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OZ Sits With Most Advanced Cloud Computing Countries, Study Reveals

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A new study of readiness of 14 Asia-Pacific markets to support cloud computing has placed Australia in only fourth place, behind Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore.

The Cloud Readiness Index, conducted by the Asia Cloud Computing Association, looked at 10 attributes for each of the markets, with each individual category drawn from third party research from organisations such as the Business Software Alliance, Oxford University, the ITU, TeleGeography and the World Economic Forum.

The 10 categories were given an equal weighting of 10 points, cumulating in a total possible score of 100.

Australia scored 78 in the Index, behind Japan (85), Hong Kong (83) and Korea and Singapore (both 82).

It scored full marks, or 10 points, for its regulatory condition and absence of Internet filtering and was among the three leaders with a score of 8.0 for exposure to global risk, such as natural disasters, pandemics and political instability.

But it scored poorly in some other categories including a mere 6.0 for international connectivity, and 5.3 for broadband quality. (Korea topped the latter category with a 9.0, followed by Japan on 8.0

“Australia’s strong policy environment provides a predictable environment for cloud services. The rollout of the National Broadband Network and the release of the Federal Government’s Digital Economy Strategy and Cloud Computing strategic direction paper demonstrates a strong encouragement for the uptake of cloud services by both the public and private sector,” the report said.

“The challenges for Australia remain the quality of the international connectivity to become a global cloud service hub, as well as regulatory constraints limiting the off-shoring of data for certain sectors, such as financial services.”

Worldwide spending on cloud services is expected to reach US$150 billion by 2014 and is predicted comprise 30-40 percent of IT budgets by 2013.

OZ Businesses Spending Less on R&D

 

Cheap Small PCs Big At Computex

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Cheaper and smaller PCs are dominating the world’s second largest computer fair, Computex, in Taipei this week.

Cheaper and smaller PCs are dominating the world’s second largest computer fair, Computex, in Taipei this week.

With the global credit crunch and downturn in many economies, particularly in the US, PC makers say businesses and consumers are looking to cut costs and are now looking for lower-cost PCs such as the Eee from Asus, to keep growth on track.

The cheaper models are set to share the stage with a line of eco-friendly computers with slimmer, energy-efficient displays and solar-power systems, designed to cut power consumption.

Along with Asus, which plans to display new, wider-screen models of its Eee device, Acer is expected to show similar low-cost PCs, including its Aspire Mini-Note.

The show’s organisers expect a total of 1725 exhibitors at the show, up 29 percent from last year.

Intel vice president Sean Maloney, delivering the keynote address, promised early delivery of new versions of Intel’s Atom processors for compact, easy-to-use devices he called “netbooks” and “nettops”. Maloney claimed they would bring the Internet to new users, opening up a new US$10 billion market.

He also unveiled new chipsets that make high-definition images on a desktop computer screen look more realistic, and predicted a big future for WiMax, the wireless broadband system that has been languishing while 3G HSPA networks have proliferated.

The show has also seen emergence of a new processor from graphics chipmaker Nvidia, aimed at going head to head with Intel’s Atom in the race to produce chips for netbooks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).

Nvidia describes its Tegra as a “computer on a chip”. General manager Mike Rayfield says it will outperform the Atom: devices that use it could play 26 hours of high-definition video on a single battery charge, he says.

Myer Admits To Past Online ‘Errors’

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Traditional big retailers will have to overcome their inability to get to grips with the Internet to better compete and help them grow to be a top-10 shopping site within five years. So says Myer boss Bernie Brookes.
Brookes made the comments at a business lunch where he admitted that Australian retailers had been slow to move into online shopping.

He said this was partly due to the higher costs involved in delivering goods in a geographically large country with a relatively small population.

But he claimed Australian retailers were now quickly catching up with their online offerings and predicted that in the next three to five years the most popular local department stores would all be online.

iPad Knockoff For $99

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BEIJING – A Chinese Apple knockoff company dubbed GooPad has announced plans to market a US$99 tablet – pictured – that bears an uncanny resemblance to Apple’s new iPad Mini.
Due to launch in November, the GooPad Mini sports an 8in. display at 1080 by 768 pixels, a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

There’s also a 2MP rear-facing camera, a 0.3MP front-facing camera and Wi-Fi support.

It actually runs Google’s Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” system – but GooPad will ship with iLaunch, an Android “skin” that mimics the iOS Apple system.

GooPad: looks like an iPad but a a mini price.

Apple’s legal team is likely to be among the early buyers.

Failed Bitcoin Boss Arrested: $480m Real Money Still Missing

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The former head of defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpeles, pictured, has reportedly been arrested in connection with the disappearance of virtual currency worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.

French-born Karpeles, 30, is suspected of falsifying data on the outstanding balance of the exchange.

At one point Mt. Gox was the world’s largest hub for trading the digital currency. But it filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after claiming 750,000 customer bitcoins and another 100,000 belonging to the exchange had been stolen, supposedly due to a software security flaw.

The “lost” funds were said to be worth US$480 million at the time of the bankruptcy filing. Mt. Gox also said more than $27 million had gone “missing” from its Japanese bank accounts.

Karpeles at the time blamed hackers for the loss, but later said he had recovered 200,000 of the lost bitcoins.

Apple Overtakes Microsoft To Take Top IT Slot

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On the day that they launch their iPad in Australia Apple has finally toppled Microsoft as the No. 1 ICT company, after its market capitalisation surpassed the software giant’s market cap yesterday. Apple’s market cap hit US$221 billion, as Microsoft’s slipped to $219 billion – less than half the $556 billion Microsoft was worth in 2000.

That not only made Apple the world’s most valuable technology company in the world. It also made it the second-largest US stock by market value, behind oil company Exxon Mobil, worth $$278.6 billion.
Apple’s shares closed at $244.11 as the company prepared for today’s international launch of its iPad tablet, which should add more billions to its annual revenue. The shares have more than doubled in the past year.
They have come a long, long way since they slipped below $10 in 1997 shortly before Steve Jobs returned to the company and transformed it with a strong line of innovative products, including the first iMac (1998), the iPod music player (2001), the iPhone (2007) and now the iPad tablet
Analysts note Apple has also almost caught up with Microsoft in terms of revenue. In fiscal 2000, Microsoft’s revenue of US$22.9 billion was roughly three times Apple’s. This fiscal year, Microsoft is expected to generate revenue of $61.65 billion and Apple $59 billion.
CEO Jobs last month said second-quarter profit almost doubled and sales soared 49 percent on demand for the iPhone. The results don’t yet include the iPad, launched in April.
Microsoft shares closed at $25.01 yesterday, down 4 percent. It was the seventh straight day of declines for Microsoft, its longest streak of losses since February 2007.
Current market caps of some other IT industry leaders include Hewlett-Packard, $107 billion; Intel, $115 billion; Google, $157 billion; and IBM, $158 billion.

Aussie Cybercrims Using Express Deposit Boxes To Launder Money

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Serious organised crime groups – SOCGs to the cognoscenti – in Australia are increasingly using business express deposit boxes and Internet banking for money laundering, according to a new report from Austrac, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

SOCG members have made 200 cash deposits totalling more than A$11 million in the past 10 months., Austrac says,

It says the practice involves using third parties, including foreign students, to open bank accounts with Internet banking facilities. The third party then hands over the account details and password to the crime group, Austrac says.

SOCG members stash illicit cash in the accounts via express deposit boxes, so the ID of the person making the deposit is not available to be reported to Austrac.

The illicit funds are then transferred offshore using Internet banking.

Austrac says a number of Australian businesses including banks, casinos, remitters and foreign exchange providers have submitted Suspicious Matter Reports (SMRs) and threshold transaction reports (TTRs) to Austrac.  

Cyber-Security Threats Worsen: Govts, Big Biz Told to Work Together

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The number, type and sophistication of cyber security threats to Australia and Australians are increasing rapidly and will cost Australia more than $1 billion a year in future, even though the nation is yet to experience a major attack, according to a new report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Noting a likely increase in cybercrime-as-a service, and growing sophistication of cyber adversaries with a destructive capability, it urges governments and private organisations to work together to make Australia a harder target.

The centre is a recently established hub based in Canberra’s Ben Chifley Building. It houses representatives of a number of agencies including Australian Crime Commission, Australian Federal Police, ASIO, Australia Signals Directorate, Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Defence Intelligence Organisation, which are able to share information.

The 29-page document released yesterday is its first unclassified report. It says serious malicious cyber incidents reported by Australian governments and business have more than tripled in the last three years – growing from 313 in 2011 to 1131 in 2014 and warns that organisations need to improve their “security posture”.

Far more numerous were instances of malware intrusions. Between October 2014 and mid-January 2015, the Australian Internet Security Initiative (AISI) program operated by ACMA reported more than 15,000 malware compromises daily to Australian Internet service providers for action.

CERT Australia responded separately to 11,073 cyber incidents last year, 153 of which involved government, critical infrastructure or national-interest systems.

The report notes ransomware campaigns against Australian computer users are increasing, including a mid-2014 campaign that targeted government and non-government organisations

In the same vein it notes a growing trend for distributed denial of service extortion, in which an adversary will threaten to launch DDoS activity against an organisation unless a fee is paid.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre advises Australian organisations not to respond to such threats. “There is no way to determine if the threat is credible, or to guarantee that the DDoS will not occur if the fee is paid,” it warns.

More Fibre Coming: TPG’s Teoh

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TPG Telecom chairman David Teoh says he plans to step up competition with Telstra and the NBN by continuing to speed up his fibre rollout in major Australian cities.

Teoh was speaking at TPG’s AGM in Sydney. He told shareholders that Telstra’s biggest advantage was its extensive network, covering most of the nation’s central business districts.

“But [Telstra] also have the legacy issues … of [older] products and pricing and that’s where we have the advantage,” he said. “When we price something we look very long-term and we want to ensure that Telstra can’t follow us.”

On fibre, he said: “We have the fibre infrastructure, this is our core business – we are not going to stop.”

TPG will put a major push into marketing its Fibre 400 plan to business next year, offering iiNet business customers unlimited downloads at 400 megabits per second for $438.90 a month, Teoh said.

The company reported revenue of $1.27 billion for the year to June 30, up 31 percent. Net profit after tax was $224 million, also up 31 percent.