European giant SAP opens giant ANZ headquarters in Sydney

SAP has consolidated its Australian operations into one big Sydney HQ.

Facebook's corporate headquarters campus in Menlo Park, California. Picture: AFP.

Hello and welcome to The Download, The Australian’s technology blog for the latest tech news.

Chris Griffith 12.00pm: SAP consolidates into new Sydney HQ

You’ve heard this first here. Beer taps are an environmental friendly innovation that should be installed in all offices.

At least that’s what European tech giant SAP is doing with the consolidation of all its Australian operations into a new ANZ headquarters in North Sydney. Previously different subcategories of its operations were scattered at various Sydney office locations.

Damien Bueno, president and managing director, SAP ANZ, says the new headquarters supports the company’s aim of “creating a simple and streamlined experience for our customers, by bringing together our brands in one office for the first time”. “This includes SAP Concur, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba, along with all our corporate teams and functions,” he says.

SAP new Australian headquarters at 1 Denison St, North Sydney.

SAP new Australian headquarters at 1 Denison St, North Sydney.

He says SAP’s move is also motivated by its sustainability commitments around waste and energy use. It says the office kit has been designed with maximum sustainability in mind – “down to beer taps to remove the need for bottles”. It sounds like the consolidation will be off to a flying start.

SAP’s work practices have also been impacted by the pandemic and staff working from home. “The events of this year will permanently change how offices operate, but we have long supported an anytime, anywhere flexible working policy,” says Mr Bueno. “Our office design reflects this, with significant areas dedicated to co-working, co-innovation and collaboration, for our people to use whatever their working preferences.”

SAP says Mr Bueno is one of 22 Australian CEOs lobbying for Australia to meet its Paris agreement climate targets.

SAP will be located in North Sydney with other tenants at the Winten Property Group’s iconic 21st century $1.2 billion commercial office tower – 1 Denison. If you’re thirsty, drop up there for a cold one. It’s on tap at SAP.

Chris Griffith 11.30am: Australian firms pay ransomware criminals

We all know that ransomware is common and it devastates businesses around the world. However, what’s also alarming is the compliance that organisations show with the criminals responsible by paying them.

Cloud data management company Rubrik says almost one in three (29 per cent) of organisations in Australia and New Zealand who were victim to ransomware attacks in the past two years paid off the criminal groups responsible for them. It have been the only way out for those companies, but it’s a big reward for the criminal organisations and can only spur them on to commit more ransomware attacks.

Businesses have alternatives – replace infected databases with onsite backups, if they have them, or install adequate security software to prevent the attacks happening in the first place. There is a third option – save regular backups to the cloud and use cloud storage instead, and leave ransomware protection to the companies that offer them.

Companies such as Rubrik are lining up to offer cloud backup storage and no doubt have their own motive for reminding us of the devastation of a ransomware attack. But it is a major problem. The survey, which was part of an IDC brief, found that 18 per cent of A/NZ businesses had fallen victim to a ransomware attack in the past 24 months.

“From an industry perspective, the sectors hardest hit were banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), in which 29 per cent of respondents said they’d experienced a ransomware attack, followed by the transport (24 per cent) and education (22 per cent) sectors,” says Rubrik.

However the statistic that 29 per cent actually pay criminals to unlock their data is one that the industry has to tackle if the incidence of ransomware is ever going to be thwarted.

10.50am: Facebook moves into cloud gaming

Facebook has become the latest tech heavyweight betting that the future of videogaming is in the cloud.

The social-media company is adding Netflix-like streaming of games to its Facebook Gaming platform at no cost to players, a move expanding its content library to include more-complex and multiplayer titles. Its free-to-play model is in contrast to the paid, subscription cloud-gaming services that rivals such as Google and Microsoft have introduced.

Six games including auto-racing title “Asphalt 9: Legends” will be available for users to stream in some parts of the U.S. on Facebook’s Android app and desktop website, the company says. Facebook plans to add more cloud games and expand geographic access to them over time.

Gaming has become a key battleground for tech companies seeking a financial windfall in a medium where people worldwide are increasingly spending more time and money.

That competition is taking place, in part, in the cloud since players can avoid downloading games to their devices, which take up memory, and don’t need to invest in gaming hardware such as a console or a high-end computer. The technology is difficult for companies to execute smoothly, though, because games need to support multiple players with minimal delay regardless of their locations.

“Cloud gaming helps shed the technical limitations of our past, while bringing us back to our roots at the same time,” says Jason Rubin, Facebook’s vice president of play. “Facebook has always been about delivering games that are free, social and accessible to as many people as possible.”

Within the past year, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have launched subscription-based cloud-gaming services, while chip maker Nvidia and electronics maker Sony have had their own offerings longer. Sony’s cloud-gaming service PlayStation Now had 2.2 million paid subscribers as of April. Nvidia’s GeForce now had 4 million registered users as of August, including free and paid subscribers.

The Wall Street Journal