iTWire - Development

Black Sky launches in Australia

2024-09-06T09:39:24+10:00

Black Sky Industries has launched in Australia, establishing its headquarters in Logan, in Southeast Queensland as well as launch, test, and manufacturing facilities throughout Western Queensland.

The launch will see Black Sky drive the production of capable sovereign-scaled rocket motor and defence systems.

Black Sky said it is “reimagining how rockets are designed, developed, and manufactured at scale.”

As a local producer of ammonium perchlorate (AP)—crucial to conventional solid rocket motors used in aerospace and defence industries—Black Sky produces solid rocket propellant and motors, and offers its homegrown, proprietary Wagtail Rocket Assisted Take-Off (RATO) technology for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and drones.

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Cortex1, Black Sky’s proprietary software platform, underpins all aspects of its operations, from research and development and manufacturing to powering products and platforms, including launch control, tracking, and mapping through data-driven propellant formulation and characterisation technology using artificial intelligence.

“At Black Sky, complex rocket manufacturing is done with a high degree of innovation, security, and safety but at much lower cost than others. This has the potential to save Australia and our allies billions of dollars and ensure taxpayer funds can be utilised in other areas,” claims Black Sky co-founder and industry veteran Blake Nikolic.

Black Sky co-founder Dr Vu Tran, who also co-founded technology startup Go1, said Black Sky will help secure and strengthen local defence supply chains and reduce Australia’s dependence on external jurisdictions.

“Australia spends $50-$55 billion on defence each year yet we’re lucky to have just one company in the top 100 list of defence suppliers. Black Sky aims to change that,” Dr Tran said.

“Having sovereign defence capability will help Australia achieve greater efficiency and resilience in the delivery of defence technologies, and in our ability to protect the nation.”

Dr Tran highlighted the benefits of manufacturing locally.

“This includes lower geopolitical risks, increased operational transparency, regulatory compliance alignment, intellectual property protection, enhanced ability to customise products, less dependence on international suppliers, reduced exposure to global supply chain disruptions, faster time to market and quality control—with a predictable cost structure.”

“It also encourages the growth of local businesses while building a skilled workforce to develop a consistent pipeline of local talent with proximity and access to local R&D institutions,” Dr Tran said.

Black Sky Industries, formerly known as Black Sky Aerospace, is Australia’s only sovereign developer and supplier of solid rocket propellant and solid rocket motors to the defence sector.

Black Sky has ambitions of creating hundreds of advanced manufacturing and defence industry jobs over the next decade.

Recent key hires at the company include former L3Harris Technologies director David Johnson as general manager, enterprise development and defence innovation veteran Stephen Delo.

Fujitsu to open an all-photonics network lab in Germany

2024-09-04T08:44:28+10:00

Japanese multinational ICT equipment and services corporation Fujitsu announced it will open an open all-photonics network (APN) lab in Düsseldorf, Germany from November 2024 to March 2025 to promote open APNs and the global expansion of the innovative optical and wireless network (IOWN).

Fujitsu signed a contract with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) to establish the lab and conduct field trials towards the overseas deployment of APNs in Europe.

Düsseldorf is home to many telecom-related companies. The lab will be located near Düsseldorf International Airport and major European cities.

According to Fujitsu, open APNs facilitate the connection of multi-vendor products and solutions while also providing capacity, latency, and low power consumption.

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A new IOWN service is planned to be introduced in Japan in 2025, and it is expected that APNs will become more widely known.

Fujitsu wanted to open a new lab because, as AI, big data processing, and 5G develop, “there is a demand for larger optical data transmission capacities between wireless base stations and core networks, as well as data centres.”

As telecommunication infrastructure also expands, network carriers and data centre operators want to reduce power consumption, especially in Europe where costs are soaring.

After the lab closes in March 2025, Fujitsu will conduct field trials. The company also plans to further expand its APN labs globally, including in North America.

Roku opens new office in ‘Silicon Valley of India’

2024-09-02T19:43:56+10:00

TV streaming company Roku opened a new office in Bengaluru in India, describing the new office as the expansion into “Silicon Valley of India.”

The new office is specifically located in Embassy Golf Links Business Park, Challaghatta. It will serve as a “key” innovation hub for the company.

On the heels of announcing a new office, Roku is also actively hiring for engineering roles in Bengaluru, focusing on advertising, cloud, platform, devices, the Roku operating system (OS), and more streaming innovations.

“Roku was founded on the belief that all TV will be streamed, and Bengaluru will help us continue to transform the way the world watches television. Bengaluru is a city with a vibrant culture and thriving tech scene, and Roku is proud to be expanding its presence here,” says Roku director of engineering and India site lead Rajesh Premchandran.

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Last April, Roku made headlines when it reported that more than 576,000 accounts were breached. It also suffered a security hack that exposed more than 15,000 accounts last March.

Epson, HKRITA collaborate on development of new fibre recycling technology

2024-08-29T12:11:04+10:00

Global technology company Epson is collaborating with the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) on the development of new fibre recycling technology using Dry Fibre Technology.

Epson says the collaboration is seeking to meet the growing global need for recycled fibres by using its proprietary Dry Fibre Technology to establish technology for defibrating hard-to-recycle fabrics and expand real-world fibre recycling.

Epson says it has entered into a joint development agreement with the HKRITA, an R&D centre specialising in the development of innovative solutions to the textile, clothing and fashion industry.

“Spurred by a growing recognition of global environmental issues, a trend toward using recycled fibres from unwanted clothing has been gaining steam, particularly in countries moving to increase the ratio of recycled fibres used and limit the use of petroleum-derived synthetic fibres,” notes Epson.

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“Currently, a machine called a garnett is commonly used in the textile recycling process to separate the fibres in waste material. However, garnetts are unable to effectively separate the fibres of some of the most common textiles in the apparel market, such as tightly weave fabrics used for dress shirts and bed sheets and elastic blended fabrics used for functional clothing.”

Epson says it seeks to solve this problem by using its unique Dry Fibre Technology to establish a process for defibrating elastic blended fabrics and tightly woven fabrics - and the aim is to provide a new solution for recycling clothing fibres by entering into the jjoint development agreement with HKRITA.

According to Epson, this solution will be able to help greatly accelerate the use of recycled fibres by making it possible to separate fibres from challenging textiles such as functional clothing, sheets and dress shirts, as well as from factory mill ends, unsold items of clothing and unwanted apparel.

“Dry Fibre Technology, independently developed by Epson, enables the creation of new value from post-consumer paper, wood, clothing and other fibrous waste and used products. It is one of the core technologies around which Epson is building an environmental business.

“In addition to developing recycled fibre production solutions, Epson is producing new paper and packaging materials from used paper and other raw materials. It is also developing stronger and more durable recycled plastic and bio-based plastic. Epson is building an environmental business by applying this technology and will contribute to environmental impact mitigation and resource circulation.

“Established in Hong Kong in 2006, HKRITA engages in applied research to support the textile and apparel industry in order to boost its overall competitiveness, drive sustainable improvements and bring benefits to society. By providing one-stop services for applied research, technology transfer and commercialisation, HKRITA makes sustained efforts to promote successful projects for industry application.”

For more information on Epson Dry Fibre Technology go to: https://corporate.epson/en/technology/search-by-products/other/dry-fiber-technology.html

For more information on HKRITA go to: https://www.hkrita.co

Milestone Systems unveils new experience centre in Melbourne

2024-08-08T11:37:42+10:00

Data-driven video technology software provider Milestone Systems opened a new office and experience centre in Mulgrave, Melbourne.

The experience centre (EC) is an expansion of Milestone’s first EC in Australia, which opened in 2018.

The expansion focused on interactivity for a “hands-on experience” rather than the visual experience previously presented to partners and customers.

It featured individual touchscreens that allow users to tap into ten times more camera feeds than the previous incarnation and provide hands-on experience with advanced features such as license plate recognition and vehicle tracking, facial recognition, situational awareness, and IoT sensors, integrating diverse technologies enabled via video.

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The EC provides innovation and customized solutions to stakeholders, offering solutions for enterprises’ specific requirements without limitations.

It provides a testing ground for high-level video deployments and a pathway to increased operational efficiency.

The technology is “industry agnostic” and can be used to design technologies across various industries rather than focusing on specific vertical markets.

Users can design their ideal solution for industries such as mining, healthcare, education, and retail deployments.

“We have had great success with our EC concept since opening the first at our previous site, and decided the time had come to expand and offer a more hands-on, visual experience to our partners and customers,” says Milestone Systems acting country manager South Pacific Jordan Cullis.

The centre now provides a testing ground for customers and partners to really understand that the power of video goes far beyond security.

Moving beyond security, solutions are being tailored to industry and general needs such as bushfire detection, pedestrian heat-mapping in retail centres, flood alerts, remote monitoring of heavy machinery in mines, and much more.

Cullis continues, “Working with our close partners in the industry such as healthcare, education and retail means that we are able to offer a truly collaborative experience where people can get the look and feel of how hardware and software work seamlessly together, try new things and experiment to really explore what is possible in the realm of video technology. It also offers the service provider community the opportunity to demonstrate future-proof solutions to their customers.”

The EC focuses on customer engagement, with partners encouraged to book the space to demonstrate key features of their technologies. Hands-on demonstrations will allow customers to see firsthand how various technologies integrate with the Milestone Systems suite, including XProtect, BriefCam, Hospital Assist and Kite.

Milestone Systems APAC vice president Malou Toft adds, “Our investment in this new location reflects our commitment to our customers. It's the latest of three ECs in APAC, allowing us to showcase the true potential of an open platform. Innovation is in Milestone’s DNA, so this versatile, interactive space pays testament to our focus on developing ideal solutions for any situation, for any customer.”

Milestone Systems chief revenue officer Morten Illum concludes, “This centre is a merger of business innovation and learning, providing an environment for both technology demonstration and education. It is an investment that looks to the future for both Milestone and our partners, and we fully recognise the potential for high-level video integrations in the South Pacific region.”

Sonar Introduces SonarCloud Enterprise and Team Plans for Advanced Analysis of AI-assisted and Developer Written Code

2024-08-01T09:37:56+10:00

New SaaS plans provide comprehensive code quality and code security visibility for developers, software engineering managers, and business leaders

Sonar, the leading Clean Code solution provider, has expanded its SonarCloud offering with the availability of two new plans, SonarCloud Enterprise and SonarCloud Team. SonarCloud, the company’s fully managed SaaS solution for improving the quality and security of human-developed and AI-assisted code at scale, is used by thousands of organizations to analyze proprietary and open source projects. With the new Enterprise and Team plans for SonarCloud, Sonar empowers development teams of all sizes to deliver Clean Code with confidence.

When code isn’t clean, it can cause business outages, security risks, and poor application performance. Sonar’s Clean Code solutions help developers catch bugs, quality concerns, and security flaws early in the development process, as code is being created. This allows them to find and resolve issues before they can make it through to production, improving developer productivity, software quality, and business performance.

“Our ROI in SonarCloud kicked in from the first month. We were able to gain a better understanding of the quality of our code and start rolling out suitable adjustments for the engineering team,” said Furkan Yavuz, QA lead for Recognyte, an AI-driven real estate intelligence company.

As organizations increasingly adopt AI assistants to write code and develop software, having scalable, flexible solutions, with high availability and built-in security has become a business imperative. The new SonarCloud plans ensure developer teams can leverage SonarCloud as their needs grow, to continuously reduce exposure to risk at all levels and sustain the performance of their software, growing business through systematic development and delivery.

“The adoption of AI coding assistants and the push for faster software development have increased code volume and raised reliability concerns. However, most code scanning tools are just adding to the growing list of issues that are potential threats to business, most of which are false positives. Developers need to be empowered to find issues early and be motivated to fix them with the tools they love and have confidence in. Development teams who use SonarCloud are able to pinpoint and remediate as early in the development process as possible,” said Fabrice Bellingard, VP of Product at Sonar.

Features Made for the Enterprise

SonarCloud Enterprise offers organization-wide portfolio management, new authentication and security features, executive reporting functionality, simplified administration, enterprise service-level agreements, and dedicated commercial support for all customers. Additionally, SonarCloud Enterprise is available on AWS Marketplace, ensuring simplified procurement and onboarding.

Centralizing Controls.

Managing multiple organizations in a DevOps environment can be difficult, causing a lack of visibility into the overall security of the company’s software and the needed actions to improve it on various levels. Specific features include: Enterprise hierarchy, portfolio creation, organization-wide configurable settings, project PDF reporting for technology leads and managers, and security standard reports for IT security teams.

Authentication and Security.

Organizations tend to use a combination of different tools in their DevOps toolkit to ensure code quality and security, on top of multiple linters to support the complexity that comes with leveraging a variety of languages. Managing organization and group membership to various solutions and ensuring they are synchronized can be a large administrative effort, and lead to security risks. Features that support this and ongoing security assurance include: Single Sign-On (SSO), synchronized access management, and more scalable token management.

Simplified Administration.

At onboarding, default settings can be prepared and applied to all projects with organization-wide project configuration. This relieves the tedious and slow task that large enterprises face of configuring a high number of projects, project by project. Automated project creation at scale also supports ease in standing up SonarCloud. It enables the auto-creation of projects in SonarCloud that were initially built in an enterprise DevOps platform. Additionally, enterprise billing means that billing can be done as a single entity while being applied to multiple organizations.

More about the SonarCloud Team Plan

Flexible plans to meet the needs of all organizations.

SonarCloud’s existing Private Repo plan has been replaced by SonarCloud Team and will continue to provide the reliable, SaaS solution that users trust and rely on today. At an affordable price, SonarCloud Team provides all the benefits of the SonarQube Community Edition plus additional features like branch analysis, pull request decoration, and injection flow detection. With the Team plan, developers can scan both public and private projects for actionable insights that enable consistent and efficient Clean Code delivery all in a simple, fast time-to-value SaaS model hosted by Sonar. Teams also have control to define the quality standard they want their codebase to follow.

As a company rooted in open source, the Free plan of SonarCloud will continue to be available and will evolve through the year.

SonarCloud on AWS Marketplace

SonarCloud is available on AWS Marketplace, a curated digital catalog of independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This enables seamless access to Sonar’s SaaS solution and acceleration of its deployment for AWS customers globally, whether on the Enterprise or Team plan. Hosted at AWS and replicated across multiple availability zones, data remains accessible in case of hardware failures or natural disasters. In addition, Sonar has joined the AWS Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program, which will help it to provide improved customer support and cloud cost management. Through its membership in the program, Sonar will increase the visibility of its services to AWS customers and partners. More information about SonarCloud on AWS Marketplace can be found here.

“When developers aren’t burdened by fixing issues downstream, they have more time for creativity, quicker release cycles, and advanced problem-solving, which all support a more positive developer experience and contribute to higher retention and lower recruitment costs,” added Bellingard.

Features described in this release will be made available throughout 2024. To learn more, visit our SonarCloud page, here.

MongoDB .Local Sydney - FREE EVENT for Developers, architects, IT professionals, DevOps engineers, and anyone working with or learning MongoDB (the Data Developer Platform).

2024-07-23T19:35:09+10:00

EVENT INVITE: At MongoDB.local Sydney, you'll learn technologies, tools, and best practices that make it easy to build data-driven applications without distraction. Connect with our experts and customers to find new ways to build with MongoDB, hear what’s coming out, and meet developers shaking up their industries. Join us for a day filled with educational breakout sessions, customer stories, keynote address, 1:1 Ask the Experts consulting sessions, and more!

Join us for a day filled with educational breakout sessions, customer stories, keynote address, Ask our Experts in one on one consulting sessions.

About MongoDB

Location

W Sydney
31 Wheat Rd,
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia

When

July 30, 2024
8:00 AM – 6:00 PM AEDT

Free Event

A full day pass is complimentary and includes access to all content, MongoDB experts, food and beverages throughout the day, plus much more!

FREE Registration to MONGODB .Local Sydney

Who should attend?

Developers, architects, IT professionals, DevOps engineers, and anyone working with or learning MongoDB.

What to expect

At MongoDB. local Sydney, you'll learn technologies, tools, and best practices that make it easy to build data-driven applications without distraction. Connect with our experts and customers to find new ways to build with MongoDB, hear what’s coming out, and meet developers shaking up their industries.

Keynote Presentation

Learn about the latest product announcements from a MongoDB expert. More details to come!

Technical Sessions

Experience educational technical sessions for all levels, delivered by MongoDB experts and customers.

MongoDB Product Demos

Stop by the MongoDB booth for demos of the latest products and to get your questions answered.

Networking

Meet with other MongoDB enthusiasts from all over the metroplex!

Keynote Address

The next major platform shift is here, and it's powered by AI. Join MongoDB Field CTO, Rick Houlihan, to learn how our developer data platform, MongoDB Atlas, is uniquely positioned to give developers and organizations a competitive edge when building the intelligent applications today's customers expect. See the newest releases, hear what’s coming next, and learn powerful new ways to use products and features you may already use today.

MongoDB Agenda

Agenda

Motorola Solutions opens R&D centre in Ireland

2024-07-10T09:47:53+10:00

American telecommunications company Motorola Solutions will open a new research and development (R&D) centre in Cork, Ireland that is expected to generate 200 highly-skilled jobs.

In a statement, Motorola said the team will design software for the brand’s land mobile radio (LMR) portfolio. It also plans for expansion across other technologies in the future.

Motorola claimed it has investments of more than US$12 billion ($17.8 billion) in R&D and acquisitions over the past decade centred on safety and security with LMR as core.

The company also claimed it has deployed more than 13,000 LMR networks worldwide.

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Modernised with broadband and advanced data applications, LMR provides public safety agencies with the communications they rely on and need.

“Our new centre in Cork will contribute to advancing our future vision for LMR, while building upon the collective impact of our more than 20,000 employees who are innovating what’s next for our customers around the world,” said Motorola Solutions chairman and CEO Greg Brown.

The R&D centre is backed by IDA Ireland.

The new R&D centre, planned for Cork’s vibrant city centre, complements Motorola Solutions’ existing footprint in Ireland, which is focused on delivering the emergency services’ secure communications network, Ireland’s National Digital Radio Service.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment Peter Burke is elated Motorola has chosen Cork City for its new global R&D centre.

“Regional investment is a priority for government and the creation of 200 highly skilled jobs in R&D is a significant boost for the region.”

The Irish Times reported Motorola’s Q1 2024 sales hit €2.4 billion ($3.8 billion)– up 10% from the same period a year ago. It is forecasting revenue growth of about 7%.

In 2022, Motorola acquired Tetra Solutions, which provides communications to first responders in Ireland.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 9 July 2024.

DroneShield opens new headquarters

2024-06-04T10:38:06+10:00

Counterdrone defence solutions provider DroneShield announced it opened a new headquarters in Pyrmont NSW, claiming it tripled its research and development (R&D) and manufacturing capacity to more than $400 million in hardware and software per year.

The new site features a dedicated floor for R&D, engineering, and manufacturing to fulfil orders from government, defence, and commercial customers in 70 countries.

The 2000 square metre facility is also positioned to scale DroneShield’s engineering and operations team with 40 employees to be added in the short term as the company develops in-house artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) engines and capabilities for enhanced detection and identification of and response to drone threats.

Funded by DroneShield’s recent $115 million capital raise ($30 million of which is subject to shareholder approval), which positions DroneShield—with around $700 million current market capitalisation—the new headquarters expedites the build-up of inventory to support strong demand from high-quality customer opportunities.

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This includes a pipeline of over $500 million with more than 90 qualified projects at different stages and $27 million in orders currently being fulfilled.

“The threats that drones can pose are finally being taken seriously,” said DroneShield CEO Oleg Vornik.

“Whether it’s due to the turmoil they can cause on the battlefield, or the countless ways they can disrupt everyday life—at airports, prisons and public events, for example—drone deterrence is now a priority for government agencies and authorities, in Australia and abroad.”

“We are seeing a major push for comprehensive counter-drone and counter-UAS capabilities—predominately from the US, but broadly across Five Eyes and allies, and slowly but surely in Australia. However, our equipment is sophisticated, AI-based technology that can take up to four months to build, containing up to 200 components that must be manufactured, assembled and quality controlled.”

“Supply chain and inventory certainty is critical, and we are leveraging funds from the $115 million capital raise to enable us to create upwards of $400 million in equipment per year – all within Australia, at the new facility, as a truly sovereign defence supplier – for global customers that expect high-performance equipment to be available right away.”

In addition to its global headquarters in Australia, DroneShield operates an office in Warrenton, Virginia, as its US headquarters.

Appian opens new office in Melbourne

2024-05-07T11:37:27+10:00

Cloud computing company Appian has opened a new office in Melbourne, Australia.

The office is located in Melbourne’s CBD at 100 Queen Street. Appian said the new workspace will support Appian’s growing team and will serve as a central hub for enhancing customer and partner engagement.

The new office opening and Appian’s ongoing expansion in the Australian market align with the company’s mission to simplify digital transformation through process automation that orchestrates change in the age of AI.

Appian’s growth is backed by its customer base which includes Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, MinterEllison, Westpac, AGL, Belong, NSW Department of Justice, and the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) in Victoria.

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“The Appian team has demonstrated a strong commitment to our success. Their proactive approach to problem-solving, regular communication, and ongoing support have made them more than just a vendor. They are a true partner in our digital transformation journey,” said OPP program director, digital transformation Darryl Slabe.

Appian said it formed new partnerships with companies Accenture, Conexxia, Deloitte, DXC, EY, KPMG, Roboyo, Seers, Via Appia, and Xebia.

"Our remarkable growth in the Australian market, evidenced by a 69% increase in business from our partners in 2023 over 2022, signifies the value our platform brings to businesses aiming for digital excellence,” said Appian area vice president Asia Pacific and Japan Luke Thomas.

“Our new Melbourne office not only brings us closer to our customers and partners in the southern region, but also serves as a beacon of our commitment to driving digital innovation and process excellence."

“In the past three years, we have increased Appian Australia headcount 175%,” continued Thomas.

“Our Melbourne office investment further-underscores Appian’s dedication to the region and our belief in the potential of this market.”