Short takes from this week's news
Crash computer course for tax inspectors
Tax inspectors are set to receive a crash course in computer
science to enable them to accept more applications from firms
claiming research and development tax credits for software
innovation. IT suppliers' organisation Intellect has lobbied for
the change since chancellor Gordon Brown introduced R&D tax
credits in 2000 in a bid to boost innovation.
Anglian awards Siemens £25m comms contract
Anglian Water Services has awarded a £25m, five-year
communications network contract to Siemens. Siemens will provide
network performance monitoring and support services as Anglian
migrates its communications network to a converged voice and data
IP infrastructure over the next five years. By using the IP
network, Anglian Water Services said it expects to cut its call
costs between sites.
VMware gets behind multicore chip move
Virtualisation software supplier VMware has become one of the
first to sell a virtualisation product that supports the latest
hardware virtualisation technologies from processor makers Intel
and AMD. VMware Workstation 5.5 supports both 64-bit and 32-bit
operating systems, and can run virtual machines on multicore chips,
which analysts believe will help firms reduce IT operating costs
and make applications run more efficiently.
BEA to unveil details of new version of
Jrockit
Middleware supplier BEA Systems is due to reveal details of the
latest version of its Jrockit high-performance Java Virtual Machine
at the BEAWorld Beijing user conference on 7 December. The company
will also discuss additions to the Aqualogic range of service
oriented architecture management products and the general
availability of its high-end application server BEA Weblogic Real
Time.
IBM launches self-healing software
IBM has launched a series of "self-healing" software products
that can automatically find and fix problems before they slow down
systems. The company has also announced new Tivoli monitoring
software for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Microsoft releases Windows Live Mail beta
Microsoft has released a test version of its Windows Live Mail
service. The beta was sent out to testers last week and aims to
offer a more powerful alternative to Hotmail. The Windows Live
initiative was announced last month as part of Microsoft's drive to
offer more on-demand applications to users. Windows Live is being
used to deliver the type of desktop features already possible with
Microsoft's Office productivity suite.
Teacher applications delayed by IT problems
The deadline for applications to graduate teacher training
courses was pushed back by three days last week to 4 December after
applicants complained that the online application process failed to
work. The Graduate Teacher Training Registry said, "Due to the
difficulties some users have experienced with GTTR Apply [the IT
system], we are pleased to confirm that the deadline for primary
education applications has been extended."
French mobile networks fined for collusion
The French competition authority has fined mobile operators
Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom a record total of £382m for market
collusion practices between 1997 and 2003. The fines represent up
to 18% of the operators' net profits in 2004. French mobile
networks are among the most expensive in Europe for international
users to roam on.
Tivoli tool finds and fixes datacentre
problems
IBM's Tivoli software unit has developed a tool that can
automatically detect and fix performance problems in a datacentre,
as part of the firm's strategy to build self-healing technology.
Among the new products, IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.1 will use
additional servers when a key system, such as e-mail or online bill
payment, gets overloaded.
Retailer charged after data security
failures
US discount shoe retailer DSW has reached a settlement with US
government regulators following charges that it violated federal
law by failing to secure sensitive customer credit card data.
According to the US Federal Trade Commission, 1.4 million credit
and debit cards and 96,000 cheque accounts were compromised after a
string of security failures.
HP launches utility computing services
HP has unveiled a range of utility computing services to allow
users to address fluctuating processing demand. The hosted
Infrastructure Provisioning Service and the Application
Provisioning Service compete against services from IBM and Sun.
Microsoft hires Cray chief scientist
Microsoft has hired Burton Smith, the chief scientist of
supercomputer manufacturer Cray, as it attempts to carve out a
niche in the growing business market for supercomputers.