Industry News
Chinese contact centre market to overtake Australia by 2017
The Chinese contact centre market positioned itself in third place in the Asia Pacific region in terms of revenue in 2010 and will overtake Australia as the second largest market by 2017, according to Frost & Sullivan. [ + ]
More organisations monitoring employees’ digital behaviour
Sixty per cent of corporations are expected to implement formal programs for monitoring external social media for security breaches and incidents by 2015, according to Gartner. Many organisations already engage in monitoring as part of brand management and marketing, but Gartner believes less than 10% currently use these same techniques as part of their security monitoring program. [ + ]
Metronode opens direct free air cooling data centre
Metronode, a subsidiary of Leighton Contractors, today opened what it terms a “large-scale, energy-efficient data centre” in Derrimut, Victoria. The facility uses direct free air cooling and modular plant systems to help increase power utilisation efficiency. [ + ]
Optus launches 4G business services in Sydney and Perth
Optus has expanded the availability of 4G business services to Sydney and Perth. From today, customers will be able to utilise USB mobile broadband and mobile Wi-Fi hotspots in the two cities. [ + ]
Barbador joins Google Cloud Platform Partner Program
Australian company Barbador has joined the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program as a services partner. The move will allow the company to help clients develop solutions based on Google’s cloud platform. [ + ]
Mass adoption of smartphones tipping point for explosion in mobile payments technology, says Deloitte
A new report by professional services firm Deloitte explores how conventional payments infrastructure is changing with the emergence of a new generation of payments solutions using technology to interact and transact with people. [ + ]
Outsourced home agents market to double by 2015
The number of outsourced home agents will double by 2015 thanks to innovations around security, vertical market expansion and forays beyond the traditional US market, according to analyst firm Ovum. [ + ]
ACCC seeks comment on proposed local bitstream access service (LBAS) determination
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking comment on a proposed access determination for the declared local bistream access service (LBAS). [ + ]
$15.2 million for NBN education programs
The federal government will provide $15.2 million to 36 communities across Australia to help establish local NBN training services, as part of its Digital Hubs and Digital Enterprises program. [ + ]
Next-generation Ka-band satellite, Jabiru-1, completes PDR milestone
Australian satellite company NewSat Ltd and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) have completed the preliminary design review (PDR) of the Jabiru-1 Program, NewSat’s next-generation Ka-band satellite. [ + ]
Microsoft acquires enterprise social network Yammer for US$1.2 billion
Microsoft has acquired Yammer for US$1.2 billion, in order to gain inroads into the enterprise social networking market. The move follows a recent trend in enterprise software, with many vendors adding social elements to their products, seeking to tap into the strong consumer appetite for social networking. [ + ]
MyNetFone announces NBN plans for Armidale and Kiama
MyNetFone has announced details of its residential and business NBN broadband plans, currently available in Armidale and Kiama. [ + ]
NBN vital for Australia’s digital future, says IBIS
Australia’s National Broadband Network will grow increasingly important in the years approaching 2050, according to a new report from IBIS. The report, ‘A Snapshot of Australia’s Digital future to 2050’, also predicts the demise of newspaper publishing, free-to-air TV and the term ‘employee’. [ + ]
Advanced analytics growth surpasses expectation and set to rise, says IDC
In 2011, IT analysis firm IDC estimated the Australian Business Intelligence (BI) software market generated $324.12 million in software licensing and maintenance revenue. This has resulted in a revenue growth of 5.4% from 2010 to 2011 and is forecast to grow at 8.0% CAGR between 2011 to 2016. [ + ]
ANU selects Fujitsu to supply NCI supercomputer
Fujitsu has announced that it has been selected to supply one of the largest and fastest supercomputers in the world to the Australian National University (ANU), to be installed within the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), provider of high-end capability computational services to the Australian research community. [ + ]