Category: Technology

A multi-million-dollar program to modernise NSW’s licensing digital infrastructure is in turmoil amid significant delays and escalating costs. The Licence NSW program was created to migrate over 100 licensing services into an integrated whole-of-government system powered by Calytera’s Amanda solution by this year. However, documents seen by iTnews reveal that, despite receiving funding of almost $240 million, only a fraction of licensing systems have been successfully migrated and gone live in the new platform.  The Department of Customer Service (DCS), which is responsible for overseeing the program, is now preparing to request a further $130 million in order to complete ... Read more

Nvidia said it would take US$5.5 billion ($8.6 billion) in charges after the US government limited exports of its H20 artificial intelligence chip to China, a key market for one of its most popular chips. Nvidia’s AI chips have been a key focus of US export controls as US officials have moved to keep the most advanced chips from being sold to China as the US tries to keep ahead in the AI race. After those controls were implemented, Nvidia began designing chips that would come as close as possible to US limits. A US Commerce Department spokesperson said that it ... Read more

US officials will extend support for 11 months for a database of cyber weaknesses that plays a critical role in fighting bugs and hacks, just as the funding was due to run out. The expected cut-off of payments for the non-profit MITRE’s Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database had spread alarm across the cyber security community.  The US-backed database acts as a catalogue for cyber weaknesses and allows IT administrators to quickly flag and triage the different bugs and hacks discovered daily. The last-minute change of plan after the importance of the service was highlighted publicly is another instance of ... Read more

Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding globally, including to South America and Africa, as raids in Southeast Asia fail to contain their activities, the United Nations said in a report. Criminal networks that emerged in Southeast Asia in recent years, opening sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced to scam victims around the world, have evolved into a sophisticated global industry, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said. Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region, the agency said, ... Read more

The Australian Taxation Office has bundled VMware and CA Technologies’ licenses into a single $109 million renewal. The move coincides with the expiry of the ATO’s $69 million agreement for CA’s suite of mainframe software signed in March 2021. While its current contract with VMware, valued at $28.6 million, isn’t set to expire until January 2026, the ATO appears to have proactively wrapped it into this renewal alongside CA for another three years. Both CA Technologies and VMware are owned by Broadcom: the chipmaker bought CA Technologies in 2018 and completed its deal to buy the virtualisation software provider in ... Read more

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expects to receive pressure from social media giants to ease Australia’s impending ban on children using their platforms, with opposition Liberal leader Peter Dutton keen to agree with him in an election debate. President Donald Trump’s US administration has already raised the issue on behalf of the firms, mostly US-based, in relation to trade tariff negotiations. In the televised event ahead of a national election on May 3, Albanese and Dutton both pledged strong support for laws that force social media companies to negotiate to pay for local news hosted on their platforms, and ... Read more

Google is proposing to land two new subsea cables outside of designated protection zones in Sydney, owing to “congestion” within those zones. The company, through its “registered licence carrier company Perch Infrastructure”, has applied to the NSW government for permission to land the cables at Maroubra Beach in Sydney’s south. The application was first reported by CommsDay. It is also separately proposing that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) extend the boundary of the existing southern Sydney cable protection zone, which spans North Bondi to South Coogee. Google is building two cables under its Pacific Connect Initiative – Tabua and ... Read more

Alphabet’s Google needs strong measures imposed on it to prevent it from using its artificial intelligence products to extend its dominance in online search, a US Department of Justice attorney said as a trial in the historic antitrust case began. The outcome of the trial could fundamentally reshape the internet by unseating Google as the go-to portal for information online. The DOJ has compared the lawsuit to its past efforts to break up AT&T, Microsoft and Standard Oil. “The time to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences ... Read more

NSW Rural Fire Service has fitted Starlink to the first 53 of a planned 5000 vehicles under a $69 million project, with 20 vehicles participating in tests. The NSW government committed to equipping the RFS’ operational fleet with Starlink-powered vehicle-as-a-node (VaaN) technology over three years in August last year, saying at the time that installations would start sometime in 2024. An RFS spokesperson told iTnews that a delay in “contract finalisation” had “impacted the start of the design phase” for the project. “There have been some scheduling adjustments typical of large-scale programs, [but] the project remains on track and has met ... Read more

Intel’s quarterly results will offer the clearest look yet at new CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s turnaround strategy for the embattled American chipmaker, and investors are hoping for early signs that he is reversing years of strategic lapses. The company is set to post its fourth consecutive quarterly revenue drop on April 24. Once the dominant force in global chipmaking, Intel has been losing ground to AMD in the personal computer and data centre chip market, while Nvidia has leapt ahead in artificial intelligence. Tan, who quit Intel’s board in August 2024 after disagreements over the firm’s direction, took over as CEO in ... Read more