CeBIT Australia 2012 partner NICTA (National ICT Australia Ltd) is Australia’s Information and Communications Technology Research Centre of Excellence. NICTA develops technologies that generate economic, social and environmental benefits for Australia. NICTA collaborates with industry on joint projects, creates new companies, and provides new talent to the ICT sector through a NICTA-enhanced PhD program. With five laboratories around Australia and over 700 people, NICTA is the largest organisation in Australia dedicated to ICT research.
NICTA’s popular presence at CeBIT Australia 2012 displayed an array of research, prototype technologies and future start-up companies to fuel Australia’s dynamic, broadband-enabled digital economy:
- Monitoring system for critical infrastructure. This prototype system combines sensors, networking, big data management and machine learning to identify when bridge maintenance is needed and to automatically predict when it will be needed in the future.
- Advanced imaging technology that identifies materials that cannot be detected by the naked eye. This technology has potential applications for biosecurity, agriculture and surveillance. NICTA is seeking partners to trial this imaging spectroscopy technology.
- A national standards-based decision support platform to improve the efficiency of irrigation systems, NICTA’s FarmNet is a framework that integrates existing applications and data. It is a web-based system which is implemented as a service. Future trials are planned in the Murray Darling Basin, Tasmania and Victoria.
- ‘Scoobi’ data mining solution built on the Hadoop big data processing platform.
- ‘Bolt’ business continuity and disaster recovery in the public cloud, offered as a service. To be delivered to customers by NICTA’s new Yuruware business, the initial release of ‘Bolt’ caters for web properties using Amazon Web Services as cloud platform.
- Technology to manage the negative impact of streaming video on cellular networks. NICTA’s smart mobile content distribution technology pre-loads video content when there is spare network capacity then plays it from local storage. NICTA is in private beta testing for a social video Android application based on the technology.
- Technology to help transportation companies optimise their mobile assets and resources
- Performance assurance technology (ePASA) to help CIOs avoid systems meltdown by finding and fixing serious defects early
- Implantable technology to relieve chronic pain
- Social television content distribution and discovery system designed by NICTA and the Australian Centre for Broadband Innovation (ACBI).
NICTA is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Research Council through the ICT Centre of Excellence Program.
NICTA is also funded and supported by the Australian Capital Territory, the New South Wales, Queensland and Victorian Governments, the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology and Monash University.