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SECNAP SpammerTrap Wins 2009 Tomorrow’s Technology Today Award
Named Best Email Security Solution by Info Security Products Guide
The SpammerTrap(R) Email Security appliance has won the prestigious Tomorrow’s Technology Today Award, sponsored by Info Security Products Guide in recognition of advanced, ground-breaking technologies and solutions that raise the bar in the information security space.
SECNAP(R) Network Security Corporation produces the SpammerTrap, which was honored in the Email Security category for its positive impact in today’s sophisticated, blended-attacks environment. SpammerTrap protects organizations from spam-borne viruses, Trojans, worms and other malware, and offers in and outbound encryption and content filtering, archiving and more – all in one appliance.
“Our developers make certain that SpammerTrap stays ahead of the pack,” said Jim Garrity, vice president of sales and marketing for SECNAP. “A recent product enhancement, for example, included thousands of QuickScan signatures and a ClamAV anti-virus update to ensure our clients continue to receive the most advanced protection. And the fact that we offer everything in one smart box, at one low price, is revolutionary in the industry.”
The ongoing evolution of cybercrime demands constant vigilance, as well as tomorrow’s technology today.
“Nothing differentiates a product or solution more than the superior technologies that make it suitable for today’s needs, while being ready for the threats of tomorrow,” said Rake Narang, editor-in-chief of Info Security Products Guide. “We are pleased to recognize SpammerTrap for being ahead of the curve.”
Offered through the SECNAP Channel One partner network, SpammerTrap was dubbed “King of Spam Filters” in a product review by SC Magazine last year. A complimentary 30-day evaluation of the appliance or hosted solution is available on request.
Source: SECNAP Network Security Corporation
Panda Security Will Present at Anti-Phishing Working Group Counter Electronic Crime Summit to Help Combat Internet Crime
Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, will present about the exponential growth of malware in recent months and prevention methods
Panda Security, a leading global provider of IT security solutions, announced that Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, will present at the 3rd Annual Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) Counter-Ecrime Operations Summit (CeCOS III) in Barcelona on May 12-14, 2009. Industry and public agency electronic crime responders, investigators and counter-electronic crime technologists from across the globe will gather in Barcelona next month for this international conference dedicated to uniting the industry and public sector response to the global electronic crime afflictions.
CeCOS III will unite IT operations, security, and law enforcement thought-leaders from Europe, America, Australia, East Asia and South Asia for to voice operational priorities in the global confrontation against phishing and electronic crime. The conference is venue for addressing questions of operational challenges and the development of common resources for first responders, law enforcement officials and forensic professionals that protect consumers and enterprises from electronic crime threats every day.
“The criminal artisans that have organized on the Internet are growing in technical sophistication and command, and in their capacity to cloak themselves from detection,” said Peter Cassidy, APWG secretary general. “At CeCOS III, the APWG will make a very important proposition: to create a unified response to electronic crime as organized as the crimes themselves — a response to electronic crime without frontiers.”
Corrons will present on how numerous new strains of malware are appearing every day and saturating security laboratories. He will go on to describe how new detection technologies such as cloud-based protection can help combat this inundation of malware.
“Every day we are detecting an average of 30,000 new strains of malware, most of which are designed with a financial motive, such as stealing bank passwords or selling fake antivirus software,” said Corrons. “This is all symptomatic of the huge business that now centers around malware. I will be describing this situation and looking at how we can stop it.”
For more detail on the program’s content, visit the CeCOS III agenda: http://www.antiphishing.org/events/2009_opSummit.html
Source: Panda Security
Recosoft Corporation Launches Newest Version of Its PDF-to-Office Formats Conversion Tool PDF2Office v5.0 for Windows
PDF2Office v5.0 – Convert PDF files directly to native Excel, Word and PowerPoint formats; newest version of the PDF-to-Office formats conversion tool for Windows ships.
Recosoft Corporation is the developer of the PDF2Office(R) family of products, PDF2ID(R) tool for InDesign(R), cross platform file format conversion solutions and PDF converters ships PDF2Office Standard and PDF2Office Professional v5.0 for Windows.
PDF2Office Standard and PDF2Office Professional v5.0 now convert PDF documents to the Microsoft(R) Excel format; converting each page in a PDF file into a corresponding worksheet in the resulting Excel file; formatting text, graphics and images. Additionally, PDF2Office Standard and PDF2Office Professional v5.0 includes over 150+ enhancements related to PDF-to-Office format conversions. Finally, PDF2Office Standard and PDF2Office Professional v5.0 directly convert PDF documents to the Office 2007 XML as well as the Office 97-2003 binary file formats.
PDF2Office enables you to recover and reuse the data stored in PDF documents — making them available for use by anyone and eliminating the need to acquire and install additional PDF editing software and tools resulting in huge cost savings in both time and expense.
Key New Features
Convert to Spreadsheet format
PDF2Office v5.0 converts PDF files to the Microsoft Excel format.
Convert directly to Office 97-2003 or Office 2007 formats
PDF2Office Standard and PDF2Office Professional directly converts PDF files to the native Microsoft Excel/Word/PowerPoint 97-2003 binary file formats and the Excel/Word/PowerPoint 2007 XML formats.
Open PDF documents in Microsoft Excel
A new PDF2Office plug-in for Microsoft Excel has been added allowing selecting and converting PDF documents directly within Excel 2000-2007.
Typeface Library
PDF2Office v5.0 remembers and stores all font substitutions into a Typeface Library. This eliminates having to repeatedly specify font substitutions. The mappings in the Typeface Library can be replaced and overridden as required.
PDF Reconstruction v4.5
PDF2Office Professional now includes the latest PDF Reconstruction v4.5 engine offering dramatic enhancements when converting PDF documents, including enhanced graphics processing, and complex layout and PDF data recognition. General improvements have also been made in identifying footnotes and headers/footers.
PDF2Office Standard v5.0 and PDF2Office Professional v5.0 are available immediately in the following configurations from Recosoft’s online store
PDF2Office Professional v5.0 US$99.00
PDF2Office Professional v5.0 upgrade US$49.00
(for PDF2Office v2.5/4.0 Professional licensees)
PDF2Office Standard v5.0 US$69.00
PDF2Office Standard v5.0 upgrade US$39.00
(for PDF2Office Personal/Standard v2.0-v4.0 licensees)
Source: Recosoft Corporation
PGP Encryption Platform Extends Support to IBM i for Power Systems
PGP(R) Command Line for IBM Power Systems Provides Native Support for Secure File Transfers and Encryption at the Source
PGP Corporation, a global leader in enterprise data protection, announced a new release of PGP(R) Command Line for IBM Power Systems in conjunction with its presence this week at Infosecurity Europe 2009 in London and at IBM’s 2009 Common Annual Meeting and Exhibition dedicated to IBM Power System users and partners, in Reno, NV. PGP Corporation is continuing to extend its support for a broad range of operating systems including midrange and mainframe environments, Windows, Unix, Linux and now IBM i; making it even easier for enterprises to integrate and automate business information security with end-to-end encryption. With this release, enterprise customers now have unparalleled choice and flexibility when it comes to securing the privacy and confidentiality of their data exchange between heterogeneous systems internally, and externally with third-party business partners.
IBM i (formerly known as i5/OS(R)) supports virtualized, large transaction processing and line-of-business (LOB) applications typically deployed in vertical industries such as financial services, retail, insurance, manufacturing and distribution. Businesses in these vertical markets handle extremely high-volumes of confidential data, such as credit card numbers, bank account information, employee payroll and benefit forms, health care information, and patient data. Customer and partner data from these types of applications are most often being transferred to third-parties and external sources for billing and collection, data back-up and storage archival processes. To ensure the confidentiality and privacy of customer and partner information, whether the data is in use, at rest, or in transit, it must be protected and encrypted at all times in the case of interception, loss or theft. Even more importantly, data must be protected to meet stringent compliance and regulatory mandates, in addition to corporate security policies and practices.
PGP(R) Command Line for IBM Power Systems enables administrators to add encryption to existing business processes including batch processing, data transfer and backup. By automating the encrypted transfer and back-up of large volumes of business data, IBM Power Systems customers using PGP Command Line can ensure compliance with corporate mandates and information security regulations. With PGP Command Line, IBM Power Systems administrators can easily integrate information security and data protection into existing automation scripts and back-up processes – data moving across networks and stored on servers is encrypted and protected at the source. With PGP(R) technology, the integrity of the data is supported throughout its lifecycle with end-to-end encryption, no matter where the data resides.
Examples of how PGP Command Line secures data on IBM Power Systems include:
- Moving data to and from remote corporate offices, partner, or customer sites over internal networks or the public Internet;
- Data residing on servers accessible by local system administrators or exposed to other unauthorized personnel by gaps in the local security infrastructure; and
- Data transferred for offsite storage and in danger of being lost, misplaced, or stolen.
“PGP Corporation continues to evolve the PGP(R) Encryption Platform to support more operating systems, platforms and devices to meet the data security needs of any type of enterprise environment,” said Steven Schoenfeld, vice president of Products and Strategy at PGP Corporation. “PGP Command Line is ideal for organizations with high-volumes of sensitive data that they are moving between data centers. By adding support for IBM i, we are enabling enterprises using IBM Power Systems to encrypt data at the source, thereby strengthening their data security infrastructure.”
Availability
PGP(R) Command Line for the IBM i for Power Systems is generally available today through the PGP(R) global network of resellers.
Source: PGP Corporation
System Imaging Made Easier Than Ever With FileWave 3.7
FileWave, a technology leader for software management on the Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux systems, announces the release of FileWave 3.7 for Mac OS. In addition to distributing, installing and configuring operating system upgrades, FileWave permits users to efficiently mass deploy and manage all other types of software, from large ready-to-use applications such as Adobe Creative Suite 4 and Microsoft Office to vital security patches, both in a single- and a multi-platform environment.
FileWave(TM) 3.7, with its own significant performance enhancements and greater administrative flexibility, transforms the process of installing a complicated and time-consuming upgrade into a straightforward and hassle-free affair. FileWave(TM) 3.7 includes a new feature to re-image an entire computer. FileWave had always been able to deliver and remove software but now we’ve made it easier to duplicate an existing computer and have other computers have exactly the same software installed. To use the FileWave Imager the FileWave Administrator selects a mounted disk volume and creates a new installation from the mounted disk volume. Additionally, the Administrator can control pre and post-installation actions to preserve computer names and user settings.
Additional enhancements to FileWave 3.7 include better searching for clients contained in groups, an idle-log-out of FileWave Admins from the FileWave Server and Fileset Properties to give finer grained control of Filesets stored on the FileWave Server.
“We are pleased to ship FileWave 3.7 with the imaging and Fileset Properties features for the Mac OS,” says Ben Forsyth, Director of Software Development at FileWave (USA), Inc. “We’ve had many requests from our customer base to provide a more seamless imaging solution and with FileWave 3.7, those features are now available.”
FileWave develops, markets and integrates the software management tools FileWave(TM) and Asset Trustee(TM). These products deploy, monitor, and manage applications in enterprise network environments based on Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh systems. Customers of FileWave include Nike, Gruner + Jahr, LEGO, Publicis and Viacom. For additional information, please visit www.filewave.com.
Keith Curtis Authors a Case for Free Software that Could Change the World
How would you like to have your own high-tech chauffeur?
Keith Cary Curtis, author of After the Software Wars, says it could happen right now.
“All we need is a video camera on the roof, plugged into a PC,” says Curtis. “We have all the necessary hardware, and have had it for years, but don’t yet have robot-driven cars because we don’t have the software.”
“The key to faster technological progress is the more widespread use of free software,” says Curtis.
He says we still live in the dark ages of computing because proprietary software is still the dominant model. And he takes off in a very gutsy way about Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others. He touts open source solutions like Linux and claims they are the future, and are right now reaching critical mass.
Curtis was a programmer at Microsoft for 11 years, working on Windows, Office, and in Microsoft research, when he left the company to write his book.
Curtis, born in Birmingham, Michigan, attended the University of Michigan and studied Computer Science. He was recruited by Microsoft and moved to Seattle, Washington where he lives.
What does he predict for the future? Will Microsoft survive? Will free software prevail? Well, you have to read the book.
After the Software Wars is available at Amazon.com and other online book retailers. The book has also been reviewed by the New York Times and is the topic of discussion on many blogs.
John Markoff of the New York Times:
“Keith Curtis takes a programmer’s approach in Software Wars, attempting to systematically build a case that software can help pave the way for a 21st-century renaissance in many fields ranging from artificial intelligence (cars that drive themselves) to the human journey into space (space elevators). For Keith, free software is all about leveraging our collective intelligence.”
Lorenz Gude of www.newmediatheory.net:
After the Software Wars is hard to put down because it makes a passionate and compelling case for free software and upsets our industrial age assumptions with new understanding. Curtis’ argument is based in experience and like a good lawyer he forces us to consider the merit of his argument.
FREE: Download the book at www.lulu.com/content/4964815
Source: Keith Curtis
AVG Launches Free Protection Against Online Threats
Standalone AVG LinkScannerR delivers real-time protection for Windows users, no matter what other security products they may use
AVG Technologies, developers of the world’s leading free anti-virus software, is launching AVG LinkScanner as a free standalone product to protect users against random, invisible online threats. On any given day, some two million web pages are poisoned by hidden threats. And every day, 60 percent of those threats shut down or move to a different destination on the web – which makes real-time link scanning crucial.
Any type of site can be affected, from a small business to a government department to a major brand-name company. If a user simply visits one of these poisoned web pages they don’t even need to click on anything to get into real trouble, to lose their credit card details, their ID or other valuable information or files. Regular anti-virus software alone cannot protect against this type of threat.
AVG LinkScanner gives users an additional real-time layer of protection on top of their existing security software. It works by looking at the web page behind a link or a web address typed into a browser and analyzing whether it harbors a threat. If it does, then AVG LinkScanner stops the user from ownloading that page. This means that, for the first time, Windows XP and Vista users can truly know whether it is safe to click on a link at the only time that matters – when they click on it.
“It’s our belief that every computer user has the right to basic security protection, regardless of the ability to pay,” said J R Smith, AVG Technologies’ CEO. “These dangerous web pages threaten to disrupt the very fabric of the internet as well as how we view and use it; posing an even bigger threat to users than viruses. Our 80 million users are already protected by AVG LinkScanner, which has been an essential part of our suite of security products for some time. So now we’re making it available to users of other major security software brands, who just don’t have the same degree or protection. Now any PC user can surf and search the web with confidence and without fear of losing their ID, bank account information, credit card details, valuable files and information to cybercrooks.”
AVG LinkScanner also applies this targeted analysis of web pages to search results from Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Whenever users search using these search engines, they will see safety rankings for all ‘organic’ search results. In addition, the AVG LinkScanner will scan your bookmarks as well as links contained in instant messages and emails before you open them to ensure they are safe.
The AVG LinkScanner Advantage
AVG LinkScanner’s unique ability to analyze web links in real time enables AVG to deliver far more accurate and relevant protection than other safe-surfing solutions. Checking the safety of a page at the precise time the user is about to click to it is crucial in today’s world of transient threats. Relying on information about a web site’s relative safety days or weeks in the past cannot protect users against threats that remain in one place for less than 24 hours; and so AVG has rejected the traditional approach of relying on information about sites previously found to have been poisoned.
Unlike other solutions, AVG LinkScanner analyzes individual pages on a web site to generate a rating for those pages. Imagine that one or two pages on a vast site like Facebook or MySpace are being used to spread malware. If a safe-surfing solution only rates entire sites based on what it finds on a couple of pages, a bad rating on those one or two poisoned pages would result in blocking users’ access to any of their friends’ pages on that site.
“The Web has become the primary distribution mechanism for viruses (and other malware), drive-by downloads and other stealthy web threats which epresent vast majority of attacks,” said AVG Technologies CTO Karel Obluk.”So we’ve evolved our product range to put greater emphasis on ombating this more insidious and dangerous form of attack. AVG LinkScanner is at the front line of this additional protective layer. It’s our goal, by making this layer freely available, to give users the confidence to always feel safe when they go online.”
Neighborhood Watch Research
AVG’s “neighborhood watch” approach to AVG LinkScanner research also increases the product’s ability to provide relevant protection to users – putting the protection where users actually go and when they go there, rather than trying to map and secure the entire Internet. The LIVE Intelligence Network has for the past five years focused solely on this area of evolving threats through the combined resources of: a global team of expert human researchers and a network of ‘hunting pots’
- an intelligent filter for known and suspected threat distribution sites and mechanisms
- automated threat encounter feedback, ensuring focus on real-world threats that affect real users
AVG LinkScanner aggregates intelligence gained through these three channels, correlates it in real time, and integrates it back into the threat analysis process to continually improve user protection.
Other tricks are being developed all the time, and users should not assume they are safe if some other pop-up appears while they’re surfing the web or downloading files. Running AVG LinkScanner will protect users against new as well as existing forms of social engineering trickery.
Availability and System Requirements
AVG LinkScanner continues the AVG Technologies mission to deliver lightweight, easy-to-use solutions that don’t slow users’ computers down and provide robust protection as soon as they’re installed. The software is free for use on any personal home computer for non-commercial purposes. It can be downloaded from http://linkscanner.avg.com. Support is available through a free online forum hosted by AVG at http://freeforum.avg.com.
AVG LinkScanner runs under all current versions of Windows XP and Vista, both 32- and 64-bit. The software is compatible with all major security software and with Internet Explorer 6 or later and Firefox 2 or later browsers. AVG LinkScanner is available today in English and will be available in Brazilian Portuguese, Czech Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Korean, Bahasa, Chinese (Traditional & Simplified), Russian and Malay from mid May.
New PureSense Irrigation Manager Software Offers Complete Tool for Planning and Scheduling Irrigations
PureSense Environmental Inc. introduced the newest version of its Irrigation Manager(TM) software that offers growers significant improvements for scheduling and planning irrigations throughout the growing season.
Irrigation Manager Version 4.0 (V4) was launched April 22 during an event hosted by The Center for Irrigation Technology and PureSense at the Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology (WET) Incubator on the campus of California State University, Fresno.
Growers, crop consultants and other invited guests attended the meeting titled Managing Irrigation in a Water-Short Year, which featured strategies and tools to help growers cope with a shrinking water supply. A highlight of the meeting was a demonstration of the new Irrigation Manager V4, as well as a panel of growers who talked about how they can make better crop irrigation decisions and realize more profit per acre through efficient water use and crop inputs.
PureSense provides technology and services tailored to help growers realize more profit per acre through the efficient use of water and other farm inputs. Field monitoring stations collect deep soil moisture status and climate information then transmit that information in real-time to PureSense servers. Grower’s then access up-to-date information on irrigation requirements via the Web on their computer or mobile phone.
“The new Irrigation Manager V4 offers major enhancements over previous versions, giving growers a complete water-management tool to drive season-long irrigation decision-making,” said PureSense CEO Keith Hartley.
“PureSense is the only irrigation management system supporting real-time monitoring with irrigation planning, scheduling and agronomic tools and advice. No other company offers this level of reliable data collection from a grower’s fields. The data collected is accurate, reliable and never more than 15-minutes old,” Hartley added.
Almond grower Steve Paul said the new Irrigation Manager V4 allows him to monitor from his laptop computer soil moisture status, actual inches of water applied, and site-specific evapotranspiration rates to make more informed irrigation decisions.
Paul farms nearly 3,800 acres of almonds in the Shafter/Wasco area of Kern County, Calif., using PureSense.
“PureSense takes the guesswork out of managing my irrigation. I can go online from anytime, anyplace and know what’s going on in my field and with my irrigation system,” Paul said. “The information is reliable and simple to understand so I know what is happening and can schedule and plan accordingly.”
The new Planning and Scheduling tools in Irrigation Manager V4 help growers budget the amount of water required for each plant growth stage and schedule irrigations based on current soil moisture availability, weather/canopy climate conditions and site- specific evapotranspiration rates.
In addition to these enhancements, Irrigation Manager V4 software now provides real-time information on irrigation system operation and actual inches of applied water so growers can track water use and communicate that information to their irrigators.
Source: PureSense Environmental Inc.
IronKey Introduces New Identity Manager Software With VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) One-Time Password Service
Personal Security Device Integrates VIP Credential to Provide Two-Factor Authentication to Online Accounts, Preventing Account Takeover by Phishers and Cyber Criminals
IronKey, maker of the world’s most secure flash drive, announced that its next generation of IronKey Personal and IronKey Enterprise flash drives include a powerful new Identity Manager software, which extends the capabilities of its current Password Manager with built-in VeriSign(R) Identity Protection services. This combination enables true two-factor Internet authentication for users that log into VIP Network member websites, including eBay and PayPal.
With the IronKey Identity Manager software and the VIP credential on the IronKey drive, users benefit from convenient personal identity protection and secure access when visiting VIP Network member websites. By binding their user account to their IronKey device, consumers can prevent cyber criminals from taking over their online accounts. To log into their accounts, users need their username, password, and the VIP credential on their IronKey device. This means that cyber criminals can no longer use a stolen username or password to take over these online accounts.
“Consolidating encryption, identity management, secure authentication and secure Web browsing on a single device not only improves usability, it makes it easy for consumers to remain protected online,” said David Jevans, CEO at IronKey. “The direct integration of a VIP credential is a natural extension to the inherent security of IronKey devices, and reinforces our commitment to online identity protection.”
The IronKey Identity Manager provides secure one-click access to passwords, delivering convenience and protection against keystroke capturing malware. With the my.ironkey.com service, users can safely backup their passwords online and, if they lose their IronKey device, they can securely restore their passwords on a new IronKey drive. IronKey’s virtual keyboard eliminates the need to type passwords on the physical keyboard, providing an additional level of protection against key loggers.
“Consumers today enjoy the convenience of online banking, shopping, medical and other services, and they absolutely recognize the importance of protecting personal online information and identities,” said Jeff Burstein, VIP product manager at VeriSign. “Deploying VIP credentials on IronKey USB devices makes it convenient for consumers to protect their digital identities and avoid online fraud using one credential to span the entire VIP Network.”
Consumer identities are vulnerable. The more places personal identity information is stored, the higher the chances of identity theft. When used with the VIP Authentication Service, VIP credentials provide consumers with an easy-to-use, cost-effective way to protect their identity online. With the VIP credential embedded on an IronKey device, consumers carry one device for all their data and identity protection needs.
IronKey secure USB drives provide comprehensive layers of security to create secure portable computing environments that encrypt and protect data from loss or leakage, prevent the spread of malware and enable secure Web browsing. IronKey drives are available in 1, 2, 4 and 8 gigabyte capacities, and can be ordered online at www.ironkey.com and through numerous online retailers. Prices start at $79, and include one year of IronKey Internet protection services with the device.
Source: IronKey
Microsoft and Biscay Government Host i2010 Conference on e-Government Innovation and Local Government Business Value
Biscay government launches first-ever citizen services project that meets EU i2010 Agenda directives; creation of government innovation centre in Bilbao; Microsoft launches Business Value Framework to deliver taxpayer value for money across local government.
More than 300 local and regional government elites, IT professionals and executives gathered in Bilbao, Spain, this week for Microsoft Corp’s third annual Local and Regional Government Solutions Forum. The forum coincides with two key announcements made by Microsoft including the launch of Microsoft’s Business Value Framework for local government and Microsoft’s partnership with the Biscay government to carry out one of Europe’s most extensive IT infrastructure and citizen services projects, serving 1.2 million citizens and 112 municipalities. Full details of the Microsoft-Biscay partnership will be unveiled at the forum alongside the Biscay government’s vision for modernising government services and the creation of an e-GOV Innovation Center in Bilbao, the “Bizkaia European Microsoft Citizenship Services & e-Government Center”.
The forum will also demonstrate Biscay’s capacity as an international showcase of the latest technology for citizen services, while providing essential benchmarking against the EU i2010 Agenda. The goal of this project is to bring government and citizens closer together, improve the level of services provided by the government, and drive operational efficiencies across the municipalities. Central to Biscay’s approach to technology-driven citizen services is its commitment to apply the valuable principles of customer relationship management (CRM) to the delivery of local government and citizen services, while delivering value for money.
“As co-host of the third Local and Regional Government Forum, I am delighted to showcase our work here in Biscay through the development of our citizen service platform known as Lantik TK,” said Jose Luis Bilbao, president of the Regional Government of Biscay. “This will dramatically change the way in which our entire region uses technology and it will revolutionise the way in which government operates within the region. Throughout the duration of the forum we will highlight the exciting range of services where technology can make a real impact, including our exciting plans for the e-GOV Innovation Center in Bilbao. Here in Biscay we are well and truly committed to using technology to revolutionise the delivery of local citizen services.”
Microsoft’s Business Value Framework: Revolutionising Local Government Business Value
A central theme of this year’s forum is the economic and political challenge of measuring local government performance in terms of service delivery and value for money. As local governments face mounting pressure to reduce costs and demonstrate taxpayer value, they are also under pressure to support the wider political commitment of investing in jobs as part of the economic recovery programme. To help achieve this challenge, Microsoft’s new Business Value Framework is helping local government in Spain and the United Kingdom achieve operational efficiencies across a range of governmental departments through better use of web-based tools, more efficient ICT operations and e-forms for many routine procedures enabling cost reductions. This leads to metrics to identify the following:
- Office cost savings, up to 6.4 million pounds Sterling in the case of the City of Edinburgh Council’s “Smart City” programme, the restructure and refresh of the Council’s computers, servers and software applications. This will deliver technologies that will enable BT, the Council’s strategic ICT partner, to manage the Council’s IT estate more effectively and save 8.5 million pounds Sterling over four years for Wakefield District Council through reducing office space by 33 per cent.
- Increases in caseworker productivity and reduced travel costs by 36 per cent for Wakefield District Council.
- Reduced CO2 emissions, up to 2,300 tonnes per annum for the City of Edinburgh Council.
- Reduced ICT costs by up to 71 per cent for the City of Edinburgh Council.
The forum will discuss the implications of Microsoft’s Business Value Framework in terms of realistic year-on-year cost savings for local governments. Key examples will include the Biscay Government (Spain), Edinburgh City Council (Scotland) and Wakefield District Council in Yorkshire (UK), where Microsoft’s Business Value Framework has achieved significant cost savings, greater productivity and efficiencies across local government, resulting in net savings to taxpayers. In 2006-2009 the Business Value Framework has enabled Edinburgh City Council to achieve 12 million pounds Sterling in operational savings, resulting in a 9 pounds Sterling per year saving to council taxpayers.
The UK examples are illustrative of the pressures to deliver value for money as outlined by national government in the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07) period (2008-09 to 2010-11), in which local authorities are required to collectively achieve 4.9 billion pounds Sterling in cash-releasing efficiency gains.
“Our annual event brings together thought leaders from around the world in practical innovation for local and regional governments and public sector innovation,” said Gordon McKenzie, director for Worldwide Local and Regional Government at Microsoft, speaking in advance of the forum. “This year, we are delighted to be co-hosting this event with the Biscay government and to be taking such a revolutionary step forward with them in terms of transforming the way they manage their IT infrastructure and the services they offer their citizens. The forum this year will also showcase practical examples as to how local governments can meet the challenges of efficiency savings and a lower environmental footprint through some of the new solutions pioneered by Microsoft and our partners.”
Further information about the third Worldwide Local and Regional Government Solutions Forum can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre/LocalRegionalForumVPR/default.mspx