Media buyers, agencies and publishers are a step closer to auditing nirvana with the launch of Brand Summary screens by the Audit Bureaux of Australia (ABA). The screens, which are available to all ABA members, provide a single view of print, digital, website and email newsletter circulation figures, allowing media buyers to accurately compare and consider credible audited data.

Communications Alliance, the peak body for the Australian communications industry today announced the publication of an industry Guideline for Prepaid Calling Cards.

AD2ONE, the global digital group, has won three new clients and will now provide exclusive online advertising access to the world’s leading independent stock market research house, Fat Prophets, the eBay owned pioneer of online comparison shopping, Shopping.com and the world's first, independent, web browser-based instant messaging (IM) service and now a popular IM aggregator, eBuddy. All three clients were won in competitive pitches recently.

Communications Alliance, the peak body for the Australian communications industry, today announced a pilot of its new online compliance and training tool for customer service excellence. The Assess, Comply, Deliver (ACD) Tool will assist the communications industry to self-assess compliance with customer service and complaint handling obligations outlined in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections (TCP) Code. It will also provide training tips that can be incorporated into existing staff training programmes.

Australia’s online advertising market has again beaten advertising market trends, recording continued strong, double digit growth year on year of 18.5 percent for the full financial year according to figures released today by IAB Australia in its Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER). The Report, which is compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), showed that online advertising expenditure in Australia for the financial year ending June 30 2009 exceeded $1.8 billion and totalled $453 million for second-quarter 2009 (three months ended 30 June 2009).

Today Primus Telecom announced that a new era of faster broadband has begun in Tasmania with the activation of its transmission on Basslink’s fibre-optic cable to Tasmania. Primus Telecom’s increased backhaul to Tasmania using the new Basslink cable will increase interstate capacity, while introducing increased competition on the important communications route from mainland Australia to Tasmania.

Communications Alliance, the peak body for the Australian communications industry, will this month host a Customer Service Summit to explore opportunities for enhancing customer service in the rapidly changing communications environment.

AD2ONE, the global digital group, has extended its reach, opening an office in Melbourne less than a year after expanding its Sydney operation and opening an office in Singapore. AD2ONE Melbourne, the fifth international location for the growing company, will be headed up by Kate Tilden, who has been named as its Victorian Sales Manager. Previously working with Sensis Mediasmart, Kate brings extensive experience to the role having most recently been Sales Manager for Victoria and South Australia.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) today announced the appointment of BanSeng Teh as the Vice President and Managing Director of Nippon Seagate. Teh will assume responsibility for Seagate’s Japan operations in addition to his existing responsibilities as Vice President and Managing Director for the Asia Pacific Sales and Marketing Organization. As a combined region, Asia Pacific and Japan currently generate over 40 % to Seagate’s total revenue.

Communications Alliance today welcomed the appointment of Mike Quigley as executive chairman of the National Broadband Network company and Doug Campbell as chairman of Tasmanian NBN Company.

The world’s most valuable brands share six fundamental elements according to Millward Brown, a global leader in brand, media and communications research.

IAB Australia today announced the appointment of Gai Le Roy as IAB Australia Programmes Manager, effective immediately. Ms Le Roy will chair the three IAB Australia Councils - Measurement, Research, and Standards & Guidelines - and take responsibility for driving key projects for each Council.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) today reported results for the quarter ended July 3, 2009 of 40.6 million disk drive unit shipments, revenue of $2.35 billion, a net loss of $81 million and net loss per share of $0.16. The financial results for the quarter include $21 million of purchased intangibles amortization and other charges associated with acquisitions, and $85 million of restructuring and related accelerated depreciation charges. The aggregate impact of these items is $106 million or approximately $0.22 per share.

Nic Cola, Fairfax Digital COO, has been appointed as the incoming Chairman for IAB Australia.

Millward Brown, a global leader in brand, media and communications research, today announced its Dynamic Logic business has been engaged to deliver two pioneering cross-media studies and five interactive AdIndex brand effectiveness studies for a range of major Australian clients.

The original architect of response-driven marketing, Wunderman, has signed a deal with MIA International to deploy its QuickSites platform, enabling the leading advertising agency to build sophisticated mobile internet solutions in-house. With more than fifty years at the forefront of the advertising, branding and marketing industries worldwide, Wunderman has fully embraced the growing mobile medium both for itself and its extensive client list and QuickSites has allowed the agency to expand its mobile service offering.

Communications Alliance, the peak body for the Australian communications industry, today announced the industry has commenced its NBN Works Program.

Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today announced it is now shipping its technology-leading Cheetah® 15K.7 enterprise-class hard drives into the worldwide distribution channel. As the highest performing, highest capacity 3.5-inch mission critical hard drive with best-in-class reliability for Tier 1 environments, the Cheetah 15K.7 drive is ideal for a wide range of server and storage applications. With the Cheetah 15K.7 hard drive, Seagate’s technology leadership moves firmly past the competition as it delivers the industry’s first 15K-rpm drive to reach the 600GB capacity point while providing record reliability of 1.6 million hours MTBF.

CumminsNitro Brisbane has trumped a strong field of competitors to be crowned 2009 IAB Awards’ Best of Show for its Queensland Tourism ‘Best Job in the World’ campaign. The entry, which also won the Brand Awareness and Positioning category, beat out a record number of entries to secure the prestigious title and has now secured its entry in the 2009 US IAB MIXX Awards.