Cloud Computing News, Features, and Interviews

• New Zealanders want access to online health records, from Government

  ​A survey of New Zealanders undertaken by global consultancy Accenture suggests strong support for the development of an electronic health record system operated by the Government that would enable individuals to see all information in their medical records.

• Google brings its cloud platform to Sydney

  Google Cloud Platform has landed in Australia, with the official launch this morning of a Sydney region for the service.

• IDC says businesses redefining managed IT service relationships

  IDC New Zealand has pronounced a fundamental shift in the country’s IT services landscape as a result of what it calls ‘third platform technologies’: cloud, mobility, data analytics and social media.

• NIWA and NeSI to get three new supercomputers

  New Zealand weather and research bodies are to get three new Cray supercomputers under a six-year $31.7m contract announced today by science and innovation minister Paul Goldsmith.

• PwC flags challenges for media and entertainment companies

  PwC has released its 18th annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2017-2021 saying that entertainment and media companies accustomed to competing and creating differentiation through content and distribution must focus more intensely on user experience (UX).

• Dimension Data partners with Realtech for NZ-based SAP cloud hosting

  ​Dimension Data New Zealand has partnered with the local arm of global SAP partner Realtech to offer SAP certified hosting in New Zealand combined with SAP application and SAP Hana services and local support.

• New Kiwi tech start-up tackles SMB IT issues

  Origin IT spin-off aims to service IT needs of struggling small business owners.

• Thriving in the cloud: Business leaders share lessons learned

  Tales from the frontline on thriving in the cloud era.

• AWS scores whole of NZ Government cloud services supply deal

  ​Amazon Web Services (AWS) has scored a whole-of-government agreement, through the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), to help New Zealand Government agencies accelerate the adoption of public cloud services.

• Wellington Airport deploys Skyfii to analyse user movements

  ​Wellington International Airport is to deploy data collection, analytics and marketing software from Sydney-based, ASX-listed Skyfii to gather, analyse and act on data about users of the airport.

• Wipster’s video review software integrated with Brightcove

  ​Wellington-based Wipster, the developer of software that enables teams to collaboratively review video content, has announced integration with Brightcove, which offers a suite of products and services designed to reduce the cost and complexity of distributing, measuring and monetising video across devices.

• Charles Sturt University opts for Unimarket eProcurement service

  Australia’s Charles Sturt University has opted for Auckland-based Unimarket’s cloud-based eProcurement system designed for educational institutions, to help streamline and automate its spend management and procurement processes.

• Gigamon offers visibility into Amazon Web Services for NZ Enterprises

  ​Gigamon has announced availability in New Zealand and Australia of the Gigamon Visibility Platform for Amazon Web Services, saying it provides consistent visibility into data in motion across an enterprise: on-premise, remote sites, public cloud, private, and hybrid architectures.

• Workday opens global support centre in Auckland, signs up Air New Zealand

  Rob Wells, ANZ managing director, sees more room for growth and disruption across the region.
  

• Horowhenua council streamlines land information delivery with Civica

  The district council for the North Island community of Horowhenua has implemented Authority 7 the latest version of the Authority local government management software from UK company Civica, reducing the time taken to deliver its land information memorandum (LIM) report from 10 days to, on average, half a day.

• Qrious to become Cloudera MSP for New Zealand

  Qrious - the big data and analytics software business set up in 2014 by Spark NZ - has become the first managed service provider in New Zealand for global data management and analytics software company, Cloudera, which offers software built on the open source Hadoop, and which went public on the New York Stock Exchange last week.

• Spark to provide cloud comms for Christchurch Justice & Emergency Services Precinct

  ​Spark is to provide the Christchurch Justice and Emergency Services Precinct with cloud and wireless communications services under an agreement with the Ministry of Justice.

• The strange new world of hiring and employee tracking

  Cloud-based HR systems can bring more analytics, databases and tools to users for improving hiring processes and retaining employees.

• vGRID first in NZ to deploy HPE Synergy ‘composable infrastructure’

  ​vGRID, a New Zealand based SaaS and IaaS provider focussed on the small to medium business market, has moved from its datacentre at Waikato Innovation Park into Datacom’s Kapua data centre and has become the first company in New Zealand to deploy HPE’s Synergy product, claimed by HPE to embody a new architecture that it calls ‘composable infrastructure’.

• Genesis Energy migrates IT to Spark cloud

  New Zealand’s largest electricity and gas retailer, and power generator, Genesis Energy, has completed a large-scale migration of its IT infrastructure to Spark’s Revera cloud platform and is now running its business from the cloud.