07 Oct 2009. Libya has signed a 300m euro ($441.3m) contract with
Italy’s Finmeccanica for a border control and security system, the firm said Oct. 7. The deal, between Finmeccanica unit Selex Sistemi Integrati and the Libyan General People’s Committee for General Security, is split into tranches, with the first 150 million euro tranche of work already under way. “Selex Sistemi Integrati, in line with its mission of prime responsibility for the architecture of large systems within Finmeccanica, will design, install and integrate all the subsystems of the program,” the firm said in a statement. “In addition, the company will provide all the typical functionalities of a [command, control and communication] system, such as command decision support tools, information processing, integration of data gathered by different sensors – provided by Selex Sistemi Integrati itself – and emergency management,” according to the statement. “Selex Sistemi Integrati will also be responsible for the training of operators and maintenance staff as well as the completion of all the civil infrastructures required.” No details were given in the statement about the components of the system acquired. (Source: Defense News)
Oct 09. Organisations are beginning to realise the value of taking a proactive and strategic approach to IT security, according to primary research commissioned by Dimension Data and conducted by IDC in 2009. The research, which involved 407 companies of 500+ employees in 18 countries across Western Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia and the Pacific, shows that organisations are shifting their investment focus away from point solutions to more holistic solutions, with 59% (69% in the UK) planning to invest in IT security audits, 57% (79% in the UK) in data loss prevention (DLP), and 52% (66% in the UK) in consulting. This is in spite of the current economic downturn, which saw only 19% of the companies surveyed (only 2% in the UK) increase their overall IT spending from 2008 to 2009 and 41% (25% in the UK) cut their IT budget. IT security budgets fared better, however, with only 20% (6% in the UK) cutting their investment in this area – indicating that it remains a priority for businesses. For 59% of the organisations, the average spend on IT security within the overall IT budget was 10% or more. (Source: Technology4Media.com)