Industry news

Daimler AG, the global automobile company, has awarded the operation of its European Data Centre (EDC) to Fujitsu Siemens Computers. The EDC provides a broad spectrum of IT services to Daimler Group companies all over the globe, including server operation and the integration of new hardware, databases and applications.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers will be responsible for the controlled operation of 5,000 severs and 1,500 databases over the next three years. The long-term goals are to substantially reduce costs, establish transparent structures through a central service partner and to improve data centre performance.

Richard Schlauri, Executive Vice-President Infrastructure Services at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, commented, “This contract is a mark of confidence in our Managed Data Center competence.”

The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Be horrified.

In what can only be read as an appalling indictment of the public sector mindset, an overwhelming majority of respondents to new survey don’t believe the general public should be informed if a data security breach occurs. Also there is a general unawareness of data breach legislation. So if they lose your child benefit data or your tax information or your sexual health history, it's in everyone's interest that you don't find about it. Apparently.

Well, no – it's in the interests of the civil servants and the politcians – hello Jacqui Smith - that we don't find out. Not knowing anything about data security breaches would mean we're not going to ask too many difficult questions.

But according to a new survey by ClearSwift and Information Assurance, the small matter of personal data integrity is not at the top of the political agenda, despite the public having high expectations. Approximately 40% of senior management in the public sector have little or no understanding of information assurance (IA). And yet 49% of public sector employees polled felt that IA procedures could be improved within their organisation.

That's encouraging, given that around 19% of British public sector organisations suffered a data loss in the last 12-18 months. Over half of this figure had experienced a repeat data loss. The main data loss causes were: loss of removable storage devices, 67%; loss of hard copies,44% and loss through email, 11%. That's another way of saying "we have no idea how to maintain data security in the digital age".

But we have to ask again: what was the point of the Home Secretary slapping PA Consulting's wrists (or being seen to over a relatively small contract) when it seems the civil service has very little interest in good data security practice anyway.

Mind you, the UK consumer is hardly helping him or herself. Research from the Information Commissioner's Office found that 40% of people would hand over their sensitive information to a company without knowing if that company was trustworthy. The Commissioner called on UK citizens to start using their legal rights to manage their personal information - because organisations aren't doing such a great job.

But perhaps In the age of Facebook we have all forgotten what privacy and security means.

That said, ninety-five percent of a study group of 2,000 UK adults considered personal data to be ‘quite’ or ‘very’ valuable – and more than 70% claimed to routinely shred personal documents. But 44% had never considered contacting an organisation to find out what information it holds about them. “The more people that use their rights [under the DPA] to check what information is held about them, the stronger the signal to organisations that the mismanagement of people‘s personal details will not be tolerated,” said David Smith, ICO deputy commissioner.

The ICO has launched a new online tool to help consumers protect and manage their personal information. The 'healthcheck' is of a list of questions about the storage and management of personal information - like PIN numbers and passports - that is used to score the level of risk a person takes with their data. Smith said: “Our Personal Information Healthcheck is suitable for everyone, whether they’ve never before thought about protecting their personal information or could just benefit from a few extra tips and ideas.”

We can only hope that Jacquie Smith and Co can find time at this 'end of empire' period to take this on board and back the Information Commissioner in his bid to prop up our basic data protection rights....

Alcatel-Lucent has selected T-Systems to provide onsite desktop support for its European and Middle Eastern operations. The agreement calls for T-Systems to maintain and deploy over 40,000 desktop and notebook PCs in 23 countries.

Alcatel-Lucent has been relying on T-Systems services for its workstation systems in western European core countries such as Germany, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium since 2004. The Telekom subsidiary now supports Alcatel-Lucent’s international IT strategy from Norway to the Mediterranean and from Ireland to the United Arab Emirates. The services cover onsite support for desktop and notebook PCs, UNIX workstations, printers, IP telephones, videoconferencing systems and first-level support for the network infrastructure linking them.

Through the deal Alcatel-Lucent plans to standardise its workstation systems to provide its employees with more efficient and cost-effective desktop capability. It plans to eventually deploy the same devices and services in every country.

Joseph W. McGrath has announced he will step down as President and CEO of Unisys Corporation, effective by year-end 2008. Mr McGrath has served as chief executive officer since 2005.

The company said the board of directors and Mr. McGrath agreed that a change in leadership would best enable Unisys to move forward on accelerating execution of the company’s strategy. McGrath will continue to lead the day-to-day operations of the company until a successor has been identified.

“It has been an honor and a privilege for me to lead Unisys and I am proud of what we have achieved in many areas,” said Mr. McGrath. “I’d like to personally thank all of the people at Unisys for their hard work and dedication over the past few years.”

The board of directors has formed a search committee that will identify and evaluate chief executive candidates. Mr. McGrath will work with the board of directors to ensure a smooth leadership transition for the customers and employees of Unisys.

HCL Technologies has challenged Infosys’s August bid for UK SAP consultancy, Axon Group. Under the terms of the Offer, Axon shareholders will receive 650 pence in cash for each Axon share valuing the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Axon at approximately £441.1 million. The latest bid tops Infosys’s previous £407.1m valuation of the consultancy.

Commenting on the strategic fit between HCL and Axon, Ram Krishna, Corporate Vice President - Enterprise Application Services, said “The merger of Axon’s strong implementation capabilities with HCL’s application and infrastructure management capabilities will help us deliver unique value on an end-to-end basis for the customers of HCL and Axon. The positive interactions between the HCL and Axon management teams since July 08, reinforces my belief that we will come together and create significant incremental value for both our customers and employees.”

British Airways has signed a multi million pound ITO deal with NIIT Technologies Limited. The three-year deal will see NIIT provide support and testing services for BA’s business critical applications across various areas of the airline.

The contract is one of the largest ever deals to be signed by NIIT Technologies and represents the extension of an existing twelve year relationship between BA and NIIT.

Mike Doyle, British Airways IT Application Support Manager, commented: “We are extremely pleased to continue our long term partnership with NIIT Technologies. They have proven to be a flexible, reliable partner evolving with our business and the technology trends within the airline industry.”

The deal comes as the airline industry has come under increasing pressures from rising costs of fuel, the credit crunch and falling consumer confidence. British Airways has also undertaken a cost mitigation exercise with their global partners to reduce costs and maintain competitiveness.

Ericsson, the a leading supplier of telecommunication services and infrastructure, has awarded TCS a five-year contract for the development and maintenance of its global internal IT operations.

TCS has been selected as one of the two strategic partners that will deliver application maintenance services to Ericsson and a preferred supplier for application development services. The value of the contracts was not disclosed.

Nils Molin, Managing Director Sweden at the analyst firm IDC commended on the deal, “This contract signifies the trend of increased acceptance of Indian headquartered IT companies delivering complex projects in the Nordic region. TCS has been spearheading this trend by investing heavily in localizing its Nordic operations, expanding its services portfolio and aggressively adding new clients. We expect Nordic companies to continue to add deliveries from off and nearshore centers to their sourcing strategies for IT Services.”

The board of directors at HP has authorized the buy-back of US$8 billion for share repurchases. According to HP, the move forms part of its ongoing program to manage the dilution created by shares issued under employee stock plans.

HP repurchased approximately US$1.6 billion worth of its shares in the third quarter and, as of July 31, 2008, had approximately US$3.0 billion of repurchase authorization remaining under the $8.0 billion repurchase authorization approved by the board in November 2007. The company plans to secure the remaining shares as and when they can be purchased from the holders.

HP has approximately 2.5 billion shares of common stock outstanding.

Over 11, 000 foreign workers are being brought into Britain by Indian IT companies each year, invoking questions of the country’s work permit scheme by the Unite trade union.

The Sunday Telegraph has released Home Office figures obtained after a two-year battle under the Freedom of Information Act, showing that six of the largest Indian IT outsourcers recruited 11,644 immigrants to work for them in the UK in 2006.

The companies that featured are Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Mahindra-BT, Mastek, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services.

Over a seven-year period these companies were granted work permits to bring 47,000 foreign nationals into the UK. The Home Office could not say how many have settled in the UK and how many have returned to their homeland.

In response to the new data, British trade union Unite has raised questions, saying that while it is possible that only foreign workers have the skills required for the specific jobs in question, the granting of work permits "should not be at the cost of resident workers". The union thinks that Indian companies may be "undercutting" British pay rates in the UK by securing work permits to foreign workers and paying them much less than what their British counterparts would earn in the same rank.

However, while Unite wanted to know if these positions could have been filled by UK residents, no mention was made as to the actual availability of sufficient UK IT talent. The new figures appear to confirm the ongoing industry worries about IT skills gaps and the dearth of new IT graduates being produced by UK universities.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US financial regulatory body, has awarded Lockheed Martin an Infrastructure Support Services contract. Awarded under the another all-encompassing government procurement deal, the contract has a base value of US$33 million, rising to US$122 million if all program options are exercised over six years. Lockheed Martin hopes for significant performance improvements from the integration and streamlining of the SEC’s IT.

The company will provide transition, program management, managed network, end user computing, service desk and pre-production and other infrastructure services.

Lockheed Martin will deliver on the deal from the SEC Washington, D.C. headquarters and SEC Operations Center in Alexandria, Va., with an additional 11 remote sites being supported from these two locations.