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New Intl
Telecom Regulations Treaty Drafted A new global telecommunications treaty was agreed to on 13
December, during the World Conference on International Telecommunications
2012 (WCIT-12) convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
the United Nations specialised agency for ICT, in Dubai. Attended by nearly
2000 delegates from 193 member states of the ITU, the WCIT-12 was called to
review the 24-year-old International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs),
the current binding treaty to facilitate international interconnection and
ensuring efficiency and public usefulness and availability of information and
communication services. The new draft of the treaty sets out general
principles for ensuring the free flow of information around the world, and
includes new provisions emphasising efforts to assist developing countries
and the right to freedom of expression over ICT networks, and promote
accessibility of ICT technologies for persons with disabilities. The treaty
also contains a resolution to create a single global number for access to
emergency services, and new text mandating greater transparency in the prices
set for mobile roaming. In a statement released at the end of the conference,
Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary General of the ITU, said, “This treaty
contains many gains and achievements including increased transparency in
international mobile roaming charges and competition, an extremely important
win for consumers.” “Information and communication technologies can now play
a greater role in driving sustainable development, in particular with new
Articles that provide recommendations for dealing with the growing scourge of
e-waste and promoting greater energy efficiency.” The treaty, however, has
only been signed by 89 nations. Disagreement over provisions granting
governments greater control over the internet led to 55 countries either
refusing to sign or reserving the right to sign later. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Beyond
ICT: The Newest Digital Revolution The history of human social development is, to some extent,
the history of human scientific and technological progress. Humanity achieves
scientific and technological progress by pushing its physical and mental
limits and breaking away from the restrictions of time and space. This has
been true in times both ancient and modern. Our ancestors built beacon towers
and invented the wheel, while we have ubiquitous Internet connection and
vehicles capable of reaching outer space. In the course of our scientific and
technological development, two epoch-making inventions have been the steam
engine and the computer. The steam engine ushered in the industrial age by
providing far more power than what manual labor and beasts of burden could
generate. The computer brought us into the information age through data
processing capabilities that far outperform the human brain. The past century
has witnessed several waves of progress made possible by information
technologies, including those used for communications (telegraphy, telephony,
and broadcasting), home entertainment (radio, TV), computing, and the
Internet. Information technologies drive economic growth worldwide and
reshape the way people live and work. At present, we are evolving from a
"society on wheels" to a "society on the network."
However, information systems are still regarded as aid tools and support
systems, keeping the digital and physical worlds somewhat parallel and
compartmentalized. Now, as the digital and physical worlds begin to merge,
the development of the Internet of Things has proven to be an effective catalyst
of information-based developments and is sure to bring groundbreaking changes
to all of humanity. Beyond information and communications, the increasing
integration of the digital and physical worlds will lead to a new digital
revolution. British philosopher Karl R. Popper divides human society into
three parts: the physical world, the mental/psychological world, and the
world of products of the human mind (also known as the world of objective
knowledge). In the future, the physical world will be married with the
digital world to form a new world. This integration will bring tremendous
changes to the way we live and work, the way businesses operate, and the way
society functions — a new age of digital citizens, digital enterprises, and
digital society. •Heavy reliance on networks will usher in an age of digital
citizenry. Nowadays, the ways in which people communicate, acquire
information, study, have fun, shop, make friends, and pair-bond are quite
different from what we saw just two decades ago. People not only have more
means to stay connected and obtain information, but have exceeded the
constraints of their physical location or time zone. With the developments in
this short time span, rather than waiting days or even months for letters to
arrive, people now contact others in real time via email, instant messaging,
and social networking. Likewise, people can read the news online anytime,
anywhere, rather than clinging to their TVs or radios. Wikipedia and other
interactive platforms allow people to easily find answers to their questions,
without having to wade through voluminous encyclopedias or wait for office
hour-working librarians. Internet users exceeded 2.4 billion in 2012, over
34% of the world's population, with this figure growing roughly 8% each year.
There are also as many as 1.1 billion smartphone subscribers right now, an
increase of 42% over 2011. However, this is just the beginning. As digital
lifestyles are adopted, digital citizenry will shape the behaviors of
next-gen consumers, changing the way people live, and shaking up numerous
industries. For example, traditional video sales and rental stores are
disappearing, and the 244-year old Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer
printed. It is very likely that in the next few decades, children will ask
why the word newspaper contains the word paper in much the same way as our
children today ask why the media is still referred to as the press. •The age of digital business is drawing near, as seen by our
commercial dependence on networks for production and operations. Network
developments have significant influence on business activities. Which
business today can even continue to operate if its network fails? E-commerce
is booming and extending its reach into every consumer buying decision,
whether involving digital content (e-books and digital music), cars, or home
appliances, or even small items like snacks and slippers. In 2012 alone,
electronic retail sales worldwide totaled $1.1 trillion. Information
technologies will be further applied to enterprise production and operations.
Rather than being tools or support components, ICT will become integral to
production, decision-making, customer relationship management, service
provisioning, marketing, and logistics. ICT will be employed in the building
of end-to-end systems that work in real time, playing a role in each and
every link, from idea generation to product conceptualization to precision
marketing to efficient operations to on-time delivery. In other words,
digitization will become a key characteristic of the future enterprise. A
borderless internet gives rise to a digital society. Thanks to the
boundary-free nature of the Internet, a large number of borderless virtual
communities and societies have come into being. A plethora of these communities
will combine to form a digital society that transcends borders, cultures, and
races. Facebook is home to over one billion users (or netizens), making it
the third largest "citizenry" in the world. This type of digital
society, which mirrors while extending beyond the physical world, will
undoubtedly impact many aspects of social administration and transformation,
including politics, economy, law, culture, news & media, security, and
ethics, among others. As a communications tool and support system, information
technologies have significantly changed the way in which people live and work
over the past few decades. They also spawn new economies and industries while
reshuffling traditional ones. No doubt, the increasing integration of the
physical and digital worlds will have a more tremendous impact on society.
Such integration will direct ICT development in a way that can better serve
society. Smart infrastructure presents opportunities for further ICT
development. Technologically-speaking, ICT innovations mainly fall into five
groups: mobility, broadband interconnectivity, social networking, cloud
computing, and big data processing. The objective of these innovations is to
transform the physical world into a smart world underpinned by smart ICT
infrastructure, making the latter key to advancing information-based
development. •From big data to "big” wisdom, the IT systems of
carriers and enterprises are evolving from post-processing support systems to
real-time business systems. This transition marks a fundamental change in how
IT functions. We are living in what may be the “big bang” of information. In
2012, up to 2.4 zettabytes of data (that’s 2.4 billion terabytes) was
generated globally; it would take as many as three trillion DVDs to store all
this data. By 2020, the amount of data generated is expected to grow
fourteen-fold. This data will have two major sources. The first is from the
huge amount of transactions between enterprises and between enterprises and
consumers. The second is from countless interactions on the Internet, social
networks, enterprise service networks, and the Internet of Things. Social
networking will be particularly pervasive; it will be emblematic of all
applications, not just for social networking utilities like Facebook. Typically,
big data has four characteristics: variety, volume, velocity, and value.
Velocity and value are most important. By combining the analytical
capabilities of the human brain to determine behavioral patterns and the data
processing capabilities of computers, we can quickly analyze big data and
leverage digital assets to develop valuable diagrams that show relationships,
intentions, consumption patterns, interests, and mobility. From big data to
"big" wisdom, IT systems will be capable of understanding not only
the present preferences of customers but also their future tendencies. This
will make social administration, corporate decision-making, and individual
lifestyles smarter and more logical. Therefore, IT systems for both
enterprises and carriers shall no longer function as post-processing support
systems. Rather, they will become real-time business systems that facilitate
business operations, a transition that marks a fundamental change in IT. •As traditional IT enterprise architecture is no longer capable
of processing the huge volumes of data being encountered, an
Internet-oriented cloud computing architecture is needed. The rebuilding of
data centers will prove the basis of supporting big data. Over the past two
decades, most enterprises have applied client-server architecture for their
IT. Although these systems were constantly upgraded, their technical
architecture was not, making each upgrade repetitive and not transformative.
With client-server, the server primarily stores small volumes of enterprise
transaction data, leaving most data scattered across employee PCs (clients).
As Internet technologies have continued to develop, data has begun its
migration from the PC to the cloud, causing a sharp spike in data volume for
the latter. The need to store such vast volumes is exactly what is driving
innovations in computing and storage architectures, and giving rise to the
emergence of cloud computing architectures that feature virtualization,
parallel computing, distributed storage, and automation, making for a
dramatic change over the traditional architectures. In fact, this new push is
considered the third major wave of IT transformation after those related to
the mainframe and client/server architecture. Presently, traditional
enterprise IT architectures are no longer capable of processing the
voluminous amounts of data that they take in. To answer this need, an
internet-oriented cloud computing architecture is required. This architecture
will form the basis of both big data and "big" wisdom. •Low-bandwidth networks are hindering information-based
development and user experience improvement. A ubiquitous Gigabit network is
a prerequisite for any digital society. To lay the foundation for a
Terabit-network society, next-gen research is needed. As public and private
clouds develop, the amount of data they carry is sure to mushroom, as the
analysis of data is more effective when its storage is centralized. To drive
this migration, ubiquitous networking with greater bandwidth is required to
support data upload and data usage. Ubiquitous broadband makes cloud
computing accessible. Devices across the entire industry chain, including
content creation devices (video cameras), cloud computing devices that
process information, and terminals where information is generated and
consumed (PCs, tablets, etc.) all now support high-definition video, even
smartphones that cost only $150. However, the global network, which has an
average bandwidth of only 3.1Mbps, is still unable to support high-definition
video, leading to the aforementioned hindrances to user experience.
Therefore, we must accelerate the construction of Gigabit networks to enable
seamless ultra-broadband access, the basis for building a digital society. We
must also intensify our research into and innovation efforts for technologies
such as next-generation mobile access, next-generation digital subscriber
line (DSL) access, passive optical network (PON) access, next-generation
Internet, and all-optical networking (AON). This focus on future networks
will lay a solid foundation for building a Terabit-network society. •To support evolution from a "hard" pipe to a
"soft" pipe, we should develop programmable, scalable,
application-agile, automatic, and open intelligent networks. Software-defined
networking (SDN) will lead to the development of next-gen network
architectures. Technologies are enablers of network development. In the past
two decades, driven by advancements of technologies from time-division
multiplexing (TDM) towards all-IP, networks have undergone three different
revolutions: analog to digital, fixed to mobile, and narrowband to broadband.
At present, All-IP networks are undeniably the mainstay for telco and
enterprise networks. However, as networks grow, with information flowing in
and out in uncertain directions and technologies being upgraded rapidly, it
is important that networks be flexible, intelligent, scalable, and automated.
Equally important is a change in how we think about network architectural
design. The core concepts for cloud computing development, such as
virtualization, software decoupling from hardware, centralized resource pool
scheduling, automatic deployment, high scalability, and on-demand service
provisioning, provide valuable references for network development.
Introduction of these concepts into the design of network architectures and
products can form the concepts of SDN, including forwarding and control
element separation (FORces) to centralize network control and resource
scheduling, software decoupling from hardware to virtualize network
functions, network function development of cloud-based architecture to
realize automatic deployment and high scalability, and application-aware
network development to improve network capabilities, among others. By
adopting these concepts, we can lead the developments of next-generation
product architectures and network architectures, establish an intelligent
application-aware network that can intelligently schedule traffic, improve
user experience and network utilization, support traffic-based operations,
and generate new revenue streams. •Intelligent terminals will not just be tools for
communications; they will become extensions of our own senses. Terminals of
the future will be context-aware and have intelligent sensory capabilities.
What makes a terminal intelligent is far more than just its CPUs and
operating system - It also relates to its sensory capabilities. By using
various sensors (compasses, accelerators, gyroscopes, barometers, global
positioning systems, light sensors, microphones, cameras, touch screens,
temperature sensors, and infrared instruments), we can extend the human
sensory and nervous systems in the form of intelligent terminals, bringing us one-step away from true
brain-machine interaction. These intelligent terminals will be context-aware,
and able to both sense and predict behavior through features such as
auto-completion. By combining cloud-based big data analysis capabilities with
context-aware terminals, we can provide personalized and intelligent services
that realize true human-machine interaction, enabling a dramatic improvement
in the user experience. To respond to the ICT transformation being driven by
the integration of the physical world and digital worlds, Huawei has
developed a pipe strategy that covers cloud-based data center infrastructure
(used for information storage and processing), infrastructure networks (used
for information transmission and delivery), and intelligent terminals (used
for information creation and consumption). Huawei has also set up its 2012
Laboratories, dedicated to researching next-generation technologies, while
developing a SoftCOM (Software Defined Network + teleCOM) network
architecture development strategy.
Huawei will openly partner with industry peers to raise information society
to a new level. From
http://www.telecomasia.net/ Best
Broadband Cities in the World The latest Net Index city statistics revealed that Hong Kong
has the highest average broadband speed, followed by 1.Hong Kong Central District – 45.93Mbps 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. In South Africa Edenvale is currently ranked as the area/city
with the highest average broadband speed, followed by Midrand and Sandton. 1.Edenvale – 6.73 Mbps 2.Midrand – 5.94 Mbps 3.Sandton – 5.73 Mbps 4.Paarl – 5.19 Mbps 5. 6.Brits – 4.35 Mbps 7.Worcester – 3.91 Mbps 8.Randburg – 3.54 Mbps 9. 10.Boksburg – 3.42 Mbps From
http://mybroadband.co.za/ World Bank
Publishes Report on ICT in Africa is still at the beginning of its growth curve in the
use of ICT in key sectors of the economy and now is the time for rigorous
evaluation, replication, and scaling up of best practice, according to the
eTransform Africa report produced by the World Bank and the African
Development Bank with the support of the African Union. The report identifies
best practice in the use of ICT in agriculture, climate change adaptation,
education, financial services, government services and health. It also
highlights the role of ICT in enhancing regional trade and integration. The
report includes more than 20 case studies of ICT transformation in action in From
http://www.telecompaper.com/ Earlier
today, my colleague Graeme Philipson wrote of the establishment of the
Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) to be an amalgam of Defence's Cyber
Security Operations Centre, the Attorney-General's Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT) Australia, ASIO's Cyber Espionage Branch, elements of
the AFP's High-Tech Crime Operations capability and all-source assessment
analysts from the Australian Crime Commission, according to the Federal
Government's much anticipated posture document on the future of Australia's
National Security. Showing the extreme importance of cyber security, we find
the announcement featured prominently on page 40 of the 44 page document.
Accepting that this is the Federal Government's current position on Cyber
Security, iTWire asked a number of industry experts for their thoughts. Adam
Biviano, Senior Manager, Strategic Products, Trend Micro ANZ was generally in
favour, "Trend Micro welcomes the Government's initiative as an
important move in the fight against cyber crime. "Law
enforcement and governments have always played cat and mouse with criminals.
The reality is that while there is money to be made from attacking computer
systems, then criminals will never give up." Biviano continued,
"Combining the key agencies into a single centre is a sensible approach.
"With cyber crime, accurate intelligence is critical for implementing
strategies to effectively tackle the problem. Having a centralised strategy
to stave off cyber attacks. Combine this with the law making and enforcement
capability of government and you have the foundation for a solid security
strategy." In a press release, the Australian Computer Society agreed,
"Besides The risk to critical infrastructure including banking and
finance, emergency services, energy and utilities, food, health care, IT and
communications, mass gatherings transportation and water, there is also a
significant economic risk arising from cyber crime and terrorism. In our past
submissions to the government the ACS have made the case that the best form
of defence is for the Government to regulate and control practitioners who
lead and manage our nations' ICT based critical infrastructure." AVG's
Security Advisor, Michael McKinnon agrees, "The establishment of the
Australian Cyber Security Centre is encouraging, and not at all surprising
given this follows a worldwide trend at the moment." McKinnon continued,
"For example, the European Cybercrime Centre announced earlier this
month, and "The
ACS will continue our work with the government, industry and ICT
practitioners to further the understanding of cyber security in To address
this, I would point out that having a number of organisations all covering
the gamut of research, investigations, technical advice and remediation work
is somewhat wasteful and broadly, I would agree with the proposal. But (and
there's always a but!). My concern is that we are very likely to be pushing a
lot of civilian-focussed work into an organisation that must, by its very
design be subject to all kinds of military-style security levels and
restrictions. Prime Minister Gillard's document tends to dwell more strongly
on the Government's requirements in this area to the possible detriment of
private industry. And the more DoD-based the organisation becomes, the harder
it will be for third-party organisations (equipment and service providers,
for instance) to get a seat at the table. Trend Micro's Biviano seems to
agree with this assessment, "I would be keen to understand further how
the new ACSC will interact with not only other tiers of government but also
business. It will be interesting to see what tactical actions the ACSC
delivers over the medium to longer term. What interfaces will it create for
other tiers of government, and businesses? As there is a wealth of
intelligence to be shared, what will be their interaction strategy with the
private security industry?" Echoing this emphasis on private industry,
AVG's McKinnon adds, "For Business and From
http://www.itwire.com Azerbaijani
Communications and IT Ministry Announces Plans for 2013 As 2013 has been declared the Year of ICT in From
http://en.trend.az/ From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
NIELIT has been playing a key role in improving the reach and
scope of IT related education in the country. What is your vision for the
organisation? There is going to be a vast increase in the scope of work that
NIELIT has been doing. NIELIT has been set up to carry out Human Resource
Development and related activities in the area of Information, Electronics
& Communication Technology (IECT). The organisation has its headquarters
in The organisation is engaged both in the formal and non formal
education in the area of IECT. It also concentrates on developing industry
oriented quality education and training. It is establishing standards for
becoming the country’s premier institution for examination and certification
in the field of IECT. Today NIELIT is a National Examination Body, which
accredits institutes/organisations for conducting courses particularly in the
non- formal sector of IT Education & Training. Our vision for the
organisation is to make NIELIT an institute of national importance in the
field of IT, electronics, e-Governance and education. NIELIT can become of a
stature that is similar to the IIT or IIM, with the permission and the blessings
of the Hon’ble Parliament. At times students face problems as they are unable to access
course content in their own language. What steps is NIELIT taking to help
such students? NIELIT has developed CCC e-content in all the constitutionally
recognised Indian languages except in Santhali. The e-contents of CCC has
also been devel- oped in Mizo and Kokborok. The e-contents have been made
available on a dedi- cated e-learning portal “http://elearn.doeacc.edu.in”
for free access by students. We are in the process of developing e-content
for other courses and we are also planning to conduct online examinations.
NIELIT is now undertaking projects concerned with capacity building in the
field of e-Governance. Tell us about it. As you might know, NIELIT will be
undertaking projects to conduct e-Governance training for various cadres of
Central and State Government officials with funding support of Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. NIELIT has conducted one workshop for the
Cabinet of Bihar. It is also conducting e-Gov Capacity Building for senior
officers in Delhi Government. Capacity building in the area of e-Governance
is of great importance to the nation, and we are keen to contribute our mite
in it. To take this up, our team of senior directors was in NISG (National
Institute for Smart Governance), Tell us about the work that you have been doing for NPR.
NIELIT is the Nodal Implementing Agency on DeitY (Department of Electroncs
and Information Technology) for the data digitisation for the creation of
National Population Register (NPR) project of Registrar General of India
(RGI). Data digitisation work for UT Chandigarh has been completed on pilot
basis in March 2012. In Phase I, the data digitisation work of 25 urban zones
have been completed and data digitisation in respect of 19 rural zones are
expected to be completed shortly. In Phase II, for 48 rural zones, the
contract has been awarded to successful bidders and work is in progress and
is expected to be completed by March, 2013. You have been associated with IT Industry for almost 28 years.
Before taking over as MD, NIELET, you had been serving as Managing Director,
RajCOMP, and Director Technical RajCOMP Info Services Ltd. In that capacity
you had been instrumental in executing many IT and e-Governance Projects for
the Government of Rajasthan. Tell us about the main issues that you have
faced in bringing the benefits of IT to the masses. Every IT project comes
with its own set of unique challenges. And when the project is from the field
of e-Governance, then the challenges become more complicated, as in such
cases we also have to look at governance issues, along with IT. When a
project is being implemented, multiple issues related to Vendor Management,
Technical Management, Finance Management, HR Management, Legal Management and
over and above the Expectation Management come to the fore. It is possible
that the expectation of the end-users, the citizens, could be totally
different from the expectations of the policy makers. It is a difficult task to bridge the gap between the two sets
of expectations. Also there can be mismatch in terms of time, cost and even
the vision of any project due to changes in government or administrative
setup. While conceiving any e-Governance project, we tend to think that automation
will automatically result in e Governance becoming a reality. We tend to
forget that the IT component in any e-Governance project is only 10 to 15
percent. The major component is management and implementation of the decision
and policy of the government, and that is a much tougher task. At times, the
financial considerations make it impossible for us to go for the best
possible technology in e-Governance projects, so this too is a challenge. We
are unable to hire the most talented experts as they require a higher salary,
the government norms restrict the salary that can be paid to the experts.
Moreover, when we are implementing e-Governance projects, we think of pilots
only and pilot hardly get rolled out because of multiple reasons. “e-Governance projects will not be able to deliver at the
ground level unless there is capacity building in a big way.” During the last
few years Rajasthan has achieved lot of success in e-Governance
implementations. In your opinion what is the most critical factor for the
successful execution of e-Governance Projects? The capability of government
departments to work as a cohesive team is important. A good team leader and
support from the seniors are the key factors for success of e-Governance
project. In Rajasthan, I achieved a degree of success in execution of NeGP
Projects, after joining as the Managing Director of Rajcomp in June 2009. The
projects that I was involved with are the CSC, State Data Centre (SDC), State
Wide Area Network (SWAN), e-District, State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG),
etc. I have also contributed in the successful launch of the RPSC online.
This all had been possible because of kind support that I have received from
the Secretary (IT), Shri Sanjay Malhotra, Principal Secretary (IT), Shri
Shrimant Pandey. I was also guided by the vision of the leader, Hon’ble Chief
Minister, Shri Ashok Gehlot. In your opinion what is the importance of field experience in
the success of e-Governance projects? Should the government departments focus
on having at least a few people who have the experience of working in the
field? e-Gov Projects face major challenges in terms of shortage of experts
having knowledge of technology with the IT companies. It also faces challenge
in terms of commitment from the top and ownership of the project. It has been
observed that those who have driven motorcycle in the field are different
from those who know how to drive motorcycle on the blackboard. I am pointing
out to the fact that issues being faced in the field are different from those
discussed at policy making forums. At planning stage a project might seem
very a project is very simple but when it is being implemented in the field,
multiple issues related to Vendor Management, Technical Management, Finance
Management, HR Management, Legal Management and over and above the
Expectation Management starts. So field experience is of utmost importance. You have taken over as the Managing Director of NIELET, a
Government of India organisation, engaged in capacity building. What are the
main challenges that you are facing in the new assignment? The new challenge
is a part and parcel of the assignments I have been executing because unless
and until capacity building in the field of IT and e-Governance is undertaken
for government employees and citizens, we will not be able to bring the real
fruits of IT to our citizens. e-Governance projects will not be able to
deliver at the ground level unless there is capacity building in a big way.
In my humble opinion, my new assignment is nothing more than a continuation
of the activities that I have been part of during my earlier years of
service. It provides me with opportunities for using my past experiences of
working with actual projects to design new course content and better ways of
delivery through IT tools. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com The The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS),
in partnership with the Land Bank of the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Now that President Obama's second term is under way, the IT
community is looking to federal CIO Steven VanRoekel to shed some light on
technology policy for the next four years. At a Jan. 22 hearing of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, VanRoekel spoke on the topic of
"Wasting Information Technology Dollars: How can the Federal Government
Reform its IT Investment Strategy?" According to a report in fedscoop,
VanRoekel's testimony represented a continuation of priorities set when he
first assumed his position in 2011, following the departure of Vivek Kundra.
The top three IT priorities of the Obama administration are to innovate in
service of the public good, maximize the return from investment in IT and
focus on cybersecurity. “Building on the progress of the last four years, my
objective is to balance cost savings with innovation by continuing to cut
costs while we invest in technology that securely services the American
people,” VanRoekel said. Legislators expressed concern over estimates that
nearly half of federal IT dollars are devoted to maintaining "obsolete
and deficient IT resources." VanRoekel responded that older systems are actually
better insulated from the latest cybersecurity threats, which seem to focus
on taking down newer systems. Also among VanRoekel's stated priorities,
according to Information Week, is a shift from owning physical IT assets to
investing in technology-as-a-service. VanRoekel was joined at the hearing by
Government Accountability Office Director for Information Technology
Management Issues David Powner and former Congressman Tom Davis, as well as
industry representatives from SAP, Brocade, VMWare and Microsoft. From
http://www.govtech.com/ |
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New Paper
from the Association for Progressive Communications and the Internet Society
Connects Internet Protocols and Human Rights “Like Internet protocols, human rights standards attempt to
articulate principles that will apply universally over time, as ideas and
conditions evolve,” a new paper argues. Commissioned by the Association for
Progressive Communications and the Internet Society, the issue paper released
today compares the standards-making processes as well as the principles
underlying human rights on the one hand and Internet protocols on the other.
The technical and the legal come together in this unusual but useful exploration
of the fundamental intents behind Internet protocols and the human rights
framework. Co-authors Avri Doria and Joy Liddicoat, respectively protocols
specialist and human rights advocate, incorporated valuable contributions by
the Internet Society’s Nicolas Seidler and Markus Kummer and dialogue from
the Internet Governance Forum 2012. “There are some shared principles between
Internet protocols and human rights,” the main authors say in their
discussion of this interconnectedness. “They generate continuities and
discontinuities which could inform and assist those who seek to defend human
rights and to maintain a free and unencumbered Internet.” The main contribution of this paper is the examination of
selected Internet protocols and human rights and the discussion around the
impacts of the points of convergence and divergence. “We see this discussion
as a process,” said Markus Kummer, Vice-President for Public Policy at the
Internet Society, insisting that comments in reaction to the paper are welcome.
“It is our hope that this discussion will engage human rights activists,
policy makers and the Internet technical community in a dialogue about ways
that they can collaborate. It is our belief that human rights considerations
are part of the DNA of the Internet and that a dialogue between these
communities will be beneficial to promote a rights-fostering Internet.” “This
opportunity for human rights and technical communities to collaborate shows
there is more we can do together to promote and protect both human rights and
the Internet,” said Joy Liddicoat. “We are grateful for the Internet
Society’s support for this research and look forward to more dialogue in
2013.” The issue paper is part of APC’s Connect Your Rights! project, the aim
of which it is to make the links between the internet and human rights. The
project is conducted with support from the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida). It is also part of the Internet Society’s core
mission to promote an open Internet as a necessary foundation for people to
exercise some of their key fundamental rights in the online environment,
including freedom of expression and freedom of association and peaceful
assembly. From
http://www.apc.org/ New Intl
Telecom Regulations Treaty Drafted A new global telecommunications treaty was agreed to on 13
December, during the World Conference on International Telecommunications 2012
(WCIT-12) convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the
United Nations specialised agency for ICT, in Dubai. Attended by nearly 2000
delegates from 193 member states of the ITU, the WCIT-12 was called to review
the 24-year-old International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), the
current binding treaty to facilitate international interconnection and
ensuring efficiency and public usefulness and availability of information and
communication services. The new draft of the treaty sets out general
principles for ensuring the free flow of information around the world, and
includes new provisions emphasising efforts to assist developing countries
and the right to freedom of expression over ICT networks, and promote
accessibility of ICT technologies for persons with disabilities. The treaty
also contains a resolution to create a single global number for access to
emergency services, and new text mandating greater transparency in the prices
set for mobile roaming. In a statement released at the end of the conference,
Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, Secretary General of the ITU, said, “This treaty
contains many gains and achievements including increased transparency in
international mobile roaming charges and competition, an extremely important
win for consumers.” “Information and communication technologies can now play
a greater role in driving sustainable development, in particular with new
Articles that provide recommendations for dealing with the growing scourge of
e-waste and promoting greater energy efficiency.” The treaty, however, has
only been signed by 89 nations. Disagreement over provisions granting
governments greater control over the internet led to 55 countries either
refusing to sign or reserving the right to sign later. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Laws to
Protect Internet Freedom Required With social networking site Facebook boasting of 1 billion
members globally and micro-blogging site Twitter claiming millions, opinion
was divided on whether the freedom of expression was under threat in the
digital age. "Censorship of content should be the last resort as curbing
a particular content online actually amplifies its spread over the
internet," said Sunil Abraham from Centre for Internet and Society. He
was speaking at a panel discussion organised by London based Index on
Censorship and the Editors Guild of India on the issue at the India
International Centre Tuesday evening. "The government has refused to
amend Section 66(A) of the IT Act which is used to curb free speech on the net,"
said Guild chief TN Ninan who moderated the debate. "The law treats
digital media differently than the print media," he said. Director of
Free Speech Debate, From
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ AFRICA: From
http://www.ventures-africa.com/
Video game consoles like Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft's
( MSFT ) X-Box 360 are in the last stages of their product cycles, and this
has led to a decline in sales for video game developers like Electronic Arts
( EA ). EA reported a 19% year-on-year decline in packaged goods revenue in
its last earnings announcement. This might be attributed to the fact the EA
is waiting for the next generation consoles, Playstation 4 and X-Box 720, to
develop video games specifically designed for the platforms. Since the
product cycle hasn't refreshed after 2005, the company has decreased the
number of games released per year from 36 titles in fiscal 2011 to How Can Electronic Arts Capitalize on According to data compiled by Nintendo, Electronic Arts published
the best selling games in Europe and Electronic Arts could boost revenues by as much as 20%, if it
is able to bring Asian revenues to even half the level of North American
revenues. Electronic Arts has a gross profit margin close to 60%. However,
high research and development costs and selling, general and administrative
expenditures lower cash flows. R&D costs are around 30% of revenues for
the last four years and SG&A consumed around 25% of the revenues. We
expect these figures to remain roughly the same in the coming years. However,
gross profit margins might increase due to the fact the Electronic Arts is
shifting to an online sales structure. Digital revenues accounted for 33% of
Electronic Arts's total net revenues in the September quarter of 2011. In
2012, they accounted for 46%. While the exact margin for digital revenues is
not provided by the company, the management has suggested that they offer
higher margins, and we agree with this view. Zynga ( ZNGA ), which is
entirely focused on digital revenues, has margins around 70% and can be used
as a benchmark for Electronic Arts. We expect gross profit margins to
approach 70% by the end of our forecast period. From
http://www.nasdaq.com/ Over 100 million EU citizens would find it easier to use
online public services to look for a job, register a car, submit a tax
declaration and apply for a passport or driving license thanks to new rules
proposed today by the European Commission on the International Day of People
with Disability. The Commission's proposal for a Directive on the
accessibility of public sector bodies' websites would introduce mandatory EU
standardised accessibility features, from the end of 2015, for 12 types of
websites. Mandatory accessibility would apply to essential government
services like social security and health related services, job searches,
university applications and issuing of personal documents and certificates.
The proposed new rules would also clarify what web accessibility means
(technical specs, methodology for assessment, reporting, bottom up testing),
and governments would be encouraged to apply the rules across all services,
not only the mandatory list. From
http://europa.eu/ European
Parliament Endorses First Ever Digital Freedom Strategy With a large majority the European Parliament today adopted
the first ever Digital Freedom Strategy in the EU’s foreign policy. Dutch
Member of European Parliament Marietje Schaake (D66/ALDE) and Rapporteur for
the report is happy with the broad support. Schaake: “The Parliament
unequivocally acknowledges that digital freedoms, like uncensored access to
the internet, are fundamental rights which deserve equal protection as traditional
human rights. I have set out a number of concrete points of action to be
incorporated in the EU’s trade and development policies. New technologies
bring huge opportunities, but people can only really enjoy them if we also
tackle the threats emerging from the rise of ICTs, for example by
authoritarian regimes.” Struggle for human rights Over the past months Schaake has managed to put the
revolutionary impact of the internet and new technologies on societies and
our day-to-day lives on the EU’s political agenda. “The struggle for human
rights increasingly has a technological side”, Schaake says. “Prisons are
populated by dissidents confronted with their own internet and mobile
communications.Irancontinues the building of a virtual bunker, which eventually
will cut off the Iranians from the World Wide Web through the creation of a
‘Halal Internet’. Plans are presented to make anonymous blogging
inChinaillegal andRussiais stepping up the monitoring of online traffic.” Concrete actions Unrestricted access to an open internet is an important
enabler of fundamental rights, an indispensable prerequisite for enjoying
universal human rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,
and for ensuring transparency and accountability in public life. Schaake’s
report on A Digital Freedom Strategy in EU Foreign Policy includes many
concrete measures. EU’s trade and association agreements, development
programs and accession negotiations should be made conditional on respect for
digital freedoms. Collected digital evidence, like smart phone pictures and
clips of human rights violations should be admissible in court proceedings.
Moreover, the EU should stop the export of digital arms: technologies used by
authoritarian regimes to track and trace human rights activists, journalists
and dissidents. “These kinds of exports toIran and Credibility The EU should help build the basic ICT infrastructure in
developing counties, and provide wireless tablets to enable (online) education.
To be a credible defender and advocate the EU domestically has to maintain
high standards of digital freedom. The strategy calls on the EU to codify the
principle of net neutrality, like the Global player The EU should globally take the lead in promoting and
protecting digital freedoms, Schaake explains. “EU is the world’s largest
trading block, but it is also a community of values. It should use its power
and act as a global player. The global and borderless nature of the Internet
requires new forms of international cooperation and governance with multiple
stakeholders. Technologies should be used to promote transparency and
freedom.” Crowd-sourced report MEP Schaake used an innovative way of writing her report. She
posted a discussion paper online on the EU’s digital freedom strategy in its
external actions, and invited various stakeholders to provide input through
crowd-sourcing. Many internet users, NGO’s, governments and businesses did
so. “This is one of the many opportunities of the Internet: bridging the gap
between citizens and politics”, says Schaake. From
http://www.marietjeschaake.eu/
Boosting the
European ICT Sector - Turning the Spotlight Towards the Next Generation I strongly hope that we will see a shift to a longer-term
perspective on this issue in the months and years to come. Broadband growth
is the key to new services and new jobs, and holds huge potential for
contributing to the EU’s economic recovery. At Huawei, we are eager to
provide the tools European operators need to drive this process forward. As
an ICT industry leader, we are well positioned to provide virtually any kind of
equipment for both fixed and mobile networks. While we are at the forefront
of efforts to pave the way for next-generation networks, we are also
developing solutions to enable existing networks to cope with huge amounts of
data. We have established close cooperation with all the top telecom
operators and will work to take these efforts further in the future. I
believe that our leadership, our expertise and our know-how can be of great
assistance to the European industry as well as to the next generation of ICT
leaders. I would like to make a few points on cyber security in this context.
This issue also ranks high on the Commission’s ‘to-do’ list which sets out
the objectives of preventing cross-border cyber incidents and stimulating a
larger European market for security and privacy-by-design products. Cyber
security is a critical issue which cannot be addressed through a
‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. As information technologies are constantly
evolving, so are cyber risks. We need to look at all stages of the value
chain – from component development and purchasing to assembly and placement
of the final product – and ensure that adequate checks and balances are in
place. This will allow us to manage risks, identify threats and make
adaptations where necessary. Overcoming misconceptions that can make us the target of
protectionist measures is crucial if we want to contribute efficiently to
taking the European ICT sector to the next level. There is one more item on
the EU’s digital task list for the following two years which I would like to
highlight. Investments are needed not only to build next-generation networks,
but also to provide the right set of skills to the next generation of ICT
leaders. The Commission calls for the launch of a grand coalition on digital
skills and jobs to avoid a shortage of skilled personnel: if no action is
taken, an estimated 700 000 ICT jobs could go unfilled by 2015. Huawei has
taken a proactive approach to the development of ICT skills in From
http://www.neurope.eu/ EU Cyber
Security Strategy and Directive Announced Today The European Commission (EC - the executive arm of the
European Union) has finally published its long-awaited European cyber
security strategy, and supported it with a Directive ‘concerning measures to
ensure a high common level of network and information security across the More typical of the industry’s response is that from
Symantec’s Ilias Chantzos, senior director of government affairs, EMEA &
APJ: “Symantec welcomes the EU’s cyber security strategy and shares a
commitment to its broad objectives... it is definitely a step in the right
direction.” John Yeo, EMEA director at Trustwave, takes a more reflexive
view, calling it a curate’s egg. “The threat of harsher penalties for
businesses that fail to protect private individuals’ data will undoubtedly
cause companies to take a closer look at the measures they have in place to
secure sensitive data.” That is a good thing. But he wonders about the EU’s
cost saving claims which state the strategy will “save companies costs of up
to 2.3 billion EUR per year and increase EU GDP by 4% by 2020.” He suspects
that the larger multinationals will benefit the most (despite the fact that
they are the ones objecting the most), but that “the elephant in the room is
the impact on the 23 million SMEs within the EU.” He notes that the EC
already acknowledges that "the most important individual business
constraint reported by SMEs is the compliance with administrative
regulations,” and suspects that this will only make things worse for SMEs.
What isn’t yet known is how the Directive will be implemented in individual
countries, and how many of the 23 million SME’s will be drawn into that third
proposal of the Directive. Who will benefit, he asks. “Security companies,
lawyers and multinational organizations look set to benefit whilst SMEs will
be burdened with more expense in an already strained economic climate.” And
the key question and the fundamental drive behind the strategy: will it help
consumers feel more confident in sharing their data online? “I very much
doubt it,” says John Yeo. “The increased publicity around the data breaches
and associated fines likely to arise from the changes could easily lead to
desensitization, or the belief that suffering a data breach is inevitable.” From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
Trust and
Cooperation Key to EU Cyber Strategy, Says EC The strategy and an accompanying proposal for a Directive on
Network and Information Security (NIS) across the European Union is expected
to be published today, February 7 2013. At the ISSA London 2013 European
conference on February 5, Ann-Sofie Ronnlund the EC’s directorate-general for
communication networks, content and technology, told the audience that due to
increased cyber threats, the European cyber security strategy is focused on
addressing insufficient national preparedness and boosting co-operation
across the EU. “We need to work together to counteract the cyber risks and
the incidents that are happening cross-border. We need to ensure a safe and
resilient digital environment in respect of fundamental rights and EU core
values”, Ronnlund said. The EC strategy has three main aims: to prevent and
fight cybercrime; to strengthen the security and resilience of networks and
information security systems; and to establish a more coherent European cyber
security policy. The proposed legislation on Improve the security of smart grids and industrial control
systems Fight botnets Raise awareness Develop cyber security standards and procurement policies Encourage research investment Develop industrial and technical resources at an EU level The European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) at Europol in From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
A new analysis - published in November 2012 - shows that the
online communication between citizens and business with the public sector
should be doubled by From
http://www.epractice.eu/ Finland’s
ICT 2015 Group Publishes Recommendations More than 200 experts have contributed to the proposals to
support long-term growth in the Finnish ICT industry. Strategy for ICT sector growth Major proposals in the report include the construction of a
unified national IT architecture which would make it easier to create
electronic services across organisational boundaries. The report also calls
for a ten-year, EUR 20 million programme for research, development and
innovation that would bring together the central players in the industry,
such as universities, research centres, companies and investors. A new
funding programme worth EUR 25-40 million should provide adequate finance for
start-ups and companies in the growth phase. The report also calls for more
training in the games, security and big data sectors of the industry, more research
in the mobile sector, and the creation of an open data ecosystem. From
http://www.investineu.com/ The Constitution of Slovenia guarantees protection of personal
data and From
http://www.i-policy.org/ The Department of Health (DH), From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ NORTH
AMERICA: City planners and their IT teams are setting big goals -- and
facing big challenges -- in the development of tech-enabled "Future
Cities," our survey results show. The global population recently passed
7 billion, and more of us are cramming into the world's cities, putting more
pressure on municipal infrastructures and services. This changing demographic
presents a civic management challenge of unprecedented scope and complexity,
one that requires innovative technologies and well-conceived implementations
to succeed. I live in the InformationWeek's Future Cities Survey, completed in October
by 198 municipal IT pros, reveals that most are still in the early stages of
these efforts. Only 7% of survey respondents describe their city strategies
as progressive and well conceived. More than five times that many, 38%,
describe those strategies as poor or nonexistent. Half say their cities are
somewhere in-between -- well planned in some areas but not others. As a
starting point, metropolitan IT teams are looking to make government run more
smoothly. The most-mentioned area of initial focus, cited by 39% of survey
respondents, is government operations. That includes the systems and
applications used for the business of government, such as 311 and other
IT-enabled public services. Other areas of Future Cities activity are public
safety and crime prevention (30%), communications infrastructure (28%) and
transportation systems (26%). New York City's recently unveiled Domain
Awareness System, co-developed with Microsoft and to be marketed to other
cities, incorporates aspects of all three areas in a citywide surveillance
platform -- to the chagrin of privacy watchdogs. The most sought-after
benefits of city IT planning and implementation are more efficient delivery
of public services (66%), improved infrastructure (44%) and lower costs
(44%). That's the low-hanging fruit. More intriguing is that 36% of
respondents to our survey see Future Cities technology investments improving
quality of life for citizens. For example, the city of Which technologies have the greatest potential to improve
municipal operations? Mobility and bandwidth top the list of our survey
respondents. Mobile devices and apps were rated as having very high or
extremely high potential by 71% of respondents, followed closely by broadband
networks (70%) and wireless services (62%). Many cities are already taking
steps to accommodate smartphone-carrying citizens and visitors. Mayors and other city officials need help from the private
sector to move ahead. When we asked who should lead Future Cities efforts,
the vast majority of respondents (66%) cited public-private collaboration.
The most promising areas for working together are improving K-12 education
(identified as very important or extremely important by 57%), expanding
access to wireless and broadband networks (57%) and ensuring the
cybersecurity of critical infrastructure (54%). Businesses have a stake in
the outcome of these and other Future Cities projects. The most frequently
cited business benefit, mentioned by 69% of survey respondents, is access to
improved municipal infrastructure and services. Other potential benefits
include lower business costs (cited by 45%) and making companies more
competitive (38%). Citizens must be involved as well, and social media is
seen as the best way to facilitate their input. While social media ranked
dead last in our list of 17 technologies that could improve municipal
operations, 60% of respondents say the Web and social media are a prime way
for the public to participate in Future Cities activities, and 53% cite
crowdsourcing technologies. The high marks given to public-private
partnerships and man-on-the-street brainstorming suggest that municipal IT
pros understand that Future Cities programs have their best chance at success
when all stakeholders are involved. To facilitate that discussion, we
launched a new online community, UBM's Future Cities, in October. It's a
place where city leaders and planners, business executives and municipal
technologists can bounce ideas off one another. For example, the site just
posted a conversation with Manny Diaz, president of the U.S. Council of
Mayors and the former mayor of From
http://www.informationweek.com/
Federal IT
Priorities in Obama's Second Term Now that President Obama's second term is under way, the IT
community is looking to federal CIO Steven VanRoekel to shed some light on
technology policy for the next four years. At a Jan. 22 hearing of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee, VanRoekel spoke on the topic of
"Wasting Information Technology Dollars: How can the Federal Government
Reform its IT Investment Strategy?" According to a report in fedscoop,
VanRoekel's testimony represented a continuation of priorities set when he
first assumed his position in 2011, following the departure of Vivek Kundra.
The top three IT priorities of the Obama administration are to innovate in
service of the public good, maximize the return from investment in IT and
focus on cybersecurity. “Building on the progress of the last four years, my
objective is to balance cost savings with innovation by continuing to cut
costs while we invest in technology that securely services the American
people,” VanRoekel said. Legislators expressed concern over estimates that
nearly half of federal IT dollars are devoted to maintaining "obsolete
and deficient IT resources." VanRoekel responded that older systems are
actually better insulated from the latest cybersecurity threats, which seem
to focus on taking down newer systems. Also among VanRoekel's stated
priorities, according to Information Week, is a shift from owning physical IT
assets to investing in technology-as-a-service. VanRoekel was joined at the
hearing by Government Accountability Office Director for Information
Technology Management Issues David Powner and former Congressman Tom Davis,
as well as industry representatives from SAP, Brocade, VMWare and Microsoft. From
http://www.govtech.com/ Cyber
Information Sharing Bill Gets New Life in House Although last year's efforts to pass cybersecurity legislation
in Congress were repeatedly stymied by gridlock, the top Republican and
Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee say 2013's a whole new ball
game. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), the
chairman and ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, respectively,
cosponsored one of several cybersecurity bills in the last Congress, the
Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). It cleared the House,
but died in the Senate in the midst of a White House veto threat. But A more narrowly tailored bill Rogers and Ruppersberger reintroduced CISPA Wednesday in a
form they say is more narrowly tailored and that should solve the previous
privacy concerns the White House and civil liberties groups expressed last
year. As opposed to the more overarching cybersecurity overhaul the Senate
considered in the last Congress, the House Intelligence Committee bill
focuses only on information sharing. The government's intelligence community
would be ordered to come up with a secure way of sharing classified cyber
threat signatures with Internet service providers and other private sector
companies. Those companies, in turn, could voluntarily share threat
signatures with the government and would receive liability protection from
any lawsuits that could otherwise arise from transmitting proprietary data.
But Limited use of information In addition to oversight and an annual report by the
Intelligence Community Inspector General, the revised bill would clamp down
on the government's use of any information it gets from private companies
under the program. Last year's bill, for example, would have let prosecutors
use that shared information in child pornography investigations or matters relating
more broadly to "national security" investigations. This year's
edition says agencies can only use the information they get from the private
sector for "cybersecurity purposes." Nonetheless, the new bill drew
criticism from at least one civil liberties group. The Constitution Project
issued a statement saying it could still be used to authorize domestic spying
and hand over personal information to government agencies. "The
safeguards for privacy rights and civil liberties contained in this cybersecurity
bill are woefully inadequate," said Sharon Bradford Franklin, the
organization's senior policy counsel. "While the goal of protecting our
nation's networks from cyber attacks is a laudable one, Congress must also
address the very real threat this legislation poses to Americans' privacy
rights and civil liberties." Ruppersberger claimed he and Threat level is high The threats, according to Rogers and Ruppersberger, are
two-fold: intellectual property theft and the possibility of destructive
cyber attacks on U.S.-based IT systems. To the first point, Ruppersberger
cited the National Security Agency's estimate that foreign actors stole $300
billion worth of trade secrets from From
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/
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A top government spokesman said Foreign reporters said they hope more facilities will be
provided to assist their reporting on From
http://www.china.org.cn/ Laws Urged
to Cover Theft of Online Data Specific laws are needed to combat the theft of personal data,
according to experts, after seven men were charged in China Daily called one of the owners on the list, who said he
received many unexpected calls from insurance salesmen — but he was surprised
and concerned to hear his own information was actually being sold. "A
thief calling you and standing in front of your home may break in at any
time. That's more dangerous than receiving harassing promotion calls,"
he said. Many laws and regulations cover the issue of private information —
including about 40 enacted by the national legislature, 30 by the State
Council and 200 by ministries, and banking and insurance regulatory
commissions. However, Yang Lixin, a law professor at Renmin University of
China, said the legal framework lacks a clear definition for
private-information protection. "Courts pay less attention to the offense
because there is no detailed explanation or definition on the subject,"
said Yang. Ruan Qilin, a professor at China University of Political Science
and Law, said many suspects arrested in a police crackdown of the crime last
year were released, after the evidence collected failed to be strong enough
to prosecute, because of the weak definitions. Ruan added that From
http://www.china.org.cn/ Huge From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Mobile
Payments to Be Launched in The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ 2 Zhejiang
Cities Launch TWO cities in Zhejiang Province have launched a From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Web Use
for Campaigns to Be Liberalized Political parties have agreed to liberalize use of the
Internet for election campaigning ahead of this summer's House of Councillors
vote, a move that could significantly change the landscape of campaigning in
both national and local elections. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and
the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan have compiled respective bills
to revise the Public Offices Election Law and other related laws and will
soon begin interparty talks on the revision. Most parties have agreed on such
points as liberalizing the use of e-mail and social networking services (SNS)
for election campaigns. At the plenary session of the House of
Representatives on Thursday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demonstrated his
forward-looking stance toward using the Internet for such purposes. "The
Internet is an effective way to convey opinions to a large number of
people," Abe said. "After each party discusses the issue, I'll make
efforts to allow [Internet] use in election campaigns as soon as
possible." Although political parties agreed on steps to liberalize
Internet use for campaigns before the 2010 upper house election, no
legislative action was taken. Since then, there has been huge growth in the
number of users of SNS sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Under these
circumstances, parties held internal debates over the extent of Internet
liberalization for campaigns and considered measures against defamation,
deception and other malicious actions. The resulting draft compiled Thursday
by the LDP included the following steps toward liberalization: -- Election campaigns using e-mail and websites will be
liberalized for candidates, parties and others. -- Legal penalties will be devised for posting false information
and defamation against candidates on the Internet. The draft also stipulates that only political parties will be
allowed to post paid campaign advertisements on the Internet. Keeping up with the times The parties agreed in 2010 guidelines to bar e-mail use and
seek voluntary restraint on Twitter use for election campaigns. However,
these days, with an increasing number of people using both e-mail and SNS,
political parties are considering liberalizing both for election campaigns.
However, as sending unsolicited e-mails may annoy voters, the parties' drafts
include different restrictions for the use of e-mail. The LDP draft states
e-mail can be sent only to people who agree in advance to receive them. The
DPJ draft stipulates that sending e-mail to an unspecified number of people
would be allowed, but not to people who decline to receive them. Regarding
online advertising for campaign runs, the DPJ and Your Party proposed
allowing parties as well as individual candidates to place paid Internet ads
that are within the range of legally permitted expenses for election
campaigns. After the parties work out the details of such points, the LDP
aims to submit the bill to revise the law with opposition parties by the end
of February and to pass it during the current Diet session. If the bill is
passed, Internet use for election campaigning will be liberalized in time for
this summer's upper house election, and will apply to all future votes,
including local elections. The move to allow parties to use the Internet for
election campaigns is expected to lead to a change in strategies to appeal to
voters. "Candidates with little name recognition and parties with weak
organizations will be able to attract voters' attention, especially young
people," a junior DPJ member said. However, an LDP member said, "I
think the effects [of using the Internet for campaigning] will be limited, in
addition to costing a lot of time and money." In other countries,
including the From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ NFC-Based
Guide App Launched in The Government of Tokyo, Japan, has launched a mobile app for Android-based
smartphones to help residents with special mobility needs find their way
around From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Cabinet approval for Mongolia’s first satellite in late 2012 makes
clear the height of the country’s ambitions for improving information and
communications technology (ICT) provisions. Although a satellite launch is an
ambitious objective, improving on-the-ground infrastructure will prove to be
just as significant, and as challenging. In November, the cabinet approved
the “National Satellite for Communications of Mongolia” project, the
centrepiece of a collection of goals identified as part of a national vision
to transform the economy into a knowledge-based economy by 2021. Although the
country has long relied upon space communications to link its widely
distributed population, there is no domestic satellite in service. Instead, $ It has been anticipated that the satellite project will earn
some $ Currently, 175 soums (villages) out of 331 are connected by From
http://www.i-policy.org/ |
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The Information and Communications Technology Office of the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) unveiled its upcoming
flagship programme called “Smarter Philippines”, which aims to leverage ICT
to boost the country’s economy by touching on several core industries.
According to Alejandro Melchor III, deputy executive director for ICT
industry development at the ICTO, the “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 While the programme is yet to be launched, Melchor revealed
that some of its components are now in operation in key areas such as
disaster risk reduction, transparency and governance, and in bringing IT-BPO
investments in cities outside of Metro Manila. For disaster risk reduction,
DOST launched the “National Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH)
Programme which aims to respond to the urgent need for a reliable flood
warning system in all major river systems and watersheds in the country. It
is designed to set up a more responsive disaster preparedness system to
reduce loss of lives, and damages to properties due to rain-triggered natural
hazards. Just last month, a mobile version of the programme was launched so
that Filipinos can access information relevant to current weather conditions
right on the palm of their hands. Meanwhile, under its Smarter Cities
component, the government is pushing for its Next Wave Cities Programme,
which seeks to create employment opportunities in the countryside by
promoting different provinces as suitable BPO destinations. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Philippine
City to Computerise Land Titles Lucena City branch’s Registry of Deeds in Quezon, the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), or more commonly
known in the Philippines as the Pag-IBIG fund, launched the ‘Pag-IBIG Citi
Prepaid Card’ as part of its efforts to provide more than 12 million fund
members a more convenient and secure way of receiving and using their loan
benefits. HDMF is the provident financial institution in the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is targeting to roll-out
the pilot phase of its enhanced electronic Tax Information System (eTIS) in
the National Capital Region by July as part of the agency’s continuing
efforts to enhance tax administration in the country. The eTIS is one of the sub-components
of the BIR’s US$54.3 million Revenue Administration Reform Project (RARP) which
aims to increase tax revenues over time and address issues posed by
corruption, tax administration inefficiencies and lack of transparency, by
introducing state of the art technologies to enhance the country’s overall
tax administration system. The implementation of eTIS will entail a reengineering
of BIR’s core business processes to provide a fully efficient and enhanced
tax administration that can be used by the agency nationwide. Once the system
is in place, it is expected to improve the trustworthiness of actions and
decisions based on tax data. These, in turn, will improve tax compliance
monitoring, reduce client contact and opportunities for negotiated
assessments, increase the detection of misreporting and enhance the value of
reports. Furthermore, improved compliance, audit and enforcement tools
are expected to contribute to a sustainable program of tax administration
leading to increased tax revenue collection. According to BIR Commissioner
Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, once the eTIS is rolled out in the National Capital
Region, the agency hopes it can fully implement the system nationwide by
mid-2014. "We really want to automate our operations to lessen
face-to-face transactions, therefore reducing the opportunities for
corruption, and to make the process of paying taxes easier,” she said.
"This digitisation will also help us obtain, track, and analyse data
faster, giving us more information that we can use in refining our operations
and improving our revenue collection.” From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The "Do Not Call" registry will allow people to opt
out of receiving intrusive marketing messages like telemarketing calls, faxes
as well as text and multi-media messages including those sent via smart phone
applications such as WhatsApp and Viber. The committee, on the other hand, is
established to advise the commission on matters relating to the key roles,
administration and enforcement of the Act. "During the transition
period, the commission will work closely with sectoral regulators and
associations to help organizations comply with the act to adjust their data
protection practices, and embark on public education and engagement programs
to help consumers better understand how they may protect their own personal
data from misuse," local media Channel NewsAsia quoted Leong Keng Thai,
chairman of the commission, as saying. According to earlier report, the act covers
all private sector organizations engaged in data activities within From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ True Corp plans to launch AIS chief executive Wichian Mektrakarn said that at this
stage, AIS has focused on the Last year AIS, DTAC and TrueMove test-launched the
non-commercial From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Thai Govt
Expands Free Wi-Fi Project to the Province From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Ending the long-awaited licences for From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Electronic Government Agency (EGA) under Thai ICT Ministry has
recently announced its progress and plan for 2013 to further enhance the development
and use of Government Cloud. Dr Sak Segkhoonthod, President and CEO of the
EGA announced that the EGA’s focus in 2013 will be to provide more Software
as a Service (SaaS), creating a Government Application Centre (GAC), and
pushing forward Open Government IT project to further integrate data and
services for citizens, and lastly implementing ‘Smart Box’ programme to
connect with and deliver government services for remote communities. “SaaS
will be the key system on our G-Cloud, while the GAC will become the centre
of applications for public sector,” he said and added that the development of
GAC is expected to be launched at the third quarter of this year. The past
year, the EGA already prepared necessary enterprise architecture for the
GAC’s network, and liaised with several agencies in preparedness for the
official launch, according to him. Regarding the integration of government IT project under Open
Government initiative, Dr Segkhoonthod said that we have seen major
collaborations for service and data consolidation among key ministries and
agencies for the past year, such as the recent launch of ‘One ID Card for
Smart Farmers’ programme, in collaboration with Agriculture and Cooperatives
Ministry, the ICT Ministry, Interior Ministry, and Natural Resources and
Environment Ministry. “Other major collaborations will be made available to
cover public health, social welfare, education and several others,” he added
and explained that agencies can use the Application Programming Interface
(API) created by the EGA to further develop their own system. Launched in
April 2012, “There have been total of thirty three agencies benefiting
from the G-Cloud as of now,” Dr Segkhoonthod said. This year, the EGA will
increase its investment on G-Cloud and aims to service sixty more projects.
Dr Segkhoonthod also announced that the EGA has successfully linked 1,199
government agencies from national, provincial, and regional levels, to the
Government Information Network (GIN) over the G-Cloud and support services
such as Government Financial Management Information System (GFMIS),
Teleconference. The EGA planned to expand the connection further to 2,000
more agencies, and initiate two more new services including Flood Alert
System and GIN Web Conference. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ An installation of analytic software will help integrate data
from CCTVs of different sources, said Thai ICT Minister Group Captain Anudith
Nakornthap. Following last week’s task given by the Thai Prime Minister over
the possibility of integrating CCTVs networks nationwide to boots security
operations, narcotic solution, and traffic control, the ICT Minister told
reporters that the ministry is likely to suggest the use of smart analytic
software to connect all CCTVs networks owned by different agencies via data
centre. "The use of software and the new system will be shared among
related agencies, without replacing the existing CCTVs," he added and
said that this solution will reduce the countrywide investment cost on CCTVs
by 50 per cent. The ICT Ministry will be responsible on procuring the
software, and IT related issue, while the use of the system will depend upon
the tasks of each agencies, according to him. The ministry is now pushing
forward an establishment of joint committee with the ministry of Interior,
Defence, and the Royal Thai Police to finalise this project. The minister
expected to summerise the solution and present the project at the cabinet
meeting by end of February. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The National Assembly switched its focus to the approval of
new and amended laws on Friday after debating development projects since the
ongoing session opened last Tuesday. Members began by discussing the draft of
a Law on Electronic Transactions, which is required for But the management of such transactions remains a challenge
because the existing laws and regulations do not cover issues related to
consumer protection, the electronic certification of licences, and the
recognition of electronic documents. It has become essential for The draft law comprises 10 parts and 55 articles. The first part
refers to the purpose of the law and government policy in relation to
electronic transactions, and gives explanations of the vocabulary used. The
second part talks about electronic documents and agreements, the third covers
electronic licences, the fourth talks about electronic transactions within
government organisations, the fifth covers mediation, the sixth relates to
prohibitions, the seventh discusses the settlement of disputes relating to
electronic transactions, the eighth talks about management and inspection,
and the ninth part talks about policies for those who perform well in this
field and measures to be taken against violators. From
http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/
The Vietnam Customs officially launched its electronic customs
(e-customs) procedures nationwide as part of the agency’s 2020 development strategy
which aims to reduce the manual and checking of goods from the current rate
of 15-20 per cent to under 10 per cent by 2015, and further decrease it to 7
per cent and below by 2020. According to Deputy Head of the General
Department of Customs’ Reform Board Tran Quoc Dinh, the initiative comes
after seven years since the country first introduced e-customs procedures in
customs offices located in Hoh Chih Min city and the northern From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has issued a circular that
mandates the formal creation of a national credit information database to
give credit institutions an oversight of the industry and to help them
achieve efficiency in their internal operations. The circular governs the
State Bank’s departments and entities, the SBV branches of provinces and the
cities directly under the central government, credit institutions and foreign
bank branches, borrowers and other relevant stakeholders. According to an
official statement from SBV, the national credit information database aims to
support SBV’s role in managing and supervising banking operations in the
country, help credit institutions prevent and mitigate risks in their
operations and assist borrowers to get access to bank loans, thereby contributing
to the socio-economic development. The circular is expected to take effect on
1st of July, 2013. From http://www.futuregov.asia/
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Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu on Monday said work to
formulate various guidelines is underway to ensure more freedom of the mass
media. “The mass media are enjoying freedom in From http://www.unbconnect.com From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Creating
World Class IT Infrastructure in HP is the global leader in IT. The company also has a
significant presence in India.What is your outlook on the government market
in The e-Governance field has made lot of progress during the
last few years. What kind of work is HP doing in the e-Governance area? In
e-Governance area, we have done fairly extensive amount of work. We look at
the e-Governance vertical from the state perspective, centre perspective and
the PSU perspective. We distinguish between the three verticals because
different kinds of solutions are required for each. In the centre, we have
organisations like the UIDAI, the NIC and many e-learning portals that are
doing excellent e-Governance work. The centre decides the policies and
framework in accordance to which the e-Governance solutions are developed and
implemented. The power reforms that have been undertaken during the last few
years have led to a lot of e-Governance happening in the sector. The
Accelerated Power Development & Reforms Programme (APDRP) has been
very successful. The banking and insurance sector is also growing very fast in
the country. The government is
also taking lot of new initiatives in the name of financial inclusion. How is
BFSI sector doing for you? In the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance
(BFSI) area we enjoy a pretty good market share. We are doing lot of hard
work in this area. We would appreciate if the government could speed up the
process of new solutions development and deployments. There are some large
tenders that we got more than one or two years ago, and now we are waiting
for them to take off. We are the lowest bidder for these projects. The price
at which we are prepared to work is highly competitive. Please tell us about the ways in which the rupee-dollar
fluctuations are having an impact on your business? Some of our government
bids were placed when the dollar was hovering in the range of Rs. 44-45.
Manpower can be managed, but on the customs duty we have no control. We are
struggling due to the dollar-rupee price fluctuations. We are working in
various government ministries to find out ways by which we can manage the
rapid currency fluctuations. It is not only us; no OEM can absorb such high
fluctuations. That is one of the reasons that some of the large and complex
projects we execute take a lot of time and the organisation goes into making
losses. The PSUs are more manageable. It is rare for any PSU tender to go on
for more than one year. Even in states the projects get executed in a more
timely manner, probably because there could be lot few pulls and pressures
being faced by regional governments. In the last two years we have seen lot of new initiatives
coming up. We have projects like the UIDAI and many others being launched by
the government. What are the ways by which such projects have contributed to
the growth of the government market? Earlier we used to have small teams
based out of What is your view of the kind of work that HP is doing? HP is the only organisation which has
such a wide range of products and solutions. We are offering a range of
devices, technologies, desktop to laptop to handheld devices, server,
storage, networking and much more. So we are the only company that has all the
software tools, which can be managed and optimised to the last dot. Then, we
have technological services and enterprise services to ensure our delivery
capability to deliver from a normal project to most complex project, which
may be required in government. We are in a position where we can work it out
and help the government. What is the impact of your solutions? Can you give
us some examples where your solutions are at work? We have executed the
e-Procurement Project for the Government of Karnataka. We have done the
entire e-Procurement for them. Karnataka is the first state in the country to
have the e-procurement system. We did implement this project and the impact
today is so paramount that this is rated as one of the best e-auction and
e-procurement sites across In the BFSI space, creating the core banking solutions have
been the thrust area. It has created bid e-inclusion. We have done work for
Bank of Baroda and Bank of India. Another project that I would like to
mention is the one that we have done for the Director General of Employment
and Training (DGET). This is a vocational training programme, one that is
dedicated to creating skilled workforce for crop mixing and other things. We
have also worked with the NIC very closely for the completion of large and
complex IT projects. The projects that we have done with the NIC are now
being used by government departments at the centre and in the states. Going
forward, how do you see the business outlook changing in Currently our population is close to one billion; it could
even be more than one billion. To cater to the needs of so many people you
need high-end technological solutions. We need to develop and implement
technologies that will enable us to make a difference in the life of every
human being. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Goa’s New
IT Policy to Have Thrust on ESDM Sector CM “It is our patriotic duty to promote manufacturing of
electronic systems design products in This session was followed by a panel discussion on “ From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Sanjaya Dayananda, head of Microsoft business at MillenniumIT
said Lync has a secure and reliable communication system works with existing
tools and systems for easier management and lower cost of ownership. "In
this project, MillenniumIT has proven their capability and in some cases
exceeded our expectations throughout the implementation process," Senaka
Harischandra, chief information officer of MAS Holdings said in a statement.
"With this implementation MAS expects a significant reduction in time
and cost of travel between the factories and office sites situated both
locally and overseas, resulting in greater productivity and speed all
round." From
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com
Deputy Immigration Controller Hamid Fathulla said on Sunday
that with the introduction of the Passenger Information System (PIS),
Immigration would receive information on passengers before their arrival in From
http://www.haveeru.com.mv |
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From
http://en.trend.az/ Broadband
Internet Development Project in Approval of the project on development of broadband Internet
in From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijani
Communications and IT Ministry Announces Plans for 2013 As 2013 has been declared the Year of ICT in From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijani
IT Company Presents Tax Administration Modernization Project in "e-Government creation experience based on example of
Azerbaijani IT company SINAM's tax administration modernization project
(ITAS) and technological innovations of Oracle information technologies"
conference was held in Bishkek, the company said today. According to the
Information Policy Department of Kyrgyz Government, representatives of
presidential apparatus, parliament, government, donor community, banks and
other institutions and companies were invited to participate at the
conference. The purpose of the event - acquaintance with available experience
on creation of e-government at the regional and global levels, further
development perspectives, finding the ways of bilateral cooperation in this
direction. It should be noted that presently state bodies of It should be noted that, for the first time in From
http://en.trend.az/ Information
Kazakhstan 2020 Draft Program Approved At today's meeting the Сabinet approved the draft state-run
program Information Kazakhstan 2020. Transport and Communications Minister
Askar Zhumagulov tabled the document. The program is purposed to introduce
information and communication technologies in all economic sectors. It will
let solve tasks in order to raise efficiency of public administration system
and contribute to the development of the country's information space. The
draft program foresees further implementation of modern communication
technologies, digital television, and active use of new technologies. From
http://engnews.gazeta.kz/ A From
http://en.trend.az/ The Deputies of the Majlisi Namoyandagon ( From
http://en.trend.az/ The law 'On mass media' has come into force in Turkmenistan
establishing regulations for collection, dissemination of information,
determining rights, obligations and responsibilities of individuals,
journalists and entities, as well as regulating their activities, an official
Turkmen source said on Monday. The article of the law states that the right
to establish a mass media institution belongs to state administration bodies,
local executive authorities and local self-government, political parties and
other public associations, legal entities and Turkmen citizens who have
reached the age of 18, or their associations. The state guarantees the right
of mass media for freedom of expression. 'No one can prohibit or prevent the
media from disseminating information of public interest', the law says.
Turkmen citizens have the right to use any form of mass media to express
their opinions and beliefs, search, receive and disseminate information. The
new law also guarantees free access of Turkmen citizens to the reports and
materials of the foreign mass media. Turkmen government policy is based on
the principles of banning: media censorship except in cases stipulated by the
country's legislation; creation of bodies for preliminary control of
information; influencing entities, preparing and distributing information and
pressurising journalists to present incorrect and biased information in the
media. The law also noted that the liability grounds for media abuse are:
using information of the media which happens to be state or other secrets
protected by law; an appeal to the violent change of constitutional order,
propaganda of war, violence and cruelty, racial, ethnic or religious hatred,
discrimination or intolerance, distribution of pornography and other criminal
acts. From
http://en.trend.az/ From
http://en.trend.az/ |
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Earlier
today, my colleague Graeme Philipson wrote of the establishment of the
Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) to be an amalgam of Defence's Cyber
Security Operations Centre, the Attorney-General's Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT) Australia, ASIO's Cyber Espionage Branch, elements of
the AFP's High-Tech Crime Operations capability and all-source assessment
analysts from the Australian Crime Commission, according to the Federal
Government's much anticipated posture document on the future of Australia's
National Security. Showing the extreme importance of cyber security, we find
the announcement featured prominently on page 40 of the 44 page document.
Accepting that this is the Federal Government's current position on Cyber
Security, iTWire asked a number of industry experts for their thoughts. Adam
Biviano, Senior Manager, Strategic Products, Trend Micro ANZ was generally in
favour, "Trend Micro welcomes the Government's initiative as an
important move in the fight against cyber crime. "Law
enforcement and governments have always played cat and mouse with criminals.
The reality is that while there is money to be made from attacking computer
systems, then criminals will never give up." Biviano continued,
"Combining the key agencies into a single centre is a sensible approach.
"With cyber crime, accurate intelligence is critical for implementing
strategies to effectively tackle the problem. Having a centralised strategy
to stave off cyber attacks. Combine this with the law making and enforcement
capability of government and you have the foundation for a solid security
strategy." In a press release, the Australian Computer Society agreed,
"Besides The risk to critical infrastructure including banking and
finance, emergency services, energy and utilities, food, health care, IT and
communications, mass gatherings transportation and water, there is also a
significant economic risk arising from cyber crime and terrorism. In our past
submissions to the government the ACS have made the case that the best form
of defence is for the Government to regulate and control practitioners who
lead and manage our nations' ICT based critical infrastructure." AVG's
Security Advisor, Michael McKinnon agrees, "The establishment of the
Australian Cyber Security Centre is encouraging, and not at all surprising
given this follows a worldwide trend at the moment." McKinnon continued,
"For example, the European Cybercrime Centre announced earlier this
month, and "The
ACS will continue our work with the government, industry and ICT
practitioners to further the understanding of cyber security in To address
this, I would point out that having a number of organisations all covering
the gamut of research, investigations, technical advice and remediation work
is somewhat wasteful and broadly, I would agree with the proposal. But (and
there's always a but!). My concern is that we are very likely to be pushing a
lot of civilian-focussed work into an organisation that must, by its very
design be subject to all kinds of military-style security levels and
restrictions. Prime Minister Gillard's document tends to dwell more strongly
on the Government's requirements in this area to the possible detriment of
private industry. And the more DoD-based the organisation becomes, the harder
it will be for third-party organisations (equipment and service providers,
for instance) to get a seat at the table. Trend Micro's Biviano seems to
agree with this assessment, "I would be keen to understand further how
the new ACSC will interact with not only other tiers of government but also
business. It will be interesting to see what tactical actions the ACSC delivers
over the medium to longer term. What interfaces will it create for other
tiers of government, and businesses? As there is a wealth of intelligence to
be shared, what will be their interaction strategy with the private security
industry?" Echoing this emphasis on private industry, AVG's McKinnon
adds, "For Business and From
http://www.itwire.com Cloud Computing Trial
to Be Launched in The
Government of the State of New South Wales (NSW), From http://www.futuregov.asia Victorian
Government Reveals Revamped ICT Strategy During the
last two decades or so, successive Victorian Governments have been keen on
ICT industry strategy, but the Baillieu Government has now revealed how it
plans to improve its own use of technology. Announcing the Victorian
Government's new ICT strategy, the Assistant Treasurer and Technology
Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips said the 50-point action plan had been
developed following rigorous consultation with industry and the public. He
also took the opportunity to criticise the previous Brumby Government for
what he said was "at least $1.44 billion of taxpayers' money wasted in
cost blowouts on projects like HealthSMART, myki and the LEAP database."
The strategy notes the changes in Victorians' expectations about the use of
ICT to communicate with governments. While 78% of Australian internet users
accessed government services or information online in 2011, almost one-third
of Victorians were no more than somewhat satisfied with their last online
engagement with government. There's
also the increasing access to high-speed broadband (though the NBN only
warrants a single mention by name, and that's tucked away on the
Acknowledgements page), Big Data, the desire to think again about which ICT
services should be delivered in-house, and alleged gaps in ICT leadership,
governance and skills. Measures planned by the Victorian Government include
greater use of apps and mobile-friendly web sites, improved information
sharing between systems (with due attention to privacy, security, etc),
further release of Government datasets where appropriate (either free or at
minimal cost), and the use of interactive or social technologies for the
co-design and co-production of public services. The Government also intends
to bolster its project management and project assurance capability, adopt
modern delivery techniques such as Agile, engage with suppliers earlier and
more flexibly, reuse systems wherever possible, withdraw from direct delivery
of infrastructure services, and improve internal technical and governance
capability. " From http://www.itwire.com 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 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 NSW Government - Plan
Will Make The NSW
Government says it will make Mr Stoner
said the high-level Taskforce established to develop the action plan had
identified the “critical need for NSW to build on its digital strengths,”
with the sector playing a vital role in enabling innovation and productivity
gains across other priority sectors in the NSW economy. “The Taskforce
identified 50 actions for industry and government across seven areas
including digital leadership and skills, connecting regional communities,
open data innovation, growing The
Minister said the NSW Government would work with industry to pursue the
priority actions for the digital economy over the next 12 months: •
Introduce Innovate NSW, a new $6.7 million initiative to support deeper
collaboration to address the State’s key challenges and opportunities • Identify
actions to make it easier for all businesses, including SMEs, to bid for
government goods and services procurement contracts • Pilot
Smart Work Hubs to increase opportunities for teleworking •
Implement the NSW Government’s Open Data initiative as part of the NSW
Government ICT Strategy • Partner
with the Committee for • Continue
to roll out free and reliable internet access via WiFi hotspots to 139
country libraries across the State under the NSW State Library’s four-year
Revitalising Regional Libraries program, and • Continue
to implement the NSW State Library’s major digitisation program for its
collection and upgrade of its digital infrastructure. “ Wightwick
also said that the action plan offered solutions to a range of issues
impacting growth in the digital economy including export opportunities, innovation,
productivity, investment, skills, employment and workforce participation,
business conditions and global competitiveness. “Looking forward, only those
who can most effectively adopt and exploit opportunities to transform the way
they do business, develop new products and services, improve efficiency and
better serve their customers will be leaders in the global digital economy.”
Mr Stoner said the centrepiece of the Government’s response to the industry
action plan was a new framework underpinning economic development in NSW and
immediate actions government and industry would take to address the priority
issues highlighted by the taskforces. From http://www.itwire.com ITU Stalemate Could
Spur National Regulation Academics
warn of inevitable fragmentation of internet controls. The world's major
Internet companies, backed by An
increasing number of nations are alarmed about Internet-based warfare,
international cybercrime or internal dissidents' use of so-called "over-the-top"
services such as Twitter and Facebook that are outside the control of
domestic telecom authorities. Many hoped that the ITU would prove the right
forum to set standards or at least exchange views on how to handle their
problems. But the United States' refusal to sign the treaty even after all
mention of the Internet had been relegated to a side resolution may have
convinced other countries that they have to go it alone, delegates said.
"This could lead to a balkanisation of the Internet, because each
country will have its own view on how to deal with over-the-top players and
will regulate the Internet in a different way," said another European
delegate, who would speak only on condition anonymity. Without HARD LINE
IN NEGOTIATIONS Spurred on
by search giant Google and others, the Americans took a hard line against an
alliance of countries that wanted the right to know more about the routing of
Internet traffic or identities of Web users, including Russia, and developing
countries that wanted content providers to pay at least some of the costs of
transmission. The West was able to rally more countries against the ITU
having any Internet role than agency officials had expected, leaving just 89
of 144 attending nations willing to sign the treaty immediately. They also
endorse a nonbinding resolution that the ITU should play a future role
guiding Internet standards, along with private industry and national
governments. Some delegates charged that the Americans had planned on
rejecting any treaty and so were negotiating under false pretenses. "The
But the
suspicion underscores the unease greeting the A more
immediate prospect is stricter national regulations requiring Internet
service providers and others to help monitor, report and censor content, a
trend that has already accelerated since the Arab Spring revolts. Jonathan
Zittrain, co-founder of In the
meantime, activists concerned about new regulation can assist by spreading
virtual private network technology, which can national controls, Zittrain
said. Backup hosting and distribution could also be key, he said. "We
can devise systems for keeping content up amidst filtering or denial-of-service
attacks, so that a platform like Twitter can be a genuine choice for someone
in From http://www.itnews.com.au NSW Govt Plan to Make
The NSW
Government has detailed its strategy to boost the state's digital economy, as
part of the O'Farrell administration's plan to help the state adapt to
disruptive innovation and increasing competition from emerging economies. The
Industry Action Plan for the Digital Economy, released by Deputy Premier and
Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner, includes a $6.7 million
innovation initiative to identify opportunities and challenges for the state,
as well as smart work hubs and the implementation of the NSW Government's
open data initiative. The State will also seek to raise the profile of Victor
Perton, former Commissioner to the The
taskforce that developed the plan is being led by director of IBM Research,
Glenn Wightwick. "The Action Plan offers solutions to a range of issues
impacting growth in the digital economy including export opportunities,
innovation, productivity, investment, skills, employment and workforce
participation, business conditions and global competitiveness,"
Wightwick said. "The Government has shown its interest and willingness
to respond, but we still need to see the action and how real and effective
the initiatives are", said Ross Dawson, a futurist who has written
extensively on the global digital workforce. He added that From http://www.itnews.com.au Justice
Minister Judith Collins is to outline new measures to curb cyber bullying
within the next few weeks. Her intentions were signalled yesterday after
Rotorua coroner Wallace Bain repeated calls for laws to be urgently
introduced to control digital bullying in light of another teenager taking
her life after she set up a Facebook page targeting herself. Dr Bain found
that 17-year-old Micaela Pinkerton-Stothers from Tokoroa took her own life on
July 24, 2011 - the day after she and her boyfriend split up. It was first
believed she might have taken her life because of cyber bullying as a rumour
page on Facebook had hateful messages posted stating Micaela had had an
abortion. However, during the inquest into her death, one of her friends said
the pair had set up a gossip rumour page, with her posting the hurtful
messages herself, using another name. Micaela appeared distressed by the
rumours, crying to family and telling them she was being bullied. Dr Bain
said it appeared Micaela had not been targeted by bullies. However,
in his findings, he highlighted a story that ran in Rotorua's Daily Post
about a gossip page that was naming and shaming local youth, and another case
involving 15-year-old Hayley-Ann Fenton, who took her own life after being
sent threatening messages from her former boyfriend's wife. Dr Bain said
cyber and text bullying was a worrying trend and there needed to be law
reform on the issue. He repeated previous calls for "laws to control
cyber bullying and cyber communication to be brought forward as a matter of
some urgency".Rotorua Facebook pages, now removed, have named people as
drug abusers and thieves. Dr Bain said young people were extremely vulnerable
to cyber and text bullying, sometimes resulting in their taking their own
lives. The inquest raised very unusual aspects including the setting up of
the Facebook page with the responses monitored. " ... in the court's
opinion, it simply reinforces the unsettled state of mind Micaela was
in." Another
issue was what young people needed to do if they received a suicidal-type
message from a friend, Dr Bain said. "Time and again a close friend will
send these messages and within a short period of time, will have committed
suicide. Young people are concerned about not breaching confidences ... yet
on the other hand, after the event, all wish they had been able to do
something about it and possibly got their friends some help." A
spokeswoman for Ms Collins' office said the minister had asked the Law
Commission to fast-track a review of the laws around telecommunications and
the internet. The minister is due to take those recommendations to Parliament
in the next two weeks. A public announcement due this month will include new
laws regarding incitement to instigate suicide whether the person commits
suicide or not, and updating existing digital laws. From http://www.nzherald.co.nz |
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E-Democracy:
Isn’t It a Key to Cease Corruption? It is now extensively accepted that Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) have an important role in national
development. The developmental prospective of information and communication
technologies have been broadly discussed in the scientific literature but we
still lack conceptual precision on the role of ICTs for success and failure
of national development process. In recent times ICT is exploit by citizens
and civil society for networking and improve advocacy and mobilization, local
and globally. Blogs, Facebook and online communities create new modes of
social contact. The use of ICT has influenced social movements and has also
had an effect on the social life and democratic freedoms in some societies.
The existing explanation of freedom and democracy, by the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, states that every individual have rights to free
communication, religious and political participation, and to engage in
economic activity. These rights are defined as political, economic, and
religious freedoms. Many scholars connect political freedoms with
constitutional democracy (the right of individuals to elect their
governments). ICT offer new tools for well-organized public contribution in
the democratic process in the form of e-democracy, e-government, e-voting and
the propagation of opinions, thoughts, ideas, and rallying social action
about things that concern society. At present ICT can be used to improve the
democratic process in the form of e-government in which citizens are able to
effectively impact the decision-making process in a judicious approach within
and between institutions. In government, ICT not only can increase
accountability and transparency, and counter corruption through more
proficient administration and increased flows of information but also
strengthen good governance and improve interaction between government and
citizens. E-democracy can be closely defined as “e-administration”, where ICT
serves to modernize inter-governmental relations and flows of information
with the view to improve government services, transactions, and interactions
with citizens, businesses, and other arms of governments. E-democracy can
facilitate better service to citizens by: •Offering information via government web pages; •Facilitating access to government services, and; •Developing depersonalized services which reduce risk for
corruption. Generally, one can differentiate between three levels of ICT
use to advance democratic processes at the national level: 1.ICTs within government, with a view to improve efficiency in
interactions and information flows between government departments and state
organs. 2.ICTs in the interface between government and citizens, with
a view to improving interaction and feedback between government and citizens. 3.ICTs for empowerment of citizens and civil society
organizations. Presently, From
http://blogs.thenewstribe.com/
Government-backed
Monopoly May Be Needed for Broadband Networks, ITU Says A huge upfront cost to fibre optic networks around the world
means oliogopoly or monopoly situations may have to be accepted in many markets,
the UN standards agency says. Ever wonder what the industry leaders of the
telecommunications industry think the future holds for the future of ICT?
Well a 35-page report on the outcomes of discussions like that can be
downloaded from the International Telecommunications Union. Commonly known as
ITU Telecom, the United Nations agency establishes worldwide standards to
help smooth over compatibility issues. This is the agency that decides, for
example, what wireless speeds can be deemed “ From
http://www.itbusiness.ca/ AFRICA: DRESSED in white T-shirts bearing words 'e-revolution', a team
of employees of an Information Communication Technology (ICT) project joined
other Zanzibaris at the launch of e-government programme in the Isles. Fumba (entry point from "ICT changes are inevitable, we cannot dare to isolate
ourselves and remain behind while our colleagues in other parts of the world
move ahead," said Dr Shein emphasizing that Zanzibaris have to change so
as to fit in the fast growing world of information technology. Visibly joyful
Dr Shein informed enthusiastic Zanzibaris and delegates from the Chinese
Embassy that e-government is to increase greater efficiency in government
through the use of information and communication technology. He thanked From
http://allafrica.com/ ASIA:
Management World As the availability of high-speed broadband across Asia
creates boundless opportunities for service providers to generate new revenue
streams through the delivery of digital services, TM Forum announced today
that the focus of its Management World Asia conference and expo is aimed at
helping service providers across the Asia Pacific region transform their
business operations in order to manage the complex end-to-end value chain of
digital service delivery and harness a wealth of new opportunities. With •Transforming business models to capitalize on new digital
services •Turning data into dollars through effective customer
analytics and enhanced customer experience •Identifying practical techniques to monetize and manage
disruptive technology “In order to succeed, service providers must learn how to refine
their business models to exploit future services, develop innovative new
digital services, adopt and expand cloud computing services, and bolster
revenue assurance programs,” said Martin Creaner, president and CEO, TM
Forum, who leads off the conference with a keynote on March 12. “TM Forum’s
Management World Asia is a unique and valuable opportunity for the region’s
already successful leaders to come together, offer their insight and show
others how to succeed in a highly competitive market.” TM Forum’s Management
World conferences and expos stand apart by offering expert keynotes,
sessions, unrivaled networking opportunities, and TM Forum’s renowned
Training and Certification programs. Upcoming Management Worlds include: Management World, Nice, Management World Please contact TM Forum’s event sales team at
eventsponsorship@tmforum.org; Carine Vandevelde (+44 207 193 8678); or
Vanessa Lefebvre (+34 605 165 449) to discuss Management World Asia sponsorship
packages that are right for your company and your budget. Register now for
Management World Asia and receive maximum savings. From
http://finance.yahoo.com/ A new user-centric web-based platform, developed by EU-funded
researchers, promises to bring down the barriers to accessing e-government
services. A new user-centric web-based platform, developed by EU-funded
researchers, promises to bring down the barriers to accessing e-government
services. Public administrations across Inclusive e-government The Diego platform aims to overcome that problem. It is
designed with user-friendliness firmly in mind, allowing anyone, regardless
of their level of digital literacy, to access online services through an
adaptable and intuitive interface. And, as a web-based standards-compliant
system, it is accessible from any device, including smart phones, televisions
and digital kiosks in public locations. For administrations, implementing the
Diego system is cost-effective and relatively straightforward, even in cases
where they have legacy e-government systems that need to be updated or
transferred. 'The basic framework for the system is the same for all
applications and the use of open standards, and its provision as
software-as-a-service, helps overcome interoperability issues. However, some
services need to be tailored specifically to the requirements of individual
administrations. For example, data protection and data management laws are
different in every country, so how data is stored and accessed, whether
locally or using cloud resources, varies in each case,' Mr Echeverría explains.
The differences were underscored in seven pilot deployments of the Diego
platform involving public administrations in Saving time and cutting costs For administrations, the costs of implementing the system are
relatively low: it costs around EUR 150 per month to use the Diego platform
in a town of 10,000 to 15,000 people and, depending on specific requirements,
it takes just one or two months to set up. The system is continuing to be
used at many of the pilot sites, and IDI EIKON, in collaboration with other
project partners, is looking to deploy it with other public administrations
across In addition, the Diego researchers found that by introducing
users, some of whom had little or no ICT experience, to the platform, the
same people went on to access other services online. 'After using the system,
some elderly people went on to set up Twitter or Facebook accounts to
communicate with friends and family,' Mr Echeverría explains. 'We like to see
the platform as a training bicycle, in which access to e-services are the
support wheels that help people get on their way in the online world - it's a
big step forward to e-inclusion.' It is also an important leap toward more
widespread and effective e-government in From
http://www.i-policy.org/ European Commission
Releases Open Data Portal The European Commission, the executive body of the European
Union, launched a beta version of the Open Data Hub of the European Union
last week, a month earlier than the scheduled release date in January. The
data portal currently contains 5811 datasets from the European Commission,
freely available to the public to browse, download and use. The portal also
provides access to data from other institutions and agencies of the European
Union at their request. A large majority of the datasets (5634 sets) are
published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Other
publishers include the European Environment Agency, Directorate-General for
Health and Consumers, and the Publications Office of the EU. The website
states that the portal is “about transparency, open government and
innovation”, aiming to “promote and build literacy around From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Bulgaria:
After 13 Years of Preparations, The first five thousand Bulgarians, who have applied for an
electronic identity card will receive their cards over the next few days.
They will be able to use seventy services of From
http://paper.standartnews.com/
German
Government Should Make Its Software Available as Open Source, Committee
Advises Not every German migration to an open source IT infrastructure
has been a success, though. Compatibility problems and under-performing
spreadsheet and presentation programs in OpenOffice frustrated city employees
in From
http://news.idg.no/ German
'Egovernment' Transition Encouraged Researchers are trying to encourage German policy makers to
make the transition to “eGovernment”. The Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication
Systems (FOKUS) in “One of our partners is cBrain, whose integrated solution is
already being very successfully implemented in seven Danish government
ministries. We took a close look at the technology and discovered that it
would suit the needs of German government agencies very well.” While
electronic communication has long been an everyday reality in offices across
the German public sector the researchers found that case workers often only
use modern document management systems for recording digitized files, while
ignoring the technology in their everyday work. But the German government has
expressed a desire for a more integrated approach by outlining what it is
looking for in an ICT platform in its “Organizational Concept for Electronic
Administration”. The concept includes recommendations for a system enabling
electronic records management, modelling of electronic workflows, electronic
collaboration and integrating the various software applications for
specialist processes that have grown up over the years. “These building
blocks of eGovernment are supported by the Danish solution. As an option,
managers can also be included in digital processes via mobile devices,” said
Dr Tschichholz. Dr Tschichholz and his team have developed specific
application scenarios, and these are currently undergoing a field test in
German ministries. In the FOKUS eGovernment Laboratory, the research
scientists recreated sample workflows from the Federal Ministry of the
Interior and analysed how the Danish solution can be adapted to the
ministry’s work. “We showed, for example, how the solution can be used to
draft briefing documents, which the permanent secretary or minister can then
conveniently access on the move from a tablet PC,” said Dr Tschichholz, who
also uses the ICT platform at FOKUS for internal processes. Last year, the
team successfully presented the laboratory scenario to Cornelia
Rogall-Grothe, Federal Government Commissioner for Information Technology,
and the Danish Ambassador Per Poulsen-Hansen. At the CeBIT trade show, FOKUS
will demonstrate how mobile devices can be securely used for administration
work with the aid of the Danish ICT platform. From
http://eandt.theiet.org/ Moldova’s
E-Government to Slip The State Voter Register of Moldova is facing some delays,
while the automation of the electoral process has brought no results. This
information was officially announced by the Court of Audit of From
http://www.focus-fen.net/ Russian
Opinion: E-Democracy – A Tool or a Toy? Remember I talked about the way governments handle citizen
initiatives? The problem a lot of people have with it is that it prohibits
US citizens from adopting Russian orphans, including kids with disabilities,
who don’t seem to be popular among Russian adoptive parents. The opponents of
the law believe that despite a number of highly-publicized cases of American
families abusing adopted kids from A little more than a month in, the site had seen a fair number
of petitions that reached the required benchmark of 25,000 signatures with
little to no reaction from the government. Overall, at the time the general
opinion settled that "these petitions are ignored apart from an
occasional patronizing and inane political statement amounting to nothing
more than a condescending pat on the head" – as one petition put it.
Well, how’s that working out now? [hum imperial march]. I sense a disturbance
in the force. Seems like the website is not doing much… apart allowing
Americans to vote for building an actual Death Star. Here’s the petition
which managed to gather 25,000 signatures and, as such, warrant an official
reply from a White House representative. “We petition the Obama
administration to: Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a
Death Star by 2016. […] By focusing our defense resources into a
space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the
government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering,
space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.” Unquote. You know, it’s actually kind of odd. On one hand, this is
obviously not something some wants – scratch that, I would love to see an
operational Death Star – but that’s just not feasible. On the other hand,
such a request is not… illegal, I guess – so the government has to actually
respond. And, well, respond it did. Cleverly titled “This Isn't the Petition
Response You're Looking For”, the response, authored by head of the White
House budget office’s science and space branch explained why the project is
not in best interests of the American people – in a tongue-in-cheek manner,
of course. “The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a
strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a
few reasons: The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost
more than $850 quadrillion. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not
expand it. The Administration does not support blowing up planets. Why would
we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw
that can be exploited by a one-man starship?” And then the text goes on to
feature real achievements of the aerospace industry – and not just American.
But still, back to the subject of e-petitions – judging by recent news, all
they’re good for is comic relief. Yes, there’s another petition, which rivals
the Death Star project in ridiculousness. Created January 3rd, it still has a long way to go before
expiring – and already it has gathered almost 10,000 signatures. Quote
“Direct the United States Mint to make a single platinum trillion dollar
coin! With the creation and Treasury deposit of a new platinum coin with a
value of $1 trillion US Dollars, we would avert the absurd-yet-imminent debt
ceiling faceoff in Congress in two quick and simple steps! While this may
seem like an unnecessarily extreme measure, it is no more absurd than playing
political football with the Moving on to matters more serious – cyber-security. Actually,
there’s a bunch of news in this regard – we’ll kick off this subject today
and continue tomorrow. A Russian citizen from Krasnoyarks is being accused by
the Federal Security Service of organizing a cyber attack on the president’s website.
The attack happened in May of 2012 – and turns out, the hacker’s actions
might have been a part of a greater plan. Care to hear who was behind it?
Allegedly, the dreaded Anonymous – an informal decentralized group of digital
vigilantes, anarchists, hackers or criminals – depends on who tries to
classify them and which of their actions are being focused on. Here’s the
deal: according to the Security Service, the detained hacker is responsible
for taking down the website May 9th, 2012. He did this using existing
software – software, authored and distributed online by, yes, the Anonymous.
These programs were aimed to take down governmental websites as part of the
Anonymous’ support for the ongoing protest actions in real life – the
so-called “March of the Millions”. This being said, the guy’s status as a
“hacker” is questionable – rather, a cyber-criminal with no intimate
knowledge of the field of cybersecurity who simply got his hands on a bunch
of programs created by real hackers. Probably this would also explain how he
was caught so easily. Still, he knew what he was doing and what legal
consequences his actions might have, so now he has to face the music, i.e.
the court. The defendant, Vasiliy Nikitin, claims he’s not only not a hacker,
but also a not very savvy user and he didn’t know what he was doing. While
his connection to the political opposition has not been established, his
browsing history shows he was a frequent visitor of websites with illegal
software used for DDoS attacks. So, was he a victim of own stupidity or a
pawn in a larger scheme? Well, if you’re into spy games and conspiracy
theories tune in tomorrow when we take a look at a larger digital threat,
recently discovered by Kaspersky Lab. From
http://english.ruvr.ru/ NORTH
AMERICA: A recent survey of large enterprise firms reveals that 75 per cent
of companies are investing more than $1 million a year on Big Data
initiatives. The potential for making better and faster business decisions is
pushing large companies to invest huge sums of money on Big Data initiatives,
according to a recent study conducted by consulting firm NewVantage Partners.
Over 75 per cent of the respondents said they pout no less than $1 million a
year while as much as 25 per cent of the firms pour in more than $10 million
annually into Big Data initiatives, a report on Computerworld.com said. A
number of reasons including risk reduction and creating higher-quality
products and services were cited as reasons for investing in Big Data, but
the companies said the “quantum leap” in benefits comes from accelerated
decision making or so-called time-to-anwser. If companies can get “valuable
answers” within 30 minutes it makes a lot of difference and changes the
business process dynamically, according to NewVantage. From
http://www.itworldcanada.com/
Although mobility has become a popular buzzword, the
government’s use of wireless broadband capabilities has been limited because
of concerns about security and reliability. “Warranted or not, there’s always
been a stigma within government circles that somehow wireless connections
can’t be secured as well as a physically wired infrastructure,” said Stephen
Orr, a distinguished systems engineer in Cisco Systems’ U.S. Public Sector
division. A number of converging developments in technology, policy and
culture, however, are finally giving federal IT officials more reasons to
believe in the ability of wireless broadband to securely transform their operations.
Specifically, changes taking place in the wireless industry include the
transition to the fourth-generation ( Why it matters It’s not just security issues that have hampered widespread
federal adoption of wireless broadband, said Brett Haan, a principal in
Deloitte’s federal telecommunications practice. Although the The fundamentals The availability of The hurdles How successful agencies are in using commercial wireless
broadband networks will ultimately depend on the amount of time and effort
they’re willing to put in at the very beginning of the process, Johnson said.
“We are seeing movement in this direction, but it’s to the extent that
agencies can effectively address the policy needs, the back-end technology reality
and the finance,” he said. “There is a road map that needs to be followed in
order to bring this to fruition.” In the area of policy, agencies must
realign their security rules and practices to address the new reliance on
wireless mobility, which might or might not include a bring-your-own-device
environment. “In thinking about security, agencies clearly need to think
about the back-end device management, device provisioning and obviously the
security protocols,” Haan said. “And those may differ between the agencies
and between the data itself, whether it’s publicly available data versus
confidential health care data versus truly national security data. These are
all issues that must be fully thought through.” Johnson noted that the
variety of technological options can complicate matters. “There are a lot of
disparate systems out there today, which could include different carriers and
different platforms that don’t necessarily interoperate,” he said. “So, for
example, if I want to use applications on a smart device and they’re being
hosted on a number of different platforms, how do I make sure that all of my
architectures actually integrate?” Finally, in today’s increasingly austere
fiscal environment, agencies must determine how much it will cost to deploy,
operate and maintain a more mobile environment using commercial wireless
carriers and then make a business case for the technology. It is not an
insurmountable hurdle, however. “Even in a tight budget crunch, you can
deploy solutions in a certain sub-segment of an enterprise,” Johnson said.
“That’s because to the extent that agencies can work out the policy and the
technology, they’ll use it.” From
http://fcw.com/ CIO
Council Report on Barriers, Gaps, & Opportunities for Government Use of The CIO Council has released a new report today under the
Digital Government Strategy that details the use of mobile technology in the
Federal Government (Milestone Action #10.2). The report will help inform
efforts to accelerate the secure adoption of mobile technologies at reduced
cost by identifying current barriers, gaps, and opportunities in the use of
mobile technology. This report is the result of a collaborative inter-agency
effort that involved almost two dozen Federal departments and agencies and
was led by the Information Security and Identity Management Committee (ISIMC)
of the Federal CIO Council. The ISIMC conducted interviews with 21 agencies
on their use of mobile technology for this report and made recommendations
that aim to reduce cost and speed up adoption of secure mobile technologies. From
https://cio.gov/ Federal Communications
Commission Streamlines and Modernizes International Reporting Requirements From
http://www.fcc.gov/ Transparency
- What to Consider Before Releasing Data to the Public Nearly every major city in the In the The CTG points out that both examples considered in this
research were fairly straightforward, but more attention needs to be devoted
to open government efforts involving more controversial data. The recent
upsurge in the national gun control conversation provides a perfect example
of the trickier side of open data. The New York Journal recently published an
interactive map of registered gun owners in Westchester and From
http://www.govtech.com/ 6 Ways to
Optimize Gov-to-Citizen Communication As technology and social media become more prevalent, more
government agency leaders recognize the importance of maintaining strong
relationships with their constituencies. Exactly how to accomplish effective
citizen engagement, however, is not always clear. To educate governments on
this matter, GovDelivery and EfficientGov hosted a webinar on Jan. 24
outlining best practices for digital communication -- knowledge gained from
working with more than 500 public-sector organizations worldwide, said
GovDelivery Communications Director Mary Yang. As government budgets continue
getting squeezed, organizations are faced with the responsibility of proving
return on investment before spending resources on projects, said GovDelivery
Product Marketing Manager Jennifer Kaplan. Being proactive in making
government services and data available, however, can lead to both savings and
improved customer service. And by building a permanent audience,
personalizing the content the audience receives, and analyzing and curating
that service delivery over time, governments will be able to meet their
communications goals, said Kaplan, whose presentation primarily focused on
the continued dominance of email as a communication platform. Make it easy to sign up! “It sounds simple, but there are a
few things to think about with the sign-up process,” she said. Reaching as
many people as possible leads to the most effective programs, so the sign-up
process should be easy and customizable. Users should be able to find the
sign-up function easily, and there should be channel preferences that allow
users to customize the content they receive. Kaplan also encouraged
governments to do research in order to stay relevant and familiar with their
audience, lest they lose them. Promote, promote, promote! “No one is going to
sign up for your communications if they don't know about them,” she said. “So
promote the heck out of it.” Kaplan demonstrated several best practices for promoting
communications, including government websites that effectively promote email
newsletters by prominently displaying the sign-up boxes on their websites.
Assess. Before you can improve the communications you have, Kaplan said, your
organization must assess the current situation to identify methods of
improvement. This can include mapping the structure of an organization,
identifying agency functions and thinking about the technology being used
throughout the organization. Automate. “We really see automation as the
biggest way to have a cost savings,” she said. “With automation, you can
leverage content you're already posting on your website or through internal
databases.” Automation can circumvent the need to invest in new IT infrastructure
or personnel to carry out many communication tasks. One example Kaplan
pointed to is the California Public Safety Department's integrated database
and communications system. Harness the Data. “There's a ton of data out
there. It's really important to not only harness this data, but keep it and
package it in a formatable way that you can share and analyze with others in
your organization,” Kaplan said. By analyzing data on a quantitative and
qualitative level, organizations can target their audiences in more relevant,
engaging ways. Engage. “You're competing for attention in the inbox from the
likes of the Amazons, the eBays, the JCrews and Nordstroms,” Kaplan said. So
creating attractive and engaging email newletters is crucial to getting people's
attention. From
http://www.govtech.com/ Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC), based in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ More Three mobile trends are expected in the next four years: more
users, more connections and faster speeds. And these increases are projected
to impact government IT operations -- including how government agencies
connect with their constituents -- according to IT executives. According to a
new report, Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic
Forecast Update, 2012–2017, mobile data traffic is predicted to grow over the
next four years roughly capping 11.2 exabytes a month -- and major trends are
expected to take place as a result of the increase. Also according to Cisco,
in 2017 there will be 5.2 billion mobile users (up from 4.3 billion in 2012);
more than 10 billion mobile devices/connections, including more than 1.7
billion mobile-to-mobile connections (up from 7 billion total mobile devices
and mobile-to-mobile connections in 2012); and and average global mobile
network speeds of 3.9 Mbps -- a sevenfold increase from 0.5 Mbps in 2012.
Former Seattle CTO Bill Schrier, now a senior fellow at the Center for
Digital Government, which is owned by Government Technology's parent company
eRepublic Inc., said statistics in this report reflect how much more
businesses and consumers are moving to mobile devices as their main resources
for communication and Internet access – a trend with a significant impact on
state and local governments. “Government needs to make sure all the
functionality of their online presence is optimized for the screen size of
tablets and smartphones,” Schrier said. “That function includes not just
static information on the Web, but applications to pay bills, or view maps,
or take photos of problems and send them off to their government.” To accommodate this rising trend, Schrier said government
employees will need to become better accustomed to using mobile devices for
their job. Government jobs that involve public safety, such as police
officers and positions in field service, will be expected to have instant
access to information and applications to do their jobs properly. And in From http://www.govtech.com/
The State of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ |
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From
http://www.china.org.cn/ E-Government
Services Reach More Chinese Cities E-government services are now available in more than 90
percent of From
http://www.china.org.cn/ Gov't
Staff Credit Cards Widely Adopted Government staff credit cards have been adopted across most of
From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 02/16/2013 Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) has
upgraded a higher-performance and larger capacity storage for its private
cloud environment to support its students and researchers. The new data
storage belongs to Dell Compellent, and it initially comes with three
petabytes. This news storage infrastructure is one of the world’s largest
Dell Compellent implementations. The JAIST can benefit from the new
infrastructure in accessing information quickly and efficiently protect large
amounts of important research data. The new storage arrays will bolster the
storage capabilities of FRONTIER (FRONT Information Environment)—a campus IT
platform built to support advanced teaching and research activities at JAIST.
This move is to strengthen the JAIST’s IT environment to help further advance
its world-class research. This private cloud environment is being implemented
with the aim to improve convenience for users and help achieve low cost, high
energy efficiency and streamlined management by centralising hardware
resources. The deployment is to centralise the management of large research
data sets created and accessed by individual researchers and teams. The JAIST
aimed to deliver necessary data for the users’ research activities quickly
and with high reliability by replacing two previous systems with Dell
Compellent. The upgrade allowed the JAIST to manage a large volume of data in
one solution. When updating its centralized storage system, JAIST faced a
number of challenges, including achieving fast data access and constructing
efficient back-up for large data sets. Another key requirement for JAIST was
to eliminate the issue of depleted IPv4 addresses and build an efficient
storage infrastructure with IPv6 compatibility. With the new infrastructure,
the JAIST can extend its infrastructure to the required scale provided by the
new 128-bit addressing scheme. The system also provides automated data
tiering which allows for automated management and movement of data between a
combination of SSD and SAS drives, and enables fast data access and
high-capacity with fewer disks. The storage system is also compatible with
IPv6 to build an efficient storage infrastructure. It also has advanced
snapshot features, which provide efficient storage of only the changes made
to stored data for fast local recovery. Another feature is advanced
replication that only replicates changed data provides disaster recovery for
petabytes of data. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Dr. Jong-Sung Hwang, Assistant Mayor of 1. How will the city plan to use mobile devices in the
delivery of e-government services? 2. How is 3. Can you give examples of mobile applications or services
you have launched? E-poll is one of the first mobile services of 4. How important are mobile devices/ smart devices for the
realisation of the Smart Seoul 2015. Mobile devices are critically important
for the realisation of Smart Seoul 2015. We are making the most out of mobile
technologies to launch new location-based services and to enable citizens be
connected anytime and anywhere. In addition, we strongly encourage public
employees with field duties to harness mobile devices to complete their
duties on the field. 5. So far, what has been the response from citizens on the
Seoul Metropolitan Government’s efforts to provide civil administrative
services on mobile devices? 6. Since From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Website on
Integrated Information on Dokdo Opens The Korean government opened a website which contains
integrated geographic and historic information on From
http://www.korea.net/ Digital security company Gemalto has said that From
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
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Bobby Nazief, Special Adviser at Consolidating IT Systems The challenge is how to integrate our IT systems. We started
last year by consolidating infrastructure into the cloud. We plan to finish
this stage by the middle of next year and continue with systems integration.
We are in the middle of a transition. The IT system is serving the Ministry
of Finance (MoF) to manage national budget, revenue collection, taxes and
custom excise. However, each unit has its own IT system and infrastructure.
The value of the national budget that we are managing is 1300 trillion IDR
(US$30 billion); tax: 1000 trillion IDR (US$23 billion). If there are any
issues with the system, it means that there is a potential problem with
disbursement of the budget, and in revenue collection. The Finance Minister
saw a centralised IT system as a big advantage in terms of quality IT
management and quality of service among different units. Financial Management System The contract was signed back in 2009 and we have since had the
Oracle E-business Suite (EBS) that handles the budget management from
authorisation, disbursement, tax management to reporting. The EBS system is
also supported by Hyperion Budget Planning. The scope is budget preparation,
disbursement, and reporting. We plan to add fixed asset management, debt
management and integrate these to support the fiscal system of the MoF. When
we started the centralisation project, we didn’t know how many systems and
data we could consolidate. We focused on the infrastructure and when it was
ready, we asked ourselves whether we wanted to replicate what we already had.
We realised that the cloud provided a better solution and we didn’t have to
move the physical system. All we had to move were applications, which enabled
us to allocate the physical infrastructure more efficiently. Initially, the cloud helped us consolidate this
infrastructure, and now we are planning to ramp up cloud utilisation and move
to Platform-as-a-Service. We provide the infrastructure in the centralised
data centre, while the responsibility of managing the IT system is still with
the specific unit. It is very much like the concept of the cloud: the owner
of the system is still the individual unit, but they don’t have to worry
about the infrastructure as the central IT unit is providing it. The issue is
budgeting. Each unit is responsible for its own budget. How can you
coordinate it when the system is managed by one unit, while the output will
be obtained by another unit? We have plenty of knowledge but to provide top
quality service, we do limited outsourcing. We engage experts from the
private sector to work with our people for a limited time, to expedite an
exchange of expertise and knowledge. We are aiming at finishing the
consolidation next year and move all the hardware to one server room or data
centre. We will also complete the rollout of the budgeting system by end of
this year. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Semarang Education Agency (SEA), From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ), He also added that the Council has been constantly expanding
online services while reducing the number of physical counters from sixteen
to nice since 2010. "Revenue collection online such as the bill payment
kiosk, only hub, bank and post office has seen an increase of 13 per cent or
MYR 6.6 million (US$ 2.18 million), while business transactions via the
My@MPSJ hub has increased MYR 3 mil (US$ 995,353 )," Kasbi said.
According to him, the new initiatives helps reduce cost while providing a
more conducive and convenient environment for the staff and citizens. A new
mobile application, ‘Mymobile’ would be launched later this year for citizens
to use it to pay bills, he added. The launch event welcomed Deputy Selangor
State Secretary (Development) Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman who congratulated
the MPSJ on being a pioneer in introducing these programmes for citizens.
"This should be made an example for other local councils to ensure a
fast and efficient service for the public,” he said. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Election Commission launched the country’s first ever
online portal which would allow citizens to monitor election-related
activities and access information explaining the electoral processes
involved. The initiative is part of the Commission’s on-going efforts to
prepare citizens for the upcoming 13th General Elections happening on 27
June. According to Tan Sri Aziz Mohd Yusof, Chairman of the Election
Commission, the portal was launched so that Malaysians are able to closely
monitor the elections and so that they would have a better understanding of
issues usually raised by voters, political parties and other concerned
stakeholders. The Portal provides basic information about the electoral
system in Malaysia, parts of the Parliamentary and State Assembly, the
reforms to be introduced in the next general election as, methods of early
voting and voting procedures for registered voters for citizens living
abroad. It also features In addition, citizens will get the latest
information on election candidates, starting from the nomination process up
to the proclamation of the winning candidates, and also the “do’s and don’ts”
during the campaign period and the election day. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Government
Call Centre Expanded in The government expanded its 1Malaysia One Call Centre (1MOCC)
last month to bring 25 ministries and agencies into the project. 1MOCC was
set up in November 2012 to create a single point of contact for citizens to
get in touch with all participating government departments and ministries.
The public can use five channels to communicate with the government -
telephone, SMS, fax, email and social media. The first phase of the project
involved 21 agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysian
Immigration Department and the Road Transport Department. The second phase
brings organisations such as the ministries of tourism, education, women and
health. Citizens can call 03-8000-8000 to make enquiries, file complaints or
give suggestions and feedback about any of the participating ministries. The
third phase is expected to be launched in March, and will cover all federal
and state agencies. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ As support to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s mandate to
move the Government towards a “straight path”, the Department of Interior and
Local Government (DILG) launched a website called “ Full Disclosure Policy
Portal“, which allows citizens to view the finances and other transaction of
Local Government Units (LGU). The portal is a joint collaboration between
DILG’s Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS) and multilateral and
bilateral organisations such as the World Bank, Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID) and the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA). It aims to assist LGU’s in complying with the requirements of
the DILG issued Memorandum Circular 2010-083 titled, “Full Disclosure of
Local Budget and Finances, and Bids and Public Offerings”. The latter
mandates provinces, cities and municipalities to fully disclose specific
financial transactions to keep their constituents informed of how the LGUs’
budget is managed, disbursed and used. By logging on to the FDPP, the public
can view important LGU documents such as annual budget reports, statements of
debt service, statements of receipts and expenditures; quarterly statements
of cash flow, annual procurement plans or procurement lists, items to bid and
bid results, abstracts of bids as calculated, and supplemental procurement
plans. Furthermore, details on the Special Education Fund (SEF) income and
expenditure estimates; reports of SEF utilisation; annual Gender and
Development accomplishment reports; Trust Fund (PDAF) utilisation; 20 per
cent component of the Internal Revenue Allotment utilisation; and reports of
Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund utilisation. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Philippine
Gov't Mulls of Taxing Online Stores The Philippine government is planning to impose taxes on
online stores by next year, a senior government official said Friday. Deputy
presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, in a news briefing, said that the
proposal of Bureau of Internal Revenue ( BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares of
taxing online stores would provide the government considerable revenues.
"What Commissioner Kim Henares wants is for them to pay the right income
tax and the right value added tax (VAT) because they are still sales
and...that really is subject to VAT," she said. Henares has explained
that online shops are no different from the actual stalls that sell items or
merchandises to people. She stressed the need for online businesses to be
registered with the BIR to level the playing field in the buy-and sell
market. She also said that online businesses should also issue on-line
receipts. The BIR's proposal aims to boost tax collection next year and
protect the rights of consumers who wish to return or exchange the items they
bought, Valte said. There are traders and sellers in the From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ Philippine
Province Adopts E-Accounting System The Department of Public Works and Highways in the From http://www.futuregov.asia/
The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System
(PhilGEPS), in partnership with the Land Bank of the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Philippine National Police (PNP) Directorate for
Investigation and Detective Management (DIDM) and Information Technology
Management System (ITMS) have recently ended the five-day training of 234
police officer on the use of e-Roques’ Gallery and e-Warrant System to
improve efficiency in criminal investigation techniques. The e-Roques’
Gallery and e-Warrant System are parts of the PNP e-Projects to use
technology in beefing up investigation operation. The e-Rogues Gallery is a
photo gallery database of wanted criminals and other suspected law offenders
posted online for easy reference by investigators and tracker teams. The
e-Rogues’ Gallery is linked to police stations across the country to share an
access to the same database. Likewise, the e-Warrant System provides police
stations a faster and better access to individuals with active or pending
warrants of arrests anywhere in the country. PSSupt Jerry C Linsagan, Chief
Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division, the PNP conducted a
briefing and purpose of the two systems in front of 234 police officers with
basic computer knowledge. The training of e-Rogues’ was held in Camp Crame,
Quezon city, while the one for e-Warrant system held at Camp Algar, Cagayan
De Oro City. The participants of the training were required to enhance the
new knowledge in their works, as well as passing it on to other police
officers assigned in investigation and detective patrol. They will also be
assigned as encoders to perform a regular update of the wanted criminal
gallery which is linked to and shared the same database with police station
across the archipelago. The other electronic initiative of the PNP includes
PNP e-Blotter system which is a management tool eyed in the formulation of
effective anti-crime strategies and the modernization of the PNP’s crime data
base. It was launched in 2012. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Ministry of Finance launched ‘SG Budget From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Ministry of Defence of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Residents
Can Rate Civil Servants Online in An online rating system for civil servants of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Bank Data
Released for Turbulent 2012 HA NOI (VNS)— Figures released by the State Bank have shown
that at the end of 2012, the total assets of the entire domestic banking
system recorded a growth of 2.54 per cent compared with 2011, meaning that
last year’s total for the entire system rose by nearly VND126 trillion (US$6
billion). The data also shows that most of these assets were contributed by
State-owned commercial banks, which saw a rise of VND232 trillion ($11
billion), or 11.78 per cent. In contrast, the total assets of join stock
banks declined VND102 trillion ($4.8 billion) compared with 2011. The State
Bank also said that the equity of the banking system rose more than VND35 trillion
to nearly VND426 trillion, a growth of 8.97 per cent. Compared with 2011, the
equity capital of most credit institutions increased. However, financial companies have seen both equity and charter
capital decrease compared to 2011. With figures from commercial banks
included, the total charter capital of credit institutions reached VND392
trillion by the end of last year, a rise of 11.24 per cent. The year 2012 was
considered a turbulent and challenging period for the entire banking sector
as many issues arose relating to credit quality, bad debt and cooled credit.
The banking system witnessed soaring bad debts while profits declined
dramatically. According to a source from the State Bank, the total banking
profit last year stood at VND28.6 trillion, a decrease of nearly 50 per cent
compared with 2011. While the profits of large scale state-run commercial
banks remained stable, profits of join stock banks are estimated to have
dropped by half. Last year, Return
on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) of the banking system reached 0.79
per cent and 10.34 per cent respectively. From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ |
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Governments across the world are adopting e-Governance. In each
department and in each state government, one finds a plethora of IT projects
in various stages of implementation – conceptualisation, implementation,
deployment and up-gradation to latest technology. One also finds many
abandoned projects. For each successful project, one can count an equal if
not higher number of failed IT projects. A survey of e-governance projects by
a Professor in Development Informatics in the University of Manchester in
developing and transition economies revealed that as many as 85 percent
e-Governance projects are either partial failures for not having attained all
the intended goals, or total failures- having been abandoned soon after
implementation. The common reasons for such failures include lack of internal
ownership, absence of vision or strategy, poor project management, inadequate
technological infrastructure, unwillingness to adopt IT enabled governance
techniques and obstacles in transitioning legacy government data to a
computerized format. Traditional governance systems are usually not amenable
to computerization, and insufficient business process reengineering is also
cited as a major reason for the failure of e-governance projects. I present
here some ideas for enhancing the success rate of e-Governance projects. Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast. Keeping it simple by
taking baby steps is more likely to succeed. In other words, evolutionary
ideas are likelier to succeed than revolutionary leaps. This is because of
limited capacity of the government on the technological and human front.
Therefore, e-Governance projects should build carefully and sustainably on
the existing ICT usage base. Instead of directly trying to implement large
scale process re-engineering and backend computerisation, the stages of
e-governance should be kept in mind. In the first phase, e-Governance merely
means a simple presence on the web which provides the public with relevant
Government to Citizen (G Examples of such services are filing tax returns,
extending/renewal of licenses, online application for visa and passports,
online voting and e-procurement applications. Phase three is made complex
because of security and personalisation issues, such as the necessity of
digital (electronic) signatures to enable legal transfer of services. It is
also the phase which requires maximum process reengineering and change
management within the government functioning. The fourth phase is when all
information systems are integrated and the public can get G Avoid Big Bang Waterfall Method. Requirements for regular run
of the mill projects in the IT industry are usually captured to the last
detail in various project documents such as functional requirement study,
requirement traceability matrix, high level design, system requirement study,
low level design etc which are duly vetted by the client. These requirements
are then communicated by business analysts to the software development team
so that they may translate the requirement into software, working peacefully
in their zones of comfort. Once the development is completed, the client
checks the software against the earlier documented requirements and
acceptance testing is done. The project is thus rolled out as in a smooth
waterfall model, without much change in requirements from one stage to the
next. On the other hand, adopting the waterfall method for
e-governance applications runs the risk of failure since this method is not
capable to cater to the change in requirements and priorities, which is the
rule rather than exception in the government setup. Government departments
typically perform multiple functions involving complex processes. New tasks,
schemes and projects are added ever so often. For many functions, there are
no documented standard procedures and processes. For others, the actual
practice varies from one office to another even within the same department.
Such continually evolving and non-standardised processes compound the problem
of capturing and freezing the requirements for software development in a
single cycle. Information/ requirements which were relevant at the time of
initial study by the software development team may become redundant by the
time the product is readied for user acceptance by the concerned department. This would cause initiation of another cycle of study,
documentation, development and testing, causing a hiatus in the project
rollout. By the time the next version of software is presented, the department
officials may have lost interest or even more likely, priorities may have
changed, especially with a new boss at the helm of affairs who would be keen
to put his stamp on the project. This leads to an endless loop of requirement
study and subsequent development- a sure recipe of failure. Therefore,
adopting the traditional waterfall method for software development within the
e-Governance domain is likely to be time con-suming, especially if
application software is to be developed de novo or even if there is a
commercial off the shelf product readily available. Adopt Agile. Instead of taking years to completely automate
all the processes of a department or an activity using the traditional
waterfall software development life cycle, an agile methodology is more
likely to succeed. Agile software development is an interactive process that
allows small development teams to develop software in a collaborative
environment that is responsive to business change. Development is done in
short iterations, each iteration adding incremental functionality to the
software. This methodology involves prototyping – the use of a working model
of the final system, which users can see, comment on, and have revised before
the final version is produced. This ensures that the design matches real user
needs. It also provides the flexibility to quickly react to changes in the
environment. From the government officials’ perspective, however, it needs
greater involvement, commitment and focus on the working product. The e-mitra application software for
the Common Service Centres and the LITES project (MIS for the Pending
Government Court Cases) are examples of successful of e-governance
implementations in Rajasthan following the agile methodology. Government procurement framework, however, does not facilitate
adoption of agile methodology, since it is typically based fixed cost models.
Rajasthan, as also some other states have found a way out for building
software using agile methodology by getting work done on man-month rates,
discovered through open bidding processes. It is suggested that even in cases
where traditional waterfall methodology is used, software can be built
incrementally in stages. A related methodology is prototyping – the use of a working
model of the final system, which users can see, comment on, and have revised
before the final version is produced. Another recommended practice is
piloting – implementing the e-government system on a small scale at a single
site or office; learning and improving the system; and only then rolling out
on a large scale to all sites. Adoption of these methods has been shown to
increase the chances of project success. Internal Ownership and External Facilitation Are Both
Necessary. Because of their very nature, e-Governance projects need external
facilitation and encouragement. In fact, an e-Governance project may not even
be conceived without external support and encouragement. However, without
ownership within the department for whom the e-Governance project is being
implemented, e-governance initiatives may never be successful. Not only
should the strategic and critical components be decided by the internal users
but they should take complete ownership of the project. Any project, IT or
non- IT, is doomed for disaster if totally outsourced. While the role of
vendors in triggering the conceptualisation of a project should be welcomed,
it should not so happen that the government department loses control and the
project is totally vendor driven. Private companies can definitely play the
part of subject matter experts and update government functionaries with the
latest technological developments and trends in e-Governance across other
states thereby aiding them in conceptualizing and implementing IT projects.
However, at the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the concerned
government department to freeze requirements and specifications in keeping
with their needs rather than in line with the features of COTS software. It may be noted that the Government Department of Information
Technology or e-governance Societies and companies, which most of the States
have established, in this sense, are also outsiders and cannot totally take
over the role of the end user government department, when they are asked to
implement a project. The requirements of the departments are best understood
only by internal department users, and so, a project executed independently
by the state IT Company, Society or Department for another government
department without involvement and ownership by the client department is also
likely to fail. The role of the State IT departments is to encourage and
facilitate e-governance and act as a change driver; establish the IT
infrastructure including the data centre, network and the CSCs for use by
other government departments; build generic and application software for use
by multiple departments; act as the technology consultant to government
departments and build standards and meta data. Top-down Approaches Are Likely to Result in Failure After long
drawn out consultations with senior officers of all involved government
departments, we in Rajasthan built software for application for and delivery
of various certificates – bona fide residence, caste, income, solvency, etc.
Government orders were issued by the departments providing legal sanctity to
these certificates. The objective was to make available at the doorsteps of
villagers digitally signed certificates through the CSCs so as to reduce the
time and money involved in travelling to the tehsil office. The application
was launched with great fanfare by the Hon’ble Chief Minister. It was
expected that this citizen centric scheme would be demand driven as it would
save not only money and time but also provide hassle free services to the citizens.
However, the scheme did not take off as expected even after a couple of
months despite training and publicity. A quick evaluation revealed that it had increased the burden
of the sanctioning officers (the Tehsildars) as the process of affixing digital
signatures was very slow and cumbersome. The application software was then
improved to be more user friendly for Tehsildars and computerized issuance of
digitally signed certificates quickly gained popularity, amongst both
citizens and department officials. An important lesson was learnt in the
process. The first attempt at the project – which took a top-down approach –
was a failure. The second attempt ensured that the lower and middle level
users were involved with the project. Their ideas were incorporated into the
design, and the process of involvement also helped develop their commitment.
Involvement of the lowest level of functionaries right from the beginning is
essential for gaining the support of the users. The Project Must Answer “What’s in it For Me?” for all Key
Stakeholders Key stakeholders – officers, employees, operators, users,
citizens, etc – must support an e-governance initiative. To garner
stakeholder support in any project, it must prove advantageous to that
stakeholder. Many e-governance projects fail as the employees feel that their
job is threatened or their position undermined. While allaying such fears,
the application software should offer benefits like reducing filing hassles
or repetitive work. Benefit to the citizens, especially, must be kept
uppermost in mind while conceptualizing e-Governance projects. If a project
offers no or little utility to citizens, it is likely to die a natural death. In other words, the e-governance project must provide each
stakeholder with at least some positive answer to the question: “What’s does
this project have in it for me?” Project Management Skills are Critical for Success It is well documented that e-governance projects have cost and
time overruns. Very often, major risks and issues in the project are not
addressed in a timely fashion. The end product is often not in line with the
user requirements. Such phenomena point to poor project management. It needs
to be understood that project management is different from general
management, especially so in the e-Governance arena. If a manager is managing
his department well, it is not necessary that he will be a good project
manager. Use of project management software is recommended. Since knowledge
of project management tools is limited in the government, option to use the
project management software of consultants and system integrators should be
explored. Sustained Leadership is a Prerequisite Yeates, D. & Cadle, J. (1996) in their book Project
Management for Information Systems differentiate between managers and leaders
as follows– “The difference between leadership and management was once summed
up in the following way by someone looking out of our office window in Covent
Garden in central London: ‘Imagine there’s a sudden power failure in the
London underground rail system. The system halts and all the lights go out.
In the central control room someone is marshalling resources, implementing
the standby facilities, rescheduling the trains, calling the emergency
services. That’s management. Someone else is walking along the darkened
platform with a torch bringing a trainload of people to safety. That’s
leadership.’” e-Governance projects are complex; involve multiple
stakeholders, many times interdepartmental; and entail reengineering age-old governmental
procedures and change management. They need effective managers as well as
inspirational leaders. Effective leadership is needed to ensure a strong focus while
directing, pushing or encouraging the government officials in the
implementation of e-governance projects. Moreover, the leadership has to be
sustained as these projects are long term. Frequent change in government
functionaries puts e-Governance projects in jeopardy. e-Bhumi and Aadhaar
based PDS system of Andhra Pradesh are but a couple of examples which have
succeeded due to sustained and effective leadership. L1 Based Selection May Prove To Be Penny Wise Pound Foolish Much work has already been done across However, it is not likely to yield the desired application
software required for complex e-governance projects. Software is an
intellectual property, which cannot be developed by a vendor selected on cost
considerations alone. The quality of the software will depend on the quality
of the software development professionals and the development and testing
processes used by the vendor. A Combined Cost and Quality Selection method
is, thus, highly desirable. Moreover, the technical scoring criterion needs
to be appropriately designed. A criterion giving high weight to the size,
experience and repute of a company may not suffice. The quality of the whole project
team, the development methodology and the testing strategy and tools should
also be scrutinized while evaluating the proposals. Success entails 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration E-governance projects are not technology projects as much as they
are governance projects. Indeed, the ‘e’ in e-Governance is only a small
element. Getting the ‘governance’ right is the harder task as the road from
project conceptualisation to implementation involves a multitude of tasks and
activities including procurement, stakeholder management, process
re-engineering, change management, training and capacity building, etc. This
requires sheer hard work and perseverance, motivated by a strong desire to
serve the public and an unwavering commitment to improve governance. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Over the last few decades, citizens’ expectations from governments
have increased, thereby enhancing the pressure on the governments to improve
public service. Fortunately, a wonderful combination of modern ICT
technologies like cloud computing, Various governments around the world and many state
governments in our country are expanding the scope and use of e-governance in
efficient, hassle free and cost effective delivery of information and public
services. The objective of governments, especially in our country, so far has
been to provide electronic services to the citizens. We have followed a
service-centric approach in our country. The Electronic Delivery of Services
Bill, 2012 is further testimony to this approach. Similarly, in Rajasthan,
the transparency in Public Procurement Act provides for electronic
procurement as a means of public procurement. While this is desirable as this
is an important function of governments, it is to be understood that all
services need information or data –census, election, ration related, land
records or even documents or information presented through websites – and so
an information-centric approach is also necessary. The information-centric approach focuses on data creation and
its regular updation in electronic form, without worrying about the final
form of presentation – web pages or through the mobile or in printed format.
The spotlight is on making available reliable, accurate and up to date data,
which is device-agnostic. This will require, where data is unstructured,
converting it into structured data with the help of meta data. While
preparing, storing, organising and managing data, one must focus on
customers’ requirements. I use the word customers because they include not
only citizens but also government users – both internal to the department as
well as external for inter-department sharing, thereby avoiding duplication
of data. This information can then be made available using open and
interoperable standards through web APIs for use by various agencies. This
approach is useful because it separates the data layer from the final
presentation layer. The same data can be used to present it on a desktop,
laptop or smart phone. Moreover, the data can made available to a citizen in
the form of information or to the software developer for use in application
software to deliver citizen-centric services or to another department for
inter-departmental use. Such an approach helps us in providing
services—“anywhere, anytime, on any device”. There have been varying degrees of success in the area of
e-governance in our country. Governments which have demonstrated leadership
through the will of political leaders, senior officers, CIOs and line staff
to support e-governance have succeeded more than others in providing
information services electronically to the citizens. Besides political will,
it requires an army of committed IT and e-governance champions, managers and
technologists from the public and private sector. Governments need to
seriously work on creating this workforce. The Government of Rajasthan has
taken a number of steps in this direction. It is the first state to have a
created a separate cadre of IT professionals in the Department of Computers
in 1989 (later rechristened Department of Information Technology and
Communication). We are pioneers, along with From
http://egov.eletsonline.com UP Plans
to Roll Out 60 e-Gov Services by 2013 “We are evaluating all possible services, which could be
rendered through common service centres in rural areas. We have also formed a
committee of district magistrates in some districts to evaluate the kind of
services, which can be provided electronically. We would be setting up 17,000
more common service centres in UP in near future, and are trying and testing
various pilot programmes under e-Governance scheme,” National Informatics
Centre Deputy Director General (UP) S B Singh said. The state government is
working in collaboration with three companies to bridge the digital gap
between urban and rural There are around 12,828 CSCs in the state and the government
plans to roll out 18,745 more by early next year. The state government had
launched 26 e-Governance services under Departments of Food & Civil
Supplies, Panchayati Raj, Urban Development, Revenue, Women Welfare and Child
Development, Training & Employment, Handicap Welfare and Social Welfare. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com “E-Governance
Has Gained Momentum in the Country” How do you see the development of e-Governance ecosystem in
the country? e-Governance has already acquired considerable amount of
momentum in the country. There is a healthy competition in the states to
implement new e-Governance ideas in every area where there is an interface
between citizens and the government. There is now a growing realisation in
the government circles that the ability of the government departments to
deliver is being acutely tested. There is so much pressure due to rising
population and increase in the general expectations of the people that
despite the best efforts, there is a mismatch between the capacity to deliver
and the expectations. And this gap between the general expectations from the
rising population and the capacity of the government to deliver can be
bridged only through modern technology and e-Governance. It is during the last five to seven years that e-Governance
has really gathered momentum. Many new initiatives have been launched and
have been well received by the public. Can you name some e-Governance
projects that you think have brought maximum benefits? The point is that
different departments, states and ministries are involved in the creation of
these e-Governance projects. Each of them has its own set of priorities and
aims. Different e-Governance projects are serving different sections of the
population and so it is not desirable that we compare them. Many states are
doing exceedingly well in providing benefits to the common man through the
electronic route. Now we are trying to encourage the states that rather than
reinventing the wheel every time, they should try to replicate the successful
models from other states. So now we are having many successful e-Governance projects
getting replicated across different states. While implementing tried and
tested applications, with some minor customisation, you can avoid the risk of
creating something that might not be as useful as expected. For instance,
there is the e-Pass project from Andhra Pradesh that is going to be
implemented in a number of other states that have shown interest. Similarly
the Human Resource Management, application developed by the National
Informatics Centre (NIC), is being tried out and implemented in a number of
states. Vision for Year 2013.“Our vision for 2013 consists of
successful implementation of the e-District project, successful implementation
of pilot projects for taking advantage of NOFN project and the rapid
replication of successful e-Governance projects” Is there a move being made
to put the successful e-Governance projects on some kind of app store, from
where the interested states can access them in an easy manner? Precisely. We
are working with the idea of creating an e-Governance app store. Different
states will be able to access the app store and pick up the apps that are
most suitable for the specific needs of their population. What kind of growth
can we expect in e-Governance systems in the country? Now e-Governance has
acquired considerable amount of acceptability with the public and the
governance circles. I see e-Governance as something that has now acquired a
critical mass and in the coming years we can expect a quantum jump in the
number of initiatives being launched. A larger proportion of services will be
delivered through e-Governance systems. In the central ministries, a large
number of e-Governance projects have already been implemented under the
National e-Governance Plan (NeGP); a number of other ministries are in the
process of implementing their own e-Governance systems. e-Governance will
gain even more momentum by the fact that it will soon acquire a statuary
backing. In a number of states the Electronic Delivery of Services
(EDS) rules have been notified. Model EDS rules have already been circulated.
Some states have already notified these rules; others are in the process of
doing so. This will make it mandatory for government departments to deliver
services through the electronic mode. At the Centre also the EDS Bill has
already been examined by the Standing Committee of the Parliament. Its
recommendations have been received, have been processed and the revised Bill
could soon go to the Parliament. The UIDAI project has now advanced across We have a substantial amount of digital divide in the country
because of which educated people residing in urban areas are taking advantage
of the e-Governance systems, while those living in rural areas are unable to
do so. How do we ensure that the digitally illiterate sections of our
population are also able to access the e-Governance initiatives? You see,
every citizen in the country has the right to receive better e-Governance
facilities. It does not matter if he is educated and urban, or digitally
illiterate and poor. Each and every citizen in the country must enjoy easy
access to public services conveniently, without having to run to various
government departments. Whether he is living in rural area or in urban area,
he must have access to the government services from his doorstep. This is the
vision of the NeGP. However, I agree that those who are more affluent and
have access to personal devices can take better advantage of e-Governance
systems. And there is also the issue of digital illiteracy. All these issues need to be addressed
and that is why the NeGP thought of the Common Service Centres (CSCs). Today the CSCs have spread all across the country. Currently
we are having close to one lakh CSCs, and the idea is to gradually increase
their number to 2.5 lakh, in which case we will have one CSC operating in
every Panchayat in the country. So the CSCs are rendering digital services in
the rural areas also. Of course, in rural areas we are also facing issues
like connectivity, power supply, but these issues are also being addressed.
Some of the CSCs are not proving to be financially viable. There is lot of
talk about increasing the scope of the
services that are being provided by the CSCs. Please tell us about it.
Now under the new flagship programme, the e-District, the CSCs are going to
play a very important role. Under e-District, the CSCs will become the front
end for delivery of a very large volume of benefits and services. As far as
the financial viability of the CSCs is concerned, I would say that it is a
circle. If the CSCs render more services, they become more financially
viable. It also depends upon how many essential services are being made
available through them. It depends on the back-end digitisation and the creation of
other infrastructure by the state. Once the CSCs become popular, they become
viable also. Even in the project for direct transfer of financial benefits,
it has been decided that the CSCs will be an important vehicle. Hence they
are being appointed as Business Correspondents for such transactions. This
can give them a new impetus and significantly improve their viability.
Healthcare and education are the two areas of concern in the country. Many
sections of our population find it difficult to access quality healthcare and
education. What is your vision for improving these critical areas through the
use of ICT? A lot of work is being done for improving the healthcare and
education sector through the use of modern digital technologies. We have
telemedicine in healthcare sector and digital education systems in education
sector. Many states have already started using digital means to monitor the
general healthcare parameters; they are using it to keep a track of the
health of patients, of pregnant mothers, etc. Digital tools are also being
used for distribution of medicines at subsidised rates or for free.
Similarly, modern education is being revolutionised through the usage of
modern technology. The payroll management of teachers, the monitoring of
presence of teachers in classrooms located in remote areas or even the
evaluation of the students is being done digitally. What are the main challenges in the path of e-Governance in
the country? How do you plan to overcome these challenges? Of course, there
are difficulties to be faced in everything that you do. Many of these
initiatives require a dedicated team. But the departments where the
e-Governance initiatives are being launched are already overburdened with existing
work. So what we have felt is that unless there are dedicated mission teams
and empowered mission leaders, the project implementation suffers. That is an
important element; the other element is that of capacity building. The
success of e-Governance is dependent upon the government officials in the
department being fully comfortable with the digital technologies. These
challenges are already well-recognised and a number of steps are being taken
to encourage the creation of dedicated teams and capacity building. A
committee has recently been set up by the Hon’ble Prime Minister under Nandan
Nilekani to look at the entire issue of creating a human resource for
e-Governance projects. The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is now being laid
down to provide connectivity to all the panchayats in the country. What kind
of impact will this system have on e-Governance systems in the country? NOFN
is a very ambitious project, as it plans to connect all the 2,50,000
panchayats in the country through high-speed network. At present Optical
Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity is available in all state capitals, districts,
headquarters and up to the block level. NOFN will achieve its objectives by
utilising existing fibres of PSUs (BSNL, Railtel and Power Grid) and laying
incremental fibre to connect to panchayats wherever necessary. Thus,
connectivity gap between panchayats and blocks will be filled. Up to the
panchayat level, we will be having high-speed broadband, but ultimately it
will depend on the users to find out the ways by which this kind of
connectivity is to be put to use. So it is the different Ministries and the
States that will have to take advantage of the NOFN by providing services
through a process of connecting all their offices to the panchayats. Currently,
we are trying to demonstrate how this high-speed network can be put to good use through pilot
projects, which are on in three states, namely – Andhra Pradesh,Rajasthan and
Tripura. We are also trying to convince various state governments that by
December 2013, when the NOFN is expected to be completed, they should have
enough applications to take advantage of the high-speed connectivityto the
panchayat level. In a linguistically diverse country like From
http://egov.eletsonline.com The Internet is a critical socio-economic enabler, which has
deep impact on the economy, social order, law and order and the fabric of the
nation itself. Its impact is only going to amplify as we move forward,
especially when things start getting connected to each other and when the
next generation of the Internet, IPV6 enabled Internet, starts getting rolled
out. It would imply that your automobile
can get connected to the cloud computing facility of the manufacturer
for automatic analytics of the health of the automobile. As per some
estimates, the number of Internet- connected devices globally crossed 6
billion in 2011, and is expected to reach 15 billion, twice the size of the
world’s population, before 2016. More than six billion mobile phone
subscriptions are in use today, and the number is expected to cross 8 billion
by 2016. Mobile data traffic reached 597 petabytes in 2011, twice the amount
of 2010, and is estimated to cross 10 exabytes by 2016. Broadband
subscribers, estimated at 1 billion in 2011, are forecast to grow at 40
percent per annum, and reach 3.5 billion in 2016. As a large part of the
growth is to take place in the developing countries of Asia, The Internet started as a means of sharing information amongst
scientist working in different institutions. From that, it is becoming —if
not already become—the communications backbone of the world. It is a major
economic driver, provides banking and other financial services to world’s
business, provides a global market place and is replacing the conventional
print and visual media. Internet is now ubiquitous in today’s world. Cutting
off an enterprise or a country from the internet would have severe
consequences. This of course immediately also brings out the dangers that are
emerging in such an interconnected world. The Internet can be used to bring
down the telecommunications network of different countries, its banks and
even its’ power grid. In Therefore, a clear governance structure for the Internet, that
is aligned to the long-term growth of the Internet and that is aligned to the
interests of the economy and national security, is necessary for a healthy
socio-economic functioning of a modern economy. Internet Governance includes,
but is not limited to, the following key issues: •
Infrastructure and management of critical internet resources, including
administration of the domain name system and Internet protocol addresses,
administration of the root server system, technical standards, network
neutrality, and multilingualisation; • Issues in
the use of the Internet, including spam, network security and cybercrime; • Issues of
wider impact such as Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), freedom of expression,
data protection and privacy rights, consumer rights and International Trade;
and, •
Developmental aspects, in particular, capacity-building. From a socio-economic perspective, it impacts issues such as
sovereignty over the Internet/ Free usage of Internet and interconnects,
issues of Transborder data exchange and therefore its impact on Cloud
Computing, issues of Data protection, the freedom of Internet, privacy,
cyber-warfare and the issue of global ban on use of Cyber-weapons and
cyber-security. Under the existing system of Internet governance, the
International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) performs two
principal functions: • The
Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) function whereby it controls entries
to the authoritative Root Zone File of the Internet • The
management of the Domain Name
System (DNS) and the allocation of Top Level Domain (TLD) names. The function of allocation of TLD has been recently renewed as
a perpetual contract, known as the Affirmation of Commitments between ICANN and the US Government.
The IANA function has also been renewed for a seven-year period beginning 01
October 2012. The IANA function is overseen by the National Telecommunication
and Information Administration under the US Department of Commerce. Technical
standards are set by the Internet Engineering Task Force [IETF]. The central
elements of the Internet’s logical infrastructure, also called Critical
Internet Resources, thus continue to be managed by private entities such as
ICANN and IANA under contractual arrangements with the US Government. The
United Nations established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2005 to
discuss the issues of Global Internet Governance. However, UN/IGF does not
have the organisational structure or the mandate to agree on decisions and
the enforcement mechanism to implement them. There is therefore an urgent
need to bring in participation by Governments, especially from the developing
countries, in order to establish a multilateral, transparent and democratic Internet
governance mechanism that functions with the full involvement of Governments,
the private sector, civil society and international organisations, without
according a pre-eminent role to any single Government or organization.
Government of From
http://egov.eletsonline.com What changes and improvements did you notice on e-Governance
front in the year 2012? What policies and reforms are you looking forward to in 2013
for making the e-Governance sector more successful? A major policy that will
decide the fate of e-Governance is the one that can track and measure the
progress of any initiative. A proper roadmap must be in place for the sector
to drive this long-term systematic change to be successful. Rather than
having different online portals for various initiatives, there should be an
initiative to have a common single portal with a sin- glesign on policy for
all public services. States need to work with the Centre to come up with
better policies. Initiatives need to be prioritised to be implemented based
on the ease of implementation and its criticality. Business processes that
need to be restructured must be identified early on and redesigned keeping in
mind the acts, laws and regulations that govern them. The push from the
Central Government to give software development and hosting work to National
IT companies needs to be re-thought if we want to be on par with other
developing nations. e-Governance must also focus on mobile apps since that is
the future of ICT. In what ways do you think your company can engage more with
the government for ICT initiatives in the year 2013? ESDS is a high
specification, carrier-neutral, fully-managed data centre built on the
concept of Talking about sectoral reforms and expectations, what are some
specific expectations from the government for your specific sector? From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Challenges
and Opportunities in e-Governance Uschi Schreiber, Managing Partner, Global Government &
Public Sector Industry Centre, Ernst & Young (E&Y). “I am touched by
seeing the passion that technology arouses in people; this clearly indicates
an awareness of the difference that technology will bring to their lives,”
says Uschi Schreiber, in conversation with Nayana Singh. Provide us with an
overview of the work that Ernst & Young (E&Y) is doing with
governments worldwide. E&Y works with government clients in several
places. These clients belong to both developed economies as well as emerging
markets. When it comes to emerging markets, the governments are facing the problems
of poor infrastructure. The growing trends of urbanisation is the result of
more jobs being available in urban areas. This is resulting in increasing
demand for education, in such places. In the emerging markets, the
governments are facing very long term issues. Some of these include critical
issues such as ageing population. These developed economies face the need of
replacing outdated infrastructure. To add to this, there is the challenge of
very short term political cycles which make it difficult to carry out
longterm plans. We have witnessed our clients seeking new solutions to
address tricky and difficult long term issues. There is also a third category
of countries – the breakout of economies like What steps must government of What is E&Y’s outlook on growth? The forecasts that I am
coming across, indicate that the breaks in economy would continue to persist.
However, You recently had E&Y Global Government Leaders conference
in Mumbai. What are the key takeaways from the conference? The conference has
reinforced our belief in our strength globally and our efficiency of
functioning in both government as well as in public sector. We have the most
intelligent workforce and we work with the best clients. Through the
conference we got to know that our clients are looking for some new
solutions. Some solutions have become really outdated with the government. We
are working with the governments as their partners to develop those
solutions. What are the key areas that central and stage governments in From
http://egov.eletsonline.com e-Governance
Initiative of MoUD Among the major e-Governance initiatives being implemented in
Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and in its various attached offices are e-Awas in Directorate of
Estates, e-sewa in CPWD, e-dharti in Land and Development office and Project
Management Information System
(PMIS) for Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). MoUD is
also ensuring implementation of e-Governance across the country through its
mandatory e-Governance reforms to be achieved for claiming funds for
urban infrastructure projects
under JnNURM. Under e-Governance reform, urban local bodies are ensuring
online birth and death registration, property tax, accounting, water supply
and utilities, citizens grievance redressal, personnel management system,
building plan approval as well as procurement and monitoring of projects.
This leads to transparency, better information management, improved service
delivery and overall improvement in urban governance across departments at
all levels. Implementation of PMIS by the Ministry has resulted in providing
online and up-to-date information by the States and the Ministry, for
management and monitoring of projects approved under JnNURM. Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM)
was launched by the Government of India on 3rd December 2005, envisaging an
investment of more than `1,00,000 crore during a period of seven years from
2005-06 to 2011-12 with a committed Central Government share of `66,000
crore. JnNURM is a reform driven, fast track programme to ensure planned
development of identified cities with focus on efficiency in urban
infrastructure/ service delivery mechanisms, and through community
participation and enhanced accountability of ULBs/parastatal agencies towards
citizens. The programme has resulted in facilitating large scale investments
in the urban sector and ushered, policy and institutional reforms, leading to
sustainable socio-economic growth in the cities. The programme focuses,
higher level of resources and management attention to 65 select cities across
the country. 35 cities with million plus population, other State capitals and
cities of heritage and tourism importance comprise the 65 551 projects at a total cost of `61,905 crore have been
sanctioned under the UIG for 65 Process flow of PMIS The PMIS Website ensures step by step process flow right from
detailed project report (DPR) submission, State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA)
appraisal, project approval by SLSC and approval by the Ministry. SLNAs are
submitting utilisation certificates as well as Quarterly Progress Reports
(QPRs) on-line for Ministry to take appropriate action for release of
subsequent instalment to the States. SLNA are uploading the completion
certificate on the PMIS website once the project is completed. In the process
of PMIS development, the responsibility of State/ ULB includes registration
of ULB, submission of Detailed Projects Report (DPRs), appraisal of DPRs,
submission of Utilisation Certificate and QPRs and completion certificates.
The Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for further appraisal of
SLSC approved DPR through its technical wings, disbursement of Additional
Central Assistance (ACA) and incentives. On release of instalment, MoUD
updates the States on PMIS along with scanned copy of release order issued by
Ministry of Finance (MoF), Department of Expenditure so that SLNA may utilise
the funds for implementation of projects. Special features in PMIS PMIS allows the users i.e. officials from MoUD, TCPO,
officials of SLNA to easily access and use the website. Online user guide is
available on the home page of the website so that the users may understand
the process flow and smooth navigation of the website. The homepage has the
facility for user to register on-line by creating his user id and password
for further access to the PMIS website. The facilities of forgotten password,
transaction history as well as helpdesk are also available on the home page
for user friendly application of the website. A special feature has been
created on the home page so that the summary of No. of projects sanctioned
under the sector, No. of projects
completed, approved cost, ACA committed and ACA released is displayed in a
box once the mouse is brought on that
particular sector. The overall summary of UIDSSMT is automatically
displayed once the mouse is brought on the circle in the centre. Conclusion PMIS has brought transparency and speed in the urban
infrastructure project management and monitoring at the State and Central
level. The availability of the documents on funds releases by MoF and
completion certificate by the States could be ensured to the fullest extent. Information could be
extracted from the MIS for smooth handling of Parliament Questions/ VIP
references, etc. Data
analysis on funds releases, project completion and for the purpose of
future line of action relating to approval of new projects, optimum
utilisation of funds, etc., is possible with the help of PMIS. Comparison of
States based on completion of projects as well as utilisation of funds can
also be done with the help of PMIS. This IT enabled tool is thus facilitating
smoother and more efficient implementation and monitoring of JnNURM. Project ID Nomenclature. For the ease of understanding, the
facility of online generation of alpha-numeric project ID has been created
and project ID is generated once the project is approved online by the Ministry.
Project ID contains first two digits for the State code, next two digits for
the District code, next two digits represent ULB code of the District, next
is the Urban Sector code, next three digits represent running Sl.No. under
the particular Urban Sector. For example, project ID UP/10/01/ SWM/018 is for
a project in the State of Uploading of Documents on PMIS On utilisation of 70 percent funds and completion of urban
sector reforms, the utilisation certificate submitted online by the SLNA is
processed for release of subsequent installment and sanction letter is sent
to the Ministry of Finance. On
release of the installment by the MoF release order is uploaded on the PMIS
website for information of the SLNA, which can then withdraw funds from the
State exchequer for further implementation of the project. Management Information System (MIS) MIS link provided on PMIS website has further links – (i)
Project at a Glance (ii) Details of ACA Released and (iii) Registered States
and Users. On navigation of project at a glance link, information can be
retrieved on State-wise and Sector-wise Status of projects showing number of
projects, number of projects completed, approved cost, total ACA and ACA
released as well asproject status – completed / in progress. On further
drilling down on this page, Summary Sheet of individual project and ULB is
retrieved. The facility of retrieving release order of the MoF and completion
certificate on clicking on the links instalment date and completion
respectively exits. Under the link – Details of ACA Released, financial
information for a particular State, particular sector for particular
financial year is available. Multiple options for choosing financial year(s),
State, Sector, Project Status, etc., can be exercised to have desired
information required for dealing with matters relating to Parliament
Questions, VIP references, etc. Online Generation of UC & QPR QPRs are generated online by the SLNA that shows the extent of
funds utilised, Stage-wise project implementation including percentage of
progress by end of every quarter. The QPR also provides information on
progress of all 23 reforms at ULB level, State level as well as optional
level reforms. The reform achievement determines further release of
instalment to the State by the Centre. Project Management Information System (PMIS), The PMIS system
has been implemented to achieve the following objectives:- • To provide online and up-to-date information for management
and monitoring of projects by the JnNURM Directorate, MoUD • To allow JnNURM Directorate and TCPO: • To update status of the projects with respect to appraisal
and approval. • To update data in respect of funds sanctioned and released. • To upload Sanction Orders and Release Orders. • To allow SLNAs to enter data for projects of all ULBs under
their control and monitoring. • To allow SLNAs to submit DPR, UCs and QPRs online for
release of funds and project monitoring From
http://egov.eletsonline.com In line with the state level approach UP has selected Kanpur
Municipal Corporation as their first ULB for preparation of DPR and pilot
implementation of state level software solution. Once the software solution
at state level is available then remaining ULBs in mission cities/state will
be able to roll out this solution, with minimal changes to the main state level
solution. Varanasi Municipal Corporation would be joining the state level
solution being developed by Kanpur Municipal Corporation. The fund for ICT
infrastructure will be released only after the state wide solution is
operational, and an audit report is provided, reporting completeness of all
modules that VMC needs. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Panel
Submits Report on HR Policy for E-Gov Projects It has also recommended an enhanced role of NIC (National
Informatics Centre) as a technology adviser to the government. It has
suggested various policy interventions required to build internal
competencies and growing internal resource pool in the government with
institutionalised training and capacity building mechanisms. ”We need to take
all these recommendation process to the government and then take it at the
highest level for approval of the Cabinet,” the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY), Secretary J Satyanarayana said. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Assam’s
E-Gov Module Wins Top Award It confers a legal status to the document and provides a
measure of security to the transaction and minimises scope of disputes.
Process re-engineering through application of Information Technology (IT) has
brought about a remarkable change in the service delivery system and improved
efficiency in the offices by eliminating the need to manually create and then
store physical registers and other records, the award committee said. The
Projects for Transformation of Mineral and Administration through
e-Governance of the government of Karnataka and Online Voting System (OVS) of
the state Election Commission of Gujarat have been selected for the Silver
and Bronze Icons respectively in the category of Excellence in Government
Process Re-engineering. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com NIELIT has been playing a key role in improving the reach and
scope of IT related education in the country. What is your vision for the
organisation? There is going to be a vast increase in the scope of work that
NIELIT has been doing. NIELIT has been set up to carry out Human Resource
Development and related activities in the area of Information, Electronics
& Communication Technology (IECT). The organisation has its headquarters
in The organisation is engaged both in the formal and non formal
education in the area of IECT. It also concentrates on developing industry
oriented quality education and training. It is establishing standards for
becoming the country’s premier institution for examination and certification
in the field of IECT. Today NIELIT is a National Examination Body, which
accredits institutes/organisations for conducting courses particularly in the
non- formal sector of IT Education & Training. Our vision for the
organisation is to make NIELIT an institute of national importance in the
field of IT, electronics, e-Governance and education. NIELIT can become of a
stature that is similar to the IIT or IIM, with the permission and the
blessings of the Hon’ble Parliament. At times students face problems as they are unable to access
course content in their own language. What steps is NIELIT taking to help
such students? NIELIT has developed CCC e-content in all the constitutionally
recognised Indian languages except in Santhali. The e-contents of CCC has
also been devel- oped in Mizo and Kokborok. The e-contents have been made
available on a dedi- cated e-learning portal “http://elearn.doeacc.edu.in”
for free access by students. We are in the process of developing e-content
for other courses and we are also planning to conduct online examinations.
NIELIT is now undertaking projects concerned with capacity building in the
field of e-Governance. Tell us about it. As you might know, NIELIT will be
undertaking projects to conduct e-Governance training for various cadres of
Central and State Government officials with funding support of Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. NIELIT has conducted one workshop for the
Cabinet of Bihar. It is also conducting e-Gov Capacity Building for senior
officers in Delhi Government. Capacity building in the area of e-Governance
is of great importance to the nation, and we are keen to contribute our mite
in it. To take this up, our team of senior directors was in NISG (National
Institute for Smart Governance), Tell us about the work that you have been doing for NPR.
NIELIT is the Nodal Implementing Agency on DeitY (Department of Electroncs
and Information Technology) for the data digitisation for the creation of
National Population Register (NPR) project of Registrar General of India
(RGI). Data digitisation work for UT Chandigarh has been completed on pilot
basis in March 2012. In Phase I, the data digitisation work of 25 urban zones
have been completed and data digitisation in respect of 19 rural zones are
expected to be completed shortly. In Phase II, for 48 rural zones, the
contract has been awarded to successful bidders and work is in progress and
is expected to be completed by March, 2013. You have been associated with IT Industry for almost 28 years.
Before taking over as MD, NIELET, you had been serving as Managing Director,
RajCOMP, and Director Technical RajCOMP Info Services Ltd. In that capacity
you had been instrumental in executing many IT and e-Governance Projects for
the Government of Rajasthan. Tell us about the main issues that you have
faced in bringing the benefits of IT to the masses. Every IT project comes
with its own set of unique challenges. And when the project is from the field
of e-Governance, then the challenges become more complicated, as in such
cases we also have to look at governance issues, along with IT. When a
project is being implemented, multiple issues related to Vendor Management,
Technical Management, Finance Management, HR Management, Legal Management and
over and above the Expectation Management come to the fore. It is possible
that the expectation of the end-users, the citizens, could be totally
different from the expectations of the policy makers. It is a difficult task to bridge the gap between the two sets
of expectations. Also there can be mismatch in terms of time, cost and even
the vision of any project due to changes in government or administrative
setup. While conceiving any e-Governance project, we tend to think that
automation will automatically result in e Governance becoming a reality. We
tend to forget that the IT component in any e-Governance project is only 10
to 15 percent. The major component is management and implementation of the
decision and policy of the government, and that is a much tougher task. At
times, the financial considerations make it impossible for us to go for the
best possible technology in e-Governance projects, so this too is a
challenge. We are unable to hire the most talented experts as they require a
higher salary, the government norms restrict the salary that can be paid to
the experts. Moreover, when we are implementing e-Governance projects, we
think of pilots only and pilot hardly get rolled out because of multiple
reasons. “e-Governance projects will not be able to deliver at the
ground level unless there is capacity building in a big way.” During the last
few years Rajasthan has achieved lot of success in e-Governance
implementations. In your opinion what is the most critical factor for the
successful execution of e-Governance Projects? The capability of government
departments to work as a cohesive team is important. A good team leader and
support from the seniors are the key factors for success of e-Governance
project. In Rajasthan, I achieved a degree of success in execution of NeGP
Projects, after joining as the Managing Director of Rajcomp in June 2009. The
projects that I was involved with are the CSC, State Data Centre (SDC), State
Wide Area Network (SWAN), e-District, State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG),
etc. I have also contributed in the successful launch of the RPSC online.
This all had been possible because of kind support that I have received from
the Secretary (IT), Shri Sanjay Malhotra, Principal Secretary (IT), Shri
Shrimant Pandey. I was also guided by the vision of the leader, Hon’ble Chief
Minister, Shri Ashok Gehlot. In your opinion what is the importance of field experience in
the success of e-Governance projects? Should the government departments focus
on having at least a few people who have the experience of working in the
field? e-Gov Projects face major challenges in terms of shortage of experts
having knowledge of technology with the IT companies. It also faces challenge
in terms of commitment from the top and ownership of the project. It has been
observed that those who have driven motorcycle in the field are different
from those who know how to drive motorcycle on the blackboard. I am pointing
out to the fact that issues being faced in the field are different from those
discussed at policy making forums. At planning stage a project might seem
very a project is very simple but when it is being implemented in the field,
multiple issues related to Vendor Management, Technical Management, Finance
Management, HR Management, Legal Management and over and above the
Expectation Management starts. So field experience is of utmost importance. You have taken over as the Managing Director of NIELET, a
Government of India organisation, engaged in capacity building. What are the
main challenges that you are facing in the new assignment? The new challenge
is a part and parcel of the assignments I have been executing because unless
and until capacity building in the field of IT and e-Governance is undertaken
for government employees and citizens, we will not be able to bring the real
fruits of IT to our citizens. e-Governance projects will not be able to
deliver at the ground level unless there is capacity building in a big way.
In my humble opinion, my new assignment is nothing more than a continuation
of the activities that I have been part of during my earlier years of service.
It provides me with opportunities for using my past experiences of working
with actual projects to design new course content and better ways of delivery
through IT tools. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Creating
Foundations for Effective e-Governance eGovernance has attained considerable amount of traction
during the last few years. Please provide us with an overview of the work
that NeGD is doing in the area of e-Governance. The National e-Governance
Division (NeGD) has been formed to support the Department of Electronics
& Information Technology (DeitY) in programme management of the National
e-Governance Plan (NeGP). NeGD also performs the role of the Secretariat to
the Apex Committee on NeGP. Specifically, NeGD provides support to DeitY in
the areas of programme management, technology management, capacity building,
citizen engagement, evaluation of projects, etc. As part of the capacity
building for NeGP, we are directly responsible for staffing and training of
the State e-Mission Teams (SeMTs). DeitY has entrusted NeGD with the
implementation of the World Bank assisted e-Bharat project. In recent times,
we have played the role of catalyst and think tank for new and evolving
thoughts around the EDS Bill, HR Policy for e-Governance, Citizen Engagement
and Social Media Frameworks, The State e-Mission Teams (SeMTs) have been set up in many
states and union territories. How effective have the SeMT teams been in
furthering the cause of e-Governance in the country? I believe that SeMTs
have played a path breaking role in furthering the cause of e-Governance at
state level. It is perhaps the best capacity building support that NeGP has
provided to the states. In a recent study of the SeMT initiative, states have
overwhelmingly suggested the continuation of the placement of SeMTs. They
stated that the presence of these highly qualified personnel has provided the
much needed support to the state’s IT department and has enabled the states
to develop a state-wide, comprehensive and cohesive view of e-Governance
projects. SeMTs have been instrumental in extending professional support to
track the implementation as well as provide necessary inter-linkages between
various e-Governance projects. Please provide us with an overview of the capacity building
work that NeGD is doing in different parts of the country. NeGD undertakes
capacity building at several levels. At the state level, through our
implementing agency NISG, we conduct Specialised Training for e-Governance
Programme (STeP: http://step.nisg.org/) that is aimed at building basic
sensitisation and skills at all levels of governance. Next, we undertake
highly specialised programme to develop Chief Information Officers (CIOs).
The CIO programme is focussed on building specific skills required to manage
large e-governance projects. Finally, we conduct Leadership Meets in states
which are directed at the political and bureaucratic leadership to ensure
awareness about and support for e-governance programmes at the highest level.
In addition, we conduct specific training programmes as needed by the states
and the central ministries. In what ways has NeGD contributed through the creation of core
policies and by providing technical assistance, R&D and awareness? As I
stated earlier, NeGD plays a very important role in development of new ideas
and does necessary research to enable informed policy formulation. Some of
our notable contributions include EDS Bill, Citizen Engagement and Social
Media Framework, Mobile Service Delivery Framework, HR Policy for
e-Governance, Integrated Public Service Delivery Framework, RFP Toolkit,
Interoperability Standards, etc. For each one of these, NeGD undertook
necessary research, coordinated stakeholder consultations and held intensive
discussions with states and ministries. All this was done in a time bound
manner and I am happy to say that today our outputs are being implemented as
policy measures by the government. NeGD is also providing technical assistance to Central
Ministries and State Line Departments. Tell us about the work that you are
doing in this vertical. The mandate of NeGD is to support the DeitY in the
implementation of the NeGP. Since NeGP spans across various central
ministries and states, we interact and provide necessary support to them in
the areas of programme management, capacity building, technology management,
etc. We are an integral part of many MMP technical committees such as CCTNS,
eBiz, MCA21, etc. We are also playing an important role in formulation of new
MMPs such as Education and Health. Given our unique mix of skill sets,
ministries and states are increasingly approaching us and we are happy to be
of help to them. e-Governance has seen lot of developments during the last few
years. But the expectations of the people from the e-Governance area are also
growing. So how do organisations like NeGD keep pace with the expectations of
the people? NeGD is not a project implementation agency, and does not come in
direct contact with the public. However, I NeGD is alive to the changing
scenario in the field of public service guarantee and citizen charters.
Electronic service delivery would increasingly become the medium of service
delivery by public authorities and NeGD has a critical role to play in
enabling implementing departments in keeping pace with people’s expectation
through its research, assessment and awareness based activities. Towards this
end, various initiatives on which NeGD has worked – EDS Bill, Citizen
Engagement Framework, Mobile Service Delivery Framework, etc would be
supportive. In addition, we are also working on compiling best initiatives in
electronic service delivery and helping in rapid roll out of such
methodologies across the states to enabling implementing departments meet the
raising expectations of the public in a faster timeframe. We are enhancing
our capacity building initiatives to help build sufficient capacities within
the government to cope with such rising demands. Tasks for NeGD Programme Management of NeGP, inter-alia
including facilitating and supporting DIT in undertaking the following tasks
and responsibilities assigned to DIT under NeGP: •Facilitating implementation of NeGP by various Ministries and
State Governments •Providing technical assistance to Central Ministries and
State Line Departments •Serving as a secretariat to the Apex Committee •Undertaking technical appraisal of all NeGP projects to
examine issues such as overall technology architecture, framework, standards,
security policy, service delivery mechanism, sharing of common infrastructure
etc. •Human Resource Development, Training and •Framing core policies, technical assistance, R&D,
awareness and assessment and creation of organization structure •Acting as a Central Agency for an effective implementation of
Capacity Building Scheme inter-alia involving provisioning of manpower at
various SeMTs across States/ UTs Positioning of a Capacity Building Management Cell for
effective management of manpower at SeMTs together with management of other
Scheme activities including training, setting up HR policies, etc. In your opinion what are the key successes achieved by NeGD during
the last few years. Where would you like to see NeGD in next five years? In
my opinion, NeGD’s success is a result of its unique blend of skill sets and
therefore our successes too have been in areas as diverse as our human
resources. On one hand we helped DeitY draft the EDS Bill and on the other
the HR Policy for e-Governance. While one set of experts worked on the
Integrated Framework for Service Delivery Framework other drafted the Citizen
Engagement and Social Media Frameworks. While one team focussed on looking at
integrating Mobiles in Public Service Delivery, another worked on standards
for inter-operability framework for e-governance. As the expectations of
citizens on public service delivery attain higher standards and as new
technologies emerge, e-governance is striving hard to meet these demands.
With such an evolving domain, I visualise a greater role for NeGD in the
coming years. What are the strategies and the systems that NeGD uses for
conducting the technical appraisal of all NeGP projects? The appraisal of all
projects is done in a holistic manner. Some of the key elements that we look
for are – (1) government process reengineering, (2) leveraging of core
service delivery infrastructure i.e. SWAN, SDC, CSC etc., inter-linkages with
other related MMPs, adherence to e-governance standards, capacity building,
change management, awareness and assessment and, most importantly, citizen
service delivery and service levels. Tell us about your vision for
e-Governance in the country? Provide us with an overview of the role that
NeGD is playing in facilitating the implementation of NeGP objectives by
various Ministries and State Governments. In my view, e-Governance is the future of service delivery to
citizens. Citizen Charters and Public Service Guarantees that are being
notified by governments can be best achieved by e-governance. In a few years,
e-governance would transform the way services are delivered in the country.
This larger goal requires tremendous effort on part of government departments.
NeGD would play an important role as a promoter of electronic service
delivery as well as provide the necessary support. The field of e-Governance
is changing at a fast pace. Tell us about personal views on how you see NeGD
developing over the next few years. Given the wide spectrum in which NeGD
today functions, and the request for kind of support that are being received
by us, I visualise NeGD to evolve into a kind of a Think Tank where the blend
of public and private sector professionals will help us define and refine our
country’s vision of e-Governance. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 0206/2013 E-Governance
Is Reaching the Citizens Directly The tagline for the NeGP is “Public Service Closer to Home.”
Is the agenda of bringing public services closer to the citizens being fully
implemented through National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)? Please provide us with
your view on status of e-Governance in the country. If you see the e-Governance
domain at a macro level, then you reach the conclusion that as a country we
have done quite well during the last decade. We have been able to reach out
to the citizens directly and in a more systematic manner through electronic
mode. Now many more departments are able to offer their services to the
citizens through electronic means. The processing times for various services
sought by the citizens have reduced drastically and there is more
transparency as well as accountability. However, despite all the successes
that we have had, we also realise that e-Governance continues to be a work in
progress. We are currently working to develop new e-Governance systems that
will get launched in the near future and we are also engineering further
improvements in the systems that have already been rolled out. I believe that
e-Governance can enable disintermediation of governance, the idea is to
enable people to access the services directly, and on this count, the
e-Governance systems launched in the country have been a success story. Most of the projects that were initially conceived under the
NeGP have by now been largely implemented. The SDCs and SWAN infrastructure
is in place. So now there is the talk of NeGP 2.0. What kind of initiatives
can we expect under NeGP 2.0? The NeGP 2.0 is now in the very initial stages
of conceptualisation. The next phase of e-Governance in the country should
focus on ensuring the speedy availability of electronic services through
devices like mobile phones and tablets that are already popular with
citizens. The penetration of mobile phones in the country is much higher as
compared to the penetration of computers and Internet. We have close to one
billion mobile phones in the country, so if we can bring e-Governance
services on the mobile platform, we will enable a very large section of the
population to access these services. We have already launched the Mobile
Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) and mobile based services under a new
initiative called “Mobile Seva”. The system is already operational and the
details can be seen at our website: http://mgov.gov.in.The SMS gateway and
Mobile App Store are already fully operational. About 150 departments from
both Centre and the States are using the SMS gateway, developed by DeitY
through C-DAC, to reach out to the citizens. Over two lakh SMS messages are
being sent to the citizens every day for actual transactions and this number
is increasing at a rapid pace. During the last one year, from January 2012 to
December 2012, around 2 crore push SMSs have been sent. Our Mobile App Store
already has 26 live and 50 demo applications which can be downloaded by the
citizens for availing a range of government services. The other aspect of the next phase of NeGP focuses on the
development of an integrated information infrastructure. For instance, we are
now focusing on cloud enabled data centres and integrated network
connectivity. We are also aiming at rapid replication, under which the
successful projects of one state can be replicated in other states with the
necessary customisation. For rapid replication, we will be using the cloud
platform in a major way. Once applications are developed and hosted on the
cloud platform, then any other state or department can make use of it with
the necessary customisations. This would save substantial costs and time. Are there plans for a national rollout of the Mobile Service
Delivery Gateway? Yes, that is being done. This will lead to scaling up of
the infrastructure, thus enabling many more departments, from both the centre
and the states, to start using this as a common infrastructure. So the
departments need not invest their own funds in creating their own
infrastructure separately. This will lead to substantial savings in time and
efforts. As I mentioned earlier, we have also developed a mobile App Store on
the Android platform. The apps have been fully integrated with the back-ends
of the government departments. There are apps that allow users to apply for a
copy of duplicate birth certificate, submit a grievance for redressal, check
the status of UID enrolment, etc. All the apps are free. There are many other
requests that can be made through the mobile phone itself using the SMS pull
service. The details can be seen at http://mgov.gov.in. The Android platform
is an open platform; anyone can add apps or make changes in it. So what about
the security aspect of the e-Governance apps that are being created on the Android
platform? What is being done to ensure that these apps are not tampered by
hackers? Actually, the main strength of the Android platform is that it is
Open Source. There exists a large community of developers who are supporting
the Android platform and making improvements in it on a regular basis. These
developments help in making the platform more robust with passage of time. As
it is Open Source, all the latest developments in the source code are
available to our technical team for developing new applications. Our team is
also following the relevant best practices to ensure security of the
applications and the Mobile Seva platform. Many of the e-Governance initiatives can prove to be much more
fruitful if we had a foolproof system of online authentication. What kind of
initiatives are you taking in this area? Electronic authentication is of
crucial importance for success of e-Governance initiatives. At present,there
is no uniform system for online authentication of users of e-governance
services. For accessing most services, people have to physically present
themselves with a paper based identity proof at a government office. As a
consequence, very few government services are truly electronic from end to
end. To address this issue, we are working on a system for introducing online
authentication which will allow government departments to authenticate the
identity of a user electronically. DeitY has recently notified the policy
framework for this initiative, which has been named as “e-Pramaan”. The process
of authentication would be completely electronic and would incorporate the
Aadhaar based authentication mechanisms. Different government departments
will be able to use e-Praman as a service to authenticate the identity of
their users. The details of this initiative can be seen at the website:
http://epramaan.gov.in. “The key objective is to ensure that the projects are rolled
out and services are delivered to the citizens” Many citizens in the country
are unable to access e-Governance services as they are digitally illiterate
or they lack access to computers or Internet. As mobile telephones are
available to most people these days, the SMS services that you have mentioned
can be tools for empowerment. Can you provide us with more details of the SMS
service that you have launched? Our Mobile Seva provides a host of SMS based
services. In case of the departments that are integrated, the citizens can
send an SMS and track the status of any request. For instance, if you have
applied for a new ration card, you can track the status of your application
at the ration card department through SMS. The Mobile Seva portal also
provides a very easy and automated process for government departments to
integrate their services and start offering them to the citizens. The details
can be seen at the portal mentioned above. We are expanding at a rapid rate,
so within a short span of time you are going to witness a large number of new
services being launched under the Mobile Seva platform. So how does the user start using the e-Praman website? Does he
have to present himself at any government office to get a user ID and
password? No, the system is being developed in such a way that the entire
process is online. The user needs to register at the e-Praman website, by
providing his/her identification details like name, address, Aadhaar number,
PAN number, ration card number, etc. In the background, the e-Praman gateway
will do the verification electronically through the respective electronic
databases. Once the verification is done, the user becomes a verified entity.
Even those who are yet to get their Aadhaar numbers or those who don’t have
PAN card, ration card, etc. can also join in and register. They will also get
a user ID and password. Once you are registered, you can do a single sign-on
for accessing various services from different departments that are part of
the e-Praman gateway. This service is not only secure; it also allows the
users to avoid the hassle of logging in separately to each department’s
portal. Under the Capacity Building Scheme, we have In your opinion what are the key challenges that are being faced
in the implementation of e-Governance ideas in the country? The key
challenges, according to me, are to build capacities across central and state
departments and ensure optimal usage of the entire core ICT infrastructure
that we have created under the NeGP. We need to avoid any duplication in
creating the infrastructure. The key objective is to ensure that the projects
are rolled out and services are delivered to the citizens. Recently, we have
also started focusing on outcomes and transactions to judge the success of
any e-Governance project. Transaction approach basically means that the
number of transactions delivered to the citizens must be taken as a key
indicator of the success of any e-governance project. The challenge is to
ensure that the projects are delivering actual services to the citizens. The
CSCs in the country are expected to curb the incidences of digital divide,
but now questions are being raised about the financial viability of these
centres. How do we tackle the problem of financial viability? With rising
popularity of e-Governance services, and also due to the fact that CSCs are
also offering B From
http://egov.eletsonline.com New
Technologies for e-Governance Provide us with an overview of the role that EMC is playing in
What kind of response are your cloud based solutions seeing
from the government departments in “Big Data era has arrived in full force, bringing with it an
unprecedented opportunity to transform governance and the wa we work and
live.” Security related concerns are always associated with data that is
being handled by the government. These days there is some insecurity about
the safety of the data that is being stored in the cloud. What kind security
systems does EMC have to provide an extra layer of security to its clients?
As the businesses are focusing on transforming their digital strategies and
the way IT will sup- port them, the security risk landscape is also
enhancing. Stance on security must change from preventing breaches to
assuming you will be breached and to protecting your most critical assets.
Government organisations must have a zero-tolerance approach to data leakage,
insider threats, and zero-day and targeted malware. RSA, The Security
Division of EMC, is the premier provider of security, risk, and compliance
solutions, helping the government sector and leading organizations succeed by
solving their most complex and sensitive security challenges. RSA NetWitness
views these issues as inter- related and can help your organization address
them with a single enterprise security platform. Is Big Data a buzz word or is it really necessary for
government departments and private organizations to find ways of managing it
more efficiently? The Big Data era has arrived in full force, bringing with
it an unprecedented opportunity to transform governance and the way we work
and live. Through the convergence of massive scale-out storage,
next-generation analytics and visualisation capability, the technology is in
place. What’s needed to fully realise its value is a vibrant, interconnected,
highly-skilled and empowered data science community to reveal relevant trend patterns and
uncover new insights hidden within. As per the latest EMC-IDC Digital
Universe study, proliferation of devices such as PCs and smartphones
worldwide, increased Internet access within emerging markets and the boost in
data from machines such as surveillance cameras or smart meters has
contributed to the doubling of the digital universe within the past two years
alone, to a mammoth 2.8 ZB. The study further reveals that the digital
universe will reach 40 ZB by 2020. Can Big Data be used to bring more effectiveness in delivering
citizen services through e-Governance? Tell us about EMC solutions for Data Centre automation. EMC is
helping transform the data centres. The first step to transform the data
centre is virtualisation. More importantly, to exploit all the benefits of
virtualisation, CIOs need complete infrastructure visibility and streamlined
management, along with new levels of productivity and efficiency. This is
where EMC storage, EMC de duplication backup software and system offer the
ideal solution to virtualized infrastructure challenges. Automation of
various feature within storage like fully automated storage Tiering helps
deliver sustained performance under unpredictable load scenarios at optimized
cost levels. In what ways is the cloud technology evolving over a period of
time? What kind of developments can be seen in 2013? Today, Cloud is
revolutionizing the IT process by making it possible to run IT As-a-Service
to drive maximum efficiency. By deploying a pool of elastic resources, IT is
dramatically reducing hard- ware costs and making it simple to provision and
help rapid application deployment to unleash the benefit of application to
target audience. As users bring new devices to the workplace, they expect to operate them using both
personal and enterprise resources. IT must provide a new end user computing
model so they can maintain control over information and access, while
allowing users to choose their own devices. EMC thinks of this as the new
layering of IT which requires end-to-end security and management across
layers. As IT transforms its operations to run IT- As-A-Service, its role
will also transform – from an exclusive provider of IT services to a broker
of IT services – some of which IT creates and delivers itself, some of which
are delivered by service providers. This new role for IT combined with new
cloud technology will drive maximum business efficiency. From
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The Azerbaijani Ministry of Taxes is creating a special
organisation to deal with an electronic audit, Azerbaijani Deputy Minister
Sahib Alakbarov told Trend on Monday. "In the coming days we intend to
make changes to the structure of the Ministry," he said. "This will
be a very strong organisation consisting of IT specialists and tax employees.
This organisation will begin its activity in early 2013 enabling us to
conduct an e-audit." He said that the project of introducing e-audit is
under completion. "Specialists at the Ministry underwent special training,"
he said. "The project consisting of six components (establishing a legal
framework, the information base and staff training), is under
completion." Head of Tax Policy and Strategic Studies Department of the
Ministry Akif Musayev told Trend earlier that the regulatory framework for
the electronic audit will be created within the bill on amendments and
additions to the Tax Code. This bill is being developed. The electronic audit
is intended to protect the rights of taxpayers. An automated information system
is required for its application. The Ministry of Taxes has the system,
including all the possibilities for an e-audit the ministry said. Using an
electronic audit will reduce the number of on-site inspections by 90 per
cent. From
http://en.trend.az/ E-Service
Application for Licensure in the ICT Field Integrated into “E-Government”
Portal The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of
Azerbaijan added e-applications for various licensures into its
"e-government" portal (ehdis.az), a report published by the portal
said on Wednesday. Currently, the ministry offers 25 e-services. Also,
services provided by the State Committee for Family, Women and Child Affairs
are also integrated in the portal. Currently, an online application for
international adoption is also available. "E-government" contains
36 state agencies and integrates over 168 online services. A number of state
institutions also appealed to the agency in hopes of joining the portal; this
process will be carried out in stages depending on the readiness of their
individual IT-infrastructures. The "e-government" portal is a key
tool in supporting interaction with citizens as well as with the public and
private sectors. The portal is intended to reduce the number of documents
requested by citizens, given that different agencies will communicate with
each other electronically. Access to the portal is through the use of
electronic digital signatures (EDS), the identification data of private
businesses and citizens, as well as through the use of verification data
(username and password), that may be obtained upon registration with the
portal. From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijani
Communications Ministry Introduces The Information Computer Centre of the Azerbaijani
Communications and Information Technologies Ministry has introduced an
authentication system for access to the portal of electronic government
through mobile devices (mobile phones and tablet computers). The centre
presented an application that will provide access to the e-government portal
through mobile devices. The new system empowers users to create digital
certificates by using a two-factor authentication system and receive access
to the portal of e-government by scanning the QR code. In future, application
functionality will be supplemented by modules providing assurance of legally
significant documents by electronic signature and its address to relevant
departments. From
http://en.trend.az/ Newly
Established Commission to Consider Online Media Complaints in A commission has been established under the Press Council. It
will consider complaints and other issues relating to online media, head of
the Press Council Aflatun Amashov said at a briefing today. He said that the
commission will consider complaints relating to online media, hacker attacks
on websites and other issues in this area. The general concept of the
commission's activity will be established, Amashov said. From
http://en.trend.az/ The Uzbek government has adopted a decree on measures aimed at
improving the work of the online state portal with consideration of delivering
public services via the Internet. According to the document, the State
Committee for communications, information and communication technology of the
country has developed and will launch a single portal of interactive public
services which will operate as part of the state portal and in the single
window mode as well. A single portal providing online public services will be
aimed at ensuring access of individuals and entities to information on
services and functions provided by the state and economic management bodies
as well as public authorities in the field. Alongside, users will be given an
opportunity of exchanging data online, making requests through a single point
of access to integrated, interactive public services by public and economic administration
and public authorities in the field and on a paid basis as well.
Consideration of requests and appeals of individuals and entities concerning
the functioning of a single portal, including the monitoring of the quality
of online public services provided by public and economic administration
bodies and public authorities in the field will become available. This
measure is taken to ensure full exchange of data in electronic form, to
expedite the procedures for the request and improve the interaction of
entrepreneurs and the public with public authorities on the basis of use of
information and communication technologies. From
http://en.trend.az/ Creation
of "Electronic Government" to Be Accelerated in Uzbek Cabinet of Ministers instructed State Committee for
Communication, Informatization and Telecommunication Technologies to
accelerate the development of the concept and comprehensive program for the
creation of "electronic government" to introduce electronic
delivery of interactive public services to businesses and individuals. This
was stated in a decree signed by President Karimov at the meeting of Cabinet
of Ministers which reviewed the results of socio-economic development of the
country in 2012 and priorities of economic program for 2013. The document was
published in the mass media on Tuesday. As previously reported, the Uzbek
government adopted a decree on measures aimed at improving the work of the online
state portal with consideration of delivering public services via the
Internet. It is planned that a single portal of interactive public services
will operate as part of the state portal and in the single window mode as
well. A single portal providing online public services will be aimed at
ensuring the access of individuals and entities to information on services
and functions provided by the state and economic management bodies as well as
public authorities in the field. Also, users will be given an opportunity to
exchange data online, making requests through a single point of access. The
portal will also consider the requests and appeals of individuals and
entities and conduct monitoring of the quality of online public services
provided by public and economic administration bodies and public authorities
in the field. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided technical assistance
to From
http://en.trend.az/ |
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The TPB
registers and regulates Australian tax practitioners. The cloud project marks
the start of a physical and logical separation of systems and services from
those of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Currently, the board does not
have its own independent IT system; this is shared with the ATO. Once up and
running, cloud-hosted services will be available in From http://www.futuregov.asia Australian Govt
Fights Against Internet Governance Changes Communications
Minister Stephen Conroy is in Others
have warned that the changes would make internet "blackouts", such
as those seen in Conroy
said that he would be meeting with the delegations from other nations to seek
support for From http://www.zdnet.com Aust Gov Drives
High-Tech Transport Reforms Facing a
high rate of road fatality, the National Transport Commission (NTC) is
driving the adoption of intelligent transport management systems – while supporting
regulatory reforms to cut the national toll. The NTC is weighing in behind
introducing nationwide Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) –
noting this technology will cut Notifications
are also relayed about changed traffic conditions such as a train approaching
a railway crossing. Among its features, C-ITS technology enables different
elements of a transport network, including vehicles and infrastructure, to
exchange information using dedicated short range communication. This
technology is supported by warning systems that are activated, alerting road
users about potential collisions. In Active
trials are also under-way in Europe and the From http://www.futuregov.asia Super Fast Broadband
and Government Service Delivery Senator
the Honourable Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the
Digital Economy, The
Australian Government has also released a National Digital Economy Strategy
which has the overarching vision to make ·
Online participation by Australian
households ·
Online engagement by Australian businesses
and not for profit organisations ·
Smart management of our environment and
infrastructure ·
Improved health and aged care ·
Expanded online education ·
Increased teleworking ·
Improved online government service delivery
and engagement ·
Greater digital engagement in regional Government
service delivery With the
rollout of super fast broadband, the challenge for government agencies at the
federal, state and local levels will be to both keep up with the way
Australians will want to use the NBN as well as understanding how to take
advantage of super fast broadband to improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of their programs and services. To assist this, the Federal Department of
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is developing a guide to
help government agencies identify programs and operations that can best take
advantage of super fast broadband. This guide
will identify and explain: ·
how the NBN will be different to ·
the characteristics of government programs
and operations that can most benefit from super fast broadband, and ·
how to establish robust pilot projects to
test the advantages that super fast speed broadband can deliver. Client
service delivery Many
government agencies use shopfronts to deliver client services. These
shopfront services can include circumstances where clients are seeking, for
example, to: ·
register a business, car/boat or even a pet, ·
obtain a licence to undertake a regulated
activity such as driving a car, getting a visa or passport, obtaining
permission for a development proposal, or ·
secure a government payment or subsidy Government
shopfronts are often supplemented by a telephone call centre. Over the last
15 years, shopfront services have also been supplemented by an online service
delivery channel where clients interact directly with an agency’s client
service IT system. Most government client service agencies thus offer 3
channels of service delivery—a physical face to face channel, a telephone
channel and an online channel. The online channel has proved to be highly
cost-effective and is strongly promoted over face to face service delivery.
But despite the inconvenience and cost to clients of physical face to face
service delivery (such as travelling to a government shopfront, finding
parking, queuing for a service often during the lunch hour, and frequently
being re-directed to another agency shopfront to obtain other evidence and
then coming back to the original agency), many clients continue to choose the
physical face to face channel. This may partly be due to the complexity of
the transactions involved or because some clients prefer the re-assurance of
a face to face transaction. With the
introduction of super fast broadband, a question for many government agencies
is whether to introduce a video-based service delivery channel to supplement
their online client service delivery. Our hypothesis is that super fast
broadband to every premises in Australia, enabling high quality video
interaction in combination with the agency’s online client service channel,
could significantly improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of client
service delivery. It would, for example, enable two or more client service
officers to be connected simultaneously to a client at home to enable the
needs of that client to be managed comprehensively rather than the client
being bounced from agency to agency. The challenge for government agencies
will be to test how best this video based service delivery channel can be
introduced and operated for the benefit of both clients and government
agencies. Other
types of government services Other
types of government services that may benefit from super fast broadband
include: ·
Outreach services – For a large country with
a relatively low population density, efficient service delivery to people and
businesses in regional and remote parts of ·
Consultations with householders and
businesses – A key part of the role of government agencies is to consult with
people and businesses in the community. Such input is critical to the
development of sound service delivery policies and practices. But conducting
such consultations can be expensive for government agencies and often
inconvenient for people and businesses to attend. Super fast broadband offers
the prospect of undertaking these consultations in a way that is
significantly more convenient and more efficient. ·
Communication of policies and programs –
Government agencies now make extensive use of websites to communicate the
details of policies and programs. But most of these websites make only
limited use of rich media opportunities because it is generally only people
and businesses in metropolitan Australia that have access to adequate
broadband to enjoy the benefits of such websites. Ubiquitous availability of
super fast broadband will make it much more attractive to government agencies
to make more extensive use of rich media to communicate the details of
policies and programs. There are
of course other opportunities for government service delivery using super
fast broadband including the potential benefits for delivery of health and
education services as well as opportunities to boost teleworking. As the NBN
is rolled out, trials in these areas will also be conducted to better
understand and realise the advantages of ubiquitous super fast broadband. From http://www.futuregov.asia Taking forward
its commitment to an ‘open data revolution’, the state government of The
release of government data is expected to support the development of
innovative solutions by individuals and private organisations to problems
faced in the state, and help make government more transparent and accountable
to the community. “We fully expect to see this information used in the
development of new applications that will create opportunities for businesses
and help people across the state,” said Newman. The data catalogue and search
functions of the portal were developed with the support of the Open Knowledge
Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting open
knowledge. According to a timeline on the open data website, each core
departmental agency will publish an open data strategy, including a roadmap
to release datasets, by April 2013, and statutory bodies From http://www.futuregov.asia Opening Up Government
for Citizen Engagement Mick
Chisnall, Executive Director of the Government Information Office, Reorganising
government The
release of the ‘Governing the This new
structure helps the ACT government manage several challenges it faces today.
The reorganisation also raised new challenges for the traditional,
Westminster-style ACT government: “Many of the issues that we struggle with
don’t fit into the machinery of government structure,” Chisnall explains.
“For example, when we design a new suburb, we have to consider not just the
land aspects but transportation, educational, and environmental aspects too. The
government needs to respond to these challenges with a concerted
cross-directorate, cross-government approach.” Open =
Engaged? The ACT
government is also working on a number of Open Government initiatives.
Chisnall elaborates: “We’re seeing a strong push from the new Chief Minister
towards open government. The provision of government information is now the
default rather than the exception.” The data.ACT portal and the Open
Government web site give users access to datasets of government information,
as well as government reports and results of enquiries under Freedom of
Information legislation. The ACT government is also the first in The
government has been making consistent use of social media platforms to engage
citizens. The GIO launched a Virtual Community Cabinet in which a five-person
cabinet responds to tweets which use the #actvcc hashtag. Additionally,
emergency services are also taking advantage of the ability of social media
platforms to communicate with a large percentage of the population very
quickly. At the same time, Chisnall adds, “We have to understand the
difference between what I call the ‘Fire Brigade’ message and ‘Fred the
Fireman’ message. One is an authoritative message from the government and the
other might be an opinion from an individual. Understanding the correct way
of thinking about the differences between those two is very important.” How many
web sites is too many? “Regardless
of whatever structure the public service might currently have, fundamentally,
we have to maximise the service to our citizens,” Chisnall says. The ACT
government is enhancing and modifying the services it provides to make them
more citizen-centric. “The ACT government has developed nearly 200 websites.
We accept that it’s confusing for the public. It represents the way we
understand ourselves, but not the way the community does. So, as a first
step, we created an open government website to focus access to certain types
of information and our efforts towards openness.” The ACT government is
rolling out the Single Public Face project to make the government’s presence
in cyberspace more citizen-centric. The project creates common templates
which all ACT government websites will follow to be more consistent,
accessible and engaging for citizens. Additionally, the government rolled out
‘Mobile Canberra’ to make the government more responsive to the changing needs
of citizens of Shared
Services success The ACT
government uses shared services to provide a range of corporate services to
government directorates and offices. “The ACT runs one of the most successful
shared services organisations in From http://www.futuregov.asia The
Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) launched an interactive online mapping portal
which gives users access to information pertaining to the region’s
development plans. According
to SCC Chief Information Officer Brian Beswick, the portal presents data in a
map-based format so that residents tourists, businesses, not-for-profit
organisations and other stakeholders can understand the development plans in
a more innovative and creative way. “Users can look-up information they
require on town and planning, create their own maps and eventually download
them for use with other mapping software for further analysis,” he said.
Beswick added the new portal also supports the council’s main online mapping
portal called MyMaps which provides users access to 1,000 interactive map
layers of Council data including property information, underground assets and
tourist attractions. From http://www.futuregov.asia In the
next five years, a growing band of Kiwis will go on-line to access services
and government information. The administration is targeting 70 per cent
coverage in a digital world by 2017. Figures released by the New Zealand
Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) confirm that New Zealanders are
embracing on-line services in larger numbers. A higher volume of services and
information is being accessed on-line. These DIA figures note that 32.4 per
cent of Kiwis used secure on-line government services during the
July-September 2012 quarter. This compared with 29.9 per cent when traffic
measurements were first initiated in June. Details about these results can be
found at Better Public Services. On-line services currently being expanded
encompass the processing of travel documents, access to social services, as
well as transport, conservation, business and tax information. Chris Tremain,
He adds
that the administration wants to make it easier, more convenient and secure
for the public to complete their most common transactions on-line. “Our goal
is for 70 per cent of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with
government to be done digitally by 2017.” On-line traffic patterns were
tracked for agencies that are in the front-line of service delivery
programmes. The highest volume of traffic was recorded for New Zealand
Customs’ Smartgate programme. Large numbers of citizens now this service to
process and manage documents for domestic and international travel. Other
agencies tracked for on-line traffic included the DIA, Ministry of Business
Innovation and Employment, Department of Conservation, New Zealand Police,
New Zealand Transport Agency, Inland Revenue, and the Ministry of Social
Development. Under its on-line engagement effort, the Digital
services are being tailored to work across agency boundaries. The aim is to
ensure that people will not have to engage more than once with an agency to
get things done. On-line services are currently being simplified, integrated
and made more “proactive.” Digital services come under the spotlight at
FutureGov Forum New Zealand being held Tuesday 28th May From http://www.futuregov.asia |
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Global IT
Spending to Hit US$3.7 Trillion Resolution of business and consumer uncertainties will
accelerate growth in IT sector, according to tech research firm Gartner Inc.
Large enterprise expenditures on mobile devices, PC, software will drive
global technology purchases in excess of US$3.7 trillion this year, according
to a report released by research firm Gartner Inc. Worldwide device spending
which includes PC, tables, mobile phones and printers in forecast to reach
$666 billion in 2013, up 6.3 per cent from 2013, which is a significant
reduction for 2013 compared to Gartner’s previous forecast of $706 billion in
worldwide devices, according to the latest Worldwide IT Spending Forecast by
the technology research company. “Uncertainties surrounding prospects for an
upturn in global economic growth are major retardants to IT growth,” said
Richard Gordon, managing president of Gartner. “This uncertainty has caused
the pessimistic business and consumer sentiments throughout the world.”
“However, much of this uncertainty is nearing resolution, and as it does, we
look for accelerated growth in 2013 compared to 2012,” he said. From
http://www.itworldcanada.com/
Global Telco
Revenues Hit $2trn but Growth Slow Mobile broadband is key segment for operators, Ovum advises;
vendors must position themselves carefully. Revenues generated by telecoms
operators worldwide surpassed US$2 trillion in 2012, but growth is slow and as
such telcos will have to work hard to target the right segments, Ovum
reported on Thursday. Meanwhile, equipment makers could find times tough
going forward as limited revenue growth impacts on operators' ability to
spend. "The recovery from the 2009 recession has been weak, and the
ongoing global fiscal crisis continues to present a risk to the telecom
industry," noted John Lively, chief forecaster at Ovum. Indeed, this
time last year the analyst firm revealed that telecoms service provider
revenues grew by 7% in 2011 to $1.96 trillion, but warned that revenue growth
would be slow over the subsequent five years. This year's figure suggests a
growth rate of just over 2%. "Over the next three-to-four years, both
fixed and mobile operators will face the same fundamental challenge: to
increase new sources of revenue fast enough to offset the decline in mature
services," Lively said. Mobile operators could find themselves in a
stronger position than their fixed-line counterparts though. According to
Ovum, 60% of the $2 trillion-plus revenues generated last year went to mobile
operators. In addition, the analyst firm identified mobile broadband as the
"single largest opportunity for telcos to claw back revenue,"
predicting that the sector will grow by 19.2% annually and generate $122.9
billion in incremental revenue between 2013 and 2016. There is some good news
for the fixed-line firms though. Other segments reporting double-digit
revenue growth over the next five years will include public cloud, Ethernet,
IPTV and managed/hosted IP voice, Ovum predicts. Infrastructure vendors,
meanwhile, will have to position themselves carefully to generate revenue
increases of their own. With service provider revenues overall experiencing
low single-digit growth, capex is likely to be constrained. "To grow
revenues faster than the industry average, Ovum recommends that vendors
position themselves in one or more high-potential product segments, such as
converged packet optical, ROADMs, From
http://www.totaltele.com/ Global Worldwide mobile advertising revenue is forecast to reach
$11.4 billion in 2013, up from $9.6 billion in 2012, according to research
firm Gartner. Worldwide revenue will reach $24.5 billion in 2016 with mobile
advertising revenue creating new opportunities for app developers, ad
networks, mobile platform providers, specialty agencies and even
communications service providers in certain regions. “The mobile advertising market took off even faster than we
expected due to an increased uptake in smartphones and tablets, as well as
the merger of consumer behaviors on computers and mobile devices,” said
Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner. “Growth in mobile
advertising comes in part at the expense of print formats, especially local
newspapers, which currently face much lower ad yields as a result of mobile
publishing initiatives.” “Smartphones and media tablets extend the
addressable market for mobile advertising in more and more geographies as an
increasing population of users spends an increasing share of its time with
these devices,” said Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner. “This
market will therefore become easier to segment and target, driving the growth
of mobile advertising spend for brands and advertisers. Mobile advertising
should be integrated into advertisers’ overall marketing campaigns in order
to connect with their audience in very specific, actionable ways through
their smartphones and/or tablets.” Geographical regions will also evolve at a
different pace and in different directions. Historically, the atypically
large adoption of handsets for digital content consumption in Looking forward, the high-growth economies of The rapidly growing share of time that consumers spend on
mobile devices is generating ad inventory at a pace considerably faster than
most advertisers can shift their spending to the medium. This creates a
surplus condition that is driving down unit ad prices which in turn has led
to a situation in which a significant portion of mobile ad inventory is taken
up by app developers paying for ads to promote their apps and get them more
downloads, a category known as “paid discovery.” While the revenue basis of
paid-for app store downloads provides some economic justification for this
category, for many developers the outlay for ads is close to their maximum ad
income or even exceeds it. This creates a circumstance, reminiscent of the
early days of Web advertising, in which cyclical advertising arrangements among
websites produced an inflated picture of revenue that may ultimately prove to
be a bubble. “Some correction in the growth rate must occur before demand
from brand and local advertisers catches up with supply, and more sustainable
economics support a faster growth rate commensurate with consumer adoption,”
said Baghdassarian. From
http://newsbytes.ph/ AFRICA: Mrs Omobola Johnson, the Minister of Communication Technology,
says the ICT sector contributed about 5.7 per cent to the country's Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2012. Johnson made this known
at a Forum on Emerging Leaders and the State of the Nation at the 18th
Nigeria Economic Summit in According to her, many young Nigerians have realised that the
sector provides one of the best opportunities to become an entrepreneur and
make money. "Skills are much easier to acquire by young people and it
does not require huge capital, compared with other businesses. “ From
http://allafrica.com/ Asia-Pacific PC
Market Contracts for First Time in 2012 IDC’s
preliminary results showed that the Asia-Pacific (excluding Ongoing
weakness in the global economy finally caught up with the region, affecting
demand across both consumer and commercial segments. Mature markets in the
region were impacted by distractions from smartphones and tablets as well,
further hurting PC shipments there as a result. In 4Q12 specifically, the
market came in 4 percent below IDC’s initial forecasts with a 5 percent year-on-year
decline, as channels across the region remained distracted with clearing out
existing Windows 7 inventory before bringing in new Windows 8 stocks.
“Initiatives such as Ultrabooks and Windows 8 haven’t reinvigorated the PC
market as much as the industry had hoped,” said Avinash K. Sundaram, senior
analyst for client devices research at IDC. “In light of this softness, IDC
expects growth to remain muted in the upcoming years. However, we also must
not forget that this is still a more than $60 billion market in the
Asia-Pacific (excluding Lenovo
remained in the lead in 2012 as it continued to expand beyond From
http://newsbytes.ph/ EU: EC
Launches Consultation on Cross-Border Ecommerce Issues and Needs On 29 November 2012, the European Commission adopted a Green
Paper consultation on an integrated delivery market to boost eCommerce in the
EU. Special emphasis is placed on cross-border eCommerce issues and needs, as
it is vital to address delivery concerns and improve delivery systems.
Stakeholders are invited to respond to the consultation before 15 February
2013. Studies show that only 9 % of EU consumers buy goods online from other
countries, with both eRetailers and consumers expressing their concerns about
the shortcomings of current delivery systems used for goods ordered online.
57 % of eRetailers consider cross-border delivery to be an obstacle to
trading, while 47 % of consumers worry about delivery in cross-border
transactions. An efficient delivery (and return) system is key to
facilitating further growth in eCommerce and therefore consumer choice and
convenience. "This Green Paper consultation will help identify the right
measures to improve parcel delivery in the single market," said Michel
Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services. "A
flexible and well-performing EU-wide delivery system focusing on the
expectations of consumers and specific needs of eCommerce will contribute
directly to the enormous potential of eCommerce for boosting growth and
creating jobs." The following three priority areas have been identified
to address the problems and challenges faced by consumers and eRetailers in
the EU: •Improve convenience of delivery services for consumers and
SMEs across the EU; •Ensure more cost-effective delivery solutions and better
prices for consumers and SMEs; •Promote improved interoperability of delivery services
between operators (better partnerships and cooperation), and between
operators and eRetailers, notably SMEs. With this Green Paper, the Commission will collect information
on the current state of the delivery market for products bought online, and
identify any potential hurdles for the creation of an EU-wide integrated
parcel delivery market. It will seek stakeholders' views on how to best serve
the interests of customers, businesses and end-consumers. Based on the
information that will be provided, the Commission will identify solutions to
help develop a seamless parcel delivery process in the EU in order to support
the growth of eCommerce, and ensure that the benefits of eCommerce are
accessible to all citizens and SMEs across all regions in Europe via a
sustainable and well-functioning delivery system. From
http://www.epractice.eu/ German ICT
Exports Up 3.5% in First Nine Months of 2012 From
http://www.telecompaper.com/ From
http://www.wbj.pl/ UK IT
Sector Missing Out on ￡ The software and IT sector in Britain is missing out on ￡280 million worth of
R&D tax relief, because the HMRC guidelines for submissions are so
complex and contradictory that many companies are being put off from making
claims. According to research and development tax credit specialist Jumpstart
However, most accountants do not understand the technology,
and they are generalists understanding only a little about the real subtleties
of the legislation. The result is either no claims are made or, if they are,
they are very prudent ones. "Cash starved businesses are very happy to
recover a few thousand pounds and have a 'thankful for small mercies'
approach. However they do not appreciate just how much they are missing
out," Williamson told Techworld. "The IT and software sectors above
all other sectors have the largest opportunity to access this opportunity
because they are often beyond the level of technical understanding by the
financial world." He added that the From
http://news.idg.no/ NORTH
AMERICA: Canadian Online Online purchases in From
http://www.itbusiness.ca/ |
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USERS of mobile Internet in From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
More
Chinese Translating Online: Report Chinese are becoming increasingly dependent on translation
tools that run online as well as on mobile devices, according to a report
conducted by an online translation service provider. Some 73.7 percent of
Chinese Internet users surveyed for the report said they use online
translation tools. Language translation ranked fourth on the list of what
people do online, after shopping, searching, and social networking, according
to the research by fanyi.youdao.com (Youdao), the country's biggest online
multilingual translation service provider. Meanwhile, with the rise of mobile
Internet and smartphones, more Chinese people are sourcing translation on
their mobile devices. Between September 2011 and September 2012, translation
requests to Youdao's mobile app doubled, while those online grew by a
relatively slight 30 percent, according to the report. People use the tools
mostly to translate words and basic sentences for greetings, chitchat and introductions,
the report showed. They are more inclined to put words or phrases into
English via the mobile app for communication, while putting content of
English articles into the native language through online services. However,
nearly 20 percent of respondents to the survey said they are still willing to
pay for human translation services, since current automated translation
technologies are far from satisfying their needs. From
http://www.china.org.cn/ CHINA Mobile plans to launch its own-brand smartphones and
establish a mobile Internet firm as the country's biggest mobile carrier
embraces an emerging mobile Internet age, the company's president Li Yue said
today. The carrier, with more than 700 million subscribers, hopes to
introduce the latest iPhone into the mainland market but it still has a
different business model from that of Apple Inc, Li said at the China Mobile
Global Developers Conference 2012. "We have the army (traditional
telecom services). Now we need the navy and the air force (new mobile
Internet services)," Li told the forum held in From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Income
from Phone Video Clips Set to Soar VIDEOS shot by mobile phone may generate over 90 million yuan
(US$14.5 million) income in China this year, a 50-percent annual surge,
thanks to the popularity of smartphones featuring high-quality cameras, top
industry firms said yesterday. So far this year more than 60,000 mobile-shot videos
have been uploaded and an income of over 90 million yuan from online
advertisements, sponsorship and mobile subscriptions is expected, market
leaders China Mobile and Youku Tudou said during the weekend. These videos
have been viewed by over 40 million people either online or through mobile
devices, according to Wu Zheng, vice president of Youku Tudou. "It's a
new opportunity for people to become directors without worrying how to
broadcast and promote (the videos)," said Wu. Content providers can provide
20-25 percent of Youku Tudou's total income, according to Wu. Li Yue, China
Mobile's president, has said mobile video has become a unique opportunity for
mobile carriers. The booming sales of smartphones with better cameras have
encouraged users to make video clips. Wacker not in favor of tariffs Richard
Fu Trade. From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Chinese
Private Firms May Offer CHINESE private firms could soon be allowed to offer mobile
communications services directly to consumers by purchasing bandwidth from
telecommunications carriers, a first step in opening up the state-controlled
telecom industry, the industry regulator said yesterday. The Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology is proposing a two-year trial to allow
companies to repackage and rebrand services to consumers in a move that
analysts see as an end to the state-controlled telecom industry monopoly.
"The new measure is a moderate attempt to break the monopoly and bring
opportunities to private companies, even small and medium-sized ones,"
said Xiang Ligang, telecom analyst and founder of professional website CCTimes.
The new policy, which is expected to create "virtual carriers," is
also a new opportunity for companies such as Tencent and media groups to
penetrate the mobile Internet sector, analysts said. It is the latest detail
in From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
E-Commerce
Service Sector Expands 83% in 2012 From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
CHINA will continue testing and expand the trial run of the
new From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Revenue in
Online Games Surges 36% REVENUE in From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Taobao
Mall Expects Home Appliance Sales to Double TAOBAO Mall, the business-to-consumer shopping site under
Taobao, expected transaction at its home appliance marketplace to more than
double this year with more consumers shifting to online vendors to buy
household appliances. A total of 17 home appliance makers yesterday signed
strategic cooperation deals with Tmall to drive sales and online lift
customer service. Last year, home appliance transactions reached 18 billion
yuan(US$2.89 billion) at Tmall and this year the figure is estimated to climb
up to 50 billion yuan. According to Tmall, sales of home appliances in the
first eleven months last year were 2.7 times from that of a year ago, while
those of electronic gadgets grew 1.6 times annually. From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
IT Service
Income Set to Expand 15% SHANGHAI'S information technology service industry expects to grow
its revenue by 15 percent this year as it taps rising prospects in cloud
computing, mobile Internet and financial services. The revenue may reach 450
billion yuan (US$72.3 billion) this year, the Shanghai Commission of Economy
and Information Technology said yesterday. The IT service industry, which
encompasses software, IT service and the game sector, generated 362.8 billion
yuan in revenue last year, an increase of 18 percent, accounting for 6.1
percent of the city's gross domestic product. The IT service industry
"will continue growing rapidly this year," said Zhu Zongyao, the
head of the commission's software division. From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Baidu's Net
Surges 36%, Revenue Up 42% NET profit at Baidu, From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Provides in-depth analysis of the latest trends in online
consumer shopping, covering drivers of online shopping, consumer insights,
market dynamics (covering 25 product categories) and reviews of the latest
best practice in online retail site design- Based on the latest data, the
report not only provides details of the size and growth of this increasingly
important channel, it also provides essential contexts on the penetration of
online sales by product groups, how growth has developed over time, and key
drivers of this market in the future. Introduction and LandscapeWhy was the
report written? "Consumer Attitudes and Online Retail Development in What is the current market landscape and what is changing? The early adoption of What are the key drivers behind recent market changes? While consumer spending in What makes this report unique and essential to read? Consumers have been reacting to the effects of the global
recession, including the following recovery period, on their discretionary
spending and retail markets have been no exception. While the country by
country market changes have varied, nowhere has been left totally
untouched.This report quantitatively examines the components of change in the
market by looking at historic and future growth patterns, including how
changes in consumer behaviour have affected the online retail sector for
different product categories. Key Features and Benefits Understand consumer behaviour and the online trends in Key Market Issues Japanese consumers, who are known to use the internet
extensively, find online shopping too complex or prefer to physically examine
products before purchasing, which impacts the online retail market. In addition
to selling the product, marketing campaigns in Key Highlights Online retail's share of total retail sales increased from
1.9% in 2006 to 3.9% in 2011 and is expected to reach 6.1% in 2016. In terms
of online market penetration, Music, Video and Entertainment software was the
leading category, with 30.7% of purchases being made online in 2011. Books
and news are also popular products to purchase, and often consume, online.
The total number of internet users in From
http://www.prnewswire.com/ The mobile phone industry is booming in From
http://english.chosun.com/ IT Trade
Surplus Hits Record in November From
http://english.chosun.com/ Samsung
Becomes World's No. 1 Mobile Phone Maker Samsung Electronics has become the world's No. 1 mobile phone maker
in terms of annual sales. The Korean electronics giant has been the No. From http://english.chosun.com/
Smartphone
Makers Race to Beat Market Saturation Korean smartphone makers are unveiling key models early this
year in a bid to get the upper hand amid concerns over market saturation.
Pantech on Monday unveiled the Vega No. 6 Full HD LTE phone, its leading
model this year, and LG and Samsung plan to roll out key models in March.
Until last year, the three smartphone makers waited to unveil their latest
models until May, but fears that the smartphone market both in Models show Pantech’s new Vega full HD LTE phone at company
headquarters in Sangam-dong, From
http://english.chosun.com/ |
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Local tech firms are unsure about investing in private public projects
(PPP) due to the lack of concrete guidance for their implementation in the
ICT sector. Too many procedures and formalities are also proving an obstacle
for enterprises. According to Nguyen Thanh Phuc, Head of the Information
Technology Application Department under the Ministry of Information and
Communication, under the national programme to apply IT in state agencies
during the 2011-2015 period, 56 projects in information infrastructure needed
to be implemented. Lack of capital had also hampered the progress of these
projects, with the State budget only able to satisfy 10 per cent of the
costs, Phuc added. Phuc said four projects had been completed, 11 were under
investment, and nine that had received approval were yet to start. The other
26 projects were in the preparatory steps for investment, while six were
looking for alternatives to their initial investment sources. PPP has been cited as the most effective solution to the lack
of capital. The mechanism has particular importance at the moment, with the
State tightening public investments in an effort to control inflation. Ho Chi
Dung, a senior executive of Viettel, said However, the list of the fields which could apply the PPP
mechanism stipulated in the decision did not include information and
communications technology. To date, only one IT project has been untaken
under the PPP model. Analysts believe that IT firms needed to be reassured
about the benefits of the PPP mechanism. The Ministry of Information and
Communications must take responsibility for building a comprehensive legal
framework on the issue. Tran Tuong Lan, a senior official from the Ministry
of Planning and Investment, suggested that the Ministry of Information and
Communications should make a report on the current situation and the
readiness of IT enterprises for PPPs, and form research teams to support
their preparation and implementation. From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ Smart-phone
Sales Up 83% as Consumer Interest Grows HCM CITY (VNS)— Smart phone shipments to Viet Nam reached an
all-time high in third quarter of this year, with local vendors grabbing a
significant amount of market share, according to the latest IDC Asia/Pacific
Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Units of smart phones shipped to Viet Nam
rose 83 per cent year-over-year (YoY), a growth made all the more significant
because total mobile phone shipments declined by 9 per cent YoY. "It
should be noted that smart phone shipments to "However, Microsoft has spent heavily on marketing and
attracting local developers which will help boost Windows Phone 8's fortunes,
while the iPhone is always a desired handset amongst the Vietnamese. Things
will get interesting as competition heats up," Thanh said. Samsung is
still the runaway leader in the smart phone segment, and its success has
inspired a number of local vendors to attempt to break into the market. HTC
climbed to second position with the Desire and One series selling
consistently well, while LG has placed greater emphasis on the smart phone
segment as its feature phone line-up struggled to compete. Nokia's market
share has declined due to low demand for its older Lumia series, severely
impacted by its lack of upgradeability to Windows Phone 8. Meanwhile,
Q-Mobile has introduced Q-Smart, a new brand of smart phone, with the aim of
distinguishing itself in the fast-growing smart phone space. From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ More
Ha Noi Enterprises Declare Taxes Online The number of businesses making tax declarations online last
year rose to over 59,000, or 32 per cent of enterprises operating in the
capital city. According to the Ha Noi tax department, 95 per cent of these
companies were declaring taxes online on a monthly basis. This year, the
department intends to make online tax declarations faster and easier. For
instance, the department intends to co-operate with operators of ATM networks
to enable tax payments to be made by ATM. From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ VNPT to
Pull Plug on Pay Phone Service HA NOI (VNS)— State-owned telecommunications giant VNPT Group
has announced it will decommission all pay phones nationwide from March 25
this year due to a slump in demand. The company began providing the service in 1997, and the
number of telephone boxes around the country subsequently rose to about
11,000. However, demand for the service has gradually decreased with the growing
popularity of mobile phone services. The country’s oldest telecom, which last
June stopped providing dial-up internet services, is considering using the
pay phone sites as wifi hotspots. Fixed fone arm slump VNPT late last month said it incurred large losses due to the
decreasing demand of its fixed line telephone services. The company said the
number of its fixed line telephone subscribers has reduced from 13 million to
five million, again due to the increasing popularity of mobile phones. “Each
year VNPT lost about 25 per cent of its fixed-line subscribers and most of
our subscribers now just use the service as a backup connection” said deputy
head of VNPT’s Business Department Vu Tien Duong. “In addition, turnover from
each subscriber was decreased from VND40,000 (US$2) in 2011 to VND From
http://vietnamnews.vn/ |
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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday
launched its new market surveillance software in a bid to check
irregularities in the share market. During the launching at the SEC, Finance
Minister AMA Muhith said the new software will help the SEC lead the market
towards stability ensuring better transparency and accountability. “It’ll also help
implement the amendments brought to the SEC Act over the last one and a half
years,” Muhith added. The Finance Minister pointed out that the share market
must become an epicenter of capital accumulation rather than remaining a
place merely for selling and buying shares. The software has been installed
under the 'Improvement of Capital Market Governance Project', jointly funded
by the From http://www.unbconnect.com From
http://www.businessnews-bd.com
The agency has already done an assessment of the current
system. Absence of an IT-enabled supply chain management, inadequate supply
chain infrastructure, manual collection of data and absence of any credible
MIS for proper stocking and inventory management, and delays in estimation of
quantities and in settlement of tenders leading to delayed supplies were
found out to be the main problems in the sector now. At present, the Health
Ministry is procuring drugs, vaccines, contraceptives and medical equipments
departmentally and through procurement agents for its various disease control
programmes. From http://egov.eletsonline.com Nepal Telecom's mobile phone network (both post-paid and pre-paid)
has been obstructed from 3 pm on Wednesday afternoon. The service has been
obstructed due to an error in the system, Kathmandu-based Ujjyalo FM quoted
an NT official as saying. The official said NT is working to get the system
back online by 5 pm. From
http://www.nepalnews.com |
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Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service will be free in the
network of Bakcell mobile operator, the Head of Bakcell Public Relations
Department Suheyla Jafarova told journalists. In her words, the period of
migration from one operator to another will take six days. "One of the
aspects provided by the service is a notification of subscriber about the
network he is calling as the cost of on-net calls and calls to the networks
of other operators varies. The main purpose of these notifications is to warn
the subscribers about the costs of calls to networks of other operators,
“Jafarova said. The advantage of using number portability service is the fact
that the user gets the right to choose, which, accordingly, leads to an
increase in service quality. According to, a member of the working group on
MNP service, Emin Askersoy, migration to other operators' networks will
require a SIM-card replacement. "However, this service is not available
for SIM-cards used in Data-cards," Askersoy said. According to the
rules, the service can repeatedly be used after three months time.
"Thus, one of the project's important components is provision of
subscriber's migration to the network of another operator without the
accumulated debts, otherwise, provision of this service will be denied,
"Askersoy said. The introduction of MNP services will allow mobile users
to keep their phone numbers when changing mobile operator. Number portability
means full migration of a subscriber phone number with the operator's prefix.
Operators have been instructed to use a 10-digit set of subscriber numbers.
So, it is necessary to dial operator's prefix ("050",
"051", "055", "070" and "077") and a
seven-digit phone number. MNP service will be launched simultaneously by all
three mobile operators in From
http://en.trend.az/ Microsoft Microsoft Benefits of Open Value: Small one-time spending on software purchase: payments are
made in the form of annual installments, which eliminates the lack of working
capitals problem. Single electronic agreement for the organization: more
convenient management of licenses and additional orders. Inclusion of all
related parties in the agreement to centralize procurement and license
management. The right to obtain the latest versions of Microsoft software
products, which will be issued within three years of the agreement (Software
Assurance), and any previous versions. No need to keep track of the versions
will lead to reduction of administrative costs and unplanned expenses for new
versions purchase. Significant discounts for operating systems licensing,
applications and client access licenses for the entire computer framework.
Expenditure control for software acquisition when licensing the entire
computer framework - the cost of licenses for basic products per one PC
remains constant throughout the term of the agreement, and automatic
inclusion of Software Assurance option, can hedge against the possible rise
in prices due to the release of new versions. Additional benefits package,
offered to customers with Software Assurance program, includes staff
training, technical support, access to TechNet resources and much more to
make the most of purchased software. Reducing the risk of unlicensed software
use. During the term of the agreement Open Value customer receives the right
to use licensed products on any computer in the organization, including new
PCs added during the period of the agreement, provided that, the order
placement was made during the month of installation. Founded in 1975,
Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet
technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Corporation develops and manufactures a wide range
of software products. These include desktop and network operating systems,
server applications for client-server environments, desktop business
applications and business applications for users, interactive programs and
games, instruments to work in Internet and development tools. In addition,
Microsoft offers interactive (online) services, publishes books on computer
topics, and manufactures peripheral equipment for computers, engaged in
research and development of new computer technologies. Microsoft products are
sold in more than 80 countries, translated into more than 45 languages
(including Azerbaijani) and are compatible with most PC platforms. Scalable
Server Operating Systems and Microsoft applications are a great platform for
Internet services delivery and the effective business organization. Microsoft
Corporation, operating in Microsoft, Windows and Vista are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the From
http://en.trend.az/ Non-Cash
Payments in By the end of 2012, the M2 money supply, that is the currency
in circulation outside banks and balances in the domestic currency on
accounts of non-financial and financial organisations, excluding credit
organisations and individuals, increased by 25.54 per cent compared to 2011.
This is stated in a statistical report by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan
(CBA). This means that last year the M2 figure was 13.806 billion manat
versus 10.997 billion manat in 2011. The indicator of cash currency in
circulation (M0) was 9.256 billion manat compared to 7.158 billion manat in
2011. Broad money supply (M3) in 2012 amounted to 16.775 billion manat, or
20.66 per cent more than in 2011 (13.903 billion manat). Transaction money
(M1) in 2012 amounted to 11.107 billion manat compared to 8.824 billion manat
in 2011. Parameters of the money market, AZN
The official exchange rate on Feb. 13 is 0.7848 AZN /
USD. From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijani
Company Receives License to Provide E-Insurance Azerbaijan Ministry of Finance granted permission to Golden
Insurance Company to provide services of an insurance agent, GoldenPay told
Trend. Launch of company's services is scheduled for March 19. Ateshgah
Sigorta insurance company is a partner within the project. Currently, the
module of "remote insurance" online-payment system is under the
final stage of testing. Insurance services not requiring personal involvement
of insurers will be available at the initial stage. Car insurance will be the
first of this type of service offered. Travel and other types of insurance
will follow later. The greatest demand for car insurance arises during the
period of inspection. The main objective of establishment of Golden Insurance
is to provide facilities for insurers. "The mechanism of electronic
insurance is very simple. The insurant indicates the car model, year of
production, engine size and other necessary information, and then the system
calculator automatically calculates the amount to be paid. A request is sent
to the company which then sends the contract to the client by e-mail, after
which payment is made," the company said. From
http://en.trend.az/ ICT Sector
Revenues Increase by 14 Percent in Information and communications services worth 116.3 million Manat
were rendered to organizations and the Azerbaijani population people in Jan.
2013, which is 13.6 percent more than the same period of 2012, the State
Statistics Committee told Trend on Friday. Around 72.1 percent of the total
volume of information and communications services fell to the services
rendered to the population. Around 59.1 percent of the total amount of
revenues fell to mobile services, or 4.8 percent less compared to the same
period of 2012. The total amount of revenues obtained from mobile services in
the country amounted to 68.7 million Manat in January 2012. The official
exchange rate is 0.7847 AZN/USD on Feb. 15. From
http://en.trend.az/ Modernization of the industrial sector and creation of new
enterprises in Boris Berkovich, Technical Director, Borlas -Now, the banking sector is very much interested in data
banks, analytical systems, risk analysis systems and risk management systems.
The sector of government agencies, in its turn, is interested in accounting
systems. However, in recent years, they are interested not just in accounting
or analysis systems but in the establishment of portal-based solutions, which
will allow them to interact with both legal entities and individuals or the
general public. The electronic government website is one of the best examples
of this trend. Edem Tsomartov, Consulting Director, Borlas -As a rule, a software producer is interested in providing the
market with modern products and they will serve as a foundation for
partnership policy afterwards. I mean that they will be trying to provide From
http://www.caspionet.kz/ Increasing
Numbers of Kazakh Residents Prefer Electronic Payments The number of residents of From
http://en.trend.az/ The total income of enterprises providing communication
services in Tajikistan increased by 14.6 percent in 2012 compared with the
previous year, reaching more than $470 million, CA-News reported on Wednesday
citing the deputy chief of communications of the Tajik State Administration,
Rafikdzhon Shokirov. According to him, over $86 million of the companies'
total income were contributed to the budget of the Republic in tax payments.
He also noted that within last year about $11 million was paid through
issuance of a license and its renewal. Some 43 percents of this amount was
contributed to the budget. From
http://en.trend.az/ The Turkmen Communications Ministry has held the first meeting
of the board of founders of Altyn Asyr (TM Cell) closed joint-stock company
which provides mobile communications services, local media reported on
Thursday. According to Turkmen Dovlet Khabarlary state information service,
the transformation of former Altyn Asyr mobile communications company of
Turkmentelecom state company into Altyn Asyr JSC had been on the agenda. A
number of issues were discussed within the meeting related to the signing of
a foundational agreement, approval of the charter and the charter capital of
the new company, as well as the election of a general director, board of
directors and audit committee. Representatives of the Economy and Development
Ministry, Finance Ministry, Supreme Chamber of Control, Central Bank and
State Tax Service were invited to attend the meeting. The company was
established based on the decree of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed
in November 2012. Back then, the number of subscribers to TM Cell cellular
network reached more than three million people. Established in 2004, the
Altyn Asyr cellular network joined the World Association of GSM Standard
Mobile Operators, where TM Cell mobile network , Turkmen national network of
cellular was registered under number 438 02. During this period, the coverage
area of services has significantly expanded, it covers almost all Turkmen
settlements, including remote and hard-to-reach areas, and the ones located
along roads and railways. The Ministry of Communications is still a monopoly
in From http://en.trend.az/
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The
government of SLIP is
the core technology infrastructure that opens up access to From http://www.futuregov.asia Cost Cutting, Productivity
Gains Driving Government ICT Spending ICT
spending in the entire government sector in According
to so, the Federal Government aims to generate significant cost efficiencies
by deploying cloud-based infrastructure and a whole-of-government approach in
its ICT procurement policy. "The 35 vendors that were selected in the
multi use list for the government's Data Centre-as-a-Service (DCaaS) are well
positioned to assist the government in achieving the $1 billion cost savings from
the procurement of cloud-based services." So says that IDC believes that
the Australian government is beginning to “gain an appetite” - although
slower than the private sector - for new generation technologies based on
cloud, mobility, social and Big Data. IDC suggests that the leading ICT
vendors in the new generation technology
areas will be able to capitalise on the government's ICT expenditure
by formulating efficient strategies that can help drive public sector
productivity provided that can alleviate the data security concerns. "These
ICT growth pillars will not only significantly cut the costs of the
government organisations but also will increase productivity and efficiency
of the public servants. These productivity improvements should align with its
strategic priorities of delivering better service, engage openly and improve
government operations,” So concludes. From http://www.itwire.com Australian
Smartphone,
tablets and mobile internet downloads are on the upswing, according to a new
report released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
ACMA is the Australian government’s telco industry watchdog. This agency
annually monitors consumer and industry trends for communications, internet
and ICT services. A “Smartphones and tablets: Take-up and use in On the
downside, consumers now also face “bill shocks, notes the ACMA report.
Earlier, ACMA and other senior officials warned that a rise in mobile data
usage means subscribers are receiving unexpectedly-high phone bills. Billing
disputes involve mobile traffic usage, as well as access to domestic and
international services. There is a continued lack of clarity about pricing
and billing, especially for unwary consumers. More broadly, the functionality
and ease of internet access has led to a proliferation of mobile apps. During
June 2012, an estimated 4.5 million Australians downloaded a mobile app.
Consumers are making mobile payments, using “mobile wallets,” exploring
mobile cloud services to store personal information, or benefiting from
anywhere, any-time emergency service alerts. Mobile phone voice-over-internet
protocol (VoIP) also recorded considerable growth in 2011–12. There were an
estimated 616,000 users using mobile VoIP services. This trend is eroding
carriers’ voice and messaging revenue streams. The popularity of smartphones
and tablets builds on, and consolidates new revenue streams for telcos, ISPs,
and mobile service providers. Mobile networks are being upgraded to support
fourth-generation ( From http://www.futuregov.asia Christmas
shopping drove New Zealand consumer spending with credit and debit cards up
by 0.3 percent in December to NZ$6.8 billion ($5.71 billion), the government
statistics agency announced Monday. It was the third consecutive
month-on-month increase in electronic card spending, according to Statistics
New Zealand. "Shoppers spent more in all retail industries, except fuel,
in December," industry and labor statistics manager Blair Cardno said in
a statement. Fuel was the only industry in which the value of transactions
fell, dropping 3.5 percent from November 2012. Core retail, which excludes
the motor vehicle-related industries, increased 0.5 percent in December, with
rises in all core retail industry groupings, led by consumables, which was up
0. 8 percent, and durables, up 0.6 percent. Consumables
includes food and liquor retailing, while durables industry includes
furniture, hardware, and appliance retailing. When the two industries outside
the retail series -- services, which rose 0.1 percent, and non-retail, which
was up 0.7 percent -- were combined with the 0.3-percent increase in retail
spending, the total value of electronic card spending increased 0.4 percent.
Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail and core retail
series had generally been increasing since the series began in October 2002,
said the statement. From http://www.globaltimes.cn Telcommunications
Cable Cuts Prices Southern
Cross Cable has cut prices by a fifth. The telecommunications cable, which
connects From http://www.radionz.co.nz |
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UNESCO
Calls for Wise Use of ICT in Education Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova urged educational
policy makers to use ICT wisely and ensure the universal accessibility of ICT
in education that would lead to quality education. Knowledge and education
can be used to build confident in young women and men as well as to allow
them to stand on their two feet, she said at the opening of the Asia-Pacific
Ministerial Forum on ICT in Education (AMFIE) 2012 held in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Evidence
Lacking on Mhealth Effectiveness in Poor Countries Mobile phone technology is frequently heralded as a solution to
many health challenges facing the developing world, but two systematic
reviews have found that evidence to back such claims is still largely
non-existent. There is a lack of rigorous studies in low- and middle-income
settings — where experts agree that mobile health (mHealth) initiatives have
tremendous potential — according to the reviews, led by Caroline Free from
the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, and
published in PLoS Medicine today (15 January). For example, just three out 75
trials that aimed to assess whether mobile technology interventions for
healthcare consumers could change health behavior or improve disease
management were conducted in developing countries. And none of the 42 trials
of interventions designed to support communication among healthcare providers
or between health services and patients were done in the developing world.
Mobile phones are thought to be able, among other things, to help manage
disease; facilitate drug adherence in tuberculosis patients; speed up
diagnosis of HIV and malaria; monitor outbreaks of polio; take and transfer
medical images to doctors; and provide an advice hotline for rural health
workers. Previous studies have found mobile phone text messaging to improve
adherence to HIV treatment in From
http://www.scidev.net/ Facebook’s
Facebook and Google are battling it out to dominate your
smartphone time and, for now, Facebook is winning. According to the latest
stats from comScore, Facebook was the most popular mobile app in the From
http://www.ejc.net/ Eight African countries have begun setting up Internet
exchange points as part of an ambitious project by the Internet Society and
the African Union Commission, aimed at improving interconnectivity between
countries and reducing connectivity costs. Eight African countries have begun
setting up Internet exchange points as part of an ambitious project by the
Internet Society and the African Union Commission, aimed at improving
interconnectivity between countries and reducing connectivity costs. Africa
has been plagued by high Internet costs because most of the exchange points
are in Training has already taken place in From
http://news.idg.no/ EU:
700.000 Job Openings in the ICT Sector With 700.000 unfilled Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) jobs and declining competitiveness, the Commission is
calling on companies, governments, educators, social partners, employment
service providers and civil society to take action in order to provide young
Europeans with the necessary tools to enter digital careers or to create jobs
as entrepreneurs. As European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes stated:
"The digital skills gap is growing, like our unemployment queues. We
need joint action between governments and companies to bridge that gap. The
ICT sector is the new backbone of Europe's economy, and together we can
prevent a lost generation and an uncompetitive From
http://www.neurope.eu/ A top German court has ruled that people can sue their
Internet providers for damages if connection is lost. The court has ruled
that access to the Internet represents a basic need in modern society. The
complaint that brought about the ruling came from a man who lost his Internet
connection for two months due to an administrative error caused by a takeover
of his Internet provider by another company. He is now entitled to monetary
compensation - and while the amount may not be very high, the ruling reflects
an important shift. With it, From
http://www.dw.de/ Wireless internet access offered by The Cloud will go free of
charge following Olympic trial success. People in the City of From
http://media.cbronline.com/ Open University (OU), UK today launched a mobile app—’OU
Anywhere’, allowing students to study for their qualifications regardless of
location and distant with the course materials to be made available on the
app. ‘OU Anywhere’, which is now available for download beginning
today—January 30, will see all OU course materials made available on tablets,
smartphones and other mobile devices. “From learning a language on the beach
to analysing rock samples on the train, OU Anywhere will let our students
work towards their qualifications whenever and wherever suits them best.
Making education and training accessible to all is vital if we’re going to
get the economy growing again, and OU Anywhere will make it easier than ever
for students to fit their studies around their busy lives,” said Martin Bean,
the Vice-Chancellor of The OU. Via the OU Anywhere app, students will have
the option to download all their course and module textbooks, videos and
other materials they need, allowing them to study while at home, in the
office, or on the move. Moreover, the course’s DVDs will traditionally be
posted to them at the start of their studies. Students can use native
e-readers to highlight and annotate text using the app, as well as
interacting with tutors and fellow students online through the Virtual
Learning Environment (VLE). The OU Anywhere app will be available for iOS and
Android smartphone and tablet users. All devices running iOS 6 will be
supported at launch, with an update for iOS 5 compatibility appearing shortly
after. Apps for kindle Fire adn Microsoft Surface will follow the launch
afterwards. Undergraduate students will be able to access content
immediately, while postgraduate materials will be available online early next
year. The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ NORTH
AMERICA: The government of the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Online
Traveller Information Service Launched in The Government of the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Unlike the disappointing tech startups of the late 1990s,
healthcare IT will continue to grow because it addresses problems the medical
industry has yet to solve. "Great topics & panelists. Feels like the
Internet bubble in 1998," tweeted one attendee following the conclusion
of Figuring out how to mesh that data, maintain privacy and make
it available in a customer-friendly format is a tech and business problem
formidable enough to stump the best and the brightest. You need to take the
complex data and present it in a consumer-friendly user interface. That
information will most likely be viewed on a mobile device and, while
difficult, there are some initiatives that are pointing the way. Sivak points
to the Blue Button initiative as an example of a simple way for Veterans
Administration patients to access complex data streams. Solving the
healthcare big data dilemma has enormous rewards. Healthcare in the 1. Cloud: "Payers are stuck with 25-year-old infrastructures.
They are asking: Is there another way?" said Rob Gillette, CEO of
HealthEdge. The prospect of a cloud-based architecture to mesh those
information silos and provide patients, providers and payers with a
consistent view into the healthcare system is one of the big health
investment drivers. Rock Health, a venture capital organization, tracks
health-related startups and lists seven in the health cloud category. 2. Robots: The idea of a robot scooting around a hospital ward
checking on patients might sound farfetched -- until you speak with Yulan
Wang, CEO of InTouch Health, based in 3. Consumers: Consumer gadgets are expanding from music, video
and social sharing to include health monitoring and health improvement. The
most interesting one mentioned was Scandu, which is pioneering in allowing
patients to do tests using a smartphone app that were once restricted to the
doctor's office. Where this will lead is anyone's guess, but patients will
increasingly know more details about their personal health than any one
office visit can provide. 4. Big Data: No tech conference is complete these days without
some mention of big data. But just as Sivak's keynote address stated, big
data in health may be our biggest data analysis problem with the greatest
benefit. Unlike other industries where data on an individual or process may
be sparse, the healthcare industry suffers from an overload of data contained
in silos, often incompatible and very often still in analog, rather than
digital, form. The cloud may help align some of that data, but it will be the
data analysis systems still to be built that may finally turn data overload
into just the right data being available at just the right time. Venture capital funding of healthcare technology companies is
70% ahead of Q3 2011, year over year, with the From
http://www.informationweek.com/
Few government agencies interact with the public quite as
directly and frequently as the U.S. Postal Service does -- and that
high-touch relationship brings with it opportunities. The USPS Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) on Jan. 7 released a new whitepaper detailing
e-government possibilities for the agency tasked with physical mail delivery.
The report is the latest in an ongoing research effort by the OIG into
Postal's digital future. The new paper explains the evolutionary stages of
e-government, which include the interaction and integration of digital
services for citizens and other agencies. Serious obstacles remain, however
-- the report cites the lack of universal standards and the understandable
privacy concerns involving passwords and home addresses. Yet if the Postal
Service could provide solutions to these issues, it would both drastically
improve government services and secure a future mission for itself. The OIG
report suggests that such changes are possible, and cites international
examples of how the digital strategy can succeed. Other agencies would also
benefit from a postal service e-government offering, the report argues. The
Department of Defense, for example, began a program last summer to digitize
incoming mail for Pentagon staff, but does not do the same for outgoing mail,
so “the Postal Service could offer hybrid mail services with legal standing
and force of law to complete the physical-digital cycle for DOD and other
agencies,” according to the report. It also notes ways the e-government
strategy will help agencies such as the IRS, FCC, Treasury and FEMA, among
others, to cut costs and increase efficiency. From
http://fcw.com/ |
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Online philanthropy is gaining popularity among Chinese, as
many believe that it offers more convenience and transparency compared to the
traditional methods of donating. Last month, the headmaster of a primary
school in west "Promoting projects online has become trendy among
charitable organizations," said Zhan Chengfu, head of the social welfare
and charity promotion department under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, at a
symposium on charity causes held last week. New media tools, such as microblogging
services and instant messaging programs, have brought charity groups lower
costs, greater speed and a broader scope in promoting programs and
fundraising, Zhan said, adding that the Internet and online payment
technology have lowered the threshold for participating in charitable
efforts. A survey conducted among nearly 1,000 charity groups found that more
than 60 percent are promoting programs on the Internet, while nearly 40
percent have blogs or microblog accounts. Netizens have largely applauded the
trend. "Every time I buy something online, I donate some money to online
charity programs," university student Li Fan said. "Most of the
time, my donations are just a very small sum of money. Without online
donations, I don't think I would bother going all the way to the charitable
organizations to donate such a small amount of money," she said. Hong
Bo, founder of the Gesanghua organization, said the transparency of online
philanthropy has attracted attention at a time when public trust in traditional
charities has been eroded by multiple scams and abuses. The development of
the Internet has also promoted the development of grassroots charity
organizations by offering them more fundraising channels, Hong added. From
http://www.china.org.cn/ Smart TVs
Become Smarter but Still Early Days for the Technology IN the not-so-distant future, couch potatoes will be waving,
pointing, swiping and tapping to make their TVs react, kind of like what Tom
Cruise did in the 2002 movie "Minority Report." That's the vision
of TV manufacturers as they show off "smart TVs." The sets will
recognize who's watching and will try to guess what viewers want to see.
They'll respond to more natural speech and will connect with your smartphone
in a single touch. The idea is to make TV watching easier and more pleasant
as viewers are confronted with more and more choices - from the hundreds of
live TV channels from the cable or satellite provider to online video
services such as Netflix Inc, Hulu and Apple's iTunes. A traditional remote
control that lets you flip through channels one at a time suddenly seems
inadequate. At a speech this week, Samsung President Boo-Keun Yoon said the
company was developing "TVs that have the power to create the ultimate
lean-back experience." Long way to go But don't worry about "Big Brother" looking back at
you. Manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co will allow motion-capturing
cameras to be pointed away. Gesture recognition still has a long way to go,
and in some demonstrations at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, which
opened on Tuesday in Exploring possibilities Paul Gagnon, a TV analyst with research firm NPD Group, said
these technologies are still in their early days. "Most interaction I've
had with gesture and voice control ... it's not real great right now,"
he said. "Right now, a lot of people in the industry are just trying to
explore the possibilities." The TV makers' new interactive features
fared better when they reverted to the traditional remote control format,
with some twists. Samsung's new remote has a touch-enabled track pad that
swiped through menus similar to smartphone screens on Android and Apple
mobile devices. Panasonic Corp is also including a track pad and a microphone
on its new remote - though it faces similar challenges recognizing commands.
A voice command for "Breaking Bad" on video brought up Google
search results on a web browser, as opposed to opportunities to watch the
show. From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 01/15/2013 Shanghai
Revs Up Internet Speed with Network Upgrade From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Wi-Fi
Service Extended to Some Bus Routes From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 01/30/2013 A new cloud service for senior care has recently been launched
in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Better
Info-Sharing to Aid Disabled in Disasters The Cabinet Office plans to revise a law so that municipal
governments can share information on elderly and disabled residents, who
cannot escape by themselves in case of a disaster, with private organizations
on a routine basis. The Cabinet Office aims to amend the Basic Law on Natural
Disasters during the current ordinary Diet session, based on lessons learned
from the Great East Japan Earthquake, in which measures to save such people
were seriously delayed in some cases. However, it will be difficult to strike
a balance between the envisaged measure and the protection of the personal
information of residents involved. The Cabinet Office aims to add these clauses to the law: -- Municipal governments shall make lists of people
particularly vulnerable to disasters. -- Municipal governments are allowed to disclose personal
information, including lists of names, to private organizations concerned,
not only in emergencies but also on a routine basis. Currently, municipal governments are requested to compile such
name lists under the Guidelines for Evacuation Support for People Requiring
Assistance During a Disaster. But the guidelines are not legally binding,
thus only about 60 percent of municipal governments have compiled such lists.
The guidelines were made in March 2006 by the Cabinet Office to assist the
elderly, disabled people, infants and others who are especially vulnerable
during disasters. The guidelines delineate how the central and local
governments should develop assistance systems, and urge municipal governments
to compile name lists and contingency plans to assist with evacuation of all
residents. The Cabinet Office therefore simultaneously conducted reviews
of the law and the guidelines, and presented a draft of the revised
guidelines to an expert panel in late January. The panel's chair, Prof.
Atsushi Tanaka of the University of Tokyo, who studies information
circulation in connection with disasters, said, "It's important that
'private organizations' refers not only to neighborhood associations but also
to nursing care service providers and disabled people's associations so that
their capabilities can be fully utilized." The government's plan to
revise the law stemmed from the reality that many people who are vulnerable
to emergencies were abandoned during the Great East Japan Earthquake and its
aftermath. Miyuki Owada, 43, who was hit by the disaster in Minami-Soma, The day after the tsunami, an explosion occurred in Tokyo
Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, located just 24
kilometers from her family's home. Though her neighbors quickly evacuated,
Owada and her daughters stayed at home, thinking it would be too difficult to
live in a shelter. Nearby stores closed one after another. Owada and her
daughters shared food and rationed their medicines by breaking the pills into
pieces. In the disaster, employees of affected municipal governments also
became victims. A private organization for the disabled asked eight municipal
governments in coastal areas of the three disaster-hit prefectures to offer
assistance. Only the Minami-Soma municipal government accepted the request.
After about two months had passed since the disaster, members of the Japan
Disability Forum's But many other municipal governments refused to disclose such
information for reasons of protecting the privacy of the people involved.
Last year, the city government of Rikuzen-Takata, In reality there remain many hurdles, the most important of
which is preventing the leakage of personal information. The Cabinet Office
has considered such measures as obliging persons who receive private
information to keep it strictly confidential, and having local governments
sign agreements with private organizations in advance to decide how best to
manage personal information. Other issues include how much personal
information--for example the composition of each family and details of
disabilities and diseases--should be disclosed; what kind of private
organizations can receive the information; and whether the agreement of the
disabled people involved should be necessary for them to be placed on a list.
The Cabinet Office will consider such issues and include them in the revised
guidelines. Masao Horibe, professor emeritus of From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ Savvy consumers are increasingly ditching cash and plastic in
favor of their smartphones, redeeming digital coupons for caramel lattes at
coffee shops with a swipe of their handset and keeping track of membership
points on the same mobile device. This example of converging technologies and
services has become a booming trend in From
http://english.chosun.com/ S. Korean
TV Goes All Digital Starting Monday Starting December 31st, all analog broadcasting of terrestrial
television content is no longer available, due to the country’s transition to
digital broadcasting. Korea Communications Commission said starting 4: From
http://world.kbs.co.kr/ Nearly
Half of Smartphone Users Have Almost half of all smartphone users in From
http://english.chosun.com/ Online Use
of Resident Registration No. Restricted from Monday Companies’ collection and use of resident registration numbers
online will be banned from Monday. The Korea Communications Commission says
the ban is set to take effect under a revision to the Information and
Communication Network Act. Companies were given a six-month grace period to
prepare for the revision, and inspections on the collection and use of
people's resident registration numbers on the Internet will begin next month.
Inspections to enforce the revision will first begin on websites that average
more than 100-thousand daily views and expand to portals with over
ten-thousand daily visits. The commission will also try and prevent the use
of registration numbers on mobile phones by inspecting popular applications,
mobile games that require the numbers and adult-only contents. From
http://world.kbs.co.kr/ |
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The city administration of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Patients in "Apollo Tele-Medicine Network will facilitate ready
access to specialists and super-specialists for referrals, consultation,
second opinion, reviews, post treatment follow-ups besides facilitating
tele-continuing medical education, programmes for the medical fraternity in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Disabled people or callers who are under threat and cannot
speak will soon be able to call for emergency help with the new ‘SaveMe The SaveMe 999 application will be available for download on
Android and iOS enabled smartphones and devices. MERS 999 is an initiative by
the Malaysian Government for computerised emergency call taking and
dispatching. Under its single platform and a single emergency number, the
country’s five emergency service providers — the Police, Fire and Rescue
Department, Ambulances/Hospitals, Civil Defense and Maritime Enforcement —
share information and consolidate and integrate emergency response resources.
The MERS From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office
(PMO) in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Managing Sr. Mohd Hazley Halim, Head of Facility Management at the
National Water Asset Management Company in In this aspect, Hazley stresses the preservation, record
keeping and verification of data as factors critical for asset management.
"Whatever project that has been planned, built and put on the ground
changes over time. In addition, the number of assets an organisation owns
also tends to increase over time, thus making record keeping and verification
of data a bit of a challenge." To address such problems posed by its
growing number of assets and participating operators, PAAB developed a web
dashboard application which provides a high level view into the operations
and asset handling of the organisation. It leverages on the capabilities of
Esri’s ArcGIS technology to enable better asset management and decision
making through a series of information pop-ups and reports so that concise
map-centric content can be visualised. In addition, the application is also
able to address data security concerns by having a secured login access to
the PAAB’s central geodatabase which allows the following functionalities:
retrieval of operational and maintenance information relating to assets,
queries for customer consumption and maintenance, access to information
relating to assets, report plant breakdowns, service disruptions and
interventions and as well as the capability to quickly produce high quality
maps and access technical drawings for repairs and maintenance. By using the web dashboard, PAAB and its participating
operators would be able to access detailed information of the country’s water
assets. "For example, if you want to see data about water reservoirs,
with the dashboard you can see a spatially referenced inventory about each
reservoir, the year it was built, top and bottom water levels, updates with
the maintenance and other relevant information needed for decision making and
forecasting." "At the moment, we are now conducting trainings and
workshops for our operators in Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor to use the
system." Meanwhile, according to Haji isa Abu Bakar, Chief Operating
Officer of PAAB, for the longest time, Malaysia has been regarded as world
class in terms of infrastructure but the same unfortunately cannot be said
when it comes to facility maintenance. "As PAAB is working towards using the system on a much
larger scale in next couple of years, we hope it can be implemented by all
migrated operators involved in shaping Malaysia's water industry system so
that we may eventually raise the standards of Asset Management in the
country." "We hope this can be adopted by the whole industry so
that everyone has a single system that will make it easier for us to better
manage our assets and facilities and give us an oversight on how to move the
industry forward," he says. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will
introduce a Personally Controlled Health Records (PCHR) and allow its members
to access and manage their own health information. Commencing this year, the
PhilHealth will release specification for the PCHR to enable the shift in
health data management. This initiative is expected to recreate a
patient-centric care as well as stimulating a new business sector on health
data stewardship. The PCHR will be owned by the patients and co-managed with
their health providers such as hospitals and clinics. The new data system
will empower patients to take care of their own health data and use it for better
decision making. The system will be designed as a secure repository for
health information for individuals and their families—an important compliance
requirement of the recently passed Data Privacy Act 2012. “Disease prevention
and health promotion especially of our sponsored members are important to us
at PhilHealth. The national government through the Department of Health has
invested on the premium of more than 5 million families nationwide. We wish
to empower our members to take charge of their family’s health and make
informed decisions through proper data management,” says Dr Eduardo P Banzon,
President and CEO of PhilHealth. The PhilHealth is a tax-exempt government owned and controlled
corporation under the Department of Health that to ensure a sustainable
universal health coverage for the The PhilHealth allocated more than PH₱ 3 billion
(US$ 73.4 million) into developing the DHIS2 e-reporting system for the PCB
in 2012 with its providers expected to submit reports electronically. For the
new PCHR, Dr Alvin Marcelo, Chief Information Officer of the PhilHealth faced
challenges with resources and a requirement to implement the system in three
months. He choose to partner with the academe for a fast implementation with
a free and open source reporting system that would receive reports from the
PCB providers. “We selected DHIS2 because of its long history of success in
Africa and for easy access to its core developers in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Department of Budget and Management is leveraging
e-banking to seamlessly distribute pension payments worth Php 4.83 billion
(US$ 117 million) to 54,660 retirees of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
According to Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad, the shift from a
conventional mode of payments to e-banking will enable the retirees claim
their monthly pension payments in a more efficient and timely manner. The new
payment system will also allow the government to detect and weed out
fictitious or “ghost” entries from the PNP pensioner database. Furthermore,
electronic banking will also prevent fraudulent accounts, since the creation
of an ATM account will require a personal appearance and valid identification
documents from a prospective account holder. “More than ever, we need to lay
down the necessary structures for transparency, accountability, and openness
in the way we handle public funds. With digital technology now at our
disposal, it will be easier for us to track and monitor all transactions within
the bureaucracy.” “This doesn’t just lead to faster transactions,
liquidation, and auditing—it also helps us ensure that every peso spent by
government will not be wasted on corruption, but will instead benefit the
ordinary taxpayer in a real, immediate, and substantial fashion,” he said. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The A capacity building workshop was held for the legislative
staff of local government units to enhance their skills on using IT in
tracking and monitoring local government performance, as part of the
government’s efforts to promote transparency and greater excellence in local
legislation. The activity was organised by the Local Government Capacity
development Division of the Department of the Interior and Local Government
(DILG) regional office, and was attended by representatives from the
municipalities of Aglipay, Cabarroguis, Diffun, Maddela and Nagtipunan. It
centred on the use of the System Information Service (SIS) so that local
authorities can solve performance gaps identified by the Local Government
Performance Management System. The latter is an e-scorecard project that is
used to determine the level of performance and development of local
government units (LGU) in the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), on
January 31, has implemented the pilot project of Bus Management and Dispatch
System (BMDS) as the first bus reduction programme in the country that use
biometrics to manage bus drivers. The BMDS will be pilot-tested at the bus
dispatch terminal of the MMDA at Fairview, Quezon City, and twelve more satellite
stations will be established all over Metro Manila later this year. "Our aim is to instill discipline
among PUB drivers and make them aware that we at the MMDA, together with
other agencies, are capable of monitoring them, especially their driving behaviour,"
MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said, noting the spate of fatal road
accidents last year involving public utility buses (PUBs). The BMDS is an improved system that
can dispatch public buses from four MMDA terminal based on passenger demand
and current traffic situation on each day. The programme is partnered with
private sector who run the bus companies. PUB drivers are required to be
identified by finger-scanning at the dispatch terminals prior to being
allowed to ply their routes. A PUB Driver’s Databank has been created by the MMDA to
contain the personal information of each registered driver, the bus company
he or she is employed, and the number of individual unsettled traffic
violations. There are a total of 3,471 city buses operated by 105 firms
registered in the database, which is linked with other agencies such as Land
Transport Office, Land Transportation Franchising & Regulatory Board, and
National Bureau of Investigation, for sharing the data. According to the MMDA
chairman, only drivers with less than three pending traffic violations will
be dispatched from the terminal. “Those with more than three should settle
their traffic violation tickets first before being allowed to ply their
routes.” The PUBs will be fielded every ten minutes during peak hours and
fifteen minutes during non-peak hours, from each BMDS terminal. The BMDS will
cut the excess number of city buses in operation to improve traffic
situation, and get rid of unregistered buses or locally known as ‘colorum’
buses. The MMDA now has four major dispatch terminals, which are South
Station in Alabang and Coastal Mall in From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority
(TESDA), the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Patient Satisfaction Survey 2012 recently launched by From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Intelligence
Software Brought into Classroom From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Two government secondary schools in E-Learning hardware such as 10 units of 10-inch screen tablets
have been provide to Wat Rachathiwas School’s standard one class and a class
of autistic students, and Taweethapisek School’s standard one class during
the pilot period between December 2013 and January 2013. The evaluation of
the outcome will be in February. The tablets are equipped with classroom
management software programme, which allows teachers to monitor on the
devices used during the class. Using the content distribution solution, a
team of pedagogical experts select and create appropriate content. The
content gets automatically pushed from a central server to the server
appliance, which is located at each school. There the content is accessible
to the students and teacher via the local area Wi-Fi network, which is fast
and reliable regardless of the school Internet connection. The server
appliance also provides firewall protection, caching, and other networking
services that every school requires. With one-time configuration, the server
appliance requires no further support to maintain its performance, and is
even remotely accessible should a problem arise. Students can access learning
content from the Office of the Basic Education Commission and Intel’s
provided content from Skoool, Wikipedia, and From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) under From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Thai
Government to Optimise Smart ID to Connect with Farmers Starting this year, a survey of farmers will be conducted to
compile a database. With the precise farmer database, Helps during disaster,
useful information and knowledge transfer will be made possible via
Internet-protocol TV and ICT centres in the communities nationwide. The
completed database will be kept on the G-Cloud to reduce the overlapping work
in technological development. The data will be shared via the Government
Information Network (GIN). Both G-Cloud and GIN are provided by the EGA.
"I think the One ID Card for Smart Farmers project will drive and
improve government services to farmers and reduce the gap between them and
officials," Yingluck said. "It also will reduce complexity and
corruption. Moreover, it enables the creation of zoning for agriculture for
long-term sustainability." The next step, the government will be able to
optimise the global information system to plan the zone for agriculture and
monitor plantation productivity thoroughly. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Thai
Traffic Police Engages Motorists Via E-Survey The Royal Thai Police Headquarters used an online survey to
receive input from motorists to identify The respondents to the e-survey said that traffic congestion
on motorists using the same roads to access department stores, schools,
government offices, and fair venues where there is not enough parking space.
The situation is made worse when drivers violate traffic laws, they said and
continued that offences that cause congestion include driving against the
flow of traffic, ignoring parking bans and making sharp turns. In response to
the e-survey’s feedback, Pol Maj Gen Nopsitthiporn has managed to order
traffic police to take strict action violators of give main offences in an
effort to improve the congestion. "They are driving against traffic
flow, driving on footpaths, double-parking, making sudden turns and running
red lights,” he said. From http://www.futuregov.asia/
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Dhaka, Dec 12 (UNB) – Speakers at a roundtable here called for
ensuring access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the
persons with disabilities for improving their condition. The use and development of ICT is
rising day by day in the country. But its access to the disabled is very
limited, which hampered their development, they said addressing the
roundtable in the city on Wednesday. Centre for Services and Information on
Disability (CSID) organized the roundtable titled “Access of Persons with
Disabilities to ICT” at Bangladesh Computer Council Bhaban at Agargaon. Nazrul
Islam Khan, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT), attended the programme as the chief guest. Moderated by Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury, Member, UN Committee on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and vice chairman of CSID, the
roundtable was addressed by Dr. Gyanendra Nath Biswas, Executive Director,
Bangladesh Computer Council, Fahmida Mariam, Regional Director, From http://www.unbconnect.com The primary aim of the e-Parwana is to provide hassle-free
licenses for dealers and manufacturers of agricultural inputs namely, seeds,
fertilizers and insecticides. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Minister of
Agriculture and Marketing, Other stakeholders such as dealers, manufacturers and farmers
were motivated to use e-Parwana by integrating the service with m-Governance.
MahaAgri SMS service provides timely information regarding license validity
and application status. Online help is also being provided on the website.
Helpdesk at Director (Input), Commissionerate of Agriculture, has also been
set up for the stakeholders. Bridging the gap.The application has brought
transparency in the licensing process as the database is accessible in public
domain. It has helped to use licensee information more precisely at same
time, reducing the time required for license issuance. Response to the
project from rural andsemi urban users is overwhelming. Previously
manufacturers and dealers had to travel a long distance for obtaining or
renewing their license. It was a time-consuming manual process. Introduction
of e-Parwana have eased the things. Around 6,616 people have applied for
license till date and 1,874 licensed are issued online. Best is yet to come. “The department of agriculture is working
on online submission of license fees through an online payment gateway.
Implementation of statutory requirements like submission of monthly sales
return, inspection and sampling will be done in next few months,” says
Ghawate. • MSR (Monthly Sales Return): This will be implemented in next
couple of months. Once implemented, it will become easy to predict
requirement of inputs well in advance i.e. before season and accordingly
authorities can plan the distribution in advance. • Product Information: This system will help farmers get
information about agriculture products. Farmers will get information about
price, recommendations from manufacturer/producer of inputs. This information
will be accessible even from mobiles. • e-Lab: The application will be integrated with State Input
Testing Laboratories. e-Lab will computerise quality control of inputs (seeds,
fertilizers, insecticides). These results will be made available in public
domain to help farmers take informed decision. • e-Inspector: This application will computerise quality
control works such as inspection and sampling. It will help quality control
inspectors to get sample results instantly and take action within prescribed
timeframe, perform their duties as per various acts, orders and
notifications. The department has created a standard set of documents
required for various licenses. While formulating the standard set, redundant
documents have been deleted from the essential set. Applicants need to
present the documents prescribed in the set. While e-Parwana is more
business-centric, From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Policing
Takes a Giant Leap Through CC TNS In the current law and order scenario of the country, the
CCTNS Mission Mode Project appears to have a very significant importance for
crime control. Please tell us how did the concept of CCTNS evolve? The CCTNS
(Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems) Programme has been
conceived as a Mission Mode Project fully sponsored by the Government of
India under the National e-Governance Plan. CCTNS has evolved from the
knowledge and learnings gathered from the erstwhile Common Integrated Police
Application (CIPA) programme. CIPA had been initiated to computerise and automate
the functioning of police stations with a view to bringing in efficiency and
transparency in various processes and functions at the police station level
and improve service delivery to the citizens. However, the CIPA programme was
found to be progressing too slowly. Also it was talking about only computerisation; it did not
have the power for facilitating exchange of information. Even after the
computerisation, the various police stations around the country would have
remained like isolated islands. Around 2009, we came to this realisation that
we need to go beyond CIPA. So based on all the best practices that were
available at that point of time and on the advice of DietY, we went in for
the CCTNS programme. CIPA has since been subsumed into the CCTNS programme.
The goals of the system are to facilitate collection, storage, retrieval,
analysis, transfer and sharing of data and information at the police station
and between the police station and the state headquarters and the Central
Police Organisations. How smooth has been the experience of bringing CCTNS programme
to the country so far? Actually we have found that the existing process of
procurement is a major stumbling block in the speedy implementation of CCTNS.
Many states are finding it difficult to finalise the System Integrators (SI)
for the implementation of CCTNS. The System Integrator has to be hired for
supplying the software, the hardware, customising the software, integrate the
entire set of processes and systems and also maintain the SLAs. The CCTNS is
being planned in such a way that while the policy making is centralised, the
actual implementation is being done at the state level. Now states have very
little exposure to procurement of this kind, so there are obvious hiccups.
Some states had to go through a lengthy process; at times RFP (Request for
Proposals) had to be issued three or four times. We did lot of capacity
building for facilitating progress in the actual implementation. We also
appointed project management units. We also had some issues with our own
applications, but these have by now been resolved. By when can we expect CCTNS to be fully implemented in the
country? How much work has already been done, and how much remains to be
done? Most states in the country have now been able to select their System
Integrators and so rapid progress is currently being made in the
implementation. In various states the project is under different stages of
implementation. For instance, the state of Karnataka has already completed
its entire implementation. They are now at the cusp of bringing into
operation their entire system of CCTNS. At the same time we have some states
where the work is yet to start. It’s like a normal distribution curve, some
people are very far ahead, and some are yet to start their operations. What about the data centres that will be needed for CCTNS? Are
they fully operational? All the data centres have been brought up. The
disaster recovery centres have also been brought up. All issues related to
connectivity, permissions, etc., have also been resolved. The linking up of
data centres with the NCRB is also complete. This is one major activity that
has been completed. However, the issue that we are facing now is that of man
management in data digitisation. This is a very heavy task as we have
stipulated that the data for at least last 10 years should be digitised.
Mostly the cases related to crime, property and the like, that are being
digitised. The minor issues are not being digitised at the moment. The thing
is that if a police station has at least 10 years of legacy data with itself,
it will be able to function more smoothly. We are further improving our processes by implementing the
lessons that we have learned so far. About 10 percent of the work for CCTNS
has already been done. By 31st March of this year another 30 percent will get
done. By end of June 2013 we would like to complete another 40 percent. And
the remaining 10 percent we would like to finish by end of August this year.
We still have a few remotest police stations that are yet to come on the VSAT
or the WiMAX. That will be resolved in next five or six months. We also face
issues as many police stations are in the process of either being shifted,
constructed or are not having enough space. These issues also need to be
addressed. Do you think that lack of electricity in certain areas can also be
a cause for concern? That is the case. Police stations in remote areas often
have to do without any power supply for days. CCTNS would intend to embrace
all available platforms, including mobile phones. Emergency or intelligence
alerts would be sent to senior police officers via SMS alerts under the
system. Any application software is always a work in progress. It has
to be constantly updated with new features. How do you ensure that the
applications and hardware deployed in CCTNS do not become stagnant and keep
evolving through new knowledge? The security systems deployed like Firewalls,
etc., are built into the system so that is not an issue. But the fact is that
the end users of CCTNS have the habit of constantly changing the goal posts.
New requirements and requests keep coming in and that has to be implemented.
Constantly enhancing the software does become a bit of a constraint. “CC TNS
has evolved from knowledge gathered from the erstwhile Common Integrated
Police Application (CIPA) programme” What about the issue of language? Different states have
different languages, so how does CCTNS centralise the data that is in different
languages? Many of the states are operating in Hindi or English. However, we
do have states that are operating in regional languages like Marathi,
Gujarati, Telgu, Tamil, and few others. Now we have transliteration software
available with C-DAC. It does not do the translation, it only does
transliteration. This software is expected to start providing more accurate
results with usage. As you keep using and as you make new inputs, the system
keeps improving on its own. At times people in the country are unable to
receive copies of the FIRs. This problem will get resolved with the CCTNS
through which it is being said that people can download copies of the FIRs
filed. But what is being done to take care of the privacy related issues? There are lot of legal issues that are involved in this.
Privacy issues are also there. How much information can you put on the
internet? How much can people access? How much can they download We have also
contemplated the idea of putting digital signatures on the FIRs filed online.
You see, if you want people to file an FIR online, you have to be in a
position to be able to ascertain the identity of the person. Otherwise we
could have miscreants filing online FIRs just to create a nuisance in the
society. These issues are coming up, and we are hopeful that we will soon be
able to sort out these issues. Ultimately the CCTNS system will be coming up
on the National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG). The states will
be coming up on the SSDG. Through these platforms lot of citizen services
will become available, thus leading to more transparency and accountability.
For the services like passports, driving licences, etc., we will be able to
conduct verification of the individuals in a quick and seamless manner. The
past records of any citizen can be examined very easily. CCTNS is also expected to improve the crime detection and
investigation mechanism in the country by bringing many new tools and
technologies to the police. Please provide us your views on this. The most
useful technology would be that of fingerprinting. We are developing an
Automatic Finger Print Identification and Management System. A facial
recognition system is also going to be implemented. We are also going to
develop the system of mobile terminals, so that when people go to a scene of
crime, they can record their experiences in a digital medium on the spot,
instead of having to come back to their station and typing it on the
computer. The GIS technology will be used to identify the location from where
a particular call is coming. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Govt to
Set Up 500 Community Radio Stations by 2017 From
http://egov.eletsonline.com E-Stamping
Introduced in All From
http://egov.eletsonline.com |
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On December 2, President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan
received a group of participants of the “Meeting of Leaders of Information
and Communication Technologies” forum held in Nagorno Karabakh. In his speech
President Sahakyan noted that special attention was attached to the
development of information technologies, with the stance based on various
economic, scientific and political factors. He stressed IT sector as the crucial
component of economic globalization and integration processes, adding that
the development of information technologies enable young people to engage in
highly intellectual and well-paid activities and continuously improve their
professional skills without leaving the homeland. The president hailed the
work carried out in Artsakh in that direction, with a number of leading
organizations having entered the republic. He further highly assessed the
active cooperation between the companies, private sector and educational
institutions in IT sector, adding that in the near future the development of
the field will begin from the primary initial level through launching
educational projects for schoolchildren. Vice prime-minister Arthur
Aghabekyan and other officials partook at the meeting, the Central
Information Department at the Artsakh President's Office reported. From
http://www.panarmenian.net/ Azerbaijani Education Ministry have submitted the next phase
of project on informatization of educational system to the government of the
country, the Minister of Education Misir Mardanov told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the minister, ratification of the project, implementation of
which is envisaged within 7 years, is expected. Work on informatization of
educational system, connecting schools to the global network and enhancing
the skills of teaching staff in the field of information technology will be
continued within the project. "The current level of educational system's
informatization can be considered as satisfactory, and the level of informatization
will grow further with the financing of the field," he said. According
to Mardanov, today more than half of teaching staff, about 80.000 teachers,
have been trained to enhance their skills in information technology.
According to these figures, From
http://en.trend.az/ E-Services
for Cargo Transportation Introduced in By the end of this year, Azerbaijan Railways JSC plans to
complete the introduction process of e-services in the field of cargo
transportation, the deputy head of Azerbaijan Railways JSC Gurban Nazirov
said on Friday during a presentation of the new updated version of the
company's official website. According to him, e-services in particular will
provide the possibility of determining the disposition and location of
freight carriages in the entire railway network. Online services will also
include services such as tariff determination, which depends upon on route
and distance, and the ability to make online orders of carriages needed to
transport goods. Nazirov noted that all this will facilitate and accelerate
the process of goods transportation by rail. Previously the company
introduced a system of online ticket sales. On May 23, 2011, Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree 'On some measures in the sphere of
provision of electronic services to government agencies' according to which
the Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to determine the rules for conduction
of electronic services by central state agencies and the types of e-services
in particular fields. According to Nazirov, within the renovation of the
Internet site, all necessary work has been carried out in order to make it
more informative and accessible to users. Also, opportunities for further
expansion of electronic services were considered. From
http://en.trend.az/ Some
11,000 People Visited Azerbaijani www.b2b.az Portal Services in 2012 Some 11,000 people used e-commerce portal www.b2b.az in 2012,
created in From
http://en.trend.az/ Nearly 90%
of Tax Declarations in Ministry of Taxes of From
http://en.trend.az/ Central
E-Library System to Be Implemented in Automated Library Information System of Azerbaijan (ALISA) was
developed with the corresponding order of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of
Azerbaijan Republic, ULTRA company said in its report on Thursday. Various
scattered library systems is implementing in The system represents all functions in itself for complete
automation of any national, private, university, school library processes and
it was built on MARC21, ISO2709, UNICODE, Z3950 and other standard and
protocols. If we have a short look at the Unit Centralized Library
Information systems modules, the system consists of acquisition, cataloque,
electronic cataloque, management and organizational structure modules,
advanced search, online operations, reservation, circulation, reports and
statistics and other modules. ALISA system as a complex project completely
automates Ministry control system, internal library processes and
library-reader realtions and makes it possible to create necessary
environment for all these automation processes. So any reader without coming
to the library selects any library and get registered, then he comes to the
corresponding library and gets reader card - he can use this plastic card in
all libraries, he can order online and reserve any publication and coming to
the library he orders the reserved publication, he follows the order status
in the electronic queue monitor, he takes the order, when he gives back the
order, he returns the book to the library by means of the special library
equipments. The management of the library can see any report about internal
processes of the library. Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan
Republic controls all libraries and can get any report. This step that was
taken to develop From
http://en.trend.az/ |
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Australian
government health minister, Tanya Plibersek, has unveiled a US$4.9 million
(AUD$4.9 million) internet National Health Services Directory – with
information downloads now available from smart phones or Android devices.
This National Health Services Directory (NHSD) offers free information to
patients about local health services – while supporting anywhere, anytime
nationwide coverage. The NHSD is being developed using national and emerging
international standards. The project draws on an earlier Victorian Human
Services Directory and other directories available around This
on-line access is being expanded over the next 12 months. Enhancements
feature more detailed information, covering additional types of health
services, including allied health providers. “Every parent knows that a trip
to the doctor or the emergency department is much more difficult when you’re
not familiar with the area or need to find help in the evening,” Minister
Plibersek said. “This new internet directory is easy to use and will save
people who need fast access to medical care an enormous amount of time and
trouble.” Information such as languages spoken, whether they bulk bill,
whether new patients are accepted and prerequisites/referral criteria are
being added. The directory builds on and consolidates a range of regional
healthcare directories. The aim is to provide more detailed and integrated
information. Information about public and private health sector providers
encompass all Australian states and territories. This service is spearheaded
by the National Health Call Centre Network on behalf of, and with the support
of, all Australian governments. Partner organisations for this service
include the Government of From http://www.futuregov.asia Aust Wiki Launches
Social Media Kit for Disabled The
benefits of social media, including Tweets and YouTube, are being extended to
people with disabilities under a just-launched initiative by the
Brisbane-registered coalition of emergency management professionals,
Emergency 2.0 Wiki. Emergency 2.0 Wiki, a voluntary body, has developed an
on-line Emergency 2.0 Wiki Accessibility Toolkit. This toolkit is tailored
for the sensory and mobility-impaired. Among its features, the toolkit offers
tips, resources and apps to overcome the problems of accessing social media
for the blind, deaf or physically-restricted. It also offers guidelines for
emergency agencies and government. Visually-impaired users of smartphone or
other mobile devices will benefit from an “Easy Chirp” service that presents
information using an alternative site to Twitter. This makes it easier to
monitor emergency notices, or other community news-feeds. Vibrations or
flashes also demonstrate on-line information for those with hearing
difficulties. Additionally, YouTube videos come equipped with sign language
and captions. Eileen
Culleton, founder and CEO for Emergency 2.0 Wiki, told FutureGov, it took
three months to develop this service. Developers used Media Wiki free
software and GoogleDocs information-sharing, collaboration and editing tools.
Content was “crowd-sourced” from a global knowledge base, including
professionals representing the emergency, government, NGO, and business
sectors in Firstly,
participants register with a dedicated LinkedIn account. Credentials are
cross-checked before access to the network. This network now has 240
professionals from From http://www.futuregov.asia Laying the Groundwork
for G-cloud in With an
annual budget of US$2 billion, the State Government of New South Wales is
taking the first steps towards implementing a state cloud. A new private
cloud pilot is underway to test the waters before full-scale migration. The
Government of New South Wales is moving towards managing the cost of running
ICT infrastructure while delivering agency-wide savings. In October 2012, the
State Government launched a private cloud pilot to help agencies migrate to
this platform. This pilot underscores continued interest in cloud services —
while enabling end-users to benefit from a pay-per-use model and utilise
scalable services. This cloud pilot, led by the New South Wales (NSW)
Department of Finance and Services, lays the foundations for a broader
adoption of cloud services over the next three years. NSW’s Minister for
Finance, Greg Pearce, says the NSW Government is responsible for a large
annual ICT budget. This budget is estimated at US$2 billion (AU$2 billion) a
year. “Our first
public cloud pilot will scope the potential of cloud computing,” Minister
Pearce says. “We want to deliver leadership in the ICT sector. The goal is to
transform the NSW public service into a modern and efficient government,
built around a well-defined governance framework.” A “whole-of-government
cloud strategy” is influenced by governance requirements and industry-wide
consultations — while offering a sound foundation for innovation. Cloud
computing offers a cost-effective model to provision agency-wide services.
This platform is supported by the State Government’s ICT Strategy for 2012,
which explores the potential of cloud computing, among other platforms, while
setting new goals and timelines for ICT procurement and policy reforms. An
initial cloud pilot enables participating agencies to scope out the pros and
cons of hosting data in a private cloud. This approach minimises upfront
risks and builds on feedback. Over the
past 18 months, the NSW Department of Finance and Services has actively
consulted with government and industry about ICT procurement reforms and
policy direction, Minister Pearce observes. The decision to move to broader
cloud services is influenced, in large part, by “governance procedures” while
ensuring this investment enhances productivity and efficiency. Refining
the G-cloud roadmap The NSW
Government’s ICT Strategy notes that cloud computing models are being adopted
by governments worldwide. Early-on adopters include the Creating a
trusted cloud environment Establishing
a trusted government cloud — that is private and available to agencies — is a
first step toward broader migration plans. A pilot offers a low-risk launch
pad to migrate to a public cloud, as service offerings mature, and better
trust is established. The NSW Government’s cloud deployment offers a staged
rollout — firstly, starting with a private cloud pilot. This model will be
refined and modified, drawing on feedback and consultation. But clarity is
needed about whether agencies should tap into public or private clouds, while
tackling security, privacy and data sovereignty concerns. This is especially
the case where data reside off-shore or under arrangements with multinational
solutions providers. William Murphy, Executive Director, ICT Policy,
Department of Finance and Services, says: “We need to appreciate how to
better work with challenges involving cloud computing. There are also privacy
and security issues that need to be addressed.” He
observes that some agencies are already using the public cloud for
recruitment and educational purposes. “Cloud sourcing is part of the broader
ICT strategy, but it remains for agencies to decide which procurement models
suit them best.” Cloud and related ICT services must be made available to
agencies in a way that is both “accessible and meaningful to their
businesses,” adds Murphy. Assessing
risks in the cloud On other
fronts, the NSW Government plans a “comprehensive risk assessment” in
relation to how public information is managed, stored, and maintained by
cloud providers. There are some classifications of government information
that may be unsuitable for access through a cloud-based service, or hosting
information at off-shore data centres. To tackle security concerns, the NSW
Government established its initial limited “private cloud” for agencies – as
underlined by the launch of the October 2012 pilot project. Canvassing
key ICT reforms From http://www.futuregov.asia Social Media Drives Aust
Emergency Management The
up-take of social media continues to grow in Australia – with direct benefits
for emergency management teams, and people in affected area, says a study by
Queensland University of Technology’s Centre of Excellence for Creative
Industries and Innovation. This study tracked social media participation
patterns during QUT’s
Associate Professor, Axel Bruns, told FutureGov Magazine the “We are
starting to use analytics tools for access to more specific information about
unfolding events. This tracking mechanism helps us work with emergency teams
– and share data that is meaningful for tactical responses.” Analytics data
is being shared with emergency management teams. This enables them to gain
detailed insights, as the situation changes. “This research goes beyond
generic comments, and will help influence future policy decisions.” The QUT
has recently received a $160,000 three-year grant to look in detail at social
media trends, and how to use findings to influence policy decisions and
emergency planning. This month, Australian eastern seaboard states are
struggling to cope with major bushfires. Social media is being used across
affected states to collect, share and distribute information. The
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), From http://www.futuregov.asia Aust Gov Launches
Mobile App for Seniors Increasingly,
senior citizens are heading off to see From http://www.futuregov.asia Tenders Available
Through New App in The
Northern Territory Government in From http://www.futuregov.asia More than
60 per cent of New Zealanders believe they're paying too much for broadband.
And despite the nationwide rollout of ultra fast broadband (UFB), 43 per cent
say they don't know the difference between that and what they already have,
according to a Canstar Blue survey released today. More than 1800 broadband
account holders were questioned about their online habits. Telecommunications
Users Association of New Zealand chief executive Paul Brislen says Kiwis
don't know much about UFB because the consumer rollout - to homes rather than
schools, hospitals and businesses - hasn't really begun and won't for a
couple of years yet. "Awareness of the benefits is critical and we're
keen to help tell everyone about the benefits the UFB will bring, but until
they see trucks in the street and have the kids come home from school talking
about it, awareness will be quite low." Brislen says if customers have
enough information about what they can do with UFB, the price issue should
disappear. "We need to sort out the issue around legal online content,
especially TV and movie content, because uptake worldwide has been driven by
access to movies." In 10
years, Brislen would expect multiple users with multiple devices and a range
of home services all connecting via the net. That required UFB and higher
data limits. "Without increased data caps you're basically driving a
Ferrari with only a litre of fuel. You can get out the driveway but that's
about it." internetNZ this week said there needed to be a wider
discussion on how to secure the UFB rollout given the controversy around the
broadband price for the existing copper network. Spokeswoman Susan Chalmers
said fibre broadband was more expensive than copper and the Government and
Chorus were concerned that reducing the copper price could stymie the uptake
of fibre. "The problem lies in rolling out a $5 billion fibre network
with only $1.5 billion available. In addition, that fibre network must
compete with a legacy copper network that is already cheaper than its faster
counterpart." Communication
breakdown One in 10
New Zealanders say the amount of time they spend online is negatively
affecting relationships. Whether it's reduced family time, ignoring loved
ones in favour of the internet or simply sitting in silence connected to
mobile gadgets, all of it is damaging, according to experts. Those in
Generation Y are most likely to have relationships suffer because of spending
time online - 13 per cent said it had a negative impact, according to a
Canstar Blue survey. Social media commentator Simon Young said many websites were
designed to keep people hooked. "It's not just the geeks, it affects
everyone. Everyone can spend too much time online," Young said. Celia
Walden, the wife of renowned broadcaster Piers Morgan, has recently come out
about her husband's Twitter use. "I'm tired of watching him miss out on
little things like, oh, his daughter's first step (too busy taunting Alan
Sugar about the size of his 'follower count'), sunsets (preoccupied, flirting
with Cindy Crawford), and birds of paradise (who cares about them when you're
in the midst of a cyberspace caper with Wayne Rooney?)," Ms Walden wrote
in the Telegraph late last month. OUR ONLINE
LIFE Percentage
of respondents who agreed with the following statements: * 62 per
cent I think I pay too much for my broadband package *43 per
cent I don't understand the difference between ultra fast broadband and what
I currently have *10 per
cent The amount of time I spend online is negatively impacting my
relationships *27 per
cent I often feel guilty about the amount of time I spend online, but it
doesn't change the amount of time I spend online *39 per
cent My children spend more time on the internet than they do watching TV From http://www.nzherald.co.nz Free Service to Ease
Skills Shortage A new free
service has been launched by a Warkworth businessman to help close the gap on
Janssen
recommends employers work with skilled and qualified immigration consultants
who can help them avoid "most, if not all issues"."We physically
go to the source and look at whether or not the candidate has the right
skills, the right attitude and is going to provide the employer with an
asset, rather than a liability," says Janssen. Like From http://www.nzherald.co.nz |
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Research
Shows “Dramatic Growth” in Global Cyber Attacks Data from Websense Labs has identified a dramatic increase in
cyber attacks during 2012, led by an astounding 600% increase in malicious
web links detected by the company’s ThreatSeeker monitoring network. The
Websense 2013 Threat Report culled forensic evidence from 900 million-plus
endpoints monitored by the company’s enterprise customers. The analysis was
broken down into six areas of concern: web, email, and mobile security, in
addition to malware behavior and data theft. The most significant finding was
the dramatic 600% increase in malicious web links worldwide, led a 720%
increase in By using a behavioral-based detection strategy, Renert
continued, security professionals can identify the custom encryption hackers
use to cover their tracks. Data theft is indicative of a prior malware
infection within a device or network, and Renert said that new-generation
data loss prevention (DLP) technologies with a foundation in behavioral
analysis will better protect against data theft and leakage. The promise of
these technologies is simple, he asserted: “If I actually know about
something, then I can stop it”. Most current security models rely on
post-incident detection. In these cases, the data has already left the
network, and prevention is impossible. The new standard must be “T = Mobile threat intelligence gathered by the report was mostly
‘par for the course’, reaffirming previously established trends. For example,
Websense detected that 82% of malicious mobile apps employed SMS messages as
part of their attacks. “We should not expect app stores to be clean pipes”,
Renert commented. “Attacks will look different” going forward, he added. The
top risk, in his estimation, is not the moment malware infects a device or
takes hold within a network. Rather, it’s the subsequent data leakage that is
a primary concern for organizations, many of which lack network-level
protection to detect these leaks. To facilitate instant behavioral detection,
Renert says organizations must employ an analytic strategy that examines
content streams in real-time, and in such a way that it does not require a
person in front of a screen to initiate a defensive response. In addition,
the strategy must correlate detection capabilities to identify common attacks
and the strategic requirements these attacks must employ. “Defense will never
be 100% effective”, Renert admitted, but he added that “effective defense
must make attacks far more difficult to execute”. In cases where attackers
are seeking out a specific target, early warning responses deployed by the
targeted organization can often lead to attackers delaying their exploits, or
even moving on to a different one. “The trust model is gone”, Renert
remarked. “Organizations need to build a mesh framework into their security
strategy so that attackers find themselves tripped up at some point within
the defensive net.” From
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
ARAB
STATES: ITU-IMPACT Establishes First Cybersecurity Innovation Centre for Arab
Region The Centre will also serve as a catalyst for enhancing
regional cooperation, coordination and collaboration to address escalating
cyber threats. The Centre will benefit from ITU-IMPACT’s existing global
threat information and collaboration platforms. These include ITU-IMPACT’s
state-of-the-art systems such as NEWS (Network Early Warning System) and
ESCAPE (Electronically Secured Collaborative Application Platform for
Experts). Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT, said; “We are extremely
proud to establish in Oman ITU-IMPACT’s first Cybersecurity Innovation
Centre. This centre will lay a strong foundation for increased cybersecurity
cooperation within the region and it will help position the centre, and From
http://www.itu.int/ European
Commission Launches Cybercrime Centre The European Commission (EC) launched a new European
Cybercrime Centre (EC3) within Europol, the European law enforcement agency,
with an operational budget of 7 million euros (US$9.3 million). The EC3 has
been set up as the focal point in the EU’s fight against cybercrime, helping
the Union join forces to dismantle cybercrime networks. It is mandated to
tackle three main areas of cybercrime: activities of organised crime groups
(such as online fraud), crime causing serious harm (such as online child
sexual exploitation), and crime targeting critical infrastructure and
information systems in the European Union (EU). The Centre will collect
information from a variety of sources to support investigations conducted by
Member States’ authorities. It will also help member states and institutions
build operational and analytical capacity for cybercrime investigations, and
support their cooperation with international partners. Further, the Centre
will develop a common standard for cybercrime reporting to ensure that
serious cybercrime is reported in a uniform way, and hence, information
regarding crimes across the EU can easily be accessed and disseminated. It
will pool expertise and information from across the EU and promote EU-wide
solutions. “The European Cybercrime Centre is designed to deliver expertise
as a fusion centre, as a centre for operational investigative and forensic
support, but also through its ability to mobilise all relevant resources in
EU Member States to mitigate and reduce the threat from cybercriminals
wherever they operate from”, said Troels Oerting, Head of the EC3. In
addition to supporting investigations, the EC3 will facilitate R&D and
capacity building in cybercrime and security, and produce threat assessments
such as trend analyses, forecasts and early warnings. A Cybercrime Help Desk
will be set up within the Centre to gather and process cybercrime related
data, and disseminate it to the member states’ law enforcement units. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ EU
Cybersecurity Plan to Protect Open Internet and Online Freedom and The European Commission, together with the High Representative
of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has published a
cybersecurity strategy alongside a Commission proposed directive on network
and information security ( •Achieving cyber resilience •Drastically reducing cybercrime •Developing cyber defence policy and capabilities related to
the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) •Developing the industrial and technological resources for
cyber-security •Establishing a coherent international cyberspace policy for
the European Union and promoting core EU values The EU international cyberspace policy promotes the respect of
EU core values, defines norms for responsible behaviour, advocates the
application of existing international laws in cyberspace, while assisting
countries outside the EU with cyber-security capacity-building, and promoting
international cooperation in cyber issues. The EU has made key advances in
better protecting citizens from online crimes, including establishing a
European Cybercrime Centre (IP/13/13), proposing legislation on attacks
against information systems (IP/10/1239) and the launch of a Global Alliance
to fight child sexual abuse online (IP/12/1308). The Strategy also aims at
developing and funding a network of national Cybercrime Centers of Excellence
to facilitate training and capacity building. The proposed NIS Directive is a
key component of the overall strategy and would require all Member States,
key internet enablers and critical infrastructure operators such as e-commerce
platforms and social networks and operators in energy, transport, banking and
healthcare services to ensure a secure and trustworthy digital environment
throughout the EU. The proposed Directive lays down measures including: (a) (b) Creating a cooperation mechanism among (c) Operators of critical infrastructures in some sectors
(financial services, transport, energy, health), enablers of information
society services (notably: app stores e-commerce platforms, Internet payment,
cloud computing, search engines, social networks) and public administrations
must adopt risk management practices and report major security incidents on
their core services. Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the
Digital Agenda said: "The more people rely on the internet the more
people rely on it to be secure. A secure internet protects our freedoms and
rights and our ability to do business. It's time to take coordinated action -
the cost of not acting is much higher than the cost of acting."
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Background Cyber-security incidents are increasing in frequency and magnitude,
becoming more complex and know no borders. These incidents can cause major
damage to safety and the economy. Efforts to prevent, cooperate and be more
transparent about cyber incidents must improve. Previous efforts by the
European Commission and individual Facts about cybersecurity today •There are an estimated 150,000 computer viruses in
circulation every day and 148,000 computers compromised daily. •According to the World Economic Forum, there is an estimated
10% likelihood of a major critical information infrastructure breakdown in
the coming decade, which could cause damages of $250 billion. •Cybercrime causes a good share of cyber-security incidents,
Symantec estimates that cybercrime victims worldwide lose around �290 billion
each year, while a McAfee study put cybercrime profits at �750 billion a
year. •The 2012 Eurobarometer poll on cyber security found that 38 %
of EU internet users have changed their behaviour because of these
cyber-security concerns: 18 % are less likely to buy goods online and 15 %
are less likely to use online banking. It also shows that 74% of the
respondents agreed that the risk of becoming a victim has increased, 12% have
already experienced online fraud and 89% avoid disclosing personal
information. •According to the public consultation on •Meanwhile, Eurostat figures show that, by January 2012, only
26% of enterprises in the EU had a formally defined ICT security policy. From
http://www.i-policy.org/ EU
Cybersecurity Agency Warns About Over-reliance on Cloud The growth in cloud computing is a double-edged sword, From
http://www.networkworld.com/ Latvian
Web Site at Center of Cyber-Bullying Inquiry Founded in June 2010, the Web site initially took its idea
from an American question-and-answer social networking site called
Formspring. The Latvian founders, Mark Terebin, Oskars Liepins, Ilja Terebin,
Klavs Sinka and Valerijs Vesnakovs admitted to taking the idea for Ask.fm
from the American site in 2010, but with ideas for building a better platform
and streamlining features. The Web site now boasts over 21 million users.
With their recent success, the company is currently building a new office
space in Terebin commented last week on his own Ask.fm profile, when
asked by a user why the founders refused to comment to the Irish press: “Mass
media is knocking on wrong door [sic]. It is necessary to go deeper and to
find a root of a problem...Ask.fm is just a tool which helps people to
communicate with each other, same as any other social network, same as phone,
same as piece of paper and pen. Don’t blame a tool, but try to make changes.”
Co-founder Klavs Sinka was more literary in his response to an inquiry on
Ask.fm. “We created Ask.fm as an attractive way for people to communicate
with each other. For several years, millions of people all around the world
have happily used our product. From the beginning, we have tried to create
tools with which to fight and prevent publishing of unwanted content on
Ask.fm... However, despite all our efforts, we cannot completely prevent
users from having a negative psychological impact on one another.” Sinka
suggested that parents keep a better eye on their children and brought up the
phenomenon of an increased incidence of suicide following media
publicization, referring to the so-called “Werther Syndrome,” in which a
spate of suicides followed the publication of Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of
Young Werther in the 18th century. The company’s actions tell a different
story, however. The company has left the two teenagers’ profiles active after
their deaths. And one might ask what, exactly, the twenty-something founders
expected from their Web site. By its nature, this type of anonymous forum
encourages bullying. Ask.fm acts like an incognito game of truth-or-dare:
teenagers will only be amused by anonymously asking each other their favorite
ice cream flavors for so long before the questions turn more salacious. In
response to an inquiry on the company’s Twitter page, the company said it
would never reveal names, locations or IP addresses of anonymous users. Mark
Terebin’s October statement to Irish television said, “There are no
complaints regarding cyber-bulling from parents, children, or other sources
in other countries,” however, one can find online that the Web site has
elicited complaints and warnings from schools and parents across Europe and
in The Web site also allows video responses, changing formerly
empty comments like “show us your tits” into something where one might
actually get a response. Latvian social media experts and employees
interviewed in Diena blamed the anonymity of the site for its nefariousness,
suggesting that the cover of anonymous posts let youth feel free to behave in
ways they never would with their name behind them. The head of From
http://www.baltictimes.com/ NORTH
AMERICA: The Senate Judiciary Committee took a step on Thursday toward
updating the nation’s outdated laws related to when law enforcement and other
government agencies can access e-mail and other electronic communications. As
part of legislation to modernize the Video Privacy Protection Act, the
committee attached provisions that would update the 1986 Electronic
Communications Privacy Act. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
acknowledged that the bill is unlikely to pass Congress before the end of the
year but said it would help advance work on the issue in the 113th Congress.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the sponsor of the video privacy bill and chairman
of the House Judiciary Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
Subcommittee, said he would prefer to see the ECPA provisions stripped from
the legislation so his video privacy bill could move on its own before the
end of the year. The video privacy bill, which the House passed late last
year, would update a 1988 law aimed at protecting the privacy of consumers'
video-viewing records to allow companies such as Netflix to obtain one-time
consent to share a customer's video-rental information with others. “It is my hope that we can separate the VPPA fix this Congress
and move forward with that, while taking more time to examine EPCA,”
Goodlatte, who will chair the House Judiciary Committee in the next Congress,
said in a statement. “I certainly agree that ECPA is something that Congress
should look at closely to see if updates or reforms are necessary but I do
not think that it is possible to complete the thorough examination that is
needed in the short amount of time we have in this lame duck session.”
Privacy groups, tech firms, and others have been pressing lawmakers to update
ECPA to reflect the vast changes in technology since the law was first
enacted. They argue that many of the law’s protections are out of date and
provide inconsistent protection depending on how long and where an e-mail and
other electronic records are stored. For example, law enforcement can obtain
e-mail that is six months old or older from a third-party provider like
Google or Microsoft with a subpoena. The ECPA amendment the committee adopted
to the video privacy legislation would require law enforcement, with a few
limited exceptions, to seek a warrant based on probable cause before
obtaining e-mail from a third party. “Three decades after the enactment of
ECPA, Americans face even greater threats to digital privacy,” Leahy said. “With
the explosion of new technology and the expansion of government surveillance
power … the committee has an important opportunity to begin to address this
privacy challenge.” The issue of e-mail privacy has gained new attention in recent
weeks after Gen. David Petraeus resigned when an extramarital affair he had
was revealed through e-mails obtained by the FBI. The committee began marking
up the video privacy legislation in September but postponed action after
Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raised concerns that the
proposed changes to ECPA would hamper the ability of law enforcement to carry
out investigations. In response, Leahy drafted an amendment adopted by the
committee on Thursday that made some changes, including giving law enforcement
officials more time before they are required to notify an individual that
their e-mail or other communications have been obtained from a third-party
provider. Grassley said he still has concerns with the legislation but voted
to move the bill out of committee with the understanding that supporters
would continue to try to address his concerns. “I believe we can craft the bill in a
way that increases e-mail privacy but protects law enforcement’s ability to obtain
information as part of a criminal investigation,” Grassley said. “While I
don’t believe this version strikes the proper balance, I think it is the
start of an important discussion.” The committee rejected an amendment from
Grassley that would have retained the current subpoena standard for investigations
involving child abductions, child pornography, and violent crimes against
women such as rape. Leahy and other committee members said that the bill
already provides exceptions for investigations involving such emergency
situations. The committee approved a handful of other amendments including
one that would limit the one-time consent for sharing video rental
information to one year. Despite the changes Leahy made to his ECPA
legislation, many of the groups that have been pushing Congress to overhaul
the law say they still support the measure. “We believe the central privacy
protection of the bill—a search warrant for all content—remains in place so
we think it would be a substantial step forward for privacy,” Chris
Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, told
National Journal. From
http://www.nextgov.com/ 9 Ways
Hacktivists Shocked the World in 2012 Despite the arrests of alleged LulzSec and Anonymous
ringleaders, ongoing attacks -- including Muslim hackers disrupting 1. Anonymous Hacks FBI Cybercrime Conference Call The LulzSec gang announced its retirement in June 2011, and
while some alleged members, such as Jake Davis -- accused of being the
group's spokesman, "Topiary" -- were arrested, at the beginning of
2012, many participants appeared to be still at large. Come February 2012,
elements of Anonymous even took down the CIA's public-facing website, and
leaked an FBI conference call in which investigators coordinated Anonymous
and LulzSec participants'' arrests. Curiously, however, key details -- such
as the alleged hacktivists' names -- had been blanked out of the audio file
that was ultimately released. 2. Stratfor Hack Upends Private Sector Intelligence Provider Also in February, Anonymous announced the release of a trove
of emails and personal data stored by Strategic Forecasting, better known as
Stratfor, which is an intelligence contractor. A member of Anonymous -- who
turned out to be LulzSec leader Sabu -- reported that the plaintext emails
and customer information had been obtained by exploiting known
vulnerabilities in the Stratfor network. Ultimately, the breach exposed
personal information on 860,000 Stratfor customers, 60,000 credit card
numbers and a massive trove of emails between Stratfor and its sources. 3. Hacker King Turns Informant: Feds Reveal Sabu Bust Come March, the FBI announced the arrest of five principal
members of Anonymous and LulzSec, accused of hacking into the websites of
Sony, PBS and Stratfor, amongst other organizations. In retrospect, the
blanked-out audio of the released FBI conference call might have been a
giveaway, as court documents unsealed after the arrests revealed that LulzSec
leader Sabu -- real name, Hector Xavier Monsegur -- had himself been arrested
back in June 2011. Facing the potential of serious jail time for alleged
identity theft, Sabu quickly turned informer and began working around the
clock to help investigators counter emerging attacks, as well as bust high-profile
Anonymous participants. Since the March arrests, prosecutors have continued
to expand the case, including arresting Jeremy Hammond, the alleged
ringleader of the Stratfor hack. One side effect of the rise in hacktivism has been increased
cooperation -- no need for cybercrime treaties -- between law enforcement
agencies in various countries. "A lot of people think this is just a
bunch of kids fooling around, but in reality, it's not, it can destroy your
business," said Eric Strom, the unit chief for the cyber initiative and
resource fusion unit in the FBI's cyber division, at the RSA conference in
San Francisco in February. "You know, market share goes down and you're
talking about significant damage to a company." Asked at the conference
what the FBI was doing about the problem -- months after the bureau had
secretly turned Sabu, but just days before busting the alleged higher-ups in
Anonymous and LulzSec -- Strom kept his cards close to his chest. "So
let's put it this way, the FBI has put a lot of resources towards this
problem ... it's not something that we just look at as a small issue, we have
a lot of people around the country working this, as well as around the world,
so companies should do the same." But Strom said the word
"hacktivism" meant little to the bureau. Instead, he said the FBI
attempted to differentiate between people's online freedoms of assembly and
speech versus clear evidence of law-breaking. 5. Despite Arrests, Hacktivist Operations Continue No matter the arrest of Sabu and other alleged Anonymous,
LulzSec and AntiSec luminaries delivering on the hacktivist assertion that
"you can't arrest an idea," attacks launched under the mantle of
those groups continued unabated. After claiming an end to LulzSec's
retirement, LulzSec Reborn doxed a military-focused dating site and released
details on 170,000 members. Other hacktivist groups, claiming no LulzSec or
Anonymous affiliation, also continued their efforts. Team GhostShell,
notably, leaked usernames, passwords and resumes from a Wall Street jobs
board in July, followed later in the year by a massive data dump involving
1.6 million records related to a variety of organizations, including NASA, Interpol,
the Department of Defense and trade organizations. 6. Symantec Sees pcAnywhere Extortion Shakedown Another notable hack came to light in February, when Anonymous
released 2 GB of source code pertaining to the 2006 version of Symantec's
pcAnywhere remote access software. Seeing the source code made public was
cause for concern since enterprising coders might find new vulnerabilities
that could be quietly exploited, as, by many accounts, the code remains
relatively unchanged in more recent versions of the software. But this wasn't
a straight-up data release (a.k.a. doxing) operation. After first denying
that the source was legitimate, Symantec confirmed that the source code had
apparently been stolen -- unbeknownst to the security firm -- in a 2006 security
breach. Symantec also said that it, and then a 7. Hackers Target This year also saw the launch of a number of high-profile
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks by a Muslim hacktivist group
calling itself the Cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam, who began
targeting 8. Anonymous Continues Pressing Political Agenda Efforts conducted under the Anonymous banner continued
throughout 2012, despite the arrest of Sabu and other alleged group leaders.
In May, for example, as part of anti-NATO protests, the group's members
obtained and released -- together with Anonymous affiliate AntiS3curityOPS --
a 1.7 GB Justice Department database. In July, in support of Syrian rebels,
Anonymous worked with WikiLeaks to release 2.4 million Syrian government
emails. Other campaigns included the Nov. launch of Operation Israel
(OpIsrael) after violence between 9. Anonymous' Achilles Heel: Anonymity One recurring problem for hacktivists, however, has been the
apparent difficulty of remaining anonymous online. Numerous alleged Anonymous
and LulzSec participants were busted in 2011 after VPN services such as
HideMyAss.com complied with law enforcement requests to share subscriber
data. Investigators then cross-referenced subscribers' access times with data
related to attacks to help pinpoint attackers' real identities. Likewise, the
FBI earlier this year arrested Galveston, Texas-based Higinio O. Ochoa III and
accused him of being part of the hacking group CabinCr3w, which launched
attacks against the websites of the West Virginia Chiefs of Police, the
Alabama Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of Safety and the
police department in From
http://www.informationweek.com/
Stories
about privacy violation, network security threats and changing malware were
among the top 10 hottest Government Technology cybersecurity Web items for
2012. Many of these articles were published in previous years, but readers in
2012 still found them interesting enough to read in droves. We ranked the top
10 most viewed cybersecurity stories in order from the greatest to the least.
Let’s take a look at these popular stories and see why they struck a chord. 1. Site Reveals
Salaries of New York State Employees, Other State Financial Data New
Defense Budget Aims to Improve Cybersecurity $633 billion package requires the Department of Defense to
adopt next-generation cyber defenses and take new steps in secure software
development. Cybersecurity and other information technologies play strong
roles in the newly signed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for
fiscal year 2013, emphasizing the military's increasing reliance on IT. The
$633 billion package requires the Department of Defense to adopt
next-generation cyber defenses and regularly report to Congress about its
cyber efforts; includes guidelines on reporting cyber intrusions; and
outlines steps that the military must take in software development and
software licensing. The NDAA does not take into account pending possible
across-the-board cuts of DOD funds that will begin March 27 and reduce
defense spending by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 10 years if
Congress fails to act by March 1. Key among the NDAA's tech guidelines are
provisions dealing with cybersecurity and cyberwar. For example, the law
instructs the DOD to "develop a strategy to acquire next-generation
host-based cyber-security tools and capabilities" that go beyond current
anti-malware and signature-based threat detection and instead can address
"new or rapidly morphing threats." These new technologies, the law
says, must be installed in an open architecture that allows for multiple
cybersecurity tools -- such as insider threat detection and continuous
monitoring and configuration management -- to be added and integrated. Other
cyber provisions overhaul the software development process within the DOD,
requiring the military to develop secure software development policy that
does three things: Requires the use of static code analysis such as that
performed by Veracode or a number of other code checking tools; prioritizes
vulnerabilities based on risk; and ensures that secure software development
is dealt with during the contracting phase of software development projects. The DOD also must report to Congress quarterly on all the
offensive and "significant" defensive military operations it
carried out in cyberspace in the previous quarter. The NDAA notes that
Congress expects to be briefed more widely on the activities of Cyber
Command. Finally, under the law, contractors will be required to report
successful penetrations to DOD. Other broad IT requirements include DOD-wide
IT initiatives. One such requirement could have a significant impact on how
the DOD spends money on software by requiring an inventory of DOD software
licenses and the development of a plan to assess how the military can
"achieve the greatest possible economies of scale and cost savings in
the procurement, use, and optimization of" those licenses. The law
requires the DOD to develop and submit to Congress a plan for a more
consolidated IT infrastructure within the DOD known as the Joint Information
Environment that will include milestones and metrics. It also requires the
DOD CIO to study big data tools and submit a report on such tools to
Congress. The NDAA includes tech requirements for individual military
services as well. For example, it requires the Army to review the Distributed
Common Ground System (DCGS) -- a key operational IT system that deals largely
with tactical and intelligence information -- and to issue plans for the
system. As for other services, the law will allow more open bidding on the Air
Force's Network-Centric Solutions 2 (NETCENTS-2) acquisition vehicle.
NETCENTS-2 was supposed to simplify big Air Force IT buys, but has been held
up by vendor protests of contract awards. From
http://www.informationweek.com/
Cyber
Threats, and Agency Costs, Expected to Climb in 2013 Cyber threats grew exponentially in recent years, a trend that
will likely continue in 2013. And that, cybersecurity experts say, could
spell trouble for cash-strapped agencies. Top concerns in 2013 include
larger-scale attacks that seek to destroy rather than disrupt,
vulnerabilities introduced by new and disruptive technologies (including
mobile), and an evolving adversary that may be politically extreme, supported
by nation-states or driven by a cyber-weapons “black market.” “Cyber
criminals and hacktivists will strengthen and evolve the techniques and tools
they use to assault our privacy, bank accounts, mobile devices, businesses,
organizations and homes,” a new 2013 threat prediction report from McAfee
states. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has on several occasions warned of
cyber attacks that will escalate from disruptive – such as denial of access –
to destructive, which was illustrated last year by attacks on the Saudi state
oil company that corrupted 30,000 computers. According to the McAfee report,
this acceleration already is occurring. “What we’re finding is consistent
with what Panetta has talked about ... a shift where adversary intends not to
annoy you but to cripple you,” said Tom Conway, McAfee director of federal
business development. “We’ve been predicting for years that attacks would
become more destructive to operations. People may be surprised by how fast
that’s happening.” And it is happening as government leadership, like it or
not, works to figure out how to embrace the technologies that are part of
everyday life outside federal offices. According to a recent report from the Business Roundtable,
government systems and users increasingly are being targeted. Furthermore,
the government does not do itself any favors with the current system for
addressing information security, the report noted. “Cybersecurity threats
from well-financed and motivated adversaries have the potential to disrupt
critical services ... threats are increasingly targeting core functions of
the government, economy and “The single most important element of an effective
cybersecurity policy is information sharing,” the BRT report notes, stressing
the need for public-private partnership. “Effective information sharing is
not only an exchange of threat information but also a robust set of trusted,
well-structured and regularized policies and processes among the From
http://fcw.com/ Obama
Signs Executive Order for Cybersecurity (Editor's Note: During the State of the Union address,
delivered several hours after this story was published, President Barack
Obama announced he had signed the executive order earlier on Feb. 12. Read
the order and the accompanying Presidential Policy Directive.) The White
House is finally set to issue a long-awaited executive order that seeks to
secure "A NIST cybersecurity framework would likely become an
industry standard, but companies will be wary of check-the-box compliance
efforts." The move comes after Congress failed to pass a cybersecurity
bill last fall; since then, officials have deemed the issue too important not
to address. Many federal leaders have also continued to urge Congress to
tackle cyber legislation this year, noting that an executive order can only
go so far. It "can’t do a few things only legislation can do, such as
liability protection for companies when they are sharing information,”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in September. "An executive
order will help, but we still need comprehensive cyber legislation."
Many hope the order will spur action on Capitol Hill. Already, Rep. Mike
Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersburger (D-Md.), the committee's
ranking member, plan to reintroduce the controversial Cyber Intelligence
Sharing and Protection Act on Feb. 13, according to a statement from the
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. CISPA passed the House but
then died last year. t remains to be seen what type of cyber legislation will
be brought forward this year, but the White House measure might help, as
could mounting international pressures, Pearson said. "The executive
order on its own, depending on what it does, will help to organize the
activities of the federal government and increase momentum because of the
force it has to prompt government action," Pearson said. She also
pointed out that the "European Commission last week proposed a sweeping
cybersecurity directive, showing that the push for regulation in this area
extends well beyond From
http://fcw.com/ Obama’s
Cyber Security Plan Lacks Muscle: Experts President Barack Obama’s directive last night requiring
federal agencies and critical infrastructure owners to collaborate in
reducing cyber risks is a good start but has some weak spots, according to
security experts. Obama’s cyber security order was announced Tuesday night
during his State of the Nation address. The order requires federal government
agencies to share cyber threat and vulnerability information with each other
and with private companies. It calls for the creation of two national
critical infrastructure centres to be operated by the Department of Homeland
Security to focus on physical infrastructure and on cyber infrastructure
security. The centre will be responsible for collecting, analyzing and
disseminating threat information. The DHS centres will recommend prevention
and mitigation measures from critical infrastructure prior to and during a
cyberattack as well as assist in incident response and restoration efforts.
Some contents of Obama’s executive order are similar to those of a 2012 Cyber
Security Act backed by the White House but still stuck in the Senate over
objections from Republican law makers who see it as giving to much
enforcement power on the DHS. “We know how hackers steal people’s identities
and infiltrate private emails,” Obama said in his speech. “Now our enemies
are also seeking the ability to attack our power grid, our air traffic
control system. We cannot look back years from now and ask why we did nothing
to face real threats to our security and our economy.” The effectiveness of
the DHS centre will depend on the quality of threat information the
government can share with private companies, said Lawrence Pingree, analyst
for Gartner, in an interview with Computerworld.com. The final version of the
order was weaker that the draft version, according to Allan Peller, research
director for the SANS Institute. He said draft versions of the order required
businesses to develop voluntary practices for cyber security and assigning
regulatory agencies to enforce them. The final version, Peller said, did not
contain this provision. The Financial Services Roundtable, which represents
100 of the largest financial companies in the From
http://www.itworldcanada.com/
US to
Share Cyberthreat Data with Private Sector US President Barack Obama has signed an executive order early
this week requiring federal agencies to share cyberthreat information with
private companies as well as creating a cybersecurity framework focused on
reducing risks to companies providing critical infrastructure. The new
framework will be voluntary for some operator of critical infrastructure, but
federal agencies are required by the new order to oversee critical
infrastructure to determine the operators and industries most at risk and to
see if the government can require those companies to adopt the framework. The
agencies will particularly focus on critical infrastructure “where a
cybersecurity incidents could reasonably result in a catastrophic regional or
national effect on public health or safety, economic security, or national
security”, according to the order. During the speech, Obama said that enemies
of the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ |
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Ninety-one people involved in an international telecom scam
were given prison sentences ranging from 18 months to eight years for fraud,
a From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 02/04/2013 From
http://www.china.org.cn/ 02/08/2013 The National Police Agency has decided to expand the scope of
crimes that can be covered under its reward system to include cases other
than homicide, kidnapping and other life-threatening crimes. The decision,
made Thursday, comes in response to a recent case in which four innocent
people were arrested on false accusations of making online threats. Police
later found those threats were sent from their personal computers infected
with a remote-controllable virus, without their knowledge, and released the
four. The agency said it planned to implement the revision immediately. Since
the arrests were made largely due to a lack of effective means of
investigating cybercrimes, the agency decided to relax its rules for the
bounty system to include a wider variety of cases in the hope this will lead
to gathering more information. From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ National
Competition Held to Find 'White-Hat' Hackers The government is seeking "white-hat" hackers to aid
in its fight against the growing threat of cybercrime and cyberterrorism.
Faced with such recent incidents as the mistaken arrests in a case involving
remote-control viruses and cyber-attacks on computers at government offices,
the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry held its first national competition
for hackers in From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ Over 10%
Help Hackers by Using Same Info for All Online Accounts The official of a Tokyo-based major online game company could
not suppress a sigh as he looked at a computer display showing the status of
log-ins to its site. "On some days, attempts are made to hack into more
than 100,000 accounts," he said. The display showed more than 10,000
pairs of user IDs and passwords had been sent from a single Internet Protocol
address in an attempt to access an account. "I think these user
credentials were stolen from another company's database," the official
said. "The hackers apparently tried to sneak into our site to play games
with the stolen information." Using the ID and password for one online
account to hack into another account has become a serious problem. In Japan,
hackers are said to have a very high success rate using this tactic because
more than 10 percent of Internet users here reportedly use the same password
for multiple accounts--so gaining access to one can account open the door to
others. On Saturday, even Twitter Inc. urged its users to take precautions to
keep their passwords safe after announcing that hackers had penetrated its
database and stolen information on more than 250,000 accounts. It was once
common for hackers to access websites by using user IDs or passwords by
randomly inputting letters and numbers in "brute force attacks."
Others sought to access accounts by guessing words they thought the user
might pick. However, very few of these attacks were successful. This changed
around the autumn of 2009. Studies found that attacks based on lists of user
information stolen from corporate databases by hackers were becoming more
effective. According to a game company employee in charge of online security,
such stolen data might be exploited for attacks against not only online game
sites but also on shopping sites. Some customers have had a nasty surprise
when they found expensive items had been charged to them without their
knowledge. A black market for lists of stolen user information reportedly
exists overseas. The game company has been informed that lists of customer
information was being sold through a social networking service in From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ Survey:
14% of Net Users Use Only 1 Password Internet users use an average of 14 password-protected
websites, and 14 percent of them use the same user ID and password for all
their online accounts, according to a survey. The online survey, conducted by
antivirus software company Trend Micro Inc. in December, found 69 percent of
respondents had no more than three different passwords. The usernames and
passwords were used for shopping, banking, social network service and gaming
websites. Fifty-one percent of respondents seldom change their password,
according to the survey. Tatsuji Ishibashi, who is in charge of password
security at Trend Micro, said Internet users should be very careful about
protecting their passwords. "Passwords need to be managed according to
the importance of online services, as lists of stolen user information may be
widely used to hack into a variety of websites, including those for online shopping,
which can involve credit card transactions," Ishibashi said. From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ 'Cyber-Attack'
Strikes Govt Again At least 20 internal documents, including confidential items,
may have been stolen from the Foreign Ministry via an official computer in an
apparent cyber-attack, it has been learned. The ministry said Tuesday it had
examined only one computer so far, and it would examine other computers to
determine whether they were not infected with malware. The cyber-attack
followed the recent revelation at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Ministry that more than 3,000 pieces of information, including highly confidential
documents, are suspected to have been stolen via unauthorized access to its
computers. According to the Foreign Ministry, it was notified by the National
Information Security Center (NISC) on Jan. 28 that a computer at the ministry
had possibly been the victim of unauthorized access. The ministry conducted
an investigation and verified one of its computers had unauthorized
communications with an external server. The documents believed stolen include
conference materials that could be considered class-2 information in terms of
confidentiality according to the government's standard classification.
Class-2 items come after class-3, a designation for the most confidential
materials. Class-2 materials are defined as "items whose disclosure may
infringe citizens' rights or administrative operations." The documents
the ministry suspects were stolen were saved on an open local area network
that does not handle important diplomatic communications that may be class-3
items. The ministry said it is investigating whether the server that obtained
unauthorized access to the ministry's computer was located abroad. In 2011, the ministry also discovered that computers at many
of its diplomatic missions in Asia, North America and From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ Net
Banking Scams Seen on the Rise The National Police Agency reported an increasing number of
sophisticated computer-based scams in which culprits steal money from
victims' online accounts through the use of fake web portals for major banks.
About 48 million yen was transferred from the accounts of 63 Internet banking
users without their knowledge from June to December. In January, 22 million
yen was similarly stolen from the accounts of 20 users, the NPA said. In the
scams, users are often tricked into accessing a fake portal site that appears
to be the authentic site of a major bank. They are then asked to enter their
personal information, including passwords. The victims were customers of five
major financial institutions, including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ,
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank, according to the NPA. Of the
63 victims across 16 prefectures last year, 48 received a fake e-mail from a
major bank. The fake e-mail requested that the user take security and other
preventive measures. However, when the users visited the URL enclosed, a fake
data entry screen appeared. In November and December, the scams employed a
fake page whose background and layout were identical to the authentic site of
a major bank. When users accessed the page, they were led to a data entry
screen, according to the NPA. Another scam involves the use of a computer
virus. Seven of the victims last year entered an authentic banking site. But
because their computers had been infected with viruses, a fake data entry
screen appeared. The NPA and other authorities believe such viruses were also
used in some cases this year. Leading antivirus software programs are
designed to protect computers from viruses confirmed last year. A NPA
official said, "You can protect yourself by updating antivirus software
frequently." The NPA also recommends that Internet banking users confirm
the e-mail addresses of senders. In a fake screen, users are sometimes asked
to enter their personal identification numbers in their entirety. According
to the NPA, however, banks never make such a request. The NPA recommends that
people make bank inquiries by telephone or at a teller when in doubt. From
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/ From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ Social media giant Twitter says it was hacked this week, in a
sophisticated cyber attack that exposed the passwords and other information
of about 250,000 users. The company said in a blog post Friday that it had
detected unauthorized attempts to gain access to its user data. The site's
information security director, Bob Lord, said Twitter employees discovered
one live attack and shut it down in process moments later. Twitter said it
reset passwords and that it was notifying affected users. Unlike the New York
Times and Wall Street Journal newspapers, which said they were attacked by
Chinese hackers this week, Twitter did not provide any information on where
the hacking had originated. But Lord said in the posting that the attack was
"not the work of amateurs," and that Twitter does not believe it
was an isolated incident. He called the attackers "extremely
sophisticated." The company said it is working with government and
federal law enforcement in their effort to track down the attackers to make
the Internet safer for all users. From http://english.chosun.com/
Korean athlete Kang Hyeon-ju crosses the finish line first
during the snowshoeing race on January 30 at Alpensia Resort (photo: Jeon
Han). What if you get lost in a strange country whose culture, environment,
and geography you don’t understand? What’s even worse -- if you have
intellectual disabilities, then what would you do? In order to avoid this
kind of problem, the Special Olympics Organizing Committee has provided all
participating athletes with a small gift. The athletes are more likely to go
missing due to their diminished intellectual capacity. There was an incident
last May when a 17-year-old participant with intellectual disabilities at the
National Sports Festival in From
http://www.korea.net/ |
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Indonesian government will tighten the cyber security measure
after the series of hacking attacks that has defaced and paralysed a number
of government owned websites early this week. Indonesian Communications and
Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said on January 30 that the ministry
would improve the security firewalls of government’s websites as part of a
counter measure to the current series of cyber attacks. Several government
owned websites have been hacked by a group identifying itself as Anonymous
Indonesia as an act to protest against the arrest of a man in Jember, East
java, who is facing imprisonment for defacing President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono’s personal website. A man named Wildan Yani Ashari has been charged
and is now facing at least five years imprisonment if convicted. The target of the attacks were the websites owned by the Law
and Human Rights Ministry, the Social Affairs Ministry, the Tourism and
Creative Economy Ministry, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission,
the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and also indonesia.go.id. Also, the latest
hack on Wednesday night—January 30, have turned down the police’s website,
polri.go.id, for which the group claimed responsibility.Minister Sembiring
revealed that this was not the first wave of attacks against the government's
official sites. There were at least 36.6 million hacking attacks against the
government in 2012. "Anybody who violates the law has to face the legal
process. We can’t let the lawbreakers go free, because cyber crime is a
serious matter," he said and added that the ministry had already
succeeded in cutting short all of the attacks. "We have a team that work
24 hours under the ministry," he said. From
http://www.futuregov.asia Cyber attacks on CII pose a real and present danger to all
countries,” said the government in its statement. “ The amendments to Section 15 of the Act now state that the
relevant minister can order a CII-related person or organisation to “take
measures or comply with requirements necessary to prevent, detect or counter
a threat to the national security, essential services, defence or foreign
relations of From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ More Cyber
Extortion Cases in Sometimes the men are given a link to a YouTube clip of their
" performance". It is not known how long these videos stay
"live" in each case. Some perpetrators back away from demanding money
when the victims say they will go to the police. The foreign women, from
countries such as the From
http://news.xinhuanet.com/ The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ New Law on
Cybercrimes to Deal with New Techno The Information and Communications Technology Ministry will
speed up its submission of the draft amendment to the Computer Crime Act of
2007 for Cabinet consideration. ICT Minister Anudith Nakornthap said the
amended version covered the issues stemming from new technologies. He made the
remark yesterday at a seminar held by the National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) and Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) to
raise awareness of cybercrime. The Electronic Transactions Development Agency
has also prepared a policy to prevent cybercrime, he said. The ministry has
already established the National Cyber-security Committee. The ministry
regards the fight against computer crime as a national priority, Anudith
said. The seminar was one the NBTC's National Cyber-security
Awareness Day events set to run until Monday. The activities are aimed at
increasing awareness of the crime threat via mobile devices, especially when
people conduct transactions on smart phones. Suthichai Yoon, chairman of NMG,
said third-generation wireless broadband and terrestrial digital TV would
revolutionise the mass media by changing the ways people consume information
and news. Information will come from four screens - TV, computer, tablet and
mobile phone. The three holders of licences to use the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum
are expected to launch From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
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"We are receiving a growing number of complaints about
abuse and harassment using fake Facebook IDs, doctoring photos, filming porno
footage with mobile phone and posting them on websites and hacking of
websites," Khan told AFP. The BTRC set up a taskforce to deal with the
cyber crimes last year and it was "overwhelmed with thousands of
complaints", he said. Last year police arrested at least half a dozen
people after they allegedly made derogatory comments and posted doctored
photos of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on their Facebook accounts. From
http://www.globalpost.com “The
advisory was issued on July 8… and the PMO, NSA and other agencies alerted,”
a top NTRO official told The Indian Express. “The MEA and MHA took the
biggest hit, plus strategic information related to critical sectors,
including troop deployment, was compromised“Paramilitary forces were also badly hit,
especially ITBP, as deployments were revealed. There were serious cases of
negligence, the involvement of insiders, if any, is also being checked,” he
added. News of the attack was confirmed by officials of intelligence and
enforcement agencies who attended a day-long NCIIPC conference in the capital
on Monday where Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, NSA Shiv Shankar Menon and NTRO
Chairman P V Kumar were among those present.“We would not like to name the state actors
but D4 — destroy, disrupt, deny and degrade — process was initiated and
counter offensive launched,” the NTRO official said. From http://egov.eletsonline.com Give us an overview of the policies that the department has
developed to take care of the security related challenges in the telecom
sector? The most critical issue from the security aspect of the telecom
infrastructure is reflected in our 31st May 2011 guidelines issued to
All Unified Service Licensees.
The guidelines state that the Licensee shall be completely and totally
responsible for security of their networks. The network elements have to be
security tested as per the international standards. From 1st April 2013, they
have to be work certified by labs
located in These days people are using tablets, laptops, notebooks and
mobile phones to log into the telecom networks and do their work. While such
proliferation of devices is leading to more productivity, it might also be
making the network vulnerable. How do you tackle this problem? It is
difficult to regulate so many devices as the numbers are too vast. Some kind
of standardisation of devices and equipments is required. If only the devices
and equipments that have been tested as per the existing standards are being
used by the people, it will greatly contribute to the safety and security. If
people are using security checked devices, they will also be in a better
position to safeguard their private information and data. The security of the
telecom infrastructure is dependent on the cooperation that is received from
the people, who are the end users of the system. People need to understand
that if the network security is at risk, even their own information and data
can be at risk. So they should only use devices and systems that have been
properly audited for security. How do you go about developing the procedure for security
auditing devices and software? By the time you develop the procedure for one
set of devices, the same might become obsolete. The world of technology is
changing at a very fast pace. This is true. This is an ever growing game. The
security has to keep evolving with the technology. I would also like to point
out that absolute security is a utopian concept. It cannot be achieved; even
the most sophisticated security system can be breached. But that does not
mean that we need not take adequate measures to secure our infrastructure. We
have to try our best to optimise the security so that we are in a position of
guarding the network against the existing threats. You never know in this
world who might attack the
network. It can be a random hacker, who wants to penetrate a network and
prove his prowess, it can be an anti-social element, and it can even be a
state actor. There can be stealing of information, blocking of information or
even the telecom network might
come under attack. The Department of Telecom has evolved guidelines to cover
all these areas. If you have too much of security, you run the risk of slowing
down the system. The connectivity can be slower. The implementation of new
technology might get delayed, if the process of vetting the new technology
becomes cumbersome. How to you address these concerns? It is not necessary
that things should get slowed down while we are addressing the security
related concerns. For instance, if you are using safe devices and placing
safe infrastructure in the network, it is only a one time exercise. You don’t
need to change your systems frequently. Only at the time of installation or
at the time of security audit, you need to run a few tests. This does not
slow down the system as such. But there can be certain type of security
measures that might take longer time to execute. An example of that is the
new set of guidelines that have been issued for proper identification of
those who are purchasing new SIM cards. You will agree that proper
identification of telecom users is necessary. What you ultimately need is a
healthy balance between the needs for speed and security. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com From
http://egov.eletsonline.com "I stand guarantee as Prime Minister that not a penny
will be embezzled," he affirmed. The Prime Minister said that From
http://www.brecorder.com |
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The resources of the first Azerbaijani satellite
Azerspace/Africasat From
http://en.trend.az/ From
http://en.trend.az/ |
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PM Julia
Gillard will today announce the establishment of an Australian Cyber Security
Centre, to be open by the end of 2013. In a wide ranging speech yesterday on
national security at the “The
centre will provide The
intention is to better coordinate all aspects of From http://www.itwire.com New legislation passed by New Zealand
Parliament will make it easier and safer for companies and government
agencies to offer services on-line. Amendments to the Electronic Identity
Verification Act, passed 11th December 2011, will enable the public and
private sector to better verify people using services over the internet.
These changes, expected to become operational in early 2013, are supported by
an integrated on-line RealMe service that is being fast-tracked in the New
Year. This service enables government service delivery providers and private
sector entities to verify that a person using a service over the internet is
who he or she claims to be. This RealMe service is being offered jointly by
the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and New Zealand Post. The initiative
is designed with data security and privacy as its top priorities. When fully
operational, end-users will have full control over their personal information
– including name, date of birth, gender, and address. Fiona Mullacrane, DIA’s general manager
for service delivery operations, says verified RealMe accounts are being
built on the agency’s existing well-tested igovt services. End users of
RealMe will only need to show up in person once every five years to set up
and maintain their RealMe account. “They get a biometric photo taken at a
PostShop. We do some data checking and get their RealMe account going soon
after that.” Using the RealMe service, people will gain access to more
on-line products and services from government agencies and organisations,
including banks and insurance companies. Mandy Smith, the head of agency
services (PostShop) for New Zealand Post, says the RealMe service delivers a
high degree of certainty that people are who they say they are when they
contact a participating company electronically. “Currently, the most an
organisation usually knows about its on-line contacts is that they have a
valid username and password; you still can’t be sure that they are who they
claim to be,” she says. “There’s a massive amount of business that would
happen on-line if only the service could be certain of the identity of the
person on the other side of the online transaction. RealMe fully responds to
this clear business need.” The RealMe service improves the overall
customer experience. These improvements stem from a simpler, secure, and
straight-through processing of transactions. There will also be “less hanging
around in queues, and robust mitigation against identity theft,” according to
New From http://www.futuregov.asia
NZ App Users at Risk
of Cyber Attacks - Survey According
to a report from Google released in May last year, smartphone penetration in The 10
most at-risk countries: From http://www.nzherald.co.nz
New
Zealand Police has chosen Vodafone New From http://www.futuregov.asia |
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Information
Economy Report 2012 The Information Economy Report 2012: The Software Industry and
Developing Countries is the seventh in the flagship series published by the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In the 2012
edition, special attention is given to the role of software capabilities in
accelerating progress towards a more inclusive information society. Key issues covered include: •The link between software capabilities and development •Global and regional trends in production, spending, trade,
investment, venture capital and employment in the software sector •The evolving ICT landscape and its impact on software
production patterns •Trends and implications related to free and open source
software (FOSS) •An analysis of the market orientation of software production
in developing countries •Country case studies •Policy recommendations on how governments and their
development partners can better leverage software for development and
strengthen national software systems The Information Economy Report 2012 finds that, because
software is increasingly permeating societies at all levels of development
and activity, it is becoming more important for countries to develop the
technological capabilities needed to adopt and adapt existing software
solutions, and eventually to innovate. Software and service activities
represent an opportunity for developing countries, thanks to the low capital
entry requirements, the sector's high-value, high-growth nature and
knowledge-rich profile. Due to changes in the ICT landscape, even small-scale
developers in developing countries can now participate in software
development and production, for example in the area of mobile applications.
The Report suggests that there is considerable room for developing countries
to make better use of the software potential. The Report introduces the concept of the national software
system. It emphasizes that domestic software producers and users are greatly
influenced by the quality and affordability of ICT infrastructure, access to
relevant human resources and capital, the legal framework, an enabling
business infrastructure, as well as by the links with software networks in
the rest of the world. Governments play a central role in the national
software system. Overall, the competitiveness of the system is affected by
the national vision, strategy and government policies which should nurture
software capabilities and the system as a whole. In particular, Governments
are important users of software (notably through e-government and public
procurement activities) and they strongly influence most of the enabling
factors of the system. The Information Economy Report 2012 offers several
policy recommendations to governments, such as: •To take active part in fostering their national software
systems. •To tailor software development strategies to their specific
contexts, based on consultations and partnerships with relevant stakeholders. •To integrate software strategies into broader development
plans •To strike a balance between domestic and export market
promotion related to software •To adapt education and training schemes to the new ICT
landscape •To encourage technological upgrading in enterprises, and
adoption of relevant international standards and certifications •To facilitate the strengthening of developer communities •To give adequate attention to FOSS, especially in public
procurement •To seek the support of development partners in training,
application development, support to the strengthening of legal and regulatory
frameworks, supporting IT/software associations and clusters, meetings of
developers, software SME development and more •To leverage South-South cooperation where appropriate The Information Economy Report 2012 explores various examples
of software development initiatives by individual countries and groups of
countries. Among the cases cited are: •Software trends in the BRIC countries • •The emerging Android ecosystem in •The Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Programme •The eGovFrame platform of the •Software for sustainable development in Lao PDR •The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for •A global UNCTAD/WITSA survey of national IT/Software
Associations •Locally developed software to improve farmers' access to
information in •Software promotion in In the Statistical Annex of the Report, UNCTAD presents among
other things international data on software spending, exports and employment. From
http://unctad.org/ Global
Internet User Survey 2012 The Global Internet User Survey provides reliable information
relevant to issues important to the Internet’s future and informs the
Internet Society's programmes and activities. In 2012, more than 10,000
people in 20 countries were asked about their attitudes towards the Internet
and behaviors online, offering one of the broadest views of people’s
attitudes about key issues our world faces when it comes to the Internet. The
questions ranged from how users manage personal information online, attitudes
toward the Internet and human rights, and the potential for the Internet to
address issues such as economic development and education. We believe it's
people who are the source of innovation that has driven the Internet’s
development, evolution and dramatic growth over the past four decades. The
data collected is openly available to everyone. Download the Summary of the
report here. Key Findings Key findings from this year's survey cover a broad range of
topics. The Internet and Human Rights: •Eighty-three percent of respondents agreed or agreed strongly
that access to the Internet should be considered a basic human right. •Eighty-nine percent agreed or agreed strongly that Internet
access allows freedom of expression on all subjects, and 86 percent agreed or
agreed strongly that freedom of expression should be guaranteed. •Sixty percent of respondents agreed or agreed strongly that
Internet access has contributed significantly to civil action and political
awareness in their country. Internet censorship: •Thirty percent of users agreed strongly that censorship currently
exists on the Internet. •Sixty-six percent of respondents agreed or agreed strongly
that governments in countries with no Internet censorship have a
responsibility to keep the Internet free of censorship in countries where the
Internet is being censored/controlled/shut down. •More than 70 percent of users agreed or agreed strongly that
more government involvement would make the Internet too controlled or would
limit content they can access. •More than two-thirds agreed or agreed strongly that increased
government control would inhibit the growth of the Internet and/or stifle
innovation. Online privacy and identity: •Even when users know they are sharing personal data with a site
or service, most users (80 percent) do not always read privacy policies and a
significant fraction (12 percent) of respondents admitted that they never
read privacy policies. •Of users who logged into online services, only half reported
that they logged out. •Nineteen percent of respondents were aware of circumstances
in which personal data was used in a way they did not expect. The most
commonly reported consequences were: unsolicited communications, stolen
personal data, private data becoming public, impersonation, and financial
loss. The Internet and economic and societal issues: •Nearly two-thirds of respondents agreed or agreed strongly
that the Internet would play a significant role in solving global problems,
including reducing child mortality (63 percent), improving maternal health
(65 percent), eliminating extreme poverty and hunger (61 percent), and
preventing the trafficking of women and children (69 percent). •An even higher percentage of respondents agreed or agreed
strongly that the Internet would increase global trade and economic
relationships (81 percent), improve the quality of education (80 percent),
and improve emergency response during a natural disaster (77 percent). •A majority of respondents felt strongly that the Internet
plays a significant role in making improvements to business, science, and
technology in areas such as: expanding the availability of goods and services
(66 percent), allowing entrepreneurs to conduct business across all countries
(65 percent), and advancing science and technology and creating a
technologically recognized workforce (61 percent). Attitudes towards the Internet: •Ninety-eight percent of users agreed or strongly agreed the
Internet is essential for their access to knowledge and education. •More than 80 percent agreed or agreed strongly that the
Internet plays a positive role for their individual lives as well as society
at large. •Nearly 75 percent of users strongly agreed that access to the
Internet allows them to seek any information that interests them. General Internet usage: •Internet users nearly universally (96 percent) indicated they
accessed the Internet at least once a day. •More than 90 percent of Internet users surveyed globally
indicated they use social media, with a majority (60 percent) using it daily,
an increase of 10 percent over 2011. •Connection speed (73 percent) and reliability (69 percent)
ranked slightly above more affordable monthly fees (68 percent) among factors
that would increase usage. Other factors included more content in their local
language (50 percent) and more online availability of government and/or
community services (49 percent) Background The Internet Society is a trusted independent source of
leadership for Internet policy, technology standards, and future development.
More than simply advancing technology, we work to ensure the Internet
continues to grow and evolve as a platform for innovation, economic
development, and social progress for people around the world. The Global
Internet User Survey (GIUS) is a globally-scoped survey programme developed
by the Internet Society to provide reliable information relevant to issues
important to the Internet’s future. As an ongoing effort, the survey informs
and supports the activities of the global Internet Society community. While
other ICT surveys focus on economic, infrastructure, or other Internet use
indicators, the GIUS focuses on users, which are the source of innovation
that has driven the Internet’s development, evolution and dramatic growth
over the past four decades. In 2012 the GIUS interviewed more than 10,000
Internet users in 20 countries. This report is intended to provide a general
overview of the behaviors and opinions of Internet users on various topics.
The data and this report aim to represent the views of the users surveyed
rather than the positions or views of the Internet Society, or its global
community. The 2012 GUIS was conducted for the Internet Society by Redshift
Research, a leading business market research firm. Methodology The 2012 Global Internet User Survey was conducted via online
panels comprised of a total of 10,789 Internet users across 20 countries.
Because of differences in sample sizes, the margins of error in the results
for each country vary between 3.10% and a 4.38% at the 95% confidence level. From
http://www.i-policy.org/ Beyond
ICT: The Newest Digital Revolution The history of human social development is, to some extent, the
history of human scientific and technological progress. Humanity achieves
scientific and technological progress by pushing its physical and mental
limits and breaking away from the restrictions of time and space. This has
been true in times both ancient and modern. Our ancestors built beacon towers
and invented the wheel, while we have ubiquitous Internet connection and
vehicles capable of reaching outer space. In the course of our scientific and
technological development, two epoch-making inventions have been the steam
engine and the computer. The steam engine ushered in the industrial age by
providing far more power than what manual labor and beasts of burden could
generate. The computer brought us into the information age through data
processing capabilities that far outperform the human brain. The past century
has witnessed several waves of progress made possible by information
technologies, including those used for communications (telegraphy, telephony,
and broadcasting), home entertainment (radio, TV), computing, and the
Internet. Information technologies drive economic growth worldwide and
reshape the way people live and work. At present, we are evolving from a
"society on wheels" to a "society on the network."
However, information systems are still regarded as aid tools and support
systems, keeping the digital and physical worlds somewhat parallel and
compartmentalized. Now, as the digital and physical worlds begin to merge,
the development of the Internet of Things has proven to be an effective catalyst
of information-based developments and is sure to bring groundbreaking changes
to all of humanity. Beyond information and communications, the increasing
integration of the digital and physical worlds will lead to a new digital
revolution. British philosopher Karl R. Popper divides human society into
three parts: the physical world, the mental/psychological world, and the
world of products of the human mind (also known as the world of objective
knowledge). In the future, the physical world will be married with the
digital world to form a new world. This integration will bring tremendous
changes to the way we live and work, the way businesses operate, and the way
society functions — a new age of digital citizens, digital enterprises, and
digital society. •Heavy reliance on networks will usher in an age of digital
citizenry. Nowadays, the ways in which people communicate, acquire
information, study, have fun, shop, make friends, and pair-bond are quite
different from what we saw just two decades ago. People not only have more
means to stay connected and obtain information, but have exceeded the
constraints of their physical location or time zone. With the developments in
this short time span, rather than waiting days or even months for letters to
arrive, people now contact others in real time via email, instant messaging,
and social networking. Likewise, people can read the news online anytime,
anywhere, rather than clinging to their TVs or radios. Wikipedia and other
interactive platforms allow people to easily find answers to their questions,
without having to wade through voluminous encyclopedias or wait for office
hour-working librarians. Internet users exceeded 2.4 billion in 2012, over
34% of the world's population, with this figure growing roughly 8% each year.
There are also as many as 1.1 billion smartphone subscribers right now, an
increase of 42% over 2011. However, this is just the beginning. As digital
lifestyles are adopted, digital citizenry will shape the behaviors of
next-gen consumers, changing the way people live, and shaking up numerous
industries. For example, traditional video sales and rental stores are
disappearing, and the 244-year old Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer
printed. It is very likely that in the next few decades, children will ask
why the word newspaper contains the word paper in much the same way as our
children today ask why the media is still referred to as the press. •The age of digital business is drawing near, as seen by our
commercial dependence on networks for production and operations. Network
developments have significant influence on business activities. Which
business today can even continue to operate if its network fails? E-commerce
is booming and extending its reach into every consumer buying decision, whether
involving digital content (e-books and digital music), cars, or home
appliances, or even small items like snacks and slippers. In 2012 alone,
electronic retail sales worldwide totaled $1.1 trillion. Information
technologies will be further applied to enterprise production and operations.
Rather than being tools or support components, ICT will become integral to
production, decision-making, customer relationship management, service
provisioning, marketing, and logistics. ICT will be employed in the building
of end-to-end systems that work in real time, playing a role in each and
every link, from idea generation to product conceptualization to precision
marketing to efficient operations to on-time delivery. In other words,
digitization will become a key characteristic of the future enterprise. A borderless internet gives rise to a digital society. Thanks
to the boundary-free nature of the Internet, a large number of borderless
virtual communities and societies have come into being. A plethora of these
communities will combine to form a digital society that transcends borders,
cultures, and races. Facebook is home to over one billion users (or
netizens), making it the third largest "citizenry" in the world.
This type of digital society, which mirrors while extending beyond the
physical world, will undoubtedly impact many aspects of social administration
and transformation, including politics, economy, law, culture, news &
media, security, and ethics, among others. As a communications tool and
support system, information technologies have significantly changed the way
in which people live and work over the past few decades. They also spawn new
economies and industries while reshuffling traditional ones. No doubt, the
increasing integration of the physical and digital worlds will have a more
tremendous impact on society. Such integration will direct ICT development in
a way that can better serve society. Smart infrastructure presents
opportunities for further ICT development. Technologically-speaking, ICT
innovations mainly fall into five groups: mobility, broadband
interconnectivity, social networking, cloud computing, and big data
processing. The objective of these innovations is to transform the physical
world into a smart world underpinned by smart ICT infrastructure, making the
latter key to advancing information-based development. •From big data to "big” wisdom, the IT systems of
carriers and enterprises are evolving from post-processing support systems to
real-time business systems. This transition marks a fundamental change in how
IT functions. We are living in what may be the “big bang” of information. In
2012, up to 2.4 zettabytes of data (that’s 2.4 billion terabytes) was
generated globally; it would take as many as three trillion DVDs to store all
this data. By 2020, the amount of data generated is expected to grow
fourteen-fold. This data will have two major sources. The first is from the
huge amount of transactions between enterprises and between enterprises and
consumers. The second is from countless interactions on the Internet, social
networks, enterprise service networks, and the Internet of Things. Social
networking will be particularly pervasive; it will be emblematic of all
applications, not just for social networking utilities like Facebook. Typically,
big data has four characteristics: variety, volume, velocity, and value.
Velocity and value are most important. By combining the analytical
capabilities of the human brain to determine behavioral patterns and the data
processing capabilities of computers, we can quickly analyze big data and
leverage digital assets to develop valuable diagrams that show relationships,
intentions, consumption patterns, interests, and mobility. From big data to
"big" wisdom, IT systems will be capable of understanding not only
the present preferences of customers but also their future tendencies. This
will make social administration, corporate decision-making, and individual
lifestyles smarter and more logical. Therefore, IT systems for both
enterprises and carriers shall no longer function as post-processing support
systems. Rather, they will become real-time business systems that facilitate
business operations, a transition that marks a fundamental change in IT. •As traditional IT enterprise architecture is no longer capable
of processing the huge volumes of data being encountered, an
Internet-oriented cloud computing architecture is needed. The rebuilding of
data centers will prove the basis of supporting big data. Over the past two
decades, most enterprises have applied client-server architecture for their
IT. Although these systems were constantly upgraded, their technical
architecture was not, making each upgrade repetitive and not transformative.
With client-server, the server primarily stores small volumes of enterprise
transaction data, leaving most data scattered across employee PCs (clients).
As Internet technologies have continued to develop, data has begun its
migration from the PC to the cloud, causing a sharp spike in data volume for
the latter. The need to store such vast volumes is exactly what is driving
innovations in computing and storage architectures, and giving rise to the
emergence of cloud computing architectures that feature virtualization,
parallel computing, distributed storage, and automation, making for a
dramatic change over the traditional architectures. In fact, this new push is
considered the third major wave of IT transformation after those related to
the mainframe and client/server architecture. Presently, traditional
enterprise IT architectures are no longer capable of processing the
voluminous amounts of data that they take in. To answer this need, an
internet-oriented cloud computing architecture is required. This architecture
will form the basis of both big data and "big" wisdom. •Low-bandwidth networks are hindering information-based
development and user experience improvement. A ubiquitous Gigabit network is
a prerequisite for any digital society. To lay the foundation for a
Terabit-network society, next-gen research is needed. As public and private
clouds develop, the amount of data they carry is sure to mushroom, as the
analysis of data is more effective when its storage is centralized. To drive
this migration, ubiquitous networking with greater bandwidth is required to
support data upload and data usage. Ubiquitous broadband makes cloud
computing accessible. Devices across the entire industry chain, including
content creation devices (video cameras), cloud computing devices that
process information, and terminals where information is generated and
consumed (PCs, tablets, etc.) all now support high-definition video, even
smartphones that cost only $150. However, the global network, which has an
average bandwidth of only 3.1Mbps, is still unable to support high-definition
video, leading to the aforementioned hindrances to user experience.
Therefore, we must accelerate the construction of Gigabit networks to enable
seamless ultra-broadband access, the basis for building a digital society. We
must also intensify our research into and innovation efforts for technologies
such as next-generation mobile access, next-generation digital subscriber
line (DSL) access, passive optical network (PON) access, next-generation
Internet, and all-optical networking (AON). This focus on future networks will
lay a solid foundation for building a Terabit-network society. •To support evolution from a "hard" pipe to a
"soft" pipe, we should develop programmable, scalable,
application-agile, automatic, and open intelligent networks. Software-defined
networking (SDN) will lead to the development of next-gen network
architectures. Technologies are enablers of network development. In the past
two decades, driven by advancements of technologies from time-division
multiplexing (TDM) towards all-IP, networks have undergone three different
revolutions: analog to digital, fixed to mobile, and narrowband to broadband.
At present, All-IP networks are undeniably the mainstay for telco and
enterprise networks. However, as networks grow, with information flowing in
and out in uncertain directions and technologies being upgraded rapidly, it
is important that networks be flexible, intelligent, scalable, and automated.
Equally important is a change in how we think about network architectural
design. The core concepts for cloud computing development, such as
virtualization, software decoupling from hardware, centralized resource pool
scheduling, automatic deployment, high scalability, and on-demand service
provisioning, provide valuable references for network development. Introduction
of these concepts into the design of network architectures and products can
form the concepts of SDN, including forwarding and control element separation
(FORces) to centralize network control and resource scheduling, software
decoupling from hardware to virtualize network functions, network function
development of cloud-based architecture to realize automatic deployment and
high scalability, and application-aware network development to improve
network capabilities, among others. By adopting these concepts, we can lead
the developments of next-generation product architectures and network
architectures, establish an intelligent application-aware network that can
intelligently schedule traffic, improve user experience and network
utilization, support traffic-based operations, and generate new revenue
streams. •Intelligent terminals will not just be tools for
communications; they will become extensions of our own senses. Terminals of
the future will be context-aware and have intelligent sensory capabilities. What
makes a terminal intelligent is far more than just its CPUs and operating
system - It also relates to its sensory capabilities. By using various
sensors (compasses, accelerators, gyroscopes, barometers, global positioning
systems, light sensors, microphones, cameras, touch screens, temperature
sensors, and infrared instruments), we can extend the human sensory and
nervous systems in the form of intelligent terminals, bringing us one-step away from true
brain-machine interaction. These intelligent terminals will be context-aware,
and able to both sense and predict behavior through features such as
auto-completion. By combining cloud-based big data analysis capabilities with
context-aware terminals, we can provide personalized and intelligent services
that realize true human-machine interaction, enabling a dramatic improvement
in the user experience. To respond to the ICT transformation being driven by the
integration of the physical world and digital worlds, Huawei has developed a
pipe strategy that covers cloud-based data center infrastructure (used for
information storage and processing), infrastructure networks (used for
information transmission and delivery), and intelligent terminals (used for
information creation and consumption). Huawei has also set up its 2012
Laboratories, dedicated to researching next-generation technologies, while
developing a SoftCOM (Software Defined Network + teleCOM) network
architecture development strategy.
Huawei will openly partner with industry peers to raise information
society to a new level. From
http://www.telecomasia.net/ Local
Software Can Spur Development, Says UN Report Local software production and development can spur economic
growth in The report urges governments in developing countries —
significant buyers of software — to help the software sector by putting in
place policy measures to facilitate the development of affordable ICT
infrastructure and introducing legal frameworks to protect intellectual
property rights. Enhanced access to ICTs in developing countries is widening
opportunities in areas including health, education, governance and business
creation and expansion, according to the report. "Software production
can contribute to the structural transformation of economies — that is, wean
them away from dependence on low-technology goods and on a limited number of
products for export," the report states. "Adapting software to local contexts helps firms to
manage resources better, obtain information more efficiently and [set up]
cost-effective business operations," she said. Software development in
African nations also creates market opportunities for developers and boosts
learning, innovation and job creation in those countries, she explained.
Opoku-Mensah tells SciDev.Net that there is an encouraging trend in Africa of
local ICT software development and use of services, particularly in countries
such as From
http://www.scidev.net/ Best
Broadband Cities in the World The latest Net Index city statistics revealed that Hong Kong
has the highest average broadband speed, followed by 1.Hong Kong Central District – 45.93Mbps 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. In South Africa Edenvale is currently ranked as the area/city
with the highest average broadband speed, followed by Midrand and Sandton. 1.Edenvale – 6.73 Mbps 2.Midrand – 5.94 Mbps 3.Sandton – 5.73 Mbps 4.Paarl – 5.19 Mbps 5. 6.Brits – 4.35 Mbps 7.Worcester – 3.91 Mbps 8.Randburg – 3.54 Mbps 9. 10.Boksburg – 3.42 Mbps From
http://mybroadband.co.za/ The doomsday scare might be over. But there's another threat
lurking within enterprises: The data beast. No matter who you ask--analysts,
CIOs, or technology providers--they all agree that the challenge of data
growth will only get more accentuated during the coming year. The data
challenges of most companies, however, pale in comparison to those of some
other companies, those that generate data by the petabyte. That's probably
why despite the immaturity of big data (the industry still can't decide
whether the term 'big data' represents the problems that come with large
amounts of data or the solution set to leverage it) it's getting plenty of
traction among IT leaders. In fact, it has made its way to one of the top
technologies that Indian CIOs plan to implement this year, joining the ranks
of more established technologies such as mobility or business intelligence.
According to State of the Indian CIO Survey, 40 percent of Indian IT leaders
plan to implement big data analytics over the course of this year--while 16
percent say they are already in the process of implementing it. Here are some
of the benefits that four companies--that are already using or planning use
big data technologies in the coming year--see from their big data
initiatives. Streamlining the Business and Improving Research With diverse businesses ranging from aircraft engines, power
generation, water processing and household appliances to medical imaging,
business and consumer financing, and industrial products, GE produces as much
data as a small country. Until two years ago though, much of that data wasn't
structured, nor was it leveraged in the most effective manner. Which is why
the multi-billion dollar multinational decided to create a separate team--and
assigned a dedicated leader--to spearhead a big data initiative. "GE's
financial needs for big data were huge. We required a more holistic view, so
we set a milestone around big data. When you have a business with a long
fail-cycle, you need to look at data across multiple years, and the defects
that surface on a daily basis," says Amarjeet Singh, CIO, General Electric
India. According to Singh, GE started on its big data journey last year. And
the outcomes it has seen have driven it to pump more money big data's way.
"We started our big data journey in a huge way in 2011. Trends such as
how we are doing in our software business came out of big data. By Q2 of
2012, we started seeing results and based on these results we will be
investing more in the future," he says. There are plenty of plans in
GE's big data pipeline, but it's doing stuff right now that has the potential
of saving the company billions. Based on its big data initiative, for
instance, GE implemented a tool that monitors different parts of an aircraft
during take-off, and then shares that information with the ground maintenance
crew. The idea, says Singh, is to be able to analyze and predict the
spare parts required to service an engine even before an aircraft lands,
thereby ensuring that it does not remain on the ground--where it isn't making
any money--for too long. GE is betting big on big data. And why shouldn't it?
According to GE's Industrial Internet report, it predicts that big data
technology could result in a 5 percent cost reduction from better flight
planning and operational changes. That's $8 billion (about Rs 44,000 crore) a
year--from a single business. The big data bug hasn't only bitten extremely
large companies like GE. It's also percolated down to organizations like the Increasing Market Share At the 121-year-old Philips, executives hope that in the
future big data could lead them to the Holy Grail of business: Competitive
differentiation from new products. As the world's biggest lighting
manufacturer, and Its business transformation and big data project could go a
long way in helping it reach that target even in a sluggish economy. Philips
isn't the only company that wants to employ big data to help it drive sales
and acquire greater market share. TVS Motor Company's big data challenge is
to find meaning in the surplus of unstructured data streaming in from its
highly successful social media strategy, one that has ensured 150,000 likes
and comments on TVS' social media page for big sellers like Scooty Pep and
Apache. According to CIO T.G. Dhandapani, the company plans to increase
market share and wants to leverage data from mediums such as Facebook and
Twitter to help it get there. Earlier for instance, the auto manufacturer
used to invest heavily in market-focused studies, in which executives
travelled across different metros and locations to gather information,
collate it, and deliver it to businesses. The entire process took between
three to six months and incurred a huge cost to the manufacturer. Using
social media in areas like market research is a trend that Gopinathan has
observed, and he says, it has ramifications for big data. "If we look at
the way that functions like marketing, R&D, sales, etcetera are run, it's
changing. Concepts like social listening, crowd-sourcing, mobility will
generate huge amounts of data; much more than we have been handling so
far," he says. Like Gopinathan, Dhandapani thinks big data technologies can
help. But one of the challenges in the way is finding and nourishing the
talent and resources the business will need. That's a challenge Singh says
they faced at GE. But they worked their way through the problem. "We
have placed a lot of focus on hiring internal domain experts and are arming
them with tools, resources and training. We augment that talent with external
technical expertise, where necessary," says Singh. The company hired 30
percent of its workforce from outside who were trained in different
analytical tools and the rest were trained internally for the initiative.
Another challenge that Gopinathan says companies going down the big data path
need to be prepared for is amount of preparation and ground work needed
before big data can take off. "For big data and analytics solutions to
work, it's not enough to just have the solution. It's important that the
underlying transactional systems and the business processes that run on the
systems are streamlined. Or else there would be tons of systems where data
needs to be collected, and collated and data normalized, before analytics
could give meaningful results, and usually they are not effective." At
TVS, Dhandapani has already created a project that applies intelligence to
the feedback it's getting, and it's helping lower both the cost and the time
it takes to do market research. "We have introduced a pilot involving
analytics. This has reduced latency by 50 percent, a tremendous upsurge in
receiving timely feedback from customers for TVS' products," says
Dhandapani, adding that the success of the project will propel an investment
in big data. As a result of this implementation, Dhandapani says product
sales have increased considerably. With results like that it's not hard to
see why there's so much interest in big data among Indian companies.
According to CIO research, 30 percent of Indian CIOs say their companies rate
their interest in analyzing big data between 4-5 (on a scale of 1-5, with 5
being extremely interested). Not bad for a new kid on the block. From
http://news.idg.no/ The Public
Cloud Arrives in 2013 In corporate circles, inside the four-walls of IT, and at
executive gatherings, tales of the affair between the public cloud and IT
have fed uninterested CIOs with far-from-juicy gossip. It was clearly a
relationship--between IT and the public cloud--that was doomed from the
start. A lack of trust, a world of insecurity, and a baggage of unresolved
issues had crippled its foundation. A series of public cloud outages wasn't
helping. And it seemed like IT would never be able to trust the cloud again.
Well for starters, there was a time when even the very concept of vanilla
cloud computing took a considerable amount of time to build credibility. But
with the passage of time, the cloud has only matured. From being a bottom-of-the-pyramid
technology, cloud computing, in its many shapes and forms has grown to be a
respectable and reliable technology for enterprises. This is evident from the
fact that it features in the CIO priority list and is gradually making its
presence felt in Indian organizations. Consider this: According to the
findings in the State of the CIO Survey, almost 80 percent of all respondents
were at some stage of implementing or had already implemented a cloud
solution. Also, 35 percent of all respondents thought that cloud computing
will have the single most profound effect on the CIO's role in the near
future. When it comes to the type of cloud implementation CIOs plan to
deploy, 48 percent said they opted for a private cloud, 38 percent chose
hybrid cloud, and only 14 percent went for a public cloud. The public cloud
might not be a favourite yet but the percentage of organizations implementing
it has jumped by 9 percent--a significant improvement. This makes the public
cloud promising. Its gradual progress to the top is encouraging CIOs to spare
a thought for the technology. Going Public Taking a leaf from their peers, some forward looking CIOs have
already started looking up to the public cloud. According to this edition of
the State of the CIO Survey, a good majority--53 percent--of respondents see
the main benefit of implementing a public cloud solution as that of
increasing business agility. This was followed by other factors like reducing
infrastructure costs and converting capex to opex, among other things. For
Jagdish Belwal, CIO, Tata Motors, cost savings, scalability and process
excellence are the benefits that he is expecting from his public cloud
implementation. Belwal is planning to move his Web-based, external facing
portals to IaaS platforms. In addition, he also plans to explore moving
non-production systems--such as development boxes--to an IaaS platform as
they are prone to seasonality of usage and remain unused for long periods of
time. On the other hand, he strongly feels that the cloud offers niche,
expert process solutions. Tata Motors has decided to leverage this through a
technology principle. "We will first look at the cloud to deliver any
new business process requirement that comes our way. Our technology principle
now is that whenever a new process enablement request comes in, we will first
look at the cloud as an option, then we will look at packaged products. And
then only we will turn to internal development" says Belwal. Another
public cloud champion is Jayanta Prabhu, CTO, Essar Group. Prabhu also wants
to reap the benefits of reduced capex and scalability when he looks to expand
his presence on the public cloud. "Going forward, I have aggressive
plans to increase the number of apps on--Microsoft's public cloud platform--from
four to 10," says Prabhu. "We are also evaluating the possibility
of moving SAP to the cloud." Today, going to the cloud for specific
business applications can surely be a cost efficient strategy. M.G.
Raghuraman, CIO, Mphasis, says that Mphasis reaped significant cost benefits
when he opted to deploy a cloud-based on-demand solution for his CRM system.
Through this CRM tool--which has also been integrated with their enterprise
applications--Raghuraman says that the company is now able to manage and
track the entire sales life cycle, from lead generation to opportunity, right
up to finalizing the deal. "I pay Oracle on a pay-per-use model based on
the number of licenses deployed. This helped me cut initial investment costs
during implementation and also provided me the flexibility to ramp up based
on additional business requirements," says Raghuraman. Another advantage
that Raghuraman gained out of opting for this solution is that it was quick
to implement and therefore it reduced his time-to-market. Cloud Cover There's no doubt that the issues surrounding public clouds
have over-shadowed the various benefits that it offers. From vague SLAs to
infrequent availability, and from security to vendor-lock in, the public
cloud's shortcomings can't be ignored. When opting to implement a public
cloud solution, Prabhu says there are a bunch of hurdles that CIOs need to
cross. "Contracts management is a big concern with public cloud service
providers. Appropriate SLAs, availability and performance uptime are still
far from being precise. However, this is expected to improve gradually."
However, Raghuraman points out that there is an inherent lack of flexibility
to customize cloud-based applications as you would see on on-premise
enterprise applications; and this is a factor CIOs must keep in mind when
opting for cloud strategy. There is a clear trade-off between time to market
and customization. Fortunately for Raghuraman, the CRM tool that he chose had
most of the features he wanted, and he only had to customize very minimally.
He also cited possible degradation in application performance as an
additional reason for not opting to overly customize a cloud application.
"These cloud apps have been tailored to suit the most prevalent business
processes and the best practices in the industry. So, if we use any cloud app
as it is, we will perhaps get the best performance. However, if you start
customizing it, then it would adversely affect performance and speed although
you will get the additional functionality. So you always have to make the
best compromise between the level of customization which you need and the
performance of the cloud application. As a practice, my strategy is not to
fiddle around and do too much customization on a cloud-based
application," says Raghuraman. Another aspect of the public cloud that
could be a challenge is getting buy-in and funding for implementing the
technology. However, both Prabhu and Raghuraman faced a relatively
unencumbered path as far as getting the required finances to implement the project
are concerned. In Prabhu's case, despite a lack of prototypes and successful
cloud implementation stories, his senior management was supportive of his
efforts and Essar has been recognized as an early adopter of cloud computing
by NASSCOM. Raghuraman, on the other hand, had sold his idea to the CFO on
the premise that he was going to opt for a pay-per-use model when
implementing his cloud app solution. "The cost economics of the cloud
strategy as stated earlier, found a favor with my CFO," says Raghuraman. Forecast: Sunny Days Ahead Cloud computing has had a tough time earning the respect of
the sceptics and the naysayers. But it has come a long way from being IT's
incomplete invention to a full-blown, promising opportunity for Indian
organizations. However, the public cloud has fought--and is still fighting--a
long and hard battle to get CIOs' attention. Sure, there are a number of
concerns with the public cloud like security and integration with enterprise
apps, among other things. But the advantages it offers--added business
agility, reduced infrastructure costs and scalability--are tempting benefits
for companies and IT departments to give this relationship a chance to prove
itself. From
http://news.idg.no/ Global
Internet Connection Speed Up 11% Global Internet connection speeds dropped by 7% between the
second and third quarters of 2012 to 2.8mbps, according to a new report from
Akamai Technologies. However, during the entire year the average connection
speeds rose 11% compared to 2011. During late 2012, From
http://telecoms.cbronline.com/
ICT in Energy
and Utilities: Frost & Sullivan's Top Predictions for 2013 The evolving smart energy market offers significant potential
for Information & Communication Technology (ICT) solutions. In the last two years, the industry
has seen both ICT and energy vendors positioning themselves for such an
opportunity. Frost & Sullivan
believes that vendors' ambitions and smart energy value propositions dictate
the long term success. Looking
ahead, Frost & Sullivan expects 4 main forces to drive smart energy
developments panning out in 2013 towards 2020; technology adoption, new
business models, vendor dynamics and customer preference dominate business
discussions this year. The main market trends and opportunities for ICT
within smart energy will be summarized during Frost & Sullivan's upcoming
web conference on Tuesday, 5th February 2013, at 14.00 GMT. Frost &
Sullivan Programme Manager for ICT in Energy/Utilities, Yiru Zhong , will
highlight the main drivers that will support the continued optimism of the
ICT sector in the energy industry. Ms Zhong will also present market
predictions for 2013 and beyond, focusing on immediate ICT opportunities and
showing signposts that could tip the market into the full blown growth phase.
"We know that the market potential for ICT from smart
grid investments is substantial, but the intensity of competition is equally
significant," notes Ms Zhong. "The emerging players within smart
energy will not only provide core expertise to energy companies but also
address financial and efficiency concerns. This suggests a bias for large IT
vendors for their consulting and professional services; however we have also
seen telecommunication players investing in this capability in the last few
years. This is a long haul game and it will be interesting to see how ICT
players develop their potential to establish a sustainable competitive edge
in this new market place." This complimentary web conference will
benefit ICT players who are looking beyond the hype around smart grids and
into actual ICT market opportunities as energy companies build a smart energy
future. The briefing will also present a summary of ICT trends in smart
energy in 2012 to define the Business-As-Usual growth scenario for the ICT
sector in 2013. Finally, Ms Zhong will highlight some of the obstacles that
must be addressed to bring the energy sector closer to the smart energy
future. If you would like to participate in this complimentary web
conference, please email Joanna Lewandowska , Corporate Communications, at
Joanna.lewandowska@frost.com, with your full contact details. Upon receipt of
the above information, a registration link will be e-mailed to you. You may
also register to receive a recorded version of the briefing at anytime by
submitting the aforementioned contact details. From
http://www.prnewswire.com/ Cisco
Visual Networking Index Forecast Projects 13-Fold Growth in Global Nearly Half of All Cellular Traffic Will Be Off-loaded to
Fixed or Wi-Fi Networks by 2017; 134 times all the Internet Protocol traffic (fixed and mobile)
generated in the year 2000, or 30 trillion images (e.g., via MMS or
Instagram) — 10 images daily from each person on earth for one year, or 3
trillion video clips (e.g., YouTube) — one video clip daily from each person
on earth over one year. The projected 2012 to 2017 global mobile data traffic increase
represents a compound annual growth rate of 66 percent. The incremental
amount of traffic being added to the mobile Internet just between 2016 and
2017 is 3.7 exabytes per month, which is more than four times the estimated
size of the entire mobile Internet in 2012 (885 petabytes per month). During
the 2012 to 2017 forecast period, Cisco anticipates that global mobile data
traffic will outpace global fixed data traffic by a factor of three. The
following major trends are driving global mobile data traffic growth: More mobile users: By 2017, there will be 5.2 billion mobile
users (up from 4.3 billion in 2012). More mobile connections: By 2017, there will be more than 10
billion mobile devices/connections, including more than 1.7 billion M Faster mobile speeds: Average global mobile network speeds
will increase seven-fold from 2012 (0.5 Mbps) to 2017 (3.9 Mbps). More mobile video: By 2017, mobile video will represent 66
percent of global mobile data traffic (up from 51 percent in 2012). From
http://newsroom.cisco.com/ World Bank
Publishes Report on ICT in Africa is still at the beginning of its growth curve in the
use of ICT in key sectors of the economy and now is the time for rigorous
evaluation, replication, and scaling up of best practice, according to the
eTransform Africa report produced by the World Bank and the African
Development Bank with the support of the African Union. The report identifies
best practice in the use of ICT in agriculture, climate change adaptation,
education, financial services, government services and health. It also
highlights the role of ICT in enhancing regional trade and integration. The
report includes more than 20 case studies of ICT transformation in action in From
http://www.telecompaper.com/ TECHNOLOGY
recruitment experienced a significant decrease in hiring activity in the
fourth quarter, with expectations of a slow moving year in most industries in
2013, a report finds. The latest Ambition Market Trends Report, released
today, found on the infrastructure side there was a general consensus of
little or no new hires next year. "I think people thought there would be
a big charge to the end of the year, but it is just not happening,"
Ambitions technology division managing director Andrew Cross said. The report
also found that continued investment in mobile applications had fuelled
demand for ASP.Net developers with experience in working on HTML5 and mobile
compatible websites/web applications. It said contractors in this mobile area
were particularly sought after to help guide projects, which for many
companies were the first of their kind to be developed internally. "MVC3
was a niche and in demand skill earlier this year, but it is now seen by many
companies as a 'must have' skill," the report said. It found change
management had become an important part of the implementation process and
organisations were investing resources in the area with a view to realising
real return-on-investment. "Demand
is steady for project managers (PM) and more senior business analysts (BA),
who can assume some PM responsibility assuming their cost isn't too
high," the study said. The research found BA roles tend to be
all-inclusive, combining elements of testing, BA and PM with a trend for more
technical than commercially-focused skill sets. "Big data continues to
intrigue all and sundry with Hadoop still the leading option it would
appear," it said. The report noted several large corporate entities were
adopting its use within the finance sector to extract potential value from
vast petabytes of data. "As a result, employers are seeking permanent
'business data analysts' to engage with business, marketing, finance and IT
parts of the business to maximise the use of analytics," the study
found. On the infrastructure side, fixed term contracts and permanent hires
were viewed more favourably than temp/contract hires and the trend was likely
to continue through next year. "People are not prepared to commit
additional spend at the moment to re-fill roles," Mr Cross said. "I
think that is going to come to a tipping point towards the back-end of the
first quarter when people are going to have to bite the bullet and invest." From The
Australian EUROPE: The European Union launched an information technology agency
in “We want to change thinking that computers and programs are
just things as they are,” Ave Lauringson, founder and project manager of
ProgeTiiger, told Forbes. “There is an opportunity to create something, and
be a smart user of technology.” The program, which receives some $90,000 from
the Estonian government for course material and to train teachers online, is
still in the very early stages, with 20 of the country’s 550 public schools
participating in ProgeTiiger. The plan is to make computer programming a
mandatory course for grades 1-4 and an elective course with extracurricular
“coding clubs” thereafter. Neighboring From
http://netprophet.tol.org/ The G-Cloud Programme in the From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ North
America: With 2013 fast approaching, IT experts are weighing in on what
the new year will bring for issues like big data, cloud computing and
cybersecurity. Eleven executives from IT firm EMC shared their predictions in
a Nov. 26 blog on the company's website. Many executives agreed that several
key technologies will dominate the IT atmosphere in the coming months, with
big data hogging much of the spotlight. “Big data is on virtually everyone’s
short list,” said Scott Yara, senior vice president for EMC's products
division. “The combined effects of social and mobile technologies, the
constant need for driving improved competitive advantage and the
pervasiveness of analytics software and services will change the way vendors
and end users consume information." New technologies are making it
possible for petabytes of data to be stored and processed in more
cost-effective ways, leading to a host of innovations in application
development fueled by big data. The growing focus on big data is also
reflected by IT investments. In 2009, venture capitalists invested $1.1
billion in startups related to big data. The following year saw $1.53 billion
invested, and in 2011, investments reached $2.47 billion, according to information
from Thomson Reuters. From
http://www.govtech.com/ 2012 Year
in Review: Big Data - It’s Really Happening From GIS to predictive policing, data streams are being used
increasingly to provide better services to communities. Government and law
enforcement agencies ramped up their use of big data this year in a number of
different ways. One of the more interesting developments was the first major
project of the G7 — short for Group of Seven — an informal collaboration
between big city CIOs. The group launched Cities.data.gov on Aug. 1. The
website adds a new layer to the federal government’s open data portal,
Data.gov, featuring data sets from The problem with big data, however, is that much of the
information has errors that affect the quality of studies being done from it.
To overcome this, From
http://www.govtech.com/ 10 Smartest
Cities in Co.Exist recently published a list of the top 10 smartest
cities in While these are the overall rankings, individual category
rankings were somewhat varied. From
http://www.govtech.com/ The Best
Open Data Releases of 2012 Last year, Cities named ten of its favorite metro datasets of
2011 from cities across 1. Crime in 2. Bikeshare rides in 3. Public transit in 4. Blight in 5. Pedestrian injuries in 6. Green roofs in 7. Rat sightings in 8. Tsunami sirens in 9. Dangerous dogs in 10. Fixed speed cameras in From
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/
10
Transformational Impacts of the Cloud in 2013 In the coming year, the cloud's impact on business and
government strategies will continue to accelerate, and it will be the biggest
driver behind major IT decisions, said Cary Landis, senior architecht at
NJVC, an IT solutions provider that just released the top 10 transformational
impacts of the cloud in 2013 — all of which will transform business and
government in the biggest disruption IT has experienced in 25 years,
according to the company. "The disruptive impact of cloud is uprooting
old industries and making way for new,” Landis said. The Top 10 Transformational Impacts of the Cloud in 2013 are: 1.
Cloud technologies will converge. The cloud will continue to forge a massive convergence of
technologies — similar to the evolution of the cell phone to the smart phone.
2.
Custom software will hit the cloud. For years, everyone has been talking about the “low-hanging
fruit” of commodity email and infrastructure.But non-commodity custom
software is beginning to move to the cloud in a meaningful manner. 3.
Integration will become the new “killer app.” The term “killer app” generally refers to the technology
that’s so necessary it drives adoption of a computing paradigm. IT
professionals will turn to cloud services brokers to manage the growing
complexity problem by integrating heterogeneous infrastructure services;
whereas software developers will turn to Platform as a Service (PaaS) for
integrating disparate Web services to deliver seamless user experiences to
their customers. 4. In 2013, PaaS will be adopted by companies in 5.
Major data centers will go undergo a “survival-of-the-fittest”
scenario. Winners will emerge in the data center shakeout, as many large
data centers will close and sell assets, or become acquired and consolidate.
Cloud services brokerages will play a larger role for data center service
providers to help their customers sort out the confusion and effectively
manage an increasing number of cloud service providers. 6.
Health IT will adopt PaaS to replace niche “dinosaur” apps. “The problem with health IT is that the enterprise systems
have grown too large to merely replace, but there are limits to what they can
do,” Landis said. “For the healthcare industry to move forward and achieve
the goals set out in the Health Information Technology for Economic and
Clinical Health Act, the cloud must play a major role in the next generation
of healthcare IT. Healthcare CIOs are looking at how much it will cost to
upgrade their HITECH-compliant systems — and they are finding that
proprietary models will leave them with unfavorable lock-in, while others in
the healthcare industry embracing the cloud march forward.” 7.
Organizations will rapidly adopt cloud services brokerages. The need to use multiple cloud services providers to manage
multiple functions will create a fast adoption of the cloud services
brokerage model: either via a new internal role or external source, like the
NJVC Cloudcuity Management Portal. 8. The
Large system integrators, whose success long depended on very
expensive, highly complex and customized, on-premise solutions, will redefine
their practices and their overall operating and profit models, especially as
more businesses go beyond basic, "out-of-the-box" cloud services
and turn to the cloud for more customized implementations. 9.
Innovation and entrepreneurship will hit overdrive. Entrepreneurship will go into overdrive, especially as
full-featured, "idea-to-revenue" platforms take developers from
concept to development and to deployment and sales. This will trigger a new
wave of innovation, entrepreneurship and disruptive startups that will make
things interesting for system integrators. 10.
Cloud adoption will move from an option to a "must have." Cloud adoption will move away from something buyers purchase
with surplus budget money to a “must have” that replaces the traditional IT
enterprise business model. The cloud's value can only be fully realized when
traditional and more costly ways of storing, using and securing data are
replaced with new business models that take advantage of
"fast-and-lean" cloud services. "In the coming year, companies
will accomplish this by halting old projects, re-thinking old contracts, and
shifting funds to affordable and innovative cloud services that can transform
the IT enterprise," Landis said. From
http://www.govtech.com/ It's been almost a year since the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) approved specifications for the next iteration
of wireless data networks -- specs that would give speeds up to 10 times
faster than they are now. Called IMT-Advanced, the ITU claimed the new
technology will give mobile device users maximum speeds of 1 gigabit per
second and improve spectrum efficiency so as to enhance overall quality of
service. But when will those speeds actually make their way to everyday
wireless users? Colin Langtry, chief of the radio communications study group
for the ITU, said IMT-Advanced deployments will likely occur in the more
advanced countries in the shorter term. "And in the longer term, perhaps
2015, you could expect a widespread deployment of that technology,” he said,
adding that establishing standards is one of the first steps before countries
can begin implementing the technology, and it often takes a long time before
adoption begins. While real-world measurements of wireless technologies
typically don't measure up, IMT-Advanced is purported by the ITU to be much
closer to the speeds originally promised by With billions of mobile devices drawing data from cell towers
around the world, the need for mobile bandwidth remains strong, but it is
conceivable that technology could eventually outpace the need of individuals
to request data. However, Langtry pointed out, there is a trend toward
machine-to-machine data transactions that will necessitate increased mobile
bandwidth over the next five to 10 years. With the advent of smart cities and
smart grids, more bandwidth will be needed for automated mobile applications.
In part to meet increased demand for wireless data transfers, the ITU will
meet for the World Radio Conference in 2015 to re-establish international
wireless spectrum usage. Though planning is still in an early stage, an
agenda of proposed conference topics can be viewed online. Looking even
further into the future, the From http://www.govtech.com/
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From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Report
Says ' THE construction of "smart cities" in From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
Internet
Speeds to Be Among From
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/
World’s premier Smart City Event brings local government,
smart city experts and companies offering green, smart city-related products
and services together to learn, communicate and discover significant
opportunities for mutual growth. October 21, 2013 marks the start of the
world’s most progressive Smart City Conference and Exhibition “Smart City
Week Expecting some 30,000 visitors to With 6,982 participants at the various conferences and
seminars in 2012, Smart City Week 2013 will expand the program and focus on
“City Innovation." The program includes trend seminars set to explore
topics including renewable energy, smart grid innovation, smart mobility,
disaster recovery, using sensors and wireless networks to create new urban
functions, use of Big Data, innovative storage batteries for a visible path
to genuine power control, location data use to build urban services and
increase safety and the sense of security in the city, architecture under
changing urban functions and the future of urban development, promising roles
of digital signage, cutting edge BEMS to eliminate customer concerns, risk
management in the smart cities and more. Firms, experts, local and National
government representatives, visitors from international organizations and
chamber of commerce leaders will be among the participants at this year’s
event in search of new ideas and opportunities in the smart city realm. Last
year’s three day exhibition portion of Smart City Week was attended by 15,619
people from all over the world with some 940 international participants
representing 40 countries. This year the expanded program and added
innovation is expected to attract over 3000 international guests from some 50
countries across all of Asia, the Middle East, the An International Environment for Business “Walking through the exhibition area last year, the
environment was so international. Languages from around the world could be
heard at exhibition booths and there was a vibrant sense of common purpose
for comfortable networking and information exchange," says Ruth Jarman
Shiraishi who assisted with Chamber exhibitor booths at the 2012 event. Jakob
Edberg of GR Japan adds, “Regardless of Japan’s shift in government, there is
an energy revolution going on in Local Governments Explore New Solutions In 2012, local government summits and private seminars
attracted a total of 815 people from 14 local governments in About Pacifico Yokohama in Minato Mirai, Only 40 minutes from From
http://news.yahoo.com/ ' From
http://www.korea.net/ |
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Unlocking
the Cloud: Enhancing Efficiency and Accountability This is the first part of a series of reports on FutureGov
Breakfast Briefings around The expert guest speaker, Teo Chin Seng, Executive Director of
iCity Labs at the Singapore Management University, who researches the impact
of information technology in building smarter and intelligent cities, spoke
about his recent study on how cloud computing is driving change in Asia. Teo
stated that cloud computing holds two main benefits for Efforts are underway in the This will also help the government ensure that citizens are at
the centre of every policy implemented, and that their needs are being met.
“Cloud computing in government, by definition, has to focus on serving the
needs of citizens first, emphasising scalability and accessibility as reasons
to pick the cloud in the first place”, said Teo. “Through cloud and open
source, governments can ensure that new services reach every person.” The
discussion at the Breakfast Briefing established that a hybrid cloud must be
the cornerstone of public sector ICT strategy. Damien Wong, General Manager
of ASEAN, Red Hat explained that since governments need to combine a high
level of control over their data and systems with allowing public access to
government services hosted on the cloud, a hybrid cloud is the ideal
solution. A hybrid cloud allows the public sector to provide a secure
platform for delivering high value citizen-centric services while protecting
data sovereignty and ensuring the integrity of the information. “In the
future, we will see an increased adoption of hybrid cloud”, said Wong.
“Governments can scale up or down to a limited extent with internal
resources, but a public cloud permits scaling without the upfront
infrastructure”. Teo’s presentation stirred a spirited discussion on the
concerns about adopting cloud technology in government. Lilia Guillermo,
Deputy Commissioner and CIO of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, asked if there
was an international certification of cloud computing akin to ISO standards.
This implementation of safeguards, she felt, would facilitate widespread
acceptance of the technology amongst government departments. Responding,
Harish Pillay, Global Head, Community Architecture and Leadership at Red Hat,
assured the delegates that the Cloud Security Association, a not-for-profit
body representing various interests in the field, was working with the ISO
standards body to set benchmarks for cloud computing. The delegates raised
other concerns about adoption of cloud computing, such as outdated government
procurement protocols and ensuring continuity of ICT projects. These and
other concerns will be addressed next week in the second part of this report. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ The Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE), the Virac Mayor Jose U Alberto II said that the PESO will help
decrease the rate of unemployment and underemployment in the province by
serving as agent/ middleman between a business establishment and an
applicant. The municipal
government will have to designate at least one personnel to assist the
existing PESO staff and coordinate with Barangay Captains to undertake
purposive data gathering phase, encoding of manpower information and updating
register. It will have to provide
the DOLE full access to its data gathered and stored in relative to the SRS
project as well as attending to the capability building trainings and other
related activities organised by DOLE. The DOLE will designate one counterpart
staff that will coordinate with the PESO designated the SRS focal person,
providing technical assistance and allying support services to the PESO for
conducting the SRS. To achieve the main goal of the program, the local government
must make sure to register all their citizens, Cleofe said and added that
aside from helping people find jobs suited to their capabilities, the
registry system and the PESO will also help the local government in hiring
quality workers and employees. The NSRS is a registration system collecting
database of an individual from every city or municipality, with his or her
respective skills. It will be used as a benchmark data in determining the
intervention of the DOLE to combating child labour, human trafficking and
illegal recruitment. Virac is the capital of Cantanduanes province, located
on the East of the archipelago. It has a population of 66,951 as per the 2010
census. From
http://www.futuregov.asia/ |
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RSRTC has been around for many decades. Tell us about the
scale of the operations of the
organisation. What is your vision for the organisation? Rajasthan State Road
Transport Corporation came into being in 1964, so this is its 48th year of
operations. The corporation has been established under the Road Transport Act
1950 with the objective of providing economic, adequate, punctual and
efficient services to the travelling public in the state. Currently, 4,500
buses across 46 depots are plying more than 16 lakh kilometres and carrying
more than 9 lakh passengers per day. Our vision is to provide high quality
services in a consistent manner. We are endeavouring to keep improving the
services for the satisfaction of the passengers. Today RSRTC is providing
connectivity not only within the state, but also to States and The size of the operations being handled by RSRTC must be
really large. It must be a challenge to manage it. What kind of management strategies are you using?
Considering the size of operation and controlling area, RSRTC has envisaged
an ambitious e-Governance programme. We have an Integrated Transport
Management System (ITMS), which is very effective in enhancing the workings
of Depot/Zonal/HO. RSRTC has already executed Electronic Ticket Issuing
Machine (ETIM) module of ITMS in all depots. We have also introduced a large
number of modules for bringing efficiency and transparency in our operations.
What are the main objectives of ITMS? As I said earlier, the main objective
is to bring efficiency and transparency to our operations. We are trying to
modernise the existing passenger ticketing and seat reservation system. We
are providing facility of “Anyplace to Anyplace” advance booking at all
booking centres which means tickets can be booked anywhere, any place for
forward & return journeys during schedule reservation timings. The
passengers have the convenience of having the information related to Expected
Time of Arrival & Departure of Buses. The idea is to provide maximum
benefits to the citizens and to the RSRTC. We are trying to serve the
passengers not only through IT initiatives, but also by keeping in mind that
the buses are clean and there is punctuality of services. Passengers have the
right to accident-free services. What are the different methods through which passengers can
book their tickets for RSRTC operated buses? Online booking is one method.
Passengers can book their tickets directly through the Internet. So there is
no need to stand and wait in long queues. There is 365x24x7 availability to
the commuters. Consumers can even book tickets through Mobile Application. We
will start issuing RFID passes from 15 January, 2013. It will provide
passengers the independence from the hassle of day to day transactions. They
can pay once and then keep using the system over a period of time. Then there
is the system called ePurse, which can be used for a fast, easy and
convenient journey. There are easy recharge options for ePurse, which can be
used for pay- ment at parking bay, toll collection and rendering of various
merchant options. Passenger Amenities • At all the bus stations seven days advance reservation of
tickets facility is available free of charge. • For Passengers of • Facility to book six seats in each service through telephone
is also available for passengers boarding at jaipur. • Other than CBS Jaipur on line booking facility is available
free of cost at RSRTC countries at • For Member of Parliament, Legislative Assembly, ladies and
handicapped people RSRTC has reserved special quota seat in each service. • At 27 major Bus Stands like Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur, Kota
Bikaner Udaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad etc. Computerised Reservation along with
return ticket facility is available. • Holders of Return tickets are allowed 10 percent concession
in fare for travelling in RSRTC Busses. Along with advantages to the passengers, the IT initiatives
must also be leading to gains to the RSRTC. Tell us about the commercial
advantages that are being accrued. The IT systems like ETIM-ORS Integration
have the impact of minimizing and eliminating revenue leakages. It saves
manpower cost and lowers maintenance costs. Through RFID Pass System and
ePurse, we plan to develop additional revenue streams. We also have diesel
monitoring systems which can lead to reduction/ elimination of fuel pilferage
and other losses. There is vast reduction in costs associated with non
optimal passenger load. Our Transportation ERP solution has improved
profitability through funds, cash and investment management. Human resource
management has been optimized. There is overall reduction in manpower and
support costs. Many cities are now coming up with the concept of Common
Mobility Card. Are you having any such plans? The RFID Smart Cards will play
the role of Common Mobility Cards. In the initial phase RFID Smart Card’s
e-Purse shall be utilized for Concessional Travelers. Senior citizens, MLAs,
MPs, media persons, monthly pass holders and other categories of people come
in the category of Concessional Travelers. Commuter shall be carrying this
Smart Card to render the services of that particular organization only.
Progressively, the concept shall be made generic; e-Purse shall be
transformed into Common Mobility Card (CMC). In the CMC various corporations
and merchants shall be incorporated and thus their respective services shall
be rendered by the Common Man carrying CMC. The system will facilitate
cashless transactions and the facility can be used in buses and at railway
stations. The web portal being operated by RSRTC seems quite
interesting. What are the main advantages being offered by this portal? The
web portal of RSRTC is at – http://rsrtc. rajasthan.gov.in. Citizens can log
in to find out details of the bus list, the kiosks lists and other facts. We
are also developing a system that will allow the web-based services to be
used for keeping track of the time schedule of the buses. In all the bus
stands and at booking stations RSRTC provides inquiry facility from where
passengers can obtain service details. The modules executed by RSRTC under ITMS • State-Wide Online Reservation System (ORS) • Integration of Existing Electronic Ticket Issuing Machine
(ETIM) with ORS • Online Management Information System (MIS) • Vehicle Scheduling and Dispatch System • Vehicle Tracking and Passenger Information System • Accounts Computerisation through TALLY From
http://egov.eletsonline.com AISECT
Wins Manthan Award for eFinancial Inclusion AISECT currently works as a Business Facilitator (BF) as well
as a National Business Correspondent (BC) for the State Bank of India (SBI).
In collaboration with the Government of India, AISECT has set up 2926 Common
Service Centers (CSCs) in Madhya Pradesh, As a result, AISECT has been successful in including more than
6,50,000 citizens of the country into the banking space who in turn have made
more than 280 crores worth of transactions in the last two years. Also,
massive awareness generation programs are being undertaken by the
organization to ensure that the community at large develops an understanding
of the various financial products and their advantages. To offer premium
collection services in semi-urban and rural From http://egov.eletsonline.com From
http://egov.eletsonline.com India’s IT
Spend to Go Up by 10.5% in 2013 Gartner The IT sector in the country is all set to get a shot in its
arms as the Indian government is slated to spend Rs 368 billion (US$6.9
billion) on IT this year, a 10.5 percent jump from Rs 333 billion (US$6.2
billion) in 2012, a Gartner
report said. The report says the estimated expenditure spans internal IT and
IT personnel, hardware, software, external IT services and
telecommunications. Telecommunications will remain the largest overall
spending category throughout 2013. It is expected to grow 6.8 percent to
reach Rs 118 billion this year, up from Rs 111 billion last year, largely
driven by enterprise network equipment, it said. The highest growth segment
for government IT spend will be software. The category will see a growth rate
of 18 percent in 2013, led by investments in desktop and infrastructure
software, it said. From
http://egov.eletsonline.com Feb 07, 2013 (LBO) - A newly established The association now had the 15th version of standards.
Varanasi said more than 70 percent of outsourcing contracts that were aborted
within six months of inception, due to non-delivery of services at the
quality that that was promised. IOAP also worked with universities. There was
also certified outsourcing professional exam. The launch of the Jayantha Fernando from From
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com
With the unique theme 'E-Democracy', ICT Conference 2013
organised by Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) kicked off at Hotel Yak and
Yeti in the capital from Friday. Inaugurating the conference, Minister for
Science and Technology Keshav Man Shakya said that due to the lapses in the
bureaucracy, information technology has not been able to take off in the
country. On the occasion, ICT experts said that the government should
prioritise the ICT sector for its development. The two-day event will have
participation of experts from national and international level where they
will share and exchange their experiences and developments of the sector. ICT
Conference is being organised on the sideline of the 19th edition of CAN
Info-Tech that kicked off at Bhrikutimandap in the capital on Wednesday. From
http://www.nepalnews.com |
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By 2020, revenues from information and communication
technologies sector may reach $8-$9 billion compared to $1.7 billion in 2011,
Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said addressing
International Conference "Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future" on
Monday. Abbasov said that annual growth rate of the sector should hit 20
percent in order to achieve the set goal. "The results of 10 months of
2012 allow to say that 20-percent growth rate of the ICT sector will be
achieved this year. During the 2009-2011 global crisis, annual growth rate of
the sector was 14-15 percent," he said. Abbasov spoke about major
projects implemented in From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijani
Communications Ministry Announces Promising Directions in Connection with
Announcement of 2013 as Year of ICT The Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information
Technologies has declared promising directions in connection with the
announcement of 2013 as the year of information and communication
technologies. As the head of the Department of the Information Society of the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan
Isbandiyar Aliyev told Trend, preparation and approval of plans for events to
be held this year is the next step. "The plan will reflect promising
directions and projects to be implemented by the end of this year. Placement
of the first telecommunications satellite Azerspace-1, which will be in orbit
in early February is the most important and crucial event of the year.
Development of broadband Internet, which will be funded by the Azerbaijani
State Oil Fund will mark the second large-scale event of this year",
Aliyev said. Aliyev also mentioned the adoption of the Concept 'Azerbaijan
2020: A Look into the future' by presidential decree in late December,
according to which in order to organize and coordinate the activities of
state bodies in the two-month period, the Ministry of Economic Development
was entrusted to submit proposals for the establishment of the National Team
to the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan within the concept and its
composition, as well as a list of government programs, policies and other
documents and measures to be taken to ensure the implementation of the
concept. Therefore, currently, the Ministry of Communications and Information
Technologies of Azerbaijan is working on a generation of projects that will
be presented to the Ministry of Economic Development. From
http://en.trend.az/ Over $ 131
mn Allocated to the Development of Broadband Internet in Azerbaijan The Communications and IT Ministry and the Oil Fund has
allocated around 103 million Manat to implement a project for developing
broadband Internet on the "Fiber to Home" model in 2013,
Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said at a meeting of
the Cabinet of Ministers today chaired by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
dedicated to the results of socio-economic development during 2012 and the
country's upcoming challenges. The project is profitable and will be
implemented in three phases, he said. Beginning in 2014, around 30-35% of the
total project cost will be backed by reinvestment. The main goal of the
project is to provide remote regions of the country with broadband Internet
(at a speed of 10 to 100 Mbit/s) and expand the number of users up to 85%.
Thus, according to this index, From http://en.trend.az/
Creating a high-tech park in From
http://en.trend.az/ Azerbaijan
to Invest in Afghanistan’s ICT Sector The development of Afghanistan's information and communication
technology (ICT) infrastructure, the creation of an "electronic
government" system and Azerbaijani investors' investments in the ICT
sector of the country are urgent topics in Azerbaijan, and the first steps
have already been taken in their direction, head of the UN assistance mission
to Afghanistan, Jan Kubis said at a meeting with the Minister of
Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov, the ministry said on
Thursday. According to Kubis, the UNDP, with support from donor countries and
organizations, is working on a new project for economic development in From
http://en.trend.az/ Revenues of
ICT Sector to Grow Fivefold by 2020 From
http://en.trend.az/ |
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The
Australian Government’s Department of Human Services is spearheading the country’s
largest ICT integration programme to support a US$1.25 billion Service
Delivery Reform program. This reform streamlines on-line access to medical
services, social security benefits, and child support services. FutureGov
speaks to CIO Gary Sterrenberg. When Australia’s Department of Human Services
(DHS) became a “mega-agency” in 2009, the ICT team faced major challenges in
integrating agency-wide platforms that supported provision of health, social
services, child support and disability services to thousands of Australians.
The DHS was formed in 2009 after the Federal Government announced a massive
shake-up of the welfare portions of its agencies. This shake-up involved
merging Medicare, Centrelink, the Child Support Agency, Australian Hearing
and Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) At the
time, ICT managers faced the massive task of integrating different agencies’
technology assets, while continuing to deliver services at the front-line.
The full scope of this project directly touched all aspect of DHS’ technology
systems and supporting agencies. The overall project included integrating HR
and finance systems, consolidating data-centres, rolling out a common desktop
based on Windows 7, migrating different email systems including Lotus Notes
onto Microsoft’s Outlook/Exchange, and going to tender for a raft of new
contracts. The DHS is now part-way through a US$387 million (A$374 million)
Service Delivery Reform (SDR) program to consolidate the merged agencies’ data
centres, IT systems and contracts. In October 2011, Gary Sterrenberg joined
the DHS as its Chief Information Officer to take this ICT integration to the
next level. He took over from Centrelink’s retiring CIO, John Wadeson, moving
from a previous role as general manager for technology at ANZ Bank. Charting
the journey “The first
step was to talk at length with management and staff, and gain a full
appreciation of directions and policies,” recalls Sterrenberg. “We needed to
maintain customer services delivery, while tackling the back-end integration
of platforms.” Overall governance issues were pretty much in place; the next
step was to ensure a seamless agency-wide transition, without affecting
client service delivery. As a lead service delivery agency, with a 37,000
strong staff, the DHS needs to handle its ICT integration in stages. The
scope of this integration directly affects millions of clients, including
five million on-line Centrelink customers, A$16.8 billion (US$16.4 billion)
worth of Medicare payments, and nine hundred branch offices nationally. Consolidating
data centres and networks Agencies
were running separate platforms—among these were four separate networks for
Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support, and Commonwealth Rehabilitation Centres.
There were 14 separate data centres holding client records being managed by
agencies. Plans were refined to rationalise these data centres into three. As
a start, the DHS has moved out of its data centre in Delivering
common architecture for desktops On the
desktop front, from October to December 2011, DHS deployed 500 desktops using
a new common desktop architecture based on Windows 7 and Outlook. By June
2012, the agency will roll out another 10,000 desktops, and by the end of the
year, another 15,000 desktops. Among other initiatives, the DHS is reviewing
its telecommunications network services. There is a move toward unified
communications, and using multiple rather than single telco contracts. Additionally,
more services will be brought in-house, while replacing large outsourcing
deals. Online
citizen portals and social media The DHS
plans to link 20 agencies under a common authentication umbrella and
information portal. This initiative is supported by www.australia.gov.au, a
portal that offers clients an entry point to dealing with the Australian
government. Clients can register for online services through a
password-generated ID log-in account, and track entitlements for Centrelink,
Medicare, or Child Support Services. The DHS’ technology reform is about
empowering citizens, notes Sterrenberg. “The emphasis is on customer service
delivery, while integrating and streamlining the ICT platforms. An
integration effort simply cannot go wrong, because in the end, it affects
services to citizens in need.” The DHS is assessing the use of social media
apps, which offer the best channel to reach more deeply and broadly into
communities—ideal platforms for DHS, as its mandate is to implement and
support welfare programs. Among these, Facebook, Twitter, and smart-phones
apps will soon support service delivery programs. The agency needs to connect
with Australians at crucial points in their lives: for example, when between
jobs, in need of medical care, or needing disability support. From http://www.futuregov.asia Smartphones
Use Doubles in 2012 The
report also found that 9.2 million Australians went online via their mobile phone
and 4.4 million accessed the internet using a tablet in the six months to May
2012. The number of mobile internet subscribers increased by 22 per cent to
22.1 million subscribers at June 2012. "The extraordinary rate of
adoption and greater usage of smart phones underlines the critical and
increasing importance of mobile and Compared
to other mobile phone users, smartphone users were: * nine times more likely to go online
via their handsets * four times more likely to purchase
goods online * three times more likely to stream or download
audio or video content * three times more likely to pay bills
online * twice as likely to access social
networking sites. The report
notes that continued rollout of mobile network upgrades, growth in From http://www.cellular-news.com Griffin
said it was interesting that according to Bloomberg, New Zealand's rate of
patent activity was so high. "Traditionally [patent activity] has been
seen as a measure of innovation, but increasingly companies in countries like
the US, which is the world leader in innovation, see patents as less
important than speed to market and first mover advantage - this is
particularly true of software and dotcom start-ups," Griffin said.
"While patents are a good form of intellectual property protection,
maybe our relatively good performance by this measure says something about
the state of our knowledge economy - we aren't innovating as much in the
fast-moving digital economy." Israel, one of the hotbeds of global tech
activity, was ranked 32nd in Bloomberg's index. Australia came in at 22nd
place. The United States was ranked first, followed by South Korea, Germany,
Finland and Sweden. South Africa managed 50th place, just ahead of Belarus
and Macedonia. Top
innovators (1) USA (2) South
Korea (3)
Germany (4)
Finland (5) Sweden (6) Japan (7)
Singapore (8)
Austria (9)
Denmark (10)
France (22)
Australia (28) New
Zealand. From http://www.nzherald.co.nz |
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