HP introduces Datacenter Care - Infrastructure Automation, supports infrastructure as code

HP is focusing on helping developers code "faster and smarter", so that enterprises can deliver services more quickly, says Albert Koh, Director & GM, Technology Services, Enterprise Group, HP Singapore.

"Enterprises in every industry are under significant pressure to deliver on-demand digital products and services to remain competitive. According to IDC, in 2020 enterprises will deploy 120 releases per year per application, up from four releases per year per application in 2010¹. By automating, high-performing organisations can deploy code 30 times more frequently with 50% fewer failures²," he said, quoting benefits for DevOps, a method to accelerate application development. 

"Infrastructure as code is a way to simplify the development process by reducing developers’ dependence on infrastructure teams to provide the environments they need," he said. 

The 'infrastructure as code' concept is not entirely new, and basically refers to automating configurations for hardware so that they no longer have to be manually configured. The concept goes slightly further by integrating the automated configurations into software so that, literally, the infrastructure is taken care of in the code. HP says that the 'infrastructure as code' approach allows companies to:

· Deploy apps reliably and often, on demand
· Quickly patch software for security
· Easily track changes and remediate configuration issues
· Audit and document in a central location
· Integrate policy compliance checks into the deployment processes

HP's Datacenter Care - Infrastructure Automation (DC-IA) platform, which features open source tools like Chef, is one way to create 'infrastructure as code'. 

"Chef’s IT automation platform turns infrastructure into code so data centre management is versionable, repeatable and significantly less costly. By automating both compute resources and applications, developers and operations can collaborate efficiently to rapidly deliver high-quality software and services," Koh said.

Koh added that the HP DC-IA global Center of Excellence (CoE) provides guidance and best practices for infrastructure as code and agile processes, along with support for tools that automate how customers build, deploy, and manage infrastructure.

"HP DC-IA stands out because it is strategically paired with HP’s Datacenter Care. This means customers are getting holistic support that has demonstrated 20% improvement in time-to-market² and reduced downtime in the data centre by 30% or more³. It has also enabled leaders to improve and create new levels of agility and reliability with 8,000x faster lead time than their peers⁴," he said.

Koh shared that DreamWorks Animation recently deployed HP Datacenter Care - Infrastructure Automation. "As DreamWorks Animation continuously pushes the boundaries of digital animation, they required a much faster and more reliable way to deliver applications and IT services. HP’s advice, support and tools will help DreamWorks Animation move towards a new agile model that will enable IT with a greater capacity to innovate," he said.

1 IDC research for HP, 2012
2 Computer Associates: TechInsights Report: What Smart Businesses Know About DevOps, quoted by Chef, 2014
3 http://www.techvalidate.com/product-research/hp-datacenter-care-services/facts/5CF-BCA-104
4 2014 State of DevOps report Puppet Labs 2014

Gentay Communications wins smartphone apps award for nanu

A Singapore-based startup has won the Gold Award in the Advertising and Marketing category for nanu, its free call app, at the Asia Smartphone Apps Contest in Hong Kong.

The contest, organised by the Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association (WTIA) is in its second year and aims to recognise the excellence of innovative smartphone apps while providing a platform for top smartphone apps professionals in the region to meet, share, collaborate and learn from each other.

Gentay Communications developed proprietary technology that allows it to overlay voice adverts over the ringtone when a nanu user makes calls using the app. This offers advertisers a unique opportunity for one-to-one targeted campaigns based on users’ demographics.

The advertisements end as soon as the receiver picks up the call. The click through rates of the banners on initial campaigns run on nanu have been six to seven times higher than industry standards.

“There are not many platforms where you have the undivided attention of the consumer. A phone is as close as you can get to the consumers’ ears. They are likely to pay more attention to an ad being played over the ring tone as they wait for their call to be answered, compared to other traditional intrusive mediums,” said Martin Nygate, CEO of Gentay Communications, the firm behind nanu.

“The results are a testament to this. The click-through rates on our campaigns have been much higher than industry standards. This is a major breakthrough in mobile advertising, an area most companies have so far struggled with. This award is a recognition of our achievements on this front,” he added.

The Asia Smartphone Apps Contest brings together over 100 apps, designed for and used in Asian markets, to recognise the contribution of key players in the sector.

The ability to overlay adverts helps nanu to bring down the cost of its calls. Unlike conventional voice calling apps, nanu provides all its calls for free, including calls to non-nanu users on landlines and mobiles. Nanu can also be used on any network including 2G, allowing it to provide high quality calls from locations where other apps do not work.

The ability to operate on 2G networks has already helped Nanu win over customers in emerging markets like India. With more than 1.5 million downloads, India has become nanu’s biggest market, accounting for more than 50% of its user base.

Source: Gentay Communications. CY Leung, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, presented the award to Nygate.

Interested?

Download the app

VMware makes mobility focus clear with related announcements

VMware, a cloud infrastructure and business mobility provider, has outlined its vision for the future of business mobility with new solutions, services and partnerships to enable organisations to transform business processes. In a mid-June announcement the company said it aims to free businesses from more than a decade of client-server focused IT – which enabled mobile access to a limited number of productivity applications – to deliver a more user- and application-centric experience for the enterprise.

“Business mobility is more than a shift in technology; it is an opportunity for true business process transformation,” said Sanjay Poonen, Executive VP and GM, End-User Computing, VMware, at the time. “Business mobility will be a key driver of economic value for the next decade – truly reorienting businesses around mobile innovation, apps and services. As a result, the adage ‘adapt or perish’ has never been truer than it is today.”

With IT unable to exert much control over an employee’s choice of endpoints and operating systems (Editor's note: an endpoint could be a computer, smartphone, tablet etc), the need to manage employee identity becomes crucial to enabling business mobility, VMware said.

Ultimately, employees should enjoy a unified experience across all of their devices, while being able to access all of their applications, content and services. Businesses and departments on the other hand, should be able to do more than enhance individual productivity. At the organisational level, security, management and networking have to be integrated.

A February 2015 report by Forrester Research* elaborates: "If you limit the view of enterprise mobility to bring your own devices (BYOD) or apps, you're missing out on the bigger opportunity of enabling the people in your workforce to make the most of their mobile moments. Enhance interactions with customers and colleagues to help employees take direct action and get things done wherever they are.”

Newly-launched VMware Identity Manager delivers an identity-as-a-service (IDaaS) offering integrated with a mobility management and security solution. VMware Identity Manager enables enterprise identity management that meets consumer-grade expectations with secure, one-touch access to Web, mobile and Windows applications. Offered as a cloud service or as an on-premises solution, VMware Identity Manager enables organisations to empower employees with a self-service application store. IT gains a central place to manage end-user provisioning, access and compliance, with enterprise-class directory integration, identity federation and user analytics.

VMware Identity Manager will also be used by other VMware solutions and services – from VMware vCloud Air to VMware vRealize Air – to provide seamless single sign-on for administrators to easily work across various management interfaces.

VMware also announced that it is furthering its commitment to Apple and the iOS platform with the development of application configuration templates and vertical solutions, in industries like healthcare, airlines, education and others. This will provide users a “single-touch” configured solution, for a wide variety of apps, and facilitate faster on-boarding of mobile devices in the enterprise. The company is already supporting Apple iOS and devices through its VMware Horizon and AirWatch by VMware product portfolios.

VMware has also announced that 15 new partners have committed to standardising public applications and development in the enterprise with ACE (App Configuration for Enterprise). ACE is the open standard approach for managing and securing apps deployed via enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions. Once an application developer implements ACE standards, users simply download the public-facing application and corporate resources are automatically configured, allowing users to instantly and securely use the application.

Launched earlier this year by AirWatch, Box, Cisco, Salesforce, Workday and Xamarin, the new ACE members are bigtincan, Deputy, DocuSign, Dropbox, Everbridge, Imprivata, Kony, Lua, MicroStrategy, OnBase by Hyland, ScrollMotion, ServiceMax, Showpad, Syncplicity by EMC and Webalo.

“It’s critical that enterprises empower employees with intuitive, powerful cloud services, while ensuring that the organisation’s most important information is secure. At Box, we’re incredibly focused on protecting customer content, and we’re excited to continue our collaboration with VMware to deliver business mobility solutions to our joint customers,” said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box.

“Deploying the right mobile apps with up-to-the-minute information to users through technology from VMware has enabled our employees to better serve our customers. The power of business mobility is poised to impact all industries and fundamentally redefine how employees do their jobs,” said Paul Donoghue, Director of enterprise mobile solutions at Stryker, a medical equipment and services firm with operations in Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Interested?

Watch an associated video
View the latest VMware Business Mobility vertical story 

*Create A Habitat of Technology Engagement and Enablement for Your Workforce, February 2015, Forrester Research.

Avaya named Gartner Leader for Contact centre infrastructure for 15th year

Avaya announced that it is the only vendor to be consistently positioned as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure (CCI) for 15 years, a position held since the report’s inception in 2001.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant report evaluates contact centre vendors on their completeness of vision and ability to execute. The annual Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure covers vendors that provide equipment, software and services to operate contact centres used for customer, employee and service support, including outbound telemarketing, helpdesks and other structured communications operations.

The 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide* states that contact centres “require a wide range of functions, architectures, features and services to be effective. Three major architectural approaches that are common in the market are integrated best-of-breed components, all-in-one bundled suites and cloud-based solutions.”

In addition, contact centre managers increasingly “prefer to purchase much, or all, of their CCI from a single source as a bundle in the pursuit of easier and enduring integration, cradle-to-grave integrated reporting and analytics, and easier system management. Therefore, leading CCI vendors offering complete portfolios of solutions, comprising their own products and those of partners and other strategic suppliers, are being favored. Further, the emerging contact centre-as-a-service (CCaaS) model — involving hosted, multitenant systems — is gaining attention as cloud approaches increase.”

Avaya allows midsize to very large companies to choose their architectural approach to implementing customer engagement solutions as appropriate. Companies can select a complete, bundled solution or take a best of breed approach, with both available in premises-based or public, private or hybrid cloud-based service model.

“As companies increasingly transform to more digital enterprises, customer engagement requires tight linkages between the areas directly responsible for the customer experience and the rest of the business. Customers want the flexibility to connect using whatever mode or medium is best for them at any given time, but they want the experience to be complete, efficient and consistent even as they change the manner of contact. Avaya Engagement Solutions for both customer and team engagement can make that happen through a variety of deployment models that deliver unparalleled TCO in contact centre technology," said Gary Barnett, SVP and General Manager, Engagement Solutions, Avaya.

*Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Contact Center Infrastructure, Worldwide Published: 18 May 2015

posted from Bloggeroid

Rally adds capacity planning and release tracking up SaaS platform

Rally, a provider of software and services that drive agility, has added new capabilities to its enterprise-class SaaS platform.

"As more companies become increasingly software-driven, it's imperative that they connect their software delivery practices to their business operations with enterprise scale Agile," said Tim Miller, Chairman and CEO, Rally.

The new features include:

Capacity planning
Create realistic, high-level plans in support of business initiatives. The visualisation of both demand and supply in a single view strengthens collaboration between business and technology. A "sandbox" for portfolio, product, and engineering leaders helps them develop what-if scenarios that
optimise business value with team capacity.

By moving capacity planning out of spreadsheets and closer to where the work is tracked, users can more confidently build what matters most to the business, improve predictability, and deliver value faster.

Capacity planning is in limited open beta.

Release tracking
Release tracking provides full transparency into the work's progress, risks, and dependencies, at a level of granularity consumable by business and technology leaders, and in real-time. This feature lets business and technology leaders see where they need to cut scope, move work, and steer the plan to meet business goals on predictably.

Release tracking is in open beta for all Rally Portfolio Manager customers.

"The Elekta management team and I were early believers in Agile and saw
opportunities for increased quality and predictability early on," says
Todd Powell, Executive Vice President for Elekta Software, a medical systems provider with eight offices in Asia Pacific.

"With Rally's capacity planning capability, an unexpected by-product is that we're producing a great deal of data about our work. We can quantify not only the work we're doing, but also the size of the problems we can address. Coupled with a data-driven answer about what our real capacity is at any given time - and what the real demand is - we are better able to predict for other areas of the business, such as marketing and sales, in terms of deliverability and timeframes. This has a tremendous impact on our teams."

The updates are available to Rally Unlimited Edition customers at no additional cost.

Interested?

Request a free trial

posted from Bloggeroid

Qlik partners Inverted Edge and Deloitte Digital to create in-store digital shopping experience

Qlik, a visual analytics provider, has collaborated with Inverted Edge, a Singapore-based online retailer, and Deloitte Digital, a design and development agency, to launch what it says is Singapore’s first in-store digital shopping experience.

Source: Inverted Edge website.

The in-store solution at Scotts Square mall features a showcase of photos and stories from customers, shared on social media, about the clothes they wear and their related stories. Debra Langley, Chief Executive Officer at Inverted Edge explains: “As a garment is worn as part of a lifestyle, it takes on a life and emotional quotient all of its own, developing a story between the wearer and the items purchased. We want to develop something that captures these relationships, and from a business standpoint, understand what fuels our shopper’s purchasing decisions.”

Built on Qlik Sense and HTML5 mashups, Inverted Edge’s in-store digital solution taps visualisation and storytelling features as well as standard APIs to deliver an interactive and personalised digital experience for customers. The design scales from large in-store touchscreen displays to personal devices such as phones and tablets.

The framework allows Inverted Edge to manage and study purchasing data to identify key factors that drive customers’ decisions to purchase high quality items that are designed to be worn for more than a couple of seasons. This enables the company to discover what it is their customers are looking out for, and tailor their services to customer needs.

“Truly innovative experiences emerge not only from new technologies, but from a radically new understanding of business. Inverted Edge is planning something quite unique in its use of digital technology,” said Donald Farmer, Qlik’s US-based Vice President of Innovation and Design.

Deep Web is a hive of criminal activity, Trend Micro finds

Source: Trend Micro website.

Approximately 400 times larger than the visible Web, the Deep Web is also home to many of the Internet’s illicit activities such as identity theft, doxing, firearm trading and employing contract killers. 

These are some of the findings from Trend Micro, which has released a paper, Below the Surface: Exploring the Deep Web, explaining the criminal activity that takes place in the Deep Web.

Key findings include:

· Light drugs were the most-exchanged goods. This was followed by pharmaceutical products, hard drugs, pirated games and online accounts.

· Over 8,700 suspicious pages were identified in the Deep Web, including those that host phishing kits, malware or drive-by downloads, or those that run shady marketplaces (used to trade hacking tools, etc.).

o Child exploitation ranked 3rd at 26.07% out of the “suspicious” pages category, with proxy avoidance (31.69%) (URLs that provide VPN access or ways to avoid corporate firewalls) coming in second, and disease vectors coming in first at 33.74%.

· Bitcoin is frequently used when purchasing illegal goods and services due to its anonymous transactions. Bitcoin-laundering services have surfaced to help increase the anonymity of moving money throughout the Bitcoin system. The process involves “mixing” Bitcoins—transferring them through a network of microtransactions before returning them. In the process, the user ends up with the same amount of money (normally, minus a small handling fee) but a transaction trail that is substantially harder to track.

· Leaked details of government, law enforcement, and celebrities: Attackers and sometimes even insiders, often dox (the act of researching and broadcasting an individual’s personally identifiable information such as dates of birth, social security numbers, personal email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, and more) of companies, celebrities, and other public figures.

· Assassination services for hire can also be found in the Deep Web, with prices varying based on the preferred manner of death or injury and the target’s status.

Interested?

View Trend Micro’s blog post on the Deep Web

View the report here

Telkomsel is Frost & Sullivan's 2015 Asia Pacific Mobile Service Provider of the Year

Frost & Sullivan has honoured Telkomsel with the 2015 Asia Pacific Mobile Service Provider of the Year award.

According to Avinash Sachdeva, Senior Industry Analyst, ICT, Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific, Telkomsel is one of the largest mobile service providers in the Asia Pacific region in terms of subscribers.

"Through Telkomsel's 2.0 growth programme, the company has effectively used its SMARTies strategy and garnered more subscribers, increased service revenues, improved blended average revenue per user (ARPU) and enhanced profitability," he said.

Sachdeva said that as a result of the strong execution, the company not only grew its traditional voice and SMS business revenues but also saw significant growth in its digital business revenues as well, supported by the strong uptake of smartphones.

He also said that Telkomsel saw strong growth in their operating profit and net income while maintaining the profit margins as it was successful in managing the expenses through cost leadership initiatives and leveraged economies of scale.

Sachdeva noted that in Indonesia, a country of 253 million people with 134% mobile penetration, Telkomsel is the leading mobile service provider. With its 140.6 million mobile subscribers, it has captured almost 42% of the total mobile subscriber market share.

"The award symbolises the hard work, commitment and dedication of all our employees," said Ririek Adriansyah, President Director of Telkomsel.

Adriansyah said that despite the current more challenging environment in the digital era, the foundation that the company has laid in its transformation journey has enabled Telkomsel to be more resilient and better equipped to overcome the challenges faced.

"We will continue to upgrade our networks, invest in the latest technology as what we did by being the first that commercially launched mobile 4G LTE in Indonesia and provide high quality services to all of our customers," he added.

The Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards recognise companies and individuals that have demonstrated best practices in their industry, commending the diligence, commitment, and innovative business strategies required to advance in the global marketplace.

Award recipients are evaluated based on their revenue growth, market share gains, leadership in new product introduction and innovation, breadth of products and solutions, major customer acquisition, and business and market strategy.

The results are then presented to an independent panel of judges, comprising of influential personalities, decision-makers and thought leaders from the ICT sector across Asia Pacific.

posted from Bloggeroid

This app recognises your hand movements

Source: Crunchfish.

Clicks and swipes are passe with Crunchfish's MOMAX cam, a touchless camera app designed for selfie sticks developed in cooperation with MOMAX.

MOMAX cam is designed for photo capturing using gestures, touch and Bluetooth. Photos can be captured with a V-sign gesture, while the timer is controlled with a touchless grab gesture from a distance of up to 3m.

Global mobile entertainment market sees more women, children take on gaming

Technavio has published a new report on the global mobile entertainment market, which it defines as including mobile games, mobile music, and mobile TV.

The company notes that the rapid growth of the global mobile games market can be attributed to the increased use of smartphones and tablets for gaming and entertainment. “We estimate that more than 60% of users play games on their mobile devices, and nearly 65% of the money invested on smartphones and tablets is for games,” says Faisal Ghaus, Vice President of Technavio.

“The increased number of women and children playing games has changed the focus of vendors from traditional sales to the sales of virtual goods, subscription-based games, ad-based games, and games as a service.”

The company says is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 18% from 2015 to 2019, naming Activision Blizzard, Apple,  Electronic Arts, freenet digital, Google, QuickPlay Media, Rovio International and Spotify as key vendors. Privacy and security concerns are potential challenges, however.

Interested?

View more details about the report.

NASA, Microsoft testing HoloLens for International Space Station

NASA and Microsoft are developing Sidekick, a project using Microsoft HoloLens to empower astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Sidekick uses Microsoft HoloLens to provide virtual aid to astronauts. A pair of the devices is scheduled to launch on SpaceX's seventh commercial resupply mission to the station on June 28.

"HoloLens and other virtual and mixed reality devices are cutting edge technologies that could help drive future exploration and provide new capabilities to the men and women conducting critical science on the International Space Station," said Sam Scimemi, Director of the ISS programme at NASA Headquarters in the US. "This new technology could also empower future explorers requiring greater autonomy on the journey to Mars."

Sidekick aims to enable station crews with assistance when and where they need it. This new capability could reduce crew training requirements and increase the efficiency at which astronauts can work in space.

"Microsoft HoloLens is about transforming the ways you create, connect, and explore," said Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow, Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft. "Sidekick is a prime example of an application for which we envisioned HoloLens being used - unlocking new potential for astronauts and giving us all a new perspective on what is possible with holographic computing."

NASA and Microsoft engineers tested Project Sidekick and the Microsoft HoloLens aboard NASA's Weightless Wonder C9 jet to ensure they function as expected in free-fall in advance of their delivery to the microgravity environment of the space station.

Sidekick has two modes of operation. The first is "Remote Expert Mode," which uses Skype, part of Microsoft, to allow a ground operator to see what a crew member sees, provide real-time guidance, and draw annotations into the crew member's environment to coach him or her through a task. Until now, crew members have relied on written and voice instructions when performing complex repair tasks or experiments.

The second mode is "Procedure Mode," which augments standalone procedures with animated holographic illustrations displayed on top of the objects with which the crew is interacting. This capability could lessen the amount of training that future crews will require and could be an invaluable resource for missions deep into our solar system, where communication delays complicate difficult operations.

After the devices arrive at the space station, crew members will test and verify the software and hardware functionality in a standalone mode. A second set of devices to be delivered on a future mission will test and verify Sidekick functionality with network connectivity to test the Remote Expert Mode. NASA expects astronauts on the station will begin to use Sidekick by the end of the year.

Sidekick also will be evaluated during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20 expedition set to begin July 21 when a group of astronauts and engineers live in the world's only undersea research station, Aquarius, for two weeks. The Aquarius habitat and its surroundings provide a convincing analog for space exploration.

The Sidekick project is part of a larger partnership formed by NASA and Microsoft to explore applications of holographic computing in space exploration. Earlier this year, NASA and Microsoft announced a collaboration to develop software called OnSight, a new technology that will enable scientists to work virtually on Mars using the same HoloLens technology. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, the US, led the development of Sidekick and OnSight. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the US led testing and certification of Sidekick for use onboard the space station.

"Our team is excited to be building virtual and mixed reality tools that will make our explorers more efficient and effective," said Jeff Norris, Project Lead for Sidekick and OnSight at JPL.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that enables us to demonstrate new technologies and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It has been continuously occupied since November 2000 and, since then, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station is the springboard to NASA's next leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and to Mars.

IT Learning Solution introduces TechXact data centre training courses in Singapore

Data centre training courses accredited by the International Data Center Authority (IDCA)* are now available across Asia Pacific through an IT Learning Solution (ITLS) partnership with TechXact.

According to ITLS, IT personnel may be given data centre responsibilities for which they have never been formally trained. They are expected to deal with power, cooling, and other data centre facilities-related matters, for example. The courses cover causes of data centre downtime, standards, building, construction, power, cooling, fire, electromagnetic fields (EMF), and lighting all the way to design, scalability, security, safety, labelling, documentation, service level agreements (SLAs), and operational level agreements (OLAs).

ITLS also offers training for Cisco, NetApp, IBM and HP certifications, among others.

*The IDCA's core mission is to aid in standardising the approach, selection, design, feasibility, operation, and various processes and methodologies of data centres. IDCA certification does not seem to be a popular requirement for data centre related jobs in Singapore - check with current or prospective employers before going for IDCA courses.

posted from Bloggeroid

Regional counterfeit software ring traced back to Singapore

A fake COA featuring the product name printed on the label with no anti-copy security features.

Microsoft has revealed that the case of a reseller in Australia caught for possessing counterfeit Certificates of Authenticity (COAs) and other counterfeit software and components has been traced back to a supplier in Singapore. 

COAs are stickers or labels that are usually attached to the retail packaging of products such as Windows, Office or Windows Server to certify the software’s authenticity. While COAs have no commercial value and cannot be sold independently, they give the impression that the pirated software is licensed and legitimate when it is not.

A genuine COA features the product name printed on the label and also contains anti-copy security features such as: an interwoven security thread – this is built into the paper and random paper fibres are visible when the thread appears at the surface – and colour shifting ink, which changes from green to magenta when viewed from different angles. 

Earlier this month, the Intellectual Property Rights Branch (IPRB) of the Singapore Police Force raided the reseller’s retail premises at Sim Lim Square, where over 1,000 pieces of counterfeit Windows 8.1 COAs and another 1,000 counterfeit software and counterfeit components, worth an estimated S$167,000, were seized. This marked the largest counterfeit COA seizure in Southeast Asia to date, and the biggest cross-border counterfeit COA case involving Singapore.

Detailed investigations over the past few months has yielded evidence that the reseller has been distributing large quantities of counterfeit COAs to new and refurbished computer resellers located in Singapore and overseas. These resellers would then mislead consumers into believing that the pirated software installed in their devices are genuine. 

In this case, Microsoft was alerted by its team in Australia who had been investigating the case of a reseller selling over 500 pieces of fake COAs. The team subsequently traced this back to the the perpetuator in Sim Lim Square in Singapore.

Following the raid, Microsoft has issued an advisory to remind consumers and small businesses to be wary of hugely-discounted software offered by resellers, and to purchase software only from authorised retailers to avoid the unintentional purchase and use of counterfeit software. This advisory is also especially timely for consumers as Windows 10 will be available as a free consumer upgrade to qualified new and existing devices running genuine Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1.

Genuine software typically carry COAs featuring the product name printed on the label and containing anti-copy security features such as interwoven security thread and colour-shifting ink edge. 


"COAs deploy numerous security features that are usually hard to replicate but if the consumer does not pay attention, they may not realise what they had purchased is counterfeit and would have paid good money for fake software. As such, consumers must be extra vigilant when making their computer purchases. We strongly encourage consumers to make their purchases from a reputable computer dealer and insist on only genuine software in order to avoid any potential issues in the future,” said Jonathan Selvasegaram, Corporate Attorney, Digital Crimes Unit, Microsoft Asia.

“Software piracy has evolved and we are now seeing cross-border cases such as this where the fake COAs were found in Australia before tracing it back to the source in Singapore. While the motivation factor for purchasing counterfeit software in emerging markets boils down to cost, the situation in developed markets such as Singapore are different as we are seeing consumers being duped in believing that the software they are purchasing are genuine. Software piracy remains a major concern for everyone, because of the damage it could cause for unsuspecting users. Such software could expose computers to spyware, malware and viruses that can lead to identity theft, loss of personal data, and unexpected system failures. The risk is also very real for businesses as operational disruptions caused by malware and viruses could potentially lead to heavy financial losses for them.” 

According to data collated by the Microsoft Cybercrime Satellite Centre in Singapore, which serves as the Asia Pacific hub for Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit to undertake cybercrime and cybersecurity initiatives in the region, more than 4.1 million malware pings have already been detected from 8,400 Singapore IP addresses in this week alone. These pings indicate attempts by malicious botnets installed in these computers to contact the cybercriminals that are controlling them, presenting imminent threats to consumers and businesses located here. 

Additional analysis of the data revealed that the current top threat in Singapore and Southeast Asia is posed by the Bladabindi/Jenxcus (B106) botnet – a malware family that has the ability to steal sensitive information from users. If the malware is not being actively disrupted, unsuspecting consumers and businesses could face the potential loss of important information that might fall into the hands of malicious cybercriminals.

Separately, a joint study conducted by International Data Corporation (IDC) and the National University of Singapore (NUS), titled 
The Link Between Pirated Software and Cybersecurity Breaches, released in March last year, found that enterprises in Asia Pacific (APAC) are expected to spend nearly US$230 billion to deal with issues caused by malware deliberately loaded onto pirated software. The majority of the cost (US$170 billion) will go into dealing with data breaches, while the remainder will be utilised to deal with security issues. In addition, the study revealed that 65% of APAC consumers survey said their greatest fear from infected software is the loss of data, files or personal information, followed by unauthorised Internet transactions (48%) and potential identity theft (47%).

”The majority of businesses in the Asia-Pacific region do not have a full understanding about the security and malware risks that counterfeit and unlicensed software brings, and that needs to change with urgency. According to our BSA Global Software Survey conducted last year, a striking 62% of software installed on computers in this region in 2013 were not properly licensed – this represents a 2% increase over the same figure in 2011. While Singapore has one of the lowest rates of unlicensed software use in the Asia-Pacific region, it is still important for both consumers and businesses to be vigilant in face of the rising security threats and increasing sophistication of cybercrime across the world,” said Tarun Sawney, Senior Director – Asia-Pacific, BSA | The Software Alliance.

Singapore has one of the most stringent copyright laws where offenders, if found guilty in the court of law for the manufacture for sale, sale of infringing copies and possession or importation of infringing copies, are liable to a fine not exceeding S$10,000 for each infringing copy, up to a total of S$100,000 per charge, or imprisonment for up to five years. Offenders may also be liable to both a fine and imprisonment if found guilty.

Interested?

Verify the origin of Microsoft products at the Microsoft website.

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post about a Microsoft raid in 2014.

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post on IDC-NUS study about the cost of malware in pirated software.

Digi takes expanded LTE to Penang

Digi launches 4G LTE in Penang, bringing quality, high-speed internet to more Malaysians. Pictured are Digi’s Chief Network Officer Kesavan Sivabalan, Siew Chee Kong, Digi’s Head of Northern Region, Ismail Othman, Regional Head of SKMM Northern, Albern Murty, Digi’s Chief Executive Officer, and YB Chow Kon Yeow, Penang State Executive Councillor for Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation.

Digi Telecommunications (Digi) has introduced expanded LTE services in Penang, enabling more Malaysians in the north of the peninsula to enjoy the benefits of consistent, high-speed Internet connectivity. The launch reflects Digi's continued commitment to growing its LTE footprint nationwide as the fastest growing network in the country.

Officiating the launch, YB Chow Kon Yeow, Penang State Executive Councillor for Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation said the state government appreciates Digi’s commitment to provide affordable access to high quality telecommunications services in the state, including the latest LTE services.

“We welcome Digi's efforts to bring fast, reliable mobile Internet services to Penangites, and opening up new ways for them to benefit from greater access to knowledge, information and economic prospects. In Penang, Internet on-the-go benefits not only residents but also tourists who will enjoy having consistent, high-speed Internet connectivity to help them navigate our historic streets and learn about Penang with the variety of mobile apps available. The introduction of LTE services like these support our ambitions for greater digital inclusion within the state, and drive the development of a progressive, digitally savvy Penang,” Chow said.

Albern Murty, Digi's Chief Executive Officer said, "As the fastest growing LTE network in the country, we will not decrease our momentum in enabling mobile internet connectivity for every Malaysian. Our focus is to ensure every customer, regardless of Internet experience, will have access to quality, relevant and affordable Internet services. We are offering 4G LTE services via a wide range of affordable smartphone bundles to fit different usage patterns."

Digi's Chief Network Officer Kesavan Sivabalan added that Digi’s aggressive LTE rollout places deep emphasis on both expanded coverage and improving network quality to provide all Malaysians with the best Internet experience.

In Penang, Digi has a 3G footprint of 99% and LTE population coverage of 66% with plans to expand to more areas in Perak, Perlis and Kedah. Digi's LTE services are currently also available in the Klang Valley, Johor Bahru, Kuantan, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Labuan, Kuching, Miri, Bintulu, Langkawi, Kampar and Port Dickson.

posted from Bloggeroid

Infosys announces Finacle customer win with Sharjah Islamic Bank

Infosys, a consulting, technology and outsourcing provider, has announced that Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) in the UAE has selected its Finacle e-banking and mobile banking solutions to enhance customer service and deliver new channel banking experiences. 

SIB selected Finacle for its product flexibility, ability to offer a unified platform to serve all customer segments, and for its extensive experience in the Middle East. With Finacle, SIB will be able to offer its customers a wide range of features for secure account management and aggregation, fund transfer, payment, and financial management.

Jassem Al Baloushi, Head, Retail Banking, SIB said, "Sharjah Islamic Bank is committed to providing the highest level of customer satisfaction. We have undertaken a major transformation programme across functions to deliver new-age banking solutions to our customers. We have selected Infosys Finacle's digital banking solutions to overhaul our channel capabilities. This will help us deliver a superior online and mobile banking experience to our customers."

Michael Reh, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Finacle, Infosys added: "As Islamic banking matures, ensuring superior customer experience and omni-channel access will be critical for growth. Infosys Finacle's digital-channel functionality will put in place a robust platform at Sharjah Islamic Bank that will enable a world-class banking experience for customers."

Need context?

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about the Infosys-Microsoft alliance on Finacle.

Telstra recognised thrice at Frost & Sullivan APAC ICT awards

Telstra has won three awards at the 2015 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards, bagging the Asia Pacific Telco Cloud Service Provider of the Year, Asia Pacific Fixed Broadband Service Provider of The Year and Asia Pacific Managed Service Provider of the Year awards.

Mayank Kapoor, Research Manager, ICT - Data Centre & Cloud Computing, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said that Telstra's focus on developing a multi-cloud platform and orchestration capability was central to its success in the region as most enterprises today are in the process of implementing a hybrid IT environment.

"Telstra's ability to support hybrid IT was further enhanced through a series of partnerships with market leaders such as Cisco, VMware and IBM that supplement its existing services portfolio. The company's continuing focus on delivering mature and flexible cloud and network services at scale across the Asia-Pacific region position it as a 'Champion' in the Asia-Pacific telco cloud services market," he added.

Avinash Sachdeva, Senior Industry Analyst, ICT Telecoms, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan said that Telstra is Australia's leading fixed-broadband service provider with more than 46% subscriber market share.

He noted that in 2014, Telstra enhanced the overall value it offered to its customers and increased its fixed-broadband market share, service revenues, and customer net promoter scores.

"To cater the increasing customer expectations related to speed, coverage, and need for more household family connections, it upgraded its network infrastructure to improve line speeds and introduced market leading Wi-Fi technology in home. It also upgraded and simplified its broadband packages to include competitively priced Foxtel IP TV services, generous data quotas, and lower call tariffs," said Sachdeva.

He added that in November 2014, Telstra offered free public trial to over 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, as part of its strategy to build Australia's largest Wi-Fi network with more than 2 million sites nationally, over the next five years. "Once ready, Telstra's broadband customers will gain exclusive access to this new network that will enable them to take their home broadband allowance away from their homes," Sachdeva said.

Sandeep Bazaz, Industry Analyst, ICT, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan added that Telstra has demonstrated exemplary performance in the managed services market by putting together a compelling end-to-end value proposition.

Telstra focused on three key areas in 2014: establishing a strong unified communications and collaboration portfolio; enhancing its infrastructure hosting capabilities across more regions and making significant investments in the intelligent network.

"To enhance its network capability offering, Telstra acquired Bridgepoint, O2 and Pacnet in 2014. The Pacnet acquisition was especially noteworthy. While it provided Telstra with access to a large undersea cable capacity and a network of data centrer in the region, it also allows them access to an industry leading software-defined network (SDN)-enabled Pacnet Enabled Network," he said.

Stuart Bird, Telstra's Director Fixed Broadband and Bundled Products and Services said, "The win is an acknowledgement that we're listening and acting on what our customers tell us is important to them. In particular, for our fixed broadband customers, this has meant offering better connectivity in and out of the home or office, creating simpler offers, providing the best choice of entertainment, and being on hand 24x7 with professional support options to help people get the most out of their technology."

posted from Bloggeroid

Mirror based display technology produces readable displays in natural light

Source: Qualcomm. Single Mirror Interferometric Modulation (SM IMOD or SMI) Mirasol displays (1.6” diagonal, 343 ppi) illuminated only by average office (fluorescent) ambient light. The content shown is refreshed at 60Hz. The frame rate is variable, between 1 and 120 Hz.

Using a structure comprising a mirror and an absorbent layer to take advantage of the wave properties of light, researchers at Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, have developed a display technology that harnesses ambient light to produce an unprecedented range of colours and superior viewing experience. An article* describing their innovative approach has been published in The Optical Society’s journal Optica.

This display technology, which could greatly reduce the amount of power used in multiple consumer electronics products, is the latest version of an established commercial product known as Qualcomm Mirasol. Based on a new colour rendering format that the researchers call Continuous Color, the new design helps solve many key problems affecting mobile displays such as how to provide an always-on display function without requiring more frequent battery charging and a high quality viewing experience anywhere, especially in bright outdoor environments.

The innovation was made possible by using a combination of a mirror with a thin absorbing layer separated by a precise and controllable gap. While the mirror by itself would simply reflect all of the incident light energy, the absorbing layer selectively filters out a narrow slice of the spectrum, colouring the reflected light. The gap is controlled to produce nearly every conceivable colour, not just the red, green, and blue (RGB) of earlier display technologies.

“We have developed an entirely new way of creating a colour display,” said John Hong, Researcher, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies and lead author on the Optica paper. “The incredibly efficient display is able to create a rich palette of colors using only ambient light for viewing, much like the way we would read and view printed material.

“We ultimately hope to create a paper-like viewing experience, which is probably the best display experience that one can expect, with only the light behind you shining on the page.”

Typical colour displays are power-hungry. Since even the most energy-efficient models require some form of backlighting, they can quickly deplete a power supply. To save on power and extend the life of these devices, engineers have been exploring ways to replace emissive technologies with displays that can reflect ambient light.

Earlier attempts to create reflective light colour displays presented problems. The designs required using three separate pixels to produce the red, green and blue of a traditional display. Though adequate for certain applications, the fact that only one-third of the incoming light can be reflected back toward the viewer in a typical reflective RGB format limits the gamut of colours and brightness of the display.

The new display reported in Optica is able to overcome these hurdles by reflecting more of the incoming light and enabling the full spectrum of visible light to be displayed, including bright white and deep black.

Hong and his colleagues were able achieve these results by using a property of light they call interferometric absorption. The incoming light and the reflected light interfere with one another, producing unique colours in the spectrum.

By adjusting the distance between the reflective and absorbing layers with tiny actuators known as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), the absorbing layer is moved to match a node in the standing wave that corresponds to a desired colour. The spectral components not associated with that node are absorbed, allowing the desired colour to leak through the structure and back toward the viewer. Each pixel therefore behaves as a coloured mirror, with the colour tunable across the entire visible spectrum.

Depending on how the display is used, the power savings can exceed current backlit technologies tenfold. The greatest benefit is when a particular image is retained on the display, which then operates like a form of analogue memory in a virtually power-free display mode.

The design presented in the paper consists of a panel that is about 1.5" across and contains approximately 149,000 pixels. Both the resolution and area of the display can be customised. “Our goal is to improve the technology and design so it can be easily integrated into manufacturing processes at existing factories.” said Hong.

*J Hon, E Chan, T Chang, T Fung, B Hong, C Kim, J Ma, Y Pan, R Van Lier, S Wang, B Wen, L Zhou, Continuous Color Reflective Displays Using Interferometric Absorption, Optica, 2, 7, 589 (2015). doi: 10.1364/OPTICA.2.000589

Microsoft introduces Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phones

Source: Microsoft.

Microsoft has announced the general availability of Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phones today. The apps offer the touch-optimised Office experience currently available on Android tablets, but with a user interface redesigned for a smaller screen.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android phone join Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive for Android, and the company says this launch completes the Office experience on Android devices.

Like Office for iOS and for Android tablets, the core viewing, creating and editing experience is available for free. With an Office 365 subscription, users will be able to access subscription-only benefits such as more robust editing and authoring features; more OneDrive storage and free Skype minutes per month.

Key features of Office apps for Android phones include:

· Familiar Office experience: Documents have formatting and content in the right places. The navigation and menu options in the ribbon are placed at the bottom of the screen within reach of thumbs.

· Access documents quickly: Create, open, edit and save files in the cloud from an Android phone for access anywhere and anytime. 

· Easy to get: Microsoft has partnered with over 30 global, regional and local OEMs such as Samsung, Sony, LG and others to preload the apps on Android devices. Many of these devices will be landing in retail stores later this year.

Interested?

To download Office for Android phone, visit the Google Play* store or check out the Office blog here.

*Word, Excel, PowerPoint apps are available in the following app stores in China: Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, CMCC, and through the Samsung Galaxy Store worldwide.

South Korea boasts best average Internet speeds for Q1 2015

Source: Akamai.

Akamai Technologies, the content delivery network (CDN) service provider, today released its First Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report*. Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speeds, broadband adoption across fixed and mobile networks, and IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 implementation.

“We saw generally positive results across all of the key metrics during the first quarter of 2015,” said David Belson, Editor of the report. “The increase in global broadband speeds demonstrates an ongoing commitment to higher standards. While connectivity will continue to differ across many regions, we see the highest broadband speeds in countries/regions with high population densities and strong government backing or support, as well as those that foster competition among Internet providers.”

Source: Akamai.

Highlights from the report include:

Global average connection speeds

In the first quarter of 2015, the global average connection speed for the first time reached 5 Mbps, a 10% increase over the previous quarter. Quarterly global average connection speeds among the top 10 countries all remained well above 10 Mbps, and six of the 10 had average speeds above 15 Mbps, as Ireland (17.4 Mbps), Sweden (15.8 Mbps) and the Netherlands (15.3 Mbps) joined South Korea (23.6 Mbps), Hong Kong (16.7 Mbps) and Japan (15.2 Mbps) in exceeding this benchmark in the first quarter. Globally, a total of 131 qualifying countries/regions saw average connection speeds increase in the first quarter, with growth rates ranging from 128% in Fiji (6.2 Mbps) to a 0.4% in Japan (15.2 Mbps).

In the first quarter, global average peak connection speeds increased 8.2% to 29.1 Mbps. Speeds increased across the board among countries/regions in the top 10, led by Kuwait (76.5 Mbps) and Mongolia (68.9 Mbps) with gains of 126% and 72%, respectively.

Singapore (98.5 Mbps) rose 17% to overtake Hong Kong as the country/region with the highest average peak connection speed. All of the top 10 countries/regions saw average peak speeds greater than 65 Mbps. On a global basis, 124 out of 144 qualifying countries/regions experienced average peak connection speed increases from the fourth quarter. Average peak connection speeds in 136 countries/regions increased from the first quarter of 2014.

For the first time, the State of the Internet is reporting on the percentage of IP addresses connecting to Akamai at average speeds of above 25 Mbps, the new benchmark broadband speed adopted by the US Federal Communications Commission in January 2015. Globally, 4.6% of unique IP addresses connected to Akamai at average connection speeds of at least 25 Mbps, a 12% increase over the previous quarter.

Similar to the 10 Mbps and 15 Mbps metrics, South Korea led the world in 25 Mbps broadband adoption, with a 31% adoption rate. Its rate was nearly double that of second-place Hong Kong (17% adoption). Year-over-year, the global 25 Mbps adoption rate grew 20%, and all of the top 10 countries/regions posted gains except South Korea, which saw a 5.9% decline compared with the first quarter of 2014.

The global percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai that met the 4 Mbps broadband speed threshold increased 6.6% to 63%, revealing strength across the board in contrast to the previous quarter’s slight decline in this metric. Globally, 107 countries/regions qualified for inclusion for this metric, and 100 of them saw quarterly growth in 4 Mbps broadband adoption rates, up from 76 in the previous quarter. Year-over-year growth rates ranged from 0.1% in Jamaica (43% adoption) to 1,402% in Algeria (3.3% adoption).

In the first quarter of 2015, 26% of unique IP addresses globally connected to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps, an 11% quarterly increase that is significantly greater than the previous quarter’s modest 2.9% gain. Among the 68 qualifying countries/regions, 60 saw quarter-over-quarter increases. In terms of year-over-year changes, there was a 27% increase globally in the percentage of unique IP addresses connecting to Akamai at average speeds above 10 Mbps.

Fourteen percent of unique IP addresses globally connected to Akamai at average connection speeds of 15 Mbps or above, up from 12% in the fourth quarter. Despite declining for the second quarter in a row, South Korea remained the clear leader in 15 Mbps broadband adoption with a 58% adoption rate after a 4.9% quarterly decrease. Overall, quarterly gains were seen in 46 qualifying regions/countries, compared with only 35 in the previous quarter. Year-over-year, the global 15 Mbps adoption rate grew 29% with strong gains among all of the top 10, except in South Korea, which had a 4.2% decline compared with the first quarter of 2014.

IPv4 and IPv6

Continuing with the trend seen in the fourth quarter of 2014, the number of unique IPv4 addresses worldwide connecting to Akamai grew by nearly 10 million in the first quarter. Among the top 10 countries in the first quarter, the UK and Japan showed the largest quarterly gains at 5.7% and 5.1%, respectively. Six other countries on the list saw yearly increases, ranging from Japan’s 11% to Russia’s 2.5%. On a global basis, two-thirds of countries/regions around the world had higher unique IPv4 address counts year-over-year.

Mobile connectivity

In the First Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report, 62 countries/regions qualified for inclusion in the mobile section. Vietnam had the lowest average connection speed, at 1.3 Mbps.

Average peak mobile connection speeds again spanned an extremely broad range in the first quarter, from 149.3 Mbps in Australia down to 8.2 Mbps in Indonesia. A total of four countries – Australia (149.3 Mbps), Japan (126 Mbps), Singapore (116.4 Mbps) and Thailand (105.4 Mbps) – posted average peak speeds above 100 Mbps, up from two countries in the fourth quarter. Perhaps due in part to rollouts of higher speed mobile technologies like LTE-A, the successor of 4G LTE, a total of 15 countries had average peak speeds above 50 Mbps, a large increase from just four in the previous quarter.

Interested?

View the First Quarter, 2015 State of the Internet Report

View the State of the Internet / Security Report

See the complete infographic for Asia Pacific

Get the app for iOS or Android

Participate in the discussion at the Akamai Community. Belson will respond to Ask the Expert questions submitted via the Akamai Community till June 26.

*Each quarter, Akamai publishes a State of the Internet report that includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. For additional information on the metrics in the report and how they are analysed, please visit http://akamai.me/sotimetrics. 

Beginning this quarter, security-related content that was previously included in the State of the Internet Report, including data on attack traffic seen across the Akamai platform and insights into high-profile security vulnerabilities and attacks, is now published in a separate State of the Internet / Security Report. 

IBM and Box to integrate products and services

IBM and Box will combine technologies and resources to transform work in the cloud. Together, the companies plan to integrate their existing products and services and develop new solutions targeted across industries and professions.

As companies increasingly seek simple, secure collaboration solutions that tap into local data and have global reach, this alliance brings together Box’s cloud content collaboration platform with IBM Analytics and social solutions, IBM Security technologies and the global footprint of the IBM Cloud. The two companies will jointly deliver these solutions to market internationally, and IBM will also enable builders and developers to integrate Box APIs into enterprise apps and web services.

Highlights of the partnership include:

Content management: Box will integrate IBM enterprise content management including content capture, extraction, analytics, case management and governance.

Watson analytics: IBM and Box will collaborate to bring insights using IBM Watson Analytics on content stored in Box.

Social collaboration solutions: IBM and Box will collaborate to integrate Box capabilities into IBM Verse and IBM Connections, the company’s business email solution and social collaboration platform respectively.

Enterprise cloud: Box will enable joint customers to store their content on the IBM Cloud. The IBM Cloud provides data resiliency, data privacy and data localisation, a key consideration for international customers who want the option to keep their data in country.

Enterprise security: Box will expand on its enterprise security offerings with IBM security technologies for threat detection, anomaly identification, mobile device management and identity protection.

Mobile apps: Box and IBM will jointly develop content management solutions and incorporate Box technology into selected IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps. IBM will also enable developers to integrate Box APIs on the IBM Bluemix developer cloud to help build enterprise Web and mobile apps.

By leveraging the power of the cloud, this partnership is expected to transform collaboration and the ability to gain insights across industries. For example, IBM and Box can offer more streamlined, secure collaboration between patients and physicians for hospitals and healthcare providers. 

CyberLink announces fourth I Love Travel video creativity competition

Source: CyberLink.

CyberLink, a consumer multimedia software company, has launched its fourth annual I Love Travel 2015 competition to video enthusiasts from around the world. Last year’s event received hundreds of video entries and over 120,000 site views from around the world.

The contest invites anyone to create a short film using CyberLink’s PowerDirector video editing software. Submissions will be eligible for two prize and award classes: The Great Travelers and Audience Favorite.

“It is often said that ‘travel broadens the mind,’ and we think that this effect is further strengthened by engaging the traveler’s creative processes after the journey,” said Alice Chang, CEO of CyberLink. “For the fourth year now, the I Love Travel 2015 event offers travelers and vacationers new avenues of expression, as well as a chance to experience the power and flexibility of PowerDirector.”

I Love Travel runs from through to September 7, 2015. No purchase is necessary to enter. Contestants can download the free trial version of PowerDirector to create their submission. Winners of the award, announced on September 17, will be selected based on editing technique, story originality, and production quality.  

Interested?

Download the PowerDirector trial version

View the prizes

NetApp launches new all-flash arrays

Source: NetApp infographic.

NetApp has expanded its all-flash storage array line with new models tailored for enterprise buyers. The All Flash FAS (AFF) 8000 series ships with NetApp Data ONTAP FlashEssentials innovations, which increase flash performance and efficiency.

All-flash storage changes the way companies do business by speeding application performance and improving server efficiency. The all-flash choices available from other vendors today, however, lack core enterprise capabilities such as application integration, built-in data protection, and integration with the cloud, NetApp said. The AFF8000 series delivers these benefits, and can seamlessly move data from flash to disk to cloud as it ages.

“As more enterprises deploy and become comfortable with flash, the need for scalable, flash-optimised platforms with a rich set of mature data services will become a key purchase criteria in enterprise storage,” said Eric Burgener, Research Director of Storage, IDC. “Enterprises looking to reap the TCO benefits of flash deployment at scale for their primary workloads need to know these solutions can reliably handle dense mixed-workload consolidation. Vendors like NetApp, with a strong portfolio of highly flash-optimised platforms, give buyers the choices they need to meet those requirements.”

Four AFF8000 models are available now and can be ordered as standalone systems and in FlexPod converged infrastructure solutions. Professional Services, delivered by NetApp or its partners, help users identify those workloads that are best served by all-flash systems.

NetApp also announced new installation and extended support offers for the AFF8000 series. Customers can acquire the new systems at prices starting at US$25,000. Risk-free options exist for customers to evaluate NetApp all-flash solutions, available through NetApp and its partners.

“The AFF8000 line is built to take high-performance flash storage into the mainstream,” said Lee Caswell, VP, Product and Solutions Marketing, NetApp. “We help customers achieve better long-term outcomes with a complete set of enterprise capabilities and the unique ability to support data movement from flash to disk to cloud as needs change.”

Expanding on NetApp’s vision for data management, Jocelyn Chan, Country Manager for NetApp Singapore, said, “NetApp looks at flash as part of the data management solution mix to accelerating performance and building capacity for enterprises. Our All Flash FAS solutions make it easy for customers to deploy and integrate with their existing environments. This builds on NetApp’s vision for the future of data management – Data Fabric – to help customers manage and control their data across environments.”

Announcement highlights include:

· FlashEssentials: The All Flash FAS incorporates software optimisations derived from NetApp’s advanced technology development lab

· NetApp OnCommand Performance Manager 2.0: This new software release gives users a comprehensive dashboard to evaluate performance and troubleshoot issues.

· Workload Wizard: The wizard provides automated setup for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server installations to simplify storage settings and host server connection setup.

"We continue to see high demand from customers in high-tech, manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and education sectors who are turning to FlexPod to help simplify IT and focus on delivering business outcomes. Cisco and NetApp FlexPod solutions are optimised for enterprise applications that can now benefit from NetApp all-flash innovation, including databases, server virtualisation and virtual desktops,” noted Satinder Sethi, VP, Data Center Solutions Engineering, and Unified Computing Systems Product Management, Cisco Systems.

“To maximise occupancy of the 11,000 rooms we have under management, it’s critical to rapidly return online room quotes to our customers. NetApp’s all-flash array gave us the performance we needed for our SQL database application. Our customers don’t have to wait for important information about their vacations, and we’re able to support whatever new properties or services the business decides to bring to the portfolio,” said Garry Rich, Group GM, IT, Mantra Group, Australia’s largest Australia-based hotel and resort marketer.

Interested?

Read about how Mantra Group uses NetApp technology.

View the complete infographic.