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Here is the latest issue of Canterbury Software Inc's hyperLINK weekly e-newsletter. Keep reading hyperLINK if you want to be up with the play in the Canterbury tech sector. This newsletter is proudly sponsored by Telecom NZ, who provide financial and other support to ensure that hyperLINK continues to reach your inbox. Visit www.telecom.co.nz to learn how Telecom can further benefit your business. See the full version of hyperLINK at http://canterburysoftware.org.nz/current.htm Sign-up options at http://canterburysoftware.org.nz/news.htm + Please forward this newsletter. You can freely re-use the feature stories, provided you acknowledge the credited feature story writer and hyperLINK as source. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AUGUST EVENTS AUGUST 6: Free Elevator Caf� from 5.30 pm, Canterbury Innovation Incubator 200 Armagh St. Featuring presentations by Simon Glass of Bluewater Systems and Warwick Schaffer of Boulevard Websystems. Simon Glass of Bluewater Systems will be talking about the application of ARM technology, which is sweeping the world and transforming electronic design. Bluewater Systems started with the goal of educating designers and managers in New Zealand and Australia about the many benefits of ARM technology. Today Bluewater Systems employs eight dedicated staff and several long term contractors. The business has expanded to provide ARM services to companies around the world. The company provides product design services, hardware and software development and project management services. Bluewater Systems has the latest tools for FPGA design, PCB design and layout, software development and debugger and hardware analysis. Warwick Schaffer of Boulevard Websystems will talk about application service provision and creating web-based business management systems. Boulevard Websystems developed netStep and is continuing to develop associated applications. netStep performs user and transaction management for business applications via the Internet. Accessible through a browser, netStep centralises business management and enables secure business transactions. Users receive a single ID providing roaming access to other applications or websites using the netStep platform. There are already more than 120,000 netStep users in over 50 countries. AUGUST 12: Independent Software Vendor Business Best Practice Workshop, from 8.30 am to 5.00 pm at Mancan Conference Centre, Corner Cambridge Terrace and Manchester Street. The workshop covers: � How to understand and analyse market environments for maximum success. � Why it is important to create value for your customers and how you can apply this knowledge to your business. � How to foster innovation, change and leadership within your business. � Why and how to develop and implement strategic business plans. Cost: $659 including lunch, refreshments and comes a complimentary three-month subscription to the online Global Learning and Research for Software Businesses programme. Members of Canterbury Software and Electronics South qualify for a 50% discount. (Members of Canterbury Software or Electronics South should state so in the "Organisation" field of the registration form to qualify for discount.) Register at www.ict-edr.com/English/Software/Events/NewZealand or call 09 363-2848. AUGUST 13: Enterprise Training International Business Development Seminar from 9.00 am to noon at Canterbury Development Corporation, Level 2 Britten Room, 193 Cashel Street. Free to Members of Electronics South and Canterbury Software. Presented by Hal Josephson, president of MediaSense, a San Francisco firm specialising in strategic marketing planning, international business development consultation and project management services for high-tech industries, the workshop will focus on the US market but the principles can be applied to other markets as well. The workshop covers: � The Global Business Climate in Y2K+4 � What can you do to increase ROI or decrease costs? � Guerrilla Marketing techniques are essential (unless you have huge brand building/marketing budgets) � Discovering decision-makers and where the $$$ is � Communicating with customers as often as they will let you � Motivating your customers to take action � Tactics you've used that worked, tactics you've used that failed: focus on customer retention and value After the workshop, Hal is available for a one-on-one session with you to implement what you have learnt in the workshop and to apply it to your business. To enroll, phone Nicky Leadley ph 378 0097 or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], quoting reference number C3503S/1 Hal Josephson is President of MediaSense, a San Francisco firm specialising in strategic marketing planning, international business development consultation and project management services for high- tech industries. MediaSense clients include Apple, Motorola, KPMG, Australian Multimedia Enterprise, TradeNZ, Australasian Access, Career NZ, and Penton Publishing. From 1997-2000, Hal was executive director for NewMedia magazine's INVISION Festival, the largest North American program honoring creators of digital content in all media, including CD-ROMs, websites, games and business applications. During this period he was also the primary US business consultant and Silicon Valley liaison for Australian Multimedia Enterprise (AME), a $AU55 million new media venture fund based in Sydney. "Just for fun", Hal was executive producer of PYST, the best-selling MYST comedy parody CD-ROM scripted by FireSign Theatre's Peter Bergman and featuring actor, John Goodman. Prior to this he was vice president of Infotainment World, producers of the highly successful retail gaming conference, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and before this position, spent two years as president and executive producer of the Motorola-sponsored Interactive Media Festival, a $US3.7 million corporate event showcasing the best digital media projects from four continents along with commissioned performances by Merce Cunningham, Blue Man Group, Herbie Hancock and other high-tech artists. For four years, during the early nineties, he was the director of worldwide business development for The 3DO Company, which went public in 1992 and achieved a market cap of $US2 billion. During the eighties, Hal was a Boulder, Colorado entrepreneur as co-founder of two IT-related public companies, TeleMedia International, a teleconferencing production and human factors training business and StarCom, a satellite delivered entertainment telecommunications company. He has specific expertise in international business development along with strategic and tactical marketing, plus a second career in large-scale event design, planning, program development, sponsorship cultivation and production management. Hal has keynoted more than thirty industry events during his career and has appeared as a guest speaker at the World Congress for Information Technology in Adelaide, AU, New Zealand's Unitec Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Canadian Trade Office's International Marketing Seminar Series. Presentations include: "Doing Effective Business Development in a Shifting World Marketplace", "Smart Marketing for Entrepreneurial Businesses", and "Business Development by Design: Strategies for Success". AUGUST 13: Tech BBQ, 5.00pm. Electronics South Networking, 399 Madras St AUGUST 17: Join TUANZ at its monthly Computerworld After 5's to find out about rich-media opportunities and bandwidth and storage trends. David Olliver, national manager, corporate and government business for the Apple Division, Renaissance Limited (Apple's Distributor in New Zealand), will outline key trends in rich-media creation, distribution and management. He will also explain how the adoption of efficient data management strategies, cross-platform standards, and flexible storage technologies are keys to setting up your organisation for the changes to come. This month's event will be held on Tuesday 17 August at the Millennium Hotel, 14 Cathedral Square, at 5.45pm. Attendance is free for TUANZ members and non-members pay $45.00 incl. GST. Refreshments will be available. Register online at www.tuanz.org.nz/url.cfm?pg=61 or on 09 488-1888. Major telecommunications providers are designing their Next Generation Networks (NGNs) not only for voice or simple data, but also to carry rich- media. Are the rest of us ready for the impact this could have on our own infrastructures? The increasing use of new media streams will provide significant challenges for the speed of our telecommunications links, the capacity of our corporate networks, and even the architecture of our laptops or desktop PCs. In addition, regulatory trends point towards businesses and government organisations having to store and easily retrieve not just simple file types but new content that will require storage capacity and complexity magnitudes larger than we've contemplated before. ############### hyperLINK contents: Issue 53 August 5, 2004 + Feature: ICT in Canterbury - getting the right people with the right skills + Research Focus: Security + Tech Newsbytes from all around the world + CSI website happenings + Meanwhile, at the forum + Contact us, subscribe/unsubscribe etc ############### *FEATURE* ICT IN CANTERBURY - GETTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS Canterbury Software Inc executive member Howard Nicholls explains how the ICT in Canterbury project will benefit members of the software cluster. Jim Anderton announced a major ICT project in Canterbury, supported through the Tertiary Education Commission, towards the end of last month. The aim of the project is to match industry skill demand with the provision of tertiary education, so that ICT companies in the Canterbury region will have a sufficient number of skilled workers in the future. This project has been awarded $1.76million over four years. So what is the relevance of this project to members of the software cluster? The main driver for the project is the anticipated growth in the ICT sector, including software, and the resulting need for skilled employees. If you are running a software business, expect it to grow in the next few years and will be recruiting and training technical staff, then this project has direct relevance to you. The ICT in Canterbury project is not just about new graduates and degree courses, although both are important elements of the skills supply chain. Rather, the project aims to address the problem holistically by more actively promoting ICT as a career option among school leavers, ensuring there are tertiary courses that enable them to be productive quickly on entering the workforce, and by giving practitioners access to quality training that meets industry needs. Recent studies have shown the current situation is quite a way from this skills Nirvana, hence the need for the project. The projected number of graduates falls short of estimated demand, and the educational offerings are not as closely aligned to industry's needs as they should be. The initial phase of the project is the most important as it will establish the exact requirements of industry, providing more detail than earlier studies have shown. In the next few months the project team will be approaching Canterbury software and ICT services companies to gain a clearer understanding of the skills needs and issues. Once the industry's needs have been verified, the education supply chain will be reorganised to supply the right people with the right skills. If your company is approached to supply information to this project, please give it some time and thought - after all, you will be the ultimate beneficiary. In order to bring about the necessary changes, a holistic approach is needed - a piecemeal approach just won't do. One of the unique features of this project is the close involvement of industry (i.e. the three Canterbury ICT clusters), education providers and support organisations right across the skills supply chain. The organisations involved in this project are ETITO (Electro- Technology Industry Training Organisation), the Canterbury Electronics Group, Electronics South, Canterbury Software Incorporated, IPENZ, the Canterbury Innovation Incubator, the University of Canterbury, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, Christchurch College of Education, Lincoln University, Canterbury Development Corporation, TEC, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise [NZTE], Career Services and the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. * For more information about this project, contact Howard Nicholls of Canterbury Software Inc and Alchemy Group Ltd at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ############### *RESEARCH FOCUS* Security has shot past cost-control and cost containment issues as the Number One IT challenge in North America. Michael Herman reports on recent IDC and META Group findings. According to IDC's latest Enterprise Technology Trends (ETT) survey - conducted between April and May 2004 with a respondent base of 933 North American companies - over three quarters of IT and business executives rated this challenge as an extremely or very significant concern or IT challenge for their organizations. "Our latest survey findings indicate that IT spending on security and business continuity has increased at 59% of organisations in the last 12 months," said Lucie Draper, program manager for IDC's Enterprise Technology Trends, Vertical Markets Group. "We believe that despite the economic environment, and in some cases because of the geopolitical environment, the prospects for vendors of security technologies are good." IDC found that the biggest difference between organisations that have a corporate IT security officer and those that do not, is whether security policies and procedures are in place. In other words, whether an organisation-wide disaster recovery and business continuity strategy has been formulated and regular security risk analyses carried out. The research company also found that ubiquitous access to the internet followed by a reaction to a major security breach were most frequently rated as having a high influence on an organisation's investments in security technology and deployment of security measures. Four in ten North American organisations rated security audit results as having a high influence on the deployment of security measures. In the banking and the healthcare services industries, corporate compliance and government regulations as they relate to security and privacy are a particular concern. IDC also confirmed that one or more of an array of security technologies are in some stage of adoption at most companies. While some technologies, such as antiviral tools, are already in place at the vast majority of North American companies, others are at different stages of the evaluation or implementation process, and in some cases these vary markedly by industry segment. Meanwhile, rival research and consultancy META Group has said the average security investment will peak at 8% to12% of information technology budgets in the US by 2006 and in Europe and the Asia Pacific region by 2007. META Group research indicates the average information security spending in Global 2000 organisations is currently about 4% of the IT budget, which represents a continuing increase from previous years. In Europe, the rate of increase in security spending has been significantly slower than that of the US, primarily because of the lower intensity of publicity regarding compliance issues and cybercrime. META says the Asia Pacific region is even more variable, with the more mature economies (Singapore, Japan, Australia, and South Korea) reflecting patterns that are predominantly similar to those of the European countries. The maturing markets in the Asia Pacific region (Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippines) are just beginning to invest in security, with spending rates expected to increase in the near future. ############### *TECH NEWSBYTES* August 3, 2004: Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Reach Wireless have launched a campus Wi-Fi hotzone using technology supplied by RoamAD. The AUT Reach Wireless Wi-Fi Zone is open to the public, with AUT students and staff getting special discounted rates of NZ$16.95 a month for mobile VoIP and wireless data access at speeds of up to 2Mbps. The network was designed in one day and deployed in less than a week. RoamAD specialises in metropolitan Wi- Fi networks and campus hotzone infrastructure. August 3, 2004: Unisys claims it has leapfrogged enterprise server competitors Sun Microsystems, HP and IBM by making Linux available on the company's ES7000 servers, and has announced it will be partnering with Novell and Red Hat to provide the business, government and scientific communities with services and support for Linux-based solutions. The company also unveiled the first-ever dynamic partitioning capability on Linux for Intel-based servers, providing customers with a new alternative to expensive, proprietary RISC-based systems. Unisys president and chief operating officer, Joe McGrath, said enterprise customers were demanding "industrial-strength" Linux solutions. "By offering customers a bold, new legitimate choice in the Unix/RISC space, Unisys is positioned to be a leader," McGrath said. Linux will be available on the ES7000 immediately. August 2, 2004: Global retail giant METRO Group has announced a November rollout of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology across its supply chain. The rollout includes 269 outlets, 8 warehouses and initially 20 suppliers, and is expected to expand to 100 suppliers. Checkpoint Meto will be providing systems integration and helping suppliers implement the technology into their daily operations. The company's New Zealand general manager, Mike Champness, said implementation of RFID across the supply chain would ensure better product traceability and food safety. "This technology is going to allow supermarkets and retailers to really re-think how they manage their supply chain and inventory levels," Champness said. "In the future this technology stands to be one of the key factors in maintaining competitive edge through stock management and offering consumers the high levels of service." He said Checkpoint has been working with METRO at the retailer's RFID Innovation Centre in Germany, testing specialised dual frequency antennae and tags that assist shop-level implementation of RFID. The systems read both EAS (electronic article surveillance) and RFID tags therefore providing a platform which will help retailers avoid many of the pain points of switching technologies. Champness said retailers who were concerned about the lifespan of their RF investments saw a development path for the technology in dual frequency hard tags, which can be attached either at source or in distribution centres. The reusable tags are considered a cost-effective means of eliminating shrinkage and protecting garments because they cannot be detached from an item unless a sale has been entered into a cash register. August 2, 2004: The Telecommunications Users Association (TUANZ) has expressed frustration over recent statements by Telecom senior executives dismissing any commitment by Telecom to mobile number portability, and flagging that fixed number portability is still several years away. "Portability is universally recognised as a key element in a competitive market and a crucial requirement for new market entrants," said TUANZ chief executive Ernie Newman. "New Zealand is already many years behind any other OECD country in this regard. If there was one deliverable that users absolutely expected from the Telecommunications Act and the Commissioner, it was an early resolution of this issue." Newman accused Telecom of deceit, accusing the incumbent of having "led the government, the regulator, its customers and other carriers along for several years" with signals that it would support the process. Telecom has expressed dismay over Newman's claims, saying there is a proposal on the table to introduce fixed line portability by mid-2005 and mobile portability before 2008. July 29, 2004: Worldwide personal digital assistant (PDA) shipments totaled 2.75 million units in the second quarter of 2004, a 12% increase from the second quarter of 2003, according to preliminary results by Gartner. The year-over-year growth rate broke a string of 10 consecutive quarterly shipment declines. Gartner attributed most of the growth to "the significant increase" in Research in Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerry shipments, which grew 289% in the second quarter of 2004 on the back of the BlackBerry's email capabilities and the growing number of third-party applications and wireless data services that are becoming available to BlackBerry users. Hewlett-Packard's PDA shipments increased 38.9% in the second quarter, although most of its models were about one year old. Gartner analysts said these results demonstrate the strong reputation the HP iPAQ has cultivated within many large organisations. "The second quarter results show a continuing shift from what has been a predominantly consumer market to a market in which more than one- third of all PDA purchases are made by organisations," said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group. In terms of PDA operating systems shipments, Palm OS continued to lead the market with a worldwide market share of 41.7% in the second quarter of 2004, but its market share was down from the second quarter of 2003 when it accounted for 51% of the market. Windows CE's market share in the second quarter of 2004 reached 36.6%, up slightly from the same period last year when its market share totaled 36.3%. RIM's share of the PDA OS market increased to 18.6%, up from 5.3% in the same period last year. July 26, 2004: iTouch Business Mobility, which has captured the lion's share of the business mobility market in Australasia and UK, was celebrated at the annual NZTE Export Awards last Friday. Although the company did not win an award this year, iTouch Business Mobility's chief executive, Phil Holliday, said he was thrilled by NZTE's recognition of the company's achievements. "The export recognition by NZTE is tremendous honour for us," Holliday said. "While it involved a very thorough entry process, the exercise proved immensely valuable. Everyone here has worked so hard that we don't often have time to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done before we start on the next project. It wasn't until we put the financials into words for this award that it really hit home how far we have come." Exports have grown from just 8% of turnover in 2001 to more than 80% today, and foreign exchange earnings are expected to top $7 million in 2004. Holliday said staff numbers had increased to 50 and that sales offices had been established in Auckland, Sydney and London to support the Christchurch head office. A change in business model to providing managed service solutions has proved a successful strategic decision for the company, he said. "Managed services is what our customers have been asking for, and we believe our success is driven by delivering solutions that meet their requirements." Over 10,000 mobile workers already use iTouch solutions and the company boasts among its customers large corporates such as Royal Mail, Courier Post and Australia Post. July 23, 2004: Microsoft New Zealand announced today strong growth over the last quarter, prompting the company's managing director, Ross Peat, to declare that New Zealanders are continuing "to embrace" Microsoft's server and desktop platforms as well as its home and entertainment offerings. "We have seen continued growth in our Server business with strong uptake of Windows Server 2003," Peat said. "Microsoft Windows XP deployment continues to accelerate in New Zealand, and many local customers, partners and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) have responded positively to Microsoft CRM, launched earlier this year." Peat said the growing mobile workforce in New Zealand has boosted the need for tools such as Microsoft Office System 2003 suite, which improves communication and collaboration. He said that in the home market, X- box had attracted a very significant following and was the foundation of an "excellent year" for the company's local Home and Entertainment business. July 23, 2004: SAP Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) has announced year- on-year total revenue growth of 30% and product revenue growth of 26% for the same period. Geraldine McBride, chief executive and managing director of SAP ANZ, attributed the strong performance to SAP's diversification within industries and the company's investment on multiple fronts, such as CRM, SMB and SCM. McBride said SAP ANZ had "nailed" significant wins in the telecommunications, public sector, retail and manufacturing sectors and that the company continued its push into the small and midsize business (SMB) sector. She said SAP ANZ notched up growth figures of 195% in SMB software revenue in Q2 2004 compared to the same quarter last year, and that the company had secured 36 SAP Business One and 10 mySAP All-in-One new deals across ANZ. SAP New Zealand managing director Ian Black said significant local Q2 deals included upgrades to mySAP ERP and mySAP SCM contracts at Farmers and Fonterra. July 23, 2004: Increased demand for its application integration and business process automation services has resulted in two senior appointments at Christchurch ecommerce company Montage Interactive. Montage's chief executive, Mike Perry, said the demand for integration was being driven by widespread experience of cost inefficiency and lost opportunities from isolated business systems. "Enterprises have mostly completed the roll out of core business applications such as ERP and CRM. Now the challenge is to make these and legacy systems work together in order to gain competitive advantage and shake out costs," Perry said. Perry said increased local and international interest in the company's integration, collaboration and usability solutions capabilities had resulted in it bringing on board two senior practitioners, Microsoft BizTalk specialist Aaron Kitto and Dagmar Lindner, a business analysis and web usability expert who has helped European Top 500 corporations to use the web effectively. ------------------------------ *CSI WEBSITE HAPPENINGS* MENTORING The help and advice of a mentor can make all the difference to your chances of business success. Check out the criteria for getting mentoring help, or inquire about how you can use your IT skills and experience to help put a Christchurch company on the path to success. http://www.canterburysoftware.org.nz/mentors.htm ------------------------------ *MEANWHILE, AT THE FORUM* The Forum is your online community, where you can: + air your problems and concerns about marketing your software internationally + get rapid and effective suggestions from others like you, who've already done it + raise and discuss subjects of general concern to members Go to http://canterburysoftware.org.nz/forum.htm ------------------------------ CONTACT US ... SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE hyperLINK email options: http://canterburysoftware.org.nz/news.htm Contact the editor, Michael Herman: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --> via Canterbury Software email forum: Success through Connections Replies will go to the CSForum. Leave or rejoin the list: http://canterburysoftware.org.nz/forum.htm Searchable list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
