Borg to assimilate Square Kilometre Array data

Cisco brings IoT labs to Sydney and Perth to crunch space data, oyster heartbeats

Cisco will open two internet of everything centres in the Australian cities of Sydney and Perth in coming months, in part to develop data-crunching capabilities for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the mining and agricultural sectors.

The centres will be the eight and ninth such sheds across Asia and the US and will foster data-crunching startups, accelerators, and researchers in an internet-of things industry Cisco says is worth more than $74 billion in profit to Australia over the next decade.

Australia's part of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will plug into the Perth centre in what will be a boon for data crunching, said Curtin University physics and astronomy Professor Steven Tingay.

"We are incredibly excited about the centre," Tingay intoned. "It's exactly the thing we need for academia and researchers."

Tingay says it is an opportunity to work with companies struggling in the same ways as scientists to manage big data sets.

The university will also analyse internet-of-things data from the mining sector. It is one of three partners that will initially use the Perth centre, including Woodside Energy which will crunch bits from its 'plant of the future'.

Research firm Sirca will pair 40 university students with startups and tech partners through the Sydney centre, examining such agricultural outputs from the heartbeats of oysters to the growing of grass.

Borg operations boss Chuck Robbins announced the centres at Cisco Live in Melbourne today.

The industry veteran showered praise on the antipodes for what he says is its world-leading appetite for innovation.

"Internet-of-things in Australia will be worth $74 billion in savings ... you can't do it on your own," Robbins says. ®