The complete Newsletter is accessible on the Members pages: Volume 11 No 3 in PDF format (239Kb download) [or Word format (175Kb)] 

How it all began

The death of Jack Kilby this summer prompts a reflection on the significant impact of his idea for developing the integrated circuit in the summer of 1958. This article looks at the work of both Jack Kilby, who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2001 for his work, and Robert Noyce, who was awarded the first patent for an integrated circuit.

To read more on this, and other articles access the full Newsletter.

News from the Golden Circle

A number of friends have been in touch recently to express appreciation at receiving their Golden Circle brooch. Here are some brief messages from members.

OfficePower

There may be some readers who recall an ICL product called Officepower. This product is still being used by a small number of customers in the UK, US, Australia and Malaysia, and even in Zimbabwe. It was an integrated office product providing the likes of email, calendar, wordprocessing, spreadsheet, database, file management system and other applications based on Unix servers.

Will e-Government succeed?

2005 has been regarded as a watershed year for e-government in the UK. With the end of the year rapidly approaching will targets be achieved and the campaign considered a success? It is too early to say whether the desired efficiency gains will be achieved.

Fujitsu News

Recent Press items from Fujitsu Services report:

Fujitsu Services opened brand new offices in the Central Park development in Manchester on 17 June. The three buildings in the development cover 175,000 sq. ft housing some 900 staff most of whom have moved from the West Gorton building. The office consolidation should improve communication throughout the company by joining staff together and providing them with an open plan and modern environment.

In July Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Ltd was presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2005, granted for the company's GeoStream Access Gateway, which is deployed in telephone exchanges to deliver broadband services. This was a key factor in Fujitsu being considered as a preferred supplier for BT's 21st Century Network programme. The Award was presented in the presence of the Japanese Ambassador to the UK, Mr Yoshiji Nogami, together with the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Counsellor John Hood, and the Mayor of Solihull, Counsellor Alan Martin.

Fujitsu will make available its TeamPoS 2000 point of sale system and infrastructure management services to The Body Shop's 2,000 plus stores worldwide.

This month Fujitsu Systems Europe have announced the immediate availability of SynfiniWay™ V2, a versatile software platform for service-oriented computing across distributed and grid infrastructures. With a framework that virtualises global resources, SynfiniWay presents applications as services that are easily linked by sequence or data dependency to automate most IT-based processes. SynfiniWay-enabled processes are quicker and more robust, leading to faster analyses, higher quality output and lower costs.

After a detailed review, Fujitsu and NHS Connecting for Health signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June 2005 agreeing on the use of Cerner Millennium software for the NHS Care Records Service in the Southern Cluster, subject to a final contract. The contract signing finalises this agreement. Work on the deployment of Cerner systems commenced immediately in June and progressed with 17 trusts in the Southern Cluster while the contract negotiations continued. The first systems will go live at around the turn of the year.

Spam News

Are Spam Filters sufficient? Over the past decade, e-mail spam has come perilously close to destroying one of the most convenient and efficient communication methods yet devised. A postal box can be stuffed only so far as its physical dimensions will allow, and there is an actual cost associated with the printing and postage for postal junk mail. But an e-mail inbox has no physical limitations on the amount of junk e-mail it can contain, and the costs of sending out tens of thousands, or even millions, of e-mail spam are negligible. This article discusses a potential solution.

And also .......

The regular Editorial, Chairman's column, titbits from the newsletter Archives for 1985 and  a tailpiece.

If you have your member password ready and want to read more of the Newsletter go to Volume 11 No 3 in PDF format (239Kb) or Word format (175Kb)

If you have not yet obtained your password send an email to Don Folland in the first instance.