£137m for Heathrow IT overhaul

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Airport operator BAA is to spend £137 million over the next five years on overhauling the IT infrastructure at Heathrow, says Computing.co.uk.

As part of the firm's Capital Investment Plan published last month, BAA has highlighted four major IT projects that are required.

A £7.8 million telecoms programme will replace Heathrow's data network and switch all telephones to voice over IP. The objective of the project is to provide a “reliable, supportable” network to better support airlines and customers.

Apple will build its first data centre on America's east coast now that North Carolina agreed to massive tax breaks designed to lure the company, reports The Register.

The same day North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue signed a lucrative corporate incentives deal into law, Apple confirmed it is browsing locations within the state for a new $1 billion data centre.

"We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state," Perdue said in a statement.

Yahoo has filed a lawsuit against the NFL Players Association, contending it should not be forced to pay royalties for using players' names, statistics and photos in its online fantasy football game, because the information is publicly available, says CNet.

The complaint, which was filed on Monday in the US District Court for Minnesota, alleges the group has threatened to sue the Internet giant if it does not pay licensing fees for the information.

Yahoo had licensing agreements with the players' union for previous football seasons, but the last of those deals expired on 1 March, according to the complaint.

Sony Ericsson is opening an online software applications store, reports Business Week.

By August, Sony Ericsson customers will be able to personalise their phones with a range of downloadable programs such as utilities, tools and games.

In announcing its own virtual software mall, Sony Ericsson joins an increasingly crowded field of rivals jostling to replicate the huge success of the Apple iTunes App Store, which offers thousands of programs for the popular iPhone.