"Half-billion dollar start-up" is hungry for more

A Thursday morning breakfast meeting with GXS' chairman/CEO Harvey Seegers and marketing director Reid Walker saw both men in a relaxed yet excited mood regarding the company's future following its split from General Electric. Datamonitor's Martin Atherton found out more about the B2B vendor's plans for expansion...

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'Proof-Win' - a means for Gordon Brown to deliver successful public sector IT projects?

The public sector will be one area where incoming UK prime minister Gordon Brown and his team will have their work cut out. The public sector has a culture not conducive to centralized IT project specification and governance, explaining the many projects that have hemorrhaged money and failed to deliver. This must be taken into account if large IT projects' chances of success are to be improved.

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2008 - the year of green IT

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, which runs from December 3 to 14 this year, looks set to send a clear and unambiguous message to the developed world: reduce your carbon footprint now before it is too late.

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A strengthened financial services compensation scheme comes at a price

The UK's Financial Services Authority has called for the substantial strengthening of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which guarantees savings up to GBP50,000 in the event of a deposit taker collapsing. Although this is good news for depositors, the cost to financial institutions will be steep, which will hit them hard, particularly at a time when IT expenditure has been severely cut.

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Abbey National: shaking up its iDTV service

Despite the skepticism surrounding banking via interactive digital television (iDTV), UK bank Abbey National has proven that it hasn't given up on the technology. It has updated its iDTV service on Sky Active. Updates include changes to the programming language, number of pages and the branding of the site. Other banks are likely to follow Abbey's lead.

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ABN Amro/EDS: outsourcing bandwagon starts rolling

ABN Amro looks set to outsource all IT services for its Wholesale Clients unit to EDS. The deal, worth at least $1.46 billion, will be one of the largest ever IT outsourcing deals in the banking industry. It could represent the turning of the tide for service providers - particularly as there are other, even larger FS outsourcing deals in the pipeline.

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Absolute Systems offers a payment switch for deposits in South Africa

Absolute Systems, a South African ATM software developer, has launched Imali, a payment switch for secure deposits, consisting of a switch and a strongbox for use in secure environments to which small retailers have access. The attractions of the Imali service are security, since the cash becomes the responsibility of the bank once it is in the strongbox, and also its real-time capability.

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Accenture/BioQ: promising alliance announced

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Adoption of home energy management systems restricted by cost and control issues

While home energy management systems are a useful way of reducing energy use, with benefits for consumers and utilities alike, the adoption of this technology is likely to be hampered by a number of factors including concerns over privacy and a lack of return on investment. As a result, uptake is likely to be optional and driven by sophisticated users and utilities struggling to meet peak demands.

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Allianz: don't discount Dresdner - yet

Although the industry continues to mock Allianz's purchase of Dresdner Bank, the German insurer begs to differ. Yes, the investment and corporate banking business is struggling - but the real value in the takeover lies in increased distribution for Allianz's insurance products, and the opportunity to grow retail market share as investors seek security.

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