Microsoft scores software victories in UK: Microsoft has signed a lucrative three-year software deal with the UK government, a move that is being viewed as a victory for the software giant in the face of the rising tide of open source software within the public sector. The agreement, estimated to be worth several million pounds, extends Microsoft's existing three-year deal to provide the UK government with software. Under the new agreement, the Redmond behemoth will provide a range of additional services and support for its software, which it said will help the government to get the most out of its IT systems. Microsoft has recently been increasing its efforts to persuade public sector clients not to switch to open source alternatives. In other positive news for the company, the London borough of Newham has just announced that it has signed a 10-year contract with Microsoft for the supply of software, a deal that also includes the provision of additional IT support and services. That deal is thought to be worth around STG500,000 annually to Microsoft.
US funds e-gov study for Uganda: The US government has given Uganda a grant of USD318,000 to fund an e-government feasibility study. African news wire AllAfrica.com reports that the money was provided through the US Trade and Development Agency, which provides economic aid to developing countries. The funds will be used to carry out an assessment of the government's ICT needs -- the first step towards the implementation of the government's recently developed National ICT Policy. The policy aims to enhance the efficiency and transparency of government functions through the introduction of modern IT solutions. The feasibility study, to be conducted by a US team, will examine the requirements of key government ministries, beginning with the offices of Finance, Health and Education, among others. The team will devise action plans for ICT implementation and help to develop the architecture needed for the establishment of e-government programmes.
EU to get new Information Society chief: The incoming chief of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has appointed a new head of the Information Society programme. Viviane Reding, from Luxembourg, will take on the role of Commissioner for Information Society and Media, taking over from Erkki Liikanen, who has returned to Finland to head up the central bank. Reding, who has previously worked for the European Commission in the areas of education and culture, will have responsibility for e-government, e-commerce, media affairs and audiovisual policy. Reding is one of 25 new EU commissioners who must be approved by the European Parliament before taking up office on 1 November. Barroso said that one of the priorities for the new Commission would be to progress the implementation of the Lisbon agenda to make Europe the world's most competitive economy by 2010. Barroso has vowed to personally coordinate all efforts to revitalise the Lisbon strategy.
EDS wins IT contract twice: The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded a disputed IT services contract to EDS for the second time. The deal, with a potential value of over USD750 million, was originally awarded to EDS in August last year, but a protest from current IT services supplier Lockheed Martin prompted a review of the contract award process. Lockheed claimed that HUD had misevaluated the bids from the two companies and "made an irrational source-selection decision." The Government Accountability Office agreed with Lockheed, saying that HUD did not justify its choice of EDS and proposing that the IT contract should be re-bid. After a seven-month review, HUD has once again awarded the contract to EDS. Under the terms of the deal, EDS is responsible for the acquisition, installation, operation and maintenance of the HUD Integrated Information Processing Service (HIIPS) system, which will deliver basic IT functions to staff in more than 80 offices in the US.
China looks to digital TV to provide e-services: The Chinese government is giving low-interest loans to cable TV companies to convert 100 million households to digital TV by 2008. According to a Bloomberg news report, the government aims to have all 380 million homes in the country accessing digital television by 2015. The move to digital is designed to help the authorities achieve their goals for e-government: there are plans to set up an interactive information channel where citizens can interact with the government. The government selected digital TV over the internet as its preferred e-government channel because China's level of PC ownership is so low: just 7 percent of households have computers, while 100 percent have TV sets. "We want to be a digital society," said Wang Xiaojie, director-general in charge of digital TV at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. "We want to phase out all analogue and convert to digital by 2015. We are going to have to fund some of the technology required."
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.Net , 18.08.2004
