LeddarTech unveils robust, cost-effective 2D solid-state LiDAR sensor

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 -- LeddarTech®, a global leader in Level 1-5 ADAS and AD sensing technology, has launched Leddar™ Sight, a robust, cost-effective 2D solid-state LiDAR sensor.

This LiDAR is housed in a weatherproof enclosure, using flash illumination to deliver continuous, accurate detection and range of objects and obstacles in its entire field of view, without any moving part, according to a statement.

Leddar Sight has been developed to answer the stringent needs of mobility, ITS, and industrial system developers for reliable, durable LiDAR sensing in the most challenging environments.

Based on the Leddar M16 2D flash LiDAR module family’s field-proven reliability, the Leddar Sight leverages a 100 per cent solid-state design for ultimate robustness.

Tested for shock and vibration to meet the most demanding commercial and industrial applications requirements, Leddar Sight features a weatherproof casing (IP67/IP69 rated) that resists dust ingress, immersion, and pressurised water streams.

The Leddar Sight 2D flash LiDAR provides precise detection and measurement capabilities for indoor applications such as industrial automation and various outdoor applications such as autonomous navigation, obstacle detection and collision avoidance.

The sensor can be rapidly integrated into prototypes and used to collect 􀂦eld data for software development and is available in volume today to customers, system integrators, and resellers for commercial deployments.

The Leddar Sight is an ideal LiDAR solution for shuttles, robotaxis, ADVs, commercial trucks, buses, industrial vehicles, mobile robotics, and intelligent transportation systems.

More details at www.leddartech.com.

-- BERNAMA

SAFR® FROM REALNETWORKS GRANTED SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH CONTRACT FROM US AIR FORCE

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 (Bernama) -- SAFR® from RealNetworks Inc, a face recognition and visual analytics platform, has been awarded its third Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the United States Air Force (USAF).

Based on a statement, this contract enables SAFR to advance its computer vision platform to support perimeter protection and domestic search and rescue (SAR) missions.

The SBIR contract allows SAFR to enhance its platform to run on an NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier™ based UGV system.

The addition of SAFR’s AI-powered analytics on autonomous and semi-autonomous robotic devices provides a force multiplier and a layer of safety for defence and civilian security and emergency services personnel.

SAFR is focused on reducing the risk service members face in their daily duties by allowing SAFR-enhanced UGVs to perform perimeter patrols and monitor contested environments.

The UGV platform will recognise when unauthorised persons are present in restricted areas.

SAFR’s solution is being extended to operate onboard UGV devices and produce patrol reports with positional data upon completion of patrol duties.

In high-risk scenarios involving SAR missions, the robotic device could locate persons using SAFR’s body detection capabilities, providing real-time alerts and access route details to speed up extraction – greatly reducing the risk for responders.

“The UGV platform equipped with SAFR AI represents the future of embedded device operations and computer vision for an emerging range of robotic systems,” said SAFR Senior Product Manager, Eric Hess.

-- BERNAMA

Bitwats heralds new crypto mining era

KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 -- Bitwats three multi-algorithm miners BT, DBT, and GBT have carved a niche in the market due to their ability to generate 100 per centreturn on investment within just one month.

According to a statement, another key attribute of these miners is their ease of operation.

The extraordinary pro􀂦tability of the ASIC miners from Bitwats is because of their extremely high hash rates, referring to the total combined computational powerused to mine and process transactions on a Proof-of-Work blockchain.

The three miners can be used for mining bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, and monero.

“Our plug-and-play mining hardware makes life easier not only for beginners but also for mining experts looking to scale their pro􀂦t,” said Bitwats Chief ExecutiveO􀂨cer, Mark Williams.

While designing its crypto miners, Bitwats wanted to deliver products that can be used easily by all, including the small-time crypto enthusiasts with little or no miningknowledge or experience.

The products are delivered pre-con􀂦gured, and customers just need to plug in and start making pro􀂦ts. To provide additional savings for its customers, Bitwats alsooffers its own mining pool with zero per cent fees.

More details at https://bitwats.com/

-- BERNAMA

3 BITWATS EXTRAORDINARY MINING RIGS DISRUPT CRYPTO MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 (Bernama) -- The rapidly evolving global market for cryptocurrency is currently abuzz with the recent introduction of three extraordinarily designed mining rigs namely BT, DBT and GBT from BitWats.

Instead of focusing only on highly proficient and technology savvy mining stalwarts, these products allow the casual enthusiasts as well as small-time miners to make a fortune out of crypto mining.

According to a statement, over the years, cryptocurrency mining has seen serious improvements.

However, owing to the highly technical nature of this domain, it had limited to no scope for people that are technologically challenged.

Bitwats has already changed that perception by creating three rigs that are pre-configured and just needs to be plugged in for an uncomplicated crypto mining experience.

Within less than a month in the market, BT, DBT and GBT have been used by many common users without any technical background to earn healthy returns on their investment.

The miners from Bitwats are suitable for home use because they generate low amounts of heat as well as noise. More details at https://www.bitwats.com

-- BERNAMA

CISCO APPDYNAMICS EXPANDS GLOBAL SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE OFFERING WITH FIVE NEW LOCATIONS

News Summary:

• The addition of five new locations across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America brings the total number of AppDynamics global SaaS locations to nine.
• AppDynamics offers customers the broadest scale and reach of global SaaS support of any Application Performance Monitoring and Observability companies.
• Global expansion further provides AppDynamics customers with increased flexibility, scale and cost efficiencies, as well as greater data residency compliance and security.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 22 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cisco AppDynamics, the industry leading Business Observability platform, today announced the expansion of its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering through five strategic new locations, enabling fast, secure and reliable access to the AppDynamics Business Observability platform. Built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), new locations in Cape Town (South Africa), Hong Kong (China), London (England), São Paulo (Brazil) and Singapore will provide regional customers and partners with access to full-stack observability solutions that are secure, scalable and adhere to their local data residency regulations, enabling companies to deliver a superior digital experience.

Recent research from Gartner indicates that almost 70 percent of organizations using cloud services today plan to increase their cloud spend in the wake of the disruption caused by COVID-19.

“The pandemic validated cloud’s value proposition,” said Sid Nag, research vice president, Gartner. “The ability to use on-demand, scalable cloud models to achieve cost efficiency and business continuity is providing the impetus for organizations to rapidly accelerate their digital business transformation plans.”

As technologists lead their company’s response to the pandemic, many are facing increasingly high pressures to innovate and scale digital services and migrating to a SaaS approach comes with strong considerations. Challenges with implementing SaaS services due to evolving data residency laws and regulations, as well as latency via cloud services that can exist based on proximity to SaaS locations, are areas of concern when considering a SaaS approach. However, modern CIOs recognize the urgent need for a secure, reliable and scalable SaaS solution to support their rapid digital transformation efforts and meet the ever-increasing user demand for flawless digital experience.

The addition of five new locations offers a solution to enterprises concerned with potential data sovereignty and governance requirements, and provides access for customers all around the globe. With points of presence already in place in Portland (US), Frankfurt (Germany), Mumbai (India) and Sydney (Australia), AppDynamics now has more SaaS support than any other vendor in the market. Recently acknowledged as a notable strength by Gartner, AppDynamics’ robust global SaaS footprint will ensure enterprise companies can focus on creating flawless digital experiences through the Cisco AppDynamics Business Observability platform, while achieving greater control around:

• Data Residency, Privacy and Security - Enables local enterprise businesses to comply with anticipated data residency regulations, comprehensive compliance and security certifications such as SOC 2 Type II, EU-US Data Transfer and GDPR-Ready.
• Scale - AppDynamics is delivered with the scalability of AWS providing high-speed access to data with lower total costs, less on-premises resources, and added support and maintenance.
• Faster Access to Innovation - customers can leverage the latest innovation from AppDynamics including cloud native services, APM, and application security through automated and seamless upgrades.

"Enterprise organizations are now in a position where they must urgently transform their digital business strategies, and they need reliable SaaS platforms to do so at scale,” said Vipul Shah, chief product officer, AppDynamics. “AppDynamics is committed to delivering superior digital experiences through our Business Observability platform, and the expansion of our SaaS presence will provide a level of SaaS coverage unmatched in our industry. With this expanded reach of SaaS locations, AppDynamics remains the first choice for global enterprises.”

The addition of the five new locations comes on the heels of AppDynamics’ SaaS offering in India, announced in October 2020, and builds on the company’s global SaaS footprint across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. With each location strategically selected based on regional user demand, AppDynamics is seeing evidence that this strategy is quickly meeting the needs of enterprises around the world. For example, its Frankfurt SaaS location doubled the amount of users in only 18 months.

AppDynamics’ new SaaS locations will be available as follows:

• Singapore (April 2021)
• London (April 2021)
• Hong Kong (July 2021)
• São Paulo (July 2021)
• Cape Town (July 2021)

Learn more about AppDynamics SaaS and the company’s security and privacy assurance here.

Other resources:

• Blog

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your enterprise, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Network and follow us on Twitter.

About Cisco AppDynamics

Cisco AppDynamics, the industry leading Business Observability platform, provides full-stack observability with business context. AppDynamics helps technologists prevent digital performance issues by monitoring cloud-native technologies and traditional infrastructure to understand exactly what drives user experiences and impacts the bottom line for businesses. Core products include: Business iQ, Experience Journey Map, Secure Application and Cognition Engine.

AppDynamics has been recognized by Gartner as a leader in the APM market for more than nine years. It received Glassdoor’s 2019 Best Places to Work Award and Fortune’s #1 Best Place to Work in 2021 as part of Cisco.

This announcement may contain product roadmap information of AppDynamics LLC (“AppDynamics”). AppDynamics reserves the right to change any product roadmap information at any time, for any reason, and without notice. This information is intended to outline AppDynamics’ general product direction, it is not a guarantee of future product features, and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for AppDynamics’ products remain at AppDynamics’ sole discretion. AppDynamics reserves the right to change any planned features at any time before making them generally available as well as never making them generally available.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco's trademarks can be found at www.cisco.com/go/trademarks Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39882

64 PER CENT ASIA PACIFIC ORGANISATIONS CHANGING OPERATING MODEL NEXT YEAR - UNISYS SURVEY

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (Bernama) -- New data reveals that 64 per cent of Asia Pacific organisations plan to change their operating model by 2022, fuelled by a desire to improve their employee experience, states Unisys Corporation’s new survey.

Leaders and employees have differing views on the technologies and policies required to achieve greater productivity and an ideal employee experience, according to a statement.

The top three reasons given by Asia Pacific business leaders to change their operating model by 2022 are better employee experience (71 per cent), employee productivity (56 per cent) and employee safety (56 per cent).

The findings are included in a new IDC white paper, sponsored by Unisys, titled ‘Digital Workplace Insight(TM): Seeking Digital and Experience Parity to Support the Hybrid Workforce’.

The survey found that before the pandemic, 5.2 per cent of the workforce across Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore worked remotely - the highest of the four regions surveyed.

COVID-19 forced a rapid move to remote working in 2020, with more than one third (36 per cent) of this workforce working remotely by November 2020.

Based on this experience, the majority of employers (74 per cent) and employees (70 per cent) agree that working remotely is just as, or more, productive than working in an office.

“To create a great employee experience, employers need to understand what technology, processes and policies their people require to do their jobs effectively. This requires two-way conversations with their teams and a preparedness to change existing procedures,” said Unisys Asia Pacific Advisory Director, Leon Sayers.

The Unisys-sponsored research surveyed over 1,100 respondents, including business leaders and employees, across 15 countries: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the US.

This is to examine how organisations are transforming their operating models to respond to business disruptions. It found that to do this, business leaders are focused on the employee experience to shape their technology, procedures and policies.

More details at www.unisys.com.au.

-- BERNAMA

PRESTIGE BIOPHARMA TO OPERATE NEW VACCINE PRODUCTION CENTRE IN SOUTH KOREA

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 (Bernama) -- Prestige Biopharma Limited (PBP), a company specialising in antibody therapeutics development, will introduce a vaccine development and production centre into its core business.

PBP is on target to complete the construction of its global-scale vaccine production facility in Osong, South Korea with total area of approximately 8,500 m² inside the Campus 2 facility of its affiliated company Prestige Biologics. 

The facility is projected to start operations from August, utilising Prestige Biologics’ unmatched engineering service for expedited establishment with cutting-edge technology.

PBP will utilise Prestige Biologics’ proprietary ALITA Smart BioFactory™, the world’s first smart factory system in biomanufacturing designed based on digital artificial intelligence, reducing human or process related errors.

Based on a statement, the system will also enable fast and convenient change-over to maximise efficiency when catering for multiple products and manufacturing processes.

The total production capacity of the vaccine centre is 100,000 litres, comprising 50 units of 2,000 litre single-use bioreactors with accompanying seed train and downstream purification capacities.

With this global-scale production capacity, the centre will contribute to the growing global demands of vaccine development and production in response to infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

PBP will participate in a consortium led by Huons Global in the production of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine as the Drug Substance manufacturing centre.

-- BERNAMA

ZOOM ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION ZOOM APPS FUND

 New Venture Fund to Stimulate Innovation in the Zoom Apps Ecosystem

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 20 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced the Zoom Apps Fund, a new $100 million venture fund created to stimulate growth of Zoom’s ecosystem of Zoom Apps, integrations, developer platform, and hardware. Portfolio companies will receive initial investments between $250,000 and $2.5 million to build solutions that will become core to how Zoom customers meet, communicate, and collaborate. Zoom Apps, announced at Zoomtopia 2020, are leading applications that will bring productivity and engaging experiences directly into the Zoom platform.

Dozens of Zoom Apps are currently in development and are an important component in building the future of video communications. The Zoom Apps Fund will invest in developer partners with viable products and early market traction that will provide valuable and engaging experiences to our customers.

“I founded Zoom in 2011, nearly ten years ago. Without the support of early investors, Zoom would not be what it is today,” said Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom. “What I’ve learned over the past year is that we need to keep meetings productive and fun. My hope is that the Zoom Apps Fund will help our customers meet happier and collaborate even more seamlessly, and at the same time help entrepreneurs build new businesses as our platform evolves.”

To learn more about the Zoom Apps Fund visit zoom.com/fund and read our recent blog post.

About Zoom
Zoom is for you. We help you express ideas, connect to others, and build toward a future limited only by your imagination. Our frictionless communications platform is the only one that started with video as its foundation, and we have set the standard for innovation ever since. That is why we are an intuitive, scalable, and secure choice for individuals, small businesses, and large enterprises alike. Founded in 2011, Zoom is publicly traded (NASDAQ:ZM) and headquartered in San Jose, California. Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom.


http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39853

JAPAN-BASED STUDIST SECURES 1.85 BILLION YEN TO EXPAND SALES, OVERSEAS BUSINESS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- Studist Corporation, a growing Japan-based SaaS provider and Hansoku Cloud, a sales promotion PDCA management platform has raised 1.85 billion yen via a third party allocation of new shares. (100 yen = RM3.7956)

According to a statement, Studist is a provider of Teachme Biz, a platform for creating and sharing standard operating procedure manuals.

The two main purposes of the fundraising are to expand sales of Teachme Biz and Hansoku Cloud via Mitsui Fudosan and Hakuhodo DY group companies, and accelerate business development in Southeast Asia through Pavilion Capital.

Studist plans to use the funds primarily to improve functionality of Teachme Biz and Hansoku Cloud and hire and provide additional training for sales staff.

In addition, Studist will expand and improve its consulting business in May and seek to recruit additional human resources for it.

Studist aims to achieve 300 million yen in overseas sales in the fiscal year ending Feb 28, 2025, including sales at Studist (Thailand) Co Ltd.

In addition to existing investors DNX Ventures, Nippon Venture Capital Co Ltd and Salesforce Ventures, this round also includes three new investors: 31VENTURES -- Global Brain -- Growth I Project, a 30 billion yen venture investment project.

The project is jointly managed by Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain, Pavilion Capital Pte Ltd, a private equity fund under the Singapore government-owned investment company Temasek and Hakuhodo DY Ventures Ltd.

More details at https://studist.jp/ 

-- BERNAMA

Gartner again chooses Hillstone Networks customers' choice for network firewalls 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 -- Hillstone Networks, a leading provider of Enterprise Network Security and Risk Management solutions, is excited to share that, once again, it was named a Customers’ Choice in the April 2021 Gartner Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’: Network Firewalls, with an overall rating of 4.8/5 stars.

“Security continues to be the primary concern of the enterprise. Our job is to listen to our clients and create the products that they desperately need,” says Hillstone Networks CTO and co-founder, Tim Liu in a statement.

“Our mission from day one has been to serve our customers and arm them with the smartest, most streamlined and strongest security platform at an affordable cost.

“Being recognised by our peers and clients in the Gartner Peer Insights report with the high score of 4.8/5 within the industry for the second year in a row is for us, the highest of honours.”

Hillstone Networks comprehensive agility and AI-driven technology is in a unique position to help companies stay ahead of the curve while improving the total-cost of-ownership – a key consideration in 2021.

Gartner says: “Products in this market must be able to support single-enterprise firewall deployments and large and/or complex deployments.”

Hillstone Networks provides affordable solutions to 20,000 global customers; blocking attacks internally on the network, detecting, tracking and mitigating cybersecurity breaches that might be in progress.

For more information, visit www.hillstonenet.com

-- BERNAMA

A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: MARY KAY INC. LAUNCHES IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE PLATFORM SUITE 13™

 

A virtual reality platform that provides a flexible space for Mary Kay and its Independent Beauty Consultants to showcase the latest product portfolio, tell the brand’s story and display its heritage

DALLAS, April 16 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Global beauty brand Mary Kay Inc. and its Mary Kay Global Design Studio present Suite 13^TM, an innovative virtual beauty experience that leverages the use of virtual reality to digitize Mary Kay's first virtual pop-up showroom. Designed with the latest virtual reality technology, the new Suite 13^TM offers Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants and their customers a 360-degree, 3D beauty experience where users can virtually browse the beauty brand’s portfolio of skin care as well as explore the company and its founder Mary Kay Ash’s history.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210415005306/en/

 

The new Suite 13^TM invites users to tour through virtual “rooms”. Upon entering the “Lobby”, users can learn about the Company’s global legacy. The other virtual rooms include the “Pink Plaza” which explores the Company’s values and the “Innovation Center” that presents Mary Kay’s innovative skin care products and showcases key product benefits and ingredients. The platform also allows users to add their favorite Mary Kay products to a Wishlist to be shared with the user’s Independent Beauty Consultant.

“The launch of Suite 13^TM is the result of months of creativity, passion and commitment to provide Mary Kay’s Independent Beauty Consultants the best and most innovative tools in the market to help them manage their business,” says Sheryl Adkins-Green, Chief Marketing Officer for Mary Kay Inc. “Today, technology is at the center of everything, and people – especially the younger generation - want to discover, learn and find out about new products online. Suite 13^TM will provide Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants the flexibility of a digital business by being able to introduce our Mary Kay brand everywhere at any time and to elevate the way they build relationships with their customers by sharing an immersive beauty experience. To win in this new digital-driven environment, we will continue to find new ways for people to connect virtually for personalized low-touch experiences based in high-tech innovation.”

For the design of Suite 13 ^TM, Mary Kay partnered with Obsess, a leading experiential e-commerce platform that enables brands to create interactive, online virtual experiences using virtual reality. Led by female entrepreneur Neha Singh, Obsess has worked with other global beauty and fashion brands creating memorable, branded virtual experiences for consumers. In keeping with its mission to empower women’s lives, Mary Kay also partnered with several female photographers to produce the images displayed in the virtual platform.

“Suite 13 ^TM is about bringing the Mary Kay beauty experience together in a much more accessible way to independent beauty consultants and their customers where they already are,” said Neha Singh, founder and CEO of Obsess. “With Suite 13^TM, the Mary Kay team took care of every detail of the platform, giving you the feeling of being in a Mary Kay virtual showroom without having to actually be physically present. Our platform has allowed brands to create visually appealing, immersive virtual experiences that are changing the way they engage with their customers and we are excited for Mary Kay customers to continue to discover, learn and interact with the brand in a new digital environment.”

Suite 13 ^TM was initially launched in Mexico earlier in 2021, followed by Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Colombia and Peru. The Company expects to launch the platform in most of its markets by the end of 2021. Mary Kay is the first company to launch this type of virtual experience in its industry. Suite 13 ^TM is only the latest technological innovation by Mary Kay and its Mary Kay Global Design Studio. Mary Kay launched the Mary Kay® Skin Analyzer, an app that leverages the most advanced and scientifically-based Artificial Intelligence facial skin recommendation technology to help Independent Beauty Consultants provide a customized skin care regimen of Mary Kay products with just a quick skin scan. Another innovation, Mary Kay® MirrorMe™ Web, provides customers a virtual way to “try-before-you-buy,” directly from an Independent Beauty Consultant’s Website using virtual reality technology. MirrorMe™ is also available for iOS and Android devices.

About Mary Kay

One of the original glass ceiling breakers, Mary Kay Ash founded her beauty company nearly 60 years ago with three goals: develop rewarding opportunities for women, offer irresistible products, and make the world a better place. That dream has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar company with millions of independent sales force members in nearly 40 countries. Mary Kay is dedicated to investing in the science behind beauty and manufacturing cutting-edge skin care, color cosmetics, nutritional supplements and fragrances. Mary Kay is committed to empowering women and their families by partnering with organizations from around the world, focusing on supporting cancer research, protecting survivors from domestic abuse, beautifying our communities, and encouraging children to follow their dreams. Mary Kay Ash’s original vision continues to shine—one lipstick at a time.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39843

PRESTIGE BIOPHARMA, PHARMAPARK TO COMMERCIALISE BEVACIZUMAB BIOSIMILAR IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Bernama) -- Prestige BioPharma and Pharmapark LLC have entered into a binding agreement for the exclusive partnership and supply for the commercialisation of Prestige BioPharma's Bevacizumab biosimilar in the Russian Federation.

Prestige's Bevacizumab (HD204) is a mAb biosimilar to Roche’s Avastin®, an inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is used in combination with other therapies to treat patients with multiple forms of cancer.

According to a statement, HD204 is currently in Phase III clinical development with active recruitment ongoing within the pivotal efficacy and safety trial SAMSON-II.

Positive results were previously reported from the Phase I clinical trial (SAMSON-I) which evaluated the pharmacokinetics, safety and immunogenicity of HD204 to Avastin®.

The partnership arrangement includes the exclusive rights for Pharmapark to commercialise the Bevacizumab biosimilar in the Russian Federation, leveraging the company’s strong sales and marketing capabilities and experience in successfully bringing new biosimilars to market.

Whilst the terms of the deal are not being disclosed, Prestige BioPharma will assume responsibility for product commercial supply out of its manufacturing facilities in Osong, Korea.

Meanwhile, Pharmapark will be responsible for local registration, sales and marketing in the Russian Federation, with the option to manufacture the product in the Federation in line with the Russian import substitution strategy.

This agreement expands upon the existing collaboration between Prestige BioPharma and Pharmapark LLC with the companies signing a licence agreement in July 2019 for Prestige BioPharma’s Herceptin® biosimilar.

More details at https://www.prestigebiopharma.com/

-- BERNAMA

Cloudflare-NVIDIA collaboration takes AI to global edge network

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 -- Cloudflare Inc, the security, performance and reliability company helping to build a better Internet, is partnering with NVIDIA to bring AI to the edge at scale.

Cloudflare is seamlessly solving for its security, performance and reliability needs while NVIDIA provides developers with a broad range of AI-powered application frameworks including Jarvis for natural language processing, Clara for healthcare and life sciences, and Morpheus for cybersecurity.

The combination of NVIDIA accelerated computing technology and Cloudflare’s edge network will create a massive platform on which developers can deploy applications that use pre-trained or custom machine learning models in seconds.

By leveraging the TensorFlow platform developers can use familiar tools to build and test machine learning models, and then deploy them globally onto Cloudflare’s edge network.

"Cloudflare Workers is one of the fastest and most widely adopted edge computing products with security built into its DNA," said Cloudflare co-founder and chief executive officer, Matthew Prince in a statement.

"Now, working with NVIDIA, we will be bringing developers powerful artificial intelligence tools to build the applications that will power the future."

Together, Cloudflare and NVIDIA, will put machine learning within milliseconds of the global online population enabling high performance, low latency AI to be deployed by anyone.

And, because the machine learning models themselves will remain in Cloudflare’s data centres, developers can deploy custom models without the risk of putting them on end user devices where they might risk being stolen.

-- BERNAMA

TigerGraph unveils 3-day Graph + AI Summit 2021 agenda beginning April 21

 KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 -- TigerGraph, provider of the leading graph analytics platform, has unveiled the complete agenda for Graph + AI Summit 2021, the industry’s only open conference devoted to democratising and accelerating analytics, AI and machine learning with graph algorithms.

The roster includes confirmed speakers from JPMorgan Chase, Intuit, NewDay, Jaguar Land Rover, Pinterest, Stanford University, Forrester Research, Accenture,Capgemini, KPMG, Intel, Dell, and Xilinx, as well as many innovative startups including John Snow Labs, Fintell, SaH Solutions and Sayari Labs.

The virtual conference, set for April 21 to 23, offers keynotes, speakers, real-world customer case studies and hands-on workshops for data, analytics and AI professionals.

“The combination of analytics, AI, machine learning and graph is a powerful one that offers many ‘human benefits’ — and forward-looking companies in all industries have taken note,” TigerGraph founder and chief executive officer, Dr Yu Xu said in a statement.

“Graph + AI Summit is again bringing together industry luminaries, technical experts and business leaders from the world’s largest banks, 􀂦ntechs, tech giants and manufacturers to share implementation best practices, lessons learned and more.”

The latest conference will host over 6,000 attendees this year and again focus on accelerating analytics, AI and machine learning with graph algorithms — timely technologies that are on the minds of today’s business leaders.

Keynote speakers presenting during conference general sessions include JPMorgan Chase executive director, Brad Spiers; Jaguar Land Rover data and analytics director, Harry Powell; Forrester Research vice president and principal analyst, Noel Yuhanna; and, NewDay head of fraud strategy, Danny Clark.

More details at https://www.tigergraph.com/graphaisummit/.

-- BERNAMA

EIG, ARAMCO INK US$12.4 BILLION INFRASTRUCTURE DEAL

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) -- EIG, a leading institutional investor to the global energy sector and one of the world’s leading infrastructure investors, has announced entering into a lease and lease-back agreement with Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco).

Under this agreement, a consortium of investors led by EIG will acquire a 49 per cent equity stake in Aramco Oil Pipelines Company (Aramco Oil Pipelines), a newly-formed entity with rights to a 25-year tariff payments for oil transported through Aramco’s stabilised crude oil pipeline network.

The transaction is valued at approximately US$12.4 billion with Aramco holding the remaining 51 per cent stake in the new entity, indicating a total equity value of Aramco Oil Pipelines of approximately US$25.3 billion. (US$1 = RM4.133)

The pipeline network, which includes all of Aramco’s existing and future stabilised crude pipelines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, connects oilfields to downstream networks.

According to a statement, the pipeline network transports 100 per cent of Aramco’s crude oil produced in the Kingdom under its Concession Agreement.

As part of the transaction, Aramco will lease the usage rights in its stabilised crude oil pipelines network to Aramco Oil Pipelines, and Aramco Oil Pipelines will grant back to Aramco the exclusive right to use, transport through, operate and maintain the pipeline network during the 25-year period in exchange for a quarterly, volume-based tariff, payable by Aramco.

The tariff will be backed by minimum volume commitments. Aramco will at all times retain title to, and operational control of, the pipeline network and will assume all operating and capital expense risk. 

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for EIG’s investors, and we are proud to partner with Aramco in this marquee global infrastructure asset,” said EIG Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, R. Blair Thomas, adding the transaction aligned perfectly with EIG’s philosophy of investing in high-quality assets with contracted cash flows in critical infrastructure.

More details at www.eigpartners.com.

-- BERNAMA

GUPSHUP RAISES $100 MILLION FROM TIGER GLOBAL TO ACCELERATE CONVERSATIONAL MESSAGING

 Following rapid, profitable growth, the investment values Gupshup at $1.4 billion, validating its leadership position in Conversational Messaging

SAN FRANCISCO, April 9 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Gupshup, the leader in conversational messaging, today announced it has raised $100 million in funding from Tiger Global Management, propelling the company’s valuation to $1.4 billion. This funding will be followed by a second close with significant additional funds raised from more investors, to be announced later. This latest round follows years of profitable growth, product innovation, and customer adoption that saw Gupshup emerge as the global leader in conversational messaging. Gupshup’s API enables over 100,000 developers and businesses to build messaging and conversational experiences delivering over 6 billion messages per month across 30+ messaging channels. Gupshup will use this investment to rapidly scale product and go-to-market initiatives worldwide in order to accelerate the transformation of business-to-consumer interactions with conversational experiences delivered over messaging channels.

“The growth in business use of messaging and conversational experiences, transforming virtually every customer touchpoint, is an exciting secular trend,” said John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global Management. He added, “Gupshup is uniquely positioned to win in this market with a differentiated product, a clear and sustainable moat, and an experienced team with a proven track record. In addition to its market leadership, Gupshup’s unique combination of scale, growth and profitability attracted us.”

Gupshup has long been the incumbent leader in business messaging in India. Most major brands in India across industries use Gupshup API for customer engagement across multiple channels, especially SMS. Over the last few years, business messaging has become more conversational as SMS messages include hyperlinks along with the rise of newer IP-based messaging channels, such as WhatsApp, RCS, and the Gupshup IP (GIP) messaging channel. Gupshup has been a pioneer and first-mover driving this industry transition to conversational messaging. Unlike the telco-based SMS ecosystem that is fragmented by country, IP messaging works exactly the same way globally thereby accelerating Gupshup’s global expansion. Gupshup’s technology, optimized for a mobile-first economy like India, is seeing great traction in emerging markets with similar dynamics. With a focus on automated, self-serve, developer-centric, partner-friendly APIs and solutions, Gupshup is making it easier and quicker for businesses, large and small, to leverage IP messaging and build conversational experiences for their customers. Gupshup offers a comprehensive suite of solutions including messaging APIs, bot platform, bot building tools, scripting engine, omni-channel inbox, conversational AI, client-side software and more.

The ubiquity of smartphones and dominance of messaging apps is forcing businesses to go where the consumers are: in their favorite messaging apps. Just like websites during the prior wave of technology-driven transformation, conversational experiences are enabling businesses to better engage, interact with and sell to their customers. Conversations are the new digital storefront for businesses – virtually every business will have to build it. This digital transformation has been further accelerated by the pandemic.

“Customers expect to converse with businesses the way they do with friends. They expect the conversation to be simple, easy, quick, contextual, and personalized,” explained Beerud Sheth, Gupshup Cofounder and CEO. “Gupshup’s mission is to build the tools that help businesses better engage customers through mobile messaging and conversational experiences. As we work towards our mission, we are delighted with this investment from Tiger Global, given its incredible track record of making big, bold, successful bets on innovative, category-defining companies worldwide.”

Gupshup’s last funding round was in 2011. Gupshup grew rapidly over the last few years, exiting 2020 with annual revenue run rate of approximately 150 million dollars.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39773

ESPORTS CENTER: A BRAND NEW ESPORTS EXPERIENCE WITH WANYOO

Shanghai, April 1 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since 1998, when Wanyoo started its very first internet café in Shanghai, China, it now owns more than 1,000 stores across China, America, UK, Australia, Singapore and Canada. In the past 23 years, Wanyoo devoted to make the offline internet entertainment space more enjoyable for game players around the world, so it evolved internet café to eSports center. Rather than simply provide internet services in a café, the idea of eSports center is to provide e-sports players a complex of video games, food and beverage, games related events and a social space. By the end of 2020, Wanyoo eSports centers have serviced more than 40 million players globally.

Through Wanyoo’s global partners and players, it continues to exert its international influence by actively cooperates with eSports teams, international and domestic tournaments and video game publishers. The two well-known esports teams IG and 4AM have been endorsing Wanyoo for years. Wanyoo also achieved partnership with PGI.S.2021. In 2019, Wanyoo Gaming Center became the exclusive partner of LOL NATIONAL NETBAR LEAGUE CHINA. Same year, Wanyoo held the first international Wanyoo eSports center league covered Wanyoo players from New York, London, Singapore. etc. Wanyoo and its stores also value local partnerships. In UK, Wanyoo sponsored the LOL tournament of CSSA UK 2019. In Canada, Wanyoo eSports center assisted local collage to establish esports team. 

In addition to where Wanyoo comes from, there are 12 Wanyoo eSports centers in America, Britain, Canada, Australia and Singapore. These stores endeavour to provide local game lovers the most enjoyable playing space. In the next 3 years, Wanyoo is going to develop its eSports center franchise business in Italy, Germany, Fence and Japan, and plans to run 50 stores outside of China in total.

For franchise information, please contact email: gaoyilan@wywk.cn or Facebook: @officialWanyoo.

http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39713

SYNCHRONOSS SELECTED FOR ALLSTATE PROTECTION PLANS CONSUMER DEVICE PROTECTION OFFERING

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- Synchronoss Technologies Inc, a global leader and innovator of cloud, messaging and digital solutions has announced that Allstate Protection Plans has selected the Synchronoss Personal Cloud solution for integration into select device protection plan offerings.

The addition of personal cloud will give global customers the ability to back up and manage their valuable digital assets – contacts, photos, videos, music, documents, messages and more – from any protected Android or iOS device.

Expressing delight the two organisations would work together, Synchronoss President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Miller said in a statement: “Mobile devices serve as repositories for our most personal data and important documents, and having the ability to safely and easily back up and secure this content is increasingly important to customers.”

 “We look forward to collaborating with Allstate Protection Plans to help it take advantage of all that the Synchronoss Personal Cloud solution can bring to the table, including the flexibility to quickly add other value-added services.”

In addition to automatically backing up content based on subscriber preference, the Synchronoss-powered personal cloud gives device protection plan customers several ways to easily organise and interact with their content.

This include flashbacks, highlights and instant slideshows that present content in compelling and engaging formats; and, photo editing and sharing features that allow users to enhance and share memories with friends and family.

Allstate Protection Plans are purchased by customers from a wide range of channels, including major retailers, global operators and directly from the company.

Synchronoss’ personal cloud solutions have been adopted by mobile operators and other companies globally to deliver a high level of value to their customers and drive new revenue.

More details at www.synchronoss.com.

-- BERNAMA