IT seems that no depth is too low for the unproductive parasites that continue to poison the internet channel. A recently spammed email claiming to provide news about Hurricane Katrina actually hides the JS_PHEL.K malware.

Dr Y. Jay Guo has joined the CSIRO ICT Centre as research director for the Wireless technologies laboratory. Dr Guo is a strategist and innovator in wireless research, specialising in wireless and mobile communications. He has over 20 years of industrial and academic experience in both research and R&D leadership. Dr Guo is particularly recognised for his work on mobile radio access networks and Fresnel zone antennas. Dr Guo has previously held senior positions with Fujitsu and Mobisphere – a Siemens and NEC joint venture – developing the third generation mobile communications networks. Prior to his work in industry, Dr Guo was senior fellow at the University of Bradford, England, where he managed a large research group focusing on CDMA cellular systems, wireless local area networks, signal processing, and antennas and propagation. He is alsothe author of two scientific books on mobile communications technologies and antennas, and over 80 scientific papers in top-tier research journals and at international conferences.

Management software vendor, Computer Associates (CA), has appointed Patrina Kerr as national channel sales manager, reporting to Vicki Bain, director channels and alliances.Kerr has 12 years IT industry experience across the Asia Pacific region, primarily in sales and marketing roles.  Prior to joining CA, Kerr worked in short term roles at Sage ACCPAC Australia and Altiris Australia and was the partner group manager for four years at Microsoft New Zealand.

IT services provider, Alphawest Services, has appointed Alan Keys as business solutions manager for South Australia. Keys has more than 25 years of experience in the IT, communications and high-tech manufacturing sectors. His background includes executive roles in government, large corporates and SMEs. For the past year Keys has been engaged in providing business advisory services for fast growth high-tech companies. Immediately prior to this, he was employed by Sun Microsystems Australia, in a territory and business development role.

Investment management software vendor, DST International, has bolstered its Australia sales force with an internal promotion and two new appointments. Account executive Brian Cahalane, who joined the organisation in 2004, has been promoted internally and given added responsibility for also managing DSTi’s regional business processes management opportunities. Joining DSTi are sales executive, Brad Rosenthal and business development executive, Adam Ratner. Rosenthal has responsibility for DSTi’s investment management platforms for fund accounting, risk and performance.  He has experience in the investment management, wealth management, banking and stock broking sectors for FMC Software. Ratner comes from his role as business development manager at van Eyk Research.  His background also includes business development and relationship management roles with Zurich Financial Services, Charles Schwab and Citibank.

Well Communications Minister Helen Coonan asked for it and Telstra obliged in a most unconvincing and, for shareholders, painful manner.

A small Victorian IT services company has been given a lucrative multi-million dollar contract to implement the massive 2006 Commonwealth Games network, ahead of a host of multinational IT juggernauts.

The second quarter of 2005 saw the Australia smart handheld device market post record growth yet again but the future of PDAs remains in doubt as converged devices increase in popularity.

IT training group, Computer Power Corporate Training, has introduced a new training course for IT professionals that provides them with a recognised qualification in systems hacking.

Web hosting and digital recording company, WebCentral Group Limited (ASX:WCG), has recorded a bumper revenue and profits year, with strong growth in both of its main revenue generating businesses.

IT consulting services provider, CPT Global (ASX:CGO) has promised a year of organic growth in 2006, after a relatively stagnant financial year ending 30 June 2005.

Customer process management provider, Onyx, has appointed John Ward as managing director for its operations in Australia, based in Sydney. Ward replaces Leonie Tulk, who has retired to a ‘sea change’ lifestyle on the NSW north coast.  Ward will be will manage the company’s sales team and its channel partner community throughout Australia as the company roles out its new branding and messaging. He brings extensive sales and general management experience, coupled with expertise in the software application and contact centre solution marketplace. Ward joins Onyx Software from Touchbase Communications, where he was most recently COO for ANZ.  Previously he was MD for Touchbase Communications in Europe where he ran all areas of the Customer Interaction Management (CIM) portfolio.  He has also held senior roles with UK based companies including CRM director with Avaya Communications, country manager for Quintus International, sales director with Aspect Telecommunications and national sales and EMEA marketing manager for Rockwell Electronic Commerce.

Mobile asset management provider, Dexterra, has appointed Drew Mitchell as Vice President, Asia Pacific, based in Sydney. Mitchell has worked with some of the technology industry’s biggest names over the past 28 years including Oracle Corporation and StorageTek. Career highlights include winning Oracle’s largest single order for software to British Telecom and leading major campaigns into Westpac and Boral for Oracle.

IT services provider, Datacom, has acquired Brisbane-based IT services company NetOptions in a drive to expand its Queensland reach.

Worldwide PBX revenue grew 12% to US$1.6 billion between the first and second quarters of 2005, and is forecast to total close to US$7 billion in 2005, according to a new enterprise telephony report.

Content solutions provider, Indigo Pacific, has implemented an Adobe documents enhancement for the SAP enterprise system of fashion group PlayCorp.

Security vendor, GFI Asia Pacific, has released an access control plug-in for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server to allow real time monitoring of the sites users are browsing and the files they are downloading.

Printers vendor, Canon Australia, has appointed Steve Doszpot as general manager of its Canberra branch to drive the company's growth in the government sector. Prior to joining Canon Australia, Doszpot acted in a consulting capacity for Canon for 12 months. He has also previously held senior executive positions with Wang Computer Australia and the former Digital Equipment Corporation. In 1989 he established Canberra Strategic Marketing, where he delivered government relations, business development, lobbying and specialist marketing services to the information technology and corporate sectors. In 1998, Doszpot acted as Canberra Events Director for the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee.  He is also an executive of the Tuggeranong Community Council, a past president of Soccer Canberra and the ACT Olympic Council. Doszpot is also a former member of the boards of CanTrade (the ACT Government Advisory Board) and the Canberra Institute of Technology.

Printers manufacturer, Lexmark International, has named David Chan as president and general manager of Lexmark Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. Chan joins Lexmark with more than 25 years of experience in senior Asian positions within IT companies in Asia Pacific. Chan started his career with IBM in Singapore and spent 15 years there. He was the general manager of products and services when he left IBM. Subsequently, he then joined Dell as the vice president for Asia for five years and also started Dell business including manufacturing operations in China. His last job prior to Lexmark was with EMC where he joined the storage company as the vice president for Greater China and Southeast Asia.

Network infrastructure provider, VeriSign, has expanded its Asia Pacific team with three new appointments based in Sydney. David Lawton has been appointed as account manager – enterprise. Prior to joining VeriSign, Lawton was business development manager for Dimension Data’s managed services division.  He also held senior account management positions at Com Tech, Dimension Data and more recently SecureData Group, which was acquired by Dimension Data in 2004. Stephan Overbeek has been appointed as managing security consultant.  Prior to joining VeriSign, he was managing consultant for Cybertrust in Australia. Emma Keen has been appointed as marketing manager for the VeriSign Security Services division in Asia Pacific, responsible for corporate marketing and public relations in the region. Prior to joining VeriSign, Keen was PR and marketing communications manager for MessageLabs in Asia Pacific. Before that she managed enterprise public relations in the region for Symantec.