through the Techno Banking, KDB will be able to support
innovative companies and thus contribute to cultivating promising firms.
That`s also helpful for expanding the nations growth engines and creating
jobs.KDB officials said the road shows will help better promote the service.
As bank officials visit the companies and listen to their troubles, they can
also develop financial programs that meet their needs, Kim Han-chul, vice
chairman and COO of the bank, said. In the road shows, the bank also allows
research institutes and colleges to introduce their technologies to
participating companies. KDB techno banking will help good technologies
developed into good products as well as promote technology- related financial
programs. With the Incheon road show as the beginning, well keep conducting
such events across the country, Kim said.
From
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr
03/24/2013
TOP↑
B2B
Fuels South Korea
E-Commerce
South Korea
has an active e-commerce market that continues to see significant
growth. Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) found that total e-commerce grew by
14.5 per cent to KRW1,144.69 trillion (more than $1 trillion) in 2012.The
biggest growth was in the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) segment, which rose by more than 20 per cent, as
more individual sellers conducted direct digital transactions with buyers.
Despite its already huge presence, the business-to-consumer (B2B) sector
showed the second best performance, growing 15 per cent over the year.
Combining the B2C and C2C categories, KOSTAT found that travel was
the fastest-growing consumer category as well as the largest. It surpassed
clothing and accessories for the first time in 2012 to become the number one
consumer product e-commerce category. Food and beverage, a middling
e-commerce category in terms of absolute sales, also made a gain of 23 per
cent. Books, software and flowers all declined. For B2Bs, manufacturing continues
to be the biggest category by a wide margin, and the sector growing fastest.
E-commerce sales in manufacturing alone totaled KRW750.6 trillion ($666.25
billion), about 71 per cent of the total B2B digital market. Researcher
eMarketer estimates that South
Korea’s digital buyer population reached
23.3 million in 2012, equal to more than half of the total population. The
number of digital buyers will grow by about 1 million per year through 2015,
when three-quarters of internet users will buy via online channels.
From
http://www.insideretail.asia/
04/26/2013
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INDONESIA: E-Commerce, Banks Synergize in Driving
Online Business
Online shopping, which is getting more popular here, has laid
the ground for fresh business opportunities for long-standing businesses
including banks that have begun offering payment services for the growing
number of online merchants and shoppers. Suwignyo Budiman, a director of PT
Bank Central Indonesia (BCA), said that approximately 56 online stores were
now connected to the bank’s KlikPay service. “When we started, not many sites
required our services but now there is a long queue of sites,” he said.
Launched last year, KlikPay is the bank’s online payment service targeting
e-commerce sites. The service
enables BCA account holders to pay for their online purchases by credit card.
“We are planning to extend our services by including Flazz, the bank’s
prepaid card,” he said. BCA became the first bank to connect e-commerce sites
directly to the bank. Previously, payment choices were generally limited to
money transfers via automated teller machines (ATM), or credit card
transactions conducted through foreign payment gateways.
Suwignyo added that the bank saw great potential in
e-commerce, given the increasing number of people who have turned to online
stores to shop. “The youth especially are starting to buy goods, from
electronics to clothes, from e-stores,” he said. He added that approximately
3 million daily transactions passed through KlikBCA, the bank’s overarching
electronic banking service within which KlikPay operates. “The value of these
transactions surpasses those made through automated teller machines by two to
three times,” he said. He pointed out the number and value of transactions
rose by up to 50 percent on average annually. Suwignyo said that a majority
of the transactions were made by individuals, although the transaction value
generated by corporate clients including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), was higher. “Approximately 100,000 merchants, large and
small, use our service,” he told The Jakarta Post. Rico Usthavia Frans,
senior vice president of electronic banking at Bank Mandiri, added that last
year, the bank handled transactions worth roughly Rp 1.4 trillion made via
Mandiri Clickpay, the bank’s Internet banking service.
“This Rp 1.4 trillion (US$ 144.2 million) is closely related
to e-commerce, such as the purchase of airplane tickets,” he said. This year,
he added, the bank expected to see its transactions increase by 30 percent
because “more people are learning about and trusting” Internet banking
services. Maximilian Bittner, the CEO of Lazada Southeast Asia, said that
e-commerce was not “a disruptive force that negatively impacted other
sectors”. “Instead, e-commerce injects additional value into the economic
value chain,” he said. Lazada is one of the latest e-commerce companies to
enter the Indonesian market via their online store, Lazada.co.id. The site
allows buyers to pay through various methods, including cash on delivery
(COD). He said that e-commerce would also spur the financing sector because
these sites could become a channel through which financing companies provided
consumer credit. He added that payment services, as well as other business
that facilitated e-commerce, were critical for e-commerce sites to function
and grow as well. “Indonesia
will take a bit more time to grow into a developed e-commerce market but with
new technology and payment methods, the country can leap the gap,” he said.
From
http://www.thejakartapost.com/
05/20/2013
TOP↑
MYANMAR: To Introduce E-Payment Card in Foreign
Countries
Myanmar bank authorities will introduce Myanmar Payment Union
(MPU) card in foreign countries in 2014 to facilitate Myanmar travelers abroad, local
media reported Thursday. International banking cards were invited to join in
MPU member bank network and sign agreement with Myanmar as the first phase, said
the Biweekly Eleven News. For the second phase, tasks will be performed for
introducing MPU cards in foreign countries. MPU was introduced in September
2011 by 17 domestic banks in Myanmar
including three state-owned banks and 14 private banks and starting from
September 2012, MPU debit card was introduced for services domestically. At
present, there has been 198 ATMs and 465
points-of-sale with the MPU member bank network. So far, three international
payment cards -- Master Card, Visa Card and China Union Pay (CUP) Card have
been allowed in the country and it is expected to add Japan Credit Bureau
(JCB) Card soon. There is a total of 19 private
banks and four state-owned banks in Myanmar. The move-in of the
international bank cards came after the United States eased some financial
sanctions on the country, before which foreign visitors were unable to use
international credit cards on account of such sanctions on money transactions
since 2003.
From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 02/28/2013
TOP↑
PHILIPPINES: Government Bank to Launch E-Payment
Channel for Household Workers
The Land Bank of the Philippinesis working together with Smart
Hub, a unit of Telco giant Smart Communications, to provide an e-payment
channel called “BayadLoad” for the mandatory government contributions of some
2.5 million household workers. The initiative is a response to the
“Kasambahay” law (Household worker law) which requires employers of household
workers to remit monthly membership contributions to the Home Development
Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) and premium payments to the Philippine Health
Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the Social Security System (SSS). "This
innovation in electronic payment services is transformative as it helps
change the lives of our household workers by giving them opportunities to
save for their future’s security," said Landbank president and CEO Gilda
Pico. "It is also an effective tool to decongest bank branches from the
long queues and waiting time."
Paying through BayadLoad allows Smart, Talk ’N Text, and soon
Sun, subscribers to initiate the payment transaction without being charged an
SMS fee. Payment confirmation will be received via SMS. The new e-payment
channel eliminates tedious cash-in processes, especially for household
workers who may find it difficult to leave their place of work to do physical
cash-in, particularly on weekdays, when their employers are mostly out. With
Bayadload, any household worker or employer can simply top-up their BayadLoad
e-wallet at any of Smart’s authorised retailers nationwide. Furthermore, all
premiums and membership contributions will be credited to the payee agency in
near real-time via end-of-day settlement by LandBank. BayadLoad will be
commercially available upon final approval of the Central Bank of the Philippines
within the month.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/06/2013
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INDIA: Maharashtra
Farmers Sell Products Online
In a first of its kind initiative, agriculture produce and
other goods from 25,000 villages across Maharashtra
would soon be available online. Using computer kiosks, installed in panchayat
offices across the State, farmers would be able to offer and sell their
produce in the market.
The computer infrastructure has been created under the
‘e-panchayat’– a nation-wide IT programme initiated by the Union Ministry of
Panchayati Raj. In Maharashtra, the
programme is being implemented as ‘Sanganakiya Grameen Maharashtra’, a
project of the State Rural Development Department. Under the project,
certificates such as birth, death, marriage and caste are being issued. The
accounts of the panchayats are also managed with the help of computers.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/10/2013
TOP↑
E-Payment
for Scholarships Soon
The Union Minister for Communications and Information
Technology Kapil Sibal has launched the Electronic e-Pass application — an
e-payment and application system for scholarships, for Himachal Pradesh and
Tripura states. Through this system, college students who earn government
scholarship in India
will soon be able to receive the money via electronic transfer directly to
their account. Developed by Centre for Good Governance of Andhra Pradesh
Government, the e-Pass is an end-to-end solution from registration of
scholarship application to the transaction of money into the students’ bank
account digitally. The solution has been operational in Andhra Pradesh since
2009.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/13/2013
TOP↑
E-Payment
of Road Tax in Haryana
Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday
launched the website (www.haryanatransport.gov.in), e-payment gateway and SMS
facility of the regulatory wing of the State Transport Department to
facilitate the citizens by providing various services online and bring in
more transparency in the functioning of the department. The chief minister
appreciated the initiative of the department and said that the people would
be immensely benefitted with these services. Principal secretary, transport,
Hardeep Kumar said with the launch of the web portal, the people would not
have to now visit the registering or licences offices as they would be able
to avail the services even while being at home.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/13/2013
TOP↑
eBiz
Portal to Ease G2B Services
eBiz portal will serve as
a 24X7 online single-window system for providing efficient and convenient
Government to business (G2B) services to business community. Dr D
Purandeswari, Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry
said, “The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce
& Industry launched the eBiz portal in January 2013 comprising the
license and permits services component that will allow business users to
obtain a customised list of licenses, permits, and regulations that they
require or need to comply with across all levels of government.” The
Government had taken this initiative to improve the business environment of
the country. The eBiz portal will serve as a 24X7 online single-window system
for providing efficient and convenient Government to business (G2B) services
to business community. It will reduce the complexity in obtaining information
and services related to starting businesses in India and will also deal with
licenses and permits across the business life-cycle. Through eBiz portal
information and forms can be obtained, forms or applications can be
submitted; fees can be routed and paid online. The portal will also route
forms/applications and fees to various departments for licenses, permits,
registrations, approvals, clearances, permissions, periodic filings and
compliances throughout the life-cycle of business entity. In the pilot phase,
nearly 50 services will be integrated with the eBiz portal which includes 26
services of Central Government departments and 24 services in each of the
five pilot states i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi,
Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/01/2013
TOP↑
SRI LANKA: SME Apparel Exporters Are to Be Linked to
Global E-System
In a significant development for Sri
Lanka’s apparel industry, for the first time, Sri Lanka’s
SME apparel exporters are to be linked to the much awaited global customs
electronic system. “If our current preparations continue as planned, we can
link our SME apparel exporters’ shipments to the ASYCUDA global e-system by
May 2013. This could enhance our SME apparel sector exports thereby enhancing
our $2.8 Bn apparel volume” said Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and
Commerce yesterday (4). The SME apparel exporters themselves requested the
Ministry of Industry and Commerce to take new initiatives in this regard and
as a result, more than 220 registered SME apparel manufacturers would benefit
from ASYCUDA’s apparel export module to be commenced by Industry and Commerce
Ministry in May ’13. In 2012, Sri Lanka’s
apparel exports recorded $ 2.83 Bn earnings of which $1.53 Bn was from the US
and $ 1.86 Bn was from the EU despite the challenging situation in these
segments.
ASYCUDA developed in Geneva
by UNCTAD, is a computerized custom management system which covers most
foreign trade procedures and handles manifests and customs declarations,
accounting procedures, transit and suspense procedures. It operates on micro
in a client server environment under UNIX and DOS operating systems and RDBMS
Software. Industry Ministry’s initial implantation cost in this global system
is a low amount of $15000. Once they are linked, the SME apparel exporters
will not be required to submit their export shipment documentations called
Proposed Shipment Declaration (PSD) format, in multiple copies -to various
agencies such as Industry Ministry as well as Customs. Instead, by a single
click of a mouse under ASYCUDA, can submit to all the agencies at once,
immediately and receive export shipment clearance thereat, stated the
Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
From
http://www.priu.gov.lk 04/05/2013
TOP↑
PAKISTAN: Mobile
Banking with 1.4mn Accounts Showing Remarkable Surge
ISLAMABAD: Mobile
banking in Pakistan
has witnessed a reasonable growth as the number of such accounts (M-Wallets)
has reached 1.4 million by 2012, showing an increase of 156 percent as
compared to previous years. The current number of m-banking accounts is seven
times higher than the numbers at the end of September 2010. Of the total 1.4
million m-banking accounts, 66 percent are active accounts and the ratio of
active accounts has increased from 54 percent as of end December 2011.
Telecom sector regulator, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its
report has revealed that this increase in the active accounts is mainly due
to increase in the small transaction m-banking accounts by UBL Omni,
facilitated by regulatory flexibility in account opening by State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP). Keeping in view the cellular mobile subscription of over 120
million, the figure of 1.4 million m-banking accounts is a very small number,
and shows the potential of m-banking in Pakistan even if we were to reach
50 % of all cellular subscribers.
The report said Pakistan has two major players
Telenor with 'Easypaisa' launched in October 2009 and United Bank Limited
(UBL) with 'Omni' initiated in April 2010. These two major m-banking
initiatives have significant contribution in the growth of mobile banking in
the country. It said during last two years, there has been a massive growth
in terms of basic indicators of m-banking indicators including m-banking
agents, m-wallet accounts, number of transactions undertaken per day and the
outreach to low-income subscribers. The network of m-banking agents provides
necessary contact point for m-banking agents provides necessary contact point
for m-banking account opening and transactions, and therefore, has vital
importance in the current from to m-banking models in Pakistan. More than 95 percent to
transactions are carried out through agents whereas account to account
transfers by individual customers are still limited. Currently, there are
more than 29,254 m-banking
registered agents, which are almost three times the total number of bank
branches (9,399) in Pakistan
as this shows the potential of m-banking to reach to the unserved.
From
http://www.brecorder.com 04/14/2013
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AZERBAIJAN: Timing Announced for Commercial Sale of First
Satellite's Resources to Foreign Markets
The first national telecommunications satellite Azerspace-1
will be transferred to the control of Azercosmos OJS in mid-March,
Azerbaijani Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali
Abbasov told journalists on Wednesday. "Starting April 1, Azerbaijani TV
channels will be placed on satellite resources. Commercial sale of the
satellite resources to foreign markets will start on May 1," he said.
Currently the American Orbital Sciences Corp. is testing the Azerspace-1
satellite. The satellite took its orbital position at 46 degrees east
longitude and is managed by experts of Azercosmos from the main control
centre. Azerspace/Africasat-1a
was launched from the start complex ELA-3 at the Guiana Space Centre on Feb.
8 by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket carrier of French company Arianespace. The
payload of Azerspace/Africasat-1, built on the STAR-2 platform, consists of
36 transponders (24 C-band
transponders and a 12 Ku-band range). The frequency band of each transponder
is 36 MHz and the satellite weights 3275 kg and it service life in orbit will extend up
to 14 years. The satellite was launched into a geostationary orbit at 46
degrees east longitude and is leased from Malaysia's
Measat Satellite Systems, owned by the government of Malaysia. Eastern Europe, the
Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa will
be included in the service area of Azerspace. The Azerbaijani satellite
Azerspace/Africasat-1 is designed to provide digital broadcasting, Internet access,
data transmission and the creation of VSAT multiservice networks and
governmental communications.
From
http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/
02/27/2013
TOP↑
Number
of E-Signature Holders Nearly Doubled by March
The number of electronic signature holders in Azerbaijan
has almost doubled since the end of January 2013, according to the
Information Computer Center (ICC) of the Communications and Information
Technologies Ministry. The electronic government bulletin issued by the ICC
says that the total number of e-signature certificates issued by the National Certification Services
Center by March 1 was
9,194, which is 4,952 more than the figure reported
in late January. A digital signature (standard electronic signature) turns
traditional paper-based signing into an electronic fingerprint or coded
message, which is unique to both the document and the signer and binds them
together. Digital signatures ensure the authenticity of the signer. According
to the ICC, 5,309 issued certificates account for state-run entities, while
220 units account for legal entities and 3,665 were granted to citizens. The
certification center reported that the number of active users of the
e-government portal ehdis.az reached 4,277. The number of unique visitors of
the portal as of February comprised 22,729 units. 183 e-services are
available at the portal. The total number of e-services at the websites of
the Azerbaijani government agencies is 347. The e-government portal is a key
tool that supports the work with citizens and agencies of both the public and
private sectors of the Azerbaijani economy. 13,025 people used electronic
services of state institutions in February compared to 12,438 in January. The certification
center also said it has finished work on ensuring the possibility of using
e-services via mobile devices like smartphones and tablet PCs. The ICC has
been granting mobile authentication certificates since February 2013.
Issuance of e-signature certificates for mobile devices started on March 1.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 03/10/2013
TOP↑
Romanian
Company Intends to Cooperate with Azerbaijan in ICT
Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of
Azerbaijan Ali Abbasov met on Thursday with a delegation of one of the
leading companies in the field of ICT in Romania - SIVECO headed by
President and CEO Irina Sokol, the press service of the ministry said. The
Minister informed the guests of the work conducted in Azerbaijan in the field of ICT,
as well as opportunities and reforms in the field of information
technologies. He also spoke about local and regional projects, including the
Fibre to Home model which ensures provision of broadband Internet to all
areas. He also made reference to the Trans-Eurasia Information Superhighway
High (TASIM) and EuraCA (Eurasian Connectivity Alliance) and stressed
SIVECO's ability to join these projects in the near future. In response,
Sokol has expressed her satisfaction with the development of the ICT sector
in the country highlighting the launch of Azerbaijan's first
telecommunications satellite into a geostationary orbit. She said SIVECO is
interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan in implementation of
the e-government project. In the framework of cooperation with various
structures including the Ministries of Education, Health and Agriculture of
Azerbaijan, SIVECO is actively involved in the development of education and
introduction of software to increase productivity in the agricultural sector
as well as other projects, Sokol stressed. Sokol said the company could
provide useful suggestions on 'e-education', 'e-health', 'e-business',
'e-agriculture', 'e-customs' and other electronic solutions with ISO
certificates in the future. In turn, the Minister of Communications and
Information Technologies of Azerbaijan has expressed confidence that the
experience of Romania will
have a fruitful impact on reforms in the field of ICT in Azerbaijan.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 03/14/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan May Lift VAT from Non-Cash Payments
Payments made with the use of credit cards in Azerbaijan
may be exempted from value added tax (VAT), the first deputy chairman of the
Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Alim Guliyev told reporters on May 16. The
VAT rate in Azerbaijan
is at 18 per cent. According to him, a package of proposals was prepared on
behalf of the president of the CBA in conjunction with the relevant
ministries and government agencies aimed at increasing the share of non-cash
payments in the country. "This issue is one of the most pressing at the
moment. Based on international best practices, we have prepared a package of
proposals aimed at the development of cashless payments in Azerbaijan. Primarily, these
proposals are aimed at encouraging greater use of non-cash payments. They
provide a variety of tax relief measures for the development of appropriate
infrastructures including communications in the regions. Specifically, it is
expected that e-payments will be exempt from VAT," Guliyev said. In
addition, the proposal also provides for exemptions from customs duties for
certain types of purchases made via the Internet and paid electronically.
According to him, the CBA takes various measures to increase
the share of non-cash payments. "The share of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan
is still low and amounts to 7.6 per cent of total payments. Cash payment is
still the majority type of transaction and is influenced by many factors. Tax
evasion and the shadow economy as a whole are based on cash payments.
"Poor awareness of the population about the benefits of electronic
payments plays its role. "The main objective of
our package of proposals and the second state programme project is to
eliminate these factors and to develop the appropriate infrastructure that
will ultimately increase the share of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan to an international
level, " Guliyev said. He stressed much work
was conducted within the activity on the development of this area. There are
five processing centres and new payment systems are being introduced.
"We have created an opportunity for making various payments in more than
800 branches of the Azerpost national postal operator," he said.
"We have also launched the portal of state payments. Earlier, it was
possible to pay only utility bills. At present individual and legal persons
can pay virtually all types of state payments. We have worked and continue
working with the ministries and other agencies to expand the opportunities of
the portal."
At present, the bill on electronic payments is being worked
out. A working group, completing work on the bill, has been formed. "We
believe that it will be reviewed by the Azerbaijani Parliament during the
autumn session," he added. He stressed that the package contains
proposals for the specification of the regulatory framework, based on
international practice. "This package ensures the administrative
measures for the development and promotion of non-cash payments, as well as
restrictions on the use of cash for payments in certain areas," he said.
"This is widely-spread in international practice. We rely on the CIS
experience, such developed countries as France and the U.S, having the
restrictions on cash transactions between businesses. We envisage similar
restrictions. This package shows some types of calculations which must be
carried out only in non-cash form. "
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/16/2013
TOP↑
KAZAKHSTAN: 2
Million E-Signatures Issued
The two millionth electronic digital signature
(EDS) was issued in Kazakhstan,
the Press Service of the Ministry of Transport and Communications reported on
Friday. "According to experts, this year, the number of people receiving
EDSs will increase substantially due to the appearance of a new personal
identification service at public service centers across the country,"
the report says. The two millionth EDS recipient is a resident of Astana
named Maryam Yerdaliyeva. According to her, she has been familiar with the
'e-government'portal for a long time. Yerdalieva paid fines and did community
service, EDS is not required for these. But when she wanted to get address
information, the portal requested a digital signature. As a result, she
decided to get an EDS.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 05/03/2013
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APEC-Wide
Deal on E-Commerce Tax Avoidance Proposed
A new kind
of international pact to ensure taxes and customs duties are collected on
goods bought online is proposed in new research by Victoria University's
New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
Commissioned by Booksellers New Zealand, which has been battling falling
local sales of books because of the onslaught of imported books which are
ordered online and escape the 15 per cent rate of goods and services tax, the
paper suggests the APEC trade grouping is a logical place to start working
for such an agreement. The paper is attracting political and official
interest because of the growing threat to the tax base caused by the global
growth of online retailing. While it was "conceptually attractive"
to get credit companies and banks to collect taxes and duties on goods
crossing borders, it would be costly and impractical, the ISCR paper says.
"We believe the most promising long-term solution is the establishment
of a multi-lateral agreement through APEC or other international
organisations designed to encourage, rather than force, online firms to
collect and remit sales taxes to the respective nations."
The
proposal got its first public airing at a seminar in Wellington yesterday. "We believe the
establishment of such a system is feasible, given the worldwide nature of the
problem," says ISCR, although it says the World Trade Organisation would
be too large a body to try for such a deal, because of the difficulty of
agreement from a very large number of nations. APEC is a 21-member
association of Pacific Rim economies, including the US, Japan,
China and Australia.
While the institute concedes that leaves Europe and the UK out of the arrangement, it may
be possible to involve the European Union as a bolt-on to such an initiative.
The alternative is to let retailers suffer the inequity, in New Zealand, of overseas, online
suppliers maintaining a 15 per cent price advantage over domestic retailers.
The report cites research showing New Zealanders bought about $3.2 billion
online last year, with growth of 14.3 per cent and an annual total of perhaps
$5.4 billion by 2016. However, it also concedes the proposal would not
capture sales of non-physical products and services online, such e-books,
downloaded music, or software downloads from offshore. That would have to be
a second leg of such a multi-lateral push, ISCR suggests.
However,
it says it's time for governments to act, since "consumers are
increasingly purchasing goods offshore for the primary reason of avoiding
GST." If that loophole were removed, according to research cited by
ISCR, there could be a drop in offshore, online sales of between 45 per cent
and 60 per cent, offset by an estimated sales increase of 27 per cent for
local, online retailers, who would automatically be accounting for GST.
"Not only would government revenue rise, but domestic retailers would be
revitalised, resulting in increased employment and higher company and higher
PAYE tax revenues," the report says. Such a multi-lateral approach would
also see a significant streamlining in border control procedures, freeing up
postal and customs agents from working out whether duty is payable on
imported goods to detecting illegal or unwanted imports. The study suggests
global online retailers would join the scheme because they would benefit from
faster, lower cost deliveries. "The most promising method for attracting
voluntary compliance is fast-tracked processing of goods coming through the border."
However,
there would need to be checks on retailers fraudulently charging customers
for GST and not paying it. "We do not have an easy solution." The
paper is also critical of current customs and GST thresholds, which are
difficult to apply in practice. At present, goods attracting duties and tax
of less than $60 are exempt from paying such taxes. However, because some
goods have duties and others are duty-free, this means the threshold can
range from $226 and $399. "We strongly recommend changing to a minimum
value threshold," ISCR says.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 03/21/2013
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AUSTRALIA: Many Companies Risk Missing the Internet
Wave
Most
Australian companies have left their decision to go digital too late, warns
IBM ANZ’s Managing Director Andrew Stevens. They need to move now, or risk
getting left behind. Stevens was speaking at an ACS Foundation lunch in Sydney, His topic was
‘digital decision points’. He was standing in for advertised speaker, well
know market analyst Phil Ruthven, who suffered a heart attack the day before
the event. “What do I mean by digital business transformation,: asked Stevens. “It is the tectonic shift brought about
by new technologies that affect every business, industry sector and
government. “These trends are going to re-shape your business models. They
might even make those business models obsolete. Digital transformation will
encourage you to collaborate more closely with your customers on every facet
of your business, or even to create new products and services, and find value
in unexpected places.” Stevens said digital transformation will cause
companies to blend all their sales channels into a continuum to provide a
seamless customer experience. Digital transformation will affect your
employees, business partners and all your customers.
“Increasingly,
broadband will be backed by smart systems able to learn for themselves and
analytics, and big data. It’s a utility the likes of which the world has
never seen and it will transform everything you do, make and sell.” Stevens
offered a few proof points. Nearly 6% of Australian retail sales are now
online, according to the NAB Online Retail Sales Index. “That’s about $12.8
billion – a growth rate outstripping bricks-and-mortar shops by nearly eight
to one. And three-quarters of those shopping dollars were spent domestically.
“Mobile commerce is also exploding. In June last year, ACMA estimated that
4.5 million apps were downloaded in that month. In that same quarter, 2
million Australians went online at a Wi-Fi hotspot. Here’s another sobering
thought – Ericsson estimates that worldwide mobile data traffic was 700
Petabytes a month in the first quarter of last year. That’s more than ten
times the figure of the year before. If you took all the written works since
the dawn of recorded history it would be just a little more than 7% of the
data mobile users send in one month. Over the past year, Telstra and Optus
have turned on powerful 4G
LTE mobile networks. We have the NBN coming. That really will add enormous
capacity to our telecommunications system. There are other smaller
innovations coming through, such as the digital wallet.”
“You can
see where this type of technology is headed. You likely have some idea of how
this could be deployed in your own businesses. Already, you don’t need cash
in your wallet. Soon, you won’t even need plastic – everything will all be on
your phone. Most of you will be familiar with the phrase carpe diem, meaning
‘seize the day’. I’d encourage you to do just that. Seize this day because,
whether you know it or not, your business is at a digital decision point.
This is the year to harness new digital ways to do business and to reconnect
with partners and customers. The businesses that do line themselves up
correctly over the next year or so will be positioned to speed out of the
corner as we move towards 2015. Even that timeframe is generous. I don’t want
to overstate the challenge or the speed with which we all have to overcome
it. Although the run up is a bit longer for certain sectors, everyone must
decide now or else, when the blow torch is applied in 2018, it will be too
late.” Stevens said that sectors that will most benefit from transforming
their business models are professional services, healthcare and education.
Transport, administration services, mining or utilities will come later.
“How each
of us reacts in our business will determine Australia’s long-term prosperity
and competitiveness. The problem with any long-term view is the horizon
appears too far away to matter. Day-to-day priorities – simply ‘keeping the
lights on’ – often take precedence. But I hope you can see what a mistake
that would be. Look around your business, and that of your partners. Survey
your customers. How can you improve or innovate? What must you do start a
process of digital transformation in your business? Could you change how you
sell? Can what you sell be digitised? Then start – or continue – the serious
business reinvention and technology work. Perhaps the first step is to shift
key processes to the cloud. Maybe it’s enabling those millions of smart
devices in your employees’ hands to access work resources. There’s data in
your business, but do you know how to capture, store, secure and exploit it
for competitive advantage? This isn’t a question of technology, because
everything you need is already available. It’s a question of leadership, and
the vision and commitment to pull it all together,” said Stevens.
From http://www.itwire.com 03/28/2013
TOP↑
ACCC
Launches Online Education Program for Small Business
The
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has
released a free online education program for small businesses designed to
help SMBs learn about their rights and obligations under Australian
competition and consumer laws. The ACCC’s Deputy Chair, Dr Michael Schaper,
said the program provided small businesses with a “simple, interactive
learning resource,” giving a broad overview of the Australian Consumer Law
and Competition and Consumer Act (2010), and covering common questions such
as what businesses can say in their advertising, what to do if they realise
they are selling an unsafe product and when they must provide a customer with
a repair, replacement or refund. “Small businesses have a range of legal
protections when dealing with their suppliers and other businesses. They also
have a number of obligations when dealing with their customers. The ACCC is
committed to helping businesses understand their rights and responsibilities.
We recognise that small business operators are busy running their businesses
and need simple, clear information which can be accessed at their own pace.”
Dr Schaper
said the online program consisted of 10 modules on specific topics, each of
which should take about 15-20 minutes to complete. Users can work through the
entire set of modules or select only those topics most relevant to their
business operations and, at the end of most modules,
they can do a short self-assessment quiz to test their understanding of the
topic. “I strongly encourage small businesses to take advantage of this free
online education program. Small businesses represent 96 per cent of all
businesses in Australia
so it is vital they understand their rights and obligations under competition
and consumer law,” Dr Schaper concluded.
From http://www.itwire.com 04/10/2013
TOP↑
Australian
State Launches Website for Indigenous Businesses
The
Queensland State Government in Australia launched Black Business
Finder, a website designed to boost indigenous businesses and give them
access to greater growth opportunities. The website hosts an online database
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses established in Queensland. The
database is linked to ICN Gateway, a comprehensive national listing of AU$247
billion (US$260.3 billion) worth of major projects, giving indigenous
businesses the chance to get involved. Indigenous businesses can register on
the website by providing information about their business. Companies may then
register expressions of interest in opportunities listed on ICT Gateway. The
database is also an effective tool for major project owners in mining,
construction, agriculture, and tourism to source goods and services from
local indigenous businesses.
“This free
website will give indigenous businesses more opportunities to connect with
industry to take part in Queensland’s
expanding four-pillar economy,” said John-Paul Langbroek, Minister for
Education, Training and Employment. “By promoting and strengthening
indigenous business, we are creating opportunities to reduce indigenous
unemployment. The government provided more than AU$200,000 (US$210,840) for
the development of the website. Businesses that have 50 per cent indigenous
ownership, or those that hire at least 75 per cent indigenous workers, will
be eligible to register on the Black Business Finder. 131 businesses have
already registered.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 04/11/2013
TOP↑
Australia's Data and Messaging Revenues Exceeds Voice
for the First Time
The value
of mobile data and messaging revenues has exceeded voice call revenues for
the first time in Australia,
according to new research from the analyst firm, Telsyte. Mobile data
activity and messaging has been growing for the last few years and has
finally exceeded voice revenues as consumers shift from using their mobile
primarily for telephony to mainly data. Ultimately voice will be used as any
other application. "The phenomenal growth of smartphones, apps and
personal messaging has finally put data and messaging ahead of call revenues
for carriers," Telsyte mobile services analyst, Alvin Lee says.
"Ultimately carriers will move to an all IP network with voice becoming
another data application," Lee says. The arrival of Voice over LTE
(VoLTE) will accelerate this trend and ultimately all voice revenues could be
included as data. "Current LTE devices don't support VoLTE, but as they
start to, mobile data might become the single unit of value" Lee says.
Telsyte expects Facebook to become more influential in the mobile industry as
people utilise Facebook Home and Facebook features such as presence and a
unified experience to enhance their communications. Telsyte estimates there
was 30.6 million services in operation at the end of December 2012, or around
133 per cent population penetration. A little over 6 per cent of these were 4G connections.
From http://www.cellular-news.com 04/23/2013
TOP↑
Federal Budget
Positive for ICT Industry
There were
a number of ICT related items in last night’s Federal Budget. The NBN was
untouched, and Stephen Conroy’s Internet filter is no more. It has become a
ritual every year for every industry sector to examine how the Federal budget
affects its constituents. The ICT industry is invariably disappointed –
successive governments have no so much ignored it as been unaware of its
existence. Last night’s effort was not in this category. There were a number of
significant mentions of ICT. These include:
# The NBN
is untouched. Through some financial tricks the Government has managed to
fund the NBN largely outside of the normal budgetary process, but given the
unlikelihood of its retaining power in September, this is essentially
meaningless. The budget papers contained a few pages on the NBN, but they
were rehashes of existing policy, with no new spending,
# A
crackdown on multinational ‘profit shifting’, which allows companies like
Google to pay virtually no tax in Australia by billing the local subsidiary
for ‘services’ from related entities in low tax countries like Ireland.
Google pays tax of $6 million in Australia on revenues of over $2
billion and God knows how much profit.
# An
investment of $350 million in an ‘Innovation Investment Fund’ to help
stimulate investment in start-up companies. This, like much else in the
budget, had been previously announced.
# The
official dropping of Stephen Conroy’s much criticised Internet filtering
program (the ‘Çyber Safety Enhancement Program’). This poorly conceived
policy had been sidelined in any case – the announced savings of $4.5 million
are just the nail in the coffin.
# $19
million for increased telepresence (videoconferencing) in government
departments.
# A $12.9
million allocation for digital training for small business, local councils
and not-for-profits.
# $5.7
million over two years to support local government improve online service
delivery.
# $9.9
million over four years to assist senior Australians to participate and
contribute online
# A new
$16 million data centre for AUSTRAC (Australian Transaction Reports and
Analysis Centre).
# $14
million for a new ICT system for the ARC (Australian Research Council).
The budget
partly follows, most probably unwittingly, the recommendations of the
Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), which two weeks ago
launched its SmartICT: Prosperity for all Australians election platform. At
the launch AIIA CEO Suzanne Campbell said the Government should address six
key areas if it is to accelerate the value of Australia’s digital economy –
currently valued at some $100 billion – and ensure sustained national
prosperity.
# Driving
take up and use of our national broadband infrastructure, with a particular
focus on Government use of SmartICT.
#
Stimulating growth and innovation by ICT start-ups and small businesses.
#
Motivating small and medium sized enterprises to improve their productivity
by ‘getting’ online and digitally capable.
#
Addressing the ICT skills shortage.
# Growing
our ICT capability through improved research and development (R&D)
capability and capacity, and forging better links between research and
industry.
#
Acknowledging the value of the digital economy by tracking and measuring its
performance.
This
budget has more specific mentions of ICT related items than we have seen in
such a document. Given the importance the Government has attached to the NBN,
it would seem that – finally – the Government of the day understands ICT. It
would be tempting to say that we might have to start all over again in
September. But with Malcolm Turnbull likely to be in charge of communications
portfolio, and having considerable influence elsewhere, that will not be the
case. ICT is so pervasive in modern life that governments can no longer
ignore it, as they once did.
From http://www.itwire.com 05/15/2013
TOP↑
NEW ZEALAND: Telecom Unveils Ultrafast Broadband for
Consumers
Telecom, New Zealand's biggest
internet retailer, has entered the consumer fibre
market and says customers will be able to sign up to its ultra-fast broadband
plans from tomorrow. The company said its UFB services will initially be
available to only customers in areas where Chorus is rolling out its portion
of the country's fibre internet network, which will cover 75 per cent of New Zealand
by 2020. Chorus won the lion's share of the Government's ultra-fast broadband
contracts in 2011 and is responsible for building the network in Auckland, Rotorua, Nelson, Wellington
and a large chunk of the South Island.
Telecom said it is still running trials with the UFB network builders in
areas outside Chorus' footprint (Ultrafast Fibre in the Central
North Island,
Northpower in Whangarei and Enable Networks in Christchurch). The company, which has
around half of the country's broadband customers, is the first of the big
internet retailers to offer services on the UFB network.
When asked
this morning when it would offer UFB consumer plans, Vodafone - which merged
with TelstraClear last year - could give no update on timing. A spokesperson
said it had been running trials since March last year. Telecom's
entry-level plan costs $95 a
month and offers download speeds of up to 30 megabits per second and upload
speeds of up to 10 megabits per second. The data cap in this plan is 50
gigabytes a month, although Telecom does offer more data in some of its more
expensive plans. Telecom's premium plan for $125 a month offers speeds of 100Mb/s down, 50 Mb/s
up and a data cap of 50 GB. The company said it would not initially be
imposing these data caps on new customers. Landline phone rental services, a
modem and installation, are included in these plan,
which must be signed up to in a 12 month contract. Telecom also announced a
small-business plan and a plan for schools. Orcon and Slingshot entered the
market in March and September last year. Orcon offers customers an entry
level plan of $75 a month
for download speeds of 30Mb/s, upload speeds of 10Mb/s and a data cap of 30
GB. Its pricier plan of $110 a
month comes with speeds of 100Mb/s down and 50 Mb/s up with a data cap of 30
GB.
Slingshot
has plans at a similar price point, with a 30Mb/s down and 10Mb/s up service
for $72 and more data and higher speeds in its more expensive offerings.
While these companies have been in the market for months, only 2.8 per cent
of those able to hook up to ultra-fast broadband had connected at the end of
last year. A statement from Communications and Information Technology
Minister Amy Adams last month said that as at 31 December, more than 134,000
households and businesses can connect to the new fibre network. Between
October 1 and the end of last year, 33,000 "end users" had fibre
rolled out to them, the statement said. But of the 134,000 users which can
access this faster internet infrastructure, only 3806 or 2.8 per cent had
been connected. Over 1300 of these had connected between the start of October
and end of December. Although these figures may appear low, Adams'
statement said they were in line with "government expectations and
overseas experiences at this early state of development".
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 03/27/2013
TOP↑
Small Businesses
Still Sluggish Online
Small and
medium-sized enterprises make up the majority of New Zealand's businesses but half
of them still do not have a website, according to a new survey. An online
questionnaire sent to 1008 businesses at the start of this year showed many
were failing to harness the power of digital marketing. Yellow's SME Digital
Readiness Survey found 50 per cent of Kiwi SMEs did not have a website and
nearly 20 per cent were not using any online tools at all. The survey,
conducted by Colmar Brunton, measured how SMEs use digital marketing tools
such as social media, websites and mobile applications. Yellow's marketing
director Evan Lawrey said the low uptake of websites and use of online
marketing was a major concern, especially when compared to the latest
research into consumer behaviour. "Each month 57 per cent of Kiwis use
the web to search for businesses, products and services and of those 17 per
cent use the internet exclusively. If half of all small to medium businesses
aren't online, they're missing a huge opportunity."
According
to Statistics New Zealand, SMEs of up to 20 employees account for 97.2 per
cent (455,907) of all enterprises in the country. They employ 30.2 per cent
(581,540) percent of all employees and generate about 27.8 per cent of New Zealand's
Gross Domestic Product. A similar survey carried out by MYOB late last year
showed just 35 per cent of SME owners had their own website and only 18 per
cent considered themselves to be early adopters of new technology. Lawrey
said many regional businesses appeared to be leading the way versus their big
city counterparts. "Surprisingly, we've found it can be SMEs in the main
cities that lag behind," he said. "For example just 40 per cent of Auckland businesses are
using social media tools such as Facebook, versus 65 per cent in
Southland." A national average of 81 per cent of
businesses were using at least one online tool. Otago and Tasman beat
that with 92 per cent and 93 per cent respectively, while Northland fared the
worst with just 71 per cent. Entrepreneur Tenby Powell said business owners
were well aware they needed a digital presence but were often "time
poor" and not sure where to start.
"But,
to succeed in the current climate, it is vital business owners keep abreast
of digital channels," he said. Powell will be speaking at various free
events being hosted by Yellow in May and June, aimed at helping SMEs become
more efficient. The survey also showed that of those businesses with a
website, 28 per cent planned to invest in mobile channels, either ensuring
their site was mobile optimised, building an app, or using text messages to
communicate with customers. Of those same businesses, 38 per cent planned to
start using search engine marketing, 32 per cent planned to start using
search engine optimisation, and 31 per cent intended to invest in video.
"These businesses are realising that it's important to keep adding
layers to their web offering, be it mobile or search marketing," Lawrey
said.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 05/08/2013
TOP↑
New Zealand Starts Consultation on 4G Spectrum Auction
New Zealand's ICT
Minister, Amy Adams has released a consultation document for the upcoming
700MHz radio spectrum auction. The consultation will cover government
decisions to date, including the technical band plan, acquisition limits, and
an implementation requirement. The consultation will also focus on the
auction rules, management rights and how best to achieve the Government's
objective of increasing cellphone coverage in rural areas. The mobile
networks are also being consulted on a potential scheme that would spread
payment for the spectrum over time, rather than having a one-off, lump-sum
payment as has been the practice in the past. The auction reserve price will
be announced closer to the auction. The price does not form part of the
current consultation. The possibilities offered by the reallocation of the
700 MHz band of the radio spectrum are enormous, Ms Adams says. "By
using this spectrum, it will ensure New Zealand remains competitive
on the world stage and continues to improve its productivity, prosperity and
economic growth." Indications are that by using spectrum for 4G mobile networks, economic benefits of up
to $2.4 billion can be expected over the next 20 years.
From http://www.cellular-news.com 05/15/2013
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Country-Specific
Climate Vulnerability Data Now Online
Data from a climate vulnerability monitor for 184 nations are
now available via an interactive online portal, making them more accessible
to researchers, academics and policymakers worldwide. The data are based on
the Climate Vulnerability Monitor report, first released at the UN climate
conference (COP 16) in Cancun,
Mexico, in
2010, and updated in September 2012. The revised data are now available
through a searchable Online Data Portal — launched last month (14 February) —
which aims to serve as a reference for less developed countries to help them
devise strategies for climate change adaptation. The monitor is co-published
by DARA, a non-profit research organisation based in Spain, and its
Climate Vulnerable Forum, a network of countries that are heavily affected by
climate change. "The revised monitor has a new section of analysis
labelled 'carbon', focusing on the socio-economic ramifications of pursuing
carbon-intensive and climate unsafe activities," Matthew McKinnon,
editor of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor, tells SciDev.Net. It draws on
peer-reviewed scientific literature and datasets released by the UN, World
Bank and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
But it adds value to the existing reports by extracting
climate change data individually for 184 countries from published reports,
such as IPCC assessment reports, its designers say. "Our reports have a
specific challenge and focus — to assess the impact of the climate change
challenge in socio-economic terms with estimates of impact and vulnerability
for 184 countries for 2010 and 2030," says McKinnon. "The IPCC has
a much broader focus that goes further into the future." Country-wise
analyses for economic costs and mortality resulting from climate change in
2010 and 2030 are available on the data portal. "The data portal will
now provide the public, and all interested parties, with direct access to the
full set of statistical information that was published in the Monitor last
September," McKinnon explains. "The portal allows download, sorting
and interactive screen views of the entire Monitor's data, including world
maps and also two-page country profiles." Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow
in the climate change group at the International Institute for Environment
and Development, and a member of the monitor's advisory panel, tells
SciDev.Net: "We hope that with the online version, more people will
access and use the Monitor at a national level. So far, it's been primarily
used to inform policy and debate at the global level."
From
http://www.scidev.net/ 03/08/2013
TOP↑
Study: Mobile
Users & Older Generations Are Driving Social Media Growth Around the
World
A new GlobalWebIndex study analyzing
international social media behavior revealed that mobile use and older
Internet users are driving growth for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest
and LinkedIn. To conduct the Social Stream Q1 2013 study, GlobalWebIndex
surveyed 31,779 consumers in 31 different countries, examining global social
media behaviors during the first quarter of this year. According to the
findings, Android and iOS users were more likely to be on social networks
than average Internet users. In Japan, iOS users were 133 percent
more likely to use Google+ than average Internet users. The trend continued
in Germany with iOS users
125 percent more likely to be on Google+, and 73
percent more likely in Italy.
Russian iOS users were 51 percent more likely to participate on Facebook;
Android users in Russia
were 34 percent more likely to be on Facebook. Twitter saw 211 percent more
engagement from iOS users in Poland.
The upward swing also happened in France where iOS users were 116
percent more likely to be on Twitter.
While mobile use was a key driver of growth for each of the
social media platforms, more engagement by Internet users age 45 years and
older also impacted international social media growth. Facebook saw a 46
percent increase in users age 45 to 54 years, while
Twitter grew nearly 80 percent with users age 55 to 64.
On the whole, Facebook is the leading social media network
across the world, with 63 percent of global Internet users possessing a
Facebook account. Not only does Facebook lead in penetration of Internet
users, it also has the highest rate of engagement at 82 percent, with 51
percent of account holders performing a specific activity on the site within
the last month. Facebook statistics from the GlobalWebIndex study do not
match up with a recent Guardian
article claiming Facebook’s global usage has peaked and appears to
be in decline with the loss of millions of global users. But the source of
that data, SocialBakers, said
that the Guardian interpreted it incorrectly, repeating an earlier
misinterpretation. At 359 million active users around the world, Google+ is
the second largest social media network. Twitter is the fastest growing
social media site globally, with a 42 percent increase in active users
globally between Q2 2012 and Q1 2013. Other findings from the study show Russia’s social network vKontake is the second fastest growing
platform in the country, while most local platforms outside Russia and China continue to decline. Local
social platforms on the rise in China include Sina Weibo, Tencent
Weibo and Qzone.
From
http://marketingland.com/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
EUROPE:
Bulgaria’s
E-Government Minister to Launch E-Recycling Campaign
Bulgaria’s
E-Government Minister Roman Vassilev will open an e-recycling campaign in
capital city Sofia
on April 27. Throughout the day, electronic waste will be accepted for
recycling at Alexander Nevsky Sq. This is the first in what would, hopefully,
become a monthly event, Vassilev said in a letter to the American Chamber of
Commerce (AmCham) Bulgaria,
published by chamber. “E-waste, electric and electronic devices that are no
longer functional, is a relatively small part of the amount of refuse
generated. It is a fact, however, that e-waste contains components that are
especially noxious and toxic to the environment and human health,” he said.
“Our goal is to show people that it is important to collect and re-use old
electronic and electric equipment. On one hand, this will make us more
responsible citizens, and on the other hand, the money raised will be used
for a good cause.” All proceeds from the initiative will be donated to the
ucha.se website, which promotes online teaching using interactive lessons.
The recycling point will be set up and operated by local firm Ecologica,
between 9am and 4.30pm on April 27 on Alexander Nevsky Sq, near the building
of the Holy Synod. The company will also oversee the transportation of the
electronic waste and its recycling. The recycling point will accept almost
any kind of electronic device – from PCs to fax machines, mobile phones and
DVD players, TV sets and washing machines. For more information, visit
ecologica.bg or the campaign’s Facebook page (in Bulgarian).
From
http://sofiaglobe.com/ 04/25/2013
TOP↑
UK: 4G
Mobile Broadband Coverage Extends to 50pc
EE, the first mobile phone company to provide faster 4G mobile broadband, has announced that the
service – launched five months ago – will now reach Bradford, Bingley,
Doncaster, Dudley, Harpenden, Leicester, Lichfield, Loughborough, Luton,
Reading, Shipley, St Albans and West Bromwich in addition to the 37 towns and
cities already covered. The company, formerly known as Everything Everywhere,
has been focusing its efforts on rolling out what 4G services it can before rivals gain access to
spectrum bought in the recent auction and launch products in the summer. EE
is using its existing 1800Mhz spectrum, repurposed for 4G, rather than using any spectrum bought
under the new spectrum auction. It charges from £15.99 per month. “With these
major milestones of 50 towns and cities and 50 per cent of the population,
we’re remaining ahead of our schedule to equip UK consumers and businesses with 4G," chief executive Olaf Swantree
said. “Our customers are at the heart of our rollout and we are working hard
to deliver 4G to 70
per cent of the UK
population by the end of this year, and 98 per cent of the population by the
end of 2014.”
Last week EE announced that 4G was being rolled out to one of the most rural areas
of Britain is to be covered by 4G
mobile broadband, it has been announced. The company said that it would make 4G available across much of the Northern
Fells, delivering speeds of up to 12Mbps over 100 square miles in area that
claims the UK’s highest concentration of home workers. More than 2,000
residents will get high-speed broadband for the first time, with headline
speeds claiming up to 20 Mbps. The service will cover 84 per cent of the
population across the Northern Fells by the summer. BT has already conducted
trials in rural Cornwall,
funded in part by European money, to experiment with the best ways of
deploying wireless and fixed broadband in very remote countryside. EE, which
has been trialling the Cumbrian service since May, said it will evaluate
usage and behaviour and could develop other plans specific to rural
customers.
From
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ 04/01/2013
TOP↑
NORTH
AMERICA: Largest U.S.
Municipal Utility Deploys Advanced Smart Grid Network
This week, CPS Energy -- the largest municipal utility in the U.S.
-- officially announced a new partnership to help deploy a smart grid
network. The San Antonio, Texas-based utility, which serves more than 740,000
electric and gas customers in the San
Antonio metropolitan area, partnered with Silver
Spring Networks to deploy features such as advanced metering and distribution
automation. The smart grid network operates on Silver
Spring’s open IPv6-based networking platform, which the company
says enables utilities and infrastructure operators to deploy advanced smart
grid features. “Because we’re all using that standardized [IPv6] platform, we
can work with other types of technologies to incorporate them as new
technologies become available,” said Lisa Lewis, a spokeswoman for CPS
Energy. “This is such a rapidly changing and growing field that as new things
become available, as long as they’re formatted and fit this platform, we
should be able to plug them in.”
CPS Energy would like to develop long-term strategies for
making its smart grid more efficient, Lewis said. Thanks to the new
partnership, the utility is now investing in plants and resources that have
low- or no-air emissions to address concerns over air quality in the San Antonio area, as
well as other infrastructure improvements to create efficiencies. Lewis said
CPS Energy will now be able to add a spectrum of new devices to the network,
like smart meters, smart switches and other technologies that make the grid
function more efficiently, thanks to Silver Spring's optimization of the
electric grid in San Antonio
combined with the company’s mesh network. On the West Coast, the Sacramento, Calif.,
Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has partnered with Silver
Spring since 2009 and has worked on a number of utility
improvements with the company, said Don Jacobs, SMUD’s PMO manager and
technology coordinator. SMUD plans to work with Silver Spring to go beyond
traditional smart grid infrastructure -- a pilot program to extend the Silver
Spring infrastructure to host vehicle charging stations is currently being
rolled out.
Approximately 60 electric vehicle customers will take part in
the pilot, Jacobs said. Previously, Silver Spring
hosted SMUD’s mesh network, and it helps the utility with two-way wireless
communications to all of the smart meters in its service territory. Through
the communication, SMUD reads customers’ smart meters and completes billing
remotely, which reduces the need for field forces and ultimately lowers
overall costs for the utility. As a result, SMUD is able to lower rates
charged to customers, Jacobs said. The infrastructure also allows SMUD to
offer a Web portal and other tools that customers can access and monitor
real-time information on their electricity usage and its cost of their usage.
“It also provides the ability for the utility to offer new rates to customers
in exchange for the utility’s ability to control or curtail customer’s usage
during limited number of critical peak periods during the summer months,”
Jacobs said. “The rest of the year, the customer benefits with lower rates in
exchange for those few occasions when we may need to curtail it.”
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 03/28/2013
TOP↑
Federal
CIO Calls for Government-Wide 'IT as a Service'
U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel, along with acting Office of
Management and Budget Director Jeffrey Zients, this week announced the launch
of PortfolioStat 2.0, an updated version of the Obama administration's
government-wide directive for CIOs to take a hard look at their IT operations
with the goal of cutting costs and eliminating duplicative or ineffectual
programs and systems. The latest effort has been expanded to include the
Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, seeking to build on the
progress of the initial PortfolioStat launch last March, which officials say
is on track to produce around $300 million in IT savings agencies are
expected to report by the end of the month. "A key lesson learned is
that agencies should evolve their IT portfolios to deliver IT 'as a
service,'" VanRoekel writes in a blog post.
"Unlike traditional capital models where assets are
purchased for individual projects, the service delivery model entails
agencies deploying their IT like a business, optimizing it for consumption
agency-wide. For example, with cloud computing solutions, agencies have a
scalable and transparent way to provision IT services, giving agencies a
viable enterprise alternative to often stove-piped, capital IT
investments," VanRoekel writes. In total, the agencies and departments
working under the PortfolioStat program have identified $2.5 billion in IT savings
that can be achieved by fiscal 2015. Driving those cost savings is a shift
away from "stovepiped, capital IT investments" in favor of a
cloud-based model. Through the multi-year data-center consolidation program,
agency CIOs are encouraged to move toward on-demand provisioning of computing
power and services that would achieve greater flexibility in scaling up (or
down) their IT operations.
The government is currently working under a goal of closing 40
percent of its data centers by fiscal 2015. VanRoekel and Zients tout the
results of the initial implementation of the PortfolioStat program, saying
that agencies have pledged to consolidate or eliminate nearly 100
"commodity IT investments," including duplicative contracts for
desktop and mobile devices and multiple email systems within a department or
agency. "PortfolioStat will be an ongoing effort, growing each year to
incorporate lessons learned and changes in technology," VanRoekel says.
"The upgraded process streamlines agency data collection and improves
analytics, consolidates the agency's strategic IT direction and management
improvements into one central plan, and holds agencies accountable for the
goals set through last year's process."
A main thrust of the revamped program seeks to enhance the role
of agency CIOs by granting them authority over IT governance, security and
program-management oversight. Too often, VanRoekel and Zients say, agencies
"are managing IT in a decentralized manner, missing opportunities to
leverage enterprise scale and leading to inefficiencies and duplication in
the allocation of IT resources." In that light, the administration has
identified empowering CIOs as a best practice, calling for a more centralized
authority within a department or agency that would work under a holistic view
of the organization's various IT deployments. Similarly, VanRoekel and Zients
call for the implementation of investment review boards comprised of C-level
officers to evaluate IT programs in the context of the agency's enterprise
architecture and spot waste and duplication.
Congress Addresses Inefficiencies in Federal IT
Members of Congress have also been working to address
inefficiencies in the federal IT operation. Earlier this month, the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bipartisan bill that
aims to curb waste in government technology. The Federal Information
Technology Acquisition Reform Act ( FITARA) would
expand the role of federal CIOs, making those at the 16 major civilian
agencies presidential appointees and codifying a direct reporting
relationship with the agency head. Several leading trade groups representing
the technology sector, including TechAmerica and the Software and Information
Industry Association, praised the provisions in the bill empowering agency
CIOs, but at the same time have warned against other sections they say could
create new challenges for tech companies seeking to contract with the federal
government.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/29/2013
TOP↑
National
Digital Public Library Launches
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) today launched a
beta of its discovery portal and open platform. Two years in the making, the
DLPA will make available to the public 2.4 million records at its launch,
including electronic images, video and audio from America's libraries, archives and
museums. It also makes many scientific records available. "You will find
gems that include daguerreotypes of ... former [President] Abraham Lincoln,
images of women marching for the vote in Kentucky, news film clips of the
Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights movement, The Book of Hours, an
illuminated manuscript from 1514, Notes on the State of Virginia, written by
Thomas Jefferson, and paintings by Winslow Homer," Emily Gore, DPLA
Director for Content said in a statement. The portal contains materials found
in American archives, libraries, museums and cultural heritage institutions.
The portal provides various ways to search and scan through its collection of
distributed resources. Special features include a dynamic map, a timeline
that allow users to visually browse by year or decade, and an app library
that provides access to applications and tools created by external developers
using DPLA's open data.
"The wonder and joy of entering an expansive library for
the first time is truly a special feeling. We are delighted to be able to
share this unified, open collection with Americans and the world, and can't
wait to see what people discover, and what new applications and knowledge
will be created," Dan Cohen, executive director of the DPLA, said in a
statement. The effort to build the digital library was led by the Library of
Congress, the HathiTrust Digital Library and the The Internet Archive, which
provided books, images, historic records, and audiovisual materials. While
many universities, public libraries, and other public and private
organizations have digitized materials, they are often digital collections
that exist in silos. In December 2010, the Berkman Center for Internet &
Society at Harvard
University, along with
the the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, hosted a conference of leading experts in
libraries, technology, law and education to begin work on the digital library
project. In October 2011, the Berkman
Center hosted hundreds
of public and research librarians, technical innovators, digital humanists,
and other volunteers who formed six work teams to map out the scope, design,
and construct the DPLA.
The DPLA portal is powered by a rich repository of information,
known as the DPLA platform, and uses an open API that can be used by software
developers, researchers and others to create novel environments for learning,
tools for discovery and engaging apps. "The DPLA's goal is to bring the
entire nation's rich cultural collections off the shelves and into the
innovative environment of the Internet for people to discover, download,
remix, reuse and build on in ways we haven't yet begun to imagine,"
Maura Marx, director of the DPLA Secretariat, said in a statement. "Regular
users can search in the traditional way using the portal, and developers and
innovators can build on big chunks of code and content using the platform --
we're creating access, not controlling it." From the Digital Public
Librarys exhibition page: A view of unidentified men protesting segregated
facilities outside of Rich's store in downtown Atlanta, Ga., in December
1960.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 04/18/2013
TOP↑
Social
Network for Emergencies to Launch in San
Francisco
Disasters are scary — there’s no question about it. But as
much as they cause fear, they also bring people together, connecting
communities in ways that few other incidents can. Focusing on those connections,
rather than the catastrophe, is the theory behind the San Francisco
Department of Emergency Management’s (SFDEM) new project SF72.org, created to
enhance the city’s disaster preparedness. The site, set to launch this fall,
aims to connect citizens willing to offer resources and services — from food,
water and an extra generator to mechanical services and a place to stay — 72
hours after a disaster occurs. “We wanted to create a message of preparedness
that focused on creating communities that made people the star of the show
rather than the catastrophe,” said Francis Zamora, public information officer
for SFDEM.
The site will feature four categories: a place for people to
connect and share resources and services; instructions on how to prepare for
a disaster, including videos on putting together a kit and making potable
water, plus testimonials from those who have survived disasters; a “make”
section for users to invent their own ways to help; and an emergency mode,
which will switch on when disaster strikes and share live information with
the public, plus check for missing persons. Created in collaboration with
design firm IDEO, the goal is to make the site approachable and uncomplicated
to help people shift from thinking that they should be doing more to prepare
to actually taking action. “We want to get people into the sharing mode ahead
of time,” Zamora
said.
SFDEM research shows that communities with natural social
networks are more resilient than others, as citizen-to-citizen resource
sharing proved necessary during hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Encouraging
communities to connect through a social network is part of the department’s
larger plan to enhance San Francisco’s
preparedness, said Zamora.
For those who aren’t connected online, the department is planning to have
leaders from churches and other city organizations log-on to the site and
relay the updated information to their social networks in person. SFDEM is
also looking into having people sign-in through Facebook or Google, limiting
the amount of log-on information needed. SF72.org will be completely open
source, so any city around the country could potentially make the concept its
own. There’s been regional interest and New York
has already contacted the department to learn more about it, Zamora said.
The department recently completed a beta test for an app that
allowed people to connect with others in the same neighborhood for sharing
resources. But nothing is set in stone. “We want it to be device and mobile
friendly, but there may not be an app; it might just be a website,” Zamora said. SF72 could
evolve after the launch, he said, if, for example, a coder has a people
finder that works really well. Zamora
said the department is also exploring trusted networks for sharing resources
to address privacy concerns about publicly announcing that someone owns a
generator. The first phase of work, which was grant funded and included
research, design of mock ups and brand and focus groups, cost $399,000. The
second phase, which will begin this month, cost $850,000 to complete the
website, along with a ShareSF app prototype, according to Zamora. The department is currently looking
for partnerships with foundations and the private sector to complete the rest
of the project.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 05/08/2013
TOP↑
How
Twitter Is Changing the Geography of Communication
Since academics first began studying communication, they’ve
been trying to figure out who we talk to and how those networks change with
the invention of new mediums of interaction. Who you could talk to, and even
what you might talk about, obviously differed between the eras of the covered
wagon and the cell phone. And now we have an instantaneous, global and
(mostly) free platform for talking to virtually anyone: the Internet. So how
has it altered the real-world geography of communication? Some previous
efforts to address this question have come out of the workplace (researchers
can’t query Google for all of our gmail data, but large international
companies can do this with their own employees). There’s only so much to be
learned, however, from the email correspondence between a company man in L.A. and his coworker in China. "The holy grail has
been to look at people in real life, to look at people outside the workplace,
to see when people are on their own, communicating as part of their general
course of life, how has the electronic revolution changed that?" says
Kalev Leetaru, a University Fellow at the University of Illinois Graduate
School of Library and Information Science. "That has been a difficult
thing to look at because there hasn’t been much data." Now, however,
there is more data than most computers can process coming from public social networking
platforms like Twitter. We wrote in late 2011 about some early research
suggesting that many Twitter users in fact follow other people located within
their same city, evidence, Richard Florida wrote, that the Internet is
reinforcing the value of place instead of eliminating it. But now that
Twitter is a few years older – and considerably more global – Leetaru and
several colleagues have conducted a massive new analysis of the site that
suggests the opposite: "In effect," Leetrau says, "location plays
a much lesser role now in terms of who we talk to, what we talk about, and
where we get our information."
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 05/16/2013
TOP↑
|
|
|
|
|
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CHINA: Over 100m Use China's Own 3G System
The number of users on China's own 3G mobile network surged 84.1 percent year on year
to surpass 100 million for the first time at the end of February, the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Monday. At the end of
last month, 104.2 million mobile phone users used the home-developed
TD-SCDMA. They accounted for 40 percent of the national 3G user base, according to the ministry,
which is the IT industry regulator.The ministry added that it's inevitable
for the 3G user
base to increase while the number of 2G users declined.At the end of February, there were
1.13 billion mobile phone users in China, a rise of 19.88 million from the
end of last year. The 3G
penetration rate rose to 23 percent from 20.9
percent over the same period.But the TD-SCDMA 3G technology is relatively less commercially mature
compared with two other global systems. China Mobile, which adopts the
TD-SCDMA, aims to upgrade its network to the faster 4G network and is now building 4G networks in 20 cities across the
country.
From
http://china.org.cn/
03/14/2013
TOP↑
China Seeks Greater Cybercooperation
China is open
to cooperating with other countries to maintain international cybersecurity,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday. Hong made his remarks
after the Republic of Korea claimed it traced the cyberattacks on its
broadcasters and banks on Wednesday to an IP address in China. ROK officials are
investigating whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
was behind the attacks. However, there is no technical proof to back up the
claim or DPRK involvement, analysts said. "We have pointed out many
times that hacking attacks are a global issue," Hong said at a daily
news briefing. "It is in everyone's interests to maintain
cybersecurity." Hong said China will work with other
countries to build a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace,
establish relevant rules and conduct constructive cooperation with other
countries on the basis of respect and trust. Cyberattacks are "anonymous
and transnational", he said. "By using other countries' IP
addresses, hackers attack some countries' networks, and this is a common
practice." The ROK's Korea Communications Commission claimed earlier
that the attacks had used a Chinese IP address to access the targeted
computer networks and use software to crash their systems, AFP reported.
"The Chinese IP may trigger various assumptions," said Park
Jae-moon, KCC's director of network policy. "At this stage, we're still doing
our best to trace the origin of the attacks, keeping all kinds of
possibilities open," Park said. Wednesday's attacks shut down the
networks of main ROK TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN, and suspended
financial services and crippled operations at three banks — Shinhan, NongHyup
and Jeju. Most of these networks were back and running on Thursday, but a
large number of individual PCs were still not operational.
According to the Yonhap News Agency, ROK authorities are
looking for any clues that show the DPRK was the initiator of the attacks, as
it has repeatedly threatened to launch various attacks on Seoul
because of new sanctions against the DPRK for its recent nuclear test, and
the ROK's annual joint military drills with the United States. Observers said the
case shows the deep suspicions between the ROK and the DPRK, warning that it
is better for Seoul not to blame Pyongyang before there
is conclusive evidence. The ROK's suspicions are groundless, but it shows
misunderstandings between Seoul and Pyongyang are expanding to all areas, said Zhang
Liangui, a researcher on Korean studies at the Party School
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. "The DPRK
attaches great importance to cybertechnology and has trained many
technicians, so it is possible that Pyongyang
can initiate such attacks," Zhang said. "But the ROK still lacks
enough evidence to clarify the origin of the attacks. It shows the tension
lingering on the Korean
Peninsula." Jiang
Qiping, an expert on cybersecurity with the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, told Chinese media that from a technical perspective, one
cannot be sure that the DPRK launched the attacks. The ROK media has
political motivations to blame the DPRK for the attacks, Jiang added. On
Thursday, an ROK military source said that Seoul will increase its cyberwarfare forces
to more than 1,000 to enhance preparation for an unprovoked attack, as this
week's massive hacking highlighted the potential danger of cyberterror from
the DPRK, Yonhap reported.
From
http://china.org.cn/
03/22/2013
TOP↑
Users
May Pay Fee to Use WeChat App
Users of Tencent's popular WeChat chatting application may
have to pay fees after media reported China's major telecommunications
operators are looking to charge users, a senior regulatory official said
yesterday.Miao Xu, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology, the regulator, told a forum the ministry is
"coordinating" between telecom operators and Tencent on charging
fees for WeChat users. The ministry is studying whether users need to pay a
small fee to the telcos to use the app, he said."We will consider
reasonable requests of telecom companies," Miao said. "But it is
not allowed if they try to monopolize the market and contain value-added
services like WeChat."According to media reports, China Mobile Ltd,
China Unicom and China Telecom Corp, are mulling to charge users for the app
because of its large data bandwidth use.Launched in 2011, the app became
popular - with over 300 million users - from the second half of last year,
posing an increasing challenge to the three telcos.Using WiFi, users of
WeChat can use it for free and be able to send text messages internationally,
which has threatened the telcos' traditional text messaging
services.Tencent's income from value-added services grew 13.8 percent to 3.72
billion yuan (US$590 million) last year.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/01/2013
TOP↑
440
Bln Credit Line for Building Smart Cities
Banks and investors promised a hefty credit line of at least
440 billion yuan (70.3 billion U.S. dollars) for China's "smart
city" projects, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural
Development (MOHURD).After the China Development Bank announced in January
that it would offer at least 80 billion yuan in credit for building smart
cities over the next three years, two other commercial banks promised at
least the same amount of credit for such projects, according to information
released at a MOHURD seminar held on Wednesday.Other institutional investors
also signed an agreement in early April to extend another 200 billion yuan in
credit for building smart cities, the ministry said.This means that total
credit of at least 440 billion yuan is likely to be granted to smart city
projects across the country.The ministry, however, did not specify the names
of the institutions or the banks.China has promoted the concept of smart
cities, including the application of information technology in urban
management and the construction of low-carbon architecture, amid the
country's renewed urbanization drive.The government has set up 90 smart city
demonstration areas and more applications are under review, the MOHURD said.
From
http://www.china.org.cn/
04/11/2013
TOP↑
Project
to Add Users and Raise Web Speed
China will add
60 million broadband users and 100 million 3G users in 2013 as well as improve bandwidth speed
nationwide under the "Broadband China" project, the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday.This year 35 million users
will be added on its high-speed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) users, up from 94
million by the end of last year. The ministry will also increase the normal
home broadband user base by 25 million to 200 million by the end of this
year.The ministry said 70 percent of all users nationwide will enjoy
broadband services with bandwidth of four megabytes per second (Mbps) or
above, which provides users higher Internet speed and better web experience,
this year.The increase comes under the "Broadband China" project
which seeks to propel the country's average broadband bandwidth capacity in
urban regions to 20 Mbps by 2015, five to 10 times faster than the current
level.China, the world's No. 1 telecommunications market, will have over 332
million 3G users
this year, up from 232.8 million 3G
users by the end of last year, the ministry said. By 2015, the ministry sees
450 million 3G users in
the country.In Shanghai, the average Internet bandwidth hit 4.70 Mbps by the end
of the first quarter.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/18/2013
TOP↑
China's Internet Speed Averages 3.14 MBps
The average Internet connection speed in China stood at 3.14
megabytes per second (MBps) during the first quarter of this year, according
to survey results released Thursday.Shanghai topped the list with an average
connection speed of 4.7 MBps, followed by Jiangsu, Beijing, Fujian and
Tianjin, according to a report compiled by Qihoo 360 Technology Co., an
Internet security service provider.Based on data provided by ChinaCache
International Holdings Ltd., a Nasdaq-listed Internet service provider, the
average connection speed in China, a country that is home to 564 million
Internet users, reached about 2.59 MBps in the fourth quarter of
2012.Meanwhile, speeds varied by region. Connection speeds in 20 of the
country's 34 provinces and municipalities, including regions in the northwest,
southwest and northeast, were slower than the national average, according to
the Qihoo 360 report.Connection speeds in nearly 60 percent of provincial
capital cities were faster than that of other areas in the provinces.The
fastest average connection speeds occurred between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.,
while the slowest speeds were recorded between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.Connection
speeds were fastest on Tuesdays and slowest on Saturdays, on
average.According to the most recent Akamai State of the Internet report, a quarterly
international Internet traffic report, the global average broadband speed
dropped 6.8 percent to 2.8 MBps during the third quarter of 2012.
At the national level, the Republic of Korea
had the highest speed, at 14.7 MBps. At 54.1 MBps, Hong Kong recorded the
highest average peak connection speed.To narrow the "digital gap,"
the Chinese government has pledged to upgrade infrastructure to allow more
areas -- notably, impoverished rural regions -- access to faster Internet
services.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in
its annual plan that it will build 180,000 base stations this year to provide
3G mobile Internet service
to 100 million users.Broadband Internet services will reach an additional 25
million people, and 70 percent of broadband subscribers will have access to
connection speeds of 4MBps or faster, according to the MIIT's plan.The
government also hopes to expand the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service, an
integrated family broadband system, to at least 35 million additional
households this year, according to the plan.By the end of January, the number
of broadband users in China stood at 177.37 million and 3G users reached 245.88 million.
From
http://china.org.cn/
04/19/2013
TOP↑
JAPAN: Enhancing Astronomical Observatory with
Supercomputer
National
Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) last week launched
operations of the purpose-built Atacama Compact Array (ACA) Correlator
supercomputer system to empower its existing Chile-based radio teleascope
project for better processing massive sets of signal data and make high
sensitivity observations. The new ACA will be employed as part
of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) project, a
Chile-based radio telescope featuring unprecedented sensitivity
and resolution. The new supercomputer system comprises of
35PRIMERGY x86 servers from Fujitsu and a specialized computational
unit. The ACA Correlator meets the rigorous requirements demanded
by the project. It includes computational performance capable of performing
real-time processing of 512 billion samples of telescope radio signal data
per second at a computational rate of 120 trillion operations per second, as
well as the ability to ensure stable operations under harsh environmental
conditions at an altitude of 5,000 meters and pressure of
0.5 atmospheres.
The system will be responsible for processing massive sets of
signal data from 16 antennas on its own, and help make high
sensitivity observations. With the ACA Correlator, it is
possible to process extremely weak radio wave signals from far-away astronomical
bodies by splitting up and processing roughly 500,000 frequency bands and
outputting the data in a format that is optimal for observation. This enables
resolution capability that makes it possible to observe, for instance, the
travelling of a gas in space at a speed of five meters per second. “With
the observations from ALMA,
we hope to gain insights into such mysteries as how galaxies have formed and evolved, how planetary systems orbiting around a Sun-like
star are formed, and whether the origin of life is to be found in the
universe. The data processing performed by the ACA Correlator
system is essential for these types of radio astronomy research. I am
confident that ALMA will
open new horizons for astronomy,”said Professor Satoru Iguchi, East
Asia ALMA Project Manager, NAOJ.
Set at 5,000 meters above sea level in the Chilean
Andes, ALMA is a massive radio telescope developed through a
partnership among East Asia (led by NAOJ), North America and Europe. The telescope is capable of producing
astronomical radio wave images with the world’s highest resolution.The
facility consists of 66 antennas arranged in a 18.5 km-diameter array, equivalent to the span of
the Yamanote railway loop encircling the central part of Tokyo, and by
processing millimeter/submillimeter wave signals from each antenna, it is
possible for the antennas to act as a single, giant telescope that can
generate radio wave images with the same resolution as those produced by a
massive 18.5 km-diameter
parabolic antenna. This makes it possible to see the dark regions of the
universe that cannot be observed at optical wavelengths, such as galaxies
that were formed shortly after the beginning of the universe, the birth of
stars, planetary systems like our solar system, and matter related to the
origin of life, such as of organic molecules.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/19/2013
TOP↑
Japan Improves Bidding Processes with IT
Wataru Kobayashi,Director-General for
Research and Development at the Japan
Construction Information Center , shares with FutureGov how
the country was able to improve the efficiency of the construction industry’s
bidding processes with its “Electronic core bidding system”. The
‘Electronic core bidding system’ was developed exclusively for the
construction industry as support to Japan’s rapidly growing construction and
engineering boom which started in the 1980’s. The objective was to develop a highly
flexible e-bidding system that can facilitate a smooth bidding process for
vendors and suppliers looking into to doing business with government
agencies. This was made in accordance with the vision of the Local Promotion
Action Programme established by the Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism .
“We call it ‘Electronic Core Bidding System’ because it provides all the
functions necessary for bidding-related work,” says Kobayashi.
“In addition, it also features advanced information security
functions such as public key cryptography technology to secure bidding
transactions and other confidential information.” Prior to the
establishment of the system, various e-bidding systems co-existed which resulted to confusion among bidding participants on how to
navigate each system. “By using the core system it greatly eased
the burden for the bidding participants and also enabled us to move away from
redundant investments associated with developing e-bidding systems.
“Furthermore, we’ve also heard that it enabled suppliers and vendors located
in far places to take part in the bidding because it has made the whole
‘doing business with government’ more accessible and competitive.”
To promote the use of the ‘core system’ nationwide, the Japan
Construction Information Center (JACIC) and the Service Center of Port
Engineering (SCOPE) established a Consortium in order to support the smooth
introduction of the electronic bidding system to a wide range of public
purchasers including local government agencies. Through the Consortium,
specifications and provision conditions for a flexible electronic bidding
system will be considered based on the electronic bidding system of the Ministry
of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism according to the needs of
public purchasers and know-how of IT vendors. “As of of March
2011,639 organisations have adopted the system. This comprises of 8 national
ministries, 17 public corporations, 45 prefectures, 18 ordinance-designated
mega-cities and 551 municipalities,” he says.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia 03/26/2013
TOP↑
Apps
Convert Smartphones into Home Monitoring System
Worried about what your dog is chewing on when you’re at work,
or whether your home is secure while on vacation? New apps can transform old
smartphones into remote security cameras for home monitoring systems.
Presence, which was launched late last month, converts a spare
Internet-connected iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch into a free video camera with
real-time video and audio streaming, and motion detection and
notifications.“Essentially we give you an inexpensive security system that
you can use to monitor your house, or help you watch your kids, cats, elderly
relatives or act as a baby or nanny cam,” said Gene Wang, chief executive of
the Palo Alto, California-based company People Power. Unlike traditional
monitoring systems that can be expensive and need technical knowledge to
install and use, Wang said Presence is a free do-it-yourself system that can
be set up simply by downloading and configuring the app. To use it consumers
install and login to their account on two devices - for example two iPhones.
Then they can start the camera within the app on one of the devices and it
can be viewed from the app on the other. Triggers can also be set to record
when motion is detected and to send alerts. The app can help to avoid false
alarms, according to Wang, because it sends a video clip in an email to the
user showing the motion that triggered the alert.
“With these high-end security systems, you have a lot of false
positives and then the security company and police come out and it turns out
it was your cat knocking over a broom or something like
that,” Wang explained. He added that many people have replaced their old
smartphones with new ones and a monitoring system would be a good way to make
use of the old devices. Another app created by a company called People Power
1.0 for iPhone and Android reads electricity meters in real time to show
consumers how much they’re spending and whether they are going over budget.
“The center of computing has switched to these smart computers that we all
carry in our pockets,” Wang explained. “What people are going to want to be
able to do is control their personal Internet of Things from their hands,” he
added, referring to Internet-connected devices in the home. The company also
plans to work with underfunded public schools to help them set up security
systems using old devices donated by the community. Other apps have similar
functions. AirBeam is a home monitoring app for iOS that allows users to
access video feeds from a Web portal. Izon is an app that streams real-time
audio and video from iZon cameras to iPhone and Android devices, and Ivideon,
for iOS and Android, also lets people build their own surveillance system
From
http://www.japantoday.com/ 05/07/2013
TOP↑
Japanese University to Deploy Supercomputer
Information Technology Center
of Nagoya University, Japan will deploy a
high-performance supercomputer to enhance its advanced research and academic
purposes. Provided by Fujitsu, the new supercomputer is expected to start
running from October 2013. Nagoya
University is the
largest national university in the Tokai region and a centre of academics and
research. Its IT centre is a shared resource for universities and researchers
conducting academic research throughout Japan. It has a total number of
almost 1,800 academic staff, and over 15,000 students both undergraduates and
postgraduates. Since December 1981, numerous researchers have used the
mainframe computers and supercomputers deployed there, mostly for work on
science and technology. The new supercomputer will come with a theoretical
peak performance of 561.4 teraflops, and will be scaled up in the future to
3,662.5 teraflops, making it one of the biggest systems in Japan and the largest in the
Tokai region.
“The IT center will use the new supercomputer to accelerate
the use of its high-performance computing in more and more fields, from
initial-stage research to large-scale studies and industrial applications,”
said Prof Yoshito Itoh, Director of the IT center, Nagoya University.
This project aimed to expand and invigorate the computational-science
community, which includes the next generation of researchers, and return
benefits to society through scientific results, he added. “The new system
will also comprehensively support large-scale simulations using massive
storage systems and giant 3D screen virtual-reality systems. Additionally,
planned system upgrades will bring sought after computational services along
with even better energy efficiency,” he explained. The new system
consolidates the IT Center’s three existing systems: the supercomputer
system, application server, and information-academics platform. It was
designed to meet demands for more computing capacity, to make computing
resources in other academic areas, to create new computational services, and
to help educate people who will reach into new areas of inquiry.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/15/2013
TOP↑
S. KOREA: Fine on 'Excessive' Exposure Causes Online
Stir
A decree to fine those who engage in “excessive” public exposure passed at a
Cabinet meeting presided over by President Park Geun-hye ignited controversy
Monday. The decree is expected to go into effect starting March 22. People
were outraged by the 50,000 won fine, as it brought back memories of similar
restrictions on skirt lengths in the 1970s under the rule of the late
President Park Chung-hee. Many netizens criticized the decree as a signal of
a return to the authoritarian era. Social networks services, such as Twitter
and Facebook, were buzzing with critical comments ― ranging from who
decides the standards of decency to whether the decree will apply to swimming
pools and gymnasiums. “What can I do now if I am fined 50,000 won?” twitted
Kwak Hyun-hwa, a 32-year-old female comedian, with a photo of her wearing a
sleeveless dress.
Kim Seong-hyun, head of the Progressive Justice Party’s Gyeonggi Province
office, said, “I am disappointed that the government approved the excessive
exposure bill at its first Cabinet meeting at the time of a security crisis.
I need a government which I can rely on!” A female Twitter user said that she
hates it when somebody looks at her legs, but would be more upset if police
used a tape measure to check out the length of her skirt. Another netizen
posted a photo of President
Park wearing a swimming
suit, asking whether it violates the law. The government said that people can
be fined if they expose their naked body or expose any part of their body
which should otherwise be concealed. “If their indecent exposure provokes
shameful feelings and discomfort to others, they can be fined 50,000 won,”
said police in a statement. However, they did not elaborate further on
standards of “exposure and the level of shame and discomfort” in detail.
From
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr
03/11/2013
TOP↑
The
Socially Underprivileged Are Also Alienated from Information Access
It has been surveyed that four social minor groups including
the disabled, low-income brackets, farmers and fishermen and elderly people
have very limited access to mobile information compared with the ordinary
people. The government is planning to support the socially underprivileged
regarding the mobile information access.According to the survey on the
information gap conducted by the Ministry of Future, Creation and Science and
National Information Society Agency (NIA), the rate of mobile information
access the four underprivileged groups have on average is only 27.8% compared
with that of people in general. The stark gap is believed to stem from the
low Smartphone penetration rate of the minor groups. Their Smartphone
ownership rate is only 21.7%, one third of the rate of the ordinary people
(61.5%).The Future Ministry is planning to provide Smart gadgets for the
underprivileged and information and communication assistive devices for the
disabled in order to narrow down the mobile information gap.The survey also
shows that the PC-based information access rate of the minor groups have
continued to increase to 74%, up 29%P from 2004.The PC penetration rate
(68.7%) and the Internet access rate (46.8%) of the underprivileged are still
13.6%P and 31.6%P lower than the average rates of the ordinary people (82.3%
and 78.4%) respectively. But the gap is being decreased every year.
From
http://www.koreaittimes.com/ 03/13/2013
TOP↑
Gov't
Demonstrates Smart Highway
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport will hold
a demonstration until Tuesday to present the developments of a state research
project to establish accident-free smart highways. The ministry held its first
presentation on a section of highway near the Deokpyeong resting place in Gyeonggi Province on Thursday. The ministry
demonstrated a safety technology which allows vehicles to use next-generation
telecommunication technology to share information, such as traffic accidents,
broken cars, or falling objects to avoid dangerous situations. It also
demonstrated a warning system for deviating vehicles and a technology to
prevent serial road accident. A ministry official said that when smart
highways are successfully realized, it will decrease highway traffic
accidents and reduce traffic congestion. The government plans to realize
smart highways until next July by combining up-to-date information technology
with automobile and road technologies. The 86-point-eight billion won project
was launched in 2007.
From
http://world.kbs.co.kr/
05/10/2013
TOP↑
South Korea Uses Video Collaboration Tools for Disaster
Management
The National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), South Korea, has deployed video
collaboration solutions to improve communication and collaboration among its
teams throughout the country. NEMA, the first independent disaster
management government authority in South Korea, has emergency
response teams in 17 cities and provinces in the country. The video solutions
deployed by the agency will allow these teams to talk and share content
through video sessions. The system allows any number of teams to join the
video call, accelerating decision-making and information sharing
during crises. In addition to connecting remote teams with NEMAheadquarters
in Seoul, the video solution, provided by Polycom, also
allows NEMA teams to collaborate efficiently with decision makers
and other concerned agencies in the government, such as the National Police
Agency. Quick communication allows these organisations to share information
in real-time, such as videos of affected areas and on-site reporting.
The video collaboration system adopted by NEMAinteroperates with the
agency’s existing IT infrastructure and video and voice systems. Video
conferencing works even in unstable or congest networks. Video solutions by
Polycom were used by heads of local governments to communicate and make
decisions when Typhoon Bolaven hit Korea in 2012.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia 05/20/2013
TOP↑
MSIT
Poised to Revamp Korea’s
Online Search Service System
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIT) has
set out to improve Korea’s online
search service system. Many believe MSIT’s such move is probably taking
aim at NHN, the operator of Naver (S. Korea’s
most popular search engine) since NHN is currently being investigated by Fair
Trade Commission (FTC) for alleged power abuse and unfair trading. The MSIT
said Wednesday that a research team comprised of experts from academia and
research centers will be set up to draw up the principles of sound online
search services. And MSIT mentioned that the setup of the research team has
nothing to do with the FTC’s probes into NHN. However, given that Naver’s
share of the online search market exceeds 70%,
MSIT’s attempt to overhaul online search services cannot stay completely
irrelevant to NHN. An official from MSIT said, “Studies on the current
situations of online search service markets, both domestic and overseas, will
be conducted to make sure the domestic online search service market is headed
in the right direction.”
From
http://www.koreaittimes.com/ 05/23/2013
TOP↑
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MALAYSIA: Launching GIS Portal for Youth Welfare and
Development
The Malaysian Youth Development Research Institute launched a
GIS-based portal which aims to help organisations effectively plan and
implement their youth development programmes more efficiently. The portal
provides users with access to 49 types of interactive maps based on the
following categories: number of youth associations, number of sports centres,
involvement of youth in society clubs, engagement of youth in deviant
behaviour, economic well-being, overall health and other social and
psychological indicators. The Primary data was derived from a study conducted
by the Youth Development Research Institute of Malaysia (IPPBM) where more
than 20 per cent of the respondents are young people from 78 districts.
Meanwhile, secondary data was collected from repositories of various
authoritative agencies in the Malaysian Government and other concerned
stakeholders. The agency hopes the portal can serve as a catalyst that will
influence policy and human resource development in country. In addition, it
also hopes to eventually increase the provision of funds allocated to youth
development by presenting the data to policy makers.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/17/2013
TOP↑
PHILIPPINES: Kindergarten Students Taught ICT in City
The City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) and the
local government of Marikina in the Philippines
has recently launched the E-Mobile learning Centre to introduce IT to
pre-schools children. In cooperation with the Rotary Club of Manila 101, the
programme aims to give free basic computer knowledge to kindergarten,
preparatory and nursery students before they start formal education, said
Marikina City Mayor Del de Guzman. The centre will be equipped with seven
desktop computers and several learning materials required for teaching.
“Right now we have 25 Daycare Centers in Marikina. We thank the Rotary Club of
Manila 101 for their initiative in bringing the e-mobile center to the city
and sharing computer knowledge to our students,” De Guzman said. Also, an
e-mobile van will be sent to day care centres in the city and conduct two-day
seminar training with up to two hours teaching time for each session. The
training programme will be led by local government units and volunteers from
rotary club members.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/15/2013
TOP↑
Philippine
Province Launches Eservices Facility
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIRs) District Office in the
city of San Fernando , La Union province, recently launched an eServices
facility to help taxpayers easily navigate through BIR’s many online services
such as e-FPS (e-Filing and Payment System), e-REG (e-Registration), and
e-Accreditation among others. The City of San Fernando
is the capital city of La Union
and the regional centre of the Ilocos Region. It is located in the Northwest
of Luzon Island, one of the three biggest islands in the Philippines.
The facility, which the agency called the e-lounge, is a room similar to that
of internet cafés, where taxpayers can access BIR’s e-services free of charge
with the BIR district staff guiding users as they go online. "This
facility will provide taxpayers with free internet facility to access the
various eServices of the BIR, increase the number of taxpayers availing of
the eServices and to improve efficiency of taxpayers’ service,” a
spokesperson from BIR said. In addition, taxpayers can also download 31
interactive forms, as part of BIR’s paper-less transactions. Meanwhile, Arnel
Guballa, BIR regional director in Ilocos, said both the BIR and taxpayers
will benefit from the facility because it lessens the burden carried by both
parties in their transactions using the regular method.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/17/2013
TOP↑
The
Philippines
Expands ‘Wireless Access for Health’ Programme
The Department of Health(DOH), the
United States Agency for International Development(USAID) and other
participating stakeholders unveiled plans to expand the Wireless Access for
Health (WAH) programme which aims to improve the quality of health care
planning and delivery nationwide. The WAH is a public-private collaboration
that focuses on streamlining the reporting process at clinics and hospitals
in the Philippines
and improving access to accurate and timely patient information for
clinicians and decision makers. It uses 3G wireless technology and builds upon the existing
Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS), an electronic medical
records system developed by the University of the Philippines,
Manila.
Since its launch in 2009, the programme has been successfully
adopted in 37 city and rural clinics within and outside of the Tarlac Province. The clinics serve more than
2,000 patients a day and, as of March 2013, more than 250,000 patient
consultations and 220,000 patient records have been recorded through the WAH
platform. The expansion is being led by RTI International,the
University of Philippines, Smart Communications and
Qualcomm Incorporated, through Qualcomm Wireless Reach,the Zuellig Family
Foundation (ZFF) and the DOH Ilocos Regional Office. DOH-Ilocos will be
leading the expansion of the programme in four provinces by providing
capacity building trainings. The four provinces are: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos
Sur, La Union and Pangasinan. Meanwhile, ZFF will be leading the expansion in
Visayas and Mindanao, two of the Philippines largest islands. In
this role, ZFF will provide support and funding for software development and
training.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/02/2013
TOP↑
The
Philippines
to Enhance R&D Capabilities with Supercomputer
The Department of Science and Technology and the University of
the Philippines
announced yesterday that they will be leveraging the world-renowned IBM Blue
Gene supercomputer to support key priority R&D projects focused on
reducing poverty. According to an
official statement, the first pilot trial of the supercomputer aims to tap
its high performance computing capabilities to improve weather forecasting in
the country. “The IBM Blue Gene supercomputer will be most applicable to
DOST’s major programs such as The Nationwide Operational Assessment of
Hazards and Smart Agriculture (NOAH), “said DOST Secretary Mario
Montejo. “First we will work
toward Blue Gene’s integration to Project NOAH to provide more advanced
seven-day local weather forecasts. We can also use it to run various weather
models and validate the accuracy of results almost real-time.” The Philippines,
being in the typhoon belt, makes it severely affected by natural disasters
such as typhoons and floods leaving massive losses in property, livelihood
and lives. The Supercomputer will help local scientists process and gain
insights from the data collected, to produce faster, more accurate forecasts
and improve localised weather prediction for the country. This will enable
them and various government agencies to better prepare disaster preparedness
plans. The DOST also revealed that other possible projects to be supported by
the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer include flood management and genomics.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/17/2013
TOP↑
SINGAPORE: New Mobile
App to Help Stroke Patients, Doctors
SINGAPORE: To
reduce the time taken to help stroke patients, A*STAR is testing out a new
mobile app called "iStroke". It will help doctors from different
departments (eg: neurosurgeons, neurologists, radiographers, nurses)
communicate more quickly during an emergency. Currently, they rely on
phonecalls. But the new app means they can also send videos, pictures and CT
scans -- to discuss the symptoms and appropriate treatment for the stroke patient.
Doctors said that another advantage is that the treatment and discussion can
be recorded, which is useful for teaching and research purposes. The app will
be tested at the National Neuroscience Institute for six months, and feedback
will be provided to the Bio-imaging Consortium at A*STAR.
From
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/
03/12/2013
TOP↑
Singapore to Install CCTVs to Control Parking
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) today announced that it
will install Close Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras at 30 locations across Singapore to
deter illegal parking. The announcement is part of LTA’s ongoing initiative
to use technology to optimise resources needed for parking enforcement and
improvement in traffic flow. LTA has already conducted a trial by installing
CCTV cameras in two popular locations in Singapore. With the cameras,
illegal parking was detected and deterred successfully, improving traffic
conditions, and encouraging LTA to deploy the same technology across the
country. The 30 locations were selected based on factors such as high
incidence of illegal parking, traffic congestion, impediment to smooth travel
of public buses and safety concerns for pedestrians. The installation will
begin in the second quarter of 2013 and will be completed by 2014. LTA has
released two tenders for the installation and operation of the CCTV cameras.
The need for expansion to other locations will be reviewed after implementation.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/18/2013
TOP↑
Singapore Polyclinics Launches Mobile App for Asthma
Care
SingHealth Polyclinics (SHP), and
Integrated health Information Systems (IHiS) under Ministry of Health has
today launched a mobile app for asthma care management called “AsthmaCare
Buddy”. The new mobile app is the first of its kind in the region to provide
asthma patients with key information on the disease and easy to use tools to
pro-actively manage their condition and live a healthy lifestyle on the go.
“AsthmaCare Buddy is part of SingHealth and IHiS’ efforts to extend care for
chronic disease patients beyond the clinic walls, to patients’ homes anytime
and anywhere,” said Benedict Tan, IHiS CIO for SingHealth. Two years ago, IHiS started developing
its first mobile health diary for rheumatoid arthritis patients. The
development has continued to cover for diabetes, renal disease, before the
most recent one— asthma patients, according to him.
“These applications have enhanced doctor-patient
communications and care at SingHealth institutions, and we will continue to
develop applications for more chronic diseases,” he added. The AsthmaCare
Buddy app will give people suffered from asthma clear instructions on what to
do when they experience the various conditions of their disease. It allows users to take control of
their asthma management through close monitoring and recording of their
disease condition. Tools, such as the peak flow meter record, asthma check
assessment and action plans, will enable the users to review their asthma
patterns and progress at home. They can share their management progress with
their doctor.
The app features three key sections:
• Action Plan: it will guide the patient using colours of the
traffic-lights on what to do to control his or her asthma depending on the
assessment done in Asthma Check. Red prompts the user on medicines and
dosages to take when he or she is having an asthma attack. Yello when the
user feels the onset of asthma; and the green when he or she is well.
• Asthma Check: it features a health diary with simple
questions for the user to input information on his asthma condition, and teh
readings from his peak flow meter assessment.
• Record: translates the data entered into graphs on the
mobile phone, which the user can show the doctor at his next clinic visit.
The record and graphs help provide the doctor a more
comprehensive view of the progress of the patient’s medical condition between
his clinic visits, as well as to facilitate diagnosis and effective
treatment. The app also comes with spatial location information to the
nearest General Practitioners and is now available for free from the App
Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Work is under way for Android version. Statistics show that asthma effects
about 10% of the Singapore
population aged between 18 to 65 years, and SingHealth Polyclinics see more
than 17,000 patients with asthma yearly.
“Patients with asthma are prescribed a variety of inhalers and
medicines to take, and in varying doses depending on their condition at any
point in time,” said Dr Tan Ngiap Chuan, Director of Research from SingHealth
Polyclinics.
Chuan explained that during the asthma attack on orset of an
attack, many patients get confused about their medication and doses, and
would eventually under or over medicate. “This affects the severity of the
attack and recovery time,” he said and added that the app will help inform
the patients of what to do exactly, once they choose red, yellow or green for
their condition. “All information they need is at their fingertips,” he said.
For Chuan, the challenge is how to motivate the patient to avoid asthma
triggers and take medication daily on a long term basis, to control the
disease and prevent attacks. “AsthmaCare Buddy empowers the patient to better
manage the disease and is highly motivating with the graphs in the health
diary giving him immediate and objective feedback on how well the patient is
managing his or her asthma,” he said.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/02/2013
TOP↑
New
Homes in Singapore
to Be Pre-Wired with Optical Fibre
New homes in Singapore
must be pre-wired with optical fibre starting from May 1, as per the recent
launch of the Code of Practice for Info-communication Facilities in Building
(COPIF) by the Infocomm Development authority of Singapore (IDA). Under the
new COPIF 2013, optical fibre termination points have to be pre-installed in
all new homes. This is to facilitate ease of access to fibre broadband
services for new home owners, said the IDA. The cabling with capability of
carrying data speeds of over 1 Gbps will be provided to each living room and
bedroom in all new homes, the IDA explained. "The changes in this COPIF
are to ensure that homes are built for future infocomm needs brought about by
developments such as the nationwide deployment of the Next Gen NBN, the
increasing mobile penetration rate, and the increasing pervasiveness of
smartphones, and other mobile broadband-enabled devices,” said IDA’s Deputy
Chief Executive and Director-General (Telecoms & Post) Leong Keng Thai.
He added that these changes will benefit consumers and improve their mobile
and broadband experiences.
The new COPIF also involve the provision of rent-free Mobile
Deployment Space (MDS) requiring developers and owners of buildings and
developments to provide space for the deployment of infrastructure for
enhanced mobile coverage in existing and new developments. The MDS
requirement will vary depending on the size of the developments, or the
mobile coverage area of the developments. The requirements will be over and
above space requirements currently specified in COPIF for telecommunication
operators, said the IDA. However, there will be some flexibility given to
developers and owners of building and developments in meeting the new MDS
requirements, the IDA added. The developers and owners of buildings and
developments will only need to provide the MDS when it is asked for by mobile
operators. Moreover, the COPIF 2013 involve the use
of space and facilities to serve beyond the boundaries of a development.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/22/2013
TOP↑
Improving
Library Services in Singapore
with ICT - Part I
Lee Kee Siang, CIO and Director, Technology & Innovation,
at the National Library Board (NLB), Singapore, discusses with FutureGov the
role different technologies play in improving library services and NLB’s ICT
plans for the near future.
How do you think ICT can resolve challenges that libraries are
facing in the digital age?
Within NLB, we rely on technology to help us to create new
services and improve existing services, particularly with the changing habits
and reading styles of our patrons. IT is becoming more and more critical to
be able to reach out to different patrons with different reading habits and
lifestyles The adoption of e-resources is growing exponentially, but we see
print and electronic content as complementary. To make a library service
complete for a reader, physical print and online resources must co-exist.
Offering electronic content will help us remain relevant, particularly for
the younger generation that demands instant gratification through access to
e-resources.
What technology does NLB currently use?
Our core library management system and RFID technology are the
foundations of all our IT systems. RFID technology gives patrons a seamless
experience of borrowing and returning library items. Last year, we upgraded
the technology to allow patrons to borrow multiple items together without
having to scan each one individually. Patrons can return the items at book
drops anywhere in the city, and RFID technology will immediately detect the
return. We are also focussing on using search engines to drive our content.
We want our information to be “GYM-able” – available on Google, Yahoo and
Microsoft search. When patrons look for information, these are the search
engines they use, so we are making sure that our information is available
within the first two pages of the search results, and then pointing them back
to our website.
Which areas are you expanding in? What are your plans for
2013?
We want to leverage mobile technology to reach out to patrons.
The mobile penetration rate of Singapore is more than 150 per
cent. One capability we want to create is using an app to check out library
items. Once you scan the barcode of an item, the app will send a signal to
our database to check the item out and disarm the RFID security tag. We are
also working on a feature to allow patrons to scan the barcode of books they
see in stores to check if the library carries the item. If the book is
available, patrons can reserve it immediately. On top of that, we will try to
leverage on electronic content searches. Today, our patrons face several
issues in finding e-resources conveniently. While publishers have generated a
lot of electronic content, access is dependent on different content aggregators.
Patrons don’t always know about specific aggregators such as OverDrive. We
want them to just have to key in the title they’re looking for in a search
engine, and we will tell them where it’s available. We’re working with
various content aggregators and publishers to offer this service.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/25/2013
TOP↑
Improving
Library Services in Singapore
with ICT - Part II
FutureGov continues our conversation with Lee Kee Siang, CIO
and Director, Technology & Innovation, at the National Library Board
(NLB), Singapore,
to discuss the growing importance of data sharing and analytics.
Do you think that the role of the library in society is
changing?
I think the role is still the same. We’re still promoting
readers for life. What has changed is the technology and channels of reaching
out to patrons. In the past, they came to libraries to borrow books, but
today, we have to reach out to them. We are adapting to the technology that patrons use and their new lifestyles. Even online, though
we have a website, people don’t always remember the URL. They use search
engines, so we try to use that to point them to our website. We use the same
kind of approach in the physical and the digital space - reach out to where
patrons are and bring them back to us.
Does NLB use any data analytics?
We use data analytics for two things. The first is the
characteristics of patrons – their age, their behaviour in terms of the books
they read. This helps us optimise our acquisition of resources. For example,
while loans of physical books have increased over the past five years and
continue to grow today, the use of electronic resources has grown
exponentially. We recognise the demand for both print and digital
publications, and can plan accordingly. The second is spatial data – looking
for patterns in branch usage, whether people use libraries in their
residential neighbourhoods or in their workspaces. This helps us in library
planning. For example, we’ve open a few libraries in malls to attract more
youngsters. This year, we are planning to open up some of our data to the
public. We want to allow individuals to use our data to come up with new
services and applications that may be useful for patrons. This would include
data about our catalogue, locations, events, etc. Eventually, we also want to
share aggregate data on library usage, such as information on popular genres
or titles. Currently, we’re looking at a proof of concept with OneMap (Singapore’
geo-spatial data portal). It will probably remain for internal use this year,
and exposed to the public at the end of this year or next year.
What challenges do you face today? What do you think are the
critical factors of success?
The greatest challenge is not the technical implementation,
but conceptualising new ideas, and adapting technology and business needs
together to resolve problems. Luckily, I have a team of efficient and
effective IT staff that understands the business, and is aware of the
technology out there. Beyond a competent IT team, buy-in from the users is
critical. It’s important as part of service delivery to engage citizens to
try out new services and give feedback, so we can fine-tune services before
deployment on a large-scale. We also need strong collaboration within NLB
staff, especially those working in the libraries and acting as front-liners
to the patrons, to understand how technology can be used to provide a useful
service to our patrons.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
THAILAND: A Flurry of Activity as 3G Launch Looms
Players in the telecommunication industry are actively
pursuing partnerships and pushing for mass mobile-phone-number portability,
while the two state telecom agencies are continuing their attempts to keep
control of their spectra. All this activity has been sparked by the planned
launch of third-generation wireless broadband on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum
and the approaching end of cellular concessions.
POSSIBLE 4G
PARTNERSHIP
Newly appointed TOT president Yongyuth Wattanasin recently
remarked that one option to secure a bright future for the agency was to seek
a business partnership with Advanced Info Service (AIS), its concession
holder. TOT is keen to talk with the largest cellular operator on possible
joint development of 3G
and 4G service
on their adjacent bands of the 2.1GHz spectrum. "We're waiting for AIS
to talk with us on this possible collaboration," he said. The band of
AIS subsidiary Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) is adjacent to that of TOT.
Each holds 15 megahertz of the 2.1GHz spectrum. TOT began providing 3G-2.1GHz service on its own spectrum many
years ago, while AWN is expected to launch its 3G service on the same spectrum next month. TOT is
testing the 4G service
on 100 base stations along the main Skytrain route. A TOT source said the
agency was even interested in joining with AIS to take care of the latter's
customers who may fail to switch to other networks after the concession
expires in March 2015. TOT estimates that AIS might not be able to shift all
of its more than 35.7 million subscribers to AWN's network in 2015, and about
10 million subscribers will be left in the AIS network at that time. TOT might ask AIS to lease its network
to service these 10 million customers on a revenue-sharing basis, the source
added.
PUSH FOR MASS NUMBER PORTABILITY
AIS and True Corp have urged the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to fast-track portability of
mobile-phone numbers between the two under a mutual agreement. The
portability scheme allows users to switch providers while keeping their
existing phone numbers. Both AIS and True want to speed up this process to
give their premium data subscribers access to their
subsidiaries' 3G-2.1GHz
networks. Currently the combined portability capacity of the five telecom
operators - AIS, Total Access Communication (DTAC), TrueMove, TOT and CAT -
is 40,000 phone numbers per day. However, TOT and CAT will be unhappy if mass
number portability results in a rapid loss of concession revenue. To increase
the portability capacity, all telecoms would also have to invest more to
expand their existing number-transfer systems, and TOT and CAT do not see how
they would get any benefit from this. Information and Communication Technology
Minister Anudith Nakornthap said he also did not see how TOT and CAT would
benefit from additional investment to expand their number-portability
capacity. But the cellular operators are eager to move their high-spending
customers from the state concessions to the 3G networks of their subsidiaries, which hold NBTC
licences, to reduce their costs from regulatory fees. Concession fees cost
them an average of 25 per cent of gross annual revenue, while the NBTC's
licences cost around 6.75 per cent of gross annual revenue.
BATTLE TO KEEP
CUSTOMERS, SPECTRA
CAT estimates that there will be about 10 million customers
left in TrueMove's network when the company's concession ends this September
15. CAT cites this case to justify its request to the NBTC to allow the agency
to keep its 1,800MHz spectrum to serve these 10 million subscribers. An NBTC source said the private
cellular operators seemed to want to keep servicing the subscribers left in
their networks by themselves, instead of having other parties doing so, if
some customers fail to switch to other networks before the concessions end.
The NBTC is studying the legal aspects of the situation. But CAT chief
executive officer Kitisak Sriprasert said that according to their concession
contracts, the private cellular operators had to transfer network assets and
customers to the concession owners once their contracts expire. He added that
if CAT's concession holders cited this legal aspect to keep leftover
customers with them, CAT might have to bring this case to the court to sort
out the matter.
From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
03/04/2013
TOP↑
Thailand Govt to Install Wi-Fi at Historical Parks
Sonthaya Khunpluem, Culture Minister of Thailand,
announced that the government will install wi-Fi services at historical parks
across the country to ensure travellers and tourists have internet access.
Availability of wi-fi will help visitors access
information about historical landmarks and parks on-the-sport through their
mobiles, making the information more useful and relevant. The service can
also attract more tourists to these destinations. “The country historical
parks should have a wi-fi service to offer more convenience for travellers
who will access the internet particularly to search for information on the
parks they are visiting”, said Khunpluem. One the project is approved, Wi-Fi
will first be installed in three parks - Sukhothai, Si Satchanalai and
Kamphaeng Phet.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/04/2013
TOP↑
Thailand to Cover 27,231 Schools with Internet
First-year students at 27,231 public schools countrywide will
be able to access high speed internet from their classrooms by the start of
the new academic year in June, using the government provided tablet PCs.
Thailand’s Ministry of ICT signed a contract with TOT and CAT Telecom—the two
state-owned telcos to cover 27,231 schools countrywide with Wi-Fi network to
support the government’s One Tablet Per Child programme, said ICT Minister Gp
Capt Anudith Nakornthap. The two telcos and the MICT will work on
establishing network under a joint-venture
collaboration with the total budget of THB 1.76 billion (US$ 58.69 million).
The network will equip the schools with Wi-Fi internet at the speed of 4-10
Mbps, he added. “Off 27,231 schools, the TOT will be responsible for the
network of 26,889 schools, while CAT Telecom will provide the network to
another 342 schools,” he said and added that the project will be finished by
300 days after the date of signing the contract.
Next year, the MICT planned to expand the network to cover up
to 43,258 schools with the planned budget of THB 4.25 billion (US$ 141.74
million). The network will be built on the centralised managment network of
Education Ministry or known as ‘MOENet’. Authorised users of the network
include teachers, students, school staff and general public who have
registered under ICT Free Wi-Fi programme, according to the minister. This
move is under Smart Network scheme—a pillar of Smart Thailand projects to
drive the country’s growth with ICT. Last year, the MICT already purchased
and distributed up to 858,886 tablets to the first graders at 27,231
elementary schools under Office of Basic Education Commission countrywide.
Without access to the internet at the first phase of the project last year,
students and teachers used off line mode during the classes with pre-loaded
educational materials.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/11/2013
TOP↑
Thailand’s City Municipality
Provides 1,000 Hot Spots for Free Wi-Fi
Nakhon Sawan City
Municipality, Thailand has
connected the city with over 1,000 hot spots, allowing citizens and visitors
to access free high speed internet wirelessly. Nakhon Sawan City Municipality
Mayor Jittahkasem Nirojthanarat said that Nakhon Sawan Wi-Fi is a free high
speed internet at 2Mbps provided by Truemove H, in partnership with the city
municipality. “Nakhon Sawan citizens as well as visitors to the city can
enjoy 30 minutes free surfing per day for six months per registration,” he
said and added that users can re-register after six month to enjoy this
facility. Users can simply use their mobile device from anywhere in the city
to log in to the network @TRUEWIFI and select “register Nakhon Sawan WIFI”,
according to him. Nakhon Sawan province is the gateway to the North region of
Thailand, it has the population of 1.07 million as per the 2011
census.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/15/2013
TOP↑
Thailand to Deliver Payment Services to Home
Thailand Post will deliver payment services to home under the
project called “Post@Home” that will use civil registration data shared from
the government cloud as an authentication measure. ICT Ministry on behalf of
its civic body— Thailand Post— earlier this week signed a MOU with Ministry
of Interior, Ministry of Public Health, and Ministry of Social Development
and Human Security over the use of civil registration data in the new
Post@Home service. Thailand Post President Anusra Chittmittrapap said that
Post@Home is the integration of civil data and government cloud service to
authenticate the person via smart ID cards. “From Febuary, Post@Home, on
behalf of Ministry of Public Health, has began
paying service fee to public health village volunteers,” she said. Thailand
Post equipped its post officers with electronic data capture (EDC)
devices—provided by local partners, Isytech— to allow them an access to civil
data via g-cloud. To receive the money, over one million volunteers across
the country need to show their smart ID cards for the post officers for
authentication measure, she added.
To further expand this project, Thailand Post will allow
citizens to pay for their utility bills such as electricity, water, and
telephone bills at home. These services will begin in April across the four
pilot provinces of Lop Buri, Chiang Mai, Phang Nga, and Roi Et, according to
her. During the pilot stage, there will be 2-3 post officers per districts
with the EDC devices. Over five million people are expected to benefit from
this initiative, she said. Citizens can simple pay to the post officers who
visit their houses by showing the bill statement, and pay THB 10 for the
service fee, without travelling to the cashier or counter services, she
added. Thailand Post also planned to include more services such as micro
loans, hire purchase, and credit card payment in to Post@Home project in the
future.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/22/2013
TOP↑
Thailand Shares Satellite Data for Agricultural Use
Department of Agricultural Extension, Ministry of Agriculture
and Cooperatives (MOAC) and Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development
Agency (GISTDA), Thailand
signed an MOU over the sharing of space technology and satellite data for
agricultural benefits. Chavalit
Chookajorn, Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
said that the collaboration was meant to promote the sharing of Thailand’s
spatial data and leverage space technology for agricultural benefits. The
data will be used as part of the research and development of the country’s
agricultural sector in a more efficient way. “This will benefit our farmers as well
as increasing the efficiency of our staff by training and exchanging of
knowledge and space technology used,” he added. The collaboration will take
effect from 2013 to 2018. “Satellite data can be widely applied in various
means to benefit agriculture such as zoning of the agricultural land usage,
promoting the government’s agricultural policy, helping farmers affected by
natural disaster, and pest control,” he said. The operation and use of this
data will be linked with farmer database, allowing the government to know the
type of crops and size of lands. This information helps the authorities to
better provide necessary aids and enhancing the government’s agricultural
planning, he added.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/06/2013
TOP↑
Thai
Hospitals Introduce Healthcare Apps
Samitivej Group and BNH
Hospital, Thailand
have recently launched mobile application called “Samitivej Connect by
TrueMove H” and “BNH Connect by TrueMove H” under the concecpt of Connected
Health to deliver healthcare services within a single tap. “City life has
made visiting hospitals difficult for some people due to traffic congestion
and busy works. Hospitals need to develop a new approach to deliver
healthcare service to the patients at this era,” said Dr Somsiri
Sakolsatayadorn, Managing Director and CEO of Samitivej Group. In partnership
with TrueMove — the country’s major telecommunication provider, the new apps
will be a new innovative personal care served on seamless 3G+ connection provided by TrueMove H to
ensure patients an around the clock healthcare services.
The two apps feature ‘Personaled Health Secretary that will
provide 24/7 answering service to all enquiries related to health problem, a
reminder alert for appointment with doctors, a pre-set to call your emergency
contact, an ambulance calling function that will locating the user’s position
instantly. The Samitivej Group consists of three prominent hospitals which
are Samitivej Sukhumvit, Samitivej Srinakarin, and Samitivej Sriracha. It also
operate BNH
Hospital in Bangkok. The Samitivej Group will continue
to develop these applications to cover information relevant to patients
suffered from chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, or kidney
disease in the near future, said Dr Sakolsatayadorn. The two applications are
now available for both iOS and Android enabled devices.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/09/2013
TOP↑
Thailand Launches Voice Recognition App for Traffic
Data
Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Thailand
yesterday launched a mobile application called ‘Traffic Voice Information
System’ (TVIS) using integrated data to provide smart real-time traffic
report. In preparation for the longest festive Thai New Year holidays
starting this weekend, Science and Technology Minister Woravat Auapinyakul
announced the latest application to help road commuters
deal with traffic during their journey to the countryside. “Traffic is the
country’s critical problem especially during festive seasons like Sonkran
Holidays (Thai New Year),” he said. Developed by National Electronics and Computer Technology Center
— an agency under the MOST, the TVIS application is a voice command app
recognising Thai language of the road names. Users can simply spell out the
name of the road for searching. The application will automatically pull
traffic data from various sources and provide real-time information related
to the search keywords. Alternatively, the users can search with their
current locations. Data in the TVIS app include image data from CCTV, traffic
information from social media channels, intelligent traffic signs. All data
can be retrieved via the app or users can choose to dial ‘Smart IVR’ from the
app to reach FM99.5 radio station to receive their required traffic data. The
application is available for free download for iOS and Android enabled
devices.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/11/2013
TOP↑
Thai Air
Force and ICT Ministry Collaborate on Disaster Management
The Ministry of ICT and Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF), Thailand have announced a new collaboration and transfer of
knowledge programme under a single umbrella as part of its disaster management
preparation and plan. MICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap presided over an MOU
signing ceremony between the RTAF and MICT, which involved the state telcos,
TOT and CAT Telecom, the Electronic Government Agency (EGA), the RTAF’s
Directorate of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), and the Royal
Thai Air Force Academy (RTAFA). The collaboration is aimed at leveraging ICT
network readiness for disaster management. Both agencies will dedicate human
resources, facilities, and relevant equipment to set up communities’ ICT
Learning Centre and a Wi-Fi network in the RTAF premises. The relevant
agencies in the MOU will foster study and research on the use of ICT and
space technology, as well as to partner on cybersecurity related issues.
“This collaboration will show the government’s determination to integrate
resources and effort in fostering the effective use of ICT for the benefit of
the citizens,” said Gp Captain Nakornthap.
According to the MOU, the DICT and RTAF will share facilities
and equipment and a state-of-the-art radar system currently in production. In
case of a disaster, the RTAF will allow the use of the airfield, enabling the
use of video down-link systems, and help broadcast warnings from the National
Disaster Warning Centre and the Meteorological Department — the two agencies
under the MICT — via the RTAF’s communication network. In return, the MICT
will equip the RTAF with satellite images, GIS data, and the use of
government’s satellite network as a back-up for the RTAF in rescue and
rehabilitation activities during the disaster. TOT and CAT Telecom will allow
the RTAF to leverage their network infrastructure outside the RTAF’s coverage
to facilitate the video down-link system. The two telcos will also provide
the RTAF with leased line service and backup data centre at a reduced rate.
The EGA will connect the RTAF with its Government Information Network (GIN)
both for the RTAF’s headquarters in Bangkok
and its branches in the countryside. The EGA will also provide other services
it has to the RTAF.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/22/2013
TOP↑
VIETNAM: To Replace Analogue TV with Digital One by
2020
Vietnam plans to
replace analogue television with the digital one from now till 2020 with the
hope that it would bring better-quality picture to the audience, minister of
information and communication Nguyen Bac Son told local Vietnam News on
Monday. Accordingly, the plan will be implemented in four stages, under which
digital TV will take over the analogue one nationwide. In phase 1 from now
till 2015, five largest cities including capital Hanoi,
northern Hai Phong port city, central Da Nang
city, southern Ho Chi Minh City
and Can Tho city, will switch analogue to digital TV. In the following
phases, groups of provinces nationwide will undertake the plan, with remote
provinces in the north and central region being in the final fourth stage
that will conclude by 2020. Under the transition project, the government will
support poor families to buy set-top boxes to decode digital TV signals,
while budget for the program will come from the public telecom fund and
auction of TV frequencies, said the information official.
From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 04/08/2013
TOP↑
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BANGLADESH: Dhaka Issues Smart Cards for Workers in S Arabia
To counter fraud in the recruitment of overseas workers, the Bangladesh government is issuing smart cards
with the names, photographs and fingerprints of workers heading to Saudi Arabia
and other countries. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told Arab News
here this week that Dhaka is currently
streamlining its processes to suit the employment policies and needs of the
Kingdom. There are currently two million Bangladeshi workers in the Kingdom,
out of eight million working abroad. The smart cards would prevent
impersonation and eliminate the role of intermediaries in the overseas
recruitment process. All workers heading overseas have to go through the
Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), she said. If migrants
face problems abroad, the country’s embassy can immediately identify the
status of the worker with information contained on the smart card, without
needing the person’s passport.
Moni said there was no indication of a mass exodus of
Bangladeshi expatriates from the Kingdom because of the Saudization program.
She added that her government has been monitoring the situation and would
take action if necessary. She urged fellow nationals to use the three-month
grace period offered by the Saudi government to get their papers in order.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister said there was currently a steady stream of
workers heading to Saudi
Arabia. Dhaka
is focusing on sending skilled and semi-skilled men and women to Middle
Eastern countries, she added. Moni also gave a briefing on challenges before
her party’s government and its achievements to visiting journalists from Bahrain, Egypt,
Japan, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. She said trials
of people suspected of committing war crimes during the country’s secession
from Pakistan
in 1971 were being held in line with international standards and in a
transparent manner.
From
http://www.unbconnect.com 04/14/2013
TOP↑
INDIA: Majority of Children Online to Be from India
in 2017
Hyderabad: The
number of children in the country expected to come online by 2017 is likely
to be more than triple to 134 million from about 40 million last year, according
to a study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). "For India, the study expects 95 million new
children to come online by 2017 (in other words, the majority of the new
children coming online will be in India). "In
total, the study expects 134 million Indian children to be online by 2017, up
from 39.5 million in 2012," the study, which was conducted by BCG for
European telecom major Telenor, said. A total of 176 million children will be
online by 2017 in
Telenor's 11 markets plus Russia,
and the majority of these children will be using a mobile device as their
first point of access, the study said. Telenor Group president and CEO Jon
Fredrik Baksaas said: "We see that the benefits of internet far outweigh
the harm that can result from it, but we cannot afford to be
complacent."
From
http://www.siliconindia.com 03/05/2013
TOP↑
Free
Electricity Connections in SC, ST & BPL Households
Under ‘Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) out of
7,80,90,874 number of rural households, 2,29,39,511 BPL households including
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes households have been covered for
release of free electricity connections. Cumulatively, as on 31.01.2013, free
electricity connections to 2,05,15,472 BPL
households including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes households have
been provided. The Government of India launched the scheme – Programme for
creation of Rural Electricity Infrastructure & Household Electrification,
in April 2005 for providing access to electricity to rural households. As per
Census 2011, there are 442.27 lakh Scheduled Caste and 233.29 lakh Scheduled
Tribes households in the country and out of these 261.05 lakh Scheduled Caste
and 120.60 lakh Scheduled Tribes used electricity as main source of lighting
for major part of the last 12 months.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 03/13/2013
TOP↑
New
Bus Tracking System Unveiled
Online ticketing firm Paytm announced the launch of real time
bus tracking in partnership with 200 bus service operators. “Customers who
have booked bus ticket through Paytm will be able to track location of their
bus and know about estimated arrival time of the bus,” Partym.com CEO
Harinder Thakar said. The company has tie-up with 1,100 bus operators for
booking their tickets online out of which it has started service for 200
operators. “In next couple of months, we will have 50 more operators for this
tracking service on board,” Thakar said. Paytm expects to have more than
1,000 buses with real-time GPS made available for commuters who book through
the site in a couple of months. In a statement, the company said the service
will also be available in 100 more cities like Hyderabad,
Guntur, Vijayawada,
Bangalore, Tirupati, Vishakhapatnam, Mumbai,
Pune, Nellore, Chennai, Erode, Salem, Madurai, Nagpur, Ongole, Coimbatore
and Mysore in
few months.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 03/13/2013
TOP↑
Wi-Fi
on Howrah
Rajdhani
Howrah Rajdhani Express received Wi Fi connection on April 2,
as a part of a pilot project Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways. Indian
Railways decided for satellite communication link to the train and Wi-Fi
connectivity to different coaches. Presently this facility is being extended
free of cost to the travelling passengers. The facility is being introduced
for the first time on Indian Railways through state-of-the-art Technology at
a total cost of Rs. 6.30 crore covering all the three rakes of Howrah
Rajdhani Express. The satellite communication link is arranged through
satellite hub facility. Initially, 4 Mbps download bandwidth and 512 Kbps
upload bandwidth is earmarked for internet facility in moving train. The satellite
antenna is placed in one of the two Power Cars of the rake. This is linked
through Wi-Fi radios provided outside of each coach. This is further
distributed inside the coaches through indoor access point. This will help
passengers of the Rajdhani Express train to access internet during their
journey. For accessing the internet facility, the bona-fide passengers will
have to access Indian Railway Wi-Fi network. The passengers will be able to
register by providing the PNR and other details like mobile number etc. On
validation of the data entered by the passengers, as per extant DOT
guidelines, the Login ID and Password will be sent through SMS to the
registered mobile number. The Login ID and Password will remain valid for
entire journey. This service on other Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto express
trains progressively based on customer feedback and acceptance.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/03/2013
TOP↑
Mobile App
for Indira Gandhi International
Airport
In order to facilitate the commuters New
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is all set to
launch the IGIA mobile app. IGIA is one of India’s busiest domestic and
international airports. This app will be provided in addition to providing
the latest amenities such as a high speed connection with Delhi Metro. The
IGIA mobile app is envisioned to not only provide details such as real-time
arrivals and departures, but extend the user experience. For example, it will
also provide real-time traffic updates for the surrounding roads leading to
and from the airport, so passengers can properly plan their route.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/10/2013
TOP↑
Aadhaar
Card Can Be Used as ID Proof
The Election Commission has allowed voters to use Aadhar card
as an alternative to the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) which will help
in establishing their identity during the May 5 poll to the Karnataka
Legislative Assembly. Besides the Aadhaar card, the smart card issued by the
Registrar General of India
under the scheme of National Population Register, too could be used as an
alternative identity card along with 21 other documents listed by the
Commission. However the overseas voters have to produce only their original
passport for identification at the time of voting, the EC has made it clear.
The poll is scheduled on May 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on
May 8. The last date for filing nomination is April 17.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 04/17/2013
TOP↑
Cloud
Campus by NIIT
IT training major NIIT Ltd announced the launch of its Cloud
Campus. The company hopes to offer 100 courses across several disciplines
such as IT, banking, global finance, management, digital and social media
marketing and others by the end year Vijay Thadani, CEO, NIIT Ltd, informed
that this initiative is aimed to provide students with convenience,
flexibility as well as the opportunity to learn a number of diverse skills.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/07/2013
TOP↑
Complaint
Cell for Women
A Complaints and Investigation Cell is has been started under
The National Commission for Women (NCW). It aims to deal with the complaints
received from the entire country wherein there is any deprivation of women’s
rights or any issue of injustice to women. The Complaints & Investigation
Cell processes complaints with the objective of providing adequate and
expeditious relief ensuring suitable redressal of grievances of these women.
A Non-Resident Indian (NRI) cell has been functioning in NCW since September,
2009. It deals with complains received from India and abroad resulting from
cross country marriages. NRI Cell largely adopts a convergence approach among
different Ministries and efforts are made to coordinate jointly on taking up
matters for the victims with respective authorities and take action depending
upon the nature of the complaint received such as summons to complainant,
take up matter with concerned police station, Indian Embassies, Passport
authorities etc.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/07/2013
TOP↑
SRI LANKA: Launching First South Asian 4G Mobile Service
Sri Lanka's Dialog
Axiata, a unit of Malaysia's
Axiata said it had launched commercial fourth generation mobile services in Colombo, making it the first in South
Asia. Dialog's service is based on frequency division - long
term evolution standard (FD-LTE) technology requiring paired bandwidth for
separate uplink and downlink channels. Dialog last week bought 10MegaHerts of
paired spectrum or 20MHz of raw bandwidth in an 1800MHz band auction from the
regulator for 3.2 billion rupees allowing it to launch the service. "It is indeed an honour and
privilege to lead Sri Lanka’s mobile industry in to the 4G era with the launch of Dialog’s 4G Mobile service in the city of
Colombo," group chief executive Hans Wijayasuriya said.
"The progressive spectrum management policies
of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka has once
again ensured that Sri Lankan consumers will enjoy the region’s most advanced
suite of Mobile,
Fixed and Nomadic 4G LTE
Services." Dialog's fixed access unit, Dialog Broadband Networks,
launched fixed fourth generation services in December 2012 using time
division - long term evolution (TD-LTE) which originally evolved in China
and does not require paired bandwidth. Dialog said its 4G mobile services will deliver peak data
speeds of 50Megabits per second on FD-LTE 1800MHz band 3 compatible mobile
devices. These included Samsung Note II LTE – GT-N7105, Samsung SIII – LTE,
LG Optimus LTE, Sony Xperia V LTE and the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE and the Huawei
E398U dongle. Dialog said it will sell the dongle at 16,000 rupees and will
also offer Huawei E3276S dongle later in April.
"Dialog will continue to invest aggressively in building
a world class portfolio of Broadband Services for our customers based on Mobile and Fixed LTE, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi and Fibre Optic
Connectivity," Wijayasuriya said. "We are singularly committed to
supporting the Government of Sri Lanka in its vision of empowering all Sri
Lankan citizens with broadband connectivity, and accordingly we will ensure
that our broadband services are available across Sri Lanka and affordable to
all." Director general of Sri Lanka's telecommunications
regulatory commission Anusha Pelpita told LBO last week that spectrum had
been kept affordable to allow cheaper services and spectrum sharing had also
been allowed. Dialog operates Sri
Lanka's largest mobile service with 7.8
million subscribers.
From
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com
04/02/2013
TOP↑
Srilankan
Airlines Introduces Self- Service Check-In Kiosks
SriLankan Airlines has introduced self-service check-in kiosks
at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake. Specially
designed for airlines and air travellers, self-service check-in kiosk is a
self-contained computer terminal which provides self-service check-in for
single or multiple airlines.Through kiosk,
Passengers can check-in by entering their ticket numbers/ booking reference /
FlySmiles membership numbers or scanning the barcode in the electronic
ticket. SriLankan Airlines has positioned staff near the kiosks to help
customers who would require any assistance to complete the check-in process.
The newest check-in option also allows the passengers to select and change
their seats, enter their FFP information, enter passenger information by
scanning the passport and print boarding passes. With kiosk, the passengers
carrying only hand luggage can proceed directly to immigration while those
with check-in luggage can drop their bags at the Bag Drop Counter located
just a few steps away from the kiosk terminals. With the stationing of kiosks
in alternate check-in locations, transactions are likely to become faster
while reducing the congestion at the airport check-in counters. These also
help utilize the employees for more in-depth customer relations and services.
Many world class airlines such as British Airways and Etihad and a few of the
world's busiest airports such Dubai, Heathrow and Singapore use self-service
check-in kiosks to make their services more diligent and efficient.
From
http://www.priu.gov.lk 05/07/2013
TOP↑
MALDIVES: Establishing Passenger Information System
At a ceremony held in the Male’ Ibrahim
Nasir International
Airport on Sunday afternoon, the
Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) installed by the Indian
government in Maldives
was formally handed over by the Indian High Commissioner to Maldives D M
Mulay to the Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali. The APIS will feed
advance information on the passengers travelling to and from Maldives, to the
Border Control System in the country, for use by the various enforcement
agencies in the country like the Immigration, Customs, Police and the
Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and thus will be a big step forward in
providing safe and efficient immigration service to the passengers travelling
to the country. Speaking after receiving the APIS, the Controller thanked the
people and government of India
for the extensive assistance provided in the development of Maldives and underlined that the
installation of the new system marks a “giant step” forward in the capability
of the Maldivian Immigration to provide better immigration service to the
travellers visiting the country. In his remarks, High Commissioner Mulay
described the handing over of the system as yet another milestone in the
bilateral development partnership that has grown from strength to strength
over the years. Acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim, senior officials of
the Department of Immigration, Aviation Security Command (MNDF), High
Commission of India and the technical team from National Informatics Center
(NIC), New Delhi which set up the system in Maldives
were also present on the occasion.
From
http://www.haveeru.com.mv 03/18/2013
TOP↑
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AZERBAIJAN: ICT Services Worth $300m Provided to Population
in Two Months
Information and communication services in the amount of $300
million were rendered to the Azerbaijani population and organizations in the
first two months of 2013. Azerbaijan's
State Statistics Committee reported on Friday that the figure exceeds that of
January-February 2012 by 16 percent. Most of the services -- 72.2 percent --
were provided to the population. During the reporting period, mobile
communication revenues made up 57.2 percent of the overall amount, which
exceeds the figure recorded in the same period of 2012 by 12.5 percent. In
2012, ICT revenues exceeded $1.7 billion, which is 18 percent more than in
2011. 2013, which was declared the year of information and communication
technologies in Azerbaijan
in accordance with a presidential decree, is promising in terms of the
development of the country's ICT sector.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 03/15/2013
TOP↑
Mobile ID Codes Registration to Begin in May
The system of IMEI code registration for mobile phones will be
applied in Azerbaijan
from May 1, according to the Ministry of Information and Communication
Technologies. IMEI, or the International Mobile Equipment Identity, is a
unique number to identify GSM, UMTS, LTE and iDEN mobile phones, as well as
some satellite phones. The IMEI number is used by a GSM network to identify
valid devices and designed for preventing stolen phones or those whose radiation
level does not comply with standing regulations from accessing the network.
In case a cellular phone is stolen, its owner may ask the network provider to
blacklist the phone using its IMEI number. Thus, the registration of IMEI
codes will help to prevent the use of stolen phones, as well as phones with
"broken" IMEI codes. The IMEI code is used only for identifying the
device and has no reference to the phone user as the subscriber is identified
by the transmission of an International Mobile Subscriber Identity number,
which is stored on a SIM card that can be transferred to any handset.
According to the new regulations, mobile phones brought to the
country for private usage in the network of the Azerbaijani mobile operators
are to be registered within a month after launching the system. These mobile
phones will be included in a database. The customs service and mobile
operators will control and register the mobile phones delivered to Azerbaijan.
When the database is created, checking the IMEI codes will become a mandatory
procedure during the purchase of mobile phones. The rule will not cover
tourists and visitors of the country, who are provided with roaming services
on their mobile phones. The registration system will be connected to a single
global blacklist of the GSM association, which will help to combat mobile
phone theft internationally. The system will be based at the Data Processing
Center under the communications ministry. Central bases were also created at
the State Customs Committee and in the Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic.
The IMEI code registration will be carried out in the service
centers of the GSM operators. The central office is expected to be set up at
the Khatai telecommunication hub in the capital Baku. Employees of the front offices and
call centers of the Azerbaijani mobile operators have undergone skills
trainings as part of the preparations for launching the project. In the
future, the IMEI codes registration is expected to be accessible in the
departments of the Azerbaijani postal operator. After starting the system, a
firmware to switch off the stolen and illegal mobile phones is to be
launched. The new system's software was developed by local specialists. Over
6 million devices imported to Azerbaijan,
which has population of more than 9.3 million people, are registered in the
database of IMEI codes.
Deputy Communications and IT Minister Iltimas Mammadov has
said all these devices are active in the network, and their number has been
dynamically increasing. He added that in total, over 10 million phones are to
be registered in the system. "Considering that many mobile communication
users have two or three phones, the estimated number of mobile phones will be
higher than the number of subscribers," Mammadov said. "It would be
hardly surprising when this number exceeds 14-15 million devices." In
the initial stage, the registration will cover only mobile phones, while
during the following stages all devices with SIM cards (subscriber identity
module) will be registered.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 03/18/2013
TOP↑
E-Signature
Is Now Available at Post Offices of Azerbaijan
The service of receiving applications for an electronic
digital signature is available across the entire network of Azerbaijani
postal operator Azerpoct LLC, the company told Trend on Thursday. Issuing of
e-signature is also being exercised via post offices after submission of the
application and committing the payment for the signature. EDS
prices vary depending on user categories, and its validity period.
EDS tariffs are following:
|
Usage period
|
EDS price for population
|
EDS price for public agencies
|
EDS price for natural and legal entities
engaged in entrepreneurial activity
|
|
1 year
|
14 AZN
|
80 AZN
|
60 AZN
|
|
2 years
|
22 AZN
|
114 AZN
|
|
3 years
|
30 AZN
|
168 AZN
|
|
The prices include VAT
|
It is possible to get a digital signature on the entire territory of Azerbaijan,
including Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic.
Detailed information on obtaining signatures is available by e-mail adress:
e-imza.az. The official exchange rate on March 27 is 0.7848 AZN / USD.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 03/28/2013
TOP↑
Minister:
Azerbaijan
Launched E-Visas Issuing Procedure
Up to 30 travel companies have been given the opportunity to
carry out the procedure of issuing e-visas for foreign nationals online for
arrival in Azerbaijan,
the Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev told journalists on
Thursday, "The visa issuing procedure via the Internet has already
started. We have chosen up to 30 companies which are now licensed and
arranged special courses for them," Garayev said. As from now he said,
tourists wanting to visit Azerbaijan
may submit their visa documents and pay the fees online. "It will
promote the tourist flow to Azerbaijan,"
Garayev said.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 04/04/2013
TOP↑
High-Tech Park
Construction Starts in Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani Communication and Information Technologies
Ministry reported that work on the construction of a high-tech park has
started in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree last November to establish
High Technology Park in the country. The park supposed to be a territory,
which has the necessary infrastructure, logistics, management structures for
the preparation of new and high technologies, research in the field of energy
efficiency, space and telecommunications, information technologies and
communications. According to the ministry, formation of the structure and
defining of the sphere of activity are envisaged in the frame of works, which
expected to complete by late this year. High-tech park will be located near
the capital and a relevant place of 20 hectares was allocated by the state
for this purpose. In the future, local and foreign IT-companies will be
involved in the high-tech park's activity. Research companies, startup
projects developers, production enterprises will be based in the park area.
The park's residents will enjoy favorable conditions.
Earlier in April, the government passed a decision on which
participants of the high-tech parks will be tax and customs duty-exempt for
seven years. One of the issues under discussion is to allow developers to
operate outside of the park, to create conditions for development of the
enterprises in the regions. Azerbaijan
is determined to strengthen the development of its economy, to transform it
in to the innovation economy based on the high technologies. ICT field plays
one of the leading roles in the non-oil sector of the country's economy and
the budget revenues it generates have been increasing year-on-year. Earlier,
Deputy ICT Minister Elmir Velizade said the creation of high-tech parks would
encourage young programmers and promote the software market of Azerbaijan.
2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan
and the ICT University was established under a
presidential order on February 2.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/12/2013
TOP↑
Registration
of Mobile Phone Codes to Be Available Online
A data processing center of Azerbaijan's Ministry of
Communications and Information Technologies plans to present the IMEI-code
online registration system, the center's head Nail Mardanov said on Monday.
IMEI, or the International Mobile Equipment Identity, is a unique number to
identify mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones. The IMEI number is
used by a GSM network to identify valid devices and designed for preventing
phone theft. The system of IMEI code registration for mobile phones was
launched in Azerbaijan
on May 1. Mardanov said the system of the online registration will be
available at the electronic government website e-gov.az. Currently, the
IMEI-codes registration is carried out at the Khatai telecommunication hub in
Baku and in
the central post office of the Azerbaijani postal operator Azerpost.
Gradually, the service will be available in other Azerpost offices.
Moreover, in the future the possibility to register IMEI codes
using SMS messages may be discussed, Mardanov said. Mobile phone companies
and state bodies of Azerbaijan
are involved in the IMEI code registration project. Control and registration
of the cellular phones brought to the country for private use in the networks
of the local mobile operators is carried out by the State Customs Committee,
while the communications ministry regulates the project. Imported mobile
phones are to be registered within a month after launching the system. The
codes will be registered in the service centers of GSM operators. The new
rule will not cover tourists and visitors of the country who are provided
with roaming services on their mobile phones.
The new system is aimed to solve two problems - stolen and
illegally imported phones. In case a cellular phone is stolen, its owner may
deliver a relevant police certificate and the network provider will blacklist
the phone using its IMEI number. Thus, the registration of IMEI codes will
help to prevent the use of stolen phones, as well as phones with
"broken" IMEI codes. The problem of illegal import will be solved
through the imei.az website where the user may check the IMEI code.
Registration of the mobile phones brought to the country for private usage
will be free of charge. The registration system is connected to a single
global blacklist of the GSM association, which will help to combat mobile
phone theft internationally. Currently, over 6 million devices imported to Azerbaijan,
which has population of more than 9.3 million people, are registered in the
database of IMEI codes. A total of over 10 million devices are expected to be
registered in the system.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/08/2013
TOP↑
Program on
Education System Informatisation to Be Applied in Azerbaijan
The Azerbaijani Education Ministry has developed a new state
program on education system informatisation for 2013-2020. The ministry
reported that the document was submitted for the Cabinet of Ministers
approval. According to the report, works in the frame of the previous
2008-2012 state program are completed and some 38,400 personal computers were
presented to schools during the four years. Currently, one personal computer
accounts for 16 students in Azerbaijan.
The index is expected to be reached one computer per five students in the
near future. Meanwhile, the localization of the educational program Vitamin
was mulled in Baku
at a meeting of a Turkish delegation, led by Chief Executive Officer of
telecommunications company Turk Telecom, Tahsin Yilmaz, with Azerbaijani
Communications and Information Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov on May 7.
Yilmaz said that the localization of the educational program
Vitamin by Turk Telecom could be a positive experience in the educational
system of Azerbaijan.
Vitamin, which is the interactive educational software, supports the
generalized application of educational technologies at schools. The meeting
also discussed the development of e-government, e-health, e-learning and
other e-services. Türk Telekom first offered Vitamin free of charge to 33,000
public primary schools during the 2008-2009 educational period.
Around 150,000 teachers used Vitamin, around 600,000
students have made free use of Vitamin up to the present day. Around 9
million students utilized Vitamin, which contains subjects like Mathematics,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Language & Expression and History, free of
charge until now.
2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan and the ICT University
was established under a presidential order on February 2. ICT is also applied
in the education system of the country. A new internet education portal for
schoolchildren, www.oxu.tv, was opened recently in Azerbaijan. Oxu.tv is a national
education project and a comprehensive internet television portal. The project
envisions broadcasting video lessons,which will
cover all school subjects taught in Azerbaijani schools and strengthen the
basis of secondary education in Azerbaijan, broadening school
students' opportunities to take classes on a high level. In January, the
Education Ministry also supported the idea for creation of a common
educational TV channel of Turkic speaking countries.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
Issuance
of Mobile Digital Signatures Starts in Azerbaijan
Official distribution of "ASAN-imza" mobile digital
signatures in Azerbaijan
starts on May 15, an official of the Ministry of Taxes has said. The Ministry
of Taxes started applying mobile digital signature services in the country
for the first time in early May. In an effort to prevent the current and
future challenges in the provision of e-services, a center for electronic
signature certification closely integrated with the automated tax information
system has been established under the ministry. According to the head of the
ministry's legal affairs department, Samira Musayeva, obtaining an electronic
signature is possible at the ASAN service center and taxpayer service centers
of the ministry. "To use the mobile digital signature it is necessary to
change the Sim-card. Azerbaijani mobile communication operators'
representatives will be working in the centers. The installation of the
application and the activation of the mobile digital signature will be
carried out both in the center for electronic signature certification under
the Ministry of Taxes and ASAN-Xidmet centers," Musayeva said.
The new platform of the mobile signature center is integrated
with the platforms of all three cellular operators of Azerbaijan. This service will
also be installed in new identity cards, which are to be issued in 2014.
Thus, the citizen will have his personal and electronic signature data stored
together. The digital IT card of the new center will ensure a transition to
enhanced electronic services. Unlike the previous e-signatures, the new
signature will work on all operating systems. Mobile digital signature may be
used on personal and portable computers as well as tablet PCs. While using
mobile digital signatures on mobile phones and PCs, the subscriber's cell
phone number is used, which receives two versions of PIN-codes. One of them
is used to confirm authentication, while the second one -- to sign the
document itself. After completing the operation, the mobile number of the
subscriber receives relevant confirmation.
The safety systems used in mobile signatures meet the latest
requirements as well as the requirements of the European guidelines,
therefore, the new signature will allow citizens and businessmen to carry out
international banking and financial transactions, to establish joint
ventures, as well as sign important documents. Minister of Taxes Fazil
Mammadov believes that since the new center is integrated with the mobile
signature center, access to e-signatures will be possible through any device.
This, in turn, will give an impetus to the development of the Internet and
mobile banking in the country and the expansion of non-cash payments. The
State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations and ASAN Service
Center No.1 were opened by President Ilham Aliyev on December 29. The state
agency was established to increase transparency in state bodies' activity,
render more high quality, convenient services to citizens by using new
methods and innovations, improve services and accelerate the transition to
electronic services.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/15/2013
TOP↑
KAZAKHSTAN: Foreigners Arriving Can Be Registered
Online
Foreign guests can now be registered through an e-government
in Kazakhstan,
the Ministry of New Technologies said today. "After signing in on the
website, the user fills out an online application by entering data," he
said. "An application is certified by the electronic digital signature
of a Kazakh citizen (a representative of the hosting side, who filled in the
online application.) A notification of registration which must be printed
will be sent to a user's personal account in the case of a positive reply or
refusal." One can register a foreign visitor on the e-government's
portal within 15 minutes if that person has one e-digital signature.
Meanwhile, while visiting the state department directly, this procedure will
take at least one working day and require three documents. This service is
available as a pilot scheme for individuals in all regions of the Kazakh Republic.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 03/14/2013
TOP↑
Railway
E-Tickets to Be Introduced in Kazakhstan
An automated passenger boarding monitoring system is being
introduced on the 'Kaspiy' train of the route 'Atyrau-Astana' this April, the
Press Service of 'Passenger Transportation' JSC reported on Wednesday.
"Passenger boarding is conducted using e-tickets; the monitoring of
passenger boarding is conducted automatically without printing a ticket
purchased on the Internet or at a self-service payment terminal," the
report says. Now it is enough for a passenger who bought a ticket online or
from a payment terminal to present the conductor their identification in the
presence of a token (electronic ticket). At the request of the passenger, the
conductor of the train can print out the ticket at the special terminal
equipment and give it him. Similar systems have already been introduced and
being used successfully at the following trains: No. 9/10 Astana-Almaty -
"Baiterek", No. 25/26 Almaty-Shymkent - "Ak sunkar", No
1/2 Astana-Almaty - "Tulpar."
From
http://en.trend.az/ 04/10/2013
TOP↑
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UNESCO
Explores Mobile Tech in Education
The United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began its
second Mobile Learning Week at its headquarters in Paris, France,
yesterday. The four day event aims to explore the role of mobile technologies
in achieving the Education for All goals of increasing education access,
quality and equality. The global Education for All (EFA) movement, led by
UNESCO, aims to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by
2015.164 governments pledged to achieve the six goals set under EFA, such as
Expanding and improving early childhood care, and achieving a 50 per cent
improvement in levels of adult literacy. Mobile Learning Week 2013 will focus
on three goals of the EFA – improving levels of adult and youth literacy,
improving the quality of education, and achieving gender parity and equality
in education.
Through a
two-day conference featuring keynote speakers and demonstrations of mobile
content and technology, a meeting of high-level government officials, and an
open webinar moderated by leading thinkers in the field of ICT in education,
the event will explore the potential of mobile technologies in the EFA goals.
The event is organised in partnership with Nokia, Microsoft, GSMA, Huawei and
Alcatel-Lucent. UNESCO has also launched a mobile app for users to obtain
information about the Mobile Learning Week, including details about the
programme, maps and directions to the venue and social media information.
Users can connect with the Mobile Learning Week through its Facebook page, or
by using the hashtag #mlw2013 on Twitter.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 02/19/2013
TOP↑
AUSTRALIA: City Police Connect with Citizens Online
The City
of Bundaberg in Queensland,
Australia,
launched myPolice Bundaberg, an online blog developed and maintained by
police officers. The blog, launched by Jack Dempsey, Minister for Police and
Community Safety of Queensland, aims to give the police a new channel of
connecting with citizens, and to enhance interaction between the police and
the public. The police department will regularly post information such as
crime prevention tips on the blog. “Through the blog, police officers are
able to share information about personal safety, keeping property securing
and also show comfit images or stills from CCTV to a wider audience”, said
Dempsey. Bundaberg Police District officer Superintendent Rowan Bond said the
launch of the blog was an opportunity for police to engage with the community
at a local and digital level. “myPolice Bundaberg
will give local police a stronger online presence, allowing them to
strengthen their bonds with the community and engage with them on a new
level”, he stated. Bond also mentioned that the blog could be used to give
residents timely information about situations such as evacuation notices,
road closures or weather conditions in Bundaberg. Residents can submit their
email addresses to receive notifications when the blog is updated and even
access information about police recruitment in Queensland. Several posts have already
been uploaded on the blog. Some posts include pictures of suspects and appeal
to the public to contact the police if they have any fresh information about
them.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 03/11/2013
TOP↑
Australia Leverages Robotics Technology for Education
Australian
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator
Stephen Conroy has unveiled a landmark project that trials robotics and broadband
technology for schools. This initiative enables on-line visitors at
nationwide schools to “visit” the prestigious Canberra-based Landmarks
Gallery at the National
Museum from designated
sites nationally. Students from The Cathedral School in Townsville (Queensland), Kiama
Primary School in Kiama (New South Wales), and an expert from the Melbourne Museum have just participated in a
live demonstration. School children were able to link up with an educational
robot sited at the National
Museum. This link
tapped into high-speed, fast-access broadband communications. This robot has
been developed by CSIRO. It is designed to shadow a museum guide during
virtual on-site tours. Students can participate in an interactive tour from a
computer terminal at their school or local library.
The
Director of the CSIRO’s Digital Productivity and Services Flagship, Dr Ian
Oppermann, said this technology has enormous potential for wide-ranging
applications. “While culturally significant sites and museums across the
globe could use this technology, our goal is to extend and export this
Australian technology as a platform for new applications in business, health
services, social services and mining,” Dr Oppermann said. The National Museum houses a range of treasurers,
including historical archives, prestigious art exhibits, as well as science
and technology displays. Access is currently available for schools and
libraries that are connected to the National Broadband Network. This project
enables multiple remote visitors to have their own “individual experience” of
exploring the National
Museum – while
interacting with their museum educator. Among the features, this robot is
designed with an end-user interface that enables a museum educator to ask
questions easily and see answers from multiple remote users.
The robot
is equipped with a 360 degree panoramic camera – while following a tour
guide. Broadband links connecting online visitors enable them to
independently control their view of museum exhibits. Motorised wheels, as well
as navigational and sensing capabilities, ensure the robot follows a guide,
while avoiding obstacles and pedestrians. Many Australians – especially at
remote locations –cannot easily visit national institutions. These include
museums, galleries and cultural spaces. When fully operational, this
educational service will support up to 16 students simultaneously over a
fibre connection. A typical NBN connection provides high-quality video, data
and audio streams from the National
Museum to each student
each using approximately a 10Mbps downlink. The video and audio for students
– from a school back to the museum – requires up to 2Mbps per user. For
wireless and satellite connections, the system supports a single user or a
class using a “Smart Board.”
From http://www.futuregov.asia 03/22/2013
TOP↑
Australian State Engaging Citizens Online
The State
Government of Queensland has launched an online questionnaire to allow
citizens to contribute to the development of the state’s 30 year plan. The
government posted six questions on the website of the Queensland Plan,
inviting residents to give their views on what they believe the short and
long-term priorities of the state should be, and how these goals can be
realised. The six questions were developed collaboratively at a summit held
recently to discuss the Queensland Plan. “The questions were developed from a
collaborative process involving more than 400 community, industry and
government representatives at the summit”, said Campbell Newman, Premier of
Queensland. “The answers to these questions will tell us where Queenslanders
want their state to be in 30 years’ time, detailing our priorities for the
future”, Newman stated.
The six
questions posted online for residents are:
# In the
context of living in the community, how do we move our focus from ‘me’ to
‘we’?
# How do
we create and foster an education culture that teaches skills and values to
meet global challenges and optimise regional strengths?
# How do
we empower and educate individuals, communities and institutions to embrace
responsibility for an active and healthy lifestyle?#
How do we structure our economy to ensure our children inherit a resilient
future?
# How do
we strengthen our economic future and achieve sustainable landscapes?
# How do
we attract and retain the brightest minds and ideas where they are most
needed and capitalise on global opportunities?
Residents
can also contribute to the plan by contacting their local member of
Parliament, or participating in community engagement events.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/14/2013
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Australian
Council Launches App for Fire Inspections
The
Department of Planning and Community Development in the Australian state of Victoria announced the
launch an iPad app to help residents build more fire-resilient homes.
Developed for the Alpine Shire Council, the local government of a community
in north-east Victoria,
the app will help council officers assess properties for fire risk, and
provide landowners with information about construction requirements. The app
communicates with a remote server using cloud technology to process
calculations based on land information, and can produce up to four plans that
the landowner can use when applying for a planning permit. The app is linked
to the planning permits system, consolidating all information on properties.
The app also uses GPS technology to accurately locate each property.
“Land use
planning, which takes into account natural hazard risks, is the single most
important mitigation measure in preventing future disaster losses in areas of
new development,” said Matthew Guy, Planning Minister. According to Darryl
Farmer, Fire Prevention Officer, Alpine Shire Council, the app halves the
time council officers usually spend on fire inspections of properties. The
app was developed by the Council using funding from Victoria’s Department of Planning and
Community Development.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/15/2013
TOP↑
Australian
Council Uncovers Environmental Icon with GIS
When
Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) decided to survey tree heights across the
region, no one imagined it would lead to the discovery of a new environmental
icon: Queensland’s
tallest tree. Dubbed ‘Big Bob’ – in honour of long-serving Sunshine Coast
councillor and mayor Bob Abbot – the 73 metre giant was found hidden in the
rugged forest of Connondale National Park, using a combination of GIS and
LiDAR technology. LiDAR – short for Light Detection and Ranging – is a remote
sensing technology that uses lasers to measure the distance between two
points. An airplane with LiDAR sensors can fly over a forest and ‘bounce’
light beams from the plane to the tree canopy or forest floor, to generate
highly accurate tree height and terrain property measurements. Traditionally,
LiDAR has only been able to produce simple, 2D images that were useful only
to highly trained technicians. However when coupled with cutting-edge GIS
technology from location intelligence specialists Esri Australia, 2D LiDAR
imagery can be mapped and transformed into incredibly detailed, highly
interactive 3D maps.
“The
result was an extremely accurate picture of what Conondale National Park
actually looks like – right down to the rocks and shrubs on the forest
floor,” Sunshine Coast Council geospatial analyst Toby Clewett said. “The
technology effectively created a digital forest – with different colours
representing varying tree heights and canopy levels. “It was by viewing
information in this way that we first identified Big Bob, which has since
been confirmed as the highest tree on record in Queensland.” With the Sunshine Coast’s
reputation for its environmentally sound development, Big Bob has since
become a symbol of Council’s efforts to make the Coast Australia’s most
sustainable region. “The existence of tree specimens this unique represents
the pinnacle of environmental sustainability and underlines the work SCC is
doing to conserve the region’s heritage,” Mr Clewett said. “The results
achieved through the GIS analysis have since been integrated into the new
Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme and the Biodiversity Report Card for
comprehensive baseline habitat mapping. This has helped us identify areas
that require protection or other types of intervention during development
applications. It will have wide-ranging positive effects on the future of
biodiversity on the Sunshine
Coast and ensure we
remain true to our heritage for generations to come.” The project has been
recognised as best practice in environmental management, with numerous energy
providers, insurance agencies, forestry operators and State Government
agencies looking to take a ‘leaf’ out of Big Bob’s book.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/15/2013
TOP↑
Australia Leverages Advanced GIS to Create National
Soil Database
Australia’s 7.69
million square kilometres of land is arguably its most valuable natural asset
– particularly when it comes to the nation’s food security. But this vast
landscape’s geographical diversity means developing and maintaining detailed,
accurate soil information – which is crucial to the effective management of
the agribusiness sector – is no easy feat. Traditionally, soil records have
only been available in hard copy and with soil data managed differently by
the states and territories, the records were sometimes difficult to locate.
To ensure the nation’s soil data could be properly maintained and accessed,
the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program (ACLEP) identified the
need for a nationally consistent and publically available land and soil
information system. ACLEP partnered with Esri Australia to overhaul existing
disparate information systems to develop an online portal for national soil
data management and delivery.
Using GIS
technology to literally map the geographic elements contained within the
data, ACLEP developed the Australian Soil Resource Information System (ASRIS)
– a publically accessible interactive mapping website. ASRIS is underpinned
by Australia’s
first comprehensive nationally consistent soil database which integrates land
and soil data from all state and territory databases. CSIRO Land
and Water Project Officer David Jacquier said GIS technology provides the
public and agribusiness stakeholders with instant access to essential land
and soil information. “By making all the country’s soil data available
through one mapping interface, ASRIS presents complex information in an
accessible format that transcends a user’s education, language and technical
experience,” Jacquier said. “Users select the area they’re interested in
learning about, and with a click of their mouse, they can see soil data and
information that previously might have taken hours or days to locate. ASRIS
mapping tools benefit a multitude of industries and individuals, including
government departments, agricultural groups, researchers, developers and the
broader community. Streamlining the way these stakeholders access soil data
is an enormous step towards our goal of better matching land use with land
suitability.”
ASRIS
contains seven levels of soil and land data – which can be switched on and
off depending on the detail of information required – and provides general
descriptions of soil types and landforms as well as more detailed information
on properties such soil depth, texture and acidity. Jacquier said by
streamlining access to soil information, ASRIS enhances regional growth and
sustainability by improving understanding of soils and ensuring suitability
for development. “Soil is a vital part of the equation in any development or
agricultural project as it determines to a large extent what the land is
suitable for,” he said. “Agricultural industries can use ASRIS to make
informed management decisions by considering soil related issues such as
water holding capacity, erodability or salinity. Developers can also use
ASRIS to identify soil types prior to building commencement, potentially
avoiding costly problems associated with excavation, swelling clays and
unstable land. It is information vital to our environmental sustainability –
and with GIS technology, this data is now more readily available in a useful,
consistent format.”
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/16/2013
TOP↑
FIJI: E-ticketing Compulsory for All Buses
IT is
compulsory for all buses in the country to have the new e-ticketing machines
installed and activated by the end of April this year. Land Transport
Authority chief executive officer Naisa Tuinaceva said concerns have been
raised that some bus companies do not want to use the new e-ticketing system.
"It is a law and has been legislated by government. Bus companies have
no second option but to implement the new system," Mr Tuinaceva said. He
said buses that do not have the e-ticketing consoles installed and activated
will not be allowed to operate.
From http://www.fijitimes.com 03/24/2013
TOP↑
NEW ZEALAND: Online Census Proves Popular
Citizens
of New Zealand
have enthusiastically used the option of filling in the 2013 census online.
The online option, introduced in the previous census in 2006, had been used
by more than 1.7 million citizens by 6 March, the
day after the census was released. Filling the form online is not only more
convenient for many residents, but also less time-consuming, since the online
form is automatically modified based on a respondent’s answers. “Statistics New Zealand’s census website operated without
any issues”, said Maurice Williamson, Statistics Minister of New Zealand.
“At its peak, it was handling about 130,000 forms per hour, well within the
system’s capacity”. Statistics New Zealand, the government
department responsible for conducting the census, aimed to have 35 per cent
of respondents, or 2 million people, use the online option for participating
in the census. In Australia,
30 per cent of forms were completed online in the 2011 census. The 2013 New Zealand
census is on its way to achieving its online target. The online form will be
live for at least a fortnight after census day. Citizens of New Zealand are legally required
to participate in the census, facing fine of up to $500 if they fail to
answer the survey.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 03/13/2013
TOP↑
NZ University to
Modernise Campus Network
University of Otago, New Zealand has
announced its decision to invest US$ 22 million over the next five year to
transform its campus network environment. The project will be in partnership
with Dimension Data who would modernise the school’s multi-campus LAN and
Wireless network in Dunedin, Invercargill, Christchurch, Wellington,
and Auckland.
“This will also be a major step towards achieving our broader IT operational
excellence objectives and will pave the way for the delivery of a more
responsive, agile service experience to our users to support teaching,
research and administration activities,” said Mike Harte, University of Otago
Director of Information Technology Services. He explained that students’
needs and expectations are changing, and we are investing to ensure that
Otago students receive a seamless ‘connected’ experience on campus.
“To
undertake this transformation, we needed a specialist partner that can
integrate a state-of–the-art network and also help us provide the service
availability and proactive support that our users expect,” he added. The University of Otago is ranked the 8th largest
organisation on the New Zealand Management Information System (MIS) Top 100
ICT users. The school had over 21,000 students enrolled during 2011. The
total population of New
Zealand is about 4.4 million.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 04/26/2013
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Security
Remains a Top investment Priority for IT amid Mobile
Workplace Evolution
As enterprises evolve to become more mobile and, in essence,
geographically limitless, IT decision makers are continuing to grapple with
reducing complexity and balancing investment against cost-cutting, but they
are committed to addressing core IT challenges such as security threats.
That’s the word from Cisco’s TechWatch 2013 report, which found that this
year IT decision makers will look to pave the way for greater connectivity by
investing in IT infrastructure and collaboration technologies. IT
decision-makers face numerous market evolutions that are challenging and
testing IT infrastructure and networks. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends,
cloud computing and big data have seen end users become increasingly
demanding with the experiences they expect to receive. At the same time,
next-generation workspaces will be a reality for three in four (76%)
businesses by 2016, which are investing in new technologies to enable
distributed working environments. The IT department is under pressure to
carefully manage these growing trends, but there remains the need to balance
investment against streamlining and security. “In 2013 we can expect to see
IT get back to basics,” said Ian Foddering, CTO at Cisco UK and Ireland. “The macro challenges
which IT decision-makers face are clear and well-defined, but what TechWatch
shows us is how IT intends to meet these challenges. The research shows us
that whilst cost-cutting and reducing complexity is important, creating an
environment where IT can support – or indeed drive – innovation within the
business is paramount. The IT department is more crucial now to future
development than ever before.”
He said that three key pillars have emerged: simplify, protect and change and grow.
“Get the first two right, and you pave the way for
innovation, greater connectivity, next-generation workspaces and ultimately a
shift towards the ‘Internet of Everything,’” he added. After network
performance (51%), businesses said that increased security threats (48%
enterprises, 44% SMEs) are the most significant challenges facing businesses
over the next 12 months. Thus, improving IT security (60% enterprises, 55%
SMEs) is one of the main spending priorities over the coming 12 months,
surpassed only by reducing overall IT costs (60% enterprises, 56% SMEs).
“There is overwhelming support for greater remote working, and it is
encouraging that businesses are taking measures to protect important
information and help maximize data security,” Foddering continues. “This is
essential if, as the research shows, 76% of all businesses intend to operate
as future workspaces in the next three years. However, simplifying and
protecting an organization’s infrastructure can only take you so far. In
order for businesses to prepare themselves for the future, they must be
willing to embrace change and use it to drive, rather than inhibit, growth.”
The security landscape will most certainly change profoundly.
Within the next three years, 76% of companies think operations in their
organization will be structured on the basis of the most efficient use of
skills and resources, regardless of where they are located – 15% say this is
already happening. This is reflected in terms of technology investment:
enterprises are more likely to have deployed collaborative software (79%) and
network performance management (78%), but both enterprises and SMEs have
prioritized the investment of remote access technology (78% and 77%,
respectively). Foddering concludes, “The network lies at the heart of much of
this change. Networking performance was found to be the greatest challenge
facing IT at the moment, up significantly (15%) amongst enterprises compared
to 2011. Organizations will need to work closely with strategic partners,
like Cisco, who understand the needs of the public and private sector and who
can guide them through change, if they are to successfully solve today's
business problems and shape their organization for the future.”
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
03/07/2013
TOP↑
Cybersecurity
Challenges in 2013
Network World (US)Tweet The security
issues affecting businesses are similar around the world. Most involve
employees innocently bringing an infected personal mobile device into the
corporate network, or clicking on a social media link that looks harmless but
hides a Trojan or worm that will secretly steal data and money and,
potentially, remain undetected with severe impact on security of the infected
device. The security issues affecting businesses are similar around the
world. Most involve employees innocently bringing an infected personal mobile
device into the corporate network, or clicking on a social media link that
looks harmless but hides a Trojan or worm that will secretly steal data and
money and, potentially, remain undetected with severe impact on security of
the infected device. And while this this year will see more of that, we will
also see major cybersecurity challenges to businesses coming from an increase
in exploit kits, an increase in mobile device cybersecurity threats, and more
sophisticated threats in general. Let's dive deeper: - Increase in exploit kits:
Exploit kits represent the dark but massively profitable side of
cybersecurity attacks. Exploit kits comprise malicious programs. They quickly
identify and then attack cyber vulnerabilities and spread malware.
Exploit kits are created, sold and rented on the black market.
We predict they will be increasingly used because of their ease of deployment
(rental model) and ease and speed of infection they deliver. The impact of
these attacks will be felt in loss of data, IP, identify theft, financial
fraud and theft, as well as in diminished business productivity and
continuity. We expect to see exploit kits targeting Windows 8, Mac OS X and
mobile devices, particularly Android-based, in 2013 as these three targets
represent fast-growing segments used by corporates and consumers alike to
transact communications, business and commerce. The growth of malware will
continue at an explosive pace. In 2012, Dell SonicWALL identified nearly 16
million unique malware samples through its GRID (Global Response Intelligent Defense
system) compared to 13.5 million in year 2011. Already, there are around
44,000 new malware samples every day. - Increase in mobile cybersecurity
vulnerability: The adoption of near field communication technology for mobile
payment systems makes mobile platforms an attractive target for financially
motivated cybercrimes. And the increased use of personal devices in
businesses -- thanks to trends like BYOD (bring your own device) -- creates
entirely new cybersecurity issues, from loss of company data and IP, to
financial threat and non-compliance issues, to name a few. As social media
continues to be adopted universally for personal and business purposes alike,
malware will increase dramatically across Facebook, Twitter and Skype in
2013. This triple threat threatens targeted mobile devices at the point of
commerce, through their access to corporate networks and through their access
to social media channels. It will be particularly dangerous and become more
advanced and prevalent. [Also see: "Who owns that Twitter
account?"]
- Increase in sophistication of cyberattacks: Last year we saw
cybercriminals abandon older scareware methods such as fake antivirus scams
and move over to ransomware scams. We expect to see this continue and become
more global and multilingual, which also represents a growing threat to Latin
Ameria. Ransomware attacks lock down a computer, device or service and holds
the data hostage, or even threatens court action if the user does not pay.
These are very devious attacks that are embedded deep into the computer or
device and it is nearly impossible for an average user to regain control over
his own system and data. The sophistication and
ability to attack and paralyze websites will continue to grow at dramatic
pace. For example in 2011, there were 1,596,905 DDoS (distributed
denial-of-service) attacks compared to 120,321,372 in 2012. As businesses of all
sizes continue to move services and infrastructure to the cloud, the issue of
DDoS will be high on many agendas at it has the potential to quickly cripple
entire cloud infrastructures. Viruses, trojans, worms and ransomware do not
differentiate between a large or small business. They represent the same
risk, no matter if you have a lot or only very little budget to invest in
network security. Irrespective of the size of your business, these threats
can mean loss of profitability and productivity, loss of data and financial
assets, and potentially catastrophic loss of business continuity. It is
likely that small businesses are more likely to fall pretty to these attacks,
because they do not have the budget, IT infrastructure or support that a
large business can afford. On the other hand, the more people a business
employs, the greater the vulnerability of its network.
Steps to take
The most important steps for a business of any size to protect
itself from cyberattacks is to be aware of the most obvious and dangerous
variants. Second, it is key to educate employees how
to recognize and avoid accidentally bringing a virus/malware/trojan into the
corporate network. A recent survey by Dell SonicWALL customers shows that 68%
of all businesses reported that employees cannot identify fraudulent attacks
on the corporate network. It is the dirty little secret of the beautiful
world of social networks and mobile device interconnectedness that they are a
breeding ground for malware and Internet criminals. Many businesses believe
their existing firewalls will protect them from an attack. The reality,
however, is that old firewalls pose a serious security risk to organizations
today. First-generation firewalls technology has become obsolete as it fails
to inspect the data payload of network packets circulated by today's Internet
criminals. To prepare and protect from the massive growth in social media,
applications, BYOD and multi-media files flowing through a corporate network,
entirely new technology is needed. It is today's next-generation firewalls
that include advanced technology such as application intelligence and
control, intrusion prevention, malware protection and SSL inspection at
multi-gigabit speeds, scalable to support the highest-performance networks
and protect them effectively from the modern threats every user of email or
the Internet encounters on a daily basis. If an organization does business
anywhere on the Internet, it is likely not a question of if, but when it will
be targeted by cybercriminals. While no protection is ever perfect, there is
much that business can do to minimize and deflect the impact of these
potential threats. Especially, the IT organization should closely collaborate
with the company leadership to identify vulnerabilities lie, prepare with
appropriate countermeasures including advanced high-performance,
high-redundancy network security components, and educate employees for the
best possible defense and protection of business assets.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/08/2013
TOP↑
World
Bank Support to Build Safety Nets in Low-Income Countries
The World Bank announced today that financing for social
safety net programs in low-income countries has reached a record high. Bank
support for building safety nets from the International Development
Association (IDA) – the Bank’s fund for the poorest countries -reached $769
million last fiscal year, an eight-fold increase over the past decade.
Overall Bank financing for safety nets in both low- and middle-income
countries totaled $6.7 billion over the past three years. “Every year, safety
nets in developing countries lift over 50 million people from absolute
poverty,” said Keith Hansen, World Bank Acting Vice President, Human
Development Network. “The Bank is
committed to helping countries build effective and affordable safety net
systems needed to end poverty, build shared prosperity, and protect access to
health, education, and other basic social services.” The Bank-managed Rapid
Social Response (RSR) Program has been supporting efforts in low-income
countries to construct and assemble critical building blocks for safety nets
and related social protection systems, leading to enhanced country capacity,
effectiveness, and efficiency in protecting their people from poverty and
economic shocks. Since the
creation of the RSR in 2009, the Russian
Federation, Norway,
the United Kingdom (UK), Australia
and Sweden
have contributed a total of more than US$70 million to support 83 projects in
42 countries that together have an estimated 1.6 billion poor and vulnerable
people. The RSR has played a
catalytic role in 15 of 22 IDA-eligible countries that have started plans for
comprehensive safety nets. Today the UK announced an additional £15
million (US$23 million equivalent) in support of the RSR. “What happens
across the world matters more than ever for the UK, and our support for the World
Bank’s RSR Fund means we are investing in jobs, opportunities, and peace. It
will help governments in developing countries start to develop the strong
economies and strong societies of the future,” said Justine Greening, UK
Secretary of State for International Development. At least 60 percent of
people in developing countries – and nearly 80 percent in the poorest
countries - currently lack effective social safety net coverage to protect
them against sudden shocks and chronic poverty.
From
http://www.worldbank.org/ 04/19/2013
TOP↑
58%
Information Security Incidents Attributed to Insider Threat
The consumerization of computing has changed the IT landscape.
Employees can and do now access corporate data from a multitude of devices in
a multitude of locations. Where the ‘insider threat’ was once posed only by
the occasional malcontent employee, it is now comes from every naive employee
on the payroll. “The genie of company data,” Guy Bunker, Senior vice
president of products at Clearswift, suggested to Infosecurity, “is out of
the bottle. In the old days,” he explained, “company data sat on a server in
the data center protected by access control and perimeter defenses. Now its everywhere.” He was explaining the findings of the
Clearswift report, The Enemy Within: an emerging threat, which seeks to
quantify a known but not really understood contemporary issue: the insider
threat. Clearswift had commissioned Loudhouse “to identify the extent to
which internal security threats are affecting UK organizations and, in turn,
how these are being managed.” The result shows an anomaly: while company and
media discussion – and company spend – is focused on external threats from
hackers and malware, more than half of all security incidents (58%) can be
attributed to the wider insider family: employees (33%), ex-employees (7%)
and customers, partners or suppliers (18%). One of the biggest problems, suggests Bunker, is the way business is
conducted today – anywhere, anytime, any device: the BYOD phenomenon.
“End user expectations,” says the report, “combined with their
desire for greater flexibility and autonomy, has
seen organizations attempt to empower employees whilst balancing their
security priorities.” But the IT department is struggling. Eighty-seven
percent of IT leaders (93% in the finance industry) believe the use of new
technology requires constant change and evolution within security policy; but
72% admit to difficulty in keeping up. “The survey shows,” Bunker told
Infosecurity, “that companies are realizing that BYOD presents a risk,
whether it’s from mobile devices attached to the network, or USB and other
secondary storage or services people put data on, and which then goes
walkabout.” But many companies simply do not know how to handle this risk.
Only 31% of organizations are accepting or proactively managing BYOD – the
rest are resisting and blocking access where possible (52%) or denying it
altogether (11%). This is despite the belief by half (53%) of the respondents
that users will continue to use their own devices on the network, whether it
is sanctioned by IT or not. “Even where there is a policy,” added Bunker, “it
probably covers around only 20% of the things that it needs to cover.” The
problem is that security traditionally defends devices and perimeters – but
with the proliferation of BYOD, cloud, social networks and multi-user
collaboration, there is no longer a perimeter to defend, and the devices
cannot always be protected. “It doesn’t require the user to have any
malicious intent,” said Bunker, “he or she could simply lose it and there’s a
breach in the offing.” The solution, he suggests, is to get down and dirty
with the information itself: to understand what information is sensitive or
confidential together with the context in which it is sensitive and
confidential, and to secure the information in context. That way, it doesn’t
matter whether the threat is internal or external, because what matters – the
information – is secured.
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
05/03/2013
TOP↑
Cyberthreats Pose Unsettling
Cyber-Consequences
"How much damage could a group of well-trained hackers
do, economic and otherwise, if they really wanted to?" That's the
question posed by online news outlet Quartz, in a recent article
that looks at former U.S. Department of Homeland Security official Paul
Rosenzweig's book Cyber Warfare: How Conflicts in Cyberspace Are Challenging
America and Changing the World. Recent well-publicized hacks into the
Department of Labor's website and the Twitter account of the Associated Press
are described as amateur and relatively benign. What could happen, then, if
the guilty parties were well-trained with malicious intent to cause as much
damage as possible? Rosenzweig offers a series of frightening possibilities
for widespread disruption from sophisticated hacking groups:
- Hacking into
well-known sources to spread false information about a volatile
international situation. Such an event could have a major impact on
global financial markets that could take several days to correct.
- Disrupting the New York, London or
Tokyo
stock exchanges by interfering with current trades or past trading
records.
- Interfering with
the satellite navigation system, impacting GPS systems, missile accuracy
and disrupting commercial and military air traffic.
“All of these are very, very real vulnerabilities,” Rosenzweig
told Quartz, adding that some groups would likely carry out disruptions of
this magnitude today if they could.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 05/08/2013
TOP↑
Global
Network of Hackers Steals $45M
from ATMs
The sophistication of a global network of thieves who drained
cash machines around the globe of an astonishing $45 million in mere hours
sent ripples through the security world, not merely for the size of the
operation and ease with which it was carried out, but also for the threat
that more such thefts may be in store. Seven people were arrested in the U.S., accused of
operating the New York cell of what
prosecutors said was a network that carried out thefts at ATMs in 27
countries from Canada to Russia.
Law enforcement agencies from more than a dozen nations were involved in the
investigation, U.S.
prosecutors in New York
said Thursday. "Unfortunately these types of cybercrimes involving ATMs,
where you've got a flash mob going out across the globe, are becoming more
and more common," said Rose Romero, a former federal prosecutor and
regional director for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "I
expect there will be many more" of these types of crimes, she said.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, who called the theft "a massive
21st-century bank heist," announced the case Thursday in New York.
Here's how it worked:
Hackers got into bank databases, eliminated withdrawal limits
on pre-paid debit cards and created access codes. Others loaded that data
onto any plastic card with a magnetic stripe — an old hotel key card or an
expired credit card worked fine as long as it carried the account data and
correct access codes. A network of operatives then fanned out to rapidly
withdraw money in multiple cities, authorities said. The cells would take a
cut of the money, then launder it through expensive purchases or ship it
wholesale to the global ringleaders. Lynch didn't say where they were located.
It appears no individuals lost money. The thieves plundered funds held by the
banks that back up prepaid credit cards, not individual or business accounts,
Lynch said. Ori Eisen, a cybercrime expert and founder of 41st Parameter, a
fraud detection and prevention firm, said the $45 million heist was on the
"high-end" of what can be done by cybercriminals who exploit
banking systems connected to the Internet.
"Given the scale of the global credit card networks, it
is almost impossible to detect every kind of attack," he said.
"This attack is not the last one, and if the modus operandi proves to be
successful crooks will exploit it time and again." There were two
separate attacks in this case, one in December that reaped $5 million
worldwide and one in February that snared about $40 million in 10 hours with
about 36,000 transactions. The scheme involved attacks on two banks, Rakbank
in the United Arab Emirates
and the Bank of Muscat in Oman,
prosecutors said. Such ATM fraud schemes are not uncommon, but the $45
million stolen in this one was at least double the amount involved in
previously known cases, said Avivah Litan, an analyst who covers security
issues for Gartner Inc. Middle Eastern banks and payment processors are
"a bit behind" on security and screening technologies that are
supposed to prevent this kind of fraud, but it happens around the world, she
said. "It's a really easy way to turn digits into cash," Litan
said.
Some of the fault lies with the ubiquitous magnetic strips on
the back of the cards. The rest of the world has largely abandoned cards with
magnetic strips in favor of ones with built-in chips that are nearly
impossible to copy. But because U.S. banks and merchants have
stuck to cards with magnetic strips, they are still accepted around the
world. Lynch would not say who masterminded the attacks globally, who the
hackers are or where they were located, citing an ongoing investigation. The New York suspects were U.S.
citizens originally from the Dominican Republic
who lived in the New York City suburb of Yonkers. They were
mostly in their 20s. Lynch said they all knew one another and were recruited
together, as were cells in other countries. They were charged with conspiracy
and money laundering. If convicted, they each face 10 years in prison. The
accused ringleader in the U.S.
cell, Alberto Yusi Lajud-Pena, was reportedly killed in the Dominican Republic late last
month, prosecutors said. More investigations continue and other arrests have
been made in other countries, but prosecutors did not have details.
An indictment unsealed Thursday accused Lajud-Pena and the
other seven New York
suspects of withdrawing $2.8 million in cash from hacked accounts in less
than a day. Arrests began in March. Lajud-Pena was found dead with a suitcase
full of about $100,000 in
cash, and the investigation into his death is continuing separately.
Dominican officials said they arrested a man in the killing who said it was a
botched robbery, and two other suspects were on the lam. The first federal
study of ATM fraud was 30 years ago, when the use of computers in the
financial community was growing rapidly. At the time, the Bureau of Justice
Statistics found nationwide ATM bank loss from fraud ranged from $70 and $100
million a year. By 2008, that had risen to about $1 billion
a year, said Ken Pickering, who works in security intelligence at CORE
Security, a white-hat hacking firm that offers security to businesses. He
said he expects news of the latest ring to inspire other criminals.
"Once you see a large attack like this, that they made off with $45
million, that's going to wake up the cybercrime community," he said.
"Ripping off cash, you don't get that back," he said. "There
are suitcases full of cash floating around now, and that's just gone."
From
http://news.yahoo.com/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
Cyberdefense
a Major Part of Asian Security
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called defending against
cyberattacks a major part of maintaining security in Asia, and said Washington is forming working groups with China and Japan to address the issue. U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry called defending against cyberattacks a major
part of maintaining security in Asia, and said Washington
is forming working groups with China
and Japan
to address the issue. "Some of the most serious cyber threats to businesses
emanate from this region, and they threaten the entire global economy,"
said Kerry, who spoke Monday at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. "That
is precisely why we have established a cyber working group with Japan and another with China, in order to insure that
the Asia-Pacific will be part of the solution," he said. Internet
security is quickly becoming a major issue in international relations, specially in east Asia. When U.S.
President Barack Obama met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, cybersecurity
was one of the topics discussed, with Abe welcoming cooperation from the U.S.
In comments made Saturday in Beijing, Kerry said he met with Chinese
leadership. In addition to other security issues, the two sides "also
discussed cyber security, and we agreed there also that we will create an
immediate working group because cyber security affects everybody." The U.S. is setting up the working group as China
has been repeatedly blame for cyberattacks against
international firms. China,
in response, has denied backing any hacking attacks, and instead called on
other nations to cooperate on Internet security. Major cybersecurity talks
between U.S. and Japan
are set for next month, according to Japanese media, including the
possibility of tackling the issue under the countries' close military
alliance. Japan's parliament, space agency, major weapons makers like
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and prominent firms including Sony have all
fallen victim to online attacks in recent years.
South Korea said
earlier this month that its military will cooperate with U.S. forces to strengthen the
country's defenses against online attacks. That announcement came after a
massive series of cyberattacks paralyzed computer networks at several South
Korean banks and broadcasters, with many in the country openly speculating
that they were launched by North Korean hackers. Kerry's comments on Monday
came as part of a broader public speech that addressed regional issues such
as recent tensions with North Korea
and the creation of a broad trade agreement with Japan. He has met with national
politicians and heads of business in several Asian countries on his trip,
including Japan's
top leadership. He also stressed the need to embrace environmental
technologies and alternative sources of energy to address global warming,
calling the issue "one of the most obvious shared challenges on the face
of this planet."
"To grow smart, we have to be willing to try new
things," he said. Kerry repeatedly stressed that a new approach to
environmental issues will also create business opportunities. Ten years ago,
Chinese investment in energy-related projects in the U.S. totaled US$1 million, he
said, a figure that grew to $9 billion last year. Kerry pointed out that
Japanese leaders seeking to rebuild the country's northeast coast, much of
which is still in shambles two years after being devastated by a major
earthquake and tsunami, have turned to the U.S. for help and advice. But he
also said the U.S.
can learn from its main Pacific ally in environmental issues. "It takes
the average Japanese household about three years to use as much energy as an
American household uses in just one year. We have to do better," he
said.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 04/15/2013
TOP↑
EUROPE: Cyber Attackers Continue to Target Czech
Sites
The cyber attacks that hit Czech websites last week continued
this week, but this time authorities know who some of the culprits are. “The
attack this week was made by a group called Czechurity and they really wanted
to be visible. They wanted to show that the (denial-of-service) attacks from
last week are less important, that they can do a much better job,” Ondrej
Filip, the chief executive of CZ.NIC and the man who essentially oversees
Czech Internet, told Radio Prague.
“We drew a lot of lessons from these weeks and we are not preparing
for a similar type of attack but rather for a much bigger and broader
attack.” The attacks began on 4 March, disabling various media outlet
websites, followed by the Prague Stock exchange and the Czech National Bank.
The latest attack was against the website of the Czech bank UniCredit on 11
March. Earlier, the sites were hobbled by denial-of-service attacks, which
overload servers with requests, leading to an overload of activity. Most of
the attacks of the last week are believed to have come from a variety of
sources, mostly abroad. But the latest attack was not of the same type, and
while authorities know the group behind the UniCredit cyber attack, the
previous ones remain a mystery. The damage caused by the attacks is
reportedly temporary but has cast doubt on the country’s cyber security.
From
http://netprophet.tol.org/ 03/17/2013
TOP↑
SPAIN: To Welcome the New Industrial Cybersecurity
Center
Spain is
addressing vulnerabilities in the cyber-hardiness of its critical information
and communication technologies with the upcoming launch of the Industrial
Cybersecurity Center (ICC). The new center's mission statement is to address
industrial cybersecurity as "the set of practices, processes and
technologies, designed to manage cyberspace's risk associated to the
management, process, storage and transmission of information used by industrial
infrastructures, from the points of view of people, processes and
technologies.” When it opens its doors in June, it plans to a play a key role
in Spanish society and economy, its promoters said. “It is known that most of
our essential services and corporations depend on ICT for its normal
operation, but it is not so widely known that essential services depend on
industrial systems,” security professionals and ICC backers Samuel Linares,
Ignacio Paredes and José Valiente said, in a statement. “In fact, these
systems are the ones responsible of controlling cooling towers and electric
generators, which provide power and fire extinguishing capabilities among
many other features.”
They added, “Industrial systems are the basis of critical
infrastructure and therefore of the nation's essential services, and this
fact has made industrial systems a main target in cyber-terrorism and even
cyber-war, new aspects of well-known conflicts that have expedited the
development of cyber-weapons focused on exploiting vulnerabilities of
industrial control systems.” The three organizers are looking to foster
additional levels of awareness on the issue throughout the ecosystem, by
taking stock of the existing state of industrial cybersecurity, its
stakeholders and market requirements, as well as successes and failures in
Europe and the US.
Its primary goal will be information-sharing and developing best practices,
and to that end, will release five documents this year, including the Spanish
Industrial Cybersecurity Roadmap, the Current State of Industrial
Cybersecurity in Spain
and the Template of Cybersecurity Requirements for Service Suppliers. Also
during 2013, the ICC will organize four events called The Voice of the
Industry and the first Industrial Cybersecurity Ibero-American Summit. It
will also create sector-focused workgroups that initially will focus on
energy, chemical, water and transport. The ICC is independent and nonprofit,
and “aims to be the independent meeting point for public and private
organisms and for professionals involved in industrial cybersecurity
technologies,” it said. “It also seeks to become the Spanish-speaking
reference for information and experience interchange.”
From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
03/05/2013
TOP↑
NORTH
AMERICA: Canada
- International Experts to Debate How Nations Can Tackle Cyber Threats
OTTAWA — Fears over digital threats to Canada’s critical
infrastructure — concerns that may be misplaced — are fuelling an arms race
that experts believe countries need to better control, especially after the
discovery of a powerful online surveillance tool on a Canadian commercial
server. Federal law prohibits the sale or transfer of technology that would
allow anyone to hack into a computer or network. Domestic law enforcement
agencies, such as local police and the RCMP, are responsible for enforcing
the law in Canada;
the Canada Border Services Agency polices the import and export of such
technology. Experts suggest that traditional ways of thinking about arms
control can’t apply to cyberspace, where passing software around the world
can be done easily and beyond the control of governments. “We’re in a classic
arms race,” said Ron Deibert, director of Citizen Lab, an elite research
centre that monitors how countries use cyberspace. “That’s a pretty dangerous
situation to be in when we’re talking about the domain of war fighting not
being the land, sea or space, but the ecosystem of information.”
International experts will gather Monday in Toronto to
determine how nations can regulate a market where private companies are
developing products and countries are developing digital capabilities, with
all concerned that doing nothing could lead to a cataclysmic event that could
take down networks controlling power grids or water systems. That worse-case
scenario has materialized into a phrase top American defence officials have
used repeatedly in the last few months: A “cyber Pearl
Harbor.” Those fears, however, may be misplaced, according to a
Department of National Defence briefing note. That briefing note, sent to
Canada’s top soldier in April of last year, paraphrased panelists at a CSIS
security forum who argued that a cyber-attack taking out large portions of a
the country’s critical infrastructure “would be very difficult.” “The
complexity of the U.S.
power grid would make it very difficult for any entity to commit a cyber
attack that would cause it to shut down entirely,” said the briefing note.
”An attack on the grid would likely only affect an isolated area and would be
aimed more at undermining a population’s confidence in essential public services than
crippling the economy.” Postmedia News obtained the briefing note under the
access to information law.
“There are a lot of people who benefit from hyping the
situation and using the fear of these threats to defend huge defence
expenditures or civil liberties’ violations,” Deibert said. One such piece of
technology was revealed last week to have made it way onto a Canadian
network. The discovery by Citizen Lab researchers of a product called
FinFisher,raised questions about how the software
made its way to Canadian commercial servers, and more questions about who was
using it and for what ends. As the name suggests, the program allows its
owners to gain sweeping access to personal computers, private emails and
conversations — all without the knowledge of the target. “What you’re seeing
here is that the rule of law doesn’t really apply,” said Tom Kellermann, a
vice-president of cyber-security for IT firm Trend Micro. ”Right now you have
this ‘lord of war,’ arms bizarre of cyber-weaponary.” In response, countries
have created military units dedicated not only to defending domestic networks
from attacks through cyberspace, but also having the capability of launching
a digital strike against an enemy. Last week, the head of U.S. Cyber Command,
Gen. Keith Alexander, told American legislators that his “defend-the-nation
team” is also “an offensive team” that would “defend the nation if it were
attacked in cyberspace.”
Developing and trading the technology allowing for attacks on
portions of, for instance, the power grid, has been made possible largely
because countries have yet to agree on an international framework to control
to trade of such technology, or agreed upon punishments for hackers who steal
or destroy information on target computers. “The real problem that nation
states have right now is that you’ve emboldened the non-state actors of the
world to realize this (attack) is plausible,” Kellermann said. “This is a
tremendously significant shift because of the lack of international
cooperation and prosecution.” Deibert said experts coming to the University of Toronto event Monday are split on how
to approach the matter. Some argue that regulation would be futile unless
every country in the world agrees to the same norms. Others argue that
focusing on technology misses the real problem of why the technology is being
used. “It’s possible for both to be right. It’s something that at least
(requires) some considered dialogue,” he said.
From
http://www.canada.com/ 03/17/2013
TOP↑
U.S.: How Many Cyberattacks Hit the United States
Last Year?
Thanks to the warnings of senior lawmakers and Obama
admiistration officials, Americans are growing more aware of online
vulnerabilities that could lead to a “cyber Pearl Harbor”
attack. By definition, such a catastrophe would be extraordinarily rare, its
chances perhaps no more than one in a ... what, exactly? It’s hard to talk
about odds when the pool of minor cyberincidents is growing larger every day.
Depending on when it arrives, the first major cybervent against the United States
could be a one-in-2 million incident or a one-in-10-trillion incident. But
noise from garden-variety hacks shouldn't just be ignored in a broader search
for the next 9/11. Understanding those day-to-day online skirmishes can help
reveal the scale of the broader problem. The Homeland Security Department
runs a national clearinghouse of cyberthreat information known as the U.S.
Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT. Part of its job is to track
cyberincidents, which DHS defines as violations of an organization’s security
policy. That could include unauthorized attempts to access a network, DDoS
attacks, or other nasty behavior.
In 2007 -- the year that Twitter was founded -- US-CERT
received almost 12,000 cyberincident reports. That number had more than
doubled by 2009, according to new statistics from theGovernment
Accountability Office (PDF), and it had quadrupled by 2012. We're learning of
more attacks, more often. From a certain point of view, this is a good thing:
Growing awareness means improved detection. More than two-fifths of the
cyberincidents reported by federal agencies last year were attempts to access
U.S.
networks or propagate malicious code. And here’s something else: The
incidence of denial-of-service attacks that disable a website with bogus
traffic was hardly worth mentioning. Remember when hackers from Anonymous
managed to take down the CIA’s website last February? Despite the breathless
news coverage of that event, it was dwarfed by the number of other incidents
the government recorded. And these are just the ones the government knows
about. All of which is to say that the universe of cyberincidents is
gigantic, and that by focusing so closely on The Next Big Attack, the United States
risks failing to connect the dots -- again.
I’ll leave you with some additional recent numbers on
cyberintrusions, as reported by various actors:
The energy company BP says it suffers 50,000 attempts
cyberintrusion a day.
The Pentagon reports getting 10 million attempts a day.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, an arm of the
Energy Department, also records 10 million hacks a day.
The United
Kingdom reports 120,000 cyberincidents a
day.
That’s almost as many as the state of Michigan deals with.
Utah says it
faces 20 million attempts a day -- up from 1 million a day two years ago.
How these groups define and count their cyberincidents could
be fairly diverse; it stretches credibility to think that Utah would be a bigger target than the
Defense Department, for example. But, altogether, the numbers provide a
necessary sense of scale.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 03/08/2013
TOP↑
Agency
Cybersecurity Deficiencies Remain as Attacks Reach All-time High
Hackers tried to breach federal networks more than 48,000
times in 2012, and those are just the ones agencies knew about and reported
to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), run by the Homeland
Security Department. These attacks against agencies, which reached an
all-time high last year, come as the Government Accountability Office
continues to find agencies are not prepared for this constantly growing cyber
assault. But it's not just a matter of total incidents. It's well known the
variety of attacks and the sophistication of hackers also are increasing. GAO
found improper usage, malicious code, and unauthorized access were the most
widely reported types of attacks across the government. "This is why
we've been designating information security as a high risk area since 1997 is
because of agencies, I wouldn't say their inability, but their lack of
meaningful success in securing their systems and meeting many of the
requirements for securing their systems," said Greg Wilshushen, GAO's
director of information security issues, Thursday during a hearing on
cybersecurity of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee. GAO released a whole set of statistics about agency cybersecurity
progress ahead of the Office of Management and Budget's annual report to
Congress on the government's progress in implementing the Federal Information
Security Management Act (FISMA).
Where's the FISMA report?
In fact, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), ranking member of the
committee, said he was disappointed OMB didn't release the FISMA report
before the hearing. "There's no reason for it other than it shows
significant criticism of our ability to manage critical information within
the federal government," he said. "I will apologize to them vociferously
if, in fact, my assessment of that report [is wrong]. But not to put it out
before this hearing is absolutely ridiculous because we all know, and GAO
will testify today what we all know, is the status within our own government
of how we are doing. It's unfortunate that we've chosen not to have a
critical piece of information that analyzes a report on us for this
hearing." OMB typically releases the FISMA report in March, but there is
no set date for when it comes out. "The administration appreciates the importance
of the FISMA report, and is working to provide it to Congress as
expeditiously as possible," an OMB spokeswoman said by email in response
to Coburn's criticism. No matter when OMB finally releases the annual report,
expected sometime in March, agency progress toward securing their systems
will continue at a slow pace.
GAO found that not only did the number of incidents reported
to U.S. CERT increase to more than 48,000 in 2012 from more than 42,000 in 2011, more than 41,000 in 2010 and almost 30,000 in 2009, but what
agencies are doing about those attacks is lacking. Auditors say 19 of 24
major federal agencies reported that information security control
deficiencies were either a material weakness or significant deficiency in
internal controls over financial reporting. Further, inspectors general at 22
of 24 agencies cited information security as a major management challenge for
their agency. GAO also found that most of the 24 major agencies had
information security weaknesses in most of five key control categories:
?Implementing agencywide information security management
programs that are critical to identifying control deficiencies
?Resolving problems and managing risks on an ongoing basis
?Limiting, preventing and detecting inappropriate access to
computer resources
?Managing the configuration of software and hardware
?Segregating duties to ensure that a single individual does
not control all key aspects of a computer-related operation
?Planning for continuity of
operations in the event of a disaster or disruption.
"It's not an easy job in terms of implementing effective
security over time because the environment is constantly changing, new
technologies are being implemented into the computing environment, the
threats are becoming more sophisticated and business practices at
changing," Wilshushen said. "But at the same time, agencies need to
implement the appropriate processes to assess their risk and, then based on
that risk, select the appropriate controls to cost-effectively reduce those
risks to an acceptable level, and then ensure those controls are effectively
implemented, tested and assure they remain appropriate." While much of
the hearing focused on the Cyber Executive Order President Obama issued last
month, the desire to update FISMA crept into the discussion. The Senate's
comprehensive cybersecurity bill that failed last session included an update
to the 10-year-old FISMA law. The House also passed a separate bill to revise
FISMA, but the Senate didn't consider the legislation. Coburn expressed
concern whether DHS has the authorities needed to oversee federal networks
and whether the new cyber executive order would overwhelm them.
DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the agency is well suited
to continue with both roles, but it does need some legislative help. "I
think some FISMA reform, which would move us out of the paperwork generation
and into the digital age would be very helpful," she said. "The
ability to do hiring equivalency to the sorts of hiring the National Security
Agency could do because realize in this realm, civilian capacity needs to be
enhanced because we are going to manage most of this through civilian
capacities with some utilization of the NSA. We already have those
arrangements made, but on that personnel side we will need legislative
assistance." Napolitano added DHS has worked hard over the last few
years to improve its management of cyber and address the challenges it faced
over the years in terms of both people and capabilities.
U.S. CERT busier than ever
One example of DHS's progress is that U.S. CERT issued more
than 7,455 actionable cyber-alerts in 2012 that were used by private sector
and agencies to protect their systems, and had more than 6,400 partners
subscribe to the U.S. CERT portal to share information and receive cyber
threat warning information. Napolitano said the department's Industrial
Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) also responded to
177 incidents last year while completing 89 site assistance visits and
deploying 15 teams with U.S. CERT to respond to significant private sector
cyber incidents. Lawmakers at the hearing, which was a joint hearing with the
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, also wanted to know how DHS
would implement the executive order. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of
the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the EO helps
move the ball forward to protect critical infrastructure, but legislation
still is needed. He said many of the barriers that stopped the bill last
session seem to have been addressed over the last few months.
"I think we've moved a long ways. You all have moved a
long ways and I think in smart ways. Dr. Coburn has suggested there still are
some concerns about liability protection. My understanding on the information
sharing side, it's not so much an issue any more. I think there may be
bipartisan agreement to punitive damages and maybe general damages,"
Carper said. "I think there are some questions about liability
protection on the critical infrastructure side, should it be punitive? Should
it be more than punitive? But there's been a whole lot of movement as I see
it from the administration and from a bi-partisan group of us in the Senate
to meet the legitimate concerns that were raised." Carper added he holds
high hopes for a comprehensive cyber bill to get through the Senate this
session.
From
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/
03/08/2013
TOP↑
Cyberspace
Becoming a Conflict Zone Says Ex-U.S. Official
U.S. companies
and the government must do more to protect their computer networks as
cyberthreats become more common, said the State Department’s former senior
adviser on innovation. “We have to harden our networks,” Alec Ross said in an
interview yesterday with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s Money
Moves. “Unfortunately, the cyberdomain is going from being merely competitive
to increasingly conflict- ridden.” Ross led the State Department’s “21st
Century Statecraft” initiative under former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, an effort to use technology to bypass governments and speak directly
to people around the world. President Barack Obama has prioritized
cybersecurity, issuing an executive order on the issue Feb. 12 and hosting
chief executive officers from energy, finance, and technology companies at
the White House this week to discuss the threat of criminal and
state-sponsored hackers. Yesterday, Obama discussed the need for China and the U.S. to address the threat of
cyberattacks in a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the
White House. National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon said in a March 11
speech that U.S.
businesses are increasingly expressing “serious concerns” about “sophisticated,
targeted theft” of confidential information as a result of “intrusions
emanating from China
on an unprecedented scale.” “From the president on down, this has become a
key point of concern and discussion with China at all levels of our
governments,” Donilon said in the address to the Asia Society.
Executive Order
Obama issued an executive order Feb. 12 outlining policies for
wider sharing of government data on hacking with companies, particularly
operators of vital infrastructure such as power grids. The order directed the
government to develop voluntary cybersecurity standards for those businesses
and instructs U.S.
agencies to consider adding the standards to existing rules. “We have seen a
steady ramping up of cybersecurity threats,” Obama said in an interview on
ABC’s “Good Morning America” program broadcast March 13. “Some are state-
sponsored,” and some are “just sponsored by criminals.” James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, told
the Senate intelligence committee March 12 that hostile hackers or an
“isolated state” may succeed in breaching U.S. computer networks and
disrupting power grids and other vital services in the next two years. Ross
said that his four years at the State Department underscored that power is
shifting from governments to individuals, driven largely by technology.
“Things that would have once taken a huge media company or a government or
tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of upfront capital,” Ross said, “now
because of processing power that exists in the consumer’s pockets, things can
be done much more agilely by small institutions and individuals.” In an
effort to reach people around the world, the State Department and U.S.
embassies had at least 195 accounts with San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. by
the end of Ross’ tenure, and 290 pages on Facebook Inc. (FB) with 15 million
subscribers and tens of millions more visitors.
From
http://www.bloomberg.com/ 03/16/2013
TOP↑
Government
Launches New Cybercrime Fighting Unit
The government has launched a new initiative to fight
organised online crime, with the creation of the Cyber Crime Reduction
Partnership (CCRP). The CCRP aims to bring together the police, security
industry experts and academics to combat the increasingly organised nature of
online criminality. The new unit was announced by security minister James
Brokenshire at a security briefing hosted by the Chartered Institute of IT.
"For too long the public's perception of cyber crime has been a lone bedroom hacker stealing money from a bank
account," Brokenshire said. "But the reality is that cyber
criminals are organised and global, with a new breed of criminals selling
'off-the-shelf' software to aid gangs in exploiting the public." He
added: "This government is committed to tackling this threat and we have
already had great success. But we want to go further and through the creation
of the National Cyber Crime Unit within the NCA and innovations such as the
new Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership, I am confident we can bring these
criminals to justice.'" The security minister mentioned statistics
highlighting the growing online economy, with online retail sales reaching ￡2.6 billion last
year, while 2012 Crime Survey for England Wales showed one in three adults
was the victim of a cyber attack in the past year.
Brokenshire also highlighted a number of ongoing projects by
the UK
government to bolster defences against cybercriminal. This includes the
launch of the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CISP) next
month to help share information between industry and government, and moves
towards the establishment of a UK National Computer Emergency Response Team
(CERT). The government is also planning to create the National Cyber Crime
Unit later this year, merging the Police eCrime Unit (PCeU) and the Serious
Organised Crime Unit Cyber wing. Brokenshire added: "Through the
introduction of the National Cyber Crime Unit later this year, through
greater awareness and action from the public and industry, and through
continuing to work closely with our international partners, we can deliver a
lasting and transformative impact on those criminals that seek to use the
economy to harm the UK
and its interests." The government plans to invest ￡650 million in its
National Cyber Security Strategy over the next four years, with Cabinet
Secretary Francis Maude claiming that 'a great deal has already been
accomplished'.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/16/2013
TOP↑
The Future
of Data Security
Imagine a library. Every night, the library locks its doors.
But one night, a burglar manages to get in. All the books and manuscripts are
gone, right? Not in this library. You see, in this library, most of the books
themselves are locked down, and the ones the robber does manage to carry with
him turn out to be outdated travel guides and self-help books from 1974.
Admittedly, this would be a strange way of running a library. But for
businesses looking to protect their vital data assets, something like it
could become the future. The concept is called “data-object security,” and it
relies on a principle most people are reluctant to admit: All systems are
inherently insecure. The idea is actually as liberating as it is worrisome.
Today, systems such as e-mail are generally protected by a single password
that, if broken, allows an intruder to run as far as he wants inside your
in-box. Networks and servers are similarly vulnerable; they’re little more
than a lockbox for your data. But if you assume that the lock will eventually
get broken, that frees your attention to focus on what happens next.
This is where data object security comes in. It’s a setup that
doesn’t just protect data at a system level; it also protects the individual
bits and bytes of data inside the system. What if every file, or even every
cell in a spreadsheet, came along with a set of rules governing what
different people would see when they opened it up? The rules might say, Bob
from accounting can see one part of this file -- just the part he needs to do
his work effectively -- while John, an outside federal regulator, might be
able to see a little more, and Steve, at the executive level can open up that
same file and see everything Bob and John saw, and more. Here’s another way
to look at it. If data security means defending the library that holds your
information, data-object security is about defending what goes into the
library itself. The two ideas are radically different, and according to Josh
Sullivan, a vice president for data analytics at Booz Allen Hamilton, as more
businesses come around to the latter, a common ideal promoting good data
stewardship will emerge.
“It's a whole new way of thinking,” Sullivan told me. Take it
far enough, and you wind up in a future where access to data is democratized.
Right now, businesses jealously guard their information because once a file
has been opened, all of its contents are visible to
the reader and to whomever he or she sends it to. By contrast, data becomes
more useful to more people when access is limited to only what they need.
With data-object security, firms and agencies will be able to track their
information with more accuracy, too. For every piece of their data that gets
called up by, say, an academic, businesses (not to mention all the academic's
peers) will know where that data had previously been and where it is allowed
to go next. In dataspeak, Sullivan told me, to understand the trajectory of a
piece of data is to trace its lineage. Rules about data can also be set up
according to pedigree -- a measure of who is accessing the information (think
tanks? high-school clubs? hobbyists?) and how useful they’ll find it (can you
make accurate financial predictions with it, or is it only good enough to get
a general idea of the market?). Remember that what makes this concept so
powerful is that all of these attributes can be applied to the same file.
Data democratization requires businesses and governments to be
a little more comfortable sharing -- and that raises privacy concerns. No
commercial standard currently exists for ensuring data privacy, and in its
absence, many are turning to a totally different field for answers: medicine.
“In HIPAA, we’ve got a process,” said Jules Polonetsky, a former chief
privacy officer at AOL, referring to the federal law that determines who can
view and share patients' medical records. “It’s been laid out, and it may or
may not be perfect, but it says you must follow these rules and de-identify
health data.” Taking the same principles that govern anonymized medical
information and applying them to commercial or administrative data may not
need a law, Polonetsky told me. It might be that some common understanding
could evolve among companies themselves. But using HIPAA as a model at least
provides a baseline for comparison so that businesses know just how rigorous
their data policies are.
Privacy advocates and proponents of data are often at odds
with one another. One side generally views the explosive growth of data as a
creepy development ripe for abuse, and the other often looks at data in
almost utopian terms. Yet it’s possible that the new advances in security may
create an opportunity to bring the two closer together. “Data-object security
gives you finer-grain security, but it also encapsulates the rules of, ‘How
can I share this data, and with whom, and how long do I keep it?’ and you
start to embed the stewardship of the data as descriptors on the data
itself,” Sullivan said. “That’s the key to enabling data democratization --
where the right person can get the right data when they need it.”
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 03/19/2013
TOP↑
Special
Report - IT Tools for Safer Communities
(This report is based on the activities of the Digital
Communities program, a network of public- and private-sector IT professionals
who are working to improve local governments’ delivery of public service
through the use of digital technology. The program — a partnership between
Government Technology and e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government —
consists of task forces that meet online and in person to exchange
information on important issues facing local government IT professionals.
More than 1,000 government and industry members participate in Digital
Communities task forces focused on digital infrastructure, law enforcement
and big city/county leadership. The Digital Communities program also conducts
the annual Digital
Cities and Digital Counties surveys, which track technology trends
and identify and promote best practices in local government. Digital
Communities quarterly reports appear in Government Technology magazine in
March, June, September and December.)
We haven’t yet, as a society, come to terms with guns. The
nation was born in a revolution fought with muskets, and the right to keep
and bear arms is enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Even Thomas Jefferson, that
most cerebral of men, once said that “The tree of liberty must be refreshed
from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” But what if a
madman shoots children, as happened recently in Connecticut? While crime as a whole is
down — New York City
even had a full day with no shootings or stabbings last fall — the fact
remains that anyone who hears about a mass shooting wants to do something to
prevent it from happening again. But treading a path between confiscation of
all guns and open carry everywhere is not easy, and of the many ideas that
have been offered, there are few workable solutions and many frustrating
complexities. Following the Sandy Hook
school shooting, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy exemplified the frustration and
the impulse to do something — anything — to stop gun violence. “We don’t yet
know the underlying cause behind this tragedy, and we probably never will,”
he said. “But that can’t be an excuse for inaction.”
Many initiatives are circulating in Congress and numerous
state legislatures, including proposals to restrict school visitors, increase
taxes on gun sales, restrict clip sizes, outlaw semi-automatic weapons, and
the latest twist: require gun owners to purchase liability insurance. Most
approaches to reducing gun violence — no one really expects to eliminate it
altogether — focus on reducing access to firearms, either by decreasing the
number and types of weapons in circulation, or by restricting access for
individuals most likely to abuse firearms, such as convicted criminals, drug
abusers and the mentally ill. Both approaches face significant obstacles.
Americans already own more than 300 million firearms of which more than 100
million are handguns, so limits on new firearms, ammunition, etc., could
impact the annual sale of some 10,000 firearms, but will not touch the
weapons already sitting in half the nation’s households. While the gun
control debate heats up, the search continues for measures that are truly
effective and that can reduce gun violence, which claims some 10,000 lives
each year in the United
States.
The 12-step motto — “God grant me the serenity to accept the
things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference” — might provide a practical approach for
dealing with gun violence and the legislative efforts under way. Some things
we must live with, most notably guns in homes. The vast majority of those are
used responsibly for hunting, target shooting or self-protection. But as long
as there are firearms in the hands of people, there will be the violent
actions of a few disturbed individuals. The things that can be changed are
the subject of this special section, especially IT tools that can help
prevent, mitigate and recover from gun violence.
Guns in Milwaukee
For a street-level look at gun violence in America’s cities, Government
Technology talked with Milwaukee Police Chief Edward A. Flynn who commands an
agency of 2,000 sworn officers and 700 civilians, serving a city of some
600,000 residents. At one time, Flynn served as secretary of public safety
under former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Wisconsin is an open carry state, where
those not prohibited from possessing a firearm may carry a weapon visibly on
their person without a license, or carry a concealed weapon with a license
except in schools, government buildings and a few other places. According to
Flynn, that does not make policing any easier. “Our challenge is to keep
firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them,” said Flynn,
“and that includes the criminal, the mentally ill and substance abusers. One
of our problems is there are gaping loopholes in who’s required to be
subjected to a background check. That has to change. There is much talk of
individual rights when it comes to firearms, but every individual right in
the Constitution has to be balanced against the rights of the community. And
communities have a right to be free from firearm violence, particularly if it
could have been prevented through prudent regulation.
“Unfortunately for our country,” he said, “all sanity and
rationality seemed to go out the window as soon as one begins to confront a
notion of rational regulation of firearms.” Flynn doesn’t expect firearms to
completely disappear, nor is he advocating that. “What we are saying is that
when you have the levels of violence we have in this country, it’s our
obligation to make sure that a lawful right to possess a deadly weapon is
appropriately regulated by making sure that there are serious sanctions for
illegally possessing a weapon and that there are serious application
processes in place that protect all of us from the remorseless and the
criminal and the irrational.”
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 03/26/2013
TOP↑
US, Russia Are Top Cyber-Threat Hosts
Despite public perception, the US and
Russia are far more likely than China to be home to a malicious host serving
up malware, bots and other baddies to the internet-going public, according to
Host Exploit's quarterly World Hosts Report. “As malware continues to evolve,
and cybercriminals continue to learn, one particular fundamental remains
constant – almost all malicious threats are physically hosted somewhere,”
Host Exploit noted. “For this reason, it remains as important as ever to
examine hosting practices and standards and consider how they can be
improved.” The study found that five of the top 20 malicious autonomous
systems (AS) are to be found in the US,
and four are in Russia.
Only one is located in China.
Chinanet Backbone, at No. 11, is China’s lone entry into the list.
However, it has the largest number of IPs under its wings out of any of the
providers, coming in at more than 116 million IPs – meaning that volume-wise,
it likely accounts for a significant amount of bad acting. Nonetheless, the
top culprit of the quarter comes from the unassuming Netherlands. In the first quarter
of 2013, the worst host overall was found to be Ecatel Network in the
Netherlands, which, while hosting only 13,000 IPs, still manages to host more
than it's fair share of malicious content. “This quarter we see the return of
Dutch hosting provider Ecatel to the No. 1 rank, having held the position at
various times in the past,” Host Exploit said. “Ecatel does not top the
rankings for any particular category of activity, but rather for a
consistently poor showing across the board.” Botnets in particular seem to
like the Dutch provider.
Then there are the sites that are hosting
publicly dangerous websites, capable of delivering malware via exploit kits.
Host Exploit said that, in fact, the hosting provider harboring the highest
number of infected sites overall is Russian: Mail.ru. "The number of
malicious URLs on Mail.ru’s servers has risen rapidly over the last quarter,
with the vast majority being stored on its file hosting service and download
manager,” Host Exploit said in its report. “This rise has seen it move into
the overall top 10 hosts. Such a sudden increase in malicious files being
hosted could either be the result of new features, a change in policy or down
to cybercriminals choosing Mail.ru as a temporary hosting service.” When it
comes to the US
rankings, Landis Holdings comes in ninth for overall hosting issues, with
28,000 IPs under its umbrella. But when talking about hosting the highest
concentration of infected websites, two big names jump out: Amazon, which has
2 million IPs, is No.4, while Google, which comes in at number seven, has
about 667,000 IPs. Overall, Russia
and the US
showed up across the rankings, from phishing ponds to botnet hosting.
However, the Host Exploit results should be taken with perspective. “The
malicious activity that Host Exploit tracks generally comprises malware
hosting, botnet C&C hosting and the like, and does not necessarily
include command-and-control servers for targeted attacks or the like,”
Kaspersky's Threatpost blog caveated. “Still, the data the organizations
compiled shows that the hosting of malicious servers is not a localized
problem, it's a global one.”
TOP↑
CIO
Council Releases Data on Federal Cybersecurity Workforce
The 2012 Information Technology Workforce Assessment for
Cybersecurity (ITWAC) is being released publicly today – the first report of
its kind giving a snapshot of the current Federal civilian IT workforce with
cybersecurity responsibilities. The data collected under this assessment is
crucial to informing strategic workforce planning and cybersecurity training
programs at Federal agencies and will help inform efforts to ensure the Federal
Government is capable of developing cybersecurity professionals to defend
Federal systems and networks against growing cyber threats. Through the ITWAC
Reporting Tool, participating Federal departments and agencies can view and
analyze their ITWAC data across several important workforce development
topics, including current and optimal proficiency levels in Specialty Areas,
time spent in Specialty Areas, work experience, education, certifications,
and demographics. Each participating Federal department or agencies has
online access to the ITWAC Reporting Tool through their self-identified
points of contacts (POCs). The ITWAC data can be used by participating
federal agencies and departments to assist with understanding their agency’s
current IT workforce skills, identifying skill gaps, as well as selecting the
appropriate training to mitigate these gaps. Further, demographic data
illustrates each participating agencies’ current workforce supply as well as
provides an understanding of the cybersecurity workforce pipeline (e.g., the
age of the workforce and the percentage eligible for retirement).
The ITWAC was coordinated by the National Initiative for
Cybersecurity Education (NICE) in conjunction with the CIO Council. The ITWAC
was developed utilizing the National Cybersecurity Workforce Framework and
sought to collect data describing the composition and capabilities of the
federal civilian cybersecurity workforce. The assessment also assists Federal
department and agencies by identifying the scope of the cybersecurity
workforce pipeline, establishing a baseline of current cybersecurity
capabilities and proficiencies among the Federal workforce and identifying
general training needs of the cybersecurity workforce. The assessment was
distributed to over 200,000 Federal Information Technology civilian workforce
personnel in 39 occupational series who perform cybersecurity duties. It was
open to personnel from October 22 – November 16, 2012 (and January 15 – 31,
2013 for personnel in the Department of Defense). Just under
23,000 employees from 52 federal departments and agencies completed the
assessment.
From
https://cio.gov/ 04/03/2013
TOP↑
Targeted
Cyberespionage on the Rise in 2012
Targeted cyberespionage attacks aimed at stealing intellectual
property were up 42 percent last year, with consequences felt most acutely by
manufacturers and small businesses (businesses with less than 250 employees
represent more than 30 percent of targeted attack victims). These new stats
were published by Symantec in its Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR),
which also states that small businesses are attractive target due to
unsophisticated security. Symantec's analysis concludes that in 2012, the
manufacturing industry unseated government as the most targeted industry.
Contractors and subcontractors in the manufacturing supply chain are seen as
rich targets due to their access to intellectual property. The ISTR also
reveals that knowledge workers are now the most commonly targeted kind of
employee, rather than high-ranking executives, who previously topped the
list. “The sophistication of attacks coupled with today’s IT complexities,
such as virtualization, mobility and cloud, require organizations to remain
proactive and use ‘defense in depth’ security measures to stay ahead of
attacks,” said Symantec CTO Stephen Trilling. The most common attacks
perpetrated against the public sector last year were malicious email --
nearly one in 70 emails directed to government email accounts was classified
as malicious in nature. 2012 also saw a significant increase in mobile
malware, which grew by 58 percent. Nearly one third of mobile attacks tried
to steal personal data like phone numbers and email addresses. The ISTR is
compiled using data from Symantec's Global Intelligence Network, used by
company analysts to track worldwide activity relative to phishing, spam,
malicious code and attacks.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 04/16/2013
TOP↑
Feds Seek
Stronger Cybersecurity Partnerships with States
Now that Web-based technologies control everything from the
electric grid to the water supply, cyberattacks on critical infrastructure
have become the most pressing threat to national security, according to a
national intelligence report to Congress. Andy Ozment, senior director for
cybersecurity at the White House, embraced states as key partners in efforts
to secure the nation’s assets. “You own and operate critical infrastructure,”
he said Tuesday at a meeting of National Association of State Chief
Information Officers. “Your own services constitute critical infrastructure
in ways that are hugely important. We have to work with you to identify those
portions of your systems and networks that are the most important and the
most critical, and share with you whatever resources we can to help you
secure those." Federal legislation on cybersecurity appears stalled, so
the White House is working on a strategy to protect such assets—which are
often owned and operated by the private sector—through an executive order and
presidential policy directive issued in February.
The executive order directs the Department of Homeland
Security to share timely information on cyber threats with state and local
governments and private sector companies with responsibility for critical
infrastructure. It requires DHS to expedite clearances for state, local and
private sector personnel to receive classified and sensitive threat
information. The executive order also requires the Commerce Department’s
National Institute of Standards and Technology to work with industry leaders
to develop a cybersecurity framework for companies with responsibility for
critical infrastructure. NIST is expected to finalize a framework that
includes joint standards and best practices by February 2014. Compliance will
be voluntary. NASCIO warned against requiring states to take on responsibilities
they don’t have the resources to deliver and pleaded for support in comments
about the framework’s development submitted to NIST in April.
“States are a key partner in delivering over $600 billion in
federal programs to citizens, and therefore the federal government has a
direct interest in helping states secure their data and systems against
attack,” NASCIO wrote. “The overarching demand to be efficient with taxpayer
funds and ensure as much funding as possible goes to the end users of public
services often means that veiled costs of operation such as cyber defenses,
training, and identity management are severely neglected.” A survey of state
chief information security officers released by NASCIO and Deloitte in
October found that only 24 percent are “very confident” that their state
assets are protected against external threats. Only 32 percent said their staff have the required cybersecurity competency. Teri
Takai, chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Defense, said the
approach in the executive order offers particular benefits to state
governments protecting critical infrastructure within their borders. “For the
states, [the executive order] is important because they have limited
resources to be able to deal with the cybersecurity challenge,” said Takai,
who previously served as chief information officer of California
and Michigan.
“As much as the federal government can promote information
sharing that the states can take advantage of, my belief is that it will be a
benefit to them.” Mark Reardon, Georgia’s chief information
security officer, credited the executive order with improving the quality of
threat information that DHS is sharing with states and the private sector. “I
see them working to improve that process every day,” he said. Still, Reardon
is concerned that private sector interests be protected as the executive
order gets underway and if Congress takes up legislation requiring or
incentivizing companies to share information. “The public sector needs to
understand that the private sector is in business, and sharing information
can impact their business in a bad way,” he said. “We need to understand that
and put safeguards up so that the people sharing that kind of information
with us are protected from fallout.” As a first step, Reardon said Georgia
has begun sharing information about particular threats with companies but is
doing so carefully, with an eye toward not burning any bridges. “We don’t
expect anything in return except an occasional thank you and feedback about
what I can do to improve what I’m giving them,” he said.
From
http://www.governing.com/ 05/03/2013
TOP↑
Is an
Emphasis on Compliance Hampering IT Security?
Leo Scanlon, chief information security officer of the
National Archives and Records Administration, has an information security
question for federal CIOs: "Are you satisfied that where you are is good
enough? Do you understand the risk?" Too often, he says, federal C-level
officials do not know if their security is adequate because they do not
understand the risks they face and what the risk tolerance of their agencies
should be. And too often, they are content to remain that way. The issue of
understanding and managing IT risk takes on greater significance with the
growing emphasis on automating security. Security professionals, system
administrators and agency executives have been fighting a battle over IT
security vs. regulatory compliance since the passage of the Federal
Information Security Management Act of 2002. Critics of the act — or at least
of how it has been implemented — say that an emphasis on grading agency
performance based on compliance scores has undermined efforts to improve
security. With the introduction of tools to monitor systems, respond to
incidents and report on status, there is a chance to finally settle the
battle in favor of security.
William Jackson covers cybersecurity for FCW's sister
publication, GCN, where this piece first appeared. For more, see Jackson's CyberEye blog
on GCN.com. The question, said Scanlon, is "are we going to automate
compliance or automate risk management?" Speaking at cybersecurity
conference hosted by (ISC)2, Scanlon said that FISMA
was never intended to be about compliance. The opening paragraphs of the act
spell out that its intent is to "provide a comprehensive framework for
ensuring the effectiveness of information security controls," and ".
. . provide effective governmentwide management and oversight of the related
information security risks . . . ." So why the emphasis on paperwork and
reporting rather than managing risk over the last 11 years? Compliance is
easier to measure. Reports from auditors and inspectors general have given
congressional overseers an easy way to grade agencies, either with an A, B .
. . F report card or a green-yellow-red dashboard. The C-level executives who
must report to Congress have embraced this. Their approach to IT security,
Scanlon said, is, "get the IG off my back."
From
http://fcw.com/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
California Launches Cybersecurity Task Force
On May 13, California
government officials and private-sector leaders met behind closed doors to
discuss a comprehensive cybersecurity plan for the state -- it was the
beginning of the California Cybersecurity Task Force, the first state-led
collaboration of its kind. Because of the interconnectedness of government
and private-sector IT assets, collaboration has become crucial, said Michele
Robinson, acting director for the Office of Information Security. “Those
working relationships need to be strong in order to really affect this area,”
she said. “We all own a piece of that infrastructure, so it’s a shared
responsibility." And the ultimate goal, she said is to collaborate and
work together to improve cybersecurity for the state. The meeting allowed
discussion on several topics, all with the goal of establishing a framework
and overall plan for statewide cybersecurity. Among the topics discussed were information sharing between governments and the
private sector; challenges to industry, such as the need for improved laws
and regulations; and the need for increased cybersecurity research and
education.
Among the meetings participants were officials from the
National Fusion Center Association (NFCA), the FBI, the Sacramento Utility
District, Cyber Watch West (CWW), and private companies such as Verizon, Bank
of America and Symantec. State CIO Carlos Ramos, pictured above, said one of
the California Technology Agency’s biggest goals with respect to this effort
will be improving the awareness of the importance of focusing on
cybersecurity. Whether it’s hactivists,
state-sponsored cyberattacks, cyber-terrorism, espionage or just
opportunistic hackers, he said, attacks on government are on the rise --
which a 2013 report released by Verizon also found. Protecting the state’s
infrastructure, while also leading the way for the nation makes this task
force an important effort, Ramos said, adding that private industry, local
government, state government, financial organizations and even the federal
government stand to benefit from the collaboration that will take place in
California. By being proactive, he says the state will have a better chance
at staying ahead of the curve in the never-ending battle of network security.
David DeWalt, CEO of cybersecurity firm FireEye, said he sees
the state as trying to get more proactive in dealing with cyber security, and
creating this task force is a step in the right direction -- not just for California, but the
nation as a whole. “This sort of a council would be a precedent setting event
for the entire country," DeWalt said, "and California likes to take
a leadership position, so I would encourage them to take advantage of this
type of thinking.” Ramos agreed that the development of a state-wide
cybersecurity task force, something not yet undertaken in any other state, is
a proactive advancement. “I’m very optimistic because [of] the level of
expertise and commitment we have from the participants from the task force,”
Ramos said. “These are the kinds of folks who know what they’re talking about
and know how to get things done.” No definite timeline has been established,
but Ramos indicated the state was interested in pursuing this project with an
aggressive time frame, and that new initiatives will
be implemented piecemeal as they are discussed by the task force. For
instance, discussions on how best to implement an education and awareness
campaign around cybersecurity may be rolled out while longer-term efforts
around information sharing could take longer to establish.
“California
really is out in front of other states,” Ramos said. “We’ve seen a number of
areas, particularly in technology, where governments tend to follow our lead.
I am quite hopeful, from that perspective -- the framework and the work that
we do here -- that other states will take and emulate and put in place across
the country.” California
has been a leader in the past when it came to technology projects, said Mark
Ghilarducci, secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency, and the
state will continue to be a leader with this project. In 1995, California implemented
the Standardized Emergency Management System, which brought together
disparate agencies in the state to work on a common platform, Ghilarducci
said, and that program eventually became the template for the National
Instant Management System. There have been other examples, too, he said, but
the point is that California
will again be a laboratory that creates and tests a path for other states and
federal government to follow.
Specific examples of changes that could improve cybersecurity
efforts in the state include things like whitelisting certain software in the
wake of a bring-your-own-device trend that has introduced an unprecedented
amount of applications onto the state’s networks. Another tactic would be to
require more rapid patching of operating systems and applications to cut down
on vulnerabilities and security holes. Another tactic is to limit the number
of users with admin privileges on any given network. “These are things that
help harden our networks, and a lot of this, just like any kind of security
-- it’s always about layers of security,” Ghilarducci said. “The
cybersecurity situation is no different. We want to make sure we incorporate
as many of the things thread into our cybersecurity work environment. It may
seem very intuitive and basic, but across the board, it’s not consistent.”
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 05/17/2013
TOP↑
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CHINA: To Ensure Online Payment Safety
The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank,
on Wednesday called for more people to be alert of potential risks concerning
online payment methods. About 40 percent of the 221 million people who use
online payments regularly do not pay enough attention to safety, while 40
percent of consumers ignore possible risks when problems occur, said Zhou
Jinhuang, deputy director of the PBOC's payment department. Gu Jian, deputy
director of the bank's network security bureau, said the risks include the
loss of personal information, identity theft and bank account hacking. A nationwide
campaign to promote online payment safety began on Wednesday, involving over
40 banks and 30 online payment agents.
From
http://china.org.cn/
03/14/2013
TOP↑
Cyber
Attack Battlefield: The Clash of Victimhood
The U.S.
state department, U.S.
market-controlled media, and private security firms have recently
synchronized their efforts for a second cyber security offensive, accusing China of not only hacking U.S. banks, companies, and state institutions,
but also of having the intention of controlling important parts of U.S.
infrastructure like power grids. China
responded by saying that it is an innocent victim to external cyber attacks,
and that the U.S.
is a primary culprit. Each side claims to be the victim and casts the other
side as the villain. While the answer to this cyber security controversy is
crystal clear for any Chinese with the slightest reasoning ability, one is
led to ask how it is possible for the U.S. to cloak itself as a victim
and make the public buy this rhetoric. The key lies in the existence of an
American feeling of victimhood that is somewhat different from the Chinese
version. The Chinese feeling of victimhood is simple to understand. The
allied powers that invaded China
in the 19th and 20th century remain dominant on the world stage. Learning
from these powers and guarding against them has been a bloody lesson
throughout history. This defensive mentality against the West is also embedded
in thousands of decades of agricultural defense against nomadic neighbors.
The Great Wall is evidence to this defensive mentality. Even the Great Fire
Wall finds an element of legitimacy in this thread of thinking. Now, Chinese
have been at peace with this feeling of victimhood except when being
challenged by hegemonic powers.
The good thing is that even though China
is mired in cyber security controversy in the U.S.,
China
refuses to play by public sentiment, but instead points out plainly how the American
mechanism works. This is exemplified in the words of Chinese Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi: Anyone who tries to fabricate or piece together a sensational
story to serve their political motive will not be able to blacken the name of
others or whitewash oneself. But one thing the Chinese have not taken into
consideration is that the Americans also share a feeling of victimhood,
though different. The Chinese version of victimhood is marked by the Opium
Wars in 1840s and 1860s, which taught the Chinese the importance of
sovereignty and a strong state in protecting its citizens' rights. The
American version of victimhood is marked by the Mayflower, a ship that
transported over one hundred English pilgrims to the U.S. in 1620, which primed the
Americans about the value of freedom as well as a systematic distrust of the
state. These historical experiences also explain why China calls for state leadership, sovereignty
and the UN intergovernmental framework in terms of Internet governance, while
the U.S.
resents such a broad international mechanism. But the U.S. version of victimhood has
been hijacked by big businesses. It has also gone to such extremes as to
accept the idea of defending itself by attacking others, a kind of
"proactive defense." In terms of cyber security, the U.S.
does a good job of convincing others that it is in the right. It did a superb
job by claiming to be a victim before using its military, commercial or
political channels to solve its problem. With the help of the U.S. media, the American feeling of victimhood
has been mobilized to challenge China on cyber security.
From
http://china.org.cn/
03/17/2013
TOP↑
Cooperation
'Needed for Internet Security'
Cooperation is a "must" for China and the United States to deal with
Internet issues, especially online security, and to cope with rapid
developments in cyberspace, officials and experts from both countries said on
Tuesday. Online security has become a key issue between China and the US,
and the two countries have common interests and responsibilities, Qian
Xiaoqian, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, said at a
US-China Internet Industry Forum in Beijing.
To maintain network security, the two countries should further establish
mutual trust and make efforts to solve problems, because it will improve the
development of the Internet between them and have positive effects across the
world, he said. As the leader of global information technology, the US has many advantages in cyberspace, while
the biggest online market, China,
has more than 564 million netizens."The two countries should cooperate
and reduce blame or accusations without evidence," Qian said.
Premier Li Keqiang said on March 17 that all countries should
do more to keep the Internet safe instead of making unfounded allegations. He
did not deny that there are differences in online security between China and the US, but if the two respect each
other, he said, the common interests will surpass disagreements. Meanwhile,
cooperation should also extend to the mobile Internet, considering the boom
in the industry, he said. The number of mobile users in the country has
reached 420 million, an 18.1 percent increase over 2011, according to forum
organizers."Mobile devices have become the biggest platform to surf the
Internet, for white-collar workers and migrant workers alike," Qian
said."It’s also fashionable to post micro blogs, use smartphone app
WeChat on cellphones."It is necessary for the two countries to cooperate
on mobile Internet technology research, he said, adding China will upgrade laws involving
the Internet and welcome US network companies investing in the industry.
"In addition, China and the US can create more channels
for dialogue, such as governments, institutions and companies, and enhance
investigation systems to crack down on online crimes between the two
countries," he added. Robert Hormats, US
undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, said
the countries need to cooperate, adding that the US
will increase the number of dialogues and the frequency of communications on
thorny Internet issues with China
in the future. The forum is the sixth between the two countries and will end
on Wednesday.Hu Qiheng, chairwoman of the Internet Society of China, said
dialogue can improve communication, while communication will contribute to
the two countries understanding each other."A good understanding will be
helpful to close the distance between China
and the US
on dealing with online issues," she added.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 04/10/2013
TOP↑
China Waging War Against Online Rumors
China's State
Internet Information Office (SIIO) said on Thursday that it is waging a war
against rumors spreading online as they "have impaired the credibility
of online media, disrupted normal communication order, and aroused great
aversion among the public.""An extreme minority of netizens had
been spreading various rumors online, with some slandering others with
fabricated pictures and some deliberately spreading rumors under the pretext
of seeking others' help to dispel these rumors," according to an SIIO
statement.The body is engaging in a crackdown on those fabricating or
spreading rumor online.Amid the crackdown, at least 11 people in the
provinces of Guizhou, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Gansu and Liaoning had been detained
by police for spreading online rumors about the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus in
the past month.They were detained for up to 10 days for fabricating online
posts about H7N9 infections that caused panic among some netizens and local
residents.The SIIO closed more than 20 microblogging accounts used by these
people to disseminate the rumors.It vowed to keep taking "a high-handed
approach" against online rumors so as to maintain legal sanctity and a
normal and orderly online environment.According to the statement, the office
will continue to punish Internet companies that fail to stop the spread of
rumors, which lead to bad social influence, and award whistle-blowers of
online rumors in the future.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 05/02/2013
TOP↑
Informant
Webpages Help Gather Corruption Tip-offs
Informant webpages opened on China's major online media
outlets last month have been effective in encouraging netizens to provide
anti-corruption tips in an orderly manner, authorities said Wednesday. The
State Internet Information Office (SIIO) made the remarks in a statement
hailing a simultaneous move by websites run by the Xinhua News Agency, the
People's Daily, as well as firms Sina, Sohu and Netease, to open special
informant webpages on April 19. By clicking a highlighted logo on the
websites' home pages, viewers are ushered into the informant pages, which
directly link to five major online tip centers set
up by Chinese authorities. Netizens can tip the organs of the Communist Party
of China's (CPC) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the
Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People's
Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Land and
Resources, on graft and corruption among Party or government officials. The
SIIO on Wednesday said the daily page views of the five informant centers
sponsored by authorities have trebled, with the total number of tips nearly
doubled, since the opening of the informant pages and links on China's major
online media outlets. Citing comments from Internet users, the SIIO statement
said the move by China's
online media outlets will facilitate public tips on corruption in an orderly
and legitimate manner.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 05/09/2013
TOP↑
Disclosure
Delays Help Fuel Online Rumors
Official delays in releasing information on issues people find
important is one of the main reasons rumors spread on the Internet, an expert
said."Nowadays, most government departments prefer to debunk fake news
after it's been circulating than to disclose the truth upfront," said
Cheng Manli, a media professor at Peking University.Such delays weaken the
authority of official information and provide an opportunity for people with
bad intentions to spread rumors, especially online.Cheng was speaking the day
after Beijing police detained a 28-year-old woman named Ma on suspicion of
spreading rumors online about a young woman's death. Ma reportedly wrote in
her micro blog that the woman was raped by seven shopping mall security
guards before she was thrown off the building, and that police refused to
investigate.Yuan Liya, 22, of Lujiang county in Anhui province, was confirmed dead after
she fell off from the seventh floor of a shopping mall on May 3. Her death was
considered a suicide, Beijing
police said at the time.The police statement was released only after hundreds
of people crowded outside the mall on Wednesday, calling on police to
investigate the case.On Thursday, police confirmed that Yuan's death was a suicide.
No evidence was found to indicate she was raped or
poisoned.The mall has agreed to pay Yuan's family 400,000 yuan ($65,000) as
compensation for "negligence" by its management.After the mall
closed at 5 pm that day, keepers did not check whether there were people
still on the premises, allowing the woman to stay in the center, according to
government representatives from Yuan's hometown who came to Beijing to help
handle the incident."In the case of Yuan's death, the police failed to
prevent rumors at the beginning and someone exploited that to set off public
speculation," Cheng said. "The rumor is further damage to the
victim and her family, and disturbed public order."If police published
more information about the case, maybe similar rumors would be reduced and
even prevented, she added."Each government department should constantly
disclose information that the public may doubt or be confused about instead
of ignoring the public's questions and hiding vital details. The more
detailed information authorities disclose, the fewer misunderstandings and
rumors there will be," she said.Ma has confessed and voiced regret for
spreading rumors, police said, adding that the investigation of her case
continues.According to the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments,
passed in 2006, spreading rumors and false reports is punishable by
administrative detention for five to 10 days for disturbing public order.
Culprits also face fines of up to 500 yuan.In Korla, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, four people
were given five days' administrative detention for making up and spreading
rumors about a non-existent murder case, police said on Wednesday.
On May 5, two people were injured in a brawl in a village in
Korla. When a suspect went past the hospital where the two injured were
seeking treatment, he overheard talk of the incident. After he went home that
night, he reported on his micro blog that "two people were chopped to
death". Later, three others also posted the rumor online.The State Internet
Information Office recently launched a nationwide campaign combating online
rumors. Suspects, including the two who spread rumors about the outbreak of
bird flu in Guizhou province, were dealt with and their micro blog accounts
closed, the office said.The office said the micro blog account of He Bing,
vice-president of the School of Law at China University of Political Science
and Law, was suspended for forwarding a rumor twice last week, Xinhua News
Agency reported on Friday.He Bing said neither the authority nor the service
provider had informed him of the suspension. Also, he did not know how long
his account, which has more than 460,000 followers, would be suspended.The
professor was punished for forwarding a rumor that a university graduate
killed an official for shutting down the website he set up because it wasn't
registered. The account that posted the information on Wednesday, which was
proved to be a rumor in 2009, was permanently closed, Xinhua said.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 05/13/2013
TOP↑
JAPAN: Police Better Prepared to Fight
Cyberattacks
Japan's
National Police Agency on Thursday launched a new center comprising about 20
staff members as part of efforts to better fight cyberattacks. The center,
established at the Security Planning Division of the NPA Security Bureau,
will play a central role in information gathering and analysis, and
investigations related to cyberattacks by the Japanese police.
From
http://newsonjapan.com/ 05/17/2013
TOP↑
S. KOREA: Presidential Cyber Security Secretary Eyed
to Counter Hacking
“The government is
pushing to create the post of cyber security secretary at the presidential
office” Cheong Wa Dae in a bid to rapidly and efficiently cope with cyber
attacks on key national organizations, officials at the ruling party said
Sunday. The presidential cyber security secretary, if appointed, will report
directly to the chief of Cheong Wa Dae's National Security Office, the
officials said. Last week, several of the nation's major television stations
and banks suffered what appeared to be simultaneous hacking attacks, raising
the need for a control tower in case of a nationwide outbreak of cyber
terrorism. Investigations are under way into all possible causes of the massive
computer network failures, including the involvement of North Korea, which has threatened to attack South Korea and the United States in retaliation for
South Korea-U.S. joint military drills and the United Nations' fresh
sanctions for its recent nuclear test. "Countermoves against
nationwide cyber terrorism and attacks are spread across government bodies,
including the National Intelligence Service, the National Police Agency, the
military cyber command and the Korea Communications Service," said an
official at the ruling Saenuri Party. "Under the current
structure, an efficient and rapid countermove against hackers can hardly be
expected." Presidential spokeswoman Kim Haeng told reporters that
the government was reviewing a possible revision of relevant laws and other
measures with regard to responses to cyber terrorism. As part of the possible changes, the
presidential office is considering requiring broadcasters and other news
organizations to immediately report to the government if they come under a
cyber attack, she said.
From
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/
03/24/2013
TOP↑
Defense Ministry to Beef Up Cybersecurity
Forces
The defense ministry said it plans to beef up its
cyber-security forces to cope with the North's increasing asymmetric cyber
strategies. The ministry also reaffirmed that it will gain wartime
operational control from the United
States in December 2015 as planned. Our
Kim In-kyung has more. Report: The Defense Ministry briefed President Park
Geun-hye on Monday and introduced its plans to strengthen cyber security. The
ministry told the president about its plans to revamp its control tower for
cyber policies and develop a military response scenario against
cyber-attacks. It also plans to sharply increase the number of cyber-warfare
forces and reinforce cooperation with the U.S. to develop measures against
cyber attacks. The briefing comes after computer networks at South Korean
media and banks crashed in late March in an apparent hacking attack. A
defense ministry official said the ministry plans to cooperate with the U.S.
on cyber policy, technology and information. The cyber attack response
scenario will include defense and offense policies against potential enemies
in times of war and peace.
The ministry also plans to create a customized deterrence strategy against
threats of weapons of mass destruction by North Korea. It will formulate
detailed three-step response measures to deal with nuclear threats, imminent
use of nuclear weapons and actual use of nuclear weapons. The official said
it plans to complete the draft for the deterrence strategy by early July,
utilize it during the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercise in August, and
finalize it with the U.S.
in October. The ministry also reaffirmed its plans to take over wartime
operational control (OPCON) from the United States in December 2015
and develop an alternative combined-defense regime which will replace the
Combined Forces Command. The defense ministry plans to reach an agreement on
the concept of the new combined defense structure at the Korea-U.S. Military
Committee Meeting in mid-May in Washington D.C. and finalize the new structure at a meeting of defense
chiefs at the annual Security Consultative Meeting scheduled for October in Seoul.
From
http://world.kbs.co.kr
04/01/2013
TOP↑
Korean
News Site Hacked, Delivers Malware
Kaspersky Lab
researchers recently came across a compromised Korean news
site, minjok.com, which was pushing a malicious Java applet exploiting
the CVE-2013-0422vulnerability.
The same vulnerability was recently exploited in attacks on Reporters
Without Borders and NBC.com.
The site has since been taken down, though the researchers say they've also
found a similar infection on a Chinese news site -- because the sites cover
news about China and North Korea, Kaspersky
Lab's Dmitry Tarakanov notes, they're logical targets for a
watering hole attack. According to Tarakanov, a single line of code directs
the visitor's browser to download and execute a malicious Java applet, which
then downloads and runs a malicious executable disguised as a GIF file. The
executable installs a file called agentm.exe in a temp folder and
creates a registry value to run agentm.exe every time the infected
computer starts up. Agentm.exe is a backdoor which connects to the
command and control server. "The backdoor is pretty simple: it is able
to perform just two actions by commands from the C&C -- to download for
execution a Dynamic Link Library and to uninstall itself. ... The C&C
doesn’t send additional libraries to an infected machine instantly; attackers
push them when they explore what the computer has been netted,"
Tarakanov writes.
From
http://www.esecurityplanet.com/
04/19/2013
TOP↑
The
Cyber Terror on March 20 and Its Countermeasures
According to the joint response team comprised of experts from
the private sectors, the government and the military, the cyber attack
against Korea’s
financial institutions on March 20 was done by the North after building a
very detailed plan at least eight months beforehand. The analysis result of
the report on the status of ‘banking network security TF’ this journal
obtained from the financial authorities shows that hackers launched various
cyber attacks to cripple the banking network on March 10. It was confirmed
that they used new or metamorphic codes to avoid the detection of malicious
codes. And vulnerabilities of web servers, PMS servers and PCs were their
main targets.“Even if banks are jointly monitoring
their systems through ISAC, they’ve failed to share information on malicious
codes and vulnerabilities of servers and terminals,” says a senior official
from the security TF.The financial institutions have formed their TF to
thoroughly inspect the security systems of nonmonetary institutions including
stock firms, insurance companies and card companies until May.Those banks
whose systems were hacked have started to separate their internal and
external networks to prevent possible cyber attacks. Shinhan Bank has a plan
to complete their network partition before June. Jeju Bank is going to divide
their integrated network into internal and external parts. NH Bank is also
planning to improve their security systems.
From
http://www.koreaittimes.com 05/14/2013
TOP↑
Moves to
Toughen Korea’s
Online Transaction Security System
Two lawmakers of South Korea's main opposition
party are determined to drastically revise Electronic Financial Transaction
Act and Digital Signature Act in order to introduce various online security
and certification technologies. Introduced in 1999, the Online Transaction
Certification System has been used for online transactions worth over KRW
300,000. However, the abolition of the Online Transaction Certification
System has been bandied around owing to massive cyber-attacks since 2012.
Once revised bills pass the National Assembly, varied certification
technologies other than the current Online Transaction Certification System
based on Active X will be put to use. Also, new companies will be given the
opportunity to participate in the certification issuance market, which is
currently led by five certificate issuers. A proposed amendment to Electronic
Financial Transaction Act stipulates that Financial Services Commission (FSC),
Korea's
top financial regulator, should refrain from forcing financial companies to
use certain security technologies or services and dampening fair competition
in security technologies.
From
http://www.koreaittimes.com/ 05/21/2013
TOP↑
Threat of
Malicious Code Growing in S. Korea
South
Korea had the
third-highest number of malicious codes detected on computers last year among
other major countries, reflecting the urgency to draw up thorough measures to
prevent any more cyber attacks, a report showed Tuesday. The number of
computer malware uncovered in South Korea reached 3.26 million in the fourth
quarter of 2012, ranking third in the global list, only trailing behind the
top-placed United States with 8.96 million and Brazil with 4.46 million,
according to a report by Microsoft Corp. The corresponding figure for Web
sites that distribute malicious codes came in at a ratio of 17.9 for every
1,000 Web sites in Korea,
also the third-highest among its peers, the report said. Sung Jae-mo, the
chief economist in online security at the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF)
who quoted the report in his latest research, called for the need to develop
technology and online security policy that are well adapted to the
fast-changing online environment.
"We expect to see more and new kinds of cyber attacks as mobile banking
has been generating huge demand," he said. Growing fear over cyber attacks on
online banking systems has sparked a heated debate in South Korea after
online networks at a number of major banks and insurers here were hacked by
an unknown malware between late March and April, causing inconvenience for
users, although there were no leaks of personal information. Lim Eul-kyu, a
professor at Hanyang
University, said in a
separate report that financial institutions should hasten to provide online
banking users a more protected security system. He suggested banks have a
separate server that focuses only on detecting security-related problems.
"Financial companies also need to be more cooperative in building up a
flexible warning system with each other to shore up the online network
security," Lim added.
From
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/
05/21/2013
TOP↑
NORTH KOREA: New Cash Cow - Cyber-warfare
Amidst heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, the focus
from global media networks has largely been on the instability in North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong
Un and the threat of potential missile attacks on South Korea. The media has also
actively reported on a multitude of other physical threats levied against
South Korea, the United States, and their allies.However, on top of these
imminent threats that are taking the world’s attention by storm lies a dark
backstory that is garnering a much smaller amount of media coverage regarding
how North Korea is able to continually fund their military operations:
cyber-warfare. Long known to be a cash-strapped nation, North Korea has designed a number
of intricate and highly technological methods of procuring money from a
variety of illicit sources. The North Korean military division of the
Reconnaissance Directorate General has been identified as having trained a
number of hackers in cyber-warfare as well as financial fraud. Using this
training, North Korean hackers have the ability to access banking information
in a variety of countries that they deem as “hostile”, such as the United States and South Korea. Once the hackers are
inside the banks’ computer system, they disable their security measures and
subsequently have carte blanche to steal funds from personal or corporate
accounts.
Many of these hackers have been operating out of China, where they blend in amongst other
individuals by posing as researchers and businessmen in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. The reasoning
for this is due in large part to the lack of reliable Internet access
available in North Korea,
as the country lacks broadband networks for data usage. Unlike many leaders,
who may plead ignorance to such blatant cyber-attacks, Kim Jong Un seems to
take personal pride in the abilities of his fleet of hackers. Sources report
that Kim, who believes that these hackers are as important to combating the United States and South Korea as their nuclear and
missile programs, largely touts the abilities of the North Korean hackers.
The North Korean government has rewarded many of these cyber terrorists
with luxurious homes and lavish promotions. The hackers themselves are said
to feel immense pride in their work and contribution to the impoverished
economy. This new form of cyber-warfare and procurement of funding differs
from riskier moves that North
Korea was known to take in the past, such
as drug trafficking and dealing in counterfeit currency. These days the
hacking attacks can happen from remote locations and involve far less
potential risk, rendering it potentially more potent as a reliable source of
currency that the government is able to allocate as it desires.
The fear from the international community is that this
constant influx of cash will sway North Korea
from partaking in negotiations with the United States and potential
adherence to a peace treaty and the disarmament of their prospective nuclear
program. With this inflow of foreign currency, North Korea can move forward with
its military operations as it desires with little regard for outside opinion.
North Korea
has a history of hacking and cyber-warfare. In March they were initially
thought to be behind the cyber-attack on upwards of 40,000 P. Amidst
heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, the focus from global media
networks has largely been on the instability in North
Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong Un and the
threat of potential missile attacks on South Korea. The media has also
actively reported on a multitude of other physical threats levied against South Korea, the United States, and their allies.
However, on top of these imminent threats that are taking the
world’s attention by storm lies a dark backstory
that is garnering a much smaller amount of media coverage regarding how North Korea
is able to continually fund their military operations: cyber-warfare. Long
known to be a cash-strapped nation, North Korea has designed a number
of intricate and highly technological methods of procuring money from a
variety of illicit sources. The North Korean military division of the
Reconnaissance Directorate General has been identified as having trained a
number of hackers in cyber-warfare as well as financial fraud. Using this
training, North Korean hackers have the ability to access banking information
in a variety of countries that they deem as “hostile”, such as the United States and South Korea. Once the hackers are
inside the banks’ computer system, they disable their security measures and
subsequently have carte blanche to steal funds from personal or corporate
accounts. Many of these hackers have been operating out of China, where they blend in amongst other
individuals by posing as researchers and businessmen in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai. The reasoning
for this is due in large part to the lack of reliable Internet access
available in North Korea,
as the country lacks broadband networks for data usage.
Unlike many leaders, who may plead ignorance to such blatant
cyber-attacks, Kim Jong Un seems to take personal pride in the abilities of
his fleet of hackers. Sources report that Kim, who believes that these
hackers are as important to combating the United
States and South Korea as their nuclear and
missile programs, largely touts the abilities of the North Korean hackers.
The North Korean government has rewarded many of these cyber terrorists
with luxurious homes and lavish promotions. The hackers themselves are said
to feel immense pride in their work and contribution to the impoverished
economy.This new form of cyber-warfare and procurement of funding differs
from riskier moves that North
Korea was known to take in the past, such
as drug trafficking and dealing in counterfeit currency. These days the
hacking attacks can happen from remote locations and involve far less
potential risk, rendering it potentially more potent as a reliable source of
currency that the government is able to allocate as it desires. The fear from
the international community is that this constant influx of cash will sway North Korea from partaking in negotiations
with the United States
and potential adherence to a peace treaty and the disarmament of their
prospective nuclear program. With this inflow of foreign currency, North Korea
can move forward with its military operations as it desires with little
regard for outside opinion.
North
Korea has a history of
hacking and cyber-warfare. In March they were initially thought to be behind
the cyber-attack on upwards of 40,000 PCs and servers in South Korea that resulted in
immense problems for a number of banks and major broadcasting networks,
although the validity of this claim was later brought into question. In 2011,
North Korea is known to
have attacked South Korea’s
Nonghyup Bank, resulting in the prevention of millions of South Koreans from
accessing credit cards and personal accounts from an ATM for several days. Cs
and servers in South Korea
that resulted in immense problems for a number of banks and major broadcasting
networks, although the validity of this claim was later brought into
question. In 2011, North Korea
is known to have attacked South
Korea’s Nonghyup Bank, resulting in the
prevention of millions of South Koreans from accessing credit cards and
personal accounts from an ATM for several days.
From
http://www.koreaittimes.com/ 04/29/2013
TOP↑
|
|
|
|
|
|
MYANMAR: Facebook Used to Stir Up Rumours, Spark
Conflict
Politicians and leaders from civil society organisations said
a number of Facebook users in Myanmar
have intentionally disturbing the
country’s “tranquility”, accusing them of inflaming the last year June
and Ocotober clashes in Rakhine State, as well as the deadly riots in Meikhtila Township
in Mandalay
region and western Pego region. Likewise, the “propagandists spread trump-up
stories and wrong information” in the wake of the mosque fire in 48th Street
in Yangon that occurred on April 2. The incident killed 13 Muslim children.
Political and social organisations held a meeting to discuss prevention
against incitements on Facebook on April 20, at the office of 88 Generation
Peace and Open Society located in Thingangyan
Township, Yangon.
Member of 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, University Students’ Union,
Myanmar Press Council (interim), Myanmar Journalists Union, Myanmar Motion
Picture Organisation, Myanmar Drama Association and those from the IT field
attended the meeting.
The meeting decided to set up a Facebook group page comprising
professionals in areas of politics, media, movies and dramas. The group will
refute ill-willed provocations and rumours on Facebook. The group’s aim is to
shield subversive activities, according to Kyaw Min Swe from the Myanmar
Press Council. As Myanmar
has planned to sell 39 million mobile SIM cards between 2013 and 2016,
allowing the public to use mobile internet, ex-political prisoner of 88
generation Jimmy expresses worries that innocent internet users may fall into
the wrong hands of those spreading rumours and instigated news on Facebook.
He said: “Today’s attendees will invite close friends on Facebook. Then other
enthusiastic users will also be invited, creating a bigger network.
Parliament, later, will be asked for a proper cyber law to handle cyber
crimes.”
From
http://www.asianewsnet.net/ 04/25/2013
TOP↑
M'sian,
Filipino Hackers Go to War in Cyberspace Over Sabah
Cyber attacks raged between Malaysian and Filipino hackers
over the weekend, mirroring the skirmishes in Sabah
on Friday and Saturday. Hackers claiming to be from Malaysian and Filipino
chapters of the hacktivist group Anonymous attacked websites of both both
countries. It was believed that the first online attacks were made by
Malaysians, hours after a skirmish erupted between police and Sulu gunmen on
Friday. A message written in Filipino posted on Anonymous Malaysia's Facebook
page that day warned Filipinos that they would strike. Filipino blog Pinoy
Tech News first reported that some of their government websites were hit by
denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
Others were defaced. Filipino hackers then retaliated,
attacking and defacing several Malaysian private and government-owned
websites. Some claimed to have crashed some government websites, and publicly
announced their exploits over Facebook. They also called for their followers
to launch DoS attacks against local sites. A statement allegedly made by
Anonymous has called for hackers of both countries to stand down. “The petty
cyber-war will gain us nothing but wrong impressions from ordinary people...Let
us help both The Philippines and Malaysia unite, not find a reason
to fight,” it said. This did not dissuade hackers however, who are continuing
their attacks as of Sunday afternoon. CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer
Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab said that the government was well aware of the matter
but declined further comment.
From
http://www.asianewsnet.net/ 04/03/2013
TOP↑
SINGAPORE: Studying Measures to Restrict Access to
Online Gambling Sites
The Singapore
government is studying measures to curb online gambling by restricting access
to online gambling websites, a government minister said on Friday. Speaking
at the Casino Regulatory Authority's annual workplan seminar on Friday,
Minister at the Prime Minister's Office S Iswaran said that the government
shares the concerns within the community over the social risks associated
with online gambling, which is highly accessible. The Ministry of Home
Affairs has embarked on research with industry experts to study the issue and
learn from the experience of other countries and regions, he said.
"Online gambling is a new and potentially more addictive form of
gambling, with greater access to the young and vulnerable," said
Iswaran, who is also second minister for home affairs. The ministry will be
working with the Home
Team Behavioural
Sciences Center
to study the psychological profile of local casino gamblers, too. It will help
the Casino Regulatory Authority better understand the gaming behaviors,
attitudes and motivations of the gamblers to guide its work. Singapore
inaugurated its two casino resorts in 2010 but put in place an entry levy for
local residents and citizens in order to reduce their chances of getting
addicted to gambling. The city state is now believed to be the world's second
largest gaming market, next only to China's
Macao.
From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
THAILAND: To Reform Cyber-Crime Law
The Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) unveiled
the plan to reform the country’s computer crime law which is expected to be
announced by the next three years. ETDA CEO Surangkana Wayuparb said the agency
is preparing a public hearing, hoping to attract widespread participation in
the revision of the law that has been used for five years since its first
implementation. According to her, the reform and public participation are
expected to bring balance between rights and freedom to the new law. People
are concerned about the balance between freedom of speech and the exercise of
authority to keep the right to privacy. This has pointed to the problem that
the current law cannot cope with cyber-crime and the cyber-environment, she
added. "Thai people generally still do not have awareness [of
cyber-crime issues] or realise the need for information security, which is a
new phenomenon. Meanwhile, other countries’ governments have better
realisation and awareness on information security, which is a sensitive issue
involving a balance between security and the liberty of people as a whole,”
said Surangkana.
The draft revision is expected to be completed in the next six
months, and the ETDA will conduct a public hearing afterwards before seeking
the cabinet’s approval. According to Wayuparb, the agency had conducted focus
groups to address five key areas: freedom of speech; law enforcement;
consumers and victims; hard-core security versus professional security; and
evaluation and revision of computer crime law. The research aimed to balance
and develop the law to protect against threats, the country, and all those in
the cyber-security environment. Moreover, the new law will heighten the level
of cyber-security awareness in the country and the region. The National Cyber
Security Committee has been set up to cope with increasing major threats such
as hacking. The CEO expressed concern over the lack of understanding in
information security among Thai organisations, compared to their regional
peers. "There is a need to invest in this area,” she said. “The agency
has developed a lab to provide knowledge to the police to improve their
understanding of digital evidence and solve the problem of law enforcement.”
The overall revision of computer crime law is expected to take
three years, and will involve the development of best practice and a code of
conduct to encourage the law’s use against new threats and cyber-crime from
the Internet in order to create the right balance between public liberty and
the right to protection and privacy, she added. For example, it will cover
the rights of Internet users, especially students that develop their own
blogs and websites to disclose private information, a practice that is open to
abuse and often very dangerous in the online environment. The agency will
therefore announce an authentication framework to reduce risks for users and
protect them by asking them to provide their ID number when entering a public
domain on the Internet. The ETDA was established as an academic agency with
the key mission to enhance the value of electronic transactions and promoting
the development of technology laws as a tool to drive the economy and to
improve people’s quality of life. Thailand has three laws - the
computer crime law, the e-transaction law and the data protection law -
related to information technology and cyber security. They are variously
under amendment and/or subject to approval for implementation and
enforcement.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 04/19/2013
TOP↑
Symantec
Internet Security Threat Report Reveals Increase in Cyber-Espionage
Symantec Corp.'s Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 18
(ISTR) has revealed a 42 percent surge during 2012 in targeted attacks compared to the prior year.
The report said the attacks were designed to steal intellectual property and
were increasingly hitting the manufacturing sector as well as small
businesses, which are the target of 31 percent of the attacks. In addition,
consumers remain vulnerable to ransomware and mobile threats, particularly on
the Android platform, the report said. "Cyber-criminals aren't slowing
down at all and instead, they are continuing to innovate new ways to steal
valuable information from organizations of all sizes. This year's ISTR shows
that the growing sophistication of attacks coupled with today's IT
complexities, such as virtualization, mobility and cloud, require businesses
to remain proactive and use 'defence in depth' security measures to stay
ahead of the threat curve," said Eric Hoh, Symantec's vice president for
Asia South Region.
Pramut Sriwichian, Symantec's country manager for Thailand the Internet security threat profile
in Thailand
has remained fairly constant (ranked 30th in 2011 and 2012 respectively) but
threats to online security have grown and evolved. "SMBs in particular,
are more susceptible to targeted attacks than larger ones and cyber-criminals
are showing increased interest in them. In Thailand, we are observing a
similar trend - 64.61 percent of businesses with fewer than 250 employees are
hit by spam attacks. SMBs need to realize that they are not immune to attacks
targeted at them and adopt security best practices to protect their
information assets," Pramut said.
ISTR 18 Key Highlights Include:
Small Businesses Are the Path of Least Resistance
Targeted attacks are growing the most among businesses with
fewer than 250 employees. Small businesses are now the target of 31 percent
of all attacks, a threefold increase from 2011. While small businesses may
feel they are immune to targeted attacks, cyber-criminals are enticed by
these organizations' bank account information, customer data and intellectual
property. Attackers hone in on small businesses that may often lack adequate
security practices and infrastructure. Web-based attacks increased by 30
percent in 2012, many of which originated from the compromised websites of
small businesses. These websites were then used in massive cyber-attacks as
well as "watering hole" attacks. In a watering hole attack, the
attacker compromises a website, such as a blog or small business website,
which is known to be frequently visited by the victim of interest. When the
victim later visits the compromised website, a targeted attack payload is
silently installed on their computer. The Elderwood Gang pioneered this class
of attack; and, in 2012, successfully infected 500 organizations in a single
day. In these scenarios, the attacker leverages the weak security of one
business to circumvent the potentially stronger security of another business.
Manufacturing Sector and Knowledge Workers Become Primary
Targets
Shifting from governments, manufacturing has moved to the top
of the list of industries targeted for attacks in 2012. Symantec believes
this is attributed to an increase in attacks targeting the supply chain -
cyber-criminals find these contractors and subcontractors susceptible to
attacks and they are often in possession of valuable intellectual property.
Often by going after manufacturing companies in the supply chain, attackers gain
access to sensitive information of a larger company. In addition, executives
are no longer the leading targets of choice. In 2012, the most commonly
targeted victims of these types of attacks across all industries were
knowledge workers (27 percent) with access to intellectual property as well
as those in sales (24 percent).
Mobile Malware and Malicious Websites Put Consumers and
Businesses at Risk
Last year, mobile malware increased by 58 percent, and 32
percent of all mobile threats attempted to steal information, such as e-mail
addresses and phone numbers. Surprisingly, these increases cannot necessarily
be attributed to the 30 percent increase in mobile vulnerabilities. While
Apple's iOS had the most documented vulnerabilities, it only had one threat
discovered during the same period. Android, by contrast, had fewer vulnerabilities but more threats than any other
mobile operating system. Android's market share, its open platform and the
multiple distribution methods available to distribute malicious apps, make it
the go-to platform for attackers.
In addition, 61 percent of malicious websites are actually
legitimate websites that have been compromised and infected with malicious
code. Business, technology and shopping websites were among the top five
types of websites hosting infections. Symantec attributes this to unpatched
vulnerabilities on legitimate websites. In years passed, these websites were
often targeted to sell fake antivirus to unsuspecting consumers. However,
ransomware, a particularly vicious attack method, is now emerging as the
malware of choice because of its high profitability for attackers. In this
scenario, attackers use poisoned websites to infect unsuspecting users and
lock their machines, demanding a ransom in order to regain access. Another
growing source of infections on websites is malvertisements—this is when
criminals buy advertising space on legitimate websites and use it to hide
their attack code.
From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
05/10/2013
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INDIA: To Unveil Cyber Security Policy Soon
New Delhi: India
will soon have a cyber security policy that will ensure preventive measures
against cyber crime and fraud, Minister for Communications and Information
Technology Kapil Sibal told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Wednesday.
According to the Minister, the computer emergency response team in India,
CERT-In, was monitoring any suspicious move on the Internet in order to
checkmate potential cyber attacks from hackers. The minister said that if any
instance of fake calls on mobiles or emails promising a big award in exchange
of personal information of a user is reported to his Ministry, it will take
action. Sibal stressed the need for international agreements, saying that the
intermediaries of various internet service providers were located outside India,
making it difficult to seek information from them.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 02/27/2013
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SEBI
to Watch Over BBM and WhatsApp
Market regulator SEBI is contemplating steps to check risks
being posted by new age media i.e. BBM (Black Berry Messenger) and WhatsApp.
The large scale usage of smart phone messaging services by manipulators to spread
sensitive information about their target stocks and markets has posted
challenge before SEBI to regulate it. To strengthen its probe and oversight
on stock market transactions, SEBI has already got software tools in place
along with IT experts to analyze discussions on social networking sites like
Twitter and Facebook. However WhatsApp and BBM are proving tricky for SEBI as
there are multi level difficulties in tracking the source and spread of
market-sensitive information. It is very difficult for any third party to
decode the transmission of message as it happens in highly encoded manner.
After finding out that the source and spread of any sensitive
information through social media platforms could be apprehended easily by the
regulators, the manipulators are nowadays mostly using BBM and WhatsApp. The
free messaging service of these new age media attracts manipulators more. It
would be difficult for SEBI to get information on message shared through
mobile apps. Recent investigations done by SEBI have revealed that BBM and
WhatsApp were used into market manipulation. Hence SEBI has hired specialist
IT officers to keep an eye on discussions taking at these platforms.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/08/2013
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KSITM
Launches New System to Trace Undelivered Aadhaar Cards
The Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) will introduce a new
tracking system to trace undelivered Aadhaar cards. The system will be placed
within three months through which people can check the status of their cards.
The tracking system will provide a special call centre with a toll free
number. According to KSITM around 79 percent of the population i.e. 2.32
crore people had enrolled under the Aadhaar scheme. Among which 1.16 crore
Aadhar cards remain undelivered across the state. The IT Mission has decided to introduce a new
tracking system which will check the status of Aadhaar cards on being
provided with name, address and family details. The card status will be
provided as a SMS to the given mobile number or through email. As most of the
people in Kerala have lost their acknowledgement slip and forgotten their
enrollment number, the KSITM had requested the UIDAI for permission to
implement the special tracking system and UIDAI has approved it recently.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/09/2013
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AZERBAIJAN: Brands Expected to Protect Domain Names on
Their Own
Well-known brands have to secure their domain names from cyber
squatting on their own, Faig Farmanov, Electronic Security
Center's head, and
executive director of the Intrans company, which registers web-pages on the
national domain, said on Wednesday. Cyber or domain squatting is registering,
trafficking or using a domain name with intent to profit from the goodwill of
a trademark belonging to someone else. After registering, cyber squatters
offer to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark
contained within the name at an inflated price. According to Farmanov, at
present, this issue is already on the agenda and will be topical after
implementing the system of the .az domain online registration. "We
already try not to register widely known brands' domains at present. We can
only give our recommendations on this issue not to use these names. However,
at some stages a liberal approach is required, which we will implement. This
problem should be vested in the brands, which should themselves ensure the
security of their domain names, like microsoft.az, to prevent their being
registered by whoever," Farmanov said. However,
according to Farmanov, some restrictions will remain, including registration
of geographical names and famous names. Farmanov noted that citing a date of
this practice's implementation is not possible. However, the issue will gain
actuality after launching the .az domain online registration system, which is
expected in the near future. Some countries have specific laws against
cybersquatting beyond the normal rules of trademark law like the
Anticyberquatting Consumer Protection Act of 1999 in the US.
.az domain registration
Intrans was expected to start the online registration on .az
in January. However, legal regulations have apparently slowed down the
procedure. Currently, domains are not provided to foreigners or foreign
companies' representations based in Azerbaijan. "In the initial
stage online registration on .az domain will be possible only for Azerbaijani
citizens living in the country. However, that does not mean that registration
will not be possible for foreigners at all. Their applications will be
considered, we are ready to liberalize this issue step by step,"
Farmanov stressed. He also said AzeriCard processing center's platform will
be used for online payment of the domain cost. However, talks with other
electronic payment systems are in progress. Online registration will have a
positive effect on the domestic market, will be more convenient for Internet
users in the country's regions and thus will enlarge the national segment of
the network. 17,705 domains were registered on .az by March 2013. Most of the
domain names (15,902) are websites of the first level; the most popular
domain of the second level is .com.az with 686 websites, and the third most
popular domain is .edu.az with 160 Internet resources. The number of domains
registered this year has made up 1,060, while 298 domains were declined
registration. Intrans, the first Internet service provider in Azerbaijan,
was established in 1991 and is the first company in the country which started
rendering high-quality services of Internet access. The company's website,
www.az, was the first site on the national segment of the Web. The .az domain
began operation in August 1993. The cost of registration on the domain is 20
manats ($25). Annual cost of technical support is of the same amount.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 03/15/2013
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Azerbaijan to Bolster Cyber Security
Azerbaijan's
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies is coordinating the
work of various state bodies in the framework of ensuring the operation of
the Electronic Security Center.
The ministry says this effort is believed to protect users from online
threats, malware cyber-attacks and other adversities. For this purpose, the
possibility of arranging an information security audit of government agencies
and businesses on the basis of their applications is being considered. The
audit will be conducted by the National Security Ministry and the Special
State Protection Service. Along with ensuring effective protection against
outside threats, it is equally important to organize public awareness work. Therefore,
the Electronic Security Center
is planning to launch seminars and periodic publication of a "virus
bulletin" containing information about the most recent threats. It is
also planned to launch a special website in the near future. The center also
intends to cooperate closely with manufacturers of hardware and software
platforms in order to attract highly qualified cyber security specialists and
to focus attention on further improvement of the professional level of human
resources in this field.
These efforts are being made as Azerbaijan is working to boost
its ICT sector. 2013 was declared the year of information and communication
technologies in January. Later, in March, President Ilham Aliyev approved the
Action Plan on the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. According to the
action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT strategy, improve the
registration procedure of the national domain .az, and significantly reduce
fees for telecommunication services and internet access in the country. The
plan ensures the functioning of the State Fund for ICT Development, the High
Technologies Park, Information Security Center, Virtual Qarabag ICT center,
IT University, as well as an increase of the number of provided e-services
and the range of users, improvement of the quality of broadband services,
transition to digital broadcasting, and introduction of phone number
portability. Moreover, creating and operating a website on the ICT Year as
well as conducting a first nationwide research and practical conference on
cyber security is expected in April or May.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/23/2013
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Azerbaijan Joins International Anti-Phishing Efforts
The computer emergency response team (CERT) functioning under
the State Agency for Special Communications and Information Security of
Special State Protection Service, has become a member of the international
Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), CERT reports. APWG was founded in 2003 to
investigate the phishing attacks and to coordinate the international activity
to containment phishing. The group includes more than 3,200 members from more
than 1,700 companies and agencies worldwide. Phishing attack is an attempt to
acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by
masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing
is aimed at the specific people or enterprises. Phishing attack is carried
out by means of the mass mailing of electronic letters on behalf of famous
brands. Phishing emails may contain links to websites that are infected with
malware. Such emails may also contain the direct reference to the false
website of brands, and any user data entries here threatens access to user
data, incluing his/her bank accounts. According to the Netcraft analytical
company report, the number of the real phishing attacks in the AzNet sector
increased by 56.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013.
The analysis is prepared on the base of the Netcraft Toolbar
program, which is the module of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer
browser. The program cautions the user on the hazardous
websites, as well as inform that the phishing attack was prevented.
The report said one effective phishing attack accounts for 2,409 websites in
the .az domain. The attack is organized to gain money or personal
information. Currently, Netcraft Toolbar is installed on over 4,800 personal
computers in Azerbaijan,
which is by 4.1 percent more as compared to the beginning of the year.
Development of the ICT sphere in Azerbaijan leads to the
cybercrime growth. Azerbaijani ICT Ministry is coordinating the work of
various state agencies in the framework of ensuring the operation of the Electronic Security Center.
The Electronic Security Center
under the ICT Ministry was created by the presidential decree in March 2013.
The Electronic Security Center
is planning to launch seminars and periodic publication of a "virus
bulletin" containing information about the most recent threats. It is also
planned to launch a special website in the near future. These efforts are
being made as Azerbaijan
is working to boost its ICT sector. 2013 was declared the year of information
and communication technologies in January.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/03/2013
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Azerbaijan, ITU Join Effort to Draft New Convention on
Information Security
Azerbaijan jointly
with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is working on a new
convention on information security, Azerbaijani Communications and
Information Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov has said. Abbasov was speaking
at the first nationwide scientific conference on information security in Baku on May 17. The
conference was organized in the frame of the 2013 action plan on the ICT
year, which was announced in Azerbaijan
this January. May 17 is celebrated as World Telecommunication and Information
Society Day around the world, which is linked to the establishment of the ITU
in 1865. The main aim of the Day is to promote awareness on the opportunities
of the Internet and information and communication technologies. According to
Abbasov, a similar initiative on information security was put forward by Russia
in 2010, but the world community has not yet made a specific decision on the
issue. Some countries have made amendments to their legislation and went as
far as equating cyber-attacks to a declaration of war. "Today,
information security is becoming more important in the world," he said.
"The main reason is the global digitization of all spheres of life.
A new electronic infrastructure is emerging and the main
activity of many organizations is based on it. The most developed spheres are
telecommunication and mobile networks," the minister said. The evolution
of television and the transition to digital TV broadcasting also require a
thorough approach to reliable information security systems, Abbasov said.
"According to the statistics, the loss as a result of cyber-crime in the
world amounts to approximately $1 trillion, which is comparable to the
illicit drug trade turnover," he said. "About 600,000 people become
victims of cyber criminals every year." Azerbaijan is working to develop
its ICT sector and to protect the users. The ICT ministry is coordinating the
work of various state bodies to protect users from online threats, malware
cyber-attacks and other adversities. Along with ensuring effective protection
against outside threats, it is equally important to organize public awareness
work. For this purpose, the Electronic
Security Center
was set up under the ministry in March. The Electronic Security
Center is planning to
launch seminars and periodic publication of a "virus bulletin"
containing information about the most recent threats. It is also planned to
launch a special website in the near future.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 05/17/2013
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AUSTRALIA: Govt Doesn't Keep Cybersafety Button
Source Code
Following
the disclosure late last year that the government had expected Apple to
reject its cybersafety button app from the App Store, it has been revealed that
the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE)
doesn't have the source code for the application. In 2010, the government
launched a software-based red button for the desktop, which allows a child
who was being bullied or facing other problems online to click a button and
be directed to a website that shows them what they can do. The website would
explain, for example, how to report issues to Facebook or to the police. At
the last report, AU$113,000 had been spent on the app. Since the launch, the
government has also released versions of the program for browsers,
BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and Android. The department failed to get a
version onto iOS, because Apple judged it "not sufficiently different
from a web browsing experience".
A freedom
of information (FOI) request by network engineer Mark Newton revealed
yesterday that the department doesn't have the source code for its own
application, with external developers only providing installation files to
the government. "The installation files required to download the Help
Button have been loaded onto the department's servers. The department doesn't
require the source code to run the Help Button's application." Newton has requested a
review of the decision. "I have difficulty believing that the Department
of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy spent several hundred
thousand dollars developing these help button applications, and, upon
completion, didn't even receive source code deliverables," he said. "Either
the source code exists somewhere where the department has not looked, or the
department has simply lost several hundred thousand dollars worth of
taxpayer-funded intellectual property."
From http://www.zdnet.com 02/19/2013
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Public-Private
Partnership a Challenge for Cybercrime Centers
Cybercrime
centers are too focused on protecting government systems, and within it,
public-private collaboration pose challenges when it comes to the fear of
information leakage during the sharing of data and the private sector's
worries that the government may penalize them. According to Ngair Teow-Hin,
CEO of SecureAge, many cybercrime centers are structured to focus on
protecting government systems and critical infrastructure. As such, they tend
to leave out the private sector, and subsequently, they cannot benefit from
such government efforts and their computer systems remain vulnerable to
cyberattacks, he explained. Both public and private sectors also face issues
with information sharing. His comments follow reports last month that 95
percent of Australia's Cyber Security Center's
staff will be from the country's Defense Department. The move has drawn
criticism the center will duplicate functions of the country's Department of
Defense's own Cybersecurity
Center and did not give
the private sector a say.
Paul
Black, managing principal for Verizon's Risk Team agreed, adding another key
challenge is the information sharing between public and private organization.
The public sector is hindered by regulatory factors and bureaucracy, while
the private sector holds back sharing because of competition and intellectual
property (IP), Black explained. Both sides are also worried that information
shared outside their respective organizations may be disclosed to
unauthorized parties, he added. Similarly, Japan's National Police Agency
(NPA) too, admitted last month it faced difficulties working with private
sector employees to leverage their skills for cybercrime investigations, over
concerns that classified information may be leaked. Additionally, private
sectors are also hesitant to collaborate with public sector organizations as
there is a fear that opening up to the government may open an opportunity for
them to find ways to penalize the private sector's activities or policies,
Black added. Cybersecurity is not a responsibility limited to either the
public or private sector but a shared responsibility that has a significant
impact on national IT systems and private organizations, the Verizon
executive noted.
"Both
sides must recognize safeguarding national systems, critical infrastructure,
IP can be significantly improved only when both parties combine their
resources and intelligence together," he said. Cybercrime centers need
to include people who truly understand cybercrime activities and technologies
used in such a center, Ngair advised. Many security professionals may be good
in traditional methods of protections but cannot keep up with the latest threats
and do not understand how cybercriminals' evolving tactics, he pointed out.
Such professionals may be able to prevent a "garden variety of
threats" but not advanced ones, Ngair warned. This is why a cybercrime
center needs capable cybersecurity professionals, especially people who
understand the intrinsic weaknesses in computer systems, the SecureAge CEO
said. Black added staff of a cybercrime center should have a diverse range of
skills, ranging from technical intelligence, research, attorneys, developers,
software engineers, data analytics professionals, legal compliance officers
and criminal investigators.
A
transparent and collaborative approach toward information sharing, with right
policies should be established to enhance collaboration within a cybercrime
center, he added. Proper legal frameworks and work flows need to be
established to protect both parties, he explained. Governments can set up a
separate group of experts who do not deal with classified systems so that the
group can share the information and knowledge freely with the private
industry, Ngair suggested. "This way, the private industry can benefit
from the shared information and wisdoms to protect themselves against
cybercriminals," he said.
From http://www.zdnet.com 03/08/2013
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NEW ZEALAND: Cyber Security Fears Rising
IT firm
says government plans over growing threat may undermine civil liberties. New
Zealanders are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy and
cyber-security, new research suggests. One IT industry organisation has
sounded alarm bells that the Government's response to the growing
cyber-security threat may undermine civil liberties. Roy Morgan Research
yesterday reported huge uptake of new technologies over the past two years
with smartphone ownership trebling to 36 per cent of the population over 14
and ownership of tablet computers up fivefold to 25 per cent over the same
period. But New Zealanders were discovering that owning a smart phone, tablet
or laptop "can raise tricky issues about privacy and cyber
security", Roy Morgan Research chief executive Pip Elliott said.
"And with debate raging over proposed legislation to allow spy agencies
and the police to conduct cyber surveillance on New Zealand citizens, these
issues are more relevant than ever," she said. "While there's no
doubt that new technologies can make our lives easier in many ways, they also
expose us to potential privacy risks. As more New Zealanders adopt these
technologies, they're simultaneously becoming more concerned about the accompanying
risks."
Roy Morgan
reported the proportion of New Zealanders who said they were worried about
invasion of their privacy through new technology had increased from 54 per
cent to 62 per cent over the past decade, rising four percentage points in
the last two years alone. "With proposed changes to the
Telecommunications (Interception Capability) Act meaning that network
operators may be obliged to assist police and spy agencies in matters
affecting 'national and economic well-being', cyber security issues are
currently a hot topic in New Zealand," Ms Elliott said. Institute of IT
Professionals chief executive Paul Matthews said threats to cyber security
were a genuine issue, with New
Zealand businesses "under attack on a
daily basis"."So consideration about how to respond is completely
valid." However, the institute was not comfortable with some details of
the Government's planned overhaul of the GCSB Act initiated after it was
revealed the bureau had illegally spied on internet tycoon Kim Dotcom. "What
concerns us in terms of suggestions is the concept around warrantless
surveillance." Under the rejigged Act, Section 14 prohibiting
interception of New Zealander's communications will only apply to the
bureau's foreign intelligence work. The new legislation will make Section 14
not apply when the bureau intercepts New Zealanders' communications while
assisting the police or SIS under a warrant or when it is undertaking
information assurance or cyber security work.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 04/26/2013
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IT
Industry Backs Software Patent Change
The
Government has announced a change to planned new patent rules today which has
put an end to fears that computer software might be covered by new patent
protection. Industry sources have welcomed the decision and the Labour Party
has called it "a humiliating back down".Commerce Minister Craig
Foss has released a supplementary order paper to clarify issues around the
patentability of computer programmes in the Patents Bill. "These changes
ensure the Bill is consistent with the intention of the Commerce Select
Committee recommendation that computer programs should not be
patentable," Foss said. The Patents Bill is designed to replace the
Patents Act 1953 and update the New Zealand patent regime. The
Commerce Select Committee recommended in 2010 that software should not be
patentable, which led to lobbying from patent lawyers and others. Foss then
released a supplementary order paper (SOP) which changed some wording in the
bill and caused industry concern that he might be reversing his decision.
Ongoing
consultation with the New
Zealand software and IT sector had led to
today's announcement, Foss said. "I'm confident we've reached a solution
where we can continue to protect genuine inventions and encourage Kiwi
businesses to export and grow." The Labour Party said Foss had been
forced into "a humiliating back down" over the software patent
system. "Last year Craig Foss gave in to patent lawyers and
multinational software players and sought to impose a software patents system
on our IT sector," said communications and IT spokesperson Clare Curran.
He overrode the advice of the Commerce Select Committee that copyrighting
software would smother innovation." Foss said there had been "a lot
of noise" about the SOP when he released it and today's move was not a
back-down. "There were some concerns out there but that was a
misconception about what we intended from the first SOP." His intention
was always that devices such as digital cameras or washing machines, that
make use of a computer program, would be patentable, but not the software
itself, Foss said.
Internet New Zealand welcomed today's tabling of the
SOP, saying it made clear that computer software was not patentable in New Zealand.
Foss' decision to amend the Patents Bill drew to a close "years of
wrangling between software developers, ICT players and multinational
heavyweights over the vexed issue of patentability of software", said
spokesperson Susan Chalmers. "Patenting software would not only make the
continued development of the Internet more difficult, it would reduce
innovation and could well stymie interoperability of various software
platforms," she said. New Zealand's
largest IT representative body, the Institute of IT
Professionals, expressed relief and said a major barrier to software-led
innovation had been removed. Chief executive Paul Matthews said although
there were varied opinions on the matter, the consensus amongst professionals
was that the patent system simply did not work for software. "If you
look at the New Zealand
market, you would be hard pressed to find many people that were thinking
patents would be a good idea." It was in New Zealand's best interests for
software to continue to be covered through the provisions of copyright -
"a far more appropriate mechanism" - in the same way movies and
books were, Matthews said.
"We
believe it's near impossible for software to be developed without breaching
some of the hundreds of thousands of software patents awarded around the
world, often for 'obvious' work.Thus many software companies in New Zealand,
creating outstanding and innovative software, live with a constant risk that
their entire business could be threatened due to litigious action by a patent
holder." Patenting software would give large overseas firms the
opportunity to monopolise a concept and crush smaller competitors through the
legal system, he said. New
Zealand's biggest software exporter, Orion
Health, also welcomed Foss' decision. Chief executive Ian McCrae said obvious
things were being patented under the current regime. "You might see a
logical enhancement to your software, but you can't do it because someone
else has a patent. In general, software patents are counter-productive, often
used obstructively and get in the way of innovation." Matthews said a
recent poll of more than 1000 Kiwi IT professionals found 94 per cent wanted
to see software patents gone. A petition launched by the industry against
software patents received over 1,000 signatures in under a week, he said.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 05/09/2013
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New Zealand Spotlights Cybersecurity Reforms at
Futuregov Forum
New Zealand’s
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is leading the charge on
cyber-security reforms – with a raft of data protection strategies currently
being rolled out by this peak agency. Details about this strategy and the
next steps to reforms are being shared by Paul Ash, the department’s manager
for national cyber-security policy. Paul Ash delivers a keynote address at
the industry’s flagship FutureGov Forum New Zealand being held Tuesday 28th
May in Wellington.
His presentation clarifies moves to streamline cyber-security. These reforms
underscore steps to ensure that citizen data is protected in an inter-connected, and often vulnerable environment. Paul
Ash shares strategies to raise cyber-security awareness across industry and
government. He also outlines steps to protect critical infrastructure, while
improving inter-governmental collaboration at the regional and international
levels.
Improving
cyber-security is an important component of New Zealand’s data protection
blueprint. Earlier, peak industry bodies called for a closer scrutiny of
standards. Among the concerns, New Zeland’s cyber-security position paper
notes that: “Criminals are increasingly using cyber space to gain access to
personal information, steal businesses’ intellectual property, and gain
knowledge of sensitive government-held information for financial or political
gain or other malicious purposes. National borders present no barrier.” New Zealand’s
“Cyber-Security Strategy” is the government’s response to a growing
cyber-threat. This strategy builds on current government and non-government
efforts to improve cyber-security at all levels. This blueprint also lays the
groundwork to fast-track targeted initiatives improving cyber-security for
individuals, businesses, as well as critical national infrastructure and
government. Among the trends, international data suggests that each year
133,000 New Zealanders are victims of identity fraud. Most reported cases having
a cyber element – with around one-third falling victim to identity theft and
two-thirds to credit or bank card fraud.
New
Zealanders are frequently the targets of international scams and fraud
attempts, losing nearly NZ $500 million due to scams annually. An earlier
survey showed that 54 per cent of Kiwis felt they knew little or nothing
about computer security risks and solutions. Cyber-attacks are increasingly
more advanced and sophisticated. These encompass cyber-espionage,
“hactivism,” and terrorists’ use of the internet. Moreover, incidents
reported internationally suggest that attacks are being targeted at
intellectual property and other proprietary information held by businesses,
as well as individuals. Many attackers are coordinated, well-funded, and
invest heavily in new ways to exploit the digital environment. To tackle
these threats, the New
Zealand government is actively working
with regional and international security partners on reforms. New Zealand’s
legal framework in relation to concerns involving international cyber-crime
is also under review.
From http://www.futuregov.asia 05/14/2013
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The
Best (and Worst) Countries for Cloud Computing
But unlike the virtual realm, the world that appears on a map
poses a long list of challenges both to the adoption of cloud computing and
the extent to which service providers are willing or able to take their
operations global and open up data centers or other operations in new and
emerging markets. In an effort to make sense of that patchwork, the software
trade group BSA today is releasing its second annual global cloud-computing
scorecard, an evaluation of 24 countries' laws and regulations on a host of
issues that bear on a company's decision to open shop in a new market.
"I would say that it is a solid mix. There has been a lot of progress
that we're very hopeful about," says Chris Hopfensperger, technology
policy counsel at the BSA. "I think the thing that we see though at the
end of the day is that there's good laws and bad
laws and you end up with really patchy progress." The 24 countries the
BSA evaluated for its cloud scorecard account for around 80 percent of the
global information and communications technology market. For the second year
in a row, the BSA ranked Japan
as the friendliest environment for cloud providers, citing a high rate of
broadband adoption, strong laws against cybercrimes and a solid framework to
promote security and protect users' privacy. Australia follows in the No. 2
spot, also unchanged from last year, while the United States moved up a
position, switching places with Germany to rank No. 3 on the cloud scorecard,
though the authors of the report attribute that advance more to the ongoing
development of standards and infrastructure supporting cloud computing than
any substantive policy measures enacted by the government.
Top 5 Countries for Cloud Computing:
The BSA's scorecard acknowledges some encouraging signs of
activity on the privacy front in the United States, including the
Obama administration's expression of support for new consumer-protection
legislation and the development of a so-called privacy bill of rights. At the
same time, the report notes "the absence of a broader consensus among
lawmakers" on what provisions should be included in an online privacy
bill. Apart from that debate over broad consumer-privacy protections, the
BSA, along with a great many cloud-service providers, is actively lobbying
for an update to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), a 1986
statute that set parameters for law-enforcement authorities to wiretap phones
and gain access to a computer's data transmissions. But as it is applied
today, that law, which long predated the general use of email (let alone the
cloud), has created considerable uncertainty about the legal protections
afforded to Web-based services, as well as some odd circumstances like the
ability for authorities to obtain emails without a warrant from a Webmail
provider if the communications are older than six months.
5 Worst Countries for Cloud Computing:
"We are actively and aggressively pushing for ECPA
reform," Hopfensperger says. "We really think the time has come to
amend a 1986 law that no longer really reflects the technological realities
today." The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vermont Democrat
Patrick Leahy, has indicated that he plans to work to advance ECPA reform
legislation in the new session of Congress. Of the constellation of policy
issues that affect the spread of cloud services, Hopfensperger says that none
is of greater concern than security and privacy, stressing that consumers and
businesses alike will be reluctant to shift data to the cloud unless they are
confident that their information will be adequately protected from cyber
attacks and not exploited for purposes that they would consider invasive.
"Privacy and security are probably talked about more than any other
[issue] for a variety reasons. But they are really two sides of the same
coin," he says. "Both are key to
engendering trust in the cloud. Obviously, cloud computing does no good if
people don't want to put their data in the cloud." While the path
forward for privacy legislation in the United
States remains far from certain, the October 2012
passage of a privacy law in Singapore
helped vault that country five spots in the BSA's cloud rankings, moving up
from No. 10 to No. 5, making for the biggest single gainer in the scorecard.
The BSA praises Singapore's law for taking a
"light-touch" approach that codifies a set of principles intended
to affirm individuals' right to control their personal information, while at
the same time acknowledging that cloud providers have a legitimate need to
collect, use and even disclose that data in certain cases. That type of
flexible approach, rather than overly prescriptive regulations, is critical
to nurturing a regulatory environment that fosters the expansion of
cloud-based services, according to the BSA. Singapore "took a big step
in 2012," Hopfensperger says, "because they adopted a privacy law
that balances the important consumer protections with the need for companies
to be able to move data and continue to innovate." In contrast, each of
the European Union member countries that the BSA evaluated in its scorecard
slipped at least one place, owing in large part to the uncertainty associated
with an ongoing effort to reform the body's privacy laws. That debate has
aired proposals that alarm the BSA and some of its member companies,
including the imposition of "new administrative burdens" and
limitations on providers' ability to review data for security purposes,
rather than the risk-based, contextual approach to data protection that the
group advocates. The BSA also warns against protectionist policies that favor
domestic cloud providers while subjecting foreign companies to bureaucratic
and operational requirements.
Indonesia, for
instance, dropped one place to 21st on the BSA's list due to new regulations
requiring cloud providers to register with a central authority and mandating
that some set up data centers in the country staffed by local workers. The
BSA finds similar concerns with other countries that rank poorly on its
scorecard. Indeed, the five countries at the bottom of the list -- in
descending order, South Africa at No. 20, trailed by Indonesia, Brazil,
Thailand and Vietnam -- received the lowest scores of any nation on the BSA's
"supporting free trade" criterion. "The real problem areas I
think we would say is that some of the countries that are at the bottom of
the ranking -- Indonesia, Vietnam -- some of these countries are really
taking active steps to chop off a piece of the cloud for themselves,"
Hopfensperger says. "These things really run counter to what we view as
an international approach to cloud policy."
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/07/2013
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10
Countries with World's Fastest Internet
Bangalore:
Connectivity has so far turned from ‘wired’ to ‘wireless.’ In both the case,
the last thing you wish to see would be a slow loading internet page. Be it uploading a picture or having a
video conference, everyone loves a lightning fast Internet connection.
However, when most of the countries including India suffer from slow Internet
connection, certain countries enjoy browsing at speeds as high as 1 Gbps,
even at its outskirts. Have a look at the top 10 countries with superfast
internet, compiled by Bloomberg on the basis of the quarterly report prepared
by Akamai technologies.
#10 Singapore:
Speed: 30.7 megabits per second
Singapore, known to
be the ‘tech hub’ has cracked to take the 10th spot with an average of 30.7
megabits per second that is nearly double the global average of 15.9 megabits
per second. The country includes four major Internet service providers,
namely, SingNet, StarHub, Pacnet and M1. As part of the country’s initiative
of Intelligent Nation 2015, the Singapore Government has been promoting the
usage of broadband Internet access and it is readily available throughout the
country with connectivity rate of over 99%. The Next Generation Nationwide
Broadband Network service plan is Singapore’s nationwide ultra-high
speed fiber network. It is on track to achieve its target 95 percent
coverage.
# 9 Israel
Speed: 30.9 megabits per second
Internet in Israel
has been available since the 1990’s
but came into use for commoners since 2001. The recent developments of
broadband capabilities have made the country reach 9th in the world. The
internet is provided through phone and cable infrastructure and has an
average speed of 30.9 megabits per second. The Akamai editor, Belson says, it has good connectivity as well as web culture and fast
Internet go hand in hand which makes it on the list. The three main Internet
service providers are 012 Smile, 013 Netvision and Bezeg International.
#8 Bulgaria
Speed: 32.1 megabits per second
The country is known to attract the global companies and investors
because of its low taxes and cheap labour. Besides, it is also known for its
high speed Internet where it reached an average of 32.1 megabits per second.
Local Area Network (LAN) is the most common type of Internet access with over
60% of the consumers accessing it because of the high speeds and good
service. After the introduction of Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL)
technology, the use of Internet has greatly increased and now it is available
in 208 towns and villages around the country.
#7 Switzerland
Speed: 32.4 megabits per second
Known to be the major hub of finance industry, Switzerland
crossed at 32.4 megabits per second on average. The country has one of the
highest Internet and broadband penetration rates in Europe.
Broadband has replaced telephone communications and DSL networks have
overtaken cable as the prime technology for broadband access.
#6 Belgium
Speed: 32.7 megabits per second
The Internet connections in Belgium crossed an average of
32.7 megabits per second. The downloading speed in Brussels has now reached a good level.
Majority of the citizens have bandwidth caps to limit the amount of data
users and these are between 5GB/month up to 500GB/month and it shows the
competition in the market.
#5 Romania
Speed: 37.4 megabits per second
Romania was the
only country to see its average peak speed fall from the previous quarter.
The country’s average dropped 3.2 percent, compared with a global average
decrease of 1.4 percent. Still, majority of the countries prefer to have Romania’s
broadband speed with an average speed of 37.4 megabits per second. Based on
the Akamia report of 2011, Romanian cities like Constanta, Ia?i and Timi?oara are in the top 100 cities at the world
level with the highest average Internet speeds. Based on the Pando networks
content delivery space service released on September 2011, Romania has the second fastest Internet speed
in the world behind South
Korea.
#4 Latvia
Speed: 37.5 megabits per second
Even though Latvia
doesn’t come to mind easily when thinking about the most technologically
advanced nations, the broadband lines reached an average peak speed of 37.5
megabits per second placing it to be the top four. The Internet in Latvia
started to have its significant growth in 1999 and by 2000; there were about
75,000 Internet users and about twelve e-commerce shops in the country. By
2003, about 5.4 percent of the country’s citizens used Internet at home and
60 percent did not access it at all. Those of who could accessed
it in public areas or through their work place, as high subscription prices
for home usage remained a barrier.
#3 Japan
Speed: 42.2 megabits per second
Even though Japan
lost its game in electronics industry, it still tops in telecommunications
technology. The Japanese government has given priority to Internet
development as a national goal, said Belson. Besides, from the reports of
Akamai, it states that high-speed optic fiber runs through many parts of the
country and the country’s connections have reached 42.2 megabits per second
on average.
#2 South
Korea
Speed: 48.8 megabits per second
South
Korea, known to be a lover
of games is a home to several gaming competitions, such as World Cyber Games,
and has entire television channels devoted to “electronic sports”. The online
gaming absorbs a lot of bandwidth. The average peak Internet connection for South Korea
was 48.8 megabits per second and broadband, in the case of top-ranked nations
is comparatively cheap. Belson says that the pricing is way more affordable.
The country is known to be one of the leaders in Internet connectivity and
speed. The government has established policies and programs that facilitate a
rapid expansion and the use of broadband. It offers wireless services to all
the major cities. Wibro and HSDPA is the most common used technology used in
the country’s wireless broadband and most of the public restaurants offer
free Wi-Fi connection during business hours.
#1 Hong Kong
Speed: 54.1 megabits per second
Hong Kong, the
leader in Internet connectivity is blazing fast with its high population
density and strong governmental support. Belson says, unlike the Internet
lines across the border, content censorship is nonexistent. According to
Akamai, the average peak speed in the country was 54.1 megabits per second,
making it the top on the list. As per 2010, the 69.4 percent of the
population are Internet users and because of very little censorship in the
country, the Internet is used for the distribution of certain materials
particularly child pornography and pirated materials. The government provides
freedom of speech and none of the websites are blocked and governmental
licenses are not required to operate a website.
From
http://www.siliconindia.com/ 03/24/2013
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Global
Information Technology Report 2013
Finland has
toppled Sweden
from the top spot in a ranking of economies that are best placed to benefit
from new information and communication technologies (ICTs). Singapore came in second and Sweden third in the 2013
Networked Readiness Index, compiled by the World Economic Forum for its
Global Information Technology Report. The Forum's report also shows that
digitization has a measurable effect on economic growth and job creation. In
emerging markets, a comprehensive digital boost could help lift over half a
billion people out of poverty over the next decade. New technologies have
already transformed sectors from healthcare to farming, case studies in the
report show. The Networked Readiness Index, calculated by the World Economic
Forum, and INSEAD, ranks 144 economies based on their capacity to exploit the
opportunities offered by the digital age. This capacity is determined by the
quality of the regulatory, business and innovation environments, the degree of
preparedness, the actual usage of ICTs, as well as the societal and economic
impacts of ICTs. The assessment is based on a broad range of indicators from
Internet access and adult literacy to mobile phone subscriptions and the
availability of venture capital. In addition, indicators such as patent
applications and e-government services gauge the social and economic impact
of digitization.
The Nordic countries and the so-called Asian Tigers –
Singapore; Taiwan (China); South Korea; and Hong Kong SAR – dominate this
year's index thanks to their business-friendly approach, highly skilled
populations and investments in infrastructure, among other strengths. Finland,
which arguably has one of the best educational systems in the world, stands
out as a digital innovation hub. It boasts the world’s highest number of
patent applications per capita in the domain of ICTs), which are ubiquitous
in Finland.
Ninety per cent of Finnish households have Internet access, compared to about
70% in the United States
and 85% in the United
Kingdom. Among the top 10, the United Kingdom posts the biggest rank
improvement to 7th place, above the United States, which slips to 9th
place despite a performance essentially unchanged from the previous year. The
BRICS economies, led by Russia
(55th) continue to lag behind in the rankings. The report suggests that their
rapid economic growth may be in jeopardy unless the right investments are
made in ICT, skills and innovation. Down seven, China
ranks 58th, followed by Brazil
(60th), India (68th), and South Africa
(70th).
Mind the Digital Gap
In Europe, the NRI reveals the deep divide between the most
advanced Nordic economies and countries in Southern, Central and Eastern
Europe is remarkable – and alarming. Improving access to new technologies is
not enough; creating better conditions for entrepreneurship and innovation is
also crucial. Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa
still suffer from a serious lag despite infrastructure improvements, an
expansion of coverage and a push into e-government. Weaknesses in the
political and regulatory environment, the existence of large segments of the
population with a low skills base and poor development of the innovation
system are all factors hindering Latin America's
technological potential. In sub-Saharan Africa,
costly access to technology, a low skills base and unfavourable business
conditions are among the chief obstacles.
Can Digitization Kick-Start Growth?
For those who lag behind, the incentives for digitization
remain strong. An analysis by Booz & Company has found that ICT could
help lift millions out of poverty. Digitization has boosted world economic
output by US$ 193 billion over the past two years and created 6 million jobs
during that period, according to the study. Using a Digitization Index that
ranks countries on a scale from zero to 100, Booz & Company found that an
increase of 10% in a country’s digitization score fuels a 0.75% growth in its
GDP per capita. That same 10% boost in digitization leads to a 1.02% drop in
a state’s unemployment rate. If emerging markets could double the
Digitization Index score for their poorest citizens over the next 10 years,
the result would be a global US$ 4.4 trillion gain in nominal GDP, according
to the study. It would generate an extra US$ 930 billion in the cumulative
household income for the poorest, and 64 million new jobs for today’s
socially and economically most marginal groups. This would enable 580 million
people to climb above the poverty line.
Connected to Growth
Broadband, 3G
and the intelligent use of big data could also revitalize economic growth.
Governments play a crucial role in supporting this digital development, from
funding broadband networks to addressing complex issues such as privacy and
security. The economy as a whole will eventually reap the benefits as remote
rural areas are tied into the national network, resulting in new jobs and
broader educational opportunities. For example, a study by Deloitte based on
data from Cisco Systems finds that countries with a proportionately higher
share of 3G
connections enjoy greater economic growth than countries with comparable
total mobile penetration but lower 3G
penetration. For a given level of mobile penetration, countries that had a
10% higher 3G
penetration between 2008 and 2011 experienced an increase in their average
annual GDP per capita growth rate of 0.15 percentage points. Intelligent
interpretation of big data could energize the economy and improve the
performance of businesses by allowing them to accurately predict different
outcomes rather than relying on a "fail and fix" approach. In 2011
alone, 1.8 zettabytes of data were created – the equivalent of every person
on the planet writing three tweets per minute for 1,210 years. This massive
resource could be tapped in numerous ways. For example, using big data and
analytics to match people to jobs could help governments tackle unemployment
more efficiently.
The e-Doctor Will See You Now
ICTs could improve healthcare, reduce medical errors, cut
administrative costs and keep patients better informed. Adverse drug
reactions, for example, are among the leading causes of death in the United States.
Electronic drug prescription systems could check for adverse drug reactions
and warn patients who have allergies or take multiple drugs. ICTs could also
improve coordination of care for patients with complex chronic diseases and
increase the uptake of preventive screening services. However, despite their
tremendous promise, incorporating these technologies into daily use in healthcare
has proven difficult, partly because of the significant upfront investments
required, as well as the complex coordination between different players.
How Can Europe Keep Up?
Europe risks losing out to the United
States and Asia unless
it boosts investment in its telecoms sector. However, relatively low growth,
falling revenues and high dividends paid out to prop up stock prices mean
that fixed and mobile operators are unable to come up with the necessary
funds. Public funding and support for co-investment initiatives could be part
of the solution. Management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company offers
four additional ideas to unlock investment:
1.Allow players to consolidate so they can operate networks
and use resources more efficiently
2.Allow greater pricing flexibility so operators can charge
more to customers who demand higher speeds and more services
3.Restrict wholesale access regulation to a few basic
services, and allow “regulatory holidays” on any investments in new
generation networks; this gives operators a greater chance to recoup their
investment
4.Give operators more spectrum in which to operate so they
have more options for extending network capacity
Digital Farmers: The Case of Rwanda
Landlocked Rwanda,
which has limited natural resources, aims to fundamentally transform its
agrarian economy into a knowledge-based one by 2020, using ICT. Investments
in education, partnerships with foreign universities and the laying of
fibre-optic cables have created a conducive
environment. Services such as E-Soko, a mobile service that allows farmers to
check market prices for their products, have already improved the daily life
of many Rwandans. With the help of these new technologies, Rwanda intends to capitalize on its central
location in Africa and act as a hub for
banking, financial and outsourcing services.
Embracing e-government: The Case of Colombia, Uruguay and Panama
Colombia, Uruguay and Panama have become champions of
e-government and connectivity. In Colombia, Internet connections
have tripled to 6.2 million in the last 2.5 years. In Uruguay, small and medium-sized
tech enterprises helped lift technology exports from US$ 50 million in 2000
to US$ 225 million in 2010. Several challenges remain: public funds to build
infrastructure are limited, and many people cannot afford Internet access.
Nevertheless, e-government has already improved the lives of Latin Americans.
More than 50,000 Colombians took part in designing the National Educational
Plan for 2006-2015. In Panama,
entrepreneurs used to need five days to set up a company. Now, thanks to
PanamaEmprende, they can do it in 15 minutes.
From
http://www.weforum.org/ 04/11/2013
TOP↑
Global
Mobile Subscriptions Reach 6.3 Billion in
2012
Global mobile subscriptions saw a 9% rise in 2012 to 6.3
billion year-on-year, boosted by the growth in expanding markets in India and
China, according to a new report from Ericsson. The latest Ericsson Mobility
Report revealed that overall mobile subscriptions in China reached 1.26 billion, while in India
they reached 713 million during the period. During the fourth quarter of 2012
(4Q12), global mobile penetration reached 89% while the actual number of
subscribers reached 4.4 billion, as many users have several subscriptions. China accounted for 22% of net additions or
about 30 million subscriptions, followed by India,
Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nigeria. Mobile subscriptions
rose about 9% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter. According to the
report, mobile broadband subscriptions during the quarter rose 50% to 1.5
billion, compared to the corresponding quarter in 2012. In 2012, smartphones
sales contributed 40% of the sales of all mobile phones, compared to around
30% for 2011. Additionally, the report revealed that only around 15-20% of
the globally installed base of mobile phone subscribers use smartphones.
Ericsson predicts that mobile data subscriptions are anticipated to grow
strongly and drive data traffic growth, as well as growth in the average data
volume per subscription.
From
http://mobility.cbronline.com/
04/11/2013
TOP↑
Asia's
Mobile Revolution Is Changing the Way You Do
Business
Over 20 years ago when I first came to China to work I had a
frustrating time as communication systems were not developed - there were no
mobile phones, fax machines needed to be registered with the local government
and internet connectivity was non-existent. Communication with the rest of
the world was really only relegated to the morning and night when I could
return to my hotel or office and get access to the necessary devices to send
a message. Fast forward to now and most business people in China carry two, if not more
mobile phones. In fact, China,
and Asia as a region, has more mobile phones
than personal computers. Apple and Samsung see this as one of their most
important markets. With its open system, Google's android operating system
maintains a significant majority of market share in Asia.
Additionally, there are many low cost manufacturers (Chinese 'shanzai brands'
or 'knock-off' mobile phone equipment manufacturers) who use the android
platform to produce very affordable smart phones.
Combine the availability of phones, accessibility of an open
operating system and the 3G
speed of the telecom networks and the result is an ecosystem of the most
connected individuals in one of the most dynamic areas in the world. This
ecosystem is the driving force between many entrepreneurial efforts. WeChat,
a chat product from internet services company Tencent launched in 2011, has
seen phenomenal growth; signing up over 300 million users in less than 18
months. WeChat, however, has another distinction of being directly
responsible this year for the first decline in Chinese New Year text message
volume. More relevant, though, WeChat has created a platform for business. A
significant portion of the WeChat users are business people who create chat
groups to keep in touch with colleagues, customers and potential partners.
Microblogging site Sina Weibo has also successfully created a
marketing platform for individuals and businesses to develop and engage in a
conversation with their customers. Combined, Weibo and WeChat have over a
billion users. Most interestingly, though, in a culture where building
personal relationships is the corner stone of any opportunity, these two
companies are proving that mobile relationships are not only possible, but
also potentially quite lucrative. WeChat, Weibo and Kakao Talk (a chat
application similar to WeChat) in Korea, are leading this shift
from fixed line/PC to wireless/mobile devices. Business users are becoming
more comfortable with the mobile phone as a business tool instead of just a
communication device. And the chat function introduced by these companies has
very quickly become as important as a phone call or traditional text message
in business circles. And this is just the beginning. Given the ever growing
reliance on mobile phones, the prevalence of lower cost smartphone devices
and the ability to 'mobily' maintain business relationships, provides a
strong opportunity in developing cloud based mobile technologies to help
companies manage their teams.
This convergence of cloud (Internet based services) and
mobility now allows developers to build robust solutions where the mobile
phone is the primary device. In addition to the chat functions, businesses
can now download mobile sales force management solutions, virtual call center
platforms where workers can effectively work from a tea shop, logistic
tracking solutions that are exclusively mobile phone based. Amazingly, a
company in Shanghai
is releasing an app with video streaming where you can now choose your pig
before you buy it. Asia already has the most
mobile phone users in the world, now it is time for the software solutions to
catch up with the market opportunity. Unlike the West, Asia
will develop management solutions that are mobile and cloud based, yet again
leap frogging western countries that are still focused on office based
solutions. Is it possible that Asia will be
the first region to support and build a truly mobile business environment? I
would be surprised if this does not happen. Asia has already caught up in
terms of the hardware, it is entirely possible that
software will be the next area where Asia
can leapfrog the West.
From
http://www.cnbc.com/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
An
Information-Communication Revolution in the Pacific
Information and communication technology outreach is happening
fast in one of the most dispersed regions on Earth, the Pacific. It’s a
region comprised of some 9,000 islands spread across a vast ocean, where
governments and businesses deal with some of the highest transaction costs in
the world. Over the last six years, more than two million people in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands
gained access to mobile phones. In countries like Vanuatu, eight in ten people now
have a mobile phone connection (a 70 percent increase from 2007), and call
prices have dropped. Villagers who for years had
made treacherous three-hour long boat trips to make a simple phone call to
the capital, are now calling and texting family in other provinces and other
countries. Access to mobile phones has reduced isolation, made it easier and
cheaper to do business, and increased government options for service
delivery. The benefits have been felt right across Papua
New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga,
and Vanuatu,
and are now stretching into the North Pacific. This ‘telecommunications
revolution’ is also creating jobs where they are needed most: directly
creating livelihoods for at least 30,000 people in Papua New Guinea alone.
High-speed broadband next step in the Pacific
Mobile phones are just the beginning. High-speed broadband is
the next step to help overcome these challenges. Most Pacific Island
countries still depend on costly satellite links with limited bandwidth, and
internet connectivity costs are among the highest in the world. A 256kbps
broadband internet connection costs US$650 per month in Palau. In Kiribati, one of the poorest
countries in the region, it would cost $430. Such high rates are common across
the Pacific. As a result, less than one percent of the region’s population
typically has access to a reliable internet connection. Outside the main
towns, people are still more likely to communicate with letters transported
by ship than an email. Where the internet exists it’s often painfully slow.
Kelela Pasina runs an internet café just outside of Nuku’alofa, the capital
of Tonga,
but there are major bandwidth constraints. “The internet here is so bad.
Sometimes it comes on and off and on and off again. It’s very bad for
business and for my family.” Like many Tongans, he has family overseas but he
says, he can only contact them on Sundays when less
people are using the internet. It will take him half an hour to upload a
single photo of his new baby to send to his sister in Hawaii.
The internet here is so bad. Sometimes it comes on and off and
on and off again. It’s very bad for business and for my family. Yet the
coming months will see the arrival of broadband. Through a World Bank and
Asian Development Bank funded project, an 830 km fiber-optic cable will be installed
underwater to connect Tonga,
a country made up of 176 islands spread across 700,000 square kilometres of
ocean, to the Southern Cross Landing Station in Fiji, and onwards to global broadband
networks. As more countries connect, benefits are expected to resound in the
region. Faster, cheaper, and more reliable connections can result in the
development of:
•New opportunities to share information: Governments,
teachers, doctors, farmers, and fishermen use technology to communicate,
share information, buy goods, find better prices, make payments, improve the
reach of their services and increase their bargaining power.
•E-services: Developed by Pacific governments to provide
geographical information systems, new modes of distance learning, and online
business applications.
•Trans-national cooperation: On issues such as monitoring of
natural resources like fisheries, disaster mitigation, and collaboration on
service delivery like health and education, including in remote areas.
There is huge potential to harness the power of technology to
create economic growth and opportunities and to reduce poverty. The World
Bank Group, together with partners like AusAID, NZAID, and ADB, is working
with the countries of the Pacific to realize this potential. Currently the
World Bank has projects to better ICT access in seven Pacific
Island countries and Timor-Leste,
including in far-flung rural areas and Outer
Islands, with projects on the way in
Palau and Federated States of Micronesia.
From
http://www.worldbank.org/ 05/17/2013
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AFRICA:
Rwanda
- Public Officials Need ICT Training, Not Just Sensitization
"There is no one here who can convince me that he uses
more than 20% of the potential of his mobile or iPad," was the challenge
launched by ICT Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana, talking last week at
Police headquarters where he kicked of a campaign to increase and improve the
use of ICT in the public sector, which is part of a wider drive to raise
awareness on technology among the general population. In all likelihood, the
Minister is right. While the country has a vision of becoming a regional and
African information hub, and mobile telephone penetration is increasing
rapidly, a lot still needs to be done to make good use of the available
technology. Even in Nsengimana's audience, consisting of mainly senior
security officers, some were still taking notes with the good old pen and
paper (as our picture on page 1 shows). Luckily, they were a minority, and
most of the officials were equipped with tablets. It is a different story,
though, when you go down the hierarchical ladder. In most imidugudu, whenever
an assembly of the people is planned, it is still common practice to send
someone around the neighborhood with a megaphone to make the announcement. In
this age of mobile phones and SMS, that is a medieval practice.
That is not to blame the local leaders. In the end, they are
only common people, not ICT specialists or geeks who have the latest gadget
and know every function of it. What is more, even if they would have a
sophisticated smartphone, that doesn't help in compiling a list of phone
numbers of all the inhabitants of the area and then sending a bulk SMS to
inform them of the gathering. Therefore, while the sensitization campaign for
public officials is a welcome initiative, the Minister should go beyond
words. As he apparently does, since the ministry is in talks with telecom
operators so that people can obtain affordable devices like smartphones with
access to internet and social media. That, however, is not enough. The
ministry should also ensure that public servants, most notably those at the
grassroots level, receive training on how to make the most of these devices
in their daily duties. While that should of course include some technical
aspects such as the various options of their phones, the more important part
of this training should focus on how to use apps as well as social media to
function more efficiently and communicate better with the people. If not,
those shiny smartphones will only be costly gadgets, and a megaphone will
still be more useful when it comes to calling a meeting.
From
http://allafrica.com/ 03/18/2013
TOP↑
2013
Europe Digital Future in Focus
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the European
market and identifies the prevailing trends in web usage, online video,
mobile and search. There is also a special scorecard section, which shows the
top sites for all 18 European countries measured by comScore as well as an
overview of top news, retail and online banking sites per market. “European
consumers are more digitally-engaged than ever before and their usage of
mobile, internet-enabled devices is re-defining the media landscape,” said
Paul Goode, Chief Advisor Industry Relations for comScore in Europe. “Advertisers, agencies and media owners need to
understand the rising number of multi-platform consumers and the more complex
digital ecosystem that has developed over the past years. Insights about key
trends and underlying drivers enable clients to manage their digital
investments effectively.”
From
http://www.comscore.com/ 03/26/2013
TOP↑
EU's
IT Agency's Sets Up in Estonia
The European IT Agency has been called the biggest IT
challenge for the entire European Union. What does the agency do, how did it come to reside in Estonia and what is the meaning
of such an institution for the local entrepreneurial environment? In December
2012, the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT
systems in the area of freedom, security and justice – eu-LISA – finally
opened its doors. The location? Tallinn,
Estonia. The
work of the agency has so far gone publicly unnoticed. But that’s not without
a reason. Since the agency has to maintain the security of the entire EU in
several fields, the work done behind closed doors is obviously not the type
that everyone should be able to have a peek at.
The biggest IT challenge in the EU
The IT Agency has also been called the biggest information
technological challenge of the whole European Union. Any country to host the
agency should be titled a high-level provider of e-services and IT solutions
all over Europe. We met with Piret
Lilleväli, adviser from the Ministry of the Interior, and Ave Poom, policy
adviser for eu-LISA, who helped us understand how a small country like Estonia
succeeded in bringing such an important agency into its backyard and the
impact of hosting the institution.
Estonia vs France
– from competition to cooperation
Estonia had been
preparing its candidacy for the seat of the Agency for almost two years
before the European Commission even presented the draft regulation of the
European Parliament and EU Council establishing the agency in 2009. By that
time it had become an established fact that IT systems were extremely
important in guaranteeing the internal security of the EU. In line with other
risk-reducing measures, like police cooperation and internal migration
control, IT solutions are considered the main cornerstones of reducing
cross-border risks. When we talk about the specific systems, there are
currently three cornerstones that ensure the internal security of the
European Union:
•Visa Information System (VIS)
•The European fingerprint database for identifying asylum
seekers and irregular border-crossers (Eurodac)
•Schengen Information System (SIS).
Since December 2012, Estonia is responsible for the
operational management of these large-scale databases through eu-LISA.
Competing to host the agency
“We were not interested in bringing just any kind of agency to
Estonia.
IT is what we, Estonians, all understand and what we appreciate. It is part
of our national image. We already host the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense
Centre of Excellence, so our line of thought was that if you have an
important IT institution like that, it makes sense to expand further in this
specific area — this is what we started to fight for,” Piret Lilleväli tells
us. This brings us to the competition between Estonia
and France.
Turning the tables
France had
managed the first generation SIS system for the member states before the
Agency was created, so it automatically became the main candidate for hosting
the Agency as all the systems were there. Estonia’s
candidacy was based on a particular decision made by the European Council for
new EU institutions to be located in new member states combined with the
years of work that Estonia
has done in building up its reputation as an e-state. With negotiations over
the agency’s location lasting more than a year, a compromise was eventually
reached. The headquarters, including its functions and IT development, would
be based in Tallinn, Estonia, while the systems and the technical
solutions would remain in Strasbourg,
France.
Staying ahead of the criminals
Today, the main task of the agency is to take over the old
systems from the European Commission and to ensure their functioning. “Our
main focus is on SIS becoming operational, or actually SIS II, the second
technical version of the system,” Lilleväli explains. According to her, the
postponing of the implementation and the increase in the planned cost has
made European countries skeptical about the new system. In addition, some of
the countries don’t feel safe about keeping the data in the agency’s large
databases. “We are hoping that the agency will help to turn this skeptical
attitude around and allow for more common IT solutions to be used for
protecting European internal security. At the moment, it seems that the
criminals are one step ahead of us,” she adds, half-jokingly.
Creating a network
Through its procurements, an agency of this type has the power
to benefit a whole array of companies and organizations. This leads to
collaborative enterprises that have a way of creating synergies. “In the case
of the IT Agency, it’s quite likely that Estonians will not have the
resources and know-how to participate in the procurements on their own, which
leads them to join forces with other countries. As a side benefit, the
workforce for the projects is likely to be employed from Estonia,” Lilleväli explained.
According to her, many well-known IT companies have already shown interest in
bringing their subunits near the agency. There have also been events to
introduce the developers and managers of Estonian information systems to the
IT director-general Krum Garkov. “With this we are creating a support system
for exchanging ideas. I’m certain that future IT success stories will have
their origins in these contacts,” Lilleväli expressed.
Growth plans
At the moment, 13 people are working in the Tallinn headquarters of the IT Agency, five
of them Estonians. Hiring is being done throughout the EU member states.
“People working in the Strasbourg data center
have more background in information technology; people working in Tallinn are from
administrative fields. It is mostly because the main tasks of the
headquarters in Tallinn are running the organization, coordinating tasks with
other facilities (mainly with EU institutions and facilities responsible for
internal security and IT administration in member states), reporting to the
European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament according to the
Agency’s regulations, and managing internal/external communication as well as
finance and other administrative questions,” Ave Poom described. The goal is
to reach 48 employees in the Tallinn
office by the end of this year. While the agency is international to the core
and may not boast a huge staff compared to international enterprises in the
private sector, it is clearly a milestone in gathering top-level IT
competence to Estonia.
FACT BOX
What kind of information systems does the IT Agency
administer?
•Visa Information System (VIS)
- a database that supports the effectuation of united visa politics and
facilitates control of borders. When the owner of the visa comes to the
external border, the border crossing point has access to VIS
to identify the person and to verify the visa’s authenticity. Schengen and
Schengen-associated states' national consulates and official EU border
crossing points are joined with the central VIS database to implement VIS.
VIS is intended for use in different parts of the world: North Africa
(Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunis), the Middle East
(Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) and the area of the Persian Gulf
(Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, South Arabia, United
Arab Emirates and Yemen).
•European fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers
and irregular border-crossers (Eurodac) - a system that enables member states
to identify asylum seekers and irregular border crossings. Thanks to Eurodac,
member states can compare fingerprints and determine whether asylum seekers
or foreign state citizens are illegally transiting through another EU member
state or have already applied for asylum in another EU member state.
Fingerprints are collected from persons over the age of 14. Additionally,
sex, country of origin and date of collection are included.
•Schengen Information System (SIS) - one of the biggest and
most important common databases, containing information about fugitives and
missing persons, immigrants, stolen vehicles and properties (including
firearms, money, identification cards).Currently, 35 states have joined SIS,
which means over 32 million entries. At the moment, SIS 1+ is in use. In
spring 2013, SIS II will be put to use in all EU member states.
From
http://e-estonia.com/ 03/29/2013
TOP↑
Top
5 Technology Transfers from E-estonia
Exporting public e-services can be complicated, since every
country is unique in its legislative and institutional environment.
Oftentimes, a country’s historical and cultural background makes it difficult
to accept changes to the existing services. Still, some ideas are just so
appealing that they find their way in. We’ll describe five components of
Estonian e-society that have managed to cross borders successfully.
1. m-Parking
Probably the most widespread technology transfer to come from Estonia,
m-Parking in simple words is a system that lets drivers pay for parking using
their mobile phones. In Estonia,
90% of parking fees are paid via mobile. The solution has been re-adopted,
copied, replicated and mimicked all over the world (e.g. the US, Canada,
Austria, Sweden and Dubai), so it’s become almost impossible to
track all the implementations. However, to our knowledge Estonia remains the only country
where mobile parking is the prevalent method of payment and is present in all
the paid parking areas all over the country.
2.
e-Cabinet
The solution also known as e-Government is a tool that the
Estonian government uses to streamline its cabinet meetings. Besides
contributing to the environment by going paperless, the tool actually helps
to improve the decision-making process and make better use of the time at the
meetings. How long would you imagine a cabinet meeting lasts? After the
implementation of e-Cabinet and agreeing on the process (not an insignificant
factor!), the Estonian government has managed to cut the average length of
the weekly cabinet meetings from 4–5 hours to just 30–90 minutes. e-Cabinet has been adopted in Finland,
but also in Qatar and Oman
— Middle Eastern countries that are looking to define themselves through
clever use of technology.
3. X-Road
While it's not one of the most visible solutions for the
general public, X-Road is the backbone of Estonia’s information society
e-services. The infrastructure that allows linking various e-service
databases, both in the public and private sector, is an open solution. Just
recently, Estonia’s
PM Andrus Ansip called out for neighbouring countries to adopt X-Road as the
medium to open the way for cross-border use of e-services. Currently, Finland is building a central solution similar
to X-Road with guidance from the Estonian Information System’s Authority,
while Latvia
already has an existing comparable system. Perhaps the most thorough
implementation of X-Road outside Estonia
has been in Azerbaijan;
the country is determined to benefit from integrating the different state
databases and start offering e-services to their citizens.
4. e-ID / Mobile-ID
Electronic ID or e-ID stands for government-issued identity
cards for both online and offline identification. In Estonia, nearly 90% of the
country’s residents have them, and they’re being used for various purposes.
They serve as travel documents and health insurance cards, but most
importantly they enable digital authentication for online banking, digital
signatures, i-Voting, picking up e-prescriptions, etc. Among other countries
that have adopted e-ID are Finland,
Belgium, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania
and Spain
and many more. M-ID or Mobile-ID is a service that allows a client to use a
mobile phone as a means of electronically identifying. m-ID
is directly tied to a person’s e-ID, so their legitimacy is equal. Developed
by the oldest mobile operator in Estonia,
EMT, it has spread to several countries, including Azerbaijan,
Lithuania and Moldova.
The latter also received an award for its m-Government at the 18th Annual
Global Mobile awards in Barcelona,
with the Estonian m-ID solution playing a big part in that. While Estonia
is not the inventor or originator of e-ID, it clearly shows how to use the
functionality of the card to its fullest.
5. Runner-up:
i-Voting
Right after Hurricane Sandy shook up the election process in
the US last year, and some
states had to resort to voting via fax machine or e-mail, i-Voting made the
papers globally, with Barack Obama saying the current US election system needs to be
“fixed”. Estonia
has been using i-Voting since 2005, with the first parliamentary e-elections
in the world held in 2007. While opponents have been trying to show i-Voting
as something insecure and dangerous, it’s actually a rather robust system and
every bit as safe as internet banking or other e-services. Modelled after postal
voting, it makes participating in elections possible for people who would
otherwise not be able to vote or would write it off as too inconvenient. We
awarded i-Voting the runner-up status since electronic voting experiments
have been conducted in around 20 countries in different parts of the world,
but mostly via voting machines at polling stations. If there’s important
know-how to be exported from Estonia,
it is certainly in i-Voting.
How can we facilitate the export of e-services?
A recent analysis of the impact of Estonian e-services also
discussed the potential of the services being exported to other countries. It
claimed that exporting e-services has significant obstacles in the form of
local organizational and institutional environments and suggested that
standardizing the ICT platforms internationally could facilitate such
technology transfers to other countries. While four of the five e-services
listed in this article are public services, it was actually the one
commercial service – m-Parking – that could claim the title of the widest
spread service. This shows the potential that lies in exporting unique
commercial services, once the public sector joins in promoting them. If there
is one thing that could really help to spread e-services to other countries
in Europe and the world, it is a common
platform — such as the EU interoperability platform for e-ID. Hopefully
Nordic-Baltic cooperation in ICT issues can create viable examples for the
rest of the world to draw from.
From
http://e-estonia.com/ 03/25/2013
TOP↑
NORTH
AMERICA: Canada
- Open Data Is a '21st Century Natural Resource'
Member of Parliament Tony Clement has been at the forefront of
the Canadian government's most important information technology reforms of
the past few years. He has helped in developing Canada’s action plan for the
international Open Government Partnership, expanding the government’s open
data site Data.gc.ca, making better use of social media in government, and
drastically consolidating the government’s Web presence. Nextgov is covering
how the U.S.
government faces many of these same challenges. We spoke with Clement during
a visit to Washington
this week about how things look from his side of the border. You can read the
below Q&A from the interview, edited for length, or listen to the full
interview here.
Nextgov: Tell us about the Canadian government’s work in open
data. Where is that now and where do you see it heading?
Clement: Open government and open data are an international
movement. The U.S. has
been at the forefront of this as the co-founder with Brazil of the Open Government
Partnership. Canada
is a signatory to that along with several dozen other nations. This is a way
we can engage citizens and a way we can push out more information, not only
for public policy dialogue but also to create wealth and create economic
activity. So far on Data.gc.ca we have about 273,000 data sets. That
certainly puts us in the world-leading category. What I’m doing now is a
far-reaching consultation, both online and person-to-person, with the data
community -- researchers and entrepreneurs and others who can give us the
best advice on how to make that site more robust and more easy to use.
That’s important for citizen engagement. It also helps our
entrepreneurs. They can create more mobile phone apps. I like to joke that
Canadians always talk about the weather. We all have our weather apps on our
smart phones. That data comes from Environment Canada. There’s also the
example of your map apps that tell you the bus routes in whatever city you’re
in in North America. That comes from open
data from municipalities across the continent. These are all applications
that really weren’t around five or six years ago but are now part and parcel
of how we make citizens’ lives better and easier. We want to see more of
that. We think there's a whole field of applications that smart entrepreneurs
can come up with and find a market for to create wealth and make citizens’
lives easier
Nextgov: What kinds of apps have been built with your data?
Clement: We’ve had success on some real time apps. Here are
two examples: The Canadian Border Services Agency has an application based on
open data that can give you real time wait times at the border for people who
want to shop or do business in the United States. Another app that I
think has a great audience is from Health Canada. Using their app you get
up-to-date information on health and safety advisories, product advisories,
food product safety advisories and those kinds of things. So we seem to be
getting the reaction we want from various departments and agencies. We don't
want to have stale data but usable and real time data. We also track and
publish on Data.gc.ca information on the most popular datasets. Right now the
four most popular data sets are statistics on permanent resident
applications, water quality indicators and border wait times, as well as on
adverse reactions to health products. So it’s not just about having 273,000
data sets, it’s also about who uses them and how they are used. Those will be
the metrics of success.
Nextgov: What role do you see Canada,
the U.S.
and other longstanding, relatively transparent governments playing the Open
Government Partnership?
Clement: First of all, newcomers to open government can learn
from trailblazing that occurred 20 or 30 years ago. In many instances, they
can hopscotch and go to the online world whereas most of the early work we
did in access to information was paper based. It’s also important that we
continue to develop what the world standards are. I don't mean that in the
sense of strict rules. But in order to sign onto the OGP you’ve actually got
to practice open government. I think we need to continue to be careful that
there are some general standards.
Nextgov: Are you concerned that it’s tough to keep those
standards in place?
Clement: [The OGP] has grown so rapidly. So far I don’t think
we’ve had any major concerns, but it’s important for this body not to dilute
its message: That open government is important for citizen engagement, for
transparency and for accountability. We haven’t lost that, but that’s a
monitoring function we have to continue to play.
Nextgov: What role do you see social media playing in the
Canadian government and where would you like to see it go?
Clement: It’s about engaging citizenry, but it’s also another
template for interaction within government. You’ve got all these stovepipes
within government where public servants at different ends of the country or
who have different public policy roles have difficulty interacting with each
other. Social media gives them a chance for the sort of cross pollination
that’s really important for dynamic and interactive government to occur.
When you add citizenry into that there’s a feedback mechanism
that we can use for crowdsourcing. I give the example of the UK
government, which had a motorway where there were a lot of accidents. The
typical way that would have been solved was some bureaucrat in Whitehall would have got
a policy option paper together for the minister of transport and they would
have 'solved the problem.' What they did instead was they pushed all the
statistical information out to the public, including those most affected by
accidents in that region, and they crowdsourced solutions. All of that is
possible when you give citizens the type of information that used to be
stored away by government like your grandmother’s silverware. I call open
data Canada’s
21st century natural resource. The other thing I noticed, by the way, was
public servants would grab their coffee at Tim Hortons or Starbucks, sit down
at a table there, flip open their tablets or laptops and be totally engaged
in social media. But at two minutes to nine they’d get to their office and
all of that would be shut down. We were trying to attract young people to public
services but we had this wall. It wasn’t shut down by policy but by a lack of
policy. Without policy, no one knew where the red lines were, so you just
stepped away from fear of crossing a line you didn’t even know existed. Now
we’ve created social media policy. We’ve said ‘here are the dos, here are the
don’ts, here are the expectations. You’re a public servant, you’re a professional, so we expect professional
conduct, blah blah blah.’ Now everyone knows the rules of the game so people
can engage on social media without fear of reprisal.
Nextgov: Where is the Canadian government engaging on social
media?
Clement: Most of it is on Facebook and Twitter at this
juncture. There’s a proliferation of social media platforms, though, and I
think we have to be nimble.
Nextgov: The U.S.
government is starting to run analytics on social media to figure out how and
whether it’s increasing efficiency or saving money. How has Canada tackled that?
Clement: We haven’t got to that stage yet so we’ll be
interested to hear what the U.S.
comes up with. We are going to be measuring traffic in some aspects of
government like hits on websites, but we’re also conscious of privacy
concerns so we’re not going to be doing all the analysis the private sector
does.
Nextgov: Tell me about your website consolidation plan. What
prompted it and what’s your goal?
Clement: The goal is to make it a lot easier for citizens to
find the information they need from government and to process the services
they need. [Now] we have 1,500 separate websites and in many cases they don’t
have a common look and feel. It’s just incredibly difficult to search and
find what you want or need from government. The idea is to collapse that into
one common site with the best search engine imaginable to make it a lot
easier for a citizen to find his or her information, to file forms or to do
his or her tax return or whatever. When we do that online it also saves
government a lot of money. We’ve done some analytics on people going to the
traditional wicket at their community government office versus online and the
savings are 100-fold.
Nextgov: What are the major technology or data issues that
cross the U.S.-Canada border?
Clement: We’re obviously interested in cloud-based models of
storage for government information but it has to be made in Canada. Nobody, quite frankly,
wants an overlay of the Patriot Act, so that storage can’t be done in the U.S.
The other side is we have this Beyond the Border initiative with the U.S.
It’s a common action plan with the Obama administration to make sure our
border security is enhanced but at the same time to make sure we don’t gum up
our trade. We’re talking about $1.6 billion of trade across our border every
day. So how do we make sure that is preserved and enhanced while at the same
time dealing with legitimate security concerns? A lot of that is going to be
online-based tracking and sharing of information.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 03/15/2013
TOP↑
U.S.: Ranking the Top 10 Cloud Startups
More than 10,500 people cast votes for their favorite cloud
startups. But before we get on to our final rankings, a bit of background on
the voting process: Unfortunately, a couple of frisky engineers decided to
try to hijack the vote with a few automated bot ballot-box stuffers, so some
votes had to be purged. When the startups who most
likely scripted the bots were contacted, the management teams appeared
genuinely shocked. The CEOs involved tracked down the script writers quickly,
reprimanded them and threw their startups at the mercy of the court. We kept
them on the list, because iIn the grand scheme of things, trying to hijack
online voting isn't a capital offense. It's a misdemeanor, but enough of one
to get you dropped down the list significantly. Also, the final rankings are
based only partly on the online voting. Here's the procedure we used to
determine the final ranking:
Every startup was ordered based on vote tallies (legitimate
vote tallies, that is).
Each startup was then scrutinized for an area of weakness,
such as a lack of named customers or a green management team.
If there was a weakness, we looked at the competitors who
finished close to them in the rankings to see if any should jump ahead.
To get a better sense of what factors that were weighted most
heavily, check out the overview of selection criteria and weighting.
A big thanks to the
10,500+ humans who voted. As for our bot friends, sorry, you haven't earned
the right to vote -- yet.
1. Aryaka Networks
What they do: Provide cloud-based WAN optimization and
application acceleration services.
Why they're No. 1: Aryaka finished first in the voting. With a
strong management team (CEO Ajit Gupta previously sold Speedera to Akamai for
$500 million), a hefty bundle of VC funding, and a long list of named
customers, they're a solid No. 1.
Headquarters: Milpitas,
CA
CEO: Ajit Gupta, who previously founded Speedera and served as
its President and CEO until it was acquired by Akamai for approximately $500
million.
Founded: November 2008
Funding: The company has raised $45 million in three rounds of
funding. The most recent round was a $25 million Series C led by InterWest
Partners, with participation from Presidio Ventures, a Sumitomo Corporation
Company, and existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures and
Mohr Davidow Ventures.
Why they made this list in the first place: WAN optimization
is typically too costly for the middle market. Aryaka zeroed in on this
problem and determined that the best way to drive down costs and democratize
the technology was to deliver WAN optimization as a service. Aryaka first
built a delivery network comprised of globally distributed POPs. Enterprise locations
connect into the Aryaka network over existing Internet links (or using direct
L2 connections) to one or more POPs. Provisioning can be accomplished in
minutes -- rather than days or weeks as with hardware-based solutions. To
boost application acceleration, Aryaka runs TCP optimization technology, as
well as bandwidth scaling and application-specific proxies. Aryaka also
provides access to Internet-based SaaS and cloud services, which help customers avoid middle-mile congestion problems that
Internet-based connectivity solutions experience. Market potential and
competitive landscape: According to IDC, the WAN optimization market should
have topped $1.3 billion by the end of 2012. There are some major incumbents
in this market, though. Riverbed owns about 50 percent of the market, while
Cisco, F5, Blue Coat and Silver
Peak are all formidable
foes. That said, the IT market as a whole is slowly moving away from
box-heavy infrastructures -- the delivery model of the above providers -- and
to services. Moreover, the middle market is grossly underserved by existing
solutions, and even many large enterprises are reluctant to deploy hardware
at branch offices, which will greatly benefit from a service like this.
2. Nebula
What they do: Provide OpenStack-based appliances that let
businesses deploy and manage private clouds.
Why they're No. 2: Nebula finished near the top of the voting,
and it's impossible to ignore the pedigree of their management team. They're
well-funded, and while there are plenty of OpenStack skeptics out there, I'm
not one of them.
Headquarters: Palo
Alto, CA
CEO: Chris Kemp, who was previously CTO for IT at NASA, where
he also co-founded the OpenStack project
Founded: April 2011
Funding: In September 2012, the company raised a $25 million
Series B round led by Comcast Ventures and Highland Capital Partners. Kleiner
Perkins, William Hearts II, Maynard Webb, Scott McNealy, Innovation Endeavors
participating and Google's first three investors (Andy Bechtolsheim, David
Cheriton and Ram Shriram) also participated.
Why they made this list in the first place: OpenStack is
shaking up the cloud infrastructure landscape, serving as the main
open-source alternative (sorry CloudStack) to VMware. CEO Chris Kemp
co-founded OpenStack while he was at NASA, and along with Rackspace, Nebula
is a key driver helping to make OpenStack a viable alternative to closed
cloud systems. NASA and several other government agencies use OpenStack for
their own private clouds. Nebula delivers its private cloud solution as an
appliance. Market potential and competitive landscape: Cloud market
predictions are all over the map (Forrester predicts that the global cloud
computing market will grow from $40.7 billion in 2011 to more than $241
billion in 2020, while Deloitte predicts that cloud-based applications will
only replace 2.34 percent of enterprise IT spending in 2014 rising to 14.49
percent in 2020, while also pushing down costs in the process). We do know,
though, that the cloud deployment and management market will be large. This
sector is a land grab as of now, but there is a ton of competition already,
including VMware, AWS, Citrix (CloudStack), dinCloud, AppZero, Eucalyptus,
Rackspace, OnApp, Piston and many others.
3. Blue Jeans Network
What they do: Develop cloud-based videoconferencing tools that
bridge various available services.
Why they're No. 3: It's pretty hard to ignore that big stash
of VC funding, especially in a down economy. Videoconferencing is a growing
market, and Blue Jeans is uniquely positioned to capitalize on it.
Headquarters: Mountain
View, CA
CEO: Krish Ramakrishnan, who formerly served as CEO for
Topspin, which was acquired by Cisco in 2005. At Cisco, he served as GM of
the Server Virtualization business unit.
Founded: November 2009
Funding: The company has raised $48.5 million from New Enterprise
Associates, Accel Partners and Norwest Venture Partners.
Why they made this list in the first place: Today, various
videoconferencing systems do not interoperate. Cisco videoconferencing units
don't talk to Polycom which don't talk to Google which don't talk to Skype,
etc. Imagine if this were the case with telephony. If you were a Sprint
customer, you could only talk to other Sprint customers. If you wanted to
talk to someone on AT&T or Verizon, you'd need to download special
software. Blue Jeans Network leverages the cloud to turn videoconferencing
calls into a "meet me" service, where each party dials into the
videoconference from whichever system they prefer to use. The endpoint
hardware becomes irrelevant -- kind of like how the handset is irrelevant
when placing a call. On its roadmap, Blue Jeans intends to eventually take
users from the audio-only calling market and shift them to video calls.
Customers include Facebook, Match.com, Foursquare and the Sierra Club. Market
potential and competitive landscape: According to Wainhouse Research, the
videoconferencing infrastructure market represents a $700 million/year
market. However, this is a crowded space. In addition to incumbents like
Polycom and Cisco, cloud- based newcomers, such as Join.me and FuzeBox, will
challenge Blue Jeans. That said, Blue Jeans is the
only tool we're aware of that stitches an array of conferencing services
together.
4. BrightTag
What they do: Develop cloud-based data integration tools.
Why they're number 4: BrightTag did well in the voting, is
sitting on a nice stack of VC money and is uniquely positioned in the market.
BrightTag has a solid management team, a good deal of funding and a list of
impressive customers.
Headquarters: Chicago,
IL
CEO: Mike Sands. Prior to joining BrightTag, Sands was part of
the original Orbitz management team and held the positions of CMO and COO.
Founded: 2009
Funding: They've raised $23 million to date from Baird Venture
Partners, EPIC Ventures, I2A
Fund, New World Ventures and TomorrowVentures.
Why they made this list in the first place: Today, if a
Website owner wants to work with multiple third-party services (e.g. Google
Analytics, ad networks, social, etc.), they have to conform to an outdated
construct of putting the vendor's code (or "tag") on every page of
their Website that they want to track. In doing so, the site owner is not in
control over the data collected, they introduce site performance issues with
more code being pushed through their consumers' browsers, and they create silos
of data across each vendor's service, not to mention creating privacy issues
with regard to data collection practices. BrightTag intends to simplify how
Websites connect to their partners by providing a single point of integration
for any data-driven service. The company's platform replaces traditional
"tag-centric" methods of connecting sites to marketing services
with real-time, direct integration through the cloud. Clients include Yahoo!
Japan, Gap, Macy's, Levi's, Bebe, Tommy Bahama, Crate & Barrel, JetBlue
Airlines, Orbitz, Starwood,
US Cellular,
Transunion and Allstate. Market landscape and competition: This market is new
enough that there aren't good market estimates on it. Google, Adobe and IBM
offer competing tag container solutions. BrightTag argues that most competing
solutions on the market are "tag containers." As browser-based tags
continue to proliferate -- either fueled by the advent of tag management
solutions or from continued industry growth -- both data collection and the
site users' experience become slow and unstable. BrightTag cloud-based
service eliminates vendor tags altogether and connects data directly. There
are no "tags" in a point-of-sale system or a mobile app or email.
According to Web analytics firm BuiltWith 30 percent of the top Internet
retailers have employed a tag management system and of those 43 percent are
using BrightTag.
5. SaaS Markets
What they do: Provide the cloud-based infrastructure that
enterprises can use to launch mobile app and SaaS stores.
Why they're No. 5: They finished in the top 5 in voting, and we really like their
business model. They are slowly but surely building momentum by racking up
customer win after customer win with various Chambers of Commerce, which tend
to be tech laggards, so it's no small feat.
Headquarters: San
Mateo, CA
CEO: Ferdi Roberts, who previously held senior executive
positions at Yahoo, Cisco, and Ariba.
Founded: 2011
Funding: They just closed a $3.5 million series A round from
Sysnet Global Solutions and GTX Partners.
Why they made this list in the first place: As BYOD becomes
more common and as the "appification" trend continues unabated,
enterprises must find ways to approve and control these apps. SaaS Markets
intends to address this problem by giving enterprises the tools they need to
launch their own app and SaaS stores. App qualification is managed by the
SaaS Markets Application Partner team, which runs SaaS applications through a
series of rigorous tests. MarketMaker, the SaaS Markets platform, includes a
search engine to make it easy to find all relevant apps, and evaluate and
test them side-by-side in terms of capabilities, interface, features and
cost. Currently, SaaS Market also offers more than 1,300 pre-qualified SaaS
apps for tasks that range from managing social media outbound messages to
project management to cash flow management to security. Customers include the
Montana Chamber of Commerce, Association of Washington Business, Park City, UT Chamber
of Commerce and Auburn, WA Chamber of Commerce. Market landscape
and competition: Forrester Research is projecting the SaaS software market to
increase 25 percent in 2013 to $59 billion, a 25 percent increase. In 2014,
Forrester projects the market to total $75 billion. Competitors include App47
and AppCentral.
6. HyTrust
What they do: Develop virtualization security tools.
Why they're No. 6: Cloud security is a huge deal, and HyTrust
is the lone cloud security representative on this list. (We could easily have
had five or more, but that would have skewed this roundup.) They have a
really good approach to virtualization/cloud security, and they already have
an impressive list of customers.
Headquarters: Mountain
View, CA
CEO: John De Santis serves as CEO. Eric Chiu co-founded the
company and is its President. De Santis was formerly Chairman and CEO of
TriCipher, a software security infrastructure company acquired by VMware in
2010. After the acquisition, he served as VP, Cloud Services for VMware. Chiu
was previously VP of Sales and Business Development for Cemaphore Systems.
Founded: April, 2009
Funding: HyTrust has raised $16 million from Trident Capital,
Granite Ventures and Epic Ventures, as well as strategic corporate investors
such as Cisco and VMware.
Why they made this list in the first place: Virtualized and
cloud infrastructures create new security, control, management and compliance
challenges for IT staffs. Organizations take big risks when they move to the
cloud or rely on virtualization when critical applications and sensitive
information are not properly secured. The HyTrust Appliance delivers access
control, enforcement of policy across virtual infrastructures, hypervisor
hardening, and audit-quality logging among other features. By addressing
these requirements, HyTrust is able to provide organizations with the control
and visibility required for them to virtualize Tier 1 applications, meet
corporate governance requirements, and avoid costly downtime or other
possibly more serious business disruption. Customers include AIG, US Army,
Northrop Grumman, Pepsi, McKesson, Home Shopping Network, Federal Reserve
Bank of Chicago, UC Berkeley, State of New Mexico, and Denver Museum
of Nature & Science. Market landscape and competition: The cloud security
market is incredibly crowded, but HyTrust has carved out a solid niche by
focusing on hypervisor vulnerabilities. Competitors include Altor Networks
(now Juniper) and Catbird.
7. dinCloud
What they do: Help small- to mid-sized businesses migrate and
provision desktops, servers, storage, networking and applications to a Virtual Private Data
Center.
Why they're No. 7: dinCloud would probably move up the list if
they had some name-brand customers on the record. Their PR rep says that they
have some major customers in the works, but until those are actually on the
record, they don't work in their favor in this roundup.
Headquarters: Los
Angeles, CA
CEO: Kevin Schatzle. Prior to joining dinCloud, he was
President of Allied Digital Services' U.S. subsidiary.
Founded: January 2011
Funding: The company has secured an undisclosed amount of
Angel funding.
Why they made this list in the first place: Most enterprises
know they should virtualize their infrastructures, but they struggle with
where and how to start. According to dinCloud, virtualization and cloud
computing aren't just about hosting servers alone, or giving customers
virtual machines in the cloud. They are about business provisioning and
helping businesses transform their physical environments to virtual ones. dinCloud's software enables the rapid
migration/provisioning of desktops, servers, storage, networking and
applications to a Virtual
Private Data
Center. Customers can
control as much of this infrastructure as they want through an online cloud
orchestration and management platform, dinManage. High-profile partner Microsoft
says that it worked with dinCloud to help save a financial services customer
50 percent on IT spending. In this case, dinCloud hosts 250 virtual desktops,
30 virtual servers, and provides second site back up in the cloud. Named
customers include King's Hawaiian and National Asset Direct. Market landscape
and competition: Gartner predicts that the cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service
(IaaS) spending will exceed $72 billion, (42 percent CAGR) by 2016.
Competitors, although not exactly apples-to-apples ones, include AWS and
Rackspace.
8. OnApp
What they do: Provide cloud services, including IaaS, CDN and
storage services.
Why they're No. 8: This is the slot, or maybe the one above,
where startups start to feel disappointed. Well, they shouldn't. The original
list of companies considered had more than 150 contenders. Being in the top
10 is a big deal. OnApp has a solid management team, a good chunk of VC money
and is positioned in a high-growth subsector of the cloud market.
Headquarters: London,
UK
CEO: Ditlev Bredahl. Before founding OnApp, Ditlev led UK2
Group's hosting companies as Managing Director and CEO.
Founded: July 2010
Funding: To date, OnApp has raised $20 million in two rounds
of funding. The latest B round of funding was led by UK private equity firm LDC.
Why they made this list in the first place: If you're a
traditional hosting provider, you have either already transitioned to being a
cloud provider or you are scrambling to do so. OnApp's mission is to remove
the entry barriers to the cloud for Web hosts, telcos, ISPs, MSPs and other
traditional service providers. OnApp developed a turnkey system that enables
service providers to create their own cloud services, using their existing
servers or data centers, with no up-front software investment required. The
OnApp Cloud platform takes care of all core cloud management/orchestration
functions, such as cloud deployment, VM management, failover and autoscaling.
It also includes the capabilities lacking from most enterprise-focused
private cloud platforms, but which service providers absolutely depend on,
such as support for different utility and plan-based billing models; the
ability to bill for every hardware resource in your cloud; and user
management, limits and permissions. The latest version of the OnApp Cloud
platform includes a built-in SAN, a global CDN with video streaming support,
DNS management, autoscaling, load balancing and a range of other features.
Customers include PEER1 Hosting, GMO, UK2 Group, Dediserve and eApps. Market
landscape and competition: OnApp is targeting a public cloud IaaS market
currently estimated at $6.2 billion, according to Garter, and a CDN market
estimated at $2.5 billion, according to Markets and Markets. Competitors
include AWS and ScaleUp Technologies. With its recent service upgrade, OnApp
now also competes with CDN providers.
9. AppZero
What they do: Help companies migrate server applications to
the cloud.
Why they're No. 9: AppZero has already raised a decent amount
of funding, despite having only dipped their toes in for an Angel round.
Migrating apps is going to be a huge deal in the near-term, and AppZero
should be able to cash in as more and more apps are moved to the cloud.
Headquarters: Andover,
MA
CEO: Greg O'Connor. He previously served as founder and
president of Sonic Software, acquired in 2005 by Progress Software.
Founded: September 2010
Funding: $10 million in Angel funding from Covington Capital
and private investors.
Why they made this list in the first place: Moving
applications from traditional IT systems to the cloud isn't easy. AppZero
encapsulates an application and its dependencies in a "virtual
application appliance," without a virtual machine (VM). The result is an
application that is flexible, "hypervisor-agnostic, cloud independent, and
fast." Current customers include Pabst Blue Ribbon. Market potential and
competitive landscape: Gartner predicts that the cloud
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) spending will exceed $72 billion, (42
percent CAGR) by 2016. AppZero isn't a strict IaaS company, but their
technology will help organizations migrate to IaaS. Competitors include
companies PlateSpin (which is now part of NetIQ).
10. Cedexis
What they do: Develop tools that provide visibility into cloud
and CDN performance, and then help users act on that information. Why they're
No. 10: Cedexis only recently entered the U.S. market, so that probably
explains why they lagged a bit in the voting. That said, the spread from
first to tenth was just over 1,000 votes, from fourth to tenth was only a few
hundred. (And for those trying to guess who scripted the bots: no, it was not
Cedexis.) As anyone who relies on the public Internet knows, trusting its
performance is a sucker's game. However, to improve performance, you need
visibility into these networks. Cedexis' cloud-based, crowd-sourced approach
to gaining cloud and CDN performance visibility is really smart, and is
well-positioned in a growth sector.
Headquarters: Portland,
OR
CEO: Marty Kagan, who previously served as VP of engineering
for Jive Software.
Founded: Q4 2009
Funding: They landed a $7 million Series A round in mid-2011
from Madrona Ventures Group and Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV).
Why they made this list in the first place: Let's face it, the
roadblock for many cutting-edge cloud services, especially those using rich
media, is the poor performance and unpredictability of the public Internet.
Cedexis' mission is to improve "the Web experience of billions of
Website visitors each month by providing visibility into the performance of
clouds and CDNs." Cedexis Radar is a free community that crowd-sources
visibility into cloud and CDN performance from the end user perspective. It
has global reach and is updated over 1 billion times a day. Cedexis Openmix
is a paid Cloud SaaS offering that uses Radar, and other real-time data, to
dynamically route Website and Web application traffic around outages and
service degradations.
The newest product, Cedexis Fusion, is a Big Data tool that
aggregates third-party data, including pre-built integrations for New Relic,
AppDynamics, Akamai, Level3, Edgecast, ChinaCache, SoftLayer and many others,
to further improve the availability and performance of customer Websites and
Web applications. Customers include Mozilla, Dior, Nissan, Volkswagon, LeMonde, France
Television, Yves Roche, NBC News, Accor Hotels, EuroDisney, L'oreal, and Via
Michelin. Market landscape and competition: According to Gartner's 2012 Magic
Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring, the APM market should have
hit $2.14 billion by the end of 2012 (a 9 percent increase over 2011).
Meanwhile, Markets and Markets believes the CDN
market will grow to from $2.1 billion in 2011 to $7.4 billion by 2017.
Competitors include CA (through its Nimsoft acquisition) and Zenoss.
Notes regarding the bot ballot-box stuffers
Unfortunately, it's likely that a few legitimate votes were
lost in the process. However, when the bots were running, they clogged up the
servers, so most real votes were actually blocked for the few minutes they
were on. However, we are confident that not too many legitimate votes were
purged. Here's the thing, Fraudsters: The bot patterns are pretty easy to
recognize. What's not so easy is purging the illegitimate votes. With
SurveyMonkey you have to manually delete any vote you want to toss out, one
by one. Since a couple of the bots were running low-and-slow attacks, it was
a major headache to purge the votes. It's pretty easy, though, to do some
back of the envelope calculations to get a fairly accurate estimate. To avoid
such trouble going forward we'll be setting stricter controls on future
surveys and perhaps get some custom code written to block fraudsters.
From
http://news.idg.no/ 03/20/2013
TOP↑
The
Real Data Center
Revolution
By June or July of this year, according to Andy Price of Green
Revolution Cooling, something strange will be announced by at least two of
the companies that own the hundreds of thousands of computers that make the internet
possible. In out-of-the-way locations, these companies—whose identities Price
won’t reveal but, he says, are on a par with Facebook, Amazon and
AT&T—are doing bizarre things to their infrastructure. Specifically, to
their servers, the high-powered PCs that store, retrieve and process all the
data on the internet and comprise the physical structure of the “cloud.” In
an un-air-conditioned shed in a location Price will not disclose, alongside
bags of salt used to run a water softening system, sit waist-high tanks full
of mineral oil. In their depths are tiny lights blinking like bioluminescent
creatures from the abyss, and something even more unexpected: row after row
of PC motherboards, craggy with RAM and CPUs and hard drives and cables. Each
one is more or less straight off the rack—the same hardware that, in any
other data center, would be cooled by an air-moving infrastructure that
begins with gigantic air-conditioning systems and ends in palm-sized fans
attached directly to the motherboards themselves.
From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 04/11/2013
TOP↑
The
Internet of Everything Emerges
New inventions that contribute to the Internet of Everything
are manifesting themselves in different ways globally, blurring the
distinction between the digital and physical worlds. These ideas have taken
form in inventions like Google Glass — a head-mounted display that further
diminishes the demarcation between physical and online worlds. In the U.K.,
smart trash cans — outfitted with sensors that let garbage workers prioritize
their routes — have been around for a decade, but are now starting to really
take off. China
is spending billions to build smart cities with Internet of Everything
technology — sensors and wireless connections that will transform
technology’s role from that of a curiosity to something that’s woven into the
fabric of daily life. Over the past few years, a growing number of industry
heavyweights have launched initiatives designed to capture a piece of this
emerging market. Some of these projects hint at the sweeping changes that
will be triggered as the Internet of Everything matures. Cisco, for instance,
partnered with NASA in 2009 to build a sensor network to monitor the Earth’s
climate. That project, known as Planetary Skin, was designed to collect and
process global data that government and business leaders could use to
understand pollution concerns and resource demands. Cisco also launched the
Connected Urban Development program, intended to use networking technologies
to improve traffic flow, pioneer new real estate models and create new supply
distribution systems.
IBM aims its Smarter Cities initiative squarely at local
government leaders, promoting the idea that the blending of ubiquitous
connectivity, large-scale data collection and powerful analytics will produce
sustainable economic growth and better quality of life. The company launched
its Smarter Cities Challenge in 2010 to kick-start these activities. The
three-year initiative is sending teams of IBM experts to 100 cities to
develop recommendations for making them smarter and more effective. One
reason government leaders should take note of the Internet of Everything is
that some of the challenges they face may be too big to solve without it.
Issues like coping with growing populations, managing limited natural
resources and regulating volatile financial markets are fantastically
complex. So are improving educational outcomes, shoring up aging infrastructure
and reducing crime rates. Mastering the Internet of Everything — the ultimate
network of networks — will help nations and communities address these
challenges more effectively.
On the other hand, failure to embrace the concept could
multiply the difficulty of these issues as the world moves toward a
hyper-connected new normal. “A core construct of [the Internet of Everything]
in the context of a ‘connections economy’ is that value will accrue to those
who best foster, embody, and exploit network effects,” says a recent Cisco
whitepaper. The company argues that humans can’t respond to the exponential
changes touched off by a massively networked world without help from
technology. “Business and government leaders must move from being buffeted by
chaotic network effects to generating and directing them
to constructive ends,” the paper contends. While the big boys pump billions
of dollars into “connected everything” initiatives, dropping prices for
sensor technology are triggering community-level experiments. At Wichita State
University in Kansas, an engineering and computer
science professor is launching a demonstration project to show what the
Internet of Everything can do.
Ravi Pendse is attaching moisture sensors to trees and plants
campuswide as part of a smart sprinkler project. Pendse says the university
will reduce its water bill by automating sprinklers to run only when plants
are thirsty. Savings produced by that project alone may not be too
impressive, he said, but scaled to meet the needs of water-poor regions
worldwide, the concept could become life-saving. Pendse’s smart sprinkler
system will employ the knowledge of the university’s botany professors and a
team of engineers. And with sensors now available for less than a dollar
each, the project has minimal start-up costs. Pendse says growth and
development of the technology is inevitable, and he urges U.S. leaders to move quickly to
exploit it. “As the most advanced country in the world, we have an
opportunity to develop some key ideas around it,” he said. “Bringing all this
together is as important as the development of the Internet itself.” By many
accounts, there are big bucks at stake. Speaking to the technology press at
an event in March, Cisco President of Development and Sales Rob Lloyd said
the market for Internet of Everything technology and services could top $14
trillion. And a 2012 report from General Electric estimates that adding
network connectivity and big data analytics to industrial machinery could
pump $10 trillion to $15 trillion into the global gross domestic product.
The U.S.,
of course, isn’t the only nation eyeing the Internet of Everything’s
potential. Over the next two years, China will spend more than $12
billion developing 90 pilot communities as part of a smart city initiative.
The first phase of development, says Gartner Research Vice President Bettina
Tratz-Ryan, will be to build out the cities’ initial infrastructure on top of
which the rest of the technology can be built. The initiative outlines a
five-year plan that will eventually connect everything together — cloud
computing, high-speed Internet, smart cars, mobile phones, GPS, video cameras
and all other components of the Internet of Things. Tratz-Ryan said smart
cities are a part of China’s
grand urbanization strategy. Every five years, about 450 million rural
Chinese migrate to urban areas, according to the United Nations. China
and other Asian nations are driving development of smart cities technology,
she said, because they have huge challenges with accommodating urban growth,
mitigating pollution and stimulating economic development. Given that
infrastructure is fundamental to the development of a smart city, China’s
centralized approach may prove to be an efficient path to creating an
Internet of Everything. But China’s
efforts tend to focus on technology, which may not yield the best results,
Tratz-Ryan added.
“The inclusion of citizen behavior and citizen comfort into a
smart city is actually the key of what a smart city is really about,” she
said. China is a good
testing ground for the technologies, but for better examples of a
citizen-centric approach, European and U.S. cities provide the template.
While China is building
new smart cities from scratch, mature cities in the U.S. and Europe
have, by necessity, taken a piecemeal approach. In the U.K., trash bins outfitted with
sensors allow garbage trucks to skip empty or half-full cans, cutting down on
overhead and reducing pollution. In recent years, smart trash cans have
caught on in major cities around the world, with Philadelphia reportedly saving $1 million
annually through the use of self-reporting trash compactors. Chattanooga, Tenn.,
is installing thousands of smart streetlights, which can be operated
automatically to save electricity and manipulated individually to assist with
police searches. Someday, the lights could be upgraded to offer additional
functionality by creating sensor networks or equipping the light poles with
Wi-Fi gear.
Smart parking structures and smart parking apps also are becoming
more popular. Mobile apps, like the one deployed by Orlando, Fla.,
use city parking data to show drivers where parking is available. But even
this is just an early stage of the technology’s development. Just as the
Internet was unwieldy before Google figured out how to deliver the
information people wanted, today’s Internet of Everything is likewise
relatively inhospitable. Someday, all these disparate elements — the cars,
the objects, the roads, the lights, the buildings, the people — will be
highly connected. The glue that will hold everything together just hasn’t
been developed yet. One place where you’ll increasingly see and feel the
Internet of Everything’s presence is behind the wheel. Auto manufacturers
already are building vehicles with Internet connectivity and loading them
with apps. And that’s just the beginning. In February, AT&T and General
Motors struck a deal to bring 4G
LTE connectivity to GM vehicles through the automaker’s OnStar service
starting with the 2015 model year. The built-in 4G LTE technology is integrated into the vehicle’s
electrical system and includes an external antenna to maximize connectivity.
GM says the move is part of a global strategy to build a new generation of
connected vehicles.
“In addition to allowing consumers to bring in and connect to
personal mobile devices, the vehicle will also act as its own mobile device,
enabling embedded vehicle capabilities,” said Mary Chan, president of GM’s
Global Connected Consumer division. Besides enabling a plethora of new
in-vehicle “infotainment” options, GM says the high-speed connections will
support real-time traffic and navigation services. Meanwhile, the federal
government is investigating whether connected vehicle technology can reduce highway
accidents and injuries. The U.S. Department of Transportation contracted with
the University
of Michigan Transportation Research
Institute to launch the nation’s largest connected vehicle pilot project late
last year. The yearlong experiment involves 3,000 vehicles that are equipped
with transmitters and receivers, allowing them to communicate with one
another and with roadside infrastructure. A smaller number of vehicles also
are equipped with multiple cameras and other equipment that allows them to actively
warn drivers of impending danger.
The city of Ann Arbor, Mich., is overseeing
the deployment of wireless communications gear that will cover 73 lane miles
to exchange data with the smart vehicles. Analysis of that information will
help the city better manage its transportation infrastructure. “I see us
being able to understand traffic flow, and understand conditions of roads
earlier maybe than we could normally so we could more effectively use our
funds to maintain this infrastructure,” Ann Arbor IT Director Dan Rainey told
Government Technology in December. Back in Wichita, Pendse says a focus on the citizen
is a core component of successful technology projects — especially those as
expansive as building smart cities. “This gives us another inexpensive way to
perhaps look at our resources and leverage the infrastructure. The backbone
for an Internet of Everything is already there, people just need to put in
the work,” Pendse said, adding that city managers should be asking, “How can
we use this new technology to bring value to our citizens?”
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 05/02/2013
TOP↑
Industry
Perspective - Cloud and the Smart
City
As smart city visions emerge in various local government
projects, we will see a combination of new ways of thinking, designing,
planning, executing and managing. Looking internationally, Busan, South Korea,
has already discovered the powerful benefits of cloud infrastructure to create
a smart and connected community solution. The government partnered with
companies to create a Mobile
Application Center
to utilize city assets and the connected network. And in the U.S.,
there are some important steps cities and governments can take to harness the
power of the cloud to become more connected, efficient and sustainable. Here
are three:
1. Use one intelligent, multi-service IP network.
This is the overarching mantra of a smart
city — connect systems and services to improve city
livability. While it can seem daunting, it’s important to remember the
long-term benefits of a connected city, especially using cloud management.
Some of the most promising smart city projects have shown that it’s possible
to use the network to achieve some major goals of state and local government,
including efficient city management, and economic, social and environmental
sustainability. Savvy government leaders are recognizing the untapped power
of the network and incorporating its potential into the early stages of
planning and development. Many cities have experimented with including
information and communications technology (ICT) solutions through small-scale
“proof of concept” projects. Since budgets are so limited, it can be
difficult to adopt a purely centralized approach, which means trying new
techniques and learning from the enterprise sector.
2. Build a foundation for public-private partnerships.
Government agencies and city leaders cannot create smart,
connected urban communities alone. Frameworks are needed for relationships
between the public and private sectors. Winning strategies seem to be the
ones that enable citizens, business leaders and policymakers to drive job
growth, increase economic opportunity and provide improved citizen services.
The goal is simple: enable effective partnerships by linking governments with
private enterprises and citizen organizations focused on creating
economically competitive, socially cohesive and environmentally clean
communities. Innovative ICT solutions can be critical tools for those
reinventing enterprise, government and city services. This kind of
collaboration between the public and private sectors can provide successful
conditions for these new business models, which ideally encourage the private
sector to take a more active role in upgrading city services and
infrastructure.
3. Regulations are needed to standardize the uses of ICT.
Governments regulate the three traditional utilities — water,
gas and electricity — with a clear and consistent framework. But city leaders
are discovering that the broadband network has become the fourth utility.
Regulations are necessary to standardize the uses of ICT in both developing
new urban communities and providing services to the public. It is essential
to consider design principles for smart city network regulations that can
accelerate development. Governments should consider their role, and the
desired outcome of regulations. Incorporating ICT requirements and
standardized procedures into smart city developments will take serious
consideration and planning.
From
http://www.govtech.com/ 05/08/2013
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CHINA: Mobile
Fair May Boost Chinese Handsets
CHINESE handset makers will lead an onslaught on smartphone
titans Samsung and Apple when the world's biggest mobile fair opens today in Barcelona. Offering
big-screen, slick, slim smartphones at lower prices, Chinese manufacturers
Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo will leverage the Mobile World Congress to chip away
at the mighty duopoly, analysts say. The handset battle is part of a broader
revolt against a handful of firms with a stranglehold on the booming
industry's handsets, operating systems and microchips, they say. Apple, as
usual, is steering clear of the congress, which ends on Thursday, that draws
1,500 exhibitors to this Mediterranean city in northeastern Spain, and
Samsung is not expected to launch its next big offer, the Galaxy S4, until
some time after the show. That may leave the field clear for rivals to tout
their ambitions for a slice of the smartphone market, which is set to grow to
a record 1 billion handset shipments in 2013 according to a forecast by
global consulting company Deloitte. "I think we will see challengers
trying to make noise at the Mobile World Congress this year," said Ian
Fogg, London-based senior mobile analyst at research house IHS. New players
face a daunting task, though.
Samsung and Apple
accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales in the final quarter of
2012 - 29 percent for Samsung and 22.1 percent for Apple - according to
research firm Strategy Analytics. Behind Samsung and Apple, however, Chinese
firms held the third, fourth and fifth spots - with 5.3 percent for Huawei,
4.7 percent for ZTE and 4.4 percent for Lenovo. Demand for smartphones in
developing countries could give Chinese firms a bigger opening, said Magnus
Rehle, senior partner at telecommunications management consultancy group
Greenwich Consulting. "Hundreds of millions of Africans and Indians and
Asians want to have a smartphone and so far the blocking point has been the
price," said Rehle, speaking from Ghana. Now the Chinese firms were
offering attractive smartphones at lower prices, he said. An even mightier
duopoly holds sway over the operating system software that makes the
smartphones work. Google's Android ran 69 percent of all handsets sold last
year and Apple's iOS 22 percent, said independent analytical house Canalys.
From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
02/25/2013
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Technology
Faces Up to a Question of Identity
Wei Xiaoyong, an associate professor at Sichuan University,
used to worry about taking roll call for his class of 100 students."It
is time-consuming. But students who attend classes every day say it is unfair
if I do not do it."Wei eventually found the solution - a face
recognition system.With the system, all he has to do is to use an ordinary
pocket camera to take a picture of the class. Wei then uploads the picture
and the computer will automatically find out who showed up for class.Wei has
not noted a single absence since he started using the system.The technology
is set to challenge fingerprint and other methods of identification.According
to Bosi Data R&D, a Beijing-based consulting company, the market for face
recognition was worth about 670 million yuan ($108.64 million) in 2010 and is
expected to increase to 1.4 billion yuan by 2015. Public security and customs
are the main areas where it is employed, but its use is set to expand.The
technology used for security and that used for checking-in systems share the
similar technical procedures. Both include photo capturing, pre-processing,
feature locating, offline registration and online template matching.However,
an engineer specializing in the technology insists that any application for
security demands even greater accuracy.
"Security use always requires a more rigorous operating
environment and increased accuracy, therefore, more complex core algorithms
are used," said Zheng Nanning, a top artificial intelligence scientist
in China, and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.Face recognition
has been intensively studied for more than four decades but was largely
limited to the security field due to its cost.In September, the FBI invested
$1 billion on Next Generation Identification, which included plans to install
"state-of-the-art" facial recognition technology across the United
States.The technology's application in civil use, for events such as
concerts, means the greater accuracy can be compromised and costs
reduced."As a result, civil-use facial recognition devices are far
cheaper than those used for security, both in terms of hardware and
software," Zheng said."Generally a new technology is often limited
to military or security applications at the initial stage. But as it becomes
popular, the price drops."The price to develop a facial recognition system
is low enough for the professor's roll call."In March 2011, I was
teaching two courses, both related to face-recognition theory," Wei
said."So I thought, Why not develop a system for the class, so that the
students will have an intuitive feeling for the technology?"
From
http://china.org.cn/
05/02/2013
TOP↑
Sophisticated
3-D Becoming More Affordable
China's
fast-growing 3-D printing technology has become more sophisticated yet more
affordable.Technology savvy buyers may now spend as little as 6,800 yuan
($1,100) for a printer that churns out anything from a microwave to a hammer
or a doll."As long as you have computer aided design software, we can
have it printed. New manufacturing techniques may shorten the production
cycle and meet personalized needs," Li Yizhe, a representative of
Shaanxi Hengtong Intelligent Machine, said at the China (Shanghai)
International Technology Fair.More than 100 new technologies showcased by 30
companies aim to ride the 3-D printing boom and eat away at the market share
of dominant foreign companies.The company's products can also massproduce
spare parts for industrial and medical uses. For instance, 3-D printing
provides a fast, efficient and affordable way for people to receive dental
implants."With a 3-D printer, the dentist may verify the quality of
braces, ensuring a proper dental piece fits," Li said.It also
significantly reduces turnaround costs. Li said his company charges 10 yuan
for 1 gram of plastic printing, and one set of braces weighs up to 20
grams.Such machines sell for 400,000 yuan. A similar product using European
technologies is three times more expensive, Li
noted.Li has seen a growing percentage of revenue coming from exports to
Southeast Asian countries, Russia
and Africa.China plans to invest in domestically-invented 3-D printing
technologies to boost its manufacturing power. In December, Su Bo,
vice-minister of industry and information technology, urged the country to
establish plans and use tax incentives to speed up research and development
and application of 3-D printing technologies.
From
http://www.news.cn/ 05/09/2013
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JAPAN: Communications Seeks Help in
Interconnection Dispute
Japanese MVNO Japan Communications has asked the Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Communications to intervene in an interconnection
dispute with NTT Docomo. Japan Communications claims that Docomo has
unilaterally increased the fee agreed upon initially by 1.7 times for FY
2012.
From
http://www.telecompaper.com/ 05/15/2013
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SOUTH KOREA: Tackling Big Data in Weather Forecasting
South
Korea’s Meteorological
Administration (KMA) has recently deployed new storage
technologies to tackle Big Data for better and more accurate and predictive
environmental forecasting. In partnership with IBM,
the KMA and its affiliate—the National Meteorological Satellite
centre (NMSC), the latest IBM storage technologies have been implemented
to enable the recording of 20 gigabytes of data per second—or equivalent to
400,000 web pages. With a total storage capacity of 9.3 petabytes (1 million
gigabytes), this deployment is South Korean’s most powerful data storage
system to date. The new infrastructure enables KMA and NMSC to
analyse data more quickly and accurately than previously possible. By
incorporating maps and historical data, KMA is able to develop
tailored weather forecasts for each of South Korea’s nine regions.
Processing data in real time enables immediate updates on
weather conditions. For example, meteorologists can predict more precisely
the trajectory of a typhoon or the coverage of the ‘Hwangsa’ - the yellow
sand storms originating in Mongolia
and Northern China that cause environmental problems in Korea in the spring season.
The system is so powerful that it paves the way for localized weather
forecasting services for clients in certain regions or cities, such as
emergency service providers, hotels, golf courses and farms as well as
related services such as weather insurance for outdoor events. “IBM’s
Smarter Storage system provides a powerful platform for Big Data analytics
helping us to provide more accurate and timely weather forecasting services,”
said Gyoung-Hyun Lee, Director of National Meteorological
Supercomputing, KMA. The KMA is the
national meteorological organisation with an aim to protect citizens’ lives
and property from natural disasters and support economic activities sensitive
to environmental conditions.
Weather forecasting is the proverbial data deluge for
the KMA. Every day it gathers more than 1.6 terabytes of meteorological
data, including temperature and barometric pressure readings, wind speeds,
images as well as observations from satellites, balloons, ships and aircraft.
One of the key sources of data is Korea’s
first communication, ocean and meteorological satellite – dubbed Cheollian –
managed by the National
Meteorological Satellite Center.
The new system at the KMA includes an IBM General Parallel
File System (GPFS) - a high-performance enterprise file management platform.
A high-capacity data storage system has also been provided to NMSC.
Together, the systems provide consistent and secure access to a common set of
data from multiple servers outperforming single file server
solutions. IBM worked with local business partner Moasys to provide
this solution.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/12/2013
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Gov’t
to Bolster Robot Industry
Hi-tech robots used to only be found in sci-fi movies and
novels. Not anymore. These days, robots are a reality and being used for a
multitude of purposes, including industrial purposes at shipyards. Some are
used help people with disabilities and one even works at a theater. Another
robot is a member of an explosive disposal unit. South Korea's robot market is
estimated at two trillion won and it has exported more than 500 billion won
worth of robots. The South Korean government is planning to foster the robot
industry as a pivotal part of its creative economy policy. It will provide
financial support of 100 billion won to the industry and boost the volume of
the robot market to 25 trillion won by 2022.
From
http://world.kbs.co.kr 04/04/2013
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MYANMAR: To Improve Competitiveness with ICT
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
unveiled new plans to upgrade the country’s mobile communications systems and
implement an ICT-based governance system in a bid to boost the country’s
economic competitiveness. During a session in the Union Parliament held
recently, Deputy Minister Win Than said the plans have been incorporated in
the 2013-2014 fiscal year and that several stakeholder meetings will be
organised to identify critical factors to support the projects. “The Ministry
will undertake efforts to improve mobile communications in the country so as
to enhance its economic competitiveness and to be at par with other
countries,” the Deputy Minister said. In addition, we will also work on implementing
an ICT eco system which aims to promote transparency and accountability in
government and as well as improve crucial public services. Examples of IT
projects the government will be working on are: e-Government, e-Visa,
e-Procurement, e-Licenses, e-Payment and Online Billing System. Meanwhile,
according to Ye Myat Thu, an executive committee member of the Myanmar
Computer Federation, it is imperative that the government update its existing
and old ICT infrastructure first in order to fully realise its vision. “In
addition to physical infrastructure, the Ministry also needs to introduce new
legislation to improve access to modern technologies,” said Ye Myat Thu.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/18/2013
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PHILIPPINES: Signing ICT Agreement with Spain
The ICT-Office of the Department of Science and Technology
signed a memorandum of agreement with the government of Spain to work closely in advancing ICT
development in the Philippines
by sharing industry best practices and lessons learned. According to an
official statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines is
expected to benefit from the agreement through the sharing and exchanging of
best practices on ICT policy regulations, promotion of research and
development in the area of ICT, bridging the digital divide, security aspects
on fighting cybercrime, deployment of digital television and its regulatory
issues and skills enhancement of human resources in this field. In addition,
the agreement also encourages the exchange of experiences between businesses,
educational institutions, government policy and regulatory agencies and other
organisations on ICT. “This MOU signing between Spain
and the Philippines
for improved cooperation in ICT is a significant landmark in the relationship
of our two countries,” said Louis Casambre,Executive
Director of the ICT-Office. Meanwhile, Jorge Domeq, Spanish Ambassador to the
Philippines, said that
other than providing humanitarian relief in time of natural disasters, Spain
is keen in providing assistance in disaster prevention utilizing ICT. Other
key areas that will be improved by the agreement are: e-health and
e-education, technical standards and certifications, e-government, green ICT,
and government-private sector collaboration.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/22/2013
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SINGAPORE: Driving Innovation with Open Source
Yesterday, eighteen technology decision-makers from the
Singapore Government gathered at the FutureGov lunch briefing — conducted in
partnership with Red Hat — to discuss how Open Source technology can drive
openness and innovation in the public sector. The senior public sector
officials attending the event were from agencies such as the Ministry of
Health, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Land Transport Authority,
Urban Redevelopment Authority, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore
Management University, and the Ministry of Communications and Information,
among others. The round table discussions underscored the role of Open Source
software in helping public sector organisations become more innovative, more
agile and more cost-effective by building on the collaborative efforts of
Open Source communities. In particular, Simm Sikut, National ICT Policy
Advisor from the Government of Estonia, shared how the use of Open Source has
helped facilitate a “digital way of life” in the country.
For the last ten years, Estonia has been ranked as the
‘Best of the Best’ for e-government applications by the United Nations.
Sikkut said part of their success can be attributed to the use of open source
in projects such as: e-health; e-police and e-justice; national citizens and
business portals; e-procurement; document exchange systems; and digital
culture portals and systems. He added that open source gave the government
“more bang for the buck” by taking advantage of the technological know-how
and input from open source communities. Sikkut’s presentation stimulated a
spirited discussion on concerns relating to the accountability, ownership,
confidentiality and security when using Open Source. In particular, experts
from Red Hat were able to clear out misconceptions about the use of open
source software, particularly on perceived ambiguities about licensing.
Delegates were also asked, through an interactive polling session, if they
agreed to make all source code developed using public funds available to
everyone under open source licenses. 36 per cent of the respondents agreed,
while 64 per cent disagreed, with many of them saying they much prefer to
restrict their source code to within their agency as a security measure.
Responding, Harish Pillay, Global Head, Community Architecture
and Leadership at Red Hat, said that open source is the best form of citizen
engagement as it allows citizens to take active role in helping the
government improve the services that they deliver. He cited how the US
Government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — a relatively new agency —
has even gone as far as being ‘Open Source by default’, by releasing
everything it does to the community. Similarly, the White House uses the
Drupal content management system for whitehouse.gov, and once they
contributed some improvements they made, the open source community
immediately identified and fixed some security flaws it found. He added that
the source code used in the Whitehouse.gov site is readily availale in
Github, a collaborative portal which allows users to share code, giving other
orgnisations the oppotunity to replicate what the Whitehouse has done.
Meanwhile, Damien Wong, Red Hat’s General Manager for ASEAN, said that open
source is paving the way for more innovative services as evidenced by over 40
countries releasing policies and mandated preference for open source. Among
the countries that have released open source policies are Australia, Malaysia,
the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. This Global movement,
Wong said, is a clear indication that open source is a mission critical tool
needed to address a variety of infrastructure, platform and application
needs.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 05/23/2013
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THAILAND: Smart
City Steps Up Network
Progress
Under Thailand’s
first Smart City Project, Nakhon Nayok province has recently signed a MOU to
cover the entire province with broadband infrastructure and enhance the
connection among local agencies with high speed internet via optical fibre.
Presiding over the signing ceremony, Nakhon Nayok Governor Dr Surachai
Sirisaracam said that as the first Smart
City, Nakhon Nayok
would leverage ICT to strengthen the community’s competitiveness, and prepare
the province for the Asean Economic Community in 2015. In partnership with
True Corp, a broadband infrastructure will be built to cover four districts
and 408 villages by end of the year. “The province will receive a 2014 fiscal
budget of THB 625 million (US$ 21.07 million) for the smart city project,” he
revealed. After the new infrastructure has been established, the use of ICT
will be promoted to increase competitiveness among citizens in the community,
according to him. Latest communication technology will also be provided to
increase efficiency of local government agencies, improving the government’s
network with wireless internet and cloud computing to accommodate multiple
devices, he said. True Corp will further expand its 3G Plus Truemove H network, which currently covers
90 per cent of the province’s total 250,000 people. It will also expand the
fibre network to connect 21 local agencies with high speed internet. Apart
from enjoying convenient internet access, citizens of Nakhon Nayok will
benefit from a new e-commerce platform by True Corp that will modernise the
market channel to promote local products.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/14/2013
TOP↑
Thailand Optimises Investigations with Big Data
Analytics
Big Data solution has played a key role in helping Thailand’s
Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Ministry of Justice to gather and
analyse massive amount of data to optimise its crime investigations. The DSI
implemented a Microsoft Big Data solution based on Microsoft SQL Server 2012
and Apache Hadoop software to improve investigation processes and reduce
manual procedures. “With the traditional approach, it took two years to
search for tips and gather and analyse data. With the new solution, it took
only 15 days,” said DSI Deputy Director-General Pol Col Yanaphon Youngyuen.
Established to handle major criminal investigations, the DIS is a national
law enforcement agency dedicated to stopping and investigating specially
assigned criminal activities and cases. The agency’s large data set includes
over one million records gathered from multiple sources in both structured
and unstructured formats, such as image, videos, and documents.
“It was very difficult to mine through the data, and the
results were too broad with unclear targets,” said Pol Col Youngyuen. “This
often forced us to send personnel to the actual crime scenes, which cost us a
lot of time and money.” The DSI collaborates and shares information with
other agencies to monitor suspected persons and transactions in real time.
The track information includes telephone calls, financial transactions, and
passports records, according to him. However, to search data for important
tips, officers needed to create specialised queries. Instead, the department
wants “a system that could automatically notify of any suspicious persons or
activities.” Pol Col
Youngyuen showed examples of such activities that “Like when there are many
foreign criminals pouring into Thailand, and all travel to the
same location, or when there is a noticeably large sum of money being
transferred in the country.” “If we had a system that notifies us about this,
we could implement proactive measures to prevent crimes from happening,” he
said.
In partnership with HP—who provided servers for testing, and
Betimes Solutions that help to implement the Big Data Solution supplied by
Microsoft, the DSI was able to import and analyse huge volumes of data from
multiple sources. For easier data mining, the solution also included Apache
Hadoop software, an open-source platform that the DSI uses to store large
volumes of unstructured data. Metadata is stored in the Hives data warehouse
system. The DSI is taking advantage of self-service business intelligence
(BI) tools, and data management capabilities, and other feature to present
reports to high-ranking officers that include analysis details and an
executive summary of each case monitored with helpful visual features. The
department planned to apply the solution to current and future investigation.
It will also further expand the use of the new solution and implement its own
private cloud to manage the security of confidential data, added Pol Col Youngyuen.
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 03/20/2013
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VIETNAM: City Needs More Human Resources in IT
Sector
HCM City’s IT sector is one of
the top 10 sectors that will need a large number of staff over the next three
years. Truong Le My Ngoc, head of
the Centre of Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information
(FALMI), said the city would need an average of nearly 300,000 IT engineers
working in hardware, software, services and digital content each year in the
forecast period. Phi Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of HCM
City’s Computer Association, said
that although Viet Nam
had been faced with economic difficulties, the information and communication
sector had experienced stable growth in the last two years. This sector is
expected to continue expanding this year, especially its software and
outsourcing service, according to Tuan. Information, communication and
technology companies are worried about having enough staff to fill positions.
Currently, the number of students studying in the IT sector
are insufficient, and graduates only fill 75 per cent of employers’
demands. Moreover, the number of students studying in IT faculties in universities,
colleges and vocational training schools has fallen in recent years, he
added.
A survey conducted at 51 universities and colleges with IT
engineers in HCM
City showed that these
schools trained only 6,795 IT students in 2012, compared to 7,412 IT
engineers in 2011. Initial figures of the Information and Technology
Department last year showed that the country has 290 universities, colleges
and vocational schools that provide IT training, an increase of 13 compared
to 2011. The total new enrollment quota per year for all of these
institutions is nearly 64,796 students, an increase of more than 4,000
against 2011. However, the real number of applicants has reached only 85 per
cent of that figure. Tuan said that students were not provided detailed information
about jobs in the sector, even though IT jobs were more stable than many
other kinds of positions. Seventy per cent of the total number of newly
graduated IT engineers last year found jobs in IT companies, and the
remaining 30 per cent found jobs in related fields. Their average salary was
VND5-10 million (US$238-476). Tuan said that IT training schools were working
with IT companies to turn out engineers for their employment, and that most
graduates could find jobs immediately after leaving school because of this
cooperation.
From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ 03/07/2013
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INDIA: Andhra to Have National Institute of
Electronics & IT
Hyderabad: The
Union Government has sanctioned a National Institute of Electronics and
Information Technology (NIELIT) for Andhra Pradesh. The Institute would be
set up in Srikaulam in north coastal Andhra Pradesh. There are currently 23
NIELITs in different parts of the country but none in Andhra Pradesh. The
institute would be set up at a cost of Rs 50 crore to train youth,
particularly from rural areas, in information technology through short and
long term courses, Union Minister of State for Information Technology and Communications
Killi Kruparani said. A team of officials from the Department of Electronics
and Information Technology will visit Srikakulam to identify a suitable
location for the proposed institute. The institute would start functioning
later this year out of rented premises, till the new infrastructure is put in
place, a Ministry press release said.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 02/27/2013
TOP↑
NIIT
Technologies Launches CCTNS Project in Odisha
IT services provider NIIT Technologies launched the Crime and
Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) project in Odisha. The project will
reinforce the Indian police in its modernization efforts by playing a
significant role in the implementation of the CCTNS. A release stated the
implementation of first phase has started in Odisha in two pilot districts at
36 police stations and 11 offices. The project will help in linking 581
police stations, connecting 728 locations. With CCTNS in place, the project
facilitates digitization of approximately 25 lakh police records of last 10
years and will train 28,000 police personnel across the state to familiarize
them with police workflow in a digitized environment. This could help improve
the functioning of police to keep track of case progress and reduce manual
and redundant records keeping. Speaking on the implementation, Naveen
Pattnaik, Chief Minister, Odisha, said: “Police officers must be trained so
that they are able to take full advantage of the latest technologies for
tracking criminals and bringing them to book.” “Full-scale implementation of
the project would take place throughout the state by the end of the current
calendar year.” With the CCTNS in place, there will be a huge scope of
improvement in the functioning of police to keep track of cases progress and
reduce manual and redundant records keeping. In a year’s time, the facility
will be extended to all police stations in the state, M Akshya, Director,
State Crime Record Bureau said.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 03/06/2013
TOP↑
ICT to
Promote Eco-Friendly Tools in Agriculture
Farm Radio International has found that radio station call
centres can increase adoption rate by up to 14 %. Also a pilot study on the
impact of low-cost video found agricultural practices ten times more cost
effective in India. The Grameen Foundation found a
significant and positive impact in the use of organic manure within
communities in Uganda.
It is estimated that agricultural production will need to increase by about
70% by 2050 to keep pace with global population growth. In many Asian and
sub-Saharan African countries which are agriculture oriented witnessed
reduction in the productivity of major food crops due to climate change. ICT
technological tools like mobiles, video and radio play a very important role
in agricultural technologies. Affordable technologies can reduce greenhouse
gases and increase productivity in agriculture. Various research agencies
have recommended constituting a mechanism which can share locally relevant
information on improved techniques. It may also facilitate a faster
transition to environmentally friendlier forms of agriculture in the places
that need them most.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/10/2013
TOP↑
Strengthening
the Cooperative Movement Through ICT
CC & RCS plays an important role in an agro-industrial
economy and particularly so in the sphere of rural credit. The activities of
the office of the CC & RCS, which is under the Department of Cooperation,
Marketing and Textiles, Government of Maharashtra, are associated with the
rural finance and Primary Agricultural Cooperative societies, Banking
including District Central Cooperative Banks, urban Cooperative Banks,
Industrial Cooperatives, and also Housing Societies which are governed under
the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act 1960 and Rules 1961. The CC &
RCS is entrusted with the administration of the Maharashtra Cooperative
Societies Act, 1960; and enforcement of the Bombay Money- Lenders Act, 1946
and the Bombay Warehousing Act, 1959 and the Rules made there under.
Cooperation is an activity of the people. It is a self-generated, voluntary,
self-sufficient activity. The objectives and regulatory functionsof the
Commissioner are to undertake all the functions related to the administration
ofthe MCS Act 1960 & Rules 1961 – includingRegistration of Cooperatives,
Supervision of Cooperatives, Statutory Audit, Inspection ofCooperatives,
Amendment of Byelaws, andElections of Cooperatives. He has to undertake all
the developmental functions to nurture theCooperatives including the
implementation of: (a) the Govt. Schemes for assistance, e.g. providing to
the Cooperatives he governmentshare capital, the
government loan, the government subsidy, and the government guarantee, as per
the prescribed beneficiary selection criteria, (b) the Capacity Building
Programmes for members and other stakeholders. Maharashtra is one of the
major States in India
where cooperative movement is widespread and has a long history. Cooperation
plays an important role in the economy of Maharashtra.
There are more than 2.25 lakh cooperative societies in Maharashtra.
Registrar eing a friend, philosopher and guide of cooperatives has to perform various tasks and monitor whole cooperative
movement.
With the huge setup of 2.25 lakh cooperatives across Maharashtra, and also employees nearing ten thousand
and still growing, the queries and issues need to be addressed while
performing the Regulatory role. With large variations across different kinds
of cooperatives and its spread across the State with varied climatic and
geographic conditions, the problems and its optimum esolution needs to be worked upon very
closely conducting regular assessment and performance reviews of societies.
The official website of the Commissionerate is LIVE and has recorded over
1.71 lakh hits during past 3 months. All communications pertaining to
citizens are published on the website.For Quicker communication we have
started SMS service wherein we update all our official information docment
regarding any important/urgent/crucial communication that comes from higher
authorities. The same is being extended tocooperative societies. We have also
encouraged the use of Unicode to carry out communications in local language
in order to reach citizens in even the remote parts of the state. People from
various spheres need to have easy access to financial status of various types
of Societies,Banks and therefore we have compiled
huge data in this connection, of all such societies which will certainly
prove useful to the citizens.
Communication to citizens and other bonafide stakeholders has
become easier and quicker with the web-portal. Using various analytical tools
has boosted decision making and trend analysis. All our officers are connected
through individual logins on the website. This web space provides a platform
for our officers to share crucial data within acceptable time frames.
Interactive web based module has been introduced to citizen to pose their
queries and suggestions. This feedback is proving fruitful. Regular trainings
are imparted to staff across Department of Cooperation. These trainings
extensively include use of Marathi Language for Communication in Unicode for
the communication to reach the remote areas of this state. Various other
initiatives include imparting trainings to staff across the state in a phased
manner for optimum use of in-built functions of MS-Office in day-to-day
activities, use of available official infrastructure provided by State Data
Centre to establish GoM and Cooperation as a Brand.
We are currently working on the Cooperative Society
Information System in a phased manner which will help us in having a thorough
view of all the Cooperative Societies as per the ideal parameters laid by
apex committees. This will be a complete MIS module that will be made
available to the citizens for knowing more about a particular cooperative
society and help them take a sound decision to safeguard their interest. CSIS
will enable us in trend analysis and forecasting the various actions required
while monitoring the cooperatives and performing the regulatory role
effectively. Society Login Space is created and implemented. Auditor list is
available on the Commissioner’s Website and is regularly updated. Here the societies
can choose from the available auditors and perform the mandatory audit on
yearly basis on the laid principles. Many such operational modules are
planned to help the cooperatives in performing their desired tasks easily. We
are also moving towards e-Office, wherein majority of the activities
performed in the Commissionerate will become online and quicker sharing of
files and best practices will be possible. Conducting examination of
“Government Diploma in Cooperation & Accountancy” is planned to go online
and applicants from all parts of the state will be able to apply for the same
from their hometowns through various Citizen Service Centers under the Setu Samiti everaging
the common infrastructure laid down by Government of Maharashtra. Use of Social
Media for interacting with the citizens is also on the prime agenda. It
includes introducing an official Facebook page of Sahakar Ayukta shortly.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/11/2013
TOP↑
Land
Record Software Developed by Goa Government
Wins International Award
A land record portal developed by the Goa
government has won an international award for making e-governance concepts
people-friendly and accessible, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said Tuesday.
Dharnaksh, an e-government project conceived and implemented by the
department of settlement and land records, won the Geospatial World
Application Excellence award at Holland’s Rotterdam last week, beating over 270
nominations from across the globe, he said. The citation issued by the
organisers of the conference, the Geospatial World Forum, describes the
Dharnaksh, as a “robust, reliable and people-friendly land records management
system”. The conference which was held in Rotterdam also had union Communication and
Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal as one of the key speakers.
Dharnaksh enables anyone with a computer and an internet connection to search
through all the land records as well as survey numbers as well as see the
property in question via satellite imagery by just logging in the
corresponding property details. The details available online also enables
land owners to ensure that the land and the title deed and survey records has
not been surreptitiously transferred by land sharks.
From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 05/22/2013
TOP↑
Dialog
Sri Lanka Mobile Broadband Base Grows 44-Pct
Sri Lanka's Dialog
Axiata, a unit of Malaysia's
Axiata group said its mobile broadband subscribers grew 44 percent to 455,000 in 2012. The group
has a mobile subscriber base of 7.7 million. Last month the company launched
fourth general mobile broadband with FD-LTE technology, which it said was the
first such service in South Asia. Its fixed
arm has also launched fourth generation mobile services using TD-LTE
technology. Dialog said its pay
TV subscriber base grew 23 percent to 264,000. In 2012 the group had invested
17.1 billion rupees in expanding its optical fibre network, high speed fixed
and mobile infrastructure, group chief executive Hans Wijayasuriya said.
"The Group’s strategy with respect to Capital Investment continued to be
calibrated to ongoing and future returns while being closely aligned to the
forward looking growth strategies of our multiple businesses," he told
shareholders in the annual report. He said in 2012 the group contributed 5.68
billion rupees to the state through taxes and fees, and also collected and
paid 8.62 billion rupees in indirect taxes. Sri Lanka has a 20 percent
turnover based tax on telecom services, except broadband which is lower.
From
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com
04/13/2013
TOP↑
NEPAL: ICT Expo from April 9
ICT Info Trade: Branding Expo 2013, 6th ICT Info-Trade Fair is
going to be held at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu
from April 9 to 13. Information Communication Technology (ICT) Association of
Nepal is organising the event with an aim to promote the latest products
related to information technologies along with disseminating information to
the public about it. The five-day event will also offer special discounts to
this year’s SLC appeared students, said the organisers. Similarly, the expo
has also offered discounts up to 20 percent on the software to the customers
on bookings at stalls.
From
http://www.nepalnews.com 04/05/2013
TOP↑
PAKISTAN: Computers & IT Playing Key Role in
Every Field
KARACHI: The
Vice-Chancellor of the University
of Karachi, Prof. Dr.
Muhammad Qaiser has said Computers and Information Technology (IT) play a key
role in every field of life these days. He was speaking at a certificate
distribution ceremony at the campus, said a University official on Friday.
The Vice-Chancellor was of the view that the computers and Information
Technology are particularly important in the field of health and business
management. He was pleased that various degree and diploma programmes of IT
are being successfully run by the University
of Karachi and that the
students of the institution are getting the opportunity to participate in these.
Prof. Dr. Nasiruddin, Prof. Dr. Mansoor Ahmed, Prof. Dr. Shahana Urooj Kazmi,
Prof. Dr. Sohail Barkati and Sardar Yasin Malik also expressed their views on
the occasion.
From
http://www.brecorder.com 03/22/2013
TOP↑
Mobile
Phone Users Make Over 192.9bn Minutes Voice Calls Per Year
ISLAMABAD: The
mobile phone subscribers in the country have made more than 192.9 billion
minutes per year voice calls to landline and other cellular networks which is
expected to go up further during on-going year. Touching of over 16 billion
minutes (voice calls) per month mark last year is due to unlimited and
inexpensive voice bundles being offered by mobile phone operators, showing an
increase of 40 percent, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)'s report
revealed. It said this voice traffic translates into an average of 528
million minutes per day or 22 million minutes per hour or 366,666 voice
minutes per minute. In other words - on average - there are around or over
366,666 mobile phone users on phone doing voice calling every time. Every
mobile phone user on average make 141 minutes of voice calls every month
which can be translated to an average of 5 minutes of outgoing voice calls
per subscriber per day.
The report said the substantial increase in cellular outgoing
traffic is mainly attributed to low-cost voice bundles
which allows virtually unlimited voice calling on local networks.
Furthermore, the decreasing call rates - during year 2011-12 - is said to be
another reason for such increase in cellular outgoing traffic of Pakistan. It
merits mentioned here that not all subscribers out of 120 million are
activate in Pakistan and considering the amount of dormant subscribers base
(around 40-45 million) this average of per subscriber calls can get double.
Interestingly, the outgoing traffic to landline numbers in 2011-12 dropped
slightly from 2009-10.
From
http://www.brecorder.com 04/08/2013
TOP↑
Mobile
Phone Penetration Showing 10.3pc Healthy Growth
ISLAMABAD: Sindh
province is on top with 84 percent mobile phone penetration followed by Punjab where such penetration touched 68.1 percent mark
till 2012. Other provinces have less than 50 percent penetration i.e. Khyber
Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) 42.2 percent and Balochistan 45.9 percent. The government
and regulator Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) have been
encouraging cellular mobile operators to expand their networks in Balochistan
and as a result, the province has been consistently showing the highest
growth in mobile penetration among provinces over the last four years. The
PTA in its latest report 2012 said that now Balochistan has mobile
penetration close to that of KPK whereas at the end of June 2008 Balochistan
was 8.8 percentage point behind KPK in terms of
mobile penetration. The mobile penetration has been showing an increasing
trend during last four year as the data showed that in 2007-08, the
penetration was 57.9 percent in Punjab but
now has reached 68.1 percent. In Sindh this was 62.1 percent in 2007-08 and
now it is 84 percent which is a quite healthy sign.
Similarly, in KPK, the mobile penetration in 2007-08 was 36.3
percent and now it is 46.2 percent while it has touched 45.9 percent mark in
Balochistan from 27.1 percent four years back. The report said with a healthy
subscriber growth during last year, the mobile penetration in all over Pakistan
has reached 68.39 percent, showing a growth of 5.8 percent over the last
year. The growth in mobile penetration has been better during the last two
years compared to 2009 and 2010, when mobile sector was negatively affected
by devastating floods and global financial crisis. In 2008, the mobile
penetration in Pakistan
was the highest among the South Asian countries due to early initiatives of
PTA to introduce competition and deregulation in the sector compared to other
countries in the region. In recent years, however, some countries in the
region have overtaken the position of Pakistan. Since 2009, mobile
penetration growth in Pakistan
remained in single digit due to slow economic growth, market maturity and
availability of only 2G
services in the market. In this situation, rural markets provide
opportunities for the cellular mobile operators to increase mobile
penetration in these areas. There are around 120.15 million mobile
subscribers at the end of 2012 as compared to 108.9 million subscribers last
year, depicting a healthy growth of 10.3 percent over the last year.
From
http://www.brecorder.com 04/10/2013
TOP↑
80pc of Mobile Subscribers Will Be in Developing Countries by
2017
ISLAMABAD: Over the
next five years, the worldwide base of mobile subscriptions will rise to 8.9
billion, and four out of five of these will be in developing countries.
According to "Worldwide Cellular User Forecasts, 2012-2017," the
most recent forecast from Strategy Analytics' Wireless Operator Strategies
(WOS) service, subscriptions in developing countries will grow at a compound
annual rate of 7.5 percent, substantially faster than the 2.8 percent growth
that will be seen in developed countries, Technology Times reported. With
worldwide mobile service revenue growth slowing to about 2 percent per year
through 2017, developing countries like Nigeria, where revenue is growing
at twice that rate, can be very attractive markets to international players.
Phil Kendall, Director of WOS, notes that "the Middle East and Africa
will generate an impressive 28% revenue growth between 2012 and 2017,
confirming its significance to investors from outside the region such as
Airtel, Orange
and Vodafone."
The developing countries are changing dramatically as markets
for communications devices and services. For example, the African Development
Bank estimates that in 2010 more than a third of Africa's
population some 350 million people could be counted as middle class, up from
220 million in 2000. Although the levels of disposable income do not match
those of developed countries, the emergence of a sizable group of
economically stable consumers creates an opportunity for communications
suppliers, according to Tom Elliott, Director of Emerging Markets Consulting.
"Of course there is still a lot of demand for basic products and
services, but the growing middle class is starting to demand more extensive
data services on a widening range of smartphones, high end feature phones,
and tablets."
From
http://www.brecorder.com 04/15/2013
TOP↑
Inauguration
of IT Center for Hujjaj on May 13
ISLAMABAD: Information Technology Center
of Ministry of Religious Affairs will be inaugurated here at Ministry of
Religious Affairs, on Monday May 13. Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan Abdul Aziz
Algadeer will inaugurate the IT center, said a press release issued here
today. The IT center has been renovated and equipped with modern computerized
gadgets for the facilitation of intended Hujjaj.
Form
http://www.brecorder.com 05/10/2013
TOP↑
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AZERBAIJAN: Broadband Access Rate Up Over 20 Percent
The number of broadband accesses to the Aztelekom production
association of the Communication and Information Technologies Ministry
exceeded 114,000 as of early 2013, which is 21 percent more than in the
beginning of 2012, Aztelekom said on Wednesday. According to the company, the
share of broadband internet services in the total revenues of the operator
reached 22 percent, a 11 percent increase compared
to early 2012. Aztelekom plans to increase the number of broadband
connections up to 200,000, which will increase monthly income from Internet
services to 3 million manats (some $3.8 million), with an average 15 manat
($19) service fee. The company forecasts coverage of all the settlements of
the country with fiber-optic lines until the end of the year. Aztelekom's
broadband internet penetration plan envisions covering the country with 3.5
kilometer-long fiber-optic lines. The creation of broadband infrastructure
has drawn the interest of private providers, encouraging them to expand their
business in the regions. 19 operators are currently providing internet
services outside the capital city of Baku.
Increasing TV and radio broadcasting quality, transition to
digital broadcasting, expansion of broadband services, and further
development of electronic services and simplification of access to e-services
are the main priorities of ICT development in the country. Over the past
three years, Azerbaijan
has maintained its leading position among the CIS countries in terms of
broadband Internet penetration. Internet penetration rates increased from 65
to 70 percent in 2012. Work was carried out to improve the quality of data
transmission services. The capacity of international communication channels
more than doubled compared to 2011 and fees were reduced by 35 percent. At
present, Internet fees for connection speed of 1 Mbit/s account for about 3
percent of the average wage in Azerbaijan. For comparison's
sake, the fees are up to 20 percent of wages in developing countries. Some
103 million manats (about $131 million) have been allocated for the
implementation of a broadband Internet development project in Azerbaijan
in 2013, which means further spread of broadband Internet in the country and
an increase of Internet users to 85 percent.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 03/27/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Aimed at Serious Development ICT Sector
According to the action plan approved by a presidential
decision published in official media on Saturday, in connection with
declaring the information and communication technologies year in Azerbaijan
in 2013, it is planned to develop ICT strategy, improve the registration
procedure of the national domain domain.az, and significantly reduce tariffs
for telecommunication services and internet access. The action plan will be
implemented in four main areas: implementation of organizational measures,
improvement of the legal basis and management, strengthening the capacity of
the ICT sector and development of information society and human resources.
The plan provides organization of the functioning of the State Fund for
Development of Information and Communication Technologies, the High
Technologies Park, Information Security Center, "Virtual Qarabag"
ICT center, IT-University, as well as enhancement of the number of provided e-services
and the range of users, improvement of the quality of wideband services,
transfer to digital television, introduction of phone number portability etc
The action plan also includes measures on increasing the number of e-kiosks
in the regions in order to increase the range of e-services users, measures
on copyright protection in Internet, development of distance education,
introduction of electronic queue and distribution of apartments, creation of
Wi-Fi zones in public areas, protection of children from harmful content,
improvement of personnel potential in ICT sector, conduct of national and
international forums, conferences and seminars in the field of information
and communication technologies.
From
http://www.tmcnet.com/ 03/30/2013
TOP↑
ICT
Sector’s Share in Azerbaijan’s GDP Hits 1.8 Pct
The share of the information and communication technologies in
Azerbaijan's
GDP was 1.8 percent in January-February, the State Statistics Committee said.
According to the report, the ICT sector increased by 16 percent compared to
the same period of the last year. The total volume of Azerbaijan's GDP amounted to 8.3
billion manat within two months, which is 3.2 percent more compared to the
same period of 2012. The official exchange rate is 0.7846 AZN/USD on April 1.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/02/2013
TOP↑
Minister:
ICT Sector’s Revenues to Grow to $8-8.5 Billion in Azerbaijan by 2020
By 2020, revenues generated by the sector of information and
communication technologies (ICT) in Azerbaijan will reach $8-8.5
billion, the Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali
Abbasov said, speaking at the presentation of 'The Business Year' magazine on
Thursday. According to the minister, the ICT sector's revenues currently
stand at nearly $2 billion. According to Abbasov, a fourfold increase in
revenue will be made possible by increasing the role of the ICT sector in
exports and increase of the domestic market. "As the demand on the
domestic market is limited, long-term plans for the development of the sector
are associated with the development of exports. Azerbaijan
is exporting a range of services in this field to Iran
and Georgia,
and the geography of exports will continue to grow," Abbasov said.
According to the minister, there is a need for diplomatic support for
Azerbaijani companies for their participation in large international
IT-projects. The impetus to the development of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan,
according to Abbasov, will be given by the project of broadband Internet
implemented with the support of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan. The cost of
the project, according to the minister, will amount to 430-440 million manat.
Implementation of the project will increase the level of Internet penetration
in the country to 85 percent. The official exchange rate is on April 4 is
0.7846 AZN / USD.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 04/04/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Expects ICT Export Growth
Revenues generated by the information and communication
technologies sector in Azerbaijan
will reach $8-8.5 billion by 2020, Communications and Information
Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov said on Thursday. The ICT sector's revenues
currently stand at nearly $2 billion, Abbasov said at the presentation of the
British Business Year magazine's special edition on Azerbaijan. A four-fold increase
in revenues will become possible by increasing the role of the ICT sector in
exports and growth of the domestic market, according to Abbasov. "Since
the demand on the domestic market is limited, long-term plans for the
development of the sector are associated with the development of exports. Azerbaijan is exporting a range of services in
this field to Iran and Georgia,
and the geography of exports will continue to grow," the minister noted.
According to him, currently Azerbaijani companies need diplomatic support for
their participation in large-scale international ICT projects.
The impetus to the development of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan
will be given by the project on broadband Internet, implemented with the
support of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan. The cost of the project will
amount to 430-440 million manats (up to $560 million). Implementation of the
project will increase the level of Internet penetration in the country to 85
percent, Abbasov said. 2013 was declared the year of information and
communication technologies in Azerbaijan
in accordance with a presidential decree on January 16. The Azerbaijani
president also approved the regulations on the State Fund for IT Development
and the Action Plan on the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. According to the
action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT strategy, improve the
registration procedure of the national domain .az, and significantly reduce
fees for telecommunication services and internet access. According to the ICT
Ministry, in 2012, ICT revenues exceeded $1.7 billion, which is 18 percent
more than in 2011.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/05/2013
TOP↑
Azerbaijan Sees Virtualization Technology Boom: Expert
A boom in the development of virtualization technology is
being observed in Azerbaijan,
Russian Naumen company's executive Andrey Milovanov told the press in Baku on Thursday.
Virtualization technology creates a virtual version of hardware platforms,
operating systems, storage devices, or network resources. According to
Milovanov, today virtualization technology is new not only for the
Azerbaijani ICT market, but also for the markets of the CIS countries
overall. The process of the development of virtualization technologies is
becoming increasingly popular. Milovanov said the development of this segment
of the ICT market may be underway with some delay due to certain reasons. "At
present, virtualization technology is acquiring more popularity in Azerbaijan.
I believe the development of infrastructure management technology will mark
the next step. This sphere is an innovation both for Azerbaijan and other CIS
countries," Milovanov said.
Azerbaijan's market,
according to him, will inevitably go through the stages of development,
although with some delay. For example, if one compares it with the Russian
market, where the boom of virtualization technologies has subsided, Azerbaijan
is observing the peak of its development. "The Azerbaijani market of
information technologies has great potential and growth prospects. Azerbaijan
is a priority country for us, amongst the CIS countries, as can be seen from
frequent visits of our specialists to the country. We are working at the
level of large institutions, one of which is the International Bank of Azerbaijan.
There are also other companies we are negotiating with," Milovanov said.
The company's future plans for the Azerbaijani market include
expanding the partner network, and negotiations are being held with local ICT
companies to that end. There is also a possibility of opening Naumen's
offices in Azerbaijan.
This issue, according to Milovanov, will gain relevance in 2014. In this
regard, the company has engaged the necessary resources for the study and
analysis of the ICT market of Azerbaijan.
Naumen is the leading Russian software solution developer for business and
state bodies. Naumen renders services on developing, implementation and
support of the software projects based on its own solutions. The company
cooperates with Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh and Uzbek ICT
companies.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/12/2013
TOP↑
State ICT
Fund to Finance Start-Ups Soon
Azerbaijan's State Fund for ICT Development may start
financing "start-ups" in the next few months, Communications and
Information Technologies Ministry official Elchin Zeynalov said Wednesday.
The Fund was established to implement the state policy on development and
support of small enterprises in the scientific and technical fields,
providing them with direct financial assistance and personnel training, which
in turn will help to create new jobs. Zeynalov, head of strategic planning,
investment and scientific potential at the communications ministry, said the
Fund will begin its work fully after administrative issues are resolved, which is possible this fall. Financial support
for "start-ups" and creative ideas contribute to the development of
the ICT in the country, Zeynalov said. Unfortunately, in this respect, the
situation currently is not particularly inspiring and requires proper
development, Zeynalov believes.
However, he said, there are development prospects, and
considering that innovative ideas will receive due financial support, quite a
lot of them will appear. "ICT is one of the fields that require
long-term investments and the return is dependent on the success and
profitability of projects," Zeynalov noted. The Fund defines three
mechanisms of financing - investments, grants and credits. Priority will be
given to export-oriented projects. Grants will be awarded primarily for the
development of innovative ideas after detailed study. Depending on the
project, the Fund may invest in the purchase of shares in a company, along
with grant support, Zeynalov said. "For example, if the owner decides to
sell part of the equity in the company for further development of the project
which has already reached the level of return, the Fund can become a
shareholder," Zeynalov said. "The interest rate determined by the
Fund is quite reasonable considering that interest rates in the country's
financial market today start from 15 percent and more."
At present, there is a great demand for ICT products and
services due to underdevelopment of this market in the region, evidenced by
global financial institutions, he believes. "The Azerbaijani ICT market
is relatively small. This situation is also typical for other markets in the
region where hi-tech product manufacturing is not developed," Zeynalov
said, adding that this allows noting the existing demand for such products.
According to him, small businesses are unable to invest large amounts of
assets in scientific research. Spare financial resources for this purpose
belong to large corporations. "It is necessary to offer them the most
suitable conditions in order to attract and deploy their production in Azerbaijan."
The idea dwells upon the application of the lowest possible taxes and customs
duties, which will ensure the inflow of foreign investments to Azerbaijan,
Zeynalov noted.
Each Azerbaijani citizen may avail of the advantages of the
ICT Fund's financing. Financial aid to enterprises will be arranged through
contests. Businesses can borrow small, medium and large loans. The amount of
small credits ranges from 10,000 to 50,000 manats (up to over $63,000) for a
three-year term, while medium credits are worth 50,000 to 500,000 manats and
provided for a period of up to five years; large loans are allocated in the
amount from 500,000 to 1 million manats for ten years. The annual interest
rate should not exceed 5 percent. The maximum grant available is up to
300,000 manats, provided for a period of 36 months. The amount of small
grants is designated at 10,000 to 100,000 manats, while medium grants could
be from 100,000 to 200,000 manats and large ones -- from 200,000 to 300,000
manats.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/13/2013
TOP↑
Number of
Broadband Internet Connections in Baku
to Hit 400,000 by Year-End
The number of households with access to broadband Internet has
reached 250,000 in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, with the figure expected to reach
400,000 by the end of 2013, according to the Baku Telephone production
association. Unlike the private segment of the market, the corporate segment,
including enterprises, the financial sector, as well as schools and high
schools, law enforcement bodies and courts, have access to the internet
mainly through fiber-optic lines. "In total, the level of the internet
penetration has surpassed the 75 percent mark. The Production Association
prepared and presented to the [communications] ministry the project on
development of the fiber-optic access to the internet. This refers to the
possibility of providing access to the internet for the end-users through
fiber-optic lines using FTTH (Fiber to the Home) technology," the
company said. The FTTH technology guarantees extensive capacities, with the
data transfer speed reaching dozens of megabits. The traffic speed in FTTH
technology will vary between 10 and 100 Mbit/s, while with ADSL the private
user can enjoy only 2 to 8 Mbit/s speed depending on the telephone line's
condition and distance from the telephone exchange being used. According to
the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, some 103 million
manats (about $131 million) were allocated for the implementation of the
broadband Internet development project in Azerbaijan in 2013. The
"Fiber to Home" is expected to be implemented in three phases.
The main goal of the project is to provide remote regions of
the country with broadband Internet with a speed of 10 to
100 Mbit/s and expand the number of users to 85 percent. The project
envisions a phased transfer of the operator's regional telecommunications
center to the Next Generation Network (NGN), alternate routing of optical
telecommunication lines and construction of high-speed IP-lines based on MPLS
technology over a DWDM network. The possibility of using GPON technology is
considered in order to connect optical telecommunication lines to the
end-users in major cities, while using CDMA 1x EV-DO and WiMAX standards is
mulled to provide broadband services to the people living in remote regions
of the country. To date, automatic telephone systems of regional telecommunication
centers have been replaced by electronic systems. The length of fiber-optic
lines laid by the Aztelekom production association since the beginning of
2012 to connect such systems has reached 2,000 kilometers. Azerbaijan has maintained its leading
position among the CIS countries in terms of broadband Internet penetration
over the past three years. Internet penetration rates increased from 65 to 70
percent in 2012. Operations were conducted to improve the quality of data
transmission services. The capacity of international communication channels
more than doubled compared to 2011 and prices were reduced by 35 percent. At
present, Internet fees for connection speed of 1 Mbit/s account for about 3
percent of the average wage in Azerbaijan. For comparison's
sake, the fees are up to 20 percent of wages in developing countries.
From
http://www.azernews.az/ 04/17/2013
TOP↑
SOFAZ: Azerbaijan
to Carry Out Reforms on Broadband Internet Development
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) will begin funding a
project for the development of broadband Internet in the country following
the preparation of a reform package, SOFAZ head Shahmar Movsumov told
reporters. "The project envisages great reforms where preparatory work
is already underway. I believe the project will start after a package of
reforms is formed and approved which could happen later this year," he
said. Implementation of the project for the development of broadband Internet
(Fibre to the Home) project in Azerbaijan will cover the period
of 2013-2017. The State Oil Fund's budget for 2013 is to allocate 103 million
manat to implement the project. Funding will also be provided in the coming
years. All areas of Azerbaijan
will be provided with high-speed access to the Internet by 2017. The project
is among a number of major initiatives planned for implementation as early as
this year and aimed at extending the country's infrastructure based on the
FTTH (fibre to the home) model. Cost is estimated at about $500 million. The
project is considered to be highly profitable and starting from the second
year of its implementation, 30-35 per cent of its total cost will be financed
through reinvestment. The ultimate goal of the project is to provide the
entire country, including rural and remote locations, with high-speed
Internet at a range of 10-100 Mbit/s and bring the number of broadband
Internet users to 85 per cent which will allow Azerbaijan to reach the level of
other developed countries by 2017. The official exchange rate for May 10 is
0.7845 AZN / USD.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 05/10/2013
TOP↑
KAZAKHSTAN: Entering Top 50 Countries in Network
Readiness and Cellular Communication Rates Index
According to the report published by the World Economic Forum
(WEF) on information technologies in terms of the Network Readiness Index,
Kazakhstan ranked 43rd among 144 countries in the world, rising in the
ranking by 12 positions compared to 2012, the Ministry of Transport and
Communications said on Thursday. "Thus, Kazakhstan
took the highest position among the CIS countries, standing between Hungary (44th) and the Czech Republic
(42nd). Russia
is placed 54th in the same index. The WEF 2013 ranking was topped by Finland, surpassing Sweden from the first to third
place. Singapore
retained second position," a statement released by the ministry said. It
should be noted that the Network Readiness Index determines the level of
development of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the
country and consists of a number of indicators, many of which showed good
growth this year. For example, Kazakhstan rose to 11th place in terms of the
number of cellular subscribers (156 mobile numbers available per 100 people
in the country, whereas Hong Kong lead the ranking, almost 215 telephone
subscriptions are available per 100 inhabitants). The republic rose to the
62nd place on the number of Internet users, 42nd place - on tariffs for
mobile communications, and 29th position on the number of mobile broadband
subscriptions. For comparison, according to last year's report, Kazakhstan
held the 40th, 78th, 64th and 113th positions on the same indicators respectively.
From
http://en.trend.az/ 04/12/2013
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AUSTRALIA: Beat Most of the World in Preparation for
Cloud Adoption
Australia continues to be one
of the world leaders in cloud computing policies, ranked the second the
second most prepared country for cloud adoption, one notch below Japan
in first place, and with a particularly high score for its up-to-date
cybercrime regime, bolstered by ratification of the Convention on Cybercrime.
Australia’s ranking for its cloud computing policies comes from a study by
BSA | The Software Alliance which also found that Australia is a “global
leader” in the international harmonisation of rules, while our security ranking
also received a boost when the federal government dropped plans for mandatory
Internet filtering. The BSA study for 2013, just released, builds on an
inaugural study published in early 2012, and is the first report ever to
track changes in the global policy landscape for cloud computing. “It is
encouraging that Australia has improved on many areas in the scorecard scale
by adopting and enhancing policies that are conductive to cloud innovation,
but there remains room for improvement,” Roger Somerville, BSA Senior
Director for Government Relations and Policy in the Asia Pacific, said.
“Every
country’s policies affect the global cloud marketplace, so it is imperative
for Australia
to continue to focus on improvements. We encourage the Australian Government
to continue to commit to public sector cloud use and adoption, similar to the
approach taken by the US
government of adopting a cloud first policy. This will help Australia maintain, if not improve, on its
impressive ranking and help grow the global cloud,” Somerville said. The BSA study evaluated 24
economies across the globe in seven policy areas critical to the market for
cloud computing services — data privacy, cybersecurity, cybercrime,
intellectual property, technology interoperability and legal harmonisation,
free trade, and ICT infrastructure. Somerville
said the sharp divide between advanced economies and the developing world
that was revealed in last year’s BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard had
narrowed somewhat in 2013 as “significant progress has been made by some
developing countries, many of which are in the Asia Pacific, while progress
plateaued in major developed countries like the US and in the EU.”
The BSA
scorecard’s biggest mover was fifth-ranked Singapore,
which Somerville
said vaulted up five places after adopting a new privacy law that builds user
trust while also promoting business innovation. The study found that Japan
continued to lead the global rankings with a comprehensive suite of laws
supporting digital commerce. The US
edged into third this year, pushing Germany into fourth place in the
rankings. BSA also reveals that cloud policy improvements in many of the
world’s biggest IT markets have stalled, with all six European Union
countries covered in the study losing ground in the rankings, and others
“effectively unplugging themselves from the global market, with especially
counterproductive policies in Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam. “We’re seeing
patchy progress in the policy landscape for cloud computing,” said BSA
President and CEO Robert Holleyman. Mismatched privacy and security rules are
making it hard for data to flow across borders, and too many countries are
chopping off pieces of the cloud for themselves. This undercuts economies of
scale that would benefit everyone.” To capture maximum benefit from cloud
computing, BSA advocates a policy blueprint covering each of the seven areas
in the study — data privacy, cybersecurity, cybercrime, intellectual
property, technology interoperability and legal harmonisation, free trade,
and ICT infrastructure.
BSA
recommends policymakers take the following actions:
• Ensure
privacy: Users must have faith their information will be treated carefully,
and providers must have freedom to move data efficiently in the cloud
• Promote
security: Effective risk management requires flexibility to implement
cutting-edge security solutions
• Battle cybercrime: Law
enforcement and cloud providers alike need effective legal mechanisms to
combat illicit access to data
• Protect
Intellectual Property: Laws should provide clear protection and enforcement
against infringement of underlying cloud innovations, and
• Ensure
data portability and harmonising global rules: Governments should work with
industry to develop standards that facilitate data flows while minimising
conflicting legal obligations.
From http://www.itwire.com 03/08/2013
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Feds Award
$300m Less
in ICT Product Contracts
The
Federal Government awarded $300 million less in ICT contracts over the past
financial year, bringing its spending back in line with 2009-10 levels. An
analysis of contracts posted to AusTender by consultancy Protiviti (pdf)
found the Government had not maintained an increase in contract spending on
ICT products. The value of reported contracts for ICT hardware and software
fell from $2.9 billion in 2010-11 to $2.6 billion in 2011-12. In 2009-10,
contract values totalled $2.5 billion. After what appeared to be a major
server refresh in 2010-11, with $778 million in contracts awarded, server
contracts crashed to $96 million in 2011-12. Software was a bright spot, with
the total value of awarded contracts rising from $639 million in 2010-11 to
$948 million in 2011-12. Big money was also spent on communications devices
and accessories. Total contract value year-on-year rose from $212 million to
$638 million.
Telephony
equipment spending also rose from $13 million to $65 million in the space of
a year, though spending on data voice and multimedia network equipment
stagnated. Contracts for IT services — which are listed in a broader category
of 'engineering, research and technology services' — fell $300 million in
value year-on-year, again broadly in line with 2009-10 results. The value of
technology services contracts was not broken out. The report looks at
contracts worth at least $10,000 awarded to third-party suppliers. It does
not take into account "inter-agency transactions" where one agency
supplies another products or services.
From http://www.itnews.com.au 04/11/2013
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Shrinking
Performance Gap Between Australian Mobile
Networks
As the
wireless services industry grows increasingly competitive and 4G service becomes more prevalent, the gap
in network quality performance between the highest- and lowest-ranked
carriers has narrowed compared with 2012, according to J.D. Power and
Associates. The study finds that the variation in network quality performance
among wireless carriers at the industry level is much smaller in 2013 than in
2012. While network quality performance among carriers still varies at the
state level, the gap between the highest- and lowest-ranked carriers for the
overall industry has decreased to only 7 PP100 in the 2013 study from 11 PP100 in the 2012 study.
"As carriers continue to invest heavily in infrastructure upgrades and
improvements, the differences in their network performance has truly
resonated with customers," said Kirk Parsons, senior director of
wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates. "The expansions in 4G coverage will become increasingly
important as carriers continue to roll out next-generation technologies and
services."
As
observed in other countries that deploy 4G technology, overall network quality performance
tends to improve, most notably in data-related problems with slow connection
speeds. In Australia,
there is a similar impact, as the overall PP100 score has decreased by 3
PP100 from 2012, partially because of the increase in 4G-based handsets. For example, 4G smartphone customers overall experience
12 PP100, compared with 13 PP100 among 3G customers. On average, 4G smartphone customers experience significantly
fewer issues with data, compared with 3G customers (17 PP100 vs. 21 PP100, respectively),
and particularly with issues related to slow mobile Web (16 PP100 vs. 20
PP100, respectively). "It's very interesting to see the stark
performance differences between the newest generation of network technology, 4G, and other network services that were
the first offerings of high-speed data centric devices based on 3G marketed devices in 2011," said
Parsons. "With the network advantages of using 4G technology, in terms of spectrum efficiencies and
increases in data connection speeds and reliability, it's not unexpected that
wireless carriers are rushing to expand and upgrade their networks to align
with this latest generation of service."
More
importantly, the deployment of 4G
networks may result in greater customer lifetime value. In fact, overall
satisfaction with wireless service among 4G customers is substantially higher than among 3G customers (7.2 vs. 7.1, respectively, on
a 10-point scale). Additionally, 4G
customers are also notably more loyal to their carrier, with only 16 percent
saying they "definitely will" or "probably will" switch
their carrier within the next 12 months, compared with 22 percent of 3G customers. For the second consecutive
year, Telstra has the fewest customer-reported problems (9 PP100) in all 10
network quality problem areas, compared with the study average. Telstra also
performs particularly well in call quality issues, such as audio problems,
and messaging-related issues, such as transmission failures and late text
messages. Optus and Virgin Mobile follow Telstra in the rankings, each at 11
PP100. Optus performs particularly well in the data quality dimension, while
Virgin Mobile performs well in the messaging quality dimension.
The study
also finds the following usage trends among wireless customers:
* On
average, wireless customers make/receive nine calls within a 48-hour period,
compared with 15 calls per 48-hour period in 2012.
* On
average, smartphone customers continue to experience more problems than do
traditional handset customers (12 PP100 vs. 9 PP100, respectively). The
largest gaps are in data-related areas, in which problem rates among
smartphone customers average 11 PP100 more than among traditional handset
device customers.
* Average
problem rates are lowest among wireless customers in the South
Australia and Queensland states
(9 PP100 each), and highest among wireless customers in Western Australia (13 PP100).
Methodology
The 2013
Australia Wireless Network Quality Study is based on responses from more than
2,000 wireless customers across all Australia states and territories.
The study was fielded in February 2013.
From http://www.cellular-news.com 04/19/2013
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NEW ZEALAND: Losing Ground in Global Tech Rankings
New Zealand has
slipped six places in the World Economic Forum's ranking of economies based
on their ability to benefit from new digital technologies. The Forum has just
released its Global Information Technology Report 2013, which assesses the
digital ecosystems of 144 countries. Those countries collectively account for
more than 98 per cent of global GDP. Each country was examined in terms of
its preparedness to leverage advances in information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to drive economic productivity and social development.
New Zealand dropped back to 20th in the rankings with an overall score of 5.2
out of 7, down from 14th last year with a score of 5.4. The country scored
particularly poorly in two key areas - infrastructure and digital content,
and affordability.
On the
Networked Readiness Index (NRI), New Zealand placed 128th for mobile
tariffs, 96th for internet and telephony competition, 82nd for fixed
broadband internet tariffs, and 81st for mobile network coverage (percentage
of population). New
Zealand managed to top the list in three
indicators - judicial independence, number of days to start a business, and
number of procedures to start a business. In compiling its report, the Forum
scored economies on the quality of their regulatory, business and innovation
environments, their degree of preparedness, and the usage of ICTs by the
public. "The assessment is based on a broad range of indicators from
Internet access and adult literacy to mobile phone subscriptions and the
availability of venture capital," the report says. "In addition,
indicators such as patent applications and e-government services gauge the
social and economic impact of digitization." Northern European countries
dominated the overall rankings, with Finland
in first place, Sweden in
third, and Norway and the Netherlands
also in the top ten.
A second
group of economies that posted "a remarkable performance" were the
"Asian Tigers". These included Singapore,
Taiwan (China), the Republic of Korea, and Hong Kong SAR.
"All boast outstanding business and innovation environments that are
consistently ranked among the most conducive in the world," the report
said. "The Tigers also stand out for their governments' leadership in
promoting the digital agenda, and the impact of ICTs on society tends to be
larger in these economies." This year's report focused on 'growth and
jobs in a hyper connected world' and found that digitisation has a measurable
effect on economic growth and job creation. "In emerging markets, a
comprehensive digital boost could help lift over half a billion people out of
poverty over the next decade," the report said. "New technologies
have already transformed sectors from healthcare to farming, case studies in
the report show."
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 04/11/2013
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Growing Funding
Network Gives Support to Tech Start-Ups
Angel
investors provide both capital and capability to entrepreneurial initiatives.
How is the New Zealand Angel Association - and you personally
- involved in the IT industry?
I'm an
Angel investor as part of the AngelHQ club in Wellington, but we syndicate investment
opportunities all over the country. The role of the Angel Association is to
represent Angel investors across the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem
and to encourage more Angels. Angels provide both capital and capability and
with my background in ICT, I tend to gravitate towards ICT businesses or
those that are heavily enabled by ICT.
What
potential does New Zealand
have to be an innovator in technology?
The
potential is significant off the back of very capable and creative people. We
are highly productive in early-stage endeavours as we are resourceful, work
hard and costs are relatively low. We are also inclined to take on new
technologies so we have a market that lends itself to validation,
proof-of-concept and incubator-type initiatives. How do New Zealand tech businesses make
their ideas and products scalable? The main challenge is scalability from a
go-to-market perspective. This either requires significant investment in
direct marketing and sales capability or alignment with channel partners,
which will ideally have complementary technologies and where joining forces
produces a strong collective value proposition.
Where are
tech startups getting their funding from?
Funding
comes from different sources depending on the maturity of the business.
Early-stage funding comes from company founders and friends and family. We
have a growing formal Angel network and new ventures also get great support
from the Government through NZVIF, NZTE and MoBIE as well as regional
incubators such as CreativeHQ and Icehouse.What other support do tech
businesses need?I would like the Government to put more into developing the
context and culture under which tech innovation, entrepreneurship and
investment occur. This includes being clearer about where the nation should
focus its limited resources; for instance, by building niche leadership as
opposed to trying to build global businesses on a broad basis.
Do you
encourage New Zealand
tech businesses to try their hand in big international markets?
Certainly.
Angel investment revolves around building a portfolio of which five out of 10
ventures will fail, four will survive and one will excel to deliver a return
on all your investments. To generate a significant return, business will need
to go global or target large markets like China
and the US.
Timing the run will depend on the nature of the business. If there is a
genuine domestic market, this can deliver early-stage revenue and credibility,
but on the other hand it can delay your entry and potential competitive
advantage offshore. It's only by being in-market that the real learning
happens and opportunities open up.
From http://www.nzherald.co.nz 04/15/2013
TOP↑
New Zealand's Demand for Mobile
Data Doubles for Second Year in a Row
The
telecoms market in New
Zealand was marked last year by increased
activity on mobile devices including smartphones, a mild rebound of
investment in the sector, flat company revenues, and a continued fall in
market concentration compared to the previous year, according to a report by
the Commerce Commission. "Fuelled by our ever-increasing use of
smartphones and other mobile devices, New Zealanders almost doubled the
amount of mobile data they used for the second year in a row. Fixed broadband
data use also doubled in the last year with the average amount of data
traffic per user now at 19GB per month," said Telecommunications
Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale. Dr Gale said mobile retail revenues also grew
more strongly in 2011/12 than in any recent years, hitting $2.38 billion, up
from $2.14 billion in 2010/11.
The three
biggest players in the mobile market moved closer in terms of market share
this year. On a connections basis Vodafone had 42% of the market, Telecom 37%
and 2degrees 20% as at 30 June 2012, with smaller mobile resellers making up
the remaining 1%.Landline and mobile calling minutes and calling revenue
figures showed a modest decline as people continue to use alternatives like
texting and social media networks in favour of making a call. The report also
tracks developments in the market since 2006. "Total retail
telecommunications revenues rose slightly in the last two years to reach
$5.22 billion in 2011/12 after several years of minimal growth. Revenue
growth has tended to be well behind inflation, so, with increasing data use,
consumers are getting more for their money," added Dr Gale.
From http://www.cellular-news.com 04/29/2013
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