Monday, January 28, 2002		Latest in IT world

THE UAE recorded an Internet penetration rate of almost 30 per cent in 2001 which is above the European average of 20 per cent. Michael Tiger, head of OECD Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Services Policies said that in the Arab world, the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (AGCC) countries had an Internet penetration of 13.2 per cent. The UAE is the leader among Arab countries with 29.9 per cent of the population being Internet users. It is followed by Bahrain (18.7 pc, 1,20,000), Qatar (12.8 pc, 98,000), Kuwait (11.3 pc, 2,30,000), Lebanon (10 pc, 3,63,000), Jordan (5pc, 2,80,000), Saudi Arabia (2.68 pc, 610,000), Morocco (1.17 pc, 3,60,000), Egypt (1.05 pc, 650,000), and Algeria (0.6 pc, 1,90,000). There are an estimated 4.4 million Internet users in the Arab world with an average penetration rate of 5.8 per cent versus Europe's 20 per cent.

As thousands of US workers face layoffs and unemployment, www.Brilliant Work.com steps up as a premier provider of exceptional career counselling and corporate services to help people re-invent their lives in the midst of turmoil. "We need to embrace change, as frightening as it can be, and harness that energy to help us move into something greater than we've done before," BrilliantWork Founder, Sue Frederick says. "People go through cycles of change in their lives, and what may have been meaningful work in the past, may not be making them happy now. I can help people understand how to use that change to their advantage." Frederick, a former journalist, Website editor, and author, experienced the changing cycle of careers first-hand when she lost 5 high-powered Internet jobs in a row as the Internet began its downward spiral two years ago. This personal crisis empowered Frederick, a single mom, to re-examine her life.

Asia's information technology sector is poised for further shakeouts in the year ahead, most notably through job losses and supplier consolidation, research firm Gartner said last week, according to AP reports. "The IT industry faces accelerated job losses and vendor consolidation that will last through 2002, and as many as half of all it's suppliers that existed in 2001 will disappear from the competitive landscape by the end of 2003," said Ian Bertram, regional vice president for hardware platforms at Gartner. "Buyers' focus on tactical spending rather than on innovative new technology will have a major impact on vendors of servers, PCs, storage hardware, telecommunications and systems management software," the report said. "Storage vendors will face tough market conditions this year, with latest research indicating that 75 per cent of corporations in Asia-Pacific will not embark on any major storage acquisitions within the next 12 months," he said.

Onward Novell Software India Ltd, a joint venture organisation between Onward Network Technologies Ltd and Novell Inc., a leading provider of Net business solutions, has announced that Novell® Small Business Suite 6 is now available in India through Onward Novell Authorised ResellersSM and solution providers. A company's release stated that Novell Small Business Suite 6 provided core networking and storage capabilities to small businesses with up to 50 users. The suite includes Novell NetWare® 6 with its "access anywhere" features such as Novell iFolderT, iPrint and NetWare WebAccess that allow file, print, directory, e-mail and other core network resources to be accessed and managed from any desktop, from any device, in any location. This significantly reduces costs and management complexity.