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The awards, which are run annually by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), recognise ICT best practice at all levels of government and were highlighted by the naming of the Department of Human Services as the Overall Excellence in eGovernment (and Service Delivery category award winner) for their Express Plus mobile app.

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Council won in the Applications Development Category for an eBusiness platform providing a single window to online services, while the South Australian Resources Information Geoserver (SARIG) 2020 project – which integrates over 400 spatial data sets from across government and the private sector – was named the best geospatial project.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Census Spotlight project took out the prize in the Government 2.0 category, while Adelaide City Council’s Microsoft Lync-based unified communications implementation was awarded in the Project and Program Management category.

A number of individuals were also recognised in the awards, with Pia Waugh of the Department of Finance taking home the Government 2.0 Innovator Award and Kiama Municipal Council’s John Holland and the Wollondilly Shire Council IT team receiving the ICT Professional of the Year Awards.

Read the full list of winners and finalists here.

Also announced on the night were the winners of the CeBIT.AU Business Awards, which were run in conjunction with the massive ICT conference held in Sydney this week.

MyNetFone took out one of the four awards, in the Outstanding Project category, for its work implementing Voice over IP services to the Tasmanian government. The project, according to the judges, “delivered a financial and technical outcome which allowed seamless migration to the next-generation technologies in the future.” – David Braue

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TWO SPEAKING STREAMS | EXHIBITION | CASE STUDIES | WORKSHOPS

This practical conference will cover all the key issues relating to the maintenance and management of Local Government and Public Sector Buildings.

Hume City Council developed an in-house application for the Management, Maintenance and Financial Planning of all Council owned buildings over existing GIS Infrastructure.  The base principle of this Building Module is to treat each building as a spatial object and place each building footprints on to the exact location over the map area and link all relevant information to these objects. – Recep Alakus, GIS Administrator, Hume City Council 

KEY  TOPICS

WATER AND ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS

OPERATING – MAINTAINING  – RETROFITTING – BUILDING MANAGEMENT

MAINTENANCE AND FINANCIAL PLANNING APPLICATION UTILISING SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY

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The National Cloud Computing Strategy (NCCS) – launched at the CeBIT conference in Sydney by minister for broadband, communications and the digital economy Stephen Conroy – is built around three core goals: maximising the value of cloud computing in government; promoting cloud computing to small businesses, not-for-profits and consumers; and supporting a vibrant cloud services sector.

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) will take a key role in efforts to promote cloud adoption across government agencies. This includes the pursuit of specific action items around the three core goals, including:

• Educating government decision makers about how to evaluate, procure and manage cloud services.
• Establish information-sharing initiatives for sharing best-practice case studies, risk management approaches and practical lessons based on other agencies’ experiences.
• Adjustment to procurement practices so that government agencies are required to consider public cloud services for new ICT procurements.
• The transition of public-facing Web sites to public cloud services.
• Development by year’s end of a business case that will analyse the benefits and drawbacks of centralising the provision of cloud services to Australian government agencies.

AGIMO has been working to formalise policies for cloud computing for years: for example, the agency released its Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper, two years ago.

Having cloud procurement formalised as government policy, however, takes the idea to a significant new level. Conroy’s department will work with the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research, and Tertiary Education to enlist member associations and tailor information to particular industry segments, improve SMB education about cloud services, and enhance the existing Digital Enterprise, Enterprise Connect, Technology and Knowledge Connect, Digital Local Government and Small Business Advisory Service programs.

The government will also work with the Australian Computer Society and other stakeholders to develop a voluntary Cloud Consumer Protocol to improve disclosure and transparency for cloud consumers. It will also formalise guidance for cloud providers around the new privacy laws that will begin in March 2014.

As well as promoting and educating the market about cloud opportunities, the NCCS will see the government working with industry and educational institutions to build skills and training pathways for “cloud-aware ICT professionals”. Australia will be promoted through Austrade as a “trusted hub” for data storage and processing, with the aim of luring foreign investment and participation. The government will also be closely involved in ad hoc cloud computing issues as they arise. – David Braue

Read the full policy (PDF) here.

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The Digital Government Conference 2014  – incorporating the 4th Annual Cloud Computing Forum – will provide the three tiers of government and the wider public sector with the tools to maximise the service delivery, efficiency and cost benefits of digital technologies including cloud services, mobile and big data analytics while gaining an understanding of how to manage the security and privacy threats and challenges of these technologies. The Conference includes the following forums:

Cloud Computing Mobility   Big Data Digital Security & Services

ABOUT THE 4TH ANNUAL CLOUD COMPUTING FORUM

The 4th Annual Cloud Computing Forum will address key issues influencing the deployment of cloud computing technologies within government. Now in it’s fourth year, the Forum has a proven track record of attracting Government CIOs and Senior IT Managers to discuss the latest trends, issues and applications of Cloud Services and in 2013 attracted attendees from more than 100 organisations, including Federal and State Government departments.

ABOUT THE BIG DATA FORUM

The Big Data Forum 2014 will provide detailed analysis of how governments and the enterprise can improve productivity, efficiency and service delivery using Big Data, while protecting the privacy and security of sensitive citizen information

ABOUT THE MOBILITY FORUM

The Mobility Forum 2014 will address the need for organisations to develop strategies to address the challenges and opportunities of a myriad of devices, applications, platforms and services.

ABOUT THE DIGITAL SECURITY & SERVICES FORUM

The Digital Security and Services Forum will provide insight into how governments can use digital and online technologies to improve service delivery and create internal efficiencies while also addressing the security issues of operating in a digital environment.

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As principal support agency for Parliament House in Canberra, DPS provides a range of ICT services to the departments of the Senate and the House of Representatives, delivering everything from Web site hosting to productivity tools and support.

NEC Australia has already been providing services to DPS since 2003, having inherited the previous contract held by CSG IT Services when it was acquired by NEC last year.

The new contract will see the services giant providing managed ICT services to members and senators across its 260 sites across Australia. Under the terms of the deal, NEC will manage over 260 servers, 1300 desktops, 300 laptops and 700 printers.

“NEC Australia is a long term service provider to the Department of Parliamentary Services and we are pleased to continue providing the highest quality support to the Department and its clients,” Colin Cooper, general manager for Federal government business with NEC Australia said in a statement.

“Our multi-vendor technology solutions approach, backed by NEC Australia’s reliable, flexible and nationwide support capabilities, has yet again proven to be the right choice for our customers.”

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The company had for years resisted such a move, arguing instead that Australian concerns about data sovereignty were unwarranted and that its emerging Azure cloud platform offered enough data protection for sensitive applications.

Now, however, Microsoft will put the country on the Azure map with the establishment of a Windows Azure major region in Australia, comprising two sub-regions in NSW and Victoria. This architecture will provide for redundancy within Australia, allowing Microsoft to address customer requirements around service redundancy and data sovereignty.

The move follows the local entry of cloud-computing giants like Amazon Web Services and IBM, which have brought their own cloud offerings to Australian customers in recent months.

Microsoft’s service will provide both platform services and infrastructure offerings and is available now for test-and-development uses, Microsoft Australia server and tools business lead Toby Bowers wrote in a blog post today announcing the Azure move.

“We know that providing disaster recovery, while ensuring data sovereignty goals are met, is critical to many of our customer and we look forward to delivering a solution that meets those requirements,” Bowers wrote.

“Today’s announcement is focused on satisfying our customers’ needs for an enterprise class public cloud, delivered locally, with all the security, reliability and scalability they expect. It is the starting point for a new era of cloud services in Australia.”

The move was already resonating with clinical-care software provider iCareHealth Australia, for which the promise of data sovereignty controls has proved immediately tempting.

“Windows Azure services will help iCareHealth deliver the electronic tools to nursing and care staff to assist them in their work of delivering consistent, high quality care to an increasingly larger number of elderly Australians, and those with special needs,” managing director Chris Gray said in a statement.

Another early adopter is iron-ore producer Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), which is using Microsoft’s StorSimple cloud-storage offering for its on-premises storage and expects to move half of its environment into Windows Azure by the end of June.

“StorSimple and Windows Azure provide the best of both worlds – the economies of the cloud with on-premises levels of performance and security,” said CIO Vito Forte in a statement. “Public cloud comes first, but hybrid cloud/on-premises gets used where necessary”. – David Braue

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