CW: Telstra, Avaya partner up on IP telephony

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Telstra Business Systems yesterday announced it was awarded gold certification level in Avaya's BusinessPartner program.

"The IP Telephony market is growing and Telstra is fully participating in meeting our customer needs," said Telstra spokesperson Sarah McKinnon. "Telstra and Avaya would concentrate on growing our business together, offering great services to existing customers with Avaya solutions and focusing on acquiring new customers that would benefit from Avaya solutions."

"The addition of Avaya to our portfolio means a greater choice of technology for the customer as well as enhanced capability within Telstra to guide them on their IP transformation journey," said Telstra Business System's managing director, Malcolm Flanagan. "IP telephony is fast becoming the preferred option over traditional voice systems with Australian companies recognizing the business benefits of converged solutions."

Under the terms of agreement, Telstra Business Systems will provide sales, marketing, distribution and support for the Avaya enterprise IP telephony range and call centre solutions to businesses in Australia.

Avaya will provide Telstra's team with training and certification for the delivery of converged voice and data networking and applications as well as supporting services to enterprises.

The partnership will offer businesses end to end management including planning, design, building, managing, monitoring and maintenance of IP telephony network and applications. By facilitating flexible migration from current TDM (time-division multiplexing) technology to IP telephony, Telstra expects to provide high quality, applications rich, secure and reliable converged telephony and data services that reduces costs and improves productivity of businesses, McKinnon said.

The appointment of Telstra Business Systems to Avaya's Gold BusinessPartner status cements an existing, two-year-long relationship between the companies, and recognizes Telstra's improving technical and commercial expertise, the companies said.

"[The partnership] opens up new territory for us and for Telstra," said Carlton Taya, managing director of Avaya South Pacific. "Because of who they are, they touch Australian companies large and small, so they give us the sort of reach we can't get from other partners."

"IP telephony is still [in its] early days here, so the timing is just right for us," he said.

CW: .NET 3.0 designed for interoperability

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

XML will play a prominent role in emerging Microsoft technologies, in accordance with the company's product interoperability strategy.

The design is expected to appeal to medium and large businesses as a cost-effective means of communicating across different programming languages and operating systems.

Migrating between different technologies can be an expensive affair for businesses that already have made investments in existing systems, explained Nils van Boxsel, .Net Platform Architect of Microsoft Australia. But software that is designed to work across heterogeneous platforms reduces cost by eliminating the need for complete system overhauls.

To Microsoft, interoperability is about leveraging existing investments and deriving benefits from different architectures and applications. "Our strategy is to work with existing systems now, but as we move forward, we will design our software for interoperability," van Boxsel said.

As it is a self-describing language, XML is easily translated by any appropriately-designed application and thus allows information to be understood by a variety of systems.

"XML gives us a technologically agnostic way of delivering systems," van Boxsel said, "[by providing] a format that describes, as well as provides the data."

Microsoft's new products, which include Windows Vista, Office 2007 and .NET 3.0, will be centered on XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Vista will use XML to publish RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds on users' desktops, while Office 2007 will save files in the XML format by default.

.NET 3.0, which was formerly called WinFX, will provide a rich support for XML, allowing its Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) subsystem to facilitate interoperation between software developers and heterogeneous systems.

WCF-enabled systems will communicate with other platforms via XML-based SOAP messaging under the WS-* standard space protocol. Communication between WCF systems will be further optimized via a binary channel.

A key feature of WCF is that it separates the implementation of a communication channel and the channel itself. For a WCF-enabled system, this means that switching between SOAP messaging and a WCF-WCF binary channel is simply a matter of configuration after the channel is set up.

.NET 3.0 will be included as part of Windows Vista, but, like its predecessors, will remain a free download for users of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. While the release of Vista is not expected until at least November this year, the beta version of .NET 3.0 can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/download/en/default.mspx.

ARN: WIP portal to connect wireless industry

As a journalist at Australian Reseller News:

The recently established Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) has launched an online communications portal for the wireless community.

The WIPConnector aims to enable businesses to bring new technology to market faster through a collection of online resources. It is targeted at businesses, developers, venture capitalists, analysts, and consultants.

WIP founder and CEO and wireless industry consultant, Caroline Lewko, said success was driven by having the right connections in today's fast-growing wireless industry.

"The wireless industry continues to be very segmented, with each affected by disparate technologies, platforms and operating systems, different regulatory conditions and environments, lack of standards and so forth," she said. "Such conditions make business development challenging for many entrepreneurs."

Alongside a forum and member directory, WIPConnector will host resources and tools via a series of developer programs. Application program interfaces, source code, developer tools, and technical and marketing support will also be available online. Lewko encouraged application developers to use the programs to ensure new applications were compatible with the hardware they are designed for.

WIP was launched last month to capitalise on predicted growth in the industry and has a membership spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Lewko estimates as many as 50,000 wireless businesses worldwide - many of which are in Australia.

"There are many untapped markets," she said. "Given how well our pilot membership program was received in the UK, across Canada and in the US, we expect the exposure we hope to get in Australia to grow our Aussie membership numbers right away."

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CW: Do employers prefer degrees or certifications?

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

There traditionally have been two routes for high school graduates looking towards careers in IT: University, or TAFE. But recent changes in employer preferences have given rise to accelerated training courses that present a third, more practical option.

Getting a job in the IT industry isn't necessarily easy for university graduates. Employers value a balance between theory and practical knowledge and the usual three to four years at university just aren't providing graduates with the skills that specific IT roles demand, according to Cassandra Ashworth, national manager of EXCOM Education's EXpress IT program.

"The current course syllabus and content that universities run are not in line with industry requirements," she said. "Universities and TAFEs are trying to teach them everything, they are not teaching them to specialize."

In fact, according to Ashworth, there are some major TAFEs and universities that are now employing EXpress IT graduates above their own.

The $11,000, 4-month-long program guarantees work placement for more than 1,000 students it enrolls each year, who have so far been enjoying an average annual salary of $35,000.

Major banks, vendors, government departments and network integrators are among the usual employers of EXpress IT graduates. Although these companies could not be named, Ashworth mentioned that some were ranked on the Fortune 1000 list.

And as it requires only basic knowledge of "how to use a computer and an interest in learning about IT", EXpress IT students range from 16 to 57 in age, and are typically high school graduates, university graduates, or working people looking for a career change.

"No Uni? No worries," read an EXCOM advertisement on Sydney's MX newspaper in February this year. But John Shepherd, senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales' school of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), is skeptical.

"No Uni? No worries - until the next system release," he said.

"Training courses take a short-term view and train people to use something that exists right now. They don't care whether you can learn to use the next version that comes along. In fact, it's in their best interests if you can't, because you'll go back to them to get trained on version X+1 when it's released."

Over the course of their studies, CSE students are exposed to an extensive range of systems, standards and programming languages in theoretical as well as practical contexts.

So while graduates may not initially be familiar with industry-specific roles, Shepherd argues that they should have the depth of understanding and the experience to adapt to any new scenario that is thrown at them.

"I'm sure industry has issues with graduates who don't know the particular system, version or configuration that they have installed in their business, but I bet one of our students could get up to speed in way less than six weeks," he said.

This year, the University of NSW's CSE graduates reported an average starting salary of $50,056. Once again, employers could not be named, but Brad Hall, development manager at the school, said CSE graduates tend to be popular with industrial research companies, financial institutions and large IT organizations.

Although she remains firm in her belief that there are better ways of getting into IT than university, Ashworth agrees that a university education ultimately provides a deeper understanding that is important in later stages of an IT career.

"I think that if [job seekers] are wanting to get into the IT industry, EXpress IT will give them a guaranteed outcome and the skills that employees look for," she said. "Where a University degree is important is when an IT professional wants to advance his career and get into management."

But according to Hall, a one-size-fit-all prescription simply does not exist.

"Training programs are the answer for some people and University the answer for others - it would be misleading to try to claim that one covers all possibilities," he said.

"I often compare careers in the IT industry to those in the medical field. The diversity of jobs is just as broad as medicine, and similarly the required level of education is also as broad. Potential students need to assess where they want to fit in on the spectrum and then aim for the level of education required."

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PCW: Consumer education programs expand digital music market

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

Digital music that can be downloaded from wireless or online services will become more popular over the next five years, according to an IDC report released early this month. The combined revenue raised by music service providers (MSP) is expected to reach $202 million in 2010, contributing a whopping 30 per cent to total music sales that year.

To reach the projected figure, the market for digital music will have to grow at a compound annual rate of 82.5 per cent from the $10 million produced last year. Growth in the wireless and online music services will be driven by a number of factors.

Broadband penetration is expected to increase from 33 per cent in 2005 to 60 per cent in 2010. High-speed Internet will make downloading music from online providers more convenient, hence boosting the popularity of MSPs.

Also contributing to the growth of online music services is the increasing availability and accessibility of portable MP3 players. While IDC recorded only 1.95 million MP3 units that were shipped to Australia last year, analysts predict shipments to reach 3.52 million by 2010.

The paid online music environment currently has several advantages over the wireless music environment. However, Sophie Lo, IDC analyst for Consumer Digital Markets, stressed the importance of music servers as revenue generating avenues for wireless operators.

Voice call charges are limited by capped price plans and close price competition, she said, and wireless operators must look beyond voice revenue for revenue growth.

And while current mobile technology may not be terribly user-friendly, 3G technology will continue to advance and pervade the market. IDC expects revenue generated by wireless music services to catch up with that of paid online downloads by the end of the decade.

Whether wireless music services will become more popular than their online counterparts is a different question. According to Lo, this will not be possible for a long time yet.

"There are a lot of issues that wireless services have to overcome before overtaking online services," she explained. "Wireless platform is not the ideal platform for hosting a lot of music, [while] iTunes has a catalogue of over one million songs."

As such, wireless music providers will tend to host only popular mainstream songs, while paid online services will continue to cater to a wider range of musical tastes. Resellers also stand to benefit from the growth of both sectors, especially if they are able to aid consumers in adopting the different flavours of digital music.

An IDC survey conducted in 2005 revealed that 31 per cent of Australian home consumers are completely ignorant to where digital music can be downloaded from. Apple clearly dominated the market, with over 40 per cent of survey participants subscribed to iTunes. The remaining participants were spread over services such as Telstra BigPond music (20 per cent), ninemsn (9 per cent) and other smaller services.

Brand recognition is a major factor in the success of iTunes and iPods, said Lo, and consumers need to know about other digital music sources before MP3 units that support other formats, such as wma and Atrac, gain popularity.

"There is a strong correlation between electronic content and electronic devices," Lo said. "Resellers should provide some very basic consumer education to show consumers how to [access electronic content] from searching for music, to downloading, to listening."

CW: Quantum cryptography hybrid expected to protect companies within the year

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Senetas Security today announced plans to develop hybrid encryption technology employing quantum computing. The technology is expected to protect companies and government bodies against what has been dubbed cyber terrorism and suicide hackers.

The technology will marry the strengths of quantum and classical technologies, said Senetas' senior product specialist, Julian Fay. Data will be classically encrypted using cryptographic keys generated by a quantum key distribution system, which is currently believed to be unhackable, and relayed using classical fibre optic networks.

Quantum networks are typically limited by speed, Fay said. The use of classical wires and encryption allows speeds of up to 10Gbps.

The hybrid encryption model has already been found to work across distances of up to 120 kilometres - perfect for securing government networks within a city like Canberra, Fay said.

A collaborative research effort is currently under way between Melbourne-based Senetas and a partner, who could not yet be named, in Europe. The partnership is likely to be announced within three weeks, and a working product developed within two months, Fay said.

PCW: Research shows multiplayer games act as the new hangouts of old

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

Massive multiplayer online (MMO) games may play an important social function that has otherwise been lacking in present-day society. At least, that's what an interdisciplinary team of researchers have presented in a report published in the US Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication early this month.

In the report, titled "Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as 'Third Places' ", authors Dmitri Williams of the University of Illinois, and Constance Steinkuehler of the University of Wisconsin, suggest that gamers have been driven to MMOs by the lack of hangouts in real life.

"By providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function much like the hangouts of old," they said.

Through surveys, experiments, interviews with gamers and even personal experience of the games Lineage I and II, and Asheron's Call I and II, the researchers concluded that some MMOs even "promote sociability and new worldviews".

"With relative anonymity," Williams explained, "people are exposed to a wide range of other people they might not normally meet - think different ages, genders, political orientations, religions, etc."

"These relationships are also often positive because they begin with a common interest, and can be cemented by the game's mechanic."

He noted, however, that while anonymity may promote what he calls "social horizon broadening", it also means that players often do not share their true backgrounds and real-life experiences. This can lead to in-game relationships that are shallower and shorter-term than those fostered in real life.

The researchers report that there are more than nine million people worldwide who spend an average of 20 hours a week in MMO worlds. That's more than twice the population of Sydney spending an equivalent time in-game as others would on a part-time job.

And not all these gamers are getting the social benefits of game play that the researchers suggest.

"Our conclusions about sociability in these games apply to MMOs in which there is an incentive to work together, which is nearly all of them and for most play styles - but not all," Williams said.

Williams expects the same trends to apply to most games - be they role play (RPG), strategy (RTS) or shoot 'em ups (FPS) - where gamers are required to cooperate over multiple sessions, or extended periods of time.

He said, "Sociability is only going to build over time if the players can repeatedly run into one another, and in some popular games like StarCraft, that doesn't happen very much.

"For FPS titles, we [sometimes] see the formation of clans comprised of players who want exactly that longer-term association. What starts as a reason to succeed in the game could translate into out-of-game contact. We don't know how common or uncommon that is."

As an academic in the field of speech communication, Williams was hesitant to suggest a healthy amount of in-game time.

"I'm sure it varies from person to person and has a lot to do with moderation and balance in one's offline life," he said.

PCW: Intel offers graphics support to Linux

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

In a move to provide "open source graphics for the masses", Intel has made its next generation of graphics architecture available to Linux users via free software drivers released last week.

The open source drivers support 2D and 3D graphics features, including programmable vertex, geometry and fragment shaders, for the Intel G965 Express Chipset launched July 27.

Retailing at $249 from Australian resellers Synnex, Todaytech and Ingram Micro, the G965 chipset has been designed to support second generation memory chips (DDR2) with integrated graphics, offering advanced video and graphics performance for home users.

With the release of the G965 drivers, Intel hopes to enter into the Linux market. Already, the release has received some very positive feedback.

"We got a large number of emails since [the drivers' release], the overwhelming majority simply thanking us for supporting open source," said Dirk Hondel, chief technologist at Intel's Open Source Technology Center.

Open source drivers further provide Intel with the driver developing resources of the open source community.

"Over the past years, many developers have contributed patches and feature extensions to the existing open source drivers for Intel's graphics chips," Hondel said, adding that he expects little risk of consumer confusion by rogue developers "forking the code" (providing multiple different versions of the same driver).

"We expect this will continue to happen," he said.

The driver will continue to be improved by Intel developers, together with the X.org and Mesa community.

PCW: School students gear up for the Robocup Australian Open

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

The victorious return of Australian teams from the Robocup World Cup held in Germany two months ago hardly meant the end of the games for the year. Teams from primary and high schools across the country are now working towards the Robocup Junior Australian Open on September 16-17.

Statewide and regional championships are taking place in the lead-up to the Australian Open. Besides providing teams with additional opportunities to practice and show off their robots, these championships also provide winners with travel bursaries to the nationals in Sydney.

Teams design, build and program their robots to perform autonomously under any of Robocup Junior's five categories: junior dance, secondary dance, rescue, premier rescue and soccer. While there are few hardware restrictions, students typically choose to build on LEGO Mindstorms for their ease of use and adaptability.

Dance competitions, involving creativity as well as engineering and programming, have traditionally enjoyed the most popularity - especially among female students, said Gail Laird, NSW chairperson of Robocup Junior. The rescue category, meanwhile, tends to attract students with a passion for programming due to the sophisticated light sensor techniques used in the competition.

However, the premier event in Robocup is soccer - a category for which competition organisers have big plans.

"The ultimate aim of Robocup," Laird explained, "is to create humanoid robots who will take on the World Cup soccer teams in 2050, and beat them!"

But that's more a goal for university level competitors. Robocup Junior is focused mainly on educating school students about robotics and programming artificial intelligence ... and patience.

"It is unbelievable how exciting and frustrating it can be to watch [Robocup Junior soccer]," Laird said. "It's a bit like watching six year olds in their first game, when you can do nothing about them scoring their own goals. But you get very elated when they finally locate that ball, dribble it up to their end and score a goal!"

Laird was involved in organising the NSW statewide championships, held on August 10-11 at the University of NSW. Participating in the event were 580 students from 65 primary and high schools. There were a total of 210 teams competing across the five categories.

St Philips School, Pittwater House School, Lakes Grammar Anglican School, Cranbrook, Roseville Public School, The Hills Grammar School and St Josephs College received special mention as strongly represented schools that entered very successful teams.

"Our teams are very competitive as a rule; Australia has won the international title three times," said Robocup Junior Australia chairman, Ian Maud.

There were nine junior teams representing Australia at the Robocup World Cup in June, three teams from Scotch College in Victoria, Pioneer State High School and Kimberley Park State School. Two teams from Queensland were ranked in the top ten for dance. Our 2005 national champions 'Dynamic Equilibrium' from Corinda State High School, finished second in the soccer league.

Australian teams will once again have the opportunity to contend with international squads at the Australian Open, with over 20 teams coming from China and Singapore. And we have a good chance of coming out on top.

"Australia is doing very well [in the robotics field]," Maud said. "Our teams are very good at adapting things and finding resources, and our students seem to understand their machinery better than other teams."

Robocup Junior is currently run entirely by volunteers, who are usually teachers, parents, University students and staff with a special interest in engineering, robotics or IT. As an increasing number of schools catch on to the program, however, the organisation may soon be expanding to fill roles including: marketing, sponsorship, event management, Web site organisation, liaising with schools, running workshops and training teachers.

"It is a big commitment to run an event for that many students and we are very pleased that it continues to be successful," Laird said. "The competition has a very special buzz about it and visitors always comment on how exciting the learning is for the kids; the most heard comment is 'why didn't they have stuff like that when I was at school'."

The program came to Melbourne six years ago and has since been hosted by the US, Japan, Italy, Portugal and Germany.

"I have never travelled as much as I have with Robocup," Laird said. "Who would have thought that a robotics program would open the world!"

CW: Cisco updates recertification policy

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Cisco Systems last week announced an update to its recertification policy that allows individuals to recertify their CCNP, CCDP, CCIP, CCSP or CCVP certifications upon passing any exam that is part of Cisco's professional level curriculum.

The new policy came into effect on August 18, and offers more flexibility to Cisco-certified professionals seeking to satisfy Cisco's triannual recertification requirement.

Professional-level certifications were previously renewed either through the higher-level CCIE written exam, or through one or more exam for each certification. Exams range in price from $US65 to US$300, with the CCIE written exam costing US$300.

Besides potentially reducing the cost of recertification, Cisco's expects its new policy to encourage networking professionals to expand their knowledge base to keep abreast of new technologies.

"The proliferation of advanced technologies such as network security has significantly increased the knowledge base required of networking professionals," said Don Field, director of certifications at Cisco. "The expanded, professional-level recertification policy recognizes certification holders who have taken steps to diversify their networking knowledge and skills to keep pace with today's evolving networking environment."

Certification holders can look up the status of their qualifications via an online Certification Tracking System.

CW: Symantec says Compliance Suite a necessary 'Big Brother'

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Symantec on Wednesday announced its Control Compliance Suite 8.2 that aims to simplify IT policy compliance for businesses through automated audits, reporting and database software.

At a Symantec media conference in Sydney, Clayton-Utz partner and ex-government lawyer Barry Dunphy outlined the governance issues associated with policy compliance and record keeping.

While both government and non-government organizations are increasingly obliged to comply with laws requiring the maintenance of proper records, there remain inconsistencies in evidence laws across Australia, he said.

Further legislation is currently in the works for Australia and the rest of the world. In the meantime, courts and lawyers are said generally to lack forensic experience with computer technology.

Electronic records of today are far more complex than the record management systems of 15 years ago, Dunphy said. In today's electronic age, where anything that stores information - be it a sound recording, video, picture or document - is a legal record, companies must look beyond the governing legislation into the policies of compliance regulation.

"People in my industry are far too casual about sending e-mails," he said. "They don't realize - and this is a key issue - that every e-mail is a public document and needs to be kept."

Electronic methods of storing and searching for documents, like Symantec's Enterprise Vault and IMLogic, provided in the software suite, are expected to assist organizations in complying with retention and discovery policies and fulfilling their freedom of information (FOI) obligations.

"E-mail and instant messaging [IM] are now legitimate forms of business communication," said Tim Hartman, senior technical director of Symantec Asia Pacific and Japan. "If an organization is exposed because of e-mail and IM then archiving and filtering is a legitimate form of managing the risks associated with its use."

There are concerns that maintaining records of all e-mails and IM conversations in an organization may infringe on the privacy of its employees and their correspondents. However, on the flip side, they do afford great convenience to electronic records management.

According to Hartman, "as long as employees are clearly aware that these controls are in place, there are generally few if any problems".

Irene Graham, executive director of online freedom and rights advocacy organization Electronic Frontiers Australia noted that individuals may not always appreciate their personal messages being stored by their employers.

"But," she said, "at the end of the day, it's up to the employers and employees to discuss the permitted usage of office resources - the company obviously has the right to manage its business affairs."

"We don't like it," she admitted, "but in our view it would be completely impractical to try to distinguish what is a business communication that has been received from what is personal."

And while personal communication may be stored, they are unlikely to be released through FOI requests.

"The way the FOI works," Dunphy explained, "is that all of the business records would be captured to get the business e-mails. [Personal e-mails] wouldn't be subject to FOI, because it only covers documents related to the company's operations."

The Symantec Control Compliance Suite has been developed to support the standards that are most often referenced, such as ISO 17799/27001 or COBIT. Adhering to these standards, said Hartman, will support compliance to most regulations.

Administrators have the option of adjusting which regulations are monitored by the software, to better suit the needs of their organization.

The suite is an upgrade to the by-Control portfolio of products and includes titles such as Enterprise Security Manager, Incident Manager, NetBackup and Sygate Network Access Control. It is priced from $1200 per Manager Server.

Running across the range of existing software is the new Policy Manager, which, according to Symantec senior product manager Jitesh Chanchani, has been developed from "a set of universal regulatory statements" as "an overarching compliance reporting product".

LW: Australia to celebrate Software Freedom Day 2006

As a journalist at LinuxWorld Australia:

Freedom and Open Source Software (FOSS) enthusiasts around the world will once again take to the streets for the third annual Software Freedom Day (SFD) on September 16th.

Fifteen teams in Australia will join 150 teams from more than 100 countries around the world in celebrating software freedom through installfests, free CD distribution, demonstrations, workshops and talks. Celebrations are planned for Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Townsville, Hobart and some parts of regional South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.

"SFD is an international day, born three years ago, to help the average person to understand how software transparency is important in our lives," said Sydney-based Pia Waugh, the newly-appointed president of its organising body, Software Freedom International (SFI).

Waugh explained that with the prevalence of technology in our voting systems, leisure activities and workplaces, basic human freedoms can only be as free as the technology they rely on.

Outreach has been the main focus of SFD in previous years, with organisers aiming "to get to as many people as possible and to help existing developers get in touch with their community," Waugh said. Going into the future, however, SFD hopes to muster political backend support "to give it credibility outside of the geek circles".

Last year's SFD enjoyed the success of being recognised formally in the Scottish Parliament. However, there is still much work left to be done, as SFI has its sights set on global recognition in political and educational spheres through bodies such as the United Nations.

As an incentive for participating teams to promote SFD, SFI has organised a global competition offering high performance IBM servers to teams with the best event publicity, documentary, FOSS deployment project, and event. Autographed T-shirts are being offered as prizes to individuals producing the best SFD logo, event photo, blog coverage, and photo of the highest-ranking Government official at an SFD event.

While last year's Sydney event brought together around 2000 participants and 30 volunteers in a street festival, Waugh estimates only 400 participants and 30 volunteers for SFD 2006.

"This year we're really focusing on the student population," she said.

"I've travelled the world for open source conferences and other events, and have never seen as strong a community as in Australia," she added proudly.

Activities at the Sydney event include hands-on workshops on installing and support, networking opportunities and speeches by Waugh, legal expert Kimberley Weatherall and the Labor Party's Senator Kate Lundy. All members of the general public are invited to attend at the University of New South Wales at no charge.

SFI, to which Waugh was voted president on July 30th, comprises nine board members including SFD founders Henrik Nilsen Omma, Matt Oquist and Phil Harper.

"The great thing is that [the founders have] managed to base a celebration on software freedom," Waugh said. "Regardless of the various different sects, technology and interests, everyone can get involved in this outreach program."

PCW: E-counseling a sucessful fat-buster

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

Fast gaining popularity as the answer to many of life's questions, the Internet is rife with information on current affairs, dating, education, how-to guides ... and now, weight loss.

An academic research team recently studied the effectiveness of Web-based weight loss programs in terms of the services that are included, following their previous findings of the success of expert e-mail counselling to program participants.

The new study, published in the August 14 issue of US journal Archives of Internal Medicine, found that individuals benefited not only from human feedback; an automated system that was pre-programmed to provide comments also proved to be helpful.

Researchers studied 192 overweight or obese adults in three treatment groups: a group receiving no e-mail counselling; a group receiving computer automated counselling; and a group receiving expert human counselling. After three months, both groups that received counselling recorded significantly greater weight loss than the group that received no counselling.

After six months however, the group receiving human feedback clearly had the advantage, averaging a loss of 13 to 15 pounds, compared to the 8 to 10 pounds lost by the e-counselled group.

While human feedback was found to produce the best results, computer automated counselling has the potential to reach larger populations at a fraction of the cost of more intensive interventions.

With the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reporting more than seven million (60%) overweight Australian adults, two million (21%) of whom are obese, an affordable, accessible weight-loss scheme could be just what is needed.

"Compared to e-mail counselling provided by a human, a computer pre-programmed with messages based on specific criteria is a highly efficient treatment approach that can be more widely disseminated among the population in need," said researcher Rena Wing, director of the Weight Management and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School.

"Further research is needed to improve the computerised approach to promote continued adherence over a longer period of time, but from a public health perspective - this is a promising area to explore," she said.

CW: Weeklong camp to EXITE girls about IT

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

The Australian launch of a global initiative to promote IT to teenage girls will take place in Queensland today. A weeklong Exploring Interests in IT and Engineering (E.X.I.T.E) Gold Coast Camp is to host 27 girls in Years 8-10, and is one of three Australian camps to be run by IBM this year.

The program aims to tackle the IT skills shortage and under-representation of women in the industry by inspiring girls and dispelling some of the stereotypes associated with IT professionals. Only 18.87 per cent of Year 11 students studying Information Processing and Technology in Queensland in 2004 were female, according to the Queensland Studies Authority.

"Skill shortages in IT, especially the shortage of women entering IT, is a significant issue for Australia if it is to remain competitive in the global market," said Megan Dalla-Camina, strategy and marketing director for IBM Australia-New Zealand and executive sponsor for the Advancement of Women. "E.X.I.T.E camps tackle this problem at the grassroots level, aiming to challenge traditional perceptions about roles in the industry."

Held at IBM's Tivoli Security Software Development Lab, the E.X.I.T.E Gold Coast Camp will involve activities such as: an interactive robotic session where girls use technology to build and program physical, dancing robots; a session on Web page creation and design; and special site visits to Griffith University and Gold Coast Water.

Camp participants will be paired up with female mentors from IBM, who will provide academic assistance and career counselling during the camp and throughout the remaining school year.

The camp will be opened by Sonja Bernhardt, founder of Women in Technology, and closed by 2005 Young Engineering Award winner Cheryl Paten.

Participating schools have been selected by IBM in conjunction with the Queensland education department. Teachers of Helensvale, Elanora, Windaroo Valley, Townsville, Clermont and Redbank Plains State High Schools as well as the Upper Coomera State College have all been invited to nominate students for the camp.

This year's Gold Coast Camp comes after a very successful E.X.I.T.E 2005, which hosted 30 participants, from which 24 are now enrolled in ICT subjects at school, and three have completed work experience at IBM. In 2006, 50 E.X.I.T.E Camps will be held at IBM locations worldwide, including the Ballarat Camp from September 18-21 and a Sydney Camp from October 3-6.

PCW: Internet regulations compromise browser privacy

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

A recent study has found that costly regulatory systems that place strict controls and regulations on Web site operators may not have their desired effect on online security. Instead, a self-regulatory system may be the best way of encouraging browser privacy on the Internet.

Internet users are typically asked to submit some personal information before transacting online. The study, run by Karim Jamal of the University of Alberta's School of Business, analysed how this information was used by the top 100 US-based online brokerages and businesses, including popular names like eBay. These Web sites were compared against 56 similar sites based in the UK.

At the time of the study, laws that now govern US-based Web site operators were not yet put in place so the Internet was a largely self-regulated domain. UK-based online operators, on the other hand, had their actions regulated and monitored by a large government bureaucracy.

The study found that while most of the Web operators in both countries did a good job of protecting user information, operators in the UK tended to be less forthcoming in disclosing their privacy policies. According to Jamal, sites in a self-regulated environment were more open about their policies to attract the trust of customers.

About a third of US sites were certified by Web privacy seals from Truste or BBB online to further reassure customers of the sites' trustworthiness.

"We found that Web sites who had a Web seal had very good disclosure of their privacy policies - easy to find, easy to read, much [more comprehensive] than Web sites without such seals, and none of them leaked customer data," Jamal said.

Web seals were far less prevalent in the regulated UK market. Not one of the UK Web sites studied was authenticated by a Web seal. Furthermore, the study found that several UK Web sites either presented convoluted privacy policies written entirely in legalese, or simply failed to disclose their privacy policies in clear violation of the law.

"They were hard to find, hard to read and provided as little information as possible," said Jamal, suggesting that the UK privacy policies served the purpose of preventing lawsuits instead of comforting and attracting customers.

Five US and three UK Web sites were discovered leaking personal information of their customers and even of Web surfers who cancelled their transactions before they were completed. Compromised accounts in the UK received much more spam than in the US, indicating that data was sold more widely in the UK.

"There was complacency, lack of compliance and legalese," Jamal said of the regulated UK market. "The law seems to undermine development of a market for seals, undermines the incentive to provide good disclosure in the privacy policy and creates false comfort."

Meanwhile, an unregulated market has been shown to encourage investments in filters and various authentication methods, including privacy protection via ISPs and Web seals, as operators are forced to rely on their reputations to promote their clean practices.

"The law freezes existing technology issues and solutions at a point in time and it is very easy for people to work around the law," Jamal said. "Very elaborate rules can be created, but it is very easy for people who want to get around them to defeat the spirit of the rules."

Jamal's findings were published in the July edition of US journal, Business Ethics Quarterly.

CW: ACIF-SPAN merger gets go-ahead

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Plans to merge the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) and the Service Providers Association (SPAN) have been approved. From September 1, the Communications Alliance will be Australia's new peak body for the communications industry.

The merger was agreed upon by vote at special general meetings, held by ACIF on July 26 and by SPAN yesterday. The current chief executive officer of ACIF, Anne Hurley, will maintain her executive position in the newly formed Alliance.

Although unable to discuss any specifics of the meetings, Hurley said that besides a positive response from their members, ACIF also received "overwhelming external support from external stakeholders" for the merger proposal.

The 10 staff and 65 members of ACIF will come together with SPAN's four staff and 75 members to form an alliance of 14 staff and 150 members. The Alliance will be headquartered at ACIF's current office in North Sydney.

After the launch, a transitional board, co-chaired by current ACIF chairman Neville Stevens and SPAN chairman John Kranenburg will govern the combined body.

A newly-elected 18-person board of management, which will also include representatives of comms service providers and nominated association members, will start on December 1 and will elect its own chair. Current members of ACIF and SPAN will be equally eligible for nomination to the Alliance's board of management.

Hurley said she looked forward to furthering the shared agenda of both ACIF and SPAN through the Alliance. One such goal is identifying the direction for future communications technology to lead the transition to next-generation networks.

"ACIF is an organization with a primary focus on bringing the industry together to promote self-governance," she said, explaining that most of ACIF's industry discussions come in the form of unbiased forums. "We are very much aligned with SPAN, [which] held a lot of forums as well."

"[The Communications Alliance] will continue to do that," she said, adding that with larger pool of members, "it will now be in a position to develop industry decisions for government policies".

PCW: G9 plans FTTN for Australia without Telstra

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

Telstra pulling the plug on its FTTN network on Monday does not mean it's the end of FTTN in Australia. Rival fibre consortium, G9, will continue to move forward with its network plans without Telstra's help.

The G9 consortium, led by Optus and comprised also of AAPT, Internode, iiNet, Primus, Macquarie Telecom, Powertel, Soul and TransACT, last month unveiled plans for an alternative FTTN network that would be built and run under an independent umbrella company named SpeedReach. The network that will facilitate access to increasingly popular technologies like IPTV, Video-on-demand, interactive messaging and other high bandwidth applications is estimated to cost $4.1 billion.

While Telstra's participation in the move to FTTN would have enabled the G9 network to reach a much wider range of consumers, G9 will continue to pursue a smaller network without the telecommunications giant.

"Telstra's not the only telco in the world," said iiNet's regulatory affairs general manager Stephen Dalby, adding that Telstra would, of course, be welcome to join in the consortium's FTTN plans if only they would "swallow their pride" to do so.

"The more players the better," he said, speculating that other telecommunications companies such as British Telecom may yet jump on the G9 bandwagon.

Dalby is of the opinion that the outlook of the telecommunications industry has become more positive since Telstra has pulled out of its FTTN plan.

"We were [previously] on the outside; we weren't involved in what we feel is an important part of the industry," he said. "Now, with G9, we're part of the process."

However, this process will take some time. G9 is currently at the stage of figuring out how the project will be financed, and it may be months, even years, before FTTN plans finally come to fruition.

"It's a bit premature to talk about the exact services that will be offered," Dalby said. "We're looking at this as a once in a hundred years type of decision; if we were to replace copper with fibre, it should not be at the decision of one company in place of the entire industry."

An important aspect of G9's plans is that whoever owns the network will not have a retail arm, Dalby said. G9's approach to FTTN will be that of access seekers rather than access providers, resulting in a network that is easy and flexible for ISPs.

"We want to design it for anyone to have access to it," he said.

But in light of Telstra's own problems with the cost of deploying a FTTN network, and the difficulty of recovering such a cost under current ACCC regulations, Telstra remains sceptical of G9's success.

"If you look around the world it is hard to find very many examples of successful consortiums of this kind," Phil Burgess, Telstra's group managing director for public policy and communications, said at a press conference on Monday. "I think if the G9 can do this at a lower cost, they ought to do it, and if they succeed in doing it, then we will be first in line to be access seekers."

Meanwhile, Paul Brooks of Layer 10 Consulting believes faster broadband should already be available to a large proportion of Australians - if only Telstra would lift their administrative 1.5Mbps limit on their existing ADSL network.

"[Telstra] could provide 6 to 8Mbps or more to the majority of people in its coverage area today, with little more than a flick of a software switch," he said.

"In areas where they have installed ADSL2+ capable equipment they could potentially provide much higher speeds with the existing network, as is being demonstrated by many of the smaller providers already."

One of these smaller providers is Internode, which has been offering 24Mbps ADSL2+ since April last year. Citing the widespread availability of ADSL2+ as proof, Internode's managing director, Simon Hackett, went so far as to call Telstra's FTTN negotiations a "farce [with] little or nothing to do with consumer benefit".

"Telstra has limited its own retail customers to 1.5Mbps on copper lines that its competitors continue to demonstrate to be good for up to 24Mbps," he said. "Its own customers have been held to ransom by its political posturing for this entire period.

"Perhaps Telstra would care to sell its copper line network to the G9, so that it can be upgraded and maintained in the future by a consortium that puts consumer benefit ahead of whinging that the regulator said that it can't have a pony."

But Burgess suggested that Telstra is being treated unfairly by regulations and by the public's constant criticism of Telstra's position in the telecommunications industry.

"Nobody gets upset with Macquarie Bank or with Woolies or with anything else when they are successful, but if we get to be very successful we have people say, 'that's an unreasonable return'," he said. "Well, our view is that our shareholders want us to make large returns, they want us to be very successful, and that's what we intend to do."

ARN: Accucom takes wireless to Wenona

As a journalist at Australian Reseller News:

Accucom Systems Integration has teamed up with networking giant, Cisco, to provide uniform wireless coverage across a girls' school in North Sydney.

During the last three years, Accucom has worked with Cisco and the Wenona School to implement 49 Cisco 1200 Series wireless access points across the school's three campuses. The campuses are connected by a fibre optic network that also links the school's desktop computers.

The network is based on three Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series and about 40 Cisco Catalyst 2950 Series switches. It is connected to the Internet via two Cisco 800 Series integrated services routers.

Besides designing and implementing the network infrastructure, Accucom also manages the network and provides all tech support.

A fully functional wireless network has been up and running for the past 12 months, connecting about 500 Wenona students and 80 teachers.

However, there is still much to be done before the project is complete. Accucom has so far only executed the first of a three-stage rollout plan by installing the access points and reasonable security. The next stage, which is currently in testing, is to implement multiple radio servers and 802.1x security.

The second stage will involve the re-imaging of all laptops and the phasing out of 3Com switches. This is expected to be completed by end of year. The final stage is to implement a lightweight access point that will provide thin-client wireless acces, giving Cisco more control for managing the network centrally.

Accucom has been a Cisco partner for 12 years.

more

CW: Chandler Macleod acquires Accenture's IT recruitment arm

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Human resource outsourcing and recruitment company Chandler Macleod this week announced its acquisition of IT contracting and recruitment provider Diversiti from Accenture.

Contracts were signed on Tuesday and Diversiti is due to be handed over as of August 31.

Chandler Macleod's managing director Stephen Cartwright was unable to disclose the cost of the company, due in part to the fact that only one third of the purchase price is to be paid up front.

The remaining amount will be paid as a fixed percentage of Diversiti's revenue and a preferred supplier agreement with Accenture over the next two years. This arrangement, said Cartwright, would provide Accenture with incentive to ensure the acquisition goes smoothly and the company does well.

Diversiti specializes in recruiting IT specialists as well as non-IT professionals on a permanent or contractual basis, for government bodies and private companies engaged in IT implementation projects. With 450 contractors deployed to around 100 clients across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, Diversiti currently boasts revenues in the order of $65 million a year.

The acquisition is expected to increase Chandler Macleod's presence in the fast-growing IT contracting and recruitment sector, while increasing Diversiti's reach in the HR industry.

"IT contracting and recruitment has been the one key sector missing from our suite of service offerings to clients, and I am confident that the acquisition will make Chandler Macleod an even stronger competitor in the marketplace," Cartwright said.

"Day to day [the acquisition] won't change the way that it is run," he said, "other than the fact that Diversiti is now a part of a larger recruitment agency with access to a larger pool of clients."

The company will join Chandler Macleod's "house of specialist brands" business model while continuing to run under its current banner.

PCW: Optus-HP partnership offers convenient Internet access

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

A partnership between Optus and Hewlett-Packard (HP) will provide home, small and medium business users with broadband-enabled notebooks.

Mobile computing packages including a HP notebook and an Optus broadband connection went on sale on Monday. The package will allow users to purchase and pay for a notebook and Internet connection in monthly instalments with no upfront charges.

The package is available with Optus's 3G service called Wireless Connect, or any of its cable or DSL options. Payment plans start at $79.90 per month for both the notebook and a cable connection of up to 9900Mbps/128Kbps in speed. After paying a $49 connection fee and $99 for a modem, consumers can expect to pay a minimum total cost of $2065 over a 24-month period. A similar plan is available on 256/64Kbps DSL, while users with Optus Wireless Connect can expect to pay a total of $1917.60 plus the cost of a wireless data card.

Users have their choice of six laptop models, chosen by HP on a Good, Better, Best scenario based on their demonstrated popularity with consumers. The notebooks on offer span HP's Consumer and SMB product ranges, including Compaq Presario and HP Compaq products. Notebooks range in price from $49.95 per month, totalling $1198.80 for a Compaq V2656AU to $109.95 per month for a HP nx6325, totalling $2638.80 over 24 months.

When purchased outright through HP, the V2656AU costs $999 and the nx6325, $1,599.

While the package is offered to current customers and strangers to Optus alike, users also subscribed to an Optus landline or mobile service will receive a $10 discount on their monthly bill.

CW: Box Hill TAFE adds to intern choices

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

A newly signed agreement between Box Hill TAFE and global IT organization NIIT Technologies will provide ICT students with the opportunity to gain industry experience in advance of graduation.

With today's competitive job market demanding practical workplace skills from new employees, work experience will be a foot in the door for Box Hill Institute students.

"It's well proven that the biggest challenge for students in getting their first real job is having work experience, to prove to employers that they have the right level of competency and understand the work environment," said John Price, who heads up NIIT Technologies in Australia.

Students will be involved in high-level database programming, application development and systems development at NIIT, from the initial planning stages to actual development work. Depending on their skill levels, Price expects that some students will be assigned small sections of software for development under the supervision of a mentor.

Projects will be advertised as opportunities arise, and students will be expected to apply as they would for a job. Applicant selection will be based on academic records and demonstrated communication skills. The NIIT placements, which are expected to last up to four months, will count towards students' academic credit.

"This really is an internship in a truer sense, where NIIT will identify live projects with deadlines and normal workplace things," said John Italiano, senior executive director of Box Hill Institute.

It is the joint hope of both NIIT and Box Hill Institute that the success of their partnership will prompt other ICT businesses to form similar alliances, to make the industry more accessible to new graduates.

"From our perspective it's more something we'd like to give to the industry," Price said. "We see it as a demonstration that we can, as a local employer, make a contribution to the Australian ICT industry."

CW: IT skills shortage pushes salaries north

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Despite a drop of 2.8 percent in ICT vacancies in July 2006, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) reports a steady demand for IT professionals in the workforce.

The 22,262 ICT vacancies recorded last month resulted in an index of 289.4, which means that there are nearly three times the number of advertised ICT vacancies now as in November 2002.

Although the ICT vacancies index is still 56 percent lower than its peak during the Y2K period, the demand for ICT skills has grown over the past year, increasing 17.7 percent since July 2005. Most of the current ICT vacancies are based in New South Wales (52.3 percent), with 25.3 percent in Victoria.

Michael Gray of the DEWR is quick to warn against using the index as a sole indication of job prospects in ICT. The index, he said, is calculated on the number of advertisements for IT positions that appear online. It does not account for listings that appear multiple times, or advertisements for positions that have already been filled.

"This is not reflecting an increase in demand; it is reflecting the number of [online advertised] vacancies," he said.

But that is not to say that prospects for IT professionals are not, in fact, very good. In fact, the national skills shortage has been driving up average salaries quite nicely.

The 2006 Australian Computer Society (ACS) Remuneration Survey, conducted by APESMA (Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia) on members of the ACS, revealed a 4.3 percent increase in the average salary for IT professionals over the last year to a national average of $85,610. An IT graduate fresh into the workforce can expect to receive remuneration of around $43,384, a 7.7 percent increase on the 2005 average.

IT professionals with scarce skills, such as high-level application development specialists, database managers, architects, security specialists and testers are attracting greater pay rises, with average salaries increasing up to 20 percent. Meanwhile, professionals with business and people skills to complement their technical abilities are enjoying very rewarding packages, particularly in finance companies.

"There's not enough of senior people around, and they're the ones who are pushing up the salaries," said Margaret Bozik, APESMA's labour market analyst.

"Over the past 18 months, money has been thrown at various IT projects. So, for a lot of graduates, they're likely to find work in the government sector and government-funded projects."

There has indeed been a significant rise in corporate and government investment in IT over the past two years. The federal government in May budgeted $2.7 billion for ICT projects, including $755 million in IT security.

The Australian government is awarding extra points and priority processing of visas to potential migrants with relevant IT skills and experience. There has also been an increase in the number of temporary work visas granted to IT professionals sponsored by Australian businesses.

IT work that has previously been outsourced in a number of large banks is now being brought back in-house. Commonwealth Bank and ANZ are among such organizations that "cite a desire to retain skills and control internally and observe that the cost-savings of outsourcing were not as high as previously", Bozik reports.

Other large organizations including state and federal departments are choosing to outsource major IT contracts to global companies such as IBM, Accenture and EDS. However, Bozik notes that while low-end IT occupations such as programmers, coders and support specialists may be at risk of offshoring, jobs that require advanced degrees as well as management and business skills show no signs of decline.

APESMA expects continued expansion in the labour market for IT professionals over the next two to three years.

PCW: IIA demands faster broadband to more Australians by 2010

As a journalist at PC World Australia:

The Internet Industry Association (IIA) believes approximately 80 per cent of the Australian population should have access to downstream speeds of 10Mbps, with 67 per cent having access to speeds above 24Mbps by the end of the decade.

In a report released on Monday, the IIA believes these speeds should be sufficient to support a mix of simultaneous, or near-simultaneous, services including VoIP, gaming, multichannel streaming and video on demand, music, legitimate P2P file sharing and browsing.

While upstream speeds are expected to remain relatively static for most home users, business and other high end users should have the option of full symmetrical services, with upstream speeds equivalent to downstream capabilities.

High end users such as research organisation's advanced digital media houses, corporates and early adopters are likely to also demand and pay for access to ultra high bandwidth.

While regional services will naturally be somewhat slower than those in metropolitan areas, services should nonetheless be sufficient to allow basic banking, VoIP and streaming applications. The IIA expects that the government may need to provide some assistance in regional areas for this target to be fully realised.

Mobile connectivity is expected to grow in quality and use in the near future. The prevalence of mobile phones, PDAs and other handheld devices will fuel the need for mobile broadband that supports high-resolution video streaming, video-enabled gaming, on-demand or live newscasts, webcam reception and video conferencing.

"Having targets give us something to aim for," said Peter Coroneos, chief executive of IIA. "We need to have a good idea of where other countries will be, and where we will be, in four years time."

Due to our geographical area and sparse population, it will be very difficult for Australia to achieve the level of broadband service in leading economies like Korea and Japan. Instead, the IIA targets plan on bringing to Australia the same technology and services as those available to countries like the United States and Canada.

Falling short of the 2010 targets could have dire consequences on Australia's economy. The absence of a well-connected information network is needed for scientific research, education and health industries.

"If we fail to achieve these targets, then I think we will fail as an economy and as a society," Coroneos said.

Although the report so intently outlines Australia's goals for the next four years, it does not go on to describe how we might achieve them. Instead, it has been intended as a discussion piece for the government, the industry and the public, to provide a direction for the future of broadband.

"It was not designed to be a how-to document," said Coroneos, explaining that reaching these outcomes is really a matter for policy makers and the industry.

The report is accessible here.

CW: Unis revamp IT courses to lure students

As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:

Two universities are changing the content of their IT degree courses for 2007.

The University of Technology Sydney is remodelling its undergraduate programs to better fit the current roles of IT professionals in the industry. As of next year, students enrolling in the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BScIT) program at UTS will choose to major in one of four subjects.

These major choices have been designed provide a foundation for today's typical IT careers: Business Information Systems Management may lead to a career in technology implementation and governance; Enterprise Systems Development to technology building; while Internetworking and Applications and Computing and Data Analytics can lead into technology services.

The new program will also offer more elective subjects offering students greater flexibility and will also allow the degree to be combined with a range of other disciplines. A student might enroll in a combined degree in business and IT, for example, to be awarded Bachelor of Business Bachelor of Science in Information Technology after four years of study.

Changes planned for undergraduate computer science and IT degrees at RMIT University are similarly geared towards flexibility. Besides the usual spread of combined degrees that will remain on offer, RMIT will also make available single IT degrees that allow students to choose their minors from areas outside of IT, including accounting, economics and management.

The non-IT minor option will not be available to students enrolled in IT as part of a combined degree. Single IT degrees will take the usual three years, and combined degrees four years, to complete.

"There is growing recognition of the need for IT professionals to have specialist skills in an IT area, while also having exposure to non-IT areas," said Saied Tahaghoghi, Senior lecturer and school program leader for international programs at RMIT.

Tahaghoghi said that employers realize the need for highly skilled IT staff who are also able to communicate and work with their non-IT colleagues to get the job done.

The new program has been designed with IT professionals on RMIT's Industry Advisory Board, including representatives from IBM, the Australian Computer Society, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, ANZ and Telstra.

"There is still a perception among non-IT people that IT is no longer an area of demand," Tahaghoghi said. "This is in large part due to the hype surrounding the dotcom boom, the Y2K problem, and outsourcing.

"The fact is that business needs IT more than ever and only a limited set of operations can be outsourced overseas."

While university enrollments in IT are currently far from reflecting the country's growing need for IT professionals, the updated programs are expected to have greater appeal.

"I believe that the flexibility of the program will attract students who would previously have not considered doing much study in IT," Tahaghoghi said.