ICT demand seen in Australia’s new priority skills list
The Australian federal government has announced a new priority skills list, which provides a current labour market rating and a future demand rating for occupations nationally. The list is expected to inform a range of government policy responses, including targeting of apprenticeship incentives, training funding, and skilled migration.
There are 57 occupations with a strong future demand, including ICT project manager, developer programmer, software engineer, and ICT security specialist.
The list was developed with evidence from labour market data analysis, employer surveys, stakeholder consultation with industry bodies, and federal and state/territory government agencies, as well as consideration of other available sources of data and information.
Within the 87 skills with a moderate future demand, there are also a few relating to the telecommunications industry.
8 projects share $8.2M for cybersecurity awareness
Eight projects will get a share of $8.2 million from the Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund to introduce students to training and career pathways and create job-ready professionals through industry traineeships and work experience programs.
The projects awarded under round one of the $70 million fund are:
- La Trobe University was awarded $2.4 million to raise awareness among 80,000 high school students about cybersecurity skills and training opportunities. The program also partners with industry providers to help small businesses grow their skills.
- An Australian Cyber Security Growth Network-led project to develop a practical Cyber Security Traineeship program to support about 200 participants into a cybersecurity career.
- A Central Regional TAFE-led project to improve the number and quality of cybersecurity trained professionals, including women in regional and remote locations in Western Australia.
- A CSIRO-led project to upskill small and medium business leaders and early career researchers in cybersecurity innovation and provide 100 university students with work experience.
- A RightCrowd-led project offering postgraduate training with Griffith University and commercial internships providing on-the-job exposure.
- A TasTAFE-led project to establish the Cyber Innovation Training Hub offering virtual and face-to-face training with a strong focus on industry experience and needs.
- A NSW Treasury-led project delivering a six-week cybersecurity work experience program with TAFE NSW and businesses for Year 10 students.
- Grok Academy is partnering school, vocational, and university students with major industry providers to develop their cybersecurity skills.
Microsoft increases its IaaS market share in Australia
Microsoft has increased its infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market share in Australia by 63% in 2020, according to the latest data from research firm Gartner.
Microsoft is still second with 27.3% market share after Amazon Web Services, whose market share was 32.3% at the end of 2020—a 24.3% drop from the previous year’s 36.5%. Both Google and Alibaba increased their market share to 12.7% and 4.7%, respectively. IBM went from 5% market share down to 4.5% in 2020.
The IaaS market in Australia grew 40.4% in 2020 to more than $1.4 billion in total revenue, up from $1 billion in 2019. According to Gartner, this is a result of increased public cloud adoption and because organisations are investing to support new opportunities in 5G, cloud-native applications, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
Victorians decide where mobile, broadband improvements are necessary
The state government of Victoria is asking the community to identify where mobile and broadband improvements are most needed.
Businesses and individuals can have their say on priority locations through an interactive map where they can pinpoint where there is a problem with mobile coverage or internet access by adding a marker. They can also describe the problem.
The program will focus on giving access to business-grade broadband and upgrading mobile coverage, improving 4G mobile coverage, helping more places become 5G-ready, and improving access to safety information during bushfires and other emergencies. The first locations to receive upgrades will be announced later in 2021.
The Victoria government will encourage the Commonwealth government and telecommunications providers to co-invest in the delivery of new infrastructure.