Short takes on this week's news
Barclays appoints COO for information
office
Barclays has appointed Heather Campbell to the new role of chief
operating officer for the group's chief information office.
Campbell, who will report to Barclays CIO Don Trotta, joins the
bank from Rogers Communications, one of Canada's largest telecoms
firms.
Wal-Mart to roll-out customer tracking tool
Wal-Mart is looking to deploy an IT system based on infrared
technology that tracks shoppers' progress around its stores and
compares their movements to its sales. The retailer aims to use the
system to calculate "audience ratings" for the products on its
shelves.
SAP opens grid research centre in Belfast
ERP supplier SAP has opened a £1.5m grid research centre at
Queen's University in Belfast. The centre is collaborating with the
University of Ulster and Queen's University to carry out research
into grid computing.
OGC warns of potential outsourcing supply
issues
The Office of Government Commerce has warned that the public
sector could face problems with outsourcing suppliers as demand
outstrips supply. In a report for the Chief Information Officers
Council, the OGC outlined the findings of its ICT Capacity Pilot
Project, which was commissioned to identify potential capacity
issues in the IT market.
Microsoft to patch Powerpoint vulnerability
Microsoft is considering issuing a security patch ahead of its
monthly patching date on 10 October to fix a vulnerability in its
Powerpoint presentation software. The flaw could allow remote
attackers to run arbitrary code on a user's machine.
Munich begins move from Windows to Linux
The city of Munich has begun its migration from Windows to
Linux, after a series of glitches that have delayed the project by
a year. The council plans to migrate 300 desktops by the end of the
year and migrate 80% of its 14,000 desktops by the end of 2008.
Olympic committee shortlists IT partners
The London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games and
Paralympic Games has shortlisted four companies in its tendering
process to appoint an information systems partner to run its
back-office technology systems. The shortlisted companies are
Accenture, BT Global Services, IBM and Logica CMG.
Phishing attacks up 80% in past six months
Phishing attacks have increased by more than 80% in six months,
according to Symantec. The security supplier detected 157,477
unique phishing messages in the first six months of 2006, up 81% on
the previous six months. Symantec said that widespread internet
worms had given way to smaller, more targeted attacks focusing on
fraud, data theft and criminal activity.
Law firm signs business continuity deal with
BT
Law firm Norton Rose has signed a £5m deal with BT for the
provision of a business continuity and disaster recovery system
over the next 10 years. BT will supply data storage and remote
datacentre facilities, plus a secure high-speed network to centres
around the world.
Citigroup opens offshore IT centre in China
Global finance firm Citigroup has opened an offshore software
development and technology centre in the Dalian region of China.
The centre will have 300 staff and provide software development and
maintenance, plus business process outsourcing services to Asian
Citigroup operations - in particular those needing Japanese or
Korean language capabilities.