For IT News Week 2 Jul 2017.

For this week / last week, here are / were the biggest news.

• PR - Jul 19, 2017 - OutSystems Expands Asia Pacific Footprint with Expansion into Australia
• PR - Jul 19, 2017 - Milestone Systems takes the lead as No. 1 VMS Provider in APAC
• PR - Jul 19, 2017 - mTouche eyeing US$2.69B Digital Media Advertising in Southeast Asia plus Hong Kong market
• PR - Jul 18, 2017 - Strategic alliance between Animamundi Studio and China Film Animation Industry will catalyse Malaysian animation and visual effects industry
• Quann - Jul 4, 2017 - Malaysian companies are unprepared for cyber attacks

PR - Jul 19, 2017 - OutSystems Expands Asia Pacific Footprint with Expansion into Australia

OutSystems, the #1 low-code platform for digital transformation, has just opened its first direct sales office in Sydney, Australia. The office opening comes on the back of analyst firm Gartner predicting that IT spending in Australia is set to hit $85 billion in 2017, and that CIOs in the region are more focused on digital transformation than their global peers.

The new office in Sydney will enable OutSystems to:

• Better serve existing customers in Australia and New Zealand, such as global consulting and systems integration company Atos
• Strengthen partner ecosystem and build closer business relationships with customers and prospects
• Support the digital transformation efforts of businesses in Australia and New Zealand

PR - Jul 19, 2017 - Milestone Systems takes the lead as No. 1 VMS Provider in APAC

Milestone Systems today announced it is once again the No. 1 global VMS vendor by company revenue in market research from business intelligence provider IHS Markit. Milestone Systems receives this top ranking for the ninth year running. Moreover, Milestone Systems is ranked as no. 1. VMS provider in the APAC region (excluding China).

On a global scale, Milestone Systems continues its growth with an increase in net revenue of 18 % in 2016 over the year before and has significantly exceeded the overall market growth. In APAC, the total market value for video surveillance equipment, excluding China, was USD 2,28 billion in 2016.

“In 2016, Milestone Systems’ business in APAC grew by 20 per cent compared to an overall market growth of 1.1 per cent. We owe our success to the continued focus on co-creation of revenue and innovation with the Milestone community of partners and customers, and we will continue and further explore this approach in the years to come,” said Benjamin Low, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Milestone Systems.

PR - Jul 19, 2017 - mTouche eyeing US$2.69B Digital Media Advertising in Southeast Asia plus Hong Kong market

Mobile value-added services and digital media marketing company, mTouche Technology Bhd and Advanced Platform Sdn Bhd, a software and platform development company have signed a comprehensive master collaboration partnership agreement to jointly develop and market a range of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings powered by CompuRex Dash®, a series of tightly integrated and efficient end-to-end solution that design for B2B (Business-to-Business), B2C (Business-to-Consumer), B2G (Business-to-Government), content providers and mobile users throughout the Southeast Asia plus Hong Kong market.

The foundation of the alliance is a comprehensive, multi-year strategic agreement in which both companies will make significant mutual commitments and investments in technology, product development and go-to-market efforts for a proprietary and innovative Digital Media and Infotainment Platform to the IT and mobile channel. The alliance between the companies is expected to deliver a continuous stream of services offerings over the next 18 months, with the first wave of offerings slated for a phased release during the fourth quarter of 2017.

Mr. Chen Huei Ping, Executive Director of mTouche, Mr. Tang Boon Koon, Executive Director of mTouche, Mr. Tan Lim Keat, Managing Director of Advanced Platform Sdn Bhd and En. Sapri Bin Sahabudin, Chief Technology Officer of Advanced Platform Sdn Bhd

Mr. Tang Boon Koon, Executive Director of mTouche is equally excited about the partnership. He said: “This is truly a win-win scenario for both organisations. This collaboration provides synergistic and leveraged opportunities for mTouche to expand its mobile value added services and digital media marketing offering via the innovative Digital Media and Infotainment Platform into the growing smartphone market with the aims to be the go-to mobile application platform for users looking to have a streamlined mobile application platform comprising different functionality and artificial brain that will deliver a rich mobile experience to businesses and end-users.”

PR - Jul 18, 2017 - Strategic alliance between Animamundi Studio and China Film Animation Industry will catalyse Malaysian animation and visual effects industry

China Film Animation Industry Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of China Film Co Ltd, today signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Malaysian animation studio, Animamundi Studio Sdn. Bhd. as a collaborative partner in Malaysia. The deal will see both parties work together on the development and production of animation intellectual property for projects in China and North America.

Through the signing of this agreement, witnessed by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Chief Executive Officer, Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, the Malaysian animation and visual effects industry is expected to continue its strong growth.

(L to R): Animamundi Studio Founder & CEO, Leong Chun Chong, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Chief Executive Officer, Dato' Yasmin Mahmood, China Film Animation Industry Co., Ltd., President and CEO, Huang Jun and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Vice President, Creative Content and Technologies, Hasnul Hadi Samsudin.

The agreement will develop a foundation for both parties to tightly collaborate together in the form of production, investment, as well as industry best practices.

“Throughout our collaboration with Animundi Studio Sdn Bhd, we were impressed with their team’s dedication, talent to create amazing visual experiences with dynamic storytelling capabilities and their approach towards problem solving. It felt like we were dealing with more than just artists. It has been very rewarding to our China Film Animation projects."

“I am confident that our relationship is going to bring together our top creative talents to work on China Film Animation’s powerful brand portfolio and new IP development in the coming years,” said Huang Jun, President and CEO of China Film Animation Industry Co., Ltd.

Quann - Jul 4, 2017 - Malaysian companies are unprepared for cyber attacks

The inaugural Quann IT Security End User Study 2017 was recently conducted by Quann, a leading Managed Security Services Provider in Asia Pacific, and research firm IDC to understand the cyber security strategies of organisations as well as their preparedness and vulnerability to cyber attacks. The survey covered 150 senior IT professionals from medium-to-large companies based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Among the startling results of the survey was how almost all (96%) of the surveyed Malaysian companies are in the early stages of security preparedness. In fact, more than half (52 percent) of the Malaysian respondents do not have a Security Operations Centre to monitor their networks and security devices for suspicious traffic while almost half (48 percent) of them have not conducted any form of IT security awareness exercise.

Foo Siang-tse, Managing Director of Quann

Mr. Foo Siang-tse, Managing Director, Quann, points out that the findings are worrying but they don’t come as a surprise. The lack of investment in security infrastructure, professional services and employee training makes them extremely vulnerable to attacks such as the recent WannaCry and Petya ransomware incidents.

While basic IT security features such as firewall and antivirus are widely deployed by the Malaysian companies surveyed, almost half (46 percent) of them do not have Security Intelligence and Event Management Systems to correlate and raise alerts for any anomalies.