Telstra has released a ranking of the digital transformation status of 11 Asian nations '” prepared for it by the Economist Intelligence Unit '” saying the region is a long way from being a global leader in digital infrastructure skills and technology ecosystems '“ the building blocks of success in a modern economy.

Read more: Telstra & EIU rate Asian nations on digital transformation

As Asia continues down the path of digital transformation and its cities get increasingly connected, CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT 2017 will add brand new feature zones to address the growing need for data security and the budding start-up culture in the region. In addition, the event will also see a bigger augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) segment as the show grows to occupy the whole of Marina Bay Sands for the first time.

Read more: CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT 2017 to showcase growing ecosystem of innovations for Asia's Smart...

The GSMA announced the first details of the 2017 GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai, including confirmed exhibitors and sponsors, as well as a range of programs and activities taking place at the annual mobile industry event. Under the theme of 'The Human Element', Mobile World Congress Shanghai will be held from Wednesday, 28 June through Saturday, 1 July 2017 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC).

Read more: GSMA launches Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017

IDC is tipping IT spending in the manufacturing sector in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) region to exceed $US36 billion by 2020, representing a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.34 percent from 2016 to 2020. IDC says manufacturing related initiatives in China, India and the ASEAN countries will account for nearly 80 percent of this figure.

Read more: IDC tips Apac IT spend by manufacturers to top $U36b by 2020

Australia based global communications network operator, MNF Group, has expanded its TNZI global communications business (the former international arm of Telecom New Zealand, acquired by MNF in April 2015) by opening a new point of presence (PoP) in Hong Kong.

Read more: Australia's MNF group expands global net with Hong Kong PoP

A survey of managed survey providers in Asia Pacific designed to assess the impact of ransomware on their small business customers suggests 85 percent of businesses in the region have been hit, a quarter of them multiple times in a single day, paying out an average of almost $12,000 ($US8900) to remediate a successful attack. Forty-five percent of survey respondents reported that a ransomware attack had led to business-threatening downtime.

Read more: Rampant ransomware costing APAC SMBs big time

Google has opened new Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, housing 1000 staff. Announcing the move on a Google blog, Caesar Sengupta, VP of Google's Next Billion User team, said: 'We need room for 1,000 googlers working on new products and projects across Asia for our users, customers and partners. And we also want more room for the community around us '” the kind of place that's useful for gatherings of developers, students, founders, and kids to connect with googlers and, sometimes, even prime ministers and ministers of trade.

Read more: Google opens new Apac HQ in Singapore

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