MANILA -- The Philippine Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) plans to hire external consultants to standardize the hardware and application requirements of government agencies and help enforce the integration of systems.

Ramon Sales, who was named the CICT's chairman in late April, said this month that he has directed the head of the commission's Human Capital Development group to organize a team of IT consultants that is intended to serve all 370 of the national government's agencies.

"We need to define the hardware requirements [of agencies] and next bring the applications that would run on top," he said. Sales added that the consultants will also help create IT service centers to help ensure that Philippine agencies meet data backup and disaster recovery requirements.

Wipro agrees to buy retail services firm

BANGALORE, India -- Offshore IT services firm Wipro Ltd. has agreed to acquire Enabler Informatica SA, a Porto, Portugal-based company that does technology work for the retail industry.