Security vendors not enthusiastic about government’s super data base

Vendors are sceptical to news that UK government is planning to set up a super data base. They cite governments track record in failing to protect several public data in past. The data base will be logging telephone call, email website visit and SMS made by 60 million UK citizens. Home office is incorporating this in the data communication bill to be announced in November. The large ISPs, which would keep the records for 12 months, and  hand them over for inspection with court’s permission.

The information stored would exclude content of emails and calls. It will only store location and time. Police would be able to use it to analyse communications by and between the suspects.
Jamie Cowper of PGP Corporation, remarks that it is absurd on the part of government to bring in ‘super-data base’ when public has lost confidence in security of data. Instead government should focus on fixing and testing security of existing data base. He has apprehensions that US companies might not trust the governments standards of security.

Chief security architect Chris Mayers of  Citrix UK, also opines that single data base would neither uphold national security nor protect the public.  Centralised data base is not required even as per The Data Retention Directive of the European Union. Public is not likely to benefit any way.  Security experts agree that public has no confidence in the security of data after the loss of 25 million records by HMRC.  But Richard Archdeacon of Symantec sees a sea change in attitudes at the highest levels of government regarding security, and assures that necessary measures are going to be firmly in place.

SugarCRM launches new management console

There is a good news for customers and partners of SugarCRM, the vendor of open-source CRM (Customer Relationship Management). The new version of SugarCRM Data Centre edition will enable the customers to customise instances for business units, while partners will be able to customise  SugarCRM as per users’ requirements and will be free to resell  on demand form. The console creates instance at the click of a button and allows tracking of usage levels and performance for multiple instances.

It is in beta and will be in the market in a few months. Under tentative plans for the partners, it will be priced on basis of number of end users. Enterprises will be charged $100 per user per year.  Ray Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research calls it an interesting move. It provides broader basis for open-source business software plan. He says that this product will be compatible with PHP, ZEND, Linux, MySQL and Thunderbird. This is an attempt to earn credibility from big enterprises. BDO Seidman is the largest user of SugarCRM. It will try to rope in more such customers to expand the elite customer base.
While doing so the bigger challenge will be to keep bulk of those customers happy which own 10 to 20 seats.  SugarCRM, claims it has 3,000 customers in all.

Black Berry updates IT administration software.

Black Berry has demonstrated its new version of IT administration software at user conference held last week. With this update the administrators will be able to fix the servers wherever they are. The software will send e-mail alerts to administrators and enable them to take actions on critical servers such as VMware Microsoft Exchange, Black Berry Enterprise Server and Lotus Notes.

Rove also announced that BlackBerry Bold smart phone will be usable for running client applications.
Version 4.0, introduces a Web interface support for thousands of servers. It will allow storing administration data on a back-end SQL Server database. The company is switching to a new licensing model, from per server to per administrator. It’ will cost US$495 to a user.

Rove Mobile had developed remote access software which facilitated access of mobile devices to the servers. Company has more than 500 customers worldwide, including Google, Wells Fargo, and DHL. Version 3.3 was the last release of Rove Mobile Admin in 2007. PCMobilizr is another handheld application by which individual users can log on to their home PCs and manipulate remotely.

Paul Dumais, of Rove Mobile proudly states that they have provided complete mobility to the administrators. Without going to office or home they can log into network through their Black Berry and resolve any server problem.

Centrica signs £2.1 deal with Fujitsu to halve application costs

Centrica, UK’s large multinational utility company has signed a £2.1 million, 3 years outsourcing deal with Fujitsu UK. Fujitsu UK is known for providing IT services and products across public & private sector industries.

Centrica has planned to cut down application management costs to 50%. Fujitsu will assist Centrica by overhauling certain applications which are currently not cost effective. Billing and customer management system will now be managed by Fujitsu. Centrica will also avail of software maintenance ad support services from Fujitsu.

Centrica and T-systems have already entered into large infrastructure outsourcing deal last year. Capgemini is also assisting it in the implementation of SAP in its business processes. Fujitsu has been providing IT services to Centrica since many years. The deal is an extension of its long IT association.
Under the new contract, Fujitsu will first identify Centrica’s high cost legacy applications and would work to either redesign or replace them to achieve lower running costs.  As part of its programme for cutting down costs, Centrica sold off non-energy business and cut out legacy system, in 2006.

Neil Coop, senior commercial manager, Centrica, acknowledges Fujitsu’s clear understanding of Centrica’s business. He is quite appreciative of Fujitsu’s extensive skills in application management and development and is confident that Centrica will be the biggest beneficiary.