NVIDIA breaks 16 AI performance records in new MLPerf Benchmarks

NVIDIA delivers the world’s fastest artificial intelligence (AI)-training performance among commercially-available products, according to just-released MLPerf Benchmarks.

NVIDIA’s new DGX SuperPOD, built in less than a month and featuring more than 2,000 NVIDIA A100 GPUs, swept every MLPerf Benchmark category for at-scale performance among commercially-available products. The A100 Tensor Core GPU demonstrated the fastest performance per accelerator on all eight MLPerf Benchmarks.

For overall fastest time-to-solution at scale, the DGX SuperPOD system, a cluster of DGX A100 systems connected with HDR InfiniBand*, also set eight new performance milestones. This is the third consecutive - and strongest showing - for NVIDIA in training tests from MLPerf, an industry benchmarking group formed in 2018.

NVIDIA was the only company to field commercially-available products for all the tests. Most other submissions used the preview category for products, which means that may not be available for several months, or the research category for products, products which are not expected to be available for some time.

Paresh Kharya, Senior Director of product management, Data Center Computing, NVIDIA, called MLPerf the "gold standard for AI benchmarking", and said that the results speak to the readiness of the NVIDIA platform, from its AI stack, to software, hardware and the wider ecosystem, to capture AI opportunities.

"We are very well positioned," he said when asked about NVIDIA's ability to capture opportunities in AI. "The latest benchmarks prove NVIDIA continues to lead in AI performance."

"What really matters to customers, at the end of the day for AI training, is how fast they can create AI models," he elaborated.

Source: NVIDIA. NVIDIA’s new DGX SuperPOD has swept every MLPerf Benchmark category for at-scale performance among commercially-available products.

The A100 is the first GPU based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. “Users across the globe are applying the A100 to tackle the most complex challenges in AI, data science and scientific computing... All are enjoying the greatest generational performance leap in eight generations of NVIDIA GPUs,” Kharya said.

The results demonstrate a significant performance gain in just 1.5 years, Kharya added. “The latest results demonstrate NVIDIA’s focus on continuously evolving an AI platform that spans processors, networking, software and systems. For example, the tests show (that) at equivalent throughput rates today’s DGX A100 system delivers up to 4x the performance of the system that used V100 GPUs in the first round of MLPerf training tests,” said Kharya.

Meanwhile, the original DGX-1 system based on NVIDIA V100 can now deliver up to 2x higher performance thanks to the latest software optimisations, he said. These gains came in under two years. As added context, NVIDIA set six records in the first MLPerf Training Benchmarks in December 2018 and eight in July 2019.

Companies are already reaping the benefits of these performance highs. Alibaba hit a US$38 billion sales record on Singles Day in November 2019 using NVIDIA GPUs instead of CPUs to deliver more than 100x more queries per second on its recommendation systems, while DGX SuperPODs are driving business results for companies like Lockheed Martin in aerospace and Microsoft in cloud-computing services.

Of the nine companies submitting results, seven submitted with NVIDIA GPUs including cloud service providers (Alibaba Cloud, Google Cloud, Tencent Cloud) and server makers (Dell, Fujitsu, and Inspur), highlighting the strength of NVIDIA’s ecosystem. The MLPerf partners represent part of an ecosystem of nearly two dozen cloud-service providers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with products or plans for online instances, servers and PCIe cards using NVIDIA A100 GPUs.

Much of the software that NVIDIA and its partners used for the latest MLPerf Benchmarks is available today on NGC, NVIDIA’s software hub. NGC hosts GPU-optimised containers, software scripts, pretrained models and software development kits (SDKs). Kharya emphasised that the NGC software is free, constantly updated, and certified to run well with specific hardware.

*HDR InfiniBand enables extremely low latencies and high data throughput, while offering smart deep learning computing acceleration engines via Scalable Hierarchical Aggregation and Reduction Protocol (SHARP) technology.

MLPerf releases results for top machine-learning training systems

The MLPerf consortium has released the results for MLPerfTraining v0.7, the third round of results from their machine learning training performance benchmark suite.

MLPerf is a consortium of over 70 companies and researchers from leading universities, and the MLPerf Benchmark suites are the industry standard for measuring machine-learning performance.

The consortium said that the MLPerf Benchmark shows substantial industry progress and growing diversity in terms of systems undergoing the benchmark, including multiple new processors, accelerators, and software frameworks. Compared to the prior submission round, the fastest results on the five unchanged benchmarks improved by an average of ​2.7x​, showing substantial improvement in hardware, software, and system scale.

This latest training round encompasses 138 results on a wide variety of systems from nine organisations. The Closed division results all used the same model/optimiser(s), while Open division results may use more varied approaches - results include commercially-available systems, upcoming preview systems, as well as research, development and internal (RDI) systems.

The MLPerf Training Benchmark suite measures the time it takes to train one of eight machine-learning models to a standard quality target in tasks including image classification,recommendation, translation, and playing Go.

This version of MLPerf includes two new benchmarks and one substantially revised benchmark as follows:

● Bi-directional Encoder Representation from Transformers (BERT) trained with Wikipedia is a leading-edge language model that is used extensively in natural language-processing tasks.

Given a text input, language models predict related words and are employed as a building block for translation, search, text understanding, answering questions, and generating text.

● Mini-Go

The reinforcement learning is similar to Mini-Go from v0.5 and v0.6, but uses a full-size 19x19 Go board, which is more reflective of research.

● Deep Learning Recommendation Model (DLRM) trained with Criteo AI Lab’s Terabyte Click-Through-Rate (CTR) dataset. The terabyte-sized click logs of Criteo AI Lab’s Terabyte CTR dataset is the largest open recommendation dataset, containing click logs of 4 billion user and item interactions over 24 days.

The DLRM Benchmark is representative of a wide variety of commercial applications. The dataset includes recommendations for online shopping, search results, and social media content rankings.

MLPerf said it is committed to providing benchmarks that reflect the needs of machine learning customers, and is pioneering customer advisory boards to steer future benchmark construction. DLRM is the first benchmark produced using this process.

“The DLRM-Terabyte recommendation benchmark is representative of industry use cases and captures important characteristics of model architectures and user-item interactions in recommendation data sets,” said Carole-Jean Wu, MLPerf Recommendation Benchmark Advisory Board Chair from Facebook AI.

Explore:

See the results​.

Read more about the Training v0.7 benchmarks.

Huawei: Synergy across tech domains key to unlocking 5G's potential

Huawei's Rotating Chairman Guo Ping has emphasised that the synergy across major technology domains will help unlock the commercial potential of 5G.

Source: Huawei. Guo discusses the prerequisites for 5G commercial success at the Better World Summit 2020.

Speaking on the opening day of the virtual Better World Summit, Guo observed that there are more than 90 million 5G users worldwide today. "As global 5G deployment begins to wrap up, we need to strengthen our focus on industry applications," Guo said.

"This will help us unleash the full potential of 5G."

When technologies like 5G, computing, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and industry application development come together, they reinforce each other and create numerous opportunities, Guo noted.

"Huawei has in-depth strengths in each of these domains," he said. "We can mix and match them to create scenario-based solutions that meet the unique needs of our customers and partners. This is key to unlocking the full potential of 5G and driving commercial success."

However, the entire industry needs to work together to achieve such an outcome. Vertical industry applications can be replicated at scale only when unified industry standards and a collaborative ecosystem are in place, Guo pointed out.

"Moving forward, Huawei will double down on efforts to equip our partners with the capabilities they need," Guo said. "We will promote joint innovation, and drive growth for everyone in the value chain."

Carriers also need to work towards both short-term and long-term goals. According to Huawei:

• Carriers should prioritise user experience and spend money where it's needed most to maximise the value of existing networks.

• Carriers should make the most of existing 4G and Fibre to the x (FTTx) networks, integrating them with new 5G networks.

• 5G deployment plans should prioritise the creation of hotspots and key industry applications.

In his speech, Guo added that said information and communications technology (ICT) can help in the fight against COVID-19. "As an ICT company, it's our responsibility to use the technology we have to help contain and defeat this pandemic," said Guo.

"Together with our partners and customers, including carriers and enterprises of all types, we can use technological solutions to effect a positive impact on our communities."

Huawei has developed nine scenario-based solutions that use ICT technology to help combat the pandemic. "Whether it's hospital network deployment, remote consultation, online education, or restarting governments and businesses, we've been sharing our experience and capabilities to help control the spread of the virus and reopen economies," Guo said.

Adobe: online shopping increased during COVID-19 lockdowns in APAC

Despite COVID-19-induced lockdown restrictions now being lifted in many parts of the world, the extended time spent confined to the home has had a significant impact on consumers’ shopping habits and their interactions with brands, according to research* released by Adobe released on the sidelines of Adobe Experience Makers Live, a virtual event to help brands adapt to the digital world.

According to the research, COVID-19 has impacted consumers’ everyday lives and habits. Simon Dale, MD, Southeast Asia, Adobe commented, “The outbreak of COVID-19 has accelerated a broad shift in APAC consumer behaviours and attitudes that have been in the making for some time. It is clear from the results of the study that brands that are nimble in pivoting to this digital ‘new norm’ will be able to create deep and enduring brand resonance while helping their customers feel truly supported.

"Marketers will need to pay close attention to their customers and ensure that they adapt their CX strategy to address different groups with relevant messages, more so now than ever.”

Source: Adobe APAC Consumer Survey (June 2020). Results of responses to the questions "Will the current state of things change the way you shop in the future?" (n = 3,539) and "Have you found yourself purchasing more online in the past 3 weeks?" (n = 4,001). Nearly six in 10 (58%) consumers increased their online shopping presence, while 74% cited some future change in their shopping-related habits as a whole. Generations were polarised in their online shopping presence and intentions to change future shopping habits. Younger generations were more likely to cite an intention to change future shopping habits, while older generations were more likely to cite no increase and no change.

Despite COVID-19, seven in 10 consumers reported a preference for purchasing groceries, health/beauty items and home-improvement solutions in person, while around half also opted for home delivery (47%) - usually for food and books - and 17% relied on curbside pickup. In curbside pickups, the shopper does not enter the store, but takes delivery nearby, outside the store.

Across all product categories, younger generations and urban residents preferred home delivery while the older generation preferred in-person shopping, with the exception of media (movies, games and music) for the latter. Amongst all countries surveyed, Australian consumers were more likely to favour in-person shopping across all product categories. 

During the lockdown, 58% of consumers increased their online shopping frequency while three quarters (74%) cited an intention to change their future shopping habits. Chinese and Indian consumers were most likely to report an increase in online shopping, while Indian and Singaporean consumers reported the strongest intentions.

Unsurprisingly, younger generations were more likely to cite an intention to change future shopping habits while older generations preferred to maintain the status quo.

Explore:

Download the reports on the Adobe website – Consumer Report (PDF).

*Conducted by research firm Advanis for Adobe, the study surveyed 4,001 consumers in selected Asia Pacific countries – Australia, China, India and Singapore and 1,200 marketers across China, India, Singapore and Australia between 1 – 17 June 2020.

APAC stands for Asia Pacific, and CX for customer experience. 

Age bands are defined as: 18 to 29 years old: Gen Z (23%); 30 to 49 years old Millennials (36%); 50 to 64 years old: Boomers (26%); and 65 years+: Traditionalists (15% ).

Singtel Dash and Ezra enable international airtime topups

Source: Singtel. From 22 July, migrant workers in Singapore have been able to use Dash to purchase international mobile airtime for their family and friends back home, and receive up to two times the value of their top-ups.

Singtel’s Dash and Ezra are collaborating to enable more migrant workers in Singapore to stay connected to their families back home through international airtime top ups with the Dash app. Dash is the first Asia-Pacific partner for Ezra, a global aid initiative launched in June 2020 that aims to tap on the strength of its partnerships with organisations including mobile operators, financial institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to help vulnerable migrant communities through digital and financial inclusion.

Migrant workers in Singapore, many of whom are in the construction and process industries and are domestic workers, have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is on this premise that Dash and Ezra have launched a campaign with the aim of making digital tools and services more affordable and accessible to migrant workers and to accelerate digital adoption.

The campaign, running from 22 July to 23 August, offers credit of up to two times* the value of top-ups to migrant workers who use Dash to purchase international mobile airtime for their friends and family back home.

Dash, which counts over 1 million registered users, has become an essential mobile app for many migrant workers in Singapore with remittance as a key service. Dash is available to everyone regardless of telco or banking relationship, and can be downloaded on any mobile platform.

 The international mobile airtime is enabled by Ezra's partner DT One, a global network for mobile topups. International mobile topups are available to multiple destinations including Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Gilbert Chuah, Head of Mobile Financial Services, Singtel’s International Group said, “We share a common goal with Ezra to advance financial and digital inclusion and we want to support migrant workers who have to provide for their families back home.

"Through this initiative, we hope to help ease the economic burden of COVID-19 and bring some relief to Dash’s large base of migrant workers by helping them stay connected to their family overseas with the additional airtime. This is our way of showing appreciation to the migrant community which has contributed to building Singapore.”

Allan Green, founder, Ezra said, “As the mobile phone has become a ubiquitous part of the daily lives of billions, it is the ultimate tool to enable inclusion. During these times of crisis, remaining connected with loved ones is vitally important. As such, we share a goal with Singtel’s Dash to enable the foreign worker community in Singapore to stay connected to home for longer."

Ezra’s tie-up with Dash is the first of many partnerships to come to enable digital and social inclusion of global migrant workers and vulnerable communities, Singtel said. 

*The credit topup is offered by both Dash and Ezra. For more information on eligibility visit www.dash.com.sg/.

Johnson Controls sets up innovation lab in Singapore to develop groundbreaking technology

Johnson Controls, a global provider of building technologies and solutions will be setting up a S$50 million innovation lab with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to pioneer a new branch of digital technology that blends building, spatial and behavioural data with analytics and machine learning.

Scheduled to open by the end of September 2020, the lab is expected to have more than 100 employees within four years. The investment is part of Johnson Controls’ commitment to spearhead the creation and adoption of disruptive solutions for the built environment industry as well as to accelerate digital transformation.

Alvin Ng, VP, Digital Solutions, Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls, said, “Urban living needs a reboot in the wake of a global pandemic. We see a renewed urgency to strengthen the resilience of our community and an opportunity to enhance sustainability. This innovation lab has a unique focus on the intersection of technology, people and space, creating new value for organisations and end users.”

The lab will take on a multi-pronged strategy that covers research, collaboration, commercialisation and implementation. The resulting customisable, autonomous or voice-activated solutions will meet anticipated demand for contactless applications following societal adoption of safety and social-distancing measures as the post-pandemic norm. Property owners, facilities managers, business users and building occupants are among the target groups expected to benefit.

The four-pronged approach includes:

- Forming partnerships with key local research organisations to leverage Johnson Controls’ deep domain expertise in building technologies (such as heating ventilation, air-condition, lights, and security) to accelerate innovation in software engineering and product development. Key areas include edge devices, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).

- Working with property developers and building owners to create “cognitive buildings” or thinking buildings that can understand, or even predict, occupants’ preferred ambient settings and recognise space usage patterns. Such innovation will improve energy usage, increase the commercial attractiveness of the property, and enhance its environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, Johnson Controls said.

This is done through collaboratively developing solutions that apply advanced algorithms to datasets collected from Johnson Controls’ open platform of building solutions, consumer wearables, networked devices, location data and Johnson Controls Digital Twin*.

- Building an ecosystem comprising lifestyle, fitness and smart furniture datapoints. The data can be used for designing business and personal spaces. For example, a workplace with flexible furniture can be configured into “pods” for private videoconferencing or extended to become “conversation lounges” for small group collaboration. Building occupants can also benefit from timed artificial lighting that mimics the changing natural lights throughout the day.

Source: Johnson Controls. The Johnson Controls Innovation Lab will focus on using the latest technologies to pioneer a new branch of digital technology that blends building, spatial and behavioural data with analytics and machine learning.

- Engaging with professional bodies to deliver the new applications that impact the sustainability and resilience of local properties, as well as setting the standards for delivery of professional services in this field.

Tan Kong Hwee, Executive VP, EDB, said, “Johnson Controls' decision to set up its innovation lab in Singapore underscores Singapore's attractiveness as a location for companies to develop and commercialise new digital solutions for the global market. We welcome Johnson Controls’ approach of partnering with the vibrant ecosystem in Singapore even as it plans to build a substantial development team in Singapore. We look forward to the impactful solutions that Johnson Controls will create, and the exciting job opportunities for Singaporeans in areas such as software engineering, data science and cybersecurity.”

“We are excited to partner with EDB and plug into the vibrant ecosystem in Singapore. As a pure-play intelligent buildings solutions provider, our depth of assets, resources, domain knowledge give us insights on the way forward for the built environment. This new innovation facility in Singapore will play a pre-eminent role in reshaping how we approach intelligent built environment technologies, and to attract likeminded talents who are eager to make a difference in Singapore and beyond,” said Visal Leng, VP and President, Building Solutions, Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls.

Shopee adds to service offering with JCB tie-up

Source: JCB. Graphic illustrating a partnership between JCB
and Shopee.

Shopee, the e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and JCB International Company, the international operations subsidiary of JCB will jointly provide quality e-commerce and payments services for the Southeast Asian market.

The partnership will launch in July 2020 in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, followed by Singapore and the Philippines in the following months. JCB will offer year-round and seasonal discounts and an additional safe and secure payment method for shoppers. Shopee will also promote participating stores that support JCB.

Yoshiki Kaneko, President and COO, JCB International Company said, "JCB is proud to be working with Shopee, a market leader in e-commerce segment, as we further commit to supporting our customers in the fast-growing Southeast Asia region. In particular, as consumer shopping habits shift to online and businesses digitalise their activities, we want to be able to further cater to these evolving needs.

"Over the past 10 years, Southeast Asia has been a growth market for JCB and we're confident that together with Shopee, we can provide high-quality payments services for businesses and consumers, and continue to grow together with the region. Going forward, JCB and Shopee will continue to provide attractive and convenient services for our customers."

Terence Pang, COO, Shopee, said: "As homegrown brands, both Shopee and JCB are deeply committed to supporting local Southeast Asian markets and businesses. This partnership further strengthens our ecosystem to enable brands and sellers in Southeast Asia to capture the opportunities in online commerce.

"For our shoppers, they will benefit from having another secure payment method and enjoy additional promotions. This is even more crucial in this new normal as commerce is increasingly done online and we need to be able to support diverse habits and preferences. We believe that JCB will bring added value to our ecosystem and look forward to accelerating the digital economy in Southeast Asia together."

A joint report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company found that the Southeast Asia Internet economy has soared to US$100 billion in 2019, more than tripling in size over the last four years. By 2025, the region's Internet economy is expected to grow to US$300 billion. The report also estimates that 150 million Southeast Asians have bought or sold things online, up three times from 2015*.

According to App Annie, Shopee emerged as the top in the Shopping category by average monthly active users and downloads for Q120 in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, and also by total time spent in-app on Android devices. With more Southeast Asian consumers going online through their mobile, Shopee is also focused on driving digital payments in the region. In 2019, Shopee launched ShopeePay, its own integrated mobile wallet.

JCB, the only international payment brand born in Japan, has focused on expanding its international issuing business to Asian markets since the 2000s. JCB cards are issued in 24 countries and territories, with more than 140 million card members. JCB's card members in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Singapore have more than doubled between 2017 and 2019.

Shopee enables e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. It offers a wide product assortment, supported by integrated payments and logistics, as well as popular entertainment features tailored for each market. Shopee is a part of Sea, a global consumer Internet company. Sea's other core businesses include digital entertainment arm Garena, and digital financial services arm SeaMoney.


*e-Conomy SEA 2019 (PDF). Accessed 2 July 2020.

Rackspace Technology expands relationship with AWS

Rackspace Technology has signed a strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that puts Rackspace Technology service block catalogue offerings in the hands of more companies globally.

Rackspace Technology helps customers realise the power of the cloud faster by delivering end-to-end services including advisory, design, migration, management and optimisation across applications, data and security. The modular service block catalogue offerings allow customers to tap into Rackspace Technology’s managed services expertise to meet their needs, including cloud strategy, migration, cost governance, complex cloud operations, and security support.

AWS and Rackspace Technology have also established dedicated teams across both companies to support customers with AWS-specific strategy, cloud-native development, containers, application modernisation, and workload management.

“By strengthening our relationship with AWS, our preferred cloud provider, it makes it easier for our customers to accelerate the value they realise from the cloud,” said Matt Stoyka, Chief Solutions Officer, Rackspace Technology.

“AWS continues to innovate its cloud solutions and we are pleased to enter into a strategic collaboration agreement to bring these solutions to our collective customers.”

Said Doug Yeum, Head of Worldwide Channel and Alliances, Amazon Web Services: “Rackspace Technology has demonstrated a strong commitment to customers, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to bring innovative solutions to market.”

Rackspace Technology also has extended the reach of AWS services to several new regions, including the UAE, Malaysia, India, and New Zealand. This allows more customers around the world to benefit from the company’s Fanatical Experience, which includes 14 AWS Competency designations. The most recent of these are the AWS Machine Learning Competency and the AWS SaaS Competency.

Commvault rolls out partner programme enhancements

Commvault, an enterprise software provider for the management of data across cloud and on-premises environments, has launch an enhanced Partner Advantage programme. The new programme creates a path for partner future-readiness built on intelligent data management solutions and a commitment to innovation.

Partners will receive a range of benefits, including simple win, growth, and performance rebates. Partners will also have more flexibility across programme tiers with predictable profit potential and trusted deal support for business growth, Commvault said. In addition, Deal Registration Benefits and New Partner Seller Incentives will offer transparent guiding principles and operational efficiencies to accelerate the sales cycle and speed payment of rewards.

“As a partner-led company, we continuously seek ways to support our partners’ success through increased relevance and profitability,” said Mercer Rowe, VP, Global Partner Organization, Commvault.

“With the updated approach to our Partner Advantage programme, we are providing our partners increased incentives to drive profitability, and collaborative sales plays to close more deals, both underpinned by a strong product portfolio and broad partner ecosystem. In addition, we provide in-region support, expansive training, and demand generation resources that help our partners build a future-proof business with unlimited opportunity.”

The program is based on four key pillars:

- Innovative products that are partner-ready to sell

- A tightly-aligned collaborative selling team

- A go-to-market strategy and ecosystem that is built to win, and

- A profitable and predictable programme.

Through this programme, partners are provided with Commvault’s intelligent data management solutions and dedicated sales support, simplified processes and new opportunities to collaborate and successfully address customer’s needs. Partners will also continue to benefit from existing programme features including a three-tier framework, deal registration rewards, and performance rebates.

New features of the programme include proposal-based marketing development funds, new seller incentives, and a new deal registration governance practice. Commvault will continue to invest in its partner portal, sales and technical training and accreditations, quoting and request-for-proposal (RFP) tools, and a Partner Demand Center to build and accelerate a strong customer pipeline.

“Over the course of our relationship with Commvault, we have continuously experienced the ways they support their channel partners. The new additions to their partner programme are no exception, providing new and exciting opportunities for financial rewards, training, co-selling and ultimately growth for our customers,” said Ben Klay, VP Sales, Arrow Electronics.

“We are proud to be a longtime Commvault partner and know that they are constantly innovating and evolving their programmes to exceed the needs of their channel partners.”

“In today’s economic climate, IT partners, especially those in the data backup and recovery field, are a critical component to solving customers’ complex business issues,” said Kevin Rhone, Director of Channel Acceleration at The Enterprise Strategy Group.

“As a partner-led company, Commvault understands the importance of their role in the channel and consistently makes updates that showcase their support and commitment to their partners. In the latest enhancement to their Partner Advantage programme, Commvault is helping their partners improve their bottom line. Through innovative products, joint go-to-market strategies, and rebates and rewards, Commvault’s partner programme is what partners are looking for today.”

Commvault will be announcing additional enhancements on other partner business models, including cloud and managed service providers and professional services in the near future.

Details:

Become a Commvault partner

Finastra, IDC Financial Insights chart evolution of banking

In collaboration with fintech company Finastra, IDC Financial Insights has released its latest Asia Pacific (APAC)-focused InfoBrief – How banking has changed for good: Becoming an intelligent financial services player. 

The report examines key trends that are shaping the rapidly-evolving banking business model, including open banking adoption, customer centricity and improved transparency, reporting on research conducted amongst the region’s top 250 banks across Australia, India, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and mainland China.

Key highlights include:

- Seven in 10 customers view banking processes as tedious; in the lead up to COVID-19, fewer than half were active on digital banking channels

- Digital adoption among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) varies across the region, with Australia reporting around 45% for online channels, whereas adoption in Thailand is below 10%

- Forty-four percent of APAC banks are focused on completing their “connected core” transformation

- By 2022:

• Seven in 10 banks in APAC will adopt real-time payments, but only 25% will be able to productise them
• Three quarters of tier 1 APAC banks will deploy intelligent automation solutions at scale not only for increased automation, but also to boost decision-making and operational efficiencies

The research also indicates five core themes for winning in the next normal of banking:

Real time

Consumers are embracing personalised, real-time engagements, including payments and risk and fraud management.

Self-service

Customer expectations are now shaped by quality self-managed and self-controlled experiences outside of financial services.

Transparency

Real-time liquidity and management systems are a must for long-term transparency improvements.

Empathy

Understanding customer requirements and offering differentiated experiences is key to driving loyalty.

Connectedness

Leveraging application programming interfaces (APIs), platforms and cloud enables banks to provide data-centric solutions.

Singapore remote workers are more aware of cybersecurity but can break the rules

Trend Micro, a global player in cybersecurity, has released survey* results that show how remote workers address cybersecurity. Six in 10 (59%) remote workers in Singapore are more conscious of their organisation’s cybersecurity policies since the start of the nationwide ‘circuit breaker’** measures, but many are still breaking the rules due to limited understanding or resource constraints.

Trend Micro’s Head in the Clouds study is distilled from interviews with 13,200 remote workers across 27 countries on their attitudes towards corporate cybersecurity and IT policies. Conducted in May 2020, the Singapore edition of the study surveyed 502 employees from a mix of large enterprises (49%) and small and medium-sized businesses (51%), across industries like IT, financial services, retail, and the public sector, among others.

It reveals that there has never been a better time for companies to take advantage of heightened employee cybersecurity awareness. Employees also display different attitudes and behaviours towards cybersecurity, which indicates that broad training might be too general to capture these differences.

A differentiated training approach targeting the different types of employees might be more effective in encouraging positive security practices, Trend Micro said. For instance, employees who are fearful of breaking security rules might benefit more from simulation exercises, where they are allowed to try and experience things they normally would not.

The results indicate a high level of security awareness among local employees, with the majority (89%) of respondents saying that they take instructions from their IT team seriously. Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of employees also agreed that they have a role to play in keeping their organisation secure, while 71% acknowledge that using non-work applications on a corporate device is a security risk.

Source: Trend Micro. Cloud security personas in 2020.

However, just because most people understand the risks does not mean they abide by the rules. For example:

- Four in 10 (39%) of respondents say they often or always access corporate data from a non-work device – almost certainly breaking corporate security policy

- Sixteen percent are likely to click on a link offering free services, such as extra cloud storage and greater Internet connectivity, from an unknown email address

- Four in 10 (38%) of employees use public Wi-Fi when working remotely, without using the company virtual private network (VPN)

- Half (52%) of users confess to downloading or using a non-work application on a corporate device – of this pool, 35% of them did not request permission from the IT team

- Thirty-seven percent have actually uploaded corporate data to non-work applications

Cybercriminals are banking on such unsafe practices to attack businesses, Trend Micro warned. For instance, phishing tactics continue to be favoured by threat actors, as seen by the marked increase in Singapore-hosted phishing URLs detected last year – from 16,100 in 2018 to 47,500 in 2019***.

Productivity still trumps protection for many users. Almost two in five respondents (38%) agree that they do not give much thought to whether the apps they use are sanctioned by IT or not, as they just want the job done. Additionally, 14% would do whatever is quickest to send a client a file, even if that option is slightly less safe.

Dr Linda K. Kaye, Cyberpsychology Academic at Edge Hill University explained: “There are a great number of individual differences across the workforce. This can include individual employee’s values, accountability within their organisation, as well as aspects of their personality, all of which are important factors which drive people’s behaviours. To develop more effective cybersecurity training and practices, more attention should be paid to these factors. This, in turn, can help organisations adopt more tailored or bespoke cybersecurity training with their employees, which may be more effective.”

Nilesh Jain, VP of Trend Micro, Southeast Asia and India, added, “It is encouraging to see a majority of Singaporean employees recognising their role as the human firewall of their company. To close the cyber risk gap, especially caused by people who are either unaware of security policies or even those who think they are above the rules, organisations should not only provide training but take an opportunity to add guardrails and controls while understanding the users’ needs. Using a combination of both in a positive and easy-to-use fashion will hopefully encourage behavioural change and understanding.”

*Trend Micro’s Head in the Clouds study looks into the psychology of people’s behaviour in terms of cybersecurity, including their attitudes towards risk. It presents several common employee profiles based on their cybersecurity behaviors, with the aim of helping organisations tailor their cybersecurity strategy in the right way for the right employee.

The study is distilled from interviews with 13,200 remote workers across 27 countries on their attitudes towards corporate cybersecurity and IT policies. Conducted in May 2020, the Singapore edition of the study surveyed 502 employees from a mix of large enterprises (49%) and small and medium-sized businesses (51%), across industries like IT, financial services, retail, and the public sector, among others.

**Singapore’s ‘circuit breaker’ measures are an elevated set of safe distancing measures designed to pre-empt the trend of increasing local transmission of COVID-19. Measures include a stay-at-home order for most citizens, as well as closure of most establishments and workplaces.

***Singapore Cyber Landscape 2019, Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, June 2020

AMD exceeds goal to improve mobile processor energy efficiency

AMD announced in late June that it has exceeded its moonshot 25x20 goal set in 2014 to improve the energy efficiency of its mobile processors 25 times by 2020. The new AMD Ryzen 7 4800H mobile processor improves on the energy efficiency of the 2014 baseline measurement by 31.7 times¹, and offers leadership performance² and efficiency for laptop PCs, the company said.

“We have always focused on energy efficiency in our processors, but in 2014 we decided to put even greater emphasis on this capability,” said Mark Papermaster, CTO and Executive VP, Technology and Engineering at AMD.

“Our engineering team rallied around the challenge and charted a path to reach our stretch goal of 25 times greater energy efficiency by 2020. We were able to far surpass our objective, achieving 31.7 times improvement leading to gaming and ultrathin laptops with unmatched performance, graphics and long battery life. I could not be prouder of our engineering and business teams.”

Greater energy efficiency leads to significant user benefits including improved battery life, better performance, lower energy costs and reduced environmental impact from computing. Energy efficiency for processors is determined by the amount of work performed per unit of energy consumed.

To achieve the 25x20 goal, AMD focused improvements on developing a highly integrated and efficient system-on-chip (SoC) architecture; improved, real-time power management features; and silicon-level power optimisations. AMD reduced average compute time for a given task by 80% from 2014 to 2020, while also achieving an 84% reduction in energy use³.

This means an enterprise that upgrades 50,000 AMD laptops from 2014 models to 2020 models would achieve five times more computing performance and reduce associated laptop energy consumption by 84%, which over a three-year service life amounts to saving approximately 1.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 971,000 kg of carbon emissions, equivalent to 16,000 trees grown for 10 years⁴.

Achieving its 25x20 energy efficiency goal not only delivers a stronger user experience but also further solidifies AMD’s leadership in sustainability. AMD was the first semiconductor company to have its climate protection goals, including 25x20, approved as a “science-based target” by the Science Based Targets initiative — deemed aggressive enough to help mitigate the impacts of computing on climate change⁵.

“Stewardship of our planet can go hand-in-hand with developing powerful technology and helping our customers achieve their aims,” said Susan Moore, Corporate VP for corporate responsibility and international government affairs at AMD.

“The power efficiency improvements we have made within our laptop processors make a difference in the world around us. Reporting publicly each year on progress and ultimately achieving, and surpassing, the 25x20 energy efficiency goal reflects AMD’s commitment to sustainable technology.”

The performance improvements and reduced power consumption of the Ryzen 7 4800H processor outpaced the historical efficiency trend predicted by Koomey's Law — a Moore's Law analogue describing energy efficiency improvement trends — by 2x from 2014 and 2020⁶.

“Six years ago, AMD challenged itself to dramatically improve the real-world energy efficiency of its mobile processors,” said Dr Jonathan Koomey, an industry expert on climate solutions, critical thinking skills, and the energy and environmental effects of information technology.

“I have reviewed the data and can report that AMD exceeded the 25x20 goal it set in 2014 through improved design, superior optimisation and a laser-like focus on energy efficiency. With a chip 31.7 times more energy efficient than its 2014 predecessor, AMD has far outpaced in real-world efficiency gains what would be expected from a traditional Moore’s Law pace as embodied in Koomey's Law.”

“AMD undertook an audacious and public engineering goal to improve its processor efficiency by 25 times, vastly outpacing historical averages, and in doing so, achieved an industry-leading position in mobile processors,” said Kevin Krewell, Principal Analyst at TIRIAS Research.

“The 25x20 goal required major changes to architecture, design and software, and did not rely solely on silicon process technology advancements. Achieving and surpassing this challenging goal is a testament to the hard work the AMD team put into its products and it catapulted AMD to a leadership position in mobile processors.”

“AMD’s goal of improving the power efficiency of its laptop processors 25 times by this year may have seemed like a bit of an abstract, arbitrary target when they first announced it six years ago,” said Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research.

“But as they surpass that impressive goal, it’s becoming significantly more meaningful. Lower energy consumption has never been more important for the planet and the company’s ability to meet its target while also achieving strong processor performance is a great reflection of what a market-leading, engineering-focused company they’ve become.”

1 Testing by AMD Performance Labs as of April 15 2020. Processors tested: AMD FX-7600P, AMD FX-8800P, AMD FX-9830P, AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Ryzen 7 2800H, AMD Ryzen 7 3750H, and AMD Ryzen 7 4800H. 25x20 program tracked against Energy Star Rev 6.1 8/12/2014, 3DMark 2011 P-Score and Cinebench R15 nT. Results may vary with drivers and BIOSes.

2 Testing by AMD Performance Labs as of December 9, 2019 utilising an AMD Ryzen 4800H reference system and an ASUS Zephyrus M GU502GV system with Intel Core i7-9750H processor in Cinebench R20 1T and nT. Results may vary.

3 The normalised performance increase, based on a 50:50 weighted metric for Cinebench R15 and 3DMark11, is 5x higher from AMD’s 2014 notebook processor to the 2020 design. This equates to one-fifth the average compute time for a given task. Annual processor electricity use (kwh), based on ENERGY STAR typical use energy consumption (TEC), in 2020 is 84% less than the 2014 amount.

4 Emissions reduction estimates for an enterprise upgrading 50,000 AMD laptops from 2014 to 2020 models are based on entering estimated electricity savings into the US EPA Greenhouse Gas Calculator on March 23, 2020. AMD estimated annual electricity savings based on ENERGY STAR typical use energy consumption between the 2014 notebook processor and power supply and the 2020 processor and power supply over a three-year service life and multiplied by 50,000 units.

5 https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/

6 AMD achieved a 31.7x increase in typical use energy efficiency from 2014-2020, or ~2x compared to what would be the historical rate of increase (doubling every 1.57 years) during the same timeframe of 14.1x.

Bring the best technologies across the Sony portfolio for the Xperia 1 II

Source: Sony. The Xperia 1 II.

Sony has further strengthened its Xperia lineup with the introduction of the Xperia 1 II (Mark two), a smartphone that incorporates technologies from across the Sony technology portfolio. Built-for-speed features include:

- Twenty fps² burst shooting with 60 times per second⁵ AF/AE calculations from Sony's Alpha interchangeable lens cameras.

- Creator mode and cinema recording functions from Cinematography Pro “powered by CineAlta”, from Sony’s professional solutions business division.

- X1 for mobile, based on technology from BRAVIA TV.

Designed with Sony’s Alpha AF technology, the newly-developed triple lens camera supports advanced photo technologies with ZEISS optics, calibrated specifically for the Xperia 1 II. Utilising technology developed for Alpha interchangeable lens cameras, Xperia 1 II offers continuous AF that performs AF/AE calculations at 60 times per second⁵. This enables the world's first¹ AF/AE continuous tracking for high-speed shooting at a maximum of 20 fps² which is especially useful for shooting moving subjects⁶ such as during sports events.

Xperia 1 II fast-focus also works in challenging circumstances thanks to four technologies:

- Dual photo diode sensor⁷,

- An autofocus system that covers approximately 70% of the sensor⁸,

- The 3D iToF sensor⁹, and

- A new large 1/1.7” Exmor RS for mobile sensor which is 1.5x more sensitive than the previous model.

The new Photography Pro “technology from Alpha” brings a user interface that is aligned to Alpha photographers, with manual controls to set ISO, shutter speed and more. Imaging Edge for Mobile connects the Xperia 1 II to Sony’s Alpha cameras¹⁰, enabling users to repurpose the phone as a camera remote, controlling composition, focus mode and ISO sensitivity among other settings.

The phone also allows the user to transfer photos taken on Alpha to Xperia 1 II to review colours and hues with professional grade accuracy.  


The Xperia 1 II is finely tuned for an immaculate entertainment experience. Motion blur reduction technology is equivalent to that of a 90 Hz display and reduces frame lag for clearer image quality.
The Xperia 1 II offers audio tuned in collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment. The aural experience is taken even further with 360 Reality Audio hardware decoding to optimise sound quality when listening to music on global music and entertainment platform TIDAL¹¹.

Details:

The Xperia 1 II in Black, Purple and White will be available in Singapore from Q420 at Sony Stores, Sony Store Online, and the Sony flagship store on Lazada. Price information will be shared later.

1 Xperia 1 II’s camera features up to 20 fps AF/AE continuous shooting with tracking. Xperia 1 II produces in-focus photos at up to 20 fps by continuously calculates AF/AE up to 60 times/second. Verified by Strategy Analytics' SpecTRAX Service against the published camera specifications for over 16,000 smartphones. Correct as of the 23rd February 2020.

2 Up to 20 fps burst shooting with AF/AE is available for 24 mm camera. 16 mm and 70 mm cameras can shot up to 10 fps AF/AE. This function can be taken with Photography Pro. Effective when drive mode is Hi. Effective when shutter speed is 1/100 second or faster. It may vary depending on the shooting environment. Maximum fps will depend on shooting environment and settings.

3 Display ratios may vary based on content formatting.

4 360 Reality Audio requires a subscription to a compatible online music service, and third party terms, conditions, account, and fees may apply.

5 Effective with 26 mm lens. This function can be taken with Photography Pro. Effective when shutter speed is 1/60 second or faster. It may vary depending on the shooting environment.

6 Accurate focus may not be achieved with certain subjects in certain situations and this does not work with all types of animals.

7 Dual Photo Diode available for 16 mm and 24 mm cameras.

8 Available on the 24 mm camera.

9 Up to 5 m distance. For videos the 3D iToF sensor works for 70 mm. ToF stands for time of flight.

10 Please see Sony website for list of compatible cameras.

11 Xperia 1 II features on-device 360 Reality Audio hardware decoding. Hardware decoding works with TIDAL. Third party-terms, conditions, account, and fees may apply. Service availability may vary by market. Verified by Strategy Analytics' SpecTRAX Service against the current audio specifications for over 16,000 smartphones. Correct as of the 23rd February 2020.

APAC consumers want to buy digitally: Mastercard

In the COVID-19 era, consumers in Asia Pacific are rapidly going digital with purchases of everything from groceries to movies in a shift that looks set to become permanent after the pandemic passes, Mastercard research* shows.

E-commerce and contactless payments continue to grow in popularity as people make the move to digital by default and we reduce our use of cash, according to an ongoing study by Mastercard in multiple markets around the world that analyses the impact of current and future consumer behaviour.

“Our shift to digital commerce is here to stay as people embrace the benefits of safety, security and convenience. Consumers now want on-demand products and services – whether it’s food delivery, groceries, fitness courses, telemedicine, conferencing, learning or entertainment. This demand and these expectations will continue to drive e-commerce long after COVID-19 subsides,” said Sandeep Malhotra, Executive VP, Products & Innovation, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.

“As communities and economies emerge from the pandemic, the new consumer mindset sends a clear signal to merchants of all shapes and sizes that online shopping and touch-free transactions are essential to building the business and ensuring customer loyalty now and in the future.”

The digital momentum created by greater Internet access, the proliferation of smart devices and growing e-commerce is transforming how consumers buy and merchants sell. As lines blur between physical and digital, businesses must change how they think about every aspect – from customer interaction and retention to inventory, production and logistics.

The global survey underscores the movement to contactless after a Mastercard study in April showed that 79% of people worldwide and 91% in Asia Pacific were using tap-and-go payments. Citing safety and cleanliness, 74% of people globally and 75% in Asia Pacific said they would keep using contactless after the pandemic is over.

Source: Mastercard. E-commerce and contactless payments continue to grow in popularity in APAC, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With people concerned about safety and many stores shut during the COVID-19 outbreak, digital commerce revenues grew 20% globally in the first quarter of 2020 from a year earlier, according to the Salesforce Shopping Index.
The Mastercard study highlights the need for businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, to move into e-commerce and have an online presence during and after the pandemic. The shift is underway globally as almost six in 10 consumers say the move to digital payments is likely to be permanent and nearly half plan to use cash less even after the pandemic passes.

E-commerce is on the rise in Asia Pacific with 30% of people in Australia, 49% in India, 55% in China and 34% in Japan planning to make more purchases online. At the same time, consumers think less in-store shopping is here to stay – say 38% in Australia, 68% in India, 57% in China and 40% in Japan.

In Asia Pacific, 46% of consumers say they plan to use cash less often, including 52% in Australia, 49% in India, 43% in China and 41% in Japan. A large majority – 71% in Australia, 77% in India, 73% in China and 62% in Japan – believe the shift to contactless payments is also here to stay.

Mastercard adopted a drive into digital commerce many years before COVID-19 to maximise options and convenience for consumers in how and where they shop and pay – by tapping a card or mobile device on a contactless terminal in a shop, using an e-wallet within a smart phone, making a purchase online or seamlessly transferring money and paying bills.

With the focus on safety and security, Mastercard’s mission is to provide a fast, frictionless payment experience that is protected at every step.

Source: Mastercard infographic. APAC consumers plan to buy more online.

Earlier this year, Mastercard announced commitments to raise contactless payment limits in more than 50 countries worldwide. The limit increases are part of Mastercard’s global effort to ensure consumers, merchants and small businesses have the resources they need to pay safely, receive payment and keep operations running during COVID-19.

Mastercard works with partners across the region and across the ecosystem of merchants, financial institutions and fintechs to create and deliver products that are becoming the standard in many markets. These include the launch of digital card programmes with GrabPay in Singapore and the Philippines and with Hong Kong virtual banks Mox by Standard Chartered and WeLab Bank.

For merchants of all sizes, Mastercard has a range of solutions and services in e-commerce, payments, cybersecurity, fraud protection, data analytics and productivity to help businesses thrive in the changing business environment.

In India, Mastercard, Axis Bank and Worldline recently launched Soft POS, an app that transforms smartphones into point-of-sale terminals to give merchants and consumers the simplicity and security of contactless payments. The cost-effective acceptance solution also helps small merchants by eliminating the need to invest in a POS device, linking to various digital payment platforms, offering an online catalogue of items for sale and making it easier to get business loans by keeping a record of transactions.

“These are challenging times for everyone but we’re seeing innovation and change that will help all of us to emerge stronger,” Malhotra said.

“The digital economy is the future and there’s no doubt consumers and merchants are embracing this evolution. Now that people are experiencing and expecting the security, simplicity and seamlessness of digital commerce, there’s just no turning back.”

*Mastercard proprietary study conducted between April 27 and May 17 2020 with a total of 6,750 adults interviewed across 15 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, Japan, Mexico, Russia, UAE, UK and US.