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May's news reviewed.
Friday, 8th June 2007
- The European Commission tabled a proposal for inter-national co-operation in the fight against Internet attack. The announcement was made after Estonian websites fell victim to sustained denial-of-service attacks, which crippled many of the country’s public websites. The sophistication of the attacks was such that many in Estonia have blamed the Russian authorities for colluding with the perpetrators.
- Computer manufacturer Dell confirmed a long-suspected change in its strategy, ditching its strict adherence to a direct sales-only model, which helped catapult the company to a market-leading position in the late 1990s. Dell hopes that by moving to formal relationship with resel-lers, it can recover ground lost to rival Hewlett-Packard.
- UK Internet service provider (ISP) PlusNet was targeted by a group of hackers who managed to steal the company’s email address database, which contained customers’ personal details as well as their contact books. Investigators believe the information will be used to deluge the accounts with spam and viruses. PlusNet said only those PCs lacking anti-virus software are at risk.
- Software giant Oracle’s appetite for acquisitions continues unabated, and in May 2007 it agreed a $495 million deal to buy product lifecycle management vendor Agile Software. The acquisition will help Oracle compete against rival SAP, particularly in vertical markets such as manufacturing, where the German company has historically been strong.
- Research by IT consultancy Avande found that 53% of UK businesses are unable to adopt virtualisation technology because their IT staff do not have the necessary skills required for implementation. Server virtualisation has become a key focus for businesses looking to improve utilisation rates – 43% of those surveyed already have a strategy in place. Nevertheless, 49% were wary of increasing the complexity of their IT infrastructure.
- Technology giant IBM is to invest $1 billion a year in making its technology more eco-freindly. The money will fund a 850-strong team of its engineers who will be dedicated to making its data centre, and those it runs for customers, more energy efficient. The money will also fund research into cooling technology. Some market watchers were unimpressed, noting that $1 billion figure included money the company had already set aside for R&D.
- Banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Halifax are to trial the use of contactless cash cards in London later this year. Customers are to be given payment cards which employ near-field communication technology, similar to that used in the popular Oyster travel cards. The cards will be used to pay for goods by waving it in front of a reader. A £10 limit is being imposed to reduce the cards’ appeal to fraudsters.
By Hannah Prevett,
hprevett@information-age.com
