Satellite communications provider NewSat, a division of Multiemedia (ASX:MUL), has completed a trial with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) of a portable satellite broadband system for Austrade's offices around the world.

Linux vendor Red Hat has partnered with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) to offer ACS members discounted Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) training.

Redflex Traffic Systems, a US subsidiary of the Redflex Group (ASX:RDF), has been awarded a new US build-own-operate-maintain contract for a photo enforcement program with the City of San Leandro in California.

The Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (AEEMA) has forged links with the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan (CIAJ) to develop business relations between Japan and Australia in electronics and ICT.

Three Australians have been recognised in the latest awards and elections of IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing), a UN-sponsored peak professional body for ICT workers.

The Senate has passed the legislation authorising the full sale and operational separation of Telstra after Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce voted with the Government.

The directors of the board IT solutions company Alphawest (ASX:ALW) have unanimously accepted a bid by Singtel Optus to buy the company for more than $24 million.

Results of a new study reveals why some end users in enterprise environments are more likely to engage in riskier online behavior at work than at home.

Philips Polymer Vision revealed its Concept Readius last week in Germany, a prototype of a functional electronic-document reader that can unroll its display to a scale larger than the device itself.

Enterprise infrastructure provider, Aruba Networks, has appointed David Humphries as the country manager, responsible for the sales of Aruba for Australia and New Zealand. Humphries comes to Aruba with 20 years experience in the Australian Networking Industry. Most recently Humphries was at Avnet, where he was managing the networking arm of its distribution business. Before that, he held various sales roles at Memorex Telex, Xylan (acquired by Alcatel), Arrowpoint Communications (acquired by Cisco) and network management company, Concord Communications (recently acquired by CA).

Business imaging vendor, Konica Minolta Australia, has appointed Frank Mellish to the newly created position of general manager, sales and marketing, Australia, based in Sydney. Mellish joined Konica Minolta in 2003. Prior to being promoted to the new position he was marketing director. Previously, Mellish spent more than a decade with IBM where he launched the Thinkpad Brand in Europe and was responsible for marketing PC products to the small-to-medium business sectors on a global basis. He also worked for CSC as the global vice president, marketing, based in Los Angeles.

Intelligent Business Research Services (IBRS) has appointed high profile industry analyst Dr Kevin McIsaac to a senior research role. Dr McIsaac was formerly research director Asia Pacific with META Group, prior to its take-over by Gartner. Dr McIsaac is an expert in infrastructure, operations and vendor management and works with CIOs and IT management teams on strategy development and the key issues associated with running IT as a business. His first report, entitled:” Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) – Who Dares Wins” examines the impact of the SAS communication protocol on the storage market.

Software developer's association, Software Queensland, has announced its new chair and committee as it heads into association’s second year of representing software developers in Queensland. Founding committee member and former treasurer, Kon Kakanis, takes on the role of chair. Kakanis is director, sales and marketing for Sundata and  is also a member of the ICT Industry Workgroup representing a number of key associations in lobbying to Government on procurement and industry development issues.

Database and ERP vendor Oracle Corporation will acquire CRM vendor Siebel Systems for approximately US$5.85 billion, in an amicable merger designed to narrow the gap between Oracle and number one ERP player SAP.

Telstra-owned IT services company, KAZ, has acquired the intellectual property and customer contracts of business intelligence company, Intology Ltd.

Businesss process software vendor, Pegasystems, has been selected to provide insurer QBE's Australia Pacific Asia Central Europe Division (APACE) with rules-driven technology to enhance the company's business process management (BPM) capabilities.

Tasmanian power utility Aurora Energy has announced plans for what is believed to be the first large scale commercial trial of Mitsubishi Electric's 200Mpbs broadband over powerline technology.

Business intelligence vendor, Business Objects has been deployed by Australian ticketing agent Ticketek as its business intelligence and reporting standard.

Enterprise content management provider, Objective Corporation (ASX:OCL), has won a deal to provide an electronic document and records management system to be used enterprise-wide by the newly formed public sector agency, The Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia.

Secure electronic transaction solutions provider Keycorp Limited (ASX: KYC) has announced big increases in revenues and before tax earnings but took a tax hit that pushed its net profit into the red.