Making New Contacts

This article by the Managing Director of the organisation that manages IP addresses in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia was published yesterday. It provides a short overview of the IP addressing system, and urges Government to facilitate the deployment of IPv6. “Governments are influential forces for Internet growth. Leading by example, governments can play an important part assisting in the deployment of IPv6. Where governments lead in creating an atmosphere of change and encouraging a landscape for safe and effective Internet development, the private sector will join.”


Adrian and I met with Steve Reynolds, Chairman, and Martin Ballard, Director, of the MDA (Mobile Data Association) at City University, in Finsbury. This was a very productive use of two hours, with agreements on sharing relationship-mapping to determine how we can best represent and support one another, MDA participation in Socitm GovX Spaces on Mobile Computing, participation in Socitm Futures and, potentially, reciprocal discounted membership fees for one another’s’ memberships. Other discussion was of joint events, the green agenda and mobile IT and public sector Case Studies. (Steve is an admirer of the Newham PSMP development.) We agreed to draft a Memorandum of Understanding as a framework for the relationship.

The MDA is organising an event, to be held on 13th November, on security relating to mobile payments, with broad representation from mobile industry stakeholders. However, the representation of public sector requirements was an obvious gap, from the Socitm perspective. Given our current focus on achievement of the GCSx CoCo, and the need to ensure that mobile data also complies with the requirements, Adrian and I suggested that Government Connect be invited to present its requirements at the event. We will try and ensure that Socitm is also effectively represented.


Back at Direct House, I had a short meeting with Martin Stobbs from Newham’s Audit Service, concerning the procurement of consultancies for the NTC project, and then was introduced to, and had a discussion with, Louise Delahoussaye, the new HP Account Manager for Newham.


In the evening I attended The Chemistry Club at Sartoria. It was a useful evening in which I got to make several new contacts, such as John Widowson, the GCHQ’s Director of Information Assurance in Government, and get up-to-date with other associates. The straight-talking John Moulton was the evening’s speaker. If I understand correctly, he predicted the financial mess we’re in when he last spoke at the Club a year ago. Anyway we were all ears for his views on where we go from here; it’s not good news, I’m afraid. Do you understand how “super senior credit default swaps” work? No, nor do AIG, or anyone else, apparently! “We need innovative bankers about as much as we want innovative pilots at the controls of our 747s.”