Old mobiles make new products
The federal government is encouraging people with old mobile phones, batteries and accessories to recycle them. As part of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association's (AMTA) Mobile Phone Industry Recycling Program, more than 700 stores across Australia will have recycling bins available to discard old phones. This is expected to rise to 3000 over the next three months. The program, which was trialled in 1999 and recycled about 30 tonnes of unwanted phones, batteries and accessories; has been extended to ensure the potentially toxic components in mobile phones, batteries and accessories don't end up in landfill. Senator Ian Campbell, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, said the recycling process will provide a "complete breakdown of chemical components to produce nickel for the production of stainless steel, cadmium for the production of new batteries, and plastics for use in furniture". Stores participating in the recycling program are listed at www.amta.org.au/recycle ICANN meeting in MelbourneThe Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will hold its March board meeting in Melbourne. ICANN is the non-profit corporation formed to assume responsibility for the intellectual property address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management. These functions were previously performed under US government contract by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities. The meeting will be held from March 10 to 13, 2001, and focus on a range of issues including expansion of the domain name alternatives, Internet privacy, and security issues around the Web and e-commerce.
InterBiz unveils its e-commerce suite
Computer Associates International's applications division interBiz has introduced its eCommerce Suite, which includes interBiz Store for sell-side business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) commerce, and interBiz Procure for Web-based procurement. The product works off the company's Bizworks eBusiness Intelligence Suite platform; which integrates their ERP (enterprise resource planning), financial, supply-chain and banking applications. InterBiz Store is an electronic storefront that can support the deployment of 24 x 7, multiple languages and enables companies to mine consumer data to determine buying trends. The software supports XML and EDI formats, along with a wide variety of communications methods and protocols. InterBiz Procure assists with supply relationships and works to speed up the procurement process.