Converged communications pros to meet in Melbourne

Around 1200 industry professionals will gather in Melbourne from 30 September to 2 October 2014 for the Comms Connect conference and exhibition, to be held at the Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre.

Over three days, more than 60 local and international speakers from industry, government and academia will discuss the latest challenges and opportunities for the business- and mission-critical converged communications markets.

Public safety communications systems are a key component of the event, but it also encompasses a wide range of other issues such as cybersecurity, social media, the Internet of Things, BYOD, smarter cities, wireless broadband, networks and numerous communications technologies.

The following is a small selection of presentations offered over the two days.

Greg Jones (SCADA Team Leader, Titan ICT Consultants) will address ‘Cyber security - the broken link’, during which he will pose the questions ‘Do you believe your encrypted connections are secure?’, ‘Is your remote access secure?’ and ‘Why are you still failing cyber security audits?’. Jones’ address will outline how telecoms, SCADA and IT integration has failed due to focusing on business IT practices and technology solutions, and explain the reality of organisational and human factors and how addressing them will enable success.

Still on security, Steve Darrall (Practice Manager, Securus Global) will present the address ‘Bring your own device, but what else might you be bringing as well?’. This presentation will outline some of the issues that arise from BYOD and highlight how initially insignificant issues can introduce major operational concerns. Darrall will also lead a workshop on security in a converged communications environment.

For those interested in the Internet of Things, Shane Murphy (Vice President and General Manager, KORE Wireless) will speak on ‘Trends and upcoming changes in Wireless M2M’. He will present an inside look at current trends and changes happening in the wireless M2M space and the technology convergence in the Internet of Things between GSM, satellite and land mobile radio. Murphy will look at current trends in global M2M including the demise of the North American 2G network and explain how these might be realised in the Australian market, and what new and existing M2M developers need to consider in the next 24 months.

Mike Wright, Telstra Group Managing Director Networks, will present a plenary address on ‘The evolution of mobile networks to support the development of smart cities’. His presentation will picture a smart city of the future that will have intelligent transport systems to enable city infrastructure such as public transport, traffic authorities, emergency services and all cars to talk to each other, making the city work safely and more efficiently.

Social media will feature too, with a presentation by Guy Simons - Business Engagement Manger, BAI on ‘Unlocking the strategic value of social conversations’. Simons will profile the implementation of CSIRO-developed software that aggregates posts from social media platforms using statistical analysis and natural language processing to identify common themes across the social media spectrum, allowing businesses to tune into conversations of interest that go beyond their own social media domain.

BAI subsidiary Hostworks has signed a commercialisation agreement with CSIRO to take its social media research to market - namely the Vizie, Emergency Situation Awareness (ESA) and Latte tools. The ESA tool uses Twitter to provide situational awareness in emergencies, pioneered by CSIRO in collaboration with the Attorney General’s Department and Geosciences Australia, and was put to the test during a spate of bushfires in Sydney last October.

University of Tasmania PhD student and businesswoman Melanie Irons will present a case study of her ‘Tassie Fires - We Can Help’ Facebook page - developed on a whim in response to seeing a large amount of information being provided or searched for on social media in regards to the devastating January bushfires in Tasmania. The page exploded and, by accident, Irons played a pivotal role in supplying the bushfire-affected community with information, support, donations and assistance, and empowering the general population to help.

Full details of the presentations, 60+ speakers, six workshops and 90+ exhibitors, as well as registration details, are available on the Comms Connect website.