News

Information technology (IT) in Asia-Pacific

July 25, 2018 25 Jul'18
Australian energy sector caught in security catch-22

With regulators unwilling to accept security investments that would lead to higher tariffs, there is a chance that Australia’s National Energy Market could face increased cyber risks
July 24, 2018 24 Jul'18
Google wants to ease hybrid cloud woes

Cloud supplier Google claims its Cloud Service Platform will alleviate complexities in managing microservices in a hybrid IT environment
July 24, 2018 24 Jul'18
Singapore public healthcare sector limits internet use

Healthcare workers who require internet access will have to use separate internet workstations following an unprecedented attack on Singapore’s public healthcare system
July 20, 2018 20 Jul'18
Huge Singapore data breach shows need for new approach

A major data breach in Singapore underlines the need for a new approach to protecting critical data and applications, say security experts

July 19, 2018 19 Jul'18
How Splunk is ‘splunking’ data for APAC enterprises

Splunk’s regional vice-president talks up the company’s business strategy and how its customers are using big data analytics in security and IT operations
July 18, 2018 18 Jul'18
Singapore to bolster threat intelligence sharing in financial sector

Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency has partnered the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre to glean cyber threat intelligence for the country’s financial industry
July 16, 2018 16 Jul'18
Rio Tinto transports iron ore with autonomous train

The 280km journey in Western Australia was made under Rio Tinto’s autonomous train programme aimed at improving the productivity and safety of workers
July 15, 2018 15 Jul'18
New industry network to bolster data protection in ASEAN

The Data Protection Excellence network will assist organisations and individuals new to data protection laws by providing hands-on training and professional certification courses
July 13, 2018 13 Jul'18
How Singapore’s MyRepublic hones its IT chops

MyRepublic’s CIO shares how the company’s IT strategy has enabled the internet service provider to spread its wings into new markets
July 12, 2018 12 Jul'18
Indonesia leads ASEAN region in AI adoption

The sprawling archipelago of more than 260 million people is becoming a hotbed for adoption of artificial intelligence, led by digital native companies such as Go-Jek and Kaskus

July 12, 2018 12 Jul'18
Siemens and Alibaba Cloud eye Chinese IoT market

The two bigwigs will develop industrial internet of things offerings for China’s manufacturing industries that are being digitised through various state-led initiatives
July 11, 2018 11 Jul'18
DevOps gathers pace in APAC

Large enterprises such as DBS Bank have been shaking up their software development practices to fend off disruption from more nimble rivals
July 10, 2018 10 Jul'18
Singapore to build speech recognition system to speed up emergency response

Emergency responders in the city-state could be able to react more quickly in future with the help of the world’s first mixed-lingual speech recognition engine, to be developed at a new artificial intelligence speech lab
July 10, 2018 10 Jul'18
Analysts question Australia government’s IBM deal

Industry analysts and experts have called the wisdom of the A$1bn IBM IT deal into question, with one claiming that the federal government should have used a range of suppliers instead
July 09, 2018 09 Jul'18
Inside one of the world’s largest bug bounty programmes

Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative may be the top external supplier of software bug reporting for Microsoft and Adobe, but that does not mean it purchases every type of bug
July 06, 2018 06 Jul'18
Bosch teams up with Singapore Polytechnic in IoT training push

Bosch and Singapore Polytechnic have set up two learning labs to train students on the use of the internet of things in advanced manufacturing
July 05, 2018 05 Jul'18
Australian startups team up to keep wind turbines humming

Using acoustic sensors and nanosatellite connectivity, two Australian startups hope to identify potential turbine problems before they occur to secure the country’s wind energy
July 04, 2018 04 Jul'18
Singapore company turns to blockchain to improve food security

SMC Nutrition is using a blockchain distributed ledger developed by a Singapore-based company to gain visibility across its supply chain and ensure food security
July 04, 2018 04 Jul'18
Inside Alibaba Cloud’s Southeast Asia playbook

Alibaba Cloud is working closely with local customers in joint innovation projects, and has started to launch new services for Chinese and international customers simultaneously to narrow the service gap
July 02, 2018 02 Jul'18
Singapore’s Fullerton Health gears up for the cloud

Private healthcare service provider Fullerton Health is moving business applications to Microsoft’s cloud services before rolling out data analytics and artificial intelligence to enhance operations and patient care
July 01, 2018 01 Jul'18
Australian government grappling with digital transformation woes

Digital transformation in Australia’s public sector has been beset by soaring rhetoric and vague aspirations by government, a new report reveals
June 28, 2018 28 Jun'18
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
June 27, 2018 27 Jun'18
Global IoT security standard remains elusive

Despite the lack of a global internet of things security standard, existing security frameworks are on the same page in areas such as device upgradability and data stewardship
June 26, 2018 26 Jun'18
Malaysia makes good progress in building analytics talent

The country’s talent development and funding schemes have brought the benefits of big data to many organisations, but the quality and volume of its analytics talent can be improved
June 25, 2018 25 Jun'18
SAP outlines approach to data management

Through its Hana Data Management Suite, SAP hopes to alleviate the challenges of managing data amid growing data security needs in an increasingly hybrid IT landscape
June 22, 2018 22 Jun'18
How Australia is gearing up for 5G

From trialling 5G networks at the recent Commonwealth Games to flying drones in surf sport lifesaving, Australia is becoming a test bed for 5G services with its dense cities and wide-open spaces
June 21, 2018 21 Jun'18
M1, Huawei to transmit VR content in 5G live trial

Mobile operator M1 and Huawei will be streaming virtual reality content in Singapore’s first 5G live trial in June
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
Palo Alto Networks opens cyber range in Australia

The first of its kind in Asia-Pacific, the cyber range training facility will let Australian IT and security teams hone their skills through cyber security exercises
June 20, 2018 20 Jun'18
More APAC consumer goods firms expected to adopt blockchain

The adoption of blockchain technology is likely to increase in the consumer goods industry as more businesses use the technology to address fraud and improve supply chain management
June 19, 2018 19 Jun'18
Singapore remains hotbed for cyber threats

Singapore was a victim of advanced persistent threats, phishing and website defacements in 2017, according to the latest threat landscape report by the Cyber Security Agency
June 18, 2018 18 Jun'18
Singapore faced cyber attacks during Trump-Kim summit

Russian attackers allegedly scanned IP phones in the city-state for vulnerabilities, although it was unclear what they were after or whether they were successful
June 18, 2018 18 Jun'18
Bank uses AI to select job candidates

Singapore’s DBS Bank is using artificial intelligence to automate parts of its recruitment process
June 18, 2018 18 Jun'18
Equinix, Digital Realty and NTT lead datacentre colocation market

NTT had the biggest market share in Asia-Pacific, while Equinix ranked third in the region during the first quarter of 2018, according to market research data
June 13, 2018 13 Jun'18
Australian university reaches for the stars after HPC boost

The University of Sydney has upgraded its supercomputing infrastructure to answer big questions on cosmology and keep pace with growing research needs
June 12, 2018 12 Jun'18
Alibaba Cloud touts AI smarts to keep pigs healthy

The Chinese cloud supplier has developed an AI program that has improved the yield and productivity of pig farms
June 11, 2018 11 Jun'18
Singapore career website hit by PageUp malware scare

A Singapore government career website was among others affected by a malware attack on an Australian recruitment technology supplier
June 11, 2018 11 Jun'18
APAC remains a hotbed for software piracy

The Asia-Pacific region is still seeing the highest use of unlicensed software installations globally, making enterprises more susceptible to cyber attacks from malware
June 10, 2018 10 Jun'18
Singapore government to regulate eSIM technology

The government is gathering feedback on key proposals such as forbidding telcos to lock embedded SIM-enabled devices to their networks
June 06, 2018 06 Jun'18
What SAP C/4 Hana means for the APAC enterprises

The cloud-based CRM suite could find takers, but it may not be enticing enough for Salesforce.com CRM customers that also run SAP’s ERP software to make the switch
June 06, 2018 06 Jun'18
Singapore government to form AI advisory council

New council will develop standards and guidelines to address ethical issues arising from the growing use of artificial intelligence
June 05, 2018 05 Jun'18
Australia’s chief scientist calls for AI regulations

The proposal would require companies to apply for a trustmark so they know from the outset how their AI is expected to behave
May 31, 2018 31 May'18
Australian workers apprehensive about digital transformation

Nearly four in 10 workers in Australia are worried that they do not have the right skills to compete in the digital economy, survey finds
May 30, 2018 30 May'18
AWS to bolster cloud skills development in Singapore

The training arm of Singapore’s labour movement is rolling out training courses in cooperation with Amazon Web Services to improve cloud computing literacy among SMEs
May 27, 2018 27 May'18
Dedicated HPC infrastructure still rules, says Huawei

A Huawei executive makes the case for dedicated high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, despite the growth of public cloud services that have democratised access to HPC and AI capabilities
May 24, 2018 24 May'18
Grab outlines its approach to cyber security

Singapore-based ride-hailing company prefers detective controls rather than preventive ones to deter cyber threats – an approach it claims is less intrusive and costly to implement
May 24, 2018 24 May'18
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
May 23, 2018 23 May'18
Singapore to adopt European e-invoicing standard

The city-state is the first country outside Europe to embrace the Peppol e-invoicing standard to speed up business transactions and lower operating costs for SMEs
May 22, 2018 22 May'18
Thailand’s Ascend Money finds agility with OpenShift

Besides implementing Red Hat’s OpenShift application platform, Ascend Money adopted an open source governance model to keep IT teams aligned with business goals
May 21, 2018 21 May'18
APAC organisations could lose $1.75tn from cyber attacks

A study by Frost and Sullivan has found that losses from cyber security incidents could account for 7% of the region’s GDP in 2017
May 17, 2018 17 May'18
Singapore ropes in local polytechnics in AI talent boost

AI Singapore is working with three polytechnics to train lecturers and students on artificial intelligence while boosting AI adoption among SMEs
May 16, 2018 16 May'18
AI is more than just doing things cheaper and faster

Choose the parts of AI to deploy to demonstrate return-on-investment and differentiate your brand, says Volkswagen Australia’s chief customer officer
May 16, 2018 16 May'18
Google opens third availability zone in Singapore

The latest Google Cloud Platform availability zone in Singapore follows recent efforts by rivals to extend their lead in the region
May 15, 2018 15 May'18
Oracle claims positive traction for autonomous database in ASEAN

Oracle’s newly minted autonomous database could leave database administrators unemployed, but that has not stopped a Thai payment services provider from jumping onto the bandwagon
May 14, 2018 14 May'18
Inside the rise of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres

A blended strategy of building and acquiring datacentres, as well as forming local partnerships, has contributed to the rapid rise of one of the fastest-growing datacentre providers in Asia
May 10, 2018 10 May'18
Citrix touts digital workspace app in services play

Software supplier Citrix’s cloud-based workspace app is part of its efforts to deliver integrated services that support the modern workplace
May 09, 2018 09 May'18
How enterprises can cope with digital disruption

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst says enterprises can take a leaf from DevOps and build modularity into their technology infrastructure to prepare for the forces of digital disruption
May 09, 2018 09 May'18
Singapore organisations not paying heed to data veracity

Most Singapore respondents in a global Accenture survey said they have not invested in capabilities to verify data used in decision-making
May 08, 2018 08 May'18
Oracle’s autonomous database could leave DBAs unemployed

The long-term future of database administrators could be at risk if every enterprise adopts the Oracle 18c autonomous database
May 08, 2018 08 May'18
Red Hat teams up with Microsoft in hybrid cloud, container push

Building on a strategic alliance first announced in 2015, the two software companies are working together on Red Hat OpenShift on Azure to reduce the complexity of managing containers in a hybrid cloud environment
May 07, 2018 07 May'18
ASEAN seeks to tame data deluge with object storage

Led by Singapore and Thailand, the object storage market in Southeast Asia is expected to grow at a double-digit rate in the next few years
May 02, 2018 02 May'18
Workday to continue investing heavily in APAC

Cloud applications supplier has increased its investments in the region by more than 50% in the past year, and is looking to maintain its double-digit growth in international markets
April 30, 2018 30 Apr'18
Australia government earmarks A$70m to refresh supercomputers

The investment will fund replacements for two supercomputers at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in an effort to bolster Australia’s research capabilities
April 27, 2018 27 Apr'18
Data analytics is about culture, not technology

Enterprises need to figure out the business problems they are trying to solve and foster a data-driven culture to benefit from data analytics
April 26, 2018 26 Apr'18
Malaysia’s Supahands finds agility with the cloud

Regional workforce crowdsourcing startup relies on the cloud to keep its infrastructure agile enough to scale up and down, according to customer demand
April 24, 2018 24 Apr'18
CenturyLink takes aim at APAC market post-Level 3 merger

The US telecoms giant is expanding its footprint in Asia through its merger with Level 3, and hopes to bring its offerings on par with that of rivals in the region
April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18
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
April 23, 2018 23 Apr'18
AI is renewing interest in high-performance computing

Growing adoption of artificial intelligence is spurring interest in high-performance computing beyond research institutions
April 22, 2018 22 Apr'18
Thales to open ‘digital factory’ in Asia

India and Australia are potential candidates for Thales’s new coding centre that will support digital transformation efforts
April 20, 2018 20 Apr'18
Alibaba to set up digital hub in Thailand

Chinese e-commerce and technology giant Alibaba is expanding its Southeast Asian footprint with a new digital hub east of Bangkok that is expected to boost Thailand’s digital credentials
April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18
Australian supermarket chain hit by IT outage

Thirty-minute glitch knocked out checkout systems at half of Woolworths’ stores in Australia
April 18, 2018 18 Apr'18
APAC is becoming a hotspot for DDoS attacks

The region’s largest and most-connected economies are most vulnerable to distributed denial-of-service attacks, according to CenturyLink
April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18
Nginx debuts in Australia amid growing demand for microservices

The supplier of an open-source application platform is counting on the growing usage of microservices in the perennial search for agility and responsiveness among enterprises
April 17, 2018 17 Apr'18
Huawei wants to unlock ASEAN’s digital potential

The Chinese technology supplier is working with communications service providers such as Converge in the Philippines to bolster their networks to support new digital services
April 16, 2018 16 Apr'18
Singtel, VMware to set up hybrid cloud sandbox

The hybrid cloud sandbox environment will let companies test their cloud workloads and software-defined networks
April 15, 2018 15 Apr'18
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
April 12, 2018 12 Apr'18
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
April 11, 2018 11 Apr'18
Australia needs to plug innovation gap

Being at the crossroads of technological change, Australia should decide if it wants to be a producer of cutting-edge applications or be contented with just being a user of technology
April 10, 2018 10 Apr'18
What Amazon’s ideal robot looks like

Robots should be available at the fingertips and work in tandem with humans and other machines to improve task efficiency, says the chief technologist of Amazon Robotics
April 09, 2018 09 Apr'18
Microsoft teams up with Japan’s JRCS on mixed reality

Software giant Microsoft has partnered with a Japanese supplier of maritime systems to test the use of HoloLens headsets for training and maintenance work
April 05, 2018 05 Apr'18
Microsoft outlines approach to intellectual property

Enterprises will own patents and industrial design rights that result from new technology jointly developed with Microsoft, among a raft of intellectual property principles unveiled by the software giant
April 04, 2018 04 Apr'18
AWS expands edge computing service to Singapore

Amazon’s Snowball Edge strengthens its support for hybrid use cases in a fast-growing market for the internet of things and hybrid IT
April 02, 2018 02 Apr'18
Lawyers more influential than IT staff in cloud deployments

Traditionally considered risk-adverse, lawyers are twice as more influential than in-house technology staff about cloud, research finds
March 29, 2018 29 Mar'18
Most airports not protected from cyber threats

The chairman of the Israel Airports Authority paints a dismal picture of the state of cyber security in aviation, and offers advice on what can be done to avert the next disaster
March 28, 2018 28 Mar'18
AWS ups ante on cloud services for Australian government

Cloud supplier AWS says government agencies can now assess the prospect of running protected workloads, following an independent cloud security assessment
March 27, 2018 27 Mar'18
HPE calls for bottom-up approach to AI

A bottom-up approach towards data modelling is needed to address the shortcomings of physical and theoretical models in artificial intelligence
March 23, 2018 23 Mar'18
Private sector over-investing against nation-state attacks

The creator of a routing technique that protects the domain name system says the money spent on guarding against nation-state actors could have been better used for other purposes
March 22, 2018 22 Mar'18
Colt pioneers blockchain in telco voice wholesaling

Colt Technology Services and Hong Kong Telecom’s international unit PCCW Global teamed up to trial the use of blockchain in wholesale voice settlements
March 21, 2018 21 Mar'18
Singapore government outlines its approach to IoT

Avoiding supplier lock-in, driving open standards and tapping modular platforms are part of the approach that the Singapore government has taken in implementing the internet of things in the city-state
March 20, 2018 20 Mar'18
Australia, ASEAN deepen links on smart cities and digital trade

Besides fostering smart city development across Southeast Asia, Australia and ASEAN will also support the use of digital trade standards across the region’s booming e-commerce market
March 19, 2018 19 Mar'18
Australia pilots visa scheme to ease talent crunch

The Global Talent Scheme follows the government’s move to scrap the 457 visa, but industry watchers say smaller companies will struggle to meet its salary threshold
March 19, 2018 19 Mar'18
How airlines are gearing up for the digital shift

Asian carriers are counting on personalised services, blockchain-enabled loyalty programmes, automation and predictive maintenance to lower costs and improve passenger experience
March 15, 2018 15 Mar'18
Alibaba Cloud’s Indonesia datacentre is open for business

The Chinese cloud supplier is pulling all stops to expand its Asia-Pacific footprint, including training local cloud professionals and nabbing notable customers – including one of Indonesia’s top e-commerce companies
March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18
Microsoft's Chinese-English translation system achieves human parity

A China-US research team at software powerhouse Microsoft has developed an AI-powered system that can translate Chinese news articles into English as well as humans do.
March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18
Amazon Rekognition goes live in AWS Sydney region

The cloud-based AI service from Amazon Web Services has already drawn a diverse set of Australian businesses, paving the way for greater adoption of AI in Australia
March 14, 2018 14 Mar'18
APAC security chiefs expect imminent attack on critical systems

Nearly 70% of cyber security leaders in the APAC region believe a major attack affecting critical infrastructure across multiple countries will happen in the next two years, a survey reveals
March 13, 2018 13 Mar'18
Singapore tops global rankings on smart cities

The city-state of Singapore was lauded for its efforts in tapping the internet of things to improve public infrastructure and services in a global study by Juniper Research
March 08, 2018 08 Mar'18
How banks can make sense of digital disruption

Banks and financial institutions need to go back to basics, deconstruct their core banking processes and strive for zero defects in building applications, says the IT head honcho of Malaysia’s CIMB Bank
March 08, 2018 08 Mar'18
Kiwi airport testing avatar service to ease staff workload

Auckland Airport is testing an AI-powered avatar at the arrivals area to answer biosecurity questions from travellers
March 07, 2018 07 Mar'18
Developed APAC countries well-poised for the cloud

With strong policies in data protection and cyber security, Japan, Australia and Singapore are among countries that are most prepared to reap the benefits of the cloud
March 06, 2018 06 Mar'18
Security remains an afterthought in DevOps

Enterprises in Asia are lapping up DevOps but less than one-third have baked security processes into their developments