Short takes on this week's news
EC portal to share open source in public
sector
The European Commission is to open a web portal to facilitate
the use of shared open source software across the public sector.
The commission has selected a consortium led by Unisys Belgium to
create and manage the Open Source Observatory and Repository.
More
information http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/chapter/452
BT Openreach failing on quality, says
watchdog
BT's Openreach broadband delivery division is failing on quality
of service, according to the Office of the Telecommunications
Adjudicator. Openreach was set up by BT to improve the service to
rival suppliers wanting access to BT's exchanges to deliver their
own "unbundled" broadband lines to customers.
More information
www.offta.org.uk
Coventry to upgrade revenues and benefits
IT
Coventry City Council has awarded a £700,000, five-year contract
to overhaul its revenues and benefits software. Capita Software
Services will provide the software, which is due to go live early
next year. Coventry said it chose Capita because its application
could be integrated with future systems.
Computer seized in US contains stolen UK
data
A computer seized by US authorities has been found to contain
stolen files from 2,300 UK computers. E-mail addresses, passwords,
credit card numbers and information relating to online transactions
have been recovered. The Metropolitan Police Computer Crime Unit is
investigating the data recovered.
MS anti-piracy plan could add to costs, says
Gartner
Microsoft's planned new product activation policy to reduce
piracy of its software will result in higher administration costs
for IT directors, analyst firm Gartner has warned. "Organisations
should lobby Microsoft for additional benefits to help them defray
the cost of administering this programme," said Mike Silver,
research vice-president at Gartner.
More information
www.microsoft.com/piracy
www.gartner.com
BSI standard helps firms with business
continuity
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has released a standard
to help firms with business continuity. The Publicly Available
Specification (PAS) 77:2006 standard explains the principles and
recommended techniques for IT service continuity management.
More
information www.bsi-global.com/eshop
Microsoft patches hit networking snag
Microsoft has resolved a problem with the distribution of its
latest security patches. The patches were released as part of its
monthly update, but users found they were not being supplied via
the firm's automatic update services, and had to be downloaded from
Microsoft's website. Microsoft put the snag down to a networking
issue rather than a problem with the patches.
More information
www.microsoft.com/security
City banks begin bird flu contingency plan
test
Banks in the City of London have begun a six-week test to
discover whether they could continue to trade during a bird flu
pandemic. Results from the test, which started on Friday last week,
will be analysed by the Bank of England, the Financial Services
Authority and the Treasury.
More
information www.fsa.gov.uk
www.preparingforemergencies.gov.uk
PeopleSoft whistle blower receives £9.5m
A former PeopleSoft employee who blew the whistle on the
company's false price negotiations with the US government has
received a £9.5m bounty. His actions have led to PeopleSoft owner
Oracle agreeing to pay the US government £53m.