Google Cloud launches Melbourne region
Google Cloud has opened a cloud region in Melbourne after flagging plans of a cloud region for the city in March 2020. The Melbourne region comes four years after the launch of its first region in Australia, located in Sydney.
The region opens with three availability zones—a deployment area for cloud platform resources within a region—to protect against service disruptions.
The cloud provider is also in expanding connectivity across the Australia and New Zealand by supporting subsea cables, including Indigoand JGA South (Japan-Guam-Australia South), and points of presence in major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, and Auckland.
Google said that the new Melbourne region comes with new technologies and tools, but the Sydney region still offers at least 14 more products than Melbourne, with all those offered in Melbourne also available in Sydney.
Networking infrastructure market bounces back
The Australian networking infrastructure market has seen a 16.9% growth in revenue during the first quarter of 2021, generating $314 million, according to research firm IDC. This revenue is still lower than pre COVID-19 level of $344 million.
IDC’s networking infrastructure market includes ethernet switch, router, and wireless LAN hardware. 5G was the big driver behind this growth, with the router market having a yearly increase of 28.6% due to telecommunications services providers increasing their spending on 5G core networks.
Revenue from the deployment of routers within enterprise has decreased, which IDC attributes to an increase in SD-WAN deployments. IDC forecasts the SD-WAN market grow at an annual rate of 28.8% by 2024 in Australia.
IDC expects the networking infrastructure market to grow 6.2% annually by 2025 as a result of ongoing projects such as 5G mobile network upgrades, NBN network upgrades, and the trend of adoption of technology by enterprises.
AustCyber launches cybersecurity traineeship program
AustCyber has launched a new cybersecurity traineeship program in partnership with Microsoft Australia. Both organisations will offer a boot camp to prepare students for the Certificate IV in cybersecurity, with boot camps offered by various training providers to provide flexibility of training locations.
Upon completion of Certificate IV, students are deemed ready for the paid traineeship, which will be offered by partner companies, with Microsoft in charge of managing the trainees. These partners will also be involved in the boot camps and provide hands-on experience while students undertake the Certificate IV.
Additional support will be offered for those undertaking the studies through the offer of microcredential courses.
The program will focus on underrepresented groups, including women, veterans, First Nations people, neurologically diverse people, displaced workers, and other minority groups.
A total of 200 participants are expected to go through the program from 2021 to 2024.
The program has secured $320,000 from the government’s Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund (CSSPIF), matched by another $320,000 from AustCyber and Microsoft.
TAFE NSW launches 9 online tech courses for HSC students
In response to skills shortage across the country, the New South Wales government has approved the launch of 20 new courses through TAFE for local high school students.
The TAFE NSW Schools Launchpad will deliver the courses virtually in a combination of teacher-led virtual classrooms with workshops also offering work placements.
Of the 20 courses, nine cover digital skills: automotive technology, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity; digital supply chain, game design, robotics, social media, and web design and development.
Independent review of regional telecommunications accepting submissions
The Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee is now taking submissions as part of a triennial review into telecommunications services in regional, rural, and remote parts of Australia.
The committee will consider the impact of government policies and programs to improve regional connectivity and digital inclusion; insights from the COVID-19 pandemic on the changing digital needs of regional, rural, and remote areas; service reliability issues which impact regional communities and options for mitigating them; the role of emerging technologies in delivering telecommunications services in regional Australia; ways of encouraging further investment in regional telecommunications; the role of telecommunications in supporting broader regional development goals; ways to improve coordination between government and industry in telecommunications investment; and consumer awareness and education regarding telecommunications options in regional areas.
Submissions will be accepted until 30 September 2021, with the committee set to report to the minister for regionalisation, regional communications, and regional education by 31 December 2021.