How the papers see IT on Wednesday...

Wednesday 3 November: Round-up of the IT news from the national and international press.

The Financial Times reports that Ford and Oracle are to set up a global electronic exchange to handle online transactions between the motor company and its suppliers. The independent joint venture, called Autoxchange, will have a total volume of business reaching an estimated $200 billion a year.

The San Jose Mercury reports that a US man has been sentenced to prison for fraudulent schemes, including defrauding customers on the Internet auction site eBay. Robert Guest was ordered to pay more than $100,000 in compensation to eBay customers and credit card companies. Guest had offered digital cameras and laptop computers for sale but failed to deliver the items.

A group of hackers, named 'hV2k', broke into four US military websites on Monday, reports USA Today. The official website of Canada's Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces was also broken into by the group. The hackers had previously attacked smaller commercial Web pages.

Radio group GWR is to develop its UK digital radio and Internet operations, reports the Financial Times. The company said it expects digital radio to account for about 40 per cent of total listeners by 2008. GWR will also launch an Internet division to run websites based on its radio stations.

The president of Ford of Europe has predicted that the Internet and ecommerce will force great changes in industry, writes The Guardian. Nick Sheele has said ecommerce will bring massive changes in manufacturing as companies change the way they buy parts and supplies.

German telecommunications company Mannesmann plans to launch on the London Stock Exchange next year, writes The Times. The company, which is in the process of buying Orange, already lists in Frankfurt and now plans a second listing in London.