Friday, 3 September 2010
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Editors
Alice Kok is a journalist with FutureGov, working across both this online portal and the print magazine. Her regular editorial beats include ‘green government’, ‘research’ and ‘local government’.
She has toiled long and hard for an education in Mass Communications, and since joining Alphabet Media has acquired an insatiable appetite for public sector content. Not least because it is a source of unusual anecdotes at parties.
During working hours Alice is forever asking questions and writing up responses – but her spare hours are spent conserving energy (sleeping), reading literature (not chick lit) and shopping (she’s a girl after all).
27 July 2009 | News
Indian territory to launch citizen-friendly portal
The administration of the Indian state of Chandigarh is developing a State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) that will act as front-end interface to various e-governance initiatives and services across all departments of the Union Territory (UT) Administration.
24 July 2009 | News
Vietnam government officials not keen on email
More than half of government officials in Vietnam at all levels have been provided with email addresses for work, but 19 per cent of them have never used it, a senior official of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) has admitted.
26 May 2009 | News
Identity card piloted in southern India
The southern Indian state Karnataka has been chosen as the pilot location to implement the central government’s National Unique Identity (UID) project.
26 May 2009 | News
Police stations in Indian state to go hi-tech
In a bid to make police stations more transparent and efficient, the Gujarat government is set to embrace a new computerised system—the Home Department Integrated Information Total Solution (HD-IITS)—in all police stations in the state.
18 May 2009 | News
South Korea to diversify e-gov web site access
Korea’s e-government services will be made available for those logging on from FireFox or Safari, web browsers that are gaining more popularity worldwide as an alternative to Internet Explorer.
18 May 2009 | News
UK smart meter project expected to bust budget
The UK Government has underestimated the cost of a nationwide rollout of smart electricity and gas meters by as much as £6.4 billion (US$9.7 billion), according to the accounting firm Ernst & Young.
18 May 2009 | News
Philippines govt to secure online transactions
Two government agencies in the Philippines have endorsed a proposed executive order to set up a system that will enable government offices to keep online transactions secure using “digital signatures”.
15 May 2009 | News
Singapore shapes Qatar's e-govt model
Singapore’s Infocomm Development Authority is assisting ictQATAR in implementing the Qatar Services Infrastructure (QSi) project, a fast developing e-government initiative.
14 May 2009 | News
Thailand: successful e-health system lauded
Thailand’s Bumrungrad International Hospital has digitised as many aspects of hospital work as it can—enabling it to more than double the number of patients it can handle each day, increase safety and cut its patients’ bills.
12 May 2009 | News
Obama: healthcare cost-cuts can amount to US$3 tril
US President Barack Obama has won a big victory in his battle to reform the American healthcare system. Some former opponents of reform are now offering their support.
12 May 2009 | News
Malaysia: ICT education for a “creative society”
Malaysia Higher Education Ministry is studying how to develop a creative and innovative Malaysian society through human capital development.
11 May 2009 | News
India state offers rebate on online applications
A state in Northern India, Haryana, has decided to extend rebate to those using the online medium to fill requests for various kinds of processing to be done at estate offices. This rebate will encourage applicants to use the web, saving time for both applicants and the government agency.
11 May 2009 | News
India calls for local govt participation
New ideas, transparency and accountability are still being resisted at various levels in the government, according to the National Knowledge Commission (NKC)—a body set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 to prepare a road map for transforming India into a knowledge society.
11 May 2009 | News
The Philippines in dire need of telemedicine
To create a national teleheath system, Congressman Joseph Emilio A. Abaya stressed the need for the country to have a law pushing for a telemedicine bill that will facilitate collaboration between public and private institutions, and government and non-government offices.
11 May 2009 | News
Sydney power outage kills e-health systems
Doctors in hospitals within Sydney’s west had to temporarily turn back to pen and paper on 2 May when their electronic health record systems went offline. Around 90 hospitals in the greater western, greater southern and Sydney west areas were affected by the outage, losing services such as email and intranet.
6 May 2009 | News
South Korean govt to open 24-hour swine flu crisis centre
Following the World Health Organisation’s upgrade of the pandemic alert for swine flu by one level to Phase 5—the second-highest on its threat scale—South Korea is taking further steps to combat the virus by opening a 24-hour swine flu crisis centre.
6 May 2009 | News
Japan urges cuts in local govts' public works costs
In the ongoing tussle between central and local government in Japan, a panel in charge of expediting the decentralisation of power has called for local entities to be freed from the burden of maintenance expenses for public work done under the orders of central government.
6 May 2009 | News
Asian govts must urgently adapt to climate change: ADB
Governments in Asia Pacific must urgently develop strategies to adapt to climate change or face soaring economic costs in the future, a seminar audience heard at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) this week.
5 May 2009 | News
Bhutan government goes online
The Bhutanese government has decided to bring public administration online. Department of information and technology (DIT) director Tenzin Chhoeda said that the online system will link every police station in the country with the ministry of home and cultural affairs.
5 May 2009 | News
Japan offers US$100bn for Asian economies
Japan has offered US$100 billion in financial assistance to Asian countries hit by the global financial crisis in a move that rubber stamps its economic leadership in the region in spite of its own severe recession.
5 May 2009 | News
Asian silver surfers surge online
Internet use among Asia’s older generations rose by 35 per cent last year, according to data from online measurement company Comscore.
4 May 2009 | News
Malaysian youth: least concerned about climate change
A survey has revealed that 67 per cent of Asia’s eight to 24 year-olds are concerned about the effects of climate change, however 13 per cent of young Malaysians said they do not believe that the climate is changing.
4 May 2009 | News
Swine flu prompts teleworking rethink
The threat of a pandemic are prompting governments to evaluate the role of teleworking to keep essential services up-and-running.
28 April 2009 | News
China's local govts embrace green procurement
China’s State Council has asked local governments to buy more energy-efficient products, reflecting the country’s determination to make its economic growth cleaner.
28 April 2009 | News
India and Africa’s satellite links set to expand
An ambitious project to link up African Union countries with Indian hospitals and universities via satellite will accelerate this year after a pilot project in Ethiopia proved successful.
23 April 2009 | News
Singapore police calls for witnesses through online TV
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has teamed up with Singapore Press Holdings’ online television service, Razor TV, in an effort to appeal for crime witnesses through short video clips.
22 April 2009 | News
Bangladesh plans for strict cyber-crime laws
Bangladesh is planning stringent measures to fight cyber crime amid the rapid expansion of information and communication technology and telecommunications networks in the South Asian country.
22 April 2009 | News
Bhutan moves towards hi-tech healthcare
To address the shortage of medical specialists in the country with a population of 700,000, Bhutan’s Ministry of Health has launched two telemedicine projects, where an expert from India can diagnose and advise on a case of a critically ill Bhutanese patient—all via the internet and through videoconferencing.
21 April 2009 | News
YouTube's education portal well received in Hong Kong
YouTube’s launch of a global education portal has been greeted with enthusiasm by educators in Hong Kong, which now have access to videos of lectures, seminars and conferences from more than 100 schools – but so far only from English-speaking countries in the West.
21 April 2009 | News
Thailand govt to go all-electronic by 2015
Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry plans to launch an ‘E-government Road Map’ as a framework for the digitisation of government between 2010 to 2014. The project is expected to cost of US$5.61 million.
20 April 2009 | News
Singapore Police Force on Facebook
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) has become the latest Singaporean government agency to embrace social networking by launching its own Facebook page.
15 April 2009 | News
Bahrain launches complaint service site
Bahrain’s Industry and Commerce Ministry has launched a web site for unsatisfied customers to lodge complaints against a product or service.
15 April 2009 | News
China vows to promote transparency in government affairs
The Chinese government will make more effort to keep the public informed of government affairs, said the National Human Rights Action Plan of China released Monday by the Information Office of China’s State Council.
15 April 2009 | News
E-governance makes slow progress in Sindh
Five government departments in Sindh — one of Pakistan’s four provinces — were connected via information technology last year, but officials have been reluctant to use the network, according to Minister for Information Technology Raza Haroon.
15 April 2009 | News
Australia to harmonise emergency services communications
Senator Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, has welcomed proposals to harmonise the spectrum for emergency radio services across the country.
10 April 2009 | News
Philippine president orders state agencies to cut waste
Cut government waste. Tighten your belts. Live within your means. Those were the orders of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to all government departments and agencies to save money for food, fuel and rice subsidies for the poorest of the poor.
9 April 2009 | News
Fiji: School exam system to go online
Republic of the Fiji Islands has announced that schools and students will soon have the opportunity to register for examinations and check results online, says the Ministry of Education.
7 April 2009 | News
Asian govts unaware of serious data leaks: CA
Data losses are much more serious than governments in Asia are aware of, an executive at Computer Associates has revealed to FutureGov.
7 April 2009 | News
Japan to invest US$3bn in ICT
The Japanese government plans to inject 3 trillion yen (US$29.8 billion) into ICT infrastructure over the next three years in a bid to boost growth in the sector.
6 April 2009 | News
Chinese annual gov budget posted online for first time
China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) posted the central fiscal budget for 2009 on its website 27 March 2009, a week after it was approved by the Second Session of the 11th National People’s Congress.
6 April 2009 | News
The Philippines slips in network readiness study
The Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009 placed the Philippines at 85 out of 134 countries in the network-readiness index that identifies points that allows for a country to establish and improve their own ICT infrastructure.
31 March 2009 | News
Japan: public do not trust bureaucrats
More than 70 per cent of the Japanese public do not trust bureaucrats—a tiny and elite fraction of the country’s more than 1 million national government employees.
31 March 2009 | News
The Philippines admits need for cybersecurity programme
Government web sites in the Philippines are vulnerable to computer attacks and without a nationwide cybersecurity programme, government cannot keep hackers at bay, says the National Computer Center (NCC), an agency under the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT).
30 March 2009 | News
Chinese cyber spy network revealed
A cyber spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organisations in 103 countries, according to a report by a Canadian research group released on Sunday (29 March 2009).
24 March 2009 | News
Indian elections go high-tech
Bangalore, the technology capital of India, will be using technology to improve the transparency of its elections in the state.
24 March 2009 | News
Indonesia's Health Minister rejects foreign funding
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari has called on the country’s medical institutions to carry out their own virus and DNA research free of foreign funding - to avoid “exploitation” from developed countries and the possibility of a future biological attack against the world’s largest Muslim nation.
24 March 2009 | News
Broadband brings medical specialists to Australian bush
The Australia federal government has endorsed a telemedicine trial by Victorian health authorities, using videoconferencing technology that has already been used successfully in New South Wales (NSW).
23 March 2009 | News
Vietnam makes cost savings via video-conferencing
Vietnam’s Government Office announced last week that the Chairmen of provincial-level people’s committees will attend the government’s socio-economic discussions via videoconferencing systems from late this month.
23 March 2009 | News
Local gov opposes central gov funding projects in Japan
A survey by Japan’s largest newspaper found that almost two thirds of local government officials think that the central government should abolish a system that requires local governments to cover a portion of expenses for central government projects.
18 March 2009 | News
South Korea sells e-govt expertise to Kyrgyzstan
The central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan is to become the eighth country to embrace an e-government master plan with South Korea’s help. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 10 March 2009 that mandates cooperation on educational training programmes that will enable Kyrgyzstan to introduce and operate its own e-government system.
18 March 2009 | News
Victoria crime reporting practices slammed
The Ombudsman of Victoria, an independent officer of the Victorian Parliament who investigates complaints about state government departments, has slammed the Victorian Police’s crime reporting practices.
18 March 2009 | News
Qatar adopts mobile health messages
E-government services are going mobile and Qatar is the latest to jump on the bandwagon. Qatar’s Sidar Medical and Research Centre will be making public health information available via mobile phones, says David Kerr, the country’s Chief Research Adviser.
10 March 2009 | News
The Philippines links with UN for ICT training
The Philippines, known as the “SMS capital of the world,” has received a boost to its information and technology (ICT) capabilities with the introduction of a special UN training programme for forty chief information officers (CIOs) from the country’s central government agencies.
10 March 2009 | News
VoIP phones make savings for Indian state
Bihar, India’s third largest state, has reportedly made cost savings from the launch of a state-wide area network (SWAN) and secretariat local area network (SecLAN) rolled out for local government officials, removing the need to pay service providers for telephone lines.
2 March 2009 | News
Japan introduces ID cards to sniff out illegal immigrants
The Japanese government plans to strengthen its efforts to prevent foreigners from staying in the country illegally by consolidating administrative systems for foreign residents in the nation, according to a draft bill to revise the immigration law.
2 March 2009 | News
Korea plans to merge government agencies
The Korea government has finalised a plan to restructure the country’s state-run agencies, with 25 state-run organisations to be merged to form 11 new entities within the first half of this year.
27 February 2009 | News
Green Growth Commission launched in Korea
Korean President Lee Myung-bak has announced the launch of an agency – the Green Growth Commission – which has a brief to implement the country’s vision for “low carbon, green growth”.
27 February 2009 | News
India rolls out US$351 million e-services network
The Indian government has approved a US$351 million initiative to deliver government-to-government, government-to-business and government-to-citizen e-services in 32 states and Union Territories (UTs) across the country.
25 February 2009 | News
Australia’s net filter plan under attack
Australia’s controversial Federal Cyber Safety Plan (FCSP), which could see internet service providers filtered for illegal and illicit content, has come up against staunch resistance from citizens and ISPs involved at the test stage.
25 February 2009 | Feature
Governing in a downturn
Tough times call for tough decisions. FutureGov investigates how governments are modernising as the global economy begins to unravel
25 February 2009 | Interview
How the world has changed
Lindsay Tanner, Australia’s Minister of Finance & Deregulation, talks about the role of government ICT in the face of the economic downturn.
25 February 2009 | Research
Healthcare and government shine amid gloomy 2009 IT forecasts
Worldwide IT spending is projected to take a big hit this year, however healthcare and government are expected to be among the most resilient segments, according to a Gartner report.
25 February 2009 | News
SaaS healthcare solution for Singapore
Singapore General Hospital (SGH) will introduce an e-health record and management system by the end of 2009. The Community Care Management Solution (CCMS) will be accessible to all wards and polyclinics.
24 February 2009 | News
Recession drives Irish government services online
Ireland is looking to e-government to make savings as tough economic times bite, while education online can be up to 40 per cent cheaper than educating people in a classroom, according to an Irish online strategy company.
18 February 2009 | News
Japan govt revises "green purchase" law
The Japanese government has revised its guidelines for the so-called ‘‘green purchase’’ law, which requires offices of government ministries and agencies to use environmentally friendly products for designated equipment.
18 February 2009 | News
Philippines govt looks to improve communications strategy
More than 100 Government Information Officers from 50 government agencies in the Philippines have met amid concerns that poor information supplied to the media will lead to bad press.
17 February 2009 | News
ADB to probe health spending in Asia
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is planning a study on how spending on maternal, newborn and child healthcare is hurting the poor in the Asia Pacific region.
12 February 2009 | News
Indian state's e-services woes
Coimbatore city in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, is looking at ways to popularise an online registration of birth and death facility. Despite having the process moved online since 1996, the number of online applications average at two to three a month.
10 February 2009 | News
Education moves online in India
Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Resource Development, has launched the country’s first e-education programme in Tirupati, the temple town of Andra Pradesh, India.
6 February 2009 | News
Queensland trials telehealth project
The Australian state of Queensland has launched a telehealth project in the local government district of Ipswich to improve the efficiency of treatment for patients with chronic disease.
6 February 2009 | News
Indian state rolls out telemedicine centres
The Orissa Trust of Technical Education and Training has announced plans to roll out telemedicine centres in villages across the state—the ninth largest in India.
5 February 2009 | News
AGIMO restructures for watchdog role
The Australian Government Information Management Office has been restructured for its new role as Canberra’s technology spending and governance watchdog.
4 February 2009 | News
New Zealand discontinues Government Shared Network
State Services Minister Tony Ryall has announced that the government’s Government Shared Network (GSN) is to be discontinued because it is financially unsustainable. Participating government agencies will be moved to a new provider in the private sector.
4 February 2009 | Spotlight
E-government solutions for connected nations
ST Electronics is Singapore’s largest ICT (Information Communication Technology) systems company and one of Asia’s leaders in e-Government solutions, developing and customising ICT, electronics systems and infrastructure for governments around the world.
4 February 2009 | News
Korea plans on super broadband
By 2013, South Korea will install a nation-wide super-broadband infrastructure which will enable the downloading of a feature film to be completed in one or two seconds.
4 February 2009 | Feature
Buyers’ guide to: conferencing solutions
Conferencing solutions have gone mainstream in big enterprise environments – now we take a look at the different approaches to bringing people together.
3 February 2009 | News
China passes new medical reform plan
China’s State Council passed a long awaited medical reform plan which promised to spend 850 billion yuan (US$123 billion) by 2011 to provide universal medical service to the country’s 1.3 billion population.
28 January 2009 | News
Australia e-health system in the mill
The standards and foundations for nation-wide e-health solutions in Australia have now mainly been completed, according to Peter Fleming, Chief Executive Officer of National E-Health Transition Authority, leaving implementation on the agenda for 2009.
28 January 2009 | News
Cambodia to leverage on video-conferencing
Hun Sen Prime Minister of Cambodia has announced plans to install video-conferencing facilities at key military headquarters throughout the country with the aim of promoting e-government, reducing government expenditure on transport, and improving national security.
23 January 2009 | News
The Philippines and Korea exchange teaching expertise
Twenty-one teachers of information and communication technology in Manila are participating in a training seminar conducted by South Korean volunteers, in line with their government’s bilateral cooperation with the Philippines.
21 January 2009 | Feature
Australia govt adopts Gershon's recommendation
How should government spend on ICT? Australia has decided to implement in full the recommendations of Sir Peter Gershon UK Treasury’s former Chief Executive.
21 January 2009 | News
Singapore govt services on the go
Under the Mobile Government project by the Ministry of Finance and the Infocomm Development Authority, the Singapore government currently has 200 of its services accessible though mobile devices.
21 January 2009 | News
Bahrain to standardise govt ICT
The eGovernment Authority of Bahrain has rolled out a new initiative “Enterprise Architecture Project” to upgrade and standardise the level of Information Communication Technology in all government entities.
20 January 2009 | News
NSW Police armed with information
New South Wales police will benefit from the introduction of a new national information-sharing platform that enables police and law enforcement agencies to exchange and access detailed profiles of persons of interest across all jurisdictions.
20 January 2009 | News
Cambodia drafts law to regulate internet
The Ministry of Information is currently drafting a law that will extend current print media rules to other media platform, including the internet.
20 January 2009 | News
Vietnam to launch e-procurement system
The Korea International Cooperation Agency and the Vietnam Department of Public Procurement, an agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, have announced plans for the establishment of an electronic procurement system.
19 January 2009 | News
Bangladesh introduces telehealth services
From February onwards, the Bangladesh government will have in place “Telehealth Care Services” at every public hospital in the country. The aim of this project is to make healthcare available to everyone in the country.
14 January 2009 | News
India state hospitals to be inter-connected
Government-run hospitals in the state will soon be electronically inter-connected and every patient visiting the hospital will be given a unique health identity number and will have access to his medical history at any hospital across the state.
12 January 2009 | News
The Philippines hands out cash for education
Esperanza I. Cabral, Social Welfare and Development Secretary, The Philippines, announced that more than 6500 families will have a brighter year this 2009 as they receive cash grants from the 4Ps project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
9 January 2009 | News
Australia to spend US$2M on homeless aged
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Justine Elliot, Minister for Ageing have announced a US$2 million grant to Wintringham, a Melbourne-based organisation that provides affordable housing and support services to elderly homeless people.
9 January 2009 | News
Tamil Nadu—best e-governed state in India
According to a national e-governance survey, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have emerged among the top five e-governed states in India in 2008-09.
9 January 2009 | News
Pakistan province to spend US$624m on education
Lahore, the capital of Punjab province in Pakistan has termed the promotion of education as the topmost priority for the provincial government. Raja Riaz Ahmad Senior Minister has said that the government will introduce IT education to secondary and higher secondary schools.
8 January 2009 | News
India: SMS for police help
The Hyderabad police have launched SMS facility for quick access to the police. In case of emergency, citizens of Hyderabad can get help by texting the police.
6 January 2009 | News
Health smart cards for India's poor
The Indian government will bear the treatment costs of the poor under a new health insurance scheme. Using a smart card embedded with 11 types of software, patients can now afford the services of private or government hospitals through cashless and paperless transactions.
6 January 2009 | News
Malaysian govt to introduce e-stamping
Stamping of documents will go online with the introduction of an e-stamping system by the Inland Revenue Board.
5 January 2009 | News
Australian government bolsters e-security
Robert McClelland Attorney-General and Senator Stephen Conroy Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy jointly announced the first outcomes from the E-Security Review 2008.
5 January 2009 | Deals
Korea lends Bangladesh US$200m for e-govt
The South Korean government will provide Bangladesh with a loan of US$200 million in the current 2008-09 fiscal (July 2008-June 2009). The fund will be used development of a national ICT infrastructure net for the Bangladeshi e-Government.
30 December 2008 | Research
Technology for engaging England’s pupils
Commissioned by the UK government’s technology agency Becta, new research by Manchester Metropolitan University shows that online learning has been useful in engaging students who have become disaffected by education, and is helping to re-engage those who are not succeeding in school or are not learning by traditional teaching methods.
30 December 2008 | Research
Internet main source of news for 206 million Chinese
According to a new report, the Internet is the main source of news for about 206 million Chinese.
30 December 2008 | News
Indian university stresses role of video conferencing
Periyar Maniammai University in Tamil Nadu state of India plans to introduce courses in distant learning through video conferencing.
30 December 2008 | Deals
ST Electronics wins S$86m integrated resort contracts
Singapore Technologies Electronics Limited (ST Electronics), has been awarded contracts worth about US$60m to provide an Integrated Security System, IT Infrastructure System and a Carpark Guidance & Payment System to Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS), one of Singapore’s Integrated Resorts.
29 December 2008 | Research
Australia: turned off by telephone, turned on by online
Fresh research spurs government to experiment with social media.
29 December 2008 | News
Ministerial panel to draft India schools’ ICT policy
Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has ordered the constitution of a new ministerial committee to draft the national policy for introduction of ICT in schools and directed that future policy formulation should not be outsourced’ to private parties.
29 December 2008 | News
Malaysia opens online varsity
The Asia e University, an international university based in Malaysia, accepted its first batch of students last month. Working entirely online, AeU was set up with the support of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a forum with 31 member countries, benefitting it with resources from all members through collaborations with institutes of higher learning and training centres.
18 December 2008 | News
India’s internet connectivity supports e-govt plans
India has been ranked fourth among the top ten nations in the world for high internet use. The Internet Governance forum has pinned the country as lagging behind only the United States, China and Japan with 81 million internet users in the country.
17 December 2008 | Research
Satisfaction with govt agency leads to trust in whole govt
New American Customer Satisfaction Index data suggest that a satisfying experience with a specific government agency can improve trust in the government as a whole. The positive correlation extends beyond trust with the agency itself to citizens’ overall perception of the government.
16 December 2008 | Deals
US defence awards US$111 mil security services contract
EDS, a HP company, has been awarded a US$111 million contract by the US Defence Information Systems Agency to provide security readiness reviews for the Department of Defence.
15 December 2008 | Deals
Singapore’s e-govt footprint reaches Trinidad & Tobago
Infocomm Development Authority inks MOU with Trinidad and Tobago.
15 December 2008 | News
Industry-first metric for data centres
Return on investment of energy efficient infrastructure and equipment can now be calculated with an industry-first metric from Emerson Network Power.
11 December 2008 | News
Indian state sets January date for e-Govt launch
The Orissa Government has charted out ambitious plans to transform the state as the number one destination for IT companies as well as professionals by 2012.
9 December 2008 | Deals
Companies expand alliance to advance information security
EMC and Microsoft Corp. are expanding their technology partnership to help companies better protect sensitive information and share it in a more secure manner. The companies will be working together with a built-in “systems” approach that helps protect information throughout the infrastructure based on content, context and identity.
5 December 2008 | News
US$350 million loan for Indonesia regional govt
Improved financial and economic management at all levels of government will be the outcome of a US$350 million programme loan granted by the Asian Development Bank for Indonesian regional and local government reform.
4 December 2008 | News
Korea's four year plan for e-govt improvement
E-government in Korea will develop so completely by 2012 that after an online notification to a village office, citizens will see their change of home address for mail services, children’s transfer to new schools and everything else taken care of automatically. Meanwhile, IT infrastructure will become even more sophisticated and the speed of Internet connections will increase ten-fold.
3 December 2008 | News
India to be one-fifth of global WiMAX users by 2012
By 2012, more than 27.5 million Indians will be WiMAX users.
3 December 2008 | News
New department in Microsoft for mobile services in Asia
Microsoft has a new Mobile Platform, Applications and Services Business Development Asia team which will be promoting Microsoft’s mobile platform and deploying new mobile services and applications from the company across Asia.
3 December 2008 | News
New tool for Thai model school
Wang Klaikangwon School is to benefit 77 rural schools in Thailand with the deployment of servers containing electronic Distance Learning Television
1 December 2008 | Research
Mobile phone growth fails to bridge digital divide
Despite significant progress Asia and the Pacific has made in using information and communication technology, disparity still remains in access to the internet between high-income and low-income countries.
29 November 2008 | News
Thai ICT ministry says WiMax and 3G licences imminent
The Information and Communications Technology ministry says WiMax and third-generation mobile network operating licences should be allocated to operators by mid-2009.
26 November 2008 | News
Election processes improved with GIS
For the 2008 elections, the Registrar of Voters of Alameda County in California used ESRI’s GIS software to simplify precinct analysis and polling station siting processes.
26 November 2008 | News
Myanmar rolls-out urban Wi-fi network
Myanmar has announced plans to install a Wi-Fi network in Yangon by early next year. The system will be in service starting with the coverage of 16 main townships in the former capital city of Yangon.
25 November 2008 | News
Queensland pilots clean coal burning
A pilot programme in the Australian state of Queensland aims to burn coal more cleanly by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. This demonstration plant is the first of its kind to burn coal in oxygen instead of air.
19 November 2008 | News
Ingres improves open source database availability
Ingres has enhanced its database solution to simplify application development and improve availability and system recovery. The new version of open source database has been launched by for business critical applications at an affordable cost.
19 November 2008 | News
ICT for education in rural Malaysia
A school in a remote part of Sabah state boasts a wireless connection and computer-aided programmes for its students to keep pace with the rest of Malaysia.
18 November 2008 | Research
ICT to cut emissions in India?
A new report says that a more pervasive use of ICT can help reduce emissions and fight climate change in India. While the country may be known the world over for its expertise in ICT, the use of it is fairly limited.
18 November 2008 | News
Better healthcare for rural Vietnam
Vietnam’s south central coast region, home to nine million people, including half a million people from ethnic minorities, will have the financing of Asian Development Bank for a project to improve healthcare services.
17 November 2008 | Deals
Korea to improve technical education in Nepal
The government of the Republic of Korea will support to establish the Korea-Nepal Institute of Technology (KNIT) in Butwal through the Korea International Cooperation Agency.
17 November 2008 | News
Laos harness education to reduce poverty
Laos seeks to raise its world standing by embracing education programmes that reduce local poverty.
11 November 2008 | Deals
UAE signs environmental pledge
UAE pledges for presevation and sustainability along with United Nations, IAHC and LG Electronics.
10 November 2008 | News
Low Cost Computers for Ugandan Schools
After two years of waiting, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions can now acquire low cost computers. The Uganda Ministry of Information and Communication Technology launched the Computers for Schools Uganda, a project aimed at bridging the digital-divide in the country.
7 November 2008 | Deals
Singapore and Kuwait strengthen e-govt cooperation
Singapore and Kuwait further strengthens their e-government partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate cooperation in e-government.
7 November 2008 | News
Dubai to assure quality in higher education
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority has set up a quality assurance board to review higher education in Dubai’s Free Zones. One aim of the Board, made up of quality assurance experts from around the world, will be to ensure that a degree earned from an international higher education establishment on a campus in Dubai is of the same value as that achieved in its country of origin.
6 November 2008 | Spotlight
The perpetual collaboration mandate
Globalisation, ecological issues, technological impact and other modern challenges are driving the need for streamlined government collaboration, says Jeffrey Rhoda.
5 November 2008 | Spotlight
Shaping governments of the future
Leong Peng Kiong talks about pioneering new ways of building, implementing and operating e-government services.
5 November 2008 | Spotlight
Cutting edge technology is not enough
Alan Chng, Vice President - Business Imaging Solutions Group of Canon Singapore, sheds light on how the company makes service innovation a priority through the GTA.
4 November 2008 | News
Bahrain launches e-govt portal
Bahrain has introduced a new e-government gateway as an outcome of a study conducted to cater to the needs of the public through streamlining e-government services procedures.
31 October 2008 | Spotlight
Open Source Makes “Cents” for the Public Sector
Public Sector organisations all have one thing in common – they answer to the taxpayers. Government agencies are always looking for the best way to quickly deliver IT enabled services to their citizens while driving down costs. And they want a flexible subscription model so that if budgets and services are cut back then their costs go down as well. These are just two reasons why more and more Public Sector agencies are turning to Open Source. As guardians of the taxpayers money, Open Source simply makes “cents.”
31 October 2008 | Spotlight
Toshiba multifunction peripheral provides security to your business
In the recent years, the number of cyber attacks has risen tremendously. These attacks have caused many chief security officers to lose sleep. In view of these attacks, it is of utmost importance to conduct regular updates of virus patches, definitions and Operating Systems security patches. It has now become a daily affair to keep our Anti-Virus, Security software and Operating Systems patches up-to date to prevent any cyber attacks on our Information Systems.
30 October 2008 | Feature
Integrated Healthcare: The Push for Quality & Productivity
The virtual explosion of costs in the healthcare sector affects all, from private payers to the government, hospitals, individual care providers and patients. But despite rising costs, hospital budgets have remained more or less the same. Today’s healthcare organisations must face growing pressure to optimize clinical and business systems and improve patient satisfaction.
30 October 2008 | News
Australian govt’s carbon plan
Australia’s plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions through carbon trade will not be the “company killer” feared by business and no major polluters will be forced to move offshore, the government said.
29 October 2008 | News
Filipino education to get ICT boost
The Philippines Department of Education and the Oracle Education Foundation have agreed to roll out OEF’s ThinkQuest technology programme to 500 public elementary schools across the nation, reaching 50,000 students and teachers over the next two years.
23 October 2008 | News
Fast wireless services set for rural areas in Japan
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry has established a panel to promote next-generation fast wireless Internet communication services for rural areas.
23 October 2008 | Feature
Buyers’ guide to: secure printing
We review the latest generation of MFPs to see how government offices can manage sensitive data without sacrificing productivity.
23 October 2008 | Feature
Network intelligence in a successful SOA implementation
Though it has been around for a while, the concept of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) still conjures an air of mystery. Perhaps it’s the term SOA that sounds intimidating. Simply put, SOA is about achieving a connection among integrated systems to allow different applications to exchange data.
23 October 2008 | News
China approves pilot project to service rural areas with wireless
China’s Ministry of Commerce has approved MediaG3’s pilot project for implementing mg3 wireless broadband service to over 900 million people in rural China.
22 October 2008 | News
Experts believe cloud computing increases risk of data leakage
Cloud computing has been illuminated as being thought to increase and not decrease the risk of data leakage. A recent symposium on the topic of ‘Cloud Computing’ reported a key finding in its post symposium survey: the attendees voted unanimously that cloud computing increases, not decreases the risk of data leakage.
22 October 2008 | News
Uganda's education needs internet subsidy
High internet connectivity costs remain a major handicap to the widespread integration of IT in teaching and research at Ugandan educational institutions.
22 October 2008 | News
Indian state gives all schools IT access
Andhra Pradesh, the largest and most populous state in South India, has become the first state to offer ICT education to all its 1.8 million school-going children, starting last Monday.
15 October 2008 | News
Taiwan recycles 50 per cent of its e-waste
Taiwan has seen a dramatic increase in the volume of waste electronic and electrical products in recent years. Following several years of implementation of the “4-in-1” recycling scheme, the recycling rate of these products has now surpassed an impressive 50 per cent. Working to put the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system into full play, and make recycling targets more easily achievable, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is actively guiding manufacturers in the setting up of self-administered recycling, clearance and treatment systems.
15 October 2008 | News
Victorian govt cautioned against ICT skills shortage
The Victorian government has pumped an additional US$200.5 million in funding towards innovation initiatives in Victoria but the Australian Computer Society (ACS) has cautioned that ICT skills challenges could impact the success of some ventures.
12 October 2008 | News
Singapore earmarks US$4 million to train energy managers
The National Environment Agency (NEA) in Singapore has set up a US$4 million grant to help defray the course fee of the Singapore Certified Energy Manager training programme. The grant will cover a substantial part of the training cost at the Professional Level.
10 October 2008 | Feature
Grey govt - Asia's public sector learns to cope with an ageing population
Asia is ageing. We look at the impact an ageing population has on government service delivery and its efforts to retain talent and knowledge as a large percentage of workers reach retirement age.
9 October 2008 | News
Nature-based enterprises to help rural poor
Expanding nature-based enterprises can increase income for the world’s rural poor. This approach, as outlined in World Resources Report 2008, can also develop the rural poor’s resilience to social and environmental threats such as climate change.
9 October 2008 | Feature
Future education in Singapore
With the advent of Singapore’s FutureSchools project—whereby the next generation of students will be equipped with ICT in every area of their studies—we interview a leading secondary school in the country to get an insight to these students’ lifestyles come the invasion of technology into classrooms.
7 October 2008 | News
ICT initiative for African villages
The Imo State Government—a provincial government in oil-rich Nigeria—has plans to embark on an e-village project that would create a sustainable Information Communication Technology (ICT) foundation in the local government areas of the state.
5 October 2008 | News
Reducing IT carbon footprint by 80-90 per cent
‘Carbon Calculator’ and online ‘Server Consolidation Analysis Resource’ released.
2 October 2008 | News
Queensland ICT Industry Launches Green Initiatives
More than 170 Information Technology leaders from government and business participated in the launch of a new Green IT Industry Special Interest Group (SIG) and Taskforce in Brisbane to help the ICT industry move from discussion on Green IT to action and best practice.
1 October 2008 | Interview
Green management makes sense for polytechnic
One of Singapore’s tertiary education institutes has a long-standing commitment to go green, shares Andre Ahchak, Deputy Director, Nanyang Polytechnic.
30 September 2008 | Feature
Building e-government in Macao
A major e-governance initiative undertaken by the Macao SAR Government in collaboration with the United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology through its Centre for Electronic Governance, and major local institutions, the e-Macao initiative aims to build a sustainable foundation for the effective use of ICT by government agencies.
30 September 2008 | News
Shared services agency for NSW govt
The New South Wales state government has created a new shared services agency that will, among other things, provide centralised IT services to a large number of departments and agencies.
25 September 2008 | News
South Korea shares egov insights
Civil servants from Paraguay are visiting South Korea to learn how to establish and run an e-government platform. The visit was organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security’s training centre for public employees and the Korea International Cooperation Agency.
25 September 2008 | News
Dubai egov partners university
Dubai eGovernment has signed an agreement with Zayed University to collaborate in providing career development opportunities for university students in the field of information technology.
23 September 2008 | Feature
Home alone: Govt gets serious about remote working
In the past decade, working from home, otherwise known as telecommuting, has been drawing attention globally in both the private and public sectors.
22 September 2008 | News
EMC placed as market leader for info infrastructure
Gartner has placed EMC Corporation in the “Leaders” quadrant of the 2008 Magic Quadrant for Storage Professional and Support Services report.
20 September 2008 | Feature
The Creative Classroom
Future schooling in Singapore—from educational computer games to virtual field trips.
17 September 2008 | Interview
Singapore govt experiments with social media
The Singapore government is on Facebook. Why? Dr Amy Khor, Member of Parliament, Mayor of Singapore’s Southwest district and Chairman of government feedback agency REACH, has the answers.
17 September 2008 | Interview
Charting the direction of Indonesia’s government ICT strategy
Currently, ICT is on the top of the agenda for the Indonesian government. Technology can serve as a critical enabler for poverty reduction, and for the achievement of our Millennium Development Goals, explains Kemal Stamboel, Vice Chairman, Executive Team, Indonesian National ICT Council.
11 September 2008 | News
New web specs to improve interoperability
Previous better known for their competitiveness on the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) space, IBM, EMC and Microsoft have come together to provide customers with a web spec that improves the process. Known as the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), it enables applications to interoperate with multiple ECM repositories by different vendors.
9 September 2008 | News
Queensland govt tenants offices at green building
Queensland Government’s Crime and Misconduct Commission, and Collection House will hold its offices at Brisbane’s Green Square Complex’s North Tower.
Billed as one of the world’s most environmentally friendly office developments, North Tower, part of the US$230 million Complex, has its own gas-driven power plant, was built using recycled timber and steel, and will save 1.7 million litres of water a year.
4 September 2008 | News
Dubai E-government sets US$276 million revenue target
Dubai’s integrated electronic payment system (ePay) has collected US$163 million so far this year and is expected to record revenues of US$276 million by the end of 2008.
2 September 2008 | News
UAE authorities emphasise importance of green buildings
Ali bin Towaih says, “The EGBC goal this year is to align its members from the industry with local and Federal Government initiatives. The partnership will be the council’s way of conducting business with its stakeholders in addition to its role in public awareness.”
1 September 2008 | Deals
Fuji Xerox pushes green IT solutions
Fuji Xerox has just launched a range of multifunction devices – focusing on efficiency, security and crucially, the environment.
30 August 2008 | Research
Information Management Mistakes Can Wreak Havoc in the Public Sector
Prudent data security management has historically been the sole domain of the Chief Information Officer (CIO); and that is no longer the case. As of June 2008, more than 330 million records were compromised globally.
29 August 2008 | Research
Having everyone equipped with PCs has green flaws
Across the globe, the number of personal computers in use has exceeded one billion and the figures will double by 2014. This development will account for PCs dumped into landfills without consideration for its toxic content, says Meike Escherich, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.
27 August 2008 | News
Free green power for Canadian government IT
Canada’s provincial governments are setting the wheels in motion to move their IT processing to greener IT data centres that are powered by renewable hydro-electricity.
26 August 2008 | Research
iPhone—who for?
Chances are that you want one, your colleague wants one – but does your organisation want to give you one?
11 August 2008 | News
Local government takes the lead in US
Green initiatives are being given a push from the bottom upwards in Arizona. Don Stapley Supervisor of Maricopa County says, “We want counties to be a catalyst for the change in the mindset of Americans.
1 August 2008 | Deals
Fourth largest US city signs GIS deal
Houston municipal staff look forward to simplified access to GIS tools and accelerated GIS development across the enterprise.
1 August 2008 | News
Hong Kong’s administration works under green roofs
With environmental policies in place since the 1980s, a number of Hong Kong’s government departments—Hong Kong Government’s Architectural Services Department (ASD), the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) and the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA)—have been actively pushing for green buildings.
25 July 2008 | News
Singapore's polytechnic wins green recognition
The education sector in Singapore has been using technology for environmental purposes with Singapore Polytechnic (SP) clinching top honours at the Singapore Environmental and Social Reporting Awards organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
20 August 2007 | News
Web access guidelines to aid disabled in Thailand
NECTEC in Thailand has implemented Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as an official guide to web content developers.
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