A new Australian start-up has launched an innovative model for procuring services for a hybrid cloud ecosystem, while Verizon Enterprise and Equinix have brought new hybrid cloud services to the market.

Brisbane's Data#3 has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to overhaul Edith Cowan University's communications network with the latest Cisco technology. [ + ]

A lack of industry and government focus and inconsistent regulation threatens to squander the potential $116bn positive impact on the Australian economy, according to an industry think tank. [ + ]

Apple earned nearly half of its revenue for the quarter ending in September from enterprise, according to CEO Tim Cook. [ + ]

Too many organisations are putting off thinking about disaster recovery or using ineffective strategies, when newer approaches can solve the problem while reducing costs. [ + ]

Australian employers' lack of commitment to offering the ability to work from home could be costing the economy billions of dollars in lost productivity, research indicates. [ + ]

The OAIC fielded 16,166 privacy inquiries and 110 data breach notifications during a busy 2014–15 and has subsequently joined counterparts in seven other nations to share details of privacy breach investigations. [ + ]

Australia has fallen behind Japan, South Korea and Singapore in the second annual comparison of the cyber maturity of mostly APAC countries conducted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. [ + ]

Monash University claims its infrastructure has reached new performance levels with the world's first end-to-end 100 G/s cloud. [ + ]

Growing numbers of businesses are adopting the ‘bimodal IT’ approach to managing their IT infrastructures, helping them make the changes required while avoiding potential disruptions. [ + ]

This week: Are you the next Luke Skywalker?, face recognition denies twin a driver's licence, flying cranes, remote control firefighting and yet another bank IT failure. [ + ]

Gartner expects Australian IT spending to grow 2.8% next year, with average IT budgets increasing by 2.9%, as a result of spending on digital business and the connected world. [ + ]

ISPs are concerned that government funding to compensate for the costs of implementing the Data Retention Act will be split over three years since they are already incurring costs to comply. [ + ]

Businesses can benefit tremendously by harmonising the myriad structured and unstructured data in their purview by garnering the right ecosystem of people, processes and platforms. [ + ]

The EC has fined 8 disc drive suppliers a combined $183m for engaging in cartel conduct to influence supply tenders, while Google beefs up disk security requirements for some Android 6.0 devices. [ + ]