KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (Bernama) -- A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of 'a' of China Taiping Insurance (Macau) Co Ltd (CTIM) Macau.
"The outlook of these credit ratings is stable," A.M Best said in a statement.
"The ratings reflect CTIM's balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorised as adequate, as well as its strong operating performance, favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
"The ratings also reflect the lift that the company receives from its parent, China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co Ltd," the statement added.
CTIM's risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), dropped to the adequate level at year-end 2017 due to significant additional reinsurer credit risk related to reinsurance recoverables from Typhoon Hato - a 1-in-50-year storm that struck in August 2017 - and major losses in the following month from the SJM's Grand Lisboa Palace fire.
The company's reinsurer panel is highly rated and the vast majority of the typhoon claims are expected to be settled and closed within one year, A.M. Best expects the risk-adjusted capitalisation to return to the strongest level within the next two years.
CTIM maintains a leading market position in Macau, with strong operating performance and a five-year average return on equity of 22.3 per cent from 2012 to 2016.
The company achieved net profits in 2017 due to investment income, despite the occurrence of two severe underwriting events.
A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.
--BERNAMA
Friday 30 March 2018
VISTAJET SOARS TO NEW HEIGHTS WITH ASIA-WIDE INITIATIVES
HONG KONG, March 29 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VistaJet, the first and only global aviation company, continues to lead the industry with three major initiatives in April. These include:
- The global tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller comes to Beijing and Shanghai
- Launch of the industry-defining Jet Traveler Report 2018
- Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE) in Shanghai
The Art of Flying: The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller
VistaJet is delighted to sponsor the worldwide exhibitions and tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, set to be the most significant auction entirely dedicated to raising funds for philanthropic causes.
Following the unveiling of early highlights in Hong Kong, London and Paris, the global public tour will move to Beijing (6-7 April), Los Angeles (6-12 April) and Shanghai (10-11 April), ahead of the final exhibition in New York from 28 April. With every stop of the tour, new elements of this multi-category collection will be revealed. The sale will be conducted at Christie’s New York in Rockefeller Center during the week of 7-11 May.
To further enrich the global exhibition tour, VistaJet has created three exclusive and fully-customizable The Art of Flying experiences for VistaJet and Christie’s clients.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31555
- The global tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller comes to Beijing and Shanghai
- Launch of the industry-defining Jet Traveler Report 2018
- Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE) in Shanghai
The Art of Flying: The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller
VistaJet is delighted to sponsor the worldwide exhibitions and tour of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller, set to be the most significant auction entirely dedicated to raising funds for philanthropic causes.
Following the unveiling of early highlights in Hong Kong, London and Paris, the global public tour will move to Beijing (6-7 April), Los Angeles (6-12 April) and Shanghai (10-11 April), ahead of the final exhibition in New York from 28 April. With every stop of the tour, new elements of this multi-category collection will be revealed. The sale will be conducted at Christie’s New York in Rockefeller Center during the week of 7-11 May.
To further enrich the global exhibition tour, VistaJet has created three exclusive and fully-customizable The Art of Flying experiences for VistaJet and Christie’s clients.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31555
Thursday 29 March 2018
LITHIUM WERKS ACQUIRES INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS OF A123 SYSTEMS
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands and AUSTIN, Texas, March 28 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lithium Werks announces that it has acquired the original A123 Systems manufacturing plants located in Changzhou, China. These plants were the first to introduce the revolutionary NanoPhosphate® technology in the form of cylindrical cells that have been used globally in a wide array of applications, especially in the industrial market. As part of the transaction, Lithium Werks has taken over the customer relationships in China, Europe and the United States as well as the operations, staff and product designs associated with the Changzhou business. Lithium Werks is also the new owner of the POWER. SAFETY. LIFE. trademark that characterized A123’s product portfolio in its early years. The transaction was financed through the working capital of Lithium Werks.
“We are confident that this acquisition helps propel Lithium Werks into a leadership position in the Lithium Iron Phosphate market globally,” said Knut H. Nylænde, Lithium Werks’ Chairman.
“A123 Systems is pleased to have concluded this agreement and is confident that our former customers in the industrial market are in great hands with Lithium Werks. A123 is sharpening its focus on world-class automotive applications ranging from mild-hybrids to fully electric vehicles,” said Jeff Kessen, A123 Systems’ VP of Corporate Strategy.
About Lithium Werks
Lithium Werks is a fast growing global lithium ion battery company with production facilities in China and offices in the USA, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Norway. Lithium Werks provides cells, modules, and battery management systems into markets such as material handling, stationary energy storage, medical and commercial marine.
About A123 Systems
A123 Systems is a global leader in providing complete energy storage solutions through advanced battery cells and systems primarily for transportation applications. Offering a full range of world-class products, A123 delivers superior performance, reliability and cost savings from concept through commercialization.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31539
“We are confident that this acquisition helps propel Lithium Werks into a leadership position in the Lithium Iron Phosphate market globally,” said Knut H. Nylænde, Lithium Werks’ Chairman.
“A123 Systems is pleased to have concluded this agreement and is confident that our former customers in the industrial market are in great hands with Lithium Werks. A123 is sharpening its focus on world-class automotive applications ranging from mild-hybrids to fully electric vehicles,” said Jeff Kessen, A123 Systems’ VP of Corporate Strategy.
About Lithium Werks
Lithium Werks is a fast growing global lithium ion battery company with production facilities in China and offices in the USA, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Norway. Lithium Werks provides cells, modules, and battery management systems into markets such as material handling, stationary energy storage, medical and commercial marine.
About A123 Systems
A123 Systems is a global leader in providing complete energy storage solutions through advanced battery cells and systems primarily for transportation applications. Offering a full range of world-class products, A123 delivers superior performance, reliability and cost savings from concept through commercialization.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31539
Wednesday 28 March 2018
China's Zhongshan investment fair promotes greater bay area development
KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- The 2018 Zhongshan Trade, Investment and Top Talent Fair and Fifth Top Talent Networking Zhongshan kicked off on March 28, with 1,000 participants from more than 10 countries and regions.
The theme of the event is 'Innovation Spearheads Development and Collective Wisdom Shapes Bay Area'.
This year, investment attracting was more aligned with the city's core objective -- to steer the economy towards high-quality development driven by innovation, said the organising committee of the fair in a statement.
The opening ceremony of the fair saw the signing of a cluster of projects to drive growth in gathering innovative resources, transforming and upgrading industrial sectors, and deepening cooperation within the Greater Bay Area.
The accumulating innovative elements and collective wisdom have enabled Zhongshan to further contribute to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with its competitiveness in geographical location, industries, innovation and living environment.
"The city aims to build itself into a world-class base for advanced manufacturing, regional transportation hub, industrial innovation centre, and notable historic and cultural city," said vice-mayor of Zhongshan, Lei Yuelong.
"The fair, sticking to those goals, helps bring in teams specialising in technological innovation, carriers for research and development, inspection and testing platforms, and projects of premium productive services and cultural tourism from overseas," he added.
The fair consists of 20 themed sessions, including Partnering Forum on Zhongshan Intelligent Manufacturing and International Industrial Cooperation to help increase connectivity among industries, technologies, projects, talents and professional teams.
Over recent years, Zhongshan has yielded fruitful results in drawing talents through the signature event of Top Talent Networking Zhongshan and introduction of 18 new talent-oriented policies.
The past four talent networking events with 47 special sessions, had drawn 23 academicians, 100 figures from China's Recruitment Program of Global Experts and 136,000 global talents. Up to 220 talent cooperation projects were signed, some involving bringing in teams of academicians.
-- BERNAMA
The theme of the event is 'Innovation Spearheads Development and Collective Wisdom Shapes Bay Area'.
This year, investment attracting was more aligned with the city's core objective -- to steer the economy towards high-quality development driven by innovation, said the organising committee of the fair in a statement.
The opening ceremony of the fair saw the signing of a cluster of projects to drive growth in gathering innovative resources, transforming and upgrading industrial sectors, and deepening cooperation within the Greater Bay Area.
The accumulating innovative elements and collective wisdom have enabled Zhongshan to further contribute to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with its competitiveness in geographical location, industries, innovation and living environment.
"The city aims to build itself into a world-class base for advanced manufacturing, regional transportation hub, industrial innovation centre, and notable historic and cultural city," said vice-mayor of Zhongshan, Lei Yuelong.
"The fair, sticking to those goals, helps bring in teams specialising in technological innovation, carriers for research and development, inspection and testing platforms, and projects of premium productive services and cultural tourism from overseas," he added.
The fair consists of 20 themed sessions, including Partnering Forum on Zhongshan Intelligent Manufacturing and International Industrial Cooperation to help increase connectivity among industries, technologies, projects, talents and professional teams.
Over recent years, Zhongshan has yielded fruitful results in drawing talents through the signature event of Top Talent Networking Zhongshan and introduction of 18 new talent-oriented policies.
The past four talent networking events with 47 special sessions, had drawn 23 academicians, 100 figures from China's Recruitment Program of Global Experts and 136,000 global talents. Up to 220 talent cooperation projects were signed, some involving bringing in teams of academicians.
-- BERNAMA
Sabio CX leadership with first full Avaya Oceana accreditation
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 (Bernama) -- Avaya has recognised Sabio as
its first Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC)
partner to achieve full Avaya Oceana Accreditation.
The recognition confirms Sabio´s ability to sell, design, implement and support complex customer journey solutions based on the next generation Avaya Oceana omnichannel customer engagement solution.
"This also acknowledges Sabio as one of Avaya´s leading specialist global CX partners, " said Sabio Group in a statement.
The accreditation also demonstrates Sabio´s deep Avaya solutions expertise, as confirmed by its success in winning Avaya´s 2017 Contact Centre Partner of the Year Award and securing the prestigious Project of the Year Award.
Sabio won due to its success in deploying one of the world´s largest Avaya Oceana projects for a major European omnichannel retailer.
"In addition to securing all the necessary Oceana certifications, Sabio has also seized the commercial initiative, successfully deploying Oceana to deliver seamless customer engagement for one of Europe´s largest retailers, " said president of Avaya International, Nidal Abou-Ltaif.
Meanwhile, Sabio´s chief commercial officer, Russell Sheldon said the company was committed to delivering brilliant customer experiences across the customer journey, so being fully accredited to offer Avaya Oceana significantly strengthened its proposition.
"This latest Avaya accreditation confirms Sabio as the ideal partner for major Oceana deployments, " he said.
Sabio Group delivers solutions and services to major brands worldwide that seamlessly combine digital and human interactions to support outstanding customer experiences. For details on Sabio, visit www.sabio.co.uk
-- BERNAMA
The recognition confirms Sabio´s ability to sell, design, implement and support complex customer journey solutions based on the next generation Avaya Oceana omnichannel customer engagement solution.
"This also acknowledges Sabio as one of Avaya´s leading specialist global CX partners, " said Sabio Group in a statement.
The accreditation also demonstrates Sabio´s deep Avaya solutions expertise, as confirmed by its success in winning Avaya´s 2017 Contact Centre Partner of the Year Award and securing the prestigious Project of the Year Award.
Sabio won due to its success in deploying one of the world´s largest Avaya Oceana projects for a major European omnichannel retailer.
"In addition to securing all the necessary Oceana certifications, Sabio has also seized the commercial initiative, successfully deploying Oceana to deliver seamless customer engagement for one of Europe´s largest retailers, " said president of Avaya International, Nidal Abou-Ltaif.
Meanwhile, Sabio´s chief commercial officer, Russell Sheldon said the company was committed to delivering brilliant customer experiences across the customer journey, so being fully accredited to offer Avaya Oceana significantly strengthened its proposition.
"This latest Avaya accreditation confirms Sabio as the ideal partner for major Oceana deployments, " he said.
Sabio Group delivers solutions and services to major brands worldwide that seamlessly combine digital and human interactions to support outstanding customer experiences. For details on Sabio, visit www.sabio.co.uk
-- BERNAMA
PFN to adopt NTT Com's platform for expanded version of supercomputer
KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Bernama) -- Preferred Networks Inc. (PFN) announced today that it will launch an expanded version of its MN-1 private sector supercomputer equipped with NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) and NTT PC Communications Incorporated (NTT PC) next-generation GPU platform.
NTT Com, in a statement said the expanded version supercomputer would be launched by July.
The new MN-1b supercomputer will adopt the NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB, that was announced at GTC 2018, California, USA yesterday.
"PFN plans to enhance the MN-1 by adding 512 NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB GPUs and have them up and running by July, with the added GPUs having a theoretical peak performance of about 56 PetaFLOPS, a massive 56,000 trillion floating-point operations per second, based on a mixed precision floating-point operation used in deep learning.
"This means the expansion alone will contribute to a roughly threefold increase from the current peak," NTT Com said.
PFN will use the new MN-1b to raise the speed of its Chainer open source deep-learning framework and further accelerate its research and development (R&D) in fields that require a huge amount of computing resources.
Going forward, NTT Com expects to increasingly support the delivery of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and related platforms for advanced research and commercialised deep learning, including the AI business initiatives of PFN.
"With NTT Com Group's experience of establishing and managing highly reliable data center services, combined with NVIDIA's latest high-speed GPUs for deep learning, we sincerely look forward to R&D results in the fields of transportation systems, manufacturing and biotech/healthcare," said vice-president of Corporate Sales and NVIDIA Japan country manager, Masataka Osaki.
NTT Com provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimise the information and communications technology environments of enterprises.
-- BERNAMA
NTT Com, in a statement said the expanded version supercomputer would be launched by July.
The new MN-1b supercomputer will adopt the NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB, that was announced at GTC 2018, California, USA yesterday.
"PFN plans to enhance the MN-1 by adding 512 NVIDIA Tesla V100 32GB GPUs and have them up and running by July, with the added GPUs having a theoretical peak performance of about 56 PetaFLOPS, a massive 56,000 trillion floating-point operations per second, based on a mixed precision floating-point operation used in deep learning.
"This means the expansion alone will contribute to a roughly threefold increase from the current peak," NTT Com said.
PFN will use the new MN-1b to raise the speed of its Chainer open source deep-learning framework and further accelerate its research and development (R&D) in fields that require a huge amount of computing resources.
Going forward, NTT Com expects to increasingly support the delivery of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and related platforms for advanced research and commercialised deep learning, including the AI business initiatives of PFN.
"With NTT Com Group's experience of establishing and managing highly reliable data center services, combined with NVIDIA's latest high-speed GPUs for deep learning, we sincerely look forward to R&D results in the fields of transportation systems, manufacturing and biotech/healthcare," said vice-president of Corporate Sales and NVIDIA Japan country manager, Masataka Osaki.
NTT Com provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimise the information and communications technology environments of enterprises.
-- BERNAMA
Tuesday 27 March 2018
Global Cloud Xchange awarded at Datacloud Asia Awards 2018
KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 (Bernama) -- Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), won the 'Excellence in Data Center Services Award, South East Asia', at Datacloud Asia Awards 2018 in Singapore.
GCX is a subsidiary of Reliance Communications.
In addition to this award, GCX chairman and chief executive officer, Bill Barney was honoured with the 'Data Center Thought Leadership Award' in recognition of his significant contributions to the data center industry.
"We are honoured to accept these prestigious awards, which are a testament to the entire GCX team and our commitment to achieve and deliver customer service excellence and technological innovation in network infrastructure, supporting the dynamic data center and cloud ecosystems," said Barney.
Meanwhile, BroadGroup chairman, Philip Low commented that Barney is an industry veteran with tremendous insight and experience, a brilliant exponent of cloud, and possessing remarkable depth of insight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the sector.
"For all these reasons, he was rightly awarded Thought Leader of the Year at Datacloud Asia 2018," added Low in a statement.
The Datacloud Asia Awards, one of the most revered accolades in the technology sector, recognise innovation and excellence in the flourishing Asia digital infrastructure market.
Winners of this year's awards in all categories were chosen by an independent expert panel of judges from across the data center and cloud industry segments, with the objective of recognising excellence in data centre and cloud services and operations.
Datacloud Asia 2018, now in its second year in Asia, has evolved as a well-recognised and acknowledged beacon of high-quality content, offering thought leadership across the critical IT infrastructure markets.
-- BERNAMA
GCX is a subsidiary of Reliance Communications.
In addition to this award, GCX chairman and chief executive officer, Bill Barney was honoured with the 'Data Center Thought Leadership Award' in recognition of his significant contributions to the data center industry.
"We are honoured to accept these prestigious awards, which are a testament to the entire GCX team and our commitment to achieve and deliver customer service excellence and technological innovation in network infrastructure, supporting the dynamic data center and cloud ecosystems," said Barney.
Meanwhile, BroadGroup chairman, Philip Low commented that Barney is an industry veteran with tremendous insight and experience, a brilliant exponent of cloud, and possessing remarkable depth of insight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the sector.
"For all these reasons, he was rightly awarded Thought Leader of the Year at Datacloud Asia 2018," added Low in a statement.
The Datacloud Asia Awards, one of the most revered accolades in the technology sector, recognise innovation and excellence in the flourishing Asia digital infrastructure market.
Winners of this year's awards in all categories were chosen by an independent expert panel of judges from across the data center and cloud industry segments, with the objective of recognising excellence in data centre and cloud services and operations.
Datacloud Asia 2018, now in its second year in Asia, has evolved as a well-recognised and acknowledged beacon of high-quality content, offering thought leadership across the critical IT infrastructure markets.
-- BERNAMA
Sunday 25 March 2018
Cloudflare's Free Solution upgrades mobile apps user experience
KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- Cloudflare Inc., an Internet performance and security company, today announced the Cloudflare Mobile SDK, a free solution that enables any mobile application (app) developer to understand network performance and metrics.
Consumers are frustrated by mobile apps that are slow, crash or deliver errors that degrade the user experience while for mobile app developers, a bad user experience means poor reviews, lower engagement and reduced conversion on business metrics.
There are a number of solutions that give developers analytics on their applications, but there has never been a way for app developers to understand how often their apps fail due to network errors.
Cloudflare, in a statement, said app developers, however, could easily integrate its Mobile SDK with their mobile apps to give them global visibility into network performance and errors.
Cloudflare Mobile SDK also offers minimal dependencies as anyone can use it to collect data, even those not using any Cloudflare infrastructure.
Additionally, the installation of Cloudflare's Mobile SDK only requires developers to add a few lines of code to an iOS or Android application.
The Cloudflare Mobile SDK is complementary to existing developer tools like Crashlytics, Rollbar, Sentry, Instabug and others.
"Cloudflare is focused on helping to build a better Internet, from handset to origin server and back," said co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cloudflare, Matthew Prince.
"We wanted to help mobile app developers track network performance easily and for free, because it's better for the Internet," he added.
Meanwhile, CEO of Branch Metrics, Alex Austin who has already integrated the solution into his apps, said: "Network access has a huge impact on any connected user experience in mobile, but mobile network latency is often ten times the latency of server processing times and mostly untracked."
"Cloudflare's focus on bringing mobile network issues to light with minimal engineering effort will be great for users and even better for developers."
Cloudflare Inc runs one of the world's largest networks that powers more than 10 trillion requests per month, which is nearly 10 percent of all Internet requests for more than 2.5 billion people worldwide.
The company protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software or changing a line of code.
For more information on the solution, visit https://www.cloudflare.com/products/mobile-sdk/
-- BERNAMA
Consumers are frustrated by mobile apps that are slow, crash or deliver errors that degrade the user experience while for mobile app developers, a bad user experience means poor reviews, lower engagement and reduced conversion on business metrics.
There are a number of solutions that give developers analytics on their applications, but there has never been a way for app developers to understand how often their apps fail due to network errors.
Cloudflare, in a statement, said app developers, however, could easily integrate its Mobile SDK with their mobile apps to give them global visibility into network performance and errors.
Cloudflare Mobile SDK also offers minimal dependencies as anyone can use it to collect data, even those not using any Cloudflare infrastructure.
Additionally, the installation of Cloudflare's Mobile SDK only requires developers to add a few lines of code to an iOS or Android application.
The Cloudflare Mobile SDK is complementary to existing developer tools like Crashlytics, Rollbar, Sentry, Instabug and others.
"Cloudflare is focused on helping to build a better Internet, from handset to origin server and back," said co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cloudflare, Matthew Prince.
"We wanted to help mobile app developers track network performance easily and for free, because it's better for the Internet," he added.
Meanwhile, CEO of Branch Metrics, Alex Austin who has already integrated the solution into his apps, said: "Network access has a huge impact on any connected user experience in mobile, but mobile network latency is often ten times the latency of server processing times and mostly untracked."
"Cloudflare's focus on bringing mobile network issues to light with minimal engineering effort will be great for users and even better for developers."
Cloudflare Inc runs one of the world's largest networks that powers more than 10 trillion requests per month, which is nearly 10 percent of all Internet requests for more than 2.5 billion people worldwide.
The company protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software or changing a line of code.
For more information on the solution, visit https://www.cloudflare.com/products/mobile-sdk/
-- BERNAMA
Thursday 22 March 2018
RECIPIENTS FOR 12TH GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS DECIDED
One of the Largest Festivals for Student Creative Work in Asia!
OSAKA, Japan, March 21 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Mandom Corporation (Headquarters: Osaka)(TOKYO:4917) held the final judging for the 12th GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS on Saturday, March 10th, in Shibuya, Tokyo. These awards are among the largest to honor student creative work in Asia.
A total of 2,333 projects were submitted from students in twelve countries and regions throughout Asia. As the finalists in each category came together, they offered each other creative stimulation, and as the exchanges among them deepened, the expert panel of judges in each field, including Terry Ito among them, selected the number one student creator, taking audience votes into consideration as well, from among the seven sponsored categories.
See the official website at https://award.gatsby.jp/12/ for more information.
The 12th GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS
Provided by "GATSBY," a men's cosmetic brand with a strong presence throughout Asia, the GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS initially began as the "GATSBY Student CM Awards" in 2006 from the company's desire to provide a forum for students to express and display their creative talent. Now in the twelfth year, the event involves participants from twelve different countries and regions in Asia, making it the largest ever in its history.
Winners in Each Category
COMMERCIAL: ISLAM LUTHFI SYAIFUL (Indonesia)
ART: LEUNG SZE YAN (Hong Kong)
DANCE: Takumi Kuwahara (Japan)
MUSIC: Ren Shimonagane (Japan)
FASHION: Aya Sato (Japan)
SMART PHONE: Hazumi Tsuchiya (Japan)
HAIR STYLE: Ryo Matsuoka (Japan)
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31497
OSAKA, Japan, March 21 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Mandom Corporation (Headquarters: Osaka)(TOKYO:4917) held the final judging for the 12th GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS on Saturday, March 10th, in Shibuya, Tokyo. These awards are among the largest to honor student creative work in Asia.
A total of 2,333 projects were submitted from students in twelve countries and regions throughout Asia. As the finalists in each category came together, they offered each other creative stimulation, and as the exchanges among them deepened, the expert panel of judges in each field, including Terry Ito among them, selected the number one student creator, taking audience votes into consideration as well, from among the seven sponsored categories.
See the official website at https://award.gatsby.jp/12/ for more information.
The 12th GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS
Provided by "GATSBY," a men's cosmetic brand with a strong presence throughout Asia, the GATSBY CREATIVE AWARDS initially began as the "GATSBY Student CM Awards" in 2006 from the company's desire to provide a forum for students to express and display their creative talent. Now in the twelfth year, the event involves participants from twelve different countries and regions in Asia, making it the largest ever in its history.
Winners in Each Category
COMMERCIAL: ISLAM LUTHFI SYAIFUL (Indonesia)
ART: LEUNG SZE YAN (Hong Kong)
DANCE: Takumi Kuwahara (Japan)
MUSIC: Ren Shimonagane (Japan)
FASHION: Aya Sato (Japan)
SMART PHONE: Hazumi Tsuchiya (Japan)
HAIR STYLE: Ryo Matsuoka (Japan)
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31497
MILREM ROBOTICS IS DEVELOPING A FIREFIGHTING AND SEARCH AND RESCUE UGV VEHICLE
TALLINN, Estonia, March 20 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Known mostly for their smart warfare systems – Milrem Robotics – is entering the commercial market with its firefighting and search and rescue unmanned ground vehicle being developed together with rescue services.
The UGV known as Multiscope Rescue can be equipped with firefighting equipment such as a water tank and a remotely controlled water cannon. It can reach areas that are unreachable by human personnel or too dangerous for firefighters to go into like tunnels or other structures that may collapse at any time.
The search and rescue unit can also be equipped with thermal cameras and powerful lights to find missing people in harsh environments or remote forested areas.
”Innovative technologies make it possible to not only keep humans away from dangerous places but to relieve them from doing dull and dirty jobs,” explained Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics. “Multiscope Rescue is one of the first commercial UGVs from many others to follow, since we are starting to focus more and more on the commercial markets,” said Väärsi, adding that more attention will also be given to AI and autonomy development.
Mr Väärsi also stated that collaboration with Estonian Rescue Board has great significance and value for the company to develop new user-friendly unmanned and autonomous products.
“It’s an excellent innovation project, where the experience and needs of the rescue field come together with product development by Milrem Robotics,” said Martin Lambing, head of the rescue department of the Estonian Rescue Board. “This kind of modern technology will allow rescuers to do their work more quickly and easily in rescue operations without putting themselves at risk. I can see rescue services of different countries implementing this kind of technology in the future,” Lambing added.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31493
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180319005756/en/
The UGV known as Multiscope Rescue can be equipped with firefighting equipment such as a water tank and a remotely controlled water cannon. It can reach areas that are unreachable by human personnel or too dangerous for firefighters to go into like tunnels or other structures that may collapse at any time.
The search and rescue unit can also be equipped with thermal cameras and powerful lights to find missing people in harsh environments or remote forested areas.
”Innovative technologies make it possible to not only keep humans away from dangerous places but to relieve them from doing dull and dirty jobs,” explained Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics. “Multiscope Rescue is one of the first commercial UGVs from many others to follow, since we are starting to focus more and more on the commercial markets,” said Väärsi, adding that more attention will also be given to AI and autonomy development.
Mr Väärsi also stated that collaboration with Estonian Rescue Board has great significance and value for the company to develop new user-friendly unmanned and autonomous products.
“It’s an excellent innovation project, where the experience and needs of the rescue field come together with product development by Milrem Robotics,” said Martin Lambing, head of the rescue department of the Estonian Rescue Board. “This kind of modern technology will allow rescuers to do their work more quickly and easily in rescue operations without putting themselves at risk. I can see rescue services of different countries implementing this kind of technology in the future,” Lambing added.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31493
Wednesday 21 March 2018
SABIO RAISES THE GAME FOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH BRIGHT UK ACQUISITION
- Acquisition of Bright UK provides Sabio Group customers with best in class CX data insight services
- Announcement follows Lyceum Capital’s strategic investment in Sabio Group to support acquisition-driven growth
The acquisition follows Lyceum Capital’s strategic investment in Sabio, and is part of an ongoing acquisition plan to broaden the company’s solution portfolio. Adding Bright complements Sabio’s March 2017 acquisition of Rapport, the SaaS software and analysis services vendor, and significantly strengthens Sabio’s insight services portfolio providing an unrivalled holistic approach to analyse customer and employee satisfaction, offering clients both a technological and a professional serviced approach to improving the service experience.
“Sabio is focused on supporting our clients in delivering brilliant experiences across the entire customer journey,” commented Sabio Group CEO, Andy Roberts. “And the addition of Bright’s solutions and services to our portfolio will support our customers in driving further operational and financial value from their CX programmes.”
“Joining Sabio is a smart move for Bright as it gives us the opportunity to not only combine with an innovative customer experience leader, but also to share our data insights with Sabio’s broader global client base,” said Bright UK Managing Director, Mats Rennstam.
Leading brands - including 3, BNP Paribas, the Co-Op, Domestic & General, Lloyds, Premium Credit, South West Water, TUI Group and Webhelp (Shop Direct) – already use one or more of Bright’s offerings: Bright Navigator – real time customer feedback, Bright Index – Europe’s largest contact centre benchmarking tool, and Bright Employee – staff surveys.
About Bright UK: Bright is one of the UK’s leaders in providing customer experience insight and consultancy.www.brightindex.co.uk.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31483
Oxford Nanopore gets US$140 million to support commercial expansion
KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd, the company behind the only portable real-time DNA/RNA sequencer, MinION, has raised £100 million (US$140 million) in new investment from global investors.
The investors include GIC (Singapore), China Construction Bank International (CCBI, China), Hostplus (Australia), and existing investors.
Oxford Nanopore, in a statement, said the funds would be used to support the company's next phase of commercial expansion.
This includes a new high-volume, high-tech manufacturing facility in Oxford to meet accelerating demand for Oxford Nanopore's sequencing technology, and growth of the commercial team that already serves more than 70 countries.
In addition, the funds will also be used to support R&D as Oxford Nanopore expands its suite of nanopore analysis devices.
The currently available pocket MinION and desktop GridION are being joined by high-throughput modular sequencing with PromethION and small, single-test sequencing with Flongle.
This expanded range is designed to address all parts of the existing DNA-sequencing market, as well as enabling new applications that can only be performed with a real-time, scalable, long-read technology.
Oxford Nanopore technology uniquely enables direct RNA sequencing, providing full-length transcript and viral genome profiling, precise quantification, the ability to identify modified bases in real time, and simplifying workflows.
"We are driving a change in how scientists and industries access DNA information, by introducing smaller, accessible, low-cost formats, including our forthcoming smartphone sequencer SmidgION," said chief executive officer of Oxford Nanopore, Dr Gordon Sanghera.
The company also announced the forthcoming construction of a new bespoke 34,000-sq ft manufacturing facility on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a new facility representing a significant increase in Oxford Nanopore's manufacturing capabilities.
The company is headquartered in Oxford, UK, with expanding global operations.
-- BERNAMA
The investors include GIC (Singapore), China Construction Bank International (CCBI, China), Hostplus (Australia), and existing investors.
Oxford Nanopore, in a statement, said the funds would be used to support the company's next phase of commercial expansion.
This includes a new high-volume, high-tech manufacturing facility in Oxford to meet accelerating demand for Oxford Nanopore's sequencing technology, and growth of the commercial team that already serves more than 70 countries.
In addition, the funds will also be used to support R&D as Oxford Nanopore expands its suite of nanopore analysis devices.
The currently available pocket MinION and desktop GridION are being joined by high-throughput modular sequencing with PromethION and small, single-test sequencing with Flongle.
This expanded range is designed to address all parts of the existing DNA-sequencing market, as well as enabling new applications that can only be performed with a real-time, scalable, long-read technology.
Oxford Nanopore technology uniquely enables direct RNA sequencing, providing full-length transcript and viral genome profiling, precise quantification, the ability to identify modified bases in real time, and simplifying workflows.
"We are driving a change in how scientists and industries access DNA information, by introducing smaller, accessible, low-cost formats, including our forthcoming smartphone sequencer SmidgION," said chief executive officer of Oxford Nanopore, Dr Gordon Sanghera.
The company also announced the forthcoming construction of a new bespoke 34,000-sq ft manufacturing facility on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, a new facility representing a significant increase in Oxford Nanopore's manufacturing capabilities.
The company is headquartered in Oxford, UK, with expanding global operations.
-- BERNAMA
SOLARWINDS PLACES HIGHEST ON THE ABILITY TO EXECUTE AXIS IN 2018 GARTNER MAGIC QUADRANT FOR NETWORK PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS
AUSTIN, Texas, March 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds, a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, placed highest on the ability to execute axis in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics(1).
This Gartner report evaluated 22 suppliers of Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics products. The firm’s evaluation criteria for ability to execute included the following: product or service, overall viability, sales execution and pricing, market responsiveness and record, marketing execution, customer experience, and operations. Of all the vendors evaluated in the report, SolarWinds placed highest on the ability to execute axis.
“For three years in a row, Gartner has positioned us as highest on the ability to execute axis in the Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics. In our view, this result confirms our commitment to helping our customers manage their network operations with a powerful suite of tools that is simple and affordable to deploy,” said Christoph Pfister, executive vice president of products, SolarWinds. “We will continue listening closely to our loyal base of users around the world, helping them find faster and more efficient ways to optimize their network performance.”
Over 250,000 customers worldwide use SolarWinds’ broad portfolio of network management software, which enables IT professionals to identify and address a complete range of issues. Innovations such as NetPath™, which provides a “hop-by-hop” analysis of network performance, and the PerfStack™ platform, which enables correlation of performance data across systems and applications. These combine to allow broad and powerful IT problem-solving capabilities.
SolarWinds develops its network management software leveraging the Orion® Platform, a modular and highly scalable platform that unifies data from multiple IT layers into an application-centric view. As a result, the platform enables powerful, end-to-end hybrid IT management, delivering complete cloud visibility along with deep on-premises monitoring. It incorporates a simple drag-and-drop dashboard to visualize infrastructure and application relationships, helping IT professionals monitor, troubleshoot, and improve performance across hybrid environments. It also provides the flexibility to add modules as needs grow.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31488
This Gartner report evaluated 22 suppliers of Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics products. The firm’s evaluation criteria for ability to execute included the following: product or service, overall viability, sales execution and pricing, market responsiveness and record, marketing execution, customer experience, and operations. Of all the vendors evaluated in the report, SolarWinds placed highest on the ability to execute axis.
“For three years in a row, Gartner has positioned us as highest on the ability to execute axis in the Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics. In our view, this result confirms our commitment to helping our customers manage their network operations with a powerful suite of tools that is simple and affordable to deploy,” said Christoph Pfister, executive vice president of products, SolarWinds. “We will continue listening closely to our loyal base of users around the world, helping them find faster and more efficient ways to optimize their network performance.”
Over 250,000 customers worldwide use SolarWinds’ broad portfolio of network management software, which enables IT professionals to identify and address a complete range of issues. Innovations such as NetPath™, which provides a “hop-by-hop” analysis of network performance, and the PerfStack™ platform, which enables correlation of performance data across systems and applications. These combine to allow broad and powerful IT problem-solving capabilities.
SolarWinds develops its network management software leveraging the Orion® Platform, a modular and highly scalable platform that unifies data from multiple IT layers into an application-centric view. As a result, the platform enables powerful, end-to-end hybrid IT management, delivering complete cloud visibility along with deep on-premises monitoring. It incorporates a simple drag-and-drop dashboard to visualize infrastructure and application relationships, helping IT professionals monitor, troubleshoot, and improve performance across hybrid environments. It also provides the flexibility to add modules as needs grow.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31488
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Samsung's Galaxy S9, S9+ with advanced camera features now available
KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Bernama) -- Samsung Electronics America, Inc. has announced that the new, award-winning Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ smartphones are now available for purchase at the United States (US) wireless network providers and retail stores.
In three colours, Midnight Black, Coral Blue, and the new Lilac Purple, the phones have been recognised by smartphone reviewers worldwide for their best-in-class display, design and camera.
The Galaxy S9 has a suggested retail price of US$719.99, while the Galaxy S9+ is available for US$839.99. Both unlocked and carrier versions of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are also available for purchase on Samsung.com.
"The Galaxy S9 and S9+ are designed for the visual and social generation - the consumers who connect, communicate, and share their stories through pictures and video," said president and chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics North America, Tim Baxter.
"Samsung leveraged its long history of innovation to reimagine the smartphone camera so that users can not only take the best pictures in any light and any environment, but also express themselves in their own unique way," he added.
The phones feature Samsung's most advanced smartphone camera, and come with a dual aperture (F1.5 - F2.4) that works just like the human eye to adjust to different lighting conditions, with DxOMark awarding the Galaxy S9+ its highest-ever score for a mobile camera.
With the Galaxy S9 and S9+, consumers also have a new way to engage with the world around them through Samsung's intelligence platform, Bixby. Built with deep-learning technology, Bixby adds numerous smart functions to the camera, including instant translation of text from one language to another, ability to recognise food and overlay approximate calorie count, and information about nearby landmarks and places.
Owners who purchase the phones on Samsung.com are eligible for a free month of Samsung Premium Care, the only support program that comes to consumers at their home, office or favourite coffee shop.
For more information on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, visit news.samsung.com/us/galaxy-s9/.
-- BERNAMA
In three colours, Midnight Black, Coral Blue, and the new Lilac Purple, the phones have been recognised by smartphone reviewers worldwide for their best-in-class display, design and camera.
The Galaxy S9 has a suggested retail price of US$719.99, while the Galaxy S9+ is available for US$839.99. Both unlocked and carrier versions of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are also available for purchase on Samsung.com.
"The Galaxy S9 and S9+ are designed for the visual and social generation - the consumers who connect, communicate, and share their stories through pictures and video," said president and chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics North America, Tim Baxter.
"Samsung leveraged its long history of innovation to reimagine the smartphone camera so that users can not only take the best pictures in any light and any environment, but also express themselves in their own unique way," he added.
The phones feature Samsung's most advanced smartphone camera, and come with a dual aperture (F1.5 - F2.4) that works just like the human eye to adjust to different lighting conditions, with DxOMark awarding the Galaxy S9+ its highest-ever score for a mobile camera.
With the Galaxy S9 and S9+, consumers also have a new way to engage with the world around them through Samsung's intelligence platform, Bixby. Built with deep-learning technology, Bixby adds numerous smart functions to the camera, including instant translation of text from one language to another, ability to recognise food and overlay approximate calorie count, and information about nearby landmarks and places.
Owners who purchase the phones on Samsung.com are eligible for a free month of Samsung Premium Care, the only support program that comes to consumers at their home, office or favourite coffee shop.
For more information on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, visit news.samsung.com/us/galaxy-s9/.
-- BERNAMA
Credit ratings of Energas Insurance, stable - A.M. Best
KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Bernama) -- A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating of 'a' of Energas Insurance (L) Ltd (Energas) Malaysia, and the outlook of these ratings is stable.
Energas is the sole captive insurer of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Malaysia´s national oil and gas company.
The ratings reflect Energas' balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorised as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
The ratings also incorporate Energas' solid risk-adjusted capitalisation, comprehensive reinsurance program and historically strong operating performance, evidenced by a five-year average combined ratio of approximately 53 per cent.
Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is a reduction in prospective earnings derived from smaller premium volumes as Petronas scales back on its upstream activities.
Nonetheless, A.M. Best expects Energas' active cycle management and efficient cost structure to buffer some of the negative pressure on its combined ratio and to aid in keeping overall earnings positive.
-- BERNAMA
Energas is the sole captive insurer of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Malaysia´s national oil and gas company.
The ratings reflect Energas' balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorised as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.
The ratings also incorporate Energas' solid risk-adjusted capitalisation, comprehensive reinsurance program and historically strong operating performance, evidenced by a five-year average combined ratio of approximately 53 per cent.
Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is a reduction in prospective earnings derived from smaller premium volumes as Petronas scales back on its upstream activities.
Nonetheless, A.M. Best expects Energas' active cycle management and efficient cost structure to buffer some of the negative pressure on its combined ratio and to aid in keeping overall earnings positive.
-- BERNAMA
Saturday 17 March 2018
NIPPON EXPRESS ACQUIRES EQUITY INTEREST IN TRACONF S.R.L. (TURNING IT INTO SUBSIDIARY)
TOKYO, Mar. 16, 2018/Kyodo JBN-- AsiaNet/--
Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (TSE: 9062, hereinafter the "Company") agreed with investors in Traconf S.r.l. headquartered in Verona, Italy (hereinafter "Traconf"), an apparel-related logistics service provider in the high-end fashion industry, and thereby executed a sale and purchase agreement (the "SPA") on March 6, 2018(CET), to acquire the entire equity interest in Traconf through the subsidiary, Nippon Express Europe GmbH (the "Acquisition").
Purpose of the Acquisition
By providing logistics-centric supply chain solutions throughout the world, Nippon Express Group aims to be a "Truly Global Logistics Company" that can contribute to the global development of all kinds of customers. As one of the key strategies to achieve this goal, the Company is active in making intensive investments outside Japan to enhance its network in various regions and business areas with high growth potential. In 2013, the Company acquired Franco Vago S.p.A. (hereinafter "Franco Vago"), a Firenze-based forwarding service provider in the apparel industry mainly focused on high-end fashion brands, and as a result established a high-quality logistics platform in the apparel sector.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31470
Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (TSE: 9062, hereinafter the "Company") agreed with investors in Traconf S.r.l. headquartered in Verona, Italy (hereinafter "Traconf"), an apparel-related logistics service provider in the high-end fashion industry, and thereby executed a sale and purchase agreement (the "SPA") on March 6, 2018(CET), to acquire the entire equity interest in Traconf through the subsidiary, Nippon Express Europe GmbH (the "Acquisition").
Purpose of the Acquisition
By providing logistics-centric supply chain solutions throughout the world, Nippon Express Group aims to be a "Truly Global Logistics Company" that can contribute to the global development of all kinds of customers. As one of the key strategies to achieve this goal, the Company is active in making intensive investments outside Japan to enhance its network in various regions and business areas with high growth potential. In 2013, the Company acquired Franco Vago S.p.A. (hereinafter "Franco Vago"), a Firenze-based forwarding service provider in the apparel industry mainly focused on high-end fashion brands, and as a result established a high-quality logistics platform in the apparel sector.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31470
Friday 16 March 2018
Willis Lease records 50 pct growth in pre-tax income to US$36 mln
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Bernama) -- Willis Lease Finance Corporation
today reported 50.4 per cent growth in annual pre-tax income to US$36 million,
from US$23.9 million in 2016, and recorded total revenues of US$274.8 million.
The company´s 2017 pretax results were driven by solid revenue growth in the
core leasing business and a significant increase in spare parts and equipment
sales with grew 189 per cent on a year over year basis. The aggregate lease
rent and maintenance reserve revenues of US$210.6 million were driven by a 90
per cent average utilisation of a lease portfolio that grew 18.1 per cent to
US$1.34 billion at year-end. Willis´s net income attributable to common
shareholders grew 338 per cent to US$60.3 million for the year or to US$9.69 of
diluted weighted average earnings per common share. The positive tax effects of
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 contributed US$43.6 million to the company´s
2017 after-tax income.
"2017 was our most profitable year on a pre-tax basis since 2008, with record revenues, " said its chairman and chief executive officer, Charles F. Willis.
"Utilisation of our lease portfolio remains high due in part to robust maintenance activity on engine types we support, including some older engine types many thought would have been retired long ago.
"Last year was also important for us from a capital perspective as we were successful in closing our WEST III asset-backed securitisation and a second round of preferred equity, " he added. Meanwhile, Willis president, Brian R. Hole said in addition to their core leasing business, their trading, asset management and spare parts businesses performed well and continued to become more useful for their customers.
"We will continue to actively manage and grow our leasing portfolio and find new ways to create value for our growing customer base, " he said. Willis Lease Finance Corporation leases large and regional spare commercial aircraft engines, auxiliary power units and aircraft to airlines, aircraft engine manufacturers and maintenance, repair and overhaul providers in 120 countries.
-- BERNAMA
Thursday 15 March 2018
SINGAPORE SMALL BUSINESSES CONFIDENT IN 2018
SINGAPORE, Mar. 15, 2018/Medianet International-AsiaNet/ --
Small businesses in Singapore are showing a strong pick-up in confidence in 2018, according to a new survey released today.
The findings, from CPA Australia's eighth annual Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey, follow extensive surveying of nearly 3,000 small business operators in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Mainland China.
CPA Australia's Head of Policy, Paul Drum FCPA said the outlook for 2018 is strong, with 57.0 per cent of businesses expecting to grow, even as Singapore's small businesses experienced weaker growth in 2017.
"While 2017 saw the lowest number of Singapore small businesses that reported growing since 2014, many expressed a high level of confidence in the Singapore economy and in their own growth prospects for 2018.
"Fifty-seven per cent of small businesses in Singapore are expecting to grow in 2018, the best result for Singapore since the 2012 survey" Mr Drum said.
The survey results again showed that businesses that are applying digital technologies in their business are significantly more likely to be growing strongly than businesses that are not.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31456
Small businesses in Singapore are showing a strong pick-up in confidence in 2018, according to a new survey released today.
The findings, from CPA Australia's eighth annual Asia-Pacific Small Business Survey, follow extensive surveying of nearly 3,000 small business operators in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Mainland China.
CPA Australia's Head of Policy, Paul Drum FCPA said the outlook for 2018 is strong, with 57.0 per cent of businesses expecting to grow, even as Singapore's small businesses experienced weaker growth in 2017.
"While 2017 saw the lowest number of Singapore small businesses that reported growing since 2014, many expressed a high level of confidence in the Singapore economy and in their own growth prospects for 2018.
"Fifty-seven per cent of small businesses in Singapore are expecting to grow in 2018, the best result for Singapore since the 2012 survey" Mr Drum said.
The survey results again showed that businesses that are applying digital technologies in their business are significantly more likely to be growing strongly than businesses that are not.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31456
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Datacloud Asia Awards 2018 shortlist announced
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Bernama) -- The shortlist for the Datacloud Asia Awards 2018 has been announced by the judging panel, recognising innovation and excellence in the flourishing Asian digital IT infrastructure market.
The Awards ceremony, which includes a gala dinner will be held this March 22 at Capella Hotel, Singapore after the Datacloud Asia Congress.
The categories in the Awards are Excellence in Data Centre Service: Asia, South-East Asia and India respectively; Best Data Centre Energy Solution; Data Centre Location; Excellence in Cloud Service: Asia and South-East Asia; Marketer of the Year; and Individual Industry Contribution - Ambassador Award.
"The judging panel has been overwhelmed by the number of quality nominations received and have worked tirelessly to reach this final shortlist," said Philip Low, chairman of BroadGroup, an information media technology and professional services company.
"The Asia data economy is thriving with many, from all across the region, demonstrating the ability to grow, innovate, deliver and disrupt.
"It is an extremely vibrant and attractive environment for innovators, financiers, technology vendors and enterprises and the Awards will be a keenly contested affair, celebrating both the rising stars and publicly listed success stories," he added.
In addition, the Datacentre and Cloud Leadership Awards, BroadGroup Awards for Excellence in Data Centre Architecture and Design Award, and Best Programme for Data Centre Training and Professional Development Award will also be presented on the night.
In only its second year, the Datacloud Asia Awards is one of the most prestigious events in the data centre and cloud industry calendar.
-- BERNAMA
The Awards ceremony, which includes a gala dinner will be held this March 22 at Capella Hotel, Singapore after the Datacloud Asia Congress.
The categories in the Awards are Excellence in Data Centre Service: Asia, South-East Asia and India respectively; Best Data Centre Energy Solution; Data Centre Location; Excellence in Cloud Service: Asia and South-East Asia; Marketer of the Year; and Individual Industry Contribution - Ambassador Award.
"The judging panel has been overwhelmed by the number of quality nominations received and have worked tirelessly to reach this final shortlist," said Philip Low, chairman of BroadGroup, an information media technology and professional services company.
"The Asia data economy is thriving with many, from all across the region, demonstrating the ability to grow, innovate, deliver and disrupt.
"It is an extremely vibrant and attractive environment for innovators, financiers, technology vendors and enterprises and the Awards will be a keenly contested affair, celebrating both the rising stars and publicly listed success stories," he added.
In addition, the Datacentre and Cloud Leadership Awards, BroadGroup Awards for Excellence in Data Centre Architecture and Design Award, and Best Programme for Data Centre Training and Professional Development Award will also be presented on the night.
In only its second year, the Datacloud Asia Awards is one of the most prestigious events in the data centre and cloud industry calendar.
-- BERNAMA
Besyata, Scharf acquire One Dartmouth Place, Denver at US$65.5 mln
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Bernama) -- Besyata Investment Group and The Scharf Group, both New York-based single family offices, have acquired One Dartmouth Place in Denver, Colorado for a purchase price of US$65.5 million.
One Dartmouth Place is within five minutes of the Denver Tech Center.
BH Management, Besyata´s long-standing partner and leading property manager of over 70,000 apartments across 23 states, will handle the day-to-day property management and leasing.
One Dartmouth Place is a 418-unit Southeast Denver apartment community offering one of the most comprehensive amenity packages in its submarket as well as an abundance of nearby recreation, including a 27-hole public golf course, an 880-acre reservoir, and a 71-mile hiking trail.
The property sits within 20 minutes of roughly 30 per cent of Colorado's GDP, 36M SF of office space, 440,000 employees, and eight Fortune 1000 companies.
It is also within close proximity to some of the region's most popular retail attractions, including Park Meadows Mall, Colorado's largest indoor shopping centre.
Besyata and Scharf plan to add value to the property through gradual unit renovations in addition to amenity/common area enhancements to better compete with properties in the area.
Besyata focuses on the acquisition and development of multifamily and commercial properties nationwide while pursuing a value-add strategy.
The Scharf Group is owner, developer and operator of a large portfolio of commercial, multifamily, healthcare and senior housing properties nationwide.
-- BERNAMA
One Dartmouth Place is within five minutes of the Denver Tech Center.
BH Management, Besyata´s long-standing partner and leading property manager of over 70,000 apartments across 23 states, will handle the day-to-day property management and leasing.
One Dartmouth Place is a 418-unit Southeast Denver apartment community offering one of the most comprehensive amenity packages in its submarket as well as an abundance of nearby recreation, including a 27-hole public golf course, an 880-acre reservoir, and a 71-mile hiking trail.
The property sits within 20 minutes of roughly 30 per cent of Colorado's GDP, 36M SF of office space, 440,000 employees, and eight Fortune 1000 companies.
It is also within close proximity to some of the region's most popular retail attractions, including Park Meadows Mall, Colorado's largest indoor shopping centre.
Besyata and Scharf plan to add value to the property through gradual unit renovations in addition to amenity/common area enhancements to better compete with properties in the area.
Besyata focuses on the acquisition and development of multifamily and commercial properties nationwide while pursuing a value-add strategy.
The Scharf Group is owner, developer and operator of a large portfolio of commercial, multifamily, healthcare and senior housing properties nationwide.
-- BERNAMA
32 per cent of consumers plan for new AI home devices
KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) -- Thirty-two per cent of consumers surveyed globally by PwC plan to buy an artificial intelligence (AI) device including robots or automated assistants, with retailers watching closely as 'voice commerce' develops in the home.
The findings are published today in PwC's Global Consumer Insights survey, which assesses the shopping behaviour, habits and expectations of over 22,000 consumers in 27 countries.
The study reports that 10 per cent of respondents already own AI devices, such as robots and automated personal assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home, and 32 per cent said they planned to buy one.
Interest in the devices is strongest amongst consumers in emerging economies including China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Meanwhile, demand is generally lower in developed countries.
PwC found that across all markets, early adopters of AI devices tend to be men, aged 18-34, who are open to collaborative consumption, less likely to take action to reduce the risk of online security issues and fraud, and less price conscious.
"AI is moving very rapidly into the consumer and retail sectors. Within two to three years AI could revolutionise how companies profile, segment and serve customers," said Global Consumer Markets leader of PwC, John Maxwell.
The report also highlights mobile devices gaining traction with global shoppers. Mobile purchasing has more than doubled in six years to 17 per cent of all shopping, and is likely to soon overtake computer purchases (20 per cent).
Convenience is also playing a part, with half of all respondents using smartphones to pay for purchases in store.
E-commerce continues to dominate ? 59 per cent of consumers are shopping with online retailers, which has transformed shoppers' expectations about shipments.
Despite the dominance of the big online retailers, there is still room for physical stores to thrive, whereby for the fourth year in a row, the number of respondents who say they shop at a bricks and mortar store on a weekly basis has risen, this year by three per cent to 44 per cent.
Both online and in-store, social networks remain the biggest influence on consumers looking for inspiration for purchases, despite consumers reporting a small dip in their influence (from 39 per cent to 37 per cent). Social networks' influence is highest in the Middle East (70 per cent) Indonesia (58 per cent), Malaysia (58 per cent) and China (52 per cent).
The annual survey also finds encouraging news about consumer confidence despite concerns about depressed spending and investing.
Globally, the majority of consumers surveyed plan to spend the same or more as they did last year, with 38 per cent maintaining the same spending as last year, and 37 per cent planning to spend more.
-- BERNAMA
The findings are published today in PwC's Global Consumer Insights survey, which assesses the shopping behaviour, habits and expectations of over 22,000 consumers in 27 countries.
The study reports that 10 per cent of respondents already own AI devices, such as robots and automated personal assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home, and 32 per cent said they planned to buy one.
Interest in the devices is strongest amongst consumers in emerging economies including China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Meanwhile, demand is generally lower in developed countries.
PwC found that across all markets, early adopters of AI devices tend to be men, aged 18-34, who are open to collaborative consumption, less likely to take action to reduce the risk of online security issues and fraud, and less price conscious.
"AI is moving very rapidly into the consumer and retail sectors. Within two to three years AI could revolutionise how companies profile, segment and serve customers," said Global Consumer Markets leader of PwC, John Maxwell.
The report also highlights mobile devices gaining traction with global shoppers. Mobile purchasing has more than doubled in six years to 17 per cent of all shopping, and is likely to soon overtake computer purchases (20 per cent).
Convenience is also playing a part, with half of all respondents using smartphones to pay for purchases in store.
E-commerce continues to dominate ? 59 per cent of consumers are shopping with online retailers, which has transformed shoppers' expectations about shipments.
Despite the dominance of the big online retailers, there is still room for physical stores to thrive, whereby for the fourth year in a row, the number of respondents who say they shop at a bricks and mortar store on a weekly basis has risen, this year by three per cent to 44 per cent.
Both online and in-store, social networks remain the biggest influence on consumers looking for inspiration for purchases, despite consumers reporting a small dip in their influence (from 39 per cent to 37 per cent). Social networks' influence is highest in the Middle East (70 per cent) Indonesia (58 per cent), Malaysia (58 per cent) and China (52 per cent).
The annual survey also finds encouraging news about consumer confidence despite concerns about depressed spending and investing.
Globally, the majority of consumers surveyed plan to spend the same or more as they did last year, with 38 per cent maintaining the same spending as last year, and 37 per cent planning to spend more.
-- BERNAMA
LexinFintech to release 4th quarter, full year 2017 financial results on March 20
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Bernama) -- LexinFintech Holdings Ltd (Lexin) today announced that it will report its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017 before the U.S. market opens on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.
Lexin is a leading online consumer finance platform for educated young adults in China.
The company's management will host an earnings conference call at 8 am, U.S. Eastern time on March 20 (8 pm Beijing/Hong Kong time on March 20).
Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows: United States (1 845 675 0437 or 1 866 519 4004), International (65 6713 5090), Hong Kong (800 906 601 or 852 3018 6771) and China (400 6208 038 or 800 8190 121).
Participants should dial in at least five minutes before the scheduled start time and use the passcode, 6668577.
Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the company's investor relations website at http://ir.lexinfintech.com.
A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately two hours after the conclusion of the live call until March 27, 2018, by dialling the following telephone numbers: United States (1 855 452 5696 or 1 646 254 3697)or International (61 2 8199 0299).
The replay access code is 6668577.
-- BERNAMA
Lexin is a leading online consumer finance platform for educated young adults in China.
The company's management will host an earnings conference call at 8 am, U.S. Eastern time on March 20 (8 pm Beijing/Hong Kong time on March 20).
Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows: United States (1 845 675 0437 or 1 866 519 4004), International (65 6713 5090), Hong Kong (800 906 601 or 852 3018 6771) and China (400 6208 038 or 800 8190 121).
Participants should dial in at least five minutes before the scheduled start time and use the passcode, 6668577.
Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the company's investor relations website at http://ir.lexinfintech.com.
A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately two hours after the conclusion of the live call until March 27, 2018, by dialling the following telephone numbers: United States (1 855 452 5696 or 1 646 254 3697)or International (61 2 8199 0299).
The replay access code is 6668577.
-- BERNAMA
Tuesday 13 March 2018
HEALTH OFFICIALS DETERMINE THE ISLANDS OF THE BAHAMAS ARE ZIKA FREE
World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control and Prevention Have Removed The Bahamas from Watch Lists of Zika Infected Areas, Deeming the Country Safe for Travelers
Nassau, Bahamas, March 9 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two of the world’s leading health organizations have recently declared that The Islands Of The Bahamas do not pose a known risk to travelers of contracting the Zika virus. No new cases of Zika have been identified in the country within the past 12 months.
On February 2, 2018 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed The Bahamas from its list of “Areas with Risk of Zika,” which, according to their website, identifies places where pregnant women should avoid travel, and where travelers should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites and sexual transmission during and after the trip.
The CDC now includes The Bahamas under “Areas with Interrupted Transmission,” meaning Zika was previously found in the locations on this list but scientists have determined the virus is no longer present. The CDC states that travelers, including pregnant women, can visit these destinations with no known risk of getting Zika from mosquitoes.
Also on February 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) downgraded The Bahamas from a Category 2 to a Category 3 on its Zika Virus (ZIKV) Classification Table, signifying that there have been no new cases of Zika identified in the area or from travelers in the past 12 months. This classification table evaluates the geographical distribution of Zika virus across four categories, Category 1 being the most threatening and Category 4 representing areas with no documented past or current transmissions.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31411
Nassau, Bahamas, March 9 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Two of the world’s leading health organizations have recently declared that The Islands Of The Bahamas do not pose a known risk to travelers of contracting the Zika virus. No new cases of Zika have been identified in the country within the past 12 months.
On February 2, 2018 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed The Bahamas from its list of “Areas with Risk of Zika,” which, according to their website, identifies places where pregnant women should avoid travel, and where travelers should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites and sexual transmission during and after the trip.
The CDC now includes The Bahamas under “Areas with Interrupted Transmission,” meaning Zika was previously found in the locations on this list but scientists have determined the virus is no longer present. The CDC states that travelers, including pregnant women, can visit these destinations with no known risk of getting Zika from mosquitoes.
Also on February 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) downgraded The Bahamas from a Category 2 to a Category 3 on its Zika Virus (ZIKV) Classification Table, signifying that there have been no new cases of Zika identified in the area or from travelers in the past 12 months. This classification table evaluates the geographical distribution of Zika virus across four categories, Category 1 being the most threatening and Category 4 representing areas with no documented past or current transmissions.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31411
SEVONE NAMED A VISIONARY IN GARTNER'S MAGIC QUADRANT FOR NETWORK PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND DIAGNOSTICS
Recognized for completeness of vision and ability to execute
BOSTON, March 9 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- SevOne, a leading provider of next-generation network and infrastructure management solutions, today announced that it has been named a Visionary in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics. The report analyzes providers of NPMD tools, whose goal is “not only to monitor the network traffic and infrastructure to facilitate outage and degradation resolution, but also to identify performance optimization opportunities.”
Gartner estimates “the size of the NPMD tool market at $2.1 billion and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9%, according to Gartner’s Market Share Analysis: Performance Analysis Software, Worldwide, 2016.”1 Additionally, “this market is a growing segment of the larger availability and performance monitoring space, which also includes application performance monitoring (APM), IT infrastructure monitoring (ITIM), artificial intelligence for IT operations platforms (AIOps) and digital experience monitoring (DEM).”2
“We’re pleased to be positioned as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring Diagnostics. In our view, with the ongoing transition to virtualized networks and cloud services, SevOne provides solutions that make it easier and smoother for large enterprises, carriers and MSPs to make these complex digital transformations,” said Jack Sweeney, CEO of SevOne. “We believe that our powerful and flexible monitoring and analysis capabilities for monitoring and managing next-gen SDN, SD-WAN, NFV and enterprise Wi-Fi network resources are unmatched in the industry. Providing these much-needed capabilities is solidifying SevOne’s position as a trusted vendor that can solve the toughest networking issues in the most demanding service-delivery environments. By doing so, we’re providing our customers with greater opportunities for growth now and into the future.”
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31405
BOSTON, March 9 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- SevOne, a leading provider of next-generation network and infrastructure management solutions, today announced that it has been named a Visionary in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics. The report analyzes providers of NPMD tools, whose goal is “not only to monitor the network traffic and infrastructure to facilitate outage and degradation resolution, but also to identify performance optimization opportunities.”
Gartner estimates “the size of the NPMD tool market at $2.1 billion and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.9%, according to Gartner’s Market Share Analysis: Performance Analysis Software, Worldwide, 2016.”1 Additionally, “this market is a growing segment of the larger availability and performance monitoring space, which also includes application performance monitoring (APM), IT infrastructure monitoring (ITIM), artificial intelligence for IT operations platforms (AIOps) and digital experience monitoring (DEM).”2
“We’re pleased to be positioned as a Visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring Diagnostics. In our view, with the ongoing transition to virtualized networks and cloud services, SevOne provides solutions that make it easier and smoother for large enterprises, carriers and MSPs to make these complex digital transformations,” said Jack Sweeney, CEO of SevOne. “We believe that our powerful and flexible monitoring and analysis capabilities for monitoring and managing next-gen SDN, SD-WAN, NFV and enterprise Wi-Fi network resources are unmatched in the industry. Providing these much-needed capabilities is solidifying SevOne’s position as a trusted vendor that can solve the toughest networking issues in the most demanding service-delivery environments. By doing so, we’re providing our customers with greater opportunities for growth now and into the future.”
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31405
2018 YPO EDGE DELIVERS INNOVATIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE GLOBAL IDEA EXCHANGE
Business leaders from more than 130 countries focus on defying convention
SINGAPORE, March 12 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YPO, the premier global leadership organization of chief executives, hosted more than 2,800 business leaders from more than 130 countries at the 2018 YPO EDGE, its flagship event in Singapore this month. YPO business leaders gathered with world-renowned thought leaders and innovators to address key issues in business, politics, science, philanthropy and humanities.
Chief executives from different industries learned about unique groundbreaking approaches to challenges and opportunities in business and beyond from world leaders, philanthropists and business legends, including:
- Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore
- Orit Gadiesh, Chairman, Bain and Company
- Victor Fung, Ph.D., Chairman, Fung Group; Honorary Chairman, Li and Fung LTD
- Rahul Gandhi, MP, President of the Indian National Congress
- Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Author and Activist
- Yoshi Hori, President of GLOBIS University and Managing Partner of GLOBIS Capital Partners
- Billie Jean King, Founder of Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and former World No.1 tennis player
“As one of Asia’s fastest-growing cities, Singapore is not only recognized as a world-class destination but admired around the world for its growth and evolution, making Singapore an ideal host city for the 2018 YPO EDGE, the world’s largest gathering of chief executives,” said Scott Mordell, CEO of YPO. “The YPO EDGE encouraged participants to alter their paradigms to deliver significant impact within the global community in the form of economic opportunity, sustainable environmental change and compassionate leadership.”
Other speakers, including Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation.com; Mark McDonald, Co-Founder of Appster; Maura O'Neill, Ph.D., Faculty Director of UC Berkeley Executive Education and Former Chief Innovation Officer of USAID; and Pattie Sellers, Co-Founder of SellersEaston Media and Former Assistant Managing Editor of “Fortune,” inspired YPO leaders to take new risks as they shared their breakthroughs in reputation and brand management, humanitarian leadership, innovative technology and more.
“The 2018 EDGE is designed to challenge business leaders from around the world to defy convention, achieve the extraordinary and enrich their personal leadership,” said N.K. Tong, 2018 YPO EDGE Chair. “Now, 2,800 global business leaders will return to their home countries ready to make a difference and transform lives.”
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31423
SINGAPORE, March 12 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YPO, the premier global leadership organization of chief executives, hosted more than 2,800 business leaders from more than 130 countries at the 2018 YPO EDGE, its flagship event in Singapore this month. YPO business leaders gathered with world-renowned thought leaders and innovators to address key issues in business, politics, science, philanthropy and humanities.
Chief executives from different industries learned about unique groundbreaking approaches to challenges and opportunities in business and beyond from world leaders, philanthropists and business legends, including:
- Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore
- Orit Gadiesh, Chairman, Bain and Company
- Victor Fung, Ph.D., Chairman, Fung Group; Honorary Chairman, Li and Fung LTD
- Rahul Gandhi, MP, President of the Indian National Congress
- Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Author and Activist
- Yoshi Hori, President of GLOBIS University and Managing Partner of GLOBIS Capital Partners
- Billie Jean King, Founder of Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and former World No.1 tennis player
“As one of Asia’s fastest-growing cities, Singapore is not only recognized as a world-class destination but admired around the world for its growth and evolution, making Singapore an ideal host city for the 2018 YPO EDGE, the world’s largest gathering of chief executives,” said Scott Mordell, CEO of YPO. “The YPO EDGE encouraged participants to alter their paradigms to deliver significant impact within the global community in the form of economic opportunity, sustainable environmental change and compassionate leadership.”
Other speakers, including Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation.com; Mark McDonald, Co-Founder of Appster; Maura O'Neill, Ph.D., Faculty Director of UC Berkeley Executive Education and Former Chief Innovation Officer of USAID; and Pattie Sellers, Co-Founder of SellersEaston Media and Former Assistant Managing Editor of “Fortune,” inspired YPO leaders to take new risks as they shared their breakthroughs in reputation and brand management, humanitarian leadership, innovative technology and more.
“The 2018 EDGE is designed to challenge business leaders from around the world to defy convention, achieve the extraordinary and enrich their personal leadership,” said N.K. Tong, 2018 YPO EDGE Chair. “Now, 2,800 global business leaders will return to their home countries ready to make a difference and transform lives.”
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31423
Friday 9 March 2018
Nova Scotia, The Next Wave In Ocean Technology
KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Nova Scotia is bringing 14 of its most innovative companies to London, UK for Oceanology International 2018, from March 13 to 15.
Nova Scotia is part of Canada's Ocean Supercluster.
Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the province is building on its international reputation in ocean observation, bringing world-class designers, manufacturers, experts and innovators to showcase their latest products and services.
These are in fields such as underwater acoustics and imaging, marine communication and navigation, robotics, and sensors.
"For Nova Scotia, this is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the world-class work our companies are doing in ocean technology, and how it's driving our ocean economy," said Laurel Broten, president and chief executive officer of Nova Scotia Business Inc., the business development agency of the province.
With the longest coastline in the world, Canada has a global advantage in the oceans industry and has recently committed up to $250 million of investment in the sector over the next five years.
With an expected impact of thousands of jobs, and billions of dollars in GDP growth, Nova Scotia companies are uniquely positioned to be leaders in everything from ocean technology and observation, to marine-centric defence and security, to transportation and energy.
Currently, Nova Scotia is building its industry infrastructure through the Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE).
It is the region's collaborative space for ocean technology businesses, start-ups, researchers, and marine-based and service businesses.
The space allows both local and global businesses to collaborate and take advantage of the province's 300 ocean-related companies, 60 high-tech innovators, and high concentration of oceans-related researchers.
-- BERNAMA
Nova Scotia is part of Canada's Ocean Supercluster.
Surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the province is building on its international reputation in ocean observation, bringing world-class designers, manufacturers, experts and innovators to showcase their latest products and services.
These are in fields such as underwater acoustics and imaging, marine communication and navigation, robotics, and sensors.
"For Nova Scotia, this is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the world-class work our companies are doing in ocean technology, and how it's driving our ocean economy," said Laurel Broten, president and chief executive officer of Nova Scotia Business Inc., the business development agency of the province.
With the longest coastline in the world, Canada has a global advantage in the oceans industry and has recently committed up to $250 million of investment in the sector over the next five years.
With an expected impact of thousands of jobs, and billions of dollars in GDP growth, Nova Scotia companies are uniquely positioned to be leaders in everything from ocean technology and observation, to marine-centric defence and security, to transportation and energy.
Currently, Nova Scotia is building its industry infrastructure through the Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE).
It is the region's collaborative space for ocean technology businesses, start-ups, researchers, and marine-based and service businesses.
The space allows both local and global businesses to collaborate and take advantage of the province's 300 ocean-related companies, 60 high-tech innovators, and high concentration of oceans-related researchers.
-- BERNAMA
AUDITION OPENS FOR MISS TALENT INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 2018
KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- The Miss Talent International Competition 2018 audition is now open for Malaysians, with the competition offering total cash and prizes worth RM200,000.
The licence holder for the competition, 28Mall,com, said the winner would represent Malaysia in the international competition in Hong Kong in May, the company, e1Net Sdn Bhd said in a statement, here, today.
Fione Tan, founder of 28Mall.com and the organising chairman of Miss Talent International Competition Malaysia 2018 said the competition aimed to unveil the talents of Malaysian women to the world.
“This is not another beauty pageant as we are focused on the talents and social media savviness of the contestants so that the winners can be the social media ambassadors and key influencers for 28Mall and our brands and sponsors,” she said.
Tan said the major highlight would be the introduction of Malaysia’s first Miss Social Media Award.
"This award with attractive cash and prizes worth RM50,000 will be presented to the winner with the best social media engagement during the contest period, and will be appointed social media ambassador and influencer for 28Mall and their sponsors," she added.
Since the inauguration in 2014, the pageant has become one of the top three in Hong Kong and has received wide media coverage, online and offline.
Those interested to participate may apply at www.misstalentmalaysia.com and those who attend the audition will be rewarded with a RM600 shopping coupon.
-- BERNAMA
The licence holder for the competition, 28Mall,com, said the winner would represent Malaysia in the international competition in Hong Kong in May, the company, e1Net Sdn Bhd said in a statement, here, today.
Fione Tan, founder of 28Mall.com and the organising chairman of Miss Talent International Competition Malaysia 2018 said the competition aimed to unveil the talents of Malaysian women to the world.
“This is not another beauty pageant as we are focused on the talents and social media savviness of the contestants so that the winners can be the social media ambassadors and key influencers for 28Mall and our brands and sponsors,” she said.
Tan said the major highlight would be the introduction of Malaysia’s first Miss Social Media Award.
"This award with attractive cash and prizes worth RM50,000 will be presented to the winner with the best social media engagement during the contest period, and will be appointed social media ambassador and influencer for 28Mall and their sponsors," she added.
Since the inauguration in 2014, the pageant has become one of the top three in Hong Kong and has received wide media coverage, online and offline.
Those interested to participate may apply at www.misstalentmalaysia.com and those who attend the audition will be rewarded with a RM600 shopping coupon.
-- BERNAMA
STRIVING FOR GOLD - LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE OLYMPIC HEALTHCARE INTEROPERABILITY INITIATIVE
Las Vegas, Nevada., March 7 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The spirit of health and well-being is core to the founding principles of the Olympic Games and heralds the tenets of sustainable social development within each host and participating country. With the ambitious goal of integrating advanced digital health information sharing into health services provided before, during, and after the Games, the Olympic Healthcare Interoperability (OHI) Initiative & OHI Foundation have been formed to aggressively pursue this vision.
OHI, a digital health industry initiative with charter sponsorship from not-for-profit organizations HIMSS and SNOMED International, was created to advance the seamless exchange and use of health information globally through the Olympic Games. Starting with the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, OHI’s goal is to “showcase the possible” and “implement the real”, through the communication of digital health information, for the benefit of the 1,000’s of athletes, trainers and staff, volunteers and attendees. With each edition of the Games, a digital health legacy will be crafted to establish a comprehensive, world-wide infrastructure supportive of appropriate access to relevant clinical information...anywhere, at any time.
Utilizing the latest innovations in digital health, OHI will connect pre-Games, person-specific healthcare information with information generated at the Games by Olympic and Host City healthcare service providers, which will flow back around the world with each individual once the Games conclude. OHI’s initial scope will include patient identity matching and access to international patient summaries with capacity to include the significant facets of a patient’s digital health record over time. All with the needed security, privacy and consent framework that will ensure appropriate access to all information.
Consider the case of a Jamaican athlete collapsing on the track, showing symptoms of cardiac stress. Medical personnel at the stadium use an electronic medical record (EMR) system to query the athlete’s electronic records from Jamaica, and discover a number of allergies, current medications, and medical conditions to inform a treatment plan. The athlete, requiring a surgical procedure and transferred to the host city’s tertiary hospital, is followed by the necessary diagnostic and treatment information via OHI interoperability. Post surgery, the updated medical record is posted to the athlete’s Jamaican EMR system for follow-up medical treatment at home.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31379
OHI, a digital health industry initiative with charter sponsorship from not-for-profit organizations HIMSS and SNOMED International, was created to advance the seamless exchange and use of health information globally through the Olympic Games. Starting with the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, OHI’s goal is to “showcase the possible” and “implement the real”, through the communication of digital health information, for the benefit of the 1,000’s of athletes, trainers and staff, volunteers and attendees. With each edition of the Games, a digital health legacy will be crafted to establish a comprehensive, world-wide infrastructure supportive of appropriate access to relevant clinical information...anywhere, at any time.
Utilizing the latest innovations in digital health, OHI will connect pre-Games, person-specific healthcare information with information generated at the Games by Olympic and Host City healthcare service providers, which will flow back around the world with each individual once the Games conclude. OHI’s initial scope will include patient identity matching and access to international patient summaries with capacity to include the significant facets of a patient’s digital health record over time. All with the needed security, privacy and consent framework that will ensure appropriate access to all information.
Consider the case of a Jamaican athlete collapsing on the track, showing symptoms of cardiac stress. Medical personnel at the stadium use an electronic medical record (EMR) system to query the athlete’s electronic records from Jamaica, and discover a number of allergies, current medications, and medical conditions to inform a treatment plan. The athlete, requiring a surgical procedure and transferred to the host city’s tertiary hospital, is followed by the necessary diagnostic and treatment information via OHI interoperability. Post surgery, the updated medical record is posted to the athlete’s Jamaican EMR system for follow-up medical treatment at home.
http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31379
MATTSON INTRODUCES NOVYKA FOR SCALING OF 3D LOGIC, MEMORY DEVICES
KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Mattson Technology Inc., has introduced Novyka, an innovative technology for atomic level surface treatment and ultra-selective etching of extremely thin and delicate materials for continued scaling of 3D logic and memory devices.
New innovations from Mattson in atomic surface engineering address the most critical 3D logic and memory manufacturing challenges.
“There are significant challenges in scaling with 3D structures for advanced memory and logic chips that include small, narrow, deep and complicated features composed of thin layers of different materials,” said chief business officer of Mattson Technology, Dr Subhash Deshmukh.
The new Novyka products offer proprietary chemistries in surface cleaning, surface treatment and surface modification.
“Its unique designs further extend to enable ultra-high selectivity in removal of thin and delicate layers in 3D device structures,” said executive vice-president and chief technology officer of Mattson Technology, Dr Michael Yang.
Meanwhile, its chief executive officer and president, Dr Allen Lu said with Mattson Technology achieving record revenue and profit in 2017, it continued to relentlessly drive technology innovations and provide uncompromising service to its global customer base.
Mattson Technology is a Delaware company which designs, manufactures, markets and supports semiconductor wafer processing equipment.
-- BERNAMA
New innovations from Mattson in atomic surface engineering address the most critical 3D logic and memory manufacturing challenges.
“There are significant challenges in scaling with 3D structures for advanced memory and logic chips that include small, narrow, deep and complicated features composed of thin layers of different materials,” said chief business officer of Mattson Technology, Dr Subhash Deshmukh.
The new Novyka products offer proprietary chemistries in surface cleaning, surface treatment and surface modification.
“Its unique designs further extend to enable ultra-high selectivity in removal of thin and delicate layers in 3D device structures,” said executive vice-president and chief technology officer of Mattson Technology, Dr Michael Yang.
Meanwhile, its chief executive officer and president, Dr Allen Lu said with Mattson Technology achieving record revenue and profit in 2017, it continued to relentlessly drive technology innovations and provide uncompromising service to its global customer base.
Mattson Technology is a Delaware company which designs, manufactures, markets and supports semiconductor wafer processing equipment.
-- BERNAMA
Comodo CA Unveils Certificate Manager 6.0 With Advanced Features
KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- Comodo CA, a digital identity solutions provider, has released Certificate Manager (CCM) 6.0, which includes advanced features and enhanced automation capabilities.
CCM 6.0 offers enterprises vendor migration flexibility, the ability to enrol any SSL from a single user interface and one-click key replacement for stronger keys migration.
In addition, CCM's cloud-based platform enables enterprises the ability to discover, manage and automatically enrol any SSL and non-SSL certificate across the enterprise, from one interface.
"Enterprises and partners today demand a solution that understands their challenges and can provide them with flexibility, reduced cost of ownership, agility in execution, ease of implementation and user-friendly interfaces," said Comodo CA chief executive officer, Bill Holtz.
"Existing certificate management solutions fall short of these needs."
"CCM 6.0 delivers advanced capabilities, allowing customers to stay security compliant, have full visibility of all their certificates through a single interface and full control over enrolment, management and renewal of certificates across a variety of devices," he said.
-- BERNAMA
CCM 6.0 offers enterprises vendor migration flexibility, the ability to enrol any SSL from a single user interface and one-click key replacement for stronger keys migration.
In addition, CCM's cloud-based platform enables enterprises the ability to discover, manage and automatically enrol any SSL and non-SSL certificate across the enterprise, from one interface.
"Enterprises and partners today demand a solution that understands their challenges and can provide them with flexibility, reduced cost of ownership, agility in execution, ease of implementation and user-friendly interfaces," said Comodo CA chief executive officer, Bill Holtz.
"Existing certificate management solutions fall short of these needs."
"CCM 6.0 delivers advanced capabilities, allowing customers to stay security compliant, have full visibility of all their certificates through a single interface and full control over enrolment, management and renewal of certificates across a variety of devices," he said.
-- BERNAMA
Thursday 8 March 2018
Vitrea Intelligence Optimises Imaging Queensland's Operations
KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- Vital Images Inc. has announced that its enterprise analytics solution, Vitrea Intelligence, will be deployed at Imaging Queensland, a premier imaging network in Australia, scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.
Vitrea Intelligence comprises Opportunity Navigator predictive analytics and Practice Management business intelligence.
According to Imaging Queensland's chief finance and commercial operations officer, Helen Stevens, the decision to implement Vitrea Intelligence was based on three key factors.
They are the solution's ability to help maximise operational efficiency, its unique capability of combining RIS and PACS data into single longitudinal record, and the radiology group's longstanding relationship with Vital Images and Canon Medical Systems.
"This enterprise analytics solution allows us (Imaging Queensland) to optimise our business throughout the region."
"Our international staff will have the same level of web-based access as our staff at headquarters in Maroochydore, Queensland," said Stevens.
Meanwhile, Vital's product marketing manager, Geoff Clemmons said with the deployment of Vitrea Intelligence, they looked forward to helping Imaging Queensland build on its success through proactive business decisions based on predictive analytics.
"With its unique ability to leverage HL7 data and DICOM metadata simultaneously, Vitrea Intelligence provides a single, longitudinal record of the patient encounter."
"From physician order to exam completion, and from scheduling metrics to equipment utilisation rate, our enterprise analytics solution tells the story behind the data."
"This reveals opportunities to optimise workflows and staffing levels, manage assets, improve patient experience and better manage referrer relationships," added Clemmons.
-- BERNAMA
Vitrea Intelligence comprises Opportunity Navigator predictive analytics and Practice Management business intelligence.
According to Imaging Queensland's chief finance and commercial operations officer, Helen Stevens, the decision to implement Vitrea Intelligence was based on three key factors.
They are the solution's ability to help maximise operational efficiency, its unique capability of combining RIS and PACS data into single longitudinal record, and the radiology group's longstanding relationship with Vital Images and Canon Medical Systems.
"This enterprise analytics solution allows us (Imaging Queensland) to optimise our business throughout the region."
"Our international staff will have the same level of web-based access as our staff at headquarters in Maroochydore, Queensland," said Stevens.
Meanwhile, Vital's product marketing manager, Geoff Clemmons said with the deployment of Vitrea Intelligence, they looked forward to helping Imaging Queensland build on its success through proactive business decisions based on predictive analytics.
"With its unique ability to leverage HL7 data and DICOM metadata simultaneously, Vitrea Intelligence provides a single, longitudinal record of the patient encounter."
"From physician order to exam completion, and from scheduling metrics to equipment utilisation rate, our enterprise analytics solution tells the story behind the data."
"This reveals opportunities to optimise workflows and staffing levels, manage assets, improve patient experience and better manage referrer relationships," added Clemmons.
-- BERNAMA
WORLD SALT AWARENESS WEEK
World Salt Awareness Week is being celebrated this year from March 12th - 18th. Naples, FL, March 6 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Salt Awareness Week is being celebrated this year from March 12th - 18th and is the perfect opportunity to recognize all the many benefits of salt. Salt, or sodium chloride, is essential for life. In fact, no mineral is more essential to human survival than sodium because it allows nerves to send and receive electrical impulses, helps your muscles stay strong, and keeps your cells and brain functioning. However, sodium chloride (salt) is a nutrient that the body cannot produce, and therefore it must be consumed. The other component of salt, chloride, is also essential to survival and good health. It preserves acid-base balance in the body, aids potassium absorption, improves the ability of the blood to move harmful carbon dioxide from tissues out to the lungs and, most importantly it supplies the crucial stomach acids required to break down and digest all the foods we eat. Because the level of salt consumption is so stable, it’s an ideal medium to fortify with other essential nutrients such as iodine. Iodized salt was first produced in the U.S. in 1924 and is now used by 75 percent of the world’s population to protect against mental retardation due to Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). Iodine is an essential element in healthy human life, enabling the function of thyroid glands to produce needed hormones for proper metabolism. When children in the womb don’t get enough iodine from their mother, fetal brain development may be impaired. Iodized salt remains one of the greatest public health success stories. Salt is also essential in hospital IV saline, which is standard therapy and the fastest way to deliver fluids and medications throughout the body. This saline drip doesn’t just keep patients hydrated, it delivers a 0.9% solution of salt. Without this saline drip, patients can end up with low levels of sodium in the blood resulting in a condition known as hyponatremia. This serious condition can lead to seizures, coma, permanent brain damage, respiratory arrest and death, and it is why the shortage of saline in hospitals is of such critical importance. http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=31359 |
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