Retail News CRM

Tag: Australia

  • Telstra expands professional media portfolio

    Telstra expands professional media portfolio

    Telstra has unveiled its new Global Media Network, a professional media contribution solution which enables broadcasters and content developers to take their content global.

    Custom-built for the media industry, the Telstra Global Media Network promises simple and efficient delivery of live and file-based video content by combining Telstra’s world class network of global submarine cables, satellite stations, and broadcast operations into one solution.

    Trevor Boal, head of Telstra Broadcast Services, said that by using the Telstra Global Media Network customers can quickly deliver content across the world – whether it’s a broadcaster wanting to source a time critical sports event or content producers that need to deliver a television program between production facilities.

    “The rapid growth of video on-demand consumption, particularly in Asia, has triggered a surge in demand for content with the number of unique channels estimated to reach nearly 30,000 globally by 2023, a more than 400% increase from 2013,” said Boal.

    “With the Telstra Global Media Network customers can easily book services online and choose the level of support they need from self-service to dedicated 24/7 monitoring provided by our dedicated Broadcast Operations Centers in Sydney and master control rooms in Hong Kong, London, New York and Los Angeles,” added Boal.

    The Global Media Network is built on Telstra’s global infrastructure, which combines its high capacity submarine fiber cable network, with access to four teleports and over 40 satellites covering strategic media hubs across Asia, Europe, the United States and Australia.

    Lees ook:

  • Telstra, Ericsson achieve five-carrier LTE aggregation

    Telstra, Ericsson achieve five-carrier LTE aggregation

    Telstra and its technology supplier Ericsson claim to have achieved a world-first with a test that used four separate radio frequency spectrum bands with five carriers for very high long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) bit rates.

    The trial at an undisclosed location used Telstra’s production network, with a Cobham Aeroflex TM500 4G network testing device as the receiver.

    It used 20 MHz each in the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz ranges, as well as two 20MHz bands in the 2600 MHz frequency range, for a total of 100MHz aggregated bandwidth.

    Five carriers and 100MHz are the maximum under the current LTE-A specification.

    Ericsson utilised high encoding rate 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) for the signal to provide better peak data speeds.

    Using the stateless user datagram protocol (UDP), the trial achived 950Mbps downlink speeds.

    With the more commonly used transmission control protocol (TCP), Ericsson and Telstra hit 843Mbps against the Speedtest website, the two telcos said. They declined to reveal the latency of the connection or the distance over the air for the signal.

    Telstra operations managing director of networks Mike Wright said that was “a widely accepted view that 4G should achieve peak speeds in the range of 1Gbps”.

    In reaching such high speeds, Wright said it could be argued that LTE technology was finally moving beyond the 4G barrier.

    “The demonstration of 1Gbps end to end capability shows the advanced state of these standards and our ability to rapidly bring them into commercial service in order to deliver increased capacity in our network to meet growing demand,” he said.

    “In addition to Telstra consumer customers, we are preparing our networks for growth in business use, as well as emerging technologies, which rely on our ability to deliver high capacity and low-latency solutions.”

    There are currently no handsets or devices capable of working with the combined five carrier LTE signal, and Telstra would not say when or whether it is planning on launching commercial services.

    Lees ook:

  • Community IoT network goes live in Australia

    Community IoT network goes live in Australia

    Australia’s Federal Minister for Communications and the Arts and Senator Mitch Fifield recently inaugurated a new IoT network intended to help the local community explore the potential of the technology.

    Jointly developed by the IoT Alliance Australia (IoTAA) and KPMG, the Barangaroo Community Network will allow up to 1,000 IoT devices within a three- to five-kilometer range to connect to the internet for free for prototyping, testing, solution development and learning.

    The gateway, operating in the Industrial and Scientific Spectrum at 915-MHz, will support up to 1000 IoT devices.

    Research undertaken for IoTAA projects shows that the IoT if harnessed, has the potential to add up to A$120 billion ($90.5 billion) to the Australian economy by 2025.

    “This represents an uplift of up to 2% in Australia’s GDP across a range of environments including factories, retail outlets smart cities and homes, motor vehicles, other transport modes and even human health and fitness – IoT is a pervasive disruptor,” said Communications Alliance CEO and Chair of the IoTAA Executive Council, John Stanton.

    The inaugural IoT “State-of-the-Nation” workshop and networking event held in Sydney was attended by more than 200 stakeholders from industry, government, the start-up community, academia and the consumer sector.

    It showcased the diverse range of initiatives underway within the IoTAA, the peak body representing a diverse group of more than 125 organizations, dedicated to empowering industry to grow Australia’s competitive advantage through IoT.

    IoTAA is hosted and supported by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) at its Broadway Campus in Sydney.

    “IoTAA’s mission is not only about grabbing opportunities – it is also about managing the risks to network integrity and personal privacy that could occur if we are not vigilant and well prepared,” Stanton said.

    Lees ook:

  • Australia sues Volkswagen over alleged emissions fraud

    Australia sues Volkswagen over alleged emissions fraud

    The Australian consumer watchdog on Thursday said it had sued the Australian arm of world No. 2 carmaker Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) for intentionally selling more than 57,000 vehicles with software which lied about levels of toxic emissions.

    “These allegations involve extraordinary conduct of a serious and deliberate nature by a global corporation,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

    The Federal Court action adds to what is already proving to be costly legal fallout for the German company as it faces class action lawsuits in Australia and around the world over emissions fraud, as well as penalties from antitrust authorities.

    Already in Australia, law firm Maurice Blackburn is seeking more than A$100 million ($75 million) from the company, including the full replacement cost of some 90,0000 vehicles, while the auto giant has agreed to pay its 650 U.S. dealers $1.2 billion in compensation.

    In Australia, the ACCC said it wanted the company to make public declarations of misconduct, pay unspecified financial penalties and issue corrective advertising in relation to its actions over five years.

    “Volkswagen engaged in multiple breaches of the Australian consumer law by concealing software in their vehicles to cheat emissions testing and misleading consumers about the vehicles’ compliance,” Sims said.

    “Consumers rightly expect that their vehicle’s emissions would operate as advertised during their day-to-day use and we allege that this was not the case.”

    Volkswagen Group Australia said in a statement that it doubted the ACCC’s action would benefit consumers since it planned to give them software which corrected the emissions data as soon as it was approved by the government – likely by year-end.

    The Volkswagen unit, which is defending the private class action, said it was reviewing the ACCC’s claims.

  • JDA expands in Australia

    JDA expands in Australia

    JDA Software Group, Inc. announced the opening of a new North Sydney office that expands on the company’s Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) presence, which includes an office in Melbourne.

    JDA opened its first office in Sydney in 1994 and now counts more than 100 customers across retail, manufacturing, third-party logistics and wholesale distribution.

    “Since its beginning in 1994, JDA’s ANZ presence has continually grown and we’re proud to count so many customers across industries and solutions that count on JDA to power their supply chains,” said Amit Bagga, regional vice president for Asia-Pacific, JDA.

    “The move to a new office in Sydney represents a commitment by the business to continue to build on the success that our team has achieved.”

    JDA offers a rich portfolio of solutions that have been delivering great value for its customers for more than 30 years, including technology from its merger with RedPrairie (2012), and acquisitions of i2 Technologies (2010) and Manugistics (2006).

    “The Australian and New Zealand market is unique globally. In all of our target market segments, customers face a highly competitive landscape and high operating costs. In addition, their consumers are rapidly embracing omni-channel and demanding a more personalized experience. In such a market, our customers are continuously looking to reduce inventories, increase supply chain velocity, and use their people and capital assets efficiently,” said Bruce How, vice president of sales, ANZ, at JDA.

    “JDA’s solutions are backed by years of experience and driven by continuous customer feedback and research thereby enabling success for our customers. Looking ahead, we plan to continue our focus in empowering customers and driving profitable customer commerce, adaptable manufacturing, and intelligent fulfillment,” continued How.

    The new office is located at Level 3, 60 Miller St, North Sydney.

    Lees ook:

  • Pelican BioThermal expands in Asia

    Pelican BioThermal expands in Asia

    Pelican BioThermal, providing temperature-controlled packaging solutions serving the life sciences industry, has expanded its operations in Asia with the launch of a new network of distribution partners in the region.

    Pelican BioThermal announced it has joined forces with the region’s distinguished distributors, Pharmaserv Express of the Philippines and CMC Element of China, to further enhance its operations offering in Asia.

    Pharmaserv Express works closely with national health services to skillfully transport pharmaceutical products throughout the complex geography of the Philippines.

    CMC Element distributes a variety of health care products, including pharmaceuticals protected in temperature controlled packaging, across the vast Chinese market using their extensive network.

    The latest development demonstrates Pelican BioThermal’s continued growth in Asia and follows the company’s recent launch of its new operational facility in Singapore.

    The new industry partnerships with these key distributors signals another major development in it’s expanding presence and support network in Asia, further enhancing the extending range of products and services offered by the company in the region.

    In particular, the new distributors enhance customer support for global customers shared with Pelican BioThermal, by offering local hours, local language and local service and inventory at the point of final distribution of pharmaceuticals.

    Pelican BioThermal’s growing global network supports customers wherever they are located and establishing productive partnerships with reliable, reputable, dedicated distributors further strengthens the Asia based business offering.

    The increasing network of distribution partners complements the company’s newly established Asia headquarters, which is co-located with Pelican BioThermal’s authorized distributor for Singapore, Enviropac.

    Benson Teo, Pelican BioThermal’s Senior Director of Sales for Asia, said: “We are delighted to announce the latest additions to our expanding network of dedicated distributors. We welcome Pharmaserv Express and CMC Element to our Asia operations; these well-established partners will play a pivotal part in our expansion efforts in Asia.

    “As the global cold chain logistics industry continues to thrive we want to further demonstrate we have the critical capabilities to support the growing Asia pharma marketplace.”

    The region continues to be an area of pronounced growth for Pelican BioThermal and forging links with these well-established distribution partners will increase the company’s global reach and support network for customers.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Blackmores spreads wings in Indonesia

    Blackmores spreads wings in Indonesia

    Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate is in Jakarta today to launch the company’s expansion into the Indonesian market.

    The Sydney-based vitamin and supplements company has been operating in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand for some years but has held back from the Indonesian market as it searched for the right partner.

    It has now partnered in a joint venture with Indonesia’s Kalbe Farma, one of the largest health care companies in South East Asia.

    “We will be launching with eight products and have 25 products by the end of the year,” Ms Holgate said yesterday.

    “It is quite a complex registration process in Indonesia compared with Australia. But we are used to the different Asian markets where it can take six months to a year to get registered.”

    She said Blackmores had chosen to partner with Kalbe as it was a major supplier of the nutritional supplements market in Indonesia.

    “It’s a market worth around $2 billion in Indonesia and it’s growing really fast,” she said.

    “The country has one of the fastest growing middle classes in the world and it’s predicted to be the third biggest economy in the world by 2030,” she said.

    She said Indonesians were increasingly interested in more Western versions of natural health products. She said Kalbe had a strong “common shared sense of purpose” with Blackmores including having an institute to train people in natural health care products.

    She said Blackmores would be able to leverage Kalbe’s training processes and its strong representation in shopping centres throughout Indonesia where it has health centres giving advice on natural health products.

    Ms Holgate has been in Indonesia for the past week at the Australian-Indonesian dialogue which is aimed at boosting trade between Australia and Indonesia. Federal Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has been negotiating a free trade agreement with Indonesia, reviving a process which stalled in 2013.

    Ms Holgate said only 2 per cent of Australia’s trade was done with Indonesia and added there were business opportunities in areas such as health, education and financial services. She said Australian companies needed to negotiate partnerships with Indonesian companies to expand into the market.

    Blackmores’ business in Indonesia was “not going to be a huge overnight.”“But you need to plant seeds to grow trees and this is an important next step in our history of growing in Asia.”

    Lees ook:

  • Telstra taps drones to improve network repair times

    Telstra taps drones to improve network repair times

    Australia’s Telstra has revealed plans to use drone technology to improve network resilience and disaster readiness during the tropical state of Queensland’s upcoming storm season.

    The operator will use drones as an “eye in the sky” to help technicians inspect local base stations following a storm or cyclone, checking for damage before technicians are deployed on-site for repairs.

    According to Telstra, this will decrease the time needed to conduct repairs following a natural disaster related outage.

    Drones from 3D Robotics fitted with sophisticated cameras and capable of flying up to 120 meters high will be used to look for damage to network assets.

    Telstra previously used a drone to check for damage to mobile infrastructure following bushfires in another state in late 2015.

    “With more than 8,500 mobile network sites around Australia, delivering coverage spanning 2.4 million square kilometers, our mobile network is the largest in the country,” Telstra group managing director for networks Mike Wright said.

    “The maintenance of our network is key to ensuring customers get the best possible service available and using drones is revolutionizing the way we inspect base stations.”

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • East Nusa Tenggara proposes flights on Kupang-Dili-Darwin route

    East Nusa Tenggara proposes flights on Kupang-Dili-Darwin route

    The Tourism and Creative Economy Office of East Nusa Tenggara Province has suggested to the Ministry of Transportation to start the Kupang-Dili-Darwin flight route.

    “The flight route will increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals in East Nusa Tenggara and other regions in Indonesia,” Head of the Tourism and Creative Economy Office of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Marius Jelamu, stated here on Thursday.

    He noted that the Kupang-Dili-Darwin flight route is, so far, unavailable. Hence, foreign tourists keen on visiting the province have to take a flight via Jakarta or Denpasar to Komodo airport in Labuan Bajo or El Tari airport in Kupang.

    Until mid 80’s there were international commercial route between Kupang and Darwin in Australia.According to Jelamu, the flight route should be considered as the three destinations are located in proximity to each other.

    “East Nusa Tenggara shares its borders with Timor Leste, and it is close to Australia. If there is a flight connecting the three destinations located in three different countries, then the transportation and communication lanes will be smoother,” Jelamu affirmed.

    Starting a transportation lane from one country to East Nusa Tenggara would help the province boost its economic growth, especially in the tourism sector.

    “It will ease travel for the foreign tourists from Timor Leste and Australia planning to visit East Nusa Tenggara and other regions. Moreover, the visa-free policy will facilitate the flow of tourists into the province,” he stated.

    He noted that the Indonesian flight carrier Garuda Indonesia could seize this opportunity as the market will always exist.

    “The flight carrier should not harbor concerns as passengers are always available,” he added.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Telstra ramps up mobile offers as streaming go small screen

    Telstra ramps up mobile offers as streaming go small screen

    New research reveals mobile video streaming is growing at more than 30% a year and on-demand TV, sports and music is changing when and where Australians watch their favorite entertainment, according to Telstra.

    To help customers make the most of the mobile streaming revolution, Telstra has included a three-month subscription to all three leading streaming video providers Netflix, Stan and Presto on selected mobile plans.

    Also, Telstra mobile plan customers can now enjoy Apple Music with data-free music streaming which means listening to all your favorite songs, albums and playlists without tapping into their data allowance.

    Further, Telstra launched a new app that makes it easy to discover all the sports and entertainment content included in Telstra mobile plans.

    “Telstra mobile customers can now get Netflix, Stan and Presto, unmetered Apple Music and free access to live NRL or AFL, Netball and Basketball, providing an unmatched mobile entertainment experience,” said Michele Garra, Telstra’s executive director for media.

    She said Australians have embraced streaming video services like Netflix in their lounge rooms and that appetite is now seen translated to phones and tablets outside the home.

    “Network traffic surges during the morning and afternoon commute, suggesting two new prime-time periods are emerging, as people discover how easy it to continue watching their favorite shows on the go,” said Garra.

    Garra said to make it easier for customers to discover the full range of entertainment options available to them as part of their plan Telstra is introducing the Telstra TV+ app for mobiles.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Ooyala unveils turnkey OTT solution

    Ooyala unveils turnkey OTT solution

    Telstra unit Ooyala has introduced Ooyala AppStudio, its new turnkey over-the-top (OTT) solution for video providers to cost-effectively build and deploy comprehensive OTT app- and web-based video entertainment experiences.

    According to a report by DTVR, OTT services are booming globally as consumers flock to connected devices for content; creating a market opportunity of nearly $65 billion over the next five years.

    Using Ooyala AppStudio, broadcasters, publishers and media companies can quickly launch, manage and monetize new OTT offerings.

    The new turnkey solution promises to mitigate the expensive custom development and integration costs typically associated with OTT market entry.

    An out-of-the-box solution, it promises to ensure customers can deploy premium OTT experiences on time and on budget, with a simple, easy-to-use interface.

    As such, it does not require highly technical staff to build or manage services. Content providers can automate the build of OTT apps directly within the Ooyala AppStudio console for any device, supporting apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast as well as on iOS, Android and the web. No engineering is required, drastically reducing time-to-market as well as development and personnel-associated costs.

    Ooyala will demonstrate Ooyala AppStudio at the 2016 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, September 8 through September 13.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Worldpay expanding to Australia

    Worldpay expanding to Australia

    The company’s expansion in Australia comes at a time of sustained growth for Worldpay, which processed 13.1 billion transactions in 2015 with transaction value of £401.9 billion ($518.9 billion).

    A number of global companies, including ASOS, Expedia, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Digital World International and Freelancer already use Worldpay for payment processing in Australia, due primarily to the company’s international reach, as well as its ability to process a wide range of alternative payment methods such as eWallets and bank transfers.

    Australian e-commerce accounted for an estimated $42 billion of the country’s GDP in 2015, and the country’s consumers lead the world in terms of eWallet adoption, which is favoured by 21% of shoppers buying goods online.

    Shane Happach, Managing Director, Global eCommerce at Worldpay concluded: “We are delighted to extend our services into Australia, which is a tremendously exciting market with lots of growth opportunity,” Worldpay managing director for global e-commerce Shane Hapach said.

    “We have quickly found merchants trading in Australia are hungry for a payment solution that can help them drive up conversion rates and drive down the costs of running an online business across multiple markets.”

    Lees ook:

  • Telstra to invest $2.3b to improve the customer experience

    Telstra to invest $2.3b to improve the customer experience

    Australia’s Telstra has revealed plans to invest up to A$3 billion ($2.3 billion) over the next few years on improving the customer experience following a wave of recent network outages.

    The operator has revealed plans to increase its capex to sales ratio to 18%, the highest since the operator was building its 3G network in the 2008-09 financial year.

    Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said the investments include plans for consumers, SMBs, domestic and international enterprise users, governments and wholesale customers, as well as both fixed and mobile networks.

    Short term actions to address frequent customer complaints will be followed by more significant and longer term investments aimed at digitising to improve the customer experience and reducing costs.

    “There are a number of immediate actions that we believe will improve customer experiences. We will simplify products and platforms – we need to retire old technology and systems that slow down and complicate how customers are served,” Penn said.

    He said investments will be aimed at evolving the network with new technologies including virtualization and increased automation. The company aims to develop a flexible, software-defined network architecture.

    The move comes as Telstra seeks to win back customers following a series of hardware-related network outages that were heavily reported in Australian media.

    Telstra had already committed A$50 million towards installing new monitoring equipment and improving the capacity of its mobile network to handle large volumes of simultaneous re-registrations.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Singtel Group cues video tilt for regions

    Singtel Group cues video tilt for regions

    Singtel Group has launched “The 5-Min Video Challenge” a joint initiative by associates within the group, comprising Singtel, Optus, AIS, Airtel, Globe and Telkomsel.

    Winning content will be distributed and made accessible to over 600 million customers across the group.

    The short five-minute format is ideal for audiences accustomed to viewing content on mobile devices.

    “A pan-regional competition makes a lot of sense as the power of content is its ability to transcend geographical and language barriers,” said Mark Chong, CEO, International, at Singtel. “Our customers will be able to enjoy access to a rich variety of original content created by the most talented content-makers from the region.”

    The competition will be conducted at two levels – local and regional. Each associate will first invite aspiring or experienced local filmmakers to submit five-minute entries based on the theme “Connecting Lives”.

    The entries will be judged on criteria such as originality of content, storytelling and cinematography. Winning entries from the respective associates’ markets will then be judged at a regional level.

    The grand winner and runner-up will be announced at the grand finals, which will be held in Bangkok, on November 21. Cash prizes of $30,000 and $15,000 will be awarded to the grand winner and runner-up respectively.

    The regional winners will also get the opportunity to promote their videos on each associate’s mobile and video platforms to customers in the group’s markets across Asia, Africa and Australia.

    Lees ook:

  • Australia regulates retail access to high-speed networks

    Australia regulates retail access to high-speed networks

    Australian competition regulator ACCC has decided to require most operators of high-speed broadband networks to grant wholesale access to rival providers.

    Fiber and VDSL network services with a downstream data rate of over 25Mbps have been declared, meaning network owners must provide wholesale access on request.

    Where commercial terms cannot be agreed upon, the wholesale access must be provided at a regulated rate of between A$22.14 and A$27 per port per month, or A$17.50 to A$29.27 per Mbps per month.

    Exceptions apply for high-speed broadband services in metro areas, where competition is already effective, and for network operators with fewer than 20,000 customers. There is also a moratorium for specific networks in some areas that need to be reconfigured to support wholesale provision.

    “This is an acknowledgment that all superfast broadband networks – regardless of their size – display natural monopoly characteristics. What this access declaration does is provide retailers with the opportunity to enter superfast broadband markets, and in turn increase competition,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

    “This decision will also help to simplify and clarify the existing regulations that apply to superfast broadband services, allowing all retail providers to compete on their relative merits, regardless of the technology used, when the network was constructed, or who operates it.”

    In practice, the move also means that competing commercial high-speed broadband networks to the wholesale only National Broadband Network (NBN) will have to compete on a similar footing.

    This is in line with regulations designed to prevent retail providers from cherry-picking by concentrating their deployments only on the most profitable areas, in contrast to the NBN which needs to provide universal access.

    Lees ook: