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Top 10 Australia IT stories of 2018

Australia continues to cement its position as a leader in mastering and deploying advanced information and communications technology across a large segment of its economy

Aaron Tan, TechTarget

Published: 19 Dec 2018 20:00

Australia capped the year with a slew of game-changing technology developments, from a quantum computing breakthrough to using the internet of things to track vehicles at an iron-ore mine.

In this review of the top 10 Computer Weekly articles focused on IT in Australia, we look at what the country is doing to cement its position as a leader in mastering and deploying advanced information and communications technology across a large segment of its economy.

1. Australia’s Citic Pacific Mining uses IoT to track vehicles

Perth-based iron-ore mining giant has implemented an analytics and internet of things system from SAP to track its assets and shore up operational efficiency.

2. Machine learning is the new normal: AWS

Cloud supplier AWS wants to put machine learning capabilities into the hands of more people in the nascent market for cloud-based AI services.

3. The dawn of open banking in Australia

Financial services firms will need to embrace DevOps and modernise their IT infrastructure to compete with more nimble fintech companies in an open banking regime.

4. How AWS keeps its rivals at bay

A relentless focus on building for customers and inking partnerships with enterprise software bigwigs while lowering prices has given AWS a leg-up over rivals in the ANZ market.

5. University of Melbourne claims quantum computing breakthrough

Australian scientists have simulated the power of quantum computing on classical computers to solve a mathematical problem, paving the way for future breakthroughs in the nascent field.

6. Australian enterprises warming up to DevOps

The burgeoning DevOps culture in Australia has attracted new market players and led major banks and telcos to embrace the movement to get development and operations teams working in unison.

7. Sibos 2018: ‘Black swan’ cyber event is inevitable

With security experts and bankers expecting a 9/11-style cyber event, deeper collaboration between companies and governments is necessary to identify emerging threats before they occur.

8. Data breach disclosure law will lift Australia’s cyber security game

New rules underscore Australia’s recent efforts to tackle cyber security challenges on the local and international stage.

9. Australian healthcare services most hit by data breaches

Nearly a quarter of data breaches reported under Australia’s new mandatory data breach regime took place in the healthcare sector.

10. Culture, not tools, is key to unlocking innovation

Australian organisations should focus on bringing in agile practices and foster a culture of trust and transparency to drive innovation and improve business agility.