According to research from broadband market research group, Telsyte, there is a growing willingness of ISPs and carriers to invest in broadband technologies and infrastructure in rural and regional Australia, with wireless becoming a popular option.

Business Intelligence vendor, Business Objects, has appointed Peter Zeglis as director of its Professional Services Organisation (PSO) for the Asia Pacific region, based in Sydney. Zeglis joins Business Objects from Ascential software where he was responsible for professional services in both APAC & EMEA. Prior to this, Zeglis’ career included stints at Ernst Young Cap Gemini and Accenture.

Business integration sofatware provider, webMethods, has appointed Paul Henaghan as managing director for Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. Prior to joining webMethods, Henaghan was the senior account director at Oracle Corporation, where he was responsible for the government, health and education lines of business in Australia and New Zealand.

The news that Telstra is going to be fully privatised and tightly regulated to protect the industry from anti-competitive behaviour may not be welcome news for the carrier’s shareholders. However, for users of telecom services it is sweet music.

The Australian office of global outsourcer Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) has signed a three year outsourcing contract with Dun and Bradstreet Australasia (D&B).

Sydney-based wireless broadband provider, Unwired Group Limited (ASX:UNW), has posted a whopping $40.77 million net loss for the year ending 30 June 2005. However, CEO David Spence is adamant that the company's cash holdings are adequate to see it through to positive cash flow.

CCTV security systems provider Innovonics (ASX:INO) has signed a new contract with Connex Melbourne Pty Ltd to upgrade, supply and maintain train CCTV security systems for a portion of the Melbourne train fleet. The contract is valued at about $8 million.

Document security software provider, Workshare, has commenced implementation of a document lifecycle management system designed to support the risk mitigation strategy around all Microsoft Office documents and emails handled by the firm Freehills, one of Australia’s major commercial law firms.

Global Health, a subsidiary of software developer Working Systems Solutions (ASX:WSS) has implemented its Australian developed ePAS (enhanced patient administration system) at South Perth Hospital.

The Australian paid music service provider (MSP) market is poised to explode over the next five years, fuelled in the short-termby the launch of Apple's iTunes Music Store and Yahoo's Music Unlimited.

Australian ICT research centre of excellence, National ICT Australia (NICTA), has lured Steven Subar to Australia from Silicon Valley for a 12-month stint as its second entrepreneur-in-residence.

VoIP provider Freshtel Holdings (ASX: FRE) and communications aggregator Wholesale Communications Group (WCG) have launched a white label VoIP service for WCG’s customer base of over 320 ISPs across Australia using Freshtel's VoIP solution.

Security vendors Trend Micro and Symantec have both issued alerts for PC users to be on the lookout for new malware arising from Microsoft's recently announced plug and play vulnerability.

Storage vendor, StorageTek, has appointed Anthony Clarke as sales manager for Australia and New Zealand, based in Sydney. Clarke, who will relocate from StorageTek in the UK, where he was regional sales manager for enterprise and strategic accounts. Clarke commenced his career with IBM in the UK as a systems engineer before moving into sales roles with Concurrent and Compuware. He first came to Australia in 1994, joining StorageTek in 1997. Clarke became StorageTek's regional manager for Victoria before heading back to the UK to further his career within the company.

Business intelligence provider Management Information Principles (MIP) has hired four specialists to establish a new senior consulting division.

CRM vendor, FrontRange Solutions, an international market leader in customer rel has appointed Sonya Walker as southern region manager, based in Melbourne. Walker joins FrontRange Solutions with over 10 years’ experience in the IT industry. Prior to joining FrontRange, Walker was president and founder of Benchmark Professionals, a US-based strategic management consultancy specialising in the commercialisation of US and Australian ICT businesses. Her previous experience also includes national business development manager for ANZ at Progress Software, a NASDAQ-listed developer of service-oriented architecture (SOA) business software. She has also held numerous government and corporate advisory roles across the infrastructure, telecommunications, finance and technology industries, and is founder of Victoria .NET, an ICT industry initiative designed to promote awareness and establish Victoria as a hub for Microsoft .NET and XML web services development.

Share registry services provider, Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU), has become the first Australian information technology based company to smash the $1 billion annual revenue barrier with the announcement of a bumper year for 2005.

Recruitment and HR software provider, Talent2 International Ltd (ASX:TWO), has almost doubled its revenues and more than doubled its profit over the 2004 result for the 2005 financial year.

IT services provider Oakton Limited (ASX:OKN) has announced strong results for the 2005 financial year, with solid gains in both revenue and after tax earnngs.

IBM and Education Queensland have joined forces to bring the global Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering (EXITE) camp, aimed at encouraging women to join the ICT workforce, to Brisbane for the first time.