Short takes on this week's news
Atos steps aboard for big-ticket train deal
The Association of Train Operating Companies has signed a £30m
12-year contract with Atos Origin to develop and manage the
automation of all rail ticket sales processing in the UK. The deal
is expected to deliver operational savings worth £20m by 2018.
Another 300,000 Sony laptop batteries
recalled
Fujitsu is recalling 300,000 Sony laptop batteries because of
potential fire hazards. Fujitsu joins Dell, Apple, Toshiba and
Lenovo in issuing a recall. HP insists its laptops are not
affected.
Microsoft locks horns with counterfeiters
Microsoft is tackling counterfeiting of its forthcoming Windows
Vista and Windows Server Longhorn platforms. The Microsoft Software
Protection Platform also aims to make licensing easier to
manage.
Challenge to US snooping on European banks
Europe's head of data protection has challenged the decision of
the European Central Bank to grant the US secret service access to
private bank-transfer data. Peter Hustinx said serious questions
had arisen on the routine sharing of financial data with a US
"mirror system".
IT giants put R&D money into Reva's
RFID
Cisco and SAP have ploughed £7.3m into emerging RFID supplier
Reva Systems. The pair will help Reva develop an RFID device to
support network management and scalability.
Microsoft issues 11 fixes for Patch Tuesday
Microsoft is releasing 11 security patches for its Windows
operating system, Office productivity suite, and .net development
framework today. The fixes are part of its monthly scheduled
patching, and include six Windows updates.
Europe renews Testa infrastructure
The European Commission has signed a £140m deal with Equant and
HP to replace data communication infrastructures. Networking and
infrastructure will be provided for Testa, the EU's classified
telecoms network.
Pay-as-you-go car insurance uses GPS
Norwich Union has rolled out its Pay As You Drive insurance
scheme to all drivers. A black box within the car uses GPS to
provide positioning data collected at regular intervals. This data
is transmitted to the insurer, where it is combined with
information from TrafficMaster, mapping and billing applications,
and a Teradata datawarehouse.
Argos system halts supply chain disruption
Argos is avoiding disruption to its supply chain when planners
leave the company by replicating the procedures they use in an
automatic container management system. The system, from software
supplier One Network Enterprises, is also saving Argos money by
reducing the time that containers are left in docks.
'We wish we'd looked after our skills,' say
bosses
IT managers are plagued by a sense of regret at work, with many
believing they have failed to reach their true potential, a survey
by the Chartered Management Institute reveals. More than a third of
the 141 IT managers surveyed said they regularly look backed over
their careers, and wished that they had developed new skills.
PepsiCo signs up BT for global security
deal
PepsiCo has signed a seven-year global network services contract
with BT to improve data security and the performance of its
networks. Under the contract, the total value of which has not been
disclosed, BT will provide and manage an integrated portfolio of
data, Lan, security, conferencing, remote access and internet
services for the PepsiCo International division of PepsiCo.