IDG expands Bio-It brand w/launch of "Bio-It Initiative" & Australian Pub.

IDC (Framingham, MA), the market intelligence and advisory subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), has launched an initiative to address technology infrastructure issues and opportunities in the global life sciences sector. An expansion of IDG's Bio-IT brand, the new "Bio-IT Initiative" is designed to provide end-users and IT vendors with ongoing analysis of market dynamics, forecasts, user requirements, and projections.

"Bio-IT" will include a new research subscription and advisory service called Bio-IT Infrastructure; custom research and consulting services; and, industry workgroups. The initiative will cover such topics as servers, all storage devices, software technologies and products, and support services.

In related news, IDG has launched Australian Biotechnology News and an accompanying Web site for the Australian biotechnology market. The new weekly has an initial paid circulation of 5500 senior business, IT and scientific buyers. The publication carries industry product news, technology research results, recruitment data, and a biotechnology edition of IDG's corporate database, "Contacts." Editorial will cover such topics as drug discovery and development, drug delivery, bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, and agriculture.