Displaying items by tag: Tony Smith

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) ‘Discover 2016’ from 7-9 June was more than a gathering of the clan – it was a chance to see what this new lean, mean and highly focused company is doing in its four pillars – transform, enable, empower, and protect.

In all the speculation about the likely make-up of the Gillard Cabinet, there is one sure thing: Stephen Conroy will retain the Communications portfolio. And that's a good thing for the sector, which will no doubt welcome the continuity.

Tony Abbott has consigned the party of regional Australia - The Nationals - to the sidelines for the Coalition's negotiations with three rural independent MPs on forming Government, effectively cutting them out of any discussion on broadband in the bush.

Opinion: After an election campaign in which starkly different plans for Australia's broadband future have provided a clear choice between Gillard Labor and the Coalition, on balance, the tech sector's best interests are served if the Government is returned.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has pinned Labor's re-election hopes on a neatly woven narrative about the transformation of the Australian economy and delivery of government services that puts its National Broadband Network at the core of the final week of campaigning.

After a difficult start to the re-election campaign, Julia Gillard and Federal Labor are back on the front foot, and they can thank the stark policy choice being offered by the major parties on broadband for the leg-up.

The Coalition's "grab bag of policies" on broadband was too heavily reliant on wireless technologies that cannot deliver the speeds and capacity needed for future healthcare, education and business applications, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says.

Tony Abbott's $6.3 billion broadband plan "falls at the first hurdle" because it did not address the structural reform of the industry and would stifle competition in the telecommunications sector, the Competitive Carriers Coalition has warned.

The Coalition will spend $6.3 billion on a mix of fibre, cable and wireless technologies to deliver "affordable high-speed broadband" nationwide by 2016 with minimum speeds of 12Mbps.

The Australian tech sector awoke this morning bathed in the warmth of Coalition love after leader Tony Abbott unveiled ambitious communications and IT programs to underpin economic strength, productivity growth and wealth creation for generations to come'¦ No wait, hang on. That's not right.

Tony Smith must be a little miffed that shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey took it on himself to announce Coalition policy on the internet filter.

We are at the half way point in the federal election campaign and the technology sector has barely rated a mention. And I have a theory about that.

As election nervousness creeps into the telecommunications sector, the industry's peak lobby has called for all parties to commit to fundamental regulatory reforms to improve market competition and consumer outcomes.

All the momentum in this so far tedious federal election campaign has been Tony Abbott's, delivering opinion polls suggesting for the first time that he is a real chance of becoming Australia's next Prime Minister - and that the Coalition can make good its promise to scrap the national broadband network.

The Gillard Government will take the advice of its KPMG-McKinsey implementation study and roll-out optical fibre in its national broadband network to 93 per cent of Australians - instead of the 90 per cent originally planned.

For the tech industry, the 2010 election presents a crossroads, where the policy differences being presented to voters by the two major parties are stark.

The federal Opposition has restated its pledge to discontinue the "reckless" National Broadband Network roll-out if it wins government later this year, saying it would not proceed with the landmark cooperative agreement signed today between NBN Co and Telstra.

With the national broadband network implementation study now publicly released, the Government has tabled its crucial telecommunications reform legislation for debate in the Senate next Wednesday, and called on the opposition to get out of the way of a vote.

Tony Abbott's Opposition will scrap the $43 billion national broadband network if it wins Government later this year, despite a KPMG-McKinsey implementation study confirming the project would produce a healthy return on investment over 15 years.

Government is considering another round of public consultation on its controversial internet filter plans, this time to fine tune the transparency and accountability measures attached the complaints-based blacklist scheme.