The Week in Brief - 31 January 2012

The Week in Brief - AIIA CEO Suzanne Campbell -  31 January 2012 

Last week included both Australia Day and Chinese New Year, so there were lots of celebrations! There was also an outstanding visit to Brisbane where the very wet weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the local Branch Committee for the opportunities presented by 2012.

ACT Government – during the week I meet with Ross James to progress our collaboration and support for the ACT Government for their bid for Digital Hubs and Digital Enterprise and Digital Local Government programs funds. This support leverages the work of Collabit and also our Digital Hubs program.

AIIA CLOUD STRATEGY 2012 – Australia’s Leading Cloud Computing Forum - bookings are filling up fast for this important event on 15 February in Canberra.

This will be a public opportunity for industry and business stakeholders, including government, to hear Vivek Kundra and a range of other speakers discuss the issues relating to cloud uptake in Australia including cyber security and safety, privacy, and jurisdictional issues; and to compare domestic experiences and perspectives.

Senator Conroy and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Ovum and KPMG will participate. For the most up-to-date details and bookings details see the event listing on our website.

AIIA GOVERNMENT BEST PRACTICE PROCUREMENT STATEMENT – has been updated and is available on our web site. The updated paper details:

• Concept Viability or Early Engagement
• South Australia’s eCommerce Targets
• NSW’s Procure IT Contract
• Victorian e-services panel

Australia Day – congratulations to those precious few from our industry who featured in the Australia Day honours list including:

• Glen Boreham, AM Chair of the Convergence Review and Director at Data3
• Greg Farr, the Defence Department CIO, and former COO of the Australian Tax Office
• David Skellern, CEO of the NICTA research group who with colleague Neil Weste, founded Radiata Communications which built the first Wi-Fi chips
• Dr Michelle Storey for her work in establishing the Murchison Radio Astronomy Observatory and for assisting Australia's bid to host the international Square Kilometre Array project.
• Graeme Wood who shot to national fame with the 2006 listing of his Web 2.0 hotel booking site Wotif.com

Australian Consumer Law Seminar - it is now over a year since most of the ACL started with the latest changes (including warranty against defect requirements commencing on 1 January 2012). Baker & McKenzie, Holding Redlich lawyers and the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) are holding a seminar on this subject in Melbourne, Thursday 9 February 2012. For further details see the event listing

Chinese New Year – It is officially the Year of the Dragon so "Kung Hei Fat Choy” to our Chinese members including those at Huawei and also those who trade with China, our 4th largest ICT export market according the Austrade ICT Industry Report October 2009.

Members in the News – Rod Drury from Xero reported significant revenue growth in Sydney Morning Herald 27 January 2012 online http://www.smh.com.au/business/xero-doubles-revenue-and-goes-for-growth-20120126-1qjla.html

Elsewhere Telstra has signed a long-term deal to use a new undersea cable built by Huawei Technologies. Telstra is the first carrier to sign an agreement and has bought one of four fibre pairs on the Australia Singapore Submarine Cable, or ASSC-1, between Perth and Singapore in Sydney Morning Herald 27 January 2012 online January 23, 2012 http://www.smh.com.au/business/telstra-signs-submarine-cable-deal-20120122-1qc8a.html#ixzz1kp19rPng

Member Meetings – during the week I meet with Michael Chetner, Vice President Asia Pacific, Polycom to learn about their business; partnerships with Microsoft and AARNET; and their move into cloud based services. We also spoke about the rapid convergence of video with voice and data.

While in Brisbane I meet with Ross McLeish, State Sales Manager, Optus, who shared details of the impact of smart phones on networks and the rapid evolution of mobility services. Ross is Treasurer of the Queensland Branch Committee and has arranged Paul O’Sullivan to speak at the Queensland Branch Lunch in March and this will no doubt be a great event.

Queensland – earlier in the week I spent time in Brisbane meeting with the new Branch Chair Maree Adstead to discuss this year’s program of activities for members in Queensland. We also meet with with:

• Nicholas Bernhardt, GreenBizCheck, to discuss how this certification process may be applicable to AIIA members. Members will have the opportunity to express their views on the value of certifications processes in the forthcoming Member Survey.
• DEEDI, to discuss the Digital Economy (DE) video for SMEs, delivery of the iChoose website, and workshops on the DE and support tools to regional locations.

I am delighted that the program has been received positively by the Department and they are passionate about our partnership.

We will provide a proposal for funding of urgent short term (6 months) program viability requirements this week and will also engage in a conversation with Minister Stephen Conroy regarding the expansion of the program across Australia to accelerate the adoption in all industries of the Digital Economy.

• Simon Finn, Minister for Government Services, Building Industry and ICT and Peter Grant, QGCIO who overviewed his Top 10 Strategy Option Analysis process and encouraged AIIA to provide feedback on the process.