Upgrading Australia

ACS makes splash at Melbourne event.

By Ashton Mills on May 02 2016 05:02 PM

Upgrade Australia 3.0, the hardware and PC building expo hosted at Monash University in Melbourne recently, brought together technology giants Intel, ASUS, Gigabyte, Corsair and Western Digital among others for a celebration of all things hardware, gaming, and technology.

The event drew a crowd close to 300, and the ACS was there in full swing with t-shirts, caps, and really nifty USB ‘keys’ –literally shaped like a key (“the key to your future!”, a certain ACS representative may have said tongue-in-cheek) – along with brochures showcasing the products and services the ACS offers to IT professionals in Australia.

The ACS caps were particularly hot property… with the final three given away on-stage in front of the crowd, if they could answer a few tricky questions (the hardest of which was about big data and just how much information we can expect to be generating every year by 2020 – answer: 35 Zettabytes, according to Monash).

A mix of age groups from students to retirees graced the ACS booth, introducing many to the ACS for the first time. Students especially were interested in the ACS vision for IT as a driver for society and business, and its support in the education and certification of IT as a career path.

There was lots to see and do, including a central stage with presentations headlined by Intel’s Graham Tucker, Technical Manager ANZ. Tucker spoke about Intel’s 6th-generation processors, the latest in its range of SSDs with the new 750 series (that tops out at a generous 1.2TB, if you can afford it!), and a new Skylake-based NUC (Next Unit of Computing) – a fully-fledged Core i7 compact PC that can fit in your pocket: plug in keyboard, monitor, and mouse and you’re good to go.

View all images from linked gallery: Upgrade Australia 3.0

Intel also brought along an impressive laser-etching machine that carved 3D images into blocks of crystal, captured using Intel’s RealSense cameras that can map depth in an image. Rumours that this author’s effigy is now preserved in a crystalline lattice sitting on his desk are entirely founded.

Other attractions included a cockpit hooked up to a projector system for a not-quite-VR-but-close-enough flying experience, a massive 48TB machine whose expansive storage belied its humble desktop exterior, and a competitive LAN because there’s no point ogling all this beautiful hardware unless you actually get to play with it!

The next Upgrade Australia will be held in Sydney in September, hope to see you there.

Ashton Mills

Ashton Mills was the Outreach Manager, Technology & Innovation, at ACS. A proud geek and technology journalist, he previously edited CHOICE Computer Magazine, Atomic Magazine, and The Pocketbook series, and has written for every major Australian technology publication over the past 20 years. He can be frequently found fiddling with hardware, compiling Linux kernels, and raving about the latest new technologies that will (likely) transform our world.

Tags: