Aruba announces Aruba 360 Secure Fabric

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, has announced the Aruba 360 Secure Fabric, a security framework that provides 360 degrees of analytics-driven attack detection and response to help organisations reduce risk in today’s changing threat landscape.

Aruba is also innovating in user and entity behavioural analytics (UEBA) by expanding the Aruba IntroSpect product family, enabling businesses to easily and rapidly scale machine-learned behaviour detection.

Gartner’s research into insider threats indicates that organisations are not adequately considering the risk from trusted users even though organisations have often been impacted. On a positive note, Gartner fielded almost a 100% increase from clients looking to address the insider threat issue, of which UEBA is one of the primary technologies*.

To help organisations address new and unknown threats, the Aruba 360 Secure Fabric offers security and IT teams an integrated way to quickly detect and respond to advanced cyberattacks from pre-authorisation to post-authorisation across multivendor infrastructures, supporting enterprises of all sizes.

The Aruba 360 Secure Fabric includes:

·         Aruba IntroSpect UEBA solution
A new network-agnostic family of continuous monitoring and advanced attack detection software. Includes a new entry-level edition and uses machine learning to detect changes in user and device behaviour that can indicate attacks that have evaded traditional security defenses. Machine-learning algorithms generate a risk score based on the severity of an attack to speed up incident investigations for security teams.

·         Aruba ClearPass
A proven network access control (NAC) and policy management security solution that can profile bring your own device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT) users and devices, enabling automated attack response, is now integrated with Aruba IntroSpect. ClearPass can also be deployed on any vendor’s network.

·         Aruba Secure Core
 Essential security capabilities embedded in the foundation across all of Aruba’s Wi-Fi access points, wireless controllers, and switches, including the recently introduced Aruba 8400 campus core and aggregation switch.

Aruba IntroSpect Standard joins the IntroSpect UEBA family, along with new features added to the company’s flagship offering, Aruba IntroSpect Advanced. Aruba IntroSpect Standard is an easy way for organisations to start employing UEBA machine learning security with as few as three data sources. It is designed for basic monitoring and detection of anomalous and often subtle behaviours on the network and across mobile, cloud, and IoT devices and applications, to identify early signs of attack expansion and beaconing, as well as data exfiltration.

Aruba IntroSpect Advanced delivers a wider set of security capabilities than IntroSpect Standard to provide attack detection by correlating across a broader array of data sources. Included are more than 100 supervised and unsupervised machine learning models that provide analytics and forensics from data such as packets, flows, logs, alerts, and endpoints, as well as mobile, cloud, and IoT traffic. New features for Aruba IntroSpect Advanced include dynamic machine learning, device peer grouping, and integrated attack responses.

Embedded into Aruba’s networking and social infrastructure is the Aruba Secure Core, which provides the necessary protection required for any network including secure boot, embedded firewalls, centralised encryption, deep packet inspection, and intrusion prevention.

The Aruba 360 Security Exchange Program combines the partners and technical resources from the IntroSpect Technology Program and the Aruba ClearPass Exchange Program. The result is more than 100 leading security and infrastructure solutions that customers and channel partners can leverage for simple, validated interoperability, enabling quick and trusted deployments. Aruba customers can leverage their existing security investments by seamlessly integrating them with Aruba solutions, providing the benefits of a unified solution with the flexibility of an open architecture.

Interested?

Global availability for the Aruba IntroSpect Standard and Advanced models is planned for 2018.

*Gartner, Market Guide for User and Entity Behavior Analytics, Toby Bussa, Avivah Litan, Trisha Philips, December 8, 2016, pg. 9

Amdocs launches open source NFV platform for communications service providers

Amdocs Network Function Virtualization (NFV) powered by Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) has been launched, addressing the needs of operators seeking adaptable, scalable, software-driven networks based on cloud and microservices technologies.

The software features service design, virtualisation and operating capabilities on demand, and can be deployed either locally or in the public cloud using modern DevOps adoption techniques. The Amdocs Service Design and Create module automates service design, while the Amdocs Active Inventory module offers a unified live view of services powered by ONAP. 

Service providers using technologies developed in ONAP can provide enterprises the ability to design their own networks as part of a richer set of service features. For testing and verifying virtual services on ONAP’s open source platform, Amdocs offers easy deployment of ONAP and a cloud-based hosting environment complemented with predefined SD-WAN acceleration kit and administration tools.

“Amdocs brings unique expertise derived from working with ONAP’s early adopters to help service providers drive value from virtualisation and this offering lays the framework for additional carrier-grade enhancements as the ONAP code matures. Open source brings unparalleled agility and innovation to the market. In such a dynamic environment, it is important that the industry is able to package open source contributions into a mature capability set for live network operations. This is what we have achieved with the Amdocs NFV powered by ONAP professional portfolio,” said Gary Miles, GM, Amdocs. 

“It represents a brand new frontier for the communications and media industry and addresses the many time to market challenges facing carriers who want to rapidly launch new virtual services, and gain the future proof advantages of ONAP open source technology today.

“Amdocs’ open network partner ecosystem of industry leading vendors has created more than 80 virtual network functions (VNFs), delivering innovative NFV use-cases that speed up complex multi-vendor service deployments. This is complemented by a portfolio of professional services to fast-track NFV strategic planning, implementation and operations/assurance, as well as integration to existing operational and business support systems, essential to commercialising virtual network services for our customers now and in the future."

Going the extra mile in customer service at Huawei

Huawei consumer customer service centres in China have a lot of competition from small repair service shops around town - so in line with their focus on the customer experience, they try harder. These are the services that Huawei provides at a representative customer service centre in Shenzhen, China, in the heart of Shenzhen's tech zone:

As with any customer service centre, customers take a number and wait to be served. The text in yellow at the bottom left corner says: "Huawei welcomes you."

Waiting customers can gauge how long they have to wait by these pie charts. The time spent on serving each customer is listed at the top right corner. Each visit can be divided into four stages, beginning with recording the complaint, then examining the device, followed by actual work done, and then returning the device. The segment in bright blue shows which each customer is currently at.

Devices may need to be backed up before servicing, and Huawei provides desktops to do the job. 

The actual servicing takes place behind a glass panel. The shelf in the background is meant to house devices queued for repair. Each shelf has a label indicating a time to help technicians keep to a one-hour servicing promise. CCTVs are installed in this area so performance can be remotely monitored.

Laser engraving services are available for a fee.

Here's a closer look at the type of engraving that is possible. 

The customer service centre also doubles up as a retail outlet, selling smartphones as well as accessories like phone cases, power banks and routers.

Smartphones are provided for sale as an alternative option for customers who find the cost of repairs too high. 

Huawei also offers a consultancy service similar to Apple's Genius Bar for consumer customers who have questions about using their smartphones. Many of Huawei customers are older or less tech-savvy, or they may have just bought their first smartphone, an on-site customer service representative explained.

Interested?

Browse the TechTrade Asia blog post about Huawei's Shenzhen campus

Hashtag: #华为OPENDAY

Note: This report stems from a Huawei-hosted visit to China. The company sponsored accommodation and travel costs.

Obike helps bikers locate bike parking spots in Taipei

An oBike parked at OUE Downtown, Singapore.

OBike, Singapore’s first homegrown station-less smart bike-sharing company, has successfully harnessed big data to help the Taipei city government identify intelligent bike parking spots in the city. The company also offers intelligent bike parking services in Singapore.

Locating racks for bike parking had previously been a challenge as positioning in Taiwan makes use of the TWD97 coordinate system, which does not reference latitude and longitude. OBike made location-based searches possible by proactively investing in converting the data into the universal WGS84 format instead. The company then collaborated with the Taipei City government to construct intelligent bike parking spots in the city, identifying their locations by inputting latitude and longitude details into its geographic coordinate system.

Users are now able to park the bikes at the right place, to enhance the efficiency of traffic management. Commuters can locate more than 33,000 public bike parking spots via the oBike mobile app. OBike also analyses related data such as origin of journey, destination and route of bike usage and presented commuters’ usage patterns in detailed heat map in order to determine riding patterns and evaluate the efficiency of the city’s transport system.

“Traffic congestion wastes time, increases pollution, and is costly to society. However, with the availability of data and its analytics, governments can make more informed planning and negate urban transport issues. This provides citizens with a more reliable and seamless commute,” said Edward Chen, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of oBike.

This follows the successful usage of heat maps in Singapore since oBike's inception. By consolidating commuter data, oBike has been able to project an accurate picture of commuters who are using the bike-sharing platform.

“Historical data can help us predict traffic and commuter flows at specific periods and such granular and real-time data will give us a complete view of current usage and demand. With these information, we can work together with the Singapore government to identify gaps in the bicycle network and propose solutions to improve the infrastructure,” he added.

The Taipei City government has recognised oBike for its efforts in taking actions to support the citywide intelligent traffic management policy, by enhancing the efficacies of the 33,000 public bike parking spots. oBike is now looking at sharing the technique and the converted information with any other cities and governments.

Apart from improving the bicycle infrastructure in Taiwan, oBike is the first bike-sharing company to outline a contingency plan, with tried-and-tested response measures, to natural hazards such as typhoons.

In the event of an emergency, oBike is equipped with the resources to safekeep bicycles in warehouses which are located in the urban districts. A response team will also be activated to provide support to those in need.

Chen added, “OBike understands the Taiwanese market and has considered the natural conditions we operate in. Regardless of the situation, the safety of commuters will remain our utmost priority. Having such a contingency plan in place strengthens our ability to respond swiftly and effectively, and lessens the impact of a natural disaster.”

OBike is now in over 30 cities in 10 countries worldwide, serving more than 2 million users across Southeast Asia alone.

Interested?

The oBike App is currently available on the App Store and Google Play.

OMRON Asia Pacific opens automation centre in Singapore

OMRON Asia Pacific, a global player in automation technology, has launched its Automation Center (ATC) in Singapore.

The innovation showroom cum research and development (R&D) facility is part of a S$13.5 million investment in robotics capabilities in Singapore over the next two years and is in line with Singapore’s push towards advanced manufacturing. This is OMRON’s ninth such centre globally.
 
Professor Quek Tong Boon, Chief Executive, National Robotics Programme, and Takehito Maeda, MD of Industrial Automation Business, OMRON Asia Pacific, officiated at the opening.

The OMRON ATC in Singapore offers a glimpse into the future of manufacturing, which is set to be connected, intelligent, and highly data-driven. Manufacturing contributes almost 20% of Singapore’s GDP, the company said.

This is the first OMRON ATC worldwide that is dedicated to exploring the use of advanced artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics technologies for manufacturing applications.

Also unique to this ATC is a working model of OMRON’s Smart and Future Factory, and the Future CEO Cockpit, which showcase how a new level of manufacturing intelligence and operational visibility can be attained by leveraging disruptive technologies.

Maeda said: "OMRON has always believed in delivering value through technological innovation, keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do. With the ATC, we aim to demonstrate the potential of smart manufacturing and bring the future of manufacturing to our customers, today.
 
“We have worked tirelessly alongside Singapore industries for decades now having equipped factory floors here through the generations. It is no different now as we continue to support our customers as they move on to embrace digital transformation. We are no doubt proud to be able to play a role in helping them build smarter factories in line with Singapore’s Smart Nation vision.”

Lim Kok Kiang, Assistant MD, the Singapore Economic Development Board commented: “Singapore’s transformation towards advanced manufacturing has been accelerated by our push for innovation and existing strengths in manufacturing. We continue to attract adopters and technology providers, to work together and build these innovative capabilities. We are glad that OMRON has chosen to set up its Automation Center here in Singapore, to drive the adoption of integrated automation solutions and robotics applications, particularly among the SMEs. We also look forward to OMRON’s talent initiatives to train and further the capabilities of Singapore’s system integrators and end users.”

Finally, the OMRON ATC in Singapore will provide a realistic platform for the OMRON team to work with customers across industries - including automotive, electronics and healthcare -- to test new ideas and allow them to experience firsthand the benefits of industrial automation.

Bosch receives Friend of ASEAN award at the ASEAN Business Awards 2017

Bosch, a global supplier of technology and services, has been awarded the Friend of ASEAN accolade for breaking barriers, and making remarkable social and economic impact in Southeast Asia, during the 2017 ASEAN Business Awards (ABA).  Organised by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) in early September, the ABA is an annual awards programme which recognises outstanding enterprises in the ASEAN business community.

“Southeast Asia is one of the fastest-growing markets for Bosch. As such, we have invested heavily over the years to continue our expansion trajectory here,” said Martin Hayes, President of Bosch Southeast Asia. “Receiving such an award is timely for us as we approach a hundred years since establishing our presence here. We remain committed in helping the region grow with our technology and services for the next hundred years and more.”

Today, the company employs more than 7,400 associates in the region and expects to ramp up hiring as it continues to evolve its portfolio of product and service offerings, especially in the Internet of Things (IoT). Since establishing its presence in Southeast Asia in 1919, the region has evolved to become an important location for the company’s manufacturing production, R&D, software innovation and business process outsourcing activities.  

In 2016, Bosch invested over 120 million euros to implement its localisation strategy as a testament to its ASEAN roots. This has enabled the company to develop products and solutions customised to meet the unique needs of Southeast Asian markets. Its investments include the opening of a fourth business hub in the emerging city of Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines. Across the region, Bosch has been building up its capabilities for developing software solutions; enhancing production facilities for the manufacturing of automotive parts and power tools; and expanding business communication centre services. With the advent of IoT, Bosch sees connected solutions and e-commerce as potential growth drivers.

Bosch’s commitment in the region is also reflected in its philanthropic approach. With a focus on education, Bosch provides learning tools, scholarships, and develops curriculums with vocational institutes and tertiary institutions to raise the education standards and skills of students and the local workforce across Southeast Asia.  For example, the Bosch Technical Industrial Apprenticeship (TGA) set up in Vietnam offers apprenticeships in mechatronics. Since its introduction in 2013, Bosch TGA has established around 93 apprenticeships to date. Bosch has similar vocational and apprenticeship programmes in Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia.

Bosch’s confidence in Southeast Asia mirrors the sentiment of other companies operating in the region. In the third and most recent edition of the EU-ASEAN Business Sentiment Survey, European businesses continue to see the region as a dynamic growth market. According to the survey, three quarters of European businesses expect an increase in profits in Southeast Asia for 2017, while 71% confirmed that the region has become more important in terms of global revenues over the last two years. Given such indicators, 94% of European businesses plan to expand or maintain their current levels of operations and headcount in Southeast Asia.

Robert Bosch South East Asia (SEA) is a regional subsidiary of the Bosch Group, representing the group’s interests in Southeast Asia, where it is present in all ASEAN member countries. Business operations in these countries report to Robert Bosch SEA, located in Singapore. Bosch has been in Singapore since 1923, with diversified businesses including in software and systems solutions. The Asia Pacific headquarters for its Automotive Aftermarket, Security Systems and Bosch Software Innovations business divisions, as well as operations for Corporate Research and Advance Engineering, and Information Technology, are part of Robert Bosch SEA.

www.bosch.com

Huawei walks the talk with strong R&D presence in Shenzhen HQ

Huawei focuses on standing out against the competition with non-stop innovation to serve customer needs. The company's self-contained headquarters in Shenzhen, China show how the company walks the talk on being different.

On the outskirts of the Huawei campus in Shenzhen.

The self-contained Shenzhen campus feels a world away from the skyscrapers of Shenzhen's central business district. Visitors may imagine that they are in a park, verdant and well-manicured, one with spacious roads and sprawling buildings spaced well apart from each other.

The campus dates back to 1998, and has 11 zones covering functions such as administration, manufacturing and research and development (R&D). Many of the buildings are designed by well-known architects, and feature distinctive architectures.

The administrative zone, zone A, was designed by Hong Kong architectural firm Liu Wu Suo in the 'prairie school' style. Prairie School architecture is characterised by horizontal lines meant to integrate the structure into the prairies of midwest US. This zone includes a man-made lake graced by colourful water lilies and black swans imported from Australia, perhaps a nod towards the "nothing is impossible" concept - swans were all thought to be white until black ones were discovered.

Huawei's Founder and President Ren Zhengfei's office is at one end of the lake.

The man-made lake has a dining hall at one end. The lake hosts a flock of black swans as well as water lilies.

The Huawei Exhibition Hall in zone F (F1), showcases the results of Huawei's innovation, including end-to-end telecom infrastructure. The same zone houses R&D functions - a full 45% of Huawei's workforce consists of R&D staff.

The "white house" at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters.

The "white house" in zone E is a Demo Center and won Huawei employees' favourite architecture award. It offers product prototyping, more R&D, and is used by joint research labs.

Innovation cannot occur without education - not just instilling the right mindset, but ensuring that all staff stay up to date on technological developments. Huawei University, in zone J, was registered in 2005. The facility in Shenzhen, one of 45 globally, focuses on combining empirical management theory with actual experience. There are over 700 full-time lecturers, supplemented with a part-time 1,000-strong workforce. The main building can accommodate 2,000 trainees and also houses an experimental server farm that takes up 7,000 sq m.

The atrium at Huawei University.

There is extensive use of natural light in Huawei University. There were a number of dining options both upstairs and downstairs.

Last but not least, Huawei hosts employees on-campus. Zone L contains staff living quarters in Bai Cao Garden (百草园) and a three-star hotel, Ying Hua Yuan. "Bai Cao" literally means "100 herbs", and lives up to its name with more than 100 different plants in the zone. While Ying Hua Yuan accommodates overseas customers and employees from elsewhere who have arrived for training, Bai Cao Garden features 10 European-style buildings and 3,036 rooms for staff, who may also choose to stay elsewhere in the city, commuting by shuttles into the campus.

Staff quarters in the Bai Cao Garden are modelled after hotel facilities, including a swimming pool.

The staff quarters here are modelled after those found in a three-star hotel. Bai Cao club offers sports and entertainment facilities for staff, including a swimming pool, while a commercial street offers amenities such as a supermarket, beauty salon, and dry cleaning. There are medical facilities too, provided by the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital.

Interested?

Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about Huawei's philosophy and strategy

Hashtag: #华为OPENDAY

Note: This report stems from a Huawei-hosted visit to China. The company sponsored accommodation and travel costs.

APeJ is now the largest inkjet market in the world by shipment volumes

According to the latest IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, 7.84 million hardcopy peripherals shipped in Q217 for the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan (APeJ). Inkjet and laser unit shipments both expanded during the quarter, growing 2.2% and 4.9% year-on-year (YoY) respectively. For the first time, APeJ had surpassed the US to become the No. 1 inkjet market in the world in terms of shipment volume.

Mainland China was a strong contributor to APeJ becoming the top inkjet market in the world, IDC said, with strong growth in the volume of inkjet shipments from the 6.18 online shopping festival. The country posted 17.8% YoY growth. Shipment volumes for laser printers stayed strong in China due to the rapid expansion of the small and medium-sized business (SMB) segment.

The Southeast Asia sub-region, which currently contributes the highest inkjet shipment volume in APeJ, continued to see a strong shift from ink cartridges to ink tanks in Q217. This shift is brought upon by the low cost per page benefit of ink tank and aggressive promotions from vendors. In fact, the ink tank to ink cartridge ratio in Q217 reached an all-time high, crossing the 50% mark to make Southeast Asia a truly ink tank dominant market.

Source: IDC. The top hardcopy peripherals brands in APeJ.

India had suffered a decline in both inkjet and laser in Q217, declining by -6.8% and -3.8% YoY respectively. This was largely due to market apprehension on the impending implementation of goods and services tax (GST). There was a high level of destocking in the channels, which refused to take in any further shipments from vendors in order to avoid a high level of leftover stock when GST kicked in.

“Taking over US in terms of inkjet unit shipment this quarter shows that the demand for inkjet in the region is becoming stronger than ever. Concurrently, we are also seeing an increase in demand for ink tank printers as the ratio for ink tank versus ink cartridge had reached an all-time high of 38%. More businesses are buying ink tanks to take advantage of the low printing cost,” says Yexi Liao, Market Analyst of IDC Asia/Pacific’s Image Printing and Document Solutions (IPDS) team.

“The laser market also see a stronger growth within higher value speed segments of 30+ ppm (printer per minute), as some vendors are struggling with profitability within the low-end speed segments of 1-30 ppm and want to shift up in order to help them protect their profit margin,” according to Liao.

Key highlights and upcoming trends for the APeJ hardcopy peripherals market in Q217 include:

The top five hardcopy peripherals companies account for 81% of the market. The dominance of main players is expected to continue.

The inkjet market continues to shift more towards ink tank-based printers. Ink tank printers recorded 17.2% growth YoY in Q217. The growth is largely due to the consumer and SMB segments, which are more cost-conscious and prefer the low cost per page benefit that ink tank technology can provide. ASEAN remains the top market for both inkjet and ink tank printers.

The laser market in APeJ continues to outperform the rest of the world. Propelled by the growing demand for print devices in China, APeJ recorded the highest YoY growth rate in the world for the fourth consecutive quarter for laser printers.

Online sales is at an all time high as well. Due to the 6.18 online shopping festival and the strengthening partnership between vendors and key etailers such as JD.com and Tmall, online purchasing continued to expand outside of consumer segment; channels are shifting to make their purchases online due to the low product pricing and ease of delivery provided by the etailers.

Mature markets continue to shift away from print. Mature markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Korea all continued to show declines in overalls shipment in Q217 as a result of digitisation and the high adoption rate of smart devices in these markets.

Winners of Tech Factor Challenge 2016/2017 show better ways of ageing in place

Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) and SPRING Singapore today announced the four grand prize winners of the Tech Factor Challenge 2016/2017. Organised by ST Electronics, held in partnership with SPRING Singapore and supported by SPRING Singapore’s Startup SG Accelerator initiative, Tech Factor Challenge was themed Ageing-in-Place* this year. 

Source: ST Electronics. TIIM Healthcare with their winning solution for categorising patient risk of sepsis.

Three of the four winning solutions are part of the Internet of things: a portable sepsis risk assessment system, a smart home-based medication device, and a remote rehabilitation kit. Each team won S$25,000, in total constituting a third of the total cash prize of S$300,000. The remaining cash will be awarded to the teams upon the successful commercialisation of their solutions.

Winners were selected from 10 finalist teams comprising students, startups, engineering enthusiasts and a senior inventor, with prototypes that incorporated technologies such as companion robots with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven interactions and autonomous navigation capabilities, smart medication dispensers, a virtual reality rehabilitative solution, and smart homes applications.

“At ST Electronics, we believe that technology is a key enabler to improve the lives of our elderly. As they enter their golden ageing years, we want them to enjoy and benefit from improved standards of healthcare. As a key player in Singapore’s ICT industry, we are committed to investing in innovation and building up local engineering talents to solve real-world problems, in this instance, for the ageing population.

"By creating an environment that encourages experimentation and quick prototyping, we hope to discover breakthroughs that can be commercialised in an affordable and timely way to enhance our healthcare for the elderly while seeding the build-up of a silver industry,” said Tang Kum Chuen, Deputy President of Corporate Development, ST Electronics.

Source: ST Electronics. Maxerence with the Pillpresso. The device allows doctors or nurses to adjust medication dosage remotely. 

Ted Tan, Deputy Chief Executive of SPRING Singapore and the Guest-of-Honour for the event said, “The Tech Factor Challenge encourages engineers and entrepreneurs to develop commercially-ready applications that can address real world problems. The theme this year, Ageing in Place, is apt in addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by the greying population in many countries.”

Participants were tasked to develop technologies that enable home-based and long-term community care for the elderly in two categories, the Smart H2 (Home and Health) Challenge that covered applications for safety, health and wellness management, and the Mobility Challenge for improving mobility for the elderly.

The winning teams are:

TIIM Healthcare	Intelligent Portable System – Risk Stratification in Patients with Sepsis Early goal-directed therapy initiated within the first six hours of sepsis diagnosis has been shown to substantially decrease mortality rates. The Portable Risk Stratification system consists of a portable device and a novel intelligent scoring system to assist clinicians in rapid and real-time risk stratification.
Maxerence	Pillpresso – Your Medication Assistant A home-based medication device that aims to improve medication adherence by simplifying medicine sorting, automating medication reminders and monitoring adherence in real-time, empowering the elderly to manage their medication independently.
Kinexcs	The Remote Rehabilitation Kit Targeted at post knee surgery patients, the wearable monitoring device helps users remotely track, analyse and report their rehabilitation progress. It provides localised, actionable data and compliance information to clinicians, while motivating users in maintaining workouts, to aid their recovery.
STRIDER	Wheels + Brakes for Existing Walking Frames These convert existing walkers into wheeled walkers and enable braking when leaned on for safety, unlike existing wheeled walkers which have a falling risk. Elderly are spared from the repetitive action of lifting their walkers and are able to get around faster and safely.

Through the competition, a total of nine startups were incorporated. To help these startups kickstart their innovation process, each team received S$4,000 in seed funding from ST Electronics, attended an experiential workshop to better understand the challenges faced by the elderly, and participated in workshops and mentorship sessions conducted by industry experts.

Source: ST Electronics. KINEXCS with their Rehab Monitoring Kit, which uses AI and machine learning to perform rehab analysis, and report it to the clinician automatically.

Eligible startups were awarded up to S$20,000 of funding support from SPRING Singapore to develop their prototypes with professional prototyping houses. Clinical and technical mentors from healthcare institutions, including ST Electronics, Changi General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Alexandra Health System, and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, guided and supported the teams through their innovation process. Teams were also provided access to the IMDA PIXEL Labs, using tools needed for their prototype development. They further had the opportunity to testbed their solutions in the Smart Ageing Design Lab at the Centre for Healthcare Assistive and Robotics Technology (CHART), Changi General Hospital, as well as at SG Enable.

*Ageing in place refers to adapting homes and supporting seniors so that they can live independently in familiar environments for as long as possible.

The drivers behind Singapore's RIE 2020

Prof Low Teck Seng, CEO, National Research Foundation (NRF), who was guest of honour at the at the Imec Technology Forum Southeast Asia in Singapore, said that whatever Singapore invests in, the country must "strive to be the very best and compete with the very best".

Low said Singapore is creating the right conditions for market-viable innovation.

Low said that Singapore is investing S$19 billion over the next five years, or 1% of GDP. "Very few countries in the world match us for government spending on research," he said. "As a percentage of spend it is very high...we'll fund very good science but it must have a relevance to us in Singapore."

As Singapore moves towards 2020, Low said that the hope is for an entire ecosystem that supports  industrial growth in a win-win manner. "If we ask the right questions and Singapore is the best place to do it then we have all the ingredients for success," he said.

Interested?

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about imec's new 5G chips and imec's smart tech strategy, as well as the report on new initiatives in Singapore to boost innovation announced at SWITCH 2017

Hashtag: #itfseasia

Bringing effective digital transformation methods to the open source world

The mission of the Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, displayed at the reception area.

Technology has become such a competitive advantage that successful businesses are no longer financial institutions, manufacturers or retailers first, but tech companies that just happen to play in their respective industries, says John Allessio, VP of Global Services, Red Hat.

Technology can offer the agility to adopt new business models even before incumbent models decline, he said, noting that industry disruption can take over very quickly, "before you know it".
"You have to invest in these new business models before it's profitable," he said.

Allessio described how digital disruption is changing things everywhere, what it takes to digitally transform, and the advantages gained by early adopters of digital transformation.

Red Hat customers are turning themselves around accordingly. Deutsche Bank is moving from outsourcing to insourcing technology, Allessio shared. "They found that they could drive more innovation, more capability by having more control and looking at the entire infrastructure and architecture as an asset to drive the business forward (versus) looking at it as a cost centre," he said.

Many are still grappling with the new digital age, however. In a Red Hat survey, 59% of respondents said they are not ready to transform digitally, and listed their priorities in descending order as developing a cloud strategy (52%), building new apps quickly (42), followed by optimising and modernising existing IT (39%). Security was a close fourth, with 38% of respondents listing it as a priority.

Easy visualisations within the Singapore lab show the advantages of a residency-based lab programme.

Visualisations within the Singapore lab show how to effect change.

What Red Hat Open Innovation Labs, newly-launched in Asia, can do is make the journey easier by showing the way not just with open source technology, but by instilling an open source mindset towards implementing change. In terms of technology, Deutsche Bank replaced a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution with Red Hat OpenShift, consolidating 45 to four operating systems and resulting in 83% efficiency savings. OpenShift is a container application platform that brings docker and Kubernetes to the enterprise. It had taken nearly 10 years to get 20% adoption on the PaaS, but 40% OpenShift adoption in one year, Allessio said.

Open source technology has also helped India's BSE, formerly called the Bombay Stock Exchange, to scale. The stock exchange partnered with Red Hat to build a new trading system using open source technology. Today it is the fastest trading floor in the world, completing transactions at an average of 6 microseconds instead of 10 milliseconds*, and expanding from 10 million to 400 million orders per day. Hardware costs are down 66%, while total cost of ownership has fallen by 90%.

A four to 12-week lab programme basically makes best practices from Red Hat's consultancy experiences open source, and formalises the benefits of getting all stakeholders into the same room to work on a project. The labs ensure for example that software developers get more visibility into the intent behind software that has been requested, eliminating misunderstandings and delays.

Allessio said the labs can:

• Enable people with best practices and tools to foster an collaborative, transparent open culture
• Introduce continuous and interactive automated processes that promote agility
• Provide integrated, hybrid, open, and interoperable technology

David Worthington, Open Innovation Labs Leader, Red Hat Asia Pacific, said that the structured programmes cover three phases:

- A pre-work discovery session to identify key challenge and goals, introduce Red Hat's push button infrastructure, which lists software from Red Hat and third parties that can be adopted, menu-style;  and development of personalised learning plans for participants. Each participant receives a one-year Red Hat learning subscription with access to 50 courses to prepare for residency and beyond

- The actual residency, during which methods such as agile, scrum, and DevOps are introduced for a chosen project. The process culminates in a demo day, during which participants show their organisation the new way of working and the apps developed

- A retrospective session, during which Red Hat helps participants to create a backlog (app wishlist) and roadmap so that the organisation can take the new way of working back into the organisation and continue the new way forwards

Austin presents what participants said about their Innovation Lab experience.

Julian Austin, IT Development Manager, UK-based Motability Operations, had a positive experience with Red Hat Open Innovation Labs earlier this year. The company supports people with disabilities with mobility solutions, and has 630,000 customers as well as 5,000 dealers in its network.

With customer expectations evolving, Motability needed to increase business agility and decided to invest in a labs experience. At Red Hat Open Innovation Labs Motability created part of a new customer engagement platform on OpenShift. With the new way of working, the company received feedback on draft features and could improve them on the fly, instead of waiting for feedback after the platform is completed, as is typical. "This is so much cheaper than the traditional way of working," Austin said.

"We had a lot to learn in a very short space of time and having (Red Hat) guys on tap was brilliant. It was so important to get out of our offices, our ways of working, into a different space. Getting away from culture, the old ways of working, was a key reason why we were successful."

Since June 2017, Motability has migrated to OpenShift Dedicated** 3.4 from the lab environment, and then to version 3.5. The company has introduced the new methods for creating software, and expects a new project that is integrated with its existing services to go live by October.

"We're working at much faster pace and getting it right the first time," he said, explaining that the cost of rectifying mistakes early is much lower than having to do it much later in the production cycle. "People love working this way."

While Austin liked the opportunities to learn, fluid work environment and improved team spirit, he also noted that there are still challenges to the experience, particularly with scope definition and people who could not spend the full period at the labs. "We had people on holiday, we had people who had meetings to go to, who didn't finish the whole (experience)," he said. Context shifting from work to the lab experience also took time, he added.

*There are 1,000 milliseconds in a second. There are 1,000 microseconds in a millisecond.

**OpenShift Dedicated is a private, high availability OpenShift cluster, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and operated as a cloud service by Red Hat.

Why WeChat works so well

In China, a WeChat (Weixin, 微信) account is a must. Its popularity is reflected in Statista's figures, which show Tencent Holdings' WeChat had 963 million monthly active users as of Q217.

The mobile app is used not just for news and communicating with others just as with Facebook or WhatsApp, but also provides easy access to a whole ecosystem of third party services, from utility payments to renting a shared bicycle. 

Thomas Luo, Co-founder and Managing Editor of online tech media portal PingWest.com, believes that WeChat will be a key driver of China's technology innovation in the new economy. "WeChat has dominance not only for reading and social, for chatting, but for mobile app services that people use every day," he said at the Huawei 2017 Sino-foreign Media Exchange Conference in Beijing, China. "People can directly use (third party apps) through WeChat."

QR codes are ubiquitous in China. Contact details will include QR codes instead of web links. This truck was on a road in Shenzhen.

The payment capability is particularly seamless, as I found out for myself. Every WeChat Pay (微信支付) digital wallet user has a personal QR code that provides access to the wallet. Once the cashier scans the QR code, the required amount is deducted from the wallet automatically, and both retailer and user are notified immediately. The merchant can also choose to print out their QR code instead. WeChat users scan the code, key in how much they would like to pay, and the transaction is complete.

A Huawei employee purchases drinks with WeChat
Pay at a 7-Eleven in a Huawei dining hall at Huawei's
Shenzhen campus.

Credit cards can be linked to the wallet, with maximum deduction limits stipulated, and deduction authorised with a PIN. Money can be transferred from the wallet to a bank account for a small fee*; money can even be transferred to other WeChat users as a 'red packet' (红包), which is traditionally used to present gifts of cash in China for luck on auspicious occasions like birthdays, weddings and festivals.

While merchants do have to pay Tencent for WeChat transactions, they can communicate directly with WeChat users who have patronised them in the past. After paying for items from FamilyMart, the convenience store was able to send me marketing mails and notices of promotions via WeChat mail, while Burger King offered memberships.

With many merchants supporting WeChat Pay and its main rival Alipay in China, it is entirely possible to go through days without requiring any cash at all. The QR code payment model popularised by Alipay and WeChat Pay could well reach other parts of the world, too. Payments services company Stripe noted in a July blog post that Alipay and WeChat Pay dominated the mobile wallet ecosystem in China in 2016, with combined market share of 92%, and offers global support for Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Screenshot showing WeChat notification for a WeChat Pay deduction of RMB84.60, received once the payment was made. The amount is listed but not details of what was purchased.

Screenshot showing WeChat notification for a successful WeChat Pay deduction of RMB84.60, received once the payment was made.

Screenshot showing marketing promotions from FamilyMart, the convenience store.

My limited edition giant chestnut sundae from Burger King in Shenzhen, together with a receipt that says payment was received through WeChat Pay.

Screenshot showing marketing promotions from Burger King inviting me to get their loyalty carrd.

Ad at Guomao station in Beijing encouraging commuters to use Alipay to pay for a shared bike ride. According to research firm Analysys Mason, Alipay is the dominant payment provider in China, with WeChat in No. 2 position.

Singapore is fast adopting new cashless experiences as well. Alipay is accepted in Comfort taxis in Singapore. 

While Alipay is backed by Alibaba's e-commerce business, the beauty of the WeChat system is the extensive real-life ecosystem that supports WeChat functions, including for payment. The system is raking in revenues for Tencent, which reported Q217 results in August. "Social and others advertising revenues" grew by 61% to RMB6,071 million, primarily because of growth in advertising revenues derived from WeChat Moments and WeChat Official Accounts, Tencent said. The company also said that revenues in the "others" category increased by 177% to RMB9,654 million for the same period year-on-year, mainly due to revenue growth from payment-related and cloud services. With such positive numbers, WeChat is likely to remain popular in China for some time to come.

Interested?

View China's top 500 apps according to iResearch for August 2017

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about:

Tencent's tieup with Starbucks in China for social gifting via WeChat

Singapore's StarHub launching WeChat SIMs for China visitors

Digital trends in China shared at the Huawei 2017 Sino-foreign Media Exchange Conference

Hashtag: #华为OPENDAY

*Transfer fees are charged for transactions beyond a minimum amount.

Note: This report stems from a Huawei-hosted visit to China. The company sponsored accommodation and travel costs. Screenshots are from a Huawei P10 phone.