Government & Public Sector

By the middle of 2004, office buildings, factories, shopping malls and other public buildings could be equipped with life-saving chemical detectors like the ones used on U.S. Navy ships.

The free trade agreement signed between Singapore and the U.S. (USSFTA) in May 2003 comes into force on Jan. 1, 2004, and provides opportunities and challenges for information and communications technology (ICT) suppliers in both countries, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Investment (MTI) said recently.

Amid all the talk about bringing computers and Internet access to the digital "have-nots" during the global Net summit that took place in Geneva between Dec. 8 and12, one group was showing participants how it's already delivering the goods.

The final report on the feasibility of an "e-government application development centre" is expected to be published before the end of this week. ...

The Chinese government has settled on a policy that wireless LAN (WLAN) equipment made in China and sold for use there must implement a Chinese standard called Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI).

Inasmuch as Canadian urbanites might look forward to a "new deal" for cities with Paul Martin as prime minister, it seems the high-tech sector also expects a new deal for IT.

The Australian Capital Territory has become the first Australian jurisdiction to mandate the consideration of open source software for government entities after a bill proposed by ACT Democrats leader Roslyn Dundas was passed into law overnight.

The implementation of a Chinese security standard for wireless networking could undermine efforts to develop a global standard for wireless LANs (WLANs) and drive up the cost of networking equipment for end users, warned a senior executive at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) in a recent letter to Chinese government officials.