Deutsche Bank IT chief appointed to NSW ICT board

The board's first task will be to develop a whole-of-government ICT strategy for NSW, which spends about $2 billion annually on IT and communications.

Mr Baird has more than 30 years experience in ICT including stints at BT Global Services, Credit Suisse, Grant Thornton, and Toshiba. His experience in change management and aligning innovation with business goals made him a clear winner.

"John has worked at the highest level across a diverse range of organisations," Mr Pearce said. "(His) understanding of the technicalities of ICT and the needs of business, at the same time with his experience in implementing ICT solutions across large businesses, will provide the industry expertise needed to advise the NSW ICT board," he said.

Meanwhile in last week's NSW budget lock-up, a Treasury official said the data centre consolidation project was on track afterwards a brief pause to factor in cloud computing. "I think there was a bit of a 'stop-think' and how will it dovetail with cloud computing," Treasury director of government services Michael Clark-Lewis said.

The cloud computing issue comes as no surprise as Mr Pearce had said, during in opposition, that cloud computing should be investigated beyond the basic data centre approach taken by Labor.

However, the government has been advised that cloud computing, which relies on the internet to deliver services, requires secure and robust data centres.

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Qantas is to unveil an end-user computing blueprint that will allow workers to connect their own devices to the corporate network.

QANTAS and Virgin Australia are gingerly edging closer to offering inflight internet connections to their Down Pursuant to this agreement travellers.