Amor Group has boosted its public services team since being awarded a place in the Scottish Government’s IT Managed Services framework. Alastair Rennie, formerly with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, has been appointed to the newly created role of principal IT management consultant, and Sarah Emslie, previously at Northgate Managed Services, joins as public services sales director.
There has never been a better time for IT to step up and make a difference, Socitm’s incoming President Kay Brown told members as she started her term at the Socitm spring conference. Brown, who is also Head of ICT at South Lanarkshire Council, one of Scotland’s largest unitary authorities, was confirmed as the new Socitm President at the organisation’s AGM.
Apple’s vice-president of Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, Pascal Cagni, has resigned, CIO magazine reported. Cagni, formerly of NEC/Packard Bell, was hired by Steve Jobs in 2000 and oversaw operations in 122 countries accounting for 33 per cent of Apple’s worldwide revenue.
Glasgow new media design agency Alienation Digital has promoted senior developer Hadrien Jouet to head of innovation, based in San Francisco. Managing director Neil Barr said: “Hadrien’s relocation to San Francisco has really helped the business as he’s continually picking up ideas from peers within the technological capital of the United States. Developing upon his feedback and ideas has become part of the daily routine at home in the UK.”
Executive director for transparency and open data in the Cabinet Office, Tim Kelsey, has been appointed national director for patients and information by the NHS Commissioning Board to “develop and deliver national strategies on public and patient engagement, intelligence and informatics”.
Online daily photo journal Blipfoto announced the appointment of Ian Ritchie as its chairman. Ritchie, who is also non-executive chairman of iomart and chairman of the Interactive Design Institute, will join the Edinburgh-based online company’s board to manage its growth, with a particular focus on overseas adoption.
Enterprise minister Fergus Ewing has been made responsible for the Scottish Government’s plan to improve cyber security. Making the announcement, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said it was vital to tackle the problem, which is said to cost Scottish businesses an estimated £5bn a year.
Mike Lynch, founder of information management vendor Autonomy, is to leave Hewlett Packard after a “very disappointing” quarter for the company, which HP acquired last year. “Autonomy had a very disappointing license revenue quarter, with a significant decline year-over-year resulting in a shortfall to our expectations,” HP CEO Meg Whitman told investment analysts. She attributed Autonomy’s poor performance to “scaling challenges”.
The woman who led the campaign to save Bletchley Park, Dr Sue Black, has launched a foundation to change the public perception of computing. The goto foundation (gotofdn.org) is intended to “promote technology as a vital part of our society and our economy”.
Will Peakin
Beginning as a reporter on weekly newspapers in the North-East of England, Will moved to Glasgow and worked as a freelance for a number of UK national newspapers. In 1990 he was appointed News Editor of Scotland on Sunday and in 1995, Scotland Editor of The Sunday Times. In 1999, he and his family moved to the south-west of France where he wrote for The Sunday Times Magazine. Returning to Scotland in 2002, he was Assistant Editor (Features) and Deputy Editor at The Scotsman before joining Holyrood Magazine in 2004. He writes for the magazine's business pages and edits its series of...