Hays is the leading global specialist recruitment group with over 6,900 employees in more than 325 offices and 896 business units located across 27 countries in Australasia, Asia, Europe and North and South America.

Established in Australasia for 34 years, today we are the largest specialist recruitment company in the region, with operations in 223 business units at 38 locations throughout Australia and New Zealand. We find permanent jobs for over 15,000 people a year and temporary and contract assignments for over 25,000 and at any one time we employ over 8,000 temporaries and contractors.

Hays specialise in 28 different business sectors. Hays Information Technology recruits permanent and contract IT staff through vertical specialisations using award winning attraction strategies. Our Geelong office has been established as a prominent community partner for several years and are conveniently situated just off Pakington Street, Geelong West.

Our investment in our business has seen us become the region’s largest corporate recruitment advertiser and our website has the highest number of unique visitors of any recruitment company website. We are continually developing our services with the aim of anticipating our clients’ needs.

Our expertise includes the following elements:

Permanent recruitment services at all levels, including executive placements Temporary staffing solutions at all levels Provision of fixed term contractors Project recruitment management On and off-line ability, personality and intelligence testing Assessment centres for volume recruitment and simulations

Our recruitment process is quality assured to ISO9001:2008 and is benchmarked to national and international best practice. It has been developed with the belief that providing a quality recruitment service is more than just matching skills to a job and involves delivering the best service to every customer, every time. This may be entirely different from one customer to the next and we spend time making sure our approach is right. We then revisit this perspective regularly to ensure we are constantly improving. This approach means understanding your business, vision, culture and key competencies and incorporating this understanding into our process.

Hays Geelong has the only recruiting expert in Information Technology in South West Victoria. To find out more about our services and how we can bring you together with the right people contact us for a confidential discussion.

Contact Lauren Dolley
T: 03 5226 8000
E: lauren.dolley@hays.com.au

www.hays.com.au  If you do not wish to receive Hays correspondence such as this in the  future, please contact ICT Geelong. Additionally, should you wish not to be contacted in furtherance to Hays correspondence please also advise.  18294

ICT Geelong (the Geelong Region ICT Cluster) is offering more than $40,000 in prizes in their inaugural  The ICT Invention Test - Version 1.0. The competition is the first of its kind in the region and aims to help innovators and entrepreneurs in Victoria to commercialise ideas, concepts or early stage projects that have a focus on IT.

“Advancing ICT innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialisation in the region is a key element of ICT Geelong’s Charter” said ICT Geelong Chairman Robert Reed (and Managing Director of FE Technologies).

”We had lots of people ask us to host a competition around developing new ideas and promoting entrepreneurship in IT. We thought – why not? So we sort some sponsorship, and Deakin University, MultiMedia Victoria (State Government), the City of Greater Geelong and the University of California (Berkeley) came on board.”

“We are offering some outstanding prizes” said Mr Reed “$10,000 in cash to the winner, 3 one-week Entrepreneurship courses at the University of California (Berkeley) and 12 months mentoring from key members of ICT Geelong’s R&D subgroup.”

ICT Geelong hopes to attract entries from right across Victoria. Given the Geelong region’s expertise in manufacturing and health, ICT Geelong have prizes dedicated to IT ideas and concepts focusing on these two industries. However, a third category is open to any new idea where IT is a key part of the solution. This gives the broader community the opportunity to participate and present something innovative across any application.

Finalists will present their idea to a judging panel at Deakin University’s Institute of Technology Research & Innovation (ITRI) Conference on Monday 1st November. For further information on The ICT Invention Test - Version 1.0 go to the ICT Geelong website www.ictgeelong.com.au. Entries for close at 6:00pm on Friday 1st October.

For further information on the ITRI Conference go to....

ICT Geelong		Deakin University		Multimedia Victoria
www.ictgeelong.com.au/		www.deakin.edu.au/		www.mmv.vic.gov.au/
The City of Greater Geelong		University of California (Berkeley)
www.geelongcity.vic.gov.au		www.berkeley.edu

Media inquiries:
Craig Hill
SED Consulting
Mob: 0408 390 930
Email: craigh@sedconsulting.com.au

As Geelong continues to build its status as a ‘knowledge economy’, ICT Geelong (the Geelong Region ICT Cluster) has again successfully secured the services of a number of international technology experts to address the region’s business community.

“Developing an entrepreneurial culture is one of the keys to advancing the region’s ICT, manufacturing, health and education sectors.” said Robert Reed, ICT Geelong Chairman (and Managing Director of FE Technologies).”As a key element of our Charter we want to educate our community on the importance of technology innovation and entrepreneurship in developing our local economy.

ICT Geelong are hosting 4 international technology leaders in a series of events on 13th and 29th of October and 1st and 2nd of November. The event on 1st November will also be hosted in association with Deakin University’s Institute of Technology Research & Innovation (ITRI) Conference, who is a foundation member of ICT Geelong.

“This is really a ‘festival of innovation’” continues Mr Reed. “We will have international leaders educating our business community on topics like technology R&D, commercialisation, entrepreneurship, venture capital and general technology trends.”

Technology experts from the Channel 7 stable of programs – Peter Blasina (Sunrise Program) and Rob Hartnett (Kochie’s Business Builders) will be keynotes speakers, as well as technology entrepreneur guru Prof. Jerry Engel from the University of California (Berkeley) and Prof. Mandyam Srinivasan, winner of the Prime Minister’s Science Prize in 2006.

ICT Geelong and ITRI are we welcoming people from the IT, manufacturing and health industries, as well as other businesses, researchers and students who have a passion for technology entrepreneurship, to attend the events.

Enterprise Connect (an Australian Government Initiative) is the major sponsor of the events. “Enterprise Connect has been very supportive of our efforts to improve technology innovation and the entrepreneurial culture in the region.” said Mr Reed, who is also CEO of local IT innovator FE Technologies. “They assisted us in securing the services of Prof. Jerry Engel from UC Berkeley in March, who addressed around 300 people in his 4 day visit in March. This time around Enterprise Connect’s support has provided the opportunity to host a more comprehensive series of events, involving a number of keynote speakers and topics around innovation and entrepreneurship.”

In his last visit to Geelong Prof. Engel acknowledged that the region could become a ‘cluster of innovation’ akin to Silicon Valley, if it focused on developing a few key ingredients, like culture of entrepreneurship, access to venture capital, entrepreneurial professionals and strong local universities.

These events will also coincide with ICT Geelong’s “The ICT Invention Test - Version 1.0” competition. More than $40,000 of prizes are on offer in the competition which aims at helping innovators and entrepreneurs in Victoria commercialise ideas, concepts or early stage projects that have a focus on IT. The competition is the first of its kind in the region, and is supported by Deakin University, MultiMedia Victoria (State Government), the City of Greater Geelong and the University of California (Berkeley).

In closing Mr Reed reinforce that “things are happening in Geelong right now in the area of entrepreneurship and commercialisation, and we (as the Geelong Region ICT Cluster) are excited to be leading it.”

For further information and registering for the upcoming events go to the ICT Geelong website www.ictgeelong.com.au or contact Craig Hill on 0408 390 930.

Key Speakers will include;

• Professor Jerry Engel – International technology entrepreneur guru and Head of the Centre of Entrepreneurship at the University of California Berkeley.
• Peter Blasina – One of Australia’s foremost technology commentators and Channel 7’s Sunrise Program’s IT expert.
• Rob Hartnett – leading international IT sales performance consultant and expert from Channel 7’s Kochies Business Builders.
• Professor Mandyam Srinivasan – Winner of the Prime Minister’s Science Award in 2006, and internationally regarded in visual science research that has applications in robots and ‘seeing’ machines.

Weblinks:

ICT Geelong		Enterprise Connect		Deakin University
www.ictgeelong.com.au		www.enterpriseconnect.com.au		www.deakin.edu.au
Multimedia Victoria		The City of Greater Geelong		University of California (Berkeley)
www.mmv.vic.gov.au		www.geelongcity.vic.gov.au		www.berkeley.edu

Media inquiries:
Craig Hill
SED Consulting
Mob: 0408 390 930
Email: craigh@sedconsulting.com.au

Neighbourhood Cable to upgrade its network to DOCSIS 3.0

Following a successful trial in June 2009, Neighbourhood Cable Pty Limited (NCPL) has announced that it will undertake a next generation network (NGN) upgrade to its hybrid fibre and coaxial (HFC) network to DOCSIS 3.0 specifications.

NCPL will rollout the NGN to Ballarat, Geelong and Mildura over the next nine months, with first services to be available towards the end of 2010.

Neighbourhood Cable Chief Executive Officer Ivan Slavich said, “As part of our continuing commitment to regional Victoria and belief in high-speed broadband networks, this upgrade enables us to improve broadband speeds to our existing customers, and also offer new ultra-fast broadband plans equivalent to the Federal Government’s NBN.

At the moment, Neighbourhood Cable's hybrid fibre coaxial network is provisioned for speeds of around 30Mbps, far in excess of ADSL or ADSL 2+. In comparison, the DOCSIS 3 upgrade will enable NCPL to provision an even higher speed bandwidth of around 100Mbps download.” 

The upgrade will generate additional direct employment in regional Victoria and move the three regional cities to world-class broadband infrastructure. Capacity within the network will be significantly enhanced with increased quality of service and IPv6 standard features of the upgrade.

For more information about Neighbourhood Cable visit www.ncable.net.au

For further media information only:
Stephanie Luelf
Mobile: 0414 515 359

Background Information
Committed to delivering high-speed cable broadband and entertainment services to regional Victoria, Neighbourhood Cable began rolling out a hybrid fibre and coaxial (HFC) network in 1997. Starting in Mildura and later expanding to Ballarat and Geelong, the Neighbourhood Cable network now reaches over 95,000 households across the three regions.

Neighbourhood Cable’s suite of products and services caters to both residential and business customers, offering a range of communication services, including fixed-line phone, super-fast broadband and cable television. Neighbourhood Cable’s corporate services include domain name registration, website hosting, ethernet and virtual private networks.

 

Region Premises passed Rollout commenced Rollout completed Services launched Mildura 13,000 1996 1997 1997 Ballarat 33,000 2000 Mar 2002 Mar 2002 Geelong 52,000 Jun 2002 Dec 2003 Apr 2003

Neighbourhood Cable’s suite of products and services caters to both residential and business customers, offering a range of communication services, including fixed-line phone, super-fast broadband and cable television. Neighbourhood Cable’s corporate services include domain name registration, website hosting, ethernet and virtual private networks.

Having operated in regional Victoria since 1997, Neighbourhood Cable believes it’s important to support the communities that have supported it. That’s why Neighbourhood Cable is dedicated to helping local community groups and sporting teams achieve their goals through its Community Sponsorship program, which sponsors events and groups like the Mildura Country Music Festival, Sovereign Hill Ballarat and Geelong ICT.
The Neighbourhood Cable management team includes:

Ivan Slavich – Group Chief Executive Officer (TransACT Communications) Andre Koot - General Manager, Victoria Colin Littlejohn - Regional Manager, Ballarat Anthony Cook - Regional Manager, Geelong Cory Alderton - Regional Manager, Mildura

Neighbourhood Cable is a significant local employer in regional Victoria with over 50 staff employed across Mildura, Ballarat and Geelong. Neighbourhood Cable operates offices in each region:

65 The Crescent, Mildura. 10 Neerim Crescent, Mitchell Park, Ballarat 16 Thompson Road, North Geelong

The NGN upgrade is a $1.5m investment in the first year and a $3.5m whole-of-life investment over the next five years. The investment will deploy the latest generation Cisco Cable Modem Terminating System (CMTS) hardware and associated software (Cisco uBR10012 CMTS). Cisco is a world leader in HFC networks and their products will provide N+1 redundancy, IPv6 compatibility and extra capacity in downstream and upstream channels. Cisco currently provides the existing network CMTS and this upgrade is a natural evolution of their product suite.

Neighbourhood Cable is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of TransACT Communications Pty Ltd. The combined group provides services to customers in Victoria, ACT and NSW.  As a leader in advanced telecommunications networks, TransACT’s vision is to be an innovative telecommunications company that provides compelling offers to our customers, extracts the greatest value from existing network assets and grows the retail business within our region and with the National Broadband Network.

GEELONG could become a cluster of innovation akin to Silicon Valley if it focused on developing a few key ingredients, according to a global authority on entrepreneurship.
California-based Professor Jerry Engel – who heads the Lester Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley - will visit Geelong next month to give a presentation to local businesses on “Technology Entrepreneurship: Building Business from Innovation”.
The event, to be held on 19 March at Skilled Stadium, is sponsored by ICT Geelong, BioGeelong, Deakin University, Multimedia Victoria (the Victorian State Government) and Enterprise Connect.
A renowned international expert in the field of innovation, commercialisation, collaboration and venture capital, Prof. Engel has interests in several technology companies, is partner in Monitor Venture Partners and has more than 30 years experience in Silicon Valley.
Prof. Engel says clusters of innovation such as Silicon Valley share common characteristics including a culture of entrepreneurship, access to venture capital, entrepreneurial professionals and strong local universities.
“All these community resources form the seed bed for the emergence of healthy new ventures,” Prof. Engel says.
“Great research institutions such as CSIRO and great universities like Deakin are the birthplace of ideas and capabilities that entrepreneurs commercialise and are vital to the realisation of an entrepreneurial culture that strives for global impact.”
He says world class broadband is also necessary to compete on the global technology stage.
“Today’s information economy is all pervasive. You cannot be global if you are not connected – and connected means well connected,” he says.
Chairman of ICT Geelong Robert Reed said the event would cover topics including building a knowledge economy around information & communication technology (ICT) and biotech, attracting investment and commercialising local research.
“The aim of this event mirrors the work of ICT Geelong and BioGeelong, which is to develop a strong selling proposition for Geelong that will attract new business to the region,” said Mr Reed, who is also CEO of local IT innovator FE Technologies.
“We want to develop a culture that encourages the commercialisation of Deakin University’s and the CSIRO’s intellectual property through entrepreneurship education.
“Things are happening in Geelong right now in the area of entrepreneurship and commercialisation and we are excited to be leading it.”
Prof. Engel’s presentation will run from 8:30am-11:30am on Friday 19 March at the Fred Flanagan Room (Ford Stand), Skilled Stadium, Geelong. Anyone wishing to attend the event can register by emailing craigh@sedconsulting.com.au before 12 March.